Bring me some figgy pudding

I know Christmas is over, but I have a fun Christmas project as well as a tasty Christmas collection that I want to brag about.

First the project. My brother and sister-in-law have great but very specific taste (in everything, from clothes to music to electronics).  It makes it difficult to find presents to give them that they'll actually enjoy and keep.  One thing I do know they'll consistently love is good food.  They live in NYC and, understandably, eat a lot of takeout.  The doctor recently recommended that they cut back a bit to be healthier, so I decided to get them some yummy "take in" food as a Christmas gift.

Being me, I also decided I wanted to give them the "take in" in an enormous chinese takeout container.  I googled directions for making one, and after a quick trip to the dollar store to buy a few sheets of poster and foam board, I got to work whipping one up.  The finished product didn't take long to make and looked oh.so.cute under the tree. 

In other food related Christmas news, my Christmas tree was tastier than ever this year.  A few years ago I decided I wanted to start a junk food themed Christmas tree as a counterpart to my mom's tree, which is fruit themed. Her tree is really beautiful and she's amassed an unbelievable collection of fruits both familiar and exotic.  But fruit is too classy for my blood. 

In just a few years, I've built up my own collection of tasty confections (with many gifts from friends and family who are always on the lookout for good food ornaments).  The collection grows every year, and I'm strongly considering opening it up to food in general, and not just junk food.  In any event, as I dismantled my tree today I snapped pictures of the major good groups to share :)

Fast food.

Italian.

Asian.


Mexican (empanada and taco -- the empanda was actually sold as a pierogi but I'm claiming it as an empanada instead)


Breakfast.


Candy.


More candy.


Even more candy.


Cheese (gouda, blue, swiss, roquefort) and bread, of course.


Chocolate.


Christmas treats.


Cookies & Smore


Desserts


Donuts (the chocolate frosted with bright sprinkles might be my favorite of all the ornaments)


Drinks (not sure how I ended up with 2 margaritas, but I'll take 'em!)


Greens -- avocado, olive, cucumber (I dip mine in so much dressing they may as well be a junk food) and pickles.


Meat!  T-Bone steak and bacon.


Pastry.


Pie (cherry and lemon meringue)

Salty snacks.


Sandwiches (sub, grilled cheese, PB&J)

Soda (I'm actually a diet pepsi drinker -- I know I'll find one someday!)


Miscellaneous minis.


Candy button garland.


And last but not least, my Angel Food Cake topper -- I bake a new mini angel food cake each year and attach the wings. 

My biggest supplier is bronners.com, which I can count on to release some great new food ornaments each year, as well as Sur le Table.  Let me know if you know of any other great places where I can fatten up my calorie-laden tree!

Carrathon

What do you do to help cheer on your friend Carrie (aka Care Bear) in her second marathon?

Make cheering Care Bears of course.

A combined 27,000 people ran the Philadelphia Marathon and half marathon yesterday, and it was really fun to be among the 50,000+ cheering onlookers on a gorgeous fall day. 

The joy and excitement of countless friends and family at the finish line was really moving and motivating. Love actually is all around :)

See you in Soho...

Good news!  dirsta studio will be at the Bust Magazine Holiday Craftacular and Food Fair on December 10th & 11th in Soho (NYC). 

I can only imagine the venue will look and smell delicious with over 200 food & craft vendors on hand to make the holidays merry & bright.  I'll be representing with all the shop favorites -- science pillows, chalkboard maps, chalk-by-numbers and of course plenty of letter pillows (including plenty of J's and M's, I sold out of them at the Renegade Craft Fair.  J's sell much better in person than online, odd...)

I'm a fan of any magazine that puts Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, and Amy Sedaris on its covers, and I'm sure they've curated an equally fun show, perfect for finding quirky gifts for friends and fam. 

Click here for more details.  See ya there.

New Science Pillows

Once again, I'm going to be delayed in posting for Project Project Runway.  But once again, it's because I was busy developing some new products for the shop!  I released three new science pillow designs this week:

A plant cell (shout-out to middle school science teacher Carrie, who helped me make sure I included all the essential parts!).  This would make a pretty cute pairing with the animal cell if I do say so myself.

A cross-section of the earth

A kidney (I've gotten multiple requests for this one).  If you like organs, this would look mighty cute next to the heart. Just sayin'.

I also added another penmanship pillow, with the classic teacher mantra "settle down."

As always, these and more are available in the shop.

Challenge #10 - Sew 70s

It's been a few weeks since I've posted any Project Project Runway, the past couple of challenges didn't translate well for PPR-- one was about having a man describe a dress for his wife/girlfriend, and the other was menswear.  I meant to post and explain why I was skipping the challenges but time got away from me, especially since I was excitedly working on the newest product for the shop, Chalk-By-Numbers!

But back to PPR.  So last week's challenge on Project Runway was all about the 70s -- the designers were challenged to create a sophisticated 70s revival design. They were instructed to be inspired by the 70s, but not create retro, costumey replicas of 1970s fashion.  In the middle of the challenge they learned they would have to make a second look, and it would have to be one piece (no separates).

The week before this, the designers had been working on 70s style designs for an all-male band, so I think we all collectively groaned at another 1970s style challenge.  The designers were given a dossier with 70s looks, which I definitely would have liked to see.  Instead, I had to rely on google image as my dossier. This resulted in a rabbit hole of ridiculous 70s Halloween costumes.

After spending a while "researching," I was ready to design my two looks.  The first look was my one-piece.  I decided to take a risk and make a sexy tailored jumpsuit (seriously? I feel like a fool for even writing that sentence). Obviously the 70s were big on bell bottoms and wide-leg pants, so I sketched up a wide leg, low-cut look:

But when I started the construction, I cut the legs too narrow.  If I had been more motivated by the challenge I would have gone back and tried to get my look closer to the sketch, but by the time I realized my error I was already kind of fed up.  So the final look ended up being sort of sexy scrunched pedal-pusher jumpsuit (again, I sound like a fool):

I'm not sure how to feel about it. I think it's kind of interesting on Katie. But I think maybe if I saw a real woman wearing it I would cringe and laugh.  But that's probably true of a lot of Project Runway designs, even winning ones (since those models aren't real women). UPDATE: In the middle of typing up this blog post I spoke to my mother and mentioned my jumpsuit design, at which point she ran off and found a picture of herself in 1977 in a blue jumpsuit she had made.  Obviously, I have to share:

She said one time when she was wearing it she was asked if she was a stewardess.  Oh the 70s. [That child is not me, btw.  I didn't exist yet. But I'm sure if I did exist in 1977 I would have been wearing that poncho.]

On to my second look. In my google image research I noticed a repeated theme in the 70s seemed to be cutesy outfits made sexy -- like little jumpers cut way too short over a shirt with a bow for a collar.  Things that you might think were cute on a little girl, but for some reason were on a full grown woman.  Soooo....that became my inspiration (and yet *again* I sound ridiculous.  It's the 70s though, not me).  I sketched up a frilly blouse with a school-girl style skirt, but shorter than any school would ever allow.

This look is a little truer to my aesthetic, since I like color and pattern.  But I think the judges would probably say it's not really fashion, just clothes.  Whatever.  I think my crazy jumpsuit would keep my head above water and someone else would go home.  I'm crossing my fingers that the last few PR challenges will NOT include homages to some past decade.  Cross yours too.