What We've Been Up To This Holiday

The Wisconsin string art I made for my husband, in its new home on top of a bookcase

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas/White Anglo Saxon Winter Privilege Night (anyone else on here a Schmidt fan?). We really did. My husband has had the entire week off and we've been making the most of this time together; he starts his new job Jan. 2, and it will be back to rare sightings as he works hard to prove himself. 

In the days before Christmas I was hurrying to finish illustrating this book that I wrote for my daughter. It's about a raccoon who's unfairly accused of stealing an egg. In order to clear his name, he has find the real culprit with the help of his friends: fox and squirrel. Lucy was pretty delighted with the book, though she solved the mystery much earlier than I thought:

I also once again made a Yule Log for our Christmas Eve celebration with friends. It's made with chocolate cake, chocolate mousses, and chocolate ganache. The mushrooms you see are made of meringue and cocoa. It's an amazing dessert, worth writing about. But there's always a point in making it when I scream, "I'm NEVER doing this again!" and everybody in my family runs away as fast as they can. It requires so many steps — like a whole day of prep, baking, whisking and assembling, and the crucial rolling of the mousse-topped cake is a difficult task I always mess up. I'll probably make it again next year. That's how good it is.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, we went to our friends' apartment for a little party. It was a little late to bring along a kid, but I campaigned hard for us all to brave the bus ride to Washington Heights. And it was an amazing night thanks to our friends, performers both, who are so generous with their talents. My four-year-old was ready to join the circus after a night spent spinning plates, juggling, and watching our friends perform their hilarious faux hypnotism act. Matt also made everyone pipe cleaner mustaches: 

It's so worth breaking routine for making memories with friends.

On Christmas Eve we went to our good friends'  apartment in Inwood, where we ate some traditionally American dishes as well as Dominican food, and — of course — the Buche de Noel (Yule Log) cake. We sang carols, cuddled their baby, and tried to keep the excited energy to a manageable level for these two:

Soul sisters

 My kid was the most gracious gift-getter this Christmas. Everything was amazing. All of it was her favorite. She was all smiles for the entire day, no tantrums, no whining. A Christmas miracle:

Yesterday we went skating at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. It was definitely weird for this Canadian to ice-skate in the shadow of the elevated 1 train. There were more people hanging on the boards than I have ever seen. But at $13/person I can understand why our neighbors here in the Bronx aren't making skating a regular winter activity. It was more than we could afford, but we did it anyway, and it was so worth it. Lucy took to it like a true (half) Canadian. 

I haven't sewn a thing these past few weeks, which causes me a little guilt, but there's an alleged blizzard coming our way today, so I may take a few hours to get deep into the new Craftsy.com class I started before the holidays hit. It's Kenneth King's "Jeanius" class, which is all about how to reverse-engineer your fave jeans/pants. 

I've been watching the videos, trying to figure out what jeans to use for this project. I don't actually have a pair that I like, which is definitely a requisite for finding an item to copy. Fortunately, before Christmas I shopped for some new clothes, and found this perfect pair of tuxedo-style cropped cigarette pants (I don't yet have a pic, or else I would show you what I mean by that description). 

They're by W118 Walter Baker, which is not a brand I have ever heard of, but they are divine. I'm pear-shaped but they magically balance out my frame a great deal. I feel really good in them. They're not jeans, obviously, but the method Kenneth King teaches in the Jeanius class can be employed in copying pretty much anything, I think.   

That's the update from here. I hope your holidays have been just as fun!

Ornament Exchange BIG REVEAL!

Did that title get you excited? Are you sick of seeing other's Christmas trees yet? Not me. 

Other than the eight new ornaments I received from the other participants in this exchange (which were SO delightful to get in the mail!), I'm most excited about the new colored lights we (OK, I) opted for this year. Ever since I've had my own tree, I've done white lights. But since our tree ends up covered in mostly kid-made ornaments, I was wanting more of a retro, family-friendly vibe, a la "Christmas Story":

Yes, it is a small tree. And yes, it was still hella expensive!

We don't usually do much decorating other than the tree. We live in an apartment, so we don't have a mantle. Any shelf space we've got is prime real estate for stuff we actually use....but this year I did switch out pictures for a Christmas-themed cluster that includes the embroidered titles from my family Christmas music video (Have you seen it already? Go check it out.)

