This past Christmas, my (kinda)mother- in-law gave me and the mr these really cool honey bee pins in our stockings. Nothing fancy, just a little pin, but I think it was one of the best gifts that I had gotten all year. The pin lives on my winter jacket.
And now I am into pins.
So a couple of the little’s came over yesterday after school for crafts and dinner and I figured a bit of pin making would be a perfect little project for us to do. And being that it’s the big V day coming up,%u00a0 making these pins heart shaped was more then overly appropriate. (What’s Valentines day without cute little hearts?) Well pin making we did, or I did, not so much for them. They made a few, but in the end, they were more excited to beat the crap out of the mr and to eat carrot shavings with peanut butter and nutella.. Totally ok with me because really, I was the one that wanted a little craft time and the mr did need to get his butt kicked.
Sure I made these pins pretty much for myself, but imagine the possibilities. Make a bunch to give out to your friends, family, neighbors, or even the mail man!? Or if you have yourself a little, how great would these pins be make and to give to all their little classmates. I know that if received one of these pins in my homemade shoe box mail box meant to collect all of my candy studded, drugstore bought valentines. I would have been elated and rocked that pin all year long on my super cool backpack.(grade schooler, they have all the fun) Right after I finished painting and gluing all my pins, Miley then decided that they were freaking awesome and wanted to make a bunch more…. Well little little, to late, time to go home. But I did give her a bunch to bring back with her. She will just have to bug her mom to make some more.
And sure, I mention valentines day when talking about these pins, but really, hearts are for everyday, and are still really great long after V day is over.
Handmade heart pins = love!
Stuff you need for some awesome pins.
Polymer clay (I used white but any color will do)
red and white paint (preferably enamel or a high gloss paint) and a paint brush
bar pin backs (I bought these at Michael ‘s craft store. 64 for like 3 bucks!)
industrial strength glue (E600 is great and is used and recommended by many a crafters)
rolling pin or wooden dowel
small heart shaped cutter
sharpie pen to write on pins (optional)
Glitter( also optional)
A couple notes. You could use red clay but I have found that when I buy the red dyed clay, its always harder to work with and plus, it stainsyour hands. Also, I like to seal the clay and enamel paint does the trick. If you don’t want to paint it, just pain on a coat of clear sealer.
Start buy kneading a chunk of clay a little bit to get it to a workable state, then roll into a ball and roll out flat. I rolled mine out about 1/3 of an inch, but I also knew I wanted to squish it out a little flatter once I cut the shapes out.
Cut out your hearts, or if you want, free form them.%u00a0 What I did was used my tiny heart cookie cutter to cut the initial shape, but then used my thumb and squished them all out a bit bigger.
Note here.. Hears are awesome and amazing, but other shapes….Go for it. You probably have a shit tone of those pin backs.
And just before you bake them, make sure that the pins you are using will fit behind the hearts. (if you notice any visible pin, just smoosh the heart out a little more).
Into the oven,, out of the oven. Read the package to make sure, but the stuff I used only needed to be baked for 15 minutes at 275
Once out of the oven, let completely cool and harden.
Once the hearts are cooled, go ahead and paint them. Use straight up one color, or mix and make a few different shades. (red, white and pink are nice together)
You can add some glitter to the wet paint to add a little bling….
Or add designs or what have you. Do whatever feels right.
Now stick a pin thingy on the back of each heart with a blob of glue. (If you use the E600, make sure to use it near a window or somewhere ventilated.. it really stinks for a few minutes)
Let the glue dry (this glue was completely dry within an hour, but follow glue package instructions)
And if you want, grab the sharpie, make sure the paint is really dry (at least an hour) and write a little something on the hearts.
And now the hard part.. which one goes to who and which one (or 4) do you keep for yourself. (you can always make more!)
Have fun!
