Vegan Mofo Wrap Up

I was hoping to get in a few more Vegan Mofo posts this past week, unfortunately Chuck & I caught a nasty cold. We got about halfway through a task I was going to post about, making pumpkin pie from a pie pumpkin, before coming down with the Halloween Cough of 2011. So there is currently a bunch of fresh pumpkin puree in our fridge. Kitty is happy! We usually buy her canned pumpkin on a veterinarian's recommendation to help her digestive system. It's definitely the first time she's had it fresh. Anyway, there will probably be a pumpkin pie post coming up soon even though Vegan Mofo is over. November is another great month for cooking!

I really enjoyed following all of the new blogs posting about vegan food this month. As I was reading them, I also kept track of some of my favorites using Pinterest, a great site for making visual lists. I'm sure I will be coming back to this list for inspiration for a long time. 

Also, I won bowls from VeganDish! There were lots of great giveaways all month on the VeganMofo blog, but this was probably my favorite one and I still can't believe I won them. We actually have one large serving bowl I bough Chuck for Christmas one year a few years back, and it matches this set nicely. Even more inspiration to keep cooking great vegan dishes!

Also, Happy Halloween! I hope no one else is sick this year like we are!

Links: Easter & Spring Craft Projects

Easter is tomorrow, and I've been so busy, so I doubt I'll find the time to do any of these crafts this time. That doesn't mean I'm not excited about all the great tutorials for spring and Easter, and the least I can do is share some of my favorites!

Bunnies are required!

  

If I make anything it will probably be this origami bunny, because I find origami quick fun and satisfying. If I had much more time to spend though, the free project from lark books and Sleepy King on Etsy is really cute. Lastly I have a feeling the tiny bunnies from mochimochiland wouldn't take very long if my knitting needles weren't currently so occupied.

I've been looking at a lot of paper flower projects lately, before I got into Crafty Wonderland I was planning on making a spring wreath. I even picked up a straw wreath from the dollar store with a plan to cover in paper flowers. This tutorial from A Little Hut was my favorite by far. Maybe the spring wreath will happen after the show is over.

As for spring fashion, I think crafting for that could really happen whenever. A cable braided bag from the Purl Bee, and I must make this hex nut bracelet because I love re-purposing things found in a hardware store:

  

(though I guess if this is my idea of spring fashion, it's a little gray. But the hex nuts are shiny and they will catch the sun!) Anyway, if I manage to find time for any of these crafts I will be sure to post about it here! 

Note: Many these are on my Pintrest profile, which I just started recently if you are interested in following me do so here!

Tumblr Finds February: Illustration, Food & Knit Inspiration

I've finally decided there's just too much awesome stuff on tumblr to go without sharing some of what I've found there here as well. Everything from illustration, fashion, food, politics, public art, and architecture, and much much more. Here's just a small sampling of what I've found this month: 

Illustration

  

"Kittenwillows" by Melinda Jose illustrator, textile designer & artist from Toronto (via missworld)
Nicolas Le Borgne an illustrator & graphic designer from France (via ElChoko)
Animal vs. Cities Series by Sabella Tsiopani an illustration student in Bristol, UK (via breakalead)

Food

  

Vegan Thin Mint Recipe from Chef Chloe via Vegansaurus!
Edible Butterflies from Sugar Robot via BarbieGirlie2
Grilled Tofu with Mustard Caper Sauce from My Recession Kitchen via Finding Vegan

Knitting

  

Bless Cross Short Sweater from Oogaboogastore via Zlaika

Knit Bootie Slippers from A Common Thread via Sheepish Knitting & Crochet

Reusable Swiffer Cover from Relaxalotl via MissViciousLovestoKnit

You can follow my posts by going to emmakat.tumblr.com or just watch the blog for more of these recaps! I'm thinking I may do one of these posts near the end of every month, but the topics may vary!

Links: Valentine's Day Craft Projects!

I had a lot of fun doing that Christmas link round up, so I thought I'd do another for Valentine's Day crafts. (we did make the tree topper, lots of snowflakes, and printed out the very cute bird ornaments by Lisa Rupp, by the way. Saving the tree skirt for next year!)

I'm tempted by both the paper and the felt versions of these cute hearts on the Craft Blog. I'd use some of that recycled plastic felt I've seen around, available at felt-o-rama. via Craft Magazine Blog

Jermina Juan of PaperPlateandPlane provides this simple paper rose tutorial out of Dollar Store Doilies. Via Craft Gossip. Really simple, but it looks great!

 

I'd need to dig up my hot glue gun to make this lovely lace brooch from Martha Stewart. That is if I still have one, I may have abandoned it in one of our moves. Another project from Martha Stewart that I might be more likely to make, knit catnip hearts for Lucy!

And I've seen several cute potholder tutorials, including one from Martha Stewart, another which I like because it uses thrifted and Ikea potholders and makes them cuter using bias tape, from Made.  However I think I like the one pictured above from a spoon full of sugar, because of the cute heart fabric and heart stitching. Those last two were both found via Craft Gossip again.

And lastly, if you know a knitter, this giant heart shaped box of yarn would be one of the best valentine's day presents ever. via Craftzine Blog.

Links: Christmas stuff to make!

After getting our tree up this year I decided that this should be the year that I at least get the poor thing a tree topper or a skirt. I'm not planning on beating myself up about it if I don't get both done, but we've had the tree for a while now without either of these things. I once bought a tree topper at World Market, but since this an apartment sized tree, it turned out to be too large and I returned.

Anyway, my first thought was that I really like the bird ornaments we have in the tree, and I thought making an Owl, perhaps with a santa hat, as the topper would be super cute. But I don't really want to buy more supplies for this project right now, especially considering I've thought about it for a week now and haven't really thought up a way to execute the idea. Maybe by next year I will have it figured out. So I thought in the interim I might make one of these as a topper, via Craft (the images are also via craft, I haven't made mine yet):

  

We also did some strolling & shopping yesterday, and I noticed the Keen Store (which has really neat shoe displays) has a paper snowflake constructed from old floor plans. I've been slowly adding to our snowflake window and I thought making a really big one of these would be a lot of fun, so we looked up a tutorial on wikihow (again haven't made mine yet):

And speaking of birds as ornaments, I will definately be printing out some of these on cardstock to hang in our tree, by Lisa Rupp of That's Happy via bugs and fishes:

And speaking of that tree skirt, design*sponge had a pretty lovely looking one with a tutorial this week:

And lastly I think this is lovely, but I probably won't be trying to make it, at least not this year. From The Country Chic Cottage via Craft Gossip, a tree made of sewing patterns!:

It's a great time of year for crafters! I know you probably don't need more to do, with the Christmas shopping, cards, etc., but these are too much fun to resist. I hope I find time to make most of them!