Update from the North Pole…

Okay- I’m not really in the North Pole…but I could be! It’s finally turned cold and wet and rainy here, I’m ensconced in a make-shift Santa’s Workshop (churning out presents by the dozens! erm, no, not precisely…but I did get two bags done yesterday…), there’s a Tree in the house (said the cat, with extreme doubt in her big round eyes), carols at the spinnet, cookie lists being drawn up, and cards being folded and addressed by late night T.V. Speaking of lists- it’s time for the Christmas Musings:

- I went Christmas Shopping Monday- first time all year, and it was T.E.R.R.I.B..L.E! The stores were thoroughly turned over, as if they were the victims of a burglary. With all the traffic (even at 9 am!) it was astounding how many people were inside the shops, too. I haven’t done much store shopping in years, but I waited too long to use my trusty old standby (Amazon- hi guys!) and had to brave the crowds. Oh my…

-I made our Christmas Cards this year, and am sooo proud of myself for doing so! I’ve wanted to do this for simply years, and finally just sat down a few weeks ago and got out my paints and went at it. Very soothing, very simple, and very effective(if I do say so myself!). Who cares if they don’t look perfect? It’s homemade!

- I’m making most of the family gifts this year, but kept it simple (I‘m sensing a theme here), focusing on things I’m currently making in my crafting- bags, purses, aprons, napkins, etc. It’s keeping me sane, and happy (cause I just like to make things, ya know?) and keeping costs down, yaay!

- Christmas Ornaments can be a source of stress for me (perfectionism, and obsessive-assembly-line-production anyone?), so Ive cut way down and focused on easy things, with only one “big” ornament. Cornstarch dough circles, paper snowflakes, and gilded walnut-shells are pretty and effective, while my Tree Faeries are spectacular and relatively simple.

- I’ve decorated the house simply, too: bowls of greenery trimmed from the actual tree, battery candle and dried roses from my stash. And so far the Tree only has some tiny round lights on it, but it’s so pretty!  Simple. Done. Love it!

- and last, but never least- the Cookies. Every year I try something new, but this year we need a few of our favorites on the table: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Frosted Sugar Cookies, and Pecan Snowballs. Okay, maybe I can fit in some Coconut Shortbread, and maybe a pan of brownies wouldn’t be out of line…

Ahhh, nothing says Christmas like a seriously over-loaded To-Do List and a Sugar-Overload…am I right? Hey you Faeries get outta that powdered sugar! No, it does not look like Santa tracks! It’s gonna look like an ant trail…

Ahhh December…

It’s that time of year again- the annual rush to Christmas! November was so busy, I completely missed posting about anything here (and I think I’ll let it be- you know, focus on the here-and-now?)…

Santa’s Workshop is officially up and running- I made a good dent in my crafting list yesterday (five things already! In one day! Go me!), with a lot more on the horizon. But it’s fun stuff, nothing too elaborate or hard, because I wanted this season to be a bit more mellow than it’s been in the past. We had a lovely start already with our (now officially) annual trip to Disneyland:

     This is Mrs. Claus greeting visitors to her country cottage cabin back up in Thunder Mountain Ranch. It’s so pretty up there at Christmas! All the Bright red bows, deep green wreaths and the brown of all the wood buildings, railings and walkways are so prefect for the Holidays!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this trip- it sets the tone for our Holiday Season, gives us time to focus on just us, and is just a whole lotta fun! I learned a few things about my husband this year, which is amazing- after almost 19 years together with someone you start to think you know absolutely everything there is to know about them. Wrong!

But one thing stays the same:

We both still love this restaurant, and have to eat dinner here, or it’s just not a good trip! This is the dinning room of the Plaza Inn, just off Main Street. It’s a Victorian Gingerbread Fantasy, with wonderful views of the Castle (and the fireworks display if you sit in the front windows). And the food! Silly us, we always have the Fried Chicken, with Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Seasoned Green Beans. So Good!

And now, back to reality (sigh)- but with a magickal little twist…it’s Christmas Time! Annd, since we also celebrate Yule- it’s double the fun! Wheee…so get to work you Faeries, we’ve got crafting to do!

Happy New Year’s Eve!

Well! That was just a wild and crazy ride, wasn’t it? Here it is, New Year’s Eve already- where did the year go? I’m glad I got to spend some of it here with all of you, sharing my makes and do’s. This last month just flew by:

The Pixie Workshop in full swing! Well, there is another wing you didn’t get to see, all my papercrafting spread out over the dining table, but you get the idea don’t you? Paper, paint, glue, glitter…it was all there for a few weeks going full steam! This is one tired little elf, I can tell you…

Here’s some of what I collected through the season, and got done in the workshop: Glass ornaments- Tigers and Polar Bears, and a lot of glittery Owls. Paper Sleighs and prancing ponies to match. One trip to Disneyland (decorated for the holidays- it’s our favorite time to go!), a bit of Birch paper that never made it to the finals (not every idea makes it to completion- I wouldn’t have any time to visit here if it did!), some mini cupcake papers in the seasons colours, and some mini gnomey gnomes for the Christmas tree…

And finally, some of the Christmas knitting- a new frilly scarf, a pretty blue Pixie Pouch, and the raw materials for a few other scarves and bags that got made in the wee small hours of the days and nights leading up to the big day!

