If I open my eyes just so, I can see colors in this dirt laden land, that I couldn't previously see. Colors scattered here and there in nature. Little gifts. Free for the taking, to put in jars, or tiny drawers or even to scatter on dark wooden surfaces.
I see a varied wonderland of texture and shapes. And, I am certain if you take a moment to go out your front door, and open your eyes just so, you too will return with pockets full of inspiration.
From bursts of tangerine shades and hints of violet to mysterious grays and greens…
I sit and inspect my findings. Each one leading me on a dream-scape journey. Igniting ideas yet bringing me such peace.
In a time of pre-holiday season madness, a calm stroll in the most seemingly mundane of outdoor spaces, might lead you to find all sorts of precious pieces of nature. The winds may have blown a few unexpected treasures your way. It happened for me. I saw a vast space of sandy soil and simple trees. Until, I opened my eyes just so, and then I could see…
Golden flames and mint gray swirls were the key, to start my mind off, wandering…
You can even save your treasures and findings in wee little jars, and seal them with a tiny piece of tree branch, much like a cork would seal a bottle. I did that in a cabinet for the Halloween Party. So many photos unseen, so I am revisiting a few to share with you. My decor for Halloween wasn't very Halloween at all, but more botanical and apothecarian infusions, perfect for spells and secrets untold… (Tip: Target had sets of those tiny glass vases in the image below in October, and most likely still has them)
Oh, do bring your nature collections indoors, won't you? Perhaps you already do 😉
As I revisit the party photos I have to go out to the gallery to truly believe all those curiosities were stuffed in there by me. I wish you could see it in person, it is so magical (to me at least). I might take a video. That might be a good idea?
Curious collections and nature tid-bits make me delighted as can be.
After my stroll through the garden (and a visit in the gallery) gathering leaves and eucalyptus berries, I had some fresh squeezed orange juice (we do this almost everyday). As I stared at the orange peel heap I was drawn to sweeten up the holiday spirit creeping in with nothing other than candied orange peels.
This was the recipe I used. It worked beautifully. I did everything it said, including the blanching three times of the orange peels. Although my orange peels were not super thick, it all worked out just perfectly.
Sweet candied, non-bitter delicacies. Mister was smitten, and nibbled and nibbled.
I will make more for Christmas and gift the orangey treats. They sparkle so beautifully in person and will be charming for gifting in the many jars we save.
I was so glad to give candied orange peels a go, and I hope you might consider it as well. I found the whole thing thoroughly relaxing and fulfilling. I baked beets and cooked up some maple bacon and muffins while I waited. A delightful morning with a kitchen smelling so wonderful with all the orange confections and such.
We love to have berries after our meals. I always mix a dollop of raspberry jam (my fave is Bon Maman) into my berries. It removes the tartness and adds a whole other dimension of yumminess to the berries.
Surrounded by our nature collections picked in the morning, we delighted in berries and candied orange peels.
With that, I thoroughly let the holiday season find its way into our home. A little early, but beloved all the same…
I am inspired to bake and candy fruit and create. There is much more on the horizon. If you have a super wonderful recipe or treat you like to make, feel free to share. I would love to try a few new things. I have some recipes some of you shared with me last year, that I have lined up to make. I will link to you if I make your recipe.
I must run for now, as I am trying to finish some happy faces to share very soon.
🖤,V
I love the way you bring nature indoors. The little chest of drawers filled with goodness is such a treat! And the candied orange peels look terrific, as well. Very inspired by your seemingly endless supply of creative ideas, dearest V. xoxox
Funnily enough yesterday I took myself and my son to the park. While he climbed and swang and bounced I rummaged in the hedgerows with my camera and spotted little hidden treasures – tiny toadstools, little seedlings sprouting despite the season and the occasional jewelled leaf still clinging on despite the cold and the storms of the last few days. Very magical. I brought my treasures home an played with them in photoshop – preserved. I’ll do a post on them later in the week I think.
oh, you make me want to do things i don’t normally like to do *lol*. like spending hours in the kitchen. i’m intrigued to see you using the same kind of saucepan as we have in the paris’ apartment. i always burn stuff in that one :/. i absolutely love the botanical photos of today :). can’t wait to show them for my son, he’s currently very fascinated by all things botanical. yellow is my least favorite colour, i think, but with all the mint grey and orange… it’s just so pretty!
anyways, so happy i passed by your blog this morning :).
