homemade granola and resolutions

So my last post was in June of 2013. It was titled "Aspirations to be a better blogger" and that was obviously a fail. Oh well. It may be February, but one of this year's resolutions is to actually blog again, and to floss. I'm still flossing a month into 2014, so perhaps there is hope to get in the habit of posting interesting things.

This last weekend, I made homemade chocolate peanut butter granola. I love granola, but have never attempted making it because I assumed it'd be too tricky or involve ingredients I don't feel like buying. Wrong to both. One of my new favorite food blogs, Sally's Baking Addiction, has a great recipe for this. Surprisingly easy and extremely addicting. This morning I added it on plain greek yogurt, and then topped it with sliced bananas and warm peanut butter drizzle. Not only was I actually full until a late lunch, I had enough energy to run more than usual today (because I'm preparing for this 5k).

Last week I dropped off these Open/Closed signs to a local shop Wabi Sabi. I can't wait to see them on the door soon!

Also, it's cold outside, so it's nice to hang out inside with this guy.

Aspirations to be a better blogger

I realized today that it's been almost two full months since my last post. Look at me being a bad blogger! The truth is that I always struggle with writing. I'm better at making things look pretty. I don't think I'm a bad writer, I'm just so slow to get started. So I have to get back into the swing of things now after being a little lazy the last two months.

Even though I wasn't being a cool blogger, I have been busy with work! I've had some things cooking with custom Etsy orders, making new Etsy products, and gaining more freelance work. I may also be in the process of co-writing/designing a cookbook with a fellow designer. Updates on that will come. That's a brief summary, but here are some photos to catch you up a little.

I've been printing all of my new card designs on French Paper Co. Madero Beach paper. I started incorporating it into my products a few months ago, and it's been making everything very lovely. It's got such a higher-quality texture going on.

You should also know that I recently baked a strawberry rhubarb pie. I've never baked a pie before, but oh am I going to make lots more this summer. It's one of those intimidating things I never bothered with, until I had rhubarb to use and a hankering for pie at the same time! Anyways, I'll add a pie recipe on here soon so I can share what I've learned. For now, you can admire with me how domesticated and charming this one turned out.

Blackberry Macaroons

This year for Easter, I wanted to make something pretty. I came across a recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine for pretty pink chocolate-dipped raspberry macaroons, and so I said YES and looked no further. You might be wondering why then this is titled "Blackberry Macaroons" and so I will tell you that I refuse to pay $5.00 for a tiny little pint of raspberries, especially when I can get blackberries for $3.00! I eventually would love to try these with raspberries in the summer when they are a bit cheaper, but for now I was perfectly pleased with my blackberry substitution experiment. And anyways, these turned out to be a very lovely shade of purple, which is second best to pink.

Adapted from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients: 2 c. dried sweetened flaked coconut 3 tbsp. granulated sugar 1 large egg white pinch of salt 1/2 c. fresh blackberries 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350° F. Combine coconut, granulated sugar, egg white, and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add blackberries and pulse until just incorporated (do not overprocess!).

Scoop mounts of coconut mixture 1 inch apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to form the small mounds. Bake until macaroons are lightly golden, about 25-28 minutes (more or less depending on your oven, so watch them carefully). Rotate the baking sheet halfway through. Then transfer the macaroons to a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a microwave bowl. Microwave first for 30 seconds, then stir, then microwave at 10 second intervals until it melts (stirring between each interval). Use a fork or your hands to dip the bottoms (or the whole thing!) of the macaroons into the chocolate. Transfer them to a wax-paper-lined sheet or container. Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes or overnight. Serve them chilled and enjoy eating something pretty.

Fun with custom orders

Recently I've had a few custom orders through Etsy that have been really fun to work on. Well,  any time I get to draw pretty words for work is actually pretty great. But this one particular project was for an 8x10 print and two matching 5x7 prints for an upcoming Great Gatsby themed wedding. I particularly love Art Deco style things, so it was extra fun to incorporate that part of the Great Gatsby into these. 

I felt pretty inspired during the sketching process. I pulled in features seen in a variety of things from book covers to architecture from the Art Deco time period. It makes me want to draw a bunch of things in that style!

I was loving it so much that I incorporated some of these illustrations into a journal I'm now selling in my Etsy shop. It might just pop up in some cards eventually too!

Sometimes I make pretty websites

Along with working on adding more products to my Etsy shop, I've also been busy lately with some freelance work. I recently finished working on a blog website for a makeup artist in New York City. You can see it here. This time, I played developer rather than designer.

I have been taking on more web design projects lately where I do both the design and development of the site, but normally my usual role would be to design the visual aspects of a site and work with a developer who would make it work by writing code and all. I typically just make things pretty, so this time it was a fun change to be the one to make the website come alive. It was made on WordPress (so is my blog), and I think I'm totally on my way to becoming a master of it (how long that journey may be is still in question).

One thing I particularly like about developing sites is the different type of creativity required. With web development, it feels like how math class used to feel for me in school. It's all like a formula that is sometimes agonizing to figure out, and I often feel as if I could punch my computer in the face if it had one during that part, but then it's seriously so exciting once I do figure out everything and know how to make things function. I realized that I have a bad habit of celebrating with some sort of chocolate confection or cookie-like treat when I figure out really tough things by myself. I do hope that urge to reward myself with sugar passes as I become more of a web master.

But anyways, after working on a web development project, it does feel nice to be working on making things pretty again. I'm working on adding new cards to the shop, and have some exciting custom projects coming soon that I will most definitely share with you. They are going to involve lots of pretty hand drawn things.

a week in instagrams and more spring preview

This week flew by, but lately it's been feeling like that every single week. I've been continuing to work on my "Spring Collection" of greeting cards. I had some samples printed this week and got really excited at how well the colors + paper choice turned out. All of my paper comes from French Paper Co, and for this collection I'm trying out a different type. I try to always use recycled paper and this one has lots of nice little specks in it. I'm loving it so much that I might transition to using more of it in the rest of my products...

I just got a shipment again this week and wanted to share with you a picture of their packaging. Yes I am in love. My sister (also a designer) and I could go on and on talking about paper. The way it smells, the way it feels....and so on. But now that I've written that out, it does kind of sound weird and I know for sure it will to those who don't work with printed paper things for a living. Whatever.

I also ordered some Moleskine notebooks that I will illustrate and sell in my Etsy shop. I really enjoy lately designing things by hand without the use of a computer at all. Getting your hands dirty seems so retro. I received pretty pink nail polish in the mail too. That of course has absolutely nothing to do with my work. But it's pretty. These all arrived at the post office on the same day making for a very lovely afternoon of goodies.

This week I also had time to be a little social, which was a nice change. Unfortunately when I get really busy, my social life is usually what I cut first and I know that's not a good thing. I try to remember that getting out and seeing people is a really good break to stay sane, even when work things feel overwhelming. This week I had a nice lunch date with my mom, and there was also a surprise birthday party for one of my closest friends. Surprise parties are actually very exciting for the birthday haver as well as the birthday party throwers. It was just as fun as how it looks in the movies! I illustrated part of an E.E. Cummings poem to give as a birthday gift to my friend. She is always kind enough to accept a growing collection of my hand drawn work.