cranberry bread

One big pleasure of the season, besides decorating Christmas tree and drinking cocoa, is eating cranberry bread! We wait until Thanksgiving to make the first loaf, it is so easy to bake and so easy to eat.... One way to cut down on eating so much of it is making mini loaves, and even better bringing some to the neighbors.

A few of my neighbors are older folks, living by themselves, but keeping an eye on the hood, perfect to make sure the kids make it from school safe! So for them, I bake a mini loaf. Other neighbors have much larger family and receive the full size.

It is fun to drop it off with our Holiday card and wish everybody a merry time. here is my favorite version of the cranberry bread (or 6 little ones): 1 egg 3/4 cup of sugar 2.5 cup of flour   3.5 tsp of baking powder 10 oz of milk 3 tbsp of butter 1 cup of coarsely cut cranberry mix top 6 ingredients together, folding in the cranberry last bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes. let cool down and enjoy! To deliver to my neighbors, I use a little cellophane bag, some red twine and a cute tag from Whipperberry.

Happy day!

coffee table inspiration

A few weeks ago, Mon Cheri and I treated ourselves to a new couch for our anniversary.

We had dreamed about it for a while, our previous couch had served us well but was worn out…

We knew what we were looking for, and we totally fall in love with the PB Chesterfield.

 It is beautiful, large and comfortable, it has a low profile (perfect for our large window) 

and extremely large arms.

What does not really work in our new living room is our coffee table!
(and the rug, but I will deal with that later!)

Well technically it is not a coffee table, and was never purchased for that activity,
it was a great tv stand in our previous house in the Midwest.
When we moved to the DC area, we needed one, and since we had already too much furniture,
 we repurposed it to coffee table. It is quite long and narrow, but doing the job well enough.

But now with our new couch, it is not cutting it out anymore.

So I started looking around for the perfect coffee table,
 and I was surprised by how expensive they are,
and how they never seem to work quite right in our space.
 I must admit that I never purchased a coffee table before,
 when we lived in the Southwest, the house was too small to have one,
 in the Midwest, the children and dogs needed all the floor space they could get!

The things I am looking for are a vintage look, but new, and a little industrial,
but not too much, easy right?
Oh and well-made and not too expensive,
 I have already blown my budget on the couch.

I also considered building one myself, I have all the necessary tools,
 and they are quite a few cool plans out there that appeal to me.

But then I realized, the coffee table we have right now is really just the right size,
it just needs a little help so it can be what I would like….

1.IKEA, 2.Shanty 2 chic, 3. Northern Tools, 4. table makeover,5. Rogue engineer/Shanty 2 Chic.

Here is what I see happening: remove the feet, and install major wheels,
paint the base white (painting laminate might not be too easy!) and add a wood top…

I am not sure if it will work out at all, if the base will be sturdy enough to attach the wheels,
 if the table is too narrow….

In the worst case scenario, I will have to build it from scratch and give away the TV stand.

Either way, I will be getting a set of wheels for Christmas!

Happy day!

a little deer

I have had a fascination with deer for a long time, starting with Bambi of course

 to the painful ones that live in our neighborhood (and eat all the plants in spring/summer/fall!) 

to the ones I used to decorate the house for Christmas with print, pillow and ornament.

It just seems that it was only a question of time before

 I made a super cute felt deer in a Liberty of London dress!

I followed Ms Dandelion Doe pattern from Posie by Alicia paulson.

I had admired it for a while, and just could not resist any longer.

It is fairly easy to make, the explanations are quite clear.

 I used regular felt (from Joann), I do not have large pieces of fancy felt.

 I just made sure to use the denser part of the craft felt

 (it is not always even when you purchase yardage).

For the dress, I used Liberty of London fabric, as I have a nice little collection.

 But it is not necessary, any thigh weave print would probably work just fine.

I had not made a doll/doe dress in a long time since Ms C. doesn’t play with dolls anymore.

The boots also extremely cute, I choose green felt to match her dress
and embroidered the flowers with matching colors.
This little doe is supposed to be wearing a scarf, but I cannot knit,
so instead I made her a cute hair flower,
with 2 colors of felt and a little jingle bell!

