Christmas Crafting!

A project totally for fun and appropriate for the time of year.  I was looking for a new card holder since our old card display got damaged in the move.  We don't get tons of cards, but we do get some, so I like to display them.  I found two versions of this project on Pinterest (on Craftiness is Not Optional, and on Holiday Kids Crafts), so ended up cobbling them together with what I liked from each.  What I've done is as follows:

What you'll need:

• Green paint
• Wooden clothespins - the 'alligator' kind with the spring.  (The number of clothes pins depends on the size of your wreath.  I used a Wal-Mart pack of 50, and that was plenty.  Even had some left over.)
• Beads - either pre-painted in red and/or green, or unpainted - pony beads work well
• If beads are unpainted, you'll want paint for the beads, red and/or another shade of green
• Wire - you can use craft wire, or a wire coat hanger.  I used the coat hanger, because we already had a bunch.
• Christmas ribbon - if you want a big, loopy bow, the wired ribbon works best.

Instructions:

1.     Paint your clothespins with the green paint.  If you are alternating shades of green, paint half of your clothes pins in one green and half of them in another green.  Make sure everything is covered by the paint, both sides of the clip as well as between the two parts as best you can. Let the pins dry thoroughly.  I liked this way of painting them (as seen in one of the example projects above): use a box to support the pins and much more easily paint both sides of the pins.

2.     If your beads are not already colored, paint the beads.  You can use pre-painted beads if you can find them, or use pony beads, like Craftiness is Not Optional.  I used pony beads, as the round wooded beads at Hobby Lobby didn't have pre-drilled wooden beads the size I wanted.  Allow the paint to dry thoroughly on the beads as well. 

3.     Cut wire to the length for your desired size wreath.  I used a coat hanger wire because (a) it's a great size for a decent wreath, and (b) it's free.  Everyone's closet has spare wire hangers, after all!  For a good size length of wire, cut off the hook of the hanger, just at the bend at the base of the hook.  One note about the coat hanger though: check the diameter of the coat hanger wire against the sizing of the clothespins.  I had to use a plain wire coat hanger, as the plastic-coated one (the white ones) was too big to fit through the clothespins.  Easiest to do this stage, before you cut the wire, instead of once it's all cut.  Learn from my mistakes :)

4.     When everything is completely dry, string a clothespin onto the wire through the spring in the center of the clothespin. The pinching end of the clothespin should be facing out.

4.     String the rest of the materials, alternating red beads and green clothespins.  

5.     When you end up with the size you want, bend the wire into a circle and twist at the top.  Secure the twist with a generous helping of hot glue to secure.

 

6.     Some ribbon to hang it, and a Christmas bow on top, and you're done!  Besides looking cute and festive, the bow and the ribbon will help hide the wire and glue at the top of the wreath.

 

7.     Hang your wreath, and clip Christmas cards into the clothespins to display.  Cute!

Notes on the variations: 

• Holiday Kids Crafts alternated shades of green for the clothespins (bright green and evergreen), and colors of the beads as well (red and green).  They used a pattern of beads and clothespins as follows: evergreen clothespin, red bead, primary green clothespin, green bead, etc.  Whether you use alternating colors, or a more uniform look like I (and Craftiness) did, make sure you alternate regularly, one bead per clothespin.
• Craftiness is Not Optional used plain unwired ribbon on the bow, as their bow was smaller to begin with.  The wired ribbon used in the other inspiration project is easier to make those big decorative bows with.  For a hanging loop and a basic bow, you probably only need a yard or so of ribbon.  Just remember, the bigger the bow, the more ribbon you'll need.  I used the whole spool of Dollar Store ribbon on this bow (9 yds, if you're curious).

Happy holidays everyone!

For those of you who run to music...

Have you guys found this site yet?  Rock My Run is a website offering premixed workout playlists. Each playlist page shows the songs included in the particular playlist, but it's all downloaded as a single file, just one big mp3 containing the mix of songs.  The songs are all about 2 minutes in length within the playlist - long enough to get a good chunk of a song you like, songs you don't like pass relatively quickly, and the frequent changing of songs keeps you moving.  The playlist lengths are nice and standard workout lengths - 30, 45, 50, 90 minute playlists, and so on.  You can sort them by genre, length, DJ, etc.  And they have New Music Mondays, where they post a new running mix each week.  The music is heavily on the pop/hip-hop/dance side of things, but that does make good running music.  They are expanding the genre selection though - there's a country playlist or two, and last week's New Music Monday was "Flannel Power," lots of 90s rock.  And the icing on the cake?  It's in Beta, so it's still free!  Lots of good workout music, all for free!  Nice!

