Amy Hanna

How to make a yummy cup of espresso!

I LOVE coffee, and have drove my husband nuts trying to find the perfect espresso maker.  One of the gadgets that I have purchased is an espresso maker from William and Sonoma. It is called Le Cube and is made by Nespresso.

I love the fact that this machine is super easy to use. You can purchase of bunch of different brews in a variety of different strengths. This machine is great when you are serving espresso after a dinner party. You can make the drinks pretty quickly and there is not much clean up.

I purchased this nice wooden box filled with coffee cubes when I bought my machine.

The nice thing about having the box is that it has the description of all of the choices of cubes you can buy listed on the inside of the box so you can remember which one you like.  Especially for someone like myself who has I hard time remembering things!!  My favorite choice is the Ristretto which is also the strongest one.

  I just went to Ikea last week and purchased the cute silver espresso cups  that are shown in the first photo. They are called kalaset and they are priced at $5.99 for two cups and saucers. I just love that they are metal, they keep the coffee nice and hot!   I also used my handy frother that I had bought at Ikea a while ago for under $2.00 and I made myself a delicious cup of cappuccino using half and half instead of milk. Yummy Yummy!!

Looking at things through a lens................

Finding inspiration in things that surround you is always a fun project to do when you are in need for a bust of creativity.  Today a piled up a bunch of things that I have been collecting to use in some new creations.  It is so fun to work with things that have been originally created by someone else's hands years ago.  Like the hand painted portrait pin from France and the hand carved meerschaum pieces. 

I find that sometimes when I photograph items before I start working with them it helps to show me the piece in a different way and helps me to know how to use it.

 

I feel kinda like the abominable snowman shown above after dragging my dead Christmas tree out of the house today. Not to sound like a total downer but it  felt like such a wierd Christmas to me.  I never quite got the feeling like it was a holiday.  Now the dreaded task of putting all the decorations away. I usually have that done by now but I have been in slow motion. 

My daughters drew the drawing of the snowman on our chalk board wall, just love him I think he will have to stay around for a while longer!!

I took these photos yesterday morning before I started pulling everything off of the very dry dead tree.

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My husband actually made the egg ornament above with the wise men when he was just a boy.  I love handmade ornaments they are always my favoite!

The gingerbread man was made by one of my girls in preschool. 

I bought the vintage angel topper at an antique shop in SFO twenty years ago. She reminded me of the topper my Mother had used on our tree while growing up.

 

I still use my paper ladies that I made in Lesley Riley's class years ago.They are photos of my Mother and my Grandmother as little girls.

Happy New Year!!

The art of a good snowball fight!

My Mother and husband had fun pounching each other with snow balls last weekend when we were up in Big Bear.  It is such a treat for my children to see snow since they have grown up in Southern California.  We were so lucky to get a good down poor while we were there. The mountain looked magical with all the beautiful snow covering everything.  The beautiful white flakes are such a special touch on making it feel like Christmas.  
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and the winner is.....................

Although they both put up a good fight, I think the winner of the fight was our dog, Oliver!! Who had never seen snow before. He LOVED it, I think he might just be part Huskey!!  

My daughters had fun making snow angels and igloos.

FA La La

Craftapalooza

 I enjoyed our first Craftapoolza with my buddies, Pam, Jenny and Heather last Sunday.  We met at Jenny's new pad, Studio Crescendoh in Santa Ana. We crafted like wild women all through the night.  It was a really fun night of food, drinks and crafting with friends.  We each brought the supplies for our craft that we were teaching and showed each other how to create something.  The little acorn people were brought by Heather. The top ones were created by Pam the bottom ones were by me.

 

 Studio Crescendoh is so cool, it is a studio located in the art district in downtown Santa Ana.  Jenny is now hosting classes at her studio and has some amazingly talented artist teaching there.  She has a schedule of classes on her website, Lynn Whipple, Jesse Reno and Jennifer Mercedes are coming just to name a few. 

Jenny shared with us her doodling technique. Which she had each of us doodle what ever came into our mind on each others journal and then pass it on to the next person until we worked on everyones book.  This is the outcome of Heather's books above and of Jenny's below.  It was really fun to see all of them together.

Jenny gave all of us a copy of her latest book that has been published and Pam brought us each two of her beautiful new prints that she has available on etsy.  They make great gifts and I can't believe how much they look like orginal illustrations in person.  

I taught everyone how to bead their own necklace and how to make bon bon bags for Christmas.  Here are some of the bags that Heather and Pam made below.

Pam also shared how to make her handmade felt wreath.  Jenny made the wreath shown below.  Pam and I also showed how to make our crafts on Heather's Christmas addition of Souvenir that she has offered for free.  You can sign up for Souvenir on her blog, Souvenir is loaded with fun Christmas ideas and recipe's.  We also used this time together to celebrate Heather's new job as contributing editor for Country LIving Magazine.  I am lucky to have such creative friends in driving distance, it is always fun when we get to hang out with each other.  

The picture above is of Jenny and Heather's acorn people.  This is a great craft to make with the kids, she found the acorn tops on etsy.  

Hope Faith Charity

These words are the most important things to remember over the holiday season. Hope, Faith and Charity.

I just love this big old medal that has the words written on it and is dated 1883. 

I hate to admit it but I also like the word bonbons, I actually like to eat them!!  hee hee!!

Jingle Bells

 

Souvenir

Heather's new issue of Souvenir is out make sure to sign up if you have not already it is loaded with lots of goodies for the holidays!!