Random crafts

Oh, I have been crafting a bit, but posting pretty much none. So here's a little catch up post to get a few things I've made this month up. So in no particular order;

I made a chevron cozy for my cuppow jar

A perler/hama bead rendition of Duck Hunt

Tried my hand at painting bread (it's supposed to be a Stargate)

I made a reversible cape for my nephew (being modeled by my wooshing husband)

And last but not least we made another doll bed. This one red and yellow by request

Stroopwafels

My husbands family is Dutch, so when my son decided which language to take in high school, he chose Dutch. As part of his learning Dutch he had to make a food that was also Dutch. So of course my son doesn't pick something to make that I have all the ingredients/materials to make in the house. He picks something that I have to buy an iron to make. So we purchased a pizzelle iron to make our stroopwafels. The first batch was meh. The other batches have proceeded to get better and now I think we are near perfection! (At least according to our tastes)

So here they are

They are a delicious crisp cookie filled with a honey caramel. You can place them on your warm coffee or tea and it warms the caramel and makes them gooey and delicious! You can make them in a waffle cone iron or a pizzelle iron like we did.

Stroopwafels
dough
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 c sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c warm water (slightly above body temp)
2 large eggs
dash of salt

In a mixer bowl; add flour, yeast, cinnamon, & sugar, cut in flour with your hands until it resembles small pellets. Place mixer bowl on mixer and on low slowly pour in the warm water and allow the dough to start coming together. Add eggs one at a time. Add in the dash of salt and knead dough until it's a firm and cohesive dough.

Cover with a damp towel or cling wrap and rest for 30 minutes.

caramel
1 stick of butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 T Karo syrup (I used light)
1 T honey
1 T maple syrup
1 T vanilla

Melt butter and sugar stirring slowly over low heat. Add cinnamon, honey and syrups and continue to stir until the caramel comes together and slowly bubbles. Keep stirring because at this stage it's easy to burn. Keep stirring until sugar is all dissolved and caramel is creamy. It will be HOT! Keep caramel warm.

Divide the dough into 40 equal pieces. Roll them into small marbles and cover with a damp cloth so they don't dry out while baking other pieces.

Heat your pizzelle iron or waffle cone machine according to instructions. Place dough ball in the iron, press down and bake each cookie/waffle for approximately 40 seconds. Check to see if browned and puffed up a little. Remove from machine and place it on a flat surface.

*Working quickly while the cookie is hot and pliable (when it cools it will break on you.)

Place your hand on top of the cookie and slice it horizontally in two with a sharp non-serrated knife. (I had to use a towel/clean pot holder because it was too hot.) Because of the yeast it puffs up a bit to make a spot to cut.

Immediately smear a bit of caramel on top of the bottom cookie. Replace the top and gently push down so the caramel spreads. Let cool on a rack. Then do the next dough ball.*

NOTE: * This is the traditional way to do it. But this is not how I did i;. my pizzelle iron has 3 cookie spots. I cooked 2 at a time [3 I couldn't quite do quick enough] set on 3.5. After 40 seconds I took them out and using a towel to protect my hand I cut them horizontally. I then set them aside (I pressed them gently to encourage them to stay flat. After I cooked all of my cookies. I then made my caramel. When my caramel was hot I reopened my cookies and spread the caramel on the bottom cookie half, then smooshed them together. They held up just as well as the traditional way, but was easier for me to do by myself.

Hope Chests for Today?

My husband has been traveling a lot for work. I don't tend to sleep well when he travels. So I'll find myself up at 2 or 3 in the morning. I can't do much cleaning as I'm afraid I'll wake the boys. (Ok, that's not entirely true, there is plenty of cleaning I could do without worry that I'd wake them. I honestly think my body is exhausted, but my mind won't let me sleep.) So I tend to think. Anyone who knows me well, knows that this can be extremely dangerous!

My latest topic... Hope Chests.

I didn't have a hope chest, I didn't really know anyone who did. I don't know if it's just the area I grew up in or if it's my age (born in 1978.) I did of course know of them. They were something that women did way back when... and they were where young ladies and their families would place items for the lady's future home. Ok, there may be way more to it than that, but this was my knowledge of them.

