I think that baking is a craft unto itself.  And now that summer is here, there are plenty of recipes floating around the web for the fresh food in your garden and farmers market!  I’ve tried quite a few so far, and some I have even changed up a bit to make them my own.

For starters, there is a great recipe at Angry Chicken for a rhubarb hand pie…and I do love rhubarb pie!  From the pictures, it looks like she got some really sweet rhubarb (the redder it is, the sweeter it is) but I have found that boiling rhubarb in sugar water before using it makes the green rhubarb so much sweeter!  Plus, I found that you can substitute other fruits with this same recipe…I took out half the rhubarb and replaced it with blueberries for a tangy mix.

I made a pineapple rhubarb pie for the county fair last month using this recipe from Cooks.com.  It was kind of fun, I hadn’t entered anything in a fair since I was in 4H as a kid.  It did pretty well, but I think I could have made the top crust look cuter!

Just today on the Craft magazine blog was a link to a yummy looking recipe for blueberry crumb bars from Smitten Kitchen and I’m thinking I might have to try that one out tomorrow!

Our cucumber plants are growing like crazy, so I need to learn how to properly can pickles.  But until I do, I found a recipe for refrigerator pickles here.  And another great way to use up cucumbers is to mix them with your ranch dressing and some fresh dill to make a dip.

If anyone have any other great recipes to share, please leave them in the comments!

Salutations!

My name is Sara but I also go by ChickenBetty, Mama, sweetheart, tootsie and too many more to count. I’ve been a crafter for as long as I can remember and my crafting choices can be as varied as the names I answer to.  I’ll try my hand at just about anything and if I had unlimited resources its all I would do! Hopefully I’ll be able to share some projects that will inspire you to try your hand at all sorts of new things.

Today I’d like to dive in with some jewelry. I started making jewelry for myself in high school when I was on a limited budget and couldn’t afford many of the sparkly spangles that I saw in all the popular accessory stores. I’ve continued to do so as the years have gone on, for myself and as gifts for friends and family. The tools and supplies are simple and readily accessible to most people either at their local craft store, mega department store, from various online sources and hundreds of suppliers at Etsy.

Lately I’ve been stuck on buttons. I’ve done several necklaces where I would string buttons and beads and add a clasp but I’ve been thinking in a new direction, groupings, clusters and flexibility and I have a penchant for making things inspired by movies, books and pop culture. There have been a rash of comic book themed movies in the last few years and a recent release caught my attention. Follow along

You’ll need a selection of buttons ( I chose laquered shell buttons for this project), craft wire in a color of your choice, coordinating beads, ear wires, chain and a clasp (mine is part of an old thrifted costume jewelry piece) jump rings, wire cutters and round needle nose pliers.

I began with a 24″ ( 60cm)length of wire.Pinch the wire about 3/4 of an inch (2cm) from the end with your round  nosed pliers and give a 180degree turn. Still holding the curve you’ve created with the pliers, wrap the remaining short wire around the long wire stem forming a closed loop. Clip the end close to the loop with your wire cutters, put the flat side of your wire cutters towards the loop, you will get a much closer and cleaner cut this way. The beginning of each cluster will begin in this manner.

Thread the wire through your first button from the back, leaving the newly formed loop showing. Give a gentle curve to your wire and thread it, front to back, in the second button hole. Pulling gently, in the direction of the curve in the wire, tighten the wire through the button holes.

Slide the second button onto the wire, back to front, snug it right up next to the first button and gently bend the button to sit tight with the first. Repeat the wire loop, threading the wire through the second button hole on the second button and tighten to hold in place.

Repeat with the remaining buttons and then thread on your bead of choice.

You now need to finish off this cluster and secure the wire so nothing will fall off! Cut the wire leaving yourself about 3/4 of an inch of wire(about 2 cm). Grasp the very end of the wire with your round nosed pliers and turn the wire around the pliers until you are tight up against the bead. Your first cluster is now done. Continue on to make as many clusters as your heart desires - I made 7. You may need to cut additional lengths of wire when creating the clusters but keep you starting length at 2 feet.

I chose to simply attach one cluster to each ear wire to make the earrings. Super simple, just open a jump ring with your round nosed pliers and drop an ear wire and a cluster on it, close the ring and your earring is done.

The necklace design is up to you. I attached on cluster to each end of the chain with a jump ring. I then took a scrap piece of the craft wire, made a loop in one end, threaded on 2 beads, one cluster and 2 more beads. I closed the other end with a loop and gave the whole thing a slight bend in the middle. I then joined the center cluster to the two on the chain.