-C
It’s Mother’s Day weekend which means that you and I and everyone out there should feel the slightest bit obligated to at least do a little something nice for your mom for the mere fact that you were borned. And really what better way to celebrate mom than with food%u2026 It really is the least that you can do. (I think mom’s also like flowers and cards and handmade pasta necklaces) My mom is defiantly about the food. (she has had her fair share or pasta necklaces) %u00a0A many years back on Mother’s day, this sweet little girl (me) made her mother a special %u00a0breakfast treat%u2026blueberry scones. And ever since that day, for every freaking holiday, birthday, whatever day, my mother requests (demands) a batch of those scones. She is always saying that these are her favorite treat and that no one has ever made them as good as I do. (I guess that just reiterates that I am her number 1 child)
And for the last few months my mom has been up my butt, trying to get me to make her some. Not going to lie, I have been saying I’ll get her a batch, but for some reason, I haven’t gotten around to making them. So two birds here.. Make the scones and she gets off my back for a least a little while (a month.. maybe 2) and I give her a fantastic Mothers day gift that I know she will love.
So here they are , oh mother of mine. Blueberry scones!
The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. A bit of sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, and butter (use vegan butter and nut milk if you want to make them vegan) And of course we need the blueberries which can be fresh or frozen. I usually use fresh, but the store I stopped at only had really big containers of fresh that were like $1000 dollars a piece and the organic frozen happen to be on super sale. So you know, the cheap in me won that battle.%u00a0So into the bowl goes all the dry stuff; flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and the sugar. Give it a good whisk.
Now for my special trick for a perfectly distributed cold butter in a pastry. Freeze your butter and grate it!
With a large wholed grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the bowl with the dry, stoping a few times to toss the butter chunks around so you don’t end up with a huge pile of grated butter. When it’s all grated, gently toss around so the butter is evenly distributed.%u00a0Now dump the blueberries into the flour mixture. Toss them around to give them a coat of flour. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla and give a little mix until liquid is absorbed. We are trying to handle the dough as little as possible.Turn mixture onto counter. It’s very loose, but thats what it should look like. Very gently and with as little handling as possible, gather dough up, knead a few times till everything %u00a0just comes together. Press dough into a disk that is roughly an inch thick%u2026. and it doesn’t need to be perfect.%u00a0Cut the disk into even sized pieces. Do 6 big, 8 normal, maybe even 10 smaller. Whatever size you like. (I did 8) Place the scones onto a baking sheet, using a spatula to transfer, and sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar. Into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.And when the scones look all nice and browned and a tester comes out clean. remove and either serve right away warm, preferably with huge cup of coffee or tea, or stick on a rack to cool before storing in %u00a0air tight container.
Perfect to serve as a breakfast pastry, at brunch, or even as a dessert. A nice little treat for a special lady. (dudes can eat them too)%u00a0
Happy Mothers Day Mom! Thanks for having me!
And Happy Weekend!!!
-C
Blueberry Scones%u00a0
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar plus%u00a02 tablespoons %u00a0to sprinkle on top
1 %u00a0teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted %u00a0butter frozen or really cold (use non dairy butter like Earth Balance for vegan)
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 teaspoon %u00a0vanilla%u00a0
%u00a03/4 cup buttermilk (use non dairy milk for vegan)
Preheat oven t0 400 degrees
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Take the frozen butter and grate directly into flour mixture, tossing around to evenly disrupted. Add in blueberries and toss around till coated with flour, then lastly, add vanilla to buttermilk and mix into mixture until just barely coming together. Turn mixture out onto counter and with your hands, knead mixture a few times until it forms a solid dough. Shape into a disk and smoosh down until about an inch thick. Cut into 6-10 triangles %u00a0and place on a non greases baking sheet and sprinkle tops with remaining sugar. Stick into oven and bake for 20 minutes or until tops start turning a golden brown and a tester in the middle of a scone comes out clean.%u00a0
Remove from baking sheet and serve warm or let cool on a rack.
