in the studio {snowflakes on my desk...}

Today has been a chilly, gray day...thankfully its not snowing outside. Although a bit of pretty, papery snow has been accumulating on my desk. I've been busy in my little office, cutting and glueing away. Unintentionally, whites and grays and purples abound. Sort of like the weather and critters outside. I noticed the gray squirrel surveying our yard this afternoon, running the perimeter and pausing briefly. I imagine he's wondering when we'll fill up the bird feeders again so he can get back to his seed-thievery. We haven't filled the feeders since we got back from our SC trip...poor birds. I can't reach them and its always dark when Hub gets home from work now. And since our trip, Hub and I are attempting to turn over a new November leaf...to be healthier. I think traveling makes me feel this way. Eating strange things, getting out of a regular workout routine, etc... So last night we made Greek salads for dinner. And luckily I had some Spring Mix lettuce left to make myself one for lunch. I made a little vinaigrette right in the bottom of my bowl...sea salt mashed with a tiny garlic clove, pepper, oregano, white wine vinegar (because that's the kind we have but you could use another), and olive oil.

Mix the vinaigrette together and add in all the lovely, Greek-ish ingredients. I like red onions sliced very thin, pepitas, feta, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and OH NO...I just realized I forgot to add the kalamata olives! They add the perfect punch to this salad. Hmm...I had a feeling I'd forgotten something!

.....

Something I won't forget though is to share a bit of good news... My little Owl Cake Toppers were chosen as a finalist in the Martha Stewart Wedding & Etsy DIY Contest!!! According to Etsy's Storque article, a panel of judges from Etsy Admin and Editors of Martha Stewart Weddings used secret ballots to select 1 winner and 19 finalists from more than 3200 entries. Go here to see! Eek, I was (still am) excited! Congrats to the lovely winner as well! Fun stuff! :)

Charleston, SC

It's very tempting not to start this post with a "How y'all doin?"

After spending just a few days in the South, I so want to add a little twang to my speech! A little trip to Charleston, South Carolina was one of a few reasons I've been away from my blog for so long! Did you think I'd forgotten about y'all?

Hub had a work thing going on in Charleston and I had the good fortune to be able to go along. I don't think I've ever flown in the Fall before and it was so lovely, viewing all the changing colors of the trees from above. I was mesmerized and inspired! I've also never been to the East Coast, other than for brief layovers which really doesn't count.

The photo above shows a view from our hotel room. We stayed in the French Quarter, right near The Market where every single morning I watched people setting up their little spot with all their wares for sale. In the background of this photo, do you see the big, gray ship? Also every morning we'd wake to look out there and see a new ship docked there at the port. This one I believe was called the "Michigan Highway". Hub would look them up on his laptop to see where they originated from...Japan, Sweden, etc...I'm not sure what I expected Charleston to be like but I found it to be a pretty, charming old city for the most part...reminding me a bit of Paris (minus the palm trees) with all the historic buildings crammed together, pretty courtyards and tiny cemetaries tucked in between. There was also an abundance of restaurants and cafes every which way you looked. And we pretty much ate and walked our way all over downtown Charleston! One evening we ate at Hyman's Seafood with Hub's group where the most adventurous thing I had was fried tilapia and hush puppies. I know... I'm not very brave when it comes to seafood. They were trying to get me to eat a mussel, and I came close, but in the end there just wasn't enough garlic in the world to get me to do it! We came upon the bakery "Baked" on the day we arrived which I'd first read about here but had no idea they had a sister location in Charleston.

We went to peak inside and I was charmed...

...so I went back the next day for lunch! I will take quiche over mussels any day!

I also enjoyed my fair share of shopping on King Street while Hub was away...

Urban Outfitters was in this gorgeous, old theatre building chock full of pretty chandeliers and painted pink ceilings.

While walking through The Market, I chatted with a nice gal (also an Etsy-lover) who worked at this spot selling amazingly, beautiful framed butterflies.

One afternoon, we took a boatride over to Fort Sumter, where as the brochure says "where the Civil War began".

