A thread stand for all the sewers out there

Here's another gift my hubby worked on over the holidays. He took the wooden slats from an old futon that had been thrown away and started putting them together in an entirely different way.

He wanted to make a gift for a woman who loves to sew and has way too many spools of thread laying around the house. So he drilled some holes in the slats, and started putting dowels into the holes.

He measured, cut and drilled away.

And here's the finished product.

And here's side view.

Recycling, reusing and repurposing

Lars is willing to go dumpster diving . . . if it's for old wood that someone has thrown away. Yes, he'll knock on their door and ask if they mind if he hauls away their wood. And since they have to be by the weight of the dumpster, they are always willing to let him have it.

Then my hubby brings home the wood and cuts it up to repurpose it into something beautiful.

He took this old wood and glued it together to make Christmas presents.

Then he put a clear Varathane on them and let them dry. This wasn't a stain, the wood was what made the coasters so beautiful. Then he had to make coaster stands.

And he measured, cut and glued them together.

And we wrapped them up and gave them with a bag of coffee and a mug or two.

It was a perfect way to reuse old wood.

GO BIG O! GO DUCKS!

I'm ready and routing for the Ducks!

Game on...at 5:30 p.m.1/12/15

Go Big O and that O is for Oregon not Ohio!

Smorgasbord - a Great Way to Celebrate the Holiday(s)

We celebrated the New Year with food. And this food was open-faced sandwiches or Scandinavian smorgasbord. These little sandwiches only use one piece of bread and plenty of fish, meat and toppings.

We brought shrimp sandwiches. The shrimp was blended with mayonnaise and topped with dill weed and it was delicious.

These are traditional fare featurings from Sweden, Denmark and Norway. There was pickled herring, potato and tomato and lots more.

It was a fun way to celebrate the holiday.

Happy 2015!

Aebelskiver or Pac-Man Balls of Yummiliciousness

There are a few tricks to making these Pac-Man balls of yummiliciousness.

1)  The first major trick is to make sure you have PAM on hand or that you have a seriously well-seasoned pan (which by the way must be the special-specific aebelskiver pan). If you don't have a super-seasoned pan, the little balls of goodness will stick to the pan and decimate your results.

2) The second major trick is to use bamboo shish kabob skewers to flip your balls 1/4 turn at a time. If you use a fork, they will create too large of holes and if you use a spoon, well, just trust me on this one.

3) Start with a good recipe...here's mine:

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs - separated
2 cups Buttermilk
2 cups flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form (then set aside while you mix the other ingredients)

Mix buttermilk, flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder until well blended - then add in the egg yolks. When all ingredients are mixed well, fold in the egg white mixture.

Spray pan with PAM or some other nonstick spray and fill each hole nearly full. When little bubbles start to form, flip each ball 1/4 turn. Continue flipping 1/4 turn at a time until balls are well-cooked.

Serve with powdered sugar and jam.

Enjoy!

The Next Level for writers and Illustrators

The Next Level Professional Series
Ready to bring your writing and illustration skills to The Next Level? Whether you're plotting a novel or perfecting a picture book, SCBWI Oregon’s professional series will give you tools to advance your career.  
January’s Topic—Success Panel: How a Writer and Writer/Illustrator Got Their Starts
When you look at someone's success story, do you ever wonder about the journey? Cat Winters will talk about her "overnight" success story that took years. Author-illustrator Nicole Rubel will share insights into her career journey that include over 60 books, including the Rotten Ralph Series.
Cat Winters’s critically acclaimed debut novel, IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, was named a 2014 Morris Award Finalist, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, a YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, and a 2014 Oregon Spirit Book Award Winner. She is also the author of THE CURE FOR DREAMING (Amulet Books/Oct. 2014), and her upcoming releases include THE UNINVITED (William Morrow/2015), THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY (Amulet Books/2016), and a short story in the YA horror anthology SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS (Dial/2015).
She lives outside of Portland with her husband and two kids. Visit her online at CatWinters.com.
 Nicole Rubel is an author/illustrator known for her uniquely colorful illustrations and charming stories. She has over sixty books to her credit and is the co-creator of the popular Rotten Ralph series.
Raised in Cora Gables, Florida, Ms. Rubel received a Bachelor of Science in Art Teaching from the Boston Museum School in association with Tufts University. Ms. Rubel’s art style was inspired by the paintings of Henri Matisse and the art deco architecture of her hometown of Miami. Her imaginative, poignant and sometimes comical storylines are often derived from growing up with her identical twin sister, Bonnie. As a child, she let her sister speak for her. Through the encouragement of an insightful teacher, Ms. Rubel learned to speak and write for herself. Therefore, a significant theme in her stories is finding oneself and learning to express one’s feelings and thoughts.
She currently resides with her husband on a farm in Aurora.
Date - 01/17/2015  Time - 2:15 pm - 3:45 pm, doors open at 2:00
Location - TaborSpace, The Annex 5441 SE Belmont St. - Portland, OR 97215

Warm Wishes for a Wonderful Holiday Season

Coincidences and Funny Photos

I asked my son to snap a photo of me and my hubby before we headed out the door to the party. So he did and it wasn't until after we got home that I saw how funny the snapshot was.
See the painting - hanging over our heads.

