Labors of Love

Strawberry daquaris and sweet treats got the party started off right.

Working on Valentines.

Zane's Valentine Booth.

Tony's arrangement.

Lunch break with stained glass cookies.  For the record, Jolly Ranchers are the way to go for hard candy with these.  Ron made Pasta of Forbidden Love.  I found this recipe online a few years ago when I was trying to find a way to use up some extra pepitas.  It is one of my favorite dishes.   Noodles are topped with a butternut squash sauce and the garnished with pomegranate seeds, pepitas, walnuts, and gruyere cheese. 

The day's projects.

Love is All Around Us

Alright, so this entry may be less about the previous Valentine's Day Parties we have had and more about Yvonne Meyer's beautiful photographs.  The next few are her pictures from February 2007.

Zane and Eli again, with a rare display of affection.

If I remember correctly, we had a difficult time dragging Cicely away from making valentines to be part of the pictures.

The Pickel clan.  Thanks for the photos, Yvonne.

Spoils from parties past.

Hey Good Looking, What You Got Cookin'?

For years now I have coveted and struggled with making The Martha's heart-shaped pot holders.  This year I finally conquered it.  You can find the original patterns and instructions right here.

Some helpful tips:  I found a thinner batting that is made specifically for pot holders.  It was much easier than struggling with the thicker, fluffier stuff.  Then I sewed everything together except the edging just like it will appear in the finished project, no flipping or turning inside out.  If it were a sandwich it would look like this:  bottom fabric, batting, top fabric, contrasting fabric as grips.  After I sewed the whole shebang together I trimmed it as close to the stitching as possible.  I also found it was much, much easier to use a regular piece of fabric (two inches wide) versus premade seam binding to make the edging.  It was much easier to fold around the curves.  I did this by folding the fabric in half and ironing, then folding each side in to the center seam and ironing, and then folding that in half one last time and ironing.  Essentially you are creating your own seam binding.  I pinned the edging every inch or so, on both sides before hand stitching the edging on.  It was so fun I did the project eight more times.  They will be parting gifts for my Valentine Crafternoon Delight guests.

More VD Ideas!

Nothing trumps googly eyes. They make everything better.  There is no such thing as a wrong time, or too much, or it doesn't match.  When the question is googly eyes the answer is always, "Yes, please."  We took small jewelery bags (find them by the beads in craft stores) and folded decorative paper over the top.  The message covers the staple holding the whole thing together.

Love Bugs.  We did these as pins for grandmas and the like when the kids were preschoolers, but magnets work too.  Add a few more each Valentines Day until your fridge is so covered you need a love exterminator.  We purchased packages of precut wooden hearts, I glued the bug shaped together and let the kids go nuts.  These were my designs.  Theirs were less precise, but probably more charming.

Eli did this in second grade, I think.  We melted old crayons into a heart shaped muffin tin and attached them to blue cardstock circles he decorated with his interpretation of the world.  The back says, "You color my world."  We adhered the color with double sided adhesive tape-the thick, squishy, white kind.

My fourth grade teacher used to give us little crocheted bookworms whenever we read 10 books.  These were Cicely's kindergarten valentines.  On the back we stamped "You are the apple of my eye."  We did red and green apples and red, green, and pink worms.  The worms were just a single crochet stitch for the body and then loop the stitch around the end to make the head.  Don't forget the googly eyes.

Love is in the Air

So I was floating along in the universe feeling mostly competent and somewhat creative when it happens...  The Martha's February spread featured a woman who has a book called Crafternoons (2008) and the showcased activity is a Valentine's Craft Party.  Double drats:  1) I was naive enough to believe we were the first to coin the phrase "Crafternoons" and 2) we did our first Valentine's Craft Party four years ago.  I will post some pictures later this week.  At first I was defeated, crest-fallen, and beaten.  But then I decided to chalk it up to the "great minds" theory.  Anyhoooo, here are some VD craft ideas to make for the ones you love.  Or the ones you are with.

I found the template through How About Orange.  The original design, adorable in its own right, is a winged elephant.  I simply traced the pattern onto heavy grey paper, cut out, and constructed.  I attached a simple origami box to the back with a brad.  Get the pattern right here. 

Fold Your Horses

And cranes, and throwing stars, and lilies.  Eli came up with the title.  Here is a picture of Ron's Japanese Pan Noodles.  We ran out.

Amanda discovered the quickest way to pass a mochi ball was through the air.

Eli's crane.  Suffice it to say the party was not as peaceful and meditative as I had imagined.  But we powered through.

Zane taught us how to make a throwing star.  Just in case, you know, we are ever attacked by paper ninjas.

Amanda taught us how to make lilies.

My mom shows off her wares.

No party this weekend so I will be back next Monday!

