by Amy | Dec 6, 2012 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Creating a solid Christmas cards has been one of my favorite traditions since college. Whether posting with my roommates or snapping a quick picture with Derek…the Christmas card is a magical thing.
This year, it occurred to me to spread the world of Christmas card possibility to some of my friends. I mean, I own a fancy camera and a production business…if cute photos aren’t a perk of the friendship, I’m not sure what is.
Lucky for me…my friends are simply precious. Get ready to feast your eyes on two cute couples {and one awkward couple}. Get ready to pin some sweet ideas for your own portraits.
Don’t Sean and Katie remind you of a Forever 21 ad? They are so beautiful. I just love their style.
Like that banner? I made it in about an hour. I cut letters out of poster board then taped wrapping paper to the front of them. Punch holes in the letters and weave yarn through. Easy as pie.
Now say a hardy “Hullo” to Mallory and Kyle. See, I told you my friends are cute! These two just had their first anniversary…congrats, guys!
Okay. Now a few portraits of an awkward couple. You guessed it. Me and Derek. Here’s the thing. I want photos of us that look this cute. The hard part is that I’m the photographer. So any portraits of us have to be shot on self timer. Boo. So, what ends up happening is, I find a cute location…I push the button…we have 10 seconds…and we choke. When that little organge light is blinking at us, we forget everything about looking good and cute…and we {I} look like a hot mess.
This particular time we chose a location full of weeds and grass to trip on. So, I pushed the button then began to run to meet Derek. I tripped multiple times, my hair got a little ratty and my eyeliner started to run. Smile. Click. Dang…I look awful. So I compiled these photos. The best of the bunch…but still a bit awkward, if you ask me.
The best ones are where I am NOT looking at the camera. But aren’t we always harder on ourselves? {PS…I’m not fishing for compliments here. Compliment my cuter, more photogenic friends instead.}
But if there is one thing I’ve learned in recent days {like with my Christmas tree} if you put some white lights on it and look at it at dusk…even the most awkward thing can look beautiful.
Here’s a napkin. You can stop drooling now. Don’t you just love romantic Christmas portraits?
Amy
by Amy | Dec 5, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Living
Who doesn’t love a good Christmas movie? I know I do. But after watching them year after year can get a little mundane. Watch the classics with new eyes this year after checking out this sweet list of things you never knew before. {Go ahead…impress your friends with your useless knowledge.}
1. Ralphie’s house in “A Christmas Story” is in Cleveland, OH…but many locations including the iconic chop suey restaurant were shot in Ontario, Canada.
2. Vera Ellen {Judy Haynes} isn’t really singing in White Christmas. Her voice is dubbed in every song, but she was cast since her dance moves are so killer.
3. “Christmas Vacation” is based on a short story titled “Christmas ’59.” The character of Cousin Eddy is based on a real man Randy Quaid knew in Texas.
4. Natalie Wood {the little girl, Susan Walker} in “Miracle on 34th Street” actually believed that Edmund Gwenn was Santa Claus throughout filming. It wasn’t until she saw the final film in theaters that she realize he was just an actor, like her.
5. The tape that Kevin watches in “Home Alone” is not a real film. It was footage especially created for the. movie. The faux movie was titled “Angels with Filthy Souls.” In the sequel “Home Alone 2” he watches a bit of footage the crew titled “Angels with Even Filthier Souls.” Merry Christmas you filthy animal.
6. Fred Astaire’s “drunk” dance in Holiday Inn was actually filmed while he was intoxicated. He took two shots of burboun before starting to shoot the scene and one shot after every take. They used the 7th take in the film. {You do the math.} I wish I could dance like that sober!
7. Jimmy Stewart had to be convinced of playing his role in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It was his first project after serving in WWII, and he didn’t feel up to acting. In hindsight, he later said it was his favorite role of all time.
8. {Bonus!} More than 6000 gallons of fake snow was used in production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
9. The montage of Buddy the Elf when he first arrives in New York was achieved by driving around the city and allowing Will Ferrell to randomly interact with pedestrians in character. People seen on screen were given quick cash for their role as extras. If you look closely, you’ll see genuine surprise on a lot of faces.
10. Peter Billingsley {Ralphie from “A Christmas Story“} plays the brief role Ming Ming in “Elf.” He also directed “Couple’s Retreat” in 2009.
11. The role of Scott Calvin in “The Santa Clause” was written for Bill Murray. It was also offered to Chevy Chase before going to Tim Allen. How different would that have been?
12. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was the first animated Peanuts feature. First and best in my book. Also, real children did the voice acting for the characters instead of adults acting as children.
13. In “A Muppet Christmas Carol” Kermit is voiced by Steve Whitmire. This is the first time he wasn’t voiced by Jim Henson.
Let the Christmas Movie Marathon begin!
by Amy | Dec 4, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Gathering, The Art of the Kitchen
What would Christmas be with no cookies? I guess it’d still be Christmas. A holiday celebrating the birth of Saviour of man kind…but there would be fewer stomach aches, and nothing to dip in your hot cocoa.
I digress…
Point? I. Love. Christmas cookies. Love.
So I was thrilled with a friend hosted a get together to make several yummy batches. The best part was that we all got to split the goodies at the end.
Upon arrival I found that our hostess {Wyrene} had been busy before our arrival. She had already prepared a crockpot full of hot cocoa and these AWESOME hot-chocolate-on-a-stick. I’m not sure what recipe she used, but they were amazing. How genius? Fudge+Marshmallow+Stick…stir it in a hot cup of milk for a delightful treat. Here is a similar recipe I found. Seriously…there were bomb.
Wyrene had also made sugar cookie and peanut butter cookie dough ahead of time, so we got to do the fun part together. We started with the PB. Let me tell you…these were my favorite cookie of the day! How adorable is that?
They’re reindeer!! Those are chocolate coated pretzels and M&M’s. Press them in place as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. How sweet would these be for a classroom party? If only I were in 2nd grade again and my mom knew these existed…
I like the brown eyed ones best. The others look a little zombie-ish. Especially that one in the photo with the glowing yellow eyes…But who cares? It’s Christmas and we are totally allowed to eat things that look like laser-eyed-sleigh-pullers.
Here is a photo of how we shaped the dough to get our heads just right.
So the cookies were delightful. But what really took the cake {or cookie, as the case may be…} was Wyrene’s two-year-old daughter. She is a laugh a minute. I am in love with her busy personality. Let me tell you…this is one spunky kid. And even though she’s a mini, she’s still a girl…entitled to her fair share of cookie making.
One of my favorite moments came when we were done rolling out the dough for the sugar cookies. We left the flour on the counter and next thing we know, this little one had made a giant mound of flour. She’d taken it teaspoon by teaspoon out of the canister. We had our backs turned until we heard a little voice yell:
“Look! It’s a mountain!”
Yes…a mountain of flour. In the photos above she had torn down the mountain and begun burying cookie cutters. Needless to say she was a mess. But a little flour seems an awful low price for a good laugh. {Notice that she’s in different clothes in the following set of photos. Wonder why?}
To me, no matter what kind of cookie…the best part is always decorating them. Whether that means slapping some pretzels in place as antlers or glazing them with bright icing. As you can see our best helper was very into this step as well. She did a great job. Seriously, are kids precious? Who wouldn’t want to accept a cookie from a cutie like that?
We had a great day. If I can’t be with my mom and sister and aunt and cousin to bake holiday treats, I’m glad I can be among a lovely group like this. My cookies are gone now, but let me assure you…they were indeed made with love.
Amy
by Amy | Dec 3, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Adventure, The Art of Living
I can’t guarantee that this is the only awkward thing that will happen in my life this holiday season. But I can tell you that the event I’m about to describe goes down in history as one of the most janky, rigged-up, random things Derek and I have ever done.
And we’ve done a lot of weird things in our day. I’ll start by showing you a photo of the tree while we were decking it out. Now let me tell you how we got here…
So it’s Christmas time and we needed a tree. One of our favorite holiday traditions is finding our Christmas tree…and cutting it down ourselves if at all possible. The only time we’ve bought off a lot was when we lived in Oklahoma, and that’s only because they are so hard up for trees down there.
Over the years we have found some pretty precarious trees. Like the tree we got in Florida after driving by a random evergreen field. There was a mailbox with a saw hanging from a nail on the post and a sign that read : “Christmas Trees $25. Use the saw. Put money in the mailbox.”
Seriously I can’t make this stuff up. We hauled that one home in the back of our 1995 convertible LeBaron.
But what happened this weekend was even more redneck than that.
Saturday started innocently, with our weekly trip to Menard’s. {We always need something from Menard’s.} After picking up screws and bolts we went to the garden section to get a tree. But when we walked outside it just didn’t feel right. Sure, the nearest Christmas tree farm is hours away. But there had to be a Christmas tree for us somewhere in the wild. So we left tree-less and took a drive into the sticks to see if we could find a tree that we could whack down ourselves.
