1 lb sausage, browned (i use vegetarian which i normally don't like but it's very good in this)
4-6 slices bread torn in 1/2" pieces
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs
2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1) place bread pieces in a buttered 11 x 14" dish. crumble sausage over it and top with cheese.
2) beat together eggs, milk, salt and dry mustard
3) pour over bread mixture.
4) cover over night in fridge.
5) the next morning bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees
this is so easy, but so good. my mother-in-law, debby, passed on this tradition to us. it's great for christmas morning. we come downstairs, open stockings and find santa gifts, and while the kids play we cook this. after breakfast we open presents. this is delicious to eat throughout the day or the next day for lunch or snack! enjoy!
if you have a favorite recipe, please share it!
saturday shopping list...
... also a big thank you to everyone for making this such a wonderful year... i appreciate all your encouragement and support in this new journey i'm taking. much love to you all and i hope you have a wonderful holiday...
1) postcard set- winter landscape, by coelins
2) four garden gnomes softies, made by sewsewsuckurtoe
3) redwood grove, from sandrahealy
4) fresh oregon mistletow, by zooloonaturals
5) thank you tulips, made by dutchdoor
6) girly bear with green scarf and christmas stocking, by flitterflydesigns
7) elf village, from evencleveland
8) elves with gifts, from bossyfeltworks
9) holiday card, decorating the tree, made by luckyduckletterpress
please visit fancypicnic for more shopping lists... a special than you to charlotte for asking me to participate in this lovely series!
feeling crafty?...
maybe you're not in the mood for riding a rocking horse in the snow, and would like a quieter indoor activity? looking for some last minute gift ideas, or holiday decorations? i found a great blog today, called the long thread (where i was so kindly mentioned). there are a lot of wonderful crafting tutorials here, as well as links to even more!
click the pictures to see the specific tutorial. you can also visit the long thread's flickr group to see some of the things people have made from her tutorials (all for personal use only).
phew...
i mailed off my last 3 packages today! it feels good to have finished that! i can't believe it is only a week left until christmas! i always feel like i'm just about ready to enjoy it, when it's almost over.
now i'm going to try and make a few goodies for the kids!
now i'm going to try and make a few goodies for the kids!
bust craftacular...
i had a craftacular day sunday! after a very lovely, very long lunch at union square cafe (finished off with an eggnog brulee.... devine) with my sister katy, we walked over to the bust craftcalur. this was my first trip there, and it was really nice! after a wait to get in (above), and paying our two dollars, we walked into a very large room, filled with hundreds of vendors.
we saw so many etsy sellers! some i had met before, others i feel like i know so well, but haven't actually met in person (including some i have bought from before)! it was very nice, and packed with people. some highlights:
one of the first vendors we saw was fern animals. i was lucky enough to see her work at renegade this summer, and it's always enjoyable to see these tiny little creations in person. i particularly liked this one...
next we saw jennifer from peppersprouts, who has these beautiful shadow boxes and also a great blog, upstatefancy. check them both out...
then we hit reprodepot, and picked up some excellent fabrics!!
we also saw life with tigers, who makes plush animals and lovely fabric topiaries that are quite amazing in person...
i saw one of my favorite sellers, kristin of cakehouse. she's such a great person...
she was sharing a table with may luk, whose terrific ceramics i have shown off here before:
i just missed out on a perfectly beautiful pairs of dancing bears, from kgrandey, that were marked down a huge amount because of an unnoticeable flaw. the woman in front of me whipped out her wallet a second ahead of me (although i thought katy and i were going to have to duke it out for them). i guess i'll have to save up for my own pair...
one of my favorite tables, and now one of my favorite sellers was mummysam! her work is beautiful, and she uses all wool felt and stuffing! she was super nice, and we talked a minute about our little ones who are similar ages. i had seen her work on etsy before, and even though her pictures are quite lovely these pieces are just amazing in person...
i saw a lot of other wonderful sellers as well... i wish i could include everyone (some of whom i bought presents from), but all in all a very talented room! that includes of course the very talented amy sedaris, and her very kitschy table as well...
happy crafting!
giveaway winner...
this month's winner is marilyn! congrats! marilyn wrote:
"i'm trying my best to have as much of a diy tree as possible.
i'm still not sure what my plans are for christmas. my family usually gets together on christmas day but the b/f and I haven't decided if we're seeing my folks or spend time with his family. its always a tough call.
i love the winter because i'm a december baby. :) i always enjoy the first day of a snowfall, the quiet, the calmness of it, even in new york. it's great!'
