wise craft

hello out there

Happy post holiday, pre new year week. Since we last met here and talked about cookies and such, life has been full of adventure in the wise craft house. Due to Seattle seeing more snow than it has in decades, our basement has been unable to decide if it was willing to hold off letting water in. It finally gave up on Christmas Eve, water coming in so fast from a corner of Peter's basement office we literally could not walk away from holding the wet vac to it. Knowing we would quickly be standing in water if we didn't try and figure out where the water was coming from, Peter finally ripped off about 3 feet of wall board and found a hole in the foundation spouting up water! Thanks to good neighbors who are prepared for anything (anything, really!), we sealed the hole with marine epoxy (if you have a basement, you need to keep some of this stuff on hand). Two coats of that did the trick and it was completely dry within an hour of so. However, less than 24 hours later, small cracks in the floor started sweating, and water began coming through the back basement door. After a few choice words were repeated, we did everything we could, cleared everything that could possibly be damaged by water, and left it to fate. We are spending a week in Colorado with our extended family (where it is very common to look out your window and seeing critters staring back at you) and have been able to put it out of our minds (we are getting daily reports that it is okay so far). I highly recommend a steady diet of spritz cookies and Arrested Development to help laugh away any leaky basement troubles.

and books...

Everyone's Christmas book wishlists were filled. When all the toys and things have had a thorough play through, its the books that are curled up with.

I will be a little quiet in this space for a bit longer, as I have socks to knit, TV to watch, donkeys to feed, perhaps some sledding to be done, eggnog to consume, and general laziness to attend to. I forgot how good I was at that last part. I will type to you soon. (I'm so glad you guys enjoyed those cookies!)

I may be the last person on Earth to see this, but I have to share it anyway. Grab a tissue before you watch!

ginger crinkles and spritz

A plate of cookies for you!

We are the kind of family that are hopelessly devoted to our favorite cookie recipes during the holidays. Sure, we'll dabble in the unknowns of new fangled confection we've never met before, but we tend to stick to our favorites when baking here at home. I'm happy to say I took a chance this year and pulled out an old recipe I was given at a cookie exchange at least 12 years ago and hit a home run. Ian tends to love anything gingerbreadish, and has eaten a fair amount of these since we've been snowed in this week, so he has become our resident expert on the crinkles. They are super easy, have a combined crisp and slightly chewy texture that I just love. And just enough of a ginger bite. Although I think it would be really good to add in crystalized ginger for an extra kick.

I had planned to post these recipes before now, but you may have everything on hand to make them today, so it won't be too late for the holidays!

Ginger Crinkles- makes 4 doz.

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark molasses

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

extra sugar, for rolling

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in molasses and egg. Sift together dry ingredients, add to butter mixture and mix well. Chill dough for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar. Bake for 8-10 min. Let cool on baking sheet for at least 3 minutes, until cookies are set.

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The other favorite in our family is spritz. It really wouldn't be Christmas without the Stocker family spritz cookies, and I may be completely disowned for sharing this recipe. This is what Peter loves in sweets, all wrapped up into little bite-sized goodness. Plenty of butter, confectioner's sugar (vs. granulated, which is apparently a key to their goodness). We are greeted by tins and tins of spritz cookies at my in-law's house, some like the ones above with a chocolate chip in the middle, some colored into green wreaths or trees, whatever the baker's whim. I have gone through a few cookie presses in my time, and currently using this one, and although I did not have loads of success pressing out cookies this year, I'm not necessarily blaming the press. (Just so you know, you can also press this dough out flat and use cookie cutters as well.)

Stocker Family Spritz- I honestly don't know how many this makes because so much of the dough gets eaten!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

food coloring (optional)

sprinkles, chocolate chips, candies for decoration (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and salt, set aside. In bowl of a mixer, sift confectioner's sugar, then add butter and mix until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, almond and vanilla extract, then slowly add reserved mixture until blended. (If you are adding food coloring to tint, turn dough out and tint by kneading the dough.

Push through cookie press onto unlined baking sheet, add decoration if desired, bake for 9-10 minutes, take out before cookies start to brown on edges.

