Category Archives: Shop

Collage Eggs

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

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We made these eggs for our friends last year.  They are simple for kids to decorate and a good way to use up some scraps from past projects.  You will need:

*Card stock

*Scissors

*Glue

*Collage Materials (We used scrap yarn, fabric, cupcake liners, glitter, sequins, googly eyes, doilies, watercolors and crayons).

1.  Draw large egg shape on card stock and cut out.  Our eggs are 4″x 3″.

2.  Trace this egg pattern onto the other card stock pieces and cut out.

3.  Hand over the glue and let the kids decorate away.

4.  Wait for glue to dry and place in vellum envelopes.  These make great Easter cards or basket treats for the grandparents.

Renegade

30 Friday Mar 2012

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I’ve been excited about making these headband crowns for kids lately.  Yesterday we found out that my friend Marissa at Soor Ploom and I got into Etsy’s Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair.  Hooray!  We will be selling our children’s clothes and crowns on June 23 and 24 in Willamsburg.  I’ll put up more details as the weekend gets closer.  For now I need to get crafting!

(The crowns and Soor Ploom’s sweet clothes are also both available at Acorn Toys if you can’t wait until June).

Storing

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

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This is a project I have wanted to get done for a long time.  Josie is now wearing a lot of Ada’s old clothes and finding the right size before she outgrows them was becoming a challenge.  So we went to Ikea and found these bins.  Their clear sides and tops make it easy to find a specific item.  Clothes are labeled by size and stacked on Metro Shelves.  We got all of our shelves cheap on Craigslist.  It is freezing here this morning, but finding Ada’s hat was easy.

Enamel Bowl

23 Friday Mar 2012

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Washing fabric for a new project.  I love this enamel bowl.  I got two of them for $9 at an antique shop in Maine.  There are some similar ones here.  I use it is for hand washing delicate clothes and it was Ada’s favorite place to sit when she was a baby.  Simple, functional, beautiful.  Kind of perfect.

Instant

15 Thursday Mar 2012

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My heart was broken when I could no longer buy Polaroid film for a reasonable price.  I love the colors and the magic of instant pictures.  I love that they came with their own built-in frame and could be handed out to watch develop right in the middle of the action.  My grandmother had a giant, noisy Polaroid that she used for family portraits.  That camera seemed so out of place in her utilitarian household, but the images that it spat out flattened and tinted the setting into something beautiful.

Thankfully I have a new love.  This Fuji camera is itself adorable and the tiny photos are even cuter.  (Thanks Japan!).  A line of these pictures along a shelf makes a great installation of family photos- no frames required.

Sister Dresses

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Ada requested matching sister dresses recently.  I’d already begun one for her before Josie was born and the request was a good excuse to finish.  (Not to mention the  small window of time when they still think it is cool to dress like a sibling).  These are from a 1972 McCall’s pattern- #3470.  I love vintage patterns!  Etsy and Ebay always have several.  I tweaked the pattern a bit to fit Josie and used some vintage violet print fabric that I’d been saving.  The beautiful Liberty print I cut Ada’s from was no longer available.  Ada likes to point out that they are not technically matching, but they like to wear them together anyway.

Party!

12 Monday Mar 2012

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Decorations on the fan.  The vintage lanterns are from flea markets and the large pink one is from Pearl River Mart store in Manhattan, (much better than the site).  We make the pom poms from Nashville Wraps tissue.The spread.  I scored the beautiful Jadeite pieces on Craigslist the day before the party.  They remind me of my Great Gram and they are the most perfect color to mix with hot pink and reds.  The chocolate cake is my favorite recipe.  It is a staple at our parties and inspired me to be brave about homemade cakes.  They are so worth it!  Polka dot fruit cups and stripey straws are from Shop Sweet Lulu.  She has lovely, edited, special party supplies.  Special drink.  We like to do a signature drink for our parties.  Josie’s was a sparkling berry soda.  We added a kick to the adult version.  You will need:

*2 oz.Sparkling berry drink. We used Lorina French Berry.

