For the past three years I have been knitting pretty frequently. Prior to that I knew only the basics of knitting (my skills were rusty at best), but I saw a blog post with a beautiful hand knit cowl and thought "why don't I make that"! I started clicking away, and haven't looked back. Often my projects are a bit too ambitious, so I'll crave a selfish instant gratification project in between. Recently, I found a quick cowl that I found to be really interesting. I decided to knit it three times, each using a separate color of yarn. I truly am in love with the end result, and thought I should share it with you, in hope that you might try to make one yourself. The pattern, designed by spider woman knits, is free, so all you need to buy is one skein of bulky yarn (I used Quince & Co. Puffin), and a circular knitting needle (I used a size 13 addi Turbo Circular 16-inch (40cm) Knitting Needle ). I cast on 56 stitches (a bit more than the pattern called for because I was using slightly thinner yarn), joined in the round, and followed the pattern! Here are my three cowls:

goldfinch cowl

s m o k e  c o w l

lipstick cowl

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My husband doesn’t especially like his birthday, cake, or sweets in general. Occasionally he will partake in some cookie, cupcake, and/or ice cream eating but it takes a special something to get him to say “Yes, please may I have another?.” He dislikes chocolate, but loves coffee, caramel, and toffee, so I set out to create the perfect birthday cake for him. I thought, why not coffee toffee  cupcakes? Most of the coffee flavored cakes I’ve had have been chocolate cake with coffee flavoring, but given that he dislikes chocolate cake the recipe below requires just enough cocoa powder to cut the coffee flavoring! They were a huge hit with him and our friends and family, so I thought I would share the recipe. Making cake from scratch takes a bit of time and effort, but these are so worth it!

CUPCAKES (makes 2 dozen):
3/4 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup low-fat yogurt
1 package of Starbucks Via Caramel Instant Coffee
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of a second pack of Starbucks Via Caramel Instant Coffee
2 teaspoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cup white sugar 4 eggs, yolks and whites separated

Heat the milk in the microwave. Stir in the instant coffee until well blended. Add the vanilla and set aside. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, soda, salt, the 2 teaspoons of the instant coffee, and cocoa. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment until creamed. It should be slightly fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add 2/3 of the flour mixture and the yogurt. Add the remaining flour mixture and milk. Beat until smooth. Scrape all the batter out into a separate bowl and wash the mixer bowl thoroughly. Switch to the whisk attachment and beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. They will hold a stiff peak but they will still slip around a little in the bowl. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter gently, folding the batter around until well combined. Fill cupcake liners with batter and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

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I have been experimenting with the Vine app lately. Today I documented the mixing and baking of these quick and easy Valentine's day treats! You simply need 1 cup of Nutella, 2 eggs, 10 tablespoons of all purpose flour, and some Valentine's day M&Ms. The recipe makes about 10 brownies, and it can easily be halved if you desire a sweet treat for yourself and not an entire tray of brownies for a group. Simply combine & mix the Nutella, flour, and eggs. Pour into cupcake liners, sprinkle a few M&MS on top, and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Watch how it is done in 6 seconds or less on Vine (and follow me while you are at it.)

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This morning, I posted photos and details of Quentin's nursery on Project Nursery. I found this site to be very helpful in planning Q's room. We have a smaller nursery with a large closet (thankfully). We tried to maximize the functionality of the space. We are hoping that this is a room that Q will be able to grow into and as he develops his own little personality, likes and dislikes we can change the theme of the room. For now it has a loose animal theme, with contemporary typographic prints I love, and has all of his toys and books easily accessible.







Full details can be found over at the Project Nursery Gallery.

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My husband and I recently bought a new apartment to accommodate our new family, so on top of caring for a sweet baby boy, I also have the task of decorating a new home! I have been moving at a snail's pace through everything, but decided it was appropriate to take down the Christmas wreath on our front door BEFORE the month of January was over. I opted to create my own monogram wreath in neutral hues so we could keep it up all year if we liked. Our finished wreath looks like this:

Materials Used:


12" foam extruded wreath form
Scissors
Hot glue + gun
Yarn
Felt
Ribbon

Monogram:
Letter
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
(Spray paint would work too, of course)

Optional Embellishments:
Buttons
Pins
Brooches
Twigs
The Possibilities are endless

I painted my letter with chocolate brown paint and allowed to dry.

I then began to wrap my wreath form with yarn. To begin, just tie a knot around the wreath-no glue is necessary! This is the most tedious mindless work, so watch TV or a movie.

Now it is time to create your felt flowers! I used lids from my kitchen to cut circles in my felt, and eyeballed cutting spirals. I created three types of felt flowers and used spare buttons to embellish.
The quickest and easiest of the three is the spiral rose flower. Take a large circle of felt and cut it into a spiral. Now roll up the spiral into a rose shape, gluing as you go. 

The next type of flower I created was a poppy looking flower. I cut about 8 small circles of felt using a baby bottle lid as a guide. I cut slits into each of the circles so I could glue one side on top of the other to create a petal. I glued these petals on a larger felt circle, layering the petals as I went, to create a poppy flower. I glued a spare button into the center. A brooch, or beads would look nice here too!

I also created a ruffle flower, again using about eight small circles of felt this time not cut, but folded into fourths. I glued the folded pieces to a slightly larger circle of felt, until the circle looked like a full flower. I glued another button into the center, but this type of flower looks great without embellishments.

I then arranged my flowers and embellishments on my yarn covered wreath and affixed them with hot glue. I tied a large satin ribbon to the top of my wreath so I could hang on my front door! 

Felt Flower Resources:
Poppy Flower
Roses & Ruffles

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[photos by Lisa Viox]

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Holiday shopping can quickly get out of control, so this guide is designed to help you to get everyone crossed off your list without going over budget. This may be especially helpful if you're looking for a Secret Santa gift or some stocking stuffers!

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