I don't have girls, I have oodles of nieces, but in my home are boys. I remember what it was like when my husband and I first started off. We didn't have a big wedding with showers and gifts. We actually didn't get any wedding gifts. We already had our eldest son and my husband just graduated from college. It was hard! I still don't always think we've "caught up" with the people who were given many items as gifts. So when my children were born, I said that when they turned 13 I wanted to give them gifts for their future homes (or when the go off to college or whatever.) A little kick start so it wouldn't be quite so rough for them. Well, my eldest is now 14 and I can honestly say I didn't start that yet. It's not for the lack of wanting, it's I didn't have any idea what to get him. Sheets... what size will he have in the future? Dishes.... will he like the colors/pattern I pick out then? Basic utensils/cooking supplies.... maybe, but where to start? Small appliances.... they always come out with better and cheaper. I was too overwhelmed, so it was just given up on.

Now, I'm thinking again about it. Maybe I went about it wrong. I make things. I teach my boys to make things, at least basic skills. I teach my boys to cook and to sew and to clean (ok, not great by example, but I try.) I want my boys to be partners to their future spouse and to be able to care for themselves until they find the right person. I don't want them to jump into a relationship for a "mommy substitute" so someone can cook and clean for them (you all know what I'm talking about!) I want them to take pride in their home even if it's a dorm room. Maybe homey touches will help them.

I know a Hope Chest isn't traditional for boys. I don't care! Roles aren't the same as they were back in the 1800's or even the 1900's. So what now?

All this ranting and raving is fine, except, I'm not sure I'm any closer at deciding what to give/make my children for their futures.What about touches of the childhood memories for their future children, do those go in there too? Do I enlist my child's help or surprise them when they're older?

I really want to get a nice list together and get started on this. I am hoping to not only do this for my boys but for my sister's girls too. I know their fathers won't and I feel it is something I can do for them since their mom is no longer here to do it for them.

So what goes into a Hope Chest??


I did do a fair amount of Googling with very little results. 2 pages I found that had some inspiration are A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Miss Abigail's Hope Chest, please if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Christmas Craft List

Ok, I did this last year and it helped keep me on track to getting all the holiday gifts finished. I'd love to hear what you are all planning or have started crafting for the holidays that are coming quickly upon us.

"Baby" Cousin's Baby Girl
*Quilt

"Toddler" 1 niece, 1 nephew, 1 little cousins (1, 2, 1, )-
*will be making a fabric name book. or felt houses

"Little Girls" 2 nieces (4&5)-
*Tutus (Birthdays are right before Christmas)
*PJ Pants/Felt Houses
*I'd like to make them each their own personalized doll quilt
*Cranium Activity Books (Purchased)

"Bigger Girls" 2 nieces (11 & 8 )- Again not quite sure yet.
*PJs
*Cranium Activity Book (Purchased)
*a personalized doll quilt?

"My Boys" 3 boys (8, 9, & 12)-
*Stockings
*pj pants w/matching shirts
*?

husband (35)-
*Dr who underpants (I already started these, so he may get them for b-day instead, cuz they're cute)
*Dr. Who quilt?
*Checkbook Cover

"Old Ladies" Mother IN Law, Step MIL, Mother, Step Mother, 3 Grandmas, Aunt
*Basket With a crocheted dishtowel, embroidered tea towel, and homemade vanilla
*Pic of the kids

Dad, DIL, Grandpas-
*Not sure yet

teachers and crossing guards-
*Not sure yet

That's everyone I can think of. I'll update this as I think of or start other things.

Dishcloths!!

Well, I have been trying to get some Holiday gifts started, or worked on, so I don't go crazy at the end of November. I joined a dishcloth swap to help get me motivated on making dishcloths for my family. My husband wanted to make homemade Vanilla, and he thought that would make a great gift. Since he was actually involved in gift decisions I figured I should go with it! So we have Vanilla steeping, and we are planning on pairing that with a dishcloth and a teatowel and/or pot holder for each major family. I think tomorrow I will try to post my list of gifts (it helped last year keep me on track) So anyway, here are the three dishcloths I've made so far in the last 2 days at soccer.

