Handmade Therapy

Home Made Lotion

2012-01-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

I made lotion a couple of weeks ago and despite it not turning out quite perfect, I am more than happy with it. The only ingredients in it are olive oil, beeswax, water, and essential oils. Totally my kind of thing, the less ingredients the better right?

One of my favorite things about it is it's mild enough to use on my face but moisturising enough to be used all over too.

The recipe is from Making It and the only thing that went wrong is that the water didn't totally incorporate into the beeswax/oil mixture. This means that every time I use some water beads up to the top. According to the troubleshooting in the book, all I have to do is reheat the lotion and whip it again. I decided to just leave it this time and hopefully I don't have that same problem next time.

I got my beeswax at a farmers market last summer. Huge block of it for next to nothing. It might just last me forever.

I don't have a double boiler so I just took a couple of square blocks of wood that Trav made me and placed them in a pot with water and put a Pyrex measuring cup in. The blocks keep the Pyrex from touching the bottom of the pot, which keeps it from cracking and the beeswax/oil mixture from burning.

Next up I plan to try their version of body butter, and some deodorant.

Raspberry Scones

2012-01-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Whenever I have people over for coffee I feel the need to make scones. I don't know what it is, we never ate scones growing up so maybe they feel a bit "fancy" to me or something but I love making them for other people.

Anyway, point is, I've tried just about every scone recipe out there and I've now come up with my own basic scone recipe that I can alter many different ways. Today's alteration is adding in Raspberries!

Raspberry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup white sugar

5 tsp. baking powder

¾ cup of cold butter

1 cup milk

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350

Combine flours, sugar, and baking powder into a stand mixer. Cut your butter into thin slices and add to mixer on low speed with paddle attachment. Continue to add all the butter until the mixture resembles small pebbles. (Alternately you can cut it in as you would any pastry crust, with a couple of knives or pastry cutter)

Add in your raspberries and give it a real quick stir then add in milk and vanilla. Mix ONLY until just barely combined.

Split your dough in half and lightly knead until it just comes together in a ball. It will still be very crumbly. Roll out to about ¾ of an inch thick and then cut into 8 wedges. Do the same with the other half of dough. (Or you can make 8 large scones by rolling all the dough out in just one piece)

Place scones on a baking sheet (greased, with parchment paper, or a silicone mat). At this point I like to put them in the freezer for about 10 mins or more. Or just put them out on the deck because you know, it’s -35 degrees celcius here today. You can skip the freezing step if you want but it really helps give them that nice fluffy pastry texture.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 mins or until golden brown. Let them cool almost all the way before icing.

Icing:

For plain white icing:

1 cup icing sugar

A dash of lemon juice

Drizzle of water.

Stir all together, adding more water if it’s too thick, or more icing sugar if it’s too thin.

For Chocolate Topping:

I melted about 4 oz dark chocolate and 2 tbsp of cream in the microwave. I did it at 30 second intervals at 30% power, stirring between until all the chocolate was melted.

I had intended to just drizzle the chocolate on top of mine but spreading seemed to work better and really, who doesn’t like a more even coating of chocolate?

I'm thinking these will get made again for Valentine's day.

New Dress

2012-01-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

I made a new dress for Ara this week using this pattern from Sew Sweet Patterns

don't her big brother's shoes go so well with the dress?

It's the second dress/tunic I've made from this pattern and I love how quickly it comes together (less than an hour!)

I changed up the closure on the back this time around, I wasn't a fan of how the dress sat in the back with a button and button hole so this time I just used a button and elastic loop. Much better and quicker to put on.

button and elastic loop closure

She's not a big fan of me taking countless pictures of her, but every now and then she gives me a quick pose :)

Handmade Gifts Part 2

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

leather wrapped journal by my sister in law Kara for Travis

all three kids got an i-spy bag from me

my sister painted me this pretty painting

it was nearly impossible to get a picture of but here's my kids and my niece and nephew in their all handmade jammies. (the boys in jammies my mom made, the girls in jammies I made)

January and T-Shirts

2012-01-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so we have snow and below freezing temperatures again but most of January we had weather like this. And it was amazing. I'm not going to think about the fact that this likely means a cold and wet summer...

what are you talking about? I never let my kids stay in their pj's ALL DAY LONG.

For the Girls

2012-01-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine mentioned her daughter might like a car mat when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday so I decided it was time to find some "girly car" fabric. It wasn't easy but I finally found this cute pink and orange print from one of my favorite fabric suppliers on Etsy.

I've added one to my shop but I have a feeling they'll end up being great gifts for the girls I know who either love cars or who have brothers and therefore play with cars by default. (my daughter fits both those)

I'd still like to find a similar print in purple as Ara has shown no interest in pink but loves all things purple. Besides, purple is awesome. Am I right?

2012 Resolutions on the Food Front

2012-01-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

A new year always means resolutions right? Well this year I only have one. It's big but I'm only going for one main goal this year because it's something I really want to make sure happens. Travis and I have decided to give it our all and get our food supply to the point where the huge majority is both local and home grown. We're aiming for growing all our own veg and getting most of our fruit from our own yard (raspberries, strawberries, grapes etc.) and foraging/"rescuing" the rest. (apples, chokecherries, etc.) While we've always grown a decent amount of our own vegetables, our garden space is more than doubling this year and we're planting some more fruit bearing trees as well.

one side of our biggest garden, last year

As far as meats go, we've always had a freezer full of wild meat, both from our own hunting endeavors as well as those of our parents (thanks guys!) This year we're also switching over to locally raised and hormone free poultry and pork. We don't have it all sourced yet but we're working on it.

early raspberries

We also have big plans of switching over all our grains to local and organic. We're in the middle of sourcing grain now and it hasn't been easy. Ideally we'd like to buy it direct from the farmer but so far we haven't had much luck with that. I already make all our own breads, granola, baking, etc. so we do go through a large amount of flour and oats so in order for it be affordable we really do want to be able to buy direct.

grape vines

Travis is well into keeping his cheese cupboard full enough that we could easily go without buying cheese at all anymore so that's a huge plus. He's also been brewing all his own wine and beer for a while too. Trav has also been getting into Charcuterie which is just as well because I'm not gonna lie, if he doesn't do it, I won't!

Also on the list is canning. I've always done all our veg and fruit preserving via the freezer or drying but this year I'm gonna learn how to can. I have all the supplies bought already (at great prices after the canning season last year, and the rest sourced through freecycle) so it's just a matter of doing it!

All these choices to switch over have come from lots and lots of research. I've done most of mine online and Trav's done a ton of book reading so between the both of us I think we can easily make this happen over the next year.

I'm totally excited about this. It means a lot more work, especially in the garden and the kitchen, but it will be well worth it.

Here are some of the websites and books we've really found helpful. Big thanks to the bloggers who I've poured the questions on, you've all been super helpful.

