Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Christmas

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It’s a Marshmallow World

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I love my home as weird and outdated as it is, and I love it even more during the holidays. My aunt hosted day-after-Christmas parties every year and they were the absolute best. Since I have such fond memories of the holidays here, I knew I had to keep the (Christmas) spirit alive.

It’s not much, but here’s a peek at my marshmallow world.

Christmas Decor

Outside of the tree I don’t have a ton Christmas decor, but enough to make this place feel special. With the glow of the tree, some lights strung along living room bookshelf and some candles in the fireplace, the living room makes you feel like drinking hot chocolate and watching White Christmas every night (I’m totally doing those things right now and it’s perfect).

XMasDecor_4XMasDecor_3

Since this is the first time I’ve really decorated for the holidays on my own since college, I wanted to find decor that felt like me and also felt like it was totally natural for this home (maybe those two things are one in the same).

XMasDecor_2

I hope that you’re jamming out to that Brenda Lee song right now, but more importantly I hope your enjoying your holidays! I’ve got another crafter hours booked before Christmas and then time off from work to perfect my buche noel recipe.

P.S. If you like any of the decor, you can find most of it at these great local shops: Winkie’s in Whitefish Bay, Pear & Simple in Port Washington, and Carrie On in New Berlin.

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Wisconsin Humane Society Fundraiser

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Do you all have your Christmas shopping done? What about your wrapping? I’m crossing my fingers that you Milwaukee-area folks are last-minute shoppers because I’ll be wrapping gifts to raise money for the Wisconsin Humane Society this Monday at the Mayfair Barnes & Noble.

I adopted my cat Zara from the Wisconsin Humane Society eight years ago, and I’ve been volunteering as a cat socializer for the past three. WHS is a wonderful animal welfare organization with three locations in Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Racine Counties. I’ve seen first hand the good work they do and the wonderful people that care for the animals there. I can’t think of a better organization to receive your charitable contribution this holiday.

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So swing on by Monday morning and say hi, or come in anytime through Christmas Eve; there’ll be WHS volunteers there to wrap your gifts all week, and of course we’d appreciate your support!

And happy holidays from Zara and me! (She just loves Christmas.)

 

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Crafter Hours: Putz Houses

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Whoa, you guys. This holiday season is flying by. There’s only a week until Christmas and I’ve still got crafting to do! Thankfully I’ve got some great pals that indulge me in my DIY habits.

Last week my friend Kat came over for the late night version of the crafternoon: crafter hours. Like me, Kat has an affinity for midcentury homes and oddly specific decor. This means that when she sent me over to Retro Renovation to check out some putz houses, I knew we had to give these a try.

Putz houses

To get us in the Christmas spirit, we cranked up our favorite Christmas jams and poured a few hot toddies. Then I pulled out a heap of craft supplies. Since this is so customizable and detailed, I won’t call this a DIY post (you can check out Retro Renovation for a complete tutorial) but maybe some inspiration/an intro to putz houses (because now I’m obsessed).

I will say that if you are looking to make these little honeys, grab all the things. Between the two of us we used:

  • Cardboard – cereal boxes, shipping boxes, anything you can get your hands on
  • X-Acto knife and mat
  • Paint
  • Glitter, obvi
  • Hot glue
  • Craft glue
  • Pipe cleaners – metallic, duh
  • Felt squares
  • Tissue paper
  • Craft foam – I picked up some glittery stuff with adhesive on the back
  • Mini pine trees – you can find them in the Christmas village section of your craft store

That’s a lot of stuff, I know, but chances are you avid crafters have a handful of it already.

Putz House

For this project Kat used one of the templates in the links because they are adorable and classy. Because I am a fool, I insisted I make a model of my own home. Word to the wise: it will take you five times longer and test your geometry skills. But either way you go with this project, straight lines and careful cutting are key. Kat was very deliberate about her house and I was – despite my perfectionist nature – less interested in straight lines and more interested in getting the proportions right.

Putz House

You can also see that I was not interested in a clean workspace. We both needed every possible thing at any given moment. In the end though, I was very pleased with my rendition. Cedar siding? Check. Tiny windows everywhere? Got it. New roof? Done and done.

Putz House

Kat’s turned out so perfectly. I loved the nontraditional coloring on hers and how petite it is! I can’t get over it. Right now we each only have one lonely house, so I think we might need a second session to build up the neighborhood.

Hope this got you in the holiday spirit! Let me know if you’ve mad these before (or are planning on making one). I’d love to see!

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Prize-Winning Cream Cheese Pillows

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Here it is, like I promised, the recipe for my favorite Christmas cookie and award-winning confection: cream cheese pillows.

My mom has been making these forever. The recipe is a favorite from her collection of Wisconsin Electric Company cookbooks. You can find it in the 1968 edition, and if you’re curious, the whole set is available in PDF form online – pretty rad.

Cream Cheese Pillows

To make these you’ll need:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 oz. cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • Jam
  • Cinnamon sugar

To start, cream softened butter and cream cheese together. Once those are blended, mix in the flour. Once you’ve got a nice dough, wrap it in wax paper and chill for a half hour (or more). And you read that right – there’s zero sugar in this dough. It’s surprising, I know, but these get all their sweetness from the jam and cinnamon sugar later.

Cream Cheese Pillows

Once your dough is chilled, dust with a little flour and roll it out to about ¼” thick. Then you’ll cut out circles. I used this little cordial glass to get the right size – about 1 ½”.

