June 30, 2010
The Treacle Trail Leads Back To Alice
If you have been following my blog since the early days, or if you are a bibliophile who is particularly fond of Lewis Carroll, then you know that the name, “Treacle and Ink,” comes from a line that is sung at Queen Alice’s banquet in Carroll’s Through the Looking-glass. I just wanted to share a couple unique Alice finds I made while exploring Walt Disney World.
I love the style of this little Alice doll! She is so simple, almost primitive, and is cute as a button.
This container of "Tweedle Tea and Tweedle Yum" comes with 15 tea bags which contain the "Mad Tea Party Blend," as well as shortbread cookies. It's like a mini tea party in a can!
June 28, 2010
Treacle Exhibit “A”
We are having a great time hanging out with family and seeing the sights this week! On Sunday, we fought the crowd and made it to the new Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios. It was so neat!
Not only did we have a great time exploring, and just being in that “world”, but what did I manage to spot when I was browsing in Honeydukes sweets shop? Treacle Fudge!
Grinnin' with my Treacle Fudge. With a slightly creepy smile the cashier told me, "That's Harry's favorite."
June 26, 2010
iPhoney 4 – a venting session
Orange Cassette Tape iPhone Case - by CrankCases
My hubby and I have officially become a part of the iPhone crowd, as of this past Thursday. We did the pre-order in the store so that we were sure to get them the day they came out. He has been like a kid who has been told that they won two years of free all-you-can-eat ice cream. He’s constantly been showing me new apps he is discovering, and figuring out new ways to make them even more useful.
I however…
Let’s just say that I have not yet reached the level of elation that he has. To begin with, I had great difficulty getting my phone activated. It was picked up around 10:30 on Thursday, and only finally became active this morning at around that same time. This was after multiple calls to AT&T customer service until we eventually found someone who could help us.
Now, the phone has been finally been activated. What a relief! So, I make a call to my mom. And nothing. There is something off with the ear speaker. I can get connected to someone, but they sound like they are 500 miles away. The same thing happened with my hubby’s phone when he activated it, but it worked itself out pretty quickly. Mine? Not so much.
So, for now, no calls to be sent or received with my new iphone. Or should I say iPhoney? I’m beginning to suspect that they have sold me an iPod Touch in disguise.
June 24, 2010
Just Checking In
I just wanted to pop in here and catch you up on the goings-on. I have been a bit slack on posting this past week, but I have not been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. Here’s the quick run-down to get you caught up. I’ll be posting more relevant things in the days to come.
This past Sunday I made my first appearance in the choir. It went wonderfully! What a blessing. 🙂
I spent the better part of last week and the beginning of this week scrambling around getting my transcripts faxed and digitized so that I could complete an incredibly lengthy teaching job application, only to find the post had been taken down the afternoon I was to complete the process. Grrr.
Catti-brie overdosed on flea and tick medication after stealing half of Pemberley’s pill that she had dropped on the floor. Two days of observation and sixty more bucks at the vet later, she’s going to be just fine.
Today, my husband and I are going to officially become members of the iPhone club. He’s probably picking up our new iPhone 4s as I type.
I attempted to make an iPhone case out of glittery black felt. Fail. It wound up just being too thick.
I attempted to make a no-pattern summery dress from bits of scrap material that I had laying around. Success! I’ll post some pics as soon as I can.
That’s about it for now. I’m eagerly getting ready for a visit with my family. Yay!! I haven’t seen my parents since Christmas, but I will this Saturday. Hooray!
June 16, 2010
Baby Dress – Attempt Number Two
If you remember, I have the joy of babysitting a little girl part-time during the week. Her mom passed along to me some onesies that she had grown too long for, and I am trying to see if I can make anything good out of them.
Dress Attempt Number Two:
Second dress attempt.
After some lessons learned from my first try, which was a big FAIL, I made some adjustments in this dress. First of all, I measured the baby noggin! Then I discovered the joy of elastic thread. This was only my second time trying out elastic thread, and it definitely helps. The bottom three ruffles are split up the back, so we’ll have to find some cute little bloomers to try on with this one, but at least it goes on over her head…..barely 🙂 Yes, even with my careful measurements and the elastic thread, I still probably should have made the waist even wider. All this in an attempt to avoid snaps and buttons.
What do you think? Got any suggestions for me?
June 14, 2010
Now I’ve Gone And Done It
While you may not have read any posts about it lately, my atomic/mid-century modern obsession is still full blown. As a matter of fact, while my mother-in-law was out thrift store and garage sale shopping this weekend, she sent me pictures of two atomic bar stools. I was going to asked her to pick them up for us, until she told me that they were orange and not reddish/pinkish as they appeared in the picture. Oh well.
