Bunny, Bear, Brownies and a Special Project

Happy Chinese New Year!  It's the year of the Bunny and Melinda the Build-A-Bear is all dressed up to celebrate with this little rabbit from Pearl River.

And with Belly, my friend Rachael's bunny: here she is after feasting on the holiday card I gave her this year.  She was too cute for us to be upset about it!

And speaking of Rachael I made her some birthday brownies this morning at 6:45 a.m.!  If you know me you know I'm not into mornings, so now you know how much I like Rachael.  My thoughtful friend Jenny had ordered me a subscription to Bon Appétit and on the cover this month:

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts from the amazing Alice Medrich.  Her newest book has the best title ever: Chewy Gooey Crisp Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.  So, I got prepped cause I love my 10-piece glass bowl set from Williams-Sonoma for my mise-en-place.

You start by melting the butter and then watching it foam until it starts to brown.

and when you mix in some wet and dry ingredients it starts bubbling quite a bit -- kinda scary!  Then it's looking like regular brownie mix.

And adding eggs makes it all silky.

Mila was very curious about the whole process, but then waited patiently while they baked in the oven.

And I wish I'd gotten a better picture, but we were trying to surprise Rachael in the sunny conference room -- what a nice, warm day it was today for a change!

I have another birthday to get ready for this week with another Alice Medrich recipe, so more on that soon.  In the meantime, I found out about this awesome project from Claire at blah to TADA!.  Etsy is sponsoring another year of their Special Delivery "craftivism": Share Your Love 2011.

You can make greeting cards to be distributed by Citymeals-on-Wheels for Valentine's Day.  I love this idea and bought some supplies today.  And I love the knit heart on Etsy's link since I made some last year.

You have less than a week to join in -- cards must arrive at Etsy HQ in Brooklyn by February 9th (next Wednesday).  Happy card making and Valentine's-prepping!

Valentine's Day Prep

I'm going to try to send Valentines for the first time in I don't even know how long.  Between Michael's and Target all of this was under $8.00: 20 pastel acid-free cards with envelopes, 20 cello bags with ties, 73 rhinestone heart and stud stickers, 16 sheets of printed 5" x 7" paper and 8 yards of velvet ribbon.

My high school friend Katie Sullivan, wedding planner and owner of Koru Wedding Shoppe in Hoboken also told me recently about her shopping trip to A.C. Moore for paper and embellishments for her valentines.  Katie was a creative inspiration for me; even when we were kids her room was decorated with beautiful papers and quotes, and now at Koru she has a wonderful selection of bridal gifts and accessories and can do anything from handling your invitations to planning your whole wedding!

Katie and I hope to make a run to Michael's sometime when our schedules free up.  And it looks like I should also go to A.C. Moore: they have a membership rewards program!