Holiday Glamour and Glitz!

I would love show up to a holiday party wearing this outfit. Like something right out of an old movie, this vintage 1950's golden spakling tea-length gown features amazing one-shoulder detailing. It would look great with sparkling vintage gold shoes, a sequined clutch and gold and brown jewelry. When coming inside from the bitter cool night, slink out of this fabulous faux fur coat in a rich charcoal brown hue. A bubbling cocktail of glamour and glitz, with a definite vintage flair, this tall drink is ready for a party!

~Monica



earrings:Kimia, coat:ModCloth, dress: TimelessVixenVintage , shoes: adVintagous, clutch: Urban Outfitters , bracelet: ModCloth,

Warm Winter Treats

This past weekend as winter finally arrived, I was desperate for something warm to do that didn't involve going outside! Nothing to me fits that description better than baking! I decided to bake one of my all time favs, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I've included the recipe for your pleasure along with some helpful tips. Please remember to be responsible when making this recipe, you may end up eating the entire thing!


I hope you enjoy this recipe.
It's a real treasure!

~Gracie

A few of My Favorites...

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share with you some of my handmade favorites this week! Wouldn't that yarn make a beautiful sweater, paired with those handmade buttons!? ahhh.... Of course, these would make wonderful gifts as well with the holiday season coming upon us.

~Monica



credits clockwise from top left: TessaAnn, Ozknits, Starpompon, HeliS, lovejanice.

Tasty Treats

Over the weekend I tried out a new cookie recipe to see if these little "cooks" (abbreviation for cookies) could make the cut for a permanent spot in my slowly growing recipe book. They did! And they were pretty delicious at that. I found this recipe in the April 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine, issue 61. This is a delicious homemade version of the store classic cookie, which is probably pretty obvious. Since the holidays are nearing and here in Boston there is no snow, nor any signs of it coming soon, I made them into snowflake shapes. But you of course can use any shape you like, although I wouldn't suggest anything too elaborate as the dough is a little flaky. Hope you like these!

~Monica

I can't say living in Boston, MA hasn't been an adventure so far. My husband and I moved from Brandon Manitoba, a small city in Canada, in August 2008 shortly after getting hitched. Andrew was accepted to the Master’s program at the New England Conservatory of Music so off we went and packed as many essentials as our car would allow. Filled to the brim, we then stuffed ourselves plus our two cats into the car and drove the 30+ hours it takes over a three day period to the east coast of the United States.


We found our apartment on Craigslist so we were a little anxious to see it. Back in Brandon, we had a spacious two bedroom apartment with a washer, dryer, dishwasher and air conditioning. The second bedroom was "my room" and Andrew let me use it for whatever I wanted, how sweet of him! At that point in my life during university I didn't have much time for anything but school and sewing was something I did about twice a year. Basically this room was my own very large closet! Oh, what luxuries we had. The view from the back of the apartment was very quaint overlooking a valley. Far away on a clear night you could see all along the other side of the hill, up and up with the tiny dots of twinkling lights from little houses which echoed the bright twinkling stars in the prairie sky.


We were relieved to find our apartment in Boston actually did exist and was pretty nice, although pretty small as well. It’s a one bedroom apartment in an older building just outside of Boston in Allston. There are four large windows which is great, but our view consists of the apartment building across the street. It only has one sink to wash the dishes and one slab of counter space measuring 16” by 22” but we’ve learned to make do. It can get pretty loud on the streets below, especially on weekends, and we've definitely heard our fair share of impromptu marching bands at 1:00am. Also, like a bull in a china shop, chairs with wheels are a bad idea for an apartment whose hardwood floors slant towards the kitchen. But we've grown to adore our cozy little apartment, and so have the cats, for the time being at least.

We missed Canadian Thanksgiving because we couldn’t find a turkey in October except roaming the streets in Brookline and we aren’t really the hunting type. So we celebrated during the American Thanksgiving. We only made a turkey breast since it was just the two of us and that was plenty. Mashed Potatoes, gravy, roasted carrots and onions and one of Andrew’s favorites: Yorkshire Puddings which turned out pretty nice this year. I made him some last year for Thanksgiving as well but they came out as semi-raw hard balls of dough.



It's a student's home but a home is where you make it and this one is ours.
~Monica

I belong to an Artist Coop (www.cliftonstudios.ca) in Winnipeg Manitoba and this weekend we had our 2 day Holiday Craft Sale. This sale is always tons of fun because almost all of the artist are there at one time (which never happens under normal circumstances), and we get wonderful feedback about our work. This is my 3rd Holiday Sale since I joined the Coop in 2006 and it was certainly my most successful sale so far!

This year a couple of my pieces really stood out among the rest. The gold medal has to go to my "Sweet Pea Pendants". These little peas were so very well received! I had 10 of them for sale and by the end of day one, only 1 remained. I was so inspired by the demand that during a few slow hours today at the studio I whipped up over a dozen more of them, some of which have already been spoken for. I'm hoping to have custom orders for this item available in the New Year!

The silver medal went to my vintage button brooches. I've been making these for over 3 years now and must say, this years batch were a notch above my previous attempts. I sold over 20 of them in 2 days and many of buyers were repeat customers. They are so colorful and fun to wear, it's no wonder they are a popular item!

1 down 1 to go! Next craft sale December 5th at the Folk Fest Store in Winnipeg.

~Gracie