Vanessa this was delectable. I can never get enough of those pictures of your cabinet of dried blossoms. My nine year old son and I did your bag project yesterday!!!! Loved it! I hope to post it this week and will link to you in thanks to be sure dear! Thanks! Blessings and stroll on.
I have never tried candied orange peels! They look very yummy indeed. I think that I might try it. There are several recipes that I go back to over and over again…I’ll think of my absolutely favorite and send it your way. 😉
Bye for now! Theresa
Yes, it’s that magical time of year!
All the tidbits from nature are so beautiful! Unfortunately, the only thing I find out my front door is sand and trash. Kuwait is not the cleanest country and Fall weather or the scents of Autumn are just places I visit in my mind’s eye. Sounds like a lovely morning. Best wishes, 🙂 Tammy
V~
Oh my…those orange peels look soooo good!! They are perfect for my sweet tooth 🙂
I always think candied fruits are so beautiful! I love your idea of gifting the orange peels…I may have to walk that line myself!
mmm – sound – and look! – so luscious!
gorgeous photos – and the “gallery” is nothing short of wondrous!
Hi Vanessa!
Loved this post…the orange peals look so delicious. I will give it a try for sure this year.
I have a recipe to share with you and all of your guests at your blog.
About 10 years ago a sweet old lady gave me this recipe for the Holidays. She never told me the name for it, so I gave it one of my own. I make this every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas….everyone loves them and I hope you do too 🙂
Here it goes…..
Holyday Nut Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of chopped dates
1 cup of broken walnuts
1/2 cup of raisins – ( 2 very small red boxes ) = 1/2 a cup
3 well beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix the above very well….
Use a pan for mini muffins….
Preheat oven at 350* ….bake for 17 minutes…
When removed from oven , let cool … Remove the muffins and place on paper towel for a few minutes and serve.
Makes 24 mini muffins
**These make great Holiday gifts**
I would love to hear from anyone that tries this recipe (vania@fantasywhispers.com) to know what you think 🙂
Hugs,
Vania
I always eat so much citrus in winter that this is a perfect thing to do with the leftovers. Last year I sliced my peel and let it dry in trays on my counter and then stored it in jars to mix with dried blossoms or whatnot in scent bowls. I still have some left and each time you open a jar of dried orange peel it still smells wonderful!
I love that first picture with all the colorful natural goodies in that fantastic tiny little chest of drawers! what is that? the drawers are so tiny… what was that originally built for, do you know?
Color!! Texture!! Satisfaction!!! Feast for the eyes!!!! I will continue my journey on this light-filled day and find some treasures of my own to keep and enjoy!
Hugging you
SueAnn
Thank you my dear for your visit and your kind and true words.
I love the way you have photographed your treasurers from Mother Nature.
I adore bringing nature into the house. I have an altar in my studio that I place my treasurers on…I always go out just before I start creating my art…nature is always a wonderful inspiration.
The candied orange peals are wonderful dipped in chocolate.
Vanessa~ This is the best post ever! I keep staring at your wonderful collages. Also, I wonder if Lemon peels would work in place of Orange peels? I have 3 Lemon trees full of fruit and am thinking of Christmas gifts for neighbors and friends. Wonderful post, Thank you~
Vanessa:
Living in the desert as we do, it is truly a blessing to be able to seek and find the little bits of hidden color. But seek and ye shall find. From the bright red firethorn berries to the orange Pistache leaves…the color is screaming out.
Thanks for sharing your desert color with us:
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
I am always bringing…what I call nuts and twigs into my house. Yesterday I walked in with a pretty rock and looked around to see where to put it! lol I love to bake! I have been hungry for scones. I would like to experiment and try some of your candied oranges in them! Hmmm!
