Just wanted to announce that my friend Charles Phoenix is guest-starring on the Martha Stewart show again! He says, “This Thursday I’ll be showing vintage Valentine’s Day slides to Martha Stewart on her show. I wonder what Martha will say when I ask her to be my Valentine?”

I am still organizing all my photos and crafty finds from my whirlwind trip to CHA so look for a post on that soon… in the meantime, I hope you have a very happy Valentine’s Day with plenty of chocolate and conversation hearts. I’m rushing to make a FedEx deadline so I’ll post again on Friday!

Happy 2008! I hope your New Year has been fabulous so far. Mine has involved a nice long walk, a holiday milkshake from Burgerville (Andrew and I used a 2-for-1 coupon in the Chinook Book, if you want to jump on that too) and a big pot of black-eyed peas for luck. Maybe you can take the girl out of the South, but you sure can’t take the South out of the girl — I wouldn’t think of missing them on New Year’s Day and I’m making collard greens to go along with them too.

I’ve heard that each black-eyed pea you eat on New Year’s Day is 1) an extra-lucky day in the upcoming year, 2) an extra dollar in the New Year, or 3) just general good luck all the way around. So regardless of your preferred superstition, I figure it’s well worth eating a bunch today. If you want to make some too, here is the way I like to cook them:

New Year’s Day Black-Eyed Peas

Soak a pound of dried black-eyed peas — I put them in a saucepan, cover them with water, and let them boil for five minutes, then take them off the heat, cover them tightly and let them sit for 2 hours. Drain and rinse them well and then cover them with about an inch of water again. Add one chopped onion and bring everything to a boil for 15 minutes, then simmer them for about an hour to an hour and a half, tasting them for done-ness along the way.

Now, when they’re just about done, is when you add the extras: salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste, and two cans of stewed tomatoes. Let them cook for another ten minutes and serve with greens and rice. Then get ready for your extra luck to kick in this year!

Speaking of the new year, inspired by Linda’s beautiful photo collage, I just put together a mosaic of my favorite things I made in 2007:

Last year I crafted my first two quilts (that was exciting — I was nervous about the first one especially), two sets of curtains, a jewelry box, lots of fund-raiser earrings, a monkey costume, some Gocco projects, a handful of refashions, and some baby presents. This mix doesn’t have much of my jewelry, or any of my Bead Simple projects, but you can see plenty of those in March when the book is out in the world. I can hardly believe that it’s so soon… yay!

After a grueling few days, we are happily moved into our new house, and I’m still trying to catch my breath a little bit… but we have unpacked three rooms (and counting!). Resurrecting my craft room is first thing on my list tomorrow, since it currently looks like this:

I’ll post after photos soon, I can’t wait to have it all set up. Andrew and I decided to make that beautiful wood room upstairs a guest bedroom instead of the craft room — I think things will work better that way. This room is longer, so two Expedit bookshelves fit into it side by side… luxury! Especially nice when you have as much fabric and jewelry supplies as I do.

Happy new year, and I’m wishing you a lucky, crafty 2008!

Andrew and I are up at the cabin on Mt. Hood and it snowed yesterday! So today is my first-ever white Christmas and I have to say it is very nice after 32 straight of the non-snowy variety. It’s gorgeous and clear out and the trees across the river are all snowy and pretty. I hope you are having a lovely Christmas, whether you are celebrating with a tree and a fancy dinner, movies and Chinese food, or watching the red-and-green Blazers game… we’re doing a little of all three with some long-distance phone calls thrown in.

Update: the Blazers won to make it eleven in a row!

I thought I’d post some photos from our visit to the cabin and then I better get back to lying around reading, watching movies, and looking out the big windows at all this pretty snow!

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale this Sunday!

I’ll be sharing a table with Lee and we’re right next to Jenny of CRAFT: magazine. Please stop by and say hi if you have a chance! I’ll have skirt kits, ornaments, Bead Simple kits, and signed copies of Super Crafty for sale.