It turns out…there aren’t many more trees here than there were in Oklahoma.
We drove and drove. And what we found was that evergreens are planted intentionally up here. They lined lawns and created property boarders, but none seemed appropriate to cut down and haul off without facing criminal fines. We were about to give up and drive home when suddenly…there it was…
It was a true Clark Griswald moment. You know like at the beginning of the movie when he sees the tree, and it doesn’t matter that it’s way too big, or that it’s not even the kind of tree you use for a Christmas decoration. “Thith tree is a thymbol of the thspirit of the Griswold family Chrithmath.” And we knew it would be ours.
Where was this magical tree? I think this photo can speak for itself.
Yep. You are seeing correctly. It was at the edge of a gas station. All alone. Obviously an intrusive tree, not meant to be there. What gave us further calm about taking it for our own was the fact that it was half uprooted by the wind. If we left it, it would just die anyway…this was much more dignified. Sure, it was leaning back on another tree…but we’d be able to straighten it up in the stand. Sure it literally had empty bird nests in it…but we’d shake it good before taking it inside. Sure it was full…but we have tree trimmers at the house.
So Derek cut. And once it was cut we had another Griswald moment. Pretty much the same realization Russ has when he says: “Dad, that thing wouldn’t fit in our yard.” But we knew, “It’s not going in our yard, Russ, it’s going in our living room.” It was big.
But stuffed it in the back of the Equinox anyway. Somehow we got the doors closed and we hauled it home where we whacked off a few feet at the bottom, and I trimmed it into a respectable shape. Once up in the living room we really realized how ugly natural it looked. Full of holes, still a bit crooked. It looks as awkward as the circumstances it came from. But we put it up, slathered it in lights and used the trimmings to deck the rest of our halls.
In 2012 we cut down our own tree. And it was a beaut, Clark.
Amy
by Amy | Nov 30, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Adventure
Most of you have heard me lovingly refer to my new home of Minot, ND as “Practically Canada.” It is. The boarder is only a stone’s throw away. People here are silly-friendly and sometimes they drag their “oos” and “ohs.”
But that’s beside the point right now. Today I’m just itching to tell you about how I, Amy Allender, became Practically Canadian last night.
Derek and I….went curling!
Yes, Minot has a curling club. And, let me tell you…it’s awesome. {More awesome than it looks on TV.}
Let me describe the set up for you. Our friend Zach was cool enough to introduce us to the curling club and let us crash their exhibition practice.
I’ll be honest. We drove around for a while looking for the right place. First we actually missed the mark and ended up at a gymnastics studio. Lots of little girls in leotards. Hmmm…I was looking for teenage boys and middle aged men dressed in sweatpants and ski caps. Guess we were in the wrong place.
A second try landed us in the right place: The commercial building at the fair grounds, if you’ll believe it. Zach told us it would be cold…but this was really insane. They literally froze the floor. You could see your breath. Like a walk in freezer, but more fun. {Freezers aren’t that much fun. All the food is frozen solid and there isn’t enough room to play games.}
We were coached on by a curling pro. Do you believe that? I didn’t. Yeah, he’s so legit. He’s been to nationals. {Whatever that means.} And his son competed on the junior Olympic team. Legit. I don’t think he understood at first just how little we knew about the sport. As in “Umm…okay, so what is the point of the game?”
I’ll be honest, I change the channel when I see curling in the winter Olympics. I was clueless.
Here’s the brief on how the game works. Players take turns shoving heavy granite rocks down the ice toward a bulls eye. The rocks closest to the center score. You wear one slippery shoe to help you glide across the ice. Your teammates can sweet these little brooms in front of your rock to melt the ice a bit to help it keep moving further. Get it?
Now, here is the best part of the night. Kebly the curling pro said this to Derek:
“So…Amy must be pretty athletic. Did she play lots of sports in school?”
Yep. He said that. About me…B-Team Allender. Yes, I played lots of sports…poorly. Anything that required skill or coordination was pretty much out of the question. On the tennis team I got “most improved” {we all know that’s what they give the worst player. I went from awful to…pretty bad.} I was so bad I wasn’t even a real part of JV. I played exhibition. So if the opposing team had extra players that didn’t match up with ours, they could hit around with me. Pretty bad, right?
Anyway. The curling pro said this could be my sport. He says I’m a natural.
{Leave it to me to brag about something this weird and awkward.}
It was amazing. We are joining the curling club. I’m practically Canadian. Done-dundee.
Amy
by Amy | Nov 28, 2012 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Gathering, The Art of Projects
Is there anything better than a pretty cake stand?