It looks like a good website, and they definitely have plans to grow.  According to the FAQs, they are planning to offer links to purchasing songs in a playlist, have iPhone and Android apps, and eventually offer video as well. Big plans, and it'd be great to see them happen!

I'm hit-or-miss when it comes to running with music.  Kinda an as-the-mood-strikes sort of thing.  Sometimes I like the quiet to be alone with my thoughts, and sometimes it's my thoughts I'm trying to outrun.  I have tried several of the playlists off Rock My Run, though, and am enjoying them.  There's a lot of newer music, with some older stuff thrown in too, but the newer stuff includes a lot of songs I don't have on my computer yet but are playing on the radio now.  Good change of pace from my personal workout and running playlists.

So, thought I'd pass it along, to any other runners out there looking for a new, free source of good running mixes. Rock My Run - go check it out!

Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Happy blogoversary to me!  4 years now chattering away mindlessly.  Crafts, travel, books, movies... all those things that help keep me sane as we bounce around the country.  So, a post today!  Not a pattern or project instructions or anything incredible, but here's a book I've been dying to read since the spring, and we finally got our hands on a copy:  Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.

Plot: Meet Dexter Morgan, everyone's favorite monster. He’s a serial killer who abides by a code: he only kills bad people. Working as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts perfect victims - murders, rapists, etc. - within his grasp. Not that anyone would suspect him. He’s handsome, charming, and over the years, has become adept at blending in with 'regular people.' His well-balanced life becomes unsettled, however, when the department starts working on a series of brutal murders, whose signature is eerily close to his own style. Dexter works to sort out the killings, trying to stay one step ahead of his co-workers, all while wondering if he's trying to solve his own crimes...

Yes, this is the inspiration for the Showtime series, "Dexter" (more on that another day, as it definitely deserves its own post).

First off, I love my husband. You might think that this is a complete non-sequitor, but bear me out. We got addicted to the show "Dexter" back in the spring, when we found it on Netflix instant watch. Burned through the first 2 seasons in about a week (we did have to go to work sometime!) and then could barely wait for seasons 3 and 4 to arrive in the mail. Altogether, I think we became all caught up on 5 seasons of the show in less than a month! Since we started with the show, I had done some reading on the author and had been trying to get my hands on a copy of the books. Our library in CA didn't have them yet (very small place, after all) and here in TX the post library did have them, but only one copy, which seemed to be checked out every time I stopped by. Where does Zach fit into all this? He came home the other day with a handful of library books that he'd been wanting to read, including Darkly Dreaming Dexter. And to make him extra special, I got to read it first :)

A fast read, and a fun one.

It's not a deep book. That was actually one of the biggest complaints on the customer reviews on Amazon. I guess based on all the subplots present in the show, and as dark as a killer as Showtime was able to make Dexter, some people were expecting more from the book. But, in all honesty, the book couldn't include as many subplots as the show is able to. Like "True Blood" vs. the Sookie Stackhouse books (another series I'm getting hooked into) - if it doesn't take you much more than 12 hours to read the book, how can you expect the same book to fill 12 hours of TV time?  The writers have to add additional subplots and character development if they are going to fill the season. 

So, yes, it is lacking some of the things that the first season had (I'm trying to keep my comparisons to just the equivalent season of the show) but on the same argument, the book offers benefits that the show can't quite capture. The character banter is present still in the books, and that's one of the aspects of the TV show that makes it so enjoyable. It's not developed to the extent as in the show, but more of the book is in Dexter's head, instead of in his office. To put it another way, there's more narration in the books, more conversation in the show. It's the nature of the media.

The hardest point about reading this book for me was comparing it to the show.  Not in terms of character development, necessarily, or "oh when are they making that joke" or anything along those lines.  It was in terms of plot points.  Yes, the characters are the same as in the book, the same personalities, the same 'feel' to them, but it's as if the book is a parallel universe to the show, if that makes sense.  More on the spoilers below, but there are several key plot points that are different between the two media (think "characters living or dying" sort of key plot points).  It made reading a little... distracting, I guess would be the best word.  I honestly had to read it twice to actually appreciate the book on its own merits, because on the first reading, I kept trying to anticipate events that either did or didn't happen.  A bad habit, I know, but it does happen.

Overall: 4 of 5. It's not the deepest puzzling mystery I've ever read, and it's not the scariest serial killer I've read (thank you, Hannibal Lector), and it's not the most ingenious puzzle solution I've ever read (that honor firmly belongs to Dorothy L Sayers), but Dexter's certainly an entertaining read. The narration is comfortable and chatty, and I like the alliterative play throughout. I'm pretty sure this series will be shelf-worthy, but I'd like to get my hands on more books in the series first to make sure.

