Spring Flowers In The Winter

Every once in a while I get a hankering to play with yarn. You will often see it in my scrapbooking projects and probably more rarely in an item you can wear. I'm not an expert at crocheting- in fact I'm pretty much a rookie when it comes to it! But that doesn't stop me from trying! A soft, fuzzy hand-made item can be just the right gift for this time of year. While I'm sure there are some of you who are amazingly gifted and patient and can probably crochet a king sized blanket- I'm just not there yet! I wish I was. I thought it would be fun and manageable to make a cute little baby scarf. This was the result. It's perfect for a cute little 3 year old!

If your pockets are kind of empty this holiday season, why not make someone a gift! I love handmade gifts. I always beg my husband to have the kids make me something- it just feels so special to me. You don't have to be perfect about it- it's the thought that counts. Why not try making something out of your comfort zone?

Scarf Giveaway Ending Soon!!!

Take time away from shopping for one minute and leave a comment here for your chance to win this beautiful scarf from this week's Artist Spotlight! Giveaway ends Wednesday Noon EST!

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken Stock

Here is a can't miss chicken stock recipe.

The bones of one whole chicken (either raw or cooked)

1 medium onion large dice (use the peel)

1 stalk of celery rough chopped (use the whole stalk)

2 unpeeled carrots large dice

1 Tbsp of peppercorns

2 tsp of thyme

2 bay leaf

4 quarts of COLD water (cold water is the key helps extract the flavor from bones slowly)

Place all ingredients into a large stock pot cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Once the liquid reaches a hard boil turn down the heat to a low simmer and cook for about 4-6 hours.** As the stock cooks the liquid will evaporate, so just add more water but just enough to keep the bones covered. After the stock is finished cooking strain with a sieve to remove all the vegetables and spices. Place stock in a container once its cooled down and put in freezer until ready to use. This would be great as a soup starter or any recipe you might have that requires chicken stock.

** If using the bones of a cooked chicken, but you will need to add some chicken base to give it some flavor. The cook time will be 1-2 hours if using left over cooked chicken bones. Also if using left over bones leave some of the meat on the bones for added flavor.  

Hanging Jewelry Cabinet

Each day, just before I leave for work, I open the door to my homemade jewelry heaven.

Apartment living requires the creative use of space.  My over-the-top love of jewelry takes up a lot of space.  Using my towel rack in the bathroom saved room for awhile.

Now, I have this handy jewelry cabinet, made by my father, to either mount to a wall or hang over a door.

I fell in love the first time I saw it because it fulfills my need to organize...and it is made by someone I love.  I know this isn't something that just anyone can make.  But, if you have a woodworker in your family...here are some ideas.

There are hooks EVERYWHERE to hang bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.  My father placed cubes in the bottom for pins and bracelets that I can't hang.

He lined the door with racks of slitted wood to push my earrings into.  Also, I have four dowels connected to the base with hinges so I can pull them out to look through the necklaces and then push them in flat to close up the cabinet.

I started out with lots of room.  Then, with all of that extra space taunting me, I slowly filled up my over the door jewelry cabinet.  I've already put in an order for another one.  There's a door to every room.  No need to limit myself.

My Current Obsession

I've been really into making funny little headbands for special occasions! This was my latest creation that I wore at a holiday party! I'll tell you a little secret- I made it completely from items in the DOLLAR STORE!!! ha ha ha! Honestly, I get such pleasure from the smallest things! In fact these were all things meant to be Christmas decorations! hot glue and creativity went a long way!

The girls loved this headband the most- giggling about how fun they thought it was and one woman even declared it an "Ode to Kate Middleton-the future Queen of England"!

Double Sided Foam Tape

I was thinking about you and figured some of you out there may be making some handmade cards and wanted to suggest you use double sided foam tape. Save your money and instead of paying for the more expensive version at the craft store- you will likely find some at the dollar store! Yep! I stocked up on my share the last time I saw some at my local store and really it's a fun way to give your scrapbooking and card making some dimension. 

In this instance it was a simple flower cut out that I made with my Sizzix Big Shot and instead of layering it flat- I decided to make my flower POP!

Dragon Lady

As promised...I'm sharing another of my scrapbook layouts for my China trip.

I put this together on a scrapbooking retreat I attended with Crafty Girl.  It is three straight days of scrapbooking and you keep yourself going with heat packs, chair massages, and pain reliever.  This is another do-it-yourself example.  I remembered a beautiful dragon boat on a lake in China and wanted to create something similar.  Giant dragon boat stickers aren't exactly easy to find.  So, I set out to make my own.  First I drew the outline on gold paper and cut it out, lifting some pieces to add depth.  Then, I created gold gills to put on top of the face and tail, using double-side foam tape to lift the layers.  You can read more about using foam tape in Saturday's post.

I used a little red flower as my fireball, cutting up the petals into fringe and layering a few on top of each other to make it into a little flat ball.

