Lark Crafts

You’re a good kid. Or maybe not, but you do love your mother. Why else would you have gotten that tattoo? Now make her something nice for Mother’s Day, and tell her we say hi. Here are some recipes we think your mom might like:

 

 

Momelettes!

Moms have come to expect breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day, and they should get it. Your mom has probably prepared at least 12,317 meals for you, approximately. If you are a grown-up and don’t live with your mom, and don’t want to break into her house early in the morning lest you get shot, then you might just have to plan the breakfast thing instead of surprising her with it. She’ll still appreciate it, I bet. Anyway, how about a momelette?! I am going to just give you some delicious ideas because I know you can figure out how to make an omelette.

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Today I would like to share with you some inexpensive DIY garden projects, some of which I have done, and some others that I aspire to do! I will share our highly functional—if a bit ugly—wooden pallet garden beds, a home made screen door, a soda bottle “cold frame,” outdoor Mod Podge ideas, a little inspiration for beautifying a low-budget-small-space garden, and a few free projects from our book Eco Craft by Susan Wasinger!

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There are all sorts of aphrodisiac foods and herbs out there, ranging from delightful and delicious (e.g., chocolate) to exotic and weird (e.g., cobra blood). For those of us who love cooking, Valentine’s Day offers an opportunity to try new recipes, perhaps ones that are more decadent than what’s in the normal dinner rotation. Well, I’d like to take this opportunity to share a couple of my own out-of-the-box recipes for love, hopefully with enough time for folks to order ingredients online if that’s necessary. (I’ll include some links for that at the end.)

Both of these recipes are perfect for opening up the heart, whether you want to relax into a romantic evening with your sweetheart or just be cheerful and present for a social gathering.

 

 

Five Senses Tea

This first creation, a tea I call Five Senses, is a delightful blend of sense-awakening herbs. I love to give this tea in a decorated glass jar as a gift, especially for bridal showers and weddings, because it just looks, smells, and tastes so sexy!

 

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January is a busy time of year for wedding planning: from the invites, menus, guests, and flowers to the dress, the vows, the music, and the photography, a lot goes into the creation of a wedding.

Just in time to help you arrange, budget, and envision your big day, BN.com is hosting a 50% Off Sale on a selection of wedding books now through January 29! Among the collection are some Lark titles: let Steve Sint guide you or your photographer to capture the perfect wedding photography; walk with Marnie Fogg through 100 years of wedding fashion and be inspired by decades of gorgeous gowns; feast your eyes on a stunning array of wedding rings; design your own flower arrangements; and give your wallet a lift with some budget-savvy wedding craft ideas.

Visit the BN.com 50% Off sale page and read more about the Lark wedding titles on sale below.

You just might find yourself saying “I Do” to a couple new books.

 

 

500 Wedding Rings: Celebrating a Classic Symbol of Commitment

Wedding rings symbolize commitment and eternal love—but in the hands of the world’s most creative jewelers they become works of art to interpret in endlessly intriguing ways. This breathtaking book, which showcases a stunning collection of contemporary, handmade wedding bands and engagement rings for men and women, shows just how far their imaginations can go. Masterfully set diamonds stand alongside conceptual designs that reflect a cutting-edge approach, such as Etienne Perret’s ring made for two fingers. The large gems in James Kaya’s sleek platinum setting, by contrast, seem almost suspended in air; it’s the tension of the surrounding metal that holds them in place. For jewelers in search of new ideas, and those about to whisper “I do,” these designs provide beautiful inspiration.

 

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I LOVE the idea of gingerbread houses, but I don’t really like the reality of rolling out stiff dough, dealing with a flour-covered kitchen or cursing at crumbling soft gingerbread walls. So as I was sharing these thoughts with my best friend, Tera, she said, “You should make a pretzel log home! It looks really cool and you’d just stack the pretzels and use graham crackers as the roof!” Tera’s so smart. Everyone should have a go-to friend like her. (She made my red velvet wedding cake, too.) Anyway, she forwarded me a recipe online that I used, and I’ll share my experiences in case you want to try this recipe.

First off, this is a PERFECT recipe to make with friends and/or family as a weekend project. The recipe says it’ll take you an hour and 40 minutes. Yeah. If you’re Martha Stewart or have some sort of crazy cake show on the Discovery Channel it might. So dedicate a weekend to this since time is spent waiting on parts of the pretzel house to dry.

1. INGREDIENT TIME: Basically, I bought a big tub of pretzel rods (for the walls), a package of vanilla and chocolate wafers (for the doors and windows) and a box of graham crackers (for the roof)  at Aldi (it’s cheaper for this stuff). Then at the regular grocery store I got 2 small packages of Meringue Mix (each has about 6 tablespoons) you can find near the spices. I already had the green food coloring and powdered sugar. This is important: Buy enough for TWO BATCHES of icing (12 cups of powered sugar)- the online recipe doesn’t make enough for gluing and decorating. (Then you can buy whatever candies you want to decorate with- pecans for shingles or peppermints, etc.)