Here be spoilers!!

You have been warned!

Extra spacing, as this is a mystery, and mystery readers are always extra-sensitive about spoilers!  :)

The Wikipedia page for the book includes a table of the differences in the show (at least the first season) and the book. Very helpful, as there are some definite differences - characters living or dying, etc. I'm interested to see how the books continue to differ from the show, especially in regards to the station politics.  LaGuerta's political maneuverings are a pretty big element of the show, and with her being killed off in the first book... makes me wonder how it'll develop.  Looking forward to getting my hands on the next book and finding out!

Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag

We set up a bird feeder in the fall, the first thing I really did in the yard.  And we soon became the avian hot spot in the neighborhood.  I swear, I think we're the only yard in the neighborhood that has a bird feeder the way our yard is swarmed each day!  The pictures below don't even come close to showing all the birds at any one time, as there are probably another half dozen or so on the ground below!  

 

I've had a lot of fun watching the birds gobble up all the bird seed day in and day out.  And so has Scruffy, as we set up the bird feeder to be visible from the window near his seat on the back of the couch.  Watching and twitching himself silly, making sure those mean ol' birds don't swarm the house - our little guard kitten keeps us safe from the Winged Menace!

So, as I've enjoying watching them all, I've become interested in some other hanging seed set-ups.  There has to be a cheaper way to make those bird-seed bells, for example.  With a bit of online research (and yes, Pinterest helped), I came up with a few styles that I wanted to try.  The first one is printed here, and the others will follow when I give them a try.

First up: Peanut Butter Tubes

Nice and simple style, here.  Growing up, we used to make these using pine cones, but there don't seem to be many pine trees in this area of Texas.  It's more of a cedar area here.  Probably too dry for many pines?  Where I grew up, it's a big Loblolly Pine area - can't go 50 feet without running into more of them.  So, there were always plenty of pine cones about for such projects.  Here though, I had to look for a substitute structure.  After a little research, it seems that toilet paper tubes will do the trick!

What you need:

• Toilet paper tube(s)
• Bird seed
• Peanut butter
• String or twine or ribbon - i.e. something to hang it with

What you do:

1.     Use a knife to smear peanut butter around the tube.

2.     Cover the peanut butter with the bird seed.  You can do this by sprinkling bird seed over the tube, with a plate underneath to catch the excess; or by rolling the tube through a small pan of bird seed.  Depends on how you're working, and how big a mess you want to make :)  I have a whole bunch of little paint trays which are the perfect size to roll a toilet paper tube through, so I didn't sprinkle seed.  When we were kids, though, the bigger the mess, the better! 

3.     Once the tube is covered with bird seed, hang outside where your feathered friends can enjoy.  You can hang these by a string through the tubes, or by just sliding them on over a tree branch, if you have them available in your yard.  Our neighborhood is still pretty new, so no trees yet, at least not in our yard.  I hung our tubes using string passed through the tube.

Like I said, nice and simple!

 
 

Overall impression:  Nice and simple project.  Definitely kid-friendly, and supplies easy to come by.  The birds would probably like it better if I had trees to put the tubes over, as that'd probably be more stable than the hanging tubes.  Still, the tubes lasted very well, until all the seed had been enjoyed.  Even through a rainstorm that we had roll through, which surprised me!

Home-made hand Scrub

A new craftiness for me!  A friend back in CA made a body scrub for me, and I wanted to give it a try.  I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and decided to give it a try.  So, here you go: a quick-and-easy hand scrub (copied from the original blog, plus my own notes, thoughts, and pictures).

Quick & Easy hand Scrub

Ingredients:

• Dish soap - the most moisturizing kind you can find.  Dawn has a version with Olay, but I went with the Wal-Mart version, as it was my first batch of scrub and I wanted to keep it nice and cheap ;)  I actually ended up with the off-brand of the same soap that she used in the original!  There were other scents available too, but I liked the smell of the pomegranate best.
• Sugar
• Jars.  Doesn't matter what kind, just something clean to fill.  If you've got empty jars waiting to be recycled, this would be a good use for them too.  I used a bunch of 8 oz canning jars from Wal-Mart (yes, a total Wal-Mart craft).  I liked the 8oz jars even though there was a bigger size available.  The 8 oz jars had a wider mouth and straight mouth-to-side angle (no mouth widening into a fat jar - do you know the type of jar I mean?)  It just meant that filling the jars and mixing the scrub was easier, and it'll be easier to scoop the scrub out later as I use it. 
• Final tool, a knife for mixing. More on that later.

