More Make&Takes for Mondays...

As our classes scale back for the holiday season, we are putting in place more Make&Takes specifically designed for gift giving and making. We are adding four more designs and will continue adding more as we move through November and into early December. Another change...Make&Take Mondays will take place every Monday, in hopes that we can accommodate our busy schedules at this time of year, and all kits and designs will be available every session as supplies last...

Pictured above is our "Snow Globe Necklace." It incorporates tiny glass vials, silver plated ball chain, twisted silver ring, vintage rhinestone drop, plus mica and holiday thoughts to include. This is a great kits for young ones to make under supervision for teachers, friends, and relatives. This kit will be available as long as supplies last at $6.50.

Pictured above is the "Immaculate Bracelet," a companion to our Immaculate Earrings. This piece includes limited stock items from my own kit including faceted mother of pearl beads and bead caps, paired with vintage religious medals, chain and clasp. Kit price $16.00.

Shown above is the lovely "Petit Trianon Necklace." This piece is compose of engraved chain and clasp, a beautiful crown stamping and brass filigree teardrop, paired with two beautiful and limited Miriam Haksell baroque pearls and a hand faceted semi precious stone. Kit price, $18.00.

I couldn't resist! After bringing out these vintage Japanese foil leaves with the frosted snow edges, they were begging to become a "Vintage Christmas Corsage." This kit includes vintage foil leaf, tiny pine cones and berries, a silver glass ball on stem, pinback, and two lengths of vintage French wired ribbon from our stock. Kit price, $10.00

Hope your Thanksgiving week is lovely!

Back on track...

...after two and half colds and numerous other interventions of life...

Make&Take Mondays are back....plus!

As our classes scale back for the holiday season, we are putting in place more Make&Takes specifically designed for gift giving and making. We are starting with four designs and will continue adding more as we move through November and into early December. Another change...Make&Take Mondays will take place every Monday, in hopes that we can accommodate our busy schedules at this time of year, and all kits and designs will be available every session...

Pictured above are our Immaculate Earrings, featuring vintage brass medals, old mother of pearl beads, and lovely bead caps and findings. This kit will be available as long as supplies last at $14.00.

Pictured above is the "Snowdrop Pendant," a more contemporary design incorporating a silver plated ball chain, figured ring, stacked crystal rondelles, and a vintage filigree bead pendant. Kit price $14.00

Check out these little dumplings! These feature the vintage rhinestone heart pendants we recently received from our new source back east, paired with vintage patina bails, old stock Miriam Haskell faceted beads and either french earwires or lever backs, your choice. Kit price, $16.00.

"Czech" this out! A 1920s vintage inspired Czechoslovakian necklace featuring a vintage chandelier drop, filigree bead cap, vintage Weiss rhinestone drop, Miriam Haskell faceted bead, vintage filigree bead caps, and vintage chaining...all for $18.50.

We will be developing new kits throughout the season, and they will all be available for under $20. Every Monday night throughout the season, from 6:00~8:00, feel free to come and create, and Nathalie and I will be on hand to demonstrate techniques. Multiple kit purchases will receive a 10% discount!

Let's get cooking for Christmas, girls!

Our flock comes home...

Each season we hear a familiar sound...a rushing of wings, ungodly screams and a thunderous flapping as our flock of Amazon parrots comes home to roost in the big trees in our neighborhood. The flock has grown each year, and there appears to be around a hundred parrots in it this year.

They like the big specimen pine in Tim and Ernie's yard next door, as well as the big Dutch elm. They came circling in from the north of us, flying over the house and swooping in amongst the jacarandas, screaming all the while. The noise is sometimes deafening, and I always have to laugh at how hard they work at flying. Their wings flap madly, set dead center on their stout green bodies, and the screeching goes on the entire time, as if to say, "I know if I stop flapping like this, I'll fall right out of the sky..."

Alain managed to snap a few pictures with his big Canon, capturing this one coming in a few feet off our deck...

Getting ready to land in the big elm next door. He and another parrot lingered there for a few minutes, resting and preening until time for their next mad flight...

Time to go! He's off for another flight around the neighborhood, roosting in some large fruit trees at the top of the hill, I think...

