Shout out: Blogs, links and independent shops

Doorsixteen is supporting and hosting a page for independent artists, designers and crafters for this holiday season shopping (Its her 6th year doing this). All the links to the independent shops are in the comments sections.  The image links directly to the post. The image is available for anyone to use and share. I suggest going over there and browsing through the unique and thoughtful offers. Oh yea, discounts listed as well!

I came across D16's post a few days ago, and clicked on several of the "vendors", fell in love with a wooden triangle ring from (of)matter and treated myself. I'm quick to make such decisions! Poking around her ETSY shop revealed some really sweet and shapely jewellery so I picked out some black triangle earrings and gold circle earrings, as well as the wooden ring.  Gifts for myself! They arrived yesterday (very quick processing&shipping) and were packaged lovingly in little boxes and bags.  They were met for my stocking but I was too curious and dug in and donned them. My little 2 year old thought it was very cool that I had triangles on my ears.

Look to the right of my posts and you will see an ETSY column which displays and links to unique ETSY shops; showing my most current & favourite items for gift ideas - lots of kids stuff, but some decorations & jewellery as well. See the wooden ring. Oh, so cool. The brass bar ring is also really neat.

And a bit of humour, Swissmiss recently posted about "Lid Sid", HA! Just what my new kitchen needs. Little people dangling over my pots, propping open the lid, releasing steam. Everyone needs that.


And dont forget LOCAL: After clicking on these links and any other gift guide links ... don't forget to turn OFF the computer, get off the chair, get OUTside and find your own local craft venue. Enjoy the hustle and bustle and ambiance of shopping your own local crafts sales. We are hitting our Plowshare Craft Fair this weekend.

A change in wardrobe

Lu decided she didn't want to wear a dress. Lets see what else is in here.

Hmmm, not these pants, or these or these.

There we go; much more festive!

While Lu was putting an outfit together, I finally hammered up some needlework art, framed nursery rhymes from my childhood room to hers.

Too early for Christmas prep?

When I was single and younger, preparing for Christmas started much later in the season. I enjoyed last minute shopping and spontaneous purchases for the people I was buying for. I had oodles of time to make things the week leading up to Christmas. Now, with 2 kids, I realize planning and fitting in festive activities before the Christmas holiday officially starts (Dec 22 in my old world?) works a bit better.  Other years, we have scrambled to get a tree, made last minute advent calendars, made ginger bread trains and homes the day of Christmas, w/ an anti-climatic end.

This year we have already started our home made gifts, vanilla extract. Well, I had to start that early, in order to let it steep for 2 months. It's doing well and getting full of flavour.

Yesterday we made a ginger bread house. Fun for all of us and now we can admire it for a longer time and build up the excitement to other winter festivities.

Christmas cards, I never did that before. Then one year, with one child, I felt inspired. Sent out cards for several years, but this year, I'm not sure if I will. I'm not feeling the need or desire. Could it be the ease of keeping in touch via social media outlets?

The tree, we've tried several different venues; hardware store, corner lot, chopping down our own and our neighbour tree farm owner, who hauls in a bunch of his from the catskills. That's my favourite way, close and easy and the trees are really fresh, lasting a long time. That, or chopping down our own. But last time we axed our own we over estimated and it barely fit through the front door and took up half the living room. Will stick to the neighbour's tree farm.

Shopping, well I have a list but not ready to commit and buy anything yet, you know, in case people change their mind or I get a better idea.  Online shopping helps so long as I mind the processing and delivery time; its hard to Christmas shop for two kids, with the same two kids in tow. 

Lucy was extremely anxious to build this cute looking house she found and Chaz was happy to join in and decided its the best one we have built. And he is right, we are getting better each year, maybe next year we can enter the Ginger Bread Gallery at our local museum.

I decided to follow their lead, let them indulge rather then wait for the "right time" to start Christmas things. Perhaps its not too early, but rather it is the kick off to the beginning of holidays and activities.

Ikea cabinets

An early Saturday morning, bare cabinets and an assistant; off to work we go.

We sorted through our boxes, packages and instructions, determined to make some progress. My equilibrium was a bit sketchy and things started off rough; eventually we did manage to screw in lots of sliders and door hinges,

Yay, another complete cabinet. Time for some pancakes and then a much needed nap.

Why the empty drawer front you ask? Well, let me tell you. I had started assembling the door fronts several weeks ago, but stumbled into a different problem for each cabinet I moved on to. Discouraged, I called up my contractor to work some magic.

The actual assembly of IKEA cabinets works well; they look great and for the most part easy to follow instructions. The drawer fronts fit in almost perfectly first try and with very little adjustments to be done.  In the below picture, you can see a gap between the drawer and cupboard. This gap can be narrowed with a screw driver and the fancy hardware device on the inside.

But there were three major assembly problems:

1) SINK - The instructions for the DOMSJO sink tell you to use two certain holes to attach the metal support bar. Later on, when attaching door fronts, the bar needs to be moved up, as one needs those same holes (pre-drilled holes on the inside of cabinet box) to install the door fronts. Not a big problem. Easy for me to do, except that the sink is in the way of screwing in the top hole of the metal bar. Better if the bar was installed higher up before sink was installed.

