Cookie Day

Every year our church youth group spends a day making bazillions of Chocolate Chip Cookies as a fundraiser. Someone at the church works at a local high school and they use the kitchen there for baking the massive amount of cookies. People order the cookies as Christmas presents for office staff (and whoever) and it turns out to be lots of work for one day, but a huge fundraiser. This year I was asked to make cookies as samples to cut up and give away on ordering days. I made almost 8 dozen cookies this weekend and when I left the room for a minute I returned to find the above scene. My kids are so funny!
This pile is what has been keeping me busy. I decided I might never use up all my sweater pieces for mittend and decided to move on to stockings. I can get two stockings out of each sweater and still have smaller pieces left for mittens. I took a picture of the carnage on the floor. I now have about 12 or 13 stockings made but I need to complete the top part of them with some trim, so they are mostly done but not quite finished.

The wool is thick enough that it takes up more room than an average craft so I am eager to finish it all and throw away the scraps. Then I have to find someone who wants a wool scrap stocking for the holidays! I swear, I should have thought about that first before I got carried away with this. It seems though that the closer I get to the holidays, the more people I find that I'd like to have a present for, single parents, youth group volunteers, people away from home or family who otherwise might not wake up to presents under their tree. I love surprising people with the gifts of the season, the greatest of these being love. I even have a few gifts wrapped already. Once we put the tree up, I have to have presents under it. I can't stand having an empty tree.

Putting Away for Winter

Whenever I have an activity going on, Seth wants to help, so I put him to good use helping me make freezer jam. I went to a jam making demonstration at Sur La Table a while back and they suggest adding 2 teaspoons of grated orange peel to the jam, so Seth is grating for me. We are not measuring accurately because the lady at Sur La Table said 2 t is equivalent to about grating half an orange, so I just take her word for it grate right into the bowl.
I feel like a squirrel putting away for the winter. I made 21 jars of strawberry jam which will go to the Sunday school teachers at church. I gave everyone stamped tiles last year, and they were a HUGE hit. What can I say? Scott teaches 2nd and 3rd grade kids and I am an adult class leader, so I appreciate everyone who works hard to keep things running smoothly.

I finished a pair of mittens for myself. I know I am keeping them because I found some pretty felted flowers on a sweater at Goodwill and cut them off the sweater and sewed them onto the mittens. I love them! Of course, I bought the sweater, I didn't swipe the flowers right there in the store. :)

Scott spent last night painting the bathroom for me. The bathroom is one of those endless projects you can work on bit by bit with no "due" date. At least now we can put up towel bars again, which is my goal. I hate painting projects and everywhere I turn I see some other room that needs painted or trim to be painted or a touch up spot that needs help. I should set aside an hour or two a day and paint before I go crazy, but I just can't seem to find the time. Scott is a God to me and I never love him more than when he is painting for me.

More Mittens

I'd show you the photos, but they really just look like more of the same. I keep on making mittens. I don't know if it is the cheap deals you can get on a sweater that I love or the sewing. Time will tell when I can se if I accomplish anything with all this felted wool. I ntend to use up every last scrap of it.

Since I was last here, I vacationed in the Wisconsin Dells with friends over Fall Break. Wisconsin does not have a drinking age if you are with your parents and the restaurant permits it. Sort of funny, and odd for me who lives in Indiana where you can't even buy alcohol on Sundays. Seth did no drinking, but it was odd to think he could. I had a great time vacationing with my BFF Steph and her family. Who knew how much fun it could be? I never want to vacation with my own family again. (Just kidding, Honey)

We ate our way through Beer/Cheese/Brat soup except for Scott who doesn't care for brats. He tried one cup of it on our last night and immediately knew he was sorry for all that he'd missed. Maybe next time he'll listen to me when I tell him what is good. I guess I could have offered him a bite of mine earlier on, but apparently I didn't fell like sharing.

Here in town we have a research place that has people come in and do studies. I am on the calling list so every once in a while I go taste breakfast bars or use acne wash or whatever they want. they pay well, too. Today I got called in on a study to taste test pies. I sampled three apple pies and then they gave me the pies to take home. Score! We will all be happy pie eaters tonight. Now I just gotta stock up on my French Vanilla Edy's ice cream to go with it. Mmmmm Edy's.

Mittens

So this is pretty much how crafts happen. At least at my house. I was at the fabric store looking for some fabric for a sewing idea I had. I spotted a bin of wool sweaters and a pattern about how to make a bag out of old sweaters. You just get a wool sweater, felt it in your washer (wash in hot water so the fibers shrink) and cut it according to the pattern. Voila, you have a bag.

So, I got a sweater at Goodwill and washed it, cut it, and made a bag. Only it was too big and really not pretty. So, I searched the internet and found a mitten pattern, like the mittens I saw in the store for $40.00 last week. So now I am cutting up felted wool pieces and making mittens.

