Wonderful Day at the Flea.....and a polka dot cake

Happy New Year to you all.  I have to say that usually I am excited to begin anew this time of year.  But for the first time that I can remember I was not happy to see 2012 end.  I had a wonderful year!  Healthy thriving kids, great family and friends and my full time as well as part time, Etsy store, did well.  I am, though, looking forward to another good one.  I, as many of you likely do, have a list of things which I will approach differently this year.  And I am grateful for the challenge.  

Today I went to our local flea market.  I saw some good friends and came home with a few treasures.

  That list includes grain sacks, French hotel silver tea pots, a galvanized pitcher,  a French jute sack and a few other finds.  I will share more with you as soon as I can get organized.  In the meantime,  here is my polka dot cake.  I saw one on Pinterest and loved it.   It is a vanilla cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting and fondant decoration.  

I did not make it for any special occasion, just for practice.  I had a tough time cutting into it, to be honest.  I didn't want to ruin the exterior.  But when I did I was thrilled to see the pink and green polka dots.  

This was actually very easy to make.  To create the dots, you first make cake balls, or pops.  You then place them in your regular cake pans and cover with batter.  I just learned a few tricks as well.  I did not know that it makes it easier to frost if you freeze the cake overnight, and use a hot knife to smooth it.  

I know that it is a bit odd that I post mostly about interiors and making use of old and worn things and then once in a while I throw a cake at you.  But what I like to do here is write about my creative endeavors.  So, I guess that both fall into that category. 

I wish you all a happy and very healthy 2013

xo

Michele

Christmas Card

Happy Saturday to you.  As we all rush around making christmas cookies, buying those last few gifts, and planning holiday dinners I thought I would send you a copy of our Christmas card.  For the past few years I have hand made them.  I start in November with the goal of sending them out the day after Thanksgiving.  That way, it is off my plate and thus easier to enjoy this, my favorite time of year.  

I bought a stamp at an Etsy store called Dragonfly Buzz.  I have had my eye on this stamp since last year.  I stamped it and we all signed it in gold ink.  

So, I hope that you are all enjoying your holidays.  Thank you very much for following me this year, whether I post weekly or not for a month or so.  I know it is tough when things are so busy, but I really try to take time this time of year to appreciate all that I have been blessed with.  

Michele

A Rustic Christmas

This is my favorite time of year.  I love the feeling at Christmastime.  I love that you sometimes witness some act of generosity that you may not the rest of the year.  I love getting and decorating our tree. I look forward to seeing my kids' faces when they open their presents.

 I also love wrapping the gifts.  I was inspired this year by my sister in law Cheryl, of Fresh Vanilla for C, to make by own wrapping paper and tags.  She told me that she found some paper at Anthropologie that had pom poms on it.  Another thing I love are pom poms. I used my hot glue gun to affix them. 

I then saw something on pinterest which inspired me to make these wreaths.

I embossed these cards and attached the wreaths with bakers twine.  The "to" and "from" are on the back.

I love the simplicity of bakers' twine.

I also made these pillows today.  As always, I really like the subtlety of white on white.  And the big bold red stripe on this grain sack pillow is very festive.  They are both in my Etsy store.

Last but not least, I made hand towels to give as hostess gifts this season.  (also in the shop).  

Enjoy your holiday season.

Merry Merry

Michele

Giants Cake!

I do not claim to be a huge Giants fan.  I like baseball.  Many of my friends, though, who eat, breathe, and sleep orange and black.  That being said, as a resident of San Francisco for over twenty years now, it is tough not to get caught up in the excitement which culminated last night when they won the World Series.  So as my contribution to my friend's dinner party to watch the game, I made this cake.  

The inside, which I did not get any good photos of, was four layers, each one a slightly darker shade of orange.  

Congratulations to our Giants!

Also, my thoughts and prayers are with the people on the East Coast today.  

Enjoy your week and be sure to enter the giveaway for my shop at Primp.  Michele, (yes, the author of the wonderful blog Primp, and I spell our names the same way) has been very kind to host it!  Thank you, Michele.

Michele

A Bit of Pink

Good morning.  I apologize for being absent lately.  I think that I am finally recovering from September.  I don't know about any of you but it was crazy.  School starting coupled with a busy month in my Etsy shop made for an insane month.  

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful.  The kids are happy to be back in school.  And I am thrilled to have been busy in my store.  

Our home is very neutral in hue.  There is a lot of white and oatmeal or sand color.  I strive to make it calm and soothing.  But sometimes it needs a bit of color to liven it up.

I like the color pink.  But what I really love is the palest shade of pink with a hint of blue in it.  I was very excited when I found this grain sack material with pink stripes through it.  You don't see this color in hand loomed hemp linen too often.

I even painted a bistro chair pink once and placed it the girls' room.  

This material with pink and blue stripes though it was made into a very large tote bag.  

I bought this poster on Etsy a few years ago.  I learned of it through Rachel Ashwell.  That was before you saw every iteration imaginable splashed across everything from t-shirts to bumper stickers and hats.  I have been drawn to this British war slogan ever since. I put it up above the mantle in my room as a reminder when I have months like September. :) 

And I pink up some pink buds at the market whenever I can.  

Have a great week

Michele

Some new pillows in the shop....and a bit of Christmas in September

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend!  We are beginning to get our indian summer here in San Francisco.  After months of temperatures in the 50's and low 60's and drizzly mornings, we have begun to see the sun!  So, naturally I would start to think about making Christmas ornaments :) to put in the shop.

I always like the contrast between the rough around the edges and the shiny and refined.  I thought that these antique linen stars would be beautiful on a Christmas tree against the white lights.  

I read a book many years ago by Deepak Chopra called "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success."  One of the things, amongst a few, that I took away from this was the law of giving.  As you can guess he writes mainly about karma and the beauty of the theory that "to give is to receive."

  He states that you should never show up at someone's house empty handed.  He does not mean that you have to run out and buy a $30 floral arrangement every time you drop by someone's house for a cup of coffee.  He says that it can be a quick prayer asking for the health and happiness for the family who inhabits that home.  It can simply be a wish for their well being.  I thought about this while making these stars to put in the store.  So, I wrote a little wish on a piece of paper and inserted it into the stars before stuffing and sewing them up.  They are simple, such as "love, health, joy..." etc.  I thought that these would not only be great to adorn a tree, but also tied to a package.  You could tie a few to the backs of chairs if you were having a dinner party.  I am a big fan of having a stock of hostess gifts around the house.  I like to take something that is unique.  I think that bringing a set of three to a hostess as a small thank you would be lovely.

I have also been busy restocking the shop with some grain sack pillow shams.  I was running low for a while and just found some great blue striped sacks.  

I want to thank all of you who read my blog.  Your kind comments always make me smile and encourage me.   I honestly love to hear from you and appreciate that you come back to read my posts.  

Enjoy the day!

xo

Michele

Of all things....a Grain Sack Dog Bed Slipcover

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

I was contacted about a week ago by a guy who requested a grain sack dog bed slipcover.  He wanted it to be handmade for his very special dog.

Not something I can say I have ever done before.  But I am certainly grateful for the work.  This was a rescue dog.  The customer sent me pictures of the dog on the day they got him and then another one at the one month mark.  The difference was astounding.  You could literally see that this dog had some very loving and attentive people taking care of him.  

I decided to stitch his name on a small label.

So nice to see people step us and rescue a dog like that.  

I wish I had an insert so I could show you what it will really look like.  It was fun to make!

Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

Michele

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