Holiday decorations
While it seems most people got the jump on their holiday decorations right after Thanksgiving, I’m a little bit behind. For one, the minimal decorations I do have are in our dreaded storage. Hopefully I’ll be able to dig them out this weekend.
To get things started I made these paper garlands to hang in our dining room / kitchen area (in a small apartment it’s all the same thing really).
I wanted to create a bunch of white garlands to give a snowy feeling. I used lined notebook paper, because I like it and thought maybe it would give it a tiny hint of blue, that snow has. I then just strung them up on a strand of mono-filament.
I think it goes really well with the black and white theme of our dining area. It feels festive and wintery. Even a little holiday elf came to check out the California snow. Have I mentioned that our apartment is teaming with winter creatures, like that little guy? I’m not sure where they came from but they’ve been multiplying. Luckily they’re cute so I don’t mind that they seem to be taking over.
I must confess there were a few more strands of garland just last night but the cats already had their way with them. They like to sit on top of our china cabinet and it was the perfect height for them to swat at the nearby garlands. I suppose the the Fargo
poster will just have to be part of the design…it is snowy, right?
Happy New Year!
Hope everyone started their year off right and had a lovely holiday season. I’ve got a bit of catching up to do here at cute and delicious but I’ve got a few treats in store. First, I wanted to travel back in time, not too far back, just to the end of December, and finally let you all in on those gifts hidden in the bags. You remember, right?
Yeah those ones…Now I filled them with all sorts of things but I tried to make a good portion of the gifts that I put in them. This ended up being mostly for the girls I gave gifts to, as well, it’s just easier to make stuff for girls sometimes. Since I only had a few weeks to get all my gifts in order, I decided to make aprons from A is for Apron. The designs were cute and not overly complicated. I picked a few designs and made six different aprons in total.
This one you see my mom wearing is probably my favorite as it has a completely different feel than most aprons you see. It’s a full apron with a smocky design that is still elegant. My mom’s only complaint was that she wouldn’t want to get it dirty, which is pretty good coming from an apron connoisseur like her.
My other favorite was this super cute design that you see on Amy, Shawn’s sister. I loved all the trim on this one and the fun combination of fabric patterns. Overall, A is for Apron was great in that most of the designs are really great and it has a lot of tips and apron history. On the other hand, the directions are, unfortunately, written pretty poorly. It took a lot of re-reading and just plain ignoring the directions and go with my own sewing knowledge to make them all come out correctly.
Like I said, I didn’t make every gift, there were definitely a bunch of books, blu-rays, stainless steel water bottles and the like handed out as well. After last year’s christmas cookie disaster, I stayed away from baking gifts this year. I did, on the other hand, have to bring something to share at my family christmas party.
I decided on vegan rice krispie pops dipped in chocolate, thinking their cuteness would make up for their simplicity. Last year I made peppermint cookies and cream cupcakes and they were hardly touched (obviously they didn’t know what they were missing).
This year all the krispie pops were snatched up before dessert was even served, mainly by small children, who gobbled them up off their sticks. Thanks to dandies, no one had any clue these treats were vegan.
Soon after this, Shawn and I left for a cross country road trip for two weeks. I can’t wait to show you all some of the awesome places we visited all across the country.
Hodge-podge
I have so much to tell you! I’ve been completely consumed with crafting for holiday presents. I’m attempting to wrap all my gifts in reusable gift bags this year. That means that even for the gifts I’m not making, there’s still a bit of work put in to each one. The worst part is, I can’t even show off the gifts I’ve made yet in case any of the recipients read this blog. Don’t worry though, I’ll have some recaps after the holidays with some reviews and such.
Besides the hours devoted to sewing and the like, I do have some exciting news. Cupcakes from Vegan Bake Sale are now available at Meet Market in Silverlake. I just delivered the first order of Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Spice cupcakes. Go get some! It will probably be your last chance before the holidays.
This year is going to be my cats’ first Christmas living with us. They’re loving all the boxes they get to play with (and a few catnip treats). It’s like cardboard box heaven for them. We adopted Meeme and Mochi on January 3rd of this year and they make me happy every single day. Seriously. I love them so much. Part of the reason I want to bring this up is that LA animal services is offering 50% off adoption fees for the holidays. Not that the fees are even very high to begin with, but it’s just that much more incentive to open your home and heart to one of these animals in need. If you’re considering getting an animal this year, I urge you to turn to the public animal shelters as these are usually the animals at highest risk of being put down. Not to mention they make it extremely easy for you to adopt.
Oh there’s so much more to say, but it will have to wait a little while still. Till then…
