Saturday's Wedding: Christina + Brian (Victoria, B.C.)

This week's Saturday wedding swept me away when I first saw it.  The pops of red against the pale pinks, the beautiful setting (Victoria, B.C.), the handmade decor, the dress, um, the dress.  Here is what the photographer, Ameris Photography had to say about the day.  "Christina and co. hand made all their decor - wowzers! The ceremony & reception were held at the Fireside Grill. Flowers were done by  Rook & Rose. Her dress is by Chrissy Wai Ching. Great day all and all." (Via Ameris blog via Weddings In B.C.)

Weekend Project: Cool Rock Shelf

I sort of stopped in my tracks when I saw this shelving unit in the current issue of Rue Magazine.  Reminds me a bit of the cinder block shelf idea back in my first apartment only this one's much cooler.  Two big rocks and a raw edged piece of wood.  I like all the stuff on it juxtaposed against the big canvas.  Think it's a good weekend project?  Hard to find these supplies?  A bit heavy?  Still good inspiration. Home of Andi Potamkin via Rue Magazine.  (Photo by Emily Johnston Anderson).

Last Day to Shop at Our Mixed Tape (themed market)!

So here we are again, another month over at Poppytalk Handmade - this time our mixed tape themed market.  The shop will be open till later this evening (Pacific time) and then we'll pack up and sweep the floors for our 5th Anniversary market "Indie Love"!  Yup, it's been five years since we launched Poppytalk Handmade (fun fact: almost 7 for the blog) - and we're introducing a whole new line up of goods (and some new shops too) for launch day (Monday) along with a few fun surprises along the way, so stay tuned!

Getting Rugelached! The Creamcheese Cookie

Contributor post by Lyndsay of Coco Cake

I'm thrilled to introduce you today to our newest contributor to Poppytalk!  Lyndsay Sung of Coco Cake!  She's an amazing baker, cupcake and ice cream maker!  She's based here in Vancouver and she's as sweet as her treats  You can read more about her here and visit her online here!

Hi everyone! My name is Lyndsay and I am a self-taught baker and subsequent enthusiastic blogger. I love makin' foods and bakin' goods, and I will be sharing plenty of stories, recipes and foodstuffs here on one of my favourite blogs, Poppytalk! Looking forward to meeting you all on the information superhighway! My other work can be found here: my cake blog: Coco Cake, my ice cream blog: Ice Cream by Coco Cake and my food oddities and delights blog: Trompe Chomp!

For this year's Rosh Hashana dinner at my friend Shira's house, I whipped up some delightful rugelach to bring to the party! When I say whipped up, I really mean it... I was in a mega rush all day, one of those days where you have everything slotted in time increments and if you mess up... dingdong. You're late for your dentist appointment.

This little exercise in rushed rugelach made me realize that rugelach is the cookie of the people - it's not hard to make, and the results are so delicious!  So I thought I'd share it with you if you need a last minute Canadian Thanksgiving sweet to take somewhere or add to your desert table!


Rugelach is really a snap to make, and rather fun too - you get to roll out that rich, creamcheese and butter-laden dough into a big circle, and throw on your toppings! Treat it like you would a pizza! Kids would be super into this, I think. (I am a bit of a kid, I admit.) Then you use a pizza roller and zip along the rolled out dough circle to make triangle wedges. Next, starting from the outisde, each triangle then gets rolled up like a little sausage roll, a precious bundle of jam, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, currants and chocolate chips. Those little bundles get laid out on parchment paper on baking sheets, a quick slather of egg wash on each one to give it that golden baked look, and into the oven it goes!

I followed my (imaginary) friend Martha's classic rugelach recipe, but instead of the apricot jelly I used raspberry jam, and instead of mini chocolate chips I used regular sized (which are still pretty mini in comparison to other things!)

Into the oven the rugelach went, for 25 minutes on 325 degrees, with the pans turned a few times to ensure even baking. And how evil was it that when the dinger went off and the rugelach came out, I set them to cool and blasted out the door to head to the dentist without me even getting to try one!

Later the rugelach got piled up onto a vintage silver platter, jazzed up with some raspberries and mint for colour, and carried inside to my friend Shira's place to join in a warm, cozy, candlelit, fun and delicious meal with friends, in celebration of the Jewish new year!

Shana Tova (and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving), everyone!

xo Lyndsay

After making the dough, divide into three balls, flatten them into discs and wrap in plastic wrap. The discs are then chilled for a minimum of 1 hour, or overnight.

Remove dough discs from the fridge, dust a nonstick surface with a bit of flour, then roll out the cold discs into a large circle (like a pizza!) Brush the top with your jam or jelly, then sprinkle in your toppings - ground walnut/sugar/cinnamon mixture, chocolate chips, currants - and lightly press into the dough. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into wedges!

Rollllll up your little triangle wedges, starting from the outside going in - lookit those cute little bundles! Brush each bundle with egg wash for a golden-baked finish.

