Simply Rurban

Another Felted Purse, But This Time with Beading!

Posted on December 27, 2011 by simply0637

I made this purse for a Christmas present for my sister, so had to wait to post it. Whenever I see lime green it makes me think of her and when the woman wrapped the oil lamp I bought in a lime green sweater that they could not sell (it had been washed) my mind started thinking – what could I make for my sister.. The sweater had already been shrunk, but I needed to felt it a little bit more – so into the washer it went. This was a small sweater to begin with and that meant it was going to be a small purse, but big enough for a cell phone, wallet and keys. Because of the detail around the flowers, this purse took about 20 hours to make, but it brought me back to my beading days and selling as Dead shows – so what better music to listen to why working on it, but the Grateful Dead!

How To Make A Felted Beaded Purse

Items Needed

Wool sweater (washed, several times)
Wool roving
Felting needle
Felting pad
Stencil
Glass seed beads
Silver felting thread
Purse handles
Fabric for lining
Thread to match sweater and beads
Needle with a small enough eye to go through the beads
Patience

1. Wash and felt the sweater. Place the sweater in the washing machine with a pair of jeans and a little bit of liquid soap/detergent. Wash on the hottest, longest cycle. Place in the dryer with the jeans on the hottest temperature. You may have to do this part a couple of times until the sweater is felted to your liking.

2. Cut the sweater into the purse pattern you want. I like to leave the bottom of the sweater as the bottom of the purse, that way I do not have to sew the sides.

3. Decide on your needle felt design – I knew that I wanted to do flowers – so I found 2 stencils in Stella’s stash that I could use.

4. Place the felting pad inside the sweater and start needle felting your pattern. I forgot to take a picture of this step, but had some photos from another project so you can see the process.

5. Once you have all the flowers felted onto the purse then it is time to enhance them. I chose to enhance the flowers with glass and crystal beads and silver thread.

6. Take a bunch of the silver thread , place around the flower and using your needle, start felting. Because the thread is so fine it takes quite a bit of time to do the outlining with the thread. I did one round of outlining and then added more thread and outlined again.

7. For the beading, thread a needle with thread that is close to the same color as both the flower and the beads. Push the needle thru where you want to start the outlining, place three beads on the thread – lay the beads along the outline of the flower and push the needle thru the felt, then push the needle up thru the felt between the first and second bead, push the needle and thread thru beads two and three – place three more beads on the needle and repeat until the flower is outlined in beads.

8. Turning the purse inside out, sew up the bottom opening. When done sewing, trim the seam.

9. Using a fabric that compliments the felted purse – cut the lining. I did this by laying the purse on top of the fabric and cutting in a similar pattern. Placing right sides together sew the sides and the bottom of the lining. Once you are done with that, place the lining inside the bag and pin around the top of the bag. Sew the lining to the felted purse.

Sewing the lining together

Lining pinned to inside of purse

Sewing the lining into the purse

10. I decided to use circular bamboo handles but you could choose something different. Taking the flap of the purse, pin it over the purse handles. I had to sew this seam by hand since the handles would get in the way of the sewing arm.

Your purse is now done. This is more than a weekend project, unless you choose not to embellish the flowers.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged felted beaded purse | 2 Comments

Christmas Morning Sweet Potato Oatmeal Casserole

Posted on December 26, 2011 by simply0637

The presents are all opened and the trash and recycling has been brought outside, now is time to enjoy all the gifts – play, create, read and draw!

The anticipation of Christmas Eve is over. When I was a child it seemed like Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year – it was hard to fall asleep and every little noise made me think that Santa was here! Christmas Eve usually means a seafood dinner, listening to Christmas music and opening one present – not the smallest and not the largest. This Christmas Eve for us was a little different – we were invited over to some friends and they requested that I make my pizza – so that is what we did. Then it was off to the Old Dutch Church for Christmas service. The Old Dutch Church was built in 1685 and is the oldest church building in New York State. The church has no electricity or heat and is only used for special services. It was a beautiful service by candlelight and we all stayed warm with the help of the wood burning stove. After the service we enjoyed cider warmed on the wood burning stove and some ginger cookies. We went back home and opened our one present. Tucking Stella into bed, we also had to make sure to place the tooth she lost under her pillow – she figured on Christmas Eve the tooth fairy traveled with Santa – I think there is a story there!

Christmas morning, for me started at 4am – when the dog decided to poop in the house – not sure why – since I had last walked him at 11pm, but that is how I started the morning – then it was back to bed, hoping to be able to fall back to sleep. Stella awoke at 7:30 – excited that the tooth fairy had come and down the stairs we went to open our stockings. We then took a break to make breakfast.

