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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Friday’s Fresh Five (12/4/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2009| 1 Comment »

Hope you had an enjoyable Turkey Day and gave many thanks for all of the blessings in your lives.

#1 – Decorating With . . .
Dried apple slices and cinnamon sticks add a homey and fragrant touch to holiday wreaths, garlands, and potpourri, but how about decorating presents with them? Use brown postal wrapping paper (or reuse plain sides of grocery bags) or brown lunch bags to hold your gifts. Tie off packages with any coarse natural fiber twine such as raffia, jute or hemp, and add the finishing touches of dried apple slices and cinnamon sticks.

Here’s a recipe for dried apple slices from the Gooseberry Patch – Coming Home for Christmas Cookbook:
8-10 apples
lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons arrow root powder

Soak apples in juice for five minutes, then pat dry. Place remaining ingredients in a large plastic storage bag. Add apple slices and shake to coat. Dry apples in a 150 to 200 degree oven for 6 hours. Remove from oven and lay on wax paper and turn daily until dry.

Fresh apples can be used as decorations too:
*Fill large bowls, vases, or hurricane lamps with apples. One vase could contain only red apples, another only green apples or you could have several containers with red and green mixed together. Fresh greens and berries can be tucked in for a festive look.
*Hollowed-out apples can be used to hold dips and spreads or hold votive candles.
* Apples can be added to floral arrangements or wreaths by wiring them or by staking them.

#2 – Meat Tip From Bob the Market Man
Always scrape or rinse and pat dry any cut of meat that has gone through the meat saw. This includes pork chops, T-bone steaks, porterhouse steaks, and chuck steaks. Scraping, rinsing, or wiping removes any bone dust or fragments that may have adhered to the raw meat.

#3 – Aretha Franklin Sings “Chain, Chain, Chain . . . “
The trend now is to wear multiple chains or necklaces. Layer short and long necklaces together or combine a few longer necklaces for a stylish look. The multiple chain look can be worn with casual attire, such as jeans and a simple blouse, or depending on the design and quality of the necklaces with dressier attire. Bottom line – don’t pile on so many that you’ll fall over!

#4 – Dental Floss Is Not Just for Teeth!
I always keep a container of dental floss in my kitchen drawer. It has a myriad of uses. Because it is thin, yet strong, I use it to truss chicken or turkey. Waxed floss works great for cutting out different types of dough, such as dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, or refrigerator cookies. Refrigerate dough to make it firm, place floss underneath the roll of dough, and cross the left side to the right and the right to the left. Pull floss tightly to cut evenly through dough. This crisscross technique can also be used to cut soft cheese or to loosen stubborn baked cookies or biscuits off baking sheets. Hang pictures with it instead of wire, which can scrape wall paint. Dental floss can come to the rescue many times over when you travel. Use it for quick fixes for broken zipper pulls, luggage tags, bracelets and necklaces, and shoe laces. Sew a button back on with floss, but be sure to pack a needle with a large eye in your travel gear. This holiday season string your cranberries, popcorn, or gumdrops on dental floss. Mint dental floss works great to tie fresh or artificial greens together!

#5 – Thought for Today
For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.
Clarence E. Hodges

Time to start your Christmas shopping – only three weeks left!

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The Twelve Posts of Christmas

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Creativity, tagged , , , on November 25, 2009| 1 Comment »

Andy Williams is crooning, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go . . . .” Well, not quite everywhere, but at least at the store where I work. Hanging from a little pop-up Christmas tree in the middle of the store are three-dimensional metal and crystal-embellished ornaments. Rich jewel-toned silky tops, shimmering sweaters, and sequined jackets hang from racks waiting for the holiday spirit to snatch them up. No offense to Pilgrim fans out there, but other than placing a fall wreath on my front door, I did not decorate my home for Thanksgiving. Although I enjoy Thanksgiving because of the obvious three F’s: fall, food, and family, for this holiday crafter there is so much to do with so little time. Like the retail stores, I’ve moved on to Christmas!

With only 12 planned posts before Christmas, I’m offering you my Twelve Posts of Christmas. The contents of these posts won’t stray too far from my original intent, but there will be an emphasis on recipes for entertaining, crafty gifts to make and take, and many other holiday ideas.