I may not have gotten the bar stools, but I did manage to win a little something off of Ebay this weekend. Check these out!
Salem North Star S&P Shakers
I first introduced you to this pattern in my post “Mid Century Modern and Atomic Design – My New Obsession”. Ever since I discovered this pattern, I have been ogling various pieces on Etsy and Ebay, dreaming of one day having a set of my very own to use as my everyday dishes. I have all sorts of excuses as to why I don’t need to get them. They don’t match the reds and yellows in my kitchen. I already have a very practical and plain cream-colored set of Correlle dishes that I picked up from Wal-Mart. Besides that, I’m so clumsy that if a set of these dishes were to wind up in my possession, there are sure to be dish casualties, and thus more irreplaceable pieces lost forever.
Then I saw this S&P set for the right price on Ebay.
I thought to myself, “It’s not too hard to find plates and cups, but salt and pepper shakers don’t come around as often. If you think you’d ever like to have a set of these dishes, you might want to pick these up now.”
And so I did.
As soon as I won the auction, I knew that I had started something that I wasn’t going to be able to stop. This little set of salt and pepper shakers was just the beginning of something much bigger. I’ve got my eyes on a few Etsy listings right now for which I’m going to squirrel away a few dollars here and there. But do me a favor, don’t tell Adam! He thinks we have too many dishes already!
And remember that Federal Patio Snack/Luncheon set?
Federal Patio Snack Set
I managed to acquire another set of them, but, well, I mourned the sale of the first set so much that I decided to keep the second set for myself! What am I thinking?
June 11, 2010
Featured Fridays – CJ’s Craft Corner
Friday is yet again upon us. I am looking forward to the weekend, as always, and looking back at another week down as I get closer and closer to vacation time. This year family vacation is taking us to Disney World! I love it. We have been once as a family before, but that was before Adam became a part of the family. This is going to be his first trip ever to the Magic Kingdom! I can hardly wait. 🙂
But, I digress. It is time, once again, for another installment of Featured Fridays!
Store Name: cjscraftcorner
Tag Line: Fabric Creations to Brighten Your Life
First Name: Carolyn
Physical Location: Northcentral Ohio
Inventory: “Tea wallets, runners, & gifts for teachers and showers!”
Last week, I finally purchased one of the tea wallets by CJ’s Craft Corner (also a TeamCAC member) that I have been eyeballing for quite a while. They are the most handy idea I have seen to hold and carry your favorite tea bags with you wherever you go. Just fill up the wallet, stick it in your purse, and go. I went back and forth between the wallet that I purchased,
Tea Wallet in Brown and Blue Damask
and this too-cute retro one.
Handmade Tea Wallet in Retro Fruit Tree and Apple Fabric
It took me a week to decide. I’m not kidding! So many good choices make it even harder on me to pick one. And, like icing on the cake, each tea wallet comes pre-filled with four tea bags. This mother/daughter team really does a great job in their work.
Now, CJ’s Craft Corner isn’t just about tea wallets. They have many other wonderful fabric crafts at awesome prices as well. Check out some of my personal favorites, and then head on over to their shop and find some of your own! (Oh, and while you’re there, wish Carolyn a happy birthday today!)
Padded Gadget or Sunglasses Pouch in Pink and Brown Floral
Placemats- Purple and Mauve Birds, Pink and Mauve on Navy, Reversible, Set of 2
Handmade Removable 16 in Paisley Pillow Cover in Tan, Gold, Blue, Green, and Gray
Plastic Grocery Bag Holder in Green and Orange Bird Fabric
June 9, 2010
How To – Camp Cushions
If you remember a few weeks ago, I was getting really excited about going camping. In preparation for the trip, I decided to throw together some quick camping cushions. I went with a fairly non-gender-specific fabric since these are for girls and guys to use.
Back in my younger days, I spent quite some time in Girl Scouts. One of the things we made that I used more than anything else was a Sit-Upon. These handy little seats could be used on wet of dry ground and were a staple for every camping trip.
Back of cushion. The vinyl keeps your bum dry when sitting on wet ground. 🙂
All you need is a 15″ x 15″ square (or more, depending on how large you’d like the cushion) each of outdoor fabric and cloth backed vinyl, and filling. You could also opt to use two squares of vinyl if you think you’ll be somewhere that’s going to be more than a little damp. Place the vinyl right-side-down, stack your filling on top (leaving room around the edges to sew), and then top with the piece of outdoor fabric. Sew around the edges, and voila! In Girl Scouts, we filled the cushion with newspapers, but you can pretty much use whatever you have around. I didn’t have any newspapers, but I did have some old magazines and I bought a little bit of 1/2″ foam to give it a little softness on top.
I whipped these closed with my sewing machine and trimmed the excess. Nothing fancy on the edges, but I think they’ll hold up fine. Pinking shears might have been a good idea.