Sweet Potato Oatmeal Casserole (the original recipe came from http://ohsheglows.com/2011/02/22/sweet-potato-oatmeal-breakfast-casserole/)

Ingredients – Casserole

1/2 cup regular oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1 ripe large banana
1/2 – 1 medium sized apple, cut
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup cooked wheat berries
1 – 2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt (sea)
2 Tbl pure maple syrup

Ingredients – Topping

1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 Tbl butter
2 Tbl flour (wheat)
1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Prior to starting the casserole you will need to cook the wheat berries – I did this the evening before. In a saucepan place 1/4 wheat berries, 3/4 cups water plus 1/8 cup water and a dash of salt. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer, covered for 1 hour or until the wheat berries are soft. Drain and place in a container for later.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil, while the water is heating peel and chop the sweet potato. When the water is boiling add the sweet potato, cook over medium heat until fork tender about 5 – 1o minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. Cut up the apple – I used about 1/2 an apple and left the skin on.

4. Rinse the pot and add milk and oats, mix well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat add the wheat berries (1/4 cup cooked) and cook for about 5 – 7 minutes, stirring frequently until most of the liquid is absorbed.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Add the sweet potato and banana, mash with a potato masher. Add the apple and mix. Add the coconut and mix. Cook on low for a few minutes.

7. In a glass bowl, using a fork, mix together the pecans, butter, flour and brown sugar. The mixture will be clumpy.

8. Place the sweet potato mixture into a baking dish and spread out evenly. I used one that holds about 4 cups. Sprinkle the topping on top. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. The original recipe states to then turn the oven to broil and brown the top – since I have an old oven that has the broil as the bottom drawer I could not do this part.

9. Take out and serve – delicious!!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged sweet potato casserole | 3 Comments

The Last of the Cookies and the Bags are Ready to Go!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by simply0637

The last batch of cookies we made were oatmeal with holiday M &M’s – I figured with the oats they were not as bad as if we made another type of cookie. The list of teachers has been made and the bags are ready to go to school today and be handed out. Baked goods makes it so much easier to give to all of the teachers that Stella has – between school, after school, theater and guitar, it adds up quick!

Oatmeal Cookies (courtesy of my Aunt Candace)

Ingredients

1 cup shortening (I used butter)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour (I used wheat)
1 tsp salt (I omitted since the butter was salted)
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups oatmeals (not quick)
1 cup M & M’s (you can also do raisins, chocolate chips or nuts)

1. Cream the shortening and sugars together – mine never looks very creamy, but it is well blended.

2. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

3. Add the flour, salt and baking soda – mix well, scraping sides and bottom.

4. Add the oatmeal – this I mix by hand.

5. Add the M & M’s.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Drop by teaspoonful onto an un-greased cookie sheet. I use a melon baller – works really well and the perfect size.

8. Bake the cookies for 10 – 12 minutes – cool on a rack.

Makes a lot!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged oatmeal cookes | 3 Comments

Holy S*** – Christmas is Almost Here and I am Not Ready!

Posted on December 22, 2011 by simply0637

Stella has been counting down the days until Christmas , so as of this morning it is 3 days away – yikes! I still have 2 presents that are not done. I always think that I am going to be ahead of the game and each year I am frantic the closer that Christmas comes – it may be that I just have grand ideas. So I am trying to finish a pair of fingerless mittens for one of my surrogate sons on the block, but I am only 1/2 way done with one of them – I will get it done – I may even be knitting Christmas morning.

Now for the thumb gusset……..

The one gift that has to get done is Stella’s quilt. I have been working into the late hours each evening and am slowly getting there. I will only have the front of it done and I am sure that she will be fine with that. Even if I had the time I could not finish the whole thing – I don’t have enough floor space to lay it out and piece together and will not until the Christmas tree comes down and the furniture has been put back.

So as of last night I have all the stars sewn on to the squares and this was not without some more issues with the pattern directions. It states that the stars are 9″ x 9″ squares so when I decided to sew the stars onto squares I figured out how much fabric I would need and I even purchased a half yard extra. When I was at the fabric store – I am not sure why – but I had a feeling that I should buy some extra fabric, just in case I did not have enough stars for the quilt – thank goodness I did – because when I came home I counted the stars and I was 4 short!!!!! I don’t think the person who wrote the pattern in the quilt book ever made this particular quilt.

Before I started cutting the squares I cut all the sashings and that is when I realized that the squares were not 9″ x 9″ but were actually suppose to be 10″ x 10″ – not enough fabric and they were sold out on line so I had to find the time to make it back to the fabric store and it is not right around the corner.

