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Archives for June 2014

Bramble Patch: June 24

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I know it’s Monday, but this photo has me dreaming of a beach holiday on the pink waters of Lake Rebta in Senegal. Now THAT is what I call a weekend!

I don’t normally go for foofy parties for babies, but this flamingo themer is a winner.

How to change the world, one compliment at a time.

A Jetaire play fort. Why do they not make this in adult sizes? 

I’m crazy about this mineral photo display.

A dude pal, who wishes to remain nameless, just revealed that he wears men’s elevator shoes from this place all the time. Not because he need more height, but because, “Same reason you wear heels. They make my ass look great.” Interesting. 

Speaking of photos, you have until July 10th to catch Dale’s exhibition. 

I need another rug like a need a hole in the head, but the 70-80% off sale at Rugs USA is seriously tempting. (This $900 Tuscan lattice now under $200 is itching at me).

A few things before I ask you to watch my laptop. 

These DIY windchimes have SUMMER written all over them! 

PS This just in: Hobby Lobby won its supreme court case to deny its employees contraceptives as part of their health care coverage. This is why you (still) will not find me shopping there. I also appreciated hearing Susan’s perspective on the issue. Also, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is pretty badass.   

Tomorrow I’m celebrating a special birthday and some exciting news…stay tuned! 

   
   

Mrs. Beeton’s Parrot Pie

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So, there is this book called Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, and I am told, fifty years ago, every woman in Great Britain had a copy in her kitchen. Being embarrassingly not British, I had heard of it but never knew much about the book or it’s author. My loss. A couple years ago I came across a copy in a used bookstore and picked it up for fun, not knowing that it was widely credited as “the first modern cookbook”(earlier cookbooks did not bother with things like measurements and oven temperatures and such) or that it was such a heavy hitter in the world of kitchen arts.  I sorta always credited Julia Child and Martha Stewart as the grand dames of cookbooks, but know I know the truth. Mrs. Beeton had them beat 100 years and counting. All hail Mrs. B!

Interestingly, apparently the book was originally written to help women at a time when socio-economic structures were murky, and the industrial revolution brought about a good deal of new wealth. Many women found themselves in positions of running a household, staff included, but had no guidance or personal experience to help them chart the course. The book covers everything from chicken soup to childcare to dish washing to elaborately displays of fruit, puss-colored aspic, and spiced rabbit meat. Yummmm-oh.

Even in all it’s Victorian leadenness, it’s actually a very fun read. I own quite a few of these household tips type of books, and this might be my favorite. You get the impression that the author takes herself very seriously indeed. I had the impression that Mrs. Beeton was some old cougar, weather-beaten by time and childrearing…but no, she was a lovely young woman. An innovative survivor type who grew up on a racetrack, of all places. Sadly she died of a fever at the age of 28, barely a week after the birth of her fourth baby.

Sophie Dahl, modern-day glamor giraffe, model., actress, (and granddaughter to Rold Dahl) (can you tell I’m jealous?), did a wonderful program on Mrs. Beeton a few years ago for the BBC. This may be old to some of you but it’s newish to me, and I’m absolutely enthralled. This woman!

Just for fun, let’s look at Mrs. B’s recipe for, wait for it…PARROT PIE.

12 Parakeets *
6  Thin slices of lean beef, 4
4  Rashers of bacon, 3
3  Hard-boiled eggs
1/2 ts Finely chopped parsley
1/4 ts Dried parsley
Finely grated lemon peel
Salt & pepper
Puff paste
Flour

   * Parakeets are a small, long-tailed tropical parrot.
  
Method: Prepare the birds, and truss them like a quail or any other small bird. Line a pie-dish with the beef, over it place 6 of the paraquets, intersperse slices of egg, parsley and lemon-rind, dredge lightly with flour, and season with salt and pepper. Cover with the bacon cut into strips, lay the rest of the birds on the top, intersperse slices of egg, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with parsley and lemon-rind as before; three-quarter fill the dish with cold water, cover with puff-paste, and bake in a quick oven.

Time: About 2-1/2 hours. SUFFICIENT for about 12 persons.

  Hear that folks? Lock up your ‘keets — I’m making a pie!

I was going to write a post about lamps.

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I was going to write a post about lamps but then I ran into this magnificent beast; an enormous ice cream cone light that comes in vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!

My gut says get the strawberry, but my head says vanilla. It’s more tasteful. Then my gut says “Why be tasteful when you are a grownass woman hanging a giant ice cream cone in your house?” and my head is like “Whatever. Cast no pearls before swine!”

