Category: crafts

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Flower Hot Pad– March

Some of my kids think that if I start posting silly things like hot pads on my blogsite–it will peg me as an old chick…like maybe a grama-type…and maybe that’s not perceived as very cool these days. Especially when the picture isn’t that great.

Welllll…I think there are plenty of good reasons to do it anyway.

First, unless you like steaming your fingers off, we all use potholders–right?

Second, if you know how to crochet*, you know potholders are really easy to make–for yourself or for a gift. And they might as well be cute—right?

Third—and my own personal favorite reason…are you ready?  At my last birthday–the cake said, “50” so you can decide for yourself how “old” that makes me. And thanks to my cute daughters–I AM A GRAMA-TYPE! So, now and then, I suppose it’s ok if I act like one. heh, heh, heh.

That said, I will add this timely disclaimer: While I am all in favor of the monthly themed hotpad on my blog–I utterly refuse to post anything made with an old plastic doll head and a Clorox bottle. It creeps me out—always has.

I will never be that old.

 

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Modern Day Noah’s Ark

The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was opened for the first crowd of curious townsfolk to behold the wonder.
Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark , built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide.
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That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine.
Biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been. Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy.
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Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top deck – not quite ready in time for the opening – will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel. Visitors on the first day were stunned. ‘It’s past comprehension’, said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape. ‘I know the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big.’
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There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark.
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Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.
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A Dreadful Deed…Undone

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When I was a young pup–ok, about 34–out shopping with the family, I spied a cable-knit sweater that…ahhh…struck me. I don’t know why exactly, but I needed the sweater. So, being sweetly conniving at that young, tender age, I devised a plan. I told my husband that he would look so great in this sweater-knowing full well that he’d wear it a few times and toss it away and it would ultimately be mine! Bwahahaha!

My wicked plan worked…to a point.

Oh he did, indeed, wear it a few times, but he never would toss it. In fact, if I ever mentioned giving it away to the needy–in this case- ME–he would rally around the silly thing and wear it a couple more times, then tuck it away again.

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I know what you’re thinking, but no, I couldn’t just ask him for the sweater. Trust me, it wouldn’t have worked. My dreadful deed would have been discovered–the risk was just too great.

Perhaps it was my guilty conscience, but it began to feel like the sweater was…

…laughing

at

me.

Creepy thing.

Well, I came across “the sweater” the other day–in an ancient mending basket. You know the kind that has clothes labeled 4T when your youngest is a senior in high school. Yeah, ancient. Anyway, there was this sweater sitting smugly,  just coming apart at the seams and waiting to be rescued.

sweater-012snip, snip here…

Ha! I thought. I don’t actually feeeel like mending the sweater that has taunted me for 10 years. Why…I…oughta…

So

I

dismantled

it.

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snip, snip there…

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Now, I have a total of 6 big balls of lovely yarn, just waiting to be magically transformed into something else…

…this time

with

better

Karma.

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Caramels

We have a nursing mommy here at our place who is making a valiant effort to avoid chocolate–for Baby Chomp’s sake, and at Valentine’s season too–poor thing.
So in an effort to be supportive, we’ve been on the lookout for sweetheart treats that don’t use the dreaded cocoa bean.
This did the trick…

Creamy Caramels

Ingredients

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

6 TBSP butter

1/2 C heavy cream

1/2 C corn syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan. On low heat, stir constantly until butter is completely melted and sugar is dissolved. Don’t get impatient and up the heat, or stop stirring or the cream could scorch.

Once sugar is dissolved, increase heat to medium. Heat to boiling–keep stirring! Once it’s boiling, you can lay off on the stirring, just occasionally should do the trick. Let it boil (gently–again, don’t turn up the heat) until you can drip some in a cup of ice cold water and it firms up just a bit–not enough to pull your teeth out, just enough that you can eat it, and it stays intact and chewy. If it just dissolves in the water–it’s not ready.

It should take about 8-10 minutes. (I have used half-and-half when I didn’t have heavy cream, and it took more like 20 minutes cause of the extra water…they also weren’t as rich.) Remove from heat.

Update! Add the vanilla after the caramel has stopped bubbling and boiling. Just stir it in with a spoon. (Thanks Sue!)

When it’s ready, pour into a greased 8×8 pan or pie tin.

Let cool completely, then cut with a metal spatula. It works much better than a knife, trust me. Then, if you want, you can wrap individual pieces in wax paper or decorative cellophane.

Caramels
 
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Ingredients
  • ½ C sugar
  • ½ C packed brown sugar
  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • ½ C heavy cream
  • ½ C corn syrup
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla.
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan.
  2. On low heat, stir constantly until butter is completely melted and sugar is dissolved.
  3. Once sugar is dissolved, increase heat to medium.
  4. Heat to boiling--keep stirring! Once it's boiling, you can lay off on the stirring, just occasionally should do the trick. Let it boil (gently--again, don't turn up the heat) until you can drip some in a cup of ice cold water and it firms up just a bit.
  5. It should take about 8-10 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Add the vanilla after the caramel has stopped bubbling and boiling. Just stir it in with a spoon.
  8. When it's ready, pour into a greased 8x8 pan or pie tin.
  9. Let cool completely, then cut with a metal spatula.
  10. Then, if you want, you can wrap individual pieces in wax paper or decorative cellophane.

 

 

 

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Candy Ipod

I don’t actually have kids that are taking Valentines to school, but if I did–this would be the project of the year! I found it at Happiness is Homemade and it is just so dang cute.

You start with a box of conversation hearts. Wrap it in any kind of paper. I used white paper and Valentine cellophane. Be sure to print off the scroll wheel and play list that you’ll find at the site.

I used clear packing tape to stick the playlist and scroll wheel on. It made the “screen” look shiny and kinda real. Next take cotton string or yarn and fix it to the top right hand corner of your “ipod” and tape two Hershey kisses to the ends of the yarn for “ear buds.”

If I didn’t believe in choice and agency–I swear, I’d force Rhen to take half a dozen of these to school Friday. Wouldn’t everyone just fall in love with him? Pretty sure that’s why he’d never do it.

Oh, and one more thing…

For my dear Daney-boy’s birthday on Friday, we were very brave and made Beet Soup–in his honor. By the way–he hates it. I guess they eat that a lot in Lithuania because he’s been served it a million times–and each person that makes it puts their own “spin” to the dish, by adding something. So far, he’s told us about hard boiled eggs, spinach, onions and sardines. Pardon me, while I gag. We left ours plain and just added cream to it. It was still pretty gross. To be fair, I’d like to make it again my own way and not by the recipe that we used. I actually like beets so I think if I tweaked the ingredients a tad then it might stand a chance.

Pretty much we were a very wasteful bunch and opted for cereal.

I need to send my son some Campbell’s Chunky. He’s really missing it.

Note: Beet soup may stain your sink too.  :]