Mom gets first dibs, and if she is willing to share, eat one yourself with%u00a0your face.%u00a0
This weekend I made a stand of paper hearts that live all around the house. An early Valentines for my mister. We don’t do fancy dinners, %u00a0store bought cards or gifts%u2026.. Handmade and pretty is what we do.
These hearts hang from the ceiling and toss pretty heart shadows on the walls%u2026..and make both of us smile.%u00a0
%u00a0 The making of stringed paper hearts is so very simple. What you need is..
One or more different colors of card stock paper
scissors
A sewing machine with thread..(can be hand sewn for sure)
To start, cut out a bunch of hearts, as many as you want. You can free form cut them (that’s what I did) or you can either make a template and rouse %u00a0a cookie cutter or something and trace, if you want perfect uniform hearts.%u00a0
Decide on a color pattern (I did red, pink, white, brown, repeat) or random is nice too.
Start sewing the hearts. (I used a scrap to get started..and use the scrap piece for tacking to the ceiling). You can either sew hearts close together or leave an inch or two in between each. One trick I have learned when sewing strands of paper is to give a little tension to the strand as you are sewing%u2026it helps keep the machine from jamming up.
You are done when all the hearts are sewn%u2026 And hang them up or, if you want to save them for a surprise for Valentines day, wrap strand around a piece of cardboard. %u00a0Leave up for a day, for a week, or like us, all year long.
Hearts everywhere%u2026so simple, so pretty, so much love!
-C
Made from necessity, a seat near the door to sit and remove shoes, %u00a0store winter stuff and doesn’t look like I threw a bunch of milk crates together..I threw them together and added %u00a0a nice blanket, I’m classy like that. I do love a good milk crate%u2026there has always been something so satisfying to me about a free plastic receptacle that has a world of uses. These three crates and some scrap wood %u00a0have changed my entire living situation. The entryway of our 200 sq ft loft is now super functional, looks fantastic, and makes me happy. .All from a the scrape pile. It’s not what you think%u2026we have a barn that is pretty much dedicated to scrap wood and some other building material that has come from buildings we have worked on. This picture does not do our scrap wood(and junk) pile any justice. It is pretty crazy, and drives me nuts. I don’t know how many times I have threatened a 30 yard dumpster, but you know what? When Nick or I are in need of some wood, we always find ourselves rummaging through the pile and can almost always find a piece of what we are looking for. The pile somehow always redeems itself, %u00a0 for that reason it still lives on(for now). Being %u00a0that you as a %u00a0sane person, you probably don’t have a barn full of scrap wood(and junk), so what you will need for this project is..
Materials
Two 39.5 X13 inches pieces %u00a0of 3/4 inch ply wood(top and bottom)
Two pieces %u00a0 13X13 of 3/4 inch plywood(sides)
Four 10 inch 2×4 (Legs)
about twenty-five 2 inch finishing screws
3 milk crates(you can do 2 or 4%u2026just have to measure out for wood)
Tools
Drill
%u00a0circular saw
measuring tape
t square or a long straight edge.
pencil
Note: If you are not comfortable buying a full sheet of ply wood and cutting it down or you don’t own necessary tools, go to Home Depot or Lowes and have them cut the pieces to size for you.. Also, I have never really gone through a project step by step so if you are making %u00a0this and somethings seems off or you have any questions, totally email or comment to me%u2026 but I will try my best to make each step clear%u2026..
Three milk crates..What I found was that there are some milk crates that are not the same size so make sure that you have three that are the same. These crates are 13x13x11.
Measure%u00a0and cut ply wood. The %u00a0top and a bottom %u00a0are the same measurements%u2026Here comes some math%u2026. three milk crates that are 13 inches long = 39 inches. One crate deep is 13 inches. . Cut two pieces %u00a039.5 inches by 13 inches. (The extra 1/2 inch is so the crates can move in and out easier)
Now measure and cut sides. Two pieces at 13×13.The crates are 11 inches high, but you need to add the extra 1.5 inches %u00a0because of the thickness of the plywood. If your milk crates are a different height, %u00a0use that measurement plus 1.5 inches.
