Cassis

Being a very practical girl, I keep those little mini bottles of champagne in my fridge for emergency moments. Last night before dinner I decided steal from the emergency kit, and treat myself to a Kir Royale. A drop of Creme de Cassis and the little bottle of champagne mixed into a flute, and voila, the perfect pre-dinner apertif.

Or so one would think. Does Creme de Cassis have an expiration date? It was horrible. Instead of the pretty pinkish colour that the drink should have turned, it was more a ginger-ale golden brown. Since it did not look appetizing, I naturally decided to taste it. Hard to believe, but it did not taste appetizing either. Just another episode in the week of disappointments. This one was easier to get over though, as all I had to do was reach into the fridge and grab a bottle of Stella instead.

So with dreams of Cassis quashed, I created this etsy treasury, which today made it (very briefly) to the Front Page.

Disappointment

A little over a month ago my husband and I purchased our first house. We were beside ourselves with excitement, and during the last month certain elements of our regular life, like blogging, crafting etc, got put on hold. Sadly, last week when the house was meant to close, the deal fell apart for various reasons. It was disheartening and sad, but we have decided that all things considered it was for the best.

Moving on, the few boxes that I had packed, are now unpacked, and I am able to once again resume normal life. On a happier note, that means that I will be able to actually get to my beads and supplies without crawling over a stack of boxes. Therefore, keep an eye on my etsy shop as new items will be appearing each day.

I also did have a bit of good news. A craft show that I was late applying to, had a cancellation and they contacted me last week to see if I was still available. Yes. So, next weekend I will be at the Sackville Curling Club's 3rd Annual Craft Show and Dessert cafe, in Sackville, NB. I haven't done a craft show since last Christmas so I am very excited about this one.

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Dripping

I have a new earring series in my etsy shop. Let me introduce you to ... "Dripping".

"Dripping" puts sole focus on the beauty of the beads used. I have a passion for Czech firepolished glass faceted donut beads. There's a mouthful! The beads are superior quality with wonderfully even facets, and a stunning array of colours and sizes. The variety is staggering and I get excited every time I see a new offering.

The Dripping series involves a carefully selected trio of complementary colours that are simply wire wrapped and suspended one below the other to create a (dripping) cascade of beads.

Here are the three that I have listed to date on etsy.
From left to right:
Dripping: Rainforest; Dripping: Rainbow; Dripping: Tree Trunk (sold)

Etsy Front Page

For those who don't know, the main focus of the front page of etsy is a collection of twelve carefully selected and curated items. Typically, these items are chosen by a member (either a buyer or seller) and assembled into a "treasury". It is from the treasuries that etsy admin chooses the list that graces the front page.
Sometime in the wee hours of this morning, my most recent treasury list was chosen for the front page. I, unfortunately, happened to sleep through it, but nonetheless, I was very excited to learn this morning that it happened.
Here is a copy of the treasury that I curated:



I was especially happy that my treasury was chosen as it featured two of my favorite etsy sellers, fellow Canadians, sixthandelm and wittyworkshop.

The Addiction Deepens

There is no secret that I have an addiction to both beads and handmade goodies. When, however I discovered the proliferation of handmade beads and findings on etsy, the addictions collided, creating one addiction super-nova.

I have one bead-maker in particular that I have been stalking mercilessly for close to a year, gillianbeads. Her beads are beautiful, stunning, radiant even. So wonderful are they that I had hoarded a neat little stash of them, unable to part company with the beauties. But as my bead holder runneth over, it was time to put them to use.

Here are some examples of her beads in action, made into String Me Along originals:

Migrations

It is that time of year. With a temperature of only 6 degrees this morning when I awoke, its quite evident that autumn is swiftly and surely muscling summer out of the way.
Another one of my favorite things about this time of year is watching the migrating birds, converging into their convoys, and with a chippering frenzy, preparing for the long trip south. I marvel that year after year these migrations occur on little more than instinct, whereas I with map, GPS and roadsigns still manage to get lost on a straight road.
Fly safe avian friends, and I await your return in the spring. In homage to you....