I guess history does repeat itself.

Fancy Food and Holiday Festivities

The party started with clam chowder and a wonderful salad.

Then there was the Portobello Wellington

And then there was the steelhead with leeks and shallots oh, and of course, there had to be kale ;D

I ate too much but had a lot of fun

Shark Attack

It was so much fun seeing everyone dressed up at the Christmas Party and I especially loved seeing all the fancy shoes and the ones that were really out there.

Like these shark shoes:

How much fun is that?

And I thought I was going wild by painting my gold...

DIY Shoe Coloration

I haven't worn HIGH heels since I was 21 because after that I got pregnant and I was never crazy enough to try lugging a 10 pound baby around while wearing heels. And it just got to be a way of life, with three little kids.

But now that the kids are all grown up and I was going to a company Christmas party, I thought...I could get a pair of heels.

So I did.

But I wanted them to have a golden underside and I couldn't find any in my price range. So, I thought, I can do that.

I simply went to the craft store and bought some acrylic paint.

And then I went to work...

It took a couple of coats. But...

Wah-Lah!!! It worked.

And the paint lasted well, even better than my feet and ankles in these pretty heels.

From Tablecloth to Christmas Outfit

I got this great deal on fabric at Joann Fabric right before Thanksgiving and I made a quick tablecloth and some napkins (see above). But then Thanksgiving was over and I wanted something new to wear to the holiday Christmas party so I went shopping but I couldn't find anything I wanted. But I was inspired...

I thought I'll take my tablecloth and turn that beautiful gold fabric into a dress but my friend said, "gold lame' should only come in small doses." So I thought, "okay, how 'bout a shirt?"

She laughed but after work I pulled out the tablecloth and laid it out on the floor. Then I put a tank top over it to use like a pattern and started cutting.

And then I started sewing.

 And about an hour after I started, Wah-Lah! I had a new Christmas shirt to wear to the party.

But I thought . . . what about an accessory? I mean, after all, I had a ton of fabric left. So, I thought maybe something to hold back this wild head of hair.

And it sure was fun making something out of a tablecloth :D

December 10th

Only 15 more days 'til Christmas. Wow! I haven't finished all the projects I'd been planning to have done by Thanksgiving.

I guess I'd better pull out the cards, wrapping and do a little more shopping.

I thought I'd have scarves knitted, hats wrapped and yummy foodstuffs stocked all around the house. But, somehow the time slipped by and I haven't finished all those projects I have in the hopper.

So, it's going to be a busy weekend. As the countdown begins...

Peppermint Popcorn - an EZ holiday treat

This is an easy way to make a tasty treat you can give as a gift.

INGREDIENTS:

Freshly popped popcorn (6-8 cups)
1 package of white chocolate (can be chips or candy)
4 large peppermint candy canes

 OPTIONAL:
Salt (just a few pinches)

TOOLS:

Baggies
Wax Paper
metal bowl
Pyrex dish (for melting chocolate)
Containers

PROCEDURES:

Pop your corn and set aside while you melt your white chocolate.
Pour the white chocolate over the popped corn.
Sprinkle a pinch or two of salt over your popped corn.
Break your candy canes by putting them in a large baggie and then smashing them with a can of corn or some other vegetable. Sprinkle your crunched candy canes over the top of your popped corn and stir all together.

Line your containers with waxed paper and fill with the Peppermint Popcorn.

Tah-Dah, you're done!

Wonderful gift and so yummilicious.

Mead v. Glӧgg

Some people think they are the same thing. But...they are definitely not.

I love Glӧgg probably because I love sweet drinks and fruity wines but I am definitely not a beer drinker. And Mead is more of a beer-type drink while Glӧgg is a sweet wine drink.


Mead is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water and it can have other ingredients like fruits, spices, grains and hops, where the hops create a bitter beer flavor.

The main ingredient in mead is honey that has been fermented and can be carbonated, sparkling, dry, semi-sweet, or sweet. 

<sup>While Glӧgg is always sweet and is made with wine. 

