I have to say though, my first foray into schmancy decorated sugar cookies will likely be my last—at least for awhile. I liked them a lot, but if you’re going to do fancy piping there are muchos steps, and for a newbie like me they take muchos time: Making the dough. Chilling the dough overnight. Cutting out the cookies and baking them (no small task, I found, when you’re not exactly equipped with baking gear. No rolling pin, no pastry cloth, nor drying racks for me. Wine bottle, counter top, plate. That’s how I roll.) Making the frosting. Piping the frosting around the edges to outline. “Flooding” some watered-down frosting to coat the whole cookie while carefully spreading with a mini cheese fork (no toothpicks either, as it turns out). Waiting for that to dry. Then finally (the fun part!) piping on the designs. Yeesh.

They tasted pretty good, but let’s face it: these show ponies are really all about the decorations. Which is why I’m posting the cookie porn here. Enjoy!

It doesn’t take a lot of decorations in our tiny apartment to make it look like we’re crazy Christmas people. (This isn’t even all of them.) But we seem to accumulate some extra little something every year that we just have to put out, so I’ve decided to just embrace it. We’re festive! Sadly no big tree this year, which will set you back $70+ in Manhattan. This little guy is our $14.99 recession special. I also particularly like the goose bookend wearing his mitten/hat.  And last but not least, I made Colin a moustache ornament in honor of his famous Movember ’stash.

YUM. We went a little crazy at Union Square.

More products to love! Today I seriously fancy this glass piggy bank from Roost at Velocity, originally spotted at Oh Joy. Isn’t he charming? The best part is that—unlike some of their much pricier goods—if I bought this guy, at $24 I’d actually have some pennies left over to put in the pig.

Hey I’m back! Do you ever go through those phases where you’re not feeling so inspired and the whole interwebs seems yawn? Maybe I was just a little burnt out. Anyhow, I’m mad crazy for rainbows so this print from 20×200/Jessica Eaton has brought me out of hiding! (Apropos.) She used hundreds of lens filters to make this rainbow in a window. Love it.

Update: So as it turns out, Friday morning’s flowers also came with a ring on Fright night. Yep, we’re engaged! He asked me outside of one of my favorite little restaurants in the East Village, and it was perfect. I’ll stop with the mushy love stuff now, but I just couldn’t leave this post up without telling the rest of the story.

I may have done a little oohing and aahing when I spotted these Alphabet Drawers from Kent and London. When I first glanced at the photos I thought it was some kind of vintage printing block, and it turns out that was the inspiration. They’re a mix of so many of my favorite things: typography, vintage, wood, little card-catalog type cabinets… Sigh. If I had £2700 plus the cash to ship it from England, you bet I’d be snapping one of these babies up.

Spotted at WhyMeDesign.

By Katie Baum on 20×200.

I was poking around my dad’s house last weekend and found this old sewing tin that I used (aka mostly played with) as a kid. It was my grandmother’s and I think it’s just gorgeous. I recalled it being full of embroidery floss and when I popped it open—lo and behold, years and years worth of thread. Now I doubt I’ll ever sort through this tangled (but pretty!) mess, but I just love the fact that some of this floss has been around for at least 25 years. (At the bottom of the tin there are a bunch of paper wrappers that list the price of the skeins: 5 cents!) Needless to say, I snagged it to bring home. It’s amazing the treasures that you casually discard as a child and cherish as an adult.

It seems like I’ve seen a ton of paper artists out there lately, but Su Blackwell must surely win the wow-factor prize. My friend Amanda sent me this link and I simply must share, because Su’s creations are brilliant. She uses books as a launching point for paper sculptures, with subjects like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Secret Garden. (And then there’s also just general loveliness.) Wow. Go look at the rest of her portfolio!

PS: I don’t know about you, but for me Wednesday is such a bummer of a day–there’s still so much to do in the week, but you’re already worn out from Monday and Tuesday. I think we all need a little sunshine on hump day, so I’m starting a new Wednesday Inspiration column to share anything and everything that inspires me to keep creating. See you here next week for more inspiring finds!