Where you been all my life?

Geez. Didn't really intend to be gone from this space for 2 months.  Sorry about that. But, hey, I'm back.

Here is some of what we've been up to round these parts...

I rendered my own lard to use in a batch of soap. Isn't it pretty? I didn't think I'd ever use the words lard and pretty in the same sentence, but there you have it.

We've started canning using old school glass lids. Matt bought some off EBay and his mom sent us the mother load from her yard sale score.They are a little more temperamental to work with, but we like the re- usability of them and the lack of weird chemicals.

I have been intrigued with natural dyeing techniques. I dyed a piece of fabric with turmeric and it came out so beautiful. Turmeric fades with time, but I think that makes it all the more interesting. I purchased some natural indigo powder and am eager to work with it soon.

Two new soaps made their debut in my Etsy shop and at the Farmer's market. Lavender Rosemary Mint & Palmarosa Orange. Oh, how I love them.

Happy Monday! I'll be back soon. Promise.

Making Stuff. It's fun.

We are pretty big fans of pie in this house. Okay, huge fans. So, when Matt spied some sour cherries growing along his bike route to school, we knew what had to be done. We harvested ourselves a bucket full of goodness and a pie was made that afternoon. Note: I was too busy eating the pie to take a photo of it. Sorry. I told you I was a pie hound.

I have been making goat milk iced lattes on hot afternoons. We are lucky enough to have this espresso machine at home and it fills our lives with endless joy.

I got into my fermenting groove again and made a big batch of kraut. I am pretty much eating it on everything I can, but my favorite would be on top of our homemade pizza. Don't knock it til' you try it.

But, the coolest thing we have made in some time is this bag right here. 

Yes, we made a market tote out of our spent chicken feed bag. I saw something similar on a women at the farmer's market a few weeks ago and knew we could make one ourselves. And make one we did. 

And here is a tutorial, so you can make one too!

Okay, Step 1:
Get yerself a feed bag, some thread and some webbing for straps. It has to be a feed bag that is almost tarp like in material and looks woven up close. The thread should be of the heavy duty variety to save time and look a bit cleaner in the end. We didn't have that on hand so we just went over stuff a few times when sewing. 

Step 2:
Remove the threading at the bottom of the bag. Hose the bag out and let dry before sewing because it will have some residual grain dust on it. You can always do this after the bag is complete if you're lazy like us.

Step 3:
Turn bag inside out. Sew a line across the bottom where you just undid the thread. Cut off excess material. Then fold these edges under and sew again.

Step 4:
Decide how wide you want your bag to be. We chose 8 inches. Mark this on each end like shown in the photo. Sew that line. Cut off excess material and fold edges under and sew again like you did in the previous step. Repeat on other side and the bottom of your bag will look like the last photo.

Step 5:

Decide how tall you want your bag to be. Measure a line across and then cut on the line. Fold the top under and sew across.

Step 6:
Decide how long you want your straps to be and where you want them located on the bag. Matt used clamps to secure the webbing and then measured it over my shoulder. We wanted straps that were long enough to go across our bodies which makes it more comfortable to use when riding a bike. Cut webbing and singe ends with a lighter to prevent fraying.

Step 7:
Sew strap on bag like shown. We wanted to make sure it withstood some abuse so we did some extra stitching. Repeat 3 more times on each strap end to finish.

Step 8:
Turn bag right side out and you're done! 

Garden! And some new friends.

A few shots of our garden this year. It's coming along slowly, but surely.

And we got two new hens! Meet Agnes (aka Mrs. Miyagi because she can catch flies with her beak) and Loretta. Don't ask us which one is which. They are a little skittish as you can see from the photo, but are settling in nicely. 

Taking the day off tomorrow to go canoeing and swimming. It's been HOT here and we are itchin' to get the boat out and feel some cold water on our skin. Til' next time!

Life and Times

Oh man, this month has flown by. I swear I've been busy. 

Here, take a gander at some of the latest....

Here I am milking Penny goat. I milk this little sweetheart once a week. Soap. Cheese. Yogurt. Yep, we're making it all. More pictures to come of her and her goat menagerie. 

