Violets in October
I was walking to my in-laws the other day with my
twelve-year-old son. Always look down
and up, I say, or you miss a lot. In
late October, there were violets growing and blooming along the sidewalk. They are usually gone shortly after May; in
fact, I used to populate my early May baskets with all color and kind of
violet, and tried many methods of preserving them. Seeing them this late in Autumn, all glorious
purple in symphony with the red and gold leaves surrounding them on the ground
made me uncommonly happy. One of my best
friends in the world was named Violet Ellen, no coincidence, I think. Just the other day I took out a bunch of
purple silk violets attached to a brooch to wear. Something told me they were autumnal yet, and
Mother Nature proved me right.
One never knows where inspiration will come. My unlikely muse appeared this morning when I
was watching one of my favorite shows, Sunday Morning. Keith Richards talked about his life, and his
phenomenal immune system and strong constitution. Well, I supposed he would have to have one
like that! He began to talk about his
lemon tree and gardens, and it turns out that he was “always planting something.” I found that inspirational, and it made his
music mean more to me. Such a simple
act, so fundamental and basic as planting to promote life, keeps people going
and ties them together no matter who they are or what they do in life. He, too, is an artist, and a craftsman, and a
citizen of the world.
I dedicate this blog to my dear friend Francesca and her new
husband Tracy. They are a beautiful
couple, and I’m very happy for them. We,
too, are now autumnal, but we continue to bloom as though we are in eternal
spring.
My idea for the day is the Holiday cake. I’ll start with Halloween, and move on to
Winter, Christmas, even Valentine’s day [the latter is not my favorite holiday,
but I love the color and trappings, the Valentines themselves, and the story of
the Saint who gave the holiday its name].
For a Halloween cake, which I’m sure you’ve seen in cooking
mags, and in Better Homes and Gardens and Good Housekeeping, start with a cake
mix, usually chocolate or devils food, or use your own home made cake. Then, use a dark fudge, chocolate, or
smooth creamy frosting. My husband makes
fantastic frosting from scratch, but for “art projects” like this, I like
canned, Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, or your store’s brand, which can save
money. Look for sales.
For other ingredients, small gummi worms and bugs, any candy
bugs or monsters, marshmallows, large, Lorna Doone’s, Pepperidge Farm Chessman,
other squarish cookies like Vienna fingers, or even chocolate covered grahams
or Fig Newtons, candy sprinkles in Halloween colors, food coloring, tubes of
icing, cake decorations for Halloween, candy pumpkins, pretzels to make fences,
etc. Finally, chocolate wafer cookies
are needed in large quantities. You will
crumble them, to make “dirt.” Think old-fashioned graveyard, ghosts, and
tombstones. My miniaturist friends and
muses like Margaret Grace and Deb Baker, and the late Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Thorne
would excel at this type of culinary activity.
Martha Stewart would have a few ideas, too.
Bake the cake in a large square or rectangular pan. Glass works, and so do large, somewhat deeper
cooking sheets, the kind used to make the layers of Yule log. You’ve seen them on Julia Child and Jacques
Pepin TV shows. Bake according to recipe
or directions. I leave the cake in the pan.
Let cool. Ice with the dark
chocolate frosting.
The, let the frosting set a little bit, and the fun begins!
You can use a photo or drawing of an old graveyard, or maybe
you have a picture of a graveyard cake.
Arrange cookies like tombstones.
You can write names on them with the icing tubes. Crumble the cookies and scatter over the
frosting to make the dirt. Create small
fences, and maybe even a tomb or sarcophagus with the square cookies. You can get creative and slice gumdrops for
shingles or use candy corn or candy rocks here and there to make paths and ruins and stone
benches. If you are artistic, you can
make Marzipan figures and ghosts, especially for the tops of sarcophagi. Talk to your friends who make gingerbread
houses and terrariums. Make ghosts by
spearing or “impaling” [a nod to Vlad Tepes!] two large marshmallows
together. Arrange candy pumpkins in a
pumpkin patch, and scatter gummi worms and monsters. You could also use plastic and porcelain cake
decorations, like the kind I buy made in France, originally made for New Years
bread and cakes. Voila! Display.
This is a great project for the Blue and Gold banquet the boy scouts
have, because there is always a cake contest.
If you want a vampire cake, use red velvet cake as the base
and go whiled. You could go very Goth
with it if you like.
For Thanksgiving, there are tiny turkeys and pilgrims, or
you can make them of candy or Marzipan.
Use food coloring to tint cocoanut to make “hay” to scatter and use
pretzels to build cabins or make fences.
There are a lot of Native American art miniatures and little tables and
pots and pans to create the first Thanksgiving dinner. These can also be made of nontoxic bread
dough clay, recipes on the net, or of marzipan.
