Have a Sweet Christmas

I got my candy making mojo on a couple of days ago and with a little assistance from Mr Beeper.  We managed to produce this assortment of candies over a couple of evenings.  Having personally taste tested all of them, I can vouch for their edibility.  In fact, perhaps they may be a little too edible.

Which is why we have packaged most of it up in these sweet pale blue boxes from Martha and delivered them around to friends and family.  But if you get a little hankering to make some candy for yourself, here are links to all of the recipes we used:

Bourbon Pecan Truffles

Coconut and grapefruit gumdrops

Fleur de Sel Caramels

Mint Marshmallows 

(adapted by adding 1/2 tsp mint extract to the basic recipe and then dipped half in milk chocolate)

Movie Theatre Bark

Nuts and Seeds Fleur de Sel Dark Chocolate Bark

Pistachio, Dried Cranberry and Toasted Coconut White Chocolate Bark

Toffee Fleur de Sel Truffles

Winter Bark

The cookie lollies on top of the boxes were inspired by the look of this recipe--but are actually an entirely different creation.  They were made with oreos that I pushed a lolly stick into, then dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with the red winter berries.

Hope you have a sweet holiday filled with love, laughter and some lovely treats.

Blog Crush: Mini Eco

I am in utterly in love with Mini-Eco.  I think I have seen of the tutorials before kicking around on other blogs, but I never really went over for a visit until now--and I am so glad I did .  

There is much color and light and creativity that emanate from this blog--all the things I love.  And her commitment to inspiring her children with what can be made simply...well, love that.

You have to go see it for yourself because there are so many inspiring and simple tutorials--things I would like to make right now (nevermind that it is 1:00am and I am in a hotel room en route to my in-laws for the holidays).  Like this holiday-inspired scented playdough that I will be making as soon as I get back home...

...or these paper beads (because Beeper was just searching for some beads to make necklaces from the other day)...

...or these Halloween-y shadow puppets that will suit Beeper fine any old time of year given his adoration of monsters...

And there is more there--plenty more.  Really, I just want to make it all with Beeper.  At least I know now what we will be doing over holiday break.  Thanks, Kate.

Go have a look for yourself--here.

Note: All photos are courtesy of Mini-Eco and belong to Kate and her wonderful blog.

Eat This: Grandma Neuman's Cookies

You might be wondering who the heck Grandma Neuman is and what does she have to do with these cookies.  Well, I have tell you I do not even know who the heck Grandma Neuman is other than that these cookies are made from her recipe.  You see, back in the seventies, my brother was a paper boy in a small Minnesota town and one of his customers was this old lady, whom was only known to him as "Grandma Neuman" (small towns, gotta love 'em).  One Christmas, Grandma Neuman gave my brother a small box of these cookies as a thank you  (again, small towns--wish my world in the city was more like this...but I am pretty sure that if we gave our paper boy a box of cookies he would scowl at us)...the cookies came home, we all dug into them, and my mom then declared we must have the recipe and sent my brother back to request the recipe the next time her delivered her paper...and here we are today, still eating Grandma Neuman's cookies every single Christmas.

And these cookies are one my holiday faves--both because of how the recipe came to us, but also because they are simple to mix up, fun to cut out, and are a wonderful simple cookie that falls somewhere in flavor between a sugar cookie and gingerbread.   I guess they are a spice cookie.  And you can see above, the dough is Beeper approved.

This was Beeper's first year that he really dug into the whole cookie making process from start to finish--and you can see the colorful (did I hear someone say gaudy?), and richly festooned (did someone say looks like rainbow vomit?) fruits of his labors.  

But you can also make these with simple white sanding sugar and they are lovely--like these little gingerbread men (that are technically not gingerbread men, I know...) that just got a light sprinkle of sugar and 3 red hot buttons and were piereced before and after baking with a skewer so they could be threaded with baking twine and hung on the tree.  Or, you can just eat them too--because you will want to and they are just plain good in the way something can only be when it comes from an old lady known only as Grandma Neuman to her town.  

You can download the recipe here:

DOWNLOAD COOKIE RECIPE

For You: 2011 Beeper Bebe Calendar

First off, I know my blogging has really been sporadic at best the past few months--which I have probably hated more than you--but there was this perfect storm of opportunity that descended upon me back in August--I was asked to be in a magazine, then I was asked to guest blog on Whip Up, then I was asked by three different people with three different publishers to contribute to books--and then I was accepted as a vendor to the No Coast Craft O'Rama.  Damn!  It has been a busy three months--an avalanche of activity I am grateful for, but I have missed the rhythm of contributing to this blog and meeting up with all of you.

