Make Your Own Lightbox

Which picture do you like better? Bavarian coffeepot #1...

...or Bavarian coffeepot #2?

Of course, #2 looks muuuuch better because of my recently built lightbox. I was tired of my sad looking pictures. Too dark... sometimes fuzzy... and just all around drab. The pictures just weren't doing any justice to our newly inherited coffeepot from Grandma. I don't have white balance on my camera and was often frustrated with how colors showed up. Then I read this on Photojojo. There's a link to make your own lightbox (softbox, macrostudio, etc.) So, I found a trusty 18" cardboard box and began cutting away 3 of the sides. Cut out a square about 2" in from the edges for stability. Next, I used scotch tape to secure tissue paper covering the 3 sides. Then, I placed a trimmed piece of white posterboard in the back for a seamless backdrop. Because I don't have powerful lighting, I had to place lights on all 3 sides of the tissue-papered walls. Voila! Picture taking has never turned out so well for me.

Now, I just need a lightbox to take pictures of my new lightbox...

Happy Birthday To Me

Well, it's a belated Happy Birthday to me... and it wasn't just a day. It was a long birthday weekend of being spoiled. It started on thursday morning and lasted through sunday afternoon. (Saturday was the actual day that my mother suffered so greatly those 36 years ago.) There were 5 meals of celebration. And I received this lovely peacock plate from my hubby. We spied it recently at Anthropologie, then lo and behold, it's mine! He also gave me the cookbook that I asked for...

No, I don't particularly like the title "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld, but I think it can be overlooked since the idea is to nourish your family by infusing pureed vegetables into the recipes. It seems that my daughter and my husband have no trouble (yet) with veggies, but it is I who needs the 'deception'. Don't get me wrong. I buy veggies. I look at them. I serve them to my family. But, I poke at them and then fill up on rice. It seems that in my 36 short years here, I've yet to crave broccoli. Ever. And I still don't like to cook, but I asked for a cookbook. Mom, note the day and time.

H also gave me a beloved photo album with photographs from our honeymoon. We had never gotten around to printing out those easy-to-print digital photos. I only expected a paper envelope of pictures at some point, but a black leather album with white stitching was all put together for me...um, us.

Many other wonderful gifts (and food) were received for my birthday. A big thank you to all who celebrated with me. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Candy Striping

Mission accomplished. And the mission was thrifting. The new mission assignment (should I choose to accept it) is... thrifting again. It's sort of a perpetual mission. But, I always feel accomplished with goodies like these. A beautiful vintage sheet, bias tape and rick rack, embroidery floss for seven cents (!) and darling shorts for my girl that look like she's a candy-striper-in-training.

After taking inventory in my craft closet, I realized that my bias tape stash has reached 27 packages. I think I'm cutting myself off until a few are put to good use.

And now because of those shorts, I'm craving a piece of peppermint candy...

Baked Mediterranean Eggs

That's right, two recipes in a row. And I don't even really like to cook! But, it's another breakfast-for-dinner recipe. This one is from Better Homes and Gardens April 2006 issue (thanks to my mother-in-law for the hand-me-down magazine. (I-think-that-I-like-to-use-dashes.)) Of course, it's modified. Here's their recipe (and in parenthesis are what we actually used for our recipe):

8 eggs (6 eggs)

1/4 cup sliced black olives (we were out of olives)

4 pita bread rounds (3 olive oil wraps)

4 roma tomatoes, chopped (8 cherry tomatoes, chopped)

1/2 cucumber, chopped

2 tablespoon parsley

1/8 teaspoon salt (salt substitute)

1/8 teaspoon pepper

8 slices canadian bacon or bacon (2 slices prosciutto, chopped)

4 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (1/4 cup sour cream)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat inside of ramekins or custard cups with spray or olive oil. Break two eggs into each ramekin. Divide olives evenly among ramekins.
2. Place ramekins in a three quart rectangular dish, add boiling water to dish to depth of one inch. Place baking dish with eggs in oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until eggs are set when lightly shaken.
3. Warm pita bread or wraps.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, salt and pepper, set aside. Cook canadian bacon over medium heat until browned, or bacon is crisp. Serve prosciutto at room temperature.
5. Sprinkle rounds with feta cheese. To serve, carefully remove ramekins from water bath; invert onto rounds. Top each serving with some of the tomato mixture and a dollop of yogurt or sour cream. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Our tomato mixture looks skimpy in the picture, but the bulk of it was secretly hidden behind the ramekin-shaped egg. My husband couldn't stop telling me how delicious dinner was, therefore I had to post the recipe asap. Enjoy.

