After a Long Absence, Here are the New Items!

I am so sorry for not posting for so long!  Life has gotten very much in the way of everything;  pretty much it has been days full of daily swimming lessons and finding clever ways to entertain my brood for the whole summer.  We did a lot of BBQ'ing, swimming, outings, and a few weekend breaks out to the desert for some R&R near the pool. 

School started a few weeks ago (yes, the first week of August!), so we have adjusted to brand-new ways of doing our daily routine.  I have had to drastically change my circadian rhythm of sleeping and waking:  meaning that my typical summer night consisted of watching movies until around 2am and then sleeping in until 8:30am (nice!!!!).  Then BOOM, we fight to get to sleep at 7:30-8:00pm for the little ones and make ourselves wake up at 6:30am.  Culture shock?  Yeah, just a little bit.

But we have all happily reset our clocks and are doing great.  This new school year has marked the beginning of a loooooong, structured lifestyle.  For the very first time ever, it's not going to be about toddler playdates, going to the library for story times at 11am, and midday playdates.  Nope.  That pretty much is going to be the 'occasional' event that happens when there just happens to be time.  Oh no... now we have to stay put at home during 'school nights', fill in nightly reading logs, do after school snacks, and start getting ready for bed by 7pm.  And that's pretty hard to do considering that it is still SUMMER!  My hubby has taken to closing every single shuttered window in our house to give the place a dark semblance when it's time for closing shop at home.  So far, it has worked out really well, and we get time to ourselves by 8pm.  Yay for us!!!

I did however manage to squeeze in time to do a few brand spanking-new designs for Twig and Sparrow.  I did about ten or so new pieces in a course of about two weeks.  I don't know if many of you know how the creative mind works (some of my artistic friends might very well be able to relate to this), but once an inspiration hits your brain and your heart, you HAVE to go with it.  You can't just say, 'oh, I'll have to remember that one tomorrow.'  At least for me, it has to happen NOW.  Some nights I would wake up around 12am and run down the stairs to sketch what I dreamt about, or better yet (or worse?), I will start to actually make the piece.  With so much happening every single day in a typical busy mother's life, there's no time to just 'table' things...or else they will go away. 

I think inspiriation is kind of like a giant wave coming towards you:  you know it's coming, you can't really ignore it, so you just dive right in and go with the flow.

Tell me what you think of these! 

All of these items are currently available on etsy



See you next time!

xoxo

PS= my next post will most likely be on a brand-new, beautiful website and blog!  Stay tuned!!!

Probably the Best Cake You Will Ever Taste!

Looks like our very hectic weeks are coming to a close!  Both of my older 'babies' have graduated from preschool and kindergarten and we have already begun our summer vacation.  I am still poring over this last sentence, as I cannot believe that this milestone has come up already.  It sounds so cliche, but it is so very very true.  I think about this all the time, and the way that time has just flown by really, honestly, just blows my mind.

I met my husband eleven years ago and we are going to celebrate ten years of marriage this October (I know you did the math!).  I remember so well our early years, er I mean, months of dating.  I remember what I wore on our first date to the Bluewater Grill (happy to say the dress still inexplicably fits?), our first camping trip together, what he wore when I met him, our cross-country trip across the US, and first time meeting his family in Hawaii.  That was a decade ago.  Seems like last Tuesday.

So here comes the scary thought:  ten more years are going to fly by.  My son will be SEVENTEEN.  You know, college prep, SATs, applications, girlfriends (shudder), and a host of other things I have absolutely no clue about right this minute.  Many a tears have rolled down my face just at the mere thought of this.  I remember one night when he was three months old.  I was rocking him and staring at him, and I remember thinking that this tiny little young stage he is in is so fleeting.  And here we are now, my growing boy with enormous feet, paling around with his friends, and telling me about his crazy-intense interest in jets and airplanes.

The good thing is that all these small moments are seared into my memory.  In between all of the necessary duties in everyday life as a parent, we can still find these precious patches of memories in our everyday lives.  We need to remember to stop and take a minute to look into their eyes, give them dinosaur-sized hugs and enormous, juicy kisses. 

So where's the cake recipe?  I posted this on Facebook today and I got a couple of requests to share the recipe.  I found it on another great blog by Alicia Paulson: she is this amazing, creative multitasker and artistically talented in embroidery and crafts.  She also bakes the BEST chocolate cake with the BESTEST EVER frosting.  I have used it for most of the kids' b day parties.  What I love best about it is that it works like buttercream and has no shortening.  It uses flour and milk as a base and gets whipped up with butter and powdered sugar to create this sinfully heavenly culinary dream that for some reason people call merely 'frosting'.  It's a party in your mouth, people.

