(Inside A Black Apple)

Wallpapered Packages

This year, we wrapped some of our packages up with a big roll of floral vintage wallpaper I found at the antique expo in the Fall. With bright red grosgrain ribbons (and a tiny mushroom or two), it looked very sweet and festive with the more traditional Christmas reds and whites.

 

We are heading to the Southlands for Christmas with our families today!

I cannot wait for two weeks of (desperately needed) doodling and reading and nerdy jokes and lots of big hugs and merriment. We will be back in Portland on the first of the New Year, and the Black Apple elves wish you all the warmest and happiest of holidays.

xxoo

Caramelized

As far as I am concerned, two of the best kitchen-cooking-smells are browning butter and cooked sugar.

Enter: Caramels.

Caramels are my new holiday jam. Perfect in a little bag tied up with string for a friend, perfect in a jar for you.Perfect to mail. Perfect to cover in chocolate. Plus, there is very little that is as painfully darling as the little waxed paper bundles they make.

I thought someone out there might need an easy-ish and last minute present idea, so here is the recipe I'm using (it's Mark Bittman's, from How to Cook Everything).

Caramels Bittman
(directly transcribed from emailing excitedly to Amy)

1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 c heavy cream
2 c sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
pinch salt (I say more!)
1 teaspoon vanille (more if desired)

Mix all of this stuff in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low. Stir like a crazy. When every single last sugar particle is dissolved (this is when I use my little brush and a cup of water to wash down the sides of the pot because I am terrified of crystallization), crank up the heat to medium (just medium) and let it go, only stirring every five minutes or so. Mine were bubbling for 30+ minutes at least. Measuring with a candy thermometer, let it go to: 240 for soft caramels, 245 for hard-ish ones, or 250+ for "toffee"-like ones. Take off heat, add vanilla, pour into parchment-lined 8"x8" dish. Cool on rack!
They solidify pretty easily, so after an hour or two you should be able to cut (I used scissors).

PS: Thank you so much for all of the book-excitement (bookcitement?). It was so exciting for me to finally say something about it!

In other news, A Book!

Reading all of your comments from the gift-away was so fun. And also rather emotional...I could only read a page or so at a time, because I kept getting all teary-eyed over the sweet listing of things we're each grateful for. It was comforting that so many of the same, simple things (partners in crime, children, shelter, weather, tea) kept coming up.

And I just have to tell you what I am the most grateful for, at this very second (besides my partner in crime, family, kitten, shelter, tea, baked goods, etc.).

I'm grateful that yesterday I shipped off an enormous box containing hundreds and hundreds of pieces of brand new artwork (enough to fill 160-odd fully illustrated pages) for a book that I've been working on for the past six months.

A book!
A book.
My very own book.

I'll be able to tell you more about it in the new year, but I am too excited to keep it inside anymore! I'm so grateful for the work that is done (a kingly amount), and the work that remains.

And I am really, really grateful that I get to make candy and send out Christmas cards now.

Presents for you: Bowl & Mug

UPDATE:
Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments! They're closed now, and now that the good old RNG has worked its magic - I've emailed the three winners! Congratulations, Danielle, Cori, and Kyra.

Thank you so much, everybody, for playing along!

Since the season is right, I thought it was only fitting to give away a few little presents to the excellent folks who visit the ol' blog.

So, today I am pleased as Christmas punch that I have three gift-sets of my Aladdin Artist Series bowl + mug to give away!

Just leave a comment, it can be anything. But I'd love to know something you're grateful for or happy about as we wind up the year. Comments will close on 12:00 am Pacific Monday night/Tuesday morning.

Last, a few important notes!

-Please, please make sure the email address provided with your comment is correct and up-to-date. This is the only way I can get in touch with you!

-Though I love and am grateful to my international applets, because of the shipping costs, I have to limit this give-away to US readers only.

Twinkling Season

Amy and I had such a fantastic time in Seattle! Thank you to the sweet people who came to chat and gaze at pretty fabrics and get your books signed.

Things have been wildly busy around Black Apple dollhouse - so much so that I was concerned we might forget to get a Christmas tree! Happily, we did manage to carve out the time last week. We got a pizza, hauled out the ornaments, hung the lights and had a good old-fashioned decorating party to the sound of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.

I had some new/old things I'd squirrelled away from recent trips to the antique store:

 

Josiah and I both had secret/semi-secret ornaments for each other. This is a tradition from my mom, and I love it so. Unrelated to that sweet tradition, but we also realized that we have a grove's worth of mushroom ornaments.

 
Finally, we cozied up with a quilt and do what is perhaps my favorite thing to do at Christmastime - we turned off the other lights and just stared and stared at the twinkling tree.

Happy as a little bear and fox who are well fed and easily bewitched by tiny glowing lights.

Speaking of foxes, we saw finally saw Fantastic Mr. Fox this weekend. How wonderful! The perfect December movie-date. It was beautiful (the tiny artwork! the clothes! the wallpaper!), funny, and much more emotionally resonant than most movies I've seen about humans lately. It also had an unexpected layer of subtle cultural commentary, about the way we live with our modern predicament and the struggle to make things, well, fantastic in world that sometimes tries so hard to squash that impulse. An excellent and heartening film from Mister Anderson - much more a Tenenbaum than a Zissou.

Me + The Chicken in Seattle

Today, (Thursday, Dec. 3rd) Amy and I are embarking on what I've taken to calling the "Angry Apple One-stop Tour". Really this is just a fancy way of saying I'm tagging along with Amy for a little jaunt culminating in her Seattle book signing at The Quilting Loft tonight at 7:00 pm (you can read more about the particulars here).

It will be so much fun! Amy is, in addition to her other enviable traits, an excellent book-chatter and book-signer. She is also prone to, as she said, tomfoolery - so it should be a good time!

Please come visit and say hi if you're local!

Fancy Wearables Now Available!

The new collection of Fancy Wearables is now available in the shop! 

(EDIT: The lion's share of the collection has now sold out - there are a few pretty little dancin' bears available at the time of this update, but that's all. Thank you so much for the fantastic response and for taking such a shine to this hodgepodge of lockets and brooches!)

Here's a peek at more images of the pieces - check the individual listings for even more.

 

 

Small lockets - Dancing Bear, Little Bee, and Bear Cameo

 

Deluxe Round Lockets - Nurse Effie & Stella

 

 

Deluxe Oval Lockets - Ava, The Beekeeper and Snow Rose & Bear

 

 

Oval Brooches - Goodbye to the School & Escape From the Black Forest

Each piece is a limited edition, available in limited quantities.
I'm so thrilled with the response to these! Thank you!

New Fancy Wearables!

Remember when I said I had some more good gift-y things coming to the shop soon?

Well, I'm ready to share what I was elusively referring to -
A new collection of jewels (Fancy Wearables, if you please) just in time for Christmas!

The images included in this collection are: The Beekeeper, Ava, Snow Rose & Bear, Nurse Effie, Stella, Escape from the Black Forest, Goodbye To The School, Little Bee, Bear Cameo, and Dancing Bear.

Like with the last collection, these are the product of a collaboration betwixt myself and the wonderful Lori (her craftsmanship is incomparable, and I couldn't ask for a better partner in creating pretty things)!

Also like last time, there will be limited quantities of each piece available for purchase.

I'll be adding them to the shop tomorrow (Wednesday) around 10:00 am Pacific - and I'll make a second post with more photos when the collection become available.