Crypt

Okay, listen up all fans of the spooky, haunted and ghoulish variety. I've just found out there is a new gastro pub in Savannah called the Crypt Pub and it is on my must-visit immediately list. They have glass skulls to serve drinks in, drinks with mysterious vapors people! Isn't it great when new places open up? I have a bad habit of always going to the routine favorite places and forgetting to check out the new offerings, so my goal is to try one new Savannah restaurant each month. In fact, tonight we are headed to Ele which means October will be well covered for trying something new. How about you - do you find yourself at the same 3 or 4 restaurants all the time or do you always aim to try new places and mix up the routine?

Halloween Wish List

Halloween time is full on, and I couldn't be more delighted. In my quest to one day have the ultimate Halloween house, I have added some excellent decorative pieces to my Halloween wish list. Since I can't afford to buy everything that catches my fancy, how about I tempt readers with these lovelies instead.

First up, these creepy medical encyclopedia drawings from Pottery Barn are to die for but certainly on the pricey side. I found some similar items on Etsy in the Halloween decor shop from Owl Studio and Golden Rococo.

Another Pottery Barn item that caught my eye was the Halloween Countdown Calendar. As a kid I loved Advent calendars and this is basically the same idea. The scalloping gives it a lovely vintage Halloween touch, but I would really like to try my hand at making my own version out of felt. I think a haunted house with a graveyard in front would translate quite well and give lots of interesting pockets in the windows, doors, and gravestones.

One more Etsy shop that makes me want to add many items to the shopping cart is Pumpkin Hollow. Are those some perfectly spooky Jack O'Lanterns or what? The shop owners also have a blog called Pumpkin Rot where you can check out the splendid Halloween set ups they create each year. To borrow the words of Liz Lemon, I want to go to there.

Anything Can Happen on Halloween

I spend the entire summer waiting for fall to get here, and the first signs of my favorite season turn up in the craft stores. While it may seem early to some people, Halloween has been on my mind for several weeks. I am going to officially declare that while the calendar may still be stuck in August, it is time to start planning your Halloween costumes and decorations. After all, there is no reason to miss out on savoring a favorite holiday for as long as possible. Now that the supplies can be found, I've taken my Michaels coupons and picked up a few items to create two Halloween decorations.

The style I'm working towards is a Gothic Victorian - not a gory Halloween aesthetic but more of a spooky, mysterious and dark vibe. That means black lace and candelabras, dark silhouettes, witchy potions, and creepy creatures like bats, spiders and rats. I have fantasies of doing a proper and massive Halloween set-up, complete with fog machines, these lace curtains, tombstones, a giant spider web, old-timey optical illusion portraits, and ghoulish organ music. A fun Halloween party idea borrowed from recent wedding trends is to make a photo booth for guests to enjoy. A spooky backdrop and some props based around a Halloween theme sound like a fun time to me. Some quality animatronics would be splendid as long as I'm being honest here. Every year is a chance to build up the collection of Halloween props, and here is what I'm currently working on.

The first item is this skull terrarium. I had a leftover glass cookie jar that didn't make the cut for our wedding candy buffet, and I just knew it would eventually come in handy for something. A little florist foam at the bottom of the jar gives the skull some height, and I've covered it with moss. The skull plus a few creepy spiders and now I have a spooky centerpiece.This is a super easy diy project if you don't have much time or energy.

My second project is from another major fan of Halloween, Martha Stewart herself. This black flower wreath fits in perfectly with a Gothic theme. I found black fake roses in the Halloween aisle at the craft store, which allows me to skip the step of spray painting the flowers. Here is the inspiration photo from the Martha Stewart website.

By the way, do you have any favorite or less-known Halloween movies? Last year for the first time I saw "The Worst Witch", which is where the title of this post comes from. Any fan of Halloween and/or Tim Curry should put this in the Netflix queue pronto.

Summertime

It has been a busy summer here at Dear Reader headquarters, though not much in the crafty arena. Let's just put this out there: the summer is when I tend to hibernate. Hot weather does not agree with me, and I simply bide my time until fall tips its hat in our direction. All productive and creative endeavors stall out while I do the minimum required of me and focus my efforts on air conditioning and ice cream. But somehow I've kept myself busy with plans and outings and fun things, leaving me no time to work on my shop ideas.

