Posh Paper Hats for a Royal Wedding (on TV)

The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will happen this Friday at Westminster Abbey, in London England. In honor of my little sister Katie, who will be watching every minute of the wedding coverage, live on television (and who I always thought would be a fantastic wife for Will), I crafted up two posh paper hats based on Kate Middleton's incredible fashion sense.

(Above, my two paper hats. Below, three of Kate Middleton.)

When I began crafting my hats, I knew I needed feathers. Kate M. LOVES her feathers! Personally, I think feathers are (beautiful, but) gross, so instead of using real ones, I made feathers by cutting up a catalog cover (the paper was a heavy card stock- almost like watercolor paper), and snipping tiny parallel lines throughout the feather-shape to give it texture and make it look less like a leaf.

I wasn't terribly happy with the pastel purple color of the catalog paper, so I grabbed a box of drawing pastels, and got my fingers dirty making some dark black plumes. I fixed them with a spritz of hairspray and set them aside.

To accent the hat, I made a handful of multi-colored paper flowers (full tutorial on my paper flower post, here). I used glossy, heavy-weighted magazine ads for some of the flowers, and red construction paper for the rest.

I laid out all of my supplies to assess what I had, and what more I might need (glitter, beads etc..). For the base hat with the long black feathers, I cut a paper plate into an oval, colored it red, and sliced a narrow wedge out of it (see lower left in the above photo). I folded the two end points together, so that the flat oval became a cupped "hat", and glued them together with craft clue. For the base of the second hat, I used a piece of Origami paper (you might remember from my Year of the Rabbit post?), glued it to another paper plate for more stability, and cut that into a circle (leaving it flat). I grabbed two red, plastic produce bags to make a lovely netting for one of the hats, and some red tissue paper to make additional flowers. I was armed with craft glue, hot glue, and lots of clothespins to keep things in place as they dried.

(The base of the red hat, after being colored with drawing pastels, wedge-cut, glued together, and coated in Mod Podge and red glitter.)

After the base of the first hat had dried, I cut a tiny slit in one side (slightly off center), inserted the paper feathers, folding their ends down against the inside of the hat, and secured them with glue. I used my glossy and construction paper flowers to add some color around the base of the feathers, and glued them in place with craft glue. When the hat was completely dry, I put it on and used three bobby pins to keep it in place. My first Kate Middleton "Fascinator" was complete!

For the second hat, I wanted the plastic produce bags to look like a mesh veil. With a hot glue gun, I attached the sides of the bag to the hat base (the hot glue will melt the netting slightly, making it both convenient and challenging to work with), and with the extra netting, I folded it over itself to resemble a flower. I melted some hot glue in the center of the mesh flower, and threw some silver beads into the center to A.) give a pretty accent and B.) hide the melted mess!

Out of my remaining heavy-stock catalog paper, I cut out about 3 full flower shapes and 4 individual petal shapes, coated them in Mod Podge, and then used different hues of red glitter on each. When all of the layers were dry, I stacked them on top of one another, gluing each layer down upon the next with a dot of hot glue. I placed my glittery flower over one of the points where the netting had been glued down (covering the mess, and further securing the netting.)

I made a few tissue paper flowers and tucked them up against the net flower, securing them with craft glue. When my entire hat was dry, I hot glued it to a plastic headband, wedging a piece of cardboard under part of the hat to keep it at an angle as the glue dried.

When both hats were done, I called my girlfriend Farrah over to model them with me. We got teary-eyed just thinking about how beautiful the Royal wedding will surely be....

Coverage of the Royal Wedding will begin at 1am in California. Since I know that my little sis (who gave me that framed photo of Prince William in a Santa hat by the way) will be watching all night long, Farrah and I dressed up in pajamas, and made some English tea in honor of Katie (my sis, not the soon-to-be-princess). Katie, if you are reading this, one of these hats is all yours... just let me know which one you want.

To everyone else, I hope you enjoy these two Kate Middleton-like DIY Fascinator hats. If you end up making your own, and watching the wedding in your fancy hats and pajamas, please send me photos. We're in this together.

Chewy Coconut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday, after a butt-kicking workout and a mountain of prep-work for my video shoot in Europe, I whipped up a batch of cookie. I'm confident that by working out six days a week, drinking obscene amounts of water, and watching my portions, I can shed a few pounds before I get in front of the camera and instantly look ten pounds heavier (sad, but true.) I started thinking that maybe I could also LOOK smaller, by baking cookies for EVERYONE I KNOW before I leave, so that EVERYONE I KNOW plumps up a bit, while I try desperately to slim down. Is that weird? Or brilliant? I'm not sure yet. 