Not in my book.
Derek actually had to put a limit on my cake stand habit. I’ve got more stands than pans to make cakes in. But c’mon. They. Are. Awesome. Even the most aggravating icing job looks down right delectable when displayed proudly on a cake stand. Beyond their ability to display desserts {of all kinds…not just cakes, mind you} they are maybe the best decor around.
On Thanksgiving I threw together a quick centerpiece. It wasn’t anything special. It took all of 5 minutes to make…I didn’t think it was extraordinary. But my mom did. I thought I was using a trick that everyone knew…but she didn’t…and you might not either. So, I’ll tell you.
Most basic cake stands {the kind you get with a globe to match…like in the picture} are multi-tasking. Yes, that is right. Multiple uses for one beautiful piece of hostess-ware. Here’s the secret…make it do a handstand.
Yep. Take the globe off. Turn the stand upside down, so the cake plate is resting on the table. Most stands have a fluted base with a hollow center. Grab the glob, turn it upside down, and put the handle into the base.
Viola.
Now you have a truffle dish. Or in my case, the basis for a last minute centerpiece. {Recognize that paper wreath?}
For Thanksgiving I filled the dish with nuts {the kind you scoop into a bag at the grocery store} and pine cones. Now {since it was such a hit} it’s filled with Christmas bulbs {the cheap kind from Family Dollar}.
Derek uses this as an argument against me getting more hostess-ware. “Why do you need a truffle dish, when the cake stand does both?”
Um…duh…for those occasions when I’m making cake an truffle. Or when I want to use it as a centerpiece and bake a cake. I’m not budging on this. A girl can never have too many cake stands. Period. End of story.
If you don’t have one. Go buy one. You won’t regret it. It can take your blah-domestic skills to…whoa! Domestic skillz. {Yes, that’s right, the kind with a “z” at the end. That’s how cool you’ll be.} And make sure it can do double duty.
Amy
by Amy | Nov 27, 2012 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
Here’s the thing. A few years ago {about three to be exact} I found an awesome old glass cabinet door in my family’s barn. You never know what you’ll find in there. There was something so…perfectly rustic about it. I needed it.
So I asked my dad if I could have it. He obliged.
And I convinced Derek to haul it back to Florida from Indiana.
Once I had it home, suddenly I was stumped. And I stayed stumped. For years.
I moved the glass door from Florida to Oklahoma to Louisiana and finally up to North Dakota. By the time we got here Derek was less than pleased that I had dragged this piece of cast off garbage all over the country, only to let it sit in the closet. He even wanted to throw it out. Lucky for me {and the door} I tucked it behind the tool chest when he wasn’t looking.
Then a few weeks ago, I decided if I didn’t use it before Thanksgiving…it would be tossed out. It was beautifully rustic. I didn’t want to mess it up…but it was time to be bold or send it to the curb. So I made a plan and followed through.
I gave the old glass door a coat of custom chalkboard paint that I mixed up right here in my living room in a paper cup, and added a few painted flowers. I wrote a little message, and hung it up in the guest room. And I love it.
Doesn’t it feel good when you mark something off the to-do list that has made it’s home there for years??
Okay, so I bet you want to know how to make that awesome chalk board paint. It’s easy…but you may need to make a trip to the hardware store.
First prime your surface with a coat of paint. Then mix up your chalkboard paint:
Put 1 TBSP of unsanded grout into a disposable container. Add a couple drops of water and stir until you have a smooth thick substance. Then add 1/2 cup of paint. Stir again until it’s mixed up real good like. Easy, right?
Your mixture will be thick. You can double, triple, quadruple…this recipe for bigger surfaces.
Apply it with a foam brush to get a good even coating without brush strokes. After it’s all dry lightly rub a piece of chalk on its side across the surface to condition it. Wipe the slate clean and use your new board!
Happy Crafting!
Amy
PS…For those of you following along, I was doing this project when I made that tragic oopsie poopsie on my carpet…
This post is partying at Between Naps on the Porch and these other great sites.
by Amy | Nov 26, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Design
I know I’ve talked a lot about Christmas cards lately. And I promise…after tonight I’ll hush about it. {For a little bit.} But I just had to show you the lovely cards I designed for my Etsy shop. They are cute and totally customizable for you.
The examples show photos of me…but I’m sure your photos will look much better than mine. And for only $10 you get the file and can print as many as you like! {That’s a good deal.} There are seven designs available for you to choose from at my shop, go over to the store to see the rest. So pick your favorite…and get going. Those cards won’t send themselves.
