Smitten Kitchen provided the recipe and she was right (natch): these homemade marshmallows are ridiculously springy and buoyant, and the process feels a little like alchemy. I made mine ever-so-slightly pink and went for my favorite, easy-peasy packaging.

I know that I am no longer in the second grade, but I am still an unabashed cheeseball. I love sending out late-winter sugarbombs in the form of valentines.


Do you remember the great salve disaster of 2009? Well, I am now bravely re-attempting this project based on some of your suggestions and recommendations. These herbs are now covered with oil, and the little pots catch the sunlight just so as they sit in the windowsill. So even if the infused oils are a flop (again), I have been cheered by the process and the fact that I found a terrific local herb store. But still, I’d really like it to work. So fingers crossed, and I will report back.

I have a new project up at The Washington Post to make this stationery kit. Hopefully it will help me make good on my resolution to write more letters.

As I confessed in the column, I based this project on a great gift that one of my sisters made for me. Her stationery kit was sewn, and this one is paper-based, so the sewing is optional. Is imitation still considered the highest form of flattery? I hope so. You can check it out right here.


For all of us who admire all the lovely but pricey J.Crew accessories, here’s a ribbon flower embellishment that is a breeze to make, and can be worn on a belt, as a brooch, or as a hairpin.

I found this vintage grosgrain ribbon at an all-ribbon store in San Francisco (I know, who knew? Certainly not I, until this week). I took one yard and folded it back on itself to make it more rigid. Using a hot glue gun, I glued the two layers together, working a few inches at a time. Once it was doubled over, I folded and re-folded at asymmetrical angles until I liked the arrangement. Then I lifted the folds and glued underneath. Add a decorative button in the center. To finish, cut a circle of felt for the back, glue in place, and glue or sew a pin backing onto the felt.

I found this studded synthetic leather ribbon at Britex to pair with this brooch for a little hit of preppy-meets-punk. Please excuse this very front-on view of, as Jack Donaghy would say, my swimsuit region.


From the why-didn’t-I-think-of-that department:

Stamps made from rolled up corregated cardboard. So cleaver. From Martha Stewart, with more ideas here.


If you have not popped stovetop popcorn in a while, say since childhood, get thee to a heavy bottomed pan. The process is so quick and awesome, I can’t believe that air-popping machines ever gunked up our nation’s pantries.

In a matter of minutes, your kitchen smells like a movie theater and you’re transported to the eight year-old version of yourself, cheering every victorious pop.

When we were kids – before microwave popcorn took hold – we would stove-pop enough kernels to fill our huge yellow mixing bowl, and melt an entire stick of butter to pour over top. When we got down to the bottom, the last pieces of popcorn were like icebergs in a sea of butter, and we would elbow each other out of the way to drag the last squishy pieces through the butter before it completely congealed.

And when you could still rent film projectors at our local library, we would turn our sunken conversation pit (yes, this is actually the name of a room in the barn I grew up in) into a movie theater, with the projector set up at the back. My sisters and friends and I would make little-kid versions of those cigarette girl trays, filled with candy and popcorn, and walk the “aisle”, even though sometimes we only had four customers. I can still hear the sound of the end of the movie, with the end of the reel slap-slap-slapping around the projector and the whir of the motor.

I just read that there’s a new anniversary edition of Gone with the Wind. While it isn’t real film, it sounds like the only reason I need to stovepop a big bowl and marvel at Scarlett and all those dresses.

And if you find yourself having a popcorn epiphany like me, then read this great post by Willi. It may make you realize that, while you never aspired to growing and drying your own popcorn, that is now exactly what you want to do.

The decorations are coming down, and honestly, I’m not that sad to see them go. I love putting them up and basking in the glow of the lights when they’re up. But then it feels equally right to pack everything up after the hoopla winds down, and move into the new year feeling a little more unencumbered. Plus, we do get a last hoorah: we push our tree out the front window of our apartment and then drag it to the corner, which always provides a final little burst of joy.

You may have noticed I have a thing for hauling branches and fallen bits of trees inside. This one came home with me on a morning dog walk, and I set up it in a neglected little corner to arch over a doorway. The only other thing to do was hang some simple straw ornaments from Ikea.

And while I’ve been getting antsy to put everything else away, this is one that might linger (or not, I still haven’t decided). The bare, wintry branches are lovely to see when you come into the front hallway.

In this last photo, you might just make out the fuzzy silhouettes of paper decorations I made and hung to create a kind of curtain effect above the stairs. They added a clean, wintry touch and were super quick and satisfying to slice up one evening.

So long, holidays. It’s been nice spending time together.

Today I'm so glad to welcome Kaye Terry, crafter extraordinaire and author of the new book, Applique Your Way. Kayte has a great, fearless, inspired take on embellishing clothes and projects through applique, and she is a totally down-to-earth guide to the process and range of techniques.

Kayte was kind enough to answer some questions below. In addition, and we'll be giving away a copy of her fab book to one lucky winner. Just say hello in the comment section before midnight tonight and you'll be entered. Congratulations, Sasha!