And now, for the ornaments (follow the various links to go straight to the tutorials posted for each):

Kelli of True Bias started this little ornament exchange. She sent me this whimsical little red peacoat, which I loved so much, I tried out her tutorial — twice! (see below)

These are my two attempts at Kelli's pattern. I opted for more sewing over gluing (pom-pom buttons!)

Here's Megan Nielson's precious leather and suede acorn:

Mika of Savory Stitches must have a ton of patience. Just look at all the beading on her lovely peace dove ornament:

 Lucy just LOVES this narwhal ornament by Jen of Grainline Studio. In fact, she was pretty pissed at me about it. Pissed that it's mine, and NOT HERS:

As for Dixie DIY's tasty-looking peppermint ornament, I had to remind my kid twice not to lick it:

This Holly Jolly Pug by Sonja of Gingermakes almost didn't make it onto our tree. My kid was convinced she needed to send it to her aunt, who actually owns two pugs. I told her Anne can make her own pug ornament (that's what these tutorials are for, right?):

I'd never seen Miranda's One Little Minute blog before this exchange, but this lady is seriously talented (in case you need more evidence than this intricate paper reindeer ornament she designed, go see her blog. She's a woman of many talents. And prolific too.)

And last, but never least, Maddie's adorable yarn ball ornament, which looks like a neat, easy one to make in a pinch for a gift:

So there's my tree! I better get back to work on my final Christmas project: a picture book I wrote and am illustrating for my kid. It's proving to be a little ambitious, just because of time constraints. I'll post a preview pic soon!

Merry Christmas all,

Suzanne

Introducing our Semi-Annual Family Christmas Music Video!

Hey Blog buddies! I have a special gift for you today: The semi-annual Paulson-Beaubien Family Christmas music video! (That's me and my crew, just in case that's not clear). I'll spare you the details until after you watch it (but knitters and embroiderers should watch for some handmade offerings):




Our family got the best early Christmas present earlier this month: a full-time job for my husband, thus completing his career change and ending our year of self-sacrifice. (Can I get a "WOOHOO!"?)

That said, it doesn't start until January, so we'll be enjoying another lean Christmas this year. But I didn't want to forgo giving completely (I know what you're thinking: make stuff, dummy! But the cost of shipping adds up to more than we can afford; we both live far from our families and closest friends, and I've learned that even a nice batch of homemade caramels can end up costing you a fair amount when they all have to travel 2,000 miles).

A video seemed like something we could share widely to bring joy to our family and friends, without spending any money. And I knew grandparents especially would love to see Lucy. (We did it once before, in 2009, when Lucy was just one. I still love watching that video, even if my drumming was pretty poor.)

The concept was mine, but Ryan and I wrote the song together (a super fun thing to do with a bottle of wine on a Saturday night). I did nearly everything else, including video editing, making embroidered titles AND a knitting project gone wrong (purposefully, I swear). Lucy was quite obliging, though somehow she manages to yawn in the middle of a good take, making it look like she's just so over it. Four-year-olds. What are you gonna do?

I hope you enjoy the video. Feel free to share if you do (like the song says, it's easy to re-gift this Christmas song!).

Merry Christmas!

Advent Cabin

Though Jesus is not our reason for the season, that doesn't mean I'm not trying to inject our secular Christmas celebrations with meaning above "What do you want for Christmas?"

Thanks to our current budgetary constraints, there's no risk of our four-year-old being spoiled. And, lucky for us, she's admirably modest in her wishes — and has never once even asked me for a toy she's seen in Target or whatever, which is kind of amazing. But (BUT!) I find that on the days she gets the most, she can be the most ungrateful.

So in addition to her cheap Target-brand chocolate advent calendar, I made her a toilet paper roll cabin calendar, an idea I stole from this much better version I first saw on Pinterest — originally from Morning Creativity:

My version looks much more DIY thanks to the fact we were out of printer ink (are we not always out of printer ink?).

But instead of treats or small gifts, I stuffed each tube with Christmas jokes only a four-year-old would love  (e.g.: What do you get if you cross mistletoe and a duck? A Christmas quacker!"), good deeds and "Christmas dares" (a concept I totally made up but don't tell my kid, OK?).

Of course she was much more excited to open the window on her cheap chocolate calendar yesterday, but she was also game for her first Christmas Dare, which was "Give someone (other than mama or daddy) a nice compliment." She made me email my friend Briony, who was visiting from Toronto and we had seen earlier in the day, to tell her she looked pretty in her furry coat. I hope a little bit each day, I can help her see that the best way to spread Christmas cheer is not only singing loudly for all to hear, but also to make someone's day in some small way.

