The holidays are coming... Cider time!

This is absolutely my favorite time of year. Once fall hits, I'm ecstatic. I love the crisp air, I love the change in colors, I love the smell of rain and the quiet blanket of fog in the morning. To me, the season means peace, family, warmth, love, and coziness. One of my favorite things about the season, something that completely represents all of these feelings in one, is warm mulled apple cider.

I love to keep a small pot of cider simmering with mulling spices during the holiday season. It just fills my house with the comforting warm smells of apple, cinnamon and allspice. I usually make up little satchels of cheesecloth filled with my own blend of mulling spices, but this year I found some tea filters at Teavana that I think are awesome for individual cups or full pots of tasty cider.

Using these fill-able teabags, I made some of my mulling spice mix and put together cute individual spice bags! 

They're now available in my Etsy Shop. I hope they make your home smell as delicious and cozy as mine! And I hope your cider tastes extra yummy! 

These sets also make excellent gifts, and I am happy to provide gift wrapping for anything in my Shop :)

Tartlet: Out of the Kitchen

Lately I have been in a super crafty mood. Like, super crafty. Crafts and I have had an interesting relationship throughout my life. Growing up, my mom was (and actually still is) the queen of arts and crafts. THE QUEEN. Which was pretty awesome as a kid. There were always fun projects to do and mom would jump at the chance to do something artsy with us.

In my college years, I began to have a resentment towards crafts and craft mess. I started feeling overwhelmed by the disorganized nature of crafting and all the bits and pieces that went along with it. It probably doesn't have to be that way, but in our house it was. Art materials basically exploded all over my parents house when I was little, and has stayed that way to this day. Because I had no idea how to organize stuff like that, I began to just avoid it. 

UNTIL NOW! I am not sure what's happened, but the crafting bug has bitten me once again and I find myself wanting to buy yarn, fun paper, paints, and all those wonky edge scissors. I kind of blame Pinterest.

In any case, this brings me to my point. I'd like to perhaps add a section of my shop called Tartlet: Out of the Kitchen, in which I sell items for the home, beauty, paper things, etc. Just stuff, that isn't edible. What do you think? Is this me not being focused? Am I too ADHD to stick to one business idea and go with it? I guess we'll find out!

Here are some of the things that have inspired me lately...

Adorable pin cushion. SERIOUS ADORABLE! 

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyfind/4245132667/

Cute little drawstring bags.

From A Little Red Ribbon

Hand lotion bars.

From Kinda Crunchy Kate

And more!! I also kind of want to do a line of one-off, hand drawn greeting cards. I have already done a couple, but don't want to put them up until I have some more done.

TOO MANY IDEAS!

I've also been fooling around in the Tartlet kitchen and have come up with some more goodness, including salted caramels, and chocolate bark. I will be putting these items up soon!

Hopefully you will see a whole bunch of new stuff in my shop, as I branch out into other areas, outside of baking. And if not, well, there goes my ADHD again :)

Tartlet is BACK!

As you hopefully know from following Tartlet on Facebook, I closed down my shop for the month of July. My boyfriend and I took a pretty long roadtrip/camping vacation the first couple of weeks of July, and when we got back I needed to focus on some house projects. But I have returned! Yay!

Allow me to bore you with vacation pictures for a moment :)

A beautiful lake in Nemo, South Dakota

Gorgeous view from Needles Highway in the Black Hills National Forest

Man and dog being scoundrels in Four Mile, South Dakota

Devils Tower, Wyoming

Shell Falls in Big Horn, Wyoming

I have many more, but I won't get too carried away. We had an amazing time, and I was also able to meet most of Kris's family (they live in Wyoming), which was great. 

BUT NOW I'M BACK! And baking with a vengeance. I have a couple of new items that I plan to put up in the Etsy shop in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out!!

Small update on working with Cafe Pascal: we are no longer working together because we had some differences of opinion on some issues. The main issue being he didn't want to pay me for my baked goods. Oh well... 

Macaron Flavors

I've been brainstorming macaron flavors. I'd like to get a couple new things up in my Etsy shop, and I want to offer fun and unique flavors. Here are some that I came up with. Which sounds the best to you?

French Toast or Pancake

Strawberry Basil

German Chocolate 

Honey Lavender 

Blueberry Crumble 

S'mores

Peanut Butter Cup

Pink Champagne 

Peanut Butter & Jelly 

Tiramisu 

YUM!