Tutorial: How to make colorful yarn rope

 I have had a little hair braider for a while now, but only recently did I use it in crafting.  It is now one of my favorite craft tools! I have seen these come with four, three and two prongs. They are so easy to use. I found mine at the thrift store. I thought it would be fun to make a little tutorial for you.

 

-Materials-

• Hair braiding tool
• yarn
• 1 safety pin

 

1. Start by cutting the same length of yarn in each color.2. Tie all yarns into a knot at one end.
3. Use the safety pin to pin the knot to a heavy object. (I used my heavy purse that holds all my scrapbook paper).

4. Next attach the other end of each yarn to the braid maker. You do this by pushing up on the back of each prong to open the metal hook. Put the yarn in the hook, then let the hook spring back down to hold the yarn in place.

5. Now, pull the yarn taught and push up on the button toward the #1. Do this for a long time to make the rope be tight and really twisted when it is finished. 

 NOTE: For this part you want the yarns to spin individually, NOT TWIST TOGETHER. If the yarn is twisting together run your fingers along while you spin so they don't twist.

6. Keep the yarn taught, and now push the button down toward the #2.  Do this for as long as it takes to get the rope to look the way you want.  

Note: If the yarn is twisting too much at one end, gently pinch the rope while you spin and guide the tighter part up to the other end till it is evenly twisted.

7. Lastly, pinch the part of the rope that is closest to the braid machine, take the yarn out of the machine, and tie a knot.

TA DA! YOUR DONE!

It's all in the family

Just take a look at these lovely parties my sisters threw for my nieces and nephews.

This party is one my sister D-lyn put together. The fish are so totally awesome, right?! I love the fabric choices. I am a lover of new spins on the flag banner or bunting; a party must! And just look at that spread! The cupcakes aren't your normal cupcakes either; they are key lime and pink velvet, YUMM!

And this party is one my sister Mer threw. I love the idea of a cereal bar! This spread is so sophisticated but add cereal, pj's, and cartoons and it becomes so relaxed. I love the challenge of planning a designer party around the kids' random requests and Mer did a great job!

spinach smoothies

We are trying to have more healthy habits at our house so a spinach smoothie was a good way to get our sugar fix. All I did was put milk, bananas, frozen strawberries, and a huge hand full or two of fresh spinach, in the blender and we were set. Super easy! And super YUMMY! :) 

( P.S.you cant taste the spinach, it's like its not even there.)

Making progress

I am making progress on this bunting / pendant quilt for my daughter. Piecing it is turning out to be pretty time consuming though. Since this is my first quilt I probably should have made a more simple pattern. :) You know, one where you use short cuts and sew more than one block at a time. Here is picture I took after I put all the colored pieces out on the back of another quilt to see what order I wanted to put them in. I really like how it is turning out. :)

Fresh whole wheat waffles

I have never really celebrated St. Patrick's Day and I'm not really in the decorating mood right now; maybe it's the spring cleaning bug that makes me cringe. The thought of filling my house with more pointless junk, especially for a holiday that I am not really familiar with, is not very motivating.

So I started thinking of different ways to celebrate St Pat's Day, and with the earthquake in Japan reminding us how life can change drastically in 30 seconds, my first thought was... 

  (I decided to make a poster for you to download if you want. I made two color schemes for fun, two with a scripture and two without. Click images to save larger files.)

 

With "luck favors the prepared" as my theme I thought I could share a few ways to be a little more prepared for whatever the future has in store for us. After the quake in Japan I am even more aware of the five or so fault lines that Cache Valley is sitting on, and it almost makes me want to hide under our dining room table or stand in a doorway all day with my kids. Scientists say we have been overdue for a big quake for awhile. : ( I want to be ready for whatever comes our way but I want to live each day to it's fullest.

So, we wanted to get ourselves prepared, one step at a time..."baby steps", as Bob says in "What About Bob" (great movie, by the way):

"Baby steps, get a wheat grinder,"

"Baby steps, grind the wheat..."

etc, etc...

To be prepared for a power outage, we chose to get a hand-crank grinder. We've read that you get what you pay for when it comes to these things, and we paid about $65 for ours. It's a good one.

After finding out that flour loses 100 percent of its nutrients 30 days after it is ground, Trent and I have been trying to eat freshly ground whole wheat foods more often.  We also wanted to find more ways to eat what we store. We store salt, baking soda and powder, canned tuna, canned fruit, oatmeal, pizza/spaghetti sauce etc.. and eat it just fine; it was our wheat that was never ever used.  First, because we didn't even have a wheat grinder, but also because we had no idea what to make with it besides bread. Well, we finally got a hand crank wheat grinder and I have to say that we love it!  The kids love helping grind; also, starting the day grinding our wheat is really rewarding, and the repetitive motion is actually quite soothing. :)  (It takes us about 10 minutes to grind 4 cups of flour. The photo below shows Trent reading the morning paper while grinding wheat).

Today I am sharing our yummy recipe for whole wheat waffles made using freshly ground white wheat. I don't consider myself a waffle expert but I have never tasted waffles this good! Seriously, the best waffles we have ever had! Before we got the grinder we had been putting whole wheat flour in our pancakes, but only half whole and half white flour because they are too heavy and taste dry and like cardboard. But with freshly ground wheat you can use 100% whole wheat and they stay fluffy and moist, and taste like heaven! :)

Before giving you our waffle recipe, I want to mention that I realize that not every ingredient is in a typical long-term food storage pantry; but we raise a few chickens for the eggs, and a family goat or cow would supply more than enough milk (we're just thinking ahead here...y'know, more "baby steps", although buying a cow is a bit of a bigger baby step).

MATERIALS:

Belgian Waffle iron
Wheat grinder

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of fresh whole wheat flour ground from white wheat

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons of granulated or brown sugar

3 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat your waffle iron.

Put all ingredients into large bowl and stir till well mixed.

Pour batter into hot waffle iron and cook till golden brown. (About 3-4 min. for mine.)

Be sure and spray iron with cooking spray between waffles or they will stick.

* * * 

Every step we take towards preparedness makes a noticeable difference in how secure we feel. Taking a single "baby step" empowers us so much, and makes the other steps so much easier to envision and accomplish. Try it out!

...Coming up soon: "Baby steps: make a passive solar space heater out of aluminum cans"

My own jersey slouch hoodie

Some of you might recognize this jacket from the tiny one I made for my paper mache sculpture girl Jenn.  It is was so cute and super easy to make that I had to make one for me! :) I just wish I had taken photos along the way, then I could have made a tutorial for you. I might make one for my daughter though, if I do I'll make sure and take photos along the way. :)

Vintage needlecraft magazine

 I have had this Needlecraft magazine for a while and thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite pages with you. It has a lot of great knit and crochet patterns, and I look through it all the time for inspiration. Maybe someday I will finally get to work on some of the projects I have been swooning at for so long.

 The blue granny square girls dress is so adorable, I really want to make it!  I also love the cardigan and striped pants. OK the pants are a little much be the cardigan is perfect! It even has the right initial for my daughter.  

Get a hold of that super awesome play mat! I want one! Just look and the fat little houses! Adorable! :)  And check out that knitted doll, she is just so gorgeous and timeless. Lovely.

 

The magazine is full of great cardigans and sweaters. (It also has a few scary ones but I left those out. :) )

These tunic patterns are super cute. I really like the one with the southwestern pattern. It looks like something Gretchen Jones would design, except maybe not in those colors. Thanks for stopping in!