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Showing posts with label My Squidoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Squidoo. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

News and Updates

Posts have been few and far between lately - and you can be assured that means real life has gotten in the way of blogging!  Unfortunately, what's been going on in real life has not been pleasant, but we manage.  Hopefully, I will be able to resume posting more frequently soon.

The first bit of news is in regards to my Squidoo articles, where I had published a number of how-to's and printable instructions.

Squidoo has now been shifted over to Hubpages, and my articles are now there.  As I understand it, the old links will still work, but will just be diverted to the new site.

I have yet to go over my articles to see how they translated in the shift, to see if I need to do any modifications.  Please feel free to visit my new Hubpages profile, check out the articles, and let me know if you have seen any problems. 

The other news is in regards to my classes.  I am still teaching one day a week.  There are old classes dropped and new classes added.  Unfortunately, with what's been doing on at our home, certain people have taken things beyond that level and I have found myself and my family stalked in public.  For my safety and theirs, I am not going to post my class schedule on the blog anymore, nor will I post about any vendor sales I might be involved in.  Thank you for understanding.

Meanwhile, I have been working on my inventory and do have photos ready to share; just need to find the time to write posts about them!

For those who have kept up visiting my blog while I've been on hiatus, thank you.  It's nice to see the hits still coming, even when I haven't been able to post often.  Much appreciated!

Until I get a chance to post more, here are some photos to follow up on my last post, a Tunisian stitch tablet cover that is one of the new class projects.



The above photo is the tablet cover after the seams have been sewn, but the ends have not yet been finished.

As you can see, it looks pretty floppy and loose.


 What the side seem looks like from the outside; I just whip stitched it.


 A closer look at the side seam, with a bit of a view of how the inside looks.

This is how the project itself ends.  Once the yarn ends are sewn in, it would be considered finished.



I modified the length of the project to fit my own tablet.  As you can see, even with the tablet inside, it looks loose and floppy.

Because it is very loose and floppy. 


So I added a couple of rounds of single crochet to tighten up the top edge, then slip stitched into the bottoms of those rows to add some stability.

No more rolling, no more flopping, and the single crochet and slip stitches tighten up the opening, making it a bit more snug.



The additional rows made it fit more snugly to the tablet itself as it was put in.



It also added a bit of length, giving the tablet a bit more protection.

My daughter pointed out that the colour changes made a pattern that looks a bit like the Batman logo! *L*

I have photos somewhere, though not in my computer, of another modification I made.  I crocheted a strip in Tunisian simple stitch, bordered with single crochet, and with a button hole at one end.  I sewed it in the middle of what is now the back of the tablet cover.  On the front, I sewed on a button (my daughter pickets a yellow button with a smiley face on it!).  This way, there's no chance of the tablet accidentally sliding out.

The body of the tablet cover is still a lot looser than I would have preferred, despite the fabric panel being exactly the same width of the tablet before the side seams were closed up.

If I were to make another one for my tablet, I would probably make it about an inch narrower than the actual size of the table.  The Tunisian stitched fabric seems to have a lot more give to it than I expected.



Monday, June 16, 2014

Clay Oil Lamps, printable how-to

I've got a step-by-step for two versions of the clay oil lamp I'd posted about earlier, for different skill levels, available now.  The instructions can be printed out, together with the material and tool lists.


If you make some of these with your kids, do come back and let me know how they turned out! :-)



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

More food!

Yes, another recipe to share!

This one is for something I like to make as a quick snack.  It's so easy to make, and very satisfying.

Chickpea Salad with Black Olives and Feta.


Includes printable recipe.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Mmm...

Here's another recipe I wanted to share; Baked Le Pleine Lune with Mushrooms and Walnuts.  Click on the link for both a printable recipe and a printable step-by-step.


Though the recipe is Baked Le Pleine Lune with Mushroom and Walnuts, it includes suggestions for substitute cheeses if you can't find Le Pleine Lune.

Also includes suggestions for wine or beer pairings. 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

DIY Charcuterie

Okay, so it's not exactly a craft, but I wanted to share some of the recipes that I've been posting on my Squidoo pages.

This one is for a "Choose Your Own" Charcuterie.  If you're not familiar with charcuterie, check it out to learn more!  I think it would make a great Father's Day treat!


Visit the link for a printable how-to.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

DIY for Balcony or Patio Gardeners

Post may be few and far between, but I've been doing stuff!  Honest!

Here is one of them; DIY Pallet Planter Platform.  It's one of my Squidoo pages, which allows me to create how-to instructions that can be printed out.



It's an easy project perfect for balcony or patio gardens, that makes rotating pots a breeze.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

In time for Mother's Day

I've been looking at some Mother's Day gift ideas in the last while.  Among the things that caught my attention were all the recipes for body scrubs.  One thing I noticed is that they were all basically the same foundation; everything else was mix and match, and easily customizable.

So I have put together a "choose your own" how-to at my Squidoo site, in a printable format, to make body sugars.  I hope you enjoy it! 




This photo is of a mixture of golden sugar (what I usually have in my kitchen for any recipe that calls for brown sugar), a chai tea spice blend and blend of almond and extra virgin olive oil. 

I hadn't intended to use a blend of oils, but I had less almond oil than I thought and ran out!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Simple Lap Blanket - free crochet pattern

I just finished writing up a pattern for a very simple seed stitch lap blanket, which is available here.



