strawberry muffins...

I think strawberry muffins may be one of my favorite kind of muffins.  The strawberries taste so good smothered within a sweet, cake-y muffin...almost like it is filled with jam.  I made these ones earlier this week and even little baby Bub couldn't resist gobbling some of one up, still warm from the oven, as I held him in my lap.

P.S.  That little pink bowl with handles (I think originally a sugar bowl?) is one of my latest thrift store finds!  I looove little bowls and cups (and things that hold things I guess). This pink one (Fire King) with swirls was calling my name.  After about a year long thrifting/antiquing dry spell, I finally found some lovely things last week!  That is what makes the thrill of the hunt all the more exciting!

a little Christmas around the house

Some decorating done around the house this past Saturday evening, after little baby was in bed. I didn't think I'd have the time or energy to do very much this year. Honestly I can barely just do the essential things as of late...but Hub encouraged me and we really did have fun doing this together like little elves while little Bub was fast asleep in his crib. We put up villages and elves and hung some of my favorite vintage ornaments (and a few other nature-y ones too) on tree branches I had spray-painted white, placed in a big vase on the mantel. We took out our smokers and our pyramids. And we finally both agreed a real Christmas tree was impractical and therefore out of question this year again, since little Bub has just started rolling like crazy all over the house. He doesn't crawl yet but he can roll himself across a room in no time flat, especially when no one is looking. Which is pretty exciting, even more exciting than getting a real Christmas tree so I'm okay with that!

little weekend projects...

The weekend was good and laid back...the first one that's felt like this in a long while. I made some chocolate covered strawberries for a friend's wife's birthday.

I hadn't made them in a looong time... I forgot how good these are!

Also, I finished my project for little baby's room. Remember these old frames? I decided to pretty much leave them as is except for a bit of sanding (originally I had planned to paint them but decided I liked the natural/rustic wood look best...it complements the brown accents and juxtaposes nicely with all the crisp white in his nursery). As you can see, I have a little bit of a "deer" theme going. I searched for vintage children's books containing deer illustrations to find a good picture for the bottom left frame...and luckily I came across a great book at my local thrift shop that had a neat cover illustration. The book must have been in a library at one time as there was plastic over the paper jacket cover. So when I took off the plastic it was still in great condition! The other two frames contain some patterned paper topped off with handcut things...a deer silhouette and the letter "A" in a light green paper...It's a little hard to see in this photo...but I'm so happy with how it all turned out!

the last of summer...

enjoying the last things of summer lately...like the first tomatoes, homemade basil pesto, pushing a baby stroller on a sunny walk, snipping the last blush roses from our bushes out front to bring inside.

and enjoying the first freshness of fall...chilly evenings, the first fire, harvest moon, pushing the stroller on a cool day, cozy sweaters.

and always enjoying some baby stuff too...like seeing him use the things I so lovingly made before he was born, before I knew him...like these socks, and this quilt....and finally, enjoying the ideas brewing for new things to make to decorate his nursery walls...like incorporating the vintage frames (above) that I just recently thrifted.

a little bday recap...

Oh my, where did the week go? I can't believe it is Friday already. This week has been a bit of whirlwind beginning with the weekend prior spent in the Cities for a baby shower and a gorgeous Easter day with my family...then Hub was briefly in Boston, later Mum came up for a quick visit, and oh yes...it was my birthday too. This week also brought snow, rain, wind, and finally today...sunshine! Phew! I'm ready for a quiet, Spring-like weekend at home with my hub now!

I spent my birthday with Mum, enjoying a great lunch out and lots of shopping together. Above was a birthday dessert they surprised me with at the Norwegian cafe we ate at...complete with singing me a sweet Norwegian song. In the evening, Hub took me out to our favorite Thai place for dinner. The great thing about birthdays AND being pregnant at the same time? He let me get 2 appetizers!!! ;)I also bought myself a few little birthday presents while out...a pretty floral vintage oil painting (snippet of it above) that I've had my eye on for quite some time...and a cute vintage doe & fawn planter (first photo) that I just couldn't resist. How sweet would that be coralling some things in the baby's room on a shelf or perhaps planted with a sweet, dainty Baby Tears plant?