But now I am here.  Perhaps not quite rested yet given the holiday crafting mania that besets me annually like an illness for which there is no cure (homemade ornaments!  cookies!  handmade gifts! yes, yes, YES!), but here I am, nevertheless.  Sipping some tea, happy because I have managed to come up with a little gift for all of you--call it a thank you for continuing to stop by, for continuing to leave a little comment or two, for continuing to check in despite the fact that I may not have been home at all.

You see, I always make calendars every year for Mr Beeper, and my mum, but it got me thinking--why not a calendar for you? Because everyone needs a little calendar to hang over their desk--something than can both be useful and lovely to look at.  So I have gathered photos from all my favorite projects I made this past year and put them into this calendar...and maybe it will even inspire you to make some of them since over half of the photos are from projects you can download instructions and templates for right here.

Anyway--thank you.  Yes, you.  For being my friend in all of this crafty craziness, for lending support when called upon, for just stopping in.  It's nice to not be alone and to have someone who will enable all my crafting mania.  Now, go get your 2011 Beeper Bebe calendar (um, it is kind of a big file, so patience please) and I'll be seeing you around here a little bit more now...

DOWNLOAD CALENDAR

Still More in my Shop: Kiddie Cones

I love vintage dime store toys so I got a little crazy and made up these kiddie cones that contain an assortment of vintage dime store toys and a few classic candies.  Each cone is made from fabric and fully lined with a contrasting fabric and has a ribbon handle for easy hanging from some lucky child's door knob or something like that.  And when emptied, the cone can be upended and worn as a hat--clever, eh?  They were a hot seller at the No Coast sale.

Anyway, you can find 6 different assorted kiddie cones in my shop--each with its own sweet trove vintage fun.  Find them all here.

Also, I am so done with posts about shop updates...now I am onto Christmas gift creation and some tutorials for all of you...

In My Shop: More Toys & Stuff Than You Can Shake a Stick at...

It is all photo mosaics, all the time around here lately.  But I just wanted you to know about all the stuff that has landed in my shop--this really was the biggest shop update I have ever done and my shop overfloweth with all manner of stuff....this is what happens when you craft 24-7 for about a month, in case you were wondering what that looked like.  Seriously, I am ridiculously sleep deprived at this point and am surviving on an intraveinous green tea drip and triple chocolate coated almonds--on the upside, Craig Ferguson and I have become real tight and meet up nightly around 11:30pm.  

 I am looking forward to being back around the blog again more regularly, with some new tutorials and fewer photo mosaics...And, if you are interested or are still needing to finish up some shopping for some kiddos, you might want to stop in and check out my shop--find it here.

No Coast Craft O'Rama: Come Say Hey

Hey you.  You may not realize it, but you should--it is the weekend of the No Coast Craft O'Rama here in Minneapolis.  And if you are from this area, you should stop everything so you can come on over and do some shopping and stop in at my booth and say "hey".  I love meeting you in person.  

The sale is from 9-5 today at the Midtown Global Market on Chicago and Lake Streets.   You can read more about the No Coast here and all of its uber-cool crafty vendors.

And yes, all those photos above are of the things I am selling today (new things like the fabric cones filled with vintage dimestore toys and candies, organic cotton sleepy bear, the monster i-pod cozies, the elepharoos, the smiling dotty hippos...)--in addition to matchbox monsters, beddy bye beasts, bitty bow wows, cute as a button hairpins, counting bean bags, batbaby hats, onesies, bibs, and more that I am sure I am forgetting because I really need to be finishing this post and getting over to the sale so I can set up now....

Oh--and I really did make A BUTTLOAD this year so I am sure there will be stuff I will not sell so if there is anything you see here that you really would like for yourself, please leave a comment stating what it is and your email address--or just send me a separate email with said info--and I would be pleased as punch to put up a reserve listing for you in my Etsy shop (my standard shipping charges will apply--but I am happy to ship priority mail at no extra cost to you so it can reach you in two shakes of a lamb's tail.)

And happy Saturday to everyone.  Hope there is some handmade on everyone's holiday shopping list.