Cool tags for your gifts – Easter!

 Tags or Place cards

It’s all in the technique …

 

The technique I want to show you is called “Heat embossing” and when I first became interested in papercrafts this fascinated me and still does.   The design you stamp is raised off the surface of the paper and has a glossy shine to it.   The only drawback to this method is that you do have to purchase special supplies – a heat tool, embossing powder and Perfect Medium stamping solution.

Choose your paper be it a card, tag or a design for framing.   Stamp the design using the Perfect Medium and then sprinkle embossing powder onto that. 

I used a copper color which gives it a nice antique look.   Shake off the excess powder and return it to the container for future use (don’t discard).   Then take the heat tool and heat up the powder which will transform before your eyes.    

Something that adds a dramatic look to the tags or card is taking an ink pad and going around the edge and brushing it with color.    You can see that on the lower flower tags here.   I then took a swan design and using my sewing machine slowly attached the swan to a doily – I emphasize slowly since we are working with paper and you don’t want to tear it by sewing too quickly.

You can further attach this design to a box lid or use as a place card with an added little treat for your guests adding the date and their name so they can save as a treasured keepsake.

Pretty sweet, huh?

Which type of Chocolate do you prefer – Dark or Milk Chocolate?  Vote here!

Added to the “Get your Craft On” blog linkup…Thanks!

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!

Apple Ring Pie

Last year I canned up Apple Rings …

The recipe is from “Ball Blue Book of preserving” and the ingredients called for are 10 lbs. of apples (a variety of eating apples good for cooking to help maintain shape and texture), 4 cups sugar, 4 cups water and red food coloring (optional).   Core the apples, but do not peel.   Set apples to the side, treat to prevent darkening.    Combine sugar and water, add food coloring, if desired and bring to a boil.   Boil for 5 minutes.   Add apple rings and let stand 10 minutes.  Then bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat, simmer 30 minutes.   Remove apple rings while returning the syrup to a boil.   Pack apple rings into hot canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.   Ladle hot syrup over apples and process in boiling water canner – quarts 20 mins., pints 15 mins.   You can add a spice bag filled with cinnamon, whole cloves and other spices during the syrup prep., but remove before canning apple rings.

I made Apple Ring Pie last year and just recently made up another pie for the freezer to serve on Thanksgiving Day.    I used 2 store bought pie crusts, drained the apple rings from the syrup in the canning jar.

Then I just added the apple rings to the pie crust, sealed the dish with the second pie crust, slit vents so the steam could release and packed up for the freezer.   It is quite good and quite easy!

I came across this neat Apple Pie in a Jar recipe while visiting over at Mixing Bowl and I need to make this … little apple pies cooked in canning jars.    How cool is that!   I did make this Harvest Apple, Cheddar and Sage Bread which is also posted over there, as well as, in their latest magazine, their Baking Issue!

I brought in a nice harvest of Sage yesterday and will use some for the above recipe … I really enjoyed the Harvest Bread.   I did hang a bundle of the sage to dry since it can be used in dried flower arrangements very nicely and I can save dried sage for future recipes also.

I will be sending out a Newsletter in the near future so if you would like to receive a copy, please sign up from my facebook fan page (tab showing on top of the page that says Email Signup).   WordPress doesn’t allow javascript so until I learn more about this, the signup will be on the website and facebook.   I plan to highlight my blog posts from both blogs, discuss the workings of Garden Dish, craft talk and small business promotion ideas.   By using the newsletter I will be able to combine all my interests so everyone doesn’t have to click all over looking for something.

Garlic For Sale and Pickled Recipe

The garlic has been cured for a month now and I spent several days cleaning it so I do have some which I will be listing in my store next week for sale!

There are 4 different varieties but the quantity will be limited since I am working on planting more each year so I need to save some for that and I am rethinking which varieties I will grow.   With the move down south in the future I have to consider the different climate elements…it appears the hardneck do much better than the softneck down south.

A while back I pickled up the garlic scapes and I really enjoy them so I decided to try canning up some actual garlic.   I found this simple recipe in Ball Blue Book of preserving and decided on 3 different varieties to try… Chet’s Italian, Inchelium Red and Chrysalis Purple – 2 softs and a hardneck.

The first step in this process was peeling all the garlic (keeping each type separate from the other). 

Then I blanched the garlic  in boiling water for 1 minute & drained.   The recipe yields 6 half pints using 6 cups of peeled cloves garlic, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon canning salt and 3 cups vinegar.  Combine the sugar, salt and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Pack the hot garlic in your canning jars and ladle the hot liquid over the garlic leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece canning lids and process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Someone suggested peeling some garlic and storing in a jar in the refrigerator for easy and quick access when cooking stating this would encourage more use of the garlic .   I agree but not so sure how long the garlic will keep this way and stay fresh – thinking it would need to be used within a short timeframe.   Any suggestions??

Garlic now listed for sale at my store

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!

One World One Heart – Meet fellow bloggers!

The WINNER is ……. Yasmintoo.etsy.com  and you can find her blog here

Congratulations!   Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and commented on my blog …..I will be revisiting and connecting with more of you wonderful folks.  Thank you to Lisa for such a Wonderful Event and for all her hard work!!!

Welcome and thank you for stopping by!   This is the first year I am participating in this fun and exciting event called “One World One Heart” for an opportunity to meet other bloggers across the world!  The Magic Carpet holders joining along in this magical event each have chosen an item to give away as a prize to a lucky person.  I have included the logo and link for more details.

 

 One World One Heart 

                                               Make sure to check it out!

My giveaway is a set of Creative Crafty pot holders that can be used to protect those creative crafty fingers of yours as you cook up some delicious meals!  Included in the set are two hot pads embroidered with a positive saying – one “I am Crafty” and the other “I am Creative”. 

Both embroidered with “I am Happy” on the reverse side. 

The oven mitt has “I Love Life”  embroidered on it.  The set is 3 items – 2 hot pads along with the oven mitt.  All the items are assemblied using Insul-Bright for added protection.

On February 15th I will pick one lucky winner who will receive this creative crafty gift!   What you need to do is leave a comment and a means to contact you should you be the winner.  You can either leave a link to your own blog as contact information or your email address.  If you would rather not post your email address you can send it privately to mailbox@therunninggarlic.com and I will receive it there.  The cutoff time to leave a comment will be 9 AM (my time) on February 15th.

I will be checking out all the amazing blogs participating in this event and hopefully win some cool prizes along the way and make some great friends!

Once again Thank You for taking the time to stop by and best of luck with the giveaway and all your life ambitions!