Directions:

1.     Fill a jelly jar almost all the way full with sugar.

2.     Add a layer of detergent.  You don't want to fill it all the way up, as it will make a mess when you try to stir it.  Don't ask me how I know, but let's just say my kitchen counters are clean and scrubbed now!

3.     Using the knife to stir, gently mix the ingredients in the jar.  Green Bean Crafterole pointed out this one.  The knife is neater to mix with than a spoon, as the spoon pushes more contents out than around in the jar.  I started to mix by moving the knife up and down in the jar first, before stirring the mixture in circles to thoroughly mix.  Also, it's best to use a real knife for this, not a plastic one.  The scrub is pretty thick, so you either have to stir veeeeeeeery slowly with the plastic one, or use a regular metal knife, so that you don't end up with broken plastic cutlery in your bath products!

 

4.     Green Bean Crafterole didn't mention this, but as I stirred, the contents in the jar settled.  So, when I started out with an almost full jar of scrub ingredients, I mixed them and ended up with about 1/2-2/3 a jar of scrub.  So, I added another layer of sugar and some more soap to fill the jars a little more fully.  I found that to mix the additional ingredients, it was easiest to mix them on top of the existing scrub, moving the knife in circles through the added stuff, working over the layer of existing scrub.  Once the top new layer of scrub is mixed, then mix it in with the lower layer to make it all a uniform consistency.  This helped reduce my splatters a lot!

5.     Mix until you like the feel of it.  Too runny?  Add more sugar.  Too thick?  Add more soap.  It's very easy to adjust when there's only two ingredients in a recipe!

 

6.     Ta-da!  You're done!  Behold my first batch!

The only things I'd add now would be to wipe down the threads on the jar so that the lid actually goes on smoothly, and to wipe down the jars themselves as well.  Of course, you might have been a lot neater than I was while mixing, but I know I had soap and/or sugar caught in the threads or dripping down the sides on most of my jars.  Maybe with practice I'll be a little neater, but who knows!  Use a very lightly damp cloth or paper towel to wipe everything off.  Too damp, and it'll just suds.

After making my first jar, I gave it a try, and OH MY GOODNESS, were my hands soft!  Even my horribly dry hands!  Still had to put lotion on afterwards, but I have to do that anyways, but for an exfoliating scrub, this one is nice and easy and cheap!  And isn't there always a nice feeling using something you made instead of something just bought?

Reading different blogs, there are several ways to make hand/body scrubs.  The scrubbing element seems to be either salt (commonly epsom salts) or sugar.  Then add the oil or similar medium, then essential oils for scent, and coloring if you want.  And that's really the basics.  This is a more simplified version, as the scent and color and oil/soap is all mixed together already in the dish soap.  I've added a few links here of other recipes I've found online.  I haven't tried them yet, but they do make a good reference (and inspiration for packaging too, if nothing else - some of these jars or labels are simply adorable!)

• The Beauty Department uses sea salt and olive oil.
• Envirocraftiness is a sugar scrub like this one.
• The Happy Housewife has a vanilla sugar recipe suitable for Valentine's Day, along with some adorable gift tags. 
• A little bit different recipe and more cute labels at Ruffled Blog.
• Under the Table and Dreaming has a Pumpkin Spice Scrub that probably smells good enough to eat!
• More good spicy scents from Our Best Bites.  I wonder if the brown sugar might make it more moisturizing than regular white sugar?
• Perpetually Engaged has 3 variations listed, which all must smell wonderful! 
• Maybe Matilda has some adorably decorated jars, with one of the best gift tags!
• And of course, no craft list like this would be complete without Martha Stewart's version.

This would make a great gift with some cute hand towels or bath scrubbies.  Since that season's coming up soon, something to keep in mind!  I want to try one with epsom salts, though, with peppermint oil.  Both are really good for post-workout soreness, and it'd make a great gift for my good workout buddies (if I don't need it all myself after routine changes with the move - gotta get back on track!).

UPDATE:  I made my scrub back at the end of August and have now used up two jars of it.  I love it on my dry skin!  One thing to note, though, is that it does tend to separate into layers of soap and soapy sugar while it's sitting on the shelf.  I don't mind it, but have just added a cute butter knife to my bathroom cup next to my toothbrush to stir up my scrub when I'm getting ready to use it.  Just something to note.  Some of the other mixtures might not separate as easily, based on particular combinations of ingredients, but I've yet to try them out.  So, don't be worried if your batch starts to layer as it's sitting on the shelf - just mix it back together and you're good to go!

A falltime favorite!

