Prayers

I have been meaning to share with you a very special craft project for a while now.

What my niece went thru in December was very scary. It was a very difficult time for our family. It was had to know how to deal with such traumatic news. She is so sweet... It was so hard to watch her go thru all the poking and testing in the hospital.

The hospital room was overwhelming and scary, so clinical and medical. I wanted to bring in some flowers to brighten the place up, but for allergy reasons or something, there were no fresh flowers allowed on the pediatric oncology floor.

I decided to make her some flowers out of my wool sweater stash.

I cut and I cut...all the cutting became my silent meditation...

and the stitches of each button are a prayer. I worked on them a little everyday. They took me so long to finish that by the time I had a bouquet, Ayana had been sent home. I set out to make something for my sister and my niece but it turned out to be for me. It got me thru.


Praise God, our prayers are being answered. Ayana continues to do well and all the monitoring and testing is showing that the tumor is receeding, and she has not needed any chemotherapy. She recently had a CT scan and the tumor had regressed to such an extent that she they will just monitor it now with ultrasound.

Creative Sunday

We had a fun family day yesterday crafting and creating together. No church, no housework, just good ol' mess making creativity!

The girls wanted to try a recipe for some natural ink from this book:

Rich strained some frozen berries and added 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar to it and the girls used a couple of their feathers to draw with it. It was fun and interesting to see how the colors changed from red to darker purple as they dried.





I had decided that I was going to do some sewing for myself so, in an attempt to get the kids occupied with a project so that I could sew somethings for my self, I cut some long strips of scrap fabric for them to try and roll them into these tattered roses.

I had overestimated their manual dexterity and coordination though, and they were pretty frustrated by it. I loved how they looked however, so I ended up making about 2 dozen myself. I think we will put them on some headbands and hair clips.

My next idea for the kids, I thought for sure would keep them busy for sometime. I pulled out an old pair of tights, cut the legs off and gave one to Rosie and one to Lily. I pulled out the scrap fabric bag and had them stuff the legs to make a snake. They stuffed the snake in record time and then wanted my assistance to pick out buttons for eyes and make tongues, it was fun, but I still hadn't started my cardigan.

and these are the conditions I now had to work in:

I cleaned up a bit and pulled out my knit fabrics to select the color I wanted to make my cardigan out of. I am using a pattern form this book:I chose a heathered off white heavier knit and started cutting, only to discover I only had enough fabric for a size small and I am a size large! I snuck out of the house to check Joanne's Fabric for more, but no luck.

So I pulled out my flannel and finished up some blankets to replenish the stock at Hopscotch Children's Store. It felt better to have accomplished something of my own!

We ended the day with some family worship time, lead by Rich and his guitar and all went to bed early.

So now here's my Monday to do list:
*Clean the house
*Take Blankets to Hopscotch
*Search the fabric store for more fabric for my cardigan

Introducing an old friend.

Sarah of WanderCraft is a friend of mine from way back. We were born and raised in the same neighborhood in Ypsilanti, and spent lots of time together as kids. We manage to stay in touch a little bit these days, thanks to our blogs! She makes the sweetest photojournals and has just opened her Etsy shop, WanderCRAFT design! Check it out, her stuff is super cute and really affordable!

Handmade Holidays!!

It's that crafty time of year again! No more gardening, no more trips to the beach or playing outside, and I am sad to see it go, but the thing that always gets me through this time is having time to do creative projects. This is my favorite time of year to craft. What better thing to do when the weather turns so cold and dark, and this is my favorite place for new ideas and inspiration this time of year: Sew, Mamma, Sew!

They just started their 3rd Annual Handmade Holidays event yesterday!

Everyday of the month of November there is a blog post with great project and gifts ideas for the holidays! Click on the button to check it out, and tell your friends!

For even more ideas, go thru the archives and look at the last two years Handmade Holidays master lists!

Making Our New House a Home

We are begining to feel settled in here and the older girls are both in school. We have been working hard to establish our rythyms and routines. We are all very thankful that after the crazy roller coaster ride of not knowing where we were going to live, that we ended up in this house and it works so well for us.

I have been enjoying getting things moved in and set up in our new house and it's starting to feel like home. I have an amazing craft room to work in, which has allowed me to make some things for our house instead of going shopping. Luna needed a new bed and our bed needed a nice blanket both for warmth and to add some color to our room.

The blanket I made from cut up, felted wool sweaters and backed with flannel. It was pretty easy and only took me one evening and part of the next day to finish. I plan to make another one for the couch with red, orange and brown colors in an attempt to tie together our bright red couch and retro orange chair!

Another quick little project I finished this week was this new purse, just in time as my old one was really wearing out. I found the felted bag at The Outlet for only $4.50 and used some wool sweater scraps from the blanket to sew on some pockets.


