Crafting a Business

I purchased this book several months ago and read it rather quickly.   I Love It!   Not because of the information it contains, but the strong feeling I get when I see what these women have accomplished.   The book portrays 28 successful small business owners who strive for more … who have a calling to unleash their passion and they are doing just that.   The book does not give detailed information on” how to” but rather it profiles these 28 women and gives a brief description of them, their business and dreams.

It held my interest and still does (as I sit here flipping through the pages again).   I listed a few of the businesses featured so you can get a feel for what I am talking about.   They went beyond selling to their friends and/or just an online community … they focused on the bigger picture.   Creating a Big small business and I find it very inspiring.

Sisters on the Fly – www.sistersonthefly.com

Tiddlywinks & Scallywags – www.britkid.com 

Amy Butler Design – www.amybutlerdesign.com

Found Cat Studio – www.annacorbastudio.com

Lucinda Rooney – www.lucindarooney.com

Confetti Cakes – www.confetticakes.com

Warm Biscuit – www.warmbiscuit.com

The deep meaning that I find in this book is this – you can create a craft business and sell your products on-line or at craft shows or even a storefront, but.   The” but” is what captivates me.   Each and every one of these individuals aimed high.   You have to take your mind and put it into focus … focus on where you are going, live and act like you are already there and you will be before you know it.   Go after the big picture!   These brilliant ladies did it and they are telling their story!

FIVE Winners!

I had so much fun making these labels and really like how they look so I decided to have five winners instead of  just one!   Thank you to everyone that left a comment – I sincerely appreciate your time and kind words.   The winners are -

Cheryl Delaney - Barbra – Jenn Tidwell - Kathleen and Rebecca!

All you have to do is send your mailing address to mailbox@therunninggarlic.com and I will send your packette along to you!

Thanks again to everyone!

HomeGrown Holidays and Giveaway

As each year passes I find myself growing, preserving and giving more Homegrown presents to family and friends and they Love them!  

The garlic harvest this year was excellent and gifts already have been given – fresh garlic, pickled scapes and garlic cloves … more garlic gifts will be given for Christmas.   I have only one more jar of the pickled garlic scapes left and those are mine … I really have enjoyed them and posted the recipe back when I discovered it.   In the Garden Online is the place I first learned about these wonderful garlic scapes and the blog writer, Colleen, also has a book out “Edible Gardening for the Midwest” which will be added to my Christmas wish list this year.

Since we are on the subject of Canning and books, I want to also mention “Canning & Preserving for Dummies”.   The author of this book, Amy, was actually the winner of the Garlic Giveaway I held not to long ago.   She hosts a blog over at The Farming Wife - check her out too!   I highly recommend both of these sources for your cooking and gardening interests!   Great gifts for others on your list too!

I made up labels to add to my canned goods this year in hopes of receiving the empty jars back.   Most people will forget (except my parents, they always return the jars) and if they see this little reminder on the bottom of the jar when the goods are all finished up, odds are they will return the jar to you!

It’s has been a while since the Garlic Giveaway and since this is the week of giving thanks……. time to show appreciation to my friendly readers, I worked on some gift tags as a new giveaway this weekend.

These are actually stickers which were hand stamped – so you can peel off the back and place on your gift!

It is rather difficult to see the detail on the tags …. the stamped images are heat embossed which gives them a raised glossy look – pretty neat!   So leave a comment and the winner will be announced next Tuesday after the holiday and in time for adding to your holiday gifts.   Also the newest Linky starts today!!   The theme is Stocking Stuffers so make sure to head on over and add your listing – also on the same page I added a Linky to add your facebook fanpage.

Wishing Everyone a Safe, Fun and Enjoyable Thanksgiving!   Thanks All!

Handmade – A Gift that Keeps on Giving

Fall definitely ushers in the start of the holiday season and thoughts of gift giving begin taking shape in my mind.    I start a list with everyone’s name and make a plan to either create something special or buy a meaningful gift for each person listed.    This can be a very exciting task and it is a good idea to start early; especially if you plan to create a gift from scratch.    Last year I made embroidered name pillows for nine little recipients and I was spinning the needle right up to the last minute!    This year I have ordered 10 wooden name keychains from DustyNewt Keychains as part of my special gifts to give.    The planning has begun!