I made this using the new Luxury Wool yarn from Loops & Threads that Michaels has started to carry.  An excellent price for 100% wool!  Also, it took me quite a long time before my very mild wool allergy started to act up. 

I have three more balls of this yarn in blue and haven't decided what to do with it yet. 

Any suggestions?

Once again, here's the link for the free pattern.


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Step-by-step: Making a Pot of Roses

I just published another step-by-step at my Squidoo site, showing how to make an everlasting pot of roses.  I hope you enjoy it!



Thursday, April 11, 2013

A New How-to

Here's one for the folks who wanted to know how our version of Chevre de Provence in our Easter basket turned out.  I just published a step-by-step over at Squidoo.


If you give it a try, I'd love to hear how it turned out!


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Cross linking

I've been working on writing more on Squidoo, and have added a fair number of lenses that are topical to this blog as well.  Here's a list of the various crafting related pages I've got up, as of this date.  I hope you enjoy them, and please feel free to leave any comments, vote on polls, pin them or share them with your friends!

Our 2012 Christmas Tourtiére  - my newest lens.

Hand Made Christmas Traditions - my most popular lens at this time, and winner of Lens of the Day.

Christmas Light Luminaries and Salt Jar Luminaries -  These two are also at the top of the list of my most popular lenses. 

Crochet Covered Christmas Ornaments - another of my most recent lenses.

The Joy of Hooking - this is one of the first lenses I ever made, and still one of my highest ranking lenses.

Twisted Sisters & Company Fibre Mill Tour - this is one that goes back a bit, but has recently seen a surge in popularity.  I have lots of photos and a video of the tour a group of us took of the fibre mill.  If you ever have a chance to visit them in person, I highly recommend it! 

Our Easter Eggs - I would not have expected to see this one climb up the ranks just before Christmas, but for some reason, it has!  I guess people are planning ahead for their Easter crafts already!

Rediscovering Mdm Benoit - does cooking count as crafting?  I think it can!  With 2012 marking the 25th anniversary of Mdm Benoit's death, I was happy to see this one enjoy a leap in popularity towards the end of the year.  More people need to know about Mdm Benoit! ;-)

If you're interested in seeing all my lenses, including the non-crafting ones, this is my Lensmaster Page.

If you are interested in writing for Squidoo (yes, it does pay!), you can join and start right away!  It does take a bit of time and consistent effort, but it has more potential then a lot of other similar sites I've looked at.  It certainly pays more then just blogging! LOL!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Salt Jar Luminaries

This is the project that inspired our Christmas Light Luminaries.  Here is a step-by-step of my older daughter as she made these.


I hope you enjoy it!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Free pattern now up

Well, I really need to get to bed, but before I do, I have a couple of links to share.

First, I've just posted a new lens on Squidoo with a free pattern for the ornaments I made for the Christmas Market my daughter and I just took part in.




Click here for the pattern.  Permission is given to use the pattern to make and sell these yourself, with credit given to Get Crafting! but not to sell the pattern as your own. 

Though I have written about our tradition of hand made decorations for our tree here before, I've put it all together in another Squidoo lens as well, which you can visit by clicking here.



I still have to make our decorations for this year, too!  I have to finish a custom order first, though, then I will work on them and post a step-by-step when they're done.  Hopefully, I won't be cutting it too close to Christmas day!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Check it out...

I've finally done my Squidoo lens about the wonderful tour I took part in back in August. 

Check it out!


Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Stuff that's going on

Ah, life.  Always throwing things at us! LOL

So I've been pretty busy over the last while but, unfortunately, little of it has had to do with crafting.  Some of it you can read about hereOthers, I've already mentioned in a previous post.  Some I will write about in future posts or Squidoo lenses, as warrented.  Most of it involves a whole lot of running around! *L*

My biggest news is that I finally got my crochet instructor evaluation!  I sent my completed course in months ago, but my awesome instructor has had things pretty busy, too, and is still backlogged.  We spent an hour and a half on the phone, and I enjoyed every minute of it!  I'm proud to say that I passed and, once the paperwork is processed, I will officially be a certified instructor with the Craft Yarn Council.  Now I need to get my butt in gear and finish Level 2.  Once I pass that, I will be officially listed as a professional crocheter.  How cool is that?

Meanwhile, Easter is coming and it's time to prepare.  I normally would have started a new Easter craft by now, but just haven't had the time to do it.  I've been distracted by other things!  We're also preparing to welcome the friend of one of my daughters into our home again for several months while he takes a course locally.  We're pretty excited for him!  Looking forward to it.

Which means I have just a little while left to do my Easter craft for this year, and I don't even know what I'm going to do! 

Any suggestions?

Friday, March 16, 2012

New stuff

I've recently started writing for Squidoo and just finished a new lens (article) for National Crochet Week/Month.  Feel free to visit The Joy of Hooking for some fun info and ideas about crochet.

With spring around the corner, I've also put together a lens for those city dwellers like me who'd like to grow some veggies and greens on their balcony in Your Balcony Garden

Easter is also around the corner, so I just had to share our favourite tradition, Making a Polish Easter Basket.

And for the Canadian foodies out there, it's time for Rediscovering Mdm Benoit!

I hope you enjoy these.   Please feel free to leave a comment, click the "like" buttons or share them with others. 

Have a day!