Books:
Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post Consumer World
Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
Locavore by Sarah Elton
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball

Blogs:
Kevin Kossowan (gardening, charcuterie, food, hunting)
Cold Antler Farm (real deal homestead)
Root Simple (authors of Making It)

What's on your to-do list this year?

Infinity Scarf Tutorial

2012-01-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

Supplies:

1 yard cotton or jersey fabric

coordinating thread

sewing machine

Iron out your yard of fabric folded in half (selvedge edge to selvedge edge)

Following that center fold, cut your fabric in half. At this point you can choose to make your scarf one loop length or long enough to wrap up several times. If you want it a single loop you can make two scarves out of one meter. To make a longer scarf you will first have to take your two peices and sew them right sides together to make one long strip. (you can also cut a 2 yard piece in half if you don't want an extra seam)

Fold your fabric in half lengthways, right sides together, and pin it.

Starting about 3 inches in from the end stitch all along the edge leaving the last 3 inches open as well. Once you've made a few scarves you can shorten the openings closer to 2 inches, it just makes stitching the scarf shut much easier the bigger the opening.

opening on one side

Turn your scarf right side out. It should now look like a tube.

This is where it gets a bit tricky. Fold your scarf in half so that both raw edges line up. Taking both open ends you'll notice you have 4 strips of open fabric. Grab the bottom raw seams, pin them together and then start stitching (right sides together) all the way around the raw edges until you get to the end.

nearing the end, the scarf is really bunched and things get tight, go slow!

Pull the scarf the rest of the way through and you're left with a small opening.

Slip stitch the small hole closed and add a tag if you wish! You're done!

single wrap cotton scarf

multiple wrap jersey scarf

Winter Holiday Walks

2011-12-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

Pretty Handmade Gifts

2011-12-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

If you know me at all, you know how much I love handmade. This year I got so many gorgeous handmade things for Christmas I had to share them with you.

pretty and warm legwarmers crocheted by my lovely sister in law

gorgeous necklace my sister made for me.

amazing bracelets made by my other lovely sister in law!

super pretty, uber soft scarf knitted by my other sister!

I also got some pretty amazing non-handmade gifts, like the new 50mm lens (from my mother and father in law) I used to take all those pics!

It's December...

2011-12-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

It's the end of December and this afternoon we ate spinach greens from the cold frame...

added some radishes to the soup pot....

and played outside around a fire. I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind if this was all the winter we got, but January is coming and I know the cold is right around the corner. Still, this is the first year we've done cold frames and we never dreamed we'd still get fresh greens this close to New Years. Next year? Lot's more cold frames, and lots more planting.

Dreaming

2011-12-23T06:03:00.000-08:00

I know it's only the first few days of Winter, officially, but I can't help but dream of Spring, Summer, Fall, anything but Winter. Granted there are things I do love about Winter, sledding, pretty snow, etc. but I really miss long days spent outside of the house.

Camping with the kids

playing in the backyard

lazy days at the archery range

hikes and foraging with the kiddos (we like to pretend that we're in the middle of nowhere, not on Nose Hill park)

days where sticks are the only toy you need

hours upon hours spent just throwing rocks into rivers

beans fresh out of the garden (granted the ones in the freezer are pretty good too)

and sunshine.

I'm gonna try to enjoy the rest of Winter, but secretly I'll be counting down the days till Spring.

One Plus One Giveaway Winner!

2011-12-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Alrighty folks, and the winner of the One Plus One Giveaway is..... Lauren!

Lauren said:

"I love One Plus One! I already have the Love is Nutty print.... so my next favourite item is the Love Travels print!"

Congrats Lauren!

Random Life

2011-12-16T05:52:00.000-08:00

The past two months have been insanely busy for me with my shops which of course means I've mostly neglected my little blog. I have so many posts swirling around in my head right now so come January expect more frequent blogging!! I have a few tutorials in mind and a bunch of recipes too.

One of the tutorials I have in mind is for an Infinity Scarf. I put a few in my shop a couple of weeks ago and they are so easy to make so I have to share how to do it. My own personal collection of these is getting quite big and I have to admit they are so handy for dressing up an outfit a bit and keeping warmer in all this snow.

Don't forget, today is the last day to enter the giveaway for goodies from One Plus One Design. You can also win the scarf below by entering the giveaway on their blog.

I've also been baking a storm and filling my freezer with Christmas goodies. Today I'm making Eggnog Latte Sugar Cookies. If they turn out good I'll post the recipe this weekend. What are you baking for Christmas?

A Giveaway! With One Plus One!

2011-12-14T06:56:00.000-08:00

photo by: Simply Rosie Photography

I know I've mentioned my good friends Tyler and Jessie before, if not on here for sure on my Facebook page so for some of you their genuis is nothing new. For those of you however, who don't know Tyler and Jessie, it's time you take a look at some of their creations.

I was trying to think of a clever way to describe this dynamic duo when I thought instead I'd share their own thoughts on themselves, taken straight from their etsy profile.

"We are a pair of cards is what we are. Not the King and Queen though, more like the Joker and the Ace (you can guess which is which). We are One Plus One, and our passion for a good idea is one that burns bright."

I first met Tyler and Jessie through my lovely sister in laws who introduced us close to 7 years ago. Since then we've got to "vacation" with them at various family occasions as well as getting to help them celebrate their wedding a year and a half ago.

You can learn more about these two on their gorgeous blog, find out about all the fabulous wedding stationary design they do on their website, and shop their brand spankin' new etsy shop. You can also WIN some of their stuff!!

Here's how you can enter: Go to One Plus One Design and leave a comment on this post letting me know what your favorite thing is in their shop! Come Friday I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner! Once the winner has been drawn Tyler and Jessie will mail out some of their Send Some Love cards and Tags.

Want to win something from me too? Go check out today's blog post on One Plus One and you could win one of my infinity scarves!

New in the Shop!

2011-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Lot's of new pinafores and dresses in my kids' shop!

Winter Fun

2011-12-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Okay so I guess sometimes snow can be fun :)

Shop SALE!

2011-12-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

I've decided to have a one day sale in my kids' shop! Most of the hair clips have been marked down by 35% There's even one dress up cape on for 35% off as well!

Christmas in My Shop

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

There's only a couple days left before I close up my shop for the Harvest Hills Alliance Craft Sale and Tea and after that all shipping deadlines will have passed for any international orders to make it on time for Christmas so I thought I'd do a "Christmas in my Shop" share.

snowflake booties

snowflake hair clip

reindeer hair clips

white snowflake baby booties

nordic baby booties

There are a few more Christmas themed items but you can see them all here

Home Made Bagels! (as requested)

2011-11-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Alright you all asked for it (yes you guys on facebook) so here's the recipe for bagels! As you can see this batch is whole wheat, but you can make them all white too if you prefer. (the first batch I did was white, second batch whole wheat, they were both fantastic)

Bagels!
2 cups warm water
3 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. white sugar
5-6 cups flour (more or less depending on if you use white or whole wheat)
4 tsp. active dry yeast

Stir together yeast, sugar, and warm water and let proof for 10 minutes (till it's dissolved and foamy)

Put 4 cups of flour and salt into a stand mixer and combine. Pour in yeast mixture and let it mix using the dough hook. Add more flour until you have a somewhat dry dough. You don't want it to be too sticky. Let the mixer knead it for about 5 minutes.