Here’s my first holiday idea for you. How about refreshing your front door Christmas wreath? Even if your wreath has seen better days, there’s no need to toss it out. As long as it still has good “bones,” it is salvageable! One of my friends always gets vouchers from me for her birthday. Last year I promised to rework one of her broken necklaces and when I was finished she had a totally different necklace plus two pairs of matching earrings. This year she received a voucher from me to refresh her two front door Christmas wreaths.

It was easy. First I removed faded flower stems by either carefully pulling them off or by cutting them off as close to the glue source as possible. Next, using wire cutters, I removed the bows. Because I wanted to reuse as many original parts of the wreaths as possible, I left the cream-colored berries, pine cones, and leaves on, but took off an overabundance of disintegrating tiny plastic berries and replaced them with more realistic ones. I also removed anything else that was on the verge of falling off.

At my local craft store I selected new ribbon. In my friend’s case, I wanted to get away from the faded, wide, red ribbon that the wreaths were sporting before, because between the poinsettias and the berries there was too much red. I opted for a wide cream brocade ribbon. I thought the light color would look attractive against her black doors and would match the cream-colored berries. I paired up a thinner, gold-edged, transparent, red ribbon with the cream ribbon to tie in the gold of the existing leaves. While at the craft store I also picked up new poinsettias, keeping the same diameter as the old ones, along with the new more realistic berries.

The flowers, berries, and loose items were all hot-glued into place. Pretty new bows were made and instead of placing them at the bottom where they used to be, I positioned the bows at about ten o’clock for the left wreath and two o’clock for the right one. I felt this made each wreath more unique, while still being part of a pair.

Overall, the project took me a couple of hours, but that’s because I was watching a Christmas movie at the same time!

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Tea for Two – Recycling Teacups

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, Handcrafted Cards, Jewelry, Recycling, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2009| 4 Comments »

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Some things are too pretty to throw out. Cracked or chipped teacups fall into that category for me. Recycling or reusing them in different ways seems to be the best compromise and for years I have looked for ways to do this. After much thought and research, I have compiled this list of ways to reuse mismatched cups and slightly damaged teacups:

1. Teacups as Planters
Pack crocus corms tightly with point side up in water over a bed of tiny pebbles. Or drill a drainage hole into the bottom of a teacup and pop in an herb plant. Plant three or more of these and line them up along your sunny kitchen window.

2. Teacups as Storage Caddies
A teacup set in your guest bathroom makes a cute container for small guest soaps.

Teacups can also be used in a bathroom to store small items such as nail clippers and hairpins or used in your bedroom as jewelry sorters for earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

What about using an old tea cup at your desk for storing paper clips, rubber bands, stamps, etc.?

3. Teacups as Pincushions
I’ve seen old teacups converted into pincushions with attached saucers used for holding buttons, bobbins, etc. Just make a compact ball of stuffing, cover it with fabric and hot glue it to the inside of the tea cup.

4. Teacups as Candy Dishes
Collect and group an assortment of teacups. Place different colored candy in each cup. This would be especially sweet for a springtime luncheon.

4. Teacups as Candle Holders
Put votive candles into an array of teacups for an instant candle-scape indoors or out. Varying the heights of each teacup and saucer set would add visual interest.

5. Teacups as Candles

I haven’t made these myself yet, but I plan to. Basically, a wick is attached to the bottom of the cup, wax is melted in the microwave and then poured into a tea cup. Complete instructions for this project can be found here: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/11/diy-project-kates-teacup-candles.html

6. Teacups as Bird Feeders

Check out this website for ways to convert teacups into bird feeders for your garden.

7. Teacups as Decorative Items

Broken pits of teacups can be used in mosaics and in jewelry designs.
Teacups have been converted into bangles, wind chimes, and chandeliers. Look at these clever ideas.

Now that you know what to do with those misfit teacups, don’t forget that tea leaves can be recycled, too. Throw loose tea leaves into your compost pile. Composting tea bags is a little trickier, depending on the type of tea bag fabric used. Used tea bags can also be placed in the bottom of plant containers, especially in hanging plants, to help retain moisture. And remember the old beauty tip of using them as eye compresses. Warm or cold, teabags can help to relax tired eyes. Lastly, donate dried, empty teabags to native artists who use them to create original artwork that they sell to raise money for themselves and their communities. Check out this company in Africa that makes art and useful items out of tea bags. Good for our planet and good for our souls.

Note: I created the photo mosaic teacup card at the top of this post for my Auntie Ella who is a lover of hearts and of tea, but more importantly, is a very special person to me.

