EAB Designs

Teaspoons, Not Tablespoons!

Ever mix up teaspoons with tablespoons in a recipe before?  I did just that today. Instead of adding 3 teaspoons of curry to our double batch of squash and corn chowder, I added 3 rounded tablespoons!  Our throats were on fire just after a few spoonfuls.  Sadly, even with the addition of extra dollops of sour cream, it really was inedible.  No worries, we can always eat more Halloween candy!  And, of course, what is Halloween without a day of pumpkin carving.  Here is a look at this year's pumpkin, beautifully carved by sweet pea.

A Fall Weekend

Looking forward to a crisp, cool autumn weekend filled with lots of activities.  We found these tiny, bite sized apples at the market this morning just waiting to be turned into caramel apples tomorrow.  I have to eat at least one, or maybe two.... Saturday morning we are headed into Georgetown for an early breakfast and shopping, and then back home for some serious pumpkin carving time.  Time to get ready for our little guests who will be arriving on Sunday evening.  (I confess, yesterday sweet pea and I broke into the candy....we needed it after a busy week!)

And a quick shop announcement....  Thank you for all of the burlap stocking love!  To date, I have filled orders for over 65 stockings, and many are still in que to be made which takes me into the second week of November.   Therefore, I will only be able to accept a few more orders for stockings.  If you don't get in the order process this year, I promise to bring them back next year.  Thank you for understanding, as I have a weekend show coming up and most importantly, want to spend lots of time with my family.

Thank you all for visiting today.  I always appreciate hearing from you.  Have a fun-filled Halloween!  

Felted Acorns

I love acorns.  I always have.  Perhaps because of their adorable little caps.

Or perhaps because they simply fall from the sky during my favorite time of year.

These little felted acorns arrived in the mail yesterday, soon to be part of each place setting at our Thanksgiving table.  (I'll share that project with you soon.)

My sisters are happily aware of my love for acorns and have each given me decorative acorns over the years.  Today I especially want to give a shout out to my sister Susie, my biggest blog fan.  She kindly reminded me yesterday, that it has been over a week since I last posted.  We live on opposite ends of the country, but for a short while she lived in New Jersey.  I was thrilled because this meant Thanksgivings together!  So to Susie, I'd like to say "Miss you like crazy, wish you could come for Thanksgiving and thanks for all the blog love!"

Personalized Burlap Stockings

I received many requests asking if I would offer personalized burlap stockings and I'm happy to announce these are now available in my shop.  Each name is hand-stamped onto wool flannel, trimmed with scalloped edges, and appliqued onto the stocking.

 

My Much Loved, and Well Used Cookbook Collection

My cookbook collection holds not only wonderful recipes, but many cherished memories as well.  For amongst the shelves are books given to me by my mom - a favorite being my "Lemons" cookbook filled with beautiful photographs and unique recipes all of which use one of my favorite ingredients - lemons!  I also have several books which my brother gave me.  Having lost him a few years ago, at a young age, I cherish every inscription he wrote in each book.  Like my mom, he always selected the perfect book to give to me.  Of course, the books that my husband and I bought together when we were first married bring me right back to that special time.  Many of those recipes have also become my girls' favorites.  They love to cook and bake and you'll find a few titles of their own here as well. We have a great organization system, and believe it or not, a book rarely gets put back in the wrong place.  Our only worry is the day our collection outgrows the beautiful bookcase my husband built.  From the look of the titles on our Christmas wish lists, it won't be long now.

Handmade Halloween Masks

During the summer, I purchased a few unpainted paper-mache masks to decorate for Halloween. The plain masks are just a few dollars each and very sturdy, making them a great base to work with.

For this floral inspired mask, I used a punch to cut scalloped circles from a vintage book.  For the flowers, I cut apart the petals from a single silk hydrangea bloom (from Michaels).  Using a hot glue gun, I secured the text circles and petals, overlapping them, one by one, as I went around the circumference of the mask. To cover the area around the eyes, I cut the petals again, leaving just one petal segment and continued with overlapping the petals as I glued them on.

  

This mask I decorated in recognition of a favorite Halloween read, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.  For the ties, bird images were hand-stamped onto a length of grey ribbon.  I think I'll wear the floral mask when our trick-or-treaters arrive and save the raven mask for you know who.

I was originally inspired to make these masks from a past feature in Martha Stewart Living Magazine, highlights of which can be found here.  If you're making any masks or costumes this year, please share your links under my comments section, so we can all enjoy them!

- Sources -

Paper Mache Masks - http://www.mardigrasoutlet.com

Halloween Apothecary Jars

With everyone home this weekend, it was a great time to unpack a few of our vintage Halloween decorations and decorate our apothecary jars.  This year, it's all about the pumpkins!  We filled many of our antique urns and pots with small white pumpkins nestled in wood excelsior.  Our newly made velvet pumpkins found urns and platters to sit upon as well.  The best part is we'll be able to enjoy our little pumpkin displays all the way through Thanksgiving.

 

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The Dangers of Making Dessert Ahead of Time

Sweet girl is coming home for the weekend, so I'm making all of her favorites for dinner.  I wanted to bake a dessert as well, and a warm fruit crisp came to mind. Since I'm driving to pick her up from college, I knew I would have to prepare it the evening before.  As I often do, I turned to one of my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks to try a new a recipe - Plum & Raspberry Crumble.  As soon as I could smell the aroma of fresh fruit baking in the the oven, I knew I was in trouble.  How could I not immediately dive into this warm, bubbly dessert, as soon as it was done baking.  Well, dive in we did and it was absolutely delicious. Literally, we could not stop eating it!  I did manage to save a serving for sweet girl to eat tonight.  As for the rest of us, we will sadly go to bed without dessert, just like Peter Rabbit.

Fabulously delicious recipe can be found here.  Having no raspberries, I left them out and of course, we topped ours with vanilla ice cream!

Velvet Pumpkins

 

I love these velvet pumpkins I made today with our sugar pie pumpkin stems. I've been searching for the perfect velvet and was beyond excited when I came across the lovely green and blackberry shades. I would suggest, when making larger pumpkins, to insert a bit of fiberfill into the center of your dried bean or poly pellet filling to give your pumpkins a plumper look. This way the weight of your beans or poly pellets won't make your pumpkin so flat.

Quick, easy to make, and so adorable, you'll want to create a patch of them!

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Pumpkin Topiaries

The first weekend of October, I traditionally replace the flowers in our front porch urns with pumpkins.  This morning, as I was admiring the fall color of the hydrangeas on our backyard tree, I decided to use some of them in creating these pumpkin topiaries.  I mixed the hydrangeas with fresh boxwood cuttings. If you insert your cuttings into the potting soil, and keep the soil moist, the topiaries will stay looking fresh through Thanksgiving.

As the days go by, the color of the hydrangeas will turn from their current shade of rose and green to a beautiful bronze before they eventually dry.  As Halloween draws near, I'll begin to add a few ravens here and there as well as lighted luminaries.  The largest pumpkin, sitting on the porch, will be carved the night before Halloween.  Our neighbors love to see what we come up with each year, so it's time to start thinking about this year's pumpkin design.

Shop Updates -  Holiday items are now available in the EAB Designs shop, including our popular Christmas stockings, boxwood wreaths, personalized note cards & custom pillow covers.  I'm happy to wrap purchases and ship directly to your gift recipients.  Also, be sure and visit the Pemberley Collection to see all of our new jewelry additions!

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