THE DELIGHT OF DRAWING

Oh my goodness, the new children's book 'Let's Make Some Great Art' by Marion Deuchars looks absolutely incredible.  I still remember getting this book as a little girl and filling up long afternoons by experimenting with its projects.  I would love to recapture a little of that delight and inspiration and have this book to flip through in my apartment.


Buy the book for $13.57 (a steal!) here and check out the beautiful website that accompanies it here.


(Thanks to Black*Eiffel for the heads up)

I DO: THE WEDDING FILES

After having gotten engaged over the Christmas holiday, I have recently started collecting ideas for my own wedding (thankfully still almost two years away!). Several months ago I stumbled across this amazing book published by Chronicle: Handmade Weddings, Over 50 Crafts to Style and Personalize Your Big Day. For only around $25, this book packs a big punch of inspiration . . . I am already drooling over a bunch of projects and 'crafting' ways to include them in my wedding.

Need more convincing? Watch this adorable promotional video! It will prove that this book would be great for planning parties of all sorts, not just weddings.

So, imagine my excitement when, after buying the book on Monday, I saw this preview of the book on Design*Sponge on Tuesday. They even feature a project from the book: how to make cupcake liner pom poms. Awesome!

You can buy your own copy of the book here.

(This marks the first in a long series of wedding-related posts on this blog, called "The Wedding Files". I am adding a permalink to all the posts in the right column. I hope you like them!)

MUSEUM TAGS

This weekend, amidst all the rain, I decided to do a little project-pick-me-up. For the last year or so I have been collecting metal museum entrance tags - the little things guards make you stick on your lapel when you walk into the museum. They come in a range of colors so people don't try to come back the next day with the same tag, claiming they already paid their ticket. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has 16 different colors, the Morgan Library has five etc. To brighten up my wall a bit I strung my collection up on baker's twine and hung above my couch. Looks cool, no? It is just temporary until I can get them framed, but for now I love it!

(Sorry for the gray photo; with the rain the lighting was pretty yucky all weekend. I'll take a new photo the first sunny day I get!)

See more on my Flickr site here.

STRAWBERRY JAM

This dreary overcast weekend I decided to defy the weather and go berry picking with my boyfriend Thomas. Being the competitive energetic people we are, Thomas and I began to hunt for the best rows of strawberries and by the morning's end we managed to pick over TEN POUNDS of strawberries! Which was understandably delicious but perplexing. What do you do with TEN POUNDS of strawberries?

Answer: make delicious simple jam! Check out the easy three ingredient recipe (strawberries, sugar, lemon juice) over at Martha Stewart Food. As you see from my photos, I made 6 batches of the recipe which yielded 12 small jars of jam. Beware, this recipe makes more of a spread/sauce than a traditional jam since it avoids the annoying pectin/jar heating process. All in all, it is perfect for spreading on toast or mixing into yogurt and is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

(Option two for the remaining SIX POUNDS of strawberries: freeze them and blend into smoothies to brighten up the dead of winter! Drink them with the Kikkerland straws! Find useful freezing instructions here.)

(Many thanks to my wonderful Mom for the beautiful pictures of the jam session! (This pun's for you Mom!))