For my deliciously diabolical plan, I started with Coconut and Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are ridiculously quick to make, super buttery, and can be made with the contents of your (moderately well-stocked)pantry. They nearly make themselves!

Recipe!
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut and chocolate chips. Drop dough by tablespoons onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks, and serve with milk!

I literally took ONE bite of these cookies (to make sure they were as yummy as they smelled. They were!!) and knew I would inhale the entire batch if I didn't immediately pack them up for my husband's lunch. Yes, a dozen coconut cookies in his lunch. "Gee Megan, are you losing weight? You look so slender." Muhahah!!


If you take issue with my plan to fatten up everyone around me, feel free to come on over to my house, and discuss it over cookies. I'll be eating celery sticks, but I'm making up a new batch of cookies right now-  just for you!

Photo Saturday: Happy Easter Eggs

Happy almost Easter!!

Wish Me Luck?

Yes. I did paint a wishbone with glitter, frame it, and place it prominently on my desk. Right now, I need all the luck in the world, and a glitter-encrusted rabbit's foot is not an option, nor are 4-leaf clovers. I can never find those things.

As you may know, I've had to cut back on my blogging because I'm working on a BIG project right now. What better way to share exciting news, than with a crazy, glitter-based craft?

Basically, the long and short of it is that a publishing company based in Europe noticed this very blog, and asked if I would be interested in recording a video-based book on how to shoot quality photos of handmade crafts. I know, I know, it sounds a little bit "Nigerian Banker," but it's not... it's actually legit. I leave for Europe at the end of May. I still cannot believe it.

First of all, let me say this, when I was initially asked to do this project, I had some SERIOUS doubts. I mean, I love photography, but surely there are more talented photographers, and crafters out there. I mean, obviously there are. As the weeks have progressed, I've had to stop second-guessing myself (which is as natural as breathing for me), and just accept that sometimes, things happen that are fantastic, and sometimes things happen that are super crappy. Maybe this opportunity is the universe saying, "Hey, sorry about last year, I know that was really dark for you." Whatever the case may be, my videos will be recorded and wrapped up in early June, and hopefully available for sale later this year!

Since I'll be in Europe, I *am* planning on traveling for fun, after my recording. Dearest readers, it's been oh so long since I've been to Europe (not since 1998!!) If you have any tips for me, places you love, locations I absolutely MUST visit, I am ALL ears! I am hoping to visit Austria, England, Norway and Iceland... but those locations are not yet firm. I will most certainly be on a tight budget. As always, I would encourage, and beg you to leave suggestions in the comments below. If you have some super secret amazing thing that I NEED to see in Norway or Iceland, and you want to email it to me, please do! megan at radmegan dot com. So, that's the news. I'm going to have 2 video books published about craft-photography. I'm stunned, thrilled, terrified, and in need of lots and lots of luck.

If you too are in need of some luck, and want to coat a wishbone in glitter (I'm not saying this will make you lucky, but it might remind you that you already are lucky), I recommend making sure your bone is TOTALLY clean. I washed mine several times, and then left it out in the sun for several months. I also recommend using Mod Podge as your adhesive. I had originally intended on using liquid gold leaf; thinking that my little scrap of chicken bone would suddenly look as though it was made of solid gold. This was not the case. It ended up looking more like a dirty bone... which was not at ALL what I was going for. Queue the gold glitter which masks a variety of imperfections one tiny, sparkly fleck at a time. Maybe I should look into a glittery outfit for my on-camera recording?

Wish me luck... I'll need it.

xoxo

A Quick and Healthy Carrot Salad

In each household, carrot salad recipes seem to differ as much as each person's taste in drapes. Growing up, we ate a sweet carrot salad that was made with raisins and honey. At picnics and potlucks I've sampled slaw-like carrot salads made with mayonnaise, salad dressing and swimming in lemon juice.