The two above are a modified version of an afghan square I got the pattern from here. I made it smaller and used a smaller hook. I had to take out a few rounds and such too.

And here is my tried and true favorite dishcloth pattern. The pattern comes from Cocoa Cream's Craft Closet I made it a bit smaller. Mine is about 8"X8" and I think the first chain was 27.

Gifts For the Nieces

We made a few gifts and were able to give them to the recipients this weekend.

First, you've seen me working on this, but it is finished. I wanted to keep it simple, and I think it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Here's the finished front. (I these this crazy early in the morning, so I know the color is a little funny.)

Here's a bit of a close up, and you can see a peak of the corner of the back, and my mild label.

We also made my nieces (the ones in the quilt above) a frog game. The boys had tons of fun making/helping with these. We took the idea from Mama Urchin's Lilypad Game. We also used the same Purl Bee Frogs and they worked excellent.

Just a simple zipper bag to keep it all in. I meant to add handles, but I made it quite late at night, and forgot, so..... ooops.

And also, something I forgot to post a picture of. My Levi was in a musical version of Treasure Island. He played Chief Pigaloo. He spoke Pig-Latin and ROCKED THE PART! I was so proud, and truly impressed!

Teachers

They are so wonderful, and so under appreciated. With DI ending, I received some lovely cards and even a very unexpected gift. They just lifted my heart, and made all of the times, I was exhausted and came home grumbling go away, and I'm now excited about next year again.
This in turn got me realizing that school's end is coming upon us at an alarming rate. Every year we always get/make something for the boys' teachers and include a note/card stating our appreciation. Usually the boys come up with the idea, well this year they haven't had any wonderful brain storms yet, but I thought I would compile a list of things we've done in the past for teachers, teacher aids, Sunday school teachers, coaches, etc... I thought maybe it would help some of you that may be in a similar situation.
As always the more you know about the teacher the more personal you can make these gifts. Also, if it's supplies you want to purchase, ask the teacher, she/he may have a wishlist.

• Gift Certificates- The old tried and true. You can get anything from a nice dinner out to school supplies, I know many people do Starbucks (we may be one of the few places on Earth without a Starbucks near us.) One of my favorites is a Gift Certificate for Haagen Dazs Ice Cream. They are $4 plus shipping and they can go get a container of yummy ice cream.
• Personalized Pen/Pencil/Post-Its/Stamp- These are really wonderful for the teachers and they can always use more of them. For pencils I usually go through oriental trading company. They also make nice gifts for kids. Teacher's love them because if a child borrows a pencil, they know who to return it to. Post-Its I get through here because I don't have to order in a huge bulk. They also have rubber stamps.
• Sharpies- In my house Sharpies make the world go round. I have never spoken to a teacher who couldn't use more sharpies!
• Plant/Flowers- If someone gardens or loves plants, a nice potted plant is wonderful. If they don't garden, I think even some men enjoy getting a bouquet of flowers on occasion! Your child could paint/decorate the vase/pot to make it more personalized.
• Donate a book/CD/Game to the class- Usually we do this around Christmas, so that our children can also enjoy them and see them being used, but at the end of the year would also be a nice addition.
• Scrapbook/project book- If you are great with scrap booking or you took lots of pictures while helping out in class make a nice little scrapbook (at home or online published) for the teacher with captions as to what everything is. Also, one particular teacher in my sons' school always writes a book to be submitted into a contest every year. We have gotten runner up both years that my 2 oldest were in her class. I took the story and got it published into 2 real hard cover books. One for her to keep at home, and one for her classroom. She loved it so much!
• Notebook holder- I made these for Christmas this year. I have also seen patterns for them. I winged mine, but this is a lovely looking pattern by Pink Chalk Studios. Your child can pick out the fabric that their teacher will like.
• Ice Cream Ball- My sons would never forgive me if I didn't mention this one. My sons had teachers who loved to go camping with their families. And this is one of our favorite things, so they thought their teachers would love them too. We got notes during the summer from BOTH of them saying how much fun they had making icecream. They knew that those were definitely winner gifts!
• Throw Pillow- We made these last year by embroidering a picture the child had drawn of them with their teacher. They picked out fabric and helped sew the whole thing together. These were a huge hit.
• Baked Treats- Who doesn't love something homemade and sweet!?! Cake in a jar is what my boys are making grandmas for mother's day, but these would be great for teacher gifts too, especially male teachers! But bars, cookies, sweetbreads, etc... would all be wonderfully received. We made delicious banana bread one year and gave it to all of the teacher's aides and secretary, etc... They loved it!
• Travel Kleenex/Tissue Holder- I have made these for family, but they would go over well teachers too I would think. There is a lovely tutorial here.
• Pencil or cosmetic case- Filled with things or empty, who can't use a zip pouch? They are easy enough for older kids to make, younger may need some help, even the youngest child can pick out fabric. There are many tutorials online here are just a few 1, 2, 3, 4 all a little different, but all quite easy. Personalize as little or as much as you want.
• Grocery tote- With everyone trying to be more green/ecofriendly my kids really like to give as gifts filled grocery totes. But they wouldn't have to be filled. A grocery tote is quite wonderful. There are tutorials to make them. Here is a whole list of different grocery tote tutorials. Or you can purchase them. Some of my favorites to purchase are ACME Workhorse and Envirosax because of how small they fold up.
• Waterbottle- This is near and dear to me. It sickens me as to how many water bottles are gone through. I carry my trusty SIGG bottles with me everywhere I go. There are SIGG and Klean Kanteen, I like both. Others may like different brands, but these are my personal favorites.