Know When to Fold 'Em

I am 95% sure that Kenny Rogers was talking about origami when he wrote the lyrics to The Gambler. Or not.  Here is the place setting we did for the origami dinner.  Everyone received a wax paper bag full of assorted origami paper to fold  We cut the top piece into a flower.

A crane's eye view of the table.

Thank you Trader Joe's for the sushi.

And the mochi, which is a Japanese ice cream (or more aptly rice cream) treat.  We did not love the gelatinous skins but were smitten with chocolate, mango, and coconut ice cream centers.

Tune in tomorrow for party pictures and see our lovely origami creations.

How to Own a Crane

Here is the easiest "How to Make a Crane" guide that I have found.  If you would like to print your own you can get it here.

A couple of things I learned the hard way.  First of all when you go from Step 5 to Step 6 above one side is going to have more paper than the other side.  No biggie, you didn't do it wrong.  When they have you do that whole "pulling the bottom corner up while folding inward"  (what EXACTLY does that mean?) you are really looking for this little piece on the heavier side of your paper square: 

Now the petal fold.  A classic origami fold that befuddles most people until they have seen it done.  The trick is to fold the top of the little kite shape score lines you have made down flat.  This is what I have done in the picture below and it is what is happening between Step 8 and Step 9.

 

Here is the rest of the petal fold (still between Step 8 and Step 9).  The folded down piece from the previous picture would be sandwiched under my naughty finger in this photo.

Smugly ignore Step 6's warning about the "tricky part".  All you are doing is making folds that will give you cheat lines for the upcoming petal fold.  Think old fashioned kite and you will be just fine.  Also notice I am using pages from a magazine for origami papers.  Just make sure you start by making it into a square and then go nuts.  Good luck!

 

We Wish You a Crafty Christmas

Tony's completed ornaments with faux fur tails.

Yvonne's finished forest friends.

The Snowmen Class of 2010.  From left;  The Starlet, Most Likely to Succeed, Mr. Jocular, Class Clown, Most Congenial, and Drama Queen.  

Merry and Bright

Zane and Eli helped prepare the breakfast casseroles. I lined regular sized muffin tins with puff pastry and then filled with and egg mixture of either spinach and mushrooms or ham and cheese.  We also had assorted muffins, fruit, and a yogurt parfait served in a trifle bowl.

Em and Yvonne work on breakfast amidst the craft supplies.

Yvonne's projects after first coat of glue frosting.

Working.

And working.

Tony attempts the snowman.  Okay, so those ornaments were really hard and really frustrating.  We started by using a toothpick to connect two sytrofoam balls.  Then coat one area at a time with glue (don't even think about Elmer's go right for Tacky) and slowly start coiling the chenille twists around the balls.  It helps to let the glue get a bit tacky.  It also helps to pre-curl the pipe cleaners around your finger to shape them before attaching them to the body forms.  Limbs were made by folding a chenille twist in thirds and then wrapping them with another twist until you reach the desired size.  Patience helps.  So did the mimosas.  We had smooth, solid surfaced styrofoam balls.  The pipe cleaners may have adhered better to their rough surfaced cousins.  It also helps to anchor the beginning and end of the pipe cleaner into the styrofoam. We used pins to hold them in place until they dried as they had the maddening habits of sproinging off.

Tune in tomorrow for some of the completed projects.

Consider This the Before

Tomorrow this squirrel will be decorated with acrylic paint tinted glue and glitter.  Tomorrow this squirrel will be somebody.

The cookies are made of a salt dough:  two cups flour, one cup salt, and one cup warm water.  Knead the dough well and refrigerate for an hour or so.  Flour your work surface and cut out desired shapes.  I put screw eyes in the little guys.  You can also poke a hole through with a straw or chopstick.  Bake at 200 degrees forever (I am six hours into this adventure and still cooking!) until it is dried out.  Tell the people living in your house that they should not eat these cookies.  They are to decorate and make beautiful.  The father of the family I used to babysit broke his tooth this way.  

Is That You, Santa Clause?

Here is one of the projects we are going to make this Saturday.  The chenille Santa.

And his snowy cousin. 

I am going to learn how to make these on Saturday so I will try to post some directions/guidance.

Crafternoon the Fourth

Time for another craft party.  We are going to make some ornaments to get ready for the season.  I am going to do a brunch with a Swedish flair for Crafternoon IV.  Last time my friend Tony went to an Ikea (the closest is about 10 hours away) I gave him forty bucks and told him to go nuts.  He selected tons of wonderful things including the fabric I covered the table with and the Dala horse cake pans.

 

Hey billy goats.

The Day

Edward unwittingly modeling Yvonne's skull.

My skull and fancy skeleton.  If you were unclear:  glitter makes everything better.

Tony concentrating on his skull.

Ron made a vegetarian enchilada casserole and some fantastic sopapilla cheesecake bars.  It was a nice night and I added new pieces to my DoD collection.