Last weekend we had a little getaway to Gatlinburg, where a hike led us to discover this little guy napping in the woods.

Next week I head up to Maine to celebrate my sister's birthday and (hopefully) get some cooler temperatures. I can report that the Obamas were visiting Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor recently, where Mount Desert Island Ice Cream shop has documented their ice cream flavor selections. For the First Lady, it was chocolate. And the President selected coconut (!) ice cream. I wanted to try the Nutella flavor last time I was in Bar Harbor, but sadly it wasn't available that week.

On the Side

My all time favorite movie is When Harry Met Sally. If you are familiar with it, you might remember that Sally ordered meals with sauces and dressings "on the side". As Harry told her, "on the side is a big thing with you". Which leads me to this: I think that creative people have projects they do "on the side". Even for someone lucky enough to make a living from their creative talents, it seems like extra projects as gifts or just for personal enjoyment continue to be crafted. Some of the most fun projects can be ones where perfection doesn't matter.Which is great - it can bring you back to the core reasons of why you love creating in the first place.  It is liberating to just make something for fun and without worrying about how it will turn out. Not to mention you might learn a new skill or improve an existing one.

I saw this felt flower wreath on the Purl Bee blog and was instantly smitten. I thought my sister might like it since she is so into plants that she teaches horticulture for a living. Except this was in January and with snow coating her entire state up in Maine, it seemed like a more colorful version would suit her better, something to brighten her office as an antidote to the winter gloom. Five months later and my version turned out like this:

After I had cut out the flowers and was piecing them on, I started thinking a more refined color palette would have been nice. This has red, burgundy, white, two different yellows, three different purples, and a green background. If I was going to make another felt flower wreath, I would probably keep the green background and limit the flowers to shades of yellow and white. This project was a pleasure but it also gave me a chance to learn more about color theory. I started out as a use every color of crayon in the box person, but I think limiting the colors has a more pleasing effect. And Eric is helping me learn about triangulating colors and other important artistic principles.

Another project I'm keen on trying from the Purl Bee blog are these napkins. They would be a jolly good side project to help build my confidence on the sewing machine. I highly recommend checking out the Purl Bee for some inspiring ideas and projects on a variety of crafts.

So how about you - do you have any creative projects you enjoy on the side?

Sneak Preview - Bunting

Hello there! I'm excited about my new felty creation, my own take on the bunting trend. Also known as garland, banners, and even pennants, there are so many ways to string up something irresitibly cheerful.

There are two versions right now; one in cool colors:

And one in colors that remind me of a lemonade stand: 

Once I figure out some better photographs, these will be going up for sale in the Dear Reader shop. I've been really into scalloping details lately, so it was fun to find a way to work that in with some felt.

The Origins of the Modern Family Crest

This post is much overdue, but I believe an explanation is in order for the origins of the Modern Family Crest. Part of the explanation lies in my deep appreciation for all things Harry Potter, with the style firmly lodged in my mind as being very special. Perhaps also having just watched both Monster Camp and Role Models is a factor, but at some point last spring the idea popped in my head that heraldry was quite interesting. I liked the basic aesthetic and the fact that bearers of these symbols shared a sense of  "these are my people and this is what we are all about". I knew the symbols and their placement had specific meanings, but only a serious expert would be able to decipher the intricacies and message behind family crests and shields. It was time for an update, not only for modern interests such as baking and photography instead of swords and archery. But an update that even people who are not experts can quickly piece together and realize "Oh yeah, you are into music and canoeing and dogs - I like that!".

Still with me?

I also happen to like silhouettes. We stamped silhouettes of our dogs on bags for the candy buffet at our wedding (shout out to S&H Confectioners!). We also printed silhouettes on votive covers for the tables. Felt is another favorite; the texture and the richness of the colors makes it irresistible to me. Clearly my love of felt and silhouettes were meant to be united, and they joined forces with the heraldry idea to become the Modern Family Crest.

