Paper Projects Preview

February 27, 2015 by mymateriallife

We celebrated an eleventh birthday this week. Birthdays provide such great opportunities for playing with paper. I made my own photo book (with charms!) … Taped eleven tissue paper flowers to her door … And finally made a paper lantern for a flameless votive from the book, Silhouette Style by Nanetta Bananto. But it wasn’t all about paper – there was cake of course! I’ll share more about the how-to’s soon.

Categories: Celebrations & Events, Kid Stuff, Paper • Tags: birthday, diy photo book, paper, paper lantern, silhouette style, tissue paper flowers

Valentine’s Week in Review

February 18, 2015 by mymateriallife

Categories: Embroidery & Needlepoint, Kid Stuff, Other Holidays, Paper • Tags: embroidery, paper flowers, silk ribbon, valentine's crafts, valentine's day

Purrfect Plastic Canvaswork

February 12, 2015 by mymateriallife

I’ve often walked by those sheets of plastic mesh in Michaels or JoAnn’s and wondered what on earth people do with them. Then I saw this (below) in the November/December 2014 issue of Marie Claire Idées (it’s French). Did you happen to see it? It was a particularly beautiful issue, but these plastic canvas tags alone made me want to buy it. They also inspired my purrfect kitty tag (shown on top of post pinned to a stretched piece of […]

Categories: Embroidery & Needlepoint • Tags: black cat, canvaswork, hearts, lion brand bonbons, marie claire idees, needlepoint, plastic canvas

Roast Chicken on Fresh Greens with Pan Juices & Lemon

February 10, 2015 by mymateriallife

I clipped this idea from the San Francisco Chronicle years ago. I think it was included in a list of things to do with lemons or something like that. I can’t put my hands on that clipping right now, but it doesn’t matter. This isn’t a recipe with specific amounts of ingredients. It’s more of a delicious guideline. What you do is toss some baby greens (they don’t all have to be hard-core kinds of greens; a spring mix will […]

Categories: Savories • Tags: chicken, cooking, greens, pan juices, roast chicken

How To Use Turkish Tulip Glasses (Without Taking A Drink)

February 5, 2015 by mymateriallife

As a party favor or gift filled with little bon-bons and wrapped with cellophane, as a toothbrush holder, a make-up brush holder, a vase, a small cloche, a vessel for your paint water, a home for wayward buttons … I found a 6-pack of these little glasses in a brown paper carton at Cost Plus (World Market) the other week. They seemed a little too small for drinking, but I loved them anyway. I didn’t buy them, however, until I […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: cost plus, party favors, storage, tulip glasses, turkish tea glasses, world market

Why Not Plant A Fairy Garden?

January 28, 2015 by mymateriallife

The thought of planting a life-sized garden overwhelms me. I am paralyzed by questions of what to plant and where and will we be able to water anything anyway in this drought-stricken area we live in. But a fairy garden costs so little in time, money, commitment, and water by comparison that there is just no good reason not to plant one. What really made me want to do it is this book: I’ve seen fairy gardens in pots before, […]

Categories: Miniatures • Tags: davy and kristin mcguire, fairy gardening, gardening, isadora duncan, miniatures

Dream a Little Dream of Rogner Bad Blumau

January 21, 2015 by mymateriallife

Until last week my awareness of Austria consisted of things like schnitzel, The Sound of Music, the Wiener Werkstatte, and Spanische Windtorte.  I knew nothing of this. This seems like something out of a dream – a dream about teletubbies or maybe mid-twentieth-century hobbits. But this place is real. You could even book a stay here. It’s a hotel as well as spa in Austria’s Styria region. Those waters come from thermal springs and the hotel owners claim they feel […]

Categories: Architecture, Places • Tags: architecture, austria, friedensreich hundertwasser, rogner bad blumau, swimming pools, travel

Notebooks & Sketchbooks & Calendars, Oh My!

January 13, 2015 by mymateriallife

I get excited about paper, stationery in particular. And when I say stationery I mean just about anything that I can write or draw on. It’s so fun to pick up new bits of it this time of year. Do you keep a notebook? I do. I use it to record all kinds of things – shopping lists of various kinds, party or holiday plans, ideas for my blog, worries, notes on household projects. I found the spiral bound book […]

Categories: Illustration, Paper • Tags: calendar, diy desk calendar, marimekko, muji, notebooks, paper source, sketchbooks, stone paper, target

New Year, New Holiday Memories

January 2, 2015 by mymateriallife

Can it really be January 2 already? Do you find this time of year bittersweet? I do. The holiday season drawing to a close, the sense of time passing, saying good-bye to family to return to school or work or whatever you do the rest of the year, taking down the tree. But I am grateful for an exceptional holiday season that began with Thanksgiving at my sister’s house, included a Christmas trip to LA to visit with some of […]

Categories: Christmas • Tags: christmas, holiday season, mood la, new year's, swedish rosettes, the nutcracker, villa montalvo