Well, that's all I have for now, I'd love to hear any of your wonderful ideas. To me even if you get nothing (which is absolutely ok!) I think it is very important that a hand written note from the parents, and from the student thanking the teacher be sent to school.

Gift for my niece

My niece is celebrating her birthday this weekend, so I made her a little gift. She loves horses and loves to read. So I made her a reading pillow. It has a pocket to hold a book, and elastic to hold it while she reads. I embroidered a horse and her name on the pocket. I also carved her a stamp with her name on it. I made it a little bag too.

We also gave her a book, but not the one pictured, this was just to show the pocket.
This is how the book is held open while she reads.

Quick tutorial added

Doctor Who Valentines Page 2

I am completely surprised at the huge response I have gotten at these. I have the second page done. I think I will have at least one more partial page before Valentines Day.


For the full size image go here.

Dr Who Valentines

My sons requested Dr Who Valentines this year. Well, living in the US, we don't have a whole lot of Doctor Who things, so I had to come up with something. Here is page one. I will be uploading at least one more page. They can be printed out on cardstock for postcards, etc... I'll show you what we're doing with ours in a few days.








Feel free to use this for your own Dr Who/Valentine needs. You can get the image here.

Please link to this post if sharing on a blog or other website.
Do not use for sale or charge money for this. Do not claim it as your own. All images are property of BBC. Etc...

Busy...

We are definitely keeping busy. We are deep in crunch time with our Destination Imagination teams. 3 practices/meetings a week now, but March 1st will come quite quickly! We decided to take our last weekend (before having a practice every Saturday,) to go to a waterpark. We had lots of fun.

You'll notice that Levi isn't there. Well, that's a very long story. He had gotten into quite a bit of trouble at school this week. To make the long story short, he is an evil genius and was able to remove all filters from the computers at school. Cracking passwords, and causing havoc. When asked why, he simply stated he "wanted to see if he could." So as much as we were a little proud that he was capable of doing this, it needed to definitely be punished, so he stayed with my dad while we went swimming. Here's a picture of him during his punishment, making a snowman in the driveway.

Oh, he is also banned from the computer for quite awhile at home, and at school he lost internet access for the remainder of the year, with only minimum computer usage. Also had some respect and boundary type assignments.