It’s always such a delight wandering the country homes garden with you. Whether it be dirt or berries, puppies or faeries there’s always so much to see ;-). Ah!! My heart is filled with happy thoughts…thank you very much!!!
Ooh! And those candied orange peels look ever so yummy that I may need to try some myself.
Big hugs swirling your way.
xoxo Cori
I make and gift the candied peels every year. Everyone loves them so much. I even candy lemon and grapefruit peels but orange is the favorite. I also make rum balls. This is about the only way I will partake of spirits during the holidays.
Hugs. Barb
Mmmm those orangies look yum, and I’ve always found it so wonderfully magical how you blend nature into your home. I can say nothing but simply, beautiful.
So so beautiful today!
I don’t know which one is the best — your photo skills or your story-telling skills! But you need to write a book.
Isn’t autumn beautiful! It really is my favorite season. The cool evenings bring the most gorgeous leaf colors. I love putting on my boots, tightening up my scarf and picking out my favorite coat for a walk at dusk. Your pictures really capture the season.
Hugs,
Amada
Candy orange peels…well who woulda thought 😉 And it just sounds delicious! And all of your nature finds are just lovely V.
Jamie 🙂
I just brought nature indoors with buying beautiful pink roses.
Nature to me is a constant supply of creativy and beauty.
Today I saw a rainbow in the sky and my namesake, a swan, gliding in the water. Simply beauty which filled my heart.
I love the way the bottles are filled with nature’s blessings. I remember some posts ago when you said that the video clip from RiSD about their nature lab had inspired you. I live about thirty minutes from Providence. What a glorious school RISD is and ever since I saw your shelves at Halloween I have been promising myself a trip there. I love everything mysterious, a reason I always wanted to walk down those magical streets where Harry Potter found his wand and owl.
Fall nights are lovely and the sky sunsets are more magical this time of year too. When my girls were little we used to collect all the leaves and flowers and press them into a flower press. Later in winter we would make crafts with them.
My favorite thing to do is place them in a favorite old book. Well, wishing you fairytale dreams with orange zest magic.
Karen
the orange peels are beautiful… I’ve been “going to do these” for so long it’s getting silly…this year…I am!
now, I need some pretty jars to pack them in… I’ve got lots of ribbons… or lace…or …well, you know how that goes… lol….open a cupboard and stuff falls out….
Your photos are allways so beautiful and dreamy.
What a very pretty post Miss Vanessa.
Hugs
Di
Wow, such color and inspiration – your posts are always a feast for the eyes. 🙂 I must admit I’m missing out on the beauty of fall right now as I rush to get my Xmas stuff ready for posting on my blog. I also lost three pendants I’d had up for sale so I had to take them down til I can find them again just in case they sell. Aaak! My studio is very very chaotic and remodeling a bathroom at the same time makes things interesting.
Oh, I am having a fall related giveaway on my blog just in case you or your readers are interested. Giveaway ends Saturday and will be shipped super fast as I know fall is rapidly ending.
Much Love!!
Nik
Anyone reading your blog Vanessa must leave with a happy face. I know I do.
I tell you that you are magical, but I wonder if you really know what I mean. I am serious when I say that you see the world through a lens that we should all see. You are full of goodness.
Love Renee xoo
Thanks for all the inspiration! Allways a pleasure to read and see here at your place..!
Glorious photos!!! Photo #6 especially appeals to my eyes and soul. I just printed out the candied orange recipe and can’t wait to try it, especially for the scent to fill the house. I start Christmas early too…this week I am working on Debville. This Saturday I will start the big tree. I have been tardy on reading your posts due to an overload of work. I am currently seeking employment where they don’t expect me to actually work. **blows kisses** Deb
I made the same candied oranges a few months ago and promised myself I would make them again for the holidays. They are delicious and teach patience, don’t they?
