-:- an orange garland

This weekend, I was inspired to dehydrate some orange slices and make something festive with them. I debated making ornaments, but our little tree is already full, so I ended up with a pretty garland to hang over our fireplace instead.

I dehydrated a sliced orange for about a day - we have a thrifted dehydrator (which makes it really easy) but you could also bake the orange slices on low heat (around 170 degrees F) for anywhere from 6-12 hours. The thicker the orange slices, the longer you'll have to bake them. It's also helpful to put them on an oven-safe rack when they are in the oven to help air flow completely around them - they'll get done much faster that way.

Check on your oranges every few hours (don't forget about them!) and when the juicy part is hardened, not sticky at all, and you can pretty much see through it, they're done baking/dehydrating. 

To make a garland, first roughly measure the space where it will hang to determine the length of your string (baker's twine, cotton kitchen string, or yarn would all work well). I just eyeballed it and then added a few feet to account for tying and drape. It's definitely better to have too much string than not enough.

Then attach the dried oranges. I strung my oranges through their middles like they were two-holed buttons. This helps them stay put and lie flat.

Once I had attached all of my oranges, I tied a large pinecone to each end of the string and then situated my garland before attaching the remaining, smaller pinecones. You do this by wrapping the string around them once, close to their centers - no need to tie these ones - they'll just hang where you wrapped the string around them.

And that's really it - look at your garland from a few feet away and make any little spacing adjustments as needed. Then go make some hot cocoa to drink while you admire your holiday handiwork.

xox

-:- pumpkin spice latte mask

Oh, skin woes. They are the worst, aren't they?

Luckily, I'm learning that relaxation, plenty of water, skipping dairy, and exfoliating masks all seem to help relieve some of those woes, so I try to do those things as often as possible. This week, I was inspired by some leftover pumpkin to develop a mask based on my favorite seasonal drink - the pumpkin spice latte.

I love making masks with things in the kitchen that most of us already have on hand - I am a big believer in extracting health benefits from natural ingredients, ones that we can (and do!) consume - because really, when we put things on our skin, we're basically consuming them anyway.

This is an insanely moisturizing mask, which is wonderful for dry winter skin. Plus, it makes you feel like you are sitting in a coffeehouse in fall - the scent is so good. The pumpkin contains many wonderful enzymes and antioxidants that work to smooth, hydrate, and encourage new cell growth - all wonderful things for your skin. The coffee is good for exfoliation and reducing inflammation and redness.

Quick note #1: the caffeine from the coffee definitely enters your system through your skin, so just be aware of that (and don't do this mask right before bed). If you don't want to use caffeinated coffee, you could still use decaf for that latte scent or just replace it altogether with ground apricot kernels or ground almonds for exfoliation.

Mix the pumpkin and coconut cream together and warm it slightly - I put mine in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Take a minute to smell your concoction - awesome, right?

Quick note #2: when I say coconut cream, I am talking about the solid white part that you'll find in a can of coconut milk - mine is whipped, so it looks like a bit more than 3 tbsp - you can adjust the amount you use depending on how moisturizing you want your mask to be.

While it's still warm, apply it to your clean, dry face and let it sit for about 20 minutes. It's a little goopy, but as long as you don't apply it too thickly, it shouldn't drip off or anything. When you wash it off, rub that coffee and cinnamon into your skin for extra exfoliation. This recipe makes a big batch - you can either store it in the fridge to use again (which is what I'll do) or you can cut everything in half to make a smaller batch.

This is super hydrating, wonderfully brightening, exfoliating mask. Enjoy!

xox

-:- coat rack by mr.

Mr. loves working with his hands - he is big on doing things. I love that about him, especially when he channels that energy into making wonderful things for our home.

Like this new coat rack that he whipped up last weekend.

It has two tiers of hooks, specially designed to hang more coats without too much bulk,
and includes a special, built-in, secret mail nook that only you and I know about.

And it's perfect for those members of this household who carry a general aversion to closets. I'm looking at you, Claude.

It was built with a piece of wood (walnut or black walnut, says Mr.) that the previous homeowners left in our garage. It was hung on our plaster wall with heavy duty screws and some kind of plastic anchor - which was all very encouraging since we have a few other things we'd like to hang in this plaster.

