plaster french macaron ornaments

Whew, enough catch-up posts from me.  Now on to some serious crafting around here, as it should be!

I am in love with French macarons.  Aren’t we all?  They’re delicious.  Divine!  And so darling.  Torontonians aren’t quite blessed to have the luxury of indulging in Ladurée on any given day.  But what we do have is a handful of gourmet bakeries that serve these pretty pastel treats.  I thought it was imperative to reward myself with three last Friday, after completing my crafts for spring issues next year.  Three teeny tiny macarons for $9 is definitely not a daily splurge!  And I inhaled them too quickly.

Immediately followed was the urge to craft fake macarons for this blog.  If I can’t buy them often, at least I can pretend to always have them!

These are so simple and quick to make, in hindsight.  But it took me two days of experimentation to figure out the right technique to make them.  My challenge were the macaron “feet”.  Macarons are such a simple shape, but no two circular discs would ever do!  They’re not that simple.  Without feet, they’d look like whoopie pies.  And whoopie pies and macarons are from absolutely different leagues.

I’ve seen some faux macarons online made of molded clay.  There are molds available that let you make your own polymer and paper clay macarons at home.  Tempting!  But I thought: $5 for a mold, anywhere between $10-30 for expensive paper clay in an assortment of colors (if I want to make plenty), shipping, handling, duty (and shipping duties in Canada are sky high)…it can be costly!

There has got to be a way to make macaron ornaments for nearly nothing!  I figured how you can make dozens for about $5.

Can I say these faux French macarons are Parisian?  Because I made them entirely out of plaster of Paris.  And all quickly done by hand, as you would bake them.  No need to spend your money on a mold, and ordering online and all the shipping fees, etc.  All you need is plaster, a bit of paint, ribbon, and any 1-1/2″ circular object with an edge.

These instructions make 12 shells (6 macarons):

1. Take two sheets of cardboard.  Draw 2-1/4″ circles, spaced evenly.  I suggest doing 6 per sheet.

2. In a disposable cup, using a disposable spoon, mix 1/2 cup plaster + 1/4 cup water + dollop of paint.

3. Quickly spoon mixture onto carboard, staying inside the circles.  Tap the cardboard against table to even out surface.  This is where it is easier to do 6 in a sheet, so you can spoon and tap the first 6, then move on to the next 6.  Dispose of any leftover mix, disposable spoon, and cup or clean thoroughly until there are no traces of cured plaster.  You cannot mix new plaster with partly-cured/cured plaster, otherwise the combination will cease quickly.

4. Let the plaster stand and dry for about 5 minutes.  When the surface is dry, but the inside is still soft, etch the surface of the plaster using a 1-1/2″ circular object with an edge (I used a hose clamp).  Do not go all the way through.

5. Let the plaster dry until you can peel it off the cardboard easily.  If the plaster is too dry at this stage, it will stick to the cardboard.  Set discs aside to dry completely.  Break off the edges of the plaster.  The edges should be rough, as these will give the look of the macaron “feet”.

6. In clean cup with clean spoon, mix 1/2 cup plaster + 1/4 cup water + dollop of paint.

7. For each disc, quickly spoon a small dollop of mixture on the centre of the disc.  Tap to even out surface, until plaster mixture reaches the edges.  You must work quickly with each individual disc.

8. Let dry completely.

9. Cut ribbon in 5″ lengths.

10. In clean cup with clean spoon, mix 1/4 cup plaster + 1/8 cup water + dollop of paint.

11. With disc facing bottom side up, fold ribbon in half and place on disc.  Quick spoon plaster mixture over ribbon.

12. Quickly place second disc while plaster is wet, sandwiching wet plaster in between.  Let dry.

Et voila — faux macarons!

big bully, small person

Bullies come in all shapes and sizes and ages and colors and from all walks of life.

What many people overlook is that a bully is not often the rough and tough brute they are depicted to be.

Sometimes, their workings are not as apparent as one who shouts and shoves and shows explicit disrespect.

Most times, their approach can be covert.  Conniving.  Even convincing.

It took me a very long time to understand this — there was a bully at play in my office.  And not an obvious bully, right?  I’m talking about a person with charisma.  A person so affable.  Winsome.  How can someone so…charming…truly mean harm?

Candyman

In my first few months of work, I was not a target.  I was merely a witness to one person singlehandedly destroying the reputation of everyone else around him.

What was difficult to swallow is that his manner of approach is pleasant.  BUT, strip the syrupy sweet delivery from all the gossip, underhanded comments, and malicious anecdotes and all you’re left with is distasteful manipulation of information.