I very much love THIS take on the holidays…bringing the out…in…and celebrating the little pleasures!
x..x
p.s.
you have inspired me to see what I can find left after the heavy snows, I’m sure I’ll find some surprises!
Oh Mother Nature! She’s so good with her colors and plentiful with her treasurs. And YOU VV are one, who has the eyes to see all of her wonder and collect her gifts.
Thank you for sharing your world here!
xox
Constance
Oh these elegant natural specimens have me swooning!! And then you went and topped it off with candied orange peel!! My goodness what a pretty treat!! 🙂
Here’s a recipe for you, it’s one of my favorites and I think you will like it:
~* Ambrosia Salad *~
2 cans pineapple chunks, drained
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 jars maraschino cherries, drained
1/2 bag of coconut flakes
1/2 bag of mini-marshmellows
4oz. sour cream
16 oz. Cool Whip
Combine sour cream and Cool Whip. Fold in all other ingredients. Chill covered for at least 2 hours.
Beautiful post and the photos are wonderful!! and the orange peel all dressed up makes me want to make them too!!! 🙂
A video would be awesome! With some of your creative music on the piano! Love all of the lovely colors…the muted ones, and the bright ones. Ahhhh…fall, such a wonderful time of year.
And Princess Crystal’s Ambrosia Salad looks divine! My uncle used to make An Ambrosia salad and said he put a ‘secret’ ingredient in…and he never would tell us what was the ingredient was…I have a feeling it was a liquor and he didn’t want us kids to know! A flavored Brandy, perhaps? I say that because my grandmother used to use cheese cloth and she would saturate it with apricot brandy and wrap it around her homemade fruitcake, and would age it with foil wrapped around it for a week or so to give it the most heavenly flavor.
And thank you for the scrumptious candied orange peel recipe…it reminds me of marmalade, which is similar to make and also wonderful on muffins.
Thank you sweet Vanessa.
P.S.Since I was always finding things online that I liked and would find myself using scraps of paper to write something down on the spur of the moment, I finally started keeping a small cheap college ruled wired sprial binder by my computer, so I now can write things down and have them in once place, easy to find. So, that is where these wonderful recipes are being ‘logged.’ Cheers!
It’s always such a delight to visit your blog, but never more so than at the holidays! I’m afraid I’ve lost time these last few weeks (husband in the hospital for a new heart valve) and somehow I surfaced with just a few weeks left until Christmas – eek!
I’m loving the idea of giving candied orange peels as gifts (we’ve committed to a handmade Christmas for ages now)….I also have a recipe to share – easy-peasy and just perfect for someone who saves bottles during the year, too. 🙂
I hope you try it, but it should be soon, as it’s best consumed after it mellows for a couple of weeks….
Homemade Kahlua
(I always double and sometimes triple this)
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
3 Tablespoons instant coffee – NOT freeze dried (I sometimes use instant espresso powder, but cut the amount just a tad because it’s stronger)
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split in two
1 Quart vodka
Simmer the water, sugar and coffee for one hour, being careful to not let the mixture boil. Cool completely, then add the rest of the ingredients. Pour into bottles, distributing the vanilla bean piece between them (you may have to cut them if you’re using smaller bottles). Let the bottles mellow for a couple of weeks, and affix fabulous artsy labels – this part is always the most fun for me, hehe. 😉
Delicious poured over vanilla ice cream or in coffee. 🙂
🖤 Carolee
Hello Missy!
I’ve FINALLY finished painting my kitchen and have come up for air. And over here I find explosions of color. What a feast for the eyes.
I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to find my way back here – the home improvements are done now so I’ll be a regular again.
xoxo,
Kate
Hi Vanessa,
I was just on etsy and updating a few things and I always check to see what just sold while I am on there. I couldn’t help but notice so many of your prints being sold. So, I popped over to see if you had written a new post. Then I remembered wonderful Tristan featured on his blog today. He writes the most delightful posts filled to the brim with eye candy.
Have a happy day.