To me, this salad seems like it should be healthy, it's name includes both "carrot" and "salad" for heaven's sake! I'm a huge fan of substituting certain fatty, or oil-based ingredients for a high-protein alternative like Greek Yogurt. I eat enough oils and fats intentionally, and don't like the idea of hiding them in other, seemingly healthy dishes. This is the recipe I use when making carrot salad at home:

2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup raisins (soaked in 1 cup water for 5 minutes)
1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek Yogurt
1 cup canned crushed pineapple (with juice)

My husband grew up on a version very similar to this, using mayo in place of yogurt. When I first started making my Greek Yogurt version, I didn't tell him that I had swapped out his beloved mayonnaise. He either didn't notice, or just didn't mind the switch. 


When I want this salad, but am out of pineapple, I will use 1 cup of canned peaches, pureed, and add a squirt of lemon. However you make it, carrot salad is a fast and fresh addition to any meal, or just a light and healthy snack.

For more information on Greek Yogurt, there was an interesting brand comparison in the May 2011 issue of Cooks Illustrated.

UCC Class Re-Cap: Needle-Felted Easter Peeps!

This Saturday, I taught my needle-felted Easter Peeps class at the Urban Craft Center. My students were amazing. Their Peeps were adorable. Below, are a few photos of my cutie pie students and their great handiwork!

A very busy needle-felter!

Measuring the proportions by comparing to a real candy Peep!

Trimming the extra fuzz...

Finished Projects!

Thanks so much to all of my students this weekend. It was a joy to work with you and get to know you all! I hope to see you all again soon in future classes.


And thanks again to Craft Magazine and Poppytalk for mentioning this class in their blogs. For those of you who couldn't attend the class, the PDF instructions we used to make our Peeps in class are still available in my etsy store, here.

Photo Saturday: The Mayan Theater

I love the ceiling of the Mayan Theater here in Los Angeles. Built in 1927, and renovated in 1990, the architectural qualities of this building remind me that not all structures in California are made of Styrofoam and Stucco. This was taken a few years ago, moments before the Mexican wrestling troop, Lucha VaVoom began an evening of entertainment.

Cottage Cheese and Avocado Dip

We had ten full-grown avocado trees on our property when I was a kid. Guacamole was free-flowing and never ever made with sour cream or mayonnaise, or any other filler. While I wholeheartedly appreciate how fortunate we were to live in a house set amid so many fruit-bearers, it did make me a bit of an avocado purist. Not to mention a full-blown guacamole snob. So when one of my sweet nieces offered to make me a guacamole dip with cottage cheese, I tried very hard to keep an open mind, as I braced myself for the impact of something that could taste very wrong.

My niece's recipe comes from someone on my husband's side of the family, and while many of my in-laws are wonderful cooks, they did introduce me to a little something called "Cheese Jell-O" a few years ago. Looking back, this may have been part of my "new-girlfriend hazing." Cheese Jell-O is Jell-O topped with cheddar cheese. When you combine these two flavors they don't magically transform into a sumptuous new dish. It's just two pleasant, yet unrelated things in your mouth at the same time. Like part of your sandwich brushed up against your dessert at a picnic, and you ate it anyway. Not bad...

So, with Cheese Jell-O and my guacamole snobbery in mind, I was thinking that my niece was about to feed me another "two things" meal but being the patient auntie I am, I sat back and let it all unfold.

Below is the recipe, and a review of this dip. To make this at home, you will need the following:

1 Ripe avocado

Salt

Pepper

Garlic salt

Lemon juice

Cottage cheese
Corn chips

Scoop out the contents of the avocado, and using a fork, mash it up in a bowl. Add about 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, and garlic salt to taste.

Add about one cup of cottage cheese to the avocado dip, and stir together.

Squeeze in 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice and continue mixing with fork.

Serve with corn chips. (The nieces recommend Frito's.)

With all of my reluctance and adverse feelings about fillers in guacamole, I would say that this cottage cheese avocado dip (note my refusal to call it the g-word) is actually really tasty! The cottage cheese ads a little tang, a lot of protein, and helps to stretch out an avocado amongst two ravenous school kids, and their full-grown aunt. The flavors blend together so well that I never once drew a parallel to the "two things Cheese Jell-O" experience. And of course, the creaminess of the avocado is always nicely paired with the saltiness of corn chips, so on the whole, this after-school snack recipe is one I embrace, and recommend to you!

This is also a great recipe for kids to "cook" on their own. For this blog post, my 8-year old niece was my "guest chef." Her 6-year old sister was my "guest food critic" but her review was too difficult to transcribe since her mouth was constantly full of dip. She did throw me a thumbs up between bites.

