(Inside A Black Apple)

Best Brunch for Lumberjacks

This weekend, I took off of work. It didn't occur to me that it would be so odd to really + truly not work at all for two whole days, but it felt weird. It has become so common for me to work every day, anywhere from 6-12 hours a day - and while I love what I do, I love it so much that I have to command to myself that I take Black Apple mini-breaks sometimes. Anyway, so this weekend: no work.

So what did we do? So many fun things! Good dinners, hunting for old stuff (thrifting + antiquing!), brunch, laundry...good things.

Yesterday we headed up North (Portland-wise) for brunch at Gravy. Now, if you are a lumberjack, and you happen to find yourself on N. Mississippi, you should hasten yourself to Gravy. Find a place to rest your axe, and get ready for an omelet bigger than your head. Actually, I'd personally recommend the french toast - they're as hearty as the 2 x 4 pine planks you had been cutting all day. Basically what I'm trying to tell you is: the portions are insane.

And though I am no lumberjack, I do love their french toast. Ashley is the person who convinced me to give it a chance, because as a life-long hater of regular french toast, I was a skeptic. It's usually too soggy and weird for me...but this? This is crispy, dense, chewy perfection, dusted with the tiniest bit of confectioner's sugar. I think they make it with challah, hence the hearty, chewy consistency that's egg-y without being soggy.

Anyway, so remember what I said about the portions?

Um, get ready for your mind to be blown...

 

This is the half-order!

And at the point at which this photo was taken, I had already donated half a slab to Josiah (and in return I received that omelet-let you see there).

See?

Lumberjack food if I've ever seen it.

Oddfellow's Sophie + Hannah Dolls!

I'm so excited to share all the new dollies that will be part of tomorrow's shop update with you guys!

   

 

Sophie Dolls measure approx 18" tall from tip of toes to top of head. They are each an edition of 1, and are crafted from wool felt, new and vintage cottons, custom fabrics, muslin, and are stuffed plump with poly-fil. Each has an entirely hand-painted face.

All of the Sophie dolls are sporting fully removable little woolen capelets, which close with a vintage brass button. They've also got their (also removable) little badges, comprised of my illustration of the all-seeing eye on a pinback button, pinned to a vintage velvet ribbon in either bark or cherry.

The capelets themselves just killlled me lined up like this...I had to take a photo:

And lastly, here's a look at the gals without their chill-proofing capes, so you can see them in their simple wool collars. Be sure to click to enlarge if you'd like to see them larger!

     

Both the Sophies and Hannahs are dressed in custom fabrics I designed with iconography from an IOOF poster from 1893 (except the ginger-haired Hannah, who sports a dress of little bees from my own drawings). There are globes, stars, shaking hands...it's neat stuff!

Okay, now on to the Hannahs:

   

These Hannah Dolls measure approx 9" tall from tip of toes to top of head. Each design (Mystical & Bee) is an edition of 4. The dolls are crafted from wool felt, new and vintage cottons, custom fabrics, muslin, and are stuffed plump with poly-fil. Each has an entirely hand-painted face.

High-five, lil' ladies!

 

I'm all abuzz about tomorrow's update...be there or be square!

Check here to see what time that means for you.

And remember: This announcement post is "sticky", and will stay at the top, but I'll continue to post more new work below!

Black Apple Sketch/Notebook Sets!

I've been waiting to share these for a little while now, and since it's back-to-school time for the children around these parts, I think it's time to unveil some school supplies of my own...

 

Brand spankin' new large Black Apple sketchbooks/notebooks!

 

These are very similar to my last sketchbook format - I designed them to be my own exact perfect, portable blank books in size, paper type, etc. They are perfect for throwing in your bag and scheming schemes, making lists, writing stories, and scribbling pretty scribbles. Not too big, not too small!

Each set contains one book each of the "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" design and the "Alphabet" design. The set arrives bound up in a beautifully offset-printed band bundling the two notebooks together - perfect for an elegant and quirky gift (or, keep one for yourself and give the other to a friend or little one!)

These sketchbooks were offset printed by my pals, the amazing Pinball Publishing out of Portland, OR. Those folks do a beautiful job and they use soy inks!

 

 

Now in the shop!