This has been an incredible year for us here at Magickwyrds, and we look forward to a brand-spanking-bright-New-Year with all of you in the coming year! From all of us elves, kitties, Faeries and Pixies, we wish you a very Happy New Year!

Merry Yule!

It’s the Friday before Christmas…

Merry Winter Tide everyone- it’s officially Winter Solstice today, the darkest day of the year. The Sun will start to come back tomorrow, and it’s time again for new beginnings, new ideas, new resolutions… sweep out the old, and bring in the new!

But it’s also time to shut down the Workshop for another year. There is just too much to do, and not enough time to do it in. It’s been a good exercise though- letting go of expectations, impossible lists, burdens and strife. This has been a good crafting season. I got enough done, made a few new designs, lots of reading and baking and now…time to slow down and enjoy the last few days of the season. It’s been an enjoyable one since I refused to be drawn into decorating and have just been experiencing the commercialism outside our home, leaving this space a bit of a sanctuary from the hustle-and-bustle that is the Christmas Season.

To be truthful, I enjoy the relaxed feel of Winter Tide more than the flurry of activity that is Christmas. Hot Cocoa on a snowy winter night, the invigorating air of a mountainside retreat, tuning into the natural world…our Holiday has turned more and more into a relaxing, rejuvenating time over the years. I enjoy the sharing and giving more than the expectation of my childhood Christmas- it’s less stressful, and lots more fun.

So from our house to yours: Merry Yule everyone!

The Pixie Workshop

It is a cold, wet, rainy, windy morning over here a the Pixie Workshop! We are having a Winter Storm- right smack in the middle of Fall…and it’s a welcome sight. Not much to do but settle in and work on some Winter Tide crafts:

Bags, bags and more bags- it’s all bags, all the time this month. Knitted bags, makeup bags, Pixie Pouches, Dice bags and even a mini-Duffle bag! No pictures yet, most are presents that haven’t been gifted yet, so no peeking!

Paper houses galore! I cut out a bunch of folded paper houses with my handy-dandy Cricut machine yesterday, and have an assembly line set up to finish them today. A little paint, and a LOT of glitter, and they’ll be all ready for Santa’s Sleigh…

Ornaments made from glass bulbs and…wrapping paper? Yep! A few are going out to friends and family this year (okay- a lot are going out! I really liked this one, and they came out beautifully- I’m so proud of these, so everyone I can think of is getting one, as long as my supply holds out!). I’ve been using them as White Elephant gifts this whole season, and they are met with rave reviews! Here’s a tiny peek:

They were so pretty at this stage I almost kept them all at this point in the process, but they turned out even better! I’ll show you more after the Holiday gifting is done.

So, today’s schedule is full of paint, glitter, glue and cookie dough! Yes, I’m starting my Baker’s Shoppe (it’s the perfect day for it! Soo chilly outside,and wet! Let’s turn the oven up, shall we?) Scottish Shortbread, Christmas Stars, Tea cookies, and a special edition of my favorite Scone recipe are on the list. And maybe even an extra-special batch of Mushroom Cupcakes will make an appearance this weekend… Hey you Faeries, they’re Cupcakes- not Toadstools!

Oops- where’d the week go?

Oh- it’s Friday again! Someone started up the Time Machine again…

I am in the midst of Gearing Up for The Holidays here at the old Pixie Cottage folks. Paper cutting, sketches, acrylic paints, bins of flour, red stretchy fabric and every book on Christmas known to man are spread out across every surface of my wee little house. Barely any room for the cookies…

Speaking of cookies- what’s your favorite Chocolate Chip cookie recipe? I absolutely love the one on the back of the Ghirardelli bag- nice and crisp, perfect circles of sweet perfection! Alas- I don’t have any right now.

Drat.

Looks like it’s back to good old Tollhouse for now. Lovely soft, cakey mounds of chips and dough, I like both kinds.

(But I prefer Ghirardelli. Just sayin’. Hmm, looks like a trip to the store is in order!)

On another note- I’ve discovered Grooveshark! After sticking with Pandora for what seems like ever, this is a nice change of pace. Hey you Faeries! The Fridge light is not a disco ball- and who put Mr. Saxobeat into the rotation?