Another recipe to share, and since it's almost time for Someone's birthday, I figured I'd post a recipe he likes to start the new month!  This is one that's been in the family for ages, and I'd give credit if I knew wherever we'd found it in the first place. 

Cranberry Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups white flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
• 1 1/2 c orange juice
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 T. grated orange rind
• 2 cups cranberries, chopped
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 2/3 cup raisins

Directions

1. Sift together white and wheat flours, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and white and brown sugars.
2. Cut in margarine until a coarse meal texture.
3. In a small bowl, mix together orange juice, beaten eggs, and orange rind.
4. Stir juice mixture into flour mixture until moistened.
5. Fold into batter cranberries, pecans and raisins.
6. Turn into greased and floured loaf pans (two 9x5-inch pans, or 5-6 small pans).
7. Bake at 350 F for 55 minutes for large loaves and 30-40 minutes for smaller loaves.  Bread is done when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Notes and Variations

• The finished loaves freeze very well. 
• The bread actually slices better the second day.
• Both raisins and pecans can be easily omitted, if your tastes prefer.  We have one good friend who dislikes raisins, and another who has a nut allergy, and have made this recipe omitting both the offending ingredients.  Still tastes delicious!

Happy Halloween!

And to celebrate, a recipe to help use up all that leftover candy.  Or at least some of it ;)  These things are the easiest treats to make ever.  And I do mean ever!  And one of the other perks is that they are relatively customizable.  You can adjust the candy on top to reflect whatever holiday is approaching; I first tried these at a friend's house at Christmas time, with red and green M&Ms on top.  And it doesn't really matter if the chocolates are Hugs or Kisses, either.  However you adjust them, it's a nice easy treat which satisfies both salty and sweet tastes.

Pretzel Kiss Treats 

(Feel free to provide a cuter name if you've got one)

Ingredients & Supplies:

• Mini pretzels (you can use the mini twist or round pretzels, but I like the square ones - aesthetics!)
• Chocolate drop-type candies (Hugs or Kisses)
• Candy for topping - most variations of this recipe call for M&Ms, which make it very easy to color coordinate with holidays or parties.  For this batch, I used what M&Ms calls their "Candy Corn M&Ms" - white chocolate candies with candy corn colored shells.  The white chocolate goes very well with the white chocolate Hugs, I think.  I've seen variations that use other candies though - like this one using candy corn.
• Cookie sheet
• Oven
• Foil or parchment or wax paper (optional)

Directions

1.     Preheat oven.  It honestly doesn't matter to what temperature.  Looking up directions online, I've seen anywhere from 170 degrees F to 400 degrees F.  The oven just needs to be hot.  I personally made this batch after baking a batch of muffins.  I just finished the muffins, turned off the oven, then made these using the warm oven.

2.     Line baking sheet with foil or parchment/wax paper.   If you forget this step, it's not critical, but it does make it easier to remove from the tray.

3.     Arrange pretzels on tray in a single layer.  Unwrap Hugs and place one on each pretzel. 

4.     Put baking sheet in oven for about 3 minutes, just until chocolate start to get soft.  You can tell because the chocolate will start to look shiny. I've seen it noted too, that the older the chocolate, the longer it will take.  Still won't take too long, even with older chocolate - no more than 5 minutes, so keep an eye on it.

5.     Take baking sheet out of oven and smoosh down each Hug very gently with a candy.   You want to move pretty quickly, so that the chocolate doesn't start to cool and harden before they all get their top piece smooshed in.

6.     Let cool.  Putting them in the refrigerator when they've started to set does help speed up the cooling.  Just 10-20 minutes in the fridge, and they'll be nice and firmly set.  Transfer to serving bowl or an airtight container (or just eat them straight away!).  Store them in an airtight container, though.  Supposedly they'll last up to 2 weeks, but that's only if they aren't eaten first!

 

Notes and References

• Several versions of the recipe point out that the Hugs will melt faster than the Kisses, which makes sense because of the white chocolate.  Parrot Head Momma on Food.com suggests that if you're making these with both Hugs and Kisses, do each batch on a separate tray - Hugs, then Kisses (or vice versa, it doesn't really matter).  Then you won't have one melting faster than the other.  Good tip!
• Nancy's Kitchen has another variation, using nuts on the top instead of M&Ms.  
• Along the lines of the chocolate and nuts, Glorious Treats has a mini-turtle version of the treat - use Rolo candies (chocolate and caramel) instead of the Kisses or Hugs, and then top with pecan halves.  Looks delicious!
• The Hershey Kisses website has a similar treat, using marshmallows - mini s'mores!