A few more examples of the Christmas Dares and good deeds I hid behind each brown paper number:

• Chose one grandparent to call and sing a Christmas carol to.
• Here's $5. Now go buy a small gift for someone else.
• Here are two lollipops, one for you and one for someone in our neighborhood. It's your choice, now go deliver it!
• Here's some paper and an envelope. Write a short letter to anyone you like, and then ask mama to mail it for you.

Do you have any good deeds or Christmas Dares that would be appropriate for a small child?

I consider it success we made it out of 2011 alive

There was a point in 2011 when I somewhat seriously considered squatting. That's how desperate I felt this year.

Not squatting in an abandoned building, mind you. We have a three-year-old, after all, and I need a daily shower and coffee within moments of waking up in order to feel human. I just wondered what would happen if we stopped paying rent...how long would it take to get thrown out, and could we save enough cash in that time to make a new life somewhere other than New York? Because life in this city become pretty unbearable after I was attacked by a crackhead, just as my husband suffered a major loss of work, on the day an earthquake shook the city, in the calm before a hurricane hit. I don't remember the earthquake (nor do I recall the attack), and the hurricane proved to be no worse than any other sudden summer storm. But an intense feeling that the other shoe was about to drop remains just the same. My husband has it too; neither of us can get an email without the other one demanding what bit of bad news it could possibly be. It's a terrible way to exist.


(I also considered lottery tickets and corruption as possible ways out. But good sense and a lack of opportunity won out).

So with all this in mind you would think I'd be ready to say good riddance to 2011. But I can't run arms outstretched into the future without worrying that it could be even worse. (After I was mugged, people said to me, "Well, now you've been mugged...so you don't have to worry about THAT happening again." But life doesn't work that way. You don't get a punchcard with all the bad things that could possibly happen to you on it. If it did, there would never have been a second episode of "I Hate My Teenage Daughter").

I found out this week that the guy who punched me in the mouth is refusing a plea deal so I will have to testify in court in February. What that means is I will have to see him (most likely), and be cross-examined by his defense attorney. My brain has so far done me the huge favour of not remembering the attack (thanks, brain!). But when I saw the police detective who helped me again at the Grand Jury, I was overcome with the feeling that I knew him — that maybe we dated in highschool, and he was really sweet to me...or maybe I've seen him on TV? It's so hard to explain. But when I saw him, I thought: "I KNOW him. He was nice to me. I was grateful." I can't remember what he said, or how our interaction went, but I am certain of the feeling of relief I felt in his presence. So I am worried when I see the crackhead who punched my face in I will remember the terror I felt — though not necessarily any specifics. And then I will never be able to leave my apartment again. I really would like to be able to leave my apartment in 2012.

There were some good things about 2011, to be sure:

• I was chosen as a "Featured member" on Burdastyle.com
• My husband appeared on One Life to Live
• I won a bunch of awesome stuff
• I went to Mexico for the first time, with some of my closest friends, and had the best time ever
• Pie continued to be awesome in 2011. And I'm feeling good about its enduring greatness for 2012.
• I made some cute dresses, like this one, this one, and my favourite, which was chosen by Burdastyle.com as a top project for the year
• I won a Halloween costume contest after pestering the shit out of my friends and readers
• I won tickets to Saturday Night Live
• We moved into a bigger apartment in a quieter neighborhood, though every time we hear a car horn honk, my three-year-old daughter sighs audibly and says, "I thought this was a quiet neighbourhood." (Oy, such a kvetcher!)
• We now live across the street from the BEST bagel shop ever. There's not even a toaster (because you would be an idiot if you were to toast a Bagel Corner bagel, I guess)
• My husband got into advertising school for copywriting, and I'm so excited for him to make a career change. It will be a challenging year, but we just have to hang in there and work harder. There's no other option. Not when you have this to wake up to:

Happy New Year. Hang in there, everybody.

I want this

I NEED one of these labels for the hoodie I am making my husband  — as a completely unsubtle reminder how much effort went into his Christmas gift this year.

They're $4.50 for four labels, at Sublime Stitching. I saw them in Bust magazine's Holiday Gift Ideas email.

Resolutions for 2011

 

Last year, my only resolution was to save receipts. I put a post-it on the front door and another in the fridge and it worked. I saved all the receipts for anything I purchased and was never left in the unenviable situation of needing to return something but unable to because I threw away the bill. Also, I feel prepared for tax time, having kept mental note (and physical record) of everything our family purchased that could be written off. 