If you haven’t heard this saying before, it will change your life%u2026Measure TWICE!! cut once. Dont get overly cocky, cause even the seasoned wood worker screws up measurements.. I screw up sometimes so the saying is not lost on me.
%u00a0 %u00a0%u00a0
Once you have all four pieces cut, its time to assemble. Having an extra hand will help a lot, but you can do this on your own.
Screw the side pieces into the top and bottom. We stood the top and bottom vertically and place and lined up the side. Now sink four screws into both sides to secure to the other pieces. %u00a0When sinking the screws, make sure you are drilling straight down so your drew doesn’t come out of the side of the wood. If that happens, just remove and start again, no biggy. Once you have done one size, flip and screw in the other.
I caught that piece of wood he is throwing at me. Ok, not really, but I could have. Here Nick is cutting %u00a0four 10 inch pieces of 2×4 for the legs. We decided on 10 inch legs because we wanted a bench that was a %u00a0little taller than the average chair, which is about 18 inches floor to seat. If you wanted to make the legs shorter or taller, by all means, I just wouldn’t go to much taller or you might not be able to sit conformably on it.
After you have all your legs cut, mark out where you want to place them. We did a one%u00a0inch recessed from the front and the side%u2026but do whatever looks best to you. Mark where the legs go and place two screws into inch leg, screwing from the inside of the bench.%u00a0And thats%u00a0it%u2026 ..now you have the frame. Take a minute here to admire your handy wood working skills. If you are not into the raw wood look, this would be the time to paint it.
With the crates inserted%u2026Doesn’t it look magnificent! I choose these 3 crates for the colors and the patterns..I wish I has a grey crate that fit. That would have looked awesome.
Test one%u2026%u2026%u2026.the crate slides out perfectly and my mittens fit!!
Now for the big%u00a0test%u2026%u2026….and it works!! My butt safely seated. My feet touch the ground and I can bend over and tie my shows%u2026 can’t get any better%u2026
But it did. The addition of a folded blanket as a cushion. I was going to make a cushion but found a really pretty blanket at the second-hand store that was perfect. It was 2 bucks and is actually way more practical than a cushion. I can wash this blanket, a hand-made cushion, I probably wouldn’t want to mess with that, plus a piece of foam alone cost like 25 bucks. The blanket was meant to be.
A great success.. This bench is really great, I definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone.. It’s the perfect place to sit and remove wet shoes, store all of our hats, mittens and canvas shopping bags and it just looks cool. It was really simple to make, cheap, and took very little time. You could even make two, one for you and one for a friend(think holiday gift)
A perfect weekend project!! DO IT!!!! and if %u00a0you make one, please, send a pic on over, I would love to see it!
THE LOVELY CRAZY
January 7, 2020 by maximios • Blog
This past Christmas, my (kinda)mother- in-law gave me and the mr these really cool honey bee pins in our stockings. Nothing fancy, just a little pin, but I think it was one of the best gifts that I had gotten all year. The pin lives on my winter jacket.
And now I am into pins.
So a couple of the little’s came over yesterday after school for crafts and dinner and I figured a bit of pin making would be a perfect little project for us to do. And being that it’s the big V day coming up,%u00a0 making these pins heart shaped was more then overly appropriate. (What’s Valentines day without cute little hearts?) Well pin making we did, or I did, not so much for them. They made a few, but in the end, they were more excited to beat the crap out of the mr and to eat carrot shavings with peanut butter and nutella.. Totally ok with me because really, I was the one that wanted a little craft time and the mr did need to get his butt kicked.