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Friday’s Fresh Five (11/6/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Community, Creativity, Handcrafted Cards, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Kids, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2009| 2 Comments »

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#1 – Making Peace, Cards That Is
P1090113_1Being a flower child of the ’70s, I decided to make birthday cards for my sister-in-law and for a friend utilizing paper punches and scraps again, but this time designing them to be in the shape of peace signs. The heart-shaped peace sign was made by stacking large and small, flower-shaped punch-outs from Astrobright paper. The round traditional peace sign consisted of stars punched out of an outdated Hawaiian calender, then color grouped and mounted onto pearlized cream and lustrous aquamarine papers.

#2 – Leftover Halloween Candy Needed
I read an article in my local newspaper about different uses for leftover Halloween candy. The one suggestion that caught my eye was sending the candy to Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude will take the candy and put them together with other items to make care packages for American troops. Checking out the website: http://www.OperationGratitude.com, I found that not only did OG need our candy, but it also pleaded, “At this time, our most urgent need is for personal letters, hand-made scarves, Beanie Babies and financial donations to pay for postage.” If you send your candy to OG, why not include a few personal notes? The holidays are coming up for our soldiers, too.

The newspaper article mentions to ship candy by December 5th to:
Operation Gratitude/California
Army National Guard
17330 Victory Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Attn: Charlie Othold

#3 – Bet You Didn’t Know This?
I’m just a fountain of information today, but did you know that Ralph Macchio, the Karate Kid, turned 48 this week! This makes me feel old! My sons used to watch his movies and mimicked his famous “crane” move over and over again. And who could ever forget Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on, wax off” martial arts lesson? Using that strategy didn’t help me back then, when I tried to get my sons to wash our car!

#4 – Are Store Brands As Good As Name Brands? – Bob’s Market Tip
Most of the time, yes. Generally, the quality is the same, but items are just labeled differently. Store brand items are packed by the same companies that pack major brands and store brands cost less because no promotion is needed and they come directly to the store from a warehouse, therefore requiring no middleman. Do not be afraid to experiment. If you find the product meets your standards, you can save a significant amount of money off of your annual grocery bill. Try performing blind taste tests at home to see if store brands taste better than the name brand products. Even Best Foods Real Mayonnaise is packed by a company that packs for private labels.

#5 – A Peace Quote by Jimi Hendrix

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Peace to all this weekend.

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Friday’s Fresh Five (10/30/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gardening, Gift Ideas, Helping Others, Recipes, Recycling, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , , on October 30, 2009| 4 Comments »

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#1 – Spooky Cake My Way!
I have to say that biting into crunchy chocolate bits and creamy pockets of sweetness of the Oreo cookies hidden in this cake, was a spooktacular experience! Even though Maida Heatter’s (Spooky) Oreo Bundt Cake sounded good, I didn’t have all the ingredients for it and I was in a lazy mood. With my sincerest apologies to the great baker Ms. Heatter, I cheated and used a cake mix. Here’s what I did: Preheated oven to 325 degrees. Greased and floured my bundt pan. Took 18 whole Halloween Oreo cookies, broke them into quarters and set them aside. Followed the instructions on the package of Betty Crocker’s Super Moist Yellow cake mix and made the batter. Poured about two cups of plain batter into my bundt pan. Then into the remaining batter, I gently folded in the broken cookies and poured this mixture into the pan. Baked it for 40 minutes and then removed it from the oven to cool. After it cooled, I sprinkled it with a light dusting of powdered sugar and then followed that with a light dusting of cocoa powder. Couldn’t have been easier!

#2 – Reusing Jack
You’re not going to throw away your jack-o’-lantern after Halloween are you? Jack is more than a pretty face! Roast the seeds with your favorite spices and don’t forget that the flesh makes delicious soup or heavenly pies (providing your jack-o’-lantern is still fresh). There are plenty of online sites with recipes for all of the above. After that, the best way to dispose of your pumpkin is by composting. According to Raquel Fagin of Earth911.com, “Both the pumpkin, as well as its seeds, can be composted. In fact, pumpkin seeds themselves are a strong source of nutrients, including zinc, iron and phosphorus. Compost piles rely on a mix of nitrogen-rich greens (which will include pumpkin components) and browns (leaves, paper and other carbon-rich materials). So, Halloween is the perfect time to compost, because you’ll not only have leaves falling before winter, but your pumpkin to also add to the mix.” Or what about this – Give your local zoo a call and check to see if it accepts donations of pumpkins to feed to its animals as a seasonal treat. Give a zoo animal a “Big Jack!”

