I am grateful for…

Frozen peas…

And the warm love of family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sweet Dreams

Here’s what happens when you give your 13 year old permission to decorate her sister’s sheet. The one that was “ruined by a big glob of glitter glue anyway”

I think I might ask her to do mine too.

La Dolce Diva

Here’s a lovely gift to slip into someone’s stocking this Christmas. Inspired by her love of Italy,  Jennifer Kirkwood has created a wonderful line of bath, body and home products called La Dolce Diva.

Jennifer contacted me a while back with a great illustration job. She had already created the logo for her new business, a sophisticated Diva with dark glasses and a leopard skin scarf (think  Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday). She asked me to make a large mural sized illustration of the Diva on an Italian street. The mural was printed onto 8′ x 8′ canvas and used as a backdrop to give depth to her booth at trade shows.  Since then I have had the pleasure of working on several more projects for La Dolce Diva  and let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed the research…paging through coffee table books about Italy,  a long soak in the bath, more than one serving of tiramisu.  Ok, so I didn’t physically go to Rome…but you can visit the Diva Sweet Life Blog for tips about how to imagine you are there!

IF: Pretend

Pretend you are a leaf. Let yourself be swept away by the wind. Then come home for a hot cup of tea.

Go…

If you haven’t gotten yourself a sticker yet, go do it. It feels good.

Sugar Skulls

Yesterday we made sugar skulls to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Traditionally the skulls are made of sugar molded into skull shapes. We made merangues then painted the skulls with food dye pens and decorated them with marigolds. They were plenty sweet. 

Merangues are fun to  make. The trick is to make them on a day that’s not humid.

All you need is:

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla and/or almond extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Whip up the egg whites until they are frothy, then add the cream of tartar. Keep beating until they are stiff and glossy.  Gradually add the sugar, then the vanilla and/or almond extract.  Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper and dollop the mixture on. Bake for 1 1/2 hours then turn the oven off and leave them in there for another 3 hours or so (overnight works well). Then decorate!!

To see more of ‘em go to flickr. And to see what I found in my blueberry muffin (and more) look here.