Feather Headbands Coming Soon...

I have decided to make some more feather headbands for my etsy shop. They were really popular before, and they are super fun to create. This time I have amped up the design too making them even bigger than before.

Each 'feather' is individually hand cut by me

I made this one for an upcoming event.

I'm hoping to have the new designs up and in my shop with in the next week if life cooperates with me. For now I still have some of the older ones listed there too. Thanks for looking!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dessertforbreakfast

Recipe: Lemon Pepper Farfalle

In our house we typically have pasta once a week. Most often it's some kind of noodle with red sauce and sausage, because we are carnivores and we love our Italian sausage. However, the routine is starting to get a little dull week after week. I wanted to still keep our staple easy and cheap pasta night but just with some new flavors. I didn't even have to leave the house for ingredients. I just used odds and ends we had on hand, and it was a quite successful and delicious meal!

Lemon Pepper Farfalle

You'll need:

at least 1/2 box of Farfalle (or your favorite noodles)
jarred, marinated roasted red peppers, chopped
jarred, marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
a small yellow onion (or white if you prefer), diced
a lemon - juice and zest
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used the bottled as well)
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsps olive oil
1/1/2 tbsps butter
basil to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste

I started out by getting my pasta water boiling. In the meantime I was able to prep all of my other ingredients.

I chopped my roasted red peppers and put them in a bowl.

I also chopped my artichoke hearts and put them in the same bowl with a little bit of their marinade.

To that bowl I added some lemon juice and mixed it all together.

Next, I diced my small onion and set it aside.

By this time my water was boiling, and I threw in the pasta.

I got a large pan heating up with the olive oil and then tossed in the onion and garlic for a couple minutes on their own.

Then I added in the bowl of ingredients and stirred everything around.

After zesting the lemon and squeezing in some fresh juice, I seasoned with the basil, red pepper flakes (just enough for a little kick, not blow your head off amounts) salt and pepper.

Everything sauteed for a few minutes until the past was ready to be drained. (The cook time for everything including the pasta and 'sauce' was about 12 minutes total).

After draining the pasta I poured it into the pan with everything else and added the butter.

I stirred everything around until the butter was melted and then served it up hot (topped with some parmesan cheese).

(not a wonderful picture but oh well)

I was a little nervous about what Phil would think, seeing as he loves his sausage so much (insert joke here). But he honestly was impressed and enjoyed it very much to my surprise and relief. It was definitely different than the norm and vegetarian to boot. We both completely emptied our bowls. Needless to say, I'll be making it again in the future.

Just thought I'd share in case any of you out there are looking for some different recipes. If you have any awesome homemades please feel free to share as well. We're always looking for something new.

:)

A Resurrection...perhaps

Well, as per my usual style I have let this blog go far beyond the wayside. As a girl I was never able to keep a diary for more than a couple of weeks. In school I diligently updated my planner for the first couple of weeks of school and then abandoned it altogether. So I suppose to have written pretty frequently for just over half of a year was a victory for me. Who knows, maybe this time around I will go a full 9 months...

Speaking of which...

shirt courtesy of my friend www.hellowars.com

I'm 19 weeks along at this point with my second. We are thrilled to say the least. I'm finally out of the first 15 week bed rest phase, (someday I may publish a book will all of the details, but I will spare you for now). It's just great to feel like a person again and move around and do things. I have felt especially productive the last few weeks.

Still very much unemployed for a staggering 15 months and counting, I am fortunate enough to have a trickle of freelance work coming in. Anything right now is income, and every little bit helps. One thing my 'dry spell' has shown me is just how lucky I am to have the family that I have - immediate and extended. I've never appreciated my marriage or my son so much as I have especially these past few months. We have a bond that I'm sure some can only dream of. 

With bringing a new life into the world come a plethora of thoughts (and worries). We are in no way shape or form financially stable, and that is scary. I have spent years single and married stressing out over money and debt. While I do still have my woe-is-me, errr -us- days, it isn't enough to keep me down anymore. No matter what happens to our jobs, our cars, our house...I know that at the end of the day we have each other and a love that is unconditional. (I'm sorry if this is a little too 'sappy Sally' for some, but it is the honest to God's truth).

