Hi Elsa / Blog

2011 / Happy Holidays!

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:21 -0500

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

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:37:00 -0400

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

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:32:55 -0400

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

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:58:00 -0400

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

Mon, 23 May 2011 20:25:00 -0400

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

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:07:23 -0400

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

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:28:36 -0400

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

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:16:57 -0500

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

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:25:29 -0500

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

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:56:55 -0500

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

More chatter / New Twitter

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:27:48 -0500

I started a twitter account that I share with Zoe- we will be discussing among other things- snacks, better ways to nap, walks, as well as a little design and other miscellaneous thrown in.

check us out @zoeandelsa

Project / Chalkboard Piggy Bank

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:15:00 -0500

This weekend I spent some time on a fun little project I had been wanting to get to for a while. I’ve seen many chalkboard piggy banks online and always wanted one of my own, but never really found the right piggy shape- so I decided to take a shot at it myself.

It took a good deal of digging online to find the right piggy bank. Most of the shapes were too rounded or cartoon-y, and some looked way to close to an actual pig. I finally found this shape and loved it, it’s a made from a mid century mold and based on Mexican piggy bank designs.

We had some leftover chalkboard paint from a chalkboard wall Tyler painted for us a few months ago, so I was ready to go. It only took one coat, since the chalkboard paint is very thick, and after drying overnight it was good to go.

Now we’re ready to start funding our Costa Rica trip- one penny at a time!

Materials:

Bisque piggy bank (I recommend ebay or etsy to find the shape you like best- I got mine from Lisa, she was kind enough to sell me an unpainted version)
Chalkboard paint (available at your local hardware store)
Small brush / warm soapy water

Friday Fun / FUD Meme Wallpapers

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:52:56 -0500

After a few very busy weeks I’m happy to share a little fun project this friday.

I made some wallpapers featuring my favorite meme, FUD. I can’t figure out what makes misspelling food so funny, but it just is. So here they are, with a couple iphone wallpapers to boot.

Happy friday!

1280 X 800 // 1440 X 900 // 1680 X 1050 // 1920 X 1200 // iPhone A /P // iPad

Stitchings / C3PO & R2D2

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:42:00 -0500

Two of my favorite Star Wars characters turned out to be my favorite stitching in the series so far. I found some gold thread and knew it had to be used for this, and I’m pretty stoked with the results.

See the others in the series here.

Wedding / Announcement Print

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:22:37 -0500

We posted some photos and a bit of background on our wedding print on our company blog:

For our recent wedding we were lucky enough to have the chance to commission our great friend Andy Kurtts to illustrate and print our wedding announcement.

We’ve been friends with Andy (and his wonderful soon-to-be wife Nicole) since college, and we’ve always been big fans of his woodcuts. Mr. Kurtts is a real craftsman, and it shows
in his work.

While planning the wedding a tree theme started to emerge, so we knew we wanted something that mapped back to where we had the ceremony, The Hoyt Arboretum. After Andy sketched up a few pine cone options, we fell for the coastal redwood and never looked back.

In addition to the print, we made a pair of stamps for the backing board that gave some info about the day- one in English and one in Spanish, which were stamped on each announcement accordingly.

We couldn’t be happier and more impressed with the results, our prints are a beautiful reminder of such a special day.

Andy has some process photos on his blog- where he posts projects including his series on Native Southern Flora, we definitely recommend keeping an eye on his updates.

/AWH

Stitchings / Star Wars Series

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:49:42 -0500

I’m a sucker for anything Star Wars related, so when I had an idea for a Darth Vader stitch and finished it, I just couldn’t leave it well alone- I just had to keep going. This is where the series is at the moment, I have R2-D2 and Yoda in the works, looking forward to get them going…

Flannel & Polka Dots: Tyler & Elsa Get Married!

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:09:00 -0400

This October 16th I was lucky enough to get married to my wonderful boyfriend Tyler in a small and beautiful ceremony with our family. We had always wanted a small celebration, so very early in our planning we decided to make it very intimate, with only our parents and siblings. Since it was a small event we did our best to keep everything simple and true to our personalities, celebrating a location (Portland, OR) and season (fall) that we both love so much.

The sometimes drizzly northwest weather was on hold for us and the sun was out all day, with bit of chill that made it feel like fall but wasn’t too cold (even for our Florida-based family). The ceremony was at the Hoyt Arboretum, which has the distinction of being a 10 minute drive from downtown Portland, but still gives the impression of hiking in the middle of a national forest.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and after we were treated to a beautiful song that my brother Bruno wrote for us.