From the boat we had a better view of the stunning bridge that we could also glimpse from our hotel room window.

And on the way back, we floated right on by this enormous ship stacked high with containers. Hub and I were in awe...and we thought we'd seen large ships here on our little Lake Superior. Ha!

When Hub was finished with all his work stuff, we got out of downtown and drove over to Folly Beach. We love the beach and while others in Hub's group were off doing Plantation tours and spooking themselves by touring old jails, we headed straight for the beach! It was a hazy, gray afternoon and we enjoyed a peaceful, windblown time walking along the beach, digging our toes in the sand and feeling the warm, salty sea air on our skin. On our last full day there, we drove over that huge bridge to spend some time on Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms.

We ate lunch out in the blazing hot afternoon sun at a little restaurant called "Poe's Tavern". (Edgar Allen Poe was supposedly stationed at the Fort on the end of Sullivan's Island.) We realized it was Halloween and sort of a creepy coincidence. I distinctly remember reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" in my English Lit class...not so much the story itself, but the creepy feeling you had while reading it! And just to add to the drama at Poe's Tavern, big black birds (not Ravens though!) were sitting overhead on the umbrellas and in the trees, flying back and forth, and I never felt very comfortable while we were there!

Afterwards we drove over to Isle of Palms to walk the stretching 6 miles of white sandy beach. I decided it was too, too hot to carry my camera while out on the beach so I have no photos to show for it. (I get a bit cranky when I'm really hot so I guess its a good thing I live in Duluth!) My arms were sunburned and we were wishing we'd brought swimsuits and towels to spend our last afternoon lounging on the beach. We walked barefoot in the water and watched wistfully as others were playing in the waves. Perhaps another time...we may just have to go back. But it's always so good to get back home, back into a routine, and sleep in our own bed! Even though our hotel had the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in while traveling, there's just nothing like your own bed!

More soon, y'all! ;)

Pops of Yellow, Peaks of Sun...

This weekend we were finally graced with the sun's presence. Finally, after many cloudy days. I'm just not ready to enter into this long, dark, mostly gray season. So I think unconsciously pops of yellow, bits of sunshine, have been working their way into my latest creations, above:

1-Nature Sweet Nature

2-Deer Sweethearts

3 - BonBon Brooch
But today it is most definitely sunny and here I am inside! I suppose that has something to do with the fact that I'd promised Hub I go out and fertilize the lawn today since he had to go into work...on a Sunday too...blasphemy! ;) Just teasing you Hub, if you are at work reading this.

I did find some sweet little bird photos on the camera that Hub must have taken yesterday of some Yellow-Rumped Warblers. They've been around our woods the past couple of weeks, migrating through...and they love to sit on the deck railing and catch bugs. They have the brightest yellow spots on their rump that you can see when they're in flight (hence the name!), and little spots of yellow on their wings too. We've been noticing many different birds making their way South again by way of our woods. Just today we caught a brief sighting of a few bluebirds! They were so pretty and it was a first time for us to ever see these here. Have you noticed any migrating birds in your neck of the woods?

Well, I suppose I really should get out and enjoy the sunshine now, even if it involves doing some yard work.

Wishing you a lovely, sun-filled week!

.....

P.S. See those pretty little white leaves on my deer topper and brooch above? I just recently got them from this nice little Etsy shop here called Bird Nests & Paper, a great source for vintage crafty things!

Crafting Through the Changes

{a new wintery white deer couple...in the works} {collecting for crafting...bits of nature} {more feathery tag-making} {new owl sweethearts...now in the shop}

{votive-making...}
{I always love aerial views of things...} {more playing with papercutting...plentiful}
.....

