Valentine :: wrapping up!

With only three more days to go and one project completely gone wrong, I felt a little pressured. That was until last night! I still didn't have a little mommy-made present for little H. after the Black-Apple-Doll-mishap. So, I had to come up with something new - and preferably something fast as well! And I did.
So, here' a little sneak-preview. I'm not completely done yet, but it's just a matter of minutes now. A colorful braided necklace with portrait...

Egg-free Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

We made some Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon!! The three girls together! We just did our first tasting and they are GOOD!! Really good! M. took one to gym-class now for her coach...

We haven't done any baking since, well... I believe since we've left California. We used to bake a lot. From cookies over bread to fruit pies. For quite a while I would bake all of our bread. The bread soon became a staple at potluck dinners. I just loved every single step in the process: the kneading, seeing it rise, the smell while it's rising or in the oven, the excitement every time you take it out of the oven, as every loaf looks different from the previous one, the sound of the knife in the freshly baked crust...
Since we moved to Paris, there is no incentive for baking our own bread anymore. We have at least ten bakeries within close walking distance...and the bread here is SO good - what did I say? Outrageously good!

For cookies and pies, Martha Stewart was my main resource. I just loved her recipes. I subscribed to Living and Food Every Day, would buy the specials,...
However, we had one limitation: no eggs! no nuts! - as one of our girls was diagnosed with a severe egg and nut allergy when she was about six months old. As most baking recipes call for eggs, baking cookies was quite a challenge at the beginning. That is, until I found out about EnerG's Egg Replacer. It took a while to get the dosage right, but once that problem solved, we could make just about everything - and I believe I can say no one ever noticed there weren't any eggs involved! Baking became a fun activity with the kids. Especially little H. enjoyed our baking sessions.



The absolute favorite were our egg-free chocolate chip cookies. The recipe below is an adaptation from a Martha recipe - tried-and-true! Instead of using water to dissolve the egg-replacer, as suggested on the box, I use milk - something I do for most baking recipes. Also, the egg-replacer tends to color down the cookies a bit, so I've replaced part of the granulated sugar by light brown sugar. Depending on your oven, you might also want to increase the baking time a bit. Just keep an eye on them as they bake!
A batch of these usually doesn't last long, here!

Egg-free chocolate chip cookies

US version
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoons egg-replacer dissolved in 8 tablespoons (lukewarm) milk
2 cups semisweet- or milk-chocolate chips, or a combination of both (about 12 ounces; Trader Joe’s semisweet are great!)

European version
250 g self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
150 g unsalted butter, softened
150 g granulated sugar
50 g packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoons egg-replacer dissolved in 120 ml (lukewarm) milk
200 g dark or milk chocolate chips, or a combination of both; if you can't find chocolate chips, just smash a bar of chocolate to pieces...

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175-180°C). Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl beat together on medium speed butter and sugars until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce to low speed and add vanilla and dissolved egg-replacer; mix until well combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. If necessary, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time and no more than two. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through baking time, until centers are set and edges are golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature up to 1 week (but they usually don’t last that long…).

A little side-note: As I don't have a decent mixing bowl nor a good mixer, the batter would keep splattering around. I had already moved the whole setting to the counter near the sink, when M. got a paper plate. "Hey, wait a minute! That's a great idea! Let's cut a hole in it and place it between the mixer and bowl", I said. The girls thought it was hilarious, but it worked! A more transparent plate would have worked even better! And M.? She went to get her little camera...

Disclaimer: Before starting, make sure to check all the labels of all ingredients you're about to use for the presence of possible allergens!!

Moon

one moon...



two moons... (digital collage) - "The expression two moons (or sometimes, two heads) was often used in Chinese Buddhism to indicate a state of divided consciousness. The state when we are thinking about something while we are doing something else is one example of this. But the Buddhist state is oneness in action – a state in which there is no second moon..." - extract from Wisdom Books

An old passion revisited: handmade jewelry...

Last Friday, after posting the wire wrapped felted heart, I went on a long stroll through Paris. An inspiring walk, I must say! Except from buying some fabric and a Frappuccino, I didn't spend a dime. But I did get a refreshing load of new ideas - for free.
A couple of years ago, I started making jewelry. It all begun with a two-hour beading class at the local fine arts center. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets... I made tons of them. I found my inspiration in JJill catalogues, the local farmers' market, and other places I can't remember ... Some pieces I still have, some I gave away as presents, some of it I sold at our moving sale. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. I found some new hobbies like needle felting, collage, messing around with paint, baking, photography... I did a bit of sewing again. But I didn't make any jewelry for the past two years.
And then, this weekend, some new ideas kicked in and I made this necklace and really had fun at it! Doesn't it look beautiful?!