Place your dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a lid or a damp cloth and let it rise till doubled.

Kneed dough down a couple of times then cut it into 12 equal pieces.

Take each piece, roll it into a ball and then flatten it. Poke a hole in the middle and then even it out. It's kind of hard to explain so I took a short video of me shaping one. It's the first time I've tried to video myself so enjoy, haha!

Once you have all your bagels shaped let them rest on the counter (dust some flour down first if your dough is at all sticky) for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, get a large pot of water boiling. You need a fairly big pot but if you don't have anything big you can just boil them in smaller batches.

Once your water is boiling, add in 3 tbsp of sugar (more or less depending on the size of your pot, mine was quite big) The sugar just gives your bagels that nice caramel color when baking.

Drop as many bagels into the water as you can fit without them touching each other. Boil them for 45 seconds then flip them over and boil for another 45 seconds.

Transfer the bagels to a dry towel for a few seconds, flip, and then place onto a cookie sheet dusted with either cornmeal, wheat germ, or parchment paper.

Get a bit of butter melted into a bowl then lightly brush the bagels with butter. Sprinkle them with salt, or cheese, or poppy seeds, whatever you like.

Finally you bake them! For about 25 minutes or until they are well browned all around.

Enjoy!

Kid Pics

2011-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

How do you get nice pictures of your kids? Me? I bribe them with M&M's

Shop Love - Baily Belle

2011-11-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

I think I missed doing a Shop Love feature last week but this week I want to share with you the fabulous shop Baily Belle! Vanessa is another one of the amazing folks from my team Curation Nation on Etsy and she makes some pretty beautiful stuff.

Braided Tribal Bracelet

Blue Batik Circle Scarf

Brass Triangle Earrings

Arrowhead Necklace

So go check out the rest of her stuff, and make sure your read her shop announcement! She's having a sale!!

Handmade Halloween

2011-11-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

A little owl...

A viking!

So happy with the shield daddy made him!

Apparently only Brayer wanted to get into the pictures, but here's the lowdown on their costumes. Hats: Cutest Bean Around (my friend Jenn made them) Vests: I cut up an old couch blanket and sewed them up. Shields: daddy made them with wood, paint, leather, and bolts. Wood sword: daddy made after that same Jenn who made the hats got one for Kaed for his birthday. Stuffed Sword: I made that about a year ago. They also wore the fleece cloaks I made for their ranger costumes last year.

Here's how I did the owl costumes: I made a really simple pinafore dress and stitched on scrap pieces of fabric cut out into little ovals. Real easy, slightly time consuming, and super cute. Hat is a polar fleece that I used the boys' viking hats as a pattern shape for. (the shape of the hat plus horns worked great as ears) Then I just stitched on felt eyes and a beak. My sister Meg made one for her daughter too. So cute!

And our pumpkins!

Pumpkin Puree

2011-11-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Puree from your Halloween Pumpkin!

Do you ever wonder what to do with the pumpkins you carved for Halloween after the candy filled holiday is over? I'm guessing most of you compost yours, or even throw them out but did you know you can use them to make your own pumpkin puree? Pumpkin puree is good for so many things, muffins, pumpkin pie, soups, baby food and it's really pretty easy to make.

I hate throwing any potential food out so despite the fact that turning those carved pumpkins into puree is a bit of work and quite time consuming I do it anyway.

Here's how I do it.

Pumpkin Puree

Cut away the carved portion of your pumpkin. This part you'll want to compost just because it gets real dirty when you're carving and you may have used ink or other things to draw your design on first hand.

excuse my poor lighting, I did mine early early this morning and forgot to check my white balance before I started shooting

Next you'll want to cut the rest of the pumpkin up into medium sized pieces. I slice from the top all the way down in about 3-4inch pieces.

Now you'll want to cut off all the very inside layer of the pumpkin. It looks a bit stringy and is often a bit scorched from the candle. Make sure you cut away any pieces of candle wax that may have dripped on your pumpkin.

Chop the big pieces into smaller squares and lay flesh side down onto a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet. You can forget the foil or parchment if you want but you'll spend hours scrubbing your poor cookie sheet after.

Pop your pumpkin into an over preheated to 350 degrees and bake for at least an hour. Check your pumpkin after about 45 mins, if your fork pushes into it really easy it's done. The timing is really very dependant on how small you chopped your pieces.

Once your pumpkin is done cooking, let it cool almost completely. Then scrape all the flesh off of the outer peel into a large bowl. I did two pumpkins and ended up needing 2 huge bowls for all the yummy pumpkin I scraped out.

Lastly you'll want to blend your pumpkin up in batches in either a blender or a food processor.

I freeze mine in 2 cup portions so I have the perfect amount for pumpkin spice muffins ready.

There you go! You made your own pumpkin puree!

Just in case you were wondering what this pumpkin looked like before I chopped it all up....

Chokecherry Wine

2011-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hubs has been busy making wine this fall as the first batch he made seems to be disappearing quickly. This time around he's making an Australian Shiraz (I believe) from a kit as well as Chokecherry wine from berries we picked off some trees in some green space near our house. The boys helped him do the crushing and I don't know who enjoyed it more.

I'll keep you updated with how it tastes when it's all done.

Photo Shoot!

2011-10-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

My little sis came over the other night and we had a little photo shoot with her as my model. I love how they all turned out especially because we did them indoors at night. No natural light at all, yikes! Anyway, she's beautiful obviously, and a great model so I'm not complaining.

Homemade Pizza Sauce and Cooking for Seven

2011-10-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's going to be recipe week this week...

Anyway this is another one I've been meaning to share for a while, it's so good and has really transformed pizza night over here.

Pizza Sauce!

Okay before I go and make it sound like this was all my great idea, it was NOT. I found this recipe on this amazing blog called Cooking for Seven. Seriously go check out her blog and drool over her recipes and her photography. She also has a pretty amazing personal blog so check that out too.

You can get to her pizza sauce recipe here and then promptly ignore my lame sauce picture up there for her amazing one.

English Muffins

2011-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, I've never been a fan of English Muffins. Something about them has just never meshed with my taste buds so when hubs told me he wanted to make Eggs Benedict and wanted me to make him some English Muffins I thought I'd give it a try. I was hoping that a home made version would be better than the store bought and I was totally right. Hubs found a recipe on Tasty Kitchen for me and I followed it pretty closely.