Enjoy, if you make them let me know. I will now sign off and say farewell until after the holidays, at which time I will finally be able to show you what we handmade this year. Happy holidays and good wishes to everyone. Thank you all for stopping by and reading wise craft, for caring what is said here, and for just being out there. A hug to you all! Blair

yesterday's advent

gingerbread houses, gingersnap tea, and ginger crinkle cookies (recipe tomorrow).

Thanks for the holiday audio suggestions (and the other ones too). I plan to devote a post to listing these out so I can go back and pick from them when I need to.

We're are still surrounded by snow, so I will be in this space plenty, I hope you won't get tired of hearing me ramble!

still decorating...

I'm becoming a little manic with the holiday decorating, being snowed in will do that to you. New pom pom garland made from surplus yarn, wound on my handy little pompom maker last night while watching Bad Santa (such a weird movie). Not too long ago, Ana posted a pom pom tree that I can't find now, but that tree (and a past Anthropologie window) inspired this garland.

I forgot how fun making pompoms are. I mixed 2 yarn colors for each one, sometimes 3.

The tomorrowland trees and a deer on top of this weird ledge we have above the closet in the foyer. Its always been empty, mainly because it feels like it was made for fake ivy, but I like this little grouping there.

I've been looking at Ye Rin Mok Photography this morning. Especially this one, and this one.

I think we have our next bout of illness, this time with Emma. Can you guys recommend good holiday kid's audio books? I've found a few, most are too short, or too sinister for my kids (they are not fans of The Grinch). I'm looking for good, enjoyable, not-too-short kid's audio. If you have any favorites, I'd love to know what they are.

P.S.- I couldn't decide if it was pom pom or pompom, so you can see I did both.

snow, wool, judy, rufus...

Continuing my love of all things wonderfully wooly this holiday season, I stayed up late last night and made this wreath. It was so simple to do, and used up a fair amount of my felted sweater stash (that, prior to yesterday was being used for nothing) into something pretty. You just cut the sweaters into squares (these are about 2" x 2", but I wasn't exact) into squares and thread them on a wire. Cassi had a sweet ornament-sized wreath just like this featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Craft magazine 2008 (sorry, there is no direct link to this magazine online that I can find). I just blew it up to a large dinner plate size and made bigger scraps. I tied a bow with some seam binding I had and bent the wire at the top into a loop to hang it from. Done.

I had finished the Alicia's gingerbread girl ornament earlier in the day yesterday, yet my hands were still twitching to make something else. (As an aside, I have yet to figure out how to get good "ornament on the tree" pictures.) So the motivation was there and that wreath came together in no time at all. While I was cutting, I contemplated watching The Goodbye Girl a little too long and by 10:30pm I decided maybe another night...but definitely another night. It is one of my all-time favorite movies- I thought Richard Dreyfuss was pretty cute in that role.

And I fear typing that out loud offers up more about me than I'd like.

(minimal Christmas in our bedroom)

While I'm putting myself out there I will also say that recently I have been obsessed with listening to Rufus Wainright singing Judy Garland. Not convinced? Come on,this is pure entertainment, that man feels this music to his toes. I think his voice is incredible. Mom, this one is for you.

There is another blast of snow (with heavy wind this time) set to drop on us later today.  Thank goodness for good movies. And comfort food. And warms. And knitting. And Rufus. And gingerbread houses that need decoration. And wool.

Stay warm everyone!

ornamental

Quite a contrast from the last time we looked at this pot.

Snowing like crazy out there. Part of me loves it, part of me starts to get a little claustrophobic. What about you?

I should be doing anything other than making felt ornaments, but that's what I'm doing. (I did clean up my closet today, thank you.) I found these over on the Martha Stewart website and am gathering materials to start (its good for me to pick things that I have supplies on hand for, because I need to use up some of these supplies bad). In fact, I'm kind of picking through my ornaments this year and getting rid of some of those fillers from years past. I get in these moods every 3 years or so, like clockwork. Some years I'm looking for the sparkle, other years I'm looking for the wooly, handmade look. I waffle entirely too much. In fact, if I could teleport myself over to Anthro right now I'd buy up most of their ornaments because most are on sale. And they've got twinkle and wooly. My holiday yin..and yang...

house time

We are sitting around the house, school canceled for the day, and more snow is expected. It is incredibly cold outside, freezing everything on the roads into a solid block of ice, and I have no desire to stray too far from my teacup and stitching.

