Spring Fairy for Christmas!

My friend D's daughter, S absolutely loves her new tutu and tiara that I got for her on Etsy.com this year. Is she not adorable?!? (Use your imagination here.)
I got her a custom tutu made by LiveLoveDance
in really pretty greens and pink. Plus, I had lots of fun making her a one-of-a-kind tiara with the pdf instructions I got for making a tiara from CrownMeArtisans.

Let It Snow...

While the Midwest is getting pummeled, and the West Coast is getting rained on, the only snow being seen in New Jersey is of the glass variety...

And I am sooooo looking forward to sledding!
Well, all I can do is cross my fingers and hope that it snows during Billy's holiday break, so we can hit the slopes, or rather, the small bumps down the street.

My Mulligatawny Soup Recipe

From Todd:
Thought I would share a recipe I created the other day, that the Mrs. & I thought was so good I had to make it again today. It can be slightly complicated if you don't have the spices handy. You'll need a blender and a sizable soup pot.

1 large Yellow Onion - diced

4-5 carrots - peeled & diced
3-4 stalks of Celery - washed & diced
3 cloves Garlic - chopped
1"- square of Ginger - peeled & chopped
1 serrano or jalapeno pepper - chopped, seeds included
1 large Potato - peeled & chopped (I used a Yukon Gold about the size of my fist)
1/2 c. Yellow Split Peas - picked through & rinsed
1 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes - strained
1 T. Cumin seed
1 tsp. Coriander seed
1/2 tsp. black Cardamom seed*
2 tsp. ground Turmeric
6 black peppercorns
approx. 5 T. cooking Oil
10 c. Water
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1/4 c. Whole Rolled Oats
Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
Fresh Cilantro - washed and chopped


For the Rice:
1 c. White Rice (Basmati is preferable)
1 1/2 c. Water
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
Combine and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until done.

- First, chop the vegetables.
- If you have a spice grinder then grind the cumin, cardamom, coriander & peppercorns together, set aside. This isn't completely necessary since you'll end up blending the whole concoction later, but if you skip this step the soup can have coarse bits and pieces of spices in it.
- Heat the oil. When hot add the onions and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Add the ginger, jalapeno, carrots, celery, potato. Stir to coat the vegetables. Cook another 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in the split peas.
- Add the spices, with about 1 tsp. salt. Stir around and cook another 3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes. Cook another minute.
- Add the cinnamon stick and water; bring to a boil.
- Simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Add the 1/4 c. of Oats and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

- You'll have to blend this whole deal, so a submersion blender really comes in handy (now I know what I could use for christmas). What I do is blend it in batches transferring the blended soup into an intermediate pot and when I'm finished blending I add it all back together in the original pot. If you use a blender be careful!! The steam buildup can blow the lid off the blender. You have to take that plastic percolator looking thing out of the lid and use a dish towel to cover the open hole. Once it's blending you can move your hand off the top to allow steam to escape.
- Taste for salt desirability.
- Put about 1/2 c. of rice into a bowl and ladle the soup on top of it.
- Garnish with chopped Cilantro.
- Squeeze fresh lemon over the soup. This is probably the most important step in getting the soup to taste best. It actually can take a liberal amount of lemon, so keep squeezing until you find the taste that's right for you.
- I think that covers it, I'll read through this post again later on and check to see if I forgot anything. I might even try to add a picture tomorrow.


{notes}
* You can use cardamom pods, just seperate the pod from the seeds inside.
T = Tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon
c = cup
cheers!

Paper Artist Celebrates Christmas...

Definitely check out this blog for some beautiful Christmas inspiration from cut paper and paper mache:

ULLABENULLA TREASURES AND TRINKETS

My re-worked lovelies...

No! Not those, silly:)
These:

Yes, after a year of sitting in my dressing table drawer, I pulled out this great necklace that I made and disassembled it for re-creation!
Sadly, I don't have a before picture to compare it with, but if you use your imagination to blank out the blue squiggles, you'll have the necklace in its before state.
The fused glass beads would flip over to show the blank side and a peek through to the high temp wire findings - Not Appealing!
So, I refired the pieces with a little Glassline Enamel Liquid Paints.
Such a simple process, but it made all the difference!
I can now proudly wear this bold necklace with my favorite penny jacket and par-tay!!

Recycled Bottle Beads...

January is up and coming and the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) has come up with our newest challenge idea: Recycled!!
So to start the creative juices flowing, I present you with a link to this great tutorial for lampworking with recycled glass bottles to make beautiful beads:
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_jewelry/article/0,2025,DIY_13762_3972067,00.html

Feeling Groovy!

Win This Free Lampwork Bead Set

From Lloyd over at Burning Scentsations, http://lampofluxury.blogspot.com/

How would you like to win this set of leaf beads? This little set if the perfect size for earrings or as pendants. They're decorated with two leaves on both sides in different colors. To see the full information on this set, take a peek in my shop here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6599761

How do you enter the drawing, you ask? Well it is really quite simple. I've donated this set to the Creative Glass Guild of Etsy (CGGE) and everyone who signs up in the month of December for their newsletter is automatically entered for the drawing.

Want to sign up? Just visit this page and enter your e-mail address: http://www.cgge.org/emailsub.aspx

Be sure t0 look around the site at all of the wonderful glass creations from the artists who sell their artwork on Etsy as I do.

If you haven't heard of Etsy, then you need to check it out. It's an on-line shopping mall for unique, hand-made items and supplies. You'll find lots of talented folks who work in all mediums on this site. Come take a look at http://www.etsy.com/ or follow the link for my shop below.

If you have any questions or would like to suggest topics, I can be reached through this blog or through my web site or shop at:

http://LampOfLuxury.com/

http://burningscentsations.etsy.com/

The Best Weekend Ever...

or The Very Successful Holiday Sale...
Not only did I sell several of my new sushi dish sets, as well as many necklaces and pendants,

I was able to talk to Saint Helena hot glass artist, Ed Breed about the possibility of being a studio assistant during 2008. Turns out that he had been thinking of approaching me to see if I would be interested in helping him out. So, beginning in January, I should be working with Ed once a week, helping him to kick out 1000 pumpkins:

Also, hot glass will be moving into Michele's studio. And we are happy...