That still leaves me with 2 lonely clusters - there are endless possibilities. You could add the last two clusters to the jump rings that join the the center or, remember, the wire along the backs of the button clusters could support jump rings.

Click on any pic to see a larger version. Give it a try. Its fun and you have sparkly spangles when you are done! Drop a comment if you have any questions or if you figured out what my inspiration was.

Toots

It’s amazing…the change in people’s attitudes about using (and reusing) our resources in a more Earth friendly way. The “Go Green” theme seems to have successfully taken over the entire country as more and more people are recycling, re-purposing and reusing instead of “refuse”ing.  There are TONS of trash-to-treasure web sites and television shows with great project ideas for reusing just about anything you can imagine.

So, in keeping with that theme, here’s my two cents worth.

Pop Tab Bracelets

	I’ve seen instructions for pop tab jewelry all over the net. Trouble was, I just couldn’t understand what the heck they were saying. After many times of doing it wrong, I finally get it. So, I want to share my version of the instructions, in case there is someone out there who is trying to make their own and needs the “extra simple” explanation, like I did.
	For starters, you need a pile of pop tabs. Most of the tutorials I’ve seen, suggest about 20-22. I have a larger wrist, and my bracelet is made with 26 tabs. You also need elastic cord and scissors. That’s it! No other supplies necessary.
	Step One: Cut cord to approximately 2-1/2 feet. Then loop through the first tab, situating the tab at center of cord.
	Step Two: Hold another tab below your first tab, (make sure your rough edges are always facing each other, smooth side to the outside) overlapping so you can see through openings of both tabs. Thread the cord up from the bottom through both tabs, bringing top cord through top hole and bottom cord through bottom hole.
	Step Three: OK, now get another tab and hold it on top, overlapping as before,and this time, thread the cords through the opposite holes forming an X on top.
	Step Four: Another tab, held at the back and thread those cords through, top cord-top hole, bottom cord-bottom hole.
	Step Five: Another tab, held on top, thread cords through forming that X. Top cord-bottom hole, bottom cord-top hole.
	Step Six: Keep going, repeating step four and step five, alternately, until bracelet can be wrapped around your wrist and ends meet comfortably. You need the last tab to be one placed at the back side. Then, bring ends together and form final X.
	Step Seven: Turn bracelet over and thread cords under cord from previous tab.
	Step Eight: Tie the cords in a knot and trim the ends.
	Step Nine: Turn bracelet back over and slide it on your wrist. There should be just enough stretch to easily go over your hand and then be lightly snug on your wrist.

There’s plenty of ways to embellish these bracelets, too. You can paint the tabs, use colored elastic, add beads, anything you can think of.

Well, I hope my tutorial is clear and you enjoy making your own pop tab bracelet.

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on this blog, so before I get to the clothespins, I’ll let you know a little about me. For starters, I’m Kate and am in my junior year of college. I write another blog here and I also have an online yarn store, where I sell hand dyed and hand spun yarns. If you are on Ravelry, I’m Mustkeepknitting. If I’m not writing on the blog or dyeing for the store, I’m usually in class, working, or knitting.

On with the clothespins! I wanted my first tutorial to be something fun to make, and I thought these fit that and they are functional!

Materials:

• Clothespins (You can buy a pack of 50 for less than a dollar in the laundry section at Walmart)
• Pretty Scrapbooking Paper
• Modge Podge Matte Mat
• Modge Podge Gloss Lustre
• Paint Brush
• X-acto Knife*
• Paper Towel
• Cup of Water

*If you don’t have an x-acto knife, you can precut your paper. Place down your clothespin and trace around it. Now, carefully cut on the lines of your paper.

(more…)

I have recently rediscovered my love for origami both through research for my other blog Folding Trees and just because I love anything to do with paper.

Inspired by the story about Sadako Sasaki (you can read more about it here) I started folding 1000 paper cranes as a peace project. Here is the first one I made: 

In the meantime I have been asking people to help me and send me their pictures of their own cranes in peaceful places. If you are interested you can have a look here and join me, that would be great!!

An other thing I am completely addicted to is making these modular origami balls. This one is made by Planetjune. Using origami paper that is printed off from the internet, more about that here. (look at the end of that post for some links)

Now what is the next thing I will be making….? I have had my eye on some quilling projects so hopefully I will report back soon on that.

Happy crafting, Eve