The two photos are of different mitten sets, even if the colors are the same, I put them in different places on the mittens. You are supposed to sew the cuffs of the sweaters onto the bottoms of the mittens for edging, but I noticed if you use the sweater band you don't need to do the edging. And I am all about cutting out a step or two if I can.

So, I have cut up sweater pieces around the house. The problem is that they are bulky to have around. I have only made a couple of pairs so far, but Noah and Seth each took a pair right away that they claim to love, so I can call this craft a success since it is kid tested and approved.

Brrrrr

I have been in a baking mood lately. Maybe it is because we have not yet turned our furnace on. I think I am trying to stay warm by oven power! I made cupcake bites again, and Seth helped decorate. If you want to know what these are, go to Bakerella and see her recipe and designs. Her site is very cool with lots of variations on the theme.

My neighbor Jen brought me a birthday basket with the supplies to make her famous Tomato Basil soup. Seth has wanted the recipe for a year and she has always been meaning to get to it for me. So for my birthday I got all I need to make my own soup. My conclusion? It was good but it's one of those things, food always tastes better when someone else makes it. It was goodthough and probably has very few calories as it is so full of veggies. It was great on a cold winter night but I really needed some grilled cheese to complete the meal.

I went to a little gift shop today and found some cute mittens for $40.00. Yep, you know I didn't buy them at that price! But i cannot stop longing for them. I wish I'd had my camera, I would have photographed them. They were made from "reclaimed" fleece and wool. This means the lady either cut up her husband's old clothes or shops at Goodwill. She got her supplies on the cheap and there is no way you can convince me that there was enough labor in them to justify the forty bucks. I do need to find a thin warm additive to put between fleece or fabric layers to keep your hands warm when you wear the mittens. Maybe if they are two layers of wool/fleece they will be warm enough.

I am on a mission to make my own now. I'll have to make a prototype and see how it goes. I stopped at Goodwill and got a sweater today for $1.99. I am going to cut it up and turn it into a bag. Any leftovers will be saved for the mitten scrap pile. I'll let you know if any of this works out. Until Later, Happy Crafting!

It's My Birthday

Yes, today is my birthday! There probably isn't another day in the year that I like more than my birthday. I think it is because we never did much for my birthday when I was growing up. I got a store bought cake and a small present. Later on we could pick whether we wanted a present or $25.00. I always took the money so I got a card with money in it, and no presents.

I know it might sound greedy, but as an adult I am all about the presents, both in gving them for other people's special days receiving them on my own. I had lunch with friends this week and got some Swedish Fish. Mmmm, I love them so. They were from my friend Nana who also made me a carrot cake for my birthday. One of my favorite cakes! There is no better way to get a serving of vegetables.

Last night I had a little party with my best girlfriends and I got flowers, a gift card, a travel case and a bag in my favorite color (lime green) and a collage made just for me. I love my birthday celebrations with friends. I have no idea what my family may or may not do today. We all slept in and are having a very quiet day and I am satisfied so far.

I went to a fancy tea store this week and bought some loose leaf tea, which I promptly handed over to Scott for my birthday. He didn't do anything with it, just left it sitting out. When I woke up today I thought I would make myself a cup of teas, but I couldn't find the tea. He must have taken it and wrapped it!

My friend Steph gave me the flowers, which gave her quite a conumdrum. She couldn't decide if I liked flowers or not. Seriously? What girl doesn't want flowers?! She wondered if in my frugality I would find them wasteful. Heck, no! Of course, I would never want a big expensive bouquet from a flower store, knowing I would rather have that kind of money spent on something else. But a tasteful arrangement? Perfect! I love it! I never get flowers, so this is extra special to me.

I did some baking this week, and made a big pile of cookies, which my family managed to quickly eat down. I never meant to put off blogging this long, but the kids won't let me have access to the computer once they are home. Maybe I should distract them with more baked goods and make a run for rthe computer when they aren't looking.

Little People

The possibility that I need psychological help gets closer everyday. I am quite addicted to making these little people. Dangerusly addicted if the truth is known. I have a little assembly line on the breakfast table and everyday I am thinking to myself "Maybe I can get one more coat of paint on before I leave " or " I should give them just one more coat of sealant spray before I go to bed." I just can't stop fussing with them.

I have a few for Halloween and Christmas and birthdays that are going to a store on Monday. There is a little gift shop in indy that is going to sell some for me, along with some jewelry. It will be fun to see if they sell well.

I am never good at coming up with a price point on things. Who knows what people will pay? I am always thinking " I can make that myself" pus I am too cheap to part with money so I shop frugally. If you have any thoughts on their pricing, I'd love to know. They really do take some time to make.

Seth wants to make the characters from the Wizard of Oz. He has made Dorothy and the Wicked Witch so far. he is so cute! He shares well, too, so it is easy to craft with him.