2011 / Happy Holidays!
It’s been a busy ending to the year and I haven’t posted much, so I’ll share this festive little stamping project. I’m looking forward to a 2012 full of new projects and fun experiments.
Hope everyone has a great holiday season- I’ll be dreaming of a little cabin in the woods surrounded by snow and stocked with a full supply of sugar cookies and hot cocoa.
Adventures / Cape Disappointment
This past weekend in celebration of our first wedding anniversary, we took a little family camping trip out to the coast to Cape Disappointment State Park. Just a 15 min drive north of Astoria into the great state of Washington is this magical place with miles of pacific coastline, a jetty and not one but two(!) lighthouses.
I have a bit of thing for lighthouses, the idea is so haunting and romantic, men working in a tower of light guiding ships at sea away from the rocky coastline. A brochure for the North Head lighthouse revealed that a keeper’s wife jumped into the ocean to her death because she couldn’t stand the constant crashing of the waves against the cliff.
We spend a long time walking along the coast admiring the miles of debris that looked like a driftwood graveyard bleached by the sun. Zoe enjoyed this part most of all, helping me hunt for the best pieces of wood to bring back home.
A great weekend in a beautiful setting with my favorite person/furry one. I definitely recommend camping on the coast if you ever can, even just the smell of the ocean is amazing. We came back refreshed and ready to get back to making, hopefully some fun projects will come of the inspiration from this getaway. More photos on our flickr.
Recipe / Thai Peanut Sauce
A spontaneous lunch idea is now a blog post, because this Thai Peanut Sauce is so amazing I can’t keep it to myself. It tastes just like the sauce at my favorite Thai restaurant ever, Taste of Asia in my hometown of Sarasota FL. It’s sweet, peanuty and delicious- I’m going to use it as a dipping sauce, a salad dressing and maybe even as toothpaste. The recipe yielded enough to have a jar to keep and one to freeze.
The recipe is via She Simmers, a great blog with simple but authentic Thai recipes. Do yourself a favor and make this, I promise it won’t disappoint.
Drinks / The Vermonter
This year for Tyler’s birthday celebrations I made some homemade rhubarb syrup and came up with a drink in his honor, I call it The Vermonter.
Rhubarb is in season, so now is the time to make a batch of syrup and try it out with your liquor of choice. Add it into Dark n’ Stormy’s, Mojitos, and Margaritas- add a bit of it to a gin and tonic, or combine with champagne for a special Bellini. The rhubarb syrup can be a bit sweet, so adjust the amount depending on how sweet you like your cocktails.
The Vermonter
2 parts Rhubarb Syrup
1 part whiskey of choice (Buffalo Trace or Bulleit is recommended)
Splash of club soda
Squeeze of lime
Combine syrup, whiskey and ice and shake. Pour into glass, top with club soda and squeeze of lime. Stir gently and garnish with lime. Enjoy!
Project / Utensil Roll
As the weather (very slowly) warms up here in the Northwest, I’m getting excited about getting to grill, swim, and best of all- go camping!
We’re still working on clearing out some time for our first camping trip of the summer, so in the mean time I’m planning on making some camping supplies, starting with this utensil roll.
Based on a roll from Duluth Pack- I pushed my still-shaky sewing skills and with a bit of planning and pateince, am very happy with the results. The material is a heavy duty vinyl that will hold up even if the rain surprises us at the campground. Next up I’ll be working on a firewood carrier of the same material.
Sneak Peek / Upcoming work
I’m too excited not to share a peek of the largest (5in x 9in) and most complex stitching I’ve completed to date. It probably took me around 10 hours to complete, over the course of a couple weeks. It’s part of a series of pieces for a upcoming show of my stitched work.
More details to come soon…
Friday Fun / Joy of Jello Wallpapers
We spent the past week in Florida catching up with family and trying to spend some time in the sun. One of my favorite things to do while back home is to go thrifting, since my hometown (Sarasota, FL) is chock full of great thrift shops. I found a great little cooking booklet called ‘The Joy of Jello’- filled with great photography and wonderfully awkward recipes, like an ‘Avocado Strawberry Ring’, and the ‘Ring Around the Tuna’.
Enjoy a bit of color on your desktop, and maybe be inspired to make something wonderful with Jello this weekend, I know I sure am!