It should be a fantastic sale — I’m really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

I’m so busy this week that I thought I’d do a re-post from last year’s (Dec 06) getcrafty column with the list of fun handmade holiday projects I put together then. Disclaimer: I haven’t had time to check to see if every single link is still active, so forgive me if you hit a dead end somewhere! I’ll keep adding fresh ideas to the top, starting with a few I really loved this week:

Craftapalooza compiled this fantastic tutorial list for whip-up today — dozens of ideas for festive holiday crafts!

And I just adore these deer ornaments Linda designed for the big swap. Her how-to is here on the ReproDepot blog.

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I keep seeing all these great handmade tutorials all over the place for making everything from cards and holiday decorations to presents for everyone on your list… so I’ve put together links to a bunch of free online how-to projects for you to check out, if you haven’t already spotted them. Happy DIYing!

*now updated with new projects at the top of the sections, with more to come!

Decorations and Embellishments

elf stitchette by Hillary Lang, mirror garland by Kathy Cano Murillo, dreidel by Star Wars Kids Crafts, and soft tree by Stephanie Barnes

The CRAFT blog has cool new tutorials for making paper stars, a video for stylishly wrapping presents with fabric, DIY gift tags, and fun-fur mini tabletop trees. And One Hour Craft is offering a gold star for the top of your Christmas tree how-to.

Crafty Chica created a new collage wrapping paper project that’s super-customizable! Kiddley has a ton of cool kid-friendly decorations to make: a gumdrop wreath, paper garlands, Christmas pinatas, a pom-pom garland, and a paper doll/ornament.

Natalie has posted some amazing new projects over at the CRAFT blog — a Santa peanut ornament, stenciled holiday cards, crocheted snowflakes, photo ornaments, Star Wars holiday collage cards, and a MAKE magazine podcast on making woodcut cards… wow!

Alicia of Posie Gets Cozy wrote up a beautifully photographed tutorial on making your own Santa Lucia dolls this week. And Cake + Pie has a very cute stockings how-to, including the finishing touches.

Here’s a big list of all the CRAFT magazine how-to project podcasts to date, including a pom-pom tree and garland, and a MAKE podcast on making woodcut cards.

I also added a how-to for a quick and easy flower ornament this week. And One Hour Craft has a new yo-yo ornament project up as well!

Sarah sent in a great tutorial on making a button tree by embellishing a styrofoam cone with pearls, beads, buttons, and broken jewelry from your stash. Cute photos are here.

Hillary Lang has posted a Wee Wonderfuls Stitchette elf pattern on her site… so adorable. She’s also shown how to make adorable ornaments and decorations using cotton balls, of all things!

Kathy Cano Murillo, AKA Crafty Chica, has a gorgeous round-up of past holiday projects on her blog — everything from mini mirror garlands to glittered cards, ornaments, and boxes to make your holidays sparkle!

Anh-Minh posted an amazing Plexiglass photo display that could look incredible with your favorite photos or vintage holiday cards.

CRAFT magazine’s site has a projects page with free downloadable how-tos and patterns — the bird stencils would look great on cards or windows! You can even get their new patterns automatically delivered podcast-style via iTunes. Plus, the holiday projects section of their amazing blog has all kinds of ornament how-tos — I love the Star Wars dreidel and ornament especially!

Stephanie Barnes of Little Birds Handmade has published her pattern for making simple, beautiful soft trees — download it and make a forest in all different sizes and fabrics.

And Sunset magazine has put together a lovely mix of articles on making wreaths and garlands, easy ornaments (I love the photo ones in particular), mod paper ornaments, centerpieces and table toppers, creating your own gift wrap, and making a modern menorah and advent calendar. Sunset is one of my favorite magazines — it’s very crafty!

Gifts

boyfriend hat by Bleu Arts, bath salts by Susan Beal, kanzashi by Maria Binns, and silhouette necklace by Abigail Percy

A new round of amazing projects are up on the CRAFT blog: tutorials for making stuffed animals, solid perfume, v-stitch scarves, and coin cufflinks.