The hooks are pieces of a dowel and the moose (which was previously brown and installed on the side of one of our bookcases) was a wedding gift from my sister. We'd eventually like to get a little bench or something to put underneath it so we'll have someplace to sit when we take off our boots.

But we already love it - finding Lou's leash has been a breeze and our mail isn't cluttering up our surfaces anymore. That husband of mine is pretty wonderful.

xox


P.S. I wasn't really looking at Claude. I was looking at myself. Claude happens to love closets.

-:- make a quilt

Sometimes, when I successfully learn how to do new things, I wonder what took me so long to start doing them in the first place. I felt that way about crocheting, then about knitting - and now I feel that way about making quilts - or, quilting as we quilters like to call it. 

Going into this weekend, I had two things left to do on my quilt: tie it and then bind it.

Getting this quilt tied was a lot harder than I imagined it would be, and only after a broken needle and several blisters on my fingers did I get into a good rhythm. Good thing I was watching (three) episodes of Doc Martin, which simultaneously distracted me from my pain and supplied medical advice in case my quilting injuries worsened. 

My binding technique left a little a lot to be desired - and as usual, my problems mostly stemmed from my blatant disregard for accuracy. (So what if my cardboard template from a cereal box was a bit smaller by the time I was done cutting my squares? And who cares if all of my edges don't quite line up? It would all be okay in the end!)

I loved making this quilt - and I already have big plans for my next one. Those plans, you'll be happy to hear, involve cutting my squares using a quilting ruler, ironing my fabric, and doing other such responsible things to ensure a more finished look at the conclusion of my efforts (ahem).

In the meantime, there is a warm, flannel-backed Weasley-esque quilt to keep me (and Mr. and Louie and Wilbur) warm.

And we love it.

xox

-:- butcher, baker, tablecloth maker

We are a tablecloth kind of a family – especially since our current table is much more suited to being covered up than displayed. Ahem.

And we have a lot of them - the catch is that most of them are stained, faded, torn, or have beeswax on them. Good for rags, but not really good for a clean-looking table. So to avoid using Christmas tablecloths year-round, I went looking for some replacements.

But for as much as I looked, I found nothing cute for a price I liked. I was having a really hard time paying a lot of money for what was essentially a glorified piece of fabric!

 So when I saw my favorite words on a fabric store in town (blowout sale), I pulled over to take a look. I found some neat prints. And when I got them home, I made some tablecloths
(including the yellow one there).

It's as easy as it seems - working with one edge at a time, fold the fabric down about 1/4" and iron it as you go so your crease holds. 

Then do the same thing once more so you have a nice, clean seam.

Work your way around all four edges of your fabric this way - and then just sew everything down!

 

So long, red and green Christmas tablecloths!
Until...well, Christmas.

xox

-:- new old furniture

When I was maybe 10 years old, one of our neighbors gave us a dresser.

It looked something like this:

(picture from our old apartment - I forgot to take a "before" picture!)

 We didn't like it very much at all,

but it was really functional (all those drawers!) and we couldn't justify getting rid of it.

When we made our move, it almost didn't make it onto the truck...

and once it was here, it was too long to carry up the steep stairs to our bedroom.

So we put it in our living room (temporarily, we said...until we could find something we loved)

and we slowly evolved into thinking about it differently.

Soon, we had a vision.

Last weekend, we decided that the dresser transformation would make a good project

so we got right to work.

My wonderful husband did most of the hard labor:

cutting, sawing, hammering, sanding.

 

Then he turned it over to me for painting.

By the time we were done, we could hardly tell it was the same piece of furniture.

We are debating whether to put legs on it (I think we will)

and I still have some work to do on the insides of the drawers,

but we are so happy with the way it turned out.

And it's definitely nice to have some books in our living space again.

We feel pretty lucky that we kept it after going back and forth about it so many times

and now we are looking for another transformation project - this one was so fun!

xox

-:- install programmable thermostat - check

Quick tip for when you install a programmable thermostat:

Remember to turn your AC back on.

The day after we put this baby in, the air coming out of our vents was so much warmer than it had been. And we could not for the life of us figure out why.

We pulled out the manual, read every page, tried lowering the temperature...
maybe it was one of the eco-friendly features?

Finally, Mr. slapped his hand against his forehead
and went to power everything back up.

Lo and behold, it worked.

xox