OK, so I did make a little modification.  I layered some caramel in between all these layers of chocolatey goodness.  Look, I even drizzled some on top in a neat little cross-hatch pattern, wow!  I loved how all the caramel mess just oozed out of the sides.  The messier the better!

PS= the caramel was supposed to be homemade, but apparently it is really hard to make caramel.  I had the candy thermomoter and everything, and I let it go a hair of a degree higher in temperature because the dentist called (is this a sign to reconsider the caramel???) and I got distracted.  So long story short, the caramel came out of a jar from the store :(

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Ms Paulson and her fantastic blog, rosylittlethings.typepad.com:

Hershey's Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa (I use either the regular or the Special Dark, whatever I happen to have)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup steaming hot (brewed) coffee
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes. Carefully stir in boiling water and coffee (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely.

Cloudburst Frosting
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup WHOLE (it has to be whole) milk
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
In a small pan, gradually add the milk to the flour, whisking them together into a totally smooth mixture — you don't want any lumps here. Simmer (barely) until thick over low/medium heat, whisking constantly so you don't get any lumps. (Do not walk away from the stove for even a minute — trust me. If you do get lumps, just push it all through a sieve.) You want it to be the consistency of pudding. Remove from heat and let it cool completely but NOT in the refrigerator (Mom says if you put it in the fridge it won't work). Let it cool for a few minutes, and then push a piece of plastic wrap down on the surface of the mixture (so a skin doesn't form) and let it sit on the counter for an hour or two or three until it's completely cool. Cream together the butter and almond; add the confectioner's sugar and beat on high for several minutes until it is very fluffy. Add the milk/flour mixture and beat until it is super fluffy. The frosting will sometimes appear to separate when you add the milk/flour mixture, but just keep beating it on high until it whips up into smooth, fluffy clouds.

The flour and milk 'base' of the frosting. 

Hershey's chocolate cake batter can also be consumed like so ;)

Here is that cake again, just in case you missed it the first time.

Enjoy!

Twig and Sparrow Now at Modcloth!

Hello there!

My postings have been a little sparse these days, and for good reason!

It seems that the past week or so I decided to get all my errands and upkeep out of the way in a small period of time.  We have gone to the pediatrician a few times, the eye doctor, the dentist, and the endodontist for a root canal, and other miscellaneous appointments all over the map.  In addition to all of this, we are two weeks away from summer break (?), which includes awards ceremonies, plays, graduation ceremonies for both kiddos, conferences, etc etc etc!!!  Oh, and our computer got hacked with a nasty virus this week;  I discovered that I have an uncanny talent for talking on two phones at the same time, talking to two different people. 

And... I just polished off the last of the big order for....Modcloth!  This was completed just last week, and they have bought five of my designs.  So far, two are online available for purchase.  The 'Wallis' lace headband with ivory flowers, and 'Amelia', one of my earlier creations with green, white and organza flowers and leaves.  Come take a look!

The 'Wallis' is called 'Glamour in the Garden' on their site.  They are out of stock at the moment, but should be getting restocked soon.

We have a long weekend ahead of us and are taking a little vacay with the kids and Carey's sister.  Next week we are loaded with graduation activities and then a trip to the east coast.

Hopefully I can squeeze in one more post, but it may have to wait. 

See you when the storm calms down, and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

xoxo

Product Photo Shoot Complete!

Hello Everyone!
I know it has been a very very looooong time since I have posted.  Turns out I am a lot busier than I thought!  Between the norm of just keeping things humming right along at home, doing sea creature projects for my son, and battling the flu (that was a nice, unexpected surprise!), I am finishing up the big order and rounding out a few details before the big shipment next week.

In the meantime, I contacted my awesome friend Nicole to come by the house and take some close ups of my designs.  I have pics of closeups as it is, but they are taken with my little digital camera with very amateur angles and light.  With Nicole's artistic eye coming into the picture and the collaboration between the two of us, we got some pretty nice closeups worthy of being posted on my website!  Which, by the way, will be updated to look MUUUUUUUCH better by the end of next month.  Stay tuned!

