What I Made
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Making Beeswax Candles–A Perfect Simple College Spring Break Project
My son and I recently spent some time together making beeswax candles. It was a simple project, yet it was so meaningful to me. As mentioned in the past, I have been enjoying multiple project kits from my local library over the years. Some of these have included painted rope coasters, a mosaic picture frame, printed clay bowl, and more. Several of these I have done on my own. A few I have completed with family members. The most recent kit was for beeswax candles. This was the perfect project at the perfect time. My son is a college senior and came home for his final spring break. (I have…
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Making Rope Coasters with the Husband and College-Age Kids–A Successful Family Project
I was so pleased that my family (myself, husband, and college age kids) enjoyed spending time together creating citrus rope coasters.
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Pour Painting–Easier and More Successful than Expected!
I have seen photos and videos of pour painting projects, and I always thought that the final products looked so beautiful and interesting. Pour painting is a method where acrylic paint is poured onto a surface, and the design is created by the flow of the paint. The videos make it look easy. I decided to see if the process was as easy as it looked. (You never really know until you try.) To start, the video that I finally used to learn and teach my family is this one. Although my kids were not thrilled with the idea of doing an art project with me (they were forced into…
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Reverse Tie-Dye–Family Fun Creating Coordinated Sweats!
Each year for Hanukkah, I try to plan family activities on some of the eight nights. When the activity involves making something, you get an added bonus at the end! This year, I decided that my family would do a reverse tie-dye project. Instead of having Christmas jammies, we would create Hanukkah sweats! Between winter in Chicagoland and the fact that we are all spending more time at home, sweats seemed like a perfect option. After looking at multiple posts, I honestly just decided to pick the parts that seemed easiest and most doable and went from there. I could watch videos and find posts about using bleach for reverse…
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Sourdough Bread–Back In the Kitchen, Pandemic Series
I initially wrote this first part several weeks ago: Words which I never expected to say to my husband were recently said: “Honey, the next time you go to Sam’s Club, can you pick up another 25 pound bag of flour? We are almost out.” When he first bought 25 pounds of flour, we expected it to last forever. Well, as I had written and posted in the past, we have been taking full advantage of our quantities of flour and our breadmaker! (Our flour “projects” have included homemade pizza and French bread.) After sharing my humorous comment on Facebook, some friends offered me a sourdough starter since I have never…
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Reunion with the Too-Long Ignored Bread Maker and Garlic Roaster
With extra time on my hands during the pandemic, I have been able to spend more time in the kitchen and realized it was time to revisit some wonderful kitchen “gadgets” that had not been forgotten but were so out of use that I would never think about them at times when it was appropriate to use them (I would remember them before going to sleep or in the middle of a work day when I could not do anything food prep related). First of all, I knew that in one specific drawer in my kitchen, I had a garlic roaster. I knew it was there but simply had not…
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Homemade Pizza Night!
(Personal disclaimer: Currently, my family is celebrating the holiday of Passover. This pizza was prepared and enjoyed before the holiday. During Passover, you cannot eat leavened products.) If you have been to a grocery store recently, you may have noticed the lack of cheese pizza availability. Of course, this does absolutely nothing to diminish the craving for pizza. Other items people have had trouble finding recently, from what I have heard at least, include items for baking such as flour and yeast. Well, as members of warehouse clubs, despite not being able to find these items at our neighborhood grocery stores, my husband DID find them at a big box…
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Enjoy Your Wine; Then Upcycle the Wine Bottle!
Last month I attended a local craft show at my area community arts center. Several of the vendors represented larger brands, but there were some individual crafters and artists as well. One of the tables really caught my eye–it was covered with beautifully decorated bottles. I had seen similar items on-line, but you get a different reaction seeing such artwork in person. I chatted with the artist for a bit and took one of her flyers. Later that day, at risk of freaking this woman out, I sent her an e-mail telling her a little about my blog “project” and asking if she would be interested in showing me how…
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Mixed Media Art Project–Painting, Stamping, Decoupage
As a kid, I wasn’t always into art. Yes, I loved my Spirograph, Shrinky Dinks, and Fashion Plates (weren’t those the BEST?!,) but I was not necessarily “artistic” per se. I was more of a “performing arts” kind of gal who loved and still loves dance and theater. As an adult, I have been spending more time over the years trying to become more crafty, artistic, and creative, and I have been really enjoying the process. Pinterest has helped with that. (Although searching on Pinterest can suck hours out of a day, when I actually finish a project inspired by Pinterest, it makes it worth the time!) Fortunately, I have even…
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Tiramisu–I Can Hardly Believe That I Now Know How to Make Tiramisu!
I learned how to make tiramisu!
