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.

Balloons

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Bringing home the giant balloons for Josie’s party.  Her favorite part of the day may have been the stroller walk with balloons above her head.  I found these 36″ giants at Bargain Balloons for cheap and then Party City filled them for $2 each!  This is exciting because everyone else in my area was quoting me $20 per balloon to fill.  (Sorry for all the prior bad-mouthing Party City).  We did have to walk a mile with the double stroller, but Ada helped look out for pointy gates and low hanging branches.  Josie got a lot of smiles and birthday wishes on the way.

Prism

05 Monday Mar 2012

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In college I audited the most magical class about women and domestic space.  The professor asked if any of us had ever sat in our house for the day and watched the light change.  I didn’t understand what, or why she was asking at the time.  Now that we are settled in our house, I get it.  The right light was that illusive something I searched for when we were house hunting.  I nearly drove Chris insane when after a year and a half of looking I couldn’t explain why a building just wasn’t quite right.  Now I realize it was the light all along.  It was the question that Professor Tarbox asked us to consider.  How will the light look in the space where you spend your days?  How does that light make you feel?  How does it change with the seasons?  Will your mornings be bright in your space and how will the shadows change with afternoon?

The light is why I fell in love with our house, despite its list of 1000 projects.  The light is beautiful here.  It thrills me every day to watch it change.  I chase it from floor to floor, searching for the perfect spot to photograph.  I wanted Ada to see it too, so we found this big prism from an old chandelier at the Brooklyn Flea.  (The Hot Wheels guy has a bunch if you happen to go).  Now Ada can watch the light bend and move around her room.

Invitation

02 Friday Mar 2012

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Josephine is almost one already!  I am not sure how the year passed so quickly, so we are celebrating for more than one day.  I’ll share some of the birthday ideas in more posts.  Here is the invitation:

We used photo corners to attach her picture and a custom stamp for the inside.  The stamp shipping is cheap if you buy a few, so we have a stockpile for upcoming birthday years.  The square envelopes are from here.

Happy Birthday Josie-bean!

Wooden Fruit

01 Thursday Mar 2012

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I love these ingenious wooden fruits by Haba.  They are a knotted simple string and two wooden beads.  I like the idea of making some of our own versions of fruit.  I wonder what others we could come up with…

Food

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

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One of our favorite additions to Ada’s play kitchen are these colorful wool felt balls.  They have been served as everything from blueberries to soup to tea.  It is also easy to make your own felt balls if you would like a simple project.  You can find beautiful felting wool here.

The dishes are a lovely ceramic children’s set from Ikea.  (I much prefer living with a few broken pretty dishes than ugly sturdy ones). The fabric “pancankes” are pieces of vintage prints that Ada requested from the sewing box.  We found them long ago at a flea market and they were meant to become a quilt.  A few stitches and stuffing made them into food.  I love watching kids invent from beautiful, ambiguous materials.

Toy Kitchen Jars

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

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These play food jars are easy to make and the contents look and sound like real spices and dry goods, without the mess.  They are one of Ada’s favorite additions to her play kitchen.  You will need:

*Small recycled jars

*Dry popcorn, beans, beads, pompoms, etc.  (We used glass beads and pearls from an old necklace for good sound effects and pompoms for fun color).

*Glue (Craft or hot glue will work).

*Fabric scraps to cover the tops

1. Fill jars.

2. Trace lid onto fabric and cut out.

3. Put a line of glue along the threading inside the jar lid and screw on tightly.  Wipe off any excess glue.  Be careful not to shake the jar until the glue is dry or your beads will stick to any drips inside the lid.

4. Glue the fabric on top of the lids and allow to dry.

5. Hand over to your Julia or Jacques and wait for your souffle.

Shell Necklace

27 Monday Feb 2012

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We love to take winter walks on the beach.  It is lovely to have a beach all to ourselves and the shell hunting is the best in the off-season.  The amazing amount of shells is both a blessing and a curse when you take a three-year-old with pockets.  In order to avoid the meltdown when we tell her stinky crab legs and giant driftwood are not coming home with us we started searching for necklace shells.  These small, clean shells with existing holes generally fit in pockets and are an easy project when tied onto string at home.

Flight Pack

24 Friday Feb 2012

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We have yet to try flying with both kids.  An upcoming visit to the West coast has me excited and a bit worried about how to entertain two on the road.  So I filled up Ada’s dog backpack with activities and fun stuff for the flight.  (Top secret to her until takeoff).

*Little Packrats bags are adorable and made in the USA.

*Maurice Sendak’s Nutshell Library– four tiny, poetic stories with detailed illustrations.  We traded their cardboard for a softer pouch.

*Organic fruit snacks from Target.  A rubber band keeps them under control in the bag.

*Sticker and magnet books.  Small enough to fit in a child’s backpack.

*Wild Animal Baby Magazine from the National Wildlife Federation.  Ada gets as excited about a new issue in the mail as I do about my magazines.  This one is small enough for little hands.

*A pristine blank book to fill up with drawings, paintings and stickers.

*Clementine art supplies.  They are non-toxic and come in sweet little packages.

*Pipe Cleaners in Brown Bear Colors.

*A Rabbit and a Mouse.

This should get us through the flight with minimal IPod time.