Then you want to break out that jam. I used a few tablespoons of black raspberry jam stirred up with about a teaspoon of water just to make it smoother consistency. Spoon the tiniest drop into the center of your circles. You seriously don’t want more than just a pony bead-sized amount, otherwise it will seep out all over the place.

Cream Cheese Pillows

Next, you’ll wet the outside of each circle with a little bit of water. You could use a little pastry brush if you want, but your finger will do the job just fine. Then crimp each half circle together with a fork. You can dip the fork in a little flour if needed to prevent it from sticking. They’ll end up looking like awesome little cookie calzones.

Cream Cheese Pillows

Then pop them into the oven at 375ºF for 13-14 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden. As soon you take them out of the oven, toss them in a bowl full of cinnamon sugar. Then place on a rack (or paper bag) to cool.

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Like I said, these were a hit. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

 

 

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Crafternoon: Geometric Paper Ornaments

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This weekend I hosted the first of what I hope to be many crafternoons. I invited my pals Kellie and Melanie over to make some ornaments, drink some lambic, snack for hours and watch Scrooged – essentially the perfect day.

Geometric Paper Ornament

I’ve been making these geometric folded paper ornaments for years and everyone seems to dig them, so I figured why not hang out and teach some friends how to make some too. It’s perfect for crafternoons because it’s quick enough to learn in a few minutes and doesn’t require so much concentration that you miss all the good parts of your favorite Christmas special or all the good gossip.

There’s also the added bonus that this project only takes a handful of supplies, some of them you probably have on hand. So here’s what you’ll need:

  • Scrapbook paper
  • Glue – any clear-drying type will do
  • Hole punch – mine is 2″
  • Embroidery floss or thin ribbon
  • Large-eyed needle
  • Glitter if it floats your boat

Geometric Paper Ornament

I know that this project isn’t exactly an original, but I recall figuring out how to assemble these at first and it being a real mess. I hope this little run-through makes it easy.

To start, punch out 20 circles and trace a equilateral triangle on the back of each. You don’t want to eyeball this one, believe me. Also, I recommend a nondirectional pattern if this is your first time at the paper ornament rodeo; that way you don’t need to worry about which way the triangles are pointing.

Geometric Paper Ornament

Once you got those all traced out, get folding. Fold the patterned side toward itself, be as precise as possible and make sure to get a good crease in there. If you’ve got a bone folder, break that baby out.

Geometric paper ornament

Now here’s where the layout of this comes in. You’ll need five triangles for the top, five for the bottom and the remaining ten form the middle of your orb.

Geometric Paper Ornament

Then you’ll start glueing according to the layout above. You’ll notice that as you add pieces, it will start to form a dome shape. Thumbs up. Try to be as exact as possible when lining up the edges – it’ll help all the pieces fit together in the end.

Geometric Paper Ornament

Repeat that process to form another little dome. Think of these two pieces like the bread of a sandwich. For the PB&J portion of this ornament, follow the layout above (point up, point down, point up, etc.) until you have a long strip. Then just glue the two ends together. It might look a little wonky, but as long as you’ve got five tabs on each flat side, you’re good. The two domes will tie it together and give it the proper structure.

Geometric Paper Ornament

Once your three sections are dry, you can assemble your sandwich – I mean ornament. Just match the five tabs from the domes to the five tabs on that middle section. Easy peasy.

Geometric Paper Ornament

To finish off, just thread a little ribbon or embroidery floss through a flap and call it good!

Once you got this down pat, you can branch out with different sizes, add some glitter to the edges (ooh pretty!), add a bow up top or even use photos. Below you’ll see a photo version I made from snaps from a trip to Montreal and it’s just about my favorite ornament ever.

Geometric Paper Ornament

These are so simple and customizable that they make the perfect little extra present and add some handmade to your holiday. Now go forth and craft a hundred of these!

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It’s Christmastime in the Cabin

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At long last – the tree is up, and it finally feels like Christmas over here. The lights are glowing, carols are playing and the cat is curled up on her Santa hat.

It's Christmastime

For Michael and me, this is our first tree together, and I think I may have overwhelmed him with the number of ornaments I’ve collected over the years. I was actually concerned that there wouldn’t be enough to fill the tree so I bought heaps of garland in case we needed to fill in some gaps. Turns out there were more than enough by most people’s standards (but I think it could use a few more).

It's Christmastime

As far as ornaments go, I’m an everything goes kinda gal. Adorable velveteen reindeer? Yes, please! Silvery pinecone? I’ll take it. Pocahontas ornament from 1995? Why not? Unwrapping all the weird and wonderful ornaments from their boxes every year pretty much launches me into full-on reminisce mode, which is my favorite thing.

It's Christmastime

I don’t think it’s so much about cohesion when decorating a tree as it is about finding ornaments you love and keeping the ones that hold great memories.

It's Christmastime

This year I was in quite the pickle over a tree. A real tree would look amazing next to all the wood paneling and give some sweet rustic vibes (plus real trees are better). On the other hand, I could put up a fake tree earlier. Well, my eagerness won out and I figured if it had to be fake, it had to be really fake so I snagged this pre-lit white one that’s got some pretty slick iridescence action going on. It’s no frasier fir, but it’ll do just fine.

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I hope you all are having a great start of your holiday season! Even crabby Zara is loving all these Christmas vibes.