I have been looking at Alicia's Ice Skating Afternoon Ornament for weeks, and last night I thought I'd reward myself for being caught up for once and start making them. I started with my favorite of the 3, the ice skate, I wish I could do the other two at the same time. I love the idea of making something thoughtful and special to add to the holiday decor around here each year, and ornaments have always been high on the list.

Did I mention Ian's been sick this week? Sweet little guy, he is the best kind of patient to have...does not complain (honestly, not once), content to sit and read books, interrupted only by a freshened glass of ice water and some applesauce, or a little catnap. All day. I think I'll keep some handstitching close by over the weekend, so I can sit with him.

Someone excused herself up to her room earlier today to make some holiday colored paper chains to hang in her room. We have friends coming over on Sunday and she feels she must have her room ready (I completely agree).

She also took it upon herself to plan next spring/summer's garden. I thought it was insightful to stagger those bloom times and coordinate those colors. I mean, firecrackers and red hot cattails should bloom at the same time, don't you think?

It's kind of making me a little crazy that I can't share all the cool things the kids made for Christmas gifts. I think I will post about them right after Christmas, I'm very proud of them.

Have a great day! If you are in Seattle, stay safe on the roads.

our little hunter

ready to pounce and protect us from all the stray yarn, loose pins, drifting thread, and little pieces of fabric.

We're safe.

i love the green, mossy, licheny things

I wanted to share what I bought at Urban Craft Uprising last week (and to let Alicia know that I made it safely home without breaking anything I bought). I was looking at "air ferns", a variety called Tillandsia (actually, these are bromeliads, not ferns, thank you Misti), on the Design Within Reach website last week, but didn't want to spend $25 on just the plant. I think I had one like this as a kid for a while, I'm not sure. But I really wanted one, I love the idea that they are almost entirely self-sufficient and easy to no-care. It was almost a year ago that Ms. Chicken talked about these lovelies, terrarium-style.

The booth that sold these were completely new to the craft show forum consisted of two guys that have no website or online store, yet they could barely keep up with the traffic coming through to check out what they had. I quickly grabbed up this one for me, and some Christmas presents which I can't show. This one was $20, and is set into a beautiful modern glass square, with moss and bark inside.

The fern can be lifted out, and only needs to be lightly spritzed with water, and placed in a filtered light area. These plants thrive on neglect. I can live with that.

We've got the get these guys on the web with an online store, I think their email address is tillandsia@gmail.com. We should start a petition.

Adorn Jewelry was there (with a wonderful display of soft rock shapes with rings and pendants peeking out) and I came home with a ring I've been eyeing in her shop for a long time. I *love* this ring, it is so fun to wear. Merry Christmas to me.

Hope you guys have a great weekend. We are making our homemade gifts with the kids this weekend. Life in general is going fast right now. Even when I try to consciously slow this season down, it never works. I'm just going to go with it.

Locals, don't forget the Green Lake path of lights this weekend (Saturday, 5:30-8:30). Wouldn't it be pretty with some snow added in?

holiday mix

Today's advent-

Stained glass coloring books from Dover-

Its really cute how the kids get so very excited over each morning's advent. They close their eyes, and hold out their hands, just like they are about to receive communion.

As promised, here is a Christmas mix for you. I couldn't find all the songs I've added, but I did manage to discover some new (to me) ones this year. Enjoy!

And one last note, the other day I discovered this amazing hidden gem of a store in Seattle called Zenith Supplies. If you have ever wanted to make your own soaps, bath scrubs, lip balms, etc for yourself or for Christmas gifts (forget I said that), they have everything you need, you must check it out. I could have spent hours in there. I never knew this place existed! If you guys knew you didn't tell me.

Have a great day!