Anyway, with that success in mind, I have a few more resolutions this time around. 

-find some way to exercise that I don't hate/doesn't cost a fortune. (Ideas?)

-go to bed earlier 

-not let New York get to me so much

-expand my Etsy shop

-figure out some way to get health insurance 

-become a better sewer/work on taking my time and not being so impatient to finish a project that I rush the details 

 

Our Etsy Little Christmas

 

At 3:40 a.m. today we awoke to the sound of two guys fighting in the street outside our apartment. Loudly, of course (is there any other kind of streetfight?). It was all in Spanish so we had no idea what the fight was about or if threats were being made, but we called 911 nonetheless, because hearing someone get beat up wasn't how I wanted to come down off my holiday high. And, as usually happens in these types of situations, as soon as we dialed 911 the streetfighters took their bout elsewhere. 

Anyway, with our semi-sick kid in our bed we awoke this morning to play with our new toys, some of which were bought on Etsy. Next year I might try to buy all my gifts there. The wooden sewing machine above was a steal at just $25. I know, it's a little "Just Like Mom" considering what I do all darn day, but there's only so many years in your child's life during which they actually look up to you before they turn to scorn and ridicule. I'll be making the most of that time.

 And here's my favourite gift: a handmade spool rack, which I sorely needed. I think my husband bought it for me because I had threatened to make my own using a power drill, chopsticks, a 2X4, and wood glue. It was a good idea, though I'm not sure our little apartment could withstand the rigours of woodworking too. Better to leave that up to the experts ...or at least someone in Pennsylvania with a woodshop in their garage.

I did this, so you don't have to

 

I'm pretty sure my mom has zero recollection of what it's like to have a small child. Or maybe she simply blocked out all the less-than-happy memories about what life can be like day-to-day with a toddler. How else to explain why we have so many conversations like this:

Me:  Yeah, so we took the train upstate to visit some friends this weekend. 

Mom: Oh! How long is the ride?

Me: About two hours.
Mom: That must have been fun!

Me: Uh, the first five minutes, yeah....you're kidding, right?
Mom: Kidding? Why?

Me: Have you ever met a two-year-old who likes to sit in one spot for two hours?

Mom: But she must have had fun looking out the window.

Me: Maybe if Elmo was running alongside the train juggling hotdogs. So: no. Not really. 

Anyway, there are a lot of things in New York City that sound super fun, but aren't really when you have to drag a toddler along. Seeing Santa at Macy's is high on that list. (I tried explaining to my mom just how brutally long the line is, and how excruciating it is to stand behind some obnoxious, bronzed four-kid family from New Jersey. Seriously, is Santaland worth crossing state lines?). 

Still, we braved the midtown Manhattan crowds yesterday because Ryan had the morning off and I really wanted to see the holiday window displays. Admittedly, morning is not the best time to see Christmas lights and windows (plus the glare gets in the way of a good photo), but we live an hour from midtown and the prospect of going there post-work-rush-hour-dinner-hour was just too much for me.

The best holiday windows are found at Macy's, Saks, Lord & Taylor, Barney's, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. (Here's a map for anyone who cares.) We were only able to see Macy's (we had to go there to buy shoes for the kiddo), Saks and Lord & Taylor. The three Bs (Bergdorf, Barney's and Bloomies) are all about 20 blocks uptown from the others so we couldn't fit them in this visit. But you can go to Gothamist for more photos (all better than mine because they were taken at night). And WNYC has a nice breakdown on the windows plus a walking tour planned out.

My favourite in the three we saw was Saks, whose windows featured one-of-a-kind designs by Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Jason Wu, Kaufman Franco, Marc Jacobs, Marchesa, Nina Ricci, Oscar de la Renta, Proenza Schouler, and Sophie Theallet. Lucy called the little girl featured in each diorama "Goldilocks," though she may be more of a sci-fi Little Red Riding Hood. Here she is catching mechanized butterflies:

 

Riding on a robot elephant:

Driving her futuristic bubble car:

And hitching a ride on a mechanized octopus:

Down Fifth Ave. is Lord & Taylor, another fancy-person's department store that I have never once set foot in because I couldn't afford to buy a luggage tag there. The store polled its customers for their favourite holiday memories and used them to create sentimental dollhouse scenes from various eras, like the following:

 

Now it doesn't take a demographer to figure out how diverse Lord & Taylor's clientele probably is: rich, very rich and stupidly rich. Oh, and totally white apparently because this little guy (who appears ready to climb up the fire escape) was the only person of colour in the store's 12 different vignettes:

