belle epoque

Chez belleepoque, Halloween is extra special, since it is a certain someone’s birthday.

I am a JV pumpkin carver at best, but what fun to blow out the jack o’lantern and make a wish! Plus the pumpkin allows for additional birthday treats:

I tossed them in some vegetable oil, sprinkled on a few hearty shakes of creole seasoning then broiled them in a single layer in the toaster oven. It was only a small pumpkin, so all the seeds fit on the toaster tray just fine. Of course I had to test one, and they are appropriately salty, crispy and just spicy enough. I usually don’t much care for pumpkin seeds, but these made me revise that opinion.

I know debate rages in the cupcake world, but in my opinion the Magnolia Bakery cupcake remains the apotheosis of the old fashioned, no nonsense, totally delicious cupcake. Even so, I’d never tried any of their recipes when making my own. Since my previous favorite frosting had a raw egg yolk in it, which is a no-no for me (even though it isn’t my birthday, I think I get a cupcake too), this gave me an excuse to try out the Magnolia Vanilla Buttercream recipe, and it is DELISH. It makes a ton of frosting and I definitely didn’t have to use 8 cups of confectioners sugar to get the right consistency (more like 5). I only wish I’d had some food coloring to make it orange like the pumpkin!

Hope you have a super spooky evening full of treats!

The CRAFT Magazine Last Minute Halloween Costumes for Kids segment ran on the CBS Early Show this morning and it was just great! You can find pictures and detailed costume how-tos here And I’m not sure how long the link will work, but you can find a video of the segment here. Voila my niece in the pirate costume that I made:

There was also an awesome monkey by Susan Beal, a super-cool bee by Cathy Callahan (I’m thinking this might be the perfect costume-in a larger size, of course-for my pregnant belly, which is very bumble-appropriate), and neat lego and sushi costumes by Diana Eng.

The tiny models, as styled by Jenny, were adorable (go Serena!), and Natalie was poised and fabulous on camera. I am so proud to have been a part of this project. Thank you to Natalie, Jenny and CRAFT for including me!

Ok, I know I’m all over the place with when I post about things I like, but here goes:
*Oswald, the Purl Frog

I found a remnant of the softest green furry fabric at Joanns that needed to be a frog. He’s stuffed with lentils and has a cookie monster quality I love. This is an easy, totally addictive and cute softie pattern, and I want to make one for every baby I know. Just have to figure out a good alternative to beads for the eyes, since they are very definitely not babyproof.
*This awesome card I got in the mail from Camilla, who designed and letterpressed it herself! The ink is actually a lovely dark moss green, I just didn’t take as good a photo as the card deserves:

*The latest issues of Blueprint and Marie Claire Idees, whee! Still waiting for the latest Adorn.

*My Fiskars scissor sharpener

This is my new favorite crafty tool. I will admit to having bought new fabric scissors because my old ones got dull, but no more. This thing is amazing! It even perfectly sharpened my shears from the dollar store!
*The handmade pledge, enough said.
*Biscotti!

The recipe:
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 T vanilla extract
3.5 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
Heat oven to 350
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, then add the eggs, sugar and vanilla, mixing well. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface, then divide into two pieces. Shape each into a log about 10″ long by 2″ wide and place them, well-spaced, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (you can also just grease the baking sheet). The bottoms will flatten out, which is fine. Bake for 35 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes. Once they’re not painful to touch, use a sharp knife to slice the logs into about 1″ slices, then turn each slice on a cut side and return to the oven for 8 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven, turn each cookie and bake for another 8 minutes. Voila! Biscotti. They are quite plain and nice with coffee. I think they’d also be great with toasted nuts in them, or with less vanilla and a bit of almond extract, and also if you dipped one side in melted chocolate.
*Last and very definitely not least: tomorrow’s crafty segment on The CBS Early Show! The show runs at different times in different regions, so click here to find out when it will be in yours. It will be on at 7:45 Eastern live in NYC, which is 45 minutes into the first hour of the show. Pssst…the person modeling my costume is actually my niece, so be sure to tune in!

Yay! I’ve just gotten word that I can tell you about the exciting project I’ve been working on this week. The lovely and talented Natalie will be on the CBS Early Show on Saturday talking about quick and easy halloween costumes for kids, and a costume I made will be featured on the show along with crazy-awesome costumes from the likes of the divine Susan Beal, Cathy Callahan, and project runway veteran Diana Eng!

I’m not going to spoil the surprise of what exactly my costume is, but you can catch the segment on CBS at 7:45am Eastern live, and I’d imagine sometime around then in other timezones too, though probably pre-taped as they do (my DVR is set to catch the whole show from 5-7am here in CA). For more details (and detailed how-tos for all the costumes), head over to the CBS Early Show site, or the CRAFT blog on Saturday!

It has been a busy few days here chez belleepoque, as I’ve been working away on a top secret exciting crafty project. I’ll be able to spill the beans in a day or two, so stay tuned! For this project I was required, yes, honestly *required* to visit Joann Fabrics for supplies. Of course it also happened to be during a 99 cent pattern sale. So I present a few soon-to-be WIPs

A coat (I’m thinking the long one but with the other sleeves), a dress (I’ve got some charcoal stretch jersey lying in wait!) and some tiny wee clothing. Little dresses and bloomers? So cute I might just pass out.

