Under a blue moon

Charmed, I'm sure

 

Hmm, I wonder how many times I've used that post title.   Seems rather well-worn.

More teeny collectibles.  I wish I could say that I've been collecting these treasures over the years but actually I bought them all in one swell foop.   I do have a couple left over from a phase I was in about 15 years ago.  Back when those pins with all the watch parts and doo-dads were so popular.  You used to see them at Art & Wine festivals and I, as I so often do, thought to myself - heck I can make those. 

I can't tell you how many watches I smashed to get the little parts. 

 

I am not revisiting that creative phase.  I've been using them in my collage pages.  I was wracking my brain, trying to remember where I bought them 15 years ago.  I don't recall seeing anything like this in any craft or bead store I've been in lately. 

A Google search turned up a company that has a gazillion of these charms.  Rather low-frills website but the selection is amazing.  Any shape, size, design heart you can think of, body parts, bugs, birds, crowns, fairies, animals - you name it.  

 

The detail in some of them is just amazing.  The heart in the first picture, for instance.  Love that - I think it is my favorite one.  The prices are very reasonable - I paid anywhere from 30 cents to a little over two dollars (for the larger, more detailed pieces). 

The name of the company is Fancifuls, Inc. and they are located in New York.  I am all the way on the other side of the country and I had my order in just a few days.

It was a bit hard to guess the size of some of them because they basically just have a photograph of a page full of charms (hundred of pages) for you to view.  The page is 8 1/2 x 11 inches so you can kind of guess.  They figured out about 100 pages in to include a ruler or a coin for scale. 

Anyway, if you are looking for metal embellishments for any craft project you will not be disappointed in their selection.  The hard part is not going hog wild and ordering all of them.

Fruit Pizza

 

Sorry for the slightly blurry photo - it was taken with my iPhone.  We had a grand 4th of July/Birthday celebration (for my oldest) yesterday.  He requested Fruit Pizza for his birthday cake.  Even though we had it three weeks ago at his Aunt's birthday celebration.

I told him I didn't think people would mind having it again so soon.

I'm sure this recipe has been around for ages and there are slight variations to it but it basically is sugar cookie crust, a sweetened cream cheese topping and then assorted fruits in a pleasing pattern on top.  I add an apricot glaze to the top. 

Here's the exact recipe that I use - makes two pizzas:

2 packages of refrigerator sugar cookie dough
2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese (allow it soften to room temp.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Assorted fruits
1/2 cup Apricot preserves (or orange marmalade if you prefer)
2 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Press cookie dough into two tart pans (you can just roll it into a circle and bake on a cookie sheet but I like the fluted edges that the tart pans give it).  Bake until golden brown - about 18-20 minutes.

Mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and spread evenly over the two cooled cookies crusts. 

Arrange the fruit on top of each pizza

In a small sauce pan heat the apricot preserves and water together until it has a thin, glaze like consistency.  Allow to cool a bit then spoon over fruit pizzas.

Chill pizzas until ready to serve. 

The aftermath:

 

It's all about getting together and enjoying each other's company.  The food is just the cherry on the top.

Happy 4th of July!

Collections

 

I generally amass things with the intent that I am actually going to use them but I may have a hard time parting with any of my buttons. 

I've actually increased my glass button collection about fifty times over since I last posted about it.  I found a couple lots on Etsy.  But now that I have them I think I'm going to have a hard time parting with any - or using them in my intended project. 

 

As far as collections go buttons do have the advantage of not taking up very much space.  It's not like I'm trying to collect turbine engines or totem poles.

Isn't this lady pretty?  Kelly gave her to me - she appears to be the top to a bottle.  I was trying to figure out something to do with her but I kind of like her just hanging out with the buttons.  Her patina matches the mother of pearl ones.

 

So no one got the spider web reference on my Maine scrapbook page.  Charlotte's Web takes place on a farm in Maine.  The honey bee is the state insect (who knew states had an official insect representing them?).  Blueberries - obvious.  Lobsters - obvious.  Beach - obvious (although Chris who has a Maine cottage says is doesn't look like a Maine beach.  I think the Maine tourism board was taking liberties and may have borrowed a picture from one of their southern neighbors).  The house is Stephen King's mansion in Bangor.  Oh and the cat is a Maine Coon cat.  

