all dressed up for valentine’s day

I had so much fun putting together the Christmas window displays with Tessa, I asked her to work her magic for Valentine’s day.  So with some tissue paper, a stapler & tape she crafted up these fabulous frocks.

And the finished scene….

Wishing you a mailbox full of fantastic valentines from friends & family this February 14th!

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minute to win it party

The holiday season is so crazy around the stores, we schedule our staff celebration in January.  This year we thought it would be fun to put together our very own minute to win it party.  I promised there wouldn’t be any video… but couldn’t resist sharing a few still shots of our talented team in action.

We had 3 different teams compete in 9 different events for fun prizes.

First up – Breakfast Scramble: Assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into 16 even pieces.

This game all the teams aced well under a minute… a good way to start the challenges with some confidence.

 

#2 A Bit Dicey: Balance six dice on a popsicle stick held in your mouth.

Everyone came SO close to getting this one… it was just that LAST dice that was the tipping point.

#3  Candy Elevator: Use an “elevator” made from 2 pencils and string, to lift 3 candies into the mouth.

The next balancing act was also a tough feat with no one making the M&Ms into their mouth… however Gus was on quick patrol in search of the dropped candies.

#4 Face the Cookie: Using only the face, move cookies from the forehead to the mouth.

I tried this a few times before the party with success, however with the pressure of 10+ eyes starring at me, I couldn’t complete the task… but did get some good laughs ;-)

#5  Play it by Ear: Place cans with different quantities of pennies inside in the correct order.

The gals rocked this task & all the teams got this one right.

#6 Noodling Around:Pick up six penne noodles placed around the perimeter of a table using only a piece of uncooked spaghetti in your mouth.

This is tougher than it looks… but Dani managed to at least get a couple noodles threaded on the spaghetti.

#7 This Blows: Player must continually blow up a balloon and expel the air from it to knock cups off of a table.

Who has the most hot air?  Turns out… Laura from Yellow Door BUT Dena gets the award for performing the task with the most flair ;-)

#8 Paper Dragon: Player must un-spool 2 rolls of party streamers using only their hands and arms.

All the teams were tied at the end so whoever could unwind the party streamer the fastest would take the gold.

The young & tall Tessa won the game by 5 seconds for her team Catching Doors! ( but Danielle get’s 1st place for being the most dynamic dragon competitor ;-)

Thanks team for making this get together lots of fun.  We’re so blessed to have gals like you making days brighter for all our firefly fans.

homemade peppermint patties

I do love my junior mints & york peppermint patties so when I stumbled upon this tasty recipe, I needed to try it.   I made a double batch so I could serve some up at my new year’s eve party & our staff celebration this Saturday.

These are fairly easy to make & were a big hit at our party.  They are very rich so keeping them a small size is a good idea.

Here’s what you need:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract

1-2 cups chocolate chips

1 teaspoon of crisco

I added a little extra evaporated milk & vegetable oil to the original recipe because it was just too dry & made a big powdery mess.

It might be a good idea to place the mixing bowl in the sink when you first start mixing since there is so much powdered sugar to blend with a small amount of liquid.

Gus definitely helps me keep the floor clean of any crumbs or powdered sugar sprinkles.

Roll the mint mix into a ball & press into a patty, then place them in the freezer to harden.

Put the crisco in the chocolate chips & microwave until melted.  Once the patties are firm, dip them into chocolate & place them on waxed paper.  If you have extra chocolate left over, drizzle across for a little fancier look.  Then place in freezer.

My double batch made around 30 patties & oh did they taste gooood!

These also could be fun for Valentine’s Day treats tied with a silly saying like… you & me are mint to be

Daily Tribune Feature 12.30.11

Framing A Success Story

By Bonnie Caprara

When April McCrumb was a student at Eastern Michigan University in the mid-’90s, she earned her spending money making paper crafts and selling her goods at art fairs.

“It was a pretty cool way to make $100 a day as a college student,” McCrumb says.

McCrumb eventually got her degree in special education but never went on to teach. Instead, she launched her part-time hobby into a full-fledged business empire, which is based on A.I. Paper Design where she is the creator of handcrafted picture frames, photo albums, collages and magnets.

Each of her creations are based around colorful and whimsical paper art that she combines with ribbons, findings and uplifting sayings that commemorate the happiest of happiest moments that people display in the pictures of her picture frames.

“I’ve always been creative, always been a big fan of paper, and I’ve always loved words, colors and textures,” says McCrumb, “I’m a positive person, and I’m influenced by my customers, too. I have customers asking for a variety of themes.”

A.I. Paper Design products are designed around several themes — friendship, family, good times, weddings, pets and cooking, one of her favorite pastimes.

Over the years, McCrumb’s studio have moved from her college apartment to her first home in Oak Park and then to what is now her flagship Catching Fireflies store in Berkley.