A Blast From The Past

I was looking around ye olde Flickr the other day, when I happened upon this old-school Black Apple photo! It was taken by my pal Missy, who makes very rad and adorable items such as these pony bobbins (or maybe the also rad Raoul took the photo?).

Anyway, it was of my little table at the first ever craft fair I participated in:

What babies!
What a funny little set-up I had goin' on! Those are record bowls, people.
What a weird little Punky Brewster outfit I was sporting! Also, what's that skeptical look about?! 

I also thought it was funny that Jenny was helping me at that craft fair, too, since she came all the way out to the West coast to help us with Renegade this year. 

Anyway - just a little jaunt down memory lane, and a photo of some honest-to-goodness Black Apple beginnings.

Happy Monday, lovely applets!

My Favorite Brownies

I'm perpetually on the hunt for the best basic recipes: the best vanilla cupcakes, best macaroni + cheese, etc. and for a while I was on the hunt for the best (to me) brownies. I've been using and refining this recipe for about 3 years now, and I think it's the one for me - and maybe it'll suit your fancy, too!

As far as sweet stuff goes, I fear I have very simple taste. Chocolate chip cookies? Best cookies. Milk Chocolate? Best chocolate. This is the confectionery world I inhabit - the same one as when I was seven. And because of this, I make a lot of brownies...at least a batch every other week.

These are so reliable, so fast, and so good, and they fit my brownie-criteria to a T. I know that people look for different things in their brownie, but these are my top concerns:
-Chewiness
-Soft-ish insides
-Crisp (but not hard) little crust on top and sides

The little crust is, to me, extremely important and kind of elusive - but these have got it (food science-wise, I'm pretty sure it comes from a high ratio of sugar-to-flour).

So, here's how to make 'em!

You need: 1 medium sized pot, parchment, and an 8" sq. baking dish
Ingredients: 1 stick butter (8 tbsp)
1/2 c Brown Sugar
1 c White Sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
Pinch salt
Tbsp Vanilla

1. Preheat Oven to 390
2. Melt butter in pot over stove
3. Remove butter from heat, let cool about a minute, then add sugars (just use the pot as your bowl...it saves you more dishes). Mix well.
4. Add eggs, flour, cocoa, salt, and generous tablespoon-splash of vanilla, and mix well.
5. Line baking dish (I use a glass one) with parchment, pour in batter, and pop in oven.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, I test with a knife in the center and remove when only a few little crumbs cling to the knife.
7. Cool one hour or overnight.

They have this almost caramel-y quality that is just so good. Okay, I'll stop talking about them. I think I need to eat a peach or a carrot or something...I'm getting a sugar-crash from writing all of this.

See you soon & Happy Tuesday!

Tape It Up! And a short play about Faux Facebook

I just put the sassy, good-for-prettifying-packages Black Apple packing tape in the shop! I've only got 20 rolls of the stuff on hand after Renegade, so I'll be making that all available.

(UPDATE: Sold out! Thanks so much!) I love this  - I've been wanting to have some made for so very long. I don't think this is the end for me and tape!

Happily, it looks equally at home on kraft parcels and white packages:

Each roll has about a 16" repeat, printed in bright cherry red. Each roll measures 2" wide x 55 yards long.

Here's the entire repeat:

Oh!

And in other, totally-unrelated-news from the endless Internet World of The Bizarre, I discovered last night over excellent yellow curry with The Berkleys that someone has created some weird fake-y Facebook page, masquerading as me/The Black Apple.

The conversation went something like this:

Ryan: "Blah, blah, Facebook..."
Me: "You know, I should get on the computer-machine and make one of those Facebooks someday"
Ryan: "You have one! You accepted me as a friend".
Me: "No I didn't!"
Ryan + Lucy + Josiah: "You must've started one like four years ago and forgotten about it"
Me: "I mean, maybe. That does sound like something I would do. But I really don't remember doing such a thing. No, I don't think I have one."
Ryan (pulling out his IPhone): "See! There it is. Oh, but it was updated just a few days ago".
Me: "Yeah, then, definitely not me. Geez! Who's getting their kicks keeping this Facebook page,
complete with fake Black Apple email address and everything?"
Ryan: "And who accepted me as a friend?"

Dum-dum-dummmmm!

So, if anybody pretending to be me befriended you/taunted you/proposed marriage to you on Facebook, it was not the real me. Yikes.