#3 – OMG – Leggings Are Back!
Here’s what Gill Hart of Suite101.com says, “The fall/winter 2009 trend for belting everything from baggy tops to dresses to cardigans means that leggings are the perfect accessory, no matter what a woman’s age.” He further states, “Metallic-look poly-blend leggings also make an ‘80s-style comeback, along with jeggings and treggings, a strange hybrid, a cross between jeans/trousers and leggings, for those who are not brave enough to go the hole hog”. Say it’s not true, because I thought leggings were hideous in their original incarnations! Maybe it’s just me.

#4 – Flower Vases To Go
When taking flowers to friends or dropping flowers off to a senior home, it’s always nice to have them already arranged in vases for immediate enjoyment. There’s no need to give up one of your own vases or to go out and buy new ones, just look around your pantry. I find that large jars and cans make fabulous vases. You do save empty mayonnaise and spaghetti sauce jars, don’t you? Cover the jar or can with fabric or wrapping paper or even cheesecloth, tie with a ribbon, fill with water, and add flowers. Some cans don’t even need to be covered. An empty can of Le Sueur Sweet Peas makes a cute little flower container all by itself. What to do with the peas? That’s another post!

#5 – A Bit of Mother Teresa Wisdom
It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.

Do something with great love this weekend.

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Friday’s Fresh Five (10/23/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Handcrafted Cards, In The Kitchen, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , on October 23, 2009| 3 Comments »

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#1 – Can You Guess Which Birthday My Husband Just Celebrated?
Using paper punches and glue, I made this simple birthday card for my husband. I layered the hearts on top of the circles to create the symbol of five as they appear on dice. It’s an easy design that could be used with other numeric combinations. By the way, my husband’s older than ten!

#2 – Simple Color Theory
When trying to figure out what the general complementary color of another color is, whether it is for an accessory you’re adding to an outfit or for a piece of furniture you’re selecting for a room, just think about primary colors. Red, yellow, and blue to be precise. Here’s a simple formula: If the primary color you have is A, then B + C = complementary color. For example, if you are wearing a blue sweater and want to select a scarf to wear with it, then combine the two remaining primary colors, red and yellow in this case, and you get orange as the complementary color. The hues will vary, of course, depending on your color selections.

#3 – A Meat Market Tip from Bob
Have you ever had a recipe which called for skirt steak, but all you could find in the market was flank steak? Or have you ever ordered grilled hanger steak in a restaurant and wondered where it came from? What’s the difference between these cuts of meat? In very simple terms, the main difference between flank steaks, hanger steaks, and skirt steaks is a matter of proximate location. All three cuts of beef come from the belly area of the cow – between the forequarter and the hindquarter. Skirt steaks and hanger steaks come from the forequarter and flank steak is cut from the hindquarter of the animal. All are prized for their flavor, but are less tender pieces of meat and must be sliced across the grain. Fajitas and Chinese stir-fry are popular main dishes made with these cuts of meat.

#4 – Keep Your Fingers
To prevent your cutting board from slipping away as you slice and dice, slip a damp paper towel or a damp kitchen towel between the board and the counter surface. Also, you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp knife. Keep those knives sharpened to make ease of your kitchen work. Your fingers will thank you!

#5 – A Nice Sentiment Sent By a Friend
Life is beautiful especially with good friends: Good friends are like stars, you don’t always see them, but you know they are there.

Thanks to all of my “stars” and have a great weekend!

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Petite Pumpkins with Personality

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, tagged , , , , , on October 14, 2009| 2 Comments »

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Halloween is just a few weeks away, so it’s time to decorate in a big way with mini pumpkins. Mini pumpkins make adorable jack-o’-lanterns and, not to be discriminating, jill-o’-lanterns. Don’t let their petite size stifle your creativity.

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In lieu of carving, I use black paint pens and draw faces freehand directly onto the pumpkins. I find that paint pens work better than permanent markers, because they provide a deeper black.

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To decorate mini pumpkins, first wash off any surface grime and towel dry. Be sure pumpkins are thoroughly dry before decorating.

