i’ve loved these quirky pen and ink drawings from studio m.m.e. for a while now, (remember?) and now i’m so excited to share megan’s latest project with you! she has just released a line of new embroidery patterns, now you can turn her nostalgic fairy tale illustrations in to sewn art! anytime a piece of art can be turned into a true diy project, i’m hooked. instead of purchasing the artwork, you can make it yourself and truly be proud of what is hanging on your wall! are you up for the challenge?

each pdf pattern include:
- a picture of the finished piece
- the story behind the illustration
- a stitch guide
- an easy-to-trace pattern
- a reversed iron-on transfer pattern

giveaway details

the lovely megan has offered to give away a beautiful pdf pattern to one lucky ghtr reader! visit her shop and let us know which pattern you love and why by adding your comment to this post. one comment per person, please. giveaway will end sunday, october 2nd at midnight pst. the winner will be drawn randomly and announced on monday. good luck!

studio m.m.e. elsewhere: {etsy} {website} {blog}

wrap up: {art} {diy} {drawings} {embroidery} {giveaway} {pattern} {pen and ink} {sew} {studio m.m.e.}

We just moved into a lovely new house in Michigan, and the pine trees are plentiful. There are fresh pine cones scattered all over our yard and on the side walks of every street on the block, and being a former student of physical geography, I can’t help but collect some of them! There are so many fun ideas for decorating with pine cones in the home during the autumn and winter months, and hopefully you won’t have to buy anything to do these projects.

materials

acrylic paint (any color)

spray paint (any color)

craft glue

glitter

place cards

small paint brushes

pine cones (found or store bought)

Painting pine cones is really easy, fun, and has a great end product. I’ve had this white pine cone for a couple of years, actually – it’s kept really well. All you need is a paint brush and your favorite color of acrylic paint.

After they’re painted and dried, I think they look great together in a large vase or bowl. This could even look great if you painted them different complimentary colors.

An even quicker way to dress up a pine cone is to spray paint it. Want to go a step further? Toss some glitter on it while the spray paint is still wet. Below I am demonstrating spraying the pine cones black and glittering with Martha Stewart’s Onyx black glitter – perfect for Halloween decor!

When the temperatures start to get cooler, give the pine cones a frosty look by painting glue or applying craft glue directly to the edges of the pine cone, and sprinkling immediately with white or clear glitter. Tie string to the stems and hang them in door ways, or place them in a dish together.

Finally, some people may prefer pine cones just the way they are (I know I do). Here I simply put a pine cone at a table setting, with a dinner guest’s place card lightly tucked into the pine cone itself. This is a thrifty, seasonal, and gorgeous way to dress up a table for a Fall meal and impress your guests.

Do you have any interesting ways you have used pine cones in your home? I’d love to know your ideas!

Out to find ways to make life simpler, Ashley is tackling life one DIY project at a time. Learning as she goes, she also spends her days writing Indie Pretty Projects and creating for her Etsy shop.

wrap up: {ashley pahl} {decorating} {fall} {holiday} {pine cones} {rustic} {seasonal}

happy friday, friends! how has your week been? i’ve enjoyed so much sharing this space with you and getting to know a few of you better. each friday i’ve decided to post dinner ideas from recipes that i’ve cooked throughout the week, and encourage you to share yours as well! eventually, i hope that we can meet here on fridays and discuss recipes that we’ve had success with, to inspire the following week’s dinner plans. sound good? this week i made:

monday: black bean burgers (subbed egg with ener-g egg replacer) with grilled corn and roasted peppers

tuesday: creamy corn chowder

wednesday: pizza with left over chowder and  fresh berry cobbler

thursday: old bay tofu cakes (sooo yummy!) with rosemary roasted purple potatoes and sauteed kale.

friday: simple biscuits* with fresh cut pineapple

*simple biscuits: combine equal parts sour cream (i use tofutti brand, but regular whole fat will work as well) and self-rising flour in a mixer. drop biscuits on a greased pan and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly browned on top. (and seriously, these will beat your grandma’s complicated butter biscuits every time!).

what have you been cookin’ this week?