Taking candy from a baby

After a while, I was no longer amused.  He was not amused that I was no longer amused.  One day, after a typical daily anecdote, I put flatly, “It’s not nice that you say all these negative things about so many people in and out of this office.”  To which he replied:

My, you should be canonized (and not the kind they do to saints).

But I made it clear: “I think time could be better spent.  And I’ve noticed work (and blame) get passed to me or others quite often”.

Oh, the aftermath — bully’s wrath!

Things were not so sweet anymore.   Suddenly, certain individuals at the office became distant.  I noticed projects were no longer being delegated to me.  I was often left with nothing to do.

It was like this for months.  I was rendered mute.  Useless.  Excluded.  I could not imagine what was said about me to make things this way.  But I know I didn’t imagine when, within earshot, he said to another:

It was the most undermined I had ever been.

I finally drew the line after he went into my emails when I was away on holiday.  From my emails, he forwarded work I had pending, carefully weeding through the depths of my emails, shrewdly selecting the out-of-date and skipping over the more recent threads that actually show I’ve done my share of following-up.  Despite all passing of the buck and all the blame that had happened for  months, he worked on my pending work — and excluded me from the correspondence.  Have I been thrust into a person’s showcase of my supposed incompetence?  Is this Operation: Intimidation?  Or Operation: Elimination?  It’s hard to tell.  But I wasn’t going to wait.

I went to the highest I can go to and I spoke up.  I got moved cubicles.  But it wasn’t over.

The day following my move, I was approached by a gentle, elderly man from our lottery group: “I’m sorry.  I can’t accept your money in the lottery this week and won’t anymore.  You are no longer in our group.  I was told if you stay, others will leave the group.”

Point taken.  Bullying is not just an epidemic among children.  And it’s not just in the confines of the playground.

Sweet Revenge

For many months, I didn’t know the word to describe this person is “bully”.  And that I was a target, among others.  How could I be bullied?  I am confident, assertive, diligent, and outgoing.  Then I read about workplace bullying and the typical Jekyll and Hyde, charming/monstrous personality of a bully and their internal feelings of inadequacy which cause a person to bully and the types of targets they choose and why.  Bullyonline.org is a very useful site which allowed me to recognize what was happening and to report it.  The site’s header is “Those who can, do.  Those who can’t,  bully.”  I couldn’t have said it better.

Like children, many witnesses and bystanders often say nothing, and are likely to side with the bully (as did the gentle man and others in the lottery group) for fear the target will be turned on them.  But as adults, we should have the courage to stand up for ourselves and each other.  It is the only way to get the message across.

I do my best to empathize with this person.  Perhaps he behaves this way because he is unsatisfied with his job, or is unhappy about his personal life, or ashamed of his personal and professional shortcomings.  Perhaps behavior such as this is compounded by years of regret.  He is much, much older than I.

I know in me, he sees a person with hope and opportunities to be better, to do more, and to achieve my fullest potential.  My brighter future is something that I have that he cannot take away.  Sweet days are ahead!

a bit of birthday brooding

Three decades, two years, and a couple of weeks ago, I was born.  A special occasion?  Indeed, it was Halloween!  Regrettably, Halloween is a scary time, as was my recent birthday.  It was shamefully filled with shameless self-deprecation.  Wasn’t it just a year ago when I started this blog, that I entered my champagne birthday, my 31st year on the 31st day of October, ecstatic about the things to come?  How could I feel so different after an entire year of much creativity and productivity?

Well, the brooding bellowed on the evening of October 25th, six nights before my birthday.  It was perhaps the most exciting day I have had this whole year (of course, second to O.T. proposing).  I couldn’t believe that within a year of starting this blog, I have been gifted with so many opportunities to share my crafts ideas with you.  That day, after my wee three minutes on TV, I actually stayed at Canadian Living for the remainder of the morning to take a peek behind the scenes of the magazine.

Coincidentally, the craft I designed for the 2012 Valentine’s issue was being photographed that morning and I stayed to watch the magic unfold in the studio.  As I witnessed my craft get styled (superbly styled in ways I didn’t imagine nor could afford) and professionally photographed for my first print publication, I forgot about my life.  I was in the hustle and bustle of creative people like me.

At noon I drove back to work, feeling a bottomless pit in my stomach knowing that my day-to-day reality is much different, knowing that I would revert back to my cubicle and into the palms of a bully, and knowing that my truest talents are not put to use at my job.

The rest of the day was a blur.  But the night came, and I tossed and turned and I cried.  Lamented.  Bawled my eyes out until the point of no return when no chilled-in-the-fridge-cucumber-serum-depuffing-metal-ball-roller could save my baggy eyes from looking like they were stung by bees.

“How come there are people doing what they love for a living, day in and day out, and how come I’m not one of them?”.  It played like a broken tape.