So I’m still deciding. Bottom line: it’s coming home with me. No idea where I’ll put it. Maybe as a porch light and then everyone will think I’m selling frozen custard, because that’s not creepy at all.

Holy crap I love summer.

   

  

Lolabelle: The Portrait

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Number 68 on my life list: “Get Lola’s portrait painted.” I had a feeling it would be the last straw in my magnificent spiral toward crazy cat lady, but, so be it. I was ready to take the plunge!

Fortunately for me, about a month ago I was in an online conversation with some blogging friends when Amy suggested Colleen might try her hand at pet portraits. Actually Amy told Colleen, “You NEED to sell custom dog portraits.” …and that was that.

Opportunist that I am, I said I didn’t have a dog, but my cat was as worthy of painterly attention, if not more, especially considering her special talent for yodeling, whisker dancing, and drinking from the bathtub (!!!!) Why, can you even imagine a cat more deserving of a portrait than Lola?

That was a rhetorical question.

So I contacted Colleen and said I’d be one of her first customers and sent her 5 or 6 photos. A few days later she showed me a preliminary sketch, which was impressive all by itself (see here process here). A few days after that I saw another one, then a few days after that guess what arrived on my doorstep?


It’s a bit like eating dinner with the Mona Lisa, but less old and with better hair.

I really was not expected to love it so much. My many, many, (many) photos of Lola are wonderful, but there is something so special about a painting made with love. The hand and the care of the artist comes through in the brushwork. When Colleen told me she at one time kept eight cats (EIGHT) I wasn’t surprised — you can see her love of cats in her work.

I wish you guys could see it in person. Pictures of paintings never do the work justice. Y’all have to come over and check it out!


Not surprisingly, in just the last few weeks, the demand for Colleen’s work has already taken off — you can see a gallery of her work right here (this little guy is my favorite).

As she launches into portrait painting empire, and as a favor to me, Colleen is offering a limited number of commission portraits to Aunt Peaches readers at the friends/family discount rate of $99. Her 8×10 pieces usually start at $150 (which is still half of what commission portraits of this quality go for these days) (believe me, I have been looking for some time). Are you interested in a one-of-a-kind work of art portrait of your fur baby?

Thought so.

Go to Colleeen’s Etsy shop. First first ten readers to enter PEACHES1 as a coupon code gets the $150 portrait (8 x 10 on canvas or paper) for $99. 

FYI: Colleens typical turnaround time is 3-4 weeks, but you can also purchase one now as a gift for someone else at a later date. Actually, some friends of mine just got married and one of their gifts was a portrait of their pooch — it wasn’t on their registry, but it’s their favorite gift. Now why didn’t I think to give them that?!


Also FYI, I just want to take a sec to clarify that this is not a sponsored post. Colleen did not ask me to do this. I am her friend, but I am also her customer and her fan. I believe in work and I’m honored to have a piece of her talents on display in my home.  And Lola feels the same…


You can’t tell from the photo, but she just said THANK YOU COLLEEN!

See Colleen’s talent in motion: Blog | Etsy shop | Facebook 

 

The Train Tramp Adventures of Dale Wickum, Photographer

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Let’s talk about my friend Dale.

Dale is married to my Mom’s college roommate Nancy, and thereby falls into the category of people who knew me before Lady Clairol’s Auburn #12, which, if you know me, is saying something.

Dale is one of these people who is almost-irritatingly cool. If I didn’t like him so much I would probably hate him. I’m sure you know the type. His stories are more interesting than yours. His jokes are always funnier. His way of viewing the world is kinder, more considerate, more enlightened than yours will ever be. He knows things about music and science and carpentry and car engines and things that boggle the mind. He rides motorcycles. He collects guitars. He makes banjos out of cigar boxes. He might be the only dude over 50 who can carry off a ponytail.

I guarantee you, he is very uncomfortable that I am telling you this.


Two years ago I was sitting in Dale’s basement working on a computer problem and we started into a conversation on our over-reliance on technology or something. All the sudden he pulls out a meticulously archived storage box full of black and white photos, clearly developed by hand a long time ago. Photos of men. Rough men. Worn out and scruffy. Images of men that look like they’d been torn from a scene in The Grapes of Wrath.

“Dale, where’d these come from?”

“You know, when I was riding the trains.”

“Like a train car? Like a freight car? Like a Willey Nelson song? You rode a train like an old timey hobo?”

“Pretty much.”

“Ummmm….Why’d you do a thing like that?”

