Rather than capture a “moment”, I feel inspired to capture the small details around me, to remind me to stop and smell the roses in this new iteration of our lives.

The Cutest Baby Wearing The Cuteset Hat

The hat by my mom with wool hand dyed by my friend The Wool Fairy. I get almost as many compliments on the hat as I do the baby’s eyes.

If you’ve noticed interesting {details} around you, please share or leave a link in the comments.

1. Heat oven to 350F. butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch spring form or cake pan.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Beat in milk, beer and lemon zest, whisk in the honey. The batter will look separated at this point but will come together when dry ingredients are added.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg, whisk into wet ingredients.
4. Gently fold in the nuts and lightly spoon the batter into the pan. Bake 35-40 minutes if using a regular cake pan or 45-50 minutes if using a spring form pan. Bake until dark golden and skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes before turning out.
Substitute equal amount of vegan margarine or shortening for butter and extra water (or beer) for milk to make dairy free.

I normally write an article for Oh My! Handmade Goodness on a monthly basis, and it’s a project I enjoy contributing to. Jessika Hepburn, the Editor and I have worked together in the past and I can tell you first hand she is full of ideas, creativity and the drive to make them happen.

Anointment is on the verge of gaining some good momentum, but our budget is very small. In a world where design services are expensive and sought after, we could really get the ball rolling with the help of these fantastic design and business professionals!

Watch our submission here.

Here’s crossing our fingers for luck!

Deanne's Star

Recently I delivered soap to one of our retailers in Amherst, Nova Scotia – Deanne Fitzpatrick’s Rug Hooking Studio. Deanne’s studio – and Deanne herself – are welcoming, warm, and make you want to sit down and stay awhile. When I visit, I am surrounded by wooly goodness and while I know knitting isn’t for me, perhaps rug hooking is? In 2012 I hope to give it a try. I bought the hook and I have a bit of burlap, we’ll see where that takes me.

This star is one that Deanne created, I purchased it in her shop and while my kids have played with it and the edges are already a bit frayed, its rustic charm suits us just perfectly!

Working With Kids

People often say this to me: “I don’t know how you do it!” When I tell them I have three small children and run a business. With the oldest home sick from school today and the other two home (as is normal), it can be a tight fit to work with them. And this is what it often looks like. Today I am packing an order for one of our retail stores while my oldest creates her own books at my table and the middle child helps pack soap into boxes. The baby is asleep in a carrier on my back.

Baby in a Basket

Sometimes I just have to step back and try to be objective, but these two (middle child is taking the photo) are beautiful inside and out.

With COP-17 meetings happening right now in Durban, South Africa, we can only hope the governments of the world will do the right thing and create drastic and enforceable policy surrounding greenhouse gas production. If they don’t, well, we will all pay. Our children will pay.

The Dog Bed!

For eight months I have slept with my baby. He will only nap in a baby carrier or in a moving car. He cannot be put down once asleep and be expected to remain asleep. He has never used his crib for more than a diaper changing station and will wake up if I get up in the night for any reason. But yesterday, while getting ready to go out, I put him down on the dog bed while I went to get my boots and coat on. Lo and behold, he stayed asleep. On the dog bed! First, without the dog. Later that day I tried it again. Again he stayed asleep, this time with the dog. My child will sleep nowhere but a dog bed!

This is our greyhound, Anubis. He’s a retired championship racer and an eight-year-old sookieface. He weighs 80 pounds and is the gentlest giant you can imagine. Obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t let the baby sleep there! But just in case, I never leave the room while they’re together!