Goose Yoga and other things…

Have you ever seen an elephant fly? Or a goose doing yoga?

I don’t know what was funnier- the goose or me trying to set up the shot! Too funny.

Today is Tuesday, and it’s exactly a week until the Kitchen Olympics. Err, or in Muggle speak, Thanksgiving. If you’ve never “done” Thanksgiving before, I’ll let you in on a little secret…

Cooks are cooking (and baking) the Thanksgiving Feast in their minds … as early as July! And we start getting really excited the last week of October- ‘cause that’s the earliest we can get away with stocking up! Soo much fun, shopping for the Big Day! Almost as fun as planning the menu…

This year we are spending the day with my family. Lately we have tried out a few different ways of celebrating Thanksgiving- which have all been special and meaningful in their own ways.

But…it’s really hard to justify cooking a 16 pound bird for two people. ahem.

So! This morning I finally sat down and made a list of all the things I’d like to bring with us next Thursday.

BIG mistake. Want to see it? Okay, here goes-

1. Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
2. Green Onion Casserole
3. Orange Glazed Carrots
4. Dijon Brussels Sprouts
5. Seared Asparagus
6. Sweet Potato Casserole MY way- that one’s yummy- I’ll be posting a recipe soon.
7. Spinach Gratin
8. Lemon Broccoli
9. Risotto
10. Buttermilk Biscuits
11. Brioche Rolls

umm…yeah. Can you see where this is going? (and for those observant types, nope - that isn’t even the whole list. I know!)

Confession time: I have been writing a cookbook since this summer. And sometime around September (or maybe it was August?) I started rolling that research together with my dreams of Turkey Day! And now, well…

I don’t think there’s a table BIG enough in the entire city that could hold everything I’ve got planned! (Wait til you see my Christmas Cookie List! It’s even bigger…)

No worries though- the Faeries have caught wind of my mad schemes and are “helping” me with the prep work…they’ve already eaten an ENTIRE loaf of bread that was supposed to be the stuffing, and that Asparagus recipe has completely disappeared from my files. Oh, and I might as well admit that I just couldn’t actually wait for Thanksgiving and started making some of those dishes for dinner a few times this month, so I’ve been able to satisfy my desire to make all of these dishes without actually having to make them all for one meal….

The rest of the week should be a hoot- I’ve got to plot out the Christmas gift lists this week, sketch out a mockup of our Christmas Cards (been meaning to do this for years! So excited…), try out a new idea for glass ornaments (there’s gold paint involved! And glitter!), a VERY IMPORTANT crochet project to get finished, and one very coldy little kitty girl to cuddle when the sun goes down (I’ve been informed that my job in the evenings this very cold Fall is to keep her feet warmed up, thank-you-very-much-mamma!) Lots to do, busy busy!

Some books I like this time of year…

I’ve been to the library a few times in the last two weeks, and thought I’d make a list of the books I brought home…oh my. I might have bitten off more than I care to admit this time around:

1. Martha Stewart Living December 2012

2. Gooseberry Patch Christmas 2012

3. Christmas Gifts From The Kitchen Georgeanne Brennan

4. Christmas With Rosamunde Pilcher

5. Mary Engelbreit’s Tis The Season Holiday Cookbook

6. The Best Of Gooseberry Patch Old Fashioned Christmas Favorites

7. Christmas With Mary Engelbreit Voume 1 Let The Merrymaking Begin

8. Betty Crocker’s New Christmas Cookbook (1993)

9. Southern Plate Christy Jordan

10. Eating Well Comfort Foods Made Healthy Jessie Price

11. The Book Of Burger Rachel Ray

12. Quick Fix Meals Robin Miller

13. Christmas Cookies Lisa Zwirn

14. In The Heat Of The Kitchen Gordon Ramsey

15. Martha Stewart’s Dinner At Home

16. The Homemade Pantry Alana Chernila

17. The Food52 Cookbook Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs

18. Williams Sonoma Casual Entertaining: The Best Of The Lifestyles Series

 

Ahem. I’m going to be fairly…busy…the next week or two it seems.

Christmas is coming, I can almost smell it! Well, actually, ok- I do, because I’ve been trying out some of these recipes and the house smells amazing…

What? Doesn’t everyone check out 18 books from the library just to test recipes for Christmas two months in advance…  while rereading every back-issue of Victoria magazine for Thanksgiving decoration ideas, in between making paper houses and animal cutouts for Yule decorations and Pajama bottoms for Solstice gifts?

Or is that just me…

Hey, you Faeries get out of that glitter- it’s not snow!

Friday recap

Finally! The first storm of the season- clouds filled the sky as far as the eye could see:

Lovely aren’t they?

I love a good rainstorm to ring in the new Fall season, don’t you?

