pottery and panics: making art and fretting over finals

Tomorrow morning at 9:30am, we have our last final, our last day of the school year, and the beginning to a (hopefully) stellar summer. Instead of studying for said final, we are choosing to write this blog post, being extremely inspired by the art we have just finished in pottery class. Here are some pics we took of the art and played around with on photoshop.

xo, luv, Rosie and Mason

No Eggs?

Making an attempt to study for psychology (which features dry textbooks with 24 letter words]), I decided that I would make some cookies to give me comfort and a slight distraction ;).... but we don't have any eggs!!!  Someone suggested that I us flax instead (grind 2 T, then whisk with 5-6 T hot water), but we didn't have any flax either. I looked online and saw that some people suggested using banana as an eggs substitute. I ended up using 1/2 banana= 1 egg and I think it turned out pretty good!

They are nice and moist and have a slight banana flavor to them (I wonder where that came from....;) 

enjoy those finals!
luv, Rosie

Images

I found these pictures on Google Images and absolutely loved them! We are in a drawing class right now and have been focusing on using charcoal and grey-scales. It is very messy, but what is more fun then having nearly as much artistic material on yourself as on your paper? I would also just like to point out how awesome drawings can be when they are not meant to be entirely realistic. Hopefully everyone already knows this! But I was just giving thanks that someone took the time to draw this polka-dotted wolf, because it makes me super happy.

BTW Zebras are awesome!

con amor, Rosie

Bike Rides

As the weather gets sunnier and school lets out, we love to bike around the valley.  We bike fast down to the local store, recharge with two scoops of ice cream, and then head back home in the afternoon shade.  Sometimes we head straight to the river and jump in.  I absolutely love it.

I just got a bicycle from my grandma, which is so awesome.  It is not really a pretty bike, but it works great and I am so thankful to have it.  In my dream world though, I would own one of these bikes from PUBLIC, and peddle around Paris or someplace in a pale blue summer dress with fresh flowers and a pie in the basket...:)

Happy Thursday!
xo, mason

Bisque and Peppermint

Today I spent the afternoon painting pottery at CreativiTea  http://www.creativitea.com/ in Fairhaven, Bellingham. With a selection of various ceramic objects to paint, a selection of teas to enjoy, and super friendly and helpful employees, it makes for a very relaxing few hours of art.

These are some bowls that my dad and I painted today

They also have glass fusing, which I have never tried but sounds like a lot of fun.

Have a splendid day and don't forget to carve out time to be creative!

<3 Rosie

Happy Spring!

It's spring! That means time to start ordering seeds, photographing buds and crocuses, eating fresher, wearing lighter sweaters and one pair of socks, and daydreaming about, ahhh, summer.

Some spring-y pictures from around the web,

               
                  xo, mason

happy things to start the week

Here are some little finds from this week from some of my favorite blogs.

1. Adorable tote I found here.  Rosie and I are in a band, which after much deliberation was named BEET, so I especially love this one. 

2. Love this pigeon I found at Oh Happy Day!, one of my absolute favorite happy places in the world.  I would never buy it, but it is lovely inspiration for crafting with old sweaters and things.

 3.  Also from Oh Happy Day! these are the most wonderful shorts I have ever seen.  They are all sold out in this amazing color, but they are still in in beige at J. Crew.

Hope your Monday is bearable:)

xo, mason

STAMPS

We had to buy some portfolios today for an art class we are taking; while we were at it we also found these fun stamps!

Mason was drawn to these ones:

I got these ones, although some of them remind me more of friends than of myself:

 

 Have a stamp of a good day!
<3 Rosie

cookies to die for

The recipe for these cookies was developed by the ever brilliant Deb from Smitten Kitchen.  I love her recipes, her photographs, and her quirky blog entries.  When I saw these cookies I was absolutely in love and couldn't stop thinking about them until I finally pulled them out of the oven and took my first bite (well, I couldn't stop thinking about them then either).  The recipe is absolutely perfect, with a lovely balance of flaky, flavorful crust and a tart/sweet filling.  I know that apples aren't even in season, but I wanted to post something yummy, and when I think about yummy apple pie cookies definitely come to mind. 

Here is the link to Smitten Kitchen and Deb's wonderful cookies: http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/10/apple-pie-cookies/

xo, Mason

Fingernail Fancy

I have been really excited about nail polish recently. It doesn't always smell the best, but there are so many fun colors and textures.

Sparkles are one of my favs, but sometimes they need a few coats to be super cool. It also is hard to tell exactly what they will look like until their on your fingers, but it is fun to play around with layering the sparkles on top of another color.

Black nail polish has really come into fashion recently. When I was a little kid this would never have been remotely interesting to me over the other bright colors, but there is definitely a subtle elegance in it.

If you're opposed to the toxic smell there is this odorless kind of watercolor nail polish. It is fairly expensive, but doesn't make you feel like your putting chemicals all over your fingers, and it actually goes on really smoothly and lasts for a decent amount of time compared to some that just chip right off.

Just another one of my momentary obsessions,
<3 Rosie

cute erasers?

yes, they are super cute erasers.  i have mostly resisted buying them for myself...:)

here are a few pictures of my little sister's collection:

xo, mason

Monkey Business

This sock monkey business was started by some of our friends. It is so inspiring how many different animals can be made out of a couple of striped socks! There is so much inventive thinking that goes into these adorable creatures, and as an outlet for creative expression, they are also a good idea for using up lonely mismatched socks!



http://monkeysockmonkey.com/






Monkeys, Rosie

LOVE for UPPERCASE

I absolutely adore this magazine.  It is the ultimate collection of art, color and creative joy.  The issues don't come out very often, but they are so heavy and full of brilliant artists, you can look through a copy again and again...

xo, mason

Fiddle!

This is one of my favorite tunes to play right now; it's a reel in Bm. I learned it with a different variation on the end of the B part, but I actually think I like this one better.

Sleepy Maggie

 
Cheers, Rosie

banana bread tuesday

Since the past two Tuesdays I have just happened to have overripe bananas in my house, I have now declared Tuesday official banana bread day of the week:)  Luckily, I just got this wonderful recipe in my Martha Stewart- Everyday Food...

a few notes:
  I used part rapadura (an unrefined sugar) and 100% whole wheat flour, and it turned out great and a    tad healthier:)
  I added about a 1/3 cup chopped walnuts instead of chocolate, but I'm sure it would be good with either
  Also, it took 10-20 minutes longer than the recipe said to bake the bread all the way through.

A little note: This is a little french flashcard I got at an antique shop.  I thought it was very fitting for our family...the butter. 

banana-chocolate bread
serves 10.  active time: 15 min.  total time: 1 1/4 hr.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp., plus more for pan
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan (Note: i used 100% whole wheat pastry, worked great)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temp.
1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (3 to 4)
2 tablespoons sour cream (secret ingredient, right here!)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees f.  Butter and flour a 5-by-9 inch loaf pan.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until fluffy, 3 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down bowl as needed.  Beat in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla.  Beat in flour mixture and chocolate on medium.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake until a skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. (I went a bit longer, like I said before)

2. Let bread cool in pan 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.  (Store tightly wrapped in plastic, up to 3 days, or freeze, up to 3 months.)

Everyday Food, March 2012

have a happy banana bread day!  xo, mason