Can You Knit a Marshmallow Today?

This is City Bakery on 18th Street and yes, those are marshmallows hanging from the ceiling.  I got some nice comments on my heart marshmallows so I know people love 'em and City Bakery is hosting their 18th Annual Hot Chocolate Festival TODAY, Thursday, 2/18 with unlimited hot chocolate and hot chocolate themed knitting workshops for the price of a ticket, wow!  You can read about the event on Grub Street, where Chef-Owner Maury Rubin says that "knitting feels like hot chocolate".  I agree! and thanks to my friend Jenny for reminding me about this.

It's sponsored by some of my favorite yarn shops in the city: Downtown Yarns, which I also mentioned here and Purl Soho (there's the ad for the event in the window):

They also have Purl Patchwork, a fabric store!

I have a work thing and can't make it to the event tomorrow, so I bought a few ginormous chocolate chunk cookies on my way home, but if anyone goes let me know how it is!

From the bakery I also had some other errands to run:

I stopped by Anthropologie (love the sweet clothes, charming fabrics and dishware and the Mistral soaps, even though I just made some of my own).  Hey, is anyone watching Man Shops Globe on the Sundance Channel about buyer Keith Johnson's adventures procuring product for the stores?  Also got some wool for a present at Lion Brand Yarn (which I heart! as I explained here).

The bunch of ribbon is from Paper Presentation: an incredible store that I could get lost in for hours.  I heard about it from awesome prop stylist Leslie Siegel.  Seriously, check out her portfolio: it's amAzing!  Those are also some little pink pinking shears up in the pic.

I passed Cupcake Cafe and even though I posted about Valentine-themed store windows yesterday I just have to include this since I love how happy the polar bears are with their treats.

When I finally got home my sweet friend She Crafty had sent me Making Candles & Soaps for Dummies.  I've been experimenting with both lately and need some pointers, so I can't wait to dive into this book and see what I can do to improve. 

She Crafty's profile pic is her adorable French bulldog, Crumpet (love her name!)  One of my all-time fave movies is Best in Show and on Monday night a Frenchie named Bru won best in the non-sporting group (first time for this breed!) at the Westminster Kennel Club 2010 Dog Show.  Go, Bru! and thanks again, She Crafty!

Lists, oh lists

I got my love of lists from my Dad.  His last name is Lisco, but it might as well have been (terrible, cheesy joke coming up): List-o.  Actually, I think he'll like that joke.  Here are my Mom's recipe binder (yes, that's Martha!) and my Dad's 36-point weekend To Do list.  A sampling:

- #10: load video editing SW on Dell Desktop (it took me a sec to figure out what SW meant, that's how tech-saavy I am)
- #19: fix washer/dryer water shut-off valves (he also took apart a radio when he was 5 and taught himself how to put it back together a few years later)
- #26: canisters on Generator (huh?!)
- #30: insulate ceiling holes in garage (pretty chilly in there today)

On his To Buy list: #6 P16T8 26" fluorescent light for oven and #9 R13 foil back insulation for attic lights.  I think he should start a handyman business.
My Mom always did crafts and project with me and my Brownie troupe when I was little and my friends still remember her baking cookies for us when we got home.  She also used to make candles, something I've been getting interested in here and here.  She may still have some molds left, probably downstairs in their basement/workshop/craft corner.

Hopefully they won't mind me posting their basement pics; it's actually really organized right now thanks to my Dad's #16: assemble storage cabinets in basement and #21: finish basement workshop cleaning.

My Mom also does Peter Rabbit storytime with kids at our local library and volunteers with her church group.  So they like to keep busy, like me!

And thanks to my 2 new overnight followers.  I'm fascinated by this blog:
Οι Συμμορίτες which you can translate right on the page with Google Translate to http://simmoria.blogspot.com/.  My horoscope fits me I think:
LEON (heart) 
The best tonic for the brave but arrogant and your heart is the Calendula.
Alternatively, we suggest a little melissa necessary to stimulate the heart and soothes the intensity of your demanding roar.