 “Actually, it wasn’t one train, it was a bunch of trains. I just liked to jump in the beginning of the summer then ride for a few months until it got to cold. Sometimes I’d get in with a group of tramps and we’d ride to Florida to pick oranges for the winter. You know. It was a thing to do.”

…then he flips through the stack of photos until he finds an image of man named something badass like Harmonica Charlie or Cowboy Clyde, who picked oranges faster than any man despite the fact he lost an arm in a tractor accident in 1967.

Or something like that. I’m taking creative liberties with my retelling of Dale’s storytelling, but you get the idea; Dale took more than photos, he took stories. He took images of people who are rarely seen. He listened to people whose voice is rarely heard. He used his camera to provide dignity to people at the end of their road, just at a time when they needed it most. He lived as a railroad tramp for months on end, over the course of several years, then he went back to Chicago, worked his butt off in a dark room, developed these unbelievable images, then kept them to himself for nearly 40 years.

That is, until now…


In his own words…

“These men passed through life the hard way, reclusive and wary, overlooked and forgotten, and my hope is that I’ve captured their essence and afforded them the dignity of being remembered for who they were, the last of a breed.“

Some of Dale’s photos are currently exhibiting at the art gallery in the Village Hall in Lincolnwood, now through July 10. I had the pleasure of attending the reception last night, and let me tell you – if you are in the Chicago area, you need to see these photos in person. You need to.

And if you are not in the area, you are in luck— Dale has assembled many more of his photos on his website, Following the Tracks. Go and CHECK IT OUT.

I warn you now, it’s going to take you a little while to get through and absorb what you see. Even if you are not a photography buff, it’s hard to look at these photos and not develop your own narrative (which is usually the hallmark of a great photo).

Speaking of narratives… Dale reports that he is working on assembling a larger written work about his adventures (because I will continue to hound you if you don’t) (yes, I’m talking to you, DALE)…but in the meantime you can find his writing on his hilarious blog, Loitering Dog.

  

   

Pineapple Pendants

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In my never ending quest to hang random crap on my chandelier, I present my latest adventure: Pineapples.

Don’t ask why. It wasn’t on purpose. I went to the Dollar Tree luau section (yes they have a luau section) hunting for flamingos for cake toppers (which I got) ….but, they had some honeycomb paper pineapples that I could not pass up. I thought, What’s one dollar for a feat of tissue paper engineering?

So I bought six.

No judgements. The Dollar Tree has that effect on me. 

I was thinking they’d make a good garland but as soon as they were home they told me they wanted to hang out with the chandelier, Mrs. Snow. I told them Mrs. Snow was busy displaying disco balls, but they were like, “Hello we are pineapples. Disco balls are like our native habitat.”* and who was I to argue with that?

*Okay, that was a liberal use of quotation marks. You got me.

Well, I like them. They’ll probably come down in a week or two but for now they make me feel like putting on a grass skirt and hula dancing, which, in my book, is an excellnt use of six bucks.

Aloha!

Mrs. Roper’s Revenge

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My 1970’s kick continues. First it was Mrs. Roper’s kaftans, now it’s her decor.

I don’t know about you, but woven wall hangings were all the rage when it was a kid. It was awesome. Somewhere along the line they went out of fashion and up until recently you’d find them dime-a-dozen at thrift stores. Now they are hot again and Mrs. Roper has her revenge!

For those of us who were not smart enough to see this cyclical resurrection coming, we must make our own wall hangings. I’m not exactly a macrame expert, so I rely on white cotton yarn and a whole lot of little jars of dye to generate results.

The bad news is my house is now overflowing with excess bundles of custom dyed yarn. The good news is, for about $10 and precious little effort, you can make your own nifty wall hanging. Catch my tutorial over on Ilovetocreate.com!

Fingerprint Painted Party Bucket

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In the great words of the mustache guy at my local gas station,”A party ain’t no party until someone buys a bag of ice.”

He also likes to tell me about his double adam’s apple and cooking eggs on the engine of his Dodge Durango. But I digress. Mustache guy has a point: there are very few things that create the benchmarks between regular old ‘hanging out’ and full on ‘summer entertaining’ – a cooler full of bagged ice and cold drinks is numero uno.

I mean, it just feels festive. It doesn’t matter if you’re entertaining 100 people, or it’s just you and the cat – if there’s a cooler with drinks, it’s a party. Oh, snap.

This one below feels very summery, but it’s a year rounder. Best part is that it’s easy to make, inexpensive, kid-friendly, and your peeps are going to be so impressed at the results. Zero artistic skills required. If you love color and messy fingers, you are going to love this project!


