Spout & Sprouts with Cotton and Brass

Our new spring shoot will be up on Cotton & Brass tomorrow morning. This photo shoot was a lot of fun for me. We challenged ourselves to do something a little more modern and clean.

All photos property of Cotton & Brass and Christa Kimble Photography
If you would like to share these, please credit Cotton & Brass

Christmas at Cotton & Brass

Thankfully the three other ladies of Cotton & Brass fully indulge my holiday love. Including decorating ornaments, overnighting them to my house, and photographing them over freshly baked cookies.

*Photo via Christa Kimble

Tip of the Hat

The hat contest was fierce this year at the Corgi Christmas Cocktail Party. Good job ladies.

Cracks

There were cracks in the clouds the whole way to West Chester for dinner with Mark's family. The sky was a pillow of gray except for a few beautiful sheets of light that pierced through. I couldn't stop staring.

A rusty, Thanksgiving inspired bouquet also managed to happen over the weekend. You can see more photo's of it on Cotton & Brass.

some things have happened

•I finally visited Columbus Commons, our newest park (it has a carousel!)
•Evie stole me away for a secret mission.
•Ed & Sue came to visit
•the power went out
•we went to Franklin Park Conservatory,
•we visited Nanny and Poppy and met some cute puppies as well,
•and my parents dropped in.
•Evie and Nick had their joint switch-your-gender-sing-kareoke-and-confuse-Bourbon-Streets-swell-patrons Bachelor/Bachelorette party. It was amazing.
•Tasha birthday was celebrated at Camelot Cellars.
•The Country Living Fair continued to live up to the hype.
•Bouquet's were arranged,
•and friends were married.

Anything for pizza

Do you think Kate Middleton assembled her invitations with her besties? ...I hope so.

We gathered around pizza boxes and paper cutters and set to work on Evie's invitations. Creating a DIY Wedding is so much easier with a posse.

A weekly arrangement - week 6

A tiny arrangement straight from my front yard. Every spring our tree burst's open with dainty white clusters that smell a little funny and then quickly fills the yard with white confetti. The parrot tulip is from our front flower bed. I've never been a big fan of tulips, but parrot tulips seam like a whole different flower to me. I am drawn to things that are rough around the edges.

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11:15am - Top secret projects with Temper Trap on repeat.

A Weekly Arrangement - week five

These darling arrangements were made for Sara's shower (more on that later). It was the first time that I allowed myself to buy as many different types of flowers and fillers that I wanted. Boy, does that make a difference. I had originally planned on making just four table bouquets but I had so many flowers that I just kept filling jars. I was able to send four arrangements home with the bride and her mother and still have these to shoot.

I still have a lot of learning and practice to do before Sara's big day but I'm starting to feel a little less panicked.

A Weekly Arrangement - week 4

I've been thrilled recently by the selection of flowers back in the grocery stores (still looking for a better supplier). This week's arrangement was for Erin's celebration and it called for big orange bursts of color.

Thursday night crafting...

.../stuffing our faces with cheese, wine and the above tart while talking about life and other completely inappropriate topics.

Hopefully the beginning of a tradition.

Tea Cup Invitations

I made these little invitations for Sara's shower.

The Wurst

Mark has taken a sudden interest to cured meats. There was bacon which was amazing and has ruined all store bought bacon for me. Then there are the sausages. They are his first which means the ones to follow will be even better. Hard for me to imagine. Maybe these were beginners luck.

Of course Rick always has the cleverest things to say:

"The best wurst burst first"

A Weekly Arrangement - week 3

I'm still hunting for a reliable flower source. I headed to Flowerama this week hoping to leave with an arm-full of different varieties to work from. Not so much. So I had to get creative with the display instead.

I hear rumors though of a new flower shop opening that might be just the place.

My garden in envelopes

I really love all the seasons (including the coldest darkest winters). I really do. No really, I do. I even wrote about it here, remember?

Ok, you caught me.

I'm secretly dreaming of spring every time I look out the window. Maybe it's the lack of fluffy snow this year, or maybe it's my lack of snow boots. Whichever, it's racking me with guilt for not enjoying each day and instead drifting off to a land of breezy windows and sprouting gardens.

So instead of sloshing through the snow, or cozying up to the fire I am planning my garden. Tasha and I went in together on seeds (great idea, Tasha), because who needs 1,000 seeds of anything? And in only a week it will be time to begin some of the plants so that I can feel I am forcing spring to come.

Birthday gifts

A couple of handmade gifts for Sara: a little cat pillow & bunting to fill a vintage blue jar.

Weekly Arrangement - week 3

My goal for this week was to break out of the "straight out of the vase" look. The tulips worked really well for that because their stems bend. This stem thing is a whole new concept to me. I had never before thought about the flower stems, just the explosions at the end of them. Now I find myself picking up the rubber banded bundles to get a feeling for their flexibility. I'm sure the Giant Eagle clerks think I'm cuckoo.

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12:21 am - sewing, chocolate milk (if you're not using whole milk you're missing out), and these guys.

A Weekly Arrangement - week 2

A simple (and budget friendly) arrangement. And the beginning of my succulent collection. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this cute little guy will survive my not so consistant waterings and not one, not two, but three curious cats.

Rustic pear pie

I'm a baker. And I have baked some pretty amazing things. But this tops them all. The flavor explosions of lemon, pear, and almond will make you... well explode. Oh and the crust, that amazing sweet flaky crust, with sugar crystals, to. die. for. Good thing pears are plentiful at the grocer right now cause you are going to want to make this right away. I promise. And you should probably invite some friends over because otherwise you will eat this whole thing yourself.

Rustic Pear Pie (10 servings)

Ingredients
• 1&1/3 Cups flour
• 3 Tbls sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbls cold butter, cubed
• 3 to 4 Tbls cold water (or cold milk, or in my case cold butter milk)

Filling
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1&1/2 tsp grated lemon peal
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 medium ripe pears, pealed and sliced
• 1 Tbsp butter

Topping
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp water
• 1 Tbls coarse sugar

Glaze (optional)
• 1/4 cup powder sugar
• 1&1/2 tsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted.

Directions
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt: cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Roll out to a 14 in circle. Transfer pastry to a 14in or 12in pizza pan.
• Set oven at 375 degrees
• In a large bowl, combine the sugar, almonds, flour, lemon peal and cinnamon. Add pears; toss to coat. Spoon over the pastry to within 2 in. of edges; dot with butter. Fold edges of pastry in.
• For topping, beat egg white and water. Brush over pastry and sprinkle course sugar over top.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown
• For glaze, combine the powder sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour over warm pie. Sprinkle with almonds. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator (if you don't eat it all first).

(this recipe is from Taste of Home and I slightly modified it)