Blog Posts by Sarah Lipoff

Stamping with Marimekko
The wonderful thing about art is that it encompasses lots and lots of stuff. Sure, most think of fine art as the stuff you see hanging in museums, but art is all around us and totally influences everything from what we watch on TV to the clothes we wear.

While creating our fall leaf wreath the other day, it reminded me of this wonderful patterned fabric I'd come across from Marimekko. It's colorful, crisp, and absolutely vibrant. Armi Ratia started the ball rolling in 1951 when she designed her fist dress - and it was a hit. Through the years, Marimekko has become one of the most respected textile companies dressing famously fabulous ladies for decades. Some might say Jacki-O put them on the map when she was photographed wearing a pink Marimekko dress during the Kennedy vs. Nixon election.

A woman's company made for making women awesome, Marimekko is all about mod-design and embracing that inner flower power. The patterns are still living strong today and new designers

Well, the holidays are here. There's no denying that I'm in high-heaven cooking and baking up a storm. I'm testing out recipes and getting ideas for sweets, treats, and homemade goodies to make. But, we're heading out this year, which means I'll be whipping up Thanksgiving dinner in someone else's kitchen.

That's okay and all.

But....

That also means no leftovers!

So I figured I'd make something super special just for the hubs and I (and the tot) to enjoy before turkey day.

Pumpkin cheesecake.

If you remember, the husband informed me out of the blue one day that he loves cheesecake. He's not really into desserts, other than pumpkin pie, so discovering he liked cheesecake opened the doors of my heart even more.

I loooooooove cheesecake. Love.

Putting pumpkin and cheesecake together just seems right in my world. This is an easy recipe with stunning results. You can take this cheesecake out for entertaining or hoard it all to yourself (no one will know!).

And

Hans Hofmann loved bright and exciting rectangles and squares and transformed them into vibrant compositions. Many of his paintings include repeated shapes in their own spaces, but sometime they overlap and blend into each other.

Who the heck is Hans Hofmann? Along with being a celebrated American artist, he was a big player in the world of Abstract Expressionism. And he was also a teacher to many students, furthering the exploration and development of art in the mid 1900's. His loose brush strokes contrasted with sharp edges and forms create interesting and exciting paintings that are somewhat simple and even childish.

Perfect for kids as inspiration for making art!

Take a closer look at examples of Hans Hofmann's art and notice how he wasn't always an abstract painter. He began his career creating realistic paintings and eventually evolved into his shape paintings, which made him quite famous. Invite your child to name the colors he sees in Hofmann's paintings as

While cleaning out my craft drawer the other day I came across some fabric fall leaves I used for a project last year. My tot has really been into stringing beads lately and figured we could combine the two into a simple and beautiful autumn art activity.

Fall leaf mobile.

Stringing beads actually benefits fine-motor skills and encourages the understanding of mathematical concepts such as patterns and addition and subtraction. While your child is making this lovely fall project, she can explore color combinations and counting the beads on each string - or the whole mobile!

And if you don't have silk leaves hanging around, real leaves will work, too. Just use extra-gentle hands while creating.

Gather the materials needed for the mobile including silk fall leaves, fishing line, mason jar lids (just the outside rings), scissors, colorful beads, and a whole punch. Now your child can brainstorm combinations of beads and leaves she'd like for her fall leaf mobile.

I don't know about you, but fall has totally arrived at my house and with it a big craving for pumpkin goodies. While searching around for something fun to make, I came across a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies that inspired me. But I wanted to put my own spin on things and maybe healthy them up a bit.

We love plain yogurt at our house and always have a ton of it around. With a bit of patience, I knew I could turn that yogurt into a fluffy, delicate filling for a couple of flavorful pumpkin cakes with a bit less sugar and butter than the other recipes called for.

The results were totally fantastic.

(We ate them all up)

Ingredients

1 ½ c pumpkin puree

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 t vanilla

¼ t ground ginger

1 egg

½ c vegetable oil

1 c packed brown sugar

½ t baking soda

½ t baking powder

Dash of salt

1 c whole-wheat flour

1 c white flour

*For the filling...

1 c plain yogurt strained overnight (This is simple, but

The first full weekend of fall brought some cooler nights causing our yard to be covered with lots and lots of fallen leaves. While outside the other day the tot and I collected some of our favorites, which she painted with watercolor paints, smushed, and then tore to bits.

Hey, she's 2. That's what toddlers do.

But, it did inspire me to get out the paints and do a fun art activity perfect for kids 6 and up - and adults too.

Marbled fall leaf prints.

The finished prints can be used to create beautiful hand-made cards, for wrapping a special fall gift, or just as a nice decoration for the family fridge. Marbling paper has been an art technique since the early 1100's in Japan and then started gaining more attention in the 1500's in Turkey. This specialized art form was used as backgrounds for special documents and manuscripts. Eventually making its way to European artisans and bookmakers, marbled paper became widely recognized as a true craft that is respected and

While at the market the other day the child just about had a conniption fit when we walked by a big display of those itty-bitty fishy crackers. She's never really been wooed by packaged items so I was intrigued to see what this was all about. I let her pick a box (she happily grabbed the rainbow ones) and we opened it on the ride home.

It got quiet real fast.

As I pulled up to the house I snuck a quick look and saw she had removed all the green crackers leaving the other colors behind. She was happily shoving those green bits in her mouth smacking her lips together and licking her fingers.

Of course the next day all she wanted was to go to the store for more of those multi-colored crackers. I really wasn't excited about running out to the store every time she had a whim for green cheesy crackers, so I figured we could make some of our own. Sure, I could go to all that work of cutting out tons and tons of small fishes, but I decided small squares would work out just

Most of use recognize the name of Georgia O'Keeffe, the American artist known for painting large-scale up-close flowers in all their glory. Alongside Louise Nevelson, O'Keeffe is one of my all time favorite artists. Sure, I love her paintings and the colors and sweeping lines and designs she created, but, honestly, I love Georgia O'Keeffe because she was an amazing woman. From what I've read, and the hundreds of amazing pictures her husband (Alfred Stieglitz) took of her, she's at the top of my "If I Could Have Them Over For Dinner, Dead or Alive" list.

Most of Georgia's artworks were focused on nature and the beauty she saw around her. Cow skulls she found on walks, dessert flowers, trees... They dominated her larger than life creations that caused the viewer to stop and smell the flowers more than they might have. But, I think some of her lesser-known creations also pack a punch.

Her sunrise paintings are organic and simple watercolor paintings vibrating with color.