Lovely finds from Bake It Pretty.

Dainty cupcake liners.

Some of them even have matching cake doilies!

Whimsical cupcake toppers. My grandma had those ballerina ones! And I don’t know why, but I’m totally crushing on those gnomes.

Yummy sprinkles and edible glitter. The blue and pink bits below are called “Cotton Candy Crunch Topping.” I think I’d eat those by the spoonful!

See all of this eye candy and more over at the Bake It Pretty website or through their Etsy shop HERE. They also have an awesome blog HERE. (I’m definitely getting those ballerinas!)

Have a sweet weekend, all!

Happy birthday, Mary Cassatt!

Mary Cassatt, Self-Portrait, 1878

American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, in Philadelphia. She lived in France for most of her life until her death in 1926, befriending notable artists like Manet and Degas. Maybe this is why I love her paintings so much—Degas is my one true painterly love, and they’re apparently painters of the same palette. (Or something like that!)

I love crafting depicted in art. Did you know Cassatt had quite a bit, especially of women and their needlework? I used to always imagine hanging one of these lovely prints in the craft room of my dreams.

Above: L: Young Girl In The Garden Sewing / R: Young Mother Sewing

Above: L: Mary Ellison Embroidering / R: Woman Sewing

Above: L: Lydia (the painter’s sister) Crocheting In The Garden At Marly / R: Lydia At A Tapestry Loom

Above: L: Augusta Sewing Before A Window / R: Francoise in Green, Sewing

The last one of the little girl in green is my favorite. Doesn’t she kind of look like she might be a girl with a curl?

So, they apparently sell frosting, icing and ganache in TUBS at Costco (a warehouse-type store in the US). They’re unrefrigerated, by the way. What sort of things are in it to keep it edible? This brings out the haughty baker in me! I’m sorry, but I will make my own frosting myself, thank you! Real sugar, real butter, real milk! Hmph!

The L.A. Times/UCLA Festival of Books is almost here!

April 25 & 26, 2009

UCLA Campus

5 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

I wait all year for the book fest, paying special attention to the kind of folks they’re going to have at the Culinary Stage.In ‘07, I got to meet Bon Appetit magazine’s Editor In Chief Barbara Fairchild and had her autograph this compendium. Needless to say, my curls and I were speechless when I shook her hand at the book signing.

This year, the Culinary Stage doesn’t seem to be jumping, but I’m still going. Especially on Sunday, when Barbara Fairchild will be interviewed onstage by Giada De Laurentiis. I have a book by Giada, and though my fascination for her has waned somewhat over the years, I think it would still be nice to have her sign it.

Other things I’m looking forward to:

Last year the Festival introduced “The Comix Strip,” a new section of the show dedicated to comics, graphic novel and manga publishers, authors and illustrators. The show proved to be an immediate and outstanding success for publishers such as Image Comics and Boom! Studios, with such industry luminaries as Jeph Loeb, Mike Mignola and Steve Niles making appearances. This year’s show is expected to draw from a broad spectrum of prominent speakers and panelists including Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, Wil Wheaton, Michael J. Fox, David Baldacci, Kate DiCamillo and Christopher Plummer.

* Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper to you Wonder Years fans) on the LA Times stage on Saturday at 12 noon discussing her book Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who’s Boss.

* A chance to see Ray Bradbury on stage again. I saw him in discussion with Ray Harryhausen once before and though he’s getting on in years, he’s still as inspiring and funny as ever.

* Authors like Eric Carle, Aimee Bender, the WriteGirl crew among many, many others! (I hear Brooke Shields is coming. Hee.)

If you’re in the LA area and you haven’t been to the book fest, my curls and I command you to go! There’s nothing like it.

All details on the festival on the official website HERE.

Yay for bookworms!

We could call it the One-Hour Blankie, but we don’t want people to think we’re not spending enough time over the new crafty gift for their precious bundle! This project is so quick and easy, it’s almost embarrassing. I made it for my friend Bona, who we threw that Baby Bump Surprise Party for. (Go HERE if you want to see the cute favors and cupcakes we made!)

What you’ll need, as seen above:
-    Cute fleece material
-    Satin quilt binding in complimentary color

Curly Notes:
•    The binding goes around the blanket, so make sure that your fleece is cut to size so that all the sides, when added, equal to about 8-10 inches less than your binding is long. (You’ll have to account for a bit of extra material as you round the corners.)
•    I used Wright’s Satin Blanket Binding. I found this at a local Jo-Ann, and it comes in many colors…

…and many types. The craft possibilities are endless!

