Gluten Free Endeavours

After much contemplation, I have decided to endeavour the scary world of "gluten-free" and "dairy-free".  This had to begin with a trip to the local Chapters. Of course, I already cheated here when I ordered the "usual" at Starbucks (skinny hazelnut latte with whip). Oh well, I guess I'll start the "dairy-free" part tomorrow...


I hadn't realized how many cookbooks and recipes free of gluten there were. After about an hour, polishing off my latte and nearly giving up the search for my "perfect gluten-free cookbook", I found one that sort of tickled my fancy. Most of the recipes for breads/ muffins/ buns and bagels have this sketchy-sounding ingredient called Xanthum Gum (we'll see about that one), but overall the recipes looked pretty simple and most of all- delicious.


So after reading through many of the recipes and deciphering each of the ingredients- I have decided to venture "muffin baking" first. Albeit, I did make some delicious hummus from the book (with a few added ingredients). I also found an amazing blog called "Pickles and Honey" which has some fantabulous recipes- I'm in the midst of making some roasted chick peas now...


More to follow- surely will report on this muffin making business.

Creative Suncatchers

Yet again, I was on pinterest and I found a really cool sun catcher- it was made from melted plastic beads! I decided to make it my next project endeavour...


Materials:
Plastic Bead Package ($2.44 a package at Walmart)
Foil Packs ($1 at the dollar store)


Total cost of project: $3.44


Directions:
Place a layer of beads on the bottom of each mould (the tins). Try to ensure that there aren't any holes in  the layer. Place in oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool (about an hour). Don't be afraid if they start making "popping" noises. This is just the plastic removing itself from the tin wall. Pop out and decorate with wire/ more beads. Hang in window with fishing line. Now you have a creative and original sun catcher! Try different sizes or cookie cutters for different shapes...


Completed photos to follow!

Bead Projects

I have a TON of different sizes and colours of glass beads that have been sitting there just *waiting* to be used. I searched and searched for some different ideas and finally found some "wire" crafts using beads. FUN!


I brought my beads to my friends house, and three of us used our creative genes to make the most adorable wire buddies embellished with beads. My friend made the CUTEST owl (she loves owls) and I decided to make a dragonfly. At first I wasn't too please with the results, but it grew on me and it now has a special place hanging in my window. When we move, I am going to put it in my kitchen window, so I can admire it while I'm doing the dishes...


This craft could be costly, however since I had the beads and wire already it was free to me. If you went to Walmart, you could probably get all of the materials for about $10 or less. Just borrow some needle nose pliers from your husband!

Cupcake Apron

Along with all of my other crafty LOVES, I have a love of aprons. All shapes and sizes. However, I have very limited sewing skills. Luckily, this adorable pattern I found is SUPER SUPER easy, even for beginners like me. The cost of the project was amazing, I think, because I was able to make two little girl aprons and a matching on for myself.


Materials:s
2 yards Brown Canvas Fabric ($9)
1 metre of cupcake cotton fabric ($2)
1 cupcake iron-on from Michales ($1.99, $1 with coupon)


Total Cost- $14 for 3 aprons (WOW)

Homemade Blackboard

Along with my cork board, I decided that I would like a blackboard for my craft room. This has been one of THE cheapest projects this year! I bought a wooden cupboard door from the RE store (Habitat for Humanity) for only $2. I then painted the frame with my colour scheme and painted the inside with about 3 coats of Martha Stewart Blackboard paint. Total cost of project: $2. LOVE this!

Personalized Cork Board

My husband and I have just bought our first home and I am pretty psyched to say that I will be getting my very own LARGE craft room in the basement. Since we have such a lengthy closing date, I have been trying to finish all the "decor" for my room at the LEAST cost. I have repainted and redone many of my old pieces. I have had this old cork board for many years- instead of trashing it, I revamped it in the colour I would like to base my craft room with (the walls will be white- ish). My dad cut out the wood pieces for me and I used some mod-podge and embellishments on these to make them "pop".  I crocheted the banner along the top (also in my colour-scheme). This project was a load of fun!

Cupcakes and Cookies

Recently, a friend and I have decided to teach ourselves how to decorate muffins and cookies. The high cost of taking baking/ decorating classes just seems ridiculous. We have trialled a number of types of icing and are finally getting the hang of it! Here is one of my own attempts at making my cupcakes "pretty". This from-scratch batch of vanilla cupcakes didn't quite turn out to my liking, but they were pretty yummy. We did attempt "flooding" cookies with icing, which was FUN- however, nothing was pretty enough to post here. More photos to come!

Homemade Ironing Board

I had been searching online for some tabletop ironing boards, and came across this brilliant idea for a homemade one.