“When we opened, we doored it off,” McCrumb says. “There was a small store in the front that sold all the A.I. Paper goods and had the workshop in the back.”

In fact, it was the success of A.I. Paper that allowed McCrumb to open Catching Fireflies.

“We were able to open Catching Fireflies without taking out a loan,” McCrumb says.

When the demand for her handcrafted gift items outgrew the studio in the back end of her Berkley store and the success of the store took over the workshop, she moved production to a studio in Royal Oak. During those years, she has gone from selling her work at art fairs to having them stocked in 400 gift shops across the United States.

They’re transitions she couldn’t have made without her husband, Steve, who left his teaching job three years after the couple graduated from college in 1998 to run the business, which now includes a second Catching Fireflies store in Rochester, and a second Berkley gift shop, Yellow Door Art Market.

Yellow Door Art Market features handmade items from over 60 Michigan artists, local student artists, Michigan-made foods, and a selection of books written by Michigan authors in a boutique setting that’s open seven days a week.

By opening Yellow Door Art Market, McCrumb says, “I felt it was a way to give them some exposure.”

Today, the success of A.I. Paper Design has allowed McCrumb to leave the day-to-day operations of her stores in the hands of her managers and staff, not to mention the expansion of the Catching Fireflies’ inventories to include a range of stationery, trinkets, jewelry, handbags and gift items that have earned the stores the distinction of HOUR Detroit’s Best Gift Shop five years in a row.

“I buy stuff for the store that’s clever, unique and fun,” McCrumb says. “You have to be different and buy things that touch people and make them feel good. It’s a big part of who we are.”

McCrumb now spends most of her time creating new items for A.I. Paper Design, which will come out with a whole new line of products, about 60 in all, in January.

planting seeds of happiness

Come January, I always feel a bit overwhelmed.

Things floating around in my head at the moment… the need to create a new & exciting 2012 event schedule for catching fireflies & yellow door, selecting new artists moving into yellow door next month, creating a new a.i. paper design trade show display for the New York Gift Show, launching 50 new a.i. paper design goods on the web & in the studio, get the wheels rolling again for the 11th Annual Berkley Art Bash, finding fresh & new goods for catching fireflies, creating new & interesting facebook material & blog entries.

New, new, new, new, new… isn’t that how the world seems to work?

I needed to hit pause on the ‘new’ & take some time to embrace the old.

What seeds of happiness have we planted in 2011?  How have we made days brighter?  I’m not big on resolutions but this is one challenge I continue to strive for every year.  After trolling through our facebook photo albums & past blog entries, turns out we are farmers of joy.

Our managers, Danielle & Dena & web diva, Stephanie are smile experts.  Their humor & joy keeps our whimsical world a very happy place.

With your help we were able to give loads of Valentine cards to kids who spent the day at the hospital.

Child Life Projects Specialist, Deanna Scanlon shared, “Just wanted to let you know that Valentine’s Day here at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan was a HUGE success! Thank you so much! We have managed to give away most of the cards so far! So many patients, families and the staff had made positive comments! It’s just awesome!  It would not have been possible without your efforts! You are truly appreciated! Happy Valentine’s day to you!”

Our Rochester location celebrated it’s 5th birthday by offering sweet discounts & donating a portion of the proceeds to Care House.

We love selling whimsical wares, however giving them away to our firefly fans is even more fun!

Our Berkley store cat has her own fan club & is very fond of pets & compliments.

Knowing that Detroiters love our little shops makes us very~very happy & also encourages us to strive to earn that awesome title next year.

Lots of kids got snazzy new back packs, pencils, crayons, notebooks & more because or your generosity.

Our Berkley location celebrated it’s 11th birthday by offering sweet discounts & donating a portion of the proceeds to Camp Casey.

We gained over 600 new animal loving facebook fans & collected goods for our furry friends at Almost Home Animal Rescue.

Crazy good times for gals & guys who like Twilight, margarita cup cakes, Halloween & festive German-style Christmas markets.

Because of your generosity, families in Oakland county had food in their pantry.

We wrapped a LOT of gifts this December & were thrilled with the donation we can give to THAW this January.

Plus we gave out 36 gift card books valued at $60 each to local non-profits & schools to be auctioned for fundraisers.

Thank YOU firefly fans for helping us plant these seeds.  They’re all small things, just like flowers… but when grouped together, don’t they make our world a stunning & beautiful place to live?

til’ next year ~ christmas

Another thing on my to-do list for December was to give a little holiday house tour on the blog.  So… 15 minutes before the start of our New Year’s Eve party I zipped around the house & captured a few shots of our festive  abode.

One of the many things I love about the Christmas season is the cozy ambiance it creates in our home.  All the extra lights & baubles just makes me happy.

