Crafty Mom

Knitting Machine

2011-06-03T09:45:00.001-07:00

I am a knitting machine... no, wait... I have a knitting machine! Woo hoo! This machine, a 1950-60's KnitKing AM3 was owned by a gentleman who's wife had passed away and he didn't want to store it anymore. He tried to give it to the local museum, but they already have one. He dropped it off at the local fabric store and said that he wanted it to go to a home where it would get used. I know the owner of the fabric store pretty well, so she gave me a call.
Wow, I have wanted one of these for a long time, but they have been out of my price range.
It didn't come with a manual, but I managed to find on online. I also found some great instructional videos on YouTube.com. Diana Sullivan is just one of those wonderful teachers who posts her videos. The machine itself is a little greasy, but in good condition.
Now, to try it out...
I will try to show off my creations in future posts. ;)

Doughnuts Extraodinaire!

2010-10-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

A friend posted her family recipe for doughnuts. I haven't tried them, but I'm inclined to believe they would be really, really good!
Her blog is carolynnsrecipebox.blogspot.com
Here is the doughnut recipe.
ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Goodness!

2010-08-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

My husband has been expressing his concern (complaining) that we don't have cookies in the house that he likes. So, I have taken on a project... modifying my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe. In my first attempt, they were too crumbly and too sweet. So, I will keep you updated on the progress. On the bright side, when frozen, the cookies were edible and not too bad.

What to do about soy sauce?!

2010-08-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Soy sauce can be a troublesome thing. The sauces that I usually buy have preservatives and gluten in them. As well, I don't really like the taste. So, what to buy or make to replace this?
Well, I did a little research and found a blog written by Kimberly Harris who cares about good-tasting, quality food, www.thenourishinggourmet.com. She talks about her experience with soy sauce and how she overcame her aversion to it.

Now, I have found a recipe to make my own soy sauce alternative. So, here it is...

Soy Sauce Alternative

An easy and tasty alternative to Soy Sauce.

Ingredients:

8 oz molasses
3 oz. balsamic vinegar
sugar to taste (you can replace with unpasteurized honey or 100% maple syrup)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.

Summer's Here!

2010-07-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Every kid loves freezies, popsicles, and ice cream. Who can resist, really? Well, my kids can't have the sugar that is in these things. Ah, it is so hard to tell them that, no, they can't have what their friends are having. But, I have since realized that there are so many other options available to them, if I make it myself. For instance, with my Tupperware popsicle molds, I can make pretty much any flavor of popsicle I want.

Frozen Delight

Ingredients:

1 cup (250 ml) plain yogurt
1 banana, sliced
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
1 cup (250 ml) 100% pure fruit juice
(orange, peach, pineapple, grape)
To assemble:
7 or 8 paper cups
(approx. 4 oz. each)
7 or 8 plastic spoons or wooden sticks OR
popsicle mold

Directions:

Put the yogurt, banana, vanilla, and juice in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour liquid into small paper cups or mold.
Place filled cups or mold into the freezer.
If using cups, when the yogurt mixture is half frozen, place a spoon or stick in each cup.
Return the cups to the freezer and freeze until firm. This will take about 4 to 5 hours.
To serve, turn cups or mold upside down and run warm water over them until the frozen treats slip out.

Tips:

For more flavor, add small chunks of fresh, canned or frozen fruit.

Indonesian Barbecue Sauce

2010-06-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

The coconut makes this a sweet sauce.

Ingredients:

4 oz / 100g coconut, fresh or desiccated
1 onion
¼ pint / 140 ml milk
½ tsp / 1g chili powder (to taste)
1 juice of one lemon

Directions:

Finely chop the coconut and onion

Mix all the ingredients together and cook very gently until the onion is soft. This sauce can also be served without cooking.