Sure I made these pins pretty much for myself, but imagine the possibilities. Make a bunch to give out to your friends, family, neighbors, or even the mail man!? Or if you have yourself a little, how great would these pins be make and to give to all their little classmates. I know that if received one of these pins in my homemade shoe box mail box meant to collect all of my candy studded, drugstore bought valentines. I would have been elated and rocked that pin all year long on my super cool backpack.(grade schooler, they have all the fun) Right after I finished painting and gluing all my pins, Miley then decided that they were freaking awesome and wanted to make a bunch more…. Well little little, to late, time to go home. But I did give her a bunch to bring back with her. She will just have to bug her mom to make some more.
And sure, I mention valentines day when talking about these pins, but really, hearts are for everyday, and are still really great long after V day is over.
Handmade heart pins = love!
Stuff you need for some awesome pins.
A couple notes. You could use red clay but I have found that when I buy the red dyed clay, its always harder to work with and plus, it stainsyour hands. Also, I like to seal the clay and enamel paint does the trick. If you don’t want to paint it, just pain on a coat of clear sealer.
Start buy kneading a chunk of clay a little bit to get it to a workable state, then roll into a ball and roll out flat. I rolled mine out about 1/3 of an inch, but I also knew I wanted to squish it out a little flatter once I cut the shapes out.
Cut out your hearts, or if you want, free form them.%u00a0 What I did was used my tiny heart cookie cutter to cut the initial shape, but then used my thumb and squished them all out a bit bigger.
Note here.. Hears are awesome and amazing, but other shapes….Go for it. You probably have a shit tone of those pin backs.
And just before you bake them, make sure that the pins you are using will fit behind the hearts. (if you notice any visible pin, just smoosh the heart out a little more).
Into the oven,, out of the oven. Read the package to make sure, but the stuff I used only needed to be baked for 15 minutes at 275
Once out of the oven, let completely cool and harden.
Once the hearts are cooled, go ahead and paint them. Use straight up one color, or mix and make a few different shades. (red, white and pink are nice together)
You can add some glitter to the wet paint to add a little bling….
Or add designs or what have you. Do whatever feels right.
Now stick a pin thingy on the back of each heart with a blob of glue. (If you use the E600, make sure to use it near a window or somewhere ventilated.. it really stinks for a few minutes)
Let the glue dry (this glue was completely dry within an hour, but follow glue package instructions)
And if you want, grab the sharpie, make sure the paint is really dry (at least an hour) and write a little something on the hearts.
And now the hard part.. which one goes to who and which one (or 4) do you keep for yourself. (you can always make more!)
Have fun!
-C
And for the last few months my mom has been up my butt, trying to get me to make her some. Not going to lie, I have been saying I’ll get her a batch, but for some reason, I haven’t gotten around to making them. So two birds here.. Make the scones and she gets off my back for a least a little while (a month.. maybe 2) and I give her a fantastic Mothers day gift that I know she will love.
So here they are , oh mother of mine. Blueberry scones!
Now for my special trick for a perfectly distributed cold butter in a pastry. Freeze your butter and grate it!
With a large wholed grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the bowl with the dry, stoping a few times to toss the butter chunks around so you don’t end up with a huge pile of grated butter. When it’s all grated, gently toss around so the butter is evenly distributed.%u00a0
Now dump the blueberries into the flour mixture. Toss them around to give them a coat of flour. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla and give a little mix until liquid is absorbed. We are trying to handle the dough as little as possible.
Turn mixture onto counter. It’s very loose, but thats what it should look like. 
Very gently and with as little handling as possible, gather dough up, knead a few times till everything %u00a0just comes together. Press dough into a disk that is roughly an inch thick%u2026. and it doesn’t need to be perfect.%u00a0
Cut the disk into even sized pieces. Do 6 big, 8 normal, maybe even 10 smaller. Whatever size you like. (I did 8) Place the scones onto a baking sheet, using a spatula to transfer, and sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar. Into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
And when the scones look all nice and browned and a tester comes out clean. remove and either serve right away warm, preferably with huge cup of coffee or tea, or stick on a rack to cool before storing in %u00a0air tight container.