I grew up in a house where my mom was serious about decorating for the holidays.  Every year she put up 3  fully decked out trees in 3 different themes… including a flocked tree, trimmed in pink lights & full of crystal ornaments (you’d think Liberace was coming to visit :-).  All the trees were artificial & she spent many hours transforming the house into a Christmas wonderland.

I don’t quite have that zest for seasonal decoration… maybe because I get my taste of it at catching fireflies each year so we keep things simple by putting up a fraser fir by mid December & filling it with a variety of  quirky & sentimental ornaments.  One thing I did grab from my mom was the giant old fashioned strings of lights we used to use on our outside evergreens.  I love their bright glow & nostalgic look.

Since we have Tessa living with us this year, we got to add a 3rd stocking to our line up:-)

The oh-so-talented & super sweet Susan Kozlowski of Big Me Little World gave me the cutest nativity scene ever last year & it’s become one of my absolute Christmas favorites.

This is another one of her imaginative creations.  Can you believe the scene shell is created from a re-purposed 2 liter bottom?  I  love how there is a little spot to insert a light.

This wintery mantel scape will survive through mid February… I mean it really hasn’t even snowed in Michigan yet!

Even though the glow of the tree won’t return for another 11 months, I’m fortunate enough to be able to turn up the fire & cuddle with Tuesday during the upcoming cold months.

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homemade peppermint marshmallows

After finding this tempting recipe by Miss Martha, I thought it would make a great pairing to my hot chocolate mix I was planning on giving my neighbors for the holidays.  The intentions were there… but my time ran out so the hot cocoa went out solo.  However Tessa & I did manage to make one batch right before Christmas.

Normally I’m all about simple recipes that look & taste fabulous… this one is not simple but the latter does apply.  Plus it’s pretty cool to tell everyone that you know how to make your own marshmallows ;-)

Here’s what you’ll need:

Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray, and set pan aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.

Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.

Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running, gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed until very thick, 10 to 12 minutes.

Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring across surface of marshmallow. Using a toothpick, swirl food coloring into marshmallow to create a marbleized effect. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight.

This batch made 30 marshmallows.  The dyed marbling was a fun touch, but I don’t know if I’d add it again as some of it bled through the powdered sugar coating & looked a little horror-movie-like as opposed to candy-cane-lane.

The subtle minty taste & marvelous melting qualities of these gems give them a 4 star rating!

Tessa & I made just enough of these to give to a few family members & friends on Christmas Eve.  Since most of the gift giving is geared towards the kids in our families, I like to surprise the adults with a little something special.

midnight city

Loving this song by M83 lately & how appropriate with New Year’s Eve right around the corner…

A review reads, “The band named after a spiral galaxy have, at last, made a record which befits that. It sounds like a soundtrack for the end of the world, or the birth of new worlds. Extraordinary.” – Simon Price

Like discovering catchy tunes that take you to a happy place?  Simply subscribe to this blog and we’ll email you our latest and greatest music finds.

homemade hot cocoa

I like to surprise my neighbors & party guests with a little extra something around the holidays so this year, I whipped up some tasty hot chocolate they could enjoy throughout the season.

This mix is really simple to make & when presented in dressed up jelly jars, it really makes a lovely gift.

This amount makes 60 oz of powdered mix. I used 12 oz jelly jars so each batch filled 5 jars.

4 cups of powdered milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1.5 cups of cocoa

1 cup powdered creamer

1 cup mini chocolate chips (dark or white depending on your preference)

I bought the Costco sized goods & it easily made over 48 jars of cocoa-ness.

Add some labels using double sided tape or print on large Avery label sheets.  Get hot cocoa pdf & top lid label.

Dress up the jar with some of your favorite ribbon & findings.

I also love the idea of surprising friends with this tasty treat for Valentine’s Day.  All you need to do is switch up the felt findings…

Tessa tried it with our homemade peppermint marshmallows & we both agreed it was rather delicious!

joy, peace & love to all

Wishing all our firefly fans laughter & joy

(our first ‘family photo card’ with our German exchange student, Tessa who has brought much joy & fun into our lives)

peace,

(image via the lonely heart)

and love this holiday season.

I love this song & the uplifting lyrics…

Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
I know I can count on you
Sometimes I feel like saying “Lord I just don’t care”
But you’ve got the love I need To see me through

Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough
And things go wrong no matter what I do
Now and then it seems that life is just too much
But you’ve got the love I need to see me through

When food is gone you are my daily need
When friends are gone I know my savior’s love is real
You know it’s real

You got the love

Time after time I think “Oh Lord what’s the use?”
Time after time I think it’s just no good
Sooner or later in life, the things you love you lose
But you’ve got the love I need to see me through

You got the love

Thank you for an amazing 2011 & cheers to a bright & hopeful 2012.