Fiona ribbon headband

Ophelia floral headpiece

Ariadne floral headband

Clara silver roses headband

Louise floral headpiece

Isabella silver leaf headband

Ella floral headband

Aurelia vine crown

It was a lot of fun staging all my designs for the shoot.  I have to say that, although it is loads of fun to do shoots with models and makeup artists, last week's shoot was different.  It was neat to use different props and position the headbands and pieces 'just so', really showcasing them at their best.  Besides, it was just plain old fun working with Nicole.  Her three kids came over and played with my kids, we made chicken tenders (gluten-free if you can believe!), and got a chance to catch up and chat.

So there it is in a nutshell;  I should be pretty much caught up!  You'll be hearing from me again in the next week again!

See you next time!

Budding Little Models in TS Designs

Hi!  I just wanted to check in and do a quick post on a couple of my designs that were ever-so-adorably sported on these little bundles of cuteness (aka, my beautiful niece and my very very good friend's sweet little girl).  The older one is wearing Eloise, a crochet-lace headband with ivory and flax-colored flowers and organza leaves;  the little one is wearing Dulcet, a simple layered ivory felt flower with a swarovski crystal-center.  Don't they look wonderful?

 

The Dulcet headband can also be worn by adults.  This one sells out pretty fast! See it below:

shopruche.com

The Eloise headband also comes in adult sizes.  Here it is modeled on an older girl:

And as a side note, the 'Becoming' headband is so insanely popular that it has sold out in less than a week!  I seem to be making these on a regular basis. Here it is below, so simple and elegant:

Nicole Long Photography/ Hair and Makeup by Georgia Syrengelas

shopruche.com

See you next time!

xoxo

The Basics of Old-Fashioned Homemaking: Cooking and Sewing

Last week I was asked to do a large order and finish it by Thursday.  I got the email on the Monday right before that.  I gotta tell you, I don't think I have ever worked this hard.  I had to basically cram two weeks' worth of work into three tiny days.  Actually, two and a half days since I had to deliver them on Thursday.  I love a challenge!

Once again, thank God my mom was around to scoop the kids up and take them to her house.  I had the whole house to myself to yes, watch MORE on-demand movies and keep on truckin' with the order.  Thank GOD my husband was around to help me do the prep work of cutting, staging, die-cutting, etc etc etc.  We were a little workshop for those three days, tinkering away with our budding little business.

My Genevieve bridal cap seems to be a hit so far.  24 of them?  Coming right up!

I have this little process that I seem to go through when I do somewhat large projects like this.  The first two or three items always go ever so slowly, my hands can't seem to wrap themselves around getting the technique down.  I get a little clumsy.  Hence, I get frustrated.  But then, something happens after a few more tries, and it's almost like my hands and fingers mold themselves into the correct approach to getting the work done in less time.  Then my brain goes into skill mode and I become this little machine.  That's when I can start thinking about other things besides how to get a thread through a needle (yeah, it's that bad at first).  My mind is in this working trance that eventually takes me to the creative side of my headspace, so now I can do two things at once.  I can use one part of my brain to sew and assemble, and the another part to think about other things, like oh, cooking, going for a run, bike accessories, throwing out cleaning the kids' playroom, and the like.  Today, it was pumpkin muffins.

I am pretty sure I have ADD to go nicely with my OCD...

I tried to do the whole 'gluten-free' recipe, so I used the gluten-free flour I had in my pantry.  I also had some barley syrup, thinking that maybe it would be better than any brown or white sugar.  It is actually very sweet and has a nice nutty flavor to it.  I usually prefer brown rice syrup though.  That stuff is like honey, so sweet.  I gave some to my mom to try, and she had a very hard time believing that it was made only of brown rice and filtered water.  Too good to be true?

That barley syrup came out like caramel, it looked so yummy! 

I liked the way the muffins rose, and I let them cool for a while.  The only thing that I probably should have done differently was maybe add more of the flour.  I lined them with some cupcake liners, and they were a little difficult to take out;  very sticky, a good quarter of the muffin was still left in the liner.  If anyone out there reading this (is anyone reading my blog?) has any suggestions, please let me know!

They tasted very good though.  Maybe next time I will also sub out the eggs and use ground flax seed instead.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a go:

Gluten-free Pumpkin Muffins
1 egg (or a teaspoon of ground flax seed with one tsp water)
1 cup of barley syrup (or brown rice syrup)
12 oz of canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup gluten-free flour (or more?)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup quick cook oats

Mix together the egg (or flaxseed), pumpkin, syrup, applesauce, and vanilla. 
In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon.
Mix the two together, then fold in the oatmeal.
Pour into lined muffin tin at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or at least until you see them brown on top.
Cool them off completely.

See you next time!