One Hour Craft has a tutorial for making a quick, adjustable bracelet, and Vickie Howell added a new holiday-themed knitting needles roll to her site this week. And Christina Loff wrote up a great snow globes how-to using miniature figurines and baby-food jars.

The CRAFT blog recently posted a tutorial for twisted-wire tree branch earrings.

Cutting Edge is offering a pattern for a fleece pocket scarf, appliqued with snowflakes. And Laural of thimble.ca has an inspiring project index, offering tutorials on some of her cutest projects, from a zippered pouch to a super-simple belt. Check out her recipes, too!

Sunset also has recipes up for cocoa in a jar — classic, Mexican, peppermint and mocha. Don’t miss their Gifts from the Kitchen section — spices, liqueurs, and delicious things to bake. And then there’s a fun soaps projects to make, too.

Leah Kramer of craftster posted a round-up of fabulous gift ideas from the site, all using basic techniques — decoupage, soaps, marble magnets, and etched glass.

Check out the Craftster winter holidays forum for lots of ideas, too. And of course there are inspiring how-tos all over the boards — check out this row-counter bracelet tutorial by skutterat — the perfect gift for all the hard-core knitters in your life!

Speaking of knitting, why not try making Aunt Purl’s Easy Knitted Felted Bracelet Bag? It takes less than two hours, start to finish! Ansley of Bleu Arts has posted a Rolled Brim Boyfriend Hat pattern too, as well as a great lip balm tutorial. If you want to whip up some bath salts or salt scrub to go with it for a whole bath and beauty package, I just posted an easy tutorial for making two kinds — coffee-cinnamon and green tea-ginger.

One of my favorite sites for inspiration, CraftyPod, has amazing podcasts and projects, including plenty sorted by type: check out all the Holiday Crafts, Bead Crafts, and Paper Crafts Sister Diane has put together.

The wonderfully redesigned not martha site has a great things to make section, including projects like wineglass charms and party crackers. And for the sewers on your list, how about a darling little wrist pincushion from My Little Mochi?

Whip-up has a fabulous collection of tutorials up, including a customizable silhouette necklace by Abigail Percy and beaded bracelet by Linques Design.

Maria Binns’s One Hour Craft has an incredible array of quick projects to make — look through the categories (like the All Time Favourites and Great as Presents sections) for projects like Kanzashi cloth flowers and customized stamps.

One Hour Craft has a great list of kids’ craft projects too, and don’t miss the fun Arts and Crafts projects over at Kiddley, collected by Claire of Loobylu.

Finishing Touches

I just added a few gift wrapping 101 ideas for recycled present packaging.

Adorn has some pretty handmade projects up from their print issues, too — crochet some little flowers or make some paper-covered boxes… perfect to add to your handmade gifts. Also, be sure to take a spin around Nice Package on flickr for tons of inventive ideas on wrapping and packaging all your presents this year.

I would love to update with more ideas so please e-mail me (susanstars at yahoo dot com) or comment and I’ll add your suggestions… happy handmade holidays!

Okay, unlike most (many?) 33-year-olds who celebrate Christmas, I’ve never put up a tree before. Andrew and I have always gone to visit our families on the East Coast for the whole holiday stretch, so we never bothered. But this year we are staying in Oregon so we went to Michaels this morning and got a 4-foot silver tree* (inspired by Mariko’s gorgeous pink one) and decorated it this afternoon, while it was snowing even! It felt like a movie, I can’t believe it actually snowed.

Then I went to Church of Craft this afternoon and made four pretty paper strip ornaments (thanks, Diane!) and added them to the mix. I just love seeing all the ornaments together. Most of them are handmade or vintage, but I got a pack of $1.99 mini silver rounds at Fred Meyer to fill in the gaps here and there, too.

And I just love that when I came home I could see it sparkling in the window!