Happy Weekend! ~L

fabric buttons...

I discovered a new, fun thing just recently... I picked up these vintage "cover-your-own" button kits at my local thrift store the other day. I do like old buttons...but to make your own!?! Exciting, right? I know! I can't stop... I had just bought some new fabric prior to this with all these little circles filled with cute things like flowers and birds. The bird one fit perfectly onto this tiny button. And I had a tiny scrap of vintage fabric that I always thought was so sweet...and it was just perfect for making a set of 3 cheery, yellow buttons. Hmm...the crafty ideas are really flying now!

paper hearts...

Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't do very much in the way of "valentine-ing" this year. Not like last year. Or even the year before now that I look back on it. But Mum came up for a little visit late last week and brought along the sweetest heart punch...ever! This scalloped heart with all sorts of holes & details that punch out of it. So cute! So I borrowed her punch and punched out a variety of colored hearts. There're so many possibilities for this punch beyond just making cards with it...

So I strung some on twine to add a bit of love to our home. And I stuck one under the tiniest little belljar I acquired while Mum and I were out thrifting. The only real "valentine-ing" I will do now today will involve a bit of baking & cooking for my Valentine, Mr. Hub...you know what they say...the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

xo~L

a different sort of Christmas {+ some BIG news!}

{mum's windowsill...lined with some sweet, vintage-y things}

{a package for my brother and sister-in-law...my tag says "Wishing you a very Merry (vintage) Christmas!"...Oddly enough we both gave each other vintage things for Christmas...I'll have to take a photo of what they gave us later...so incredibly cute that it deserves its own post!}
{knitted fingerless mittens I made for my mother-in-law}

{baking Pecan Mandelbrot, similar to biscotti, which turned out to be quite a hit}

{I found the recipe in my Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook, also available online here}

{packaging the Pecan Mandelbrot...you really can't go wrong with a Martha recipe & Martha packaging supplies!}
.....

Another Christmas season has past, but before I file this one away in my memory, a few photos of scenes from my Christmas spent with family, some things I made for gifts, and some other ponderings on this recent holiday...

It really was a bit of a different Christmas season for me this year. To start with, we decided not to get a tree. The first time we didn’t get a tree in 8 years of marriage. Which felt a little odd to us at first. We felt like we were letting Pappy (our favorite tree-seller man) down just a bit. Also, Hub and I decided not to exchange gifts with each other either (although he cheated on this little pact quite a bit!). I also (gasp!) didn’t send out any Christmas cards this year. Now, I may be sounding a bit bah-humbug at this point…but there is something to be said for trying to simplify an already crazy, stressful time of year. I truly think one of the main reasons we really skipped the tree as well as exchanging gifts this year was the blessing of some very special news…we will be having our first baby in June! A true miracle and blessing which pretty much makes everything else pale in comparison right now. Lugging out the tree decorations and spending money on material things neither of us really need seemed a bit, well, less than exciting compared to our very exciting news this year. All I really want to think about is what this baby will be like, what things I could knit for the baby, how we should decorate the nursery, and give my body some rest from this stressful season for a year. However I did bake a couple batches of Christmas cookies. And I did put up my favorite little vintage village along with decorating the mantel and a few other special touches to make the house feel a bit Christmas-y. And I even attempted to make caramels again this year. My first attempt at them last Christmas had gone so well. They were delicious! This year, however, different story. For some reason I had 2 caramel recipes…one in a magazine and one printed out from the Internet. The printed out one was folded in half and stuck in the magazine by the other recipe. Hmm…which one did I use last year? I couldn’t recall for certain but I was pretty sure it had to be the printed out one that used about half of the ingredients as the other one. But the magazine recipe had far more detailed instructions. So, in my (pregnant) mind, I logically thought, I’ll use the ingredients from the printed out recipe but follow the magazine’s instructions! Brilliant, right!? Not right. After about 8 minutes of boiling the ingredients on high heat, I started to smell a bit of a burnt, marshmallow sort of smell. OH no! I had completely ruined the caramels! The pan was entirely burnt on the bottom and the burnt bits were mixing in with the bubbling caramel mixture. I still threw in the vanilla extract at the end, hoping that might magically rectify the situation...somehow. Hub came into the kitchen at that time and I told him what I had done. I’m pretty sure he made a couple “blonde jokes” and asked what I was thinking. Who follows the ingredients from one recipe but the instructions from a different one? Who does that sort of thing? A pregnant woman is all I can guess. I don't know? It seemed so logical at the time.