Veering off on a different path now - all of this time has done wonders for my creativity. Though there may be a lack of professional design in my life, there is no void of constant inspiration and creation. I've never been one to be short of ideas for a barrage of projects, and luckily I have the time and materials to bring many of them to fruition. I may have had to give up my favorite Monday night sewing classes and some good friends in it, but I am fortunate enough to have that skill now. The same goes for crochet. I took one class and loved it. I crocheted lots of fingerless gloves and scares, because that's all I had the knowledge to make. Case in point:

the chunky green neck warmer,

what I call the self-contained scarf &

the fold over cowl

While there is a lot of variety to be had in linear crochet I still desperately wanted to learn in-the-round techniques. I tried lots of times to do it from looking at pictures and ended up with what looked like, for lack of a better term and I apologize in advance, penis cozies. Needless to say they were all trashed. I rented some books from the library and downloaded some tutorials and still struggled a bit, but still I kept flailing/trying...

Finally the other day I found a really cute pattern on the Lion Brand website for an amigurumi lovebird. It looked damn near impossible for my skill set, but I read on anyway. Looking through the pattern there was only one abbreviation/stitch I was not familiar with. I said what the hey and decided to give it a shot. No joke, the first time I tried to do the 'magic ring' I got it. I also learned how to legitimately decrease using sc2tog and not just 'dropping' of stitches. This may sound ridiculously meaningless to some, but it empowered me. These days if I have a reason to shower and put on clothes, it's a celebration - so picking up a new skill falls into that category as well. Here is the result of my first 'round' project, the lovebird.

If you enjoy this little guy, here is a link to the free pattern:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80015AD.html?noImages=

I now feel obsessed with all things crochet and amigurumi and have a very growing folder on my desktop of things to make.

At that, I think this has been a good start to the rebirth of the blog for now. Considering it's been about 6 months I'd say more than one paragraph is an epic leap forward. Hopefully this hasn't been to long-winded; I just felt the need to catch up a little bit. I will forewarn you that postings may seem a bit schizophrenic at times. As passionate as I am a crafter, the same goes for cooking and baking. So if one day recipes start popping up here out of seemingly nowhere, yes, it is still me. Food in my belief also gets classified as a handmade good.

:)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dessertforbreakfast

Going Mad

It feels great to get a chance to catch up again after such a long time. I have really let this blog go for the past month, which I am not too proud of. 'Life' has just been happening all too frequently lately. However, now that I have the time, I want to share a few things I have been working on in the past few weeks.

Like so many others, my husband and I have become obsessed with Mad Men. While for us it is a difficult moral and ethical watch - we love everything else about it. Phil and I were both raised in households with grandparents. We've always had older souls and retro sensibilities. Granted, the sensibilities of the show don't match ours, we are completely in love with the visual aesthetic. Everything from the costumes, to the furnishings and apartments speak to my inner style and fashion sense.

My grandmother on my dad's side, Betty Jo, was such a role model for me growing up. One summer while I was in camp I got to live with her. My grandfather 'Boompa' was already gone at this time, so it was just me and 'Mama.' The woman lived and breathed class and style. Her all designer wardrobe rivaled that of Jackie O's. She used to be a stylist at an upscale Palm Beach fashion boutique for the later half of the year. (They were sun people, and every fall they would live in the beach-front condo in West Palm Beach - until the sun came back to Chicago). Anyhow, Mama was way ahead of her time.

She refused to leave the house without her hair fully set, her face on and would never be seen without her patterned pumps. Her West Palm Beach condo was all black, white, yellow and chrome. She had beautiful, elegant and simple furniture. Everything was very mid-century modern. Her condo up here was no different. (When she and Boompa were raising their three boys in Glencoe, her house was featured in Better Homes and Gardens)!