My only argument against these is that they are very time consuming. I never tried freezing them but I figure you could make up a big batch and freeze most of them if you want to save some time. Especially if you're one of those grab breakfast and run kind of people.

The time consuming part comes from having to fry the muffins before you bake them. That's how you get that flatter crispy crust that english muffins are famous for.

ready to be baked after frying

English Muffins

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup milk

3 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp honey

1 egg

2-4 tbsp wheat germ (or cornmeal)

Proof your yeast by sprinkling it over the water. Let stand about 10 mins.

Mix together flours and salt in your stand mixer bowl (or just a large bowl if you don't have a mixer)

In a separate bowl mix together milk, oil, honey, and egg. Add to your yeast mixture.

Add wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Using the dough hook (or good ol fashioned elbow grease) knead for about 6 minutes. You can add more flour if it's too sticky. I ended up adding close to 3/4 of a cup more than the recipe called for.

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel until doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto a counter covered in wheat germ and roll it out to about 1/2- 3/4 inch thick. Cut into approximately 3 inch rounds. I used a large glass as I don't have a round cookie cutter.

Sprinkle a cookie sheet with more wheat germ and place your rounds on there to rise again. Let rise for about 30 mins.

Heat a cast iron pan (or just a regular frying pan if it's all you have) and sprinkle it with more wheat germ. Carefully pick up each muffin and place it in the pan. Do it in batches if you can't fit them all in with lots of room. They rise a bit once they hit the pan so make space for that.

Cook for 4 mins on each side then transfer to a new cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 mins or until golden brown all over.

Printable Version

And there you! Then go make your hubs whip up some eggs benedict and home cured bacon and you're good to go ;)

The Kara Tote

2011-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

New bag design currently in shop!

Shop Love - No Jo Is Average

2011-10-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously, who doesn't love vintage and retro kitchy finds? I do! And I loooove this little shop! No Jo is Average is full of cute little vintage finds and her product shots are so perfect.

I love love love these lotus bowls. Seriously, if I even needed new bowls a teeny tiny bit I'd buy these in a heartbeat.

I also have a bit of a thing for enamelware and there's lots to be found in Jo's shop.

Jo also has another shop, the fantastic 42 Things. Nobody knows how to upcycle like Jo so if you love items that have taken a new lease on life, go check out her first etsy shop.

Vintage French Dictionary Punches

Recycled Map Tag Die Cuts

Waxed Vintage Book Pages

So there you go! One more amazing seller on etsy. Isn't she great?

New Boots!

2011-10-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make some taller boots for Ara for a while. Ones she can wear with leggings and still not freeze her legs off in the winter. I came up with these and I love them! I want a pair for myself...

They are available in my shop and if you don't see the size you want, just send me an email or a convo on etsy!

On Giving Back

2011-10-17T05:00:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago I did that giveaway here on the blog with Seventh Generation. I talked a bit about cleaning products and baby diapering and now I want to share some more of the amazing things that Seventh Generation is doing. Did you know that in October for every package of Seventh Generation diapers bought they will donate a package to a women's shelter in your community? Pretty cool hey? Seventh Gen also sent me some coupons for free diapers to donate to shelters in Calgary. I sent them on to both The Brenda Strafford Society for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and The Discover House.

I love the whole idea of buy one give one and I'm pretty happy that another company is doing something like this. So thanks Seventh Generation, for making a fabulous effort at making a difference, and thanks for letting me participate it in.

So if you have little ones in diapers, I encourage you to go to your local store and get some Seventh Generation diapers and at the same time you'll be donating some to someone who need them! If you don't have little ones in diapers you could always pick up a package and donate that one to a local shelter as well, or use it as a baby gift! No new Mother will ever say no to free diapers :)

For all you couponers out there (I know you're out there...) don't forget to sign up for the Seventh Gen Community for lots of coupons!

I'm also happy to say that I just made my goal of getting ten pairs of booties sewn up for the Calgary Pregnancy Care Center! I have them all boxed up and ready to go out with my next post office trip. I hope to do this again in a couple months when things slow down a bit so I'll keep you posted in my efforts.

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Disclosure – I am participating in the Seventh Generation program by Mom Central Canada. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Thanksgiving Bootie Giveaway WINNER!

2011-10-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Alright folks, I used random.org to figure out the winner of the custom pair of booties and the winner is...

Anonymous said...

I shared the page! :D Love your booties!!!!!!!! (Jackie Ward Frediani)

Hurray! Congrats Jackie! I'll send you an email and you can pick out your favorite pair and size.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Shop Love - Giggling Gorillas

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

So for this weeks Surprise Shop Love I'm sharing with you the lovely Kim from Giggling Gorillas! Kim doesn't have a shop on etsy but she does do business through her facebook page! Seriously, go check out her page and the tons of other amazing things she makes!

Matching Drool Bib, Soother Clip & Sippy/Toy Holder

Drool Bib!

Headbands!

Reversible Little Boy Necktie Bibs (my fav!)

So surprise Kim! I hope you like your feature!

Owl Love

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

The last few items I've added to my shop I've noticed have been owl themed. I may or may not have a bit of a thing for owls...

Woodland Owl Baby Booties

Woodland Owl Hair Clip

I've also found a few pretty amazing Owl items on etsy lately...

Owls, Stars, and Moon Wood Puzzle

Hand Carved Owl Sculpture

(seriously, how amazing is that???)

Owl With Baby Print on Wood

Little Hoot Vertical Greeting Card

Brown Owl Mugs

Felted Owl Brooch

So there you have it. I like owls. How about you?

Fall Park Days

2011-10-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

We've had some pretty nice fall days the past couple weeks so we've been heading to the park a lot. One of my main goals this fall was to make sure I take the time to do fun things with the kids. Starting in September things tend to get pretty crazy with my shop so I have to make a real effort to split my time up accordingly. The park has been a great way to do this, it gets us all out of the house and there is nothing there to distract me from just playing with my kids!

as you can see they love it too...

Ara rockin her Lumberjack Booties. I'm still hoping to find more of that fabric yet this fall.

Thanksgiving Bootie Giveaway!

2011-10-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well up here in Canada it's just about Thanksgiving and I have lots to be thankful for so I want to share something! A chance to win a custom sized pair of booties for a little dude or dudette in your life!

As you can see I have lots of different colors and patterns and my sizes range from 0-6 months up to 24 months. If you win, you get to go to my shop and pick your pair! (note not all my patterns are available in all sizes as some of the fabrics are no longer available)

I will ship anywhere in Canada and the USA

Here's how you can enter!

1. Go to my facebook page and share the above photo on your wall then come back here and comment on this post!

2. If you tweet about the giveaway, leave me another comment and you can get a second entry!

That's it!

