Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Holidays

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Coming Soon: Milwaukee Cookie Takedown

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I’ve got an announcement for you all: I’m participating in this year’s Milwaukee Cookie Takedown! Oooooh.

I came across the call for bakers a few weeks ago and thought I can be competitive about non-competitive things, so I knew I had to get in on this action. All I have to do is bake 250 Christmas cookies, haul them to Turner, imbibe in some festive drinks and hope I win some sweet prizes.

Milwaukee Cookie Takedown

The Takedown is at 7:00PM Sunday, December 14 at Turner Hall if you all are interested in insane amounts of cookies and holiday spirits (and who isn’t?). Hope to see you there!

P.S. I’ll be back later this week with my recipe for this mystery cookie. I don’t want to go giving it away before the big competition now.

 

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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.

Tree_8

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

 

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Short Story: Pinecone Place Cards

Filed Under: Make Tagged With: , ,

Short story and an even quicker craft for you all. For work I had to photograph a Thanksgiving tablescape. Well, a few plates, a little vase and no food made for a pretty bare table. I mean the plates were just sitting there looking so sad and boring, so I did what any self-respecting crafter would do: I wrestled up a little place card holder with things I had lying around.

Pinecone Place Card HolderHere’s what you’ll need (as if you need a list):

  • Pinecones
  • Craft paint

Pinecone Place Card Holder

All you do is just paint the tips of the pinecones with a little paint – or the whole pinecone if that’s your thing – and let it dry. I used a little bronze paint because it matched the color scheme, but something bright would be way fun.

Placecard_2

To complete this little ditty I made things more complicated than they needed to be. I used a little craft paper and stamped on the names with paint. Yes, I could have just written names, but this project would have been 20% less rustic.

Pinecone Place Card Holder

My family would never abide by assigned seating, but if you’re a fancier type  but not so fancy that you’d mind pinecones on your plate, give this a try.

 

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Black Cat Halloween Wreath

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Scary story for all of you: I spent half of October with zero fall decorations. OK, that’s not so scary, but the best season of the year deserves more than the everyday.

Halloween Cat Wreath Craft

That’s why I decided that it was high time I whip up something for Halloween. And not just anything – a cat something, a sparkly cat something. That’s when I got the idea for this purrfect (sorry) wreath. Let’s get started.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Halloween wreath supplies

  • Styrofoam wreath – this one is 12″
  • Halloween garland – I found mine at Target
  • Foam-core board
  • Black paint
  • Black glitter
  • Orange cardstock
  • T-pins
  • Modge Podge
  • X-acto knife
  • Craft glue
  • Fishing line or very thin wire

To start, trace your wreath onto the foam-core board. You’ll use this as the template to draw your cat face. When you draw the face, try to keep it – with the exception of the ears – within this circle.

Halloween cat template

When you’re satisfied with the proportions of this kitty’s features, you’ll begin cutting out the nose, eyes and all the rest out of your cardstock.

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