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Traditional jack-o’-lanterns have triangular eyes and noses and sawtooth mouths, because these shapes are easily cut with a knife, but with paint pens you can create squiggles and swirls for eyes and circles and ovals for noses and mouths.

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Feel free to copy the faces that I have painted or use any design you like in pumpkin cutting stencil books.

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The skies the limit as to how many different faces you can create on mini pumpkins. Raffia can be used as bows or hair for your jill-o’-lanterns. Curling or wired ribbon can also be used for special touches. I even have versions of Dracula (red cape underneath him) and Frankenstein. For dog lovers, I found a pumpkin with a long stem and used it as the dog’s tail.

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Last year, wanting to bring Fall cheer to my husband’s co-workers, I created these little personalities and put one on each person’s desk. There are no two faces alike in this group!

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Have fun creating petite pumpkins with personality!

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Crafty Cards For Cool Nieces

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, Handcrafted Cards, Photography, Recycling, tagged , , , , , , , on October 5, 2009| 8 Comments »

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Fall is in the air. Hooray! I love the cooler weather. I guess I should finally take down the heart-shaped Valentine’s Day wreath that’s on my front door and put up an autumn one! Four of my nieces have fall birthdays and the family recently had a collective celebration for them. I decided to carry on with my tradition of making personalized birthday cards and I used techniques that I posted about in my Recycling Blooms post. Thought you might like to see the crafty cards that I made for my oh-so-cool nieces.

The photo mosaic house and garden scene above I made for cute little Jessica by snipping free form shapes from old photos. Note the little white dog sitting in his dog house. That’s my little Romeo making an appearance. Inside the card balloon shapes with attached kite strings float in air to give her birthday greeting a festive look.

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Artistic Kimberly also received a photo mosaic card, but hers was constructed to resemble a slice of birthday cake. I used a pig-shaped hole punch and a regular round punch to make the small pieces that were densely layered to create the illusion of a cake slice. Each piece was selected for its color value to provide the cake with an appearance of dimension and texture. “Birthdays are Nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake,” was a great quote I found for the inside greeting of Kimmy’s card.

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Wanting to try something different for fashionable Lani, I clipped a photo of a model wearing a suit from a fashion magazine and redressed her in one of my own designs. I created an evening gown by layering shapes of black and red text from the magazine. This model proudly wears her label on the outside – note Dior is prominently displayed! Before adhering the model to the red card stock, I first ran the card stock through the printer so that it read, “Happy birthday to a gal with a style all her own!”

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My niece Stacey is so much more than just a pretty gal, so I wanted to create a unique card for her by using photos of beautiful celebrities to create a face within a face look. According to my daughter, this card is a little scary looking, but I think the card’s sentiment pulls it together, “There’s more to life than just being a pretty face . . . There’s brains and charm and compassion and wit . . . And you have it all!”

With the cost of greeting cards rising, why not make your own?

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Recycling Blooms!

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, Handcrafted Cards, Photography, Recycling, tagged , , , , , , on September 18, 2009| 1 Comment »

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There is a door off of my family room that always remains shut to guests and is opened very cautiously by family members. It’s only a wooden barrier, but it separates chaos from order. Behind the door is my craft closet. I’m a crafter in pursuit of finding my craft and along the way I have amassed a lot of stuff. But the primary reason for the mess is that I keep everything. I see potential uses for everything beyond their intended uses. Just ask my husband about the cracked plastic laundry hamper that I would not let him throw away. He’s used to my pack rat ways, but the expression on his face when I said, “Why can’t we cut the bottom off and use it as a tomato cage?” told me that I had come up with my most ridiculous idea yet. I beg to disagree! I ‘m just a creative person who sees endless possibilities in things.

P1080020_1Here’s another example. What usually happens to photographs that are misprinted for one reason or another? Most people throw them away, but, of course, I do not. I save them for reasons unknown. Then one day I was making a birthday card for a neighbor and thought wouldn’t it be great if I cut up these colorful, but imperfect photos, and make a design with them? I took out scissors and paper punches and became engrossed with the bits of color and shapes as my design came into being.

Later as I stood back to admire the photo mosaic flower I had created, I thought of other materials that could be recycled in this manner. What about using black and white photos or glossy magazine photos? How about utilizing magazine articles with different font sizes for value density effects? What if I folded the photos for texture . . . . here I go again!

If you are wondering about the fate of the plastic laundry hamper, I sadly conceded to tossing it out.

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