DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   This diy comes from www.poopscape.com .  Wouldn't it be a sight to see several of these little houses adorning your Christmas tree and all lit up.  What a warm glow they would create! Felt House I have a thing for felt. Felt is the textile equivalent of construction paper- you can make nearly anything with it and I have a certain weakness for the fuzz. I decided to make little houses out of felt for an Iron Craft challenge , since I already had piles of wool felt fat quarters that I bought at Stitchlab in Austin and I figured it was about time for another felt project. I wanted to make a village of tiny felt houses to place in random areas around my house. This project also introduced yet another product to my ever-expanding craft supply stash- Stiffy fabric stiffener. Yeah, yeah...giggle all you want. Without it, my little felt houses would have collapsed. What you'll need: House template (see below) Felt Embroidery floss an

   This article and recipe comes from www.yumsugar.com .  I have always loved them.  Whether it's the shape or just a puff ball filled with pastry cream. Lately, I've been seeing towers of cream puffs, or croquembouches, appearing all over the place, particularly in bridal magazines or on wedding blogs. The croquembouche is most certainly a delicious trend – we had one at our wedding and it was quite a hit! — but these magnificent sweet sculptures are more complicated than they may appear. To get an inside look at how these profiterole towers are made, I reached out to Gerhard and Mary Michler, the driving force behind Gerhard Michler Fine European Pastries and Creative International Pastries, in San Francisco. Gerhard first started baking at age 17 in his native Austria, so it's safe to say he knows a bit about French pastry. Michler chalks the growing cream puff tower trend up to the fact that people seem to want to see new things these days, and that a cr

    For the people of Punjab, the festival of Lohri holds a great significance, as it marks the harvesting season and the end of the winter season. The main event is the making of a huge bonfire which is symbolic of the homage to the Sun God for bringing in warmth. Celebrated on January 13th every year. Lohri festivities are associated with the harvesting of the Rabi crops. There is a special significance attached to the celebration of Lohri as this day the sun enters the rashi (zodiac) of Makara (Capricorn), this is considered auspicious as it signifies a fresh start.     Lohri has special significance for the agriculturists because, it marks the beginning of a new financial year, on this day they settle the division of the products of the land between themselves and the tillers. Lohri assumes greater significance, if there has been a happy evet in the family, such as the birth of a child or a marriage in the past year. The family then plays host to relatives