So without further adieu:

KW: Hi Kayte, I'm so glad you're here, and I have to tell you -- I had a kind of funny realization when I opened your book. I flipped though the pages and realized, I have done appliqué even though I didn’t realize it – adding bits of fabric to blankets or shirts. Have you seen other people have a similar reaction, that there was a formal name for what we’ve done when we cut out and used scraps of fabric?
   
KT: Yes! One of the reasons I wanted to write this book was because I wanted to show all the things that appliqué can be, that it's not really complicated or overly technical. I think lots of people do appliqué without knowing what to call it. In some ways, it's instinct: people have been doing appliqué either to fix or decorate their belongings since the beginning of time.

KW: Along those lines, I sometimes fear that crafty dabblers like myself might be intimidated by crafts or processes that sound technical. But everyone should try applique — it’s so satisfying and can completely transform ho-hum items. Can you demystify the process a little and give us a good starting point?

KT: Sure. I think appliqué is a really approachable craft because you are often embellishing not creating things from scratch. Also, a lot of it involves hand sewing (so you don't need a machine!) and it's very portable!

I think a good way to start is with felt because the seams don't fray and you easily sew it to other existing items. All you need is a needle, thread or embroidery floss and some pins! Just play around with cutting out different shapes and colors; it's so much fun! Also, technology has really made appliqué incredible easy with the invention of one of my favorite things, fusible webbing, which are these iron-on sheets that fuse one material to another. Fusible webbing is permanent and even washable. Honestly, you don't even have to sew over it at all but I always think it looks more finished with some sewing.
 

The interview continues right over here, where you can read Kayte's thoughts on how to find and express your own style.

Although we’ve had our tree up for a couple weeks now, our entry hall was feeling a little un-festive, so we changed that this weekend.

I cut and glued and taped, and we wound up with a doily-snowflake front door (dead-easy how-to right here), and a sort of curtain of paper cutouts in the hall, above the stair well. This is decorating as plain and simple as it gets, and now our place is extra-merry.

This year will be a last-minute scramble as I convert our dining room table into a madcap workshop. I haven’t finalized what I’m making this year – but luckily, family members are coming out here for the holidays, so I get a couple more days to cook and create.

I expect to spend some time this weekend trolling these trusty favorites for inspiration.

Once you’ve made your pretty something, feast your eyes upon this loveliness for wrapping supplies and inspiration. I think I can hear your heart cracking open with love. Yes, this is utter genius from Marichelle and Ez over at Nice Package.

In other news, these pears will definitely be made and eaten before we've seen the last of 2009. And we're still holding out hope that we can make another batch of these goodies.

And great news for us procrastinators! Next week, Kayte Terry of Applique Your Way will drop by to share some inspiration, tell us about her lovely work, and kindly give away one of her books. In case you want to embellish your special something before wrapping it and placing it under the tree, Kayte is the girl to tell us how.

In the meantime, I hope your weekend is full of crafty goodness and sugarplum fairies.

A little while back, I posted about wanting to make plum puddings. The only thing standing in my way was beef suet (as I learned, this is hard fat around beef kidneys). But as it turns out, there are still great, stand-alone butcher shops who are happy to introduce you to this marvel baking ingredient of old.

Fast forward a couple weeks and our traditional Christmas puddings (along with mincemeat!) are curing in the cool darkness of the garage, with whiskey slowing permeating every morsel of dried fruit and candied peel.

What I loved about making these dishes was how apparent it became that they originated in faraway, cold places whose residents certainly did not have the luxury of California’s year-round farms and produce aisles. The recipes are based on breadcrumbs, candied peel, dried fruit, and alcohol. It was all about making do with what used to be sweet a few months back.

Stirring everything together, I was reminded of meeting a man in Ireland who must have been in his 80s. Mike and I met him on a walk, and he told us how vividly he remembered getting a singular ripe orange for a present as a little boy one year, how exotic it seemed in the middle of a dark, cold winter.

Even in the smallest of ways, I felt a little more connected to that sentiment as the puddings steamed away on the stovetop for a whole afternoon and evening, filling the house with the warm, spiced smell of Christmas.

But just so I don’t get too carried away romanticizing hardship, I will also tell you about the wayward history of plum pudding: It turns out that in the 1600s, the dessert was banned by the Puritans because it was made with alcohol. What can I say. Even when I don't intend to be, I am drawn to the sweet-toothed sacrilegious.

Well, hours after writing that last post, I crumbled. I rushed into a new-to-me fabric store just before they closed Wednesday night and bought supplies to sew a new tablecloth and 12 napkins.

I couldn’t help it. I liked the napkin rings I posted about, but they just didn’t cut it for me. Of course, I worked up my math on the fly and consequently under-bought fabric. So the overhang on tablecloth was a little short and the napkins were a little petite. But I learned how to miter a corner and wound up thankful for our dining room’s new look – along with many, many other less superficial things that top this year’s grateful list.

Hope your holiday was wonderful.