I really miss being able to grow our own food in the huge garden out at the farm and collecting fresh eggs, but I figured there had to be some way to produce some of our own food still, so I decided to try sprouting.

SPROUTS

The ones on the left are Fenugreek seeds, which I am anxious to try and the ones on the right are chick peas. My first go at sprouting, last week, I tried mung beans. Because of my lack of expierience, I used way to many seeds and had sprouts coming out of everywhere! They were very good, but I had to get creative in trying to use them up which inspired trying this new recipe:

FRESH SPRING ROLLS

I found the recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook and we (Rich and I anyway, the kids weren't big on them cause they were raw and not at all like the egg rolls at the Chinese restaurant that they love.) really liked them. Rich made a sweet garlic dipping sauce to go with them.

We definitely eat well round here! I love having a kitchen that is big enough to work in, a dining room to sit down together in and a dishwasher to help with all the dishes we dirty!

I am still trying to use up all of the zucchini we grew in the garden this summer so the other night I made a double batch of zucchini brownies and zucchini bread. The bread recipe came from my favorite Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and turned out great with part rice flour mix and part sorghum flour and a little xanthum gum. The Zucchini brownies are from the Simply in Season cookbook that I have been using alot for ideas about what to do with the garden's produce.

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

Simply in Season
by Mary Beth Lind, Cathleen Hockman-Wert
Serves 18-24

• 1 cup / 250 ml flour
• 3/4 cup / 175 ml whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup / 75 ml baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Combine in large bowl.

• 2-3 cups / 500-750 ml zucchini (shredded)
Stir in.

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup / 175 ml sugar
• 3/4 cup / 175 ml brown sugar
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine in separate bowl and beat with fork. Stir into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly into greased 9 x 13-inch / 3.5 L pan.

• 1/2-1 cup / 125-250 ml semisweet or mint chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml nuts (chopped; optional)
Sprinkle on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350F / 180C until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.

Enough room to live, friends nearby, crafts and good food!! It doesn't get any better! In my next post, I'll give you the grand tour of our new house!

Welcome baby Ayana!

My little sister Julie had her baby! But it took me so long to post this, now she is three weeks old!

Ayana Lynae Torres
August 30, 2009 9:2am
7lbs. 4oz

She was born after an all night labor, which I was so blessed to be able to spend supporting my sister. Julie did so well and had a completely natural delivery at Metro Hospital only 1 1/2 hours after arriving there!

She was so alert and aware, yet calm and soooo sweet!


My girls are so excited to have another cousin.



This is the little Dollie I managed to sew for her. I just finished it the night before she was born! The button in her hair came from our grandmother.

Here's the tutorial, if you want to try one.

Handmade Toy Swap!

Bird and Little Bird is hosting a swap of handmade toys and children’s items to raise awareness about the problems caused by the CPSIA. If you’d like to participate, just e-mail Anne (birdmail AT gmail DOT com) and be sure to let her know if you’re willing to ship internationally. February 10th will be the deadline.

Read her blog post here for more details. She made Mr. Fox, pictured above, so maybe you’ll end up with something as adorable. I am not sure what I will contribute, but I'll post a pic when I do.

Have fun and support handmade!

Merry Christmas!

I can hardly believe that it is Christmas eve already. Time goes by so fast! and I still have so much to do! Last night I wrapped our kids gifts and I have everything ready for Rich's family, but I am still scrambling on some last minute things for my family. We aren't getting together until Friday so that buys me some time!

Here are some pics of the gift I just finished for my niece and nephew:

It's a set of art supplies!

I also made them little notebooks and aprons.

I put lots of foam stickers in this coffee can and attached the lid to the can with a ribbon so it won't get lost.

Last night I finally put together my Christmas cards! They are going out in the mail today. Better late than never right! I didn't mail out too many, in the name of being green, (and saving on stamps)! So if you don't get one in the snail mail, here is yours: (and you should feel special, cause your actually getting it before everyone else!)


I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

We need your help- PLEASE READ!

As of February 10, I may no longer be able to sell the children's items and toys that I have been making and thousands of others in the children's industry will be deeply affected financially and or will be out of business. Our favorite Hopscotch Children's store would be in major trouble.

Remember the outcry last holiday season over lead in imported toys? In order to combat such safety issues, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has passed legislation called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). The law sets stringent guidelines for children’s products containing lead and phthalates (a chemical used in some vinyl products).

It is supposed to go into effect February 10th, 2009, and after that date any product intended for children ages 12 and under must meet these guidelines, and have a certificate of compliance from a CPSC-accredited laboratory. This includes not just toys, but clothing, jewelry, blankets, sheets, books, bibs, strollers, carriers, and anything else that a child under 12 might come in contact with. Sounds great, right?