We awoke to a thin blanket of snow on Saturday morning. It seems we've strangely fast-forwarded through Fall, heading directly into Winter. We scurried around on Saturday putting away the bird bath, outdoor furniture, plants and such. It felt like the proverbial battening down the hatches. I pulled out my puffer coat for a chilly walk and unexpectedly we searched for gloves and mittens in the rush to get to church. It's far too early to do my annual switcheroo of baskets in our back hall closet to bring out the hats and scarves baskets...at least I thought it was. And while I'm not quite sure what to make of all this (thank you very much global warming...), I'm rather hoping we'll rewind for a bit to enjoy some more autumn-like weather. So even as temperatures and daylight hours and things around us are in flux, I'm keeping my head down, maintaining some semblance of order by crafting. That has been my constant.

Lutsen

Hub and I headed up the north shore of Lake Superior to spend a restful, woodsy weekend in Lutsen. While the weather was dismally gray and misty, accompanied by the kind of damp cold that seems to seep deep into your bones, it still couldn't detract from the beauty of this place. The tumultuous weather also made for some of the biggest, most amazing waves I've seen on the lake in a long time. Yet what we lacked for in good weather, we more than made up for in gastronomical delights!

We indulged in a fair amount of fish...Hub often orders it and we always end up sharing our meals. He had a very good Swordfish for dinner one evening, deep fried Herring the next, and we also made a stop to the smoked fish house on our way up where he purchased a chunk of smoked Salmon. As he was purchasing the salmon, I, rather out of character, impulsively grabbed a couple homemade caramels that were sitting in a big bowl on the counter. And they turned out to be the best caramels we've ever had. I wish I had purchased the whole bowl of them! Funny how something so small was a little highlight of the "foodie" part of this trip for me. Another highlight was the White Truffle Gnocchi we shared at Nokomis one day. I hope there are truffles in heaven! ;)

While most of our time was spent hiking around Lutsen, the Cascade River, and the gorgeous hike to Carlton Peak, we also squeezed in a massage (for me) and a little misty golf (for Hub). It's not too surprising that we spent time soaking in the hot tub, but what was surprising for us was our closing out the evenings rather competitively at the lodge's Ping Pong table...which Hub was victorious at every single time... But it made for a pretty good weekend all in all!

Holding On...

Steaming hot tea, steaming hot baths, covering up plants the other night due to the first frost warning! Turning on the furnace and snuggling under the down comforter for the first time last night. Washing up and putting away the quilt for the season. Enjoying Honeycrisp apples and Bartlett pears. Prone to wearing skirts over leggings & knitting a few rounds in my latest knitting project (socks!) whenever time affords... Just more signs and tangible proof that the season is changing. Yet while my tea consumption is increasing, we've still been trying to hold on to summer just a bit as we eeked out the last uses of propane in our grill. Until last night, when the tank ran dry...mid-grilling. Which is quite unfortunate since I was hoping to grill potatoes again. You see, we were at some friends' for dinner a couple weekends ago and they sent us home with a hefty sack of veggies from their enormous vegetable garden. But the real gem of all the produce turned out to be these gorgeous, huge, red potatoes. I didn't know homegrown potatoes could taste so good, so much better than regular potatoes, but they really really do! I never knew!

We grilled some up the other night in a big packet of folded tinfoil and they were delicious...velvety smooth, and so fresh tasting, just plucked from the earth. Although it wasn't anything too inventive or complex, I don't want to forget how we grilled these...and I thought I'd share here just in case you can get your hands on some lovely homegrown potatoes too. And if you have any extra, you can certainly send them our way!

Slice potatoes very thin (about 1/8" thick) and spread in a layer on some (greased) tinfoil. Add a few slices of onion and a few garlic cloves...I left a few almost whole (just cut in half) and minced up 1 clove. (We threw in a few carrots they'd given us too, for good measure.) Season with sea salt, freshly ground pepper, dried thyme, and a bit of dried rosemary. Dot with a few pats of butter and fold up tightly. Grill over a med-low for about 25 minutes, turning packet over halfway through.

Perhaps we'll have to fill up our grill's propane tank now rather than waiting until next spring...just so we can do these potatoes this way again!
~Happy October! Happy Fall Grilling!~
.....
P.S. I was notified that a sweet little (new-to-me) blog featured my shop today...a very nice feature at that! Merci!