The title of this post says it all! But with a new job at a fantastic company I have free time again and plan on putting it to good use. Hopefully there will be much more to come!
Scranton Reads
Scranton Reads is an annual event organized by the City of Scranton and the Albright Memorial Library that encourages citizens of Scranton to read one book during the month of October. I have been lucky enough to work with the committee the past two years in the creation of promotional materials. This year I redesigned the logo which we have used on all promotional materials and advertisements.
This year’s selection is the works of Mark Twain. Be sure to come attend one of the many events where you can pick up free copies of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I’ll be working the booth at Pages and Places on Saturday, October 2nd. Stop by and say hi!
Ripple Baby Blanket – Complete!
Many, many months have past since I first began this Ripple Baby Blanket and it is finally complete! This classic ripple pattern in charcoal, lime and seaspray will go with my friend’s little boy from childhood to adolescence due to it’s neutral style. As I stated before I really love this ripple pattern and I have ideas of other projects to use it in. If only I could find the time to start them!
This weekend I attended the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival where I was completely overwhelmed by all the beautiful hand dyed, hand spun yarns and fibers. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I discovered a lot of new vendors that also have Etsy shops, but I restrained myself and bought a single 4oz skein of mohair yarn dyed in a beautiful shades of blues, greens and purples. I plan to finally make myself something using it, I just don’t know what!
Rainbow Cupcakes
Almost a year ago I made a six layer rainbow cake. It was a hit, but also very time consuming and incredibly rich. I decided to take the same concept and apply it to everyone’s favorite baked good, the cupcake.
The process is simple: mix up your favorite white cake recipe (a boxed cake works just fine), divide the batter into six disposable containers, add an excessive amount of food coloring to each container to obtain highly saturated colors, put a dollop of each color in foil cupcake liners and bake according to your recipe’s instructions. The most important step to this process is the foil cupcake liners. Using foil instead of the normal paper liners protects the cupcake from browning on the sides, allowing it to maintain the saturated colors. Once cooled I used a vanilla buttercream frosting topped off with a healthy amount of rainbow sprinkles. The best part about these cupcakes is the reveal, from the outside they look like a normal cupcake but once the foil wrapper is removed the bright colors are exposed. I’ve made them for numerous parties and just for fun and they’re always a hit!
If rainbow cupcakes weren’t exciting enough, I recently purchased a new digital camera. After four years of art school concentrating on design and photography I’ve finally purchased my first DSLR. I’m excited to finally take some pictures of my crafting, baking and design and to (hopefully) blog more frequently.
Until then, taste the rainbow!
Ripple Baby Blanket
Yet another baby blanket! That seems to be all I crochet anymore, but as I always say something handmade is the greatest gift you can give. Surprisingly enough, this is my first ripple project and I now understand why this pattern is so popular. It works up quick and is easily altered. This specific pattern was altered from Lion Brand’s Child’s Chevron Throw (the pattern is free, just register on the website). I am using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Charcoal, Lime and Seaspray. I really like using non-traditional yarn and colors for baby blankets to make them feel modern. The colors in life are much closer to the images below, although the Charcoal appears closer to a Navy than Charcoal. I keep telling myself the next crochet project I do will be an afghan for myself, I think once I get around to it I will use a ripple pattern.