Afghan Salsa

Here's another delicious dish that's perfect for summer. (After all, who wants to cook over a hot stove in 96 degree temperatures?) This recipe was adapted from one that I found on allrecipes some time ago. We didn't really know what to call it. It's become "the avocado stuff we put in wraps." The recipe calls for red wine vinegar, black beans and green onions... and these colors create the flag of Afghanistan... so, Afghan Salsa was born. It's filling and delicious. As far as I know, the recipe has nothing to do with the Afghani culture. Here's the breakdown:

2 avocadoes, peeled and diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 can of black beans, rinsed (lowers sodium content)

1 can of Trader Joe's sweet corn

4 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup of garlic infused red wine vinegar

Toss ingredients together. Enjoy in Trader Joe's olive oil wraps, tortilla chips, pita pockets or on toasted bread. Enjoy in Afghanistan or at home.

Thrifting Plunder

Eight pillowcases found a new home with me after a recent thrifting adventure with Katie Jean. Most of them will become dresses for Charlotte. The blue gingham pillowcase even has a ruffle trim. And here's a closeup of the pale vintage floral:

Lovely. And I also scored big with a $4.00 full-sized, shabby chic duvet cover in excellent condition, that matches C's room perfectly (she'll be in a big girl's bed soon.)

The day also brought eyelet, bias tape (of course) and napkins fit for a tea...

We thrifted on. I indulged in one true extravegance for the day. This find was meant to be. Just the week before, I had stumbled upon these somewhere on the web. Thinking to myself, "They make carerra marble egg cups?? I'd never pay $10 a piece though!" True and true. At $1 a piece, I bought five. I love marble and I love eggs. Breakfast has never been so delicious.

Bias Tape Bonanza

A few weeks ago, I thrifted these little gems. Six packages for the price of one. Had you been browsing in a nearby aisle, you would have heard me cry, "Bingo!" when I found them in the craft section of my local thrift shop. But, I guess that fate couldn't sit on the sidelines...

When I returned a couple of days ago... there were ten more packages! And the prices were even better. I purchased all ten for the price of one from the fabric store. There were three stretch lace seam bindings and one rick rack. The two packs down front are very vintage. The rick rack was only fifteen cents brand new and the bias tape (from Penney's) was thirteen cents! In what year did "Penney's" (now JCPenney) carry fabric notions?? I'm practically laying awake at night thinking of all the things that will be made with my plunder. Just tack it on to my to-do list.

Speaking of bias tape, I found this amazing tutorial showing how to make your own bias tape. Besides appearing simple to do, it's a great way to keep costs down or to customize your project with coordinating fabric. I have yet to try it, but again, it's on my to-do list.

Aaahh, when the joys of thrifting and crafting collide...

Blurry Poppies

This is my latest sewing project. A little dress o' poppies for Charlotte. Since it looks much cuter on the model than on the hanger, I tried to get some pictures. Yeah, right. If you know my daughter at all, then you know that she runs everywhere. There is very little walking on her part. Also note said blanket from the previous post. This dress is made very similar to the pillowcase dress, but this was not a pillowcase. It's brand new fabric that I just had to have because of the sweet little poppies. I added matching, single-fold bias trim and a rosette with a flower center button. Very sweet on our girl. When she first put it on, she sort of pranced around the living room. She is all girl. And I did get her to hold still for a moment, but here's the view:

The idea of nosing through the contents of Grandma's purse will stop her in her tracks. And the shoes were not my idea. I won't get into it but, she is all about shoes. Like I said, all girl.

Emergency Surgery

This is my daughter's blankie. And we had fraying. Serious fraying. We needed blanket sutures. Stat.

Out came the needle and thread for a speedy, sweat-inducing procedure... all while Charlotte wailed. She watched in horror from the opposite side of the baby gate. I think she believed that I was killing it. At least this crying would be the last of it. Several times, we found her crying with a chenille thread so tightly wound around her tiny digit that it had to be cut free. (The thread, that is.) I could procrastinate no longer. She'd have to part with it for at least 10 minutes while I made repairs to each corner.

Charlotte is quite attached to her blankie and digs her chubby, little pointers into it's corners while soothing herself to sleep each night. All went well with the procedure. There was minimal thread loss. We expect a full return to soft soothing abilities without delay. Aaahhh, modern stitchery can work wonders.

Angels Watching 'Round My Head

It seems that blog posts grow fewer and farther between in the summer time. It has been a while since my last post, but the Lord knows that I have been busy. Busy at thrifting this book of angel mobiles for $1. It's so beautiful and completely in tact.

The angels segments are precut paperboard, labeled and ready for hanging. There are so many! I may make mobiles... I may use them in decoupage... or scrapbooking if I ever get around to it.

This book brought to mind the bedtime prayer I repeated nightly during my youth: There are four corners on my bed, angels watching 'round my head, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, bless this bed I lay on. Amen.

I'll leave you with one last note from Psalm 91:11, "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."

And mobiles may be a great way to remember this.