Recent Resources

[From broadwaypaper.com]

This picture is from Broadway Paper, "the paper store with so much more," not in NYC, but in Wisconsin.  I found the site while doing some research on mini hat boxes today.  Looks like a fun store, wish I could visit, but until then I'll just have to check out their website some more, it's quite pretty.  I've also found a few other interesting shops recently:

I stumbled on Exotic Fragrances, Inc. all the way up on 104th Street when I didn't have an umbrella en route to The Museum of the City of New York.  I had been looking for fragrance oils to use in poured candles so I was shocked to find this shop with over 1,000 scents!  I chose Peppermint and Dewberry, so hopefully I'll buy the other materials to make these candles soon, maybe before winter is over.

I also just happened to walk by Beads of Paradise on 17th Street.  They have pieces from all over the world: South East Asia, India, Indonesia, China, the Middle East and Mexico and beads made of glass, metal, wood, shell, gold, silver and semi-precious stones.  They even have reasonably priced classes, might have to check those out sometime.

If I'm not working at events, my office closes at 6 p.m. each day.  I've wanted to go to New York Central Art Supply on 3rd Avenue, but it closes at 6:15!  So, it was cool when I got out early yesterday and could check it out.  This store has been in business since 1905 and I like that they had a vast selection of "serious" art supplies from paints to embossing and silk screening supplies, as well as "lighter" stuff like glitter and sculpey clay.  

And I also made it a little further south to Downtown Yarns and saw these cool yarn snowflakes in the window.

Christmas Wrapup

Gift wrapping and gift giving...

The frosty salted pillar candles were a gift for my Mom:

The amigurumi reindeer was for my Aunt:

The mice were for all of the cats in my life, here's Kiki:

And oh! gifts for me...

and I made this chilly

amigurumi penguin from Lion Brand 

on the day after Christmas. 

I want to keep him, so we'll see...

Frosty Salted Pillar Candles

Merry Christmas!  It's been two days of good food, family, gifts and fun.  I really enjoyed making many of the presents I gave this year and these snowy candles from Martha Stewart Living were a hit.

Another great Martha craft that was so easy and had everyone asking how it was done.  With just some glue and epsom salt you can make candles wintry in seconds. 

I found silver trays and fabric flowers at Jamali Garden Supplies in the flower district, a great resource for decor, candles, wire, floral tape, glass, stones, shells and beyond.  And I wanted to give the whole wintry scene in one piece, so I poured in more salty snow, nestled in some greenery and the glittery matchboxes I made and set the arrangement into extra large boxes from The Container Store.

Wrapping was a little challenging, but I made a few labels to say "This End Up!" and they were ready to go into the car for Christmas Eve delivery.

Decorative Decal Pillar Candles

I finished my first Christmas gift project last night: Martha Stewart Living's Decorative Decal Pillar Candles.  The website has the beautiful clip art that you can print onto a decal sheet, which you spray with clear varnish (in a well-ventilated area!).  Then apply the paper to the candles and matchboxes: very simple!  I also covered a couple matchboxes with glitter.

Finding the matchbooks was actually the hardest part, nothing in drug stores, restaurant supply stores, etc...Recently, The New York Times wrote about the resurgence in matchbox popularity as "a new old freebie" even though smoking isn't allowed in restaurants here anymore.  So, I finally walked into a famous restaurant not to be named, lest they be overrun with matchbox requests, and they were very accommodating and generously gave me 6!

I'm planning on giving these as Christmas gifts, but tested one out to make sure it didn't burn through the paper and it worked out fine.  Then I added a glass coaster and ribbon and voila: fini!

Full moon, new month

December 1st already, the last month of a super busy 2009.  I'm getting back into my crafts after a long hiatus, so I'm making lists full of holiday preparations: snowflakes to crochet, socks to knit, candles to pour, penguins to felt, cookies to bake, and all of the craft stores, yarn shops and flea markets to visit around New York City.  And thinking about this article on "The Zen of Crafting".