Materials:
Piece of board ($5)
Quilt batting to fit the size of board you would like
1 metre of fabric of choice (varies)
Stapler and Staples (on hand)


Directions:
Cut the fabric and batting to fit the board. Tightly pull fabric and staple around the board. Voila! You have yourself an ironing board!


The owl pictured on top of the ironing board is a pattern from Retro Mama (details on previous post)

Plushies

I had been spending DAYS searching the web for free patterns and I came across this adorable elephant plushie. Unfortunately, the pattern was *quite* free, but it was super adorable! After purchasing and making this elephant I have become obsessed with other adorable plushie patterns! They are so easy to create, even using some scrap fabric...

Materials

1/2 metre fabric of choice for the main body (about $2-8)

Scrap Piece of fabric for the tail

1/4 metre fabric for the ears (about $2-4)
Pattern ($8)


Total cost of Craft- Approximately $10 (without the pattern only about $5 or less)

It only took me about 30 minutes to make this adorable plush elephant- I made one for each of my nieces (who are 3) and they LOVED them. The pattern is from "RetroMama" on etsy, if you are interested in purchasing it- her other patterns are equally adorable! Click here for the pattern fromRetro Mama.

Enjoy making this plushie- give them as gifts to children of all ages!

Drawstring Bags

I have inherited a sewing machine. And I am *so* excited to start learning the ins and outs of this hobby. In the past, I have hastily thrown together some sewn projects ALWAYS with the help of someone else- and have almost always given up before the project was complete.


Needless to say, I attempted to make a stuffed owl this morning- only to repeat history and give up when things got tough. Ahem- I stitched over its wings and one foot and began the painful process of ripping the stitching out... Needless to say, this lasted for about 2 minutes and the ugly/ half-finished owl remains face down on my desk.


Later in the evening, I was feeling quite discouraged about my sewing endeavour. I called my Aunt in hopes of gaining some expert advice on a simple project- she mentioned the drawstring bag. After about 15 minutes of confusing explanation of directions, I told her I thought I could figure it out and set out to yet again begin another project.


Thank goodness for the internet these days- I had no problem getting a tutorial on making drawstring bags on youtube. I highly advise looking up "novice sewing projects" on youtube, you would be amazed at what you can make!!! 


Drawstring Bags
14 x 16 inch piece of fabric (Fabric Land $2/ metre)
Sewing Machine
All purpose thread (matching to fabric)
You can choose to use ribbon or cut pieces of the fabric for the "string"

Look it up on youtube.com

Homemade Stamps

I have recently developed a huge satisfaction from "stamping". I love adding these little embellishments to cards, gift wrapping, notes, etc. The best thing about them is that they are reusable...


A few weeks ago, I was given a pile of magazines to browse through and I found a fantastic article about creating your very own stamps! The idea seemed so terrific and, of course, thrifty- so I decided to give it a whirl.


Corks (you may have these on hand, know a family member or neighbour who may have some old wine corks OR you can purchase a package for $3.49 at Michaels).
Glue Gun/ Glue Sticks
Buttons (flatter ones seemed to work better)


TOTAL cost being FREE or less than $5 depending on what you have on hand


Glue a button onto the skinnier end of the cork. Allow glue to set. Blot your stamp in some ink "stamp away". Your stamps may work better when a piece (or 2) of felt is placed underneath the paper you are using.

Flashy Headbands

I was bored a couple of weeks ago and since I have a crazy love for ribbons and buttons, I was searching the web for crafts involving just these two items and found the prettiest headband!


Actually, I had been wanting to attempt crafting headbands for quite some time because I had seen a gorgeous one made with scrap pieces of ribbon at a store in Niagara-on-the-Lake months ago (reminder to self- I must go back there and look at it again, I can't find a photo of one similar anywhere!).


Flashy Headbands
Elastic (2 yards for $1.49) at Lens Mill- you can choose the width of band you would like and colour
Ribbon (3 for $1) at Michaels OR they have plenty at dollar stores in various colours/ sizes
Felt (3 sheets for $1) at the dollar store
Glue Gun and Glue
Thread and Needle
Buttons


In hindsight, it was much easier to purchase a package of headbands- either plain ones or the full elastic ones available in plenty of different colours for both children and adults at the dollar store in packages of 2-8 for $1. Buying the separate elastic and sewing the ends together would only be beneficial for infants, so you could measure the correct size.


Use the ribbons/ buttons and anything else you may like to decorate your headband (feathers, flowers, felt pieces, etc). Attach to headband using a piece of felt- use LOTS of hot glue and be careful not to burn yourself!!!


You can use different styled ribbons with patterns for Holidays as well. This past St. Patricks day, I wore a green ribboned headband with green and white feathers- it looked great!