So the sashings are all cut, the squares are cut, the stars were glued on to the squares – they shifted too much when I just pinned them – by the way if you ever are going to use fabric glue it has to set for 24 hours – another day gone that I needed.

Squares & Sashings Cut

Marking the center of the square

Gluing the star

And then ………

Gluing the tips of the star

Sewing the star on

Star sewn on

Now the post is acting up – the quilt must be rubbing off on it. Back to the quilt – hoping to get a couple rows done!

Posted in Crafts | Tagged fingerless mittens, quilt | 3 Comments

Cut Out Cookies – My Least Favorite

Posted on December 21, 2011 by simply0637

As Stella and me were deciding on what cookies to make as gifts – I was so hoping that she would not want the dreaded cut out cookies – but of course she did! So after 2 days they are finally done. I woke at 5am to make the dough, since it had to be refrigerated for at least 3 hours, then it was rolling the dough, cutting the cookies, another 2 hours – done – now the decorating and another 2 hours!

Sugar Roll Out Cookies (Courtesy of Becky Crocker – I have had this cookbook so long that it is falling apart and I keep it together with a rubber band!)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbl butter
1/3 cup shortening (I replace with butter)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbl milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Let the butter get to room temperature. Beat the butter for about 30 seconds.

2. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy – not sure what that means because mine did not look fluffy and never does!

3. Add egg, milk and vanilla – beat well.

4. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

5. You don’t have to this step, but my refrigerator could not take another bowl – so I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and place on a shelf in the fridge. Let chill for at least 3 hours.

6. Work with half the dough, place on a parchment lined board (you can flour the board and skip the parchment paper – but I have never been successful with transferring the cookies from the board to the cookie sheet.

7. Roll the dough out with a well floured rolling pin. You will have to keep adding flour to the rolling pin. You can turn the dough easily with the parchment paper – makes rolling easier. Once the dough is about 1/8″ thick – start cutting with the cookie cutters.

8. Move the parchment paper to a cookie sheet and place in a 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

9. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 36 – 48 cookies.

Icing (Next year, if we have to make these again – I am looking for another icing recipe that does not use corn syrup!)

Ingredients

2 cups confectioners sugar
6 tsp milk
6 tsp corn syrup

1. In a glass bowl mix the milk and confectioners sugar together, until smooth – may have to add a little more milk.

2. Add the corn syrup and mix until the icing is smooth and glossy – if too thick add more corn syrup.

3. Divide into separate bowls and add food coloring.

Go to town decorating, don’t forget the sprinkles. I have Stella do her decorating in a baking pan – keeps all of it from ending up on the floor! This icing does dry hard.

The Set Up

Decorating

Some Decorated Cookies

Posted in Recipes | Tagged sugar cut out cookies | 3 Comments

No Needles on the Floor Christmas Tree

Posted on December 20, 2011 by simply0637

I remember seeing these at the local craft fairs when I was little and I have been making them as gifts for many years. They make a great center piece. For small living spaces these can also take the place of a live or fake Christmas tree. I have always wanted to make a larger one and put on a wooden post – maybe next year – no time this year!

Fabric Christmas Tree

Items Needed

1 1/2 yards Holiday Fabric (save the extra for another holiday project – I save all my scraps and every couple of years make some holiday lap quilts)
Sewing machine
Stuffing
Thread to match

1. Lay the Christmas tree pattern on top of the fabric and cut out four (4) trees. If you are using a fabric with a one direction pattern – line the pattern piece up correctly. I have had this pattern for many years, but found it at the fabric store under Christmas patterns.

2. Cut out the trees and then place two (2) trees right sides together pin and then do the same for the other two trees.

3. Sew the trees together leaving an opening at the bottom, need to be able to stuff.

4. On the points cut tips off and on the other turns snips the fabric so the it won’t look puckered when turned right side out.

5. Turn the trees right side out and using a knitting needle push the fabric around so the points are pointy.

6. Place the trees on top of each other, pin and draw a line for the center. Sew down the cneter of the trees.

7. Now you are ready to stuff. I start out stuffing the top points of each section. You can use a knitting needle to make sure the stuffing get in there. I then stuff each tier on all 4 sections until the tree is completed stuffed.

8. Now you need to sew up the openings. Before doing this, stand the tree up and make sure that it stands straight, if not you will have to play around with the stuffing. Sew up the openings and you are done! You can direct with bows or small ornaments on the tips – I chose not to.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged fabric christmas tree | 10 Comments

Decadence – Peanut Butter Bon Bons

Posted on December 19, 2011 by simply0637

These are a once a year indulgence! We look forward to them along with others each Christmas time. They are time consuming, but SO worth it!