Fudge Brownies

2010-06-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup corn margarine
1/2 cup uncooked Cream of Rice hot cereal
1 egg

1 teaspoon GF vanilla
1 cup sugar or 3/4 cup raw honey
3 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1/4 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium saucepan, heat the water and margarine to a boil. Sprinkle in the cereal and cook for 1 minute.
Remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and let it sit for 4 minutes. Stir in the egg or egg product and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa, and baking powder. Stir in the cereal mixture until well blended. Stir in the nuts, if desired.

Spread the mixture evenly in a greased 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking pan.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Cool and cut into 2-inch squares (This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9 x 13 inch pan.).

Healthy Honey

2010-06-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Did you know that honey can be healthy? There are lots of benefits to honey, but there are more if it is not pasteurized. When the honey is heated past a certain temperature, it looses some of its beneficial properties. Honey that hasn't been pasteurized still has the enzymes your body needs to digest it. It also contains many minerals and antioxidants.
For these reasons, raw or unpasteurized honey is an excellent replacement for sugar. Here is a link for directions on how to replace the sugar in your recipes with honey.

Do you know a person with Celiac Disease?

2010-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

So many people are finding out that they have Celiac Disease. It is so much more common these days than it used to be. It is fairly hard to deal with if it is new to you or you are having someone over for a meal and have never dealt with it before. There are some great websites out there, like Celiac.com and Celiac.ca, as well as others. MennoniteGirlsCanCook.blogspot.com has a section of gluten-free recipes and tips for cooking. I really like this post that gives great advice for friends and family.

Once a Month Cooking

2010-06-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of friends and I have decided to do OAMC (Once a Month Cooking) for the summer. That means one or two days or hard work and the rest of the month with not much to do but put the meals in the slow-cooker or on the barbeque. I found a software that helps with this tremendously. It comes with 150 recipes. You can choose what meals or side dishes you want to include for that month. You also can add your own recipes and decide how many batches you want to do. It will even print out labels and shopping lists. The website is 30 Meals in a Day.
If you already do OAMC or are looking to start, this website will help.

Healthy Granola Bars

2010-06-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Healthy Lunchbox Granola Bars
(This recipe is very forgiving)

2 or 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (You can eliminate the sugar and add 1/4 honey)*
1/4 cup wheat or oat germ ( I sometimes substituted bran)
1/4 cup ground flax or whole flax
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I use brown rice flour)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup cherry-flavoured cranberries
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup honey (unpasteurized)*(3/4 cup if no brown sugar)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil (you could try substituting some of the oil with apple sauce)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(Experiment with the ingredients you like best.) (nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter, sunflower seeds)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 baking pan.
2. In large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, flax, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the centre; pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well. Pat the mixture evenly into the pan.
3. Bake for about 30 minutes, but watch the baking time. If you leave them in too long, they’ll be dry and hard. Cool for 5 minutes, and then cut into bars or squares. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting or they will be too hard to cut.

Sugar Free Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

2010-06-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sugar-Free Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (100%)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 3 dates, finely chopped
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and chill to set.

Pancake Mix (Gluten and Sugar Free!)

2010-06-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Gluten and Sugar Free Pancakes
Ingredients:
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp unpasteurized honey or fruit juice concentrate (you could just leave this out)
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation:
Beat egg until frothy. Add buttermilk, oil, and honey and beat until well blended.
In another bowl, mix brown rice flour and the remaining dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquids. Stir until well blended. Do not over stir. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
Lightly grease a frying pan and fry pancakes.

Homemade Ketchup Recipe

2010-06-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from the book, Is your child's brain starving? by Dr. Michael R. Lyon, MD.

(Makes 1 3/4 Cups)
1 12oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp mustard powder
squeeze of garlic

Mix all ingredients together. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

Great Website!

2010-05-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

Mennonite Girls Can Cook! This website is great! I have recently had to change my family's diet for health reasons and part of that was to get rid of sugar and processed flour. This website has a whole section of our favorite foods (even mennonite) which have been adapted to be gluten-free. Gotta Love it!