image: a perfectly peachy pair of dottie angel tea towels

wrap up: {dinner} {meal} {plan} {recipes} {weekly}

this post was inspired by this darling treasury, i never get tired of chevrons and pennants!

clockwise: love triangles; $22 CAD, emerald geode post earrings; $10, pennant pillow; $30, cupid bow and arrow pillow case; $58, tiny textured triangle earrings; $15, iceberg brooch; $7, oragami rabbit under a flower starship; $36, GEO triangle earrings; $22, triangle dangle earrings; £18.00

wrap up: {chevron} {earrings} {etsy} {handmade} {pennants} {triangles}

welcome to my latest addiction: kuler. it’s a web-hosted application for generating color themes to help inspire projects of all sorts! no matter what you’re working on (illustrations, blog posts, paintings), you can quickly upload a photo and experiment with color variations or even browse thousands of themes from other kuler members.

and its even ‘cooler’ if you work with adobe illustrator! you can save color themes to use in illustrator, or just open the extension (located under window > extensions > kuler) and search right from the desktop. if you itching to share yours, feel free to add them to the ghtr flickr album!

wrap up: {adobe} {color} {generator} {illustrator} {inspiration} {kuler} {themes}

speaking of my odd liken to corn lately, have you all read animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kindsolver? i couldn’t help but think of it yesterday as i wrote about my seasonal cravings. this book has been one of my favorites for a long time, and it is one of the reasons why i fell in love with eating locally and seasonally.

it is the (true) story of a year in which the kingsolver family deliberately fed themselves on food grown within their community, and what they learned from the experience. it’s inspiring, entertaining and encouraging- and it is even jam packed full of seasonal recipes and weekly dinner planning ideas! if you haven’t read it, i (obviously) recommend it. if you’re not much of a reader, maybe you would enjoy visiting their website where you can still find recipes, resources and tips on finding local food.

wrap up: {barbara kindsolver} {books} {food} {local} {produce} {recipes} {recommend} {seasonal}

9 months out of the year, i would promise you that i don’t like corn. something happens come september, however. i move from craving watermelon and strawberries to corn and sweet potatoes. i love to listen to my cravings, as i know we were created to eat seasonally (and locally). my cravings tell me so! so as odd as i feel it is, i’ve been craving corn. and just in time for it start arriving in our weekly csa box. thank youuu!

soooo, last night i made corn chowder! i adapted it from martha’s recipe, below is my version:

ingredients:

• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 fennel bulb chopped (since it was in our csa box!)
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 8 sprigs thyme
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups veggie stock
• 2 ears yellow corn, kernels removed
• 5 ounces small fingerling potatoes, chopped
• 1 small chili, chopped (use bell pepper if you don’t like the heat)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (i use this, half/half will also work)
• 2 tbs olive oil

directions:

1) add onions, celery, thyme, fennel and salt and pepper to stockpot; cook over medium-low heat until translucent, about 8 minutes. add stock and bring to a boil.

2) reduce heat to medium and add corn, potatoes, and chile; cook until potatoes are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. remove and discard thyme. add coconut creamer, and simmer until soup is hot.

do you have any new cravings or favorite corn recipes? please share with us!

images: martha stewart’s summer corn chowder

wrap up: {chowder} {corn} {local} {potato} {recipe} {seasonal}

whether we’re ready for it or not, summer is coming towards an end, but one of they many joys of fall is getting ready to harvest and preserve our seasons yummy produce. when i saw these summery kitchen labels from felix doolittle, i immediately thought about how pretty they would make a cupboard or how lovely they would make a gift of your garden’s goodies.

with chef medallions, baker’s labels and oval kitchen labels, they are perfect for sharing garden goodies, canning, making jams and throwing parties! they all feature a gorgeous watercolor illustration by felix (he paints them almost to scale with a very tiny brush!) and come with personalization in a cute little tin, aren’t they lovely?
make sure to cruise by their notecard collections as well! i’ve found that if i have pretty notecards within reach, i’m much more likely to write my friends and family, something that i’ve been trying to a lot more of lately!

wrap up: {canning} {fall} {felix doolittle} {gardening} {harvest} {kitchen} {labels} {preserve}