Peanut Butter Bon Bons

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup crunch peanut butter
1 cup melted butter
1 1/2 bags of chocolate chips (12oz. bags)

1. Place graham crackers squares into a plastic bag, seal the bag and roll with a rolling pin to crush. You will use about 9 graham cracker squares.

2. Melt the butter.

3. In a glass bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs and the confectioners sugar.

4. Add the peanut butter and then the butter, stir well, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.

5. If the mixture seems too moist to roll into balls place in the refrigerator to harden.

6. Take the mixture out of the refrigerator and allow to warm some.

7. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Take the mixture and roll into balls – I tend to keep the balls about 1″ – these are very rich. Place the balls onto the wax paper.

8. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. I add about 1/2 a bag and when the chocolate gets low I add more – don’t want to waste the chocolate. Use a good brand of semi sweet or dark chocolate.

9. Place the ball in the chocolate and roll around to cover completely. I use a spoon and small spatula to roll the balls and take out. Place them on the sheet. (I had a picture, but when I was editing it disappeared!)

10. Once all the balls are covered in chocolate place the cookie sheet either in the freezer or refrigerator to set the chocolate. Once the chocolate is set you can transfer from the cookie sheet to a freezer bag.

Believe me – one of these will satisfy any sweet tooth!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged peanut butter bon bons | 3 Comments

Indulge and Relax with Home Made Bath Products

Posted on December 16, 2011 by simply0637

On these cold evenings a soak in the tub can make all the difference. I love to take a bath – soak, relax, read my book – perfection! Many of the bath products contain petroleum products, ingredients I have no idea how to pronounce or what they are and then the all natural products can be quite costly. So what did I do.. I researched and made my own. What fun – mixing and grinding and experimenting. I wish I could put a scratch and smell sticker here so you could smell the house – it was worth it just for that! I made some for myself and some for gifts – we are all so busy and it seems that we take less and less time for ourselves – to nourish or bodies and souls and to just take care.

I made an assortment of products: Bath Salts, Salt Scrubs and Bath Tea Bags.

Bath Salts

Ingredients

2 cups sea salt (I used Brazilian sea salt)
Essential Oil (I used a combination of Orange and Grapefruit)

1. Pour the salt into a glass bowl and then add the essential oil – (about 20 – 30 drops. my combination was 20 drops orange and 10 drops grapefruit) – stirring as you go. If you put too much oil in the salt will clump.

2. Store in a glass container. If you decide to do plastic (please try not to) the oil will be absorbed into the plastic.

Bath Tea Bags

Ingredients

1 cup finely ground oatmeal
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/4 – 1/2 cup dried lavender flowers (that will be ground)
A good handful of dried lavender flowers
Sachet bags or tea bags
Ribbon

I also did a combination with chamomile flowers.

1. Place the oatmeal, powdered milk, wheat germ and lavender in a food processor. Blend them.

2. Mix in the handful of dried lavender flowers and mix with a spoon.

3, Fill sachet bags – I used both sachet bags and biodegradable tea bags.

These bags can be placed directly in the bath water, but the best way to use them is to hang them on the faucet and let the water run through them as the bath is filling.

Chamomile/Lavender Mix

Biodegradable Tea Bags

Sachet Bags

Store them in glass jars – I used mason jars.

Salt Scrubs

Ingredients

1 cup Dead Sea Salt
1/c cup oil (I used a combination of jojoba and almond oil)
5 – 15 drops essential oil

1. Put the sea salt in a glass bowl.

2. Slowly pour in the oil, mixing with a wooden spoon.

3. Once all the oil is mixed with the salt (the oil will rise to the top) add the essential oil. stir with a wooden spoon.

4. Fill glass jars with the scrub – with a large enough opening to get your fingers in there.

Salt Scrub

Closeup

Packaged

Take some of the salt scrub with your fingers and rub over dry skin, rinse. Your skin with fill alive and soft!

I am experimenting with some other recipes – so watch for future posts!

Posted in Crafts | Tagged bath salts | 2 Comments

Making a Wreath From Wine Corks

Posted on December 15, 2011 by simply0637

Every time that I open a bottle of wine with a real cork – I place the cork in a drawer – saving to make something. I finally thought that I had enough corks to make a wine cork-cork board – so to the web I went to look for directions and what other materials I would need. I had a good idea of how to make it, but thought I could get some pointers from others. As I was searching I came across a wine cork wreath and thought – wow, that is cool and what a great present that would make for my mom and step-dad, they have a vineyard, so appropriate, I thought.