*1.5 oz. St. Germaine

*1.5 oz. Champagne

*Raspberry for garnish

1.Measure, mix and stir gently.  Pour into fancy glass over ice.  (Drinking champagne through a good straw makes it even more fun!)  I found the perfect vintage ‘B’ glasses for Chris at a church sale years before we had kids.  I would have gotten them even without the correct last initial and $5 price tag.  Josie-bean Ice Cream.  I love our vintage ice cream maker and any excuse to whip up a batch makes me happy.  The We are going to do custom flavors for the girls’ birthdays from now on.  For Josie-bean (Ada’s nickname for Josephine) you will need:

*3 Cups Heavy Cream.  Good quality cream is essential.  We use Ronnybrook Farm’s from our farmer’s market.

*2/3 Cups Unrefined Sugar.  I think this tastes better than white sugar.

*2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*Seeds from 2 Vanilla Beans

*2 Cups Fresh Raspberries

1.Scrape seeds from vanilla beans and add to cream, sugar and vanilla in small saucepan.  Drop empty pods into cream and heat on low heat until all sugar dissolves.

2.Remove vanilla bean pods and pour cream mixture into bowl.  Chill in fridge for an hour.

3.Pour cooled mixture into ice cream maker, add fresh raspberries and follow directions for your maker.

4.Serve immediately or store in freezer.  Allow to soften slightly before serving.

Happy Birthday Josie!

Felt Alphabet Magnets

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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I made these felt letters for Ada when she was just learning her alphabet.  They have strong magnets sewn inside so they can be stuck on the fridge.  Spelling out the letters of a child’s name also makes a nice gift.  You will need:

*Felt.  We used various colors of wool felt from Woolfeltcentral.com

*Embroidery Floss in contrasting color

*Stuffing

*Two or three Magnets per letter.  We used Tiny Mighties

*Glue

*Paper to make the patterns

1. Type out the alphabet in a simple font and enlarge to desired size.  Our letters are 3″ tall.  Print letters and cut out.

2.Lay paper letter pattern on top of felt and carefully cut along edges of paper to make the letter.  *You will need two- front and back for each letter.

3. Glue magnets onto the inside of the back half of the letter. Space out and use more for longer letters such as ‘M’ and fewer magnets for simple letters like ‘I’.  The magnets will be stitched inside the felt, so you don’t need much glue.

4. Place a little stuffing on top of magnets, between the two felt letter halves.  You can adjust stuffing position as you sew, and the stuffing will help prevent the strong magnets from sticking to each other.

5. Blanket stitch the two letter halves together, making sure the magnets are in the back and the face of the letter is not backwards.  Push any stray stuffing inside as you sew.

6. Allow glue to dry and then put them on the fridge!

If you aren’t feeling crafty you can buy some similar magnets here on Etsy.

Tail of the Yak

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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I first read about Tail of the Yak on the Oh Happy Day! blog.  Jordan described it as her favorite store, (which is saying a lot because her blog is so lovely).  I was so excited to visit on a trip out West last week. The tiny store has been in the same spot for 40 years, and it was even better than I had imagined.  It is magical and beautiful and ethereal. ..Here are some treasures:Tiny Glass Flowers and Birds, $8 per bunch.  I have been making child-sized crowns and these will be perfect for them. Little Metal Bird Pins, $.75 each.  Cheap and adorable!Leaf and Star Straight Pins, $4 each.  This packaging is almost too amazing to use them, but I can’t wait to start a sewing project!  I also think they would be perfect on a bulletin board.

I am missing the West Coast already!

Rainbow Fruit Cake

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

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I like to give kids their own little cake to eat on their first birthday.  The rest of the party may be lost on a one-year-old, but they generally like making a mess with food.  This recipe is simple and has way less sugar than the cake that the rest of us ate.  Josie loved the fruit and ate most of it before getting to the cake.  We used a mini springform pan that we got at A Cook’s Companion in Brooklyn.  You can also find one here.

Here is the recipe:

*2 Cups Flour

*1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

*1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

*2 Large Eggs

*1/2 Cup Baby Food (We used one large pouch of organic strawberry/banana)

*1 Cup Soy Milk

*1/4 Canola Oil

*1 Tablespoon Vanilla Sugar (See my Vanilla Sugar post for directions).

*1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*Sour Cream or Thick Greek Yogurt (For frosting)

*Variety of Cut Fruit for Rainbow

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.Grease Pan.

3.Mix dry ingredients.

4.Wisk eggs and mix with wet ingredients.

5.Pour wet into dry and mix until smooth and pour into pan.

6.Bake 20-30 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.

7.Release from pan after 15 minutes.

8.Frost with sour cream or yogurt when cool.

9.Arrange fruit on frosting just before serving.