New Items in the Shop: Howlite + Gold Plated Jewelry

Some new items have made their way into the shop :) I actually made these for my other shop awhile back, but decided to merge them with The Forest Door since that one is on hiatus.

I'm mesmerized by the juxtaposition of candy-colored materials and gold lately...Check out the results of this below :) And a link to the shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/TheForestDoor

 

 

Just a short little update this time. I hope everyone's been having a wonderful weekend :) xoxo

The Museum of Four in the Morning

Hello, readers!

I had to come on here and post a little blurb explaining where I've been, as I started this blog as a means of adventuring outside of the rigors of deadlines, schedules, and the pressures of daily life..And only a few months in, I'm already a ghost on my own page.

I'm a little disappointed to admit that school (my last semester!) is taking up so much time and effort these past few months that I haven't had much time to post. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it immensely...I'm working on some awesome projects, and I just started a new job that's helped me re-focus my purpose and direction in life...So on that front, things are going well.

I've also been watching a lot of Ted Talks. Some are great, some are a little less inspiring or innovative or entertaining. But this is one of those stories that I hope I never forget. Maybe it's because everyone can relate to this guy's quest to some degree. Maybe it's because I, too, share a strange obsession with a particular time that I can't quite explain. And maybe that's something I should delve into a little deeper.

I hope to post more once the chaos of the semester ends, but in the meantime, I leave you with this unexpected gem of a story. Do you ever find yourself inexplicably woven into a puzzle like the one he describes, that you can't quite comprehend? Everyone is searching for meaning in their lives. Here's wishing that you find it, and maybe, unravel just a little bit of life's wonderful, maddening mysteries.



-xoxo

Hello, Wonderful

While checking my Etsy shop statistics, I found a link to a site called Hello, Wonderful. I thought I'd check it out and was delighted to find a little feature image of my creations on their home page, which lead to blurb about my shop! I had no idea this site existed, it has links to some amazing finds and tutorials. It really brought a smile to my face to see my creations being shared and admired by others. :) I hope they bring inspiration to minds young, old, and every age in between! It's lovely to see something like this, really made my week!

Check out the link here! http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/FAIRYTALE-CLAY-TREASURES-FROM-THE-FOREST-DOOR

And, should you feel inclined to pass on my creations, a pin for my shop can be found below! Just click the image to open it.

 Hope everyone is having a great weekend! xo

Recipe: Pollock Fish Cakes with Sweet Chili Sauce and Lemon Avocado Garnish

When it comes to the kitchen, I'm on a never-ending journey. It's a loooong and twisting road of happy accidents, tasty discoveries, and the occasional questionable culinary experiment (sometimes, I bite off a little more than I can chew - Get it? Ha. Ha. Ha.)

Sometimes, the end result is great! Other times, not so much. I think it's because I find it so hard to stick to recipes anymore. When I didn't know much about cooking, I followed every recipe to the letter. Now that I've had some practice, I love to experiment and come up with something new. I get a little brazen, sometimes to the chagrin of my tastebuds. My boyfriend is also the unfortunate taste tester for these kitchen experiments, but this time I think I've got a real winner that would please even his picky palate. I used pollock for this recipe, but you can use any white fish. Pollock can be found in almost any supermarket's frozen seafood section. It's tasty and usually super cheap - good for a budget dinner.

I really have to give myself a pat on the back for these fish cakes. It's simple food and it tastes absolutely amazing - really! I thought it'd be neat to try a combination of different tastes so I paired them with some sweet chili sauce and a citrusy, lemon-avocado dip/garnish. It's an explosion of flavor that's sure to satisfy.

-------------------------------------------RECIPE-------------------------------------------

Time: Approx. 30 minutes

Ingredients
12 oz (3 filets) of pollock (or any white fish)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tsp mayo

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp cracked pepper, or to taste

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice for cakes + 1/2 tsp for avocado garnish
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 a ripe avocado

Sweet chili sauce for dipping

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil or olive oil for frying



Directions (Fish Cakes)
1. Prepare your fish according to the directions on the package. (I haven't tried to make these cakes without first cooking the fish. I imagine that it would be fine, but it's just easier to "crumble" the fish into the mix after it's all flaky and cooked.) For thawed pollock that's about 10 minutes on 425 degrees fahrenheit.

2. Once the fish are cooked (they will flake easily when done), crumble them into a medium sized bowl. Add the following: mustard, mayo, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, cayenne papper, and 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice. Mix together well. Add the panko breadcrumbs. Mix again.