Oh, boo hoo to me.

I kept this glum outlook for a while.  Right through my birthday.  And up to the recent days.

However, upon closer inspection, so many wonderful things have happened to me in a year!  And I know (fully comprehend) that life doesn’t happen overnight, sometimes not over three decades.  But life happens as we go from day-to-day.  I rest assured that I will do my best not to waste it.  If not for the person I am now, then for the little girl born thirty two years ago who never dreamed of spending each and every single day waiting for the day to be able to do something she loves.  I’ll do my best for her.  And I think I’ve done my best so far. Baby steps!

bt tv clips + canadian living

Ok, so a month later, finally a recap of my first TV appearance!

I had the most wonderful experience at Canadian Living Magazine headquarters and Citytv Breakfast Television here in Toronto on October 25th!  It was a very early morning, which started at 3:45 when my alarm sounded, after which I immediately threw hot rollers in my hair, and loaded my car with carved pumpkins.  Arrival and set-up was 5:30.  Make-up 6:00.  And my super short three minutes of fame slated at 7:53 am.

This may sound odd to you — in the spring months I had actually visualized being on Breakfast Television and carving my butternut squashes.  A premonition?  “The Secret” come to life?  Ok, I’m not here to prove nor disprove the law of attraction.  However, back in the spring, I had a moment of reflection after a couple of friends urged me to pitch my crafts to the show.  I supposed if I would pitch anything in the spring, it would have to be for something six months ahead, in the fall.  I thought, if I were to make my first crafting appearance on live local TV, I’ll carve squashes.

As it goes, I didn’t bother with the pitch.  Who cares about a random blogger carving anything on live television?  The end to a reverie.

Then the bizarre twist of fate.  While I was in California last month, I received an email.  The short of it:  Breakfast Television.  Me.  Carving Pumpkins.  Here’s to you, universe — in my hands are the fate of pumpkins, not squashes!  Seriously, though, what are the chances that my first television appearance would be to carve some autumnal gourd as I had earlier prophesized?

More importantly, you’re probably wondering — how do I get a random email request such as this?

I could not be more thankful to Canadian Living Magazine.  I guess I have been silent here and not been revealing much about the work I do outside of this blog, until the work manifests itself in public.  This year, I have had the greatest creative opportunity to work on crafts projects with Canadian Living Magazine.  You’ve read the posts I wrote for The Craft Blog earlier this year.  But, I have also been busy designing some fun crafts for the magazine’s print issues in 2012.  The process is lengthy for print publication, and crafts ideas and articles go through a gestation period of sorts for about ten months before they are born into the world.  In fact, this month of November, I was busily crafting for the April and May 2012 issues.  Yep, despite my lull online, I’m not totally a slacker (not entirely, though I should totally pick up the pace on this blog)!

So, on with the show!  We had four segments filmed live inside the Test Kitchen (where the magazine prepares all recipes in-house).  I joined the three amazingly talented women: Austen Gilliland (Senior Editor and Craft Editor), Adell Shneer (Test Kitchen Manager), and Rheanna Kish (Food Specialist), and we each did a segment on creative Halloween ideas.

Of course, seeing that this is a month late, I just went to Breakfast Television’s site and wasn’t able to find the full episode that day.  However, I found our individual video clips.  I have no idea how to embed non-Youtube videos, so please click on each image to link to the video:

Click on image to link to video.

Adell had the first segment and concocted a cauliflower “brain” with dip.  You totally have to try this recipe out.  It is packed with cheese and absolutely delicious!

Click on image to link to video.

Me and my hair and, oh right, my pumpkins went for the second segment.  I really did not anticipate a third of the segment would become about my hair!  I wish there was time to explain the “convertible pumpkins” which let your children design and paint the features of the pumpkin.  The features can then be placed on the pumpkins for funny faces during the day and removed to make jack-o-lanterns at night

Click on image to link to video.

Rheanna had the third segment and she made some yummy sweet-salty-spicy zombie popcorn.  I could not have enough!  Sweet.  Salty.  Spicy.  You would be remiss not to try this recipe out!

Click on image to link to video.

The fourth clip of Austen doing creepy crafts is not available.  Boo.  It’s really too bad, she made awesome paper packaging for the popcorn!   On a good note, I did a search and found this clip from last winter when she shared cool crafts ideas from the book, “Create, Update, Remake”.  How timely — these are fantastic projects and gifts for winter and Christmas!  Enjoy!

bits & bobs: breakfast television, birthdays, and bullies

I know I’ve been very quiet lately for a number of reasons, both amazing and not-so-amazing.

I haven’t had the chance to share with you the wonderful experience I had being on Breakfast Television here in Toronto with Canadian Living, and the hours that followed at the Canadian Living Magazine headquarters, two weeks ago.  Amazing!!