Birthday Brunch...

Today is hubby's birthday, and although he was still vacillating last night between, "It's not worth celebrating," and "Are you doing anything special for me?", I decided to walk up to the grocery store and get the makings for a little birthday brunch...

Here's a sprig from some of the fresh herbs I used from our little herb garden for the gremolata. I landed on some fresh Italian sausage, pan fried, fresh ricotta cheese, some awesome tomatoes on the vine, and a fresh croissant, something he loves dearly.

The gremolata was a chiffonade of fresh basil, greek oregano, chives (no garlic) and lime zest swirled with some extra virgin olive oil and fresh cracked pepper and drizzled over the cheese and sliced tomatoes. I have to say, this went down pretty easy, and was a nice switch from eggs anything...

Playing with color...

I had fun the other day putting together some "color cards" that reminded me so much of the sewing cards that my grandma used to keep in the hall cupboard for us. They would have a picture or central theme, and then there would be little holes punched all around the design. Yarn threaded on big plastic needles or finished at the end like a shoelace could be "sewn" through the holes all around the picture.

Although simpler, mine have yards or half yards of ribbons and seam binding laced through the holes, chosen for their coordinating colors that pair them with the vintage appliques I pulled from the big wicker basket in the store...

This was one of my favorites, an old silk thread applique on silk organza paired with pink and green, my favorite color combination. I think I will make this an ongoing project...it was fun and rather relaxing to tackle something as easy as all these lovely colors...

Iron Man Strikes Again...

When I got home last night from Open Studio, Alain was at it again, seasoning a small oval cast iron crepe pan we found at a local flea market. He had his doubts if we would be able to rehabilitate this $4 bargain, but after a few slow sessions in the oven with a coat of light oil, it was ready for a trial run. Crepe batter was waiting in a bowl when I walked in the door. Here is a ladleful sliding down the pan...

They browned up beautifully, sliding around the pan and being flipped by Chef Jamar with ease. Here is one looking ~ and smelling ~ like perfection....

Another crepe gives its life for a good cause. We used some leftover cranberry, pear and lime filling from the previous night's dinner....

Open wide, here it comes!

Noodge, always on hand for Quality Control, edges out 'Tini to grab this little morsel...

Too much fun and so delicious. We are seriously thinking about just doing crepes for our holiday open house....

Irons in the fire...

There is a new love in our house, specifically in the kitchen. My husband is infatuated with his cast iron pans. This was our dinner the other night, a la cast iron cookery...

Beautiful little roast game hens, stuffed with fresh herbs from our little garden on the deck, always within easy reach for everything from salads to soups, chicken and fish. Red potatoes, skinned, steamed, and finished in the oven, along with the game hens. This is particularly what my husband loves about these pans, that they go from the big cooktop into the oven and back out again. One of these was handed down from my mother, and the other is a new acquisition, a Lodge pan, that he is seasoning...

He waxes rhapsodic about these pans, even going so far as to say he wonders why we spent all that money on the All Clad and the French copper, saying we could easily do without them! Ah, young love, how easily they forget. Once upon a time, the All Clad was king in our kitchen, doing double duty on the cooktop and in the oven, especially prized for how it perfectly seared the filet and cooked it to perfection for his steak au poivre. I hardly think we'll be pitching it all out, though...


The French copper is on the top rack, and the All Clad hangs below. We've had it for years, and I had to remind him how little we paid for it. I remember buying it, and it actually seemed like a lot of money at the time. I was in Marshalls, and spotted box after box of it, all for a fraction of retail. I called him and said, "Should I get it?" and started loading it into two carts. The ten pots you see there were had for a little over $300 at the time.

There is a whole other equation in the little room to the right of the Five Star range, a tiny space that used to be the original service porch. Two NSF chrome racks on big kitchen casters hold the ever growing collection of Le Creuset, which my mother is in great part responsible for, spoiling Alain terribly a few Christmases ago. We keep our eyes peeled at the discount stores for single pieces to add to it from time to time. The Le Creuset, which is cast iron under its lovely enamel skin, is still in favor at this time, even as its humbler cousin gets top honors for now...