3. Add toasted sesame oil or olive oil to skillet; Set heat to medium. I used 1 tbsp oil per 3 cakes.

4. Using your hands or a spoon, gather up some of the mixture and form into a ball. The size is up to your preference. Place fish cake ball in the heated skillet, then press down on it with the back of a fork or a spatula to flatten it. If the cakes fall apart a bit in the skillet, don't worry. You can just mash them back into shape using your fork or spatula.  Cook each side for about 4-5 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Directions (Lemon-Avocado Garnish/Dip)
1. Make sure that your avocado is pretty ripe. If it isn't, it'll be a little annoying to get the dip to a nice, creamy consistency (unless you feel like dirtying up a blender or food processor. I didn't, heh). Cut avocado in half. Spoon it out into a small bowl.

2. Using a fork, mash up the avocado until creamy. Add in 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice and mix together well. You can serve it with the cakes in various ways - as a garnish, a spread, or a dip. It's up to you!

Enjoy!

Boho Fringe Statement Necklace DIY

I've been planning on putting together a boho-inspired necklace tutorial for some time now, so I came up with this faux leather and stone statement collar the other day to bring out the gypsy in you...I think it came out pretty well! I've included a template for the collar below, or you can free-hand the shape. Nothing is more in the spirit of the gypsy/boho style than handcrafting your own jewelry, and using whatever materials you can find will give your piece its own unique look. Best of all, it's super simple.

---------------------------------------TUTORIAL---------------------------------------

Supplies

Black vinyl or similar faux leather fabric (one 8.5"x11" piece for the necklace; three 16" strips each about 6mm wide for the braided cord)

Craft glue (I used Aleene's Jewel-It Embellishing Glue)

Scissors
Needle & thread in a color similar to your faux leather

Assortment of beads and stones

Template for collar (optional; see step #1)

Directions

1. To begin, you can either print out the template below (on a piece of 8.5"x11" letter sized paper; set printer to borderless printing) and use that to create the shape of the necklace, or just freehand your own design. My own shape was just slightly longer at the bottom than the template (I wanted the fringe to hang a little lower). After you've cut out your necklace, cut the bottom half of the necklace into strips (approximately 2" from the top).

8.5"x11" template. Click to enlarge.

2.  I found some pretty pear shaped rhinestones and arranged them around a large, milky disc bead to make the necklace's focal point. The rhinestones had to be glued on, so I used Aleene's Jewel-It glue and let it dry overnight (though a couple of hours will probably suffice).

3. Using different stones, I played around with different patterns until I found one I liked, then I used a needle and thread to sew them in place.

4. Once my beads and stones were sewn/glued on, I strung some gold acrylic beads on the fringe strips at random intervals and tied knots below them to keep them in place.

5. Take the faux leather and cut three long strips, each measuring about 6mm wide and 16" long. Braid these strips into a long braid, tying knots at each end and leaving about 3" unbraided. You may need to increase the length of the braid if you think you'll have difficulty slipping it over your head.

6. String beads on one of the loose strips at the end of the braid to embellish. Tie a knot below them to secure. Repeat for other end of the braid.

7. Using scissors, fold one of the top ends of the necklace in half and cut a small slit horizontally into the fabric. Do the same for the other end.

8. String the strips on one end of the braid through one of the slits, pull around the back and tie off above the beads (around the braided part) to secure. Do the same for the other side. Aaaand you're done!

 

 

That's it! Happy crafting :) If you make something inspired by this tutorial, I'd love to see it! Leave me a comment or a link.

Pinned here, please share! 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/420312577696880988/ 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/420312577696881040/

I lost track of time and now it's all behind me

Just a quick update of this past week's adventures + some theme music to go with it. I don't think cameras can capture the true beauty of it all. Most of these were taken at Rocky Mountain National Park in CO. It's breathtaking there! Some of the winding mountain roads had me a little terrified (nooot a huge fan of heights) but it was so worth it!

 

"The world is BIG and I want to have a good look at it 
before it gets dark."

- John Muir

Summer's End, Travel, and a Notebook DIY

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July is coming to an end and I can hardly believe how quickly it came. I'm trying to hold on to summer for as long as I can. There's changes on the horizon...New opportunities, the end of one journey, the beginning of a next. I guess I'm excited but I have to admit, the summer has left me feeling a little frazzled and sometimes I just want to take one looong and cozy nap through the next few months.Wake me up when November ends, just in time to start putting up Christmas decorations.