Inspired yet again by Amy (is it weird to call a blogger you’ve never met or corresponded with by her first name? perhaps I should call her Ms. Karol instead), I also made Monkey Bread. In the kitchen I muttered to myself about how labor intensive it was (I kept trying to imagine making it with kids and could only really picture a kitchen covered in flour and small people coated in butter and sugar), but when it was done? HOLY MOLY.

It is basically a bundt full of delicious buttery cinnamon roll. I used chopped pecans and skipped the icing because it seemed like gilding the already sugarbombed lily (plus I’d already cleaned up the kitchen and didn’t want to deal with any more sugar everywhere). If you make this (and you should), be sure you have somewhere to take it, or people to share it with, because as Amy notes, otherwise you will make yourself sick!

Luckily the lovely Natalie came over for lunch with her sweet Lulu and ate a piece for dessert. She also brought me some Aranzi Aronzo cuteness!

Squee! A felt mascot kit and a sweet tiny sewing kit! The next rainy day will find me stitching one of these together with teensy little stitches. Thanks Nat!

I finally did cut up that tree fabric to make a wrap skirt that fits my expanding middle

It is my first handmade clothing item designed to fit my very-different-now shape, and as such it fits the bill in that it is stretchy, comfy, and non-restrictive. It is not, however, exactly what I envisioned when I set out to make it, nor as cute as I would like it to be (I would prefer it a bit floatier at the bottom-should have done a half-circle wrap!). I will certainly wear it (see aforementioned “comfy” factor), but I’m considering it a muslin for future skirt efforts. I have a hankering for a denim skirt, and a good length of navy stretch jersey for the waistband, so that may be up next!

Happy weekend to you all!

My lovely friend Lauren ordered this for me and the bean a few weeks ago

So in addition to being brilliant, she is clearly also psychic! They told us today that baby belleepoque is most likely a wee girl. Let the pink explosion begin! Kidding, don’t worry- I will be an equal opportunity color-user in my baby crafts. I promise this is the last baby-centric post for awhile, but while I’m at it, I’ll share a little picture of the bean’s tiny face (it is a close-up, her face is to the top right of the frame and her little hand is to the left).

Regularly scheduled craftiness will return shortly!

Oh my goodness, blog friends. Thank you all so much for your comments on the last post. Thank you to those of you I know, and those of you who de-lurked to send good wishes (especially because now I have a bunch of new-to-me blogs to read!). I always wish there was some other, bigger expression than thank you to say how it feels to be so moved by gratitude, but rest assured if there was one, I’d be using it right now.

It has been looking a bit like this around here lately

Which inspired this

It is gingerbread from the wonderful Amy’s pdf of favorite recipe highlights (I just mixed it up like a quick bread- dry ingredients together, wet ingredients and sugar together, then everything together, stirred and poured in the baking dish). I wanted to say something clever about how what I was reading influenced what I made, and realised that scarily it totally did
Yes, gingerbread while reading a Nursery Crime. And no, I didn’t realise it until after the gingerbread was made and I wondered whether there was any connection. I’d best not start reading any books about insects. At any rate, the gingerbread turned out beautifully– all glossy on top and fluffy in the middle, perfectly spicy and not too sweet (particularly nice with a milky coffee). It is lovely as is for an afternoon snack or tea, and I think a dollop of whipped cream or a decadent cream cheese frosting would make it a yummy fall dessert.

Tomorrow is the day we find out whether the bean (as we call baby belleepoque) is a boy or a girl! Assuming it cooperates, anyway. So I’ll finally be able to get started on making wee things for it (not that they need, or will, all be either pink or blue, but I still think it is nice to envision the recipient when making).

I’m usually pretty superstitious about sharing works in progress. Mostly because I’m never totally confident that things will get done to my satisfaction, if at all. But it is time to spill the beans on the most ambitious project I’ve ever attempted:

In case you aren’t quite sure what you’re seeing there, I’m in the process of making an actual human being! That picture was from very early on. By current estimates, it should be done the first week of March sometime, and we find out what variety of human being it is this week! Moondoggie and I are super excited, for all obvious reasons. And of course I’m also excited for crafty reasons (explaining, if you were wondering, the rash of softies around here, and the lack of wardrobe refashions, though I do plan to make myself some skirts with jersey waistbands).

So that’s my big news! Around here there will, of course, be continued crafty items for small people, like Peanut (after Hillary Lang’s pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts)

but I haven’t forgotten about new tutorials and other goodies for those of you not necessarily into baby crafts. I’ll be doing a sewing workshop at the SF Bazaar Bizarre in December, and I’m participating in a couple other fun holiday craft projects that I’ll let you know about as they come up!

Does what you read influence what you cook? It does for me, at least when I’m reading something particularly atmospheric. Barbara Pym novels inspire scones and jam. Barbara Cleverly’s mysteries? Chicken Tikka Masala all the way:

Of course I owe the recipe to Alicia, and it has quickly become a favorite (with all of the changes she recommends, namely WAY less salt, and in my case only half a jalapeno).

I’m still organizing my little studio, so haven’t yet cut the tree fabric, but thank you for your empathy about project paralysis, and good suggestions! But of course I’ve had to make things even in the crafty chaos. I’m still loving the book Softies, and I’ve admired Jenn Docherty’s creations for years now, and the two culminated in Edwin joining the family


As you may have noticed, Edwin is a bit wonky. His proportions are nothing like the pattern for Jenn’s sweet Luella in the book, and I think he prefers going bare to overalls, but he is very dear and has made fast friends with Francoise.

Happy Friday to you all! I hope you get in some good eating, reading and crafting this weekend.