The gifts you create yourself are from the heart and hold a deeper meaning that can be felt throughout the years.    Some gifts though don’t make it through the years such as gifts of food – either from your own garden or baked up in the kitchen.    Everyone loves to receive a basket full of canned goods or a special box of cookies or candy made especially by you! 

 A little tag attached letting them know it was made by you is great and an easy decoration. 

Kitchen Baking tags can be purchased here

When you plan your garden for next year make sure to plant a few extra plants for canning and gift giving.    Canned tomatoes, jams, peppers and garlic are great choices.    Garlic oil and vinegars are easy to make and super gifts for the cook on your list or as a hostess gift when you attend all your holiday parties.   

I have created a feature called a Linky on one of the pages on my website where you can add a link of your own if you sell handmade gifts.    Every few weeks the theme will change so make sure to bookmark it and check back.

I will be working on Running Garlic’s fan page on Facebook - like me and stay tuned to updates via facebook!

Thank you and Paper Crafts

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I had won seeds from Cheapseeds.com simply by being a fan of theirs on facebook -  I went to the website and ordered my free seeds ($20 worth) and received them 2 days later and what a package!   Quick service and lots of seeds … Thank you very much Jeff, owner of Cheap Seeds!!  I am very happy and am actually getting ready to plant this evening.

This is what I received – Love in a mist (2,200 seeds), Bellflower Tussock (40,000 seeds), Candytuft (1,500 seeds), Chinese forget me not (1,000 seeds), Pincushion (300 seeds) and Scarlet flax (1,750 seeds).  I am looking forward to a beautiful flower garden this year … Thanks so much!

I am also excited to report that when I visited the Chicago Flower and Garden Show last week, I entered to win a drawing from the Chicago Botanic Garden and I won!   “A Day at the Garden” which includes complimentary parking, 4 passes for the Grand Tram Tour and 4 passes for the Model Railroad Garden.    How totally cool is that!!! 

I went to the show with my Mom and Aunt and made them a little gift using my Cricut machine…a folder to hold their gardening notes.

 Garden folder

I started work on a card for Mother’s Day and also a sign for Easter … both still need work, but I am discovering new techniques and material to work with.  I actually sewed ribbon onto the card and glued a fabric flower on the Easter sign.   Using the sewing technique gives the card a whole new look and it works very well using cardstock.

Can’t get any better than this …. gardening and crafting and Winning, of course!    Thank YOU!

Pressed Herbs and Flowers

Experimenting with my new Cricut has been fun and has stirred up all kinds of creative ideas!  I made these gift bags which I thought would be a bit bigger but I have to keep in mind the size of the machine.  I was envisioning the gift bags you pick up at the store but the ones I created are much smaller.  I can use them for candies or soaps but the best gift I thought to use them for would be seed packets…they are the perfect size!

I used pressed dried herbs and flowers along with paper cut designs to decorate the gift bags.  Dried sage is used as the stem and leaves in the design above.  Herbs are easy to dry either by hanging or press them flat in a heavy book as I did with these.

 Pressed basil, parsley, sage, flowers and leaves

I have realized that an area for laying out all my materials is crucial for the designing of projects. 

There seems to be an unlimited amount of projects and creations on the internet and I have only just begun to discover some of them.  A really clever idea that I did happen to find and can’t wait to use it in a design is using foil tape to cover cut out paper designs for an embossed look.

I think an embossed Running Garlic sign would be cool … oh, the possibilities are endless ………

Garden Soup and Chili Powder

There is nothing better on a cold winter day than a nice hot bowl of yummy soup … Garden Soup – fresh from the garden!  Only glitch is … we are covered with snow and the temperature is just plain COLD!  The garden regretfully is not producing ingredients for the Garden Soup I dream of.