Raining Cats and... Ducks?

The rain is falling here. Really, really falling!! The remnants of Hurricane Hannah have settled over New Brunswick and overnight several millimetres of rain saturated the area. When I woke this morning over thirty ducks had gathered at the side of my building where the water has turned the lawn into a verdant marshland.

Knowing that the rains were coming and that I was facing rain for the next ten days or so, as Hannah is to be followed closely by Ike and then Josephine, I did what any level-headed catastrophist would do and I brought in the necessary provisions. Luckily, yesterday was a market day so I was able to stock up on good cheeses, seafood and fresh produce. The result - a deliciously rich dinner of seafood lasagna, followed by an autumnal dessert of apple crisp.



And as beach trips or other outdoor excursions are not likely to be in the schedule for the next several days, I needed to prepare myself for a week of indoor activities. Naturally, this led to an exploratory excursion to a local artisan wool shop - London-Wul. Discovering this shop is certainly not going to do anything for a wool habit that is teetering on the perilous edge of full-blown addiction. The shop is dangerously near to my home, through a quick and pretty, rural drive. Upon arrival the delights that await you are better than any candy store. On-site is a natural dye garden, a dying studio, and many of the wools are spun on site as well. The colours, the textures, oh, the soft squooshiness of it all! I treated myself to two exquisitely coloured bags of roving. I plan to spend the rainy days ahead felting a multitude of beads.



(PS... I don't mean to make light of the seriousness of hurricanes. For those who live in the path of destructive hurricanes - past, present or future - I wish you safety and peace of mind.)

OverHaulin' Sale

It took a long time and was a very tedious process, but finally, FINALLY, my ETSY shop overhaul is complete. Photos have been reshot, edited and uploaded (approximately 850 photos in total were taken!!); some items have been repriced (lower prices, that is!); and some of my older items which no longer seemd to fit have been removed. removing items was the hardest thing to do and I chewed over the idea for quite some time before deciding it was the best course of action.
So with a sigh of relief, and with a whoop of excitement for the future of my shop, I am announcing that starting at midnight (Atlantic Standard Time) Friday, September 5th I will be having a BOGO sale. Buy one item at regular price and the second item - of equal or lesser value - will be half price.
New items are currently being listed everyday, and the holiday season is creeping ever closer so it is a great time to shop at String Me Along.

Cozy

One day I asked my sister to go into my bag and grab my wallet. She opened my bag, looked in, looked back up at me imploringly, and cried, "Which one is it?". Sigh, is it that hard. Obviously it is the empty looking one!!

I guess to the uninitiated, it could be daunting to find the correct cute accessory within my monster bag. After all, there is the apples and pears fabric chequebook cover that I purchased on etsy from blissbyheather; there is the catch all wallet that come from the One of a Kind show in Toronto; a business card holder from rikrak, plus on any given day a digital camera, an ipod, sunglasses and various other items which demand their own protective (and stylish) covering.

One thing though that I was seriously lacking was a lip balm cozy. How could I have missed out on this essential accessory? I always end up tossing away lip balms before they are finished because I get disgusted by the grottiness that results from having them rolling around in the bottom of my bag. This lip balm cozy therefore will not only look good, while providing me with smooth, kissable lips, but it will save me money in the long run by reducing my overall lip balm expenditures.

Add to this the fact, that this lip balm cozy is benefiting a worthy cause. Etsy pal loopy4ewe is fundraising as an attempt to earn the funds needed to participate in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer in June 2009. As part of her fundraising scheme she has created this sweet little lip balm cozies.



It is made of the softest pink cotton and it has the most fantastic little closure. The teeny breast cancer ribbon buttons were supplied by another extraordinary etsy seller, gillianbeads.

To prevent my lip balm from rolling around in the bottom of my icky bag (I could clean the bag, I guess?) the cozy comes with a convenient key ring. I can never lose my lip balms now... unless I lose my keys and let us not even consider that possibility, thank you.

