• creativity,  design,  fashion,  handmade,  style,  upcycling,  vintage

    Why I Won’t End Up on Hoarders

    I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with my new friend, Helga. She doesn’t have much of a brain, but she’s got a killer bod. Helga is a dress form mannequin. Yes, I now own a mannequin. And I named her. Let me tell you, doing Google searches for mannequins ends in some creepy results. I know my husband loves me because he didn’t bat an eyelash when I took Helga out of her giant box, assembled her, and immediately proceeded to play dress up. I bought Helga to aid me in styling clothing for my shiny new Etsy store, CleverlyCurated. I’ve been amassing a collection of vintage and…

  • art,  food,  handmade,  recipes,  writing

    A spicy recipe for the solstice

    The winter solstice is upon us, but before we can look forward to incremental surges of sunshine, we first need to get through the darkest day of the year. If you need a recipe for comfort food to ease the way, chef Dani Lind has a recipe for sweet potato and black bean chili in the winter issue of Edible Madison magazine that might help. The recipe goes along with an article I wrote on how local potters are organizing grassroots events to fight hunger by donating their artwork.  The sweet potato chili recipe was served at one of such events. Besides being delicious, the recipe is healthy, too. Perhaps I’ll whip up a…

  • creativity,  decor,  green living,  handmade,  holiday,  seasonal,  vintage

    A very vintage holiday

    The holidays are a nostalgic time, so vintage touches fit right in with the spirit of the season. Some of my favorite tree trimmings are beaded bell ornaments made by my grandmother, and mod foil balls I picked out from a dime store when I was a kid. Nearly everyone in my dad’s family has a light-up ceramic tree like the one shown here. Starting in the late 50s, you could buy molds for them, and they were a popular craft item. Even the littlest member of the family will be in on the vintage theme this year. My 5-month-old son will be wearing the 1970s toy soldier romper shown…

  • coffee,  green living,  handmade,  upcycling

    Coffee & Cuteness

    I am friends with a bunch of coffee fiends. Our shared addiction is most evident on group camping trips. As we unload cars or canoes and set up camp, someone always poses the question: “Who has the coffee?” Panic spreads as the person who was supposed to have it inevitably empties her bag and can’t find it. The next twenty minutes are spent flinging around sleeping bags and rain gear, frisbees and bags of chips until someone–THANK GOD–finds the double-ziplocked bag of freshly-ground coffee beans. In the morning, the earliest riser takes on the painstaking process of building a fire and setting up the special coffee pot over the flames.…

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