Off to the craft store to get the wreath center and some more glue sticks and to the attic to search for my glue gun. Laying everything out, I started the project. My first clue on the condition of my glue gun, which I have had for more than 20 years, should have been how long it took to heat the glue, but I figured it was old, so I gave it some leeway for that. I started gluing the corks onto the wreath, this should have been my second clue – since every third cork was falling off – was the glue not hot enough! I don’t like to throw things out and will work with it, even if it takes a little longer than a new one. After about an hour and only getting one row done I thought maybe this was not such a good project and my finger was killing me from pushing the lever on the glue gun – my frustration was mounting. I left all the items out on the table and over the course of a week, looking at it several times a day – I broke and decided I needed to invest in a new glue gun. Off to the craft store again and I only had to pay $7.95 for a new glue gun. OMG – why did I not do this sooner, what a difference – I finished the wreath in less than a day – no I did not work on it continuously. This was a really cool project to do.

Making a Wine Cork Wreath

Items Needed

Straw wreath (I used an 18″ one, because they were sold out of the smaller sizes)
300 – 400 corks (no I do not drink that much! The call went out to friends for more)
Glue gun
Glue Sticks (I have mini glue gun and used 30 sticks)
Twine for the hanger
Knife
Cutting board

1. Place a towel or sheet on your work area, to collect the straw and any glue drippings.

2. Unwrap your straw wreath, set up you glue gun and glue sticks and place your corks in a box or bag that you can easily reach into.

3. Cut some twine and tie around the wreath – this will be the hanger.

4. Start gluing the corks around the wreath. This will take some time and you will have places that a full cork does not fit. When you get to a place like that measure what size you need and then cut the cork to fit.

5. Once the base layer is complete – you can stop there…..

6. Or you can layer on top, placing the corks in all different directions.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged wine cork wreath | 3 Comments

Make a Snowman – No Snow Needed

Posted on December 14, 2011 by simply0637

It is mid December and there is no snow on the ground nor in the forecast – I guess we are getting a break since we had 10″ in October. I wanted a snowman for the holiday decorations and since there is no snow outside I had to improvise. Stella practicing her guitar and me needle felting – perfect way to pass some time.

Needle Felted Snowman

Items Needed

Wool roving (white, black, blue, red, orange)
2 small twigs
Bell (optional)
Felting needle
Felting pad

1. Taking a bell (which I thought I would put in each ball – only did it in one!) wrap some white/natural wool roving around and start needle felting. You want the ball to be firm. You will keep wrapping roving around the ball, using your needle to felt it – keeping in a ball, wrap, felt, wrap felt – until it is size you want. It was hard to felt with the bell inside and I broke a needle – I had to angle the needle different ways and it really added to the time.

2. Make the middle and head balls – same way as above.

Starting the ball

Adding more roving

Ball almost done

3. To make the nose – take a small amount of orange wool roving – form it the best you can into the shape of a carrot nose and start felting – turning the nose as you go.

Start of nose

Felting the nose

Carrot Nose

4. Taking the smaller ball (head) place the nose in the center of the ball (face). Taking your needle you are going to connect the nose to the ball by needling around the nose, pushing down into the ball – this is connecting the fibers together.

5. For the eyes and buttons – take a small amount of roving (I used blue for the eyes and black for the buttons) and using the needle poke it into the ball. I opted to do the buttons after I put the bodies together – but it does not matter.

6. Now to connect the balls. I first flatten the bottom of each ball, some – not a lot. I did this by needling the area. You want to make sure that your snowman will stand up and not fall over and by flattening the bottom of other balls it is easier to join. You will join the balls together the same way that you did the nose.

7. I made the hat free form. Using the same method as for the nose – I first made the top part of the hat. Once the top was done – I had some more roving on the bottom and needled it in a circle then attached the the top part. Once you are done with your hat you will join it to the head same as the nose and balls were done.

8. Using a scrap piece of a felted sweater I cut a scarf out and attached around the neck of the snowman.

9. Next – add the arms. I took my twigs and then just pushed and turned where I wanted them on the body.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged felted snowman | 2 Comments

Another Felted Purse, But This Time with Beading!

Christmas Morning Sweet Potato Oatmeal Casserole

The Last of the Cookies and the Bags are Ready to Go!

Holy S*** – Christmas is Almost Here and I am Not Ready!

Cut Out Cookies – My Least Favorite

No Needles on the Floor Christmas Tree

Decadence – Peanut Butter Bon Bons

Indulge and Relax with Home Made Bath Products

Making a Wreath From Wine Corks

Make a Snowman – No Snow Needed

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