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  It is supposed to get up to 106 degrees here today.  Good day to stay inside and count buttons.

Lobster roll, anyone?

 

Page 2 of the travel wishbook.  The places depicted are in no special order, by the way.  If someone waved their magic wand and said I could go anywhere I'd be on a plane to Paris faster than you could say au revoir. 

 

But since there doesn't appear to be a travel fairy godmother in these parts we'll just head for Maine in my imagination. 

As with the New Orleans page each item represents something uniquely Maine-ish.   Can you guess them? 

 

I stitched that spider web onto the page.  I saw a Halloween card where they had done that and filed the idea away for future use.  Now what could a spider web have to do with Maine?  Hmmm?

I've always wanted to eat a lobster roll and I never have.  There is something kind of appealing about taking a rather luxurious food item and serving it in such a simple, accessible way.

 

I think the next stop on our journey will be somewhere in Europe.   Not sure yet where.  Paris would be the obvious choice but I have to let the images and embellishments inspire me. 

Travel Wishbook

 

I have an online friend that I've known for several years.  Karen and I met on a message board because of a shared interest.  We would chat on the board and eventually one of us emailed the other and what do you know?  We adore each other. 

We email daily and she makes me laugh like no one else can.  She also is constantly sending me great stuff.  I try to reciprocate but she is just naturally more generous than I am.

She says I'm craftier than she is but I don't know about that. 

We were talking/fantasizing about how it would be fun to meet in person.  She is way the heck over on the other side of the continent, battling palmetto bugs and hurricanes so it's not like we can just hop in our cars and meet for lunch.

We thought it might be fun to plan a weekend trip - somewhere we would both like to go and meet up for a long weekend.   If we get along as fabulously in person as we do virtually then we could make it an annual event.

From this a crafty idea was born.  We are both going to come up with our top ten places we'd like to go.  I am taking it one step further, because I'm craftier and all, and make a scrapbook of my top ten.

 

My first page is on New Orleans.  I'm still trying to talk Karen into it and I think she is warming up to the idea.  She's still mad at how the whole Katrina thing was handled and I can only think about Beignets and Jambalaya.  

Seriously Karen - beignets and cafe au lait in the French Quarter?  Can you think of anything that sounds better than that? 

  

So back to the scrapbook/wishbook.  I will make a page for each place, made up of images and objects that represent the location.

The scrapbook came from Kelly - The perfect starting point.  It comes apart easily so I can take out the pages and work on them individually. 

 

Each component of my New Orleans page is very specifically related to New Orleans in some way.  Can you figure them out?  Some are easy - the other a little more obscure.

So what page should I do next?  I haven't actually figured out all the top ten but I do know that Paris, Maine, Savannah and Charleston are on the list. 

Pretty, sparkly things

 

Quick post - I went to an antique store today on the search for some clear buttons and I found this bag of glass bead trim.  Yards and yards and yards of it.  It looks like it was cut off of the palest blue chiffon.  The chiffon is so old it is rotting but the beads are gorgeous.  It's a huge tangled mess but I'll figure out something to do with it. 

I'm envisioning beaded table runners.  Sara got me all hooked on the idea of sparkly accents on table runners after I saw the beautiful one she made.  She sprinkled clear glass buttons along the borders. 

So now I'm on the hunt for clear buttons.  I have small collection.  The glass ones can be kind of pricey.  I'm not opposed to plastic ones but they do have a tendency to yellow - at least the old ones do. 

These are the ones I found today.  All of them glass:

 

When I was checking out the woman in the antique store said she had a big glass button if I was interested in seeing it.  Ummm - Yeah.   It was locked up in a case.   And it cost about the same as the rest combined but it is especially pretty.  

Sara - sorry I stole your idea and now I'm buying up all the clear glass buttons in Northern California.  I'll share some of my vintage bead trim with you, if you like.

Let's go camping

Sweethome Style

I used to like camping.  Then my back got older and it wasn't so much fun anymore.  The dirt, cooking over a finicky fire, the bugs, the setting up and tearing down of the camp.  The hauling of the blender to the community laundry room to make margaritas...

Oh yes.  I have done that.  On more than one occasion.  If I'm going to sleep on the ground then I'm going to be anesthetized when doing so. 