Think Thanksgiving colors, if you can make little flowers, do it, also, large bubble gum balls with some
frosting or slivered almonds attached as “feathers” make good turkeys.
For Christmas, you could use any cake for a base, as you
really could for Halloween, since the frosting will cover it, but I think that
a red velvet cake with white frosting would be great for Christmas or
Valentine’s day, even 4th of July depending on how you decorate
it. Follow same baking, cooling,
frosting directions as above for Halloween cake.
For Christmas scenes, you can build graham cracker or tiny
gingerbread houses, or use decorations like tiny bisque light up houses, great
with an led candle inside, candy canes to build and make fences, [think Candy
Cane lane], Dept. 56 or Lemax figures and miniatures to populate the top of the
cake, mirrors or foil for little skating ponds, edible silver and gold dragee
decorations, marshmallow and toothpick snow men with licorice gumdrops hats,
all sorts of Christmas candy, doilies, or vintage cardboard houses. Get some old Wilton cake decorating books,
and if you are a lucky collector, Dennison crepe paper idea books to peruse.
For Valentine’s day, you can decorate with pink icing, tiny
cake decorations, you can make stand up heart people with cake decorations or
gingerbread magic. Also, tiny cherubs
and miniature marble columns made for wedding cakes, pink bridesmaid or
Quincenera statutes, tiny Polly pockets in pink, etc, would make great toppers
for a Valentine’s cake as well. There
are still candy Kewpies made and sold this time of year, as well as the great
classic conversation hearts, which would make great pebbles for pathways or
shingles. Again, if you are good with
marzipan, go for it.
For St. Patrick’s day, try a white cake colored with lime
yellow or green food coloring. You could
also tint icing green. Make a miniature
Irish cottage out of graham crackers or gingerbread, and use the gold, green,
and orange colors of St. Pat’s. You can
find all kinds of miniatures There are tiny pots of cold, and these could be
made as well with a chocolate dessert cup filled with gold jelly beans of
dragees.
For Easter, use any yellow, white, or pink cake, or use food
coloring. Tint frosting yellow or maybe
lavender, and use the bisque light up houses and figures sold at Walgreen’s and
dollar stores for Easter, or make your own as described above. Miniature Royal Doulton bunnies are great
additions to this type of cake decoration, or make bunnies of marshmallows and
candies. Plastic and candy eggs abound to inspire you, as do miniature
chocolate rabbits. You could use Easter
grass, or use cocoanut. There are tiny
baskets in craft stores and wooden ornaments, and even miniature Easter trees
you could use.
For the 4th of July, use the red velvet cake, and
white frosting, and look for Dept. 56 4th figures, miniatures of
Uncle Sam, red, white, and blue Jelly Bellies and berries, make houses as
described above, use marshmallows and tiny American flags.
These cakes have become great family traditions, for
us. You could adapt the decorating ideas
to cupcakes, or smaller loaf cakes, and they are great hostess gifts or pot
luck contributions. They are also good
centerpieces. You can make them as complicated or simple as you like,
and they are creative and can involve the whole family.
Other Holiday gift ideas for an handmade, thoughtful, but
cost-effective holiday:
- Cut
pictures from old cards to use as collage for new ones. Punch a whole in them and use pretty
colored yarn or ribbons to make a garland or individual ornaments. They are also great to cut out as paper
dolls, or to decorate gift wrap.
- For
gift wrap, invest in some plain newsprint, which you can buy at Office
Supply Stores like Staples or Office Max, and decorate with No. 1. Or, use newspaper, B and W or the
colorful funny pages and comics.
Plain brown paper decorated with dried flowers, bittersweet, holly,
or evergreens is great. Even fake
florists picks work, and all the big craft stores have huge varieties
already on sale. Watch pets if you
want to use the bittersweet and
holly. The plain brown paper idea
is also very Victorian. Aluminum
foil or Mylar paper is great, old wallpaper samples, and craft paper of
all types. Brown bags, either cut
up, or used as decorated gift bags work, too. Colorful or plain cellophane tied with
pretty ribbons, especially silk, which can be recycled, are pretty. I like to use lace as well. If you are giving a large piece of linen
or a towel, use it as a gift wrap and tie it all up with twine, raffia, or
ribbon. Save little toys and tiny
ornaments to decorate packages.
Costume jewelry and beads work well, as do holly leaves and tried
twigs glued on to look like winter trees.
I also like to make snowmen from cotton balls, a trick my mom
showed me, and glue them on the package.
There are oodles of ideas for hiding gifts, or wrapping tiny
packages within huge boxes to throw off the scent, as it were. I also love gift baskets, and use all
sorts of containers, especially pretty boxes or vintage tins. You can also decoupage or spray paint
what you want.