This is the first of many projects you will be seeing from me where you will find all the materials at your local Michael’s store. I am proud to tell everyone that I recently joined Michael’s craft stores as one of their Makers (woot woot!). This is an exciting opportunity for me and I hope you will join myself and the other Makers in the adventure ahead. I have been shopping at Michael’s craft stores since Jesus wore short pants, so this is like coming home for me. The idea that they want to partner with me because they want to reach out to YOU GUYS makes me smile. Gosh, they have great taste in audience, don’t they?

Okay. Back to the bucket!


This party bucket was inspired by this painted tub, one of the many projects you will fine on Michael’s website. This one uses a different technique for getting the paint to work, but you get the idea. Metal safe paint + sandpaper + bucket = awesome.


Materials

Instructions
1. Prep your aluminum bucket by sanding it thoroughly. The paint will not stick if you don’t rough up the surface properly, so really take a few minutes to rub it thoroughly. Move in circles to leave a sub-texture. Or not. Your call….

Next…

2. After squirting some paint onto a disposable plate, dip one finger in the paint and daub it on the bucket. Daub it. Like a finger print — just one single move then BOOP, it’s there. Go back for more paint and make another boop right next to it. Some will be bigger, some will be smaller. Some will be pointy, some will be curvy. Embrace it!

Tip: Pattern Making
For this project, I worked in clusters of 11 boops at a time. After one cluster went down, I laid down another 11 boops right next to it. And another, and another. Eventually the surface will cover and you’ll have to fill the gaps with more or less than 11 boops, but that’s cool.  Keeping most of the clusters consistent in volume helps create a pattern that will look very purposeful. Even if you are not comfortable with painting or basic principles of composition — it’s going to look great. 

Tip: Dry Thoroughly
Be sure to let your paint cure for 48 hours before you stock it full of ice. If you don’t, the sides of the tub will build up condensation and that could mess with your paint. I experimented with this a bit, so trust me…just give it a good 48 hours and then you’ll be set to party.  

Bonus Craft
When you are done painting your bucket and find extra paint on your palette, don’t throw it away! Use that paint to swipe doodle over a box or blank envelope. Michael’s sells blank white gift bags in quantity –  you could make a whole closet full of these. Collapsible boxes are great because you can hoard them all year and then you’ll be stocked for Christmas. 

Those skinny boxes in the middle are perfect for giving away cookies  – they are actually aluminum foil boxes that I store up under the sink. Do I sound like a hoarder? Yeah. You got me. But I got you come Christmas!

Lord, why are we talking about Christmas when it’s summertime and the gorgeous weather has barely even begun? Let’s go outside…


The party is on. You bring the bean dip, and text me when you are on the way. If I don’t see you there, have a great weekend!

BTW, check out some of the other inspiring projects coming from other Michael’s Makers and their brand new blog, The Glue String. If you decide to pick up some items while you are over there, use the promo code 50MEMORIES for 50% off one regular priced item. Free shipping on orders over $50.

Flamingo Cake Toppers for Under A Buck

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It’s official: Flamingos are The Unofficial Bird of 2014.

They are pink. They are rad. They are everywhere.

I’d like to think this is because of my 2013 flamingo Christmas tree (thanks again to all who participated in the exchange!) but I think the rightful origin of this trend is just good old fashioned common sense. Flamingos have always been the biggest badass bird running, it just took people a while to hop on the flamboyance wagon. (PS: A flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance) (PPS: here’s 20 more fun facts about flamingos in case you need to brush up)(don’t you get annoyed when bloggers use parenthetical statements side-by-side?)(I hate that!)

What was I saying? Oh cupcakes!

Do you need an easy, non-flammable, totally festive cake topper FOR UNDER A BUCK?

Yeah, you do.

You can buy a package of 18 of these awesome honeycomb flamingo drinking straws at Dollar Tree. For a dollar. One. One dollar. They also carry pineapple straws (The Unofficial Fruit of 2014), but the flamingo situation is off the hook! I went in for a can opener and came out with all kinds of flamingo themed goodies (see here). High snaps to Dollar Tree for delivering to flamingo crazies like me, but if you don’t have Dollar Tree stores in your area, you can also find some similar beauties here.

The straws come multicolored in the pack. This one had five red and white straws so that’s what I used for the photos here. Because it makes pretty like that. I’m not going to say what happened to the other 13 blue/green/yellow and white straws from the package, but let’s just say there was onion dip and a gal named Margarita involved.

Flamingos and chocolate y’all: it’s a winner!