i hope you enjoyed yesterday's snow fall, and happy birthday also! i have a december baby too.. lot's of goodies in one month. i hope you enjoy your mushroom.
thanks to everyone who entered. i'm going to do more giveaway's next year!
giveaway...
i'm sorry I haven't had the chance to do it today, but i promise tomorrow! it has been wonderful reading all the entries. i wish sometimes i knew everyone out there who is actually visiting. i tend to think it's just me and my sister reading this, but then i get a chance to see some of the other great people coming here and i'm so surprised! i love to read all your comments. keep leaving them when you feel moved to do so. i read them all!
we had a lovely snowy day today. i love the white but i still always feel a little blue this time of year...
etsy how tuesday...
my etsy how-to is up today! you can check it out by going to etsy and watching it (where you can leave a comment, if you don't mind!) or watch it here...
little penguin friend...
i wanted to share a new little penguin i made for a custom order. i'm glad she asked me to do this because it was a nice challenge i really enjoyed! it is adapted from a vintage pattern. cute!
saturday shopping list...
it's been a while since i have done one, but i thought i'd be helpful and show some of the things i'd love for the holidays (hint, hint)...
1) translucent porcelain eggs, votive soy candles (2 candles and 1 little bird), from revisions
2) terrarium no. 95, by the oakleaves (i'd like a blue roof though;)
3) timex clock, from passepurse
4) rosemont sweater, made by little houses
5) nest of thread v, by whileshenaps
6) retro powder blue cream and sugar set, from simplethrift
7) a bit of paris, by artquirk
8) 1957 c. miller ceramic atomic age coffee carafe, fromvaudevillevintage1 (i love this!!)
9) grey marigold II, everyday purse, made by bayanhippo
10) aqua bird tray, from youareyou
11) tiny birds, mama and baby, from shopworthy (one of my favorite vintage shops)
12) falling water, by thepeachtree
it's really fun to imaginary shop for yourself on etsy! i had such a hard time narrowing it down... these are only a few of my current loves. i was also trying to limit it available items. i'm probably too late to make suggestions anyway (unless everyone waits until the last minute like me), but the one good thing about having birthday relatively near christmas, is you can still get the things you wanted but didn't get. now if i could just get my husband to make one of these. he's impossible to shop for! any suggestions??
happy shopping! visit fancypicnic for more great lists!
charity update...
i just wanted to give a quick update on my charitable donations... i've earned about $260 for the march of dimes since i started in november! i want to thank you all for helping me to support such a great cause. i will be giving a percentage of the proceeds from each sale in my shop through the end of december. i will continue donating a portion of my mama and baby series after that. i know it's not a huge amount of money, but for a small, new shop i'm proud to be able to give to such a worthy cause.
winter giveaway...
hello! i'm having one last giveaway this year. i'm giving away one of my mushroom ornaments... your choice of which one. i have to say, these are really sweet ornaments... and they look really great on a tree or really just any where!
to enter, please leave comment letting me know which one you would like, and also share what you plan to do for the holidays if you celebrate... or just what you like about winter!
we celebrate christmas, and i try to keep it pretty mellow for the children. i have to say i love christmas in the city... silver bells has always been my favorite holiday song! it's really wonderful just to be in the city this time of year, when it is sort of magically transformed. usually my sister and i go to the nutcracker every year at lincoln center, but this year i think we are just going to spend a day enjoying manahattan at christmas. as for christmas itself we usually take the children to macy's on christmas eve to visit santa. it's usually pretty quiet if you get there early, and they also have a free marionette show for the children. then we usually just walk around the city, have lunch, and watch the ice skaters in bryant park. our traditional christmas eve dinner, thanks to my son's suggestion, has become pancakes! the kids get so excited, and we have the cutest pictures of them all dressed up waiting for them to be served. christmas morning is the usual santa activites... and we always make my mother-in-law's famous cheese cloud for breakfast (i'll find the recipe and share it with you, because it's so gooood)!
i can't wait to hear from you! you have until monday night to enter. i promise to send it off quickly for you! you can enter no matter where you live, but i can't guarantee it will get there before christmas if you live outside the u.s.
abandoned...
are you feeling abandoned? i'm sure my blog is. sorry i haven't been around much, i had a very busy week, starting last saturday with a craft show (that went well!), and my son's 6th birthday party sunday (that was crazy!). i went on tuesday to film a special project on tuesday... a "how-to" video that involves the garland above and will be up next week! it was fun, but nerve wracking... i am definitely no actress! hopefully it will come out all right. i'll let you know when it is up!
