february issues

Seven February issues, to be exact.

I pulled a seasonal stack of Martha Stewart Living magazines down out of my horde the other day. So awesome to pore back over seven years of great and festive ideas, so much to sink your teeth into. The older issues have this freshness about them that I love. This is also a fun way to read the Easter issues.

I am still feeling extremely drained from three out of four of us being really sick over the past week, so instead of burning the midnight oil lately (did you know 2:30 a.m. is my bedtime half the week?) I've been lying in bed at night and resting. And reading. And thinking about donuts. Also getting excited to have my energy back, because I'm going to be doing a little installation in March and I can't wait to get to it.

I've been stocking up on supplies, like crepe paper and nice thread. Carte Fini, one of the places I get my floral crepe paper, is having a sale through Valentine's Day. Twenty percent off paper products if you use the code Valentine20. I can't wait to get my hands on my order. I can't wait to get over this bug!

valentine's day tricks

♥ pretzel valentines ♥ paint strip valentines ♥ sidewalk valentines ♥

Anything I post here for Valentine's Day is probably going to be donut related, so as I sit here totally wrecked with the flu, I thought I'd dredge up my favorite little valentines from years past. All three of these were poorly lit and photographed by yours truly with a phone, but they were fun nonetheless.  

The pretzel valentines were born of love; David adores soft pretzels and we adore him. The kids love to make these. We've been doing it for ages, but this time around we used food coloring to dye the sesame seeds and rock salt pink. You can find the full project here.

The paint strip valentines were an epiphany, until I later realized everyone and their mother crafts with paint chips and strips. C'est la vie! We live a half a block from a paint shop so the materials were easy to come by. They were super cute, and were featured at Benjamin Moore's Color Chats blog. You can find the full tutorial here.

The sidewalk valentines were something we did way before I started this blog. We used to walk several blocks after getting off the bus on the way to Stella's preschool, back in the day. We noticed a few dozen hearts drawn in the concrete along that walk, so that year on Valentine's Day we packed a case of red, pink and rose colored chalk, left early for school, and colored our way down and up about six blocks. So sweet and fun! It rained later that day, so on the way home we just saw smudges of color where there had once been perfect hearts. I loved this one, you can see more photos here.

sunday walk

This past Friday, Stella was off on her first real sleepover, which meant Saturday morning David and I could ignore Oliver, drink tons of his coffee, and gorge ourselves on the internet, all guilt free. We ended up in jammies all day, so to redeem ourselves on Sunday we took a walk. To the Mission. For some vintage shopping and thrifting, and some lunch. It got so, so, so cold by the time we finished our late lunch that we ended up hightailing it home without hitting Thrift Town and the like. We'll try again soon.

 But first, I took my first shower in several days, and spent an extra ten minutes locked in the bathroom, working on these nails.

 This is my best angle these days. Working on it.

 Puerto Allegre on Valencia is always worth the wait.

 At Idol Vintage on 16th. I bought a clown outfit. Why? I already bought a different clown outfit from the same shop. And no one will wear them! It was eleven dollars, it's adorable. Oliver will wear it for me one day, I'm sure.

valentine's day gift for dad (pt. II)

Well, now you know! David's favorite treat is soft pretzels, and the red/pink sesame seeds and salt I made the other day (see here) are for these doughy valentines!

We've been making these pretzels for years and years, from a recipe from Highlights magazine, of all places! I think I have made these pretzels with every kid who has ever crossed our threshold at some point or another. It is not the best soft pretzel recipe in the world, by far, and the whole wheat flour might've not been necessary, but it's so easy. So easy! I actually can't believe that I didn't look around for a more sophisticated recipe, it being Valentine's Day and all. I really should've, David deserves it!

Regardless, here is the recipe, should you want to try it with your little ones. And here are our little ones getting the job done.

So now the pretzels are sitting here in a big bucket waiting to "surprise" David in the morning (neither of these kids can keep a secret to save their lives). I'll grab a nice bottle of Albariño and fixings for larb gai tomorrow, so David and I can throw the kids in front of a movie and make dinner together tomorrow night. Romantic!

Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

old art and a heart

Last week, as we were foraging for more hearts on the walk home from school, we came across this one on the sidewalk. It's red paint, basically drizzled onto the concrete in the shape of a heart. I recently wrote about our own sidewalk valentines here, so this was a fun find for us.

