Craft and Create I

Bacon jam! Yes, I know, it takes a minute to wrap your mind around the idea. Let me help; picture this fresh French bread, slightly melting brie cheese, and a smear of bacon jam to tie the savory perfection of deliciousness together. Or, whip up a fancy BLT. OH GOD it's good... sooooo good and not too tricky to make. I followed Martha Stewart's recipe from the December 2010 issue of Everyday Food and it's no secret, I am very pleased with the results. I'm thinking these will make excellent hostess gifts. 

There was a lot of onion chopping, so I sported my goggles... didn't work and I looked like a dork. Lesson learned.

Mini tip. Instead of frying mass quantities of bacon I place the meat on wire racks on trays and baked it. Worked great and really reduced the excess fat. 

Craft and Create II

Check out this beautiful dresser my dear friend Teri resurrected! Talk about a labor of love! Teri has an eye for design and she was not mistaken when she spotted this beaut. With a bit of elbow grease and a handy husband their now entryway table was taken from drab to fab. I just love seeing beautiful and old items being revitalized! I love it! Nice work Teri!

Online Magazines...Awesome!

There's no hiding it...I am a magazine JUNKIE.  Gardening, home, crafting, style, cooking, medical; if it exists in a magazine format, I need to read it.  My affinity for magazines was one of the first nuisances I confessed to my now husband early on in our relationship. There is just something special about poring over the glossy, crisp colorful pages and it fills me with delight. I look forward to my monthly learning and inspiration as if it's Christmas! So when I started hearing about these new online magazines popping up everywhere I couldn't be any more excited.  Designed to function like any normal paper magazine, you can turn each page of the e-magazine, there's a feature appendix, and even advertisements. Only now you can zoom in, select images to save on your computer, or do further research on a topic, all while reducing the amount of magazine storage boxes in the basement.  They are even designed to look and feel like real magazines, with cool page turning graphics.  Could it get any better? And with the tablet PCs becoming all the rage, I no longer have to lug huge stacks of magazines around with me wherever I go.  It's awesome for traveling!  I only have to carry one wee little tablet and I have the world at my fingertips!  Wouldn't it be fun to get some of your creative, inspiring friends and design a magazine? Anyone, anyone?

Well here are a few of my favorite online magazines. Let me know what your favorite online magazines are.

Adore Home Online Magazine by Loni Parker

The Gifted Online Magazine by Creature Comforts

Covet Garden Online Magazine by Poppytalk

Sweet Paul Online Magazine by Sweet Paul

Tree Time

It was a bright and bitter cold day...perfect for Christmas tree cutting. Erik and I ventured to our favorite tree farm on Sauvie Island to select this year's trees.  Ever since we purchased our home a few years ago Erik and I have made it a tradition to have two small trees in our home: one tree for our old handmade and treasured ornaments (to go in the TV room) and the other tree in the living room displaying the "fancy" ornaments.  I love the tradition of this seasonal date.

Dream Spree: Finding the Perfect Christmas Tree

The big plan for this weekend is to venture out for the perfect Christmas tree.  Since this is one of my favorite times of the year, I figured this event deserves a dream spree outfit! Okay, so it's a bit hoser, but the Canadian in me likes it :). I hope you all have a great weekend. And I want to wish my BFF, Kristin, an adventurous trip filled with lots and lots of fun. Can't wait to hear about your travels when you return. Be safe!

PS - Thanks Teri for talking me into the jacket, you were right.

I Heart...

I am in LOVE with this print and artist.  Yangyang Pan creates the most beautiful abstract oil paintings... totally dreamy, check her stuff out at her Etsy shop Siiso.

Craft and Create

An Advent to Make an Advent, that's what we called this gathering. We finished November with some serious nachos, The Glee Christmas Album and lots of messy crafting. It was Jillian's goal to learn how to use her great grandmother's sewing machine and Teri's goal to dust off some of her crafting doo-dads, all to create a Christmas Advent Calender. The task was much larger than we planned and most projects were taken home to complete this coming weekend. But it was a great evening spent laughing and kicking off the holiday. I love these ladies and we always know how to have a great time.

Jillian applying her newly learned pressing techniques

Oh yes, when we craft... we get messy!

Teri, busy embossing

Teri's advent calender cards, buttons, bows oh mi!

Jillian's hand sewn/machine sewn pocket advent calender

Here is the advent calender I made for Erik. I cheated and started the project last weekend.

There you have it, another craft and create