Except for the bronze chain, pendant, split rings and pins, I had everything here at at home. The braid and fabric pompom, I had made a while ago. They were just sitting in my "crafts" box, waiting until I found some new inspiration to do something with them. The braid was made out of silk ribbon and fabric strips. Some of you might even recognize the fabric. It's the same one I used in quite a few projects by now (here and here) and which I originally got to make some pyjama pants with - which I never finished, by the way. I don't even remember where they ended up...But I guess I'm deviating.
The pompom just "happened" (same fabric!). If you'd like to make one of these: they're really easy. All you need is fabric strips (about 0.5 cm) and a pompom template (I made my template with some heavy weight card stock) and you just proceed as you would for a regular yarn pompom. When done, you just trim here and there with scissors to get it into shape and ... done!
Besides the gem stones and bronze flower pendant, I added a (tiny) leather strip. That leather, I got a while back at BHV, a big department store here in Paris. I had no idea what I would use it for - I just loved the color and needed to have it!(I've got some nice green too!) And see, it fits in perfectly with the rest and (the back of it) made the perfect surface to put the necklace on in the light box...

Now, will I wear it? I don't know. It might end up in my jewelry box just like the other stuff I made or I might put it on display against a wall. The thing is, I hardly wear any jewelry, but I love to make it...
And I'm already planning a next one!

A gift...

... from me to you. A downloadable calendar for February!
I need to admit this wasn't entirely my idea. I had been thinking of making one for a while now, and then I stumbled upon this post at Chocolate and Zucchini - a great blog, with great recipes, and great pictures! You should check it out - yes, Mom, I have the feeling you'll just love it! I'd love to try making my own vanilla extract - among all the other yummy things there! A good resource to boost my culinary performances a bit, as I haven't been doing great in the kitchen lately... You should ask my kids about it!



Now, a little more about the calendar. I've made two versions: a desktop version (shown at the very top of this post) as well as a printable version (right above here) which provides space to write in. Both will be available from the sidebar, as off tonight or tomorrow morning, under the label "February 2009 calendar". Let me know what you think of it! It's a try-out. If you like it I'll make one available every month. I'd better start making pictures, then... When I look outside now and see the snow that's coming down, I can't actually believe I took this picture with the clear blue sky yesterday!

I hope you'll have a wonderful weekend, snow or no snow!

Valentine :: Wire wrapped felted heart

Looking for a last minute Valentine's craft? Well, maybe I have something for you then!
How about a wire wrapped felted Valentine's heart? Easy and fast. What else would you want?



This is what you'll need for this project:

- wire (I used a 0.7 mm gauge)
- pliers to cut the wire
- flat nosed pliers to help you shape the wire
- a tiny little bit of red carded wool
- needle felting needles
- needle felting foam pad

Step one: Shape the heart (see diagram), starting by leaving a long end at the top where later on you will make a loop, and ending with the center heart. This is a free-style exercise! Cut with pliers and correct the shape where needed by bending here and there, using the flat nosed pliers. Make a loop at the top for hanging.



Step two: Needle felt the heart.


First, on your foam pad start needle felting a bit of wool (slightly bigger than the heart), flipping it over once. I typically use a medium sized needle to start with. Next position your wire wrapped heart on top and fold the wool over the wire while punching with your needle. This shouldn't be too precise - it's actually even nicer when the wire shows. Make sure to flip over your piece a couple of times to avoid your project gets stuck to the foam pad. Also be careful not to hit the wire, as this might cause the needle to break. Switch to smaller sized needles (fine, ultra-fine) as you move on. Continue to punch until you're satisfied with the result. You can add wool if needed or pull out some if there's too much. You can't go wrong with this project!

Some alternatives to needle felting the center part:
If you don't know how to needle felt, you could cover the heart with small strips of paper instead (this is something I came up with as I was writing - newspaper strips would work well for that). You could also wire wrap a piece of colored glass or use a colorful bead... Just use your imagination and whatever you have available!

And that's all there is to it! Easy, not?

Valentine :: something old

This is another Valentine's day gift I made a couple of years ago. This one just "happened" as I was trying to make one of these. I remember I found I had made the neck part way too long. Next, I turned the neck part into a body, added some pipe cleaners to the back to make arms and legs, as shown in the diagram. I cut the pipe cleaners to the right size and bended them to form hands and feet. The hands, I covered with the same skin-colored fabric as I used for the head.

The rest you can see in the photo: I gave the little guy some pants, little boots, a pointed hat, a scarf and a jacket (for the buttons I used French knots - you can check here for a nice how-to) - all felt. No patterns involved, all very intuitively! I just added the details as I went along. I drilled some holes in a little piece of wood to make the swing, and as it was close to Valentine's Day I added the heart... I didn't do this, but when you want to make sure the little guy stays put, you can glue him onto the swing. All this maybe took me a couple of hours at most.

If you're not familiar with making Waldorf dolls, you can find some instructions for making the head here (as this puppet is kind of small, I would leave out the nose, though). For a small puppet like this one you can use tubular gauze (finger splint padding) to be found at the pharmacy section of your supermarket.
A final note, maybe: since this puppet has a lot of small parts it's not intended to be given to young children to play with. We have ours hung up by the window in one of our girls' room...