Today is filled with all kinds of cold weather projects:

Work on the Watercolours Quilt has begun again- adding borders to fill it out a bit…

The weekly food prep is underway in the kitchen- Roasted Butternut Squash is featured again this week. So yummy…

On the baking front- Blueberry Muffins, Buttermilk Biscuits and maybe a chocolate chip cookie or two…

The knitting needles are out in full force- a new Pixie Pouch, a hat, and maybe some socks finally…

All that, plus Christmas Crafting Lists, Thanksgiving Meal Planning, and even a Winter Solstice idea or two are in the works. Oh my, I do love cold weather!

Happy Weekending everyone!

It’s that time of year again!

Time for roasting marshmallows, setting up workshops, braving hordes of shoppers, making lots of lists, and finding the time for one of these:

Disneyland Roadtrip! We went on Black Friday- ha! Take that, Wall Street!  Not too crowded, way prettier in the wintertime (see above- how do they get those icicles to stay put in the wind?) shorter lines, and just pure fun, fun, fun!

Now it’s time for this Yule elf to set up her supplies and get this workshop running! We’ve got lots to do:

cookies to bake and decorate:

More of this to see- hopefully with some snow out there . . .

 

Along with a lot of sewing, knitting, painting, sanding (sanding?!) and stuffing, and embroidering, and . . .

well, you’ll see soon enough.

Where’d she go?

     Well, that was a quick month,wasn’t it? October just flew by for us-weekly gaming, grading papers, eating at home (finally! I don’t know about you, but this summer it was way too hot to use the kitchen . . . ) roadtrips to the mountains to see the tree's new ball gowns, and rearranging the house 4 (four?) times to try and get some of this done, too:
sewing a really big bookbag:

Decoratin’ fer Halloween:

Makin’ some dollies:

um, did I say some? I meant 4. In one crazy-craftin’ afternoon:

Then, I made some little zipper bags:

but forgot to photograph the finished product. They are soo cute! Then I started knitting. Again:

Phew! I’ve been busy this month, and it’s only gonna get busier around here, what with next month being Thanksgiving, and then it’s Christmas! What? Oh! The Faeries tell me we have the entire month of  November, and four weeks in December, a whole two months! before Santa expects his consignment order to be finished. Um, yeah- but it’s just me and a bunch of Faeries, you guys! Unless you’re hidding a troop of elves in that dollhouse with you, I don’t think- what, you are? Well, don’t just stand there! Get them some hammers, knitting needles and the woodburning kit, ‘cause these toys don’t just make themselves!

Stay tuned to see just what gets cranked out of  Mrs. Santa’s Workshop this year . . .

Summer's end

     Today, Wednesday August 31, summer 2011 has officially come to an end. The husband has gone back to work, the morning air has a decidedly cold nip to it, and there is a roast in the crockpot. Fall is coming, I can feel it. This year summer was rough! Good, fun, exhilarating, productive, and eventful...but rough. Starting the summer off with a move was stressful. We all (yes, even the fairies!) were stressed out, nervous, excited, proud and yes, even a little scared when the summer got under way. In the end though, we worked out all the kinks. All the loose ends of the move have been woven back into the fabric of our life. All the pictures have been hung; all the boxes emptied; everyone's treasures found and given new homes in the new place. The furniture got rearranged for the final time last Thursday.The crockpot is in full production, creating lots of meals for the coming month, and we have even found a new veterinarian for our kitty here in the new neighborhood. Turns out the stress of the move has finally caught up with little miss's tummy. ahem.
     Looking back on it all, this was the summer of gaming- rpg's to be truthful. Once again I thought it would be easy to find some time to play my World of Warcraft, but it turns out I was wrong. I did learn how to play Pathfinder this year though. Turns out I am a really feisty, bow-wielding elf! Who knew? Well, the husband did, actually. Glad he stuck with it and made it all happen. Unfortunately it was also the summer of there's-no-food-in-the-kitchen-let's-go-out-to-eat! err, which has led to the Autumn of the diet-and-exercise-regime. ahem. oh well, it was lots of fun while it lasted, eh?
     So, farewell to summer, hello Autumn! Bye-bye lazy Mondays, relaxing Tuesdays, movie-morning Wednesdays, all day picture hanging Thursdays and sleepy Fridays. Hello Autumn apple picking, cozy blanket knitting, Christmas gift making (yikes! christmas is only 115 days away! wanna check for yourself? go here http://www.xmasclock.com/ ), Hello fall quilt shows, Christmas shopping (how'd that get in there again? ) and trips to the mountains. Hello fall baking, Christmas cookie baking (alright, all the faeries outta the typing pool! ) and heat-seeking kitties.
      Christmas, guys... really? I thought that was just an elf thing...