Category Archives: DIY

Printable recipe book with HP Sprout

printable recipe book // a thousand threads
The rain has been relentless this year, but I still love this part of summer. Everything is in bloom — from the wildflowers on the side of the road to the herbs in our garden — and the fireflies have just begun to appear.

Our first Field + Foundry event took place around this time last year, and even in the middle of the warm summer rain, the evening was magical.

In anticipation of many more magical evenings to come, I’ve been playing with a few new place settings — and even a few fun new gifts using my HP Sprout. The Sprout makes it so easy to scan in a little bit of nature to use in a design — something I’d never be able to create on my own. And the possibilities are endless. Here, I used a little marjoram — one of my favorite herbs — to create a little take-home recipe book for guests.

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Dreamweave photo DIY with timeshel

dreamweave photo DIY // a thousand threads
This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and timeshel, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #timeshelprints http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Mark and I are terrible about printing our photos… which is especially a shame, since we’re constantly snapping. Our computers and phones are full of wonderful memories, but as much as we love to have prints, we never can remember to put in the order.

That’s why we’re loving timeshel, a new subscription service that allows you to sign up to have your latest photos printed once a month.

timeshel offers two levels of subscription. You can sign up for 10 prints a month that come in a nifty envelope for just $5.95, or 30 prints a month — which come in their super durable and handy shel — for $14.95.

It’s fun to decide which pictures to print, and easy, since it’s all contained in one simple app.

Hopefully the monthly reminder will mean we print and keep a whole lot more of our memories from here on out — and this simple diy will make it easy to display our favorites close to our workspace, just so we never forget.

timeshel is only available for iOs, but it’s easy to download in the Apple Store. Be sure to check it out if you’re anything like us, it’s such a shame to let those memories just sit on your phone.

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How to shape your own cavatelli and fettuccine

how to shape cavatelli and fettuccine // a thousand threads
If there’s one thing that prevented us from making our own pasta in the past, it was the (totally misguided) feeling that we wouldn’t be able to do it without going out and spending a whole bunch of money on that KitchenAid attachment everyone seems to have. When push came to shove, we never could justify the cost (sort of like the ice cream maker I’m dying to buy…), no matter how much we wanted it.

We went way too long before we realized how silly it was to hang all of our pasta dreams on a silly piece of equipment — in reality, it’s easy to make pasta with nothing more than your own hands.

… and some pretty killer pasta, at that.

The attachment is still on the wish list, of course. But now, at least we know we can get by without it. And we definitely do.

Here’s how…

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How to make your own pasta from scratch

how to make your own pasta from scratch // a thousand threads
All of the best food words come from Julia. I think of her every time I grab for a bottle of wine or get my hands all up in a pretty plated dish. She talks me through my most favorite moments in the kitchen, and she talks me through my least… but the words I find myself repeating most are, “…nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.”

One of the most memorable meals we’ve ever had was made so in part by handmade pasta so perfect it needed nothing more than a bit of butter to blow our minds. We’ve talked about that meal at least once a week since, and we’ve dreamed about perfecting our own technique.

Handmade pasta is like handmade bread… it simply can’t be beat. The undertaking can feel daunting, and I’m not going to say it’s easy (anything that involves kneading probably shouldn’t be called easy) but it’s nowhere near the complicated process you’d think. And the reward is beyond compare…

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DIY rose petal infused honey + Friday links

diy rose-infused honey // a thousand threads
Winter looks to be making a big stop in our neighborhood this weekend, so we’ll be stockpiling the ingredients for the coziest foods we can find and hunkering down under the covers. Certainly with a big bowl of soup, but also – maybe… okay totally – with a little bit of something sweet.

February is lurking around the corner… the coldest of cold months here in Maryland, but also the darkness before the dawn and of course, a time for one more holiday. But whether or not you’ve started thinking about all of that yet (thanks, Laicie, for the reminder…) you might dig this easy rose petal infused honey diy I shared over on Lovely Indeed.

Sure, it makes a nice little love-infused gift for your friends, family, and anyone else you’d like… but it’s also pretty great to have hanging around in the pantry when you want to make a special treat (or just drizzle over a little ice cream…).

Anyone else suddenly find themselves craving ice cream when the weather turns cold?

Revisiting “this is water.”

… and not giving a fuck.

How to handle a new job like a boss.

Stop it with the email already.

So much pretty.

So much of the love for Emma Watson.

I’m such a sucker for buttermilk cake, and this frosting sounds delicious.

Speaking of soup

… and ice cream. (I feel like burnt toast ice cream might just make my life.)

p.s. We’re on Food52!! Hi there (and thank you SO much for clicking over) if that’s how you found your way here!

Happy weekend to you all!! Stay warm and eat some ice cream for me!

