Christmas Chickadee

Christmas Chickadee

from Klazane's blog
Finished! This is the Black-Capped Chickadee I worked on last night and most of today. :) You can't see it in the picture, but he has a lovely notched tail and little brown french knot eyes. I found the basic pattern here, but I changed it to make it...well, a chickadee. I changed the head shape and the beak, added wings, and, of course, those beautiful chickadee markings! I love those little birds. :) It's a Christmas present for a friend, but I almost want to keep it. :P One down, many more to go. I think I'll do something a little simpler for the rest of my gifts...

Snowy Morning

We just love waking up to a snow-covered lawn. :)

(Unfortunately, it all melted...again!)

From Klazane: Here's a sneak peek at a work in progress that will hopefully be completed and posted in its entirety tomorrow on my blog. :D

Favorite Authors

Tagged By my daughter: Klazane for the record is not her real name. Her lil sister named her hand that when she was 2.

Who is your all-time favorite author and why? Paul in the Bible, does that count? There is so much theology in every passage. Can anyone wrap their noggin around it the first time, the second, the third? My second would be a tie between Janette Oke and Beverly Lewis. I enjoy reading about the Amish, but do not seem to have much time to read.
Who was your first favorite author and why? My first favorite was Beverly Cleary. There was always something special about those two sisters! I could always relate to the older Beatrice (Beezus) who did not want her lil sister tagging along, but if I could go back, I would have my little sister with me always.
Do you still consider him/her to be among your favorites?
Beverly Cleary: no; Paul: yes
Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why? Sorry Klazane, new authors? Ha ha ha ha, maybe in the summer when theres time to read.
If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Paul, then Beverly Lewis & Janette Oke
I tag:
My sisters, but they are already tagged :)
Katrina
Our Crazy Farm
Jen
Noelle
Merry
Carrie
Mub
Rules:
Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

APPLE CRISP - Cast Iron Baking

On a cold day there is something yummy about smelling apples baking! Here is Apple Crisp in my new cast iron skillet that I won from Blackiron Dude. The skillet is beautifully seasoned. I am finally confident in using it now that he posted great tips on how to keep your iron clean.
I was going to make Apple Pancake, but we usually only make that for breakfast and no one has been in the mood for it. So here is Apple Crisp (with less apples than in the recipe). I'm not sure what I was thinking... I love this recipe. Our school use to make it for lunch a few times a month. I got the recipe from my sister who got it from our old HomeEc teacher. That teacher's family owned a local (famous) candy store, which is no longer in business.
Apple Crisp
5 c sliced, pared tart apples
1 c brown sugar
3/4 c flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 c butter
3/4 c cooking oats (oatmeal)

Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter and then add and stir in oat meal. Set aside. Melt another tablespoon of butter in your cast iron, or add melted butter to a pie dish. Add sliced apples. Top with oat mixture and press it down onto the apples. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes. Serve warm. Enjoy!

New Washcloth

I found a new pattern for a washcloth. It is the zigzag pattern. I forget the other name for it. It is right there on the tip of my tongue... chevrons... maybe that is it. :) This is a quick one, no border and looks nice, yeah!

Most prefer a washcloth for dishes that is under 8" x 8" (20cm x 20cm). It is just big enough for your hand and you can get into a heavy glass with it. This one is my favorite.

I changed my pattern a little. The first 6 rows are solid the middle two are like rows 7 and 8 and then the last 6 rows are solid again. You can make yours as you wish. My finished washcloth is 9" wide x 8 1/2" tall, (23cm x 21.5cm).
In order to clearly see and/or print the directions to the left just click on it and you should see it full size.

Stamping

For a few months I have been browsing things on Etsy. That is how I found Craft Pudding. A few days ago she posted how to make a stamp. There you will find alot of resources. I was curious how easy it was to make a stamp, so, I found an eraser and voila. It's a lil crude, goes to show it too, I only spent about 10 minutes on sunny. Afterwards I began reading more on how to do it. I like all the tutorials but in the end favored Kirberts because he went into a lil more depth. His webpage on rubber stamping is not cutesy but extremely informative.

After making my sun and reading Kirbert's page I see that, I will need smaller tools and rubber to make something worth gifting. All the tutorials pretty much do not suggest having children under 12 do this. I can see that it would be frustrating because you cannot "go back" once you cut too much. The knives/tools are very sharp and pose a danger to lil hands. A way to get your lil one involved if they do wish to do something, you can have them draw a picture of their favorite stuffy or toy; then you can make it into a stamp for them.

I've brought out my premade stamps and my youngest, Lizzy is having a lot of fun stamping her papers after she completes them for school. It has provided an incentive to do neat work :)

Zakka's ornament idea

I thought this was really cute. You can find the whole thing with more pictures here: http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2008/12/kokeshi-doll-christmas-ornaments.html I made something like this a few years ago with clothespins, eye hooks at top, but made carolers, skaters and the like. For skaters I used a piece of stiff gray felt hot glued to feet to make the blade of the skate.

Zakkalife was busy making kokeshi doll ornaments for her daughter's nursery class. She decided to give ornaments since she's been told no one throws away a Christmas ornament. Do you think this true? Have you ever thrown away Christmas ornament? The only ornaments most of us have ever thrown away were broken ones. Curious to hear your thoughts.Directions to make Kokeshi Doll Ornaments here. She also made a gift tag to go with the ornaments, see her page, she offers for people to copy and use it if they wish.

It's been very cold in the northeast!

Brrrrr! It's been chilly here in the northeast. Nothing is better than a stew on a day like today, unless you ask the kids; they will say nothing warms better than hot cocoa! I found many recipes for stew over the years. I find they best stew is when the meat is cooked very slowly, in a crock, on the stove, or in the oven for many hours. This one should have been cooked longer, but we couldn't wait. Just like chili, it is better the next day,,, but needs more time on the stove, cooked very slowly. We like it when the meat starts to fall apart.

Free Christmas Music MP3

Happy Hearts at Home always posts really neat things for home schoolers. Also alot of free things that are very interesting for anyone. Here is her blog.
I downloaded this, it is cute. Thanks Alexandra!!

Free Christmas Music MP3

Shpiffy Squirrel at Klazane

Today I finished my Shpiffy Squirrel mini stuffie. You can see him on my blog here. :]

-Klazane