EAB Designs

Homemade Pizza

Friends are always amazed when I tell them that it only takes an hour to make your own pizza dough and sauce and have it in the oven in an hour. Best part, it takes ten minutes to bake and is so delicious!  Of course, it helps to have the best ingredients on hand.  For tonight's pizza, a typical New York Style, I always use San Marzano tomatoes (I buy mine at Whole Foods) and fresh mozzarella cheese (a bit more expensive than a general grocery store brand, but definitely worth it).

It also helps to have a mixer on hand, to speed up the kneading process, and a couple essential "pizza making" tools.  The first would be a pizza peel and the second a baking stone.  Don't be alarmed at the site of my stone, it's had years of use and, believe it or not, this is what it looks like when it's clean!  My parents gave me my Kitchen-Aid mixer when I first got married and it still works like a charm.

The pizza dough recipe is easy and comes out perfect every time.  It takes about 8 minutes to make and within the hour it will grow from this cute little ball of dough into a wonderful smelling pizza dough ready for pizza making.

While the dough is rising, I make the sauce.  A handful of ingredients are added to the San Marzano tomatoes and simmered over the stove, cooled and set aside until the dough finishes rising.  Both recipes can be found in James McNair's "Pizza" cookbook, a wonderful addition to your cookbook collection.

All that's left to do is to shape your pizza (I'm actually pretty good now at tossing it in the air), place it on a corn-meal dusted pizza peel, add your sauce and any toppings, and slide it on top of your pizza stone that has been heating in the oven for the past hour.  Ten minutes later, your house smells fantastic and you are eating a slice of one of the best comfort foods around ... so much tastier than anything you could have had delivered.  

Vintage Halloween Decorations

I began a little fall decorating myself today.  Our sweet girl, who's away at her first year of college, will be coming home to visit the weekend of October 9th.  Halloween will be the first holiday she'll be away from home, so I want to be sure to have some decorations out when she visits.  I filled my large apothecary jars with popcorn and placed a vintage inspired Halloween image inside.

The following decoration is in honor of Edgar Allen Poe and his famous narrative poem The Raven - perfect Halloween reading.  Does anyone remember having to memorize a stanza or two of the poem for school?  I do!

Also, I wanted to let you know that next Saturday, October 3rd, is my one year blogiversary!   To celebrate, I'm going to be hosting a give-away, so please remember to stop back in a week from tomorrow to enter.  Have a wonderful fall weekend everyone!

Welcome Autumn!

Spent the first day of Autumn in the charming, historic town of Fredericksburg antiquing with a dear friend.  The shops' windows were creatively decorated for the season. 

Walking along the elegant tree lined streets, you'll find shops offering antiques, collectibles and a variety of gifts and home decor.  I came home with lots of unique vintage rhinestone jewelry which I can't wait to use on some new designs.

After a few hours of shopping, we headed to Eileen's Bakery and Cafe to enjoy a delicious lunch and apple tart.  The cafe is located in a former church on Caroline Street.

The Model A Restorers Club (MARC) tour was in town that morning and we were able to take a close up look at the beautifully restored Model "A" Fords.

What a perfect day to start my most favorite season of the year.  Welcome Autumn!

Apothecary Bottles

A few months ago I came across a couple dozen of these apothecary bottles and purchased the whole lot.  I particularly liked the glass stoppers.  Last week, with the kids back in school, I found some time to have fun embellishing them with some of my vintage rhinestones, glitter and favorite papers.  Here's a peek at a few of my favorites.

French/Scandinavian Inspired Table Decor

Continuing with my love of the current French and Scandinavian influences in home decor, I made these jute napkin rings.  I love the simplicity of the jute mixed with the beauty of the rhinestone jewelry findings. 

Multiple sets of these are currently available in my Etsy Shop.  Each set of four features four different rhinestone findings.  They look perfect with my burlap table runners.

Floral Inspired Journals

I've been busy in the studio creating some new journals.  I love the combination of the botanicals mixed with a touch of graphic design elements.  

As with most of my designs, they would not be complete without a touch of vintage paper or embellishments.

These latest editions to my urban vintage collection are available in my Etsy Shop.

Good-bye PC . . . Hello iMac

Spent the weekend becoming familiar with a new friend . . . my iMac.

It has a big beautiful screen (I got the 24") and lots of new programs for me to explore.  I love the idea of new technology, but hate taking the time to learn new systems.  It's the little changes that are hardest to adjust to, such as -  why doesn't the MAC have a backspace key? I seem to have used that key a lot on my PC.  So, this is a HUGE step for me, but I'm looking forward to all the enhancements it will bring to my creative projects.  Wish me luck on my new adventure!  I welcome any tips, or words of advice, from anyone else who has said good-bye to their PC too.

Chenille Pumpkins

While visiting an antique/flea market show a few weeks ago, I came across these adorable little pumpkins.  Cindy Roberts, of Raggidy Edges, creates these out of vintage chenille fabrics.  She will be an exhibitor at a number of East Coast shows this holiday season and you can find her show schedule here.  We'll be vendors at a couple of the same shows and I can't wait to stop by her booth to see her snowmen and Santa creations.

 

 

Before & After - From Playroom to Study/Craft Room

We have a room in our house which has served different purposes over the years.  When our girls were babies, I used it as my sewing and craft room.  As they became toddlers, we changed it into their playroom.  Later, we moved in a computer and work table as their crafts and electronics began to replace the toys.  Our latest renovation was to turn it into their very own study/craft room.

Sweet husband added all new window, floor and ceiling moldings.  The room previously had two solid double doors.  His biggest project was installing new french doors and transom windows to open up the space.  A feature well worth the time and expense.

"Before" pictures on the left...

The walls are painted a beautiful eggplant color and I chose a sage green silk dupioni to sew up the drapery panels.  All of the furniture is from IKEA.  The magnetic bulletin boards, under their matching desks, are a favorite feature.  The tall cabinet stores all of their craft supplies including art pencils/pens, scrapbook paper, rubber stamps and tools.  The cabinets above their desks store mainly school supplies, books and binders.  Another great feature of the room is the lighting - halogen lights installed above the cabinets to bounce light off of the ceiling, and task lighting under the cabinets.  The girls, and their friends, all love the space.  It's the perfect place to gather to complete all those school projects!