So the quest began, as all of my plans do, with a list. A massive brainstorming ensued, where I thought of the various things that people like to do and I would like to cut out of felt. Then Eric helped me figure out what would translate into a silhouette design that still looked recognizable. Some ideas didn't work and were discarded after earnest efforts: a typewriter and a computer ended up not working. The animals are the most appealing to me. After a bit of research, we decided two shield shapes and several color options would give the flexibility to really customize each Modern Family Crest. Believe me, there are many more variations in actual heraldry but that can get overwhelming.
                                                                             
So after much drawing on Eric's part, we ended up with our two shield shapes and over 40 symbols. The Butterfield shape is shown here in blue:

And the Cavendish shape is shown here in red:

Because I wanted to offer a variety of options to customize the Modern Family Crest, there are five shield colors available to put on the totes: red, blue, yellow, gray, and green. Are you ready for a list of the 40 symbols to choose from? Here it is:

Acorn - Airplane - Bicycle - Bear - Book - Camera - Campfire - Candy - Canoe - Cat - Cupcake - Dog - Elephant - Fall Leaves - Fork + Spoon - Fox - Gears - Horseshoe - Hot Air Balloon - House - Ice Cream Cone - Lotus Flower - Mountains - Mushroom - Octopus - Owl - Paper + Inkwell + Quill - Pint of Beer - Pipe - Rabbit - Robot - Rocket Ship - Scissors - Skeleton Key - Squirrel - Submarine - Suitcase - Teapot - Trees - Top Hat + Mustache - Victrola Record Player

A List: Some Favorite Words

Do most people have certain words that make them feel supremely happy when they say them? I sure do; here are a few that provide verbal satisfaction for me:

Spectacle
Marmalade
Haberdashery
Fancy
Yodel

This list is all about stalling until I have some photos of my recent craft endeavors - in the form of felt wall hangings. Intriguing, no?

Fun Time Dog Time

Introducing Sophie D. Chillingshead III, the chihuahua mascot of the Dear Reader headquarters. Yesterday was the annual Doggie Carnival in Savannah, so naturally we took Sophie to check it out. It was the first truly hot weekend of the long Savannah summer, so we didn't stay too long. Just long enough for Sophie to make the social rounds and abscond with two unauthorized treats.

Bookish Types

Last night was book club and it was my turn to host. We have a great group - there are eight of us and we've managed to keep the book club going for over 2 years. There are a few secrets that seem to work for us: we take turns hosting, we've kept the group small, and we take turns offering a few book suggestions that the group then votes on. While some book clubs dissolve after awhile, we periodically check in and discuss what could work better in terms of scheduling and not putting pressure on anyone to be the ultimate hostess.

The book we read this month was Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. I loved the book and there were loads of themes to consider; plus it was the best kind of science fiction because it was believably realistic. The next book in the trilogy (The Year of the Flood) is going on my must-read list.

The menu I schemed up was a couscous recipe from 101 Cookbooks, roasted asparagus, hummus with veggies and pitas, deviled eggs, fresh strawberries, the icebox cake from Smitten Kitchen, and Pimm's Cups*. The hummus recipe is from one of my favorite Athens, Georgia restaurants The Grit, where everything is both vegetarian and crazy good. So good that my sister and I devised strategies around eating there several times each weekend visit and ordering different items so we could essentially have it all. If you are a hummus fiend like me, you should try this recipe from The Grit Cookbook:

2 cans chickpeas, drained, with liquid reserved
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/3 cup tahini
2 tsp. cumin powder
3/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. salt

Puree all ingredients except chickpea liquid in a food processor (I first mince the onion solo rather than chop it). Gradually add some of the chickpea liquid until the hummus is the consistency you prefer, blending until all graininess is gone. Refrigerate at least one hour before chowing down with pitas and veggies.

*Pimm’s cups were first revealed to me during a layover at a duty free shop in Gatwick airport. It was 7 am and an odd time of day to sample this beverage, so I knew these would probably be tastier in other circumstances. I later read that Pimm’s Cups are best if you have the equivalent of a fruit salad in there, and it certainly was a massive improvement. Now I am hoping to make Pimm’s Cup the cocktail of Summer 2010 the way the spiked Arnold Palmer was for Summer 2009 (in Savannah at least).

Movie Time!

We watch a lot of movies in our household, easily three or four a week. Which means once we watch the mainstream movies of interest, there are many obscure films to catch up with. So if you are interested in a new movie you've never heard of, and are open to the quirky and unusual, consider these for the Netflix queue:

For the fan of Napoleon Dynamite
Try Gentlemen Broncos. It has Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge and Jemaine Clement (all of whom I love) with a story about plagairism and science fiction. It continues the Napoleon Dynamite aesthetic with a hard-to-identify time period due to some bad fashion and decor. Just one tip: when someone shows up with a giant boa constrictor, it might be a good time to not be eating.

