Friday, December 28, 2007

Loose Leaf

I'm sitting here enjoying loose leaf for the first time in my life, so I thought I should share how delicious it is. I'm normally a coffee drinker, but I've been intrigued by loose leaf tea for some time now. I was really excited when I opened a Christmas gift from my parents that included an adorable teapot/cup and loose leaf tea! My mother brought some Darjeeling tea back from her trip to India. I was a little skeptical drinking it without sugar or honey, but it actually has a really nice flavor, and I don't feel it needs the added sweetness.













Here is the cute little teapot my mom picked up in London with painted scenes of the city. The cup fits under the teapot, which warms it before pouring the tea into it.













I'm really looking forward to trying lots of other kinds of teas. What a nice, relaxing way to start the weekend!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas is Fun

After the Christmas rush died down, I was able to spend some time in Lancaster, PA with my boyfriend and his family. It was so great to be able to just relax without worrying about what time it was. I love to cook and bake, but I don't often have the time or opportunity to make anything really special, so Christmas Eve I decided I would make a nice breakfast. My family exchanged gifts on the Saturday before Christmas, and my sister-in-law got me an awesome cookbook called For Chocolate Lovers by the Tanner brothers. Definitely an appropriate gift for me. The very first recipe caught my eye immediately: "Banana and Chocolate Souffle Pancakes". I decided I needed to make this, and Christmas eve would be the perfect time. It ended up being a little time consuming, but that was okay, because I was having fun.

Here they are right before going into the oven. I made the pancakes larger, and perhaps thicker, than I was supposed to, since it was supposed to make 12 and I only got 4 out of it, but that was okay. I also think I filled them a little fuller than I was supposed to, but that was okay, too, because the filling was heavenly.






















Here they are right after they came out of the oven. Mmmmmmm... melty, gooey, banana and chocolate goodness!





























Even my mug of delicious coffee was eyeing up the goodies:
















Hopefully the next time won't take me as long to make them, since I'll know what I'm doing.... and there will be a next time!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Christmas Rush

Well, I'm definitely feeling the stress of trying to get all of my orders filled and shipped out so they arrive by Christmas. My custom linked bangle bracelets have become quite a big seller. It's exciting, but it's more time consuming getting those orders shipped out than items I already have in stock, since each one has to be made specifically for each customer. It's fun to be able to make something so personal that will have special meaning to the person giving, as well as the recipient.

I'll leave you with an image of my messy workbench...

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Mmmmm, Felt

I'm very excited about the coming year. I have some new ideas for my jewelry that I'm excited to get working on. Plus, I can't wait to release my new line of felted pillows!! I really wanted to get them out this year, but I decided it was getting too close to Christmas, and I wanted to take my time to tweak a few little things before releasing them. But, I'd thought I'd give you a little teaser by showing some of the pieces I've done.









































I LOVE felting so much! It's like having a blank canvas that has endless possibilities. I just wish my time was endless, so I could work on all of my ideas!




Thursday, December 6, 2007

Snow and Resin

Wow, December has barely started and we've already had our first snowfall! I wouldn't mind it so much if I could just stay home with some hot cocoa and look out at the prettiness, but having to go out and drive in it makes it not as much fun. This was my backyard yesterday afternoon:











I finally got around to step 2 of my resin ring, which was encasing Durelle's artwork under another layer of resin. I had to trim around the edges of the drawing a little, but I think I should have added another coat of Mod Podge after doing that. It seems some of the resin soaked into the paper, and I'm guessing that is the reason. It hardened up nicely, though, which makes me happy. I'll have to add another layer of resin because it doesn't quite come up to the top, so I will update again after I've done that and polished it up. (Sorry for the dark, blurry photos... I wasn't much in a photo editing mood today :)

























While I was at it with the resin, I decided to do a trial run of a project that I've had on the back burner for quite some time... drawer pulls! I poured the first layer and it has hardened up nicely, so now it just needs the second layer. You can't quite tell in the photo, but the first layer is a dark plumb color, so I'll have to decide what other color I want to pair with it.













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A journal of my creative and business endeavors.