I'll use random.org to pick the winner. Contest ends Friday October 14th at 6:00am

Good luck!

You can see all the booties available in my shop by clicking here

Shop Love - Barefoot Creations

2011-10-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a love affair with crocheted hats, especially for my kids, so I'm being totally honest when I say I spend far too much time browsing Etsy for hats that my kids really do not need. (who needs more than one hat?)

One of my favorite hats is this adorable Fox Hat from Barefoot Creations

Fox Crochet Hat

Tamara, the creative one behind Barefoot Creations has tons of cute hats, along with so many other things in her shop. Tamara also happens to be hosting a giveaway on her blog right now, which totally coincidentally coincides with this little post I had planned. Double score! Anyway go check out her blog and enter to win a gift certificate for her shop!

What a Hoot Knit Natural Owl Hat

Pom Pom Crochet Hat

Colorful Cotton Spring Crochet Hat

So there you go! Hope this little feature was a grand surprise for you Tamara! What's your favorite shop on Etsy?

Almost Over

2011-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

You know those hot summer days filled with kiddie pools, parks, and bike rides? Yah they're almost over and I'm more than a little sad....

Little Toy Pouch Tutorial

2011-09-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

I'll admit, I've been working on this tutorial for a couple of months already. I started it a long time ago and then promptly forgot all about it! Well, I've remembered and so here it is.

Basically, it's just a little zipper pouch for your little dude, or little girl to carry all her toys or crayons, or papers or whatever in. My guys love to take some cars and other toys with them when we go to the grocery store so this is a perfect way to make sure they carry their own stuff and my purse doesn't get too heavy.

I did it up in google docs again to make it easier to print, so all you have to do is click on the link below to access it!

Little Toy Pouch Tutorial

Shop Love

2011-09-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

Since I featured Lindy's fabulous shop last week, I've decided I'd like to do the whole "Shop Love" feature a little more often. There are so many amazing artists on etsy and I spend far too much time searching for them all so I might as well share them with you too!

So next up I give you Stacey of Creashines! Stacey's shop is pretty much the best, everything she has is so adorable and her photography is nothing short of amazing. I love how how her stuff ranges from uber cute to slight spooky, to down right awesome.

this Chocolate Kiss Ring makes me hungry every time I see it.

okay so maybe these make me a little bit hungry too.

I keep thinking how much much my kids would love Stacey's Farm Fun Magnets

and well I love this one just because it's a Camping Ring!!

Once again, Stacey has no idea I'm doing this feature, so surprise Stacey! I hope you love it!

Shop Update - Skirts!

2011-09-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

See them all here

Never Too Early

2011-09-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Ara decided she wanted to learn to shoot a bow just like the rest of us. I'm pretty sure it was one of those insanely proud parent moments we all have now and then, but it was probably THE proud moment for Dad. She did great, Daddy helped her put the arrow on, then pull back, and she would let go. I think she's the youngest f the kids to start shooting, at only 17 months.

And here's Ara's proud moment, finding all her shot arrows and carrying them back to Daddy.

Seventh Generation Giveaway Winner!

2011-09-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well folks, the Seventh Generation Giveaway is over, and the winner is comment #11.... ( I used random.org to generate the number, for those of you wondering!)

KBisshop!

KBisschop said...

I make my own laundry detergent which is super easy, cost effective, and really cuts down on packaging waste! It only takes a few simple ingredients (ivory soap, borax, washing soda, and water, cleans well, and is gentle on my kids' skin.

Fruits of Fall

2011-09-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

Saskatoon berries to be made into Saskatoon syrup. The berries were given to us by our lovely neighbours!

Fresh BC peaches made into lots and lots of jam! YUM.

I've also been freezing beans, zucchini, and a few other jams and syrups. What have you been preserving?

Shop Love

2011-09-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

Some of you know my lovely friend Lindy, her fabulous blog and perfect shop, but for those of you who don't, meet Lindy!

Lindy runs the best blog ever if you're looking for inspirational ideas, cute etsy shops, or anything to do with cupcakes (she makes a mean cupcake herself).

She also has a fab stationary shop on etsy and sells the best note cards, perpetual calendars, wall art, and cards.

love love this chevron wall art

quite possibly the cutest Christmas card around!

So go visit Lindy, she's a great friend and she really is super talented!

P.S she also has no idea I was doing this post ;)

Christmas Came to My Shop!

2011-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

See them all here

2011 Calgary Highland Games!

2011-09-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

It's become a bit of a tradition for us as a family to go to the Highland Games each year. They always put on a good show, there's lots to see, and it's outside so we like it. This year we finally had perfect weather and if it weren't for the kids being a bit sick it would have been a perfect day. Either way we still had fun.

having some lunch

Ara in the plaid skirt I made her and her Red and Black Plaid Booties

watching some medieval fighting

said medieval fighting

entranced

caber toss! (my favorite)

this year we even got to see Rick Mercer tape one of his shows. Here he is with a caber.

Lamb's Quarters Omelete

2011-09-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned before that Travis has really been getting into foraging lately and I have to admit I'm really enjoying it too. One of the things we've learned about is a "weed" called Lamb's Quarters. It grows all over the place in our garden and yard and it's surprisingly good. I've been cooking it just like spinach and it really cooks and tastes very similar to spinach.

I've used the Lamb's Quarters now in salads (although I prefer it cooked), on pizza, in stir fry's, and my favorite in an omelet. Here's a recipe for an omelet I made a couple of nights ago.

One egg per person served (I used 5)

Whatever kind of veggies etc. you want in there. I added yellow peppers and mushrooms I got from the Farmers Market that morning.

Lamb's Quarters! My only complaint against these greens is you've got to pick a lot to get a decent amount. Just like spinach it wilts and shrinks when you cook it so you need several handfuls to get a fair amount.

I take all the stems off and toss in the leaves. The leaves are so small I don't bother chopping them.

Tomato!

Green onions from our garden...

And I added ham but you could easily make a vegetarian version of it.

I threw all the ingredients in a bowl and whisked it up, added some shredded cheese, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt and poured it into a hot cast iron skillet.

Once the omelet was almost all cooked I put it in the oven on broil until the top browned up nicely. Then, we ate! Yum!

Roll Up Market Tote Bag

2011-09-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

My Mom has a fantastic shopping bag that neatly folds up into a little pocket and ever since She showed it to me I've been slightly jealous of how handy it is. She suggested I just make my own so I looked around online to see the different styles and found this one here. I loved the simple idea of a button and elastic but wanted something bigger, something more boxy etc. so I made my own!

The Market Tote I came up with is huge. I could pretty much fit a weeks worth of groceries in it (besides milk) if I wanted and the best part is it rolls up to fit in my hand so I can store it in my purse.