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How to make your own infused salts + Friday links

how to make your own infused salts // a thousand threads
Happy Friday! And congratulations on making it through the first week back from the holidays without a full-on Falling Down rampage… I’m proud of you all. Okay mostly I’m proud of me, because if ever there was a week. January, snow, fires on the metro… what is happening to my world? One more crazy commute and I may have to start camping outside the office in my car…

The good news is that I’m a big fat weather wimp and really, it’s been a pretty good week. The new year really does feel like a welcome reset this year, with a nice slow bit of hibernation ahead for the winter… I have a pile of new cookbooks, a brand new planner, a cleanse in the fridge, and I’m ready for the reset in more ways than one, with a few big things already on the horizon…

I know it’s a tease since I can’t quite give you all of the details, but the work starts this month on a major reset for this space that I can’t wait to share, and this weekend we’ve set an appointment to look at a house that, who knows, might turn out to be a bit of a reset of its own… a sort of massive process of a reset, but keep your fingers crossed, because we’re excited for the possible challenge! Mark hasn’t quite reset his employment situation, but I think he’s on his way, and slowly, surely, life is coming back around to a hopeful place… even if the hope still sits a little in limbo.

I mentioned a cleanse that I’m excited to share with you all next week — you might assume that given my #1 value in life is butter (no really though) I wouldn’t be down for a cleanse… but I believe in butter so strongly because it’s whole. Fake food might save a few calories, sure… and over the course of my life, I’ve tried all of the tricks. But it always comes back to whole, balanced eating to keep me on track feeling truly good. You won’t see shortening advocated for on this blog, but you might see lard… I love to indulge, and I feel that the healthy (and better tasting) way to do so is to stick to foods with ingredients I recognize. So when I’ve gone a little overboard on the butter and sugar (always) and feel the need for a reset, I’m all about a whole foods cleanse.

… that’s not to say it’s easy, so stay tuned for a little detox diary I have planned for next week.

And since we’re on the subject of resets, one easy option I love to add a little more flavor to healthy foods is to make and use infused salts. So this week I’m sharing some of my favorite recipes — three recipes we made at our last Field + Foundry event — on West Elm’s blog!

Head over for a few ideas… they’re super easy to make if you’ve never tried, and there’s no reason you have to stick to my recipes, you can use any of your favorite flavors in a similar way to create your own combination of infused salts.

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Has the narrative of the American dream shifted? What do you think?

Resolutions from from Thoreau, Virginia Woolf, Carl Sagan, Bruce Lee, Maya Angelou, and more.

This beautiful green minestrone.

Manspreading.

And some research on the gender gap in the military.

This great diy coffee table.

Dutch babies for all of the meals.

It’s cold, I think I’m allowed two links to soup – especially when they look this good.

10 handmade home solutions for the winter.

Photo by Reema Desai.

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Artifact Uprising Giveaway!

artifact uprising // a thousand threads
I feel lucky to live in an era where we can take as many pictures as we want, and keep them filed away without always needing to pay for printing or find another big box (we’d have so many…).

But with that said, there’s nothing like a printed photograph… and these days it’s harder and harder to find a really high-quality option to print.

That’s why I’m in love with Artifact Uprising and everything they do. They’ve been so wonderful in working with us on Field + Foundry, and when they offered to do a giveaway for all of you, of course I jumped at the chance!

Enter after the jump for a chance to win one of these gorgeous postcard packs… I just love the way they make our photos from Europe look, and I can’t wait to order myself another pack for Christmas cards!

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Printable pie boxes from Little White Whale

free printable pie boxes
Hi everyone! I’m Gloria from Little White Whale, and I’m so excited to be filling in for Laicie while she’s off on her exciting European adventure!

Baking has never been my strong suit, despite my best efforts. The idea of making dough intimidates the hell out of me, I’m a sloppy measurer, and I think it’s totally fine to substitute ingredients on a whim (apparently it’s not). Since Laicie’s baking skills are light years ahead of my own, I decided to whip up some sweet treats for you all the best way I know how…

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DIY linen napkins

diy linen napkins // a thousand threads
Linen napkins – especially washed linen like these – are my very favorite. They’re just one little element, but they can have such a big impact on a table. So when we decided to plan three Field + Foundry dinners this fall, I knew we had to have them.

There’s just one problem – everybody else likes them too, which means they can be crazy expensive.

Luckily, thanks to my 4-H days, I knew I could at least turn on and operate a sewing machine — even if I wasn’t so sure I could sew in a straight line (I’m still not) — so I dusted the old guy off and went to work.

With just a few yards of linen (around $100) I was able to whip up 30 custom napkins. And straight lines or no, if we hadn’t told folks they were handmade they might never have known.

Follow along below for instructions on how to make your own…

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Printable thank you card from Coco and Mingo

printable thank you card // coco and mingo for a thousand threads
Hello 1000 Threads readers! I’m Jessica over from Coco and Mingo and I’m so very happy to be helping Laicie out today while she’s enjoying her time at Alt! Whoohoo! Can’t wait to hear all about it when she gets back!

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