A Little Color: Washed Out

Locale: Dreamy City via Beach Bungalow 8

I am in the mood for spring and the faded colors of spring--if only spring would really come to Minnesota and decide to stay with us.  In the meantime, a handful of washed out color is all I got...

Make It: Faded Granny Square at Ravelry

Inspiration: Old Penguin Classics, Source, unfortunately, unknown but I have this thing for old paperbacks

Decor: Wallpaper Patchwork via SFGirlby Bay

Eat: Party Spoons at  DeliciousDeliciousDelicious

Funny Bunnies

Here is that little bunny made from recycled sweaters I have been working on.  Kinda cute in that sweet and simple sort of way.  But you should know that there is also something a little funny about this bunny (and his friends)...

...and no, it is not their little tails colored like springtime confections (or candy-asses--as I was tempted to name them until my adult self took hold and shook me to my senses)...

...no, I am afraid these bunnies are earless--or maybe they are imposters merely impersonating bunnies...whatever the case, they are a bit goofy and maybe even a little sad looking once they remove their hats--but just put his hat back on and he'll be fine.  Really.

Oh, and did I mention that this little funny bunny design will be available to you in a set of spring-time inspired patterns I will be releasing in the next week or so?  Yes, there is more to come so stay riveted to your computer monitors until I make it back here with more information.  

What I Ate for Breakfast Today

What'd you eat for breakfast today?  Betcha what I ate was better than what you ate--meaning, better tasting, not better for your health.  Because this is definitely not good for your health--but is probably good for your momentary Saturday morning breakfast happiness--which must do something good for your body in some way, right?

The recipe came from Joy the Baker.  It is Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread and works and tastes exactly like the name sounds.  Which is delicious.  I saw this on Joy's blog, momentarily lost my mind, then had to go to the grocery store at 9pm last night to get some yeast so I could make up the dough and have it all ready for today's breakfast.

The scent of it baking in the your kitchen bright and early on a Saturday is enough to make your day better.  It tastes like eating the love child of toast sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and the soft doughy interior of a cinnamon roll.  You do not need the distraction of icing with this.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee, pull off a chunk and thank the gods for the gift that Joy the Baker is to this world--or better yet, just go to her blog and thank her directly.

Call me crazy but I am already thinking about how I could jerry-rig this recipe to make a pull-apart chocolate babka...

Just a Prototype

Hi.  I'm just a prototype so don't get too used to me or anything.  Probably won't be around here much longer once she takes off my ears and rips out my seams and reconfigures me into some other sort of bunny she likes better than me.  Not that I care.  I mean, can you see the view out the window behind me?  This is what passes for springtime in Minnesota.   Guess that's why I have a winter hat even though I am a symbol of spring and Easter and rebirth and all that.  Whatever.
Catch you on the other side.

3191 Quarterly

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I recently made a gift to myself of a subscription to 3191 Quarterly--the print version of the beautiful 3191 Miles Apart blog of Stephanie and Maria.  It is only published quarterly so I had to wait several weeks for my first issue to arrive and I had sort of forgotten I had even subscribed when the Winter issue arrived in its simple and lovely brown paper package--all wrapped up with the earlier Summer and Fall issues.

I waited for a quiet snowy weekend afternoon to settle in with a cup of tea and the winter issue.  I found there was something about the images, the articles, the projects that filled me with a sort of calm happiness just looking at them--so much so that I chose to save the other two issues so I could spread the experience out over a few days rather than gorging myself all in one go.

The subjects covered in the issues range from recipes...

{Summer 2010: Carmelized Corn and Shallot Salad with Avocado}

{Autumn 2010: Seeded Whole Grain Bread}

...to lovely photographic stories...

{Summer 2010: Vinyl in the Park}

...to simple and inspired projects...

{Autumn 2010: Art for Adults and Kids}

{Autumn 2011: Dying Shibori Scarves with My Mom}

Each issue is clearly seasonally inspired yet not so much so as to make the recipes and projects irrelevant after the season passes.  And did I mention the wonderful heft of the paper each issue is printed on?  Well, it just feels good and substantial in your hands and you really can feel the thought and care that goes into the magazine's creation.  While, I admit, it is an investment to subscribe, I would call it well worth it because each issue is now stowed on the shelf amongst my other most inspiring craft books, where it will be saved so it can be perused again and again for inspiration, a meal, a new project to begin.  And I love to know that I am helping to support two fantastically talented women who share their art with us each and every month for free on their blog--and I am happy to pay for a little extra of what they have to offer (all the content in the magazine is unique and not covered on their blog).

If you are interested, you can get your own copy of 3191 Quarterly right here.

A Little Color: Rainbow Connection

Make It: Embroidery Pattern by Wendi Gratz 

In belated honor of St Patty and all that, thought I would do a little rainbow for your color this week.  Also, has anyone noticed how rainbows are suddenly the new black?   

Decor: Vintage 70's Bathroom--Photo via Glen H

Art: Tin Plate by Peter Blake at Tate Modern Shop

Eat: Ice Box Rainbow Cookies by Good Life Eats 

Look and Smile: My Favorite Kind of Rainbow--photo via It's Nice That

And if you have not seen this yet--maybe you should--a rainbow and unicorns party by Juicy Bits...check it out here.

Happy Friday.

Over at Whip Up Again Today: Make an Art Supply Pouch

Hey.  I am over at Whip Up again today--Kathreen invited me to come on over for another round of guest blogging and tutorial-sharing--she's crazy like that (which I only mean in the nicest way because how can you not love the woman behind the genius of Whip Up, my personal one-stop-shop for all the best craftiness going on in blogland).

And in case you were wondering what I am up to over there, well, it is a little tutorial on how to make an art supply pouch--I know there are no shortage of tutorials already out there on making pouches, but I had my own reasons for creating theses specific pouches with the printed images of their art supply contents--which you can read more about over at Whip Up when you finally get around to going there.

Also, I just want you to know that putting together this little project involved me learning to create my own printable fabric sheets using Bubble Jet Set (and their recommended rinse), as well as some precut freezer paper (but you could cut your own if you are more industrious than me)--and as a result I am a now a life-long believer in making your own printable fabric sheets, people.  It is pretty simple, way more cost-effective, and the quality of the homemade sheets beats all others hands down (and I have tried many--but if you really want to purchase some ready-made, the best quality can be found here, in my opinion)--so that is just my personal plug on that crafting front, even without any sponsorship from Bubble Jet Set (although if they want to send me more of their product I will gladly accept and find good use for it--how shameless was that?).

Anyway, I offer several variations on the pouch (some above, but even more over at Whip Up) for those amongst you fearful of inserting zippers, or for those who might find a drawstring bag more to your liking.  I would also mention that if you want to create a pouch, but are just not in the mood to go through the additional step of taking photos of your art supplies to print on the fabric--well you are in luck because I have uploaded my own art supply photos to my Flickr account and you can download them for your own fabric printing, right here.  See?  I'm nice and I can share (even if I do pander for free products).

So, c'mon on over to Whip Up and download the tutorial in my usual PDF format--you can find me here.