I'm wrapping this summer up with a much-needed vacation. I'm going to see the family, dig my toes into the sand, and make some four-legged friends - two mischievous Doxie sisters my parents just adopted. I can't wait to meet them - and introduce them to you! How are you planning on wrapping up the summer? Any special plans? Or are you just ready to see it go?

 -----------------///-----------------

I wanted to flex my crafting muscles a bit and make something different than I usually make. Every design student ends up binding a book or two throughout the course of their academic career, but I have to admit, it's never been my forte. I'm just not a book binding natural, but I greatly admire those who are. I never have the patience to measure and trim and score and fold...And some people make it look so easy! This tutorial is simple enough for a book-binding novice and produces lovely results.

Blanche Devereaux's "Martinique"-inspired room

For the cover, I used a printout of Don Loper's fabulous banana leaf pattern, "Martinique", famously designed in 1942 for the Beverly Hills Hotel. I just love that it's an inspiration for Blanche Devereaux's room decor in the Golden Girls as well (did I mention I'm obsessed with The Golden Girls? And cheesecake. I'm also obsessed with cheesecake). I think this show is probably the first place I ever spotted this timeless design.

You can use the notebook for anything you like - sketches, notes, or maybe little memories from past vacations or happy moments. Fill it with ticket stubs or printed photos, scribble in ideas - whatever you like. There's very little trimming involved, too, so you don't really have to worry about precise measurements or aligning things correctly. I wouldn't recommend pasting too many actual photos into it because it will make the notebook really thick, unless you decide to use a larger cover to accomodate this. Printing photos out on plain printer paper would probably be a better alternative, or maybe print the images directly onto the pages you'll be binding, and then scribble notes on the side. It's up to you! Get creative and make it your own.

----------------------------------------TUTORIAL----------------------------------------

Supplies
11-12 sheets of 8.5"x11" cardstock
1 cover, printed on the same cardstock paper
Ruler
Rubber cement or a book binding glue
X-Acto Knife
Cutting mat or thick surface to do your trimming on
Embroidery thread (not pictured)
Clamps of some kind to keep the paper together after gluing/folding (not pictured)

Directions
1. Print your cover design on a single sheet of cardstock paper. Make sure your printer is set to borderless printing. My cover has a 1/5" white bar down the middle where I will score the sides to create the spine. The bar isn't necessary, but it helped me to visibly identify where I need to score and it created a neat sort of line when lined up with other notebooks I made later (shown at the end).

 

2. Score along the edges of the white bar (5 1/4" in from each edge). BE CAREFUL not to use the sharp edge of your knife for this. Use the back edge (or a butter knife, a scoring tool, anything with a blunt edge) to score along the edge. Scoring just creates a little line of memory for the paper to fold along cleanly. (See below).

Score using "wrong" side of X-Acto knife

Presto Score-o..?

3. Set your cover aside for now. Grab the sheets of cardstock. I used 11 sheets for my notebook..You can add more if you plan on just writing in it. I left out one just to give it a teensy bit of room in case I wanted to paste something inside that might bulk it out later. You will need to trim 1/2" off the end of each sheet or else they will stick out past your cover.

Trim 1/2" off edge of each sheet of cardstock

 4. Now, make a mark or use the measurements on a cutting mat to measure the exact middle of your newly trimmed page - 5 1/4" from the edges. Score along this center line. Do this for all your TRIMMED pages.

5. Fold all your trimmed and scored pages, then line them up. Clamp them together to hold them in place.

Trimmed and scored pages all lined up. Clamp to hold in place.

6. At this point, I wanted to make sure that my pages had a little added security to keep them in place. I took a sturdy needle and poked two holes, one at each end, fairly close to the edges. Exact measurement is not important, just don't make them too far in or you'll have trouble opening your notebook later. I then threaded some embroidery floss through, tied it, and trimmed it down.

7. Cover the edges of your lined up pages and the inside of your cover's spine with a layer of rubber cement. Don't apply it too thinly, but don't make it too globby. I applied more to the spine than the pages. I also didn't include any photos of that because it was a pain in the ass to do that and try to photograph it simultaneously :| Glue + cameras on crappy tripods don't mix!

Add glue to pages and spine; Stick together, apply clamps.