1280 X 800 // 1440 X 900 // 1680 X 1050 // 1920 X 1200
Shop / Tote Sale
In order to make room for more upcoming stitched items, my stitched totes are on sale for $20!
Grab them in my shop.
Weekend Adventures / Pendleton Woolen Mills Store
After fighting some kind of cold/flu bug all week, Tyler and I needed to venture out for some fresh air this weekend- so we took a much anticipated trip to the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store.
Pendleton is best known for their blankets with bright colors and Native American patterns (and these National Parks blankets, wow!), but they also have a vast home collection as well as a clothing line. The company was started in Pendleton, OR where they still have wool mills, but they are now headquartered here in Portland.
In addition to their fabrics, The Woolen Mill Store featured their blankets, some of their housewares, and a giant room with some of their beautiful tapestries.
They also had some closeout fabrics and scrap bins where we found some treasures.
We made it out under $20, with a bag full of beautiful fabrics! As soon as we got home I got to work and made Zoe a sassy new collar.
She seemed to be happy with it. Mission accomplished!
Pendleton fabrics can be found online, but their selection seems to be a bit lacking.
I definitely recommend a visit to the store if possible.
Design / Lifestyle / Less is More
I believe that the ‘less is more’ principle that I apply to my design sensibility is also relevant to lifestyle choices, so I’m trying my best to apply it accordingly. I really admire people who fully commit and make it a life choice, like the family at Zero Waste Home, but there are smaller steps to take that we can feel good about and not have to sacrifice too much of our lifestyle/time. I’ve compiled some of the few simple ones that I’ve adapted and use regularly in our home.
Make your own stuff
I’ve posted before about making my own cleaning supplies, and I can proudly say 9 months later that I’m still adding to my natural cleaning arsenal to this day. I started with just laundry detergent, and now make all my own hand soaps and cleaning sprays. I also invested in a drying rack (Inspired by this post by Ashley of Small Measure, a great resource), and now rarely use my dryer (except for towels I want to be warm and fluffy).
More cloth, less paper
In the kitchen I’ve slowly replaced paper with cloth. I bought a bunch of drying towels and use chopped up old clothes/fabric as rags for cleaning. Replacing paper napkins with cloth ones makes every meal feel special, they are easy to make, and you can always find cute affordable ones on etsy.
A tote for every occasion
For groceries I have a collection of tote bags I take to the store, and recently purchased some produce bags from Baggu, which have eliminated the need for those pesky plastic produce bags. Baggu also has a foldable reusable bag that is amazing, I carry one in my purse at all times and it always comes in handy for unplanned purchases.
Buy used before new
We spend a lot of time in thrift stores trying to find cute things for the house (proof here). I recently found a 12 in cast iron skillet at Goodwill for $7! Great stuff can also be found at yard sales and Craigslist. Not everything is appropriate to buy used, but next time you need something, consider finding a pre-loved object you can give new life to before buying a new one.
Rechargeable is the way to go, but dispose properly
As avid video game players, we go through a lot of batteries, so we recently switched to rechargeable batteries, and let me tell you- they’re a game changer (sorry). A new set of batteries is always ready to go, so no need to wait to play ‘cause you have to go to the store. More fun, less errands.
Trying to find a place to recycle or properly dispose of toxic stuff, like said rechargeable batteries, CFL light bulbs and electronics, can be a bit of a challenge. I did a bit of digging and it turns out there are some convenient (US-based) recycling options:
CFL light bulbs: Ikea / Home Depot / Lowes
CDs/DVDs, Gift Cards
: Best Buy
Inkjet cartridges: Best Buy / Staples / Office Depot / Goodwill
Rechargeable Batteries
: Best Buy / Staples / Lowes
Electronics and Accessories: (towers, monitors, printers, cables, mice etc.)
For electronics there is usually a small fee at the chain stores, but Goodwill has a great program that will take almost anything for free- you can also look into local charities that might recycle electronics and give find them a new home, similar to Free Geek here in Portland.
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There might be future additions to this post as I try new things and apply them, it’s all trial and error, not everything works for everyone, but small changes can make a big difference, so it’s always worth a try.
Additional Resources:
Cloth Napkins: Skinny Laminx / Linea Carta / Soraam
Natural Cleaning : The Naturally Clean Home, by Karyn Siegel-Maier
Reusable Bags: Baggu / Ecobags