2. GET MESSY: First, you’re going to make a mess making the icing. (Make one batch at a time- two total) But it makes the PERFECT glue. Mix it first with a spoon to wet the powdered sugar and meringue mix. When you’re done, keep a wet paper towel over the icing bowl when you’re not working with it. (it’ll dry out otherwise). The recipe is confusing about how to stack the pretzel rods: make the first square of the walls flush against the ground (aluminum-covered foil) with one of the ends of each pretzel rod jutting-out a 1/2-inch and the other end pushed against the other pretzel. Then ALTERNATE the rods so the ends LOOK like a Lincoln-log cabin. Use the pictures for reference.
-I used my fingers to apply the icing between the pretzels because applying it with an icing bag was actually TOO messy. Also, once you glue together your graham cracker pieces together and ice them, WAIT so they harden together before trying to move them to place them on top of the cabin. And when you do, use cans or corn starch boxes to prop up the roof before it dries.

3. DECORATE IT! This is the fun part. Get a small icing tip or cut the corner of a plastic bag and fill with icing to pipe icicles off the roof and to make trees, use sugar cones, turn them upside-down and pipe green icing onto them. (I bought the peppermint tree at Aldi.) For “snow”- I just sprinkled powdered sugar over the whole deal.

4. SHOW IT OFF! I was really lucky to have nothing break or fall during the construction, so I took many pictures of my cabin before it gets picked-at/eaten. (I even eventually added 2 figurines I coated in chocolate to the front porch of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler.)

If you want to try this or have any questions, post a comment and I’ll try to help! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Halloween is almost here so bring out the scary! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and Asheville is home to some great events to celebrate, the best of which (in my humble opinion, anyway) is the Asheville Zombie Walk through the streets of downtown.

A group of friends and coworkers decided we just had to join the shamble. First up, visiting the local thrift stores for that perfect outfit to destroy and cover in fake blood. Some of our finds included a bridesmaid dress, a whole bin of golf clubs, and a great bathrobe covered in teddy bears. We then met up at Lark to zombify ourselves using makeup, fake blood, bandages, and my secret ingredient: gelatin. Gelatin is great for making homemade zombie inflicted wounds. Continue reading to find out how…

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I found this hilarious video posted on KCRW’s Good Food website/blog. This has been circulating here at Lark this week—lots of mirthful, shrieking, devious, laughter up and down the halls. (Great insight into this group’s brand of humor.)

Here is where I get to tout Good Food with Evan Kleiman. It’s a radio show from KCRW in Santa Monica. They podcast the shows on their site or you can subscribe via iTunes (and there’s now a KCRW & Good Food App). The show is a weekly news magazine on seasonal foods (seasonal to LA, enviable and fascinating for an east coaster like me), sustainability, cooking, dining, along with bites of food history, trivia, and antics. My best resource to keep up with the emerging food trends.

One last thing. Evan has taken on a near Herculean challenge to post a Pie-A-Day, both sweet and savory. Yummy inspiration/temptation every day!

Check out KCRW’s Good Food after the vid

This interview was created by Kathy Sheldon, the development editor of Craft Hope: Handmade Crafts for a Cause.

A year and a half ago, I was tooling around on the Internet, half goofing off from my then-job as managing editor at Lark Crafts and half hunting for book ideas. I wanted to do a book that offered both beautiful craft projects and a way to make a difference in the world, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. I googled “craft” and “charity,” probably for the 20^th time in months, and this time I landed on the recently launched Craft Hope site. As soon as I saw the Craft Hope logo, I knew I loved the aesthetics of Jade Sims, the site’s creator. Part way into her description of the first project—sewing pillowcase dresses and bandana shorts for a children’s shelter in Mexico—I knew I loved Craft Hope and had found my author. What I didn’t know was that I’d also find a friend.

With lots of help from Lark Editor Beth Sweet, Jade and I spent the next nine months reaching out to designers, contacting charities, gathering and photographing projects, editing instructions, checking illustrations, marking up layouts, figuring out the legalities of having our publisher donate one dollar to Global Impact every time we sold a book (turns out giving away money is complicated), and generally making a book—in about half the normal time! Meanwhile, I was in the process of leaving Lark to start a new life in Charleston, SC, and Jade was in Texas, raising her two young children, having a third baby, keeping up her chikaustin.com blog, and processing the hundreds and sometimes even thousands of cloth dolls, baby blankets, sock monkeys, knit scarves, quilts, etc., that poured in for Craft Hope. After countless phone calls and emails, we finally got to meet in person this summer, when Jade and her three kids came to Charleston for some well-deserved beach time.

 

 

Jade, how did you get started blogging?

I’ve been blogging on chikaustin since October, 2006—so for almost four years. In my past life I was a teacher, but now I was a stay-at-home mom. I started blogging as a way to connect with other mamas. What I found was an incredible community of women, some mothers and some not, that quickly became friends. I also wanted a good way to document the day in and day out of life with my kids.

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