If you don’t have a sewing machine, or if you’d like to try this project with a younger person, you can use a hole puncher and punch holes around the edges. “Sew” through the holes with a sturdy length of thick yarn.
That’s it! These cushions are much easier to pack and lug around than folding chairs. If you wind up making a few for you, leave me some comments and send me some pics. I’d love to share your work with others!
June 7, 2010
Blackberry Bonanza
In my last post, I touched on some of my other interests besides crafting. Today’s post focuses on one of those other interests: cooking!
As you know, Adam and I headed down south to visit with his Mom and family over Memorial day weekend. When we got there, she informed me that one of his cousins has an awesome garden that was busting at the seams with blackberries and we were invited to pick as many as we wanted.
Well, try to hold me back from that.
When I was little, I loved traipsing off into the woods behind our house with my sister in search of blackberry vines – much to my mother’s chagrin. She was too worried about snakes and hunters who might mistake us for wild game. One of my most memorable blackberry picking adventures began with me pulling up my shirt tail to use it as a basket, since I had forgotten to bring one, and ended with me dumping all of the goods into a colander only to discover that the bottom of my shirt had been dyed a beautiful dark purple. Live and learn.
So, last weekend, with appropriate containers in hand, my mother-in-law and I had a go at the blackberry vines and managed to come away with two pitchers-full, and only a few scratches. We divided up our pickings, and I went home with a gallon sized storage bag full of huge blackberries – I kid you not, some the size of my thumb.
Adam and I can’t possibly go through a gallon of blackberries before they go bad, so here’s how I solved that problem.
Blackberry Jam
Get those visions of grandma standing around a hot stove all day, sterilizing jars and boiling sugary fruit mash, out of your head! I was so excited to discover Ball’s Freezer Jam containers and pectin towards the end of last summer. This jam was so simple to make:
4 cups of mashed fruit
1 1/2 cups sugar (or Splenda, if you’re doing low sugar)
1 pkg Ball Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
Basically, you combine the ingredients, pour it into the plastic jam jars, and freeze. That’s it! It makes five jars of jam, and the jars are,conveniently, sold in packs of five. It was so easy, yet so impressive. 🙂 And they keep in the fridge for three weeks, and in the freezer for up to a year.
Blackberry Cobbler
Mmm mmm, there is nothing like a good warm cobbler to bring a smile to my face. My Mom always made this simple, but yummy, peach cobbler that is easily adaptable to a variety of fruits (including blackberries!)
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of self-rising flour
1 cup of milk
2 cups fruit
Melt the stick of butter in a loaf pan in the oven while it is preheating to 350. Mix the flour, sugar, and milk together. Pour the batter into the loaf pan once butter is melted and bubbly. Sprinkle the fruit on top of the batter, and bake for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min, or until top begins to turn golden brown. Easy peasy.
*I made some cobbler a few days ago, but I didn’t have the exact ingredients. I used about 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 cake flour, and substituted half-and-half for the milk. It came out so much more light and fluffy than the standard recipe! The one above was made with 2% milk, and it is much more dense. Even though it’s not as good for me, I may just have to stick with the half-and-half from now on.*
Even after making five jars of jam and two cobblers, I still had plenty of berries left over, so I froze the rest. Now I’ll have them on hand for whatever I may need them for in the coming weeks.
If you try the freezer jam, or the cobbler, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
June 4, 2010
It’s Not Just All About Crafts…
The main theme of this blog, from the beginning, has always been Etsy and crafting. Of course I have veered off the straight path here and there, because I am more than a crafter.
I’m a wife,
Leaving the reception.
a daughter,
Mom and Dad!
a sister,
Julee, me, and Stephanie.
a musician (and BFF!),
Me and The Marvelous Maven.
an actor,
Saying "goodbye" to Beth.
a cook,
My totally-from-scratch Thanksgiving gingerbread church from '08. I know it was a little while ago, but I'm still so darn proud of it!
a traveler,
I like a cruise... but I"m definitely up for something a little more off the beaten path.
an amateur photographer,
Somewhere in Asheville, NC, I believe.
a tea lover,
Tea at Biltmore. Ahhhhh.
dog lover,
Jan Austen fanatic,
video gamer,
fantasy football master,
gardener…
WHEW!
…And so much more. More than likely, all of these different aspects of me will show up here in my blog, so please feel free to read what interests you and skip over what doesn’t.
Now, what about you?? I know there is more to you than our shared interest in Etsy and crafty goodness. (Or maybe, like The Marvelous Maven, you’re not not so much into the crafts, you just like me for me.) I want to hear what else makes up you. What other skills/talents/passions do you have? What do you just LOVE…and what could you totally live without? Leave me come comments below!
Treacle And Ink 