Also in the style of Mad Men, the woman loved her cocktail hour(s). Right around the same time every evening she would have her glass(es) of vodka or gin. I think it was more routine than anything else. I only ever saw her get really hammered on a couple of occasions. One time while in Florida, she and my grandfather took all three of their sons and families out to dinner at the nicest steakhouse around, the Rain Dancer. At the time it was definitely equivalent to a 5* restaurant nowadays. My dad and his brothers made the mistake of grabbing the bill from the waiter. Mama in all of her drunken glory got up on the table in her Donna Karan suit, golden jewelry and heels and crawled across the table to reclaim the check! (I will never ever forget that. She was still the classiest drunk I have ever seen).

But getting back to the actual reason for this post, I attribute my love of fashion and all things vintage/retro/modern to her. Watching the women on the show and the way they dress often reminds me of her. During one of my many library outings I found a wonderful book of women's fashion throughout the decades. I have only tapped into a few illustrations so far, but I plan to do many more. Here are the four as of now:

Thank you so much letting me share my story with you. I really wish more people could have met my dad's parents. They were two truly amazingly modern people for their time, and definitely helped to shape me into who I am today.

These illustrations (and more) will be available as poster prints as well as cards in my etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dessertforbreakfast

Simple Father's Day Card

I got a call in from my good friend Sarah (http://www.quartersofacreative.com/) to make a fish-themed Father's Day card. I looked through all of my stamps, books and handmade stencils and found nothing fishy. Upon my rummaging, I came across my miniature brown paper bag envelopes. They are one of my favorite card accents - as they are interactive. Once I knew I was using one of said envelopes, I looked for appropriate coordinating papers and a white envelope.

Here is what I came up with:

The striped and textured card was pre-made. I added the brown paper bag

envelope. The large mouth bass is cut from Paper Source's 'Croma Lime' paper.

(I illustrated the bass first and then cut it out with needlepoint scissors).

I also used a needle to poke a hole near the bass' mouth. Then I threaded 

some coordinating blue embroidery floss through the hole. This gave the fish that 

'hooked' look.

Lastly, I put the fish away in the envelope's pocket. His mouth and the string

stick out just a little bit to let you know there is something inside. The floss also

acts as a pull to get the fish out!

I hope you enjoyed this simple Father's Day card. This would be great for any man's birthday in general. It can be customized with lots of different fish and papers too. Have fun with it!

New Embroidered Cards

If it has to do with a needle and thread I love it. While I have a sewing machine, sometimes I like to get back to things like hand embroidery and hand stitching. Recently I have been working on embroidered cards.

I always have a surplus of blank cards and envelopes at my disposal. The other things I used were my: bookbinding awl, embroidery floss, a cutting mat, needlepoint scissors, and a sharp needle. Once I knew what I wanted on the card I "illustrated" it by stabbing a series of tiny holes with my bookbinding awl. Then I picked out my colors and 'connected the dots.' (I used 'running' stitches for all of the cards, but there are many other methods).

Here are just a few of the latest embroidered cards:

Please keep an eye out for similar items in my etsy shop soon! :) http://www.etsy.com/shop/dessertforbreakfast

Lucy's Birthday Presents

Last week was one of my close friend's daughter's birthday. Her name is Lucy, and she just turned a big three years old. My friend Liz (Lucy's mom) is quite the crafter extraordinaire. I knew I was going to make Lucy's gifts, and I wanted them to impress. Knowing I had zero money for supplies I rummaged through fabric bins in search of inspiration. I knew that Lucy's parents had bought her a big girl bed recently, so I thought to make her a cute pillow for it.

I also make felt headbands. Typically I make them for women and young adults. I liked the idea of making Lucy a headband, but I knew I wanted to make her something different than the 'feather' headband. I know that she and her family are very healthy eaters. I also wanted something that would stand out and be feminine. That's when I got the idea to make her a strawberry headband. I found some amazing bright-colored little girls headbands at my Target.

So, these are what I gave Lucy:

I actually bought this fabric about 5 or 6 years ago and never used it. 

It seemed like the perfect choice for a hip and super girly 3 year old.