just in time!

And, I am back from the Christmas Holiday, just in time to

ring in the New Year at my precious Village Inn.

Considering how freezing I am, I am currently obsessing

over the pairing of fabulous angora or other fluffy sweater

and a fun party skirt. I think the Angora will be coming out tonight!

Wonderful dolman sweater, tiered skirt and fun shoes from

my fave Allencompanyinc.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Cheer

I have been trying to find some old Christmas

kitsch for a couple weeks now and really, there

is none better than our own!

Merry Christmas.. see you next week!

One of sweetie's early works..

One of my earliest pieces, from the Loyola holiday craft fair.

I'm sure this old lady was inspired by my favoritest

childhood movie.. The Last Unicorn.

The littlest mom and baby

Another Brant family holiday obsession.. crafting Christmas Yodas.

Hope you are not on the naughty list!!

Obsessed! with the Buche.

Christmas obsession number 2..

the Buche de Noel, aka the 'yule log'.

Anything rustic and woodgrain has become

undeniably kitschy and crafty, but the

Buche takes it way back.

I highly recommend making your own buche.

It is a jolly good time.

My sister and I would often make our own buche

growing up, and there were many laughs.

Of course Martha's buche is flawless.

Get the recipe here.

Making your own buche doesn't have to be

scary/overwhelming/gourmet either.

You can ease the buche into your kitchen by using regular

yellow cake mix( my sister and I would add lots of food die to

make a nice colored pin wheel of red or green)

and simply butter a flat 1" deep pan and pour about half of

the mix into the bottom of the pan. Cook for only about

10 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Carefully transfer the sheet of cake onto your counter,

ice the inside and roll. Don't get crazy if your buche breaks

while rolling, you can just smother it with icing.

Use small dollops of vanilla icing and top with a sprinkle

of cinnamon for some forest mushroom action.

Logs are always covered in mushrooms.

I will make some this weekend and share some buche

goodness later.

The buche can be very impressive at holiday parties.

[image from rachredink]

Some AMAZINGLY festive non buche, simply log, pillows.

I love these! Buy them here.

[from my imaginary boyfriend]

Happy Log making!

The best.

Plainly and simply.

I think I will label this my #1 Christmas obsession..

ZIGGY'S GIFT!

The sweetest and most amazing Christmas video EVER.

yes.

Apparently, this has recently become available to buy

at Amazon, and can be delivered by Monday!?( I just bought 2)

Guess I can finally ditch my worbly VHS version. tear!

Anyway, please oh please do yourself the favor

of watching this movie..

so many good moments.. 'the santa position', 'the tourkeys'.

Watch the movie in 3 parts here..

part one

part two

part three.

Merry Christmas!!

You are welcome Jennifer.

A little (chilean) vintage

And I am almost done with Chile.

Some fun vintage and 'other' moments at

the Los Dominicos Handicraft Village...

Beautiful bird cages and a wide assortment of live poultry. mmm.

This store had a rainbow variety of anything in painted vintage tin...

long rows of different color butter dishes and my favorite..

the euro pitcher. Completely not useful, but so sweet and

available in the prettiest muted colors..

I heart vintage Santa and can spot him in any crowd

almost immediately.

These sweaters at the Yama store put the American Xmas

sweater to SHAME. We are talking entire city scapes

jacquarded into a 'sweater dress'.

These sweaters are full of national secrets that must be protected.

And, they were. By this crazy lady.

One last wall of Crin. I love you ladies of Rari!

If you missed my rant on crin, read here.

Wee little crin baskets to the most infinite

degree of delicateness!

Bb Chile! Hope I see you soon!

art and a yama

While in the fine country of Chile, we were able

to get our own personal tour of the Republica 2110-3010

art exhibit at the Centro Extension Balmaceda

in the equally fabulous Parque Quinta Normal(fabulous in a different

way.. hint: the llama aka Yama and a wide variety of kissing

people/crazy bike vehicles/dangerous playgrounds/etc.)

So we are on the same page here... let's flash back to this. While in

Chile we were able to get a very special showing of art by

the very same artist, Piguan, as well as some other

wonderful French and Chilean artists.

The Chilean Artists, who make up Kiltrv were sweet enough

to walk us through. Such a treat!

Some highlights..

Apparently this box had quite the drama while traveling from

France to Chile. (There is the flyer at the top left.. for more info,

see kiltrv.org)

As I have mentioned many times before, regardless of the

level of artsy fartsy-ness of your activity, it is

extremely hard to look cool/artsy/angst filled when you have revealed

your true self to the world (think human jungle gym - below).

The front room of the gallery space.

Pins in the artist's heart. I feel you!

Amazing shoes. Part of a piece by Nicolas Thomas.

Wall of mixed screen prints. yum.

A beautiful piece by Piguan: a starving mother

and child with ipod and diamonds.

It is most interesting that the the word 'bling' can truly

transcend any language barrier and was used

several times in describing this piece.

The awesome style of Carole Bielicki..

Of course women will bring peace and beauty to this crazy world!

And the Parque Quinta Normal.

These images hardly need description.

Such simple beauty.

And then we hauled ourselves over to Bellavista to see

a remote collection of the same artists.

Even Ava is inspired.

Wrought iron incredible.

More works of Piguan.

Please support these artists! Buy tees from Ambiguous!

Buy tees from Piguan or other Kiltrv artist,

Diego(who is also darling) here. Or, here.

Happiness

Happy Birthday Lucy Lucas!

Some embroideries in your honor..

I know you will love this book, Miss L!

one little button..

rockin giraffe hair.

Welcome!

beautiful(chilean)things.

Kipu fine handcraft store in Valparaiso, Chile is full

of woven perfection. The sweetest store.

amazing.

This poncho was perfection and completely got me in the mood.

The chilean mood.

I quickly became obsessed with these delicate little notions

woven from horsehair. I love them.

Here, a butterfly.

The figurines and animals were so sweet, yet way too pricey for

this girl. He is so intricate and dainty!

Don't you just want to squeeze him?

Click here to read more about the 'Crin' horsehair craft and the

cultural background of the craft

which has been practiced for 200 years by the women

of Rari, Chile.

Pretty cool stuff. I'm glad I was obsessed!

To buy some amazing Crin craft online, look here.

Or, here.