happy new year
Happy 2007, everyone! May your new year be full of discovery, creativity and love.
xo,
Magpie & Cake
Image made with hockneyizer.
magic meringues
A new-traditional Xmas food at my house is meringue mushrooms. They look pretty, taste pretty great and are also pretty easy to make - the hardest part is getting the meringue thick enough, but not too thick, to make the stalks. Of course this year, things weren't really so easy, since the icing syringe we use decided to break, and the meringue mixture was oozing out all over the place. Martha would not have approved. But a few McGyver moves (and a rubber washer) later, we had it patched up just enough to get through the batch.
To make your own, here's Martha's recipe for meringue mushrooms. Mmm.
traditional eats for the holidays
[Bonus! My favourite tarts from the Finn bakery.]
no santa today
Happy holidays, everybody... here's a nice stop motion movie featuring a sock monkey, a wooden donkey, and some banjo: it's Cecil and Britches.
Read more...it's beginning to look a lot like dirt bikes
Only 5 days till Christmas. Are you in the spirit yet?
Yeah, me neither.
Well, it's time to change all that. After all, what's gets you into the Christmas spirit more than snow? And Christmas carols dance music? And visions of sugar plums dirt bikes dancing in your head?
You can get all that - plus snow - in this video (click on the link to Ken Ishii). It's made by Logan, the same fine people who brought you the iPod silhouette dance ads. You can read a recent interview with the Logan boys on Ping Mag.
Note to self: I definitely have a thing for videos with slo-mo floating things. Hmm.
sugar and spice, that's what vancouver's made of
Vancouver is turning into quite the gingerbread town. After seeing that little gingerbread street, I've discovered that Vancouver is actually the home of The World's Largest Gingerbread Man!
The Guinness Book of Records verified Big Ginger back in November 2003. Made by the chefs at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Burrard Street Vancouver, he's 13' 11" tall, 5' 8" wide and 2" deep. He's on display for the rest of the holidays if you want to visit him.
The huge gingerbread was surrounded by tiny houses, from bungalos to palaces to the city of Vancouver itself. Here are some pics...
The Imperial Gingerbread Palace
A cruise ship and Canada Place
Vancouver! The iced faces totem poles are adorable.
the streets are paved with gingerbread
Yes, it's true. In Vancouver, the streets are paved with gingerbread... at least on West Broadway. Check out the fantastic gingerbread diorama created by the good people at Travel Bug Books. They've gingerbreadicized (to use the official term) the whole block, down to the smallest details - the fruit stand is particularly cute.
If you don't live in Vancouver, you can check out some photos here, courtesy of gingerbread photographer Travis.
Take that, Martha. Her suggestion this year is to build houses out of graham crackers instead. Sure, it's easier, but it ain't gingerbread.
full circle
>> Tuesday, December 05, 2006 –
book,
photography,
toys
How to come full-circle in four easy steps:
(Though four steps might make it a full-square. Whatever.)
1. Make a picture frame out of a book.
2. Make a bookshelf out of a ladder.
3. Make a ladder out of wooden blocks.
4. Make wooden blocks into a picture.
chihuahua + crochet = cuteness
Is your chihuahua cuter than my chihuahua?
Ok, fine. So I don't have a chihuahua. But everyone in the my chihuahua cuter than your chihuahua flickr group does. And those puppies sure are cute.
And you know what makes cute chihuahuas even cuter? Yes, that's right. Craft.
Exhibit A: Cowboy the chihuahua wearing a knitted sweater.
Exhibit B: Cowboy the chihuahua being crochet.
Oh. Yes.
GTD for christmas (and beyond)
>> Sunday, December 03, 2006 –
organize
The motto of the Lifehacker site is "Don't live to geek; geek to live." They give great geeky tips and recommend software and websites that actually save you time or make life better in some way.
Under the fantastic acronymn of GTD, or "Getting Things Done", they have lots of great tips of ways to keep track of tasks. As one of those people with an eternal To Do list, I'm all over this.
At this time of year, To Do lists can be quite helpful: keeping lists of who to get presents for, ideas of what to get them, what you've already bought ot made... It's also be helpful to keep track of dinners to make (and the ingredients needed), xmas cards to send and holiday parties to attend.
I'd suggest going through the GTD posts on Lifehacker to find the list program that's right for you. They have everything from GTD programs for gmail, to download to your desktop, and a whole bunch to use online, such as Remember the Milk, Ta-Da Lists and Mojonote.
If that's not enough to get you listing away, Lifehacker also recommend a GTD program specific to crafters: Craftmemo lets you keep track of your inventory of craft creations, supplies and upcoming projects. Sounds very helpful for crafters who are running Etsy stores or participating in craft fairs.
a new canoe
>> Saturday, December 02, 2006 –
art exhibit
Not long ago, Lindsay posted some of the amazing interiors created by Wary Meyers. Well, the talent doesn't stop there. Among other things, they also paint - and not just canvases, either. Their 16-foot long canoe painted with blue and white china patterns is a surprising combination of media and traditions.