Anyway here's how you fold it up!

lay the bag front side down (button and loop facing the floor) then fold one side over to the middle.

fold the other side on top of the first fold so they match evenly.

tuck the straps down

starting from the bottom, tightly roll up all the way to the end.

grab the elastic and loop it around the roll and onto the button. There you go!

Ready for Market.

Braided Spiced Nut Bread

2011-08-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

Last time I made bread I decided to take the whole bread braiding thing up a notch and added some walnuts, sugar, and spices. It turned out so good and I'll definitely be making more in the future. It's basically a Cinnamon roll in bread form with lots of walnuts and nutmeg packed in.

Using the recipe from my previous posts (or some kind of challah dough would work really well too) roll your dough out into an oval/rectangle shape.

Chop up a bunch of walnuts, really as many as you like. I went with a couple of large handfuls because we all really like nuts. If you don't like nuts at all you could substitute them for raisins or just leave them out entirely.

Brush the dough with some softened butter then sprinkle on some brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I didn't do any measuring here, just sprinkled it on until it was evenly coated.

Next you're going to slice two cuts into your dough. Leaving about an inch intact at the top, cut all the way down to the bottom so you have three pieces.

Here is where we differ from the regular braided bread. Take each section and fold it in half, securing all the sugar and nuts inside. Some will fall out while you braid but this will keep most of it inside.

Slowly braid your three loaf pieces until you get to the end. Keep the braid fairly tight. When you get to the end, pinch the three pieces together to hold it all in place. Transfer to a well greased baking sheet. Pick up all the fallen walnuts and sugar and sprinkle them on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes on the top rack in your oven. Keep a careful eye on it, you want it fairly brown to ensure the middle is evenly cooked.

Once it's finished baking, brush the top with a bit of butter to keep the crust from getting too hard. Then Enjoy! We just ripped pieces off the loaf as we wanted them but you could easily slice it up as well.

Braided Bread - How To

2011-08-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

In order to keep my interest in baking at least two basic loaves of bread every other day I've taken to trying out new shaping techniques. (and yes we really do go through a loaf a day, could you imagine how much that would add up if I were buying it from the grocery store? Never mind the fact that grocery loaves are much smaller)

My latest favourite, looks wise, is a braided loaf and it's really easy to do!

You can use pretty much any basic bread dough recipe, I used this one: Stone Ground Oatmeal Bread (just the dough recipe)

Here's how it's done!

Step one: Once your dough is ready to be shaped, knead it out for a couple of minutes then roll it into a medium sized rectangle. Make sure you get all the big air bubbles out to ensure your bread has a really even crumb.

Cut two slits along the rectangle, starting about 1 inch from the top and cutting all the way through to the bottom.

Starting at the top, take a piece from one side and fold it over the middle piece. Then take a piece from the opposite side and fold it over top the new middle piece. Continue all the way to the bottom. Make sure you braid fairly tight or your end result won't look much like a braid at all.

When you get to the bottom, pinch the three pieces together.

Tuck both ends in a bit and then gently roll the loaf back and forth until it forms a nice loaf size

Place your loaf in a greased bread pan and let it rise until double

Follow the bread recipes baking instructions and there you have it! A delicious braided loaf of bread!

On Being "Green" and a Giveaway!

2011-08-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm not the first person to dislike the phrase "being green" but that certainly doesn't keep me and my family from being as "green" as we can be. I'm 100% behind taking care of this planet God gave us and while I'm still miles away from my ideal level of "green-ness" (anyone else sick of all these parentheses yet?) I think I am slowly getting there.

Anyway in recent years I've found it easier and easier to find more environmentally friendly products. From 100% recycled toilet paper to chlorine free diapers it's really not hard to find a better alternative.
Some of the ways that we work to make our home more earth friendly are:

Growing our own food!

Using things like vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils for most of our daily cleaning.

Preserving our own food!

Hanging our laundry to dry! (lucky today I happen to be hanging mostly towels not undergarments ;)

I really do use vinegar and baking soda for most of the around the home cleaning but every once and while I just like to buy a bottle of some other kind of cleaner to switch things up. I don't know why but sometimes something new makes cleaning fun(?) again!

Here's where the Give-away comes in!

Seventh Generation is giving you a chance to win a 100% organic cotton Seventh Gen Eco lunch bag as well as coupons for a FREE package of Seventh Generation Free & Clear Diapers, Free & Clear Baby Wipes and dish washing products to try for yourself!

Here are the give-away details:

Contest is open to Canadian residents only (sorry!)
contest runs until September 16th, 2011
Once the winner has been selected (I'll use a random number generator) I'll send the winner information along and the gift pack will be sent out.
To enter please leave a comment below stating what your best tip is on how to be more environmentally conscious.
You may only enter once!

Speaking from past experience, I really do love Seventh Generation products. Seriously, I wouldn't blog about them if I didn't, that wouldn't be cool.

Want some Seventh Generation coupons? Sign up for the Seventh Generation Nation and get access to coupons, special offers and tips on being "green" and healthy living.

So enter the contest! Sign up for the nation and get some coupons, or if you only ever come here for sewing posts, ignore me for now ;)

Disclosure – I am participating in the Seventh Generation program by Mom Central Canada. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Stone Ground Oatmeal Cinnamon Nutmeg Sticky Buns!

2011-08-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Phew now that's a title! Today I made a huge batch of stone ground oatmeal and with it I made a huge batch of bread dough which turned into buns, a loaf of bread, and some sticky buns! My kitchen smelled pretty good today ;)

Here's the recipe!

For the dough:
(note this makes enough for 12 sticky buns and 1 loaf of bread or a few buns)

2.5 cups warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup cooked stoned ground oatmeal (or quick cooked oats)
2 cups all purpose flour
3-4 cups whole wheat flour

Mix together warm water, yeast, and honey. Let dissolve and rest for 10 minutes.
Pour the water mixture into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl. (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer)
Add the oil, all purpose flour and about 3 cups of the whole wheat flour. Mix with the paddle attachment until just combined. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

After those 30 minutes, change to your dough hook and add the cooked oatmeal (make sure it is either only warm or at room temperature, not hot or cold) and salt. Mix until the oatmeal and salt are fully combined. You will most likely need to continue adding 1-2 cups of flour until your dough comes together nicely. It should be slightly sticky. I had to take the dough out of the mixer and knead the final cup in but if you have a really big stand mixer you should be able to do it all in your mixer.

Transfer your dough to a large greased bowl and rise until doubled. (approx 1 hour) If you have time punch your dough down and let it rise for 15 mins, repeating two to three times. (punch down, rise for 15 mins, punch down, let rise etc.)