These are very different types of beverages and just because you like one doesn't mean you'll like the other.</sup> 

Tasty Tuesday - Danish Glögg

Every year in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I have to make an old traditional drink:

Danish Glӧgg and here's how I make it:

Ingredients:

1 Jug of red wine (Sangria is what I use)
1-2 apples sliced
1-2 oranges sliced
4 cinnamon sticks
1 can of frozen orange juice
1 can of frozen apple juice

Optional:

(1/8 cup) Cardamom seeds
(2 slices of fresh) ginger
1 cup of raisins (soaked in rum)
cloves (1/8 cup)





(Tie spices and fruit up in cheesecloth)

Here's how I make mine:

First I pour the wine in pot and seep the spices on low heat for a couple of hours.

The entire house will benefit from the warm spicy scent and then I pull out the spice bag and serve the "spiced wine" or Danish Glӧgg in ceramic mugs with a fresh cinnamon stick for stirring.

Cheers!

(And when you're finished with the "spice bag" you can empty the contents in a bowl and have the ingredients serve as a holiday potpourri.)

Hope you all had a Happy and Healthy Holiday

It was a holiday filled with movies, musicals and memories and way too much food. We couldn't just have one turkey - we had to have two. A chocolate one and a poultry version.

At least we started out the day by running in the Portland Turkey Trot at the Zoo.


Then we went home and had an early "dinner" and ran out to watch Mocking Jay the third Hunger Games movie.

The next morning was filled with shopping and going to see the musical production of Bat Boy at the Funhouse Lounge.

Saturday Lars worked on the floor in the chibrary, which isn't easy because he's trying to match up old wood from flooring in the house from 1890 (almost 125 year old wood), but I think it's looking pretty. This spot used to only have plywood flooring because it was behind the chimney in the attic.

and it flew by and Sunday was a blur.

How was your holiday?

Decorating Your Holiday Table on a Budget

You can spend a fortune decorating but here's a few ideas that will help make your holidays less expensive but just as pretty.

I wanted special napkins for this Thanksgiving so I went to the fabric store and bought 4 yards of beautiful gold lame' and used that for the tablecloth.

I also bought 1 yard of dark brown satin (for $2.00 because it was on sale) and went home and cut out strips and started sewing straight lines, without even measuring (that accounts for the different sized napkins).

Then I hot glued little napkin holders out of stiff ribbon and slipped the rectangular clothes inside the holder to make little "bow tie" napkins. I set them in the middle of the plates and Wah-Lah napkins for less than I could have bought pretty paper ones at the store for.

My family didn't think these satin napkins were very practical and joked about wearing them for the holidays. (See the guy at the end of the table holding it up like a bow tie...) But I thought they added a festive touch to the table. And you could use red and green for Christmas or silver and gold for New Years.

 

Progress on the Chibrary

 

Wah-Lah!!! A wall of books. And just like a wonderful fiction novel, this is a make-believe library.

Just don't look too closely or you'll see that the books repeat . . . And you can see the spacing we used for placing the wood in between the rows of books (see the strips of blue paint peeking through - that's how we set a framework for the wood trim) to give the faux library a 3-dimensional look or how we created the illusion that the books were popping out of the wall.

But even though this is an odd little space, behind an exposed chimney, in an upstairs corner of a large bedroom, I, of course, wanted a little library. But the reality is (according to my husband) that the sitting bench and the corner reading nook take up about all the room there is in that tiny corner. But it wasn't so easy for him to convince me and I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having my own private library. So, together, we decided to create the illusion of a little library without using any extra room--that we didn't have.

Here's how we did it.

Tools (or what you will need to create your own faux library):

Some water, a towel and some paper towels, a pair of scissors, and (most important) the wallpaper with the books on it. I ordered this wallpaper on Amazon but there are lots of other designs but since I have an old house, I was looking for a wall of books that appeared old too. This is a wallpaper border but we used it to cover an entire wall.

First we started out with the wall of wainscoting. And since the wainscoting was already level, we had a great place to start laying the wallpaper.

Then we measured, cut, dipped the self-adhesive wallpaper in the water and pressed it into place. One row after another.

And after we had the wallpaper in place, we framed the wall with wood trim to make it really look like library bookshelves.

And I think this effect really gives the illusion of having a wall of books behind the chimney but it's such an odd little corner, with so many angles and corners, that it's difficult to get a good picture of the new chimbrary or chibrary, whatever you want to call it. But I think you get the idea.

Now we still have a little touch up work to do, like laying a little bit of flooring in this area...but it's really starting to come together and seeing this, I think this little library is going to be one of my favorite spots in the house now.