Win a Wii Fit!

2009-01-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Moms, check this site out and you could win a Wii Fit!
5 Minutes for Mom

Facebook

2008-12-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who LOVE Facebook, I have created a facebook page for Thumbelina Creations. Go check it out. You can become a fan as well.

Gearing up for Christmas

2008-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

There is so much to do and so little time left. There is only just over a month left before Christmas, and I usually am done my Christmas shopping by now. I have decided to make some of the gifts this year, to ease the financial strain. I wasn't taking into account how much extra time it would take. So, here I am wondering if I will get it all done in time. Here it goes...

Long time, No talk.

2008-09-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry, it has been a while since I have posted.
September is a busy month. I have a son in grade 2 and a son starting kindergarten. So, they were excited to get ready for school. We had to do a lot of shopping for clothes, shoes and school supplies. This takes a lot of time and money. Whew!
So, hopefully, now that school is on its way, I will have a little more time for myself.

I made it to the cover!

2008-08-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

I am extremely happy to announce that my jewelry is on the front cover of "The Handbook to the Handmade", volume 7! I also have a 2-page spread inside.
You can preorder a copy at a discounted price here. The book will be coming out soon.
You can also preregister for volume 8 here, or visit TimothyAdamDesigns.

Wrist Again

2008-08-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

My wrist has not hurt at all for a while now. I did not give in to the craving for crafting. Now I plan on going to see the doctor again to get the okay. So, wish me luck...

Twitter

2008-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have given in and joined Twitter. You can follow me here.

Wrist or Rest?

2008-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been 2 weeks since I have had wrist pain. I have been craving crafting again. I know that if I did any crafting right now, I will most likely injure it again. I figured that if I did a little blogging, it might curb that craving a little bit. And I could "chat" a little with my fellow crafters. So... I still am longing for something creative. Oh, well. Maybe I'll go read a book.

Contest time!

2008-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Craft Junkie is having a CONTEST! Go check it out!

Here are the rules:
1. Post comments on her blog (anonymous comments will not count and will be deleted) with one entry per comment beginning now through the end of the contest at 11:59pm CST July, 23, 2008.
2. Post about this contest on your blog and share the link back in your comment.
3. Subscribe to her blog feed. RSS/Atom
All entries must be received by Tuesday 7/24/2008 12:00am CST to be eligible. The winner will be randomly chosen. Open to US and Canada residents only, sorry.

Finished

2008-07-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

I have completed some new items with an incredible product, Shrink Plastic. You can see the items in my store; thumbelinacreations.etsy.com

I also blogged about them on my store blog.
thumbelinabeadedcreations.blogspot.com

Featured in a Book!

2008-07-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

I came across a really neat idea. Have your store (Etsy) featured in a book that gets promoted worldwide! With 210 Etsy artists featured in 6 volumes, the handbook to handmade is a small cut of very talented artists from around the world.

"The Handbook to Handmade" is a 80 page monthly volume of 35 Etsy artists and their shops. This is a promotional tool that is used to help promote artists and Etsy. Timothy Adam is the creator. And it is now time for Volume 7.

Now I have become a part of it all. My store is to be one of the shops featured in Volume 7.

If you would also like to be featured, visit TimothyAdamDesign.

I guess it's been a while...

2008-07-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't been blogging for a while. My family and I have been on holidays. Ahhh, it was quite relaxing. I only took a couple of books along to really give my wrist a rest. Unfortunately, the activities we planned took their toll, and now my tendinitis is in full force. I have a lump in my wrist now, so I will have to go back to the doctor. I will update.

Crafting Injury

2008-06-18T19:04:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, I developed tendinitis in my right wrist. Do you realize how frustrating this is for a crafter?!
It makes it hard to do any kind of crafting; knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, jewelry, even typing can be painful at times.
I finally had to put all my supplies away, so that they wouldn't be a temptation. On Monday, I got out a little bit of knitting, just to test out my wrist. It HAD been 2 months since I put the supplies away. But, after 5 minutes, I knew that I would be regretting my decision. So, it is back to nothing. I have been doing a lot of reading lately. Oh, well.
I am a little worried that this might mean the end of crafting as I know it. But the doctor keeps reassuring me that I need to give it 3-6 months. Okay.

