It’s time to update my planning calendar for 2020. In fact, I’m running a little late on this, and my collection of notepapers with scribbles is getting out of hand… Thankfully, Julia Groves has updated her lovely watercolor designs.
I just should’ve remembered to click the ink-saving option off when printing. Ohwell. 🙂
Thank you for sharing, Julia!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
Isn’t this rainbow ribbon wreath pretty? It would make a great addition to a party to celebrate the LGBT History Month or any occasion where bright colors are welcome.
Amy C at CatchMyParty
It’s by Amy C at CatchMyParty. Making one is easy, too; it only takes a wire coat hanger turned into a wreath form (or a ready-made form), plenty of ribbons, scissors and tin snips plus some crafting time.
If the latter is a problem, you might consider an easy ribbon backdrop instead:
Amy C at CatchMyParty
The backdrop takes just long lenghts of ribbon (this one has two per color) tied onto a pole or a curtain rod and hung up, so it’s much faster to make.
Visit the full wreath tutorial by Amy C at CatchMyParty.
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
The past weekend wasn’t the best for me. In fact, it was a bit like the Muppets version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” performed by Beaker:
Ode To Joy | Muppet Music Video | The Muppets on YouTube
Just to give one example, on Sunday (my dedicated social media day), my brain refused to brain blog work. Tumblr I was able to do, but blogging was like drinking tar. (Something being like drinking tar is an expression from my native Finnish.)
Ohwell. At least the funny Muppet video made me smile – and, after all, I got a blog post out of it, too. 🙂
P.S. Happy Lunar New Year!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
I’ve talked about Finnish foods a bit before, for instance sour cream pie, liver sausage and blueberry soup. I don’t think I’ve done more than mention the joulutorttu, though, the baked Christmas dessert filled with plum jam.
Back in the day when you had to make the puff pastry from scratch they must’ve taken a good while to produce. These days, with store-bought puff pastry, they really are a cinch to make:
(These instructions fit U.S pastry sheets and measurements.)
Since I haven’t found plum jam in stores here, I’ve developed a super-duper easy way: I soak prunes in hot water until soft (approx. as long as the pastry takes to thaw) and use them to fill the tartlet, one prune per square. I also use toothpicks to skewer through both the pinwheel corners and prune in the center so that the tartlet won’t open while baking (the tips will burn easily if they do). And since I’m not terribly fond of confectioners sugar, I usually skip it.
While flipping through a back issue of Country Living magazine, I spotted the very same pastries except with a summery filling: jam and cream cheese.
Country Living July/August 2016, p. 20.
Country Living magazine gives credit for these jam and cream cheese versions to Kayley McCabe; visit the post at Handmade Charlotte for her writeup and tips.
They sound absolutely delicious – I’ll have to try some time!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
Time to find a monthly calendar for next year.
This colorful calendar is by Lena at What Mommy Does. She designed it to be all blank on purpose; this way it’s useable every year.
Thanks for sharing, Lena!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
I listed a few canvas pouches at the Playfully Grownup Home Etsy shop.
They’re made from a variety of prints and solids. I used up remnant canvas pieces to make them.
The light green one has a really great, understated but elegant floral pattern outlined in white. I added a coordinating green and white polka dot accent for the drawstring channel.
For the blue and turquoise floral, I found two good accent color matches but couldn’t decide which I preferred, so I made two versions. Problem solved! 🙂 One has a turquoise-on-turquoise polka dot print…
…and the second a solid bright blue cotton. The latter makes a nice, strong contrast.
Both colorways have a round bottom made from solid-colored canvas – pale mustard for the green and navy blue for the blue and turquoise bags.
Find them in the Playfully Grownup Home > Carry Me section. And as always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!
What’s a summer without strawberry cake?
There’s something special about having a cake from fresh, local berries. As the first berries of the season, strawberries are extra special. Thank you, Hubby, for baking Finnish-style cakes!
P.S. Happy Independence Day to my U.S. readers!
Time to find a monthly calendar for next year.
This floral calendar is by Ananda at A Piece of Rainbow. Each month has a different bouquet with a bit of space for notes. I think December is already my favorite. Very beautiful!
Thanks for sharing, Ananda!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
The Things Could Be Worse mugs by Calamityware are an interesting take on traditional blue and white ceramics:
Things Could Be Worse mugs by Calamityware.
Robots, pterodactyls, giant animals and hairy humanoids aplenty. LOL! 🙂
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
The last but certainly not least in our Jane Austen rewatch, Persuasion is a novel of pressures, choices and second chances, posthumously published in 1817. The heroine, 27-year-old Anne Elliot, has never come to terms with her refusal to marry the great love of her life due to the prudent advice of a friend in loco parentis. The he returns to the neighborhood 8 years later…
JASNA provides a map for tracking the physical locations of the story:
Map of locations in Persuasion. Jane Austen Society of Australia, via JASNA.
Like Mansfield Park, there aren’t terribly many screen versions of Persuasion. We rewatched the 2007 and 1995 movies, although apparently also a miniseries from 1971 is available.
The newer movie (from 2007, screenplay by Simon Burke, directed by Adrian Shergold) stars new-to-me Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot. Rupert Penry-Jones, whom I know from the British spy series MI-5, plays Captain Wentworth. Unfortunately, I find both performances listless and unenergetic, even though the script – bafflingly – has Anne indefatigably running all over the city of Bath after Captain Wentworth at the end of the movie.
Minor performances, for example by Anthony Head (Giles! from Buffy!) as Sir Walter Elliot, are ok. There are some other oddities in the writing, filming and music which diminish my enjoyment of the story, but it looks like they actually went to Bath, which is great.
The 1995 Persuasion, however, is excellent. The screenplay is by Nick Dear, and Roger Mitchell directed Amanda Root as Anne Elliot and Ciarán Hinds as Captain Wentworth. I really like Root’s understated and considerate version of Anne; Hinds works well enough even if a few scenes tend towards hammy.
Although the picture quality is grainy, the soundtrack is nice, and there are subtitles (not a given on older DVDs). The props, locations and costuming are also great. This is my favorite version so far – in an ideal world, of course, we would be due another adaptation.