With a little imagination and the desire to jump in and see what I could come up with I managed to create “one of the best soups I ever made”!  I had some tomatoes in the freezer.  Here is how I made tomato base for the soup and will continue to use it in future recipes.  After canning all the tomatoes, my plants were still producing so I simply cut the whole tomatoes  into quarters and froze them as is in a plastic bag.  Tossing a couple in soups and stews was my intent.  What I actually did was took a whole baggie of frozen quartered tomatoes and simmered them down, removed the seeds & skins as best I could and Voila I had my tomato soup base!  My thoughts were a minestrone soup so I added chickpeas (which I plan on growing this season). I didn’t stop there … I kept adding -

 Garlic

 Peas

Both grown in the garden!!  Then diced celery, carrots, onions, cabbage and spinach.  No exact measurements, just diced and added.  The spinach I blanched before freezing and I have also frozen the spinach just as is.  The only drawback with the spinach frozen as is it takes up a considerable amount of space. I love spinach and last year it actually grew back after the cruel winter weather – quite a surprise!

 Fresh Spinach 

I think the ingredient that really made a difference in this soup was the Delicata squash. Earlier in the week I had baked up several and planned to eat them throughout the week.   Instead I peeled the skin and chopped them adding to the soup.  They acted as a thickener and the taste was Good! 

 Delicata squash 

Several types of beans, corn, broccoli … whatever you have on hand can be used.  Herbs would add great flavor – I just sprinkled parmesan cheese on and enjoyed my Garden Soup!!!

Now for the Chili Powder!  I didn’t add it to the soup, but I could have!  We had made up a batch of chili and were not happy with the chili powder – it seemed flavorless, so we decided to try making our own.  Simple procedure really.  First we purchased the dried peppers and deseeded them. 

 Using the coffee grinder we whirled until we had powder!

 Before

 After

Homemade Chili Powder – the peppers we used are Arbol and if this chili powder stands up in the cooking (not too hot) we will be growing these peppers this year!

               …..   A day spent creating warmth during the deep chill of winter!

Homemade Goodness

Homemade gifts are treasured gifts … gifts from the heart created with care and love.  The time taken to create these gifts cannot be measured in numbers and the goodness that flows from the gift cannot be measured in words.  There are many among us that have a natural talent and are able to create crafts with the whirl of a pen or the hum of a machine.  The gardeners in us are able to create homemade goodness fresh from the earth and as we plan ahead for the coming planting season we should think beyond our summer harvest and look to share the harvest with gifts of goodness that will no doubt be received without hesitation.  Canning our summer crops is an art taken and continued to this day from our ancestors and one that  carries a message of our hard work in the garden.  At times it truly is difficult to part with our canned goods but this act holds a true connection to the earth and the homemade goodness we pass along to those we care about as we give them a gift from ourselves.  Take some time to plan for those gifts now .  Grow extra tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers along with your normal plantings. 

Browse some preserving cookbooks and articles to find great combinations or create your own recipes that may become your next family favorite! 

Remember to include herbs which can be used fresh or dried for later use – these can even be used as a great gift …. dried herbs!  

Flowers need to be included in your garden plans as well.  Fresh flowers are gifts that  will brighten anyone’s day and a nice vase brimming with homemade goodness lightens up any room in the home.  Certain flowers dry well and can be used in dried flower arrangements and there are dozens of craft ideas you can create with them.  A few of my favorites are lavender, globe amaranth, baby’s breath, statice and strawflower. 

 

I did have my sewing machine humming along just recently making the new pup her own place to lounge.   Earlier in the year I spent some time creating this doggie bed for the bigger puppies and they seemed to have forgotten all about it until the new pup arrived.

Now they are very possessive SO I had to make the baby puppy one all her own!  It’s so funny – how she knew it was hers!  These doggie beds are homemade and the best part about them is I used old bed pillows and throw pillows to stuff them.  Took the old worn outer layer off and used the insides to make these.  I could have made new throw pillows but I am guessing the pups like their beds better!  Good way to recycle those worn out pillows –

Once I had them all put together I did pop them in the washer for a good cleaning using this Homemade Laundry Soap.  I have been using this soap for almost a year now and I love it!  I have posted these directions in the past and wanted to make sure to share it once again.  I was asked if it works good in a front loading machine. Yes, it does and that is one of the reasons I searched out this laundry soap recipe. Store bought laundry soap is ridiculously high priced and I wanted an alternative and it does a fantastic job!!!