To Make the Sticky Buns:
Split your dough into two pieces. Take one half and knead it until you get most of the bubbles out and it becomes smooth and elastic again. Grease your counter surface and roll one piece of dough out.
Slather the whole rectangle with lots of butter. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of brown sugar (or more depending on how sweet and sticky you want them to be) on top of the butter then sprinkle a couple of tsp of cinnamon and about 1 tsp of nutmeg on top of the sugar.
Take one of the longer ends of the rectangle and roll the whole thing into a long tube pinches the long end closed to create a seam. Roll the tube so that the seam is on the bottom and cut into 12 pieces.
Lay each piece in a 9x13 inch pan and cover with a damp cloth or loosely fitted lid.
Let rise until double.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until all rolls are a golden brown.

To Make Bread:
Take your second half of the dough and knead it until it is smooth and elastic. Roll it out into a small rectangle to make sure you get rid of all the bubbles. (no bubbles means a better slice of bread!) Roll up your rectangle then roll it back and forth a couple of times to make a nice loaf shape. Place in a bread pan and let rise until double.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until a nice medium light brown.

Bootie Count So Far

2011-08-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned previously, I'm working on getting a bunch of baby booties made to donate to the Calgary Pregnancy Care Center. So far I have 5 pairs made. I'd really like to at least double that so I'm making that my goal for now!

Nothing Like Garden Harvest

2011-08-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

We've been harvesting different things out of garden for a couple of weeks now, green beans being at the top of the list. I'm getting on average about one and a half meals worth every day. That means we've been eating a lot of fresh beans (amazing!) and putting a lot in the freezer. I think we might have enough to last us a good half a year by the end of the season but we'll see. Travis has plans to put in a few more bean plants next year so I may have to learn to can them yet.

beans drying after I've blanched them

this particular haul was after we were gone camping for a mere 5 days

Travis has really been looking into doing some cold frames (seriously go check this guys' blog out) this coming spring so we're moving the shed that houses his bike, lawn mower, and gardening tools so we can get some more garden space without losing anymore lawn. I have a feeling it won't be more than a couple of years before our backyard is mostly garden and very little lawn but I won't be complaining.

Our onions are all ready too and I'm picking a few zucchini's here and there too. The potatoes should be ready to come out pretty soon too I'd think.

Well there's my garden update, I swear I'll get back to some sewing posts soon but really the garden and stuff is what I've been busy with lately so there you go.

Bread on the Grill

2011-08-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I love to make bread, but when it's hot outside I often dread the thought of turning the oven on so every now and then I bake bread on the barbeque. I find it difficult to get the same results as I would in the oven but sometimes it's just worth it to not heat up the house even more.

The other night I made some Jalapeno Cheddar Beer Bread and it turned out great. I pre heated a cast iron pan in the BBQ while it pre heated and when everything was nice and hot I placed the shaped bread on the pan and closed the lid. I actually BBQ'd steak and some veggies in there at the same time so I was surprised at how evenly the bread cooked.

after just a few minutes cooking on the grill

the bread finished with butter brushed on top. You'll notice the bottom is quite brown but we just cut that part off and ate the rest!

I got the recipe for the bread here: Jalepeno Cheese Beer Bread I used fresh jalapenos instead of pickled ones and I added a handful of chopped fresh green onions too. So good!

Camping, Part Three - The Vegetation

2011-08-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

There's really nothing like wildflowers in the Rocky Mountains is there?

Camping, Part Two - The Kids

2011-08-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

that cute hat Brayer's got on? Yah that's mine, he stole it. I got here

Camping, Part One

2011-08-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

We went camping last month, near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was gorgeous, we had perfect weather and there was hiking and fishing and swimming and just fun! I took tons of pictures so I'll share them in a couple of different posts this week.

Help!

2011-08-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Alright folks, I need your help! I know some of you facebook fans have already given me some help with this but for those of you haven't...

I need to order some new fabrics for the Billy Car Rollups and I'm stuck on which patterns to pick. There's not a huge selection of designer fabrics with cars and trucks on them but there are definitely more than enough fantastic ones! If you want to help me pick, leave a comment saying which pattern you'd like to see the Car Rollups in. I'll number them all to make it easier! Here they are:

this last fabric is 100% organic, which means despite it's awesomeness I'd have to raise the price of the car mats made from this fabric.

So there you have it, my top 7 prints right now. Which one is your favorite?

A New Favorite

2011-07-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day that it's almost August and well past time for me to start getting more Fall stuff into my shop. Yikes! So I started sewing... booties of course! These happen to be my new favorite and I'll definitely be making a pair for Ara this Fall!

I also made some Saskatchewan themed booties. Saskatchewan themed in that they are green and gold and well those are the colors of Saskatchewan!

Then of course I had to add something a little more girly:

I have five more pairs that just need their buttons sewn on. Some of those will be going into my shop and some the others will bring my total made for the Calgary Pregnancy Care Center up to three pairs. You can read all about that here.

I'm hoping to get a few back to school items in my shop yet but it looks as though the weather might turn nice again soon so maybe I won't ;)

And the Middle One Turns Three

2011-07-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

nope not this one... she's not quite one and she's my adorable niece all ready for the pirate party!

pirate cupcakes and the birthday boy!

there's them cupcakes!

this one really enjoyed them...

and this one obviously enjoyed both his cupcakes and his present!

big brother there to help, just in case ;)

A Wedding Gift

2011-07-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

My lovely sister in law Kara got married last month so naturally I decided to make her something. I knew she wanted table linens and I knew she loves linen so here's what I came up with.

brown tea towels with a cream strip and stamped bird

cream and brown place mats

I also made a long simple table runner out of that creamy/beige linen but somehow forgot to take a picture of it. (Kara maybe you can send me one?) That's okay though, seeing as the others are all taken on my not so pretty iron board. (which I just replaced... so much prettier now!)

My other sister in law Shelly (the one who does all my logos, banners, etc.) and another lovely friend Jessie and I all took Kara out one night for a little bachelorette party and rather than each getting her random pieces of lingerie we all contributed differently to one special package. My contribution was a linen lingerie wash bag and some lavender sachets.

again, lame pictures but it's a drawstring bag hand stamped.

This was my first time working with real linen and despite the fact that it was more challenging than cotton, I loved it. I've already made Ara a pinafore out of it and really hope to get some more projects made in linen soon!

Pinafore's In Shop!

2011-07-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

You can find all these pretty pinafore's on sale here: Handmade Therapy Kids Dresses

Why I Do What I Do

2011-07-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

I often get asked why exactly I sew. There are so many reasons why I do but here are a few:

It really is fun, 95% of the time I love being behind my sewing machine!
I have this constant "need" to create. I really can't handle not being productive so it really does satiate my need to create things.
Sewing and selling things in my shop pays for all my crafting and sewing supplies.
I love being able to make something for myself that I would otherwise have to buy
My kids LOVE it when I make things for them
I really do love handmade.

Okay so now you know most of my reasons but there's one thing that's been bugging me lately about all those reasons.... they are almost all about ME. Granted I've donated the odd item over the past couple of years but those have been few and far between and really just not enough. So I'm working on it, I'm working on changing my hobby into being about OTHERS just as much as it is about ME.

