Hello!  I’m Amber and MiniMak asked me to do a guest post for you!  I can usually be found at Amberism on MiniMak’s blogroll.  oh wait, I’m not on the blogroll.  hmmm…. interesting that. 

Still, I am very excited to be here where I intend to ramble on (and on) about crafting. 

I am a dabbling crafter.  I can’t say that I have any mad skills in anything really, but I do love to craft and therefore force all my children to craft too.  A family that crafts together, well, crafts together. Plus they make a wonderfully big mess which annoys the hell out of the Papa, and who doesn’t want to annoy the hell out of the Papa?  Exactly.  An added perk! 

So while I am not passionate about any one type of craft, I am passionate about re-using as many materials as I can, and I get downright giddy if I can take an item and re-craft it into something else entirely.  This is especially easy with clothes and I know a lot of people who are crazy talented and can repurpose just about any article of clothing.  Personally I’m not much of a sewer, although my most recent foray into re-purposing clothes was turning fake-silk pajamas into a Super!Claire! costume for my eldest daughter and I was really very proud of the results.  Of course she promptly refused to wear it because she is a toddler and toddlers are like that.  There are days when it is hard to remember that we craft for ourselves and not for the accolades that may never be forthcoming.

Repurposing clothes is always a lot of fun, but what I really love is when a microwave stand becomes a play kitchen or a spice rack turns into a puppet theatre.  I can spend hours just mindlessly walking down thrift store aisles wondering what I can find that can be made into something else.  Scrabble pieces turn into fairy stools, and remnant skeins of yarn into funky socks.  Right now a lot of my re-crafting ideas are definitely kid-focused because I am knee deep in kids, but I must admit that trying to think like a kid again has been a lot of fun.  It brings me a lot of pride to show my kids that the most creative and engaging play items don’t have to be cheap, mass-produced plastic doodads.  Plus having the kids be a part of the creative process makes the item that much more special.

The re-crafted item I am the most proud of was neither my idea, nor did I do much of the work but my passion nevertheless fuelled the idea.  I was coveting a hand-crafted wooden kitchen for my kids and simply couldn’t afford to buy one.  The thought of a plastic kitchen made me antsy so my Mom drafted up some plans thinking that between the two of us, and my husband, we could come up with something.  Then while walking the aisles in our favourite thrift store she came upon a microwave stand and envisioned a play kitchen.  With a little ingenuity, some mad measuring and calculating skills, she created the perfect play kitchen and the only new items she bought were the knobs and oven-door hinges.  No other toy in the house gets as much play time as this one does, it was the best $20 my mother has ever spent.

Beyond the play kitchen, I love creating felt food from thrifted felt and have made dozens of little cupcakes from an old horse blanket.  Play mats and messenger bags have been made from old curtains, a doll bed from a thrifted tray.  Child-designed creatures were made from thrifted scraps, fairy-dolls from old wooden spools, and a fairy house (in progress) from an old birdhouse.

Even the (incomplete) “mural” on my kid’s wall is made from recycled cardboard and old scrap papers that have been in my stash for years.

I really feel that all of us have a need to be creative in some capacity, and I love bringing together that need with my passion for this earth and finding ways to keep on crafting with a smaller impact on our planet.  I hope that one of these ideas inspires you, too.

A few days ago, I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies.  I don’t make cookies very often…just when I have a craving for them.  As I was making them, I thought about these fat, chewy, chocolately cookies.  I used the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips bag and was so excited to satisfy my craving.  I was so disappointed when they came out of the oven looking like this:

Don’t get me wrong…they tasted great! They just weren’t what I was craving.  I had no idea what I did wrong.  I followed the recipe to the “T”.  So I asked for some advice on Facebook and Twitter.  I got a lot of advice and tips.  I made another batch using all the tips I received and got some amazing results! 

Now THIS is what I call a FAT chocolate chip cookie!!

Here are the tips I received:

• Don’t grease the pan. (I never do this anyway)
• Sift the flour. (I sifted half as I remembered after pouring in the first cup)
• Cool the dough before putting it on the cookie sheet. (I put my dough into the fridge for about 1/2 an hour before rolling them into balls and setting them on the cookie sheet.)
• Crank the heat just before putting the cookies in the oven. (I “cranked” it from 350 to 375).
• Make sure the butter is not too soft and that you have enough flour. 

My friend L, also sent me this recipe and it worked amazingly well…so I’d like to share.