Ran my first half marathon with my friend Gina. I loved it! One of the best parts though was getting the photo below as I was approaching the finish line....

Best picture ever for two reasons: 

1) The little girl to my right clapping for me. Thank you sweet little girl who claps for anonymous runners when they are tired. 

2) The two kids in front of her. Did that little boy just do a trust fall? 

Awesome.

Okay, had to sneak in a gratuitous cat photo of Stu. 

And one of Lou too. Is he staring into your soul or what? Maybe it's just me.

Ok, back to business.

New soaps!

Gardener's Scrub

Peppermint Pumice

Anise with Dead Sea Clay

And, sadly, one of our chickens died. 

RIP Blanche. 

You were a good chicken to us.

Well, that's all for now folks.  

In the meantime, catch us at the Flagstaff Community Market starting this Sunday May 27th and running until Oct.14th. We'll have some soap waiting for you!

Craftacular

It's been a bit of a craft frenzy up in our house since my last post. And I am really excited to say that I have started sewing! Hooray!

I hadn't really sewed much since 7th grade Home Economics class where I made a giant stuffed camel (yes, I picked that pattern out myself) and a pair of boxer shorts. So armed with the comfort of knowing my 7th grade self was a sewing champ and having Matt within shouting distance, I set off to make some handmade gifts for my friend's baby showers coming up.

First, I made this great receiving blanket from this tutorial. A really simple project for newbies like me.

And then I busted out some burp cloths loosely following this easy tutorial. Pardon the threads I haven't snipped off yet.

And then I was so psyched on sewing I decided to sew envelopes for the project I wrote about in my last post. I even sewed buttonholes. That's right, buttonholes. Seriously, a whole world opens up when you can sew a damn button. They may not be the prettiest buttonholes ever made, but I'm okay with that.

And with all this sewing happening, I soon realized I needed a pin cushion. And fast. Those cute plush things actually serve a purpose. Having straight pins lying about willy nilly isn't that cool. And so I made one in a few minutes out of an old can of salsa, some stuffing from a dog toy Lou had ripped up and a scrap piece of fabric I got for free.

And in non-sewing crafty news, I finally tried out freezer paper stenciling, which is a cheap and fun way to do your own screen printing. Run a Google search for it and you will find a boatload of tutorials. I screen printed a dinosaur onto a t-shirt I picked up at Goodwill for a 4-year old's birthday.  I would like to screen print some baby onesies in the future like in this tutorial (so cute!) or maybe this totally amazing Tom Selleck onesie.

See, I wasn't kidding about the level of craftiness around here! And that's not even counting all the new soaps I have been working on in preparation for the Farmer's Market this summer. I'll be sharing those soon.

Have a great week!

Send Some Love Today

Hey friends! Perhaps you might remember that one of my goals for 2012 was to write more letters consistently? Well, I have been kicking ass and taking names as far as that goes. I am LOVING it.

I even joined the Letter Writer's Alliance which is a sweet club for other letter geeks like me (and they sell actual carrier pigeons you can send through the USPS!). And I signed up to participate in the Elevated Envelope project. It challenges you to create some art with the common envelope and send it out to strangers across the world.

Yeah, I pretty much have the letter fever and the only cure is more letters.

But anyway...I am still working on my envelope project idea, but I did want to share some fun envelopes I made a few weeks ago with old papers I had lying around the house. Envelopes are easy and fun and you can make a big ol' stack of them in an afternoon. Just peel an old envelope apart that you don't care much about and trace onto your new paper and cut out. Fold and glue and you're done.

Here's one I made with old sheet music I found at a thrift store.

My glue stick had run out and I didn't feel like leaving the house. My sewing machine was right in front of me and inspiration struck. I think I like sewn envelopes even better than glued! No drying time to boot.

This one was made from a picture book of Switzerland I found at a thrift store.

I also made one out of an old map of California, but I sent it off to my brother before I could snap a photo. He loved it!

The ideas are endless for envelopes. Old maps, magazines, paper grocery bags, old wrapping paper all rock. Thrift stores are great hunting grounds for inexpensive materials. As is the back of your closet.

And, in true crafty style, I took the scraps from my envelope making session and made more paper with it!