8. Hold it all in place using clamps/clips and then let it dry!

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I made a couple more because I quite liked the idea of lining the colorful spines up! I'm going to try to make some mini travelogues out of past trips with these.

 

Hope you enjoyed! 'Til next time~

Cherry Compote Cocktail

 

To get this blog rolling, I thought I'd start off with something simple (you'll learn very quickly that I'm a huge fan of anything with 4 ingredients or less, bahaha). Today I have a recipe for a Cherry Compote Cocktail. Have you ever had canned fruit cocktail? Well, my friend - this is 10 times better! Compote is a homemade fruit cocktail using only 3 ingredients - sugar, water, and fruit. It happens to be a staple in many Polish households during hot summers. One of my aunts in Poland has a beautiful orchard plot where she picks cherries every summer for all kinds of delicious desserts. I went there a few years ago and it was amazing..Cherries raining down on you everywhere! I'll have to dig up some photos from that trip and post them sometime.

When I was little, my mom used to make compote all the time with whatever fruits were available - plums, cherries, strawberries, peaches, you name it. Traditionally, it's served cold (and non-alcoholic) but I remember I could never wait for it to cool and I loved sipping on it while it was still warm. It's a wonderful way to warm up on a chilly autumn day if you prefer to serve it hot. It can also be mixed with herbs or spices for a unique flavor combination - try thyme, mint, or cinnamon and use fresh spices/herbs if possible. If you don't want to use sugar, you can sweeten it with honey.

This grown-up version puts the "cocktail" in your fruit cocktail and features another Polish favorite - Vodka! If you're not sure which brand to try, Sobieski ("so-byeh-ski") makes a great tasting and affordably priced vodka.

Hot, cold, alcoholic or virgin - however you choose to serve this is up to you. The end result will be delicious no matter what! Enjoy. :)

-------------------------------------------RECIPE-------------------------------------------

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar (increase to 3/4 if desired; depends on the sweetness of your cherries)
1 pound of cherries
8 cups water
1 large pot
Mixing utensil
1 cup vodka (again, exact measurement is up to you)

Directions
1. Rinse your cherries. You can either cut the cherries and pit them or leave them whole.

2. Put cherries, water, and sugar into pot. Set temperature to high and stir as the water heats up to dissolve the sugar. Once the water has started to bubble gently, decrease the heat to medium and let it cook for 30 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. Toss in the herbs or spices now if desired. If I'm using whole herbs or spices (like cinnamon sticks), I take them out once the compote is done cooking, but it's up to you how strong you want the herbal/spicy flavor to be.

3. Remove from heat. Pour in vodka. Stir.

**Let the mixture cool at room temperature in the pot before transferring to your glasses or pitcher. Do not store it in the fridge to cool while it's still very hot!

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Hello and welcome

Hello! Welcome to The Forest Door, a place to collect and share all of my ideas and projects. I'm a Polish graphic designer with too many ideas, hobbies, and a dangerous love of coffee. I have an obsession with The Golden Girls, design, illustration, and Studio Ghibli - in no particular order. I also occasionally make bad (or good, depending on your sense of humor) puns.

This blog was born out of a mission to make every moment in life fulfilling, productive, and inspiring to myself and others. It's also meant to be a sort of "written companion" to my Etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/TheForestDoor) where I make and sell handmade creations. Check some of them out below!

 Making things by hand is a passion of mine, one passed down to me by generations of family members all passionate about creating art in one form or another. I love to combine the things that inspire me with different mediums and share them with people all over the world. Etsy has given me a great outlet for that. I started my shop mainly as a side hobby but it's started to gain some unexpected momentum. The biggest shock was the reach I've experienced in the short amount of time my shop has been open - I've sold to people in Australia, South Africa, Canada, and beyond. What an amazing feeling, knowing that something I worked so hard on will be cherished and enjoyed by people all over the world. Now, I'm trying my hand at blogging because I just have too many ideas for things that don't necessarily belong in the shop! So, I'm here to share them with others and pass that inspiration onward. I hope to continue to grow my business and inspire others to actively pursue their hobbies or dreams. Life is just too short to neglect the things that make you happy.

Mainly I plan on sharing DIY ideas, recipes, and any design/art/craft inspiration I come across. No concrete schedule or anything just yet, just going with the flow and seeing where my creativity takes me. I have some fun things planned for future posts and I'm excited to get the ball rolling.  Pull up a chair, get comfy, and settle in for what I hope will be a pleasant stay :)