I have been collecting mother of pearl buttons for years. There are jars and bowls all over the house full of these iridescent treasures from the sea. I try to include some of the pearly buttons on cards that I make. I worked for days encrusting a wood box with the shiny buttons; it is my favourite. But it only took me two days to transform a ribbon covered wreath into a magical one.
As soon as she saw it she put it in the window of the store.
I don't remember where I got the idea (we're talking thirty years ago) but as soon as I saw it I had to try it. You soak a plank of pine wood until it is saturated with water. Then using a really sharp plane, you shave off nice thin curls of pine. Keep the curls in water as you work with them. I made quite a few ornaments and some have survived all our moves around the province over the years. But I absolutely love the pine chain that we made. Each curl had to be cut to a certain length, glue applied and then clamped together with bobby pins. This year instead of the tree, our fragile garland graces the doorway into the livingroom.
It is such a long chain that we had to use our ice bucket to hold the extra rings of pine.
No, this is not Ina Garten's blog but she is one of my favourites and her recipes always turn out just the way she said they would. To christen our new stainless roaster we roasted up a chicken and vegetables a la Barefoot Contessa. The bird was tender and flavourful, the veggies al dente.
This new addition to our kitchen is huge, had to rearrange a cupboard just to make it fit. But come turkey time, I will never have to worry about the size ever again.
This is our version of the advent calendar. A few pieces of scrap wood hammered together, the tiny hearts cut out of pine wood with our trusty jigsaw. Thirty years and still counting.
Somebody made their first apple pie ever and it was great!
A sure sign in our home that the holidays are just around the corner are the white poinsettias and a fruit-filled or chocolate panettone from Italy.
I don't remember where I got the idea (we're talking thirty years ago) but as soon as I saw it I had to try it. You soak a plank of pine wood until it is saturated with water. Then using a really sharp plane, you shave off nice thin curls of pine. Keep the curls in water as you work with them. I made quite a few ornaments and some have survived all our moves around the province over the years. But I absolutely love the pine chain that we made. Each curl had to be cut to a certain length, glue applied and then clamped together with bobby pins. This year instead of the tree, our fragile garland graces the doorway into the livingroom. It is such a long chain that we had to use our ice bucket to hold the extra rings of pine.
No, this is not Ina Garten's blog but she is one of my favourites and her recipes always turn out just the way she said they would. To christen our new stainless roaster we roasted up a chicken and vegetables a la Barefoot Contessa. The bird was tender and flavourful, the veggies al dente.
This new addition to our kitchen is huge, had to rearrange a cupboard just to make it fit. But come turkey time, I will never have to worry about the size ever again.
This is our version of the advent calendar. A few pieces of scrap wood hammered together, the tiny hearts cut out of pine wood with our trusty jigsaw. Thirty years and still counting.
It took me about an hour to remove all the plastic doodads and tinsel from these two bottle brush trees and replace them with an assortment of buttons and crystals. My windowsill at work is looking festive.