*If you are also looking for a sparkly tree, Michaels has four-foot pre-lit pink, silver, and green-gold ones on sale for $19.99 this week. We got the last silver one that was out at the Clackamas/82nd Michaels but they had tons of the pink and green-gold left, and I bet the other Michaels have all three.

I went to a fabulous cookie exchange party at Mariko’s last night and brought two batches of spelt chocolate chip cookies, one with peanut butter and one with almond butter. It was so nice to hang out with the ladies, the babies, and the dog!

I hadn’t been feeling that holiday-ish yet and now I have this gorgeous selection of cookies to enjoy, since we all brought home a mix of them. Here’s just one half of the table of cookies:

Amy, Melissa F., Melissa L. put their recipes up this week, if you’re looking for some new delicacies to try, and I am just writing mine up now…

Here is my plate (with a bowl of vanilla ice cream alongside, of course!).

and here is my recipe:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 - 3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups white spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Cream the butter, peanut/almond butter and sugars. Add the egg and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and then mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°. (Don’t overbake even if they don’t look ready after 12 minutes!)

Mariko’s Christmas tree was so pretty, I can’t wait to get ours and decorate it too. She gave me the hot tip to go to Michaels and use the 40% off coupon, so I’ll definitely be heading out there this week — I’d already scoured Fred Meyer and a bunch of vintage stores in search of a festive pink or silver tabletop tree with no luck.

Speaking of holiday cheer, I posted about some of my favorite ornaments to make over at the Adorn blog today, if you’re interested — all free online tutorials, which is nice for instant crafting. I love ornaments!

Okay, I’ve eaten three cookies while writing this so I think I better hit post before things get any crazier around here.

Kathreen of whip-up has put together a very nice two-part series of favorite handmade holiday crafts, compiled by the site’s contributors — one set to buy and one set to make. I sent in four of my all-time favorites and here they are!

I love everything at Star Wars Kids Crafts but the Droidel and TIE fighter ornament are especially cool…

and Alicia Paulson’s Santa Lucia dolls are absolutely gorgeous.

Diane’s gingerbread houses podcast, co-starring her mom, is fantastic!

And I love Sarah of Mama and Jack Jack’s button tree.

Check out the entire list of faves here at whip-up, and on the subject, I’m planning to repost an updated/expanded version of my December 2006 holiday crafts mega-post, which was a lot of fun to do last year!

I’m off to a holiday cookie exchange party and then to catch the tail end of the Debbie Stoller Son of a Stitch ‘n Bitch book signing at Powell’s… hope you have a lovely night too.

Things got so busy with work last week, and then it was so tempting to just take a few days off from everything for the holiday so sorry to be absent for so long! Here’s a little photo catch-up of a few of my favorite things (food and day trips) and I’ll write up some crafty stuff (Felt Club, the Sampler) starting again tomorrow…

food

The night before real Thanksgiving, we had low-key vegetarian Thanksgiving at home and it was awesome. I made acorn squash stuffed with wild rice, cherries, and cranberries along with sesame green beans. My first actual Veggie Dinnerplate entry!

Then for Thanksgiving we cooked at home and brought everything over to a potluck: sweet potatoes with maple-glazed pecans, vegetarian gravy, and stuffing with vegetarian sausage and cranberries. There was also a big piece of salmon in the oven that didn’t make it out in time for the photo:

day trip

We had a really low-key weekend, which was so nice, and then went up to Centralia, Washington yesterday to walk all over downtown, go to thrift stores, and check out the train station. It was beautiful out and we had such a nice time.

I loved the window display at Centralia Printing Co. downtown.

There are so many murals on the sides of buildings, I liked this one especially:

And the train came through while we were there!

I love books from Chronicle — I always do so much of my Christmas shopping with them and I love that 30% off + free shipping package.

LA has been great so far — the ReForm School party was amazing and I got to hang out and walk around the neighborhood all day in between working on my laptop. Tomorrow, MOCA and crafty shopping downtown!