Knitty.com's New Issue

2008-06-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite knitting websites is Knitty.com. There are always great patterns and articles to read and try. Their site is easy to read and navigate. The patterns are created by the knitty community, so even you or I could contribute. I just love it.

Knitty just put out their new summer issue. There are some great patterns that will inspire you to get into the summer spirit. Happy Knitting!

Mighty Life: Things to Do Before I Go:

2008-06-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

I recently read Maggie Mason's blog, Mighty Girl. On her blog, she has a list of things she wants to do yet in her life. It has inspired me to write my own list. My list is still in the beginning stages, but you can see what I wrote on the bottom right-hand side of my blog.

Maggie would love to read yours too. Make your own Mighty Life List, and send your URL to maggie@mightygirl.net with the subject "Mighty Life".

How to Knit

2008-06-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

There are many resources on the internet on how to... I myself spent many hours searching and learned to knit and crochet from these. I thought that it would be a good idea to share my knowledge with all of you.

The first site I went to was Knitting.About.com. It gives detailed, but easy-to-understand instructions. They also have a wealth of free patterns to learn from.

Another one that was really helpful was FreePatterns.com. This one was great for all different types of crafts; like sewing, quilting, crochet, cross-stitch and tatting. Also, if you are looking for conversion charts or how to substitute yarn; this site is great, too.

Now, for learning the terms and abbreviations, go to knitting-crochet.com. What a lifesaver this one was for me.

So, now you know the techniques and terms and you want to start on your very first "real" project. Not just another scarf or potholder. Here is my list of favorite sites for free (but still quite trendy) patterns:

FreePatterns.com
Knitting.About.com
Berrocco.com
Lionbrand.com
Knitty.com
Bernat.com
Craftown.com
Michaels.com

I hope this information is helpful to you on your journey to learn how to knit. Knitting is definitely one of my favorite forms of crafting. Good luck.

BlogHer.com

2008-06-03T22:57:00.001-07:00

I have joined a group of bloggers called BlogHer.com. BlogHer is the blogging community for women! We invite you to join us to gain additional exposure for your blogs and your ideas, (that's our mission). With more than 13,000 members and 10,000 blogs on our blog list, we're all working together to create a community that is fun, informative and supportive.

New Changes

2008-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have been updating my blog. Thanks to Bloggrrl for all the great tips. I should have my blog updated in the next day or two. She posted about several different ways to drive traffic to your blog and update it.

http://bloggrrl.com/blog141/a-very-long-list-of-ways-to-get-blog-traffic/
http://bloggrrl.com/blog141/5-things-to-do-for-your-blog-in-5-minutes/

2008-05-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

My family and I are trying to get the process started to build a house. OMGoodness! What a frustrating process. And we haven't really started yet. I can see that if this is the way we decide to go, that it will test my faith and my marriage.

2008-05-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

I think I have been taking on too much pertaining to leadership. I don't think of myself as a leader, but here I am... president of the playschool association as well as leading a ladies' bible study. The teacher of the playschool quit, so now I have the responsibility of finding a new teacher. I have never hired anyone before. It all just makes me a little nervous. So, here I go...

Get Paid for your Opinion!

2008-04-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered... how some people can appear to do far less than you do in a day and yet they have more money and more free time than you? It's time to change that. Start getting paid to take online surveys. Earn up to $150/hr. Start Right Now.
OnlineBestSurveys

Welcome

2008-04-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have started a new venture. I have entered the world of online marketing. This blog was created to help create traffic to sites for advertising. Thank you for joining me in this venture. We will see in the future how it goes.