A New Year

I don't think I've ever taken such a long break from blogging.  Christmas time came and went at my house and, though I completed lots of projects, I hadn't the time to get them posted here.  At least one will have to wait until next year, but I've got the tutorial mostly written so I'll be able to get off to an early start.  Christmas with a four- and six-year-old in the house was pretty exciting and busy.  Here is our Christmas card from this year.

It only took about 300 tries to get one shot with all four of us looking at the camera (sort of).

I was busy in my kitchen this year, making some little goodies for friends.  I tried a recipe from Food and Wine magazine for homemade Mulling Spices.  I tried them out myself over the New Year's weekend and they have a much more complex flavor than any I have ever purchased.  I dried the orange slices in my oven

mixed them with other spices

and then packaged them in paper tea bags tied with kitchen twine.

I packaged them up in glassine bags with a tag printed with instructions for use.

I also made Chai Latte lollipops, based on the recipe from Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook.  I modified their recipe to suit my own needs by using chai latte mix stirred into a basic sugar lollipop.

I packaged up the lollipops and mulling spices in white bags with some little paper flowers I made which I think conjur up a poinsettia.

Here's how I did these.  I cut three layers from red kraft paper (have I mentioned how much I love kraft paper?) using a die to cut the two larger ones and paper punch to cut the smallest.  I then gave each layer a little dimension by creasing the petals.  Then it was assembly line time.

I glued the three layers together with white glue

then glued three gold beads in the center using Jewel It glue.

The last step was to glue a mini clothespin on the back of each one.  I made about two dozen of these, all told, and used them to adorn all sorts of packages.

Last year I posted that I wanted to sew more garments in 2012 and also spend a little time each day doing some hand stitching.  And, while I don't think I accomplished that every day, I did do an awful lot of hand work last year.  I think I could still sew more garments, but the ones I have been making have been very time consuming.  Combining those two goals, I completed my Alabama Chanin blue dress and have been trying to find the time (and warm weather) to take some pictures.  I promise those very soon.  My blog is now three years old and I hope to add lots of interesting projects to the pages this year.  I hope you'll check back often.

A Busy Week, Paper Flowers and a Winner

This week promises to be a busy one for my blog.  I’m starting the week with some spring decorating and picking the winner of my Amy Butler giveaway.   Along with my usual garment post I am also planning a new tutorial for later in the week, something that will appeal to everyone whether you like to quilt, machine embroider, or any other number of crafty ventures.  Then on Friday I will wind up the week by participating in a blog tour showcasing a newly released sewing book, hot off the presses.   My blog is one of five that will be participating in this tour, sponsored by Clotilde.  Please make sure you check back regularly this week for all of the items I have planned.

For today I’ll start out with the winner of the Amy Butler sewing kit giveaway.  Congratulations to Tara who left me a comment late last night.  I used Random.org to generate the winner.  There were 14 comments but one person asked not to be included so out of the 13 eligible entries, the computer picked #13.  Tara, I hope you enjoy your new goodies, and I would love to see what you do with them. 

 

Spring officially arrived yesterday and I was motivated to change out some décor in my dining room.  For the winter holidays I love to put out a set of paper magnolias that my mother-in-law gave me years ago.  The supple paper reminds me of aged leather, and each year they darken just a bit into a warm, glowing champagne color.  I was long overdue to pack them away.  In their place I’ve added some paper blooms I recently made myself.  Clover has a clever new product called Flower Frills, templates that allows you to quickly make fabric and paper flowers in four sizes.  You simply fold your fabric or paper using the heavy weight paper template, cut and string together to make your flowers.  I used some handmade scrapbooking paper I had on hand and made seven different flowers.  These went together quickly and were very fun to make.  For each of my flowers I used about 8 petals – the weight of the paper allowed for a very full flower (the instructions suggest using 15-20 petals for fabric flowers).  One note:  both sides of the material used are visible in the finished flower so choose your fabric accordingly.  A very interesting affect might be achieved with double-sided scrapbook paper.

I’m currently displaying these on the sideboard in my dining room.  I placed the largest blooms inside two oversized brandy snifters and placed the remaining flowers on individual ceramic spoons by CB2.

I can imagine so many uses of these flowers in both fabric and paper.  You just might be seeing a lot of these on my blog in weeks to come.

Welcome spring!

Forget-me-not

My good friend Joyce came to visit the other day.  She arrived with a little paper bag filled with goodies, one for each of my boys and one for me.  Inside mine I found some vintage treasures.  The calendar is a reproduction of a vintage trade card for Niagara Spray Starch.  These color lithographs, popular in the late 1880’s, were a major form of advertising for products of the time.  Also in my bag was a beautiful aqua-colored organza and velvet floral hair comb which I am contemplating turning into a lapel pin.  Finally I discovered two bouquets of vintage paper millinery flowers, forget-me-nots, in beautiful shades of pink and aqua.  I’m not sure just what I will do with these (maybe another lapel pin) but they did bring back memories from my childhood.  When I was little I used to watch (and sometimes help) my mother create tray favors for patients at Sibley hospital (where, 40 years later, my first son was born).  These classic retro favors were made from the plastic lids taken from aerosol spray cans (particularly hairspray).  Do you remember when those lids used to have a small circular wall in the interior of the cap?  That little indentation was filled with some form of putty and then flowers such as these were inserted to mimic tiny little floral arrangements.  Patients at the hospital had their food trays brightened with these little blooms.

Treasures like this are available through many online sources.  Tinsel Trading Company has a wonderful selection of vintage and contemporary flowers, many dating from the 1940’s as well as fabulous trims, embellishments, beads and buttons.  If you ever have the chance of visiting the store in NYC don’t miss it – it is a wonderland.  Closer to my home is Accessories of Old located in Bethesda, MD.  This store is packed with vintage embellishments of all sorts, most dating from the 1920’s.  No doubt you will find some treasures of your very own at these shops.

Update on Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 2:07PM by Julie Bowersett

Thanks to Kathy for letting me know that Accessories of Old has closed their store in Bethesda but evidently still has one in Frederick, MD.