d.Sharp Journal

Giveaway!

I am looking forward to the New Year, I hope you are too. Thank you for spending a bit of your time here in 2010,  I wish you all the best in 2011! 

So, let's have a New Year Giveaway. What adjective do you hope will best describe 2011 for you? Leave a comment on this post between now and New Years Day. I will select two names to receive a spectrum garland of vintage stamps.

eats

One of the dishes for Christmas dinner was Roasted Green Beans with Almond Brittle. Candy on the green things - total holiday devilry, but so good. Instead of roasting, I cooked them in a big fry pan. I also added a dash of red pepper flakes in addition to the sea salt on top of the brittle.

 

I also made homemade ginger ale for the boys, any kind of soda is a rare treat for them. Super easy:

• Peel skin off a big piece of ginger and grate or chop into small pieces.
• In saucepan, add ginger to two cups sugar and two cups water. Bring mixture to a low boil, then let simmer at least 10 minutes.
• Strain liquid with fine sieve and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
• To serve, pour {up to} 1/4 cup in each glass with ice cubes, then fill with soda water/sparkling water. A little squeeze of lime makes it even better.

happy holidays

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas! We had a nice, simple holiday. I was pretty busy with orders and projects right to the last minute, but once all was taken care of, was able to enjoy the time with friends and family. Of course, my memory is pretty bad {i am old}...... so the day-after-the-day-after Christmas, the boys got to open the presents that I could not remember the hiding spot of. They were happy!

Per my husband's family tradition, on Christmas Eve we read aloud the letters to Santa. Each letter is separately rolled, stood upright in the fireplace and burned - the smoke sending the letter's contents to Santa. This year's letters included a request for an inflatable anvil and pineapple jello.

One of my family's traditions { and one I probably won't carry on} was to go to midnight mass and afterward to have a big champagne brunch - it was a serious spread of food and we would get to bed very late.  It made getting up the next morning difficult for all of us, but it was fun.

What is a tradition that you share with your family?

eclipse

Timelapse video of last night's/this morning's Solstice Lunar Eclipse.  Did you see any of it from where you are?

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Tattoo You

Jacob Dahlstrup's new works are Paper Tattoos. Using a tattoo machine, heavy rag paper is stung with the pen, creating a textured line. Really wondeful. Check out his clip showing how it's done.

See his Portfolio here. {And may I just say, I love the banana boats.} {via}

Birdhouses

Hi all. Some letterpress woodgrain birdhouses have been constructed for a flock of vintage old stock spun cotton birds. Each is different and available in the main Shop.

They go well with the letterpress Yule Logs!

Getting in touch with my inner Star Trek Nerd.

I would have never, ever guessed that I would listen to Ke¢ha voluntarily. Really. However, this video is pretty great - gotta love ye olde Star Trek.

 

Serious pipes.

Love Adele and love her new video, Rolling in the Deep.

Her voice.

{plus, I am not sure why, but I love breakup songs. Have had Cee Lo's in my head the last couple of days}

Beauty overload.

The 2011 Pirelli Calendar styled/shot by Karl Lagerfeld is all-out gorgeous. More pics here - so very NSFW.

Very inspiring. I am loving the headpieces. I had fun making C's winged hat and am currently working on some feather/wing things. Would love to make a sophisticated laurel wreath tiara, like that below. {so far, just one for M.}

furry getup and all.

It would be so awesome to have this job for a day.