Super Easy Homemade Cards

I have a birthday coming up, which means I’ll need to send out thank-you cards pretty soon. Those who’ve been reading this blog may have noticed I prefer to make my own cards– I just can’t stand to give someone a generic Hallmark card with a hokey saying on the inside.

These photo cards are great because you can make a large batch in a short period of time and for very little money. Each of these only cost 50 cents in materials!

To start, amass a collection of photos you’d like to have on the cards. I’ve found I have a lot of interesting photos that aren’t really appropriate for framing and hanging on a wall, but they’re perfect for the greeting card format.

Next, have the photos printed. Many online services, such as CVS Photos or Snapfish, will give you 50 free 4×6s for signing up. You can make a lot of cards out of those!

Once your photos have arrived, you can start making the cards. I went to Staples and purchased a pack of blank greeting cards and envelopes made from a nice textured paper. Of course, you could always cut your own cards out of cardstock too.

Next you’ll need to mount the photos to the front of the cards. I used a photo mounting product that I already had, but you could even use a regular glue stick for this. If you’re really particular about getting the photo centered, you might want to sketch out or print out a rectangle to show yourself where to place the photo. I just eyeballed it myself.

Finally, you might want to put a little logo on the back. My girlfriend had just bought me a little stamp kit from the dollar store, so I used that and wrote out an inscription by hand.

And that’s all there is to it! Now you’ll have no excuse not to send cards to your loved ones.

 

Quick Fingerless Gloves

I took a break from my lace sweater to make a pair of fingerless gloves. Just in time for the cold weather!

 

Lotus Flower Ceiling

Many Indian homes contain a Pooja Room– a small room used for prayer and meditation.

S and I decided to create a pooja room about a year ago. Our energies have recently been focused elsewhere, but I wanted to share a picture of the ceiling.

I made this last spring with some repurposed Dupioni silk– I originally had a different ceiling idea in mind, but it didn’t work out. Some more of the silk became matching cushions and pillows.

 

Autumnal Anniversary Card

My parents celebrated their anniversary a week ago, so I made them a card befitting the season:

I used the template found here– despite having very little papercutting experience, this was really quick and easy to make.

 

Hello There!

Wow. Ok, it’s been a while. Sorry!

Last weekend we had a birthday party for one of our dogs, who was turning three:

These Schnauzer cupcakes were inspired by the book Hello Cupcake, which has cupcake decorating instructions for various dog breeds. My cupcakes didn’t turn out quite as nice as those in the book, but they were still a big hit:

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to enjoy cupcakes without giving the dogs a homemade treat. Last year I made peanut butter biscuits, but this year I decided to do a layer cake, which was much easier:

Bacon Chicken Layer Cake (adapted from here.)

* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 T. baking powder
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 1/4 cup peanut oil
* 1 jar strained chicken baby food
* 1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
* Plain strained (or Greek-style) yogurt
* 2 or 3 Beggin Strips, crumbled

Generously grease and flour two 6" round cake pans; set aside. Combine flour and baking powder; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat softened butter until smooth. Add eggs and peanut oil; mix well. Add strained chicken and 1 cup of the shredded carrots and mix until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour batter into the 2 prepared 6" cake pans. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

Place one layer on a serving plate and spread yogurt over top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup shredded carrots. Place second layer on top, then spread yogurt on top of the second layer. Sprinkle crumbled Beggin Strips over top.

 

Much Needed Update

Sorry things have been so quiet over here. There are several reasons:

1. I got a camera
It’s a Sony A100 DSLR and it’s launched a nascent desire to take up photography. If you don’t see much of me here, I’m probably over in Flickerland.

2. Artomatic
I’ve been spending many of my evenings at Artomatic, a month-long arts festival with nine floors of visual art plus countless free movies, music, and other performances. This year the venue is down the street from where I work, so I’ve been making frequent trips there.

3. I got a puppy!
Her name is Lakshmi (the Hindu goddess of wealth) and she’s a 6-month old miniature Schnauzer. As you can imagine, it’s hard to justify doing anything besides playing with her.

Nevertheless, I do have some new crafts to share (including one that I’m wearing right now!) so stay tuned.

 

Mother’s Day

I’m headed up to NJ to spend this weekend with two of my favorite ladies, my mother and my grandmother!

Hope everyone has a lovely Mother’s Day!

 

Spring/Summer Bag

I was in the market for a medium-sized brightly colored bag, so I decided to make one using McCall’s M5599, style b. The bag is the perfect size and shape, in my opinion– large enough to carry around books, lunch, and a small knitting project, but not enormous and bulky.

Since bags don’t require a large amount of material, this was the perfect time to use a pricier designer fabric.  I like this print because it’s summery and the neutral colors match with just about anything. On the inside, it has a silky chocolate brown lining with pockets.

I left out the interfacing– which I never have and always forget to buy– as well as the cardboard insert in the bottom. I’m still debating whether this was a good idea or not; although this makes the bag washable and allows it to be squished into a ball or folded into a small square, it probably would look better if it were more structured. I did double the material on the straps and the bottom for reinforcement.

I’ve been using the bag for a couple weeks now and I’m really happy with it so far. Hopefully it will serve as a springboard into a summer of sewing projects– right now I have a skirt in the works, I just ordered material to make a bag for S, and I have some home decorating projects planned for later.

 

Orange Flower Tea Cakes

I love orange flower water—it has distinct floral and citrus tones, but not overtly so, and the scent instantly takes me to the exotic lands where it is predominately used.

The other day I was envisioning small, plain cakes delicately scented with orange flower water, and I happened upon an almond tea cake recipe similar to what I had in mind. I tweaked it a little, halving the sugar and muting the almond flavor so the orange flower water could really sing. Baking the batter in madeleine pans yielded pretty pillowy cakes with chewy golden edges that are profoundly addictive.

Orange Flower Tea Cakes

Adapted from a recipe at Baking and Books

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons orange flower water
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Confectioners sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray the madeleine molds with olive oil (you could, alternatively, use a load pan, muffin pan, or other cake pan—just increase the baking time accordingly).

In a large bowl combine the yogurt, sugar, eggs, and orange flower water. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds. Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, fold in the olive oil. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake the cakes 17-20 minutes, until the centers are springy to the touch and the edges are golden brown. Cool in the molds for 5 minutes, then unmold and transfer to a rack to finish cooling. When completely cool, dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 24 madeleine-sized cakes.

 

Singer sewing machines selling in Saudi Arabia for up to $50,000

Thought I’d share a story I heard on the BBC news this morning– if you have the right connections you could make a pretty penny off your old sewing machine!