Sew Darn Cute

Happy Mother's Day

Okay okay, so it isn't technically Mother's Day yet...but my afternoon was spent making fun crafts with kids and moms at Whole Foods Market today, alongside my pal Jessica, so I have Mother's Day on the brain! It was a Felt Club mini-event, sort of a "craft-in", and was an absolute blast. We brought along some supplies like paint, construction paper, glitter and pipecleaners, and used some Whole Foods-procured products such as coffee filters, Organic Fruit Rings cereal, uncooked rigatoni, and kitchen sponges cut into cute shapes. The kids (and moms! and hipsters!) made cards, necklaces, bracelets, and coffee filter flower corsages. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

Many thanks to my co-host Jessica, to the creative dudes who showed up, and to our new pals at Whole Foods. We can't wait to come back and do it again! You can see all the photos I took in this Flickr set. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, including my own!

Log Bloggin'

Hope you're all having a dreamy Christmas morning. I'm just popping by to share one of my favorite holiday recipes with you: an old-fashioned Icebox Peppermint Yule Log cake! These are super easy to make and and extremely delicious to eat! Whenever I bring this to a party, people line up for seconds and thirds, no joke. Bring one to your next gathering...a New Year's Eve party perhaps? You won't be sorry!

Icebox Peppermint Yule Log Cake

Makes approximately 6 servings.

1 box Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers (9 oz.)
2 3/4 c. heavy cream
Crushed Candy Canes (about 5)
1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1/4 c. cocoa powder

1: Beat 1 1/2c. cream, 1/4 sugar, peppermint and mint extracts unti soft peaks form. Fold in crushed candy canes.

2. Make 6 or so stacks of 6 wafers each, with 1 tbsp. peppermint cream sandwiched between each wafer.  Top 5 stacks with another tbsp. cream, leaving one stack plain (with a wafer on top). If things are sliding around too much, pop the whole shebang in the freezer for a moment, then bring it back out and keep assembling. Hint: I usually assemble my stacks on a foil-wrapped cutting board. It keeps things clean, and makes it easy to pop in and out of the freezer if needed. Work quickly and you won't have much trouble.

3. Turn wafer stacks onto their sides and press them all together, leaving the plain-topped wafer stack at the end. I usually have to assemble the log diagonally on my cutting board, it's pretty long! Pop this bad boy in the freezer for at least 5 hours. Hint: After an hour in the freezer, I usually cover the log with plastic wrap—do it too soon and it's mess city.

4. Beat remaining 1 1/4 c. cream with remaining 1/4 c. sugar and 1/4 c. cocoa until stiff peaks form. (This mixture should be a bit more firm than the filling was.)

5. Trim 2-3" wedges (on the diagonal) from the both ends of the log, set aside. Place the log on a serving plate and slather it with most of the cocoa cream, reserving about 1/2 cup. Press the reserved log wedges into the sides of the log wherever you like, these are the stumpy bumps! Cover stumps with remaining cocoa cream.

6. Drag a fork all over the log to simulate tree bark, then freeze log for at least 3-4 hours. Let it sit at room temp for 15-20 minutes before serving.

You can garnish the log any number of cute ways...spearmint "leaf" candies, powdered sugar "snow", or little faux-mushrooms made with Hershey's Kisses and nonpareil candies. Here in Casa Candyland, we're usually too anxious to eat it to dress it up much...but maybe you have more patience than we do? Be sure to send me a photo if you decide to give it a try.

Enjoy!

Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love

I love living in Los Angeles 99.9% of the time. I do, however, miss experiencing the seasons from time to time. My husband thinks I'm insane, since he doesn't cotton to the idea of shoveling snow and bundling up every morning...but I just think there's something about a White Christmas. And the smell of firewood, ahhh!

I'll be visiting my parents in upstate New York in early January, so I'm sure the idea of a Winter that's actually wintry will rapidy lose it's appeal as a I freeze my tail off. But I gotta say, I'm totally excited by the news that KCAL-9 wil be airing the famous Yule Log footage on Christmas morning. Gathering around the glowing, crackling television is a tradition that has lasted 40 years in New York, but it's only been airing for three years here in L.A.—and this is the first I've heard of it! You can bet I'll be tuning in from 7-11am on Christmas morning, as Johnny and I open presents and enjoy gingerbread pancakes. The Yule Log will be accompanied by a simulcast of Christmas music in stereo on KOST 103.5 FM, so don't miss that, either. Hooray for Christmas nerdiness!

File Under WTF?

Very, very strange things happen when you let your husband help with the sugar cookie decorating.

Wow.

Gumdrop Wreaths are go!

Now, this was fun.

I've been incredibly preoccupied for the last several months, preparing for Felt Club: XL Holiday. Once it ended, I found myself without much time to prep for holiday craftiness of my own. Luckily my apartment is already full of wacky, festive colors and all it really takes to perk things up for the holidays is the addition of our big, white Martha Stewart tree and a few plates of sugar cookies. But I really wanted to make a holiday wreath for our front door.

I had highfalutin' ideas about being able to whip up one of those fantastic wreaths made of round, multicolored glass ornaments, but it was simply not meant to be. Everyone is sold out of ornaments at this point, unless of course I fancied a wreath made of NASCAR or Spongebob Squarepants ornaments. Uh, no thanks. Also, I have all the natural grace of Curly from the Three Stooges, so I probably would have broken the damn thing before I even got it finished. So, I put wreaths out of my mind all together until I happened upon this adorable Gumdrop Wreath idea posted on Kiddley. The project was posted by guest blogger Alicia of Posie Gets Cozy, who originally got the idea from Martha Stewart, which totally confirms my belief that a) there is no problem that can't be solved by candy and b) all roads lead back to Martha. Say what you will about the lady, but she's got the holidays covered!

Anyway, what you see above is my take on the wreath. So far it's holding up great in our Los Angeles weather. No errant bird or hobo nibbles to speak of—at least not yet—and I bring it in at night so it doesn't get dewy. Despite having to run to three different stores to snag enough gumdrops for the project (gingerbread house construction must be depleting local supplies), it was really fun and easy to make. I used various sizes of gumdrops because I could only get a couple small bags of the jumbo size, but it ended up looking swell anyway. Cheap to make, too! I think next year I'll get some of those mini-sized wreath forms and make a bunch of these as gifts for my pals. There's still time for you to make one...lemme know if you do!

Happy Holidays, y'all!

And thus, another rambling li'l craft blog was born!

Hi. I'm Jenny. I used to blog via my website, but I recently decided to create a standalone playground for myself, where I could talk about more than just what I've just added to the site or what's on sale. So, here 'tis! Welcome!!

Stay tuned for completely random craft and cooking projects, photo posts, informational blathering and more. I make no promises about the quality of these posts, mind you...but I hope you'll stick it out with me anyway. Cheers!