Perfect to serve as a breakfast pastry, at brunch, or even as a dessert. A nice little treat for a special lady. (dudes can eat them too)%u00a0
Happy Mothers Day Mom! Thanks for having me!
And Happy Weekend!!!
-C
Blueberry Scones%u00a0
Preheat oven t0 400 degrees
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Take the frozen butter and grate directly into flour mixture, tossing around to evenly disrupted. Add in blueberries and toss around till coated with flour, then lastly, add vanilla to buttermilk and mix into mixture until just barely coming together. Turn mixture out onto counter and with your hands, knead mixture a few times until it forms a solid dough. Shape into a disk and smoosh down until about an inch thick. Cut into 6-10 triangles %u00a0and place on a non greases baking sheet and sprinkle tops with remaining sugar. Stick into oven and bake for 20 minutes or until tops start turning a golden brown and a tester in the middle of a scone comes out clean.%u00a0
Remove from baking sheet and serve warm or let cool on a rack.
Mom gets first dibs, and if she is willing to share, eat one yourself with%u00a0your face.%u00a0
This weekend I made a stand of paper hearts that live all around the house. An early Valentines for my mister. We don’t do fancy dinners, %u00a0store bought cards or gifts%u2026.. Handmade and pretty is what we do.
These hearts hang from the ceiling and toss pretty heart shadows on the walls%u2026..and make both of us smile.%u00a0
%u00a0 The making of stringed paper hearts is so very simple. What you need is..
To start, cut out a bunch of hearts, as many as you want. You can free form cut them (that’s what I did) or you can either make a template and rouse %u00a0a cookie cutter or something and trace, if you want perfect uniform hearts.%u00a0
Decide on a color pattern (I did red, pink, white, brown, repeat) or random is nice too.
Start sewing the hearts. (I used a scrap to get started..and use the scrap piece for tacking to the ceiling). You can either sew hearts close together or leave an inch or two in between each. One trick I have learned when sewing strands of paper is to give a little tension to the strand as you are sewing%u2026it helps keep the machine from jamming up.
You are done when all the hearts are sewn%u2026 And hang them up or, if you want to save them for a surprise for Valentines day, wrap strand around a piece of cardboard. %u00a0Leave up for a day, for a week, or like us, all year long.
Hearts everywhere%u2026so simple, so pretty, so much love!
-C
Materials
Tools
Note: If you are not comfortable buying a full sheet of ply wood and cutting it down or you don’t own necessary tools, go to Home Depot or Lowes and have them cut the pieces to size for you.. Also, I have never really gone through a project step by step so if you are making %u00a0this and somethings seems off or you have any questions, totally email or comment to me%u2026 but I will try my best to make each step clear%u2026..
If you haven’t heard this saying before, it will change your life%u2026Measure TWICE!! cut once. Dont get overly cocky, cause even the seasoned wood worker screws up measurements.. I screw up sometimes so the saying is not lost on me.
Once you have all four pieces cut, its time to assemble. Having an extra hand will help a lot, but you can do this on your own.
Screw the side pieces into the top and bottom. We stood the top and bottom vertically and place and lined up the side. Now sink four screws into both sides to secure to the other pieces. %u00a0When sinking the screws, make sure you are drilling straight down so your drew doesn’t come out of the side of the wood. If that happens, just remove and start again, no biggy. Once you have done one size, flip and screw in the other.
A great success.. This bench is really great, I definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone.. It’s the perfect place to sit and remove wet shoes, store all of our hats, mittens and canvas shopping bags and it just looks cool. It was really simple to make, cheap, and took very little time. You could even make two, one for you and one for a friend(think holiday gift)
A perfect weekend project!! DO IT!!!! and if %u00a0you make one, please, send a pic on over, I would love to see it!
Have Fun!!!!!