What to do:
I didn’t quite have the time to document my own process, but it looked very much like this tutorial on the Wrights website. It was my guide as I made the blankie. If you click on the image below, it will bring you right to the tutorial as well.

I’m sure more experienced sewers can make this in under an hour, but I often get obsessed with mitering the corners perfectly, so that bogs me down. Oy.

Here’s how my blankie turned out!

I gave it to Bona before she went on her maternity leave. I  forgot all about it, until last Tuesday when we paid her and baby Joshua a visit. I spied this at a quiet corner in her house, and it gave me warm fuzzies. The new parents are actually using my gift!

Sometimes people say handmade gifts are too much trouble, too much of an investment of time and effort. This one took only an hour, and the returns (warm fuzzies, happy smiles) are priceless.

Here’s to crafty gifts and I hope you get the chance to make one (or two) soon!

At the LACMA today to visit my friend Simeen, who’s manning the haft-sin table at the Norwuz (Persian New Year) celebration that takes place next weekend. The haft-sin is a traditional spread of symbolic items to commemorate the new year. Haft-sin means “The Seven S’” as all the items on the table start with the letter S.

Norwuz is also signifies the first day of Spring.

A curly Norwuz to you!

I sort of had this good day with my craft corner—I had gotten all the stuff on it just SO which, really, is a rare occurrence for a crafter. It’s usually controlled chaos, with pieces of fabric in unidentifiable piles, balls of yarn afoot rolling this way and that and spools of thread threatening mutiny. So on that one day when I had time to tidy up and finally set up a corkboard as I’d been planning for months, I had to step back to admire my handiwork and take some snapshots.

I wish I had this massive corkboard for ideas and inspiration, one that would read like a story (or several novellas!) of all the crafty things that I knock around in my head. It would have souvenirs and sketches, swatches and samples, artwork and fashion torn out of magazines. But looking at my humble little corkboard now, I think I rather love it, just the way it is.

You’ll spy my Star Wars Convention pass (if you snicker, I swear I’ll use the Force to smite you!), artwork from the awesome Daniel Lim (who makes those ethereal Fawn Fruits illustrations), a logo from a fashion project, a recent sketch of a wool felt purse with silhouette cutouts and leather handles that I’m dreaming to make and Gillian Murphy of ABT in all her balletic grace. There are also hangtags from my favorite purses (George Gina & Lucy / Hayden-Harnett), a cheery new dress design from Marni, Keira Knightley in green plaid, and a pretend-shaman drawing for protection against things that go bump in the night from my brother. (I’m a total coward and get spooked by the littlest things, so he drew me a sort of anting-anting that’s supposed to guard me from ghosts and ghouls. And because I’m gullible, I believe him and have kept the thing for ages. Haha!) There are other bits and bobs, too: a princess place card, a Chinese ox carving for good luck from my friend Jen, my Instructables.com sticker for winning with the Vampie, an Etsy button, lovely notes and a dragonfly pushpin here and there.

My odd one-eyed pal to the right of the corkboard was designed by Creature Cobbler E. I hope to turn One-Eye into a felt monster someday. I’ll post pics as soon as I make it/him.

And to the right of my trusty Singer are some of my favorite craft mags: back issues of the now out-of-print Blueprint magazines, some Japanese ones called Cotton & Paint that I scored on eBay, an edition of Vogue Japan, FRUITS, Craft, a Martha Stewart, a Donna Hay and a dog-eared, particularly inspiring issue of US Vogue.

What’s YOUR crafty corner like, and what stories does your corkboard tell?

Flea markets are one of my favorite places to go. I chanced on this retro Singer at a recent one and fell in love with it. It reminds me of my grandma’s that’s still back home in the Philippines. Unfortunately, I had to walk away because my current machine works fine and I’d have no space for it. But it continues to be the stuff of my crafty dreams. Vintage=love!

I’m obsessed with finding oddities for the kitchen. Some of them are for the looking, not for the buying, especially when they’re laughable—like a Bagel Guillotine I once found in Sur La Table.