Working off the design of the paper I picked, I used black whispy fabric to add some texture on top of the hanging leaves already on the page...different lengths and blowing in different directions.  Finally, I added a little ink to the edges to give the dragon's skin some dimension.  It looked too pretty with the gold paper.  A little black ink around the edges made it seem more rough and real...in a scrapbooking sort of way.  I also added chain to the floor of the boat, like a metal railing....keeping my dragon lady safe on the shores of China.  Yes, it took quite awhile to make, but my DIY Dragon was so fun to create and I love going back to look at this page.

Artist Spotlight and GIVEAWAY: Barbara Jean Design Studio

Nestled in the majestic Adirondack Mountains of New York in the town of Beaver River Station there is a unique opportunity to learn silk painting in a rustic setting. As you take your water taxi to your final destination your stress will melt away and your excitement will build for the one of a kind experience you are about to have.

Barbarajean Weingart shares her 25 years of experience painting silk and

other natural fabrics at these weekend retreats and we are thrilled to have her in the artist spotlight this week!

Q: Barbara, can you give us a brief outline of your experience and how it led you to where you are today?

A: I started painting silk in the early 1980's from a trip to Germany where there were beautiful hand painted silks in lots of galleries.  My son, who speaks fluent German, got a description of how to do it and where to get the supplies.  I brought home lots of supplies and began working.  Soon I had requests for my work and had my work in galleries in NY.

Q: What is your technique? How do you make such beautiful designs?

A: I mostly use a technique called gutta serti, which is using gutta (a liquid rubber) to outline a design I draw on the silk, which prevents one color from flowing into another (kind of like a dam).  However, I use many more techniques.  Some of which  I learned in classes with masters.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for a weekend retreat?

A: While in graduate school for art, I discovered that I loved to teach my craft to adults.  I have a cabin in the Adirondacks which I love to be at, and decided to share the wonder of the place with the wonder of learning my craft.

Q:  How can people learn more about your designs and the retreats?

A: They can send for a flyer which describes most of what they will experience.  Preferably on email: weingartbarbara@hotmail.com, or by calling me at 315 474 0402.  I have a website which is being worked on so is not complete: barbarajeanweingart.com

Thank you Barbarajean for being in our Artist Spotlight!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Barbarajean would love for one lucky winner to have THIS to the left as their very own 54x8 silk scarf titled "Water Under Ice"!

*Drop us a comment on this blog post. Tell us what you love most about this blog post.

* For a second entry be a follower of our blog and leave a second comment telling us you are follower. Just press follow- to the right of this blog! It just takes 2 seconds to do it but it makes us oh so excited!

* Contest ends Thursday December 16th at noon.

* One person will be randomly selected!

* Winner will be announced December 17th!

ENTER NOW!!!!

Captured Moments Giveaway WINNER!

Congratulations Maura!! You're the winner of the Captured Moments giveaway! We know you will have these items in hand very quickly because you are an avid fan of Captured Moments! Thank you so much to Tara and Tiffany for being so amazing and inspirational for us here at Crafty Life and Style! We love you both and are so thankful you are our latest Artist Spotlight!

Confession: We're In Love With A Werewolf!

Ok, maybe not in LOVE, LOVE and maybe technically some of us are more in love with the vampire! But, what I can say is we are definitely in love with the Twilight Saga movies- and most recently Eclipse!

Crafty Cat takes great joy in my obsession with the movies and books which are geared toward tweens and me being 40 puts me solidly out of that category- but WHATEVER! In fact, she enjoys making fun of me for all my teenage antics! Frankly, I see nothing wrong with playing loud music, dancing with abandon and ogling over a Hollywood star's rock hard abs- just before he turns into a werewolf- but that's just me!

And while I may have been the most over the top, it appears I'm not alone! I think I found some kindred spirits when my cute as apple pie friend Kellie invited me over to an Eclipse DVD release party!

The menu was very thought out and included Mushroom Ravioli- because that's what Bella (the female lead) ate the first time she went out to eat with Edward the Vampire. Vampire wine, Wolf bites and the most amazing Albino Vampire Cocktails!

I wanted to bring the "Crafty" to the party- so I brought my life sized cutout of the wolf Jacob! When he walked through the door the girls squealed with delight wondering where in the heck I got him! Believe it or not, it was a gift from CRAFTY CAT- delivered to my work in the middle of the night! She teases- but also loves me for my kookiness! He has taken up permanent residence in my Scrap Shack- but came out for this special occasion! 

The girls all got out their cellphones and cameras, took pictures of him solo and with him!

I thought it would be extra special to scrapbook a little card and snap Polaroids for each of them so they could each take a souvenir! It warmed my heart to see they all loved it! 

The movie was as great as it was the first time I saw it in the theaters for Bella's birthday.... ok, a little obsessive, I know!  What made this extra special was the kinship of these women and their crazy fun commitment to doing it all again to prepare for the next movie in the sequel! We know- this is all in fun and happily went home to our husbands and boyfriends having suspended the real world for just a couple hours and enjoyed acting like teenagers again- so don't worry about us... at least not too much!

Next time you throw a party  GO ALL OUT! Think of a way to make it special! Your friends will love the attention to detail and will take away memories of a lifetime--- even if that memory is a shirtless young man who turns into a werewolf!