Here it is again, complete with lip balm. One final shout out here, for carmelsoaps who makes some very drool-worthy lipbalms. This one is cinnamint and you can see it is a little dirty... darn bag... but I couldn't find my nice fresh clean one, probably due to the fact that it does not yet have its very one easily accessible cozy!



ps... carmelsoaps Lemon Cheesecake lip balm is delish!

Return to Summer

A mere few days ago I was singing the praises of autumn. Today, however I feel the need to backpedal a bit. Summer has returned to Eastern Canada, and brought with it many, many enticing morsels.



I thought I would post a few quick and easy dishes which, in my humble opinion are perfect for enjoying the best of the season. Both of these dishes are perfect for those meat-free days which we should all try to fit at least once into our weekly meal schedule.

First, zucchini rosti. This is one of my summer favorites, and very simple to prepare.
First, grate one medium zucchini. This will serve person one as a hearty main dish, or two as a side dish. Let the grated zucchini drain in a sieve over a bowl, ideally adding weight to the top to squeeze out the excess juices. (I used a small plate with a jar of pasta sauce on top; to finish I squeezed by hand.)
Add 1/3 cup bread crumbs, and 1 egg. Mix together until combined. Season with sea-salt and freshly ground pepper. You may choose to add herbs if you wish, though I reserved mine for the sauce that I made to top the rosti.
Heat about 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. When hot, place the mix in the pan and shape into a flat round. You can complete the cooking on the stovetop, or put it into a 375 degree oven. Either way, you will want to flip it once, to get the top and bottom equally crispy. You can also finish it off in the broiler to make it extra crisp.
For the sauce I mixed 1/2 cup Balkan style plain yogurt, with 1 tbsp mayonnaise. Add fresh herbs of your choice. I used tarragon. It was delicious.



Another summer time favorite is a simple tomato tart. This is a super-fast dish, and is perfect for a light dinner or lunch. I have also served it as small individual squares as part a bridal shower buffet.
You will need one square of puff-pastry, thawed in the fridge. If you can get the pastry in sheet form, that is easiest. If you can only find blocks, roll it out to approximately 10x10 inches. Place it on a parchment paper lined sheet pan.
Next, brush with an egg wash, and prick the pastry several times at regular intervals with a fork. Place it in a pre-heated oven (follow package instructions), until it is browned and puffed. Now, remove it from the oven and let the pastry fall until it is even and has no irregular lumps and bumps. Pre-baking the pastry helps keep it crisp and flaky.
In the meantime, slice enough tomatoes to completely cover the top of the tart. I used 2 medium vine tomatoes. Chop some herbs to scatter on top. Choose your favorite. Tonight, I used a mix of basil and tarragon.
Layer the tomatoes on the now fallen pastry, scatter on your herbs, and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. You may also decide to add some cheese. Tonight, I added a wonderfully creamy, triple-cream brie. It is also wonderful with goat's cheese or feta.
Place the tart back in the oven until tomatoes are wilted and warmed, and the cheese is melted.
There are so many variations to this tart. Apart from a gamut of herbs and cheeses with which to experiment, there is now also a wonderful variety of heirloom tomatoes available. You can add your own additions as well, such as olives, or pine nuts.



Enjoy. Bon Apetit.

Autumn.

I know that no one wants to hear this, but the sad truth is that summer is drawing to a close. The signs are all there.

It is evident by the cooler nights and shorter days. Back to school shopping and the Canadian National Exhibition (the unofficial end of summer, and the start of the fall fair season). It is in the cycle of the farmer's market: strawberry and rhubarb harvests have passed, blueberries and peaches are in and, apples and pears should be arriving not far behind. The softer light of early fall caresses the cornfields and meadows, bathing them at twilight in subtle golden glow.