In theory, maybe. But in actuality the law is so far reaching that it may succeed in turning the economy upside down. For starters, the CPSIA requires end unit testing on every product intended for use by children under 12. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to do this testing, regardless of how small the business. That means that manufacturers (like myself ) will have to pay to get every different product they offer tested. These tests have to be done at a CSPC accredited lab, and cost tens of thousands of dollars. For example if you offer 3 different types of dresses. Each dress contains 2 different fabrics, as well as buttons, and thread, so that's potentially $600 to test one dress. But if you have 3 or more styles, that's $1800. And when you get a new bolt of fabric, you need to start all over again.

At present, there are no exemptions for small businesses and "micro" manufacturers and most handcraft artisans. There is no exception for quantities made, where the garments/products are made or anything else. Nor is there an exception for unadorned fabric components, unfinished wood components, materials which, by their nature, are free of lead and phthalates.

Also, the Act takes a "guilty until proven innocent" approach, which would treat a handmade, unfinished wooden toy that doesn't meet the certification deadline of 2/10/09 as a "banned hazardous substance" which would be illegal to distribute in this country. Each infraction carries a $100,000 felony charge. This legislation is also retroactive for any pre-existing inventory as of February 10th, 2009. This means that everything on the shelves in those big (or small) stores will also be "banned, hazardous substances" - contraband.

Larger corporations that can afford testing will incur thousands, maybe millions of dollars in fees, and this expense will be handed down to the consumer, probably making the prices for children's products go through the roof.

This also means that after that date, even selling your kids old things on eBay or Craigslist will be illegal. Charities will not be able to accept donations without a certificate of compliance either. February 10, 2009 is being dubbed “National Bankruptcy Day” by many people in the apparel and toy industry. If this legislation is not amended, it will affect everyone from port workers to parents looking for legal products. Billions of dollars worth of children's products will have to be destroyed because they can’t be legally sold, and this will cause major environmental problems.

While I am all for higher safety standards and keeping our kids safe, this law is so overreaching as to put thousands on manufacturers of children's products out of business -hurting our economy and causing even more loan defaults. Though this legislation was well-intentioned, it cannot be allowed to stand as is.

Please help us defend the American dream and our entrepreneurial spirit! This law affects every stay at home mom trying to help put food on the table and every grandmother knitting blankets for the local craft fair. It makes the thousands of us who have found a niche in the burgeoning children's market have to make a tough decision - continue to produce items illegally and possible incur a $100,000 fine, pay the enormous fees and raise costs of goods sold, or close up shop!

Please help us! For more information and ways to help, please visit the following links:

Contact your Congressperson using this link: http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476

It only takes 30 seconds!

If you have an extra minute send a hard copy of the letter as well!
To sign the online petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

Read more about it here: http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

Please copy and paste this on your blogs, we need all the help we can get!

I copied this article from KnuckleHeads Clothing.

Home sick

Don't look for me today at the Montessori craft show. I won't be there. I am home with a sick family. This awful flu bug has been making it's way thru the family this week. Daisy had it earlier and last night Rich and Rosie came down with it too. I was still going to try to go, but how can I leave Rich with sick kids, and I am not feeling so hot either. It's a bummer, I made lots of suff. If your looking for handmade gifts for Christmas, you know who to call! Also watch for my etsy shop to open in a couple days.

Here are the finished little Christmas tree ornaments:

another crafty day

We went to the Santa Clause Parade this morning. It was very cold, but very fun! It left us all feeling like we have entered the Christmas season. So can you guess what I did as soon as we got home? You got it, crafty crafty!


I saw a cute tutorial for these little trees at the small object and I had to try it. I decided to use my serger instead of a zig zag stich on the edges and I think it worked out pretty well. I am very excited about the rolled edge I learned to do with my serger. When I showed Rich, he laughed. I think it was a good laugh, he said they were cute, and then just like a man, he said "what are they for?" I think I am going to make them into ornaments with a little ribbon on the top. What do you think? DOn't laugh!


The girls and I made these wreaths with all the scraps of wool from the slippers I made. They had fun and I think we'll make some more.


Oh, I can't beleive it's that time of year again!

Crafting in overdrive

Just like every autumn, the weather turns cold and I am suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to get crafty. It has hit me harder than ever this year and I just spent the entire weekend sewing and creating (most of the time with a fussy baby on my hip or hanging on my leg). I have been staying up way too late and I am absolutely sleep deprived, but it's worth it when I finish something!

I am getting ready for a craft show at Grand Rapids Montessori, Rosie's school, on Saturday December 13. Mark your calendars! It is a fun day and a great fundraiser for the school. Here is a few things I am working on to sell,

Sketchbook covers in two sizes:

Recycled wool sweater stuff:

Slippers

ipod case

I am also planning to make some felted recycled sweater bags and scarfs, as well as some photo notecards and prints. I'll share more pics as I finish more stuff.

So all you crafters out there, what are you up to?? I'd love to hear about your projects, leave me a comment!