*****Technically this is an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe BUT I put the rolled oats through my coffee grinder instead of blender and it essentially made it into oatmeal flour.  It worked great! ******

In a large bowl, cream together:
1 cup butter (I wouldn’t substitute with margarine unless I had no other choice…), and like your friend said, not too soft…
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar (I actually use the ‘golden’ kind)

Add to creamy mixture and mix:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl, mix:
2 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (basically, put the oatmeal in your blender or food processor, and get it as powdery as you can)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (I actually don’t add the salt, maybe I should?)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. When it’s fairly well mixed, add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Roll them into about 1-inch balls and place on a baking tray. Bake for 9-12 minute range at 375 degrees.

ENJOY!

If you use this recipe or advice please let me know! I’d love to hear how this has helped you (or not).

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These caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels rods are delicious and extremely easy to make. 

All you need are 3 ingredients:

1 pkg of caramels and 1 pkg of melting chocolate. 

I used Bernard Callebaut melting chocolate.

(I work right across the street from the factory! Kind of convenient!)

1 pkg of pretzel rods.

Step 1: Melt caramel

Step 2: Pour melted caramel in a tall heat resistant container or glass and dip the pretzel rods about 3/4 way down.

Step 3: Place caramel dipped rods onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place them into the fridge or freezer.

 10-15 minutes in the fridge or freezer is all it takes for the caramel to harden.

Step 4: Melt chocolate.

Step 5:  Pour chocolate into a tall heat resistant container or glass and dip the rods about 3/4 of the way down.

 Step 6: Place chocolate dipped rods onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place them into the fridge or freezer.

 10-15 minutes in the fridge or freezer is all it takes for the chocolate to harden.

Step 7:  Take out of fridge or freezer after 10 – 15 minutes and ENJOY!!

Mmmmmmm!!

Please note: All photos are copyright MiniMak Makings 2010. 

Please feel free to use this recipe and tutorial with link back to this site.

Thanks lovelies!!

Hello blog-ee friends! Here is a progress report of the projects I am working on!

The crocheted afgan:

 My pretties!  My tomato plants are doing well!

I am excited for this year’s crop!

Recovering my dining room chairs.  This is one of my many unfinished projects.  I am using the fabric I got from IKEA to make my valances.  (See them here).  I’ve got one chair done, 3 more to go!

Have GOOD Good Friday!!!  (pound)

We spent Earth Hour chatting in the dark while wearing silly hats.  It’s a new tradition!

**No photos from silly hats Earth Hour…the camera did not want to take photos of people…it was being difficult.**

***the candle is from our wedding reception 3 years ago!***

Dying Easter eggs is fun!

Look at the pretty colours!  We had fun dying Easter eggs between supper and dessert.  Luckily we didn’t dye during Earth Hour!  Who knows what they would’ve looked like!  

How did YOU spend Earth Hour?

PS…dying eggs with a 3 year old (my niece, {E}) is extremely scary.  Luckily we had an old Christmas paper table cloth to protect my precious granite counter tops!

This fantastic Saturday started off with a great cup of coffee and a multi-grain english muffin with almond butter.  Then off to SEEDY SATURDAY.  It was a little crazy  but well worth the $2 admission.  

The vendors were great and I got to meet the owners of Worms At Work.  They are very enthusiastic and helpful.  Mr. Worms At Work was especially enthusiastic and kept saying, “This is worm poop!”.  Good times. 

I also came home with some seeds from the cutest (cutest as in sterotypical, 50 something, super nice and friendly) farmer from Saskatchewan, Jim Ternier.   He had his teenaged daughter helping him out.  I am especially excited about the Blue Fescue and Switch Grass I got from him.  I want to put those in some ornamental pots out in front of the house.  Woohoo!

Next, was off to Michael’s for some more yarn.  I am making this blanket , expect in orange, turquoise, brown and red.  Kind of a weird color combo but I am really diggin it.  The yarn is left over from this project and the colors were inspired from this project.  Tonight will be especially exciting because my husband is going out for a boys’ night and I will be at home crocheting while watching a movie! Oh yes! The excitement!  I hope to get more hexagons done.

So far so good…

 Next for this awesome Saturday?  Yoga and some planting!  Seriously? What could be better???

Here are my tomato seedlings under my homemade floralight (post to come…). 

Grow my pretties! Grow!

This site!

Doesn’t this look so fun and bright?  AND it’s easy enough for a newbie like myself to make! 

Perhaps it’s the bright colors that attract me…but this would also be very warm!  Our basement is always so cold!  This would be such a great blanket to snuggle up with! 

Just cut up some fresh soap bars.  They smell soooo fresh and….minty! 

My soaps are 100% handmade.  I do not use glycerin melt and pour.  I start from scratch and only use vegetable oils.   I try to stick to essential oils to fragrant the soap and plant extracts to dye.  In this soap, I used Spearmint Essential Oil and green ultramarine powder (non-toxic, cosmetic grade dye).  If you’d like a sample, contact me at minimak03{at}gmail{dot}com.