On a really wonderful note, I received 2 amazing birthday presents! On a craftster birthday swap I received these AMAZING place mats. (6 to be exact) with beautiful wrapping and an adorable gnome card!

My other gift was from Tim. I have been wanting these enamel dishes for SO long, and now I got them! I just love them to bits!

Birthdays and Presents

Well, my birthday was last Saturday. I turned 30. I see no difference, so I guess that's good. For my birthday I decided to treat myself to something I made. So I made myself a pink and brown purse. I used scraps from other projects. I used brown corduroy from a jacket I am making. I used a bunch of pink cotton fabric from a few baby quilts I've made. And this is what I came out with. It's certainly not my finest work, but it went together quickly, and it has lots of my favorite pink fabrics, and I just LOVE corduroy. It's big enough to carry the essentials, plus some. I can fit my big camera and a water bottle in it.
Inside of bag. You can see the zipper pocket, magnetic snap, and d-ring (which will hold my keys once I make a keychain for my keys. The little plastic vial in the middle is the extracted DNA from wheat germ. I should probably toss it, but the kids were so proud.


One side of the bag


Other side of bag

Birthdays & Bonding

We had a fun weekend. This was our weekend to have my niece Jorden. The kids aren't the same since she had to live with her dad again. Breaks my heart really when she fights us to go back or when she yells at somebody who says she's "going home" and explains that my house is her home. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do, so we try to enjoy the moments we do get her.

On Saturday Lore had a birthday party, (it was a family birthday party, but they wanted the boy to have one friend there, ) to go to. The mom insisted that he bring no presents. Lore disagreed! He came home from school Wednesday saying that the boy told him they bought him a Transformer toy as a favor, and that it wasn't fair that he gets something, but isn't allowed to give his friend a gift on his birthday. (Can't really disagree with his reasoning.) So we set out to make a present. We had been wanting to make something we saw on Creative Kismet's blog for a long time, and thought this might be the perfect time to try it out. Lore's friend LOVES Superman, so that's the way we went. He drew the picture, I did a bit of photoshop and printed it out onto photofabric. Pressed, rinsed, pressed, then Lore found a backing fabric, cut them out and he sewed it, turned it, stuffed it. And I finished off the last bit of hand stitches. His friend loved it! And Lore was so proud. He was singing and dancing after he made it, so I wasn't able to get a great picture, but I did get a goofy one.



On Sunday we went to the Science Expo in Green Bay. It was quite nice. The boys and Jo learned alot. They learned about electricity and safety when there is a fallen power line. They learned about Bernoulli's principle from Professor Gizmo (we've seen him quite a few times, he's quite entertaining! They extracted DNA from wheat germ. They got to meet some of their favorite weather personalities from FOX11. But their favorite by far was making and launching their rockets.
Here they are outside holding up their rockets. (Yes that is Lambeau Field in the background.)

Fun With Christmas Presents

Every year at the top of the kids' wish lists is always craft stuff. Rarely do they get any from anyone besides Tim & myself. This year we got more than a few. One of the biggest hits, that I hadn't even thought of in ages were perler beads.
Here are some of our creations.

Liam made the big head. Lore made the small head and the multicolor hexagon, (it's a game, you find pictures in the colors he told me!) and Levi is working on the very precise hexagon in progress. Guess who made the Dalek.


It would be me. I wanted to show them that they didn't have to fill exactly the shape of the base. They love it.

Christmas Gifts

I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday season! Christmas always hits hard here. We are always glad to see it end, but then the New Year comes too quickly. Here are the gifts I made (that I remembered to quick get pictures of.)
**EDIT- I can't believe I forgot to post this. I used a wonderful tutorial by Tonya for my letters, she saved my life when it came to getting these quilts done and looking so cute! Thank you!!**


This is a quilt I made for my husband's cousin's baby daughter, Lydia


This quilt I made for my baby niece, Clover


This quilt I made for my 1 year old nephew, Evan


These are cute little reindeer gift card holders I made out of felt. One went to my brother, one to my aunt. I got the pattern and directions at my little mochi's


This is one of 3 notebook holders I made for my sons' teachers. I only have pictures because my son was playing with the camera. This was for my son's 5th grade teacher. I made a black one with Packer's lining for my 3rd grade son's male teacher. And I made (my favorite) a cute building blocks fabric one for my 1st grade son's teacher.