in other news, i just want to briefly mention the consumer product safety improvement act (cpsia). if you haven't heard of this yet, it's a very broad attempt to crack down on the terrible safety issues plaguing toys made overseas in the last few years... that's a great thing, but the potential consequences to small toy makers (like my self) and responsible business's is very dire. it mandates third party testing and certification of every toy, at an extremely costly price. if these toy makers and business are made to follow the same rules that very large companies are the result will be that the large companies actually responsible for this mess will be largely unaffected, especially monetarily, while everyone else may be put out of business. it makes me wonder how responsible we all are for allowing this to happen... for our over-consumption that leads to shoddy toys made with no oversight or questions, endangering our children. now the unfair burden will be placed on those who actually care about what goes into the toys they make... who have carried on a tradition of making small amounts of high quality toys.
if you would like to find out more about this act, which goes into affect next february, click the above link, or join the handmade toy alliance. there, you can sign a petition and contact your congress person and senator to ask them to look into the matter further (i did!). there is also an article on the etsy blog to check out as well. thanks for your help in supporting handmade!
mama and baby...
a new mama and baby pair in the shop... polar bears! i'm really happy with how they came out! remember that 50% of the proceeds from these pairs goes to the march of dimes.
** the first pair sold quickly... i have added another listing for a custom order. if you would like a pair for christmas, i have time for making one more set... it must be ordered by the 12th though! thanks for helping me to give to those most in need this time of year. my daughter was in the hospital at christmas when she was just 6 weeks old... it's a very difficult thing to go through. i'm glad to be able to donate a little bit to help keep babies healthy and families together.
xo
cary
happy birthday...
yesterday my little baby turned 6! i can't believe it... it really only seems like yesterday that first picture was taken with him in my belly.. ok, maybe not yesterday but i can't believe how fast it goes! this little guy came into my life and took it by storm! he was born ready to experience everything... he started crawling at 5 months, walking at 9 months, running by 10! he never looked back from there. he experiences everyday to the fullest and his energy, enthusiasm, humor, imagination... and especially his capacity for love and silliness constantly amazes me. he has taught me so much, and i'm so grateful for each (challenging!) new day with him. i love you bubba.
favorite artists...
how amazing is this? this was made by lifepieces (i'm sorry i don't know her real name) for the old school sewing competition on flickr, where everything is stictched by hand. i signed up as well, months ago, with the intention of creating an amazing new project for it. unfortunately i never got around to it. i entered my blue bird, but now i'm wishing i had had more time. this little pin cusion blew me away... her other work is so great too. just click her name to see some of her other pin cusions... i love the little hedgehogs! also check out the competition... there are some great creations in the 3d category, i love the little gnome home as well. so much creativity on flickr!
wow...
look at this amazing set astulabee put together! i can't believe i missed it... it's from back in october. i am so slow to keep up with everyone! i am still honored to be included in this great list, and in her admiration. i find her work, and so much of the work here inspiring.
i'm glad i came across this, i'm needing a little inspiration lately... i'm having one of "those" weeks. here's the original post to find out where all this great work comes from.
new little birdy...
new little bird in the shop... made from a lightly felted wool, and a mix of vintage and new fabrics.
i have so many ideas in my head for projects, but just not enough time to make them all:( i'm quite sad about it, but i'll get to it all eventually. i have a craft fair coming up this saturday , which i'm busy making ornaments for. i feel like the shop is looking a little "old"... nothing really different lately. it's been pretty slow too all of a sudden... i hope some of you are enjoying the holiday rush instead. go check out katy's shop if you get a chance... you better hurry though, she is selling out quickly (see if you can catch one of her adorable little bunnies)!
by the way, as it's the last day of the month, and i haven't been very good about putting new items in the shop for you, i'm extending my charity donation to the end of the year. a portion of items purchased will be donated to the march of dimes, through the month of december as well. thanks for your support!
xo
cary
one more...
sneaking in one more quick post... i had to share what my son likes to do on his holiday break! you can see why we have had to reinforce the couch several times. he's only allowed to do this very rarely now... shhh, don't tell! you can see his sister is trying to get in on the act too. hope you are having a bouncy good day too.
happy thanksgiving...
i will be taking a day off, as many of you, and just wanted to wish those celebrating a happy thanksgiving! we are going to try and brave the crowds and watch them blow up the balloons... i'm not brave enough to attempt the actual parade, we'll just watch from home. for those celebrating thanksgiving, i hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends. if you are in ny and want to brave the crowds with us, here's a map of the action (click the map for more info). see you in a few days everyone!
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