DIY Wine Bag

A good friend of mine was celebrating her 30th birthday at the local wineries this weekend. I wasn't able to go, but I did make a personalized birthday wine bag for her to carry around any bottles she might buy. Basically, I cut two rectangles of white fabric, and two slightly longer rectangles of grey fabric (longer b/c I wanted to fold over the grey for a border around the top), put the two "right" sides together, sewed three sides, leaving the top open, then turn it right side out. I then cut little felt triangles and sewed them together with embroidery thread and attached to the bag. I cut an "E" out of left over felt from my ring pillows, stitched it on, added a handle in the same grey fabric, and there you go....homemade wine bag! Add a bottle of wine and you have an inexpensive, stylish gift.

Next...a two bottle bag for serious wine drinkers.

Artisinal LA

Last weekend I made a trip to the fashion district in LA for Artisanal LA - a tasting event featuring local, handmade foods, drinks and crafts. The event was in the penthouse of the Cooper Building in downtown LA, a space that is home to various showrooms, designers, artists, etc. There was a fair share of jams, bacon spreads, chemical free honey, BBQ sauces, and cupcakes, but Chocovivo and SoNo mustard stood out above the rest. The salted almond chocolate and the cilantro lime mustard are worth trying and reasonably priced. Amazing building and view of downtown LA also!

Handcrafted Coffee Table

One of the benefits of dating a creative, artistic, handy guy is that he can build almost anything. While our taste is very Room & Board, CB2, and West Elm, our budget is very Ikea, Goodwill and Salvation Army. So, my boyfriend decided to build a coffee table and finally use the cool metal casters I found at the flea market last year. The workshop/garage area of our building is non-existent, so I made a coffee cake to bribe our friends to let us use their garage and tools for the day. The result...cute coffee table below! Great storage, easy to move around and very modern. I love it!

Easy Raspberry Cobbler

This is not exactly made from scratch, but it's really good and easy to make for a last minute dessert.

Ingredients:
1 Box Yellow cake mix
2 Cans Raspberry pie filling
1 Stick Butter

Directions:
Pour pie filling in a 13x9 inch pan. Pour the cake mix over the pie filling (no need to smooth out, lumps are OK). Melt the butter and drizzle over the cake mix. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Also, notice the new china! My boyfriend has tried to impose a "one in, one out" rule to keep the flea market finds under control, but I couldn't pass this up. A full 12 piece set of china including dinner plates, dessert plates, cups, saucers, creamer, gravy boat, 3 platters, etc. for $80 at the Long Beach Flea Market! It was $100, plus $20 for each platter, but, I am a master negotiator (and, as I learned later, the top two buttons of my shirt had come undone which may have helped) and was able to talk him down to $80! Timeless, not too feminine, and a full set for about the cost of a new sugar bowl on any wedding registry....such a great find!

Another Ring Pillow

The color inspiration for this ring pillow came from the wedding invitation and the new Martha Stewart paint colors. I used felt on the last ring pillow which is really easy to work with and the edges don't fray, but the color choices are usually very limited, bright and bold. I was looking for more muted tones so I decided to go with linen, canvas and duck cloth. I used felt to cut out the letters and hand stitched them on to the linen pillow. It was so fun to make and I love the way it turned out! A few more of these and I'll have to open an Etsy store!

Shelves Before and After

Anyone that has ever been to any of my apartments in the last 10 years has seen these shelves. They are a little worn, but I can't seem to bring myself to getting rid of them. I've been looking for shelves for the kitchen to put my cookbooks on and decided to give the old shelves a makeover. This is the area I was thinking they could go...

I can't decide if they are cute or not? I'm still debating if I should put them up or look for new shelves.

Granola

I just finished A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg a few weeks ago and loved it! The best food journal, cookbook, diary, romance novel, or whatever else you want to call it. I can't stop re-reading it, planning meals, looking up specific restaurants she referenced and trying the recipes. I probably make the caramelized cauliflower with salsa verde about once a week. So, I decided to take a break from her recipes and try a new granola recipe I found in the June issue of Bon Appettit magazine. It wasn't until after I made it that I realized the recipe and article were written by....Molly Wizenberg!

I've been hugging trees and making granola for a while now, but this is the best recipe I've found.
Ingredients:
3 cups old fashion oats
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I omitted this)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I use a little more)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup assorted dried fruit (I don't care for dried fruit in my granola, so I left this out)

I added flax seed and walnuts and left out the fruit.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix first 7 ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Stir honey and oil in a pan until smooth.
4. Pour honey over oat mixture and toss.
5. Spread on a baking sheet and bake until golden, about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
6. Let cool. Mix in fruit. Enjoy.