Remembering Italics

Today was tough. Our kitty, Italics was put to rest after he suffered from kidney failure. Here are a couple of pictures of our handsome Italics.

He liked to cuddle before we went to bed right between Josh and I under the blankets. He begged to have water poured into his water bowl so that he could bite and swat at the bubbles. He loved his little squid filled with catnip. He was a hugger and would flop in a purring mass on your shoulder.

We miss him dearly.

Coraline Mystery Box Swap

For your viewing pleasure... here is the Coraline Mystery Box Swap that I sent out to Sandra of Miaumau in London. My Little Mochi sent out a challenge to the world to step up and make a Coraline inspired box and send it to someone else in the world who would also be making a box and sending it to someone else in the world.

The story behind the box swap is that the makers of the Coraline film sent out fifty boxed to different blogs around the world to advertise the movie. Some people were disappointed that they didn't get a box and decided to make a swap for those of us that were interested. The film is based on the book by Neil Gaiman. And of course you should read the book before you see it. Here's the cover. My box was number 15 of 44 and we were supposed to show what number the box it was on the top. I used handmade paper and drew buttons and stitches on the edges.

The inside of the box and outside view of the letter.

The letter describing its contents.

A little handmade pillow for the Coraline doll, mouse, a key and buttons for eyes.

I'll get pictures of the box sent to me soon for you to enjoy as well.

Plushapalooza!

Head on over to Plushapalooza on Tuesday, March 24 at 3 pm EST. Come check out the Plush Team and see what we've got!

We're going to give the yarn spinning class another go over at the Studio at Rush Creek in Maple Grove, MN. The class is scheduled for Sunday, March 29th at 1 pm. You can sign up for it on the Studio website.

While in New York I made these two beauties. First we have Georgie the kitty with removable clothing and then we have Tyrose the mini heart gremlin. Both are in need of hugs and in my Etsy shop.

Rat on a plane :)

For the first time ever, one of my rats was on a plane. I kind of hope this kind of thing happens more, but one never knows.

Josh and I went to New York to visit family and this rattie came over as Josh's mom's birthday present. Honestly, if you looked in my Etsy shop before I took this rat down you would have seen this rat with a girl's name. But while we were waiting for our delayed plane in the Detroit airport it became abundantly clear that we were wrong.


You see, there was this great little fake tree with rocks underneath and someone had written the name Jamison on one of the rocks. It was perfect! Though, Mom, if you do want to change the name or change him to a her, that's okay, too :)

Here's an update on blog names for my food blog. So far we have these entries:

-- Cloudy with a chance of ...cookies?
-- The Fuzzy Gourmet
-- Dough Hook
-- From Hook to Cook
-- The Baking Sheet Chronicles
-- The Five Second Rule
-- The Animated Baker

I also was thinking of having my line of handspun yarns called the Fuz Cafe. But I guess it could work for a blog name, too. Any other ideas out there? Or are there any from this list that you particularly like?

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the help :)

Cloudy with a chance of... cookies?

I had this great plan to get you fresh pictures of plush, but alas it turned out to be cloudy, then foggy :(

I figured you still needed something, so I brought another food picture. These are shortbread buttons with chocolate bottoms. I did both milk and dark chocolate varieties. This wonderful recipe yielded 100 of these to die for buttons so we've been sharing. Most of the people we shared them with have asked for the recipe, which got me thinking. I love to think and run with ideas if you hadn't picked up on that yet. But, it got me thinking that I should start a separate food blog.
What do you think?

That also means that I won't share this fabulous recipe with you until I get the blog up and running. But I think I also need to have a contest because I don't know what I will call my new blog.

So, here's the deal. The winner will get a baker's dozen of my fabulous shortbread buttons and a crocheted version of my shortbread button. You can post your name suggestion in the comments and if I get enough we'll do a vote. Remember that I have to make sure I don't get a name that's already out there in use.

Bring it on!

Some things I have been baking...

First, I've got to say that most of the things I make are improvised, whether it be something I crochet or cook or bake. So, if I use a recipe I take it as a starting point and do as I wish with it. The first one I've got here is what I call a chai swirl cupcake. I got a recipe for a white cupcake from the Epicurious website and then I added layers of batter alternating with a combination of cinnamon, cardamon and nutmeg. I swirled the spice mix into the batter with a toothpick. Next time I plan on getting or making cream cheese frosting. Yum. Without frosting they were really good heated slightly like a muffin.


The next ones are things I made before the holidays and I find it hard to say which recipe I followed more than another. I looked at about ten online and a few that I had from other people to combine them into what I had in the house. They are buckeyes or peanut butter balls. I do know that next time I will not add so much confectioners sugar and I will not overheat the chocolate chips, as I did. I ended up spreading the chocolate as opposed to dipping. They tasted good, but they weren't quite what I was going for.