 

Singita

These pictures make me want to rethink camping.  There is even a term for this type of camping - it's called Glamping.  Isn't that the dumbest word you have ever heard?  I refuse to call it that.  I think it's just camping the way it was intended to be.

 

Singita

Actually the first time I talked Rick into camping I set up the most luxurious campsite I could.  I borrowed a big canvas tent from my sister and I set up a queen sized blow up mattress with satin sheets and fluffy down comforters.  I had two 'bed side tables' (cardboard boxes covered with pieces of lace) for our lanterns.  I even had a big thermos of frozen strawberry daiquiris (before I figured out the blender in the laundry room trick).  It would have been quite the romantic camping trip if not for the troop of Cub Scouts in the next campsite.

Singita

My parents went on an Abercrombie and Kent African Safari back in the early 90's and their accommodations were very similar to the pictures here.  My mother said that they would travel to a new spot every day and their tent would be set up for them and they would be served an incredibly gourmet dinner.  She even marveled that about a week out they served ice cream for dessert.  Out on the African plains, in the middle of no where, eating ice cream.

 

Governor's Camp

When I was ten or eleven I went to Summer camp and shared a big tent with three other girls.  We slept on wooden cots and would roll up the walls of the tent every day to air out the place.  It was a big canvas tent that was set up on a wooden platform.  Sort of like the first picture in this post but without the Rachel Ashwell-esque bedding. 

The morning of the last day we were all laying on our cots, too cold to get out of bed yet, when I noticed something dark on the roof of the tent above my head.  I asked my tent-mate to hand me her flashlight and I shined it up and there were about 50 ginormous spiders just hanging out above us.  You never saw four girls fly out of their sleeping bags faster.  I'm just thankful I discovered it the LAST day otherwise none of us would have slept in there.

Come to think of it - camping still may not be for me.

 

Governor's Camp

Chair makeover

 

It would help to have a before shot but just imagine these chairs as 1980's oak.  That's how they started out. 

I bought them off of Craigslist - four chairs for $50.  I just wanted to find inexpensive chairs that I could paint white for our kitchen eating area.  I didn't care so much about the style of the chairs - just as long and they weren't hideous and they could be painted.

So when I saw these on Craiglist I knew they would fit the bill.   Okay they are a little bit faux Early American/80's style but I think the white paint helps.

 

I am happy to report that I am still the undisputed title holder of the world's worst painter.  But the chairs are pretty forgiving.  We'll just pretend I was going for that gloppy, chippy kind of look. 

Not bad for $12.50 a piece.

Corn Fritters

 

Last night I attempted to recreate the corn fritters served at E & O Trading Company.  I was inspired by a post the Pioneer Woman had a few days ago, sharing her recipe for corn fritters.  The one's at E & O are more on the savory side and are served with a spicy dipping sauce so I used PW's recipe as a base and tweaked it to serve my purposes.

I have to say they turned out brilliantly. 

I am now the most popular person in the family.  This is hard when you realize what fabulous cooks my sister are.  But I am queen of all things culinary today.

 

This is how I made my fritters - this made enough fritters for 14 people.  With everyone hovering around while I was cooking them, in order to sample.  Quality control, they called it....

 

 

Corn Fritters

 

6 cups corn kernels (I blanched 10 ears of corn for 2 minutes and then cut the kernels off the cob)

1/2 red bell pepper finely diced

3 green onions, finely diced - white and green part

1 jalapeno finely diced

1 cup flour

3/4 cups milk

3 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

 

1 quart corn oil

 

Dipping sauce (see below)

 

Mix the veggies in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add eggs and milk and mix.  Add wet mixture to corn mixture.

 

Heat corn oil to 350-375 degrees F.  Plop large spoonfuls of corn mixture.  Expect extravagant popping and spitting of oil and perhaps the loss of an eye.

 

Flip fitter when it begins to brown on one side.

 

Drain on paper towel. If making vast quantities for a crowd place them on a cooling rack that has been placed on a cookie sheet that has been placed in a 250 degree F oven.

 

Dipping Sauce 

 

1 cup lite soy sauce

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. sriracha hot chili sauce (just look for it in the Asian section of the supermarket)

1 tsp. sesame oil

 

They were so good - and everyone raved about them.  It  really was the hit of the whole dinner.  Even though it scarred and blinded me to make them.

 

It was worth it.