How am I going to do that?

From now until this fall, I'm going to try and make as many Baby Booties as I can. I won't be listing them in my shop however (at least not all of them) instead I'll be packaging them all up and bringing them over to a place called the Pregnancy Care Center In their own words the Pregnancy Care Center is "a non-profit agency offering assistance for anyone facing an unplanned pregnancy or experiencing post abortion stress." At the Pregnancy Care Center they have an area they call the Layette Room where the keep new things donated to them. If a mother uses their services on a consistent basis when baby is born they fill a basket full of new items to give to her. The booties I donate would be included in those baskets.

So my goal is to get at least one, hopefully more pairs of booties made per week for the center. After that I'll keep my eyes open for other non-profit organizations within my home city of Calgary that are in need of baby items.

Want to help?
If you have polar fleece you want me to make into booties, send it to me! I'll do my best to get all donated fabric sewn up for the Pregnancy Care Center. If you live locally I hope to do a "mass production" evening. Basically if you have a sewing machine bring it, if not, bring a pair of scissors and you can help cut the booties out. Double bonus of coming to help make the booties? You also get to learn how to make them!

Feel free to shoot me an email at handmadetherapy(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any questions or need a mailing address to send some fabric my way. I can't wait to see how many booties I can get made up in the next couple of months here!

Geekery

2011-07-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie, I am a big Harry Potter fan so naturally I'm pretty excited to see the final movie this weekend. Not suprisingly Etsy is full of some pretty cool HP related stuff so I've made a treasury or two to get all those fans extra excited.

'Countdown to Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows' by handmadetherapykids

I'm counting, are you??

wickedillusion $128.00	ViperCoraraDes... $10.00	HesedBooksAndG... $3.00	kristinatuck $13.00
HollyPresley $53.00	kylespears $20.00	dresslikeaunic... $17.00	tesorojewelry $18.00
evietees $19.45	nikinut $10.00	PolkaDotToadst... $18.00	EMichniacki $25.00
fantazy007 $7.00	aspiecraft $12.00	iconicearrings $20.00	PurpleHeartz $20.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

You can click on each item to be taken to that particular shop, or you can see the full treasury by clicking on the title!

Are you going to see The Deathly Hallows this weekend?

Garage Sale Finds

2011-07-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've always loved garage saleing. This year though, is the first year in a while that I've actually gone, I don't know why I ever stopped because boy can you find good deals!

Here's my favorite deal of last weekend.... this awesome sewing box (the same one my mom had/has and therefore makes me feel all sentimental) full, and I mean FULL of thread. Every color, type and size imaginable for a whopping $20. There's well over $100 worth of thread alone inside so I'm pretty happy with my score!

and my favorite, a few vintage wooden spooled threads!

In The Garden

2011-07-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day in the garden. Travis actually dug out a new one, filling it with grape vines! This whole wine making thing he's gotten into may be getting out of hand... good thing we both love the stuff! I moved a bunch of my perennials around, I want to fill my side of the house garden with strawberries so the flowers had to go. My sister in law took a few, my neighbour a few, and the rest I moved to other places around the house.

freshly planted grape vines

My vegetable garden is looking the best it ever has! Things are starting to get dry here so Trav used all the lawn clippings as a mulch to keep the moisture where we want it.

Last but not least, our raspberries are finally producing! We should get a really decent crop this year which I am really looking forward to, we only planted the canes 3 years ago.

So our little yard is slowly but surely becoming as much of a food producing place as it is a play place. It may not be our dream acreage but I'm not complaining!

Holidays - At the Beach

2011-07-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

We have been on holidays a bunch in the last couple of weeks, thus my excuse from blogging. I took so,so many pictures that there is no way I can share them all, so I'm just going to do a couple posts of my favorite moments. First favorite moment? At the beach on the South Saskatchewan River near Herbert, SK.

Tonight, I Love - A Treasury

2011-06-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

'Tonight, I Love.' by handmadetherapykids

and how could you not?

Arrows - A Red Ruby Ros... redrubyrose $85.00	Tribal Arrowhead Neckla... CreaShines $23.00	Bilbo's tea bowls -... GlazedOver $38.00
Rhiannon, Celtic Moon G... sacredsuds $6.00	Embroidered Wood Chevro... IbbyAndRufus $30.00	toast tongs newberry $12.00
arrows PerlaAnne $20.00	Marrakesh - 14K Gold Fi... jaunebleu $42.00	Ghost Elephant on Women... rctees $24.00
yellow 14K gold fill ho... Splurge $27.00	Ceramic Flower Tile wit... TheShepherdsHa... $15.00	Braided Hood LoveandKnit $30.00
Handmade Leather Journa... peaseblossomst... $32.00	Botanical - 12 x 12 Fin... jessicatorres $40.00	Any Six Packs of Organi... cubits $20.00
Brown Hemp/Cotton Bag -... tippythai $32.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Some of you know I'm part of a team on Etsy called Curation Nation. I've been with the team for just over 2 months now and I'm LOVING IT. What a great bunch of sellers, and man they can curate treasuries! Needless to say I've been curating a few treasuries lately but I just wanted to share one of my latest! (you can click on each individual item to be taken to it on etsy.com!)

Mexican Yogurt Chicken

2011-06-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

The other night I wanted something really easy and yummy to make so I pulled out some chicken thighs and searched my fridge for something to go with them. I found tortillas, peppers, cheese, yogurt, and some taco seasoning so I figured some sort of chicken tacos would be good! Basically all I did was put about a cup of yogurt into a baking dish...

Then I added a package of taco seasoning....

I whisked it all together and placed the chicken on top. Then I scooped the sauce up over top of the chicken and put it in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes. When it was all cooked I shredded it with two forks and we spooned it onto tortillas shells and added some cheese and peppers. YUM!

And then of course I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it....

Safety First

2011-06-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Or something like it anyway!

The boys just recently really learned how to ride their bikes. They've never shown much of an interest before but in the last week it's suddenly ride, ride, ride! I'm seriously excited about this because as much as I love to walk with them, it's never much of a workout at the speed they walk. Now the boys can ride and I can push Ara in the stroller! Perfect. Anyway, we never had helmets for them before because like I said, they never really cared about biking before so tonight we went out and got them some. The particular helmets they picked out happened to come with some knee and elbow pads so of course those had to be worn as well... and not just when we got home but the instant we paid for them! After we walked out of Canadian Tire we still had another store to go to and sure enough, both boys were decked out in knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets. CUTE.

of course at some point, being boys, they had to make themselves fall in order to test out their new safety equpiment

this right here, is why I'm so thankful I had two boys in a row.

testing that safety stuff again

When I turned around I saw this so sad face watching from the window. One day baby girl, one day... but for now, please stay little!

Sunday

2011-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00