Holiday Sponsorships

Posted on | November 30, 2009 | 3 Comments

I am opening my blog up to monthly sponsorship. I would love to team up with small businesses to help promote handmade and vintage goods. Interested? Click here to learn more or e-mail me at elliott.katy@gmail.com. Please include the name of your company, a brief description, and the url of your website. Thanks!

Above a photo from last year’s Gingerbread Festival in Marblehead. To learn more about the upcoming 2009 event visit: marbleheadfamilyfund.org.

Category: Uncategorized

Holiday Postcards

Posted on | November 30, 2009 | 5 Comments

I love Anna Melcon Bond’s work. Lucky for us she just opened an online shop. My top pick are her holiday postcards sold in sets of 10 for $10. So very, very, cute. Buy now: riflepaperco.com.

Category: holiday, paper

Diy: Salt Dough Ornaments

Posted on | November 30, 2009 | 45 Comments

The holidays have officially begun. As we countdown to Christmas I’ll be sharing some of my favorite holiday decorations, crafts, and gift ideas. To start us off Bread Dough Ornaments from Stephanie of even*cleveland. So cute, I can’t wait to try. Thanks for sharing Stephanie!

p.s. want to purchase a salt dough ornament from Stephanie? Buy now at her etsy shop.

Salt dough ornaments are an easy holiday craft that everyone can do, and you can make them as simple or as complicated as you like. Properly stored, they last nearly forever.

Step 1. Make the dough
Put 1/2 cup table salt, 1/2 cup water, and 1 cup all-purpose flour into a mixer, and blend together until a sticky dough forms. If you want to experiment with color, you can substitute 1/2 cup of dark tea or coffee for the water. Make sure all of the flour is incorporated. Take the dough out, and knead for 7 to 10 minutes on a well-floured surface. Once it feels smooth and elastic, you are ready to start making ornaments. This amount of dough was enough to make six gnomes, two snowmen and eight snowflakes of different sizes. The recipe can easily be doubled, but be sure to keep any dough you are not using wrapped in plastic wrap, and work quickly – salt dough does not like to sit.

mixing bread dough
making bread dough
rolling dough for ornaments

Step 2. Make the ornaments
Salt dough is extremely flexible and forgiving, so you can make ornaments from it in a variety of ways. For this batch, I rolled it out like sugar cookie dough until it was about 1/4″ thick, and then used my favorite cookie cutters – a gnome and some snowflakes – to make a variety of shapes.

cutting out dough dough shapes

For the gnomes, I used food coloring to dye some dough red for hats and jackets – this was EXTREMELY messy, so I would recommend wearing latex gloves if you mix in the color by hand, and rolling out any dyed dough between two sheets of wax paper to protect your counter and rolling pin. I then used a garlic press with some plain dough to make them shaggy beards. To attach extra pieces of dough decoration, rub a little water on the back of the piece you want to stick on, then gently press. You can make them as dimensional as you like.

making gnome ornaments
gnome bread dough ornaments

Once the ornaments are formed, poke them with a bamboo skewer to make holes to hang them from. I decided to make my snowflakes into a garland, so they got poked twice, on opposite ends. Once you have the holes in, it is time to pop them in the oven. Essentially, you want to dry out all of the moisture in them, so they go in a 200 degree oven for 4-6 hours – you can even leave them in overnight. Once they are hardened, take them out and let them cool completely.

Step 3. Decorate and finish
One of the lovely things about these ornaments is that they can be finished in a variety of ways – they take kindly to paints and pens of all sort. For my gnomes, I drew on a pair of eyes with pencil, and left them as is. For my snowflakes, I decided to draw a variety of little swirling doodles on them with red pen, and then I strung them with butcher’s twine into a garland.

decorating salt dough ornaments
salt dough ornament snowflakes

If you want your ornaments to last years and years, coat them with 3-4 very thin coats of polyurethane gloss varnish. Make sure to cover every exposed surface. This seals them and helps prevent moisture from getting in. Once they are sealed, you can deck them out with glitter if you like. Store them in a cool, dry place and you will enjoy them for years to come.

Happy holidays! Check out Stephanie’s blog for more crafts ideas and inspiration.

Linen Tufted Headboard

Posted on | November 29, 2009 | 18 Comments

I brought back my new linen tufted headboard from Maine this weekend. My mom worked on the project with a local Portland upholster. Thanks mom for doing such a great job on the buttons!

After barely fitting the headboard into our truck for the ride home we were having serious doubts that we would be able to fit the headboard into the house in one piece. Moving anything in is a headache; the doorways are extremely narrow and the stairs are a tight twist. We decided it would be easier to bring the headboard through the bedroom window. I wrapped the headboard in an old blanket and Greg tied some climbing ropes around the piece on the ground. Greg slowly maneuvered the headboard up the side of the house to the roof. Once he removed the bedroom window the headboard slid right in. Yeah! Not so bad…and nobody even screamed.

I love the headboard in the bedroom. Eventually, the space will get gutted and the ceiling opened up into the attic. I was just tired of having my mattress sitting on the floor like a college student. Hopefully, I’ll find some new bedding and nightstands in the next couple weeks. A coat a paint on the walls and floor will be inexpensive and help clean up the space. I can’t wait to have a room that doesn’t remind me that I’m living in the middle of a full house renovation.

Category: furniture

Jill Bent and Carta, Inc.

Posted on | November 23, 2009 | 10 Comments

Pillows and Lavender Sachets from Jill Bent

Over the weekend I went into Boston to attend Design Salon’s annual Holiday Sale. I met some of my favorite designers I have discovered through blogs and etsy. Jill Bent creates beautiful handmade pillows, sachets, scarves, bags, and clothes pin dolls (above). Each piece is skillfully constructed in vintage fabrics and sumptuous natural yarns. Jill is the sweetest and I can’t wait to learn more about her through her blog: 36shea.blogspot.com. Buy her goods online at: jillbent.etsy.com.

I’ve spent some late nights online eyeing Carta’s beautiful ribbons imported from Italy (below). How can one resist scrolling alphabet ribbon? Carta recently introduced a new line of cards depicting the scrolling alphabet ribbon; cards are available as sets online through her etsy shop. Carta is run by talented book designer Angela Liguori, check out her blog for more beautiful inspiration: angelaliguori.blogspot.com.

Both of these lovely ladies will be showing their wares at multiple shows in the Boston area through December. Check out their blogs for more information.