If you like movies that are so bad they're good
Considered the worst movie ever made, The Room has developed a cult following. This is one to invite your funny friends over to watch with- it has horrible acting, lousy editing, and some awesomely terrible quotes that will stick in your head. Keep an eye on Lisa's neck and I invite anyone with an explanation of that to please, please fill me in on what happened there.

For the fan of documentaries
I've got to recommend three in this category: Man on Wire is about a Frenchman who walks on a tightrope between the World Trade Center's twin towers. It was inspiring and moving and hard to believe that this could actually happen. The second documentary is Monster Camp, about a group of people heavily involved in Live Action Role Playing. The third is I Like Killing Flies, about the owner and cook of the New York restaurant Shopsin's (who has, shall we say, a Soup Nazi approach to his business). What can I say - I'm a total sucker for stories about real people who are passionate and obsessed with something I had maybe never heard of or considered. 

Parlez-vous francais? If you enjoy movies about France
Watching 2 Days in Paris was funny because of the cultural differences that American Adam Goldberg navigates as he stays in Paris with his French girlfriend played by Julie Delpy (who also wrote and directed). We had to watch the scene in the subway MANY times and just laughed ourselves silly.

If you like your horror movie with a side of comedy
Check out Dominic Monaghan in I Sell the Dead. Although it starts a bit slow, this one has grave robbing that gets increasingly more bizarre and an excellent style to the film.


This is a good start and I might post more movie recommendations in the future. One entire post could probably be about zombie movies alone (they are a special favorite genre). And meandering off into other movie territory, the preview for The A-Team movie looks promising. The casting is excellent and I will be there on opening night because I am a massive fan of the series.

Luggage Tags

I'm still working on photos for the new luggage tags, but here is a sneak preview. Several prototypes have been tested on recent flights and I'm happy to report they traveled safely through checked baggage! This is especially miraculous if you know how much bad luck my sister has when traveling.

The luggage tags add a fun bit of color to help identify your suitcase in the sea of identical black bags. The backs are plain felt, which I think is perfect because you get that shot of color from either side. There is room on the inside to slip a name and address card if desired. I tried working a clear vinyl window into the back instead of felt (to display a name and address), but the results displeased me. I adore the warmth and texture of felt, whereas the vinyl lost that vintage feel. It also made the process less fun, so for now I'm skipping the window. Keep an eye out for these to be added to the Dear Reader shop soon!

Catching Up

We are back from our trip to New York City and I am still trying to catch my breath. We had some major fun celebrating my mom's birthday (and some major funny too!). One of the highlights was going up into the crown of the Statue of Liberty, thanks to my dad's excellent planning skills getting us tickets months ago. We got to see the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (along with every single goth teenager on the planet on a spring break field trip). Also featured at the MoMA: performance artists wearing zero clothes. Wasn't expecting to see that, and I also wasn't expecting to see a homeless man take his pants off in the subway but I guess that is New York for you. Probably the least enjoyed part of the trip was waiting in line at the Empire State Building for four hours; it was too crowded and the employees were too rude to be worth it. We totally celebrated my mom's birthday proper, complete with special t-shirts made by Eric, feasting in Little Italy, and seeing as much of the city as possible. Oh, and for the funny (in a book geeky way). After wandering around The Strand on our own for an hour, my dad and I each picked out the exact same book to buy: The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry.

This weekend I'm planning on a major push to list some new items in the Dear Reader shop (luggage tags!), so check back soon.

Progress on the Shop Banner

Over the weekend I spent some time making a physical banner to photograph and turn into the virtual banner for my shop, Dear Reader. I've been reading the Etsy forums to learn more about the details that make a shop more professional and distinctive. One important suggestion that comes up repeatedly is to make sure your shop banner and avatar feature your product and speak to your aesthetic, because it will draw in more views of your shop while removing an extra click to get there. If you represent your style with your avatar and banner, it is the first impression that will intrigue shoppers and fellow Etsy sellers to check out your work. Also, being married to a graphic designer I am now much more aware of the value a good first impression makes through logos and typography.