I also celebrated my birthday on Halloween and O.T. came up for a surprise visit for five days.  Perhaps I should write a post one day about how we survive our east coast-west coast relationship.  Oh, correction — survived!  O.T. was just last week scooped up by IBM to design their computer chips in their offices outside of New York.  Well, okay, a far suburb, but nonetheless a reasonable hour and a half driving distance to Manhattan (and a seven and a half hour driving distance from T.O. — still miles better than a seven and half hour flight including transfer).  He is moving east next month!  Exciting!!

But it hasn’t been a perfect picture for me.  I have had some struggles over several months which I haven’t been able to openly share with you due to its personal nature.  However after a lot of contemplation, I believe it is a significant subject that deserves recognition and discussion.  I have experienced bullying by an individual at the workplace.  It took time to recognize and identify what was happening.  It took a good friend to point out flatly “You’re being bullied at your work”, to which I replied “Who?  Me?  Bullied?  No.  Really?  Oh.  Really.”  It took strength and courage to acknowledge, report, and overcome.  Everyday is another day to grow positively and move forward.  Let me say this: bullying among children is no different than bullying among adults.  Adults may be presumed to have stronger emotional ability to cope as victims (or that adults have solid emotional maturity not to be bullies in the first place).  However, take away the playground and replace it with cubicles, take your bully and age him by several decades, take the accomplices, the bystanders, and the targets and put a few years on them too, and it’s still the same scenario.  I would like to offer my experiences to shed another speck of light on the topic of workplace bullying to help those who are targets and encourage bystanders to have a voice. Workplace bullying should not be taken lightly and should receive more public recognition.

So I will share my thoughts on Breakfast Television, birthdays, and bullies in my upcoming posts…

eyeball paper packages

Ahh, I can’t believe Halloween is a couple of short hours away.  I haven’t been holding out on you, I promise!  I had some more ideas I wanted to test out and make and share here this month, but there simply weren’t enough hours in the day!

As mentioned in my last post, I spent the previous weekend brainstorming and carving pumpkins for the show on Tuesday morning which turned out to be such an amazing experience.  I have plenty to say about what happened on Tuesday and I also have the video clips to post, but will do so in a separate post.  After that, I caught my breath on Wednesday night.  Come Thursday, O.T. was speaking at a conference in the east coast in Albany, NY, called me after work, and surprised me with “I’m taking the Greyhound from Albany, meet me at the station at 6:30 am”.  Immediately after hanging up the phone, I attempted to embark on a cleaning frenzy, with no success (again, not enough hours in the day).  In any case, my spectacular week couldn’t've gotten better!  So he’s been here for several days and will be here until Wednesday.

As for the past couple of days, being Halloween weekend, the days are prime calendar real estate (after Christmas and Thanksgiving, of course).  We had a couple of parties to attend this weekend and everything went by in a blink!

As for things that blink — I did have time to make these eyeball paper packages for the office tomorrow.  420 mini chocolates in 60 eyeballs in 2 hours.  I wish I had shared this sooner, but I actually JUST came up with the idea today.  One of the rare occasions when I’m glad I waited til the last minute.  Otherwise, I would’ve simply reused my old ideas and would’ve felt a bit of self-reproach for not coming up with anything else different.  I’m quite happy with the efficiency of these packages, considering how laborious most of my previous treat packages have been.

I have a 13″ x 19″ format color printer, and have stacks of 11″ x 17″ paper which I used.  My very hastily made design (which you may download here for blue, here for brown, here for green) is intended to be 11″ x 11″.  One eyeball paper package fits 7 pieces of mini chocolates.  Simply fill with treats, gather, and twist.   Yes, how handy that the excess twists into the optic nerve!

I’m sure you haven’t left your Halloween treats for last minute as I have, so perhaps this is an idea to consider for next year!

Happy Halloween!

breakfast television!

Good news!!!  I will be making a TV appearance tomorrow on Citytv’s Breakfast Television here in Toronto.  I’m excited!  I’m so honored to be invited by the team at Canadian Living to join them in presenting some fun Halloween ideas.  If you’re in Canada, you can watch Citytv live (from 5:30 am to 9:00 am Eastern Time) or online.

What will I be doing, you ask?

Well, I’ll be presenting some pumpkin carving ideas.  I’ve carved all these pumpkins here between yesterday and this evening.

I had a great time picking the pumpkins at Front Step Farms.  The owner Michael and his daughters graciously helped me with the picking.

Now, I’m off to bed at this early hour of 9 pm.  I must be up at 4 am and be on set by 5:30 am!  Wish me luck!  I’ll see if I can have the permission to post the video on this blog at a later date.