There is nothing we can do to stop time. Embrace the season. In my opinion there is no season better. The colours are stunning, the cooler temperatures mean you get to layer on fun accessories, the delicious bounty of the season is ready for harvest (butternut squash soup. YUM!), and longer evenings mean more opportunity to snuggle in with your sweetie.



Above a new pair of earrings which draw inspiration from the wonder of autumn. Below, a collection/treasury of some of my favorite items on etsy.

It Had to be Done.

For the first time in ages the sun is shining and rather than frolicking about outside, I am utilizing the sunny daylight to re-photograph some etsy listings. When I first started on etsy, I was sans-tripod. This is not the best way to attempt still photography.

When I got the tripod, I was still fortunate to have a lovely outdoor location in Toronto to use as a backdrop, namely the remains of a brick facade in Rosetta McLain Park in Toronto's east end. Though the location was a ideal, sometimes my lighting was not. Too sunny, too cloudy, rarely just right. Then this past winter, my ideal location became blanketed with a foot of snow and that left me the new challenge of trying to figure out how to photograph well using indoor, often artificial light. It was also this past winter that I discovered the macro-setting on my camera, which is an indispensable feature. And then as you know, spring came and once the snow melted once again revealing my ideal location, I was packing boxes into a U-Haul and leaving my lovely shooting location far behind.

The result is that in the year and a half that I have had my etsy shop, several different styles of photography have found their way into my shop listings. This, I believe, does not serve to make my shop as appealing as possible. It looks choppy and incohesive. With the buying season looming, it is time to fix this issue. So today I am hard at work, reshooting some of my worst photos, while longing to be outside.

In a nod to one of my favorite quiet past-times many of my new listing photos use antique books as props, as in this example.



Below, was my original listing photo. I love the look of the exposed brick behind the bust, but the detail of the beads was far too washed out.



If at first you don't succeed.....

Sports.

Its time for the Olympics. The next two weeks will bring the most sports coverage I will watch until Vancouver 2010.

Personally, I'm not sporty. Its not that I don't want to be, but the sad truth is I am small and really rather clumsy. That greatly diminishes my odds of excelling at anything that involves strength or agility, or in other words, most sports. My biggest handicap however, comes from a inherent skittishness. Far too many sports involve something coming at you at a very high speed, or someone trying to hit you. Thank you very kindly, but I don't think I want to put myself into the path of any sort of projectile. I mean really, doesn't that just seem like good common sense?

I'm content for now to let others excel at faster, higher, stronger. I have made my peace with dawdling, low-to-the-ground and, weak as a kitten.

I wish our wonderful Canadian athletes much success in Beijing!

Sweaters. Not Just for Sweating Anymore.

I think by now we all agree that recycling is a very good idea. When the concept hit fashion, it became even better. And when the idea of recycling fashion to make new fashions came around, well, I bought a toque.

I need to prepare for my impending first Maritime winter. Today, therefore, while strolling the booths at a craft market happening this weekend in Moncton, I couldn't pass by this fantastic toque. It has all the colours that I love, all cut from 6 different recycled sweaters. The end result is a patchwork of wooly warmth that will provide a comfortable fashion statement come winter.




Coincidentally, the creator of this hat is the same woman that I met a few weeks ago at a craft shop in St Andrews-by-the-Sea. Her shop/studio is called Wizard of Felt.

The idea of recycling sweaters is not limited to just hats and various other accessories either. Check out this amazing rug that I received from one of my favorite etsy sellers, Pegg of fiveforty.



This rug was actually a gift (an unbelievably generous gift!!) from Pegg for being her 100th etsy sale. The earrings that I bought are beautiful, too. But this rug, let me tell you... when I have had a hard day on my feet all day, the first thing I do when I walk in the door is kick off my shoes and go to stand on this rug. To make this rug, sweaters have been cut into strips and felted before being loom woven into the end reult. Pegg's process creates a comforting cushion for poor tired feet of which Dr. Sholls can only dream. I keep my rug in my kitchen and slide it back and forth between my sink and stove, depending on where I am working.

Personally, I can't wait to see what recycling comes up with next.