Bake on parchment paper lined baking sheets at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, turning sheets halfway through baking time for even baking.

Jam one in your mouth! You know you want to!!

Or, eat it daintily on a vintage plate, with a little raspberry on the side... ha...

Even better, plate it up on a vintage silver platter and bring it to a loved one's home for dessert...

Full recipe found here.

Tutorial: Veneer Pendant Lights

Guest tutorial by Holly of The Adventures of an Almost 40 Year Old Intern
 

Today we're thrilled to have Holly of The Adventures of an Almost 40 Year Old Intern share with us her new tutorial on making veneer pendant lights!  Check her out on the Nate Berkus Show making her brass lights next week (in the U.S. on October 12th)!

Recently I visited one of my favorite stationery stores in town and saw these beautiful wooden sheets of paper; a thin veneer made from so many different types of wood (cherry, walnut, birds eye maple, aspen, red cedar, you name it!) and was really inspired by it.  I thought it would be perfect for creating a light fixture (clearly I am on a lighting kick lately!)  So, I made some (two of them to be exact) and I didn't think it was possible but I love these just as much as my brass pendant diy!

If you like what you see above, here are the directions on how to create your own:


Materials needed:

• sheets of  11x17" two ply wooden paper (for the smaller lamp i used 1 sheet of birds eye maple and 1 of red cedar and 1 of walnut and for the larger i used 3 1/2 sheets of the cherry)
• 2 embroidery rings
• 1 piece of basswood measuring 1/16" x 4" x 24"
•  glue (E-6000 is my favorite)
•  bulldog clips (i used both size 0 and 1)
• x-acto knife (i used size #2)
• pencil
• measuring tape
• long ruler or straight edge to cut against
• pendant light 

Larger Pendant

Start with two embroidery hoops, one measuring 12" diameter and the other 5" diameter (I only used the fully formed hoop and did not use the outer hoop with the metal hardware attached).  Cut 4 pieces of the paper measuring 1" wide and 11" long.  Measure the hoops and divide them into 4 equal parts and and mark each. then attach each piece of the wood strip to the top and bottom with glue and cover each end with bulldog clips until it sets

While that part is drying cut 1" strips of paper that are each 17" long.  Note: I was careful to keep them in order because I wanted the wood grain to match when i glued them.

Begin attaching the wooden paper to the large hoop first. as you attach them, line them up with the top of the hoop, clip the outside of each piece in order to hold it. note: i ended up buying and using a bunch more clips than I started with in order to be more efficient with my time.

 

After finishing with the large hoop, move on to attaching each end to the smaller one. Note: here I had to overlap the strips of paper in order for it to fit onto the smaller hoop. I was careful to keep the grain lined up.

Once dry, use a 17" long 1" wide strip of paper to wrap around the outside of the smaller hoop to cover glue and seams and use two 17" strips to wrap around the outside of the larger hoop.  To create the piece that will hold your pendant, trace the inside and outside of your smaller hoop onto a piece of basswood. Use your straight edge to draw a line from the inner hoop tracing from corner to corner to find the center of the piece. This is where you will draw a circle large enough to thread your pendant wire through (should be big enough to allow the plug to pass through).

Cut where you traced the outside edge of your hoop as well as the circle in the center .  Slide the piece into the top of your fixture from the bottom.  You shouldn't need glue as it will be stable with your paper strips holding it.

Smaller Pendant

The directions are the same but instead of using a large and a small hoop, I used 2 small hoops. Also instead of using one type of wooden paper i used 2; instead of 1" strips that were 17" long I cut 1 1/2" strips;  and I used 2 short braces instead of 4.

For these lights I am using a super duper low wattage bulb. I did order fire retardant spray to apply to them as a precaution but it didn't arrive in time for this post so I don't know if it will affect the wood.

For those of you just tuning in and wanting to know more about Holly  you can by going here and online:

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10 New Halloween Ideas

Think you've been inundated with halloween costumes but still haven't found the right one?  Maybe one of these will fit the bill?  10 New Halloween Ideas.

Link Love

This year Swedish-based artist Camilla Engman has dedicated her 2012 calendar to her dog Morran.  As many of you probably know her beloved dog has cancer and so this years' calendar is an extra special one.  It is now available here.

Get PDF's and the how-to on how to make these spooktacular Haunted House Silhouettes.

 A set of two wallpapers created for the iPhone and iPad through the Barcelona-based company Poolga. All the leaves were hand-crafted out of paper.  Via You Are My Fave.

Caramel Pears from Fresh (via Design Mom)

My posts for this past week at Babble:

Still haven't found the right halloween costume?  Maybe one of these will fit the bill.
Amy Butler’s Husband Launches New Fabric Line: Parson Gray!
Limited edition handmade masks
Fall's Top 10 Women's Boots
Fall's Top 10 Women's Coats