I could certainly see bringing this dip to a picnic or pot-luck. However, if it cozied up next to some Jell-O on my plate, I would more than likely leave that bit un-touched.

Stressful Times Call for Bathtub Tea

I come from a long line of nail-biters, hand-wringers and floor-pacers. My BIG project is due at the end of this month, and I'm more than a little anxious about it. On the whole, I'm handling the work-load well, but for me, stress, and mounting insecurities are my most powerful adversaries. As a champion worrier, I've spent years trying to tailor a de-stressing routine that suits my lifestyle. Exercise is always a good thing. However, my secret weapon for mitigating stress, happens in the bathroom. When the going gets tough, the tough takes a bath. 

Long, hot soaks in the tub (or showers, in a pinch) are equivalent to touching "base" in the middle of a frenzied game of tag. In the bath, my stress melts away and my jumbled thoughts become clear. 

I have a friend who makes her own bath-salt mixes. When we worked together, she'd often bring me bags of the stuff to dump directly in the tub when I needed to give myself a "time-out". While her recipe was divine, I often felt like I was marinating in a stew of dried flower bits and floating sacks of oil. I would get out of the tub with roses stuck to my thighs and lavender flowers matted into my scalp. Honestly, sometimes that was a really nice thing. But other times, it wasn't.

With her soothing bath mix in mind, and the reality that I don't have time to (for lack of a better phrase) "de-flower" myself after a soak, I decided to put my own bath mix directly into tea bags that would steep in the hot bath water, and contain all of the flowery bits while infusing the tub with lovely smells and relaxing oils.

Here's what I used to create my bathtub tea bags:
Extra Large Tea Bags
Dried lavender Flowers
Bath Salts (or Epsom Salt)
Dried Hyacinth Flowers
Bath Beads (filled with fragrant oil)
You can also use dried roses, dried chamomile, dried mint etc...

Place 1-2 cups Epsom salt into a large bowl, and mix in 1/2 cup of the dried flowers and herbs. Add a handful of bath beads, and fill each tea bag with the mix. My first batch of bathtub tea bags was only filled up to about the half-way point. Next time, I think I will fill the tea bags 3/4 of the way full.

Once the bags are filled, fold the edges together as if you were wrapping a present (see above), and sew the bag closed. I folded the pointed tips of the tea bags down, and adorned them with embroidered hearts. Using the same colored embroidery thread, I added a tea bag string that measured about 12-inches long (which hangs nicely from the bathtub faucet.)

After running a hot bath, soaking in the relaxing and calming waters, and washing away my immediate worries, I'm now lavender-scented, clear-minded and ready for another day of hard work, hand-wringing and focus! Hope you enjoy!

Note: These bathtub tea bags, when paired with my homemade sugar scrub would make for a very soothing Mother's Day gift.

A Very Crafty Birthday at the Urban Craft Center

This weekend, I hosted a private party at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. The event was in honor of an 8-year-old birthday girl. She and 10 of her closest BFF's wanted to celebrate by learning to needle felt cupcakes. (Eight-year olds with barbed needles... How many of you just winced while reading that?)

While there were a few Band-aids and hugs doled out to the girls who ended up with needle-induced "owies," most of the girls were tireless in their drive to complete not just one needle-felted cupcake, but an entire bakery's worth of woolen treats!

Should I feel bad about getting them hooked on this craft at such a tender age? Because I do not feel bad. In fact, it was really inspiring to see eight-year old get so excited about piles of woolly fluff, hear them discuss the eating habits sheep, and watch them fill with pride as they completed each project.

Mind you, this was a private birthday party, so the birthday girl's mom supplied decorations, lunch AND cake. Even with real cake to tempt and distract them, many of the kids kept sneaking back to the crafting table to make more needle felted confections.

After the girls inhaled their (non-felted) cake (from SusieCakes! One of my favorite bakeries in LA!), and all of the crafting supplies had been put away, I received several thank you hugs and drawings from my pint-sized craft-a-holics. 

The birthday girl and all of the party-attendees left with huge smiles. I left and went home to collapse on my couch with a nice cup of tea. All in all, it was a successful crafting birthday party at the Urban Craft Center and a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

If any readers in Los Angeles are interested in having a private party (for kids or adults) at the Urban Craft Center, let me know, or fill out the party request form on their site, here.