TBT - Easter

The Easter Bunny is a weird one.  I get that both rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility, but together?  No sense.  We should all go Aussie style and have the Easter Platypus.  Is that a thing?  I suppose I could Google it, but I'm lazy and far happier believing it is a thing, because the Easter Platypus is awesome.

 



Finnegan is saddened by chocolate holidays.  He feels they are discriminatory.

Anyhoo, the whole confluence of weird that is zombie Jesus, fertility festivals, painted eggs and Easter Platypuses/ Platypi/Platypodes makes for some brain twisting magic.  However, any holiday that gives you days off and chocolate is a friend of mine, regardless of root.




I loved the hunt.  And the chocolate.

Growing up, my sister and I weren't often the recipients of treats (no mom, banana chips don't count), and those treats that we did get were hoarded and rationed by yours truly so that I could get some sugary satisfaction every day, in between the seasonal mother loads of Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.  But Easter was the most fun.  Painting the eggs was fun.  Trying to find them hidden in the plants and behind cushions (how long should eggs be out of the fridge once cooked?), and following the trail of jelly beans and chocolate eggs to find solid chocolate bunnies was the best!





I'm still a pretty big fan of magic, and an even bigger fan of sweet treats.  Guess I'll have to pull my apron on this weekend an bake me some platypus cupcakes.  I'll bet I can find them on Pinterest.

Happy Easter, in whatever form you celebrate it!
xo
s.

From Real Simple, April 2013.  I made the following adjustments:
remove 1 1/2c. APF, and add:
1/2c. brown rice flour
1/2c. quinoa flour
1/2c. coconut flour
remove cream cheese, and add
Tofutti "better than cream cheese" in equal amount.
To decorate, I iced and rolled cupcake in shredded, sweetened coconut,
used a jelly bean for the nose and chocolate chips for the eyes.  For the ears,
I split a hand made marshmallow, and dipped the sticky side in lavender sugar.

Throwback Thursday - Halloween Edition

Halloween was always a big deal in our house.  Before we were born to the time we were around 3 and 1 respectively, my parents had raging Halloween parties of legendary proportions.  The photographic evidence of these parties show a lot of creative costumes (as well as other things that I am sure makes my elders extremely happy that they happened prior to the Internet revolution).  Back in those days, people didn't buy their costumes, they made them.  There was no Halloween Superstore or Value Village, especially not in Ucluelet, but this did not stop folks from going all out.

For our costumes, my sister and I were lucky enough that my mum had a great deal of cleverness.  Our requests generally fell on the classic side of the Halloween spectrum, but our mum did not fail to make some memorable costumes.

The Classic Halloween Jack-o-lantern:



Am I not terrifying.  Look at my scary face!

 

The Wicked Queen of Halloween.  Mum was not really sure what to do with this request, but I was delighted by the result.  It remained one of my favourites:

That is one smug looking queen.  And one nose-picky ghost.

The Classic Witch.  As you can see, my sister (2 years younger) ended up as a Jack-o-lantern two years after me...

Note the lack of colour on my ears. 
Pretty sure this is a direct result of orange paint coming out of my ears for days after my Wicked Queen days!

A horrible creepy crawly spider.  Probably would have been more effective with my scary face rather than a smile.

I could have only wished to be a terrifying as this dog.

I still love playing dress-up, and if there is a Halloween costume contest to be had, I do enjoy throwing my hat in the ring.  This Frida Kahlo costume did me well for a couple of years:

Say cheese, monkey.

But mostly I look forward to dressing my own little beasties in costumes one day.  Until then, Finnegan has been my guinea pig.



Doctor Whoiener

Dogtor "Bones" McCoy

 

Damn it Jim, I'm a dachshund, not a doctor.



Throwback Thursday - evolution of a crafter

I've been a crafter for a long time.  It probably started with Brownies.  I was obsessed with badges, and many of the badges for both Brownies and Girl Guides required making things.



Ta-wit-ta-wit-ta-woo, give me all the badges.

My collector's badge project.  Later made into landscapes and creatures

Success!  So many badges.

 

 I set up my first craft shop when I was about 8.  It was a roadside stand out front of my grandparent's house in Deep Bay, B.C.  They had a gorgeous property on the water where my sister and I were often shipped for a week of our summer vacations.  It was heavenly.  Besides raiding gardens and swimming in the bath-warm water of the Georgia Straight, I tried my luck as an entrepreneur.  My first endeavour - a joke stand, a dime a joke, was a bust.  I had but one pity sale.  Lemonade was too cliche, so I decided arts and crafts were a better fit.  I borrowed my grandfather's hot glue gun and began creating little statues out of driftwood, clam shells, seaweed and other found-objects.  They were a hit.  The strategic location of my stand - just outside the entrance of a campground, was a definite bonus.

For Christmas that year, I was given a glue gun.  It was the best Christmas present ever, and I still have and use it.

Crafter's manifesto...

High school art class - an excuse to stare
at pictures of Mikhail Baryshnikov to study his...form.

I was the queen of posters, and my science projects and history displays had as much style as substance.  I also took on roles in year book and photography to feed my inner need for creativity. 

Ancient things in an ancient lab - I had though archaeology involved more whips and horseback riding.

In university, this side of me took a hit as the projects undertaken were focused more on writing, though I did manage a job in the archaeology lab that had me photographing and sketching artifacts.

I taught myself how to knit in my twenties and got back into sewing at the same time.  I've never stopped sketching or writing, and crochet has now exploded in my life as my go to tactile therapy.

And so concludes this little trip down memory lane.  To my Brownie compatriots, you are welcome for posting that exceptional photo of us.

xoxo
s.