2) Conflict in base cabinet instructions and drawer slider instructions.
The instructions guide you to use the 4th hole to attach the base cabinet together. Later on, and a different set of instructions, guides you to use the same 4th hole to install the gliders in (top drawer gliders). Ah, the the holes are already filled. Another not so difficult problem to solve; one can use the screw that is already in place - unscrew it, and then put slider in place and screw back in. This works fine, if the barrel part of the screw is internal. I do have to remove the OVEN to install the last drawer as the barrel portion of the screw was accessible. Kinda sucks, but fixable.  Not sure why the instructions conflict like this, it seems that one can use the 3rd hole to attach base cabinets, leaving the 4th hole empty and useable for the drawer sliders. (The above picture... yeah, that is why the top drawer has not been installed, gotta remove the oven first).

3) And the biggest problem, the 36" & 30" 4 drawer cabinet PARTITION piece:
Instructions say to build cabinet boxes. Attach boxes to wall and together. Then install counter.  The individual instructions say this AND the DVD instructions AND the simplified poster instructions.   BUT if you are building the 36" cabinet one must figure out FIRST that there is a partition to insert before installing counter. This partition comes solo & w/ its own set of instructions, so easy to miss if you are following along with your set of instructions.  It needs to be opened and installed along with the 36" or 30" cabinet. It gets attached to the above support "beams" which the counter rests on. On the IKEA fan page, I noticed several other people stumbled into this conundrum. If you are a contractor and have lots of experience building IKEA then no problem, but if you are a DIY and following along with the instructions, I believe this very important information is missing; the 30" & 36" set of instructions should direct people to this very important detail. Contractor will add in a support system and L brackets to support the partition, or perhaps I can buy a 36" top drawer instead of the two drawers.

For the time being, am really happy to have drawers to put things in, and cupboards to close. My make shift pantry is less cluttered and more organized. Contractor will come and attach the partition, attach the baseboards, toe kick, the plate shelf and spice shelf, the lights and eventually I'll get the microwave shelf and pantry doors and dishwasher.  In the mean time, I have to prime the walls. And pick out knobs and pulls.

Off season

I know, a little misleading, the photos are out of season. We've got frost on the grass blades, brisk air all around. November, in between fall colours and snow covered ground.   I was searching for pictures of the miniature pony my niece adored, planning to enlarge the photos, plaque 'em and give them to her for Christmas. But I paused at these lilies, stunning orange and strong petals.

And this one, made me smile, a stick may bring me down, but I carry on. 

A glorious day

Perhaps the last of this seasons unseasonable temperatures; high temps, before the fall.  Visiting family and a walk around the pond.

two essential furniture pieces

IF, I could have any two pieces of furniture, today, I would indulge myself with diamond shag sectional from Anthropologie & this carmel leather chair and foot stool from Dwell.

One giant room, lots of glass windows to let in natural light and watch the snow falling outside. A fire burning in the fire place and some books, lighting and a chai tea. These two pieces of furniture and nothing else but space and beauty.

the making of vanilla extract

Vanilla aroma. Yum.  Vanilla beans.  Funny.

Some bulk ordered spongy swing top jars... 

An interested assistant, slicing the beans in half. An another assistant, providing support.

And some bottom of the barrel shelf booze. Each bottle under 8 bucks!  40% alcohol, 30oz each.

 

Get in on it! Make your own vanilla!

It's not a new concept, been around for a long, long time. Been in the back of my mind for a fraction of the time. I really wanted to get my hands on some of those beans.   If it is a new idea for you click on some of the links below for more information.  This post isn't about a new thing, but it is a warning, that if you WANT to make vanilla extract for gifts (kids teachers?, parents?, siblings? mailperson?) you must start NOW. (last year we made candles)

I ordered 8oz bottles, so 10 beans per bottle (although I just realized I only put 5 beans / 8 oz. Thank goodness for writing about it and re-reading the FDA guidelines! I have lots of left over beans, so I'll stuff the bottles tonight, doing the math again and I was on the mark).

Direct from Beanilla via Lovely Morning"... official ratio for FDA quality single-fold vanilla extract. 5 beans for every 1 cup of vodka..."

My bottles are laying on their side so the tips of the beans get saturated as well. Who doesn't want to get saturated with bottom shelf booze.

************

Important notes gathered from the web:

** It takes 2 months to marinate (although you don't eat the beans in the end).

** Some big decisions to make: Madagascar, Tahitan or Mexican beans? Bourbon or Vodka base?

** Order your beans. Order your bottles.

** And decide between Bourbon or Vodka for the liquid base. Or do both,.

Check out this site, and this site or merely do a google search for DIY vanilla extract.    Make some vanilla syrup and you've got yourself a dual bottle gift.

************

Back to my bottles...

Just a few days later, and the vodka (clear liquid) is turning brown). I'll have to label the bottles to remember which ones are bourbon based.

p.s. I ordered my first batch of beans on amazon. When they arrived, the business card, Olive Nation, offered a 20% discount and I ordered a few more bags. Look at that ... coupons and advertising at work!