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!

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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}
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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!~
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P.S. I was notified that a sweet little (new-to-me) blog featured my shop today...a very nice feature at that! Merci!

Sweet & Simple {felt flower bobby pins}

Hello there!

Well, as mentioned in my previous post, I crafted these simple bobby pins for some sweet little ladies whose 6th birthday party we attended last weekend. Constructed simply of wool felt, thread, and plain bobby pins, they couldn't be any easier. At the last minute, I decided to add some of my vintage buttons onto the flowers for a little more, little girl cuteness.
The flowers were fashioned using a method I'd seen in MS Living's August 09 issue. These instructions were really intended for using the flowers to embellish store-bought pillows. And the flowers were made of ultrasuede fabric and had just 4 petals, not 5. But I thought they were cute and could be adapted just as easily with a nice wool felt for embellishing most anything. You simply knot the end of thread and sew a running stitch through the petals. Pull the thread to gather the petals and knot the thread on that end. Then, sew the last and first petals together to form a flower.
I punched 2 holes into an adorable owl, cardstock-weight paper to hold the bobby pins and slipped these cards into plain white pillow envelopes. Now I'm thinking I'll have to make some version of fancy felt flower bobby pins for myself...they'd be perfect for Fall! And it is officially feeling like Fall here...windy, chilly, sweater weather, golden crinkly leaves swirling round...bright blue skies one moment, gray and imposing the next. And I bought a new, cozy wool skirt the other night. Yep, it's really Fall. Brr! Hope you're staying cozy, wherever you are! :)

Fading Garden...

Today I went out in the late afternoon sun and took some snapshots of my sun-dappled, fading garden in the woods. It gradually expanded over the summer with a little, U-shaped stone path sweeping through it. And I've gradually added to it here and there. Adding more rocks that I unearthed. Adding more plants...some bought from the nearby nursery, some from Mum. And next year it will be even more glorious...in my mind anyways...now that I have a little more knowledge about what I'm doing. I tend to it almost every morning, pulling back the fallen leaves from around my plants. Picking off slugs. I won't even tell you how many I've, um, destroyed...through, uh...let's just say, various methods. My tiny garden in the woods is my little sanctuary though. And in futility, as I try to keep it free of the fallen leaves, Hub gently laughs...because another leaf swiftly falls to take its place. I know it's a losing battle in the end. But I'm holding on for as long as I can...trying to maintain it. Perhaps that's why I felt compelled to capture it in a bunch of photos today...to look back on in the wintertime and tide me over on the bleakest and whitest of long winter days.

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P.S. The first photo is in "soft focus"...I was messing around with it in Photoshop...so that's why it looks a bit blurry, but I thought it also made it look a little magical!

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P.P.S. Hub and I are heading to a little birthday party this weekend for some sweet nieces...and I did a little bit of craftyness for them...I'll share next week, hopefully!

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Red.White.Black.

I've been working on some new votives lately, including a custom order one for a gal who's mother used to own a shop with the word "ladybug" in it. Yesterday, with all of my tiny handcut ladybugs lined up on my desk, I was distracted by color and decided to take a mini-break (and give my scissor hands a rest!). I grabbed all the little things around me that I saw were in the colors of red and black. I have tons of things on my desk in shades of green, pink, and brown...so finding red & black was a bit more challenging. And then I tried my hand at a very hasty, impromptu (not to mention poorly lit) photo of this color compilation. I've seen these lovely photographs on blogs (or Etsy?) in the past where the artist has compiled various things/trinkets/misc... in just one shade (I think?) and then takes a photo of it (but I can't remember who or where?). Anyway, I always thought I'd like to try it sometime with my own trinkets...I guess because I delight in all the simple little things and it just looks cool when they're all organized by color. I really like organization too. ;) So like I said, mine was hasty and poorly photographed and sometime I'd like to try to do a better one...but here's my first attempt, as well as my new Ladybug Luminary papercut votive. I love how this one turned out. Ladybugs really are kinda cute and have since grown on me. Even at this time of year, when I'm pretty much ready for all bugs and slugs and other such garden critters to vanish until next year.

Garden Tomato Soup {Hello Fall}

It seems only fitting that after weeks of sunny days and warm temps, that today, the first official day of Fall, should descend upon us with foggy, drizzly, gray skies. The last couple weeks have been a flurry of activity around here (hence my spotty blogging) and an abundance homegrown produce...namely tomatoes!

So say you have a lot of tomatoes on hand... And say you've already made salsa, bruschetta, your favorite cherry tomato pasta dish and more with them. If you're like me then you may consider enjoying some of the season's freshest tomatoes in another format: a creamy and savory, chunky garden tomato soup!

My recipe is always very improvised and unmeasured. I start by sauteing some carrots, celery, onion, and garlic (all roughly chopped) in a little olive oil and a bit of butter. While that's cooking, I chop up a bunch of tomatoes. When the veggies have sauteed about 10 minutes, I add in the tomatoes and broth. (This time I used 2 cans of Swansons Vegetable broth...but chicken broth works good too.) Add in the seasonings (salt, pepper) and herbs (fresh basil, parsley...) and one bay leaf. I really think bay leaves are the magic ingredient to a great soup. I used to mistakenly leave them out and underestimate their necessity whenever a recipe called for them simply because I didn't have any. But a couple years ago I bought some and a whole new cooking world opened up for me! They give soup that extra little something that just makes it! So don't skip them! Okay, so back to the soup...let it simmer for about 20 minutes or so...then stir in a little heavy whipping cream. Enjoy with some rustic crackers & cheese or bread! It's so simple, and I'm pretty sure its rather healthy too with all those veggies, don't you think?

Now, does anyone have any good suggestions for what to do with a zucchini?

Happy Fall!