During the last month or so I've been dredging up a lot of my old artwork, which has been so great to share with a new and very supportive audience (you). This drizzled on heart immediately reminded me of a piece I did years and years ago, and has long since hit the dumpster. It's a piece of plywood painted a yellowish white, with a crowd drizzled on in black ink.

I loved this thing, so much so that I tried to submit it as part of a project in architecture school, even though it had nothing to do with anything, and my professor didn't buy it for a second. All I have left of it now is a few blurry photos. David loves it, though, and plans on making a t-shirt design with it. The cool thing about this one is it'd be pretty easy to do again, if I ever got a wild hair to do so.

paint chip valentines

Note: Our Valentine's were featured at Benjamin Moore's color chats! blog on February 14, 2012!

A few years ago, being an architect and all, I ordered a few paint sample fans from the paint company Benjamin Moore. They sent a case of them by accident. After several failed attempts to return them, they ended up scattered around San Francisco, to other architects, to clients, to whoever would take one!

But there are a few fans still lurking around here, and on top of that, we live a few doors down from a Kelly-Moore paint store. A couple of days ago an idea just came to me out of the blue: paint chip valentines! So many resources for the materials, so easy! Last year's heart-shaped-construction-paper-loaded-pizza classroom valentines took FOREVER, so this year I took it upon myself to simplify, heavily.


Here's what I did.


I took individual sample strips and strips I tore out of the fans, shortened them into three or four-chip-long segments, and folded accordion style. Be sure that there is a front of a chip facing out on at least one side. Four-chip-long ones are better, because the "To:" label will be facing outward when these are done.


By the way, I think I might take a rubber stamp to some of these chips or strips with my "corner blog" logo and contact information on them and make myself some cute business cards. I'll let you know if I do!

Then I added the "To:" and "From:" labels, for Stella to fill in when she's home from her first ever sleep-over tomorrow. It is hard to describe in words why I did this like I did this, but basically I want Stella to be able to see who the valentine is addressed to when handing them out in class, so the "To:" goes facing out at one side (these will be closed up before they are delivered). Do you follow?

If I wasn't trying to get this off my plate for the weekend, I'm sure I would've found a cuter way to letter these, by the way!

Next I used a little eraser stamp trick I've seen lately here and here. The difference is, I have a GIANT eraser (and now owe Stella a new giant pencil).

Did you notice the orientation of the heart on the end of the strip? Maybe go back and look again, if you're thinking about doing this yourself. It's easier just to show you than to explain!


The white valentines with the red hearts are my favorites.


When they dry, and after Stella has addressed each one and signed her name, I'm going to fold them together and tie them gently with a piece of mauve or pink string, or maybe some bakery string, if I can get some this weekend. If you end up with some that are only three segments long, you should write the addressee's name in pencil on the blank back of the valentine, so you know who it is going to (the actual "To:" will be folded in, so you can't see it).

With these out of the way for the year, happy weekend to me!

corners: hearts

Hearts are much harder to find around here than, say, elephants. I found way fewer than I thought I would when I started poking around for them yesterday. The heart is not as ubiquitous as one might think!

A Teuscher crepe paper chocolate box my mother bought me

in downtown San Francisco years ago.

Heart shape cake pans I've had forever.

Beautiful Dutch Door Press tea towels.

Cookie cutters and some Play-Doh hearts Stella and I made so

long ago that they are growing some kind of freaky Play-Doh mold.

Stella helped me sweep the house for hearts and found

this card from our Eames House of Cards set.

This sweet letterpress card I keep meaning to give to David, by Carissa Potter. I love the radiator, it reminds me of being back east. You don't see too many clanky cast iron radiators out here in these parts. I really miss them! This one is electric, but still. By the way, this artist is kind of wonderful.

A dress it is possible I may never wear again, inspired by my
years and years of studying flamenco. Size eight. If you're
dying for it, let me know. I'm hopeful, but realistic.

And another gorgeous Dutch Door Press design. This is my valentine to my mother, who left yesterday and I am missing a lot already. She already saw it while she was here. Doubtful it'll get in the mail in time for Valentine's Day. Love you, Mom!