 

Macy's throws up the same windows every year — a series of tableaux from the Miracle on 34th Street. It's much more kid-friendly than the artsier windows uptown, but the glare was really bad and in every photo I took you can see Footlocker and T-Mobile across the street better than you can see the Santa scenes:

Felt Toadstool Ornaments

Slitting open the plastic wrap on a box of new matching Christmas balls or snowflakes or whatever just seems wrong to me. I don't know what it is. I like my ornaments either handmade, vintage or as gifts. I like being surprised by what I see on someone's Christmas tree.  Uniformity (of colour/of ornaments/etc) can be lovely of course....but in a department store tree, not in a family tree.

 If I were to go for uniformity (which would mean not hanging up so many sentimental ornaments, a thing my husband would never allow, the big softie), I would go with a woodland theme: acorn garland, pinecones dusted with fake snow or glitter, clusters of holly, little fabric birds nestled on the branches, and toadstools — like the little red and white felt one pictured above. I was inspired by the toadstool rattles and terrariums my friend Holly makes (and will be selling at City of Craft in Toronto next weekend).  It was so easy, I barely had to neglect my child to make this one in about 15 minutes. Of course, you can see that my stitches aren't even, but I wasn't aiming for that sort of aesthetic. (Call it a design decision, and you don't have to apologize for your mistakes.)

Materials:

-scrap of red felt

-scrap of white or off-white felt

-handful of poly batting

-needle and thread (I used brown because I wanted my stitches to show, but white or red would look good too)

-6-inch piece of string for hanging the ornament

Cut out the following:

-3-inch diameter circle of red felt

-2 1/2-inch diameter circle of white or off-white felt

-Approx. 2-inch square (for stem) you can see in the picture mine's a bit bigger.

-3/4-inch diameter circle of white or off-white felt

-a few small circles of white or off-white felt for the spots on the top

You don't have to follow the instructions in this exact order. But this is what I did. First, I pinned the white circle to the red circle (the red circle is bigger, so it will gather as you sew. This will give you a nice, round top when you stuff it. Pin one side together, and then the other. Then pin between those two, so the excess on the bigger red piece is distributed evenly). Then stitch together. Don't worry about being perfect. Stop stitching when you have just a 1 1/2-inch opening left, like this:

 Then stuff it with your batting, like so: (aw, doesn't it look like a shy little turtle shell?)

Ahem: finish stitching all the way around.

Next, grab your square of white felt, and make a tube, overlapping a little. Stitch together along that seam, like this:

 When the tube to stitched shut, grab the little 3/4-inch circle you cut out earlier, and stitch it to one end of the tube, closing it off. Then stuff with a little bit of batting.

Take the stem and the top and stitch together like this:

I think it would be easier to stitch your spots on first, but I did it this way so they would follow the curve of the toadstool top. It may not really matter. Either way, stitch your spots on, like so: (I put on three, but you could do more)

I used a short piece of hemp to make the string for the ornament, but you could use embroidery floss, string, or whatever you have. I tied a knot in one end and then sewed it onto the toadstool top using a couple loops with my needle and thread. Done!

Crafty Corsages for Christmas

Last year my husband and I spent more on our holiday tip for the building's super than we did on each other (we had a $25 limit). And the only other person we purchased a gift for was our daughter, who was around 18 months at the time and in need of new toys (I hear people -- mostly moms -- say this all the time: "We just have sooooo much stuff!" like it's such a huuuuuge problem. Too much stuff. I wish we had that problem.) Anyway, instead of presents we shot a Christmas music video with the three of us and sent it out to family. I'm sure there were some who just thought we were self-centered and cheap. But really, the reality was we could not afford to buy Christmas gifts. And we were not going to accumulate more debt to do so. There was no moral high ground there. Just the shameful reality that people are going to buy you presents, and you are not going to be able to return the kindness. Even making stuff would have cost too much for us at the time. Purchasing materials was just beyond our mid-recession budget. 

This year, things are better. But we are still committed to living within our means, even during the holidays. But at least we can afford handmade this year. Like the above felt flower corsage, which I made a bunch of for grandma gifts (Lucy has three official grandmas, plus one honorary grandma, and all of them are so good to her). I didn't make it up myself. I followed this tutorial at Holidash.com. My friend Lizzi hates it when I say something like this is easy, but it really was. (Just get your 10-year-old to make you one). I think it would look cute on a wool coat, or a hat or even a tote bag.