Three simple ingredients – 1 bar castile soap, 3/4 cup “washing soda” and 3/4 cup borax

Probably the hardest part of all this is grating the bar of soap – I found this GREAT grater and it works perfect!  I did try freezing the bar of soap to make it easier, but it really grated the same (it’s a hard soap).

The finished laundry detergent seems soooo clean!  Use 1 tablespoon for light loads and 2 tablespoons for heavily soiled laundry.  For the most part I use 2 tablespoons and the results are wonderful.  I keep a copy of this recipe in the same drawer as the laundry soap so when I am running low I can make up another batch.

 Finished laundry soap

Composting for a healthy garden

Even in the winter months you can still add to your compost pile or bin.  It may just freeze depending on where you live, but once the weather warms the process of decomposing will begin.  Compost occurs naturally and continually with or without our help.  A natural process where leaves, grass clippings, vegetable scraps, etc. break down and go back into the earth’s soil to nurture it.  The nutrients provided from the compost feed new growth and beautiful healthy plants emerge!

Composting eliminates a lot of waste that is thrown into your trash can and hauled away.  Starting a compost bin or just a pile is relatively easy.  Find a spot in your yard – preferably near your garden so you don’t have to haul it that far.  Gather leaves in the fall, weeds, grass clippings, most kitchen scraps and add them to the pile.  You can let it sit or turn your pile for faster decomposing.  When we moved into our home there was a compost bin already standing.  Every year I added leaves and just let it sit.  Now everything goes into the bin (with a few exceptions).  Just recently I started adding chicken manure from the 3 chickens we acquired this past year.

I use the screen to sift through the compost and return the uncomposted material back to the bin.

 End Results!

I also have a huge pile out in the forest area that I try to turn a couple times a month during the warmer months.  We actually used an old trampoline that was left on the property and turned it into a huge bin.  We enclosed the circular frame with chicken wire to contain what we added to it, left the top open and use the trampoline canvas as a cover over the compost.

I also started a worm bin several years ago inside the house.  The worm castings are excellent natural fertilizer for the gardens.  Vermicomposting (the name for composting with worms) takes a little more practice to master.  Patience is the key ingredient.  You start by adding damp newspaper, kitchen scraps, some gritty material like crushed eggshells (just a small amount) and a bit of soil….plus the worms.  Then let it sit.  The worm bin or factory I purchased has 3 bins with a lower section that catches the liquid runoff.  This I can use to make compost tea and add to the water when watering the plants.

 Adding newspaper

 End result – worm castings!

The worms do a remarkable job, but like I said it takes patience and several months to see results.  I found that adding newspaper or shredded papers keeps the contents stable.  Do not add too many scraps at first.  Take your time and observe – you will get the hang of it after a while and your garden will love you for it!!  The soil in the garden is the foundation for healthy happy plants and one of the most important parts of successful gardening.

Lolli Pots – candy creations!

Years ago I made everyone in the family candy as a Christmas gift – all kinds!  I spent  hours and money on tons of molds and created all types of combinations … it was a huge success.  Since that time I will pick up candy melts on occasion and make some sweet treats.  We are bringing a meat and cheese tray as our addition to the Christmas feast at my sister’s this year and I decided to make up some candy also.  The candy melts are manufactured by Wilton and they were on sale so I couldn’t miss the opportunity.

I had lollipop molds and the sticks so I created what I call Lolli Pots.  I painted a terra cotta pot deep red and you can paint any design of your liking on the pots.   I painted family names along with all the names of the family members.  These will be gifts for the families with children. 

 Lolli Pots

The procedure for making lollipops is quite easy.  Melt the candy melts in the microwave for about a minute and then fill the candy molds with the melted candy, insert the stick and place in the refrigerator for about a half hour.  Pop them out of the mold and cover with a little plastic bag and insert in pot (I placed a square of foam in the pot first).  Then I attempted to make these chocolate bowls which was a bit more challenging.

After a few attempts I did end up with a dozen good chocolate cups that I intend to fill with vanilla pudding and little graham cracker critters.  Here is a picture that came with the mold and fruit would be good also, but at this point I refuse to go to the grocery store any more!!!