It turned out so cute that I am planning on making at least one more!

Happy sewing!

little Christmas pillow

With the tree decorated, the cocoa station in working order, it is time to wrap presents. I sewed the cutest tags with poinsettia, so now time to snuggle in a chair, and put it all together. But first one needs a new Christmas pillow... (kind of like "if you give a cookie to a mouse..")

I followed this pattern from Amy, using 7 prints from timeless treasures: rouge.

It is a simple and fast quilted pillow top,

with some sweet hand embroidery.

Instead of lace, I used some pipping.

Now, I am ready to snuggle on that chair, and like the mouse time for some cookies! Happy sewing!

poinsettia gift tag

This year, I have made very few handmade presents, the kids are too old, I do not have enough time, the list goes on... But even in the case of a purchase gift,  I  like to add a home-sewn touch, like a this beautiful poinsettia gift tag:

It better not be thrown away with the wrapping paper! I have always admired Amy's tag, ans this year they were also in BHG magazine, so I made a few poinsettia ones, using some red fabric for the flower and some linen for the tag. The layering of the felt, fabric and linen is just perfect! I made a few other ones, simpler but just as charming: a deer with a little jingle bell, a gingerbread man with pearl buttons, and a sparkling Christmas tree.

Happy crafting!

hot cocoa station

Just after decorating the Christmas tree, the kids asked how we were decorating the hot cocoa station, it had become a tradition, and something they truly enjoyed! Many times I need to refill the chocolate and marshmallow... After a long day at school, nothing says welcome home like hot cocoa, even if you have to make it yourself! It is at the same location as the last few years, a cute little vignette as the kids enter the kitchen:

To change it a little, I used a different picture, 
this truck and tree print is a free download from Everyday Enchanting.

Because my frame and mat were too big for the size of the print,

I added some plaid wrapping paper behind it.

No cocoa station would be ready without chocolate (on the balance) 
or candy canes, or even sauces….
it is so perfect on the whip cream if you are not a marshmallow person!

But the most important part: cookies!

I do not drink much hot cocoa, but I will help myself to a few treats,

Especially those buttery Scottish ones….

They are even in a plaid box, it was meant to be!

Here is last year version:

Winter is coming, enjoy some cocoa... Happy day!

a simple Christmas tree

We always decorate the Christmas tree as a family event,

 even the teenagers are still interested!

And this year again, we managed to purchase it all together, 

we only went to Home depot, just around the block, but still I am pleased we did it together!

And almost not complaining, much better than a few people we saw there...

This year, I wanted something a little different,

 I wanted to follow my mood board of natural vibe with red accent, 

and less of the “let’s throw all the ornaments we have collected over the year on the tree”! 

But still not a designer tree where all the ornaments match and everything is so perfect.

 I still enjoy teenager participation so some free expression must be part of the tree, 

that and the dog steals ornaments on the lower branches!

I am quite happy with how it turned out:

Not perfect, but more refined than usual, still very much us.

I had seen on quite a few trees some ribbons and I always wanted to try, 

well this year, I actually tried it, and I think it adds a nice touch to the tree and color scheme.
I also temporary changed curtains, I used our winter bedroom curtains,
I love the red behind the tree, but with green wall, it is quite intense!

The new tree topper is good especially after I put German glass glitter
during myworkshop with Ms Mustard  Seed!
But what made it even better was putting some light inside, the top was too dark otherwise.
 It was easy to stuff some lights between the weaves of wood.

We still managed to put a lot of family ornaments that we have had for a long time,

 some from last year, like the paper star ornament and , 

and of course some from this year like the British ornaments,

 and my new PB Eiffel tower ornament from my mood board

 (I had one a few years ago, but after a tree crash, it had been broken, 

lesson learned: put a big weight at the back of the base of the tree!)

The rest of the house has a long way to go before it is ready,
but there are still 17 days before the main event,
plenty of time to decorate!

Happy Day!