Tackling Needle Felting

Boyfriend very cleverly got me a needle felting kit for Christmas. The kit included everything I needed to needle felt two small cupcake ornaments. You can find a similar one from Etsy user FancyTiger.



I have never needle felted before, but thought it was easy to learn, and a lot of fun. I think my first cupcake turned out really sweet.



Santa had a lot of help from the hand-crafters at Etsy this year. Another fun find under our tree was a set of customized mustache tea cups from UrbanAntix. Placed just right, they are the perfect disguise!

Crafting for Mom

For one of the hand made gifts I gave this year, I was inspired by the new "So You Think You're Crafty" blog to make my mom a harvest wreath from fabric.



I picked four different fabrics, and cut them into strips, folded them in half, and ironed them.



Next, I created the leaf shapes, and hot-glued them to muslin in a circle shape.



This will fit into my perfectly with my mom's decor come harvest, fall time. The full tutorial can be found here. While you are there, take a look around - the So You Think You're Crafty blog has some great ideas!

New Year's Tasting Menu

Happy new year!



Boyfriend and I fancied ourselves up and went to Bond St at the Thompson Hotel for their six course tasting menu.

We had:
Big-Eye Tuna Tarts
Micro Shiso

Albacore Tataki
Local Greens, Ginger Dressing

Maine Lobster Preserved Meyer Lemon, Leeks, Lobster Jus

Japanese Bouillabaisse
Squid, Ama-Ebi, Uni Rouille

Australian Wagyu
Potato Cubes, Cippolini Onion Puree, Hedgehogs, Soy-Garlic

Vosne Romanee
Traditional Flavors of the Appelation

Fancy!

Year End

Now that the holidays are coming to a close, I am going to have some fun knitting to share with you. As always, I had a lot of fun knitting gifts for the holidays, and feel they went to some very knit-worthy recipients. Stay tuned to future posts to see what's been on the needles lately.



For now, I'm going to work on getting settled back in after a week away in with family, friends and lots of snow. After a day of traveling back, a nap may be in order, if I plan to make it to midnight tonight! Thanks for tuning in to this little blog during 2009. Happy new year!

Christmas Eve

*snow at my parents house*

Our tradition on Christmas Eve is to look at Christmas lights. We have our regular favorite spots to go. This year's freezing rain cut our ride a little short, but we still got to drive by my favorite house on Foster.



When I was younger, this house's light display was paired with the house next door, and included a horse drawn-carriage with two riders. They are no longer there, but the friendly waving snowman (he moves!) always says Christmas time to me.


*(My parent's pic, taken right after 15 inches of snow)*

Now we're snuggling up by the fire, getting ready for Santa to come tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Get crackin'

There were two of these guys outside of my apartment's front entryway and they made me laugh.



Somebody call hunky Santa at the Beverly Center and tell him there's a new guy in town....

Caramel Pretzel Turtles

Over the weekend Boyfriend and I had dinner at my Aunt's house. As a holiday treat to bring along, I made these Caramel Pretzel Turtles:

I flattened out caramels with a rolling pin



wrapped them around pretzel nuggets (these steps were improvised a little bit. I couldn't find regular caramels, so I used caramel cremes...these worked, but the cream part flaked a little bit in the wrapping process, and pretzel nuggets/round were not available either, so I chopped up pretzel rods).



The caramel wrapped pretzels were dipped in chocolate, and rolled around in finely chopped almonds.



* They don't look particularly appetizing like this....*

Finally, I wrapped them up in individual cellophane bags - ta-da!