So the next day I got back in the kitchen again and made a new-to-me recipe, Pecan Mandelbrot. A crumbly sort of bread-like cookie, similar to biscotti. This went much better than the caramels... so I think I'll stick with the Mandelbrot next year!

Hope your Christmas season was merry!

xo~L

thrifty entertaining...

Well no...this post isn't about entertaining on the cheap, but moreso about utilizing a few of my recent "thrifted" finds for a dinner last Saturday night:

{photo 1} Nothing vintage, just the oregano I had on my table for a little garden greenery...

{photo 2} Adorable owl napkin rings...I love love love these for a woodland/nature themed dinner.

{photo 3} A really great old cheese board with thick glass cloche...we served a "blue cheese, toasted walnuts, and honey" appetizer...you can't go wrong with that combo. Also seen, the corner of my favorite new (old) thrifted plates that I got in the summertime adorned with strawberries, butterflies, and ladybugs upon them...they are so sweet that I use them almost constantly, regardless of the occasion...

because everyday should be a little bit special, right?

at my sunny window...

...a simple curtain now hangs!

The sun comes into this side of the house so gloriously in the afternoons. But a little privacy is a good thing...especially in a bathroom!I finished my curtain last week (my very first "real" sewing project) after much consideration of lace or no lace on the bottom. Did it make it look a little granny-ish or add character? Well, after my parents visited a couple weekends ago, I was able to get my mum's opinion too. Lace it was! Mum gave me a pile of vintage lace pieces awhile back that I've been finding some new uses for in sometimes unexpected places. And this piece of sturdy lace was the perfect length for my curtain!Now, all I need are those Anthropologie towels I saw that I think would go perfectly with my curtain as well! I love their towels...

One thing always seems to lead to another, no?

.....

Happy Monday!

~L

(*towels pictured found here)

all things blue...

I realized today that there've been a lot of pretty shades of blue around me lately.

First off, my lovely Delphinium plant which was in full bloom, welcoming us when we came home from the cabin last week. These flowers always remind me of little flower fairy caps and I love this particular blue color. (This picture from Anthropologie's July catalogue almost, almost makes me want to cut a bunch and wrap them up in brown paper, just to cart around like that...so lovely!) And I mentioned in my last post about picking wild blueberries at the cabin, but we came home to find our own plants chock full of ripe berries just waiting to be plucked! And I've been eating them every day since. Such a tasty blue! Yesterday, I spent some time repotting many of my indoor houseplants. They sorely needed it and I'd been meaning to do it for a long time. Some had simply outgrown their pots or needed fresh potting soil, and others I wanted to switch into sweeter pots...
...like the lovely blue McCoy pot (left) that Hub gave me for my birthday!
And finally, the blue-ish background to a new little paper & thread collage piece I recently did. Now I just need to find the right sort of vintage-y, shadowbox-y sort of frame. Then I'll take some better photos of it too.
~Happy BLUE Thursday!~

encyclopedia of...really awesome

Behold, the Encyclopedia of Needlework!

Who knew there was such an ancient yet pretty little pale olive green book as this, filled with hundreds of pages of everything needle-wise under the sun, and all sheltered between the sweetest, leafy cover?

I didn't.

My first little project from this book? Making pom-poms. I'll let you know how that goes.