Since we had such a small group, everyone was able to contribute in some way to the celebration- everything was homemade or locally sourced. The reception was in our backyard, where we prepared and cooked everything together.

As the sun set we toasted and ate under the bamboo stalks. The table, the food, the setting, the company- everything was beautiful and perfect, more than I could have hoped for but exactly how I envisioned it, and what more can a girl ask for?

View the full set of photos here.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen- but mostly to our family for coming all the way out here
and making our day so special.
xoxo

Credits:
Photography by Kim & Chris of K. Miller Photography
Flowers from Lucky Farms, arranged by my mother Flor
Pumpkins and Gourds from The Pumpkin Patch in Sauvie Island, OR
Pie topper from Sian Keegan
Table runner and pennant decorations by my BFF Ayelen Carrasco
Flower garland decorations by Bonnie and Sarah (Tyler’s mom and sister),
from a tutorial at Once Wed
Pie and cupcakes by Bonnie and Sara respectively
Music by my brother Bruno and Tyler’s dad Chuck
Our adorable flower girl is our niece, Evie
The backyard was shared and lovingly landscaped by our landlords/neighbors,
Ron and Suzi

Elsa
Hair and makeup by my sister Gabriela
Dress from Anthropologie
Cardigan from J. Crew
Shoes from Seychelles
Veil by Tessa Kim

Tyler
Shirt from Epaulet
Boots from Eastland
Belt from Tanner Goods
Tie from John Helmer

Recipe / Tacos de Carnitas

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:14:57 -0400

Do you love carnitas tacos? do you?
Then you should make this carnitas recipe from Serious Eats. They figured out the best way to make them (you can check their work here) and produced a simple but flawless recipe.

We made it this weekend and were very excited with the results. The only suggestion I would add would be to substitute their salsa verde with my mom’s own salsa (recipe here) which can be made after you put the pork to roast in the oven- it will be perfectly cooled in the fridge and ready to go by the time the carnitas are done.

Go forth and make delicious tacos.

Recipe / Summer Jugo

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:55:00 -0400

It’s summer, it’s hot, fruits are in season- no better time than now to make some fresh juice!

Growing up my Abuela would make fresh jugo (juice) everyday at lunch from whatever was in season at Abuelo’s farm, be it mangos, papayas, or my favorite- passion fruit. As an adult I discovered aguas frescas- a mexican version of juice that’s less concentrated and low in sugar-which was perfect for me since I would always have to cut store-bought juice with water because of how sweet it was.

This season I’ve been playing with my own mashup of Abuela’s jugo and Mexican aguas. It’s actually surprisingly simple to make your own juice (no fancy juicer needed!), and to customize it exactly the way you like it.

Strawberry-Mint Jugo

Tools:
Pitcher
Strainer
Spoon
Blender (or magic bullet in my case, whatever works)

Ingredients:
1 pint of strawberries, stems removed and chopped
2 cups water + additional water to taste
2-3 tablespoons sugar (more or less depending taste and sweetness of berries)
Fresh mint leaves
Ice

Combine strawberries, water and sugar in blender and blend until nice and liquified.
Pour through strainer into pitcher, using the back of the spoon to mash as much of the liquid out of the pulp as possible. Continue straining and mashing, discarding the pulp when it piles up in the strainer. Once strained, add more water and sugar to the juice to taste along with the mint leaves, muddling them a bit before to get flavor in the juice. Cucumbers also can be added as a substitute for the mint, they add a nice freshness to the juice.

Add a bit of alcohol (white rum or vodka) for a refreshing summer cocktail.

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It’s fun to experiment with different fruit combos, pretty much anything you can chop up and put in the blender is game. If fresh fruit isn’t available, frozen fruits work well, just let them thaw out before blending. If you have a latin or asian market nearby, they usually carry more exotic frozen pulps. For a yummy alternative use milk instead of water- it works especially well for pulpier fruits like mango and papaya.

Some great recipes from my bookmarks:

Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade
Stawberry Vanilla Agua

Work / The Awards Show

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:56:00 -0400

I was recently asked to participate in a group show titled The Awards Show here in Portland curated by the wonderful Jen Davison. I humbly accepted and took the opportunity to work off the computer and make some fun one-of-a-kind stitchings.

I’ve always been inspired by Native American prints and patterns, so I decided to draw from the Navajo weaving traditions as a base for my medals, adding adding a more contemporaty color palette. I was very happy with how these turned out, and excited that one of my little ones found a home after show (Chester, who can be seen here).

Now the remaining three are up and available in my shop, ready for any kind of awarding situation, or just to remind someone of how great they are.