I crossed another item off my list! It’s a good thing too, because there’s only one month left until 2012! The house numbers and bird feeder that were sitting in the closet collecting dust have been installed. Here’s the proof:
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It’s giveaway time! There will be three winners, and each winner will receive a $10 voucher toward anything in the shop. For a chance to win comment below and tell us about the most memorable gift you ever received. I’ll announce the winners next Monday!
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My “Grammy” is turning 80 next month! She’s in town for Thanksgiving, so I’m hosting a surprise birthday dinner for her tonight. I’m gifting Grammy with a basket full of Wit & Whistle stationery since she loves to write letters.
A much as I love bunting banners I’d never actually made one before, so I thought this would be a great opportunity. I trimmed the banner with gold spray paint, and I was inspired by this post to paint a few pine cones I had sitting around. Simple but sweet decorations! Now I’m off to make Grammy’s bread recipe for tonight.
Oh, and happy American Thanksgiving! We’re doing the family thing for the rest of the week, so I’ll be back next week.
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I’m assuming I’m not the only one with empty frames laying around waiting for artwork to fill them, so here’s a simple solution for your empty frame woes.
Use an old school label maker (like this) to spell out a favorite quote, stick it on a piece of paper, and pop it into the frame. You could even spell out several quotations and rotate them for a little variety.
If you want to add a little more pizzaz, you could cover the paper with a watercolor wash before applying your labels.
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How about a peek at my latest sketchbook shenanigans? I’ve been doing some brainstorming for #5 and #11 on my Twelve by 2012 list.
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The trees around here have been positively bursting with fall color over the past few weeks. I’d say they were just as lovely as last year’s leaves. I’m sure most of you have pressed leaves before, but if not it’s super simple.
Just gather the prettiest leaves you can find, sandwich them in sheets of wax paper, stack up your heaviest books, and tuck the leaves into the pages of the bottom book. I usually leave them in the book stack for a week or so, but you can leave them as long as you want. It might be a nice mid-winter treat to open a book and find a leafy surprise. The colors fade a bit, but the pressed leaves retain a bit of their former beauty. I couldn’t think of anything creative to do with my leaves aside from framing them. Any ideas?
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I recently ordered new shipping stamps. Did you know that standard do not bend stamps don’t say “please”? That’s just terrible! I think saying “please do not bend” will make my envelopes stand out from all the bossy “do not bend” envelopes, and the postal workers will be inclined to handle my packages extra carefully. It’s also possible that I’m over analyzing this.
UPDATE: I’m now selling “please do not bend” stamps and other rubber stamps I designed in the shop right here!
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This is silly, but for the entire length of our 5 year marriage Daniel and I have had an ongoing disagreement about our salt and pepper shakers. We’ve gone through many shakers during the course of this dispute, and I want to document them here, just for the fun of it.
Our Salt & Pepper Shaker Timeline
Salt & Pepper Set 1 (acquired circa July 2006)
These were a wedding gift. Daniel claims that the tops of these shakers frequently fall off and dump the entire shaker contents onto his food. I have never had that happen, so I suspect a user error.
Salt & Pepper Set 2 (acquired circa June 2009)
The holes in the tops of these vintage owl shakers are too small to let more than one or two grains of salt out at a time. We mutually agreed that although these shakers are cute, they aren’t usable.
Salt & Pepper Set 3 (acquired circa June 2011)
These pine cone shakers are my favorite. Daniel says they are too small. I say he insults my cooking by adding so much salt to his food!
Salt & Pepper Set 4 (acquired circa October 2011)
For Daniel’s birthday I (somewhat sarcastically) bought him the largest salt and pepper shakers I could find. He said they were too ugly, which is a bit hypocritical since he’s always telling me to value function over form.
Salt & Pepper Set 5 (acquired circa November 2011)
I think we’ve finally reached a compromise with these vintage glass shakers. They are just the right size, fully functional, and I like the way they look. Now we can live happily ever after!
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Chocolate-covered Katie has redeemed herself. After my chickpea cookie dough fiasco, I had several recommendations to try Katie’s cookie pie recipe. It’s basically the same as the dough recipe, but you bake it. I had some serious doubts, because usually good tasting dough is the key to a good tasting cookie. Nevertheless I tried it and you guys were right—the cookie pie is great! It’s warm, gooey, and chocolaty. I have to admit that it’s not quite as good as this skillet cookie recipe, but it also doesn’t have two sticks of butter in it, so I really can’t complain. The real test will be to see if Daniel likes it. Hopefully I can get him to try it before he reads this and finds out what’s in it. Ok, I’m going to go have another piece. What? It’s healthy!
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I’m not usually a big coffee drinker, but when Starbucks offers their pumpkin spice lattes each fall I can’t resist. I know I could probably find a great recipe to make my own at home, but it wouldn’t be nearly as special if I knew I could have it anytime. Cute boots and a cozy sweater are my pumpkin spice latte drinking uniform!
1 worn dark skinny jean from American Eagle
2 open stitch crew sweater from American Eagle
3 tiered geometric necklace from Urban Outfitters
4 maron boot from DSW
5 boulder mug from terrain
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