Here's what the inside looks like.

To-Do Tuesday, a little behind

Ok, well, my internet was not working for a few days, so I wasn't able to get this posted. I have a few pictures to post, but I am waiting for somethings to dry before taking all of the pictures, so they are coming soon!

Here's the list;
21st- Last day of School for year
Crossing guard- Crocheted Soccer Hat that she wanted
Lore's teacher (woman)- Clorax/Handi wipes, journal cover
Liam's teacher (man)- journal cover
Levi's teacher (woman)- journal cover

22nd- Our Solstice Celebration (I've come to realize I will not finish their stockings on time. But I am going to finish them before I let the tree come down for next year! They do have purchased items as gifts and certificates for experiences. We don't really buy much for the boys for Christmas, it's more about family and time together.)
Make the meal (prep done!)
Levi- Stocking- 1/4 done,wallet
Liam- stocking-1/4 done, wallet
Lore- stocking 1/4 done,
Tim- stocking, Spamalot tickets

23rd- Tim's Dad's Side Christmas
Evan's quilt
Lydia's quilt
Make a dish to pass

24th-Dad's Christmas
Clover's quilt- 3/4 done, longies
Ambrosia- shirt, apron
Jorden- shirt, Dr Seuss about me book
Alyssa- Travel embroidery kit
Alia- Travel Stationary, pens, cards, etc...
K- Heifer International donation, soup of the month club coupon, Candle
C- embroidered towel and potholder, crocheted dishcloth
Make a dish to pass

25th- Mom's Christmas
Mom- The Boys are making her a decorated box to put handmade Christmas items in, nearly done
Dish to Pass

29th- GE's Christmas
Gail- Starbucks gift card
Ben- Gas card, I feel like I failed this one, but they've had to travel so much, it's really what they need.

30th- Work Party The boss's gift

31st- Tim's mom's Christmas
Mom- Purse with the boys' pictures on it OR placemats?
Laura-Gas Card She's traveled so much since she's relocated, so this just seemed the best gift
Brian-Gift certificate to local convenience store it's what he wants

Cardinal Set Done!

I'm very glad to check this off of the list. This is very much "my grandma".

Dick & Jane go on a trip

I made this overnight bag for my niece's 4th birthday. I was truly hoping for a lovely day to take beautiful pictures, but it's cloudy, cold & horribly windy, so I just had to take some indoors before I give this to her tomorrow.All of these pictures are of the bag empty, so you can see how well it stands up on it's own.




Here's a close up of the wallet I made to go with it. It hangs from a D-ring, but she'll probably put it on her belt loops most of the time.


And here's a shot of the inside of the bag, it just has one blue hanging pocket. The yellow fabric inside matches far better than the picture shows.
The dick and jane fabric is a Michael Miller fabric . The yellow gingham and yellow with green flowers (inside) I have had forever, so I'm not sure what those are.
The dark blue is an old pillow case that had a hole in it that I was able to save.

I can't wait to give it to her. I am pretty excited, I know she'll use it a lot!

Dishclothes for Christmas Gifts

I am working hard, and find these dishclothes to be super ego boosters. I am hoping to crochet one for each woman in my immediate family. I plan to give these along with a quilted pot holder, and an embroidered towel.



The blue one is my favorite. I got the pattern from Cocoa Cream's Closet


The red one is ok, I changed it a bit because it was boring for me. I got it at Lion Brand's Website (which means you have to sign up to get it, it is free though.) It's called Vanilla Grit.

Finished Teacher's Gifts

We finished the teacher's gifts just in time!

It's been raining non-stop here for quite awhile, so it's been hard to take

pictures. Here's a quick flash of sunshine!

Lore with the purple pillow, Levi with the red, white, and blue pillow, and Liam with the pink and brown pillow. They really had fun making them, and they turned out so cute!