more felt leaves

(photo via designsponge)

I was going to just throw it up on tumblr, but this must be shared with a wider audience. Does this homemade felted sweater wreath not SCREAM: "Christine, Use Those Felt Leaves From Your Halloween Costume To Make A Christmas Wreath!"

???!!1

That is what I hear. Now if you'll excuse me, I have two Tree Costumes that need cutting up.

hot cocoa, sugar plums & a holiday market

Need to finish up some holiday shopping? Stroll on over to Winter WonderLark this weekend!

Saturday, December 12

12:30-5pm
Trinity Church
235 Lark Street
Albany, NY

Same rockin' good time as last year.

Feel free to step out at 2pm to run the 4th Annual Santa Speedo Sprint, which by the looks of things is always a good time (.5K sprint around my neighborhood in speedos & holiday flair... yes you heard correctly, a POINT 5K sprint... so like a block or something.)

---
And check out this recent article from The New York Times: Holiday Gifts With a Story to Tell.

“And I think what makes gifts in particular special is knowing there’s a person who made it and a story behind it. I think people want to buy things that tell stories, especially in an age when so few store-bought items tell stories.”

a homespun holiday

This year (much like last), I'm hoping to cut down on holiday shopping stress and overboard spending on junk. Instead of frantically trying to find something that's "eh...good enough I guess" for the people on my list, I'm aiming to create a homespun holiday*, filled with thoughtful & simple homemade goods. Cutting down on clutter, meaningless spending, crowded malls & guilt sounds perfect to me. Plus I love me a good ol' craft/movie/drinky drink hoedown.

So I made up a planner to help me along with creating a homespun holiday. Feel free to download and print out as many pages as you need to help organize your ideas & inspirations and to stay on track for a peaceful holiday season.

Click on the images below to download a PDF of each page, or click right here to download the entire planner.

And of course, there is always the "nice + naughty" holiday gift planner from last year. Click on the link to download that one.

(If you link to this, please link to the post and not directly to the PDFs... it will help keep the PDF link working!)

*I think I stole this phrase from Mom.

oh my,

...I'm so rude. Did everyone else have a nice Thanksgiving?!

Apart from the Fiesta, I turkey trotted, shared a huge & delicious meal with family, watched movies on the couch, met up with the high school gang, spent some important time with my rocks and celebrated turning 25 in typical fashion-- by watching a teen vampire romance movie and then walking to a favorite Mexican restaurant where the kind waitress gave me some birthday flan. Not too shabby.

turkey turkey tacos

A few days before actual Thanksgiving, we hosted a little Thanksgiving Fiesta.

On the menu:

Pulled Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa
Chips with Guacamole, Salsa & Queso
Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Cheddar & Jalapeno Biscuits
Stuffin' Muffins
Assorted Pies
and
Homemade Sangria

We supplied the tacos with cranberry salsa, stuffing and homemade sangria. Our guests brought the rest. To avoid a very public photo frenzy, I snapped a few shots of the set-up prior to guest arrival... our spread increased three-fold once the party actually started, but here is how it looked while I was still in my apron.

This was a risk for us. Two turkey breasts on the bone with skin (which I refused to touch, obvi), seasoned with Fiesta-y flavors and shoved in a crockpot with a cup or two of turkey stock. Cooked on low for 8 hours. Let it cool a bit and then shredded it all up and threw it back in the slow cooker with some extra seasoning. Perfection! There was no backup plan.

Jalapeno & Pumpkin centerpiece.

Our improvised sangria station. We made a sizeable cooler of red wine sangria and served it from half gallon glass jugs (growlers) we've collected from various breweries. Bright bendy straws in a gorgeous hand-thrown vase & our usual mason jars completed the bar setting. (For those of you nervous about the Turntable-As-Bar, fear not... we didn't really do much pouring on it.)

Wine-soaked fruit kebab garnishes for the sangria.

Cranberry Salsa. Throw a bag or so of fresh cranberries and two chopped apples into your food processor and pulse until fine. Then we added in 2-3 finely chopped jalapenos, chopped bell pepper, cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice and dash of salt. Totally forgot onions, which would have been nice. This definitely got better with age, so make a day ahead of time and cover.

Thanksgiving Fiesta Taco Bar.

I only wish that we had a bigger place so we could have invited more people. We almost need to plan our soirees in shifts to accomodate all the peeps we'd like to hang out with... Fiesta #1, Fiesta #2.... Fondue Night A and Fondue Night B, etc. Maybe one day we'll just say Screw It and pack our place so tightly that friends are eating Warm Goat Cheese Toasts with Rosemary, Walnuts & Honey in our closets, bathroom and under our bed. It would be a challenge, at least.

saturday recap, 50 words or less

This is what to look for: om tapestry, hand-stencilled banner, Fiona in her Saturday best and some snuggly sorts of goods all ready for winter. Drank some coffee, ate some breakfast pastries, chit-chatted and met people and generally lived it up.

applique, you will be mine

Remember when I said I was going to start appliqueing all the time? Lies. But I have, however, recently reignited this interest and played around with some appliqued designs for tomorrow's market. I'm in love. So crisp & clean & fun. A smidge tedious, but worth it.

So in addition to snuggly hats & classic neck cozies & the like, there will also be some applique. Mom & I will be hanging out snacking on delicious farmers' market treats and talking shop. Do stop by if you have the chance, or pencil another of the date's into your calendar. Long-distance? Shoot me an email and we'll be penpals. Or find me on Etsy.

(Keep your eyes peeled for another holiday market announcement in the next few weeks!)

acorn squash, processed

You'll Need:

• an acorn squash
• garlic (Called for an entire head, we used a few cloves)
• 1 c vegetable stock
• parsley
• salt n pepa

Now, just:

1. Cut the squash in half, salt n pepa it and roast in a baking pan, face down for about 45 minutes. Add some water to cover the bottom of the pan. While you're at it, roast the garlic too in some foil.
2. Once cooked and mushy, scoop out the squash & peel the garlic (hot hot hot). Add to food processor with vegetable stock, parsely and maybe some more seasoning. Process.
3. That's it. Serve over pasta with some parmesan and, if desired, a big dollop of ricotta cheese.

sneak peek

I'll be offering a limited run of snuggly winter hats for sale, starting this Saturday at the Troy Winter Market and next week on Etsy.

winter tour dates announced

Troy Winter Farmer's Market

Uncle Sam Atrium, Broadway @ 3rd & 4th Streets
Downtown Troy
9am-1pm

We'll be there on...
November 21
December 19
January 16
February 13

Check out the website for more info and directions and links. We'll be hanging around with the farmers' market folk. Because it's not just about crafts. It's about food & crafts. Does it get much better than that? Well there's also plenty of on- and off-street parking. So NOW does it get any better?