The First Annual All Florida Victorian Picnic

http://www.thesteampunkempire.com/events/first-annual-all-florida-victorian-picnic-and-croquet-tournament

Rag Wreath

The base of the wreath is simply a wire hanger, bent into a circle. Strips of fabric, in a variety of both solid colors and prints are tied onto the circle and pushed tightly together. Each fabric strip is 6-inches long and 1-inch wide.



This is a great way to use up odd fabric scraps and is simple enough for children to help with.

Steampunk Ribbon Wreath Ornaments

Starting with about two feet of wire, make a wreath shape by forming the wire around a drinking glass or a large pillar candle. Make the coil handle by wrapping the excess wire around a pencil or chopstick and then carefully slide the coil off.



For the ribbons, I used 3-inch lengths of 1/2-inch wide shear ribbon in 5 colors (gold, silver, black, brown, and white). The ribbons are just tied onto the wire.

The gear in the middle of each ornament dangles from a piece of embroidery floss tied to the wire.

Ula's Halloween

Ula had an awesome Halloween. My home town, Elgin, IL. hosted a zombie invasion event last Saturday, called Nightmare on Chicago Street.

The city did a fabulous job decorating and turning this into an immersive experience.

Decorations included turned over cars, boarded up shop windows, missing persons posters, and lots of fake blood.



Ula got into the spirit of things and dressed as a Victorian zombie in a long black skirt and a black bustle jacket. She also did an amazing job on her make-up.





I am the proud mother of a VERY scary looking zombie.

Turning Mint Tins into 3-D Ornaments

The plan for this year is to have a Victorian/Steampunk-ish Christmas, which means making some new ornaments out of "found" objects and things I already have around the apartment. These are my first ornaments made out of mint tins. I really like the way they turned out and I'd like to make more.



Spray paint that is made to adhere to plastic and metallic spray paint both worked well to cover the tins.




I covered the tops of the boxes with Victorian Christmas pictures that I found on the internet and framed them with gold pipe-stem cleaners and glitter glue.



I used a regular glue stick to attach the background pictures and then Super Glue for the trim.




A 12 pt. font worked well for typing out the words on the inside of the box and double sided tape added a little dimension to the moon. 3-dimensional scrapbook stickers can also be used for this effect.



This is my favorite of the two I've created so far:




The outside of the box is a picture of Queen Victoria and her family celebrating Christmas, while on the inside, a little chimney sweep (played by Blaze) is asleep on a roof top, with his stocking hung on the chimney.





The pros and cons of Newman's Own Mint tins vs. Altoids mint tins:

Altoids' tins are deeper, but have raised lettering, making it necessary to cover the lids with decorative paper or pictures. Altoids are easier to find in stores.

Newman's Own tins are shallow, but have smooth lids that make them easier to just paint and decorate (the manly tea party tin is from Newman's Own). Personal preference, I prefer the flavor of Newman's Own.

Mint tins can also be decorated, without the 3-dimensional elements, and used as boxes for gift cards.


Blaze posing for the picture:

Boo at the Zoo 2011

It rained all morning, but cleared up and became quite hot and steamy by afternoon, so the Santa Fe Community College Teaching Zoo was able to hold their annual Halloween event, "Boo at the Zoo".



Once again, the students were very creative with their costumes and the areas they set up for the children to walk through. This year's themes were, super heroes, Toy Story, alien invasion, and pirates.

























Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

3 Cups unbleached white flour

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 Cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1-15 ounce can of pumpkin puree


Toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

grease muffin pans ( I use Pam baking spray)

Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Stir well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fill the muffin cups and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Makes about 14 muffins