Blog Love: Six Orange Carrots

I'm a sucker for beautiful photography, natural lighting, food, and puppies... and Beth of Six Orange Carrots delivers all of this, and more. I've pulled a few of my favorite photographs of Beth's to show you today, along with their respective posts. If you haven't already, I hope you'll visit her blog, because I know you'll fall in love.

[kumquats]

[ode to Sundays]

[strawberry preserves]

[these days]

By the way, that's Jodie, Beth's rescue pup, and I am in love with her. 

DIY: Storybook Paper Tree

When I found this paper tree tutorial over on the Crate Paper Blog, I knew I had to give it a try. I decided to use pages from old children's books to give the tree a bright, cheery look. I really love how it turned out. Here's how to make your own!

What you'll need:

• poster board or cardboard to form the cone shape
• a few children's books from the goodwill or a yard sale (books that you won't mind tearing up)
• hot glue gun
• scalloped circle paper punch
• pencil or pen

Form a cone out of your poster board or cardboard and hot glue it into place. 

Find colorful pages in the children's books and punch out some circles.

Wrap the circles around a pencil or pen to curl them.

Start at the bottom of the cone and hot glue the curled circles in rows. Make sure the rows are somewhat close so that the cardboard doesn't show.

Once the cone is completely covered, form one circle into a cone shape and hot glue it to the very top. That's it!

Bright Idea: Decorating with Pinecones

I've never really decorated with pinecones since they're kind of hard to come by in my area, but after finding all of these great ways to use them, I might just have to figure out a way to get my hands on some!

mini pinecone trees

 pinecone door decor (via Sweet Paul and Poppytalk)

pinecone topiaries (globes and trees)

wreaths (both via Real Simple)

more wreaths (via Martha Stewart and Furniture and Design) 

pinecone penguins

DIY: Simple Paper Ornament

These paper ornaments are extremely simple and give your tree that handmade look. Read on to learn how to make your own!

What you'll need:

• colorful cardstock or construction paper
• circular paper punch
• craft wire or stretchy elastic cord (I only used the elastic cord because I had it on hand)
• hot glue
• string or ribbon

Punch circles using your paper punch or trace and cut them by hand. You will need 12 circles per ornament. 

Fold each circle in half and place them in the order you like. I alternated the colors. Wrap your wire or cord around the stack of circles along the fold. Twist or tie the ends together so the stack is nice and secure. 

Add a drop of hot glue to the edge of one circle about 1/3 of the way up from the BOTTOM. Secure it to the flap next to it. Move on to the next flap and add your next drop of hot glue 1/3 of the way down from the TOP. Secure this flap to the next one. Keep going, alternating glue from top to bottom, all the way around until the circles form a globe shape.

Glue some ribbon or string inside one or two of the flaps and you're done! Click here for an even more in depth tutorial!

Psst... did you notice that I hung my Christmas lights? This is my first Christmas here on the blog so I'm pretty excited!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!

Photos found here.

Sponsor Spotlight: Rebecca of Drunk Literature

This week's Sponsor Spotlight post is dedicated to the lovely Rebecca of Drunk Literature. Rebecca's blog began as an intelligent discussion on how intoxication appears in literature (I love that), and has transformed into a more personal look at her own life. I think you'll find her as charming as I do.

Why, hello! I'm Rebecca, the lady behind Drunk Literature. Whoa, it's weird calling myself a "lady," is it not? Anyway, I am a full-fledged book nerd with a passion for design, style, and art. I am in a true state of perpetual post-graduate-ness, meaning I am still viewing life as a journey of discovery (either that or I'm just indecisive). I am not-so-mildly addicted to coffee, used bookshops, Google Reader, and ugly accessories. I enjoy a stinky cheese, robust wine, anything French-inspired, and autumn in sight, smell, sound, touch and taste.

When I'm not blogging about books, cover design, style, and life, I am at my day job spending some 70 hours a week working at an up-and-coming contemporary art gallery (you can read about us here). At the Gallery, I serve as the Communications Director and find myself challenged on a daily basis. I am also currently learning all the wonders of website and graphic design, and am trying my hand at launching a few new projects. Stop by my blog and say hi!

Pictured above: one of Rebecca's adorable cats (she comically describes herself as just a little bit of a crazy cat lady) as well as a "rating sheet" she newly devised for the books she reads. How creative!

Learn more about Rebecca...

BLOG / GALLERY / TWITTER

Mini Pepperoni Pizza Loaves

For my birthday last month my mom bought me an adorable mini loaf pan and I finally put it to use last weekend. I decided to try a new recipe. Adapted from this Pepperoni Pizza Puffs recipe, these mini pizza loaves, served with marinara sauce for dipping, are perfect for a simple homemade lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups milk (preferably whole but I used lowfat)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups pepperoni slices (chopped up)
• 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and combine the dry ingredients.

Whisk in 2 eggs and milk.

Shred the cheese, chop the pepperoni, and add them to the mixture. Stir together. The consistency should resemble muffin batter.

Grease your pan and divide the mixture evenly. You can use a cupcake pan to bake these too. If you do, bake them for about 20 to 25 minutes. I baked my mini loaves for about 45 minutes, using a toothpick to make sure the centers were cooked through.

Let them cool for a couple of minutes and serve with warm marinara sauce!

Black Friday?

It's no secret that many of us tend to overlook our little local shops the day after Thanksgiving. 

I might just have to visit a few on Friday. What do you think? 

Photo found here.

Oh (Pink) Christmas Tree!

Like I said last week, my pink tree finally arrived! I opened it over the weekend and wasn't going to start decorating it until after Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't help myself! It looked so sad sitting in the corner all dark and bare. On Saturday I went to a few stores in search of decorations and after much deliberation decided on colorful ornaments. I'm all about color so I like how these look but I might just have to try all silver next year. Why not, right?

I bought a couple specialty ornaments at World Market and found the rest at Target, along with white lights and a glittery silver star topper.

It's so sparkly and beautiful!

I've never celebrated Thanksgiving with the tree already up but there's a first time for everything, right? And this is DEFINITELY no ordinary tree.

Sponsor Please Note in December!

I'm currently accepting sponsors for the month of December. Please Note's pageviews are on the rise, averaging between 500 and 1,000 views per day, and receiving over 20,000 pageviews last month! Our ad rates are VERY reasonable! For more information, check out the sponsor info page here or click "sponsor info" to your right.

Thanksgiving Etsy Favorites

Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! I can't believe it. So, since I enjoyed putting together my Halloween Etsy Favorites post so much, I decided to do one for Thanksgiving! I've broken it up into four parts: hostess gifts, place cards, wreaths, and aprons. Take a peek!

HOSTESS GIFTS

gather together kitchen towel

felted pumpkin pie soap

felted cornucopia soap

pumpkin tea towel

harvest spice caramels 

PLACE CARDS

autumn leaf place cards

pop-up turkey place cards

oak leaf and acorn place cards

WREATHS

mustard and creme floral wreath

autumn leaf burnt orange yarn wreath

fall acorn wreath

autumn grapevine wreath

APRONS

pumpkin orange apron

orange dotted apron

mustard floral apron

Happy Friday, friends!