Cute catnip toadstools for Valentine’s Day

New in our MauveMoose Etsy shop ... cute little catnip toadstools for Valentine’s Day!  Cats love little things to play with and if the item has some catnip inside of it, well that’s all she wrote!   Here our latest toy ... a cute little toadstool stuffed with fiberfil and of course our famous catnip.  I started making them for Valentine’s day since I found this fabric with the little hearts to make the perfect top for the toadstool but they also make awesome stocking stuffers!  Only have one in the shop but more will follow so hop on over to check out our MauveMoose shop on Etsy.  

,

No snow but lots of sparkling ice!

 I love the snow, I love the cold and yes ... I even like the sparkling ice!  I don’t mind the ice so much now that I’m working from home and only have to go drive somewhere when I want to not because I have to.  Having two dogs I do have to go outside to let them take care of business.  Thanks to all the ice on the deck and the steps this morning we had to go out through the garage which totally confused them since it is their first winter at this house.  So for those of you who did get snow from this last storm, enjoy it!  I only have pictures of ice to share today.

.

Eggnog Custard Pie

 I loooooovvvveeee eggnog, just plain eggnog.  I do not need any rum or brandy in it.  I guess I love it so much due to the fact I grew up having pudding or custard or flan just about every day.  In case you didn't know I did grow up in Aarschot Belgium.  One of my favorite desserts are eclairs filled with the custard not whipped cream or anything else, just plain custard is what I like.  When I found out the eclairs Wegmans sells eclairs with custard I was in heaven after tasting one ... it brought me right back to standing outside one of the bakeries in Aarschot eating an eclair.  Now back to eggnog, we do not have eggnog in Belgium so when I found out the taste of it when I moved to the US it reminded me of drinking pudding!  So after having lived here in the US for many many years I happened to run into a recipe on Pinterest for Eggnog Pie so I had to try it.  There are plenty of recipes for it and they are basically close to the same but you can divide them into two, one is the baked type you actually put in the oven and then you have the non-baked type which you make with instant pudding mix and whipped cream which I'm personally not a fan of so I ended up making the baked kind and boy was it good, tasted just like eggnog ... who would have thought!?   Now I have to admit I always have a hard time following recipes exactly so I ended up combining two different recipes into one of my own.  

Eggnog Custard Pie

Ingredients: 

• 2
  1/2 cups eggnog
• 3 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk (save the egg white)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raw sugar
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg plus additional for garnishing
• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 1 large egg white beaten until frothy

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Beat eggnog, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
• Brush the edges of the crust with the beaten egg white.
• Transfer the filling to the crust, and bake 25 minutes. Cover the pie with foil and bake 30 to 40 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.
• Allow pie to cool on a wire rack. The filling will continue to cook and solidify while it cools. Garnish pie with a sprinkle of nutmeg if desired.
• Store pie in refrigerator.

Tomorrow I will be trying Eggnog Pancakes!

Awesome sky last night

 Took this photo last night when I was letting my dogs out before going to bed.  An almost full moon peeking through the clouds.  

Silly pillow cat toy

 I had made one of these for our cat Rosco since he loves anything stringy or has cords attached.  He seems to have a lot of fun chasing this kind of toy down the hall and it was actually pretty funny catching him running around with it in his mouth.  Why do I never have my phone on me inside the house to take pictures when the animals do crazy stuff like that is beyond me!!!  By the time I grab my phone off the counter they are back to being “normal” and look at me like I’m some crazy human telling them to do it again!  

Anyways, I just listed one of these toys.  I can/will make more of them if there is interest in it. 

Yes, more Holiday toys

Been working on more holiday toys and just listed them in our MauveMoose Etsy shop.   Don’t hesitate if you want to buy something or you might miss out on one of our unique toys.  The tree toys I just started making, all of them have sold but lucky for you ... I listed 3 new ones today.  I also made and listed some more strawberries and ball ornaments.  Here some pictures of the latest ones listed.

Catnip Christmas trees or Christmas Tree Ornaments

I wanted to come up with a new cat toy design for our holidays this year.  I thought a tree would be appropriate.  First one I made is the light colored one with the red cardinals.  Turned out perfect fabric for the size of the tree since I can move the pattern around to make sure each tree has at least 1 or 2 birds on it.  I always loved the white and red decorations so from all the ones I’ve made so far that’s my favorite.  I’m working on another one in red and white fabric which I love even more.  The red pompoms look almost neon in the photos but in real life they really are not that bright.  Red is a hard color to photograph to make it true to it’s color in reality.  If anyone is interested to purchase these as tree ornaments (for humans, not kitty cats!) just send me a message and let me know what you would like.   I can attach a ribbon loop to the top of these to turn them into regular tree ornaments.  Here are the 3 that are available as cat toys in our MauveMoose etsy shop.  More will follow!

Christmas Cat toys

 Also listed more holiday kitty cat toys in our MauveMoose Etsy shop.  Don’t wait to grab these as they always go fast.  Some of these already sold after listing them a couple of days ago.  We don’t always remake the same toys either due to running out of the fabric or we get bored making the same ones and we ourselves always enjoy OOAK stuff!

Baseball baby shoes

 This was my daughters idea making some with baseball fabric on one side and itty bitty heart fabric on the inside.  Of course these are reversible so you can have itty bitty hearts on the outside one day and the baseball design another day.   Just listed in my BitsOfFiber etsy shop if you want to purchase them.  They will also come in a handmade textile bag just like all the other crib shoes for newborns listed in my shop.  

!

Pretty Shamrock baby booties

 Also made another pair of baby crib booties.  I love the shamrock fabrics so here is a pair for one lucky Irish baby or any lucky baby doesn't have to be an Irish one!  And yes these are reversible.  Darker fabric on one side and the lighter one on the inside.  They come in a handmade gift bag.  Grab them from my BitsOfFiber Etsy shop.  AND for the baseball lovers ... will be listing a pair of those tomorrow so come back and have a look.  

More Holiday cat toy sets

 Up for grabs in our MauveMoose Etsy shop!  I do love the combination of red and white during Christmas.  Here are a few of our latest toys I made.  Don't wait to long to decide which ones you want to get as a lot of our fabrics run out.

The Holidays are coming!

 So yup the rusty bits are still getting more rusty.   Not sure when I’ll be able to get to that project but that’s ok I got plenty of other things to do for now.  In the meantime I keep making more cat toys and baby shoes since they both seem to be in demand.  Here some pics of the latest cat toys.