Ombre Easter Eggs!

Every year since we were really little, my sister and I have dyed Easter eggs on the Saturday before Easter. We always try to get them done earlier, but an on-time family we are not. I love experimenting with the dyes and colors, and this year I decided to make ombre Easter eggs.

They’re fairly easy, but a little time-consuming. I did one quick dip of the full egg into the color first, to get a nice base coat. As I pulled them out of the dye with the egg-holder, I paused at intervals to get layered shades. The “bottom” of the egg that’s darkest was in the dye the longest. I like these eggs, at some point I’m going to attempt these again but with blown eggs instead of hard-boiled eggs– I’d like to be able to keep them!

And just for fun, Sam made some Easter eggs with Magic: the Gathering symbols on them. (He made the “black” egg by layering purple + green + orange dye, it came out pretty cool!)

Stamped Thank You Notes

We received our first wedding gift recently. It was a lovely set of (bamboo!) sheets from a friend of Sam’s family, who says she loves us but she doesn’t fly. Anyways, I decided that I should add something to my long list of DIYs- handmade Thank You notes. Luckily, these aren’t too difficult, but the end result is really pretty.

 I started with handmade paper with pink pressed flowers, along with their leaves and stems (from Paperchase, where else?), size A6. I found a “Thank You” stamp and a small pansy stamp at my favorite stamp store, along with dark blue and very pale pink inks.

I stamped on the “flower side” of the paper, working around the flowers so that no two pieces are the same. Each piece got one “Thank You” stamp and one pansy stamp.

The flowered paper is rough and not necessarily the best to write on. I bought a smoother, thick paper twice the size of the flower (size A5) and folded it to make the cards, then glued the stamped papers on the front of the card. This allows a little bit of leeway with the writing of the notes, as well- we can write them first and glue the front on second, so that if there are any mistakes in the writing we haven’t wasted the special paper.

I’m stamping the inside of the cards near our signature with the pansy, too. It’s a light enough ink that it doesn’t interfere with the signature. I think these have turned out really nicely, I hope our guests like them!

Paper Flower Wall Art

We have a really small entry hallway in our flat, and up until recently, it was really really bare. Until, that is, I found this tutorial on Pinterest (the source of many a crafty idea). Ta-da! Easy, pretty wall art. This project only took about 45 minutes, start to hanging-on-the-wall finish. And I love it!

I found a really pretty (large) piece of paper at Paperchase with a pattern that I really love. It’s turquoise and pink and floral, three of my favorite things. I started with a black piece of background paper, which I cut slightly to fit the frame. I cut out the circle at the center of the flower, placed it, and then starting cutting out petals. I free-handed all of them, no template or anything, and I tried to make them smaller as I moved out from the center.

If I were to do this again (and I might, because I’m a perfectionist), I would try to fill out the top a little more before getting into the smaller petals. It looks a little squished, but I’m mostly okay with that.

Still, I love where the final product hangs, next to our front door, above the little table where I throw my keys. Next project? A little bowl to throw those keys into!

Learning to Crochet…

… has certainly been an adventure. It’s something I’d been meaning to do for a long time, and a recent week-long break was the perfect opportunity to actually get off my butt and try it, with the help of YouTube, of course.

I headed down to Loop, a lovely yarn shop that a friend told me about. It was there that I found a beautiful, thick, multi-spring-colored yarn that I absolutely love. And it’s made from Alpaca wool! Which makes it a million times better, in my opinion. I bought two skeins with the intent of crocheting a cowl. Turns, out, it was very easy! I did 80 stitches and ended up with six or seven rows, and I only used one of the skeins.

When I finished, I just stitched the ends together. It turned out super soft and warm, which I really appreciated the past few weeks here in London. It’s warming up now, but I’m going to keep wearing my cowl.

 

I’m working on a second one now, from an even thicker purple yarn. I want it to be long enough to wrap around twice, so it’s taking a little longer. That and my week break is over and it’s back to real life, where crocheting takes a back seat. If I could change one thing about the first one, I would probably make it a few stitches short, probably 70 or 75. Then it would be a little more snug around my head and I could push it up around my ears. Maybe I should just make earmuffs instead?

How does it look for a first crochet project?

The Easiest Mushroom Risotto Recipe?

Occasionally I get “crafty” with dinner (read: I make something that’s not pasta and doesn’t come from a slow-cooker). Last night, the feeling struck. Sam was willing to eat leftovers, and we had mushrooms in the fridge (which he hates). Mushroom risotto was the first thing that popped into my head, so I decided to give it a go. I think it turned out pretty well, and I have plenty of leftovers!

I started with this recipe from the BBC. I had to make a few changes to avoid going to the grocery store: first, I didn’t have any white wine on hand. Second, no parsley and no fancy mushrooms. Just the bagged kind from Tesco, the kind that are just labelled as “MUSHROOMS”, nothing fancy. I’ll warn you now that I cook without really measuring, so if you need that kind of direction it’s probably best to stick to the recipe linked, as I go a little (a lot?) off track.

Here goes nothing!

The EASIEST Mushroom Risotto

You will need:
– Mushrooms
– Oil
– Garlic or garlic powder
– Rice (Uncooked. Use less than I did.)
– Stock (hot water + bouillon cubes)
– Salt
– Pepper
– Butter

Start by assembling your ingredients. I separated the mushrooms into two groups- one soaks in hot water while the other is fried with oil and garlic powder. The original recipe calls for two different types of mushrooms to do this with, but oh well.

While you’re soaking and frying, make the stock. I used hot water and two bouillon cubes, one veggie and one chicken, and I made it in a 2-litre tupperware pitcher (which came in handy later, you’ll see why).

Once the fried mushrooms are soft, toss in all of the rice. Coat it with the oil in the pan, which by now will smell deliciously mushroomy. I added the salt and pepper at this point so they’d have a little time to sink in.

Stir in the stock a little at a time. Here’s where the pitcher is handy! A spout helps keep the stock from getting everywhere. Once you’ve added all the stock, remove the pan from heat and mix in some butter. Enough that you get that sticky, risotto-looking consistency.

Voila! Easy, fast, yummy risotto. This took about 20 minutes start to finish, including pauses for picture-taking.

You could easily make this a 1-pan dinner by not splitting the mushrooms into two groups, I don’t think it would make too much of a difference.

I’m going to try this again with something other than mushrooms so Sam can try it too, I’ll update if I come up with any improvements!