But sometimes, by choice or by luck, I find myself in possession of cooky gadgets that are both useful and cute. Here are some that have recently found their way to my little culinary corner, guided there by the kitchen gods.

Kitchen Curiosity #1: The Butterfly Whisk

This fancy little piece of culinary toolery claims to give you “more power for less effort” in whipping eggs, cream and sauces. I’ve tested it with an Alfredo sauce, and I loved the silicone coating because I wasn’t scared that my pan would get the brunt of all my whisking. And the “wings” are pliable, so I could really reach into pan corners where an ordinary whisk wouldn’t have. Those designers at Kuhn Rikon Switzerland are genuises!

* Thank you, W. and A., for my sexy new whisk. Those Scalloped Potatoes that we ate for three days were so good because the sauce was whisked into creamy submission with this!

Kitchen Curiosity # 2:  Mysterious Black-Bunned Lady On My Table!

…who’s actually pretty Nonna, my new cheese-and-nut-grater friend from the Pylones store in Grand Central Station in NY. Pylones was this wonderful doodad store that really was just an excuse to overstimulate your senses with cuteness. Everything there—from hairbrushes to toothbrushes—have characters on them, just like my Nonna. To explore the world of Plylones, there’s an entire Flickr pool of fans HERE, or you can read THIS FEATURE about the whimsical French design company on Apartment Therapy.

Nonna was too cute to pass up. Plus she’s wearing one of my favorite color combinations—black and pink! What I like about her is the fact that she’s a standing grater, and would be useful for nutmeg or lemon zest. Though I have a sinking suspicion it will take months before I can bear to actually use her!

* Thank you to the most intrepid New Yorkers, Cee-cee and Mamita, for leading me to the wonders of Pylones. I still remember our afternoon of gorgeous stinky rats on Bleecker and the delights of a true Jamaican patty in Grand Central!

Kitchen Curiosity #3: Fingerless Kevlar Baking Sleeves

Did you just say “What?” Because I certainly did when I got these. They’re heat-resistant sleeves that go up your arm. I didn’t know there were such things! They’re made for clumsy cooks (me) who trip on air in the kitchen, or are so engrossed in looking at a pie baking in the oven that they end up doing this to themselves:

I love the fact that they’re fingerless because I can wear them even as I prep and am able to handle spatulas, wooden spoons, etc. I just wear the oven mitts over them when I’m ready to slide a pan into the hot oven, and take the mitts off so I can work on frosting and test the cake for done-ness with a toothpick when the time comes. I haven’t had a burn on my arms since I started wearing these, EXCEPT on the the two times I forgot to wear them when I promptly heard the sizzle of skin on hot metal. Oy. I’m going to have to start taking these with me in my purse, because I sometimes end up cooking in friend’s houses!

These are the only pair in black and pink. They were custom-dyed by someone very thoughtful, because they apparently come in  factory/industrial beige, and that JUST wouldn’t go well with my skin tone. Haha! I kinda feel like Madonna when I’m wearing them!

* Thank you, E., for watching out for my arms. Maybe I should’ve worn them during that mortal-wounding lightsaber battle with my brother the other day!

Have a curiously culinary weekend, all.

With how well my brother (and fellow curly head), W., paints and how close we are, you’d think we’d be cut from the same cloth and I’d be good with a paintbrush on canvas, just like him. Well, I’m not. At all!

First case in point: the painting at the beginning of this post. I call this man Mr. Pibbs. That’s really not his name, but he looks like a Mr. Pibbs, don’t you think? Compare Mr. Pibbs to…my painting of a monkey.

What you see above is an extrapolation from one of my finest art pieces, the full glory of which you see below.

I’d asked W., as I have ever since we were kids, if I could play with his paints, and to challenge me to draw something. He asked me to paint a monkey, and I, well, tried. Haha.

Next exhibit up for consideration: Val. That, again, is not his name, but I like giving random names to W.’s portrait projects. Please consider Val…

…right alongside my attempt…at an elephant.

But you know, crafting comes in many forms. I’m unabashedly proud of the fact that W. paints light years better than I do. I quite welcome the fact that he’s so much better at it than I am! I’ll stick to frosting on a cupcake, or stitches on fabric!

I plan to post more of W.’s work as he churns them out. They continue to inspire me to work on my own brand of crafting. I hope they inspire you, too. My brother is proof that if you choose a craft that you truly love, it will love you back.