Yearly Archives: 2010

My friend Liz’s little boy turned 2 on Halloween! I mentioned the spider I made for his spidery themed birthday party and here is is! I’m so smitten with this little guy! He was kind of inspired by Ann Wood’s wire-legged spiders, which are so fantastic!

I feel sad that Halloween is over already! It felt like I was just getting into it this year, and then it was over! We actually had two trick or treaters! In the six years we’ve lived in our house, we’ve never had a single trick or treater. So now I feel more motivated for next year to do up the house. Our house kind of has a spooky vibe on its own, so I think we could make it really fun and creepy!

 Hope you have a spooky weekend filled with treats! We are attending a wee one's spider themed 2nd birthday this weekend (which happens to fall on Halloween!) Everyone was asked to bring a spider, so wait till I show the spidery chap I made! And later there will be cookie & caramel apple making with aunties & grandma. And of course trick or treating!

Have a Happy Halloween!

I was pretty darn excited when I realized that Cath Kidston's US shop is up and running.

The trouble for me is that I have two daughters and, I'm sorry, but how can one resist ? The big one can wear things now and the younger one can wear them in years to come. Perfectly logical!  

Now in my etsy shop

Indeed, I do still sometimes manage to make animals!! And I have a few new critters almost ready to head out into the world just in time for Halloween!!

I will be dusting off Ye Olde Etsy Shoppe to sell these guys. I hope that you'll come take a peek! Just getting back into the swing of things and making these, has got me back in a making mood, andI'm already starting Christmas animals, way ahead of schedule for my procrastinating self!!

This weekend was the very "fancy" party for our dear Miss 4 year old. The girls all had a blast. What better than some costume jewelry, boas, tulle and cupcakes to please a little girl?

A certain fairy-princess-ballerina-mermaid just turned 4. I happened to snap a picture before she flitted away…

And on her birthday, we had more butterfly magic happen, as a monarch emerged from our bughouse after another fascinating transformation, right before our eyes! If ever there were fairies at work, it's in a monarch chrysalis. Gorgeous, with its jadeite green and gilded accents…

This chrysalis is one we have on our gatepost. Still waiting for it to come out…

We were amazed to watch this transformation over the past few days…from caterpillar found on a carrot plant, to gorgeous Black Swallowtail! I remember capturing caterpillars as a kid, but I don't recall them ever actually making their chrysalis and emerging as butterfly. We got this one at just the right moment; after a couple of hours in the bug house, he began to make his chrysalis. Such a simple thing, but som agical and amazing! He made his grand debut in the garden yesterday afternoon! Hopefully he's settling in nicely with his butterfly friends… Yep, it's the simple things! :)

I do love a good savory bread pudding. With an abundance of chard in the garden, I made this tonight and it was totally yummy.

I think that there's a rule that you're not supposed to post pics of half eaten food in foodie blog posts, but it was devoured so quickly, photos were an afterthought.

Swiss Chard & Cheddar Bread Pudding
(Adapted from Suzanne Goin's recipe from Food & Wine )

-2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
-1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
-1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
-pi.jpgnch crushed red pepper
-1 lb swiss chard, stems and ribs discarded, leaves chopped
-salt & pepper
-2 large eggs
-1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I think milk would do, too)
-1 cup grated cheddar
3 cups roughly torn (bite sized pieces) rustic bread, crusts removed

***
Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8" square baking dish. Heat the oil in a skillet, add onions, garlic, thyme, red pepper & cook until softened. Add swiss chard and cook, stirring, until wilted. Season with salt & pepper.  Let cool a bit.

Mix cream & eggs together in a large bowl.  Add chard & cheese, season with salt & pepper.  Add bread, stirring until moistened.   Transfer to baking dish. Bake for 1 hour, or until set and golden brown. Let sit for 15 mins before serving.

I will admit, this morning we were singing Christmas songs…We were inspired by the arrival of the new issue of Holiday Crafts magazine, where you can find my little snowbirds on page 66! I was so happy to contribute to this magazine for the third year in a row!