Fresh Salad

Remember when I was talking about the joy of having fresh herbs at hand? We reaped the benefit of that tonight when I made a salad and added some fresh parsley and chives- YUMMY!

Herbs

I have always loved the idea of having fresh herbs on hand, especially if you have them growing in your very own kitchen. I have attempted herbs numerous times (and have succeeded) but only for a couple of months before they end up sadly over or under-watered.


I decided that I would attempt to gain the skill of herb-growing once again. However, I did some research and chose some of the "heartier" herbs. The final candidates being: Rosemary, Lemon Thyme, Chives and Parsley. I also bought a Bay Leaf tree- these are very hearty and easy to tend to. I have also started some oregano and basil from seed- we'll see about those!!


I wanted to show off my herbs in a different sort of way and was meandering around Michael's when I found some "Chalkboard Paint". I had seen some crafts using this sort of paint before and had loved the result, so with my coupon in hand, I picked it up and headed to the check-out!!


Chalkboard Paint Terra Cotta Pots 
Chalkboard Paint ($6.99) at Michaels- brought a 40% off coupon
Terra Cotta Pots (2 for $1) at the dollar store
Terra Cotta Bowl- for catching water (3 for $1) at the dollar store
Paint Brushes (10 for $1) at the dollar store
Thin Coloured Chalk (99 cents) at Staples


TOTAL cost was about $8


Simply paint a couple of layers of the paint on each pot. Allow to dry for about 2 hours. Wipe off and VOILA! Label your plant pots accordingly- time and time again!!

Spring

We sure have had some beautiful weather the past few days! It has really got me thinking again that Easter will be popping up rather soon...


After searching for yet another Spring/ Easter craft, I thought "why not use up some of my scrap yarn for something useful" and found the CUTEST butterfly and flower crochet pin patterns! So, here I am on my day off making about 30 of these pins for the residents who live at the Nursing Home I work at- for them to wear on Easter weekend.


FUN! Each pin only takes about 2 minutes to make- easy, eh?!


Butterfly Pin
Crochet Hook 3.75 ($2.29) at Walmart
Light Weight Yarn (worsted) in pastel colours
Safety Pin


TOTAL cost- depends on how much scrap yarn you have lying about!! At Zellers, they have 150 grams ball of yarn for $1.79 in plenty of Spring pastel colours.


Chain 4
Slip stitch into first stitch to make a ring.
*Chain 4, 3 triple crochet in ring, chain 4, slip stitch into ring.*
Repeat * x1 (this will be the two largest wings of the butterfly)
*Chain 3, 3 double crochet in ring, chain 3, slip stitch into ring.*
Repeat * x1 (this will be the two smallest wings of the butterfly)
Fasten off.
Take another colour yarn to wrap around to make the body of the butterfly/ antennae
Attach safety pin to back of brooch.


Enjoy!

Easter

Well, Easter is just around the corner. I was searching for some ideas on Easter crafts and found a couple of quick and inexpensive ways to jazz up your Easter decor. 


Easter Eggs
Balloons (25 for $1) from the dollar store
Plaid Fabric Stiffener ($7.99) from Walmart
Embroidery Floss (6.99 for a package of 24 various colours) from Michaels bought with a 40% off coupon to make it only about $3.50
Scrap Yarn (free)


The first craft was making Easter Eggs using balloons, embroidery floss and fabric stiffener. At first, it seemed that it would be pretty simple to create, but when I actually started getting into the craft- it was very messy and difficult to maneuver the wet floss. Blow up some balloons to the sizes you prefer. Tie each balloon with a small piece of scrap yarn (for hanging up later). Pour some of the fabric stiffener into a container. I suggest unravelling the embroidery floss to prevent knotting. Start dipping the floss into the stiffener and gathering it up, ensure you remove the excess stiffener with your fingers. Begin wrapping the balloon with the floss- you can mix up colours if you wish. Hang to dry overnight. Pop balloon with a pin in the morning and pull out of hardened floss egg. Voila! Hang up with fishing line OR put in a basket...

Sparkled Eggs
Foam Eggs (6 for $1 for the large ones, 8 for $1 for the small ones) from the dollar store
White Glue ($1) from the dollar store
Sparkles in various colours ($1 each) from the dollar store
Paint Brush (10 for $1) from the dollar store


TOTAL for craft (14 eggs, various sizes and colours) was $8.


The second craft used some foam eggs. I brushed thick white glue on the eggs with a foam brush and then used various colours of sparkles to spice them up a bit!! Fun craft, you could probably manage to do this with children, however I would advise to make sure the glue is dry before completing them (do one half at a time).