Karen
Tristan’s post
http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-final-report-on-brave-little-rosebud.html
Hello there. What a treat to come back to. Life has been hectic and stressful in my corner of the world so this is lovely. Trees in my area are moving from the glorious crimson and rust shades into a grey-brown tinge. Soon they will all fall to the ground and become mulch.
The grey gets to me – I like zesty things…like your orange peels. You know how to make them even better? Dip half of your peel in dark chocolate. 😉 OMG/NOMNOMNOM!
oh lovely miss vanessa, how have you been? It has been too long…love all these images. the fall foliage…must appreciate it while it lasts! and the candied orange peels?!!/ i had no idea they existed! my world has been opened…. 😀
Your orange peels look so luscious! Try them dipped in dark chocolate…mmmmm yum.
Wonderful photos! I just peeked at the previous post and the wee one has GROWN! I love seeing pictures of the furry ones 🙂
LuLu~*xoxo
i use to make candied orange peel
with my grand-mother
every year for christmas
and
i had forgotten…
so
thanks to you 🖤
i have that memory
back
again…
🙂
i so love
when that happens 🖤🖤🖤
Softly blowing, softly going, through the trees the wind is heard. Through the larches and the sages and around the bay a bird. Leaves now curtsey down into a place to be found, and knick a knack as colors of the crest of a crown – sing sound. And the little drawers open, in the just eight of afternoon, where all calling march forward in their fading bloom. The babbling of a cranny or nook, stars of sun and stone, the blossom and the seed hark, the bells a ringing – autumn is now home.
nice blog!
Such a lovely tribute to nature, and to your creative heart.
Nice to be back here after too long time away…….
You have given me just the burst of inspiration I needed! Thank you!
What a lovely collection ! Watching nature and being able to appreciate it is a so inspiring…I live on the seaside and each walk on the beach helps me to create ! I have just discovered your blog and I really appreciate it ! Be sure I will be back !
Such magic abounds in your home. You truly are inspirational!
I have to get the recipe for you, but my mother (Kathy Passarette of Creative Home Expressions) just tried Pumpkin Squash cookies the other night. They are Gluten Free and were absolutely delicious! We’re going to make them for our Holiday gatherings and I can’t wait to try making the candied orange peels! They sound delish!!:)
Oooh, you’ve inspired me to try making my own candied orange. We’ve been talking about doing a “homemade” Christmas here and these sugary treats might just do the trick!
Wonderful! The pictures remind me of an old-fashioned nature table and the fruit has put me in the festive mood like nothing else has so far this year.
I seem to have lost my sweet tooth lately. BUT! Those candied orange peels LOOK heavenly in the jar, and would also serve as a lovely decoration, yes? lol
I bring in walking sticks. I have bunches. If I am out walking I always look for a stick and if it walks well, it comes home with me.
xoxo
Oh, I have a lovely recipe to share. I will send it to you.
You just shared a piece of beauty in your life with us, thanks for that. I will try those peels sometime. /linnea-maria
I just had to stop by and say what a wonderful job you did on your guest post about The Cup Cafe for Olive Writes. It was absolutely stunning! And now I’m in love with your blog! 🙂
What gorgeous images! They really take me to such a magical place! You have such an eye for detail and for creating such faerie worlds that I just love! Thank you so much!
xo,
merle
I just had to add that the photo with your german pump organ is just DIVINE! It is full to the brim of all my favourite things times 100! How fantastic and just amazing-glorious! I hope to get mine over to my new place soon and my harp(my latest secret-I may get the old baby piano as it is a bit of a wreck but I so don’t care! I will be patient while it is fixed! I was the only one of the sisters that played it-things could get marvelously music crazy over here slowly but surely! Wish me luck! All of these instruments have been my insomnia friends all my life and what sweet friends.)
xo,
merle
Hey darling Vanessa…I must tell you, you have introduced me to the BEST fruit candy EVER!!!!!! I have just put the orange peels on the drying rack…(but have licked the spoon that is covered in sugar and orange flavor)….YUMMY!!!!!
Your the best!! 🙂