Tinkerblue

Everyone needs cascarones.

(Cascarones by Carmen Lomas Garza)

Easter will be here in little more than a week.  Once again I'm working Good Friday through Easter Monday, but there will still be some celebrating.  There has to be ham, chocolate eggs, bunnies, chicks (softies, not real ones) and time for reflection. 

What I'm looking forward to most is smashing an egg over bugalugs' head.  I have in my kitchen some carefully guarded Cascarones.

What are Cascarone?  They may have originated in Mexico, they may have originated elsewhere, but they are now popular in Mexico and that's where I discovered them, so I say they're Mexican.

Cascarones are egg shells filled with confetti, that are meant to be cracked (gently) over someone's head, showering them in confetti. Having a Cascrone cracked over your head is supposed to bring good luck.  They are traditionally used at Carnaval and Easter time.

I first heard of them when I was living in Mexico (back in '99) and we went to Tepoztlan around Carnaval one year.  One of the market sellers had a big tarp spread out on the ground and it was covered in brightly covered cascarones.  We bought quite a few to use that day, and quite a few more to take home.

Or maybe I won't use them at all and I'll just keep them.  They are easy enough to make, so I'm not sure why I want to keep them.   Or I could buy more from Mahar Dry Goods.

Vote for Harriet

Harriet has been nominated for an award.  She is one of 5 finalists in the Creepy but Cute category of the Softie Awards.  http://softiescentral.typepad.com/softie_awards/

You can vote for her here http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB226AHFC3FNV

Photo courtesy of Theresa Smythe of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

PS  Dave finally noticed Harriet yesterday.

February Christmas in Progress

For our February Christmas in Progress project I set out to make stand up Nativity puzzles on the scroll saw.  I finished them before Valentine's Day, and then totally forgot about them.   

Although they are now not stand up puzzles.  The pattern was a little bigger than I thought.  I cut them out of 1/2 inch pine and they really aren't thick enough to stand up on their own.  They do, but they wobble.  I should have used 1 & 1/2 inch wood. I wanted them to stand up, so they could be a decoraton as well.  Now they are just regular lay flat puzzles.

There's a star, Mary and Joseph, the Manger and an animal - not sure what type of animal.  Let's just say it's very stylistic.  The pieces are large so they are suitable for little hands, and too big for little mouths.

As March is almost half over and I haven't started anything, maybe I'll make some more using a smaller pattern and thicker wood.  We'll see.

Meet Harriet the Cute

Check out those pigtails tied with pink ribbon and the daisy she's holding.  When you open her arms, her heart says "love me".  And she has the cutest tail too.

Harriet is the wondermonster of Theresa of Rock-Paper-Scissors and Theresa Smythe.  Theresa is a children's book author and illustrator, and she has an etsy shop - busy lady.

For now Harriet is sitting in the living room - hubby hasn't noticed her yet.  Harriet makes me smile when I am grumpy, who could stay grumpy looking at her?

I was MIA, the Mail Was Not

Hubby was away with the camera, I was reading and commenting on blogs, and I forgot to post on my own!   

Every trip to the mail box was exciting last week, it was always full of goodies.  Well it was full of white cards letting me know the post office had a parcel for me, they don't actually deliver them.

Tamara from Little Bits n Pieces sent be a gorgeous green and blue potholder.  That perfectly matches my kitchen.  She was paying attention.  Thank you Tamara, I like it lots.

Lisa from Heart of the Nest sent the most beautiful white felt glittery dove.  Yes, it's a christmas decoration, but it can't spend the next 9 months in a box in the garage, so it's now hanging from our wine rack.  She also sent a pin cushion, which was much needed.  I didn't have one.  She painted the little ceramic butter dish and then the fabric inside co-ordinates.  Thank you Lisa, it was well worth the wait.

This little package actually arrived some time ago and I forgot to post it.  I saw the fishy fabric on another blog, I don't remember which, and I couldn't find the fabric in the stores near me anywhere.  Then I stumbled across Jen's blog and her attached store, and she had lots of stuff in the fishy fabrics.  So several $$ later and I now have 2 pouches, 4 tissue holders and 4 key holders.  They are destined for gifts.  I could never have made them as perfectly as Jen did.  And there's absolutely nothing wrong with supporting handmade, right?  Jen has some awesome stuff - go take a look.

Also arriving last week were some letterpress cards from Etsy seller,  Papered Together.  Hedgehogs remind me of Echidnas, so I just had to get these.  Aren't they adorable?  And with my name on them.  Gotta love Etsy.