- Along the
same lines, if there is a crafter in your family, go through your
art/craft supplies, and create a craft box or basket for them. I include pages from magazines I like to
cut up and use, Victorian scraps, glue sticks, safety scissors, buttons,
material swatches, little jars of beads and clay, small watercolor sets,
colored pens and pencils, mini notepads, little sewing kits, pins, and
needles, pincushions, you name it.
Most of these are things I have, or they are supplemented from the
dollar store. Etsy is also a good
source for finding kits of these materials reasonably.
- Christmas
ornaments with a lovely note or card are great office and hostess
gifts. Great Hanukah gifts are gold
chocolate coins in boxes wrapped in blue Mylar paper. Go to Marilyn Waters’ The Toy Maker
site, just google it. She has
dozens of free printouts and projects for holidays, including easy boxes
and favors for Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, you name it. There are other sites for creating paper
toys, cards, and book marks for Day of the Dead, Purim, Ramadan,
Christmas, and Kwanzaa. Waters also
has plans for Halloween houses and toy theaters, as well as games and
paper dolls, all in color, all printable.
- Select
your favorite poems, write them, select images, and make a scrapbook for
the holidays. There are many images
in public domain and clipart you can use.
Also, there are old magazine images and dozens of ideas from
scrapbook stores or sites. You can
include recipes, or compile a cookbook, use family photos, etc. You can also make calendars, albums or
date books. Kids love to do it, and
it is a great alternative to the “Christmas Letter.”
- Go to
the dollar store, flea market, or craft store, and look for sales like
mad. For about ten dollars, you can
build a theme stocking or basket for a child or teen. You can put together Nativities for
older recipients, a neat purse with cosmetics or toiletries, a roasting
pot with cooking utensils and mixes, a bucket with carwash and car care paraphernalia,
etc.
- Vintage
books, or dollar store books, stacked and tied with a pretty ribbon, also
sold by the spool in craft stores and dollar stores, are wonderful for
those of us who love to read. They
make great office gifts and contributions to silent auctions. Check out Barnes and Noble, Borders,
and Walden, they are having more
book and card sales than ever.
- Bake,
and package attractively as described above. Most of my gifts will be baked goods
this year, made from my Mom and Grandmother’s recipes. When I cook from their handwritten, hand
compiled recipes, I feel like they are standing next to me, telling me
what to do.
- Knitters
and cricketers, do I have to say more?
Get moving! Yarn is on sale
everywhere, the dollar store has great deals. You can do simple book marks for small
gifts or stocking stuffers, edge hankies or doilies, you name it. So, “Stitch and Bitch!” You can combine knitting/crochet
get-togethers with holiday parties, pot lucks, or tree trimming. Kids can ge involved, too. They can always make yarn dolls or ornaments
wrapping yarn around Styrofoam.
Visit you local library book sales and stores for patterns,
McCall’s Needlework and Crafts, and Martha Stewart Living magazines.
- Kits,
all kinds of them, simple and complicated abound this time of year. They can be made as is, used, or
adapted. Michaels has great one’s
for kids. Get them unplugged and
teach them to use their hands.
- Having
said that, there are digital programs and ideas out there, many free, for
making family books and albums you “publish.” You can also get these made at
Walgreen’s and other photos centers.
- One of
the best gifts I got from an office friend was a box of Christmas
cards. She knew I needed them, but
did not have time to get any or make any.
See what someone needs, even if it is small like this, and help
out. Offer to decorate someone’s
tree, or help with yard ornaments.
If you have the time, give an hour to baby-sit, promise to cook a
casserole or covered dish [and do it!], take someone out to dinner, help
with spring planting, etc., or with Holiday clean up if your recipient is
hosting a gathering. They will love
you for it.
- Have a
gift for everyone! I mean it! Drawing names is great in big families,
so is limiting gifts to children, but you can always print a book mark,
enclose a favorite photo in a card, fill a bag with someone’s favorite
candy, gum, or mints, buy a box of twelve ornaments at the dollar store,
and hand one out to everyone in your family at dinner. I handed out collage jewelry and small
ornaments as favors at my wedding.
Everyone loved them. I also
made candy bags one Christmas as favors, and included ornaments made and
decoupaged from luggage tags.
People still talk about them, and I will do something again this
year.
- Shop
sales, shop all year, and put all in a plastic tub. Think small, and use the prepaid post
office boxes. I go to all kinds of
craft sales, rock shows, flea markets, and antique markets, and surf the
net and old books for ideas. I
watch Create on PBS, and always have my radar on.
- duplicate
the simple gifts in Little House on the Prairie, Little Women, and other
vintage stories. Include a copy of
the book, or a Bibliomania or Web URL so that your recipient can read the
entire story.
Even in a recession, the holidays don’t have to suffer. It really is the thought, and a few
well-chosen and printed essays on that subject, wouldn’t hurt to be included in
someone’s stocking.