It reminds me of willow pattern china plates ... I think it'd be cool if they made large silver spoons to be used in place of paddles.
The canoe will be among the works displayed at the 2007 Portland Museum of Art Biennial.
it's what's on the inside that counts
>> –
art exhibit,
toys
Back in 2003, The Wurst gallery in Portland hosted an awesome exhibit of Russian nested dolls, or matryoshka, painted by a range of great artists. Thanks to the wonders of the interweb, I've just come across it. And love it.
On the gallery site click on the outer-dolls to see what's inside them, and mouse over the individual mini-dolls to see their bums.
don't freak out, ok?
>> –
holiday,
illustration
If you're braving the malls in the pre-Xmas rush, or it's just dawning on you that you can't possibly knit that many scarves for all your friends and family before the 25th, this is for you.
"Don't freak out, ok?" wallpaper from the ever-brilliant Ray Fenwick. Great for your desktop, office or padded cell.
(Check out more of his patterns here.)
magpie & cake tutorial: 3D joke tree advent calendar
>> Friday, December 01, 2006 –
holiday,
siobhan_project,
tutorial
I made this advent calendar last year for my amazing advent-adoring friend Annie. Sadly, I didn't get co-ordinated enough to make an advent calendar this year (sorry, Annie!), but I thought I'd share a quick tutorial with everyone on how to make what I hereby dub ... the 3D Joke Tree Advent Calendar!
The basic idea is that instead of chocolate or a picture, you get a new Christmas or holiday joke every day. You could also adapt this idea to include holiday or winter trivia instead, if that's your thing.
To make the 3D Joke Tree Advent Calendar, you will need:
- Construction paper (or other coloured paper)
- Buttons
- Glue
- Tape
- Pen
- Scissors and/or exacto knife
1. Grab some festively coloured paper and cut it into strips about 1/2" wide and 4" or 5" long.
2. Place a 2 or 3 layers of masking tape (I used blue painter's tape) on top of one another to create a thick layer tape. Cover the end of the paper strips with the tape and trim off excess tape. (The point of this steps is to create a "stopper" for the joke-strip so it doesn't pull right out of the tree.)
3. On each strip of paper, write out a joke on one side, and the punchline on the other side. I found most of my jokes online at sites like this one, but you can also make up your own. I think cheesy jokes are always the best. Here are a few to get you started:
- Why are Christmas trees like bad knitters?
They both drop their needles! - What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
Frostbite! - What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Ice Krispies! - Where do polar bears vote?
At the North Poll!
4. Take a sheet of green paper and cut little slits in it at different angles. This is where he joke-strips will slide through, so the slits should be slightly larger than the strips of paper, say 3/4".
5. Curl the green paper into a cone. Glue or tape it in place, then trim round the bottom so your tree can sit flat on the table without tipping over.
6. Slip the joke-strips through the slits from the inside out, so the masking tape ends stay inside the tree. You should end up with that looks like it has multi-coloured dreadlocks sprouting out all over it, like this:
7. At end of each joke-strips write a number from 1 to 24 on one side. On the other side, glue on a button. I used a glue gun, but regular white glue should work if you're patient. Glue a yellow button or yellow paper star on the top of the tree. When the glue is dry, push all the strips back into the tree, so just the buttons are showing, ready to be pulled out day by day.
And that's it! You're ready to advent. Read more...
advent calendars galore galore
>> –
holiday
Do you know what today is?
December 1st!
Which means... the first day of advent!
Here are some fantab ways to countdown to xmas, advent-style.
Kiddley dreams up tons of advent activities for the whole family. As always, Claire at Kiddley is full of great ideas for fun things to keep kids busy, even during the sugar-infused countdown to the big day. Everything from "go out for sushi" to "make decorations for the tree".
Also on Kiddley, a couple of guest posts: Myra from My Little Mochi shares a donwloadable pattern for origami advent snowmen to print, cut, fold and fill with advent surprises. Amanda from SoulesMama suggests making advent stockings to line the mantel. Jo from Artsy Fartsy Mama presents advent on a stick (literally) where the items inside the daily packages are filled with small, natural gifts like shells.
If you've already given up on baking Christmas cookies, put your cookie sheet to good use to create a magnetic advent calendar (pictured here).
This advent calendar by Emilyjoy may also be magnetic (sorry, I can't tell from the photo), and makes use of those cute little tins that always look like they might be useful for something.
Later today (when I can find my photos from last year!) I'll post my tutorial for the advent calendar I made last year: a 3D tree filled with Christmas jokes.
Happy Advent!
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