My plan with Dear Reader is to always feature one photograph of each item listed with my card catalog in the background. I like the consistency it will bring and it will hopefully be something memorable that people associate with the Dear Reader shop. I knew I wanted the card catalog in my banner, and then I had the idea to cut out smaller versions of the Cavendish shield shape and iron on the letters Dear Reader. Pennants and banners in numerous permutations have been all over the crafting and blog world, and this version is my own take on the trend.

I work with iron-on adhesive when making my tote bags; it has a paper surface on one side for tracing and drawing patterns, which I find easy to cut out. I especially like the clean, smooth finish it brings when putting felt shapes together. However, there are two key things to remember when working with iron-on adhesive: First, your image will be reversed when you iron it on. And second, if you are working with patterned fabric, you have to iron your adhesive to the wrong side. Thinking in reverse can still get confusing when you are working with a new pattern, as I was with my lettering. Initially I forgot about reversing the letters until I started cutting the first one, but I've since sorted it all out. A few final steps to go and I will soon be photographing the new felt banner to show off. A sneak preview of the progress is all I have time for until I get back from vacation next week.

It's Fantastic!

This week is shaping up to be excellent in the entertainment department. The swoon- inducing sweet movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox was released on DVD. I can't wait to watch the extras as Mr. Anderson never disappoints. The visuals in his films are so inspiring and layered with details that make me so happy. Last night I caught Amy Sedaris on the tee-vee (on The Middle), plus for Savannah it is the biggest music week of the year with the Savannah Music Festival. And lucky for me, we have tickets to see both Wilco and She & Him. Plus! The new movie Hot Tub Time Machine opens, and I never feel like I've had a proper weekend unless I've gone to the movies. Though I am dubious at best about time travel, exceptions will be made for John Cusack. In between all of this fun, I will be working on a low-tech banner for the Dear Reader shop which will keep my hands happily working with the wool felt. I hope everyone else has some good plans lined up too!

TV Dinner

So the other morning, I went to put my delicious Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake lunch in the freezer at work. Business as usual, until I noticed that someone else had also deposited a Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake in the freezer already.

Because office kitchens operate under an entirely different set of parameters than home kitchens (and knowing the habits of some of my co-workers), I had no guarantee that the other frozen meal hadn’t been subjected to questionable activities. Perhaps it sat in someone’s car for four hours. Or maybe they have a cat that prowls in their grocery bags and had DONE SOMETHING to that frozen meal.

All possibilities being unacceptable, I wanted to avoid confusion and make sure I ate MY frozen meal and the twin meal matched up with it’s original owner. When you know for a fact that certain people don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, it’s best to avoid contact with any food items they have touched. The best I could come up with was wrapping my lunch in a plastic bag, and I emailed the predicament to my sister. She found my need to conceal my lunch to be funny, and as usual with my need to impress my little sister, I decided to take it one step further.

So here is the result: a Food Disguise. The blob at top left is mashed potatoes with gravy (and butter). To the right is a brown square. Kidding! It's a brownie, a delicious felt brownie. Then we have peas and carrots plus fried chicken rounding out the classic TV dinner.

If I ever had the chance to make something for Amy Sedaris, this TV dinner Food Disguise would totally be it. In the meantime, I may refine this prototype for the shop and the original is on it's way to my sister, from whom I sincerely hope to earn another laugh.

Getting to Know You

Welcome to the Dear Reader blog! Thanks for stopping by - I hope to share news about my Etsy shop, Dear Reader, and use this space to get to know each other. Let's kick things off with a list of things that tell you a little bit about me:

-I am from Florida but I don't like to have a tan and I prefer cool weather.
-I have a fascination with all things Mr. T related.
-Mashed potatoes are my favorite.
-Dogs are the best! If I start feeling shy at a party, I look around for a dog to hang out with.
-My husband draws the patterns for the Dear Reader shop (thanks Eric!)
-I live in Savannah, Georgia and my day job is a librarian.
-My best ideas come to me while I'm driving.
-I adore British comedy and my latest favorite is The Mighty Boosh. My all-time favorite is Absolutely Fabulous.
-I always carry a notepad around with me.
-NPR is a daily essential.
-My best Halloween costumes as an adult are a tie between a Fraggle (Wembley) and Frida Kahlo.
-I have a signature prank, which involves hiding something weird in a surprise place for someone to discover (refrigerators and showers make frequent appearances)

Stay tuned as I document my creative pursuits and amusements!