Carren's Crafty Corner

Veggie Pot Pie

2011-09-28T19:15:00.001-04:00

I haven't been crafting much over the past few weeks. Work has kept me busy and with the heat we have been experiencing, well it's been to hot to craft! Today was my first day of vacation and I decided to do some cooking. Again, because of work, I'm usually to tired to cook anything extensive, but today I got the cooking bug and made two things. First I made Vegan Brownies. When people hear "Vegan" they automatically think "ewwww". All it means is that there are no animal products in the food! No eggs, no dairy. That's it. Doesn't mean it's loaded with tofu or some freaky health food product, it's a normal everyday brownie that has no eggs or milk in the batter! They came out fantastic and I didn't think to take a picture of them. The recipe is here though: Vegan Brownies.

In addition to the brownies, I decided to make a Veggie Pot Pie. Now I have never made anything like this! And the one time in the past I tried to make a pie crust, it was so crumbly and gross I gave up. This time I had some pretty good success overall! The crust came out wonderfully, though I didn't have enough to cover the whole pie. Next time I'm going to double the crust recipe. It was delicious though, and the filling was so good! I messed up and read the salt as 1 tablespoon, instead of the 1 teaspoon, so the filling was very salty, but other then that it was fantastic. Also, the filling recipe calls for 2 potatoes...I used two sweet potatoes, and the recipe called for soy sauce and instead I used Brigg's Amino Acids, which tastes exactly like soy sauce. Really delicious and good for you too. The pot pie was a huge success! Everyone wants me to make it again and I plan on doing just that, except next time I will make more crust and use less salt! Here is the recipe for the crust and for the veggie pot pie: Crust and Veggie Pot Pie Also, here is a picture of my finished pie:

07/26/11

2011-07-26T11:09:00.001-04:00

As you may have noticed, I have stopped doing my one craft a day for a year project. I admit it, after seriously burning two of my fingers I got discouraged and gave up. But I really miss crafting, and sharing my projects. So instead of doing one craft a day for a year, I have decided to be "normal" and do crafts as time permits and sharing those when I finish. I think it will be much more enjoyable, less stressful - without having to figure out a new craft everyday, and give me the opportunity to do more things, slower, to really enjoy the process once again.

My new interest is "Art Journaling". I haven't given it a try yet, but have been researching ideas and getting myself in a position where I feel comfortable giving it a go. I hope to share them on this blog as time goes on.

If you are reading this, thank you for sticking by me and giving your support to my eclectic crafts! I hope to have a craft to post as early as this weekend so I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Day 99

2011-05-15T20:34:00.001-04:00

Today's craft had the potential to be a good one, however I ended up with a third degree burn on my finger tip. Glue guns are evil...and for the record, yes...this is my second burn for those keeping count...

I had the storage box that I had painted blue and had traced the Celtic design on to later paint. After ruining the paint job I decided to cover the lid in fabric. I don't have a staple gun so I pulled out the glue gun. The first two sides went well, but while gluing the third side I was watching TV while pushing down the fabric, the glue oozed out and attached to my right ring and middle finger tips, and in a panic running around the bedroom I pulled the glue off my ring finger and in doing so took off all the skin under the glue. I (guess) luckily I didn't rip the glue off both finger tips, but now my middle finger is caked in dry glue and any attempt to remove it pulls off the blister underneath!! I was tempted to go to the ER because that's how freakin bad it hurt, and I have no idea how anyone with third degree burns all over their bodies do not just die from the pain!

So after some near hysterical crying, a slather of petroleum jelly, then trying to wash it off while my sister ran over to the drugstore for some antibacterial spray, gauze and gauze tape...I'm almost feeling okay. Of course I can now only use my thumb and pointer finger on my right hand to type, so work should be interesting tomorrow! Depending on how tomorrow goes, I might have to put crafting on hold for a few days, unless I can find some easy craft ideas...will have to look around.

Anyway, here is today's craft, almost done...one side is not glued, but I tucked it in so you can see how it looks. Overall I think it looks good though!

Here is the storage box all covered:

Here is how it looked before I covered it, see the bad paint job:

And a close up of the material I used:

And here it is finished:

And here are my bandaged fingers thanks to Maegan & Mom. UPDATE: I ended up going to Urgent Care the next day. They confirmed third/second degree burns, gave me a prescription for pain meds and some cream to put on the burns and sent me on my way. I'm all healed now, no scarring, but the hot glue gun has been banned from the house by the hubby! :)

Day 98

2011-05-14T20:39:00.000-04:00

Today I worked on our Shih Tzu Izzy's treat jar. I did it pretty much the same as the cats except this time I added bones and the words "woof" and "grrrr". And on the top I wrote "Izzy's Treats" instead of "Do I Have To Beg" like I did on the cats. It came out just as cute as the cats, and I'm just waiting for it to dry to put her new treats in, which are frosted and sprinkled ginger cookies that I bought from Petco! She's so spoiled...

Here is is finished:

Here it is before I did anything:

A close up of the lid:

A close up of one side:

And a close up of another side:

A close up of the other side...yeah, they all look the same!:

Day 97

2011-05-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

Today's craft was inspired by a treat jar I saw online. I was at Michael's craft store the other day and picked up two glass jars that have a seal, one a bit bigger then the other. This is the smaller of the two for the cat treats. We have been keeping the treats in the bag they come in, but sometimes the bag doesn't get closed all the way and the treats dry out. Such a waste of money! This way they treats will stay fresh and the jar is adorable.

I used enamel glass paint in black and red to make cat paw prints and little hearts. I have never made these designs on glass with a paint brush and the brushes I have aren't the best for small painting so the prints and hearts are a bit messy, but overall I think it came out cute! And I put "Don't Make Me Beg" on the top for added charm. Be sure to check out the last picture of Cody checking it out...

Here it is done:

Here is the jar plain, the way I bought it:

I started painting it:

All done!:

Another view:

And another:

Close up of the lid:

And here is Cody showing his indifference to the finished jar, I think he would like it more if it was full of treats! But it had to dry....:

Day 96

2011-05-13T20:40:00.000-04:00

I did this craft yesterday, but the site was down for maintenance so I wasn't able to post it.

I did a really cute green bookmark. I took two pieces of green glittery cold stock and cut them down to about 3 1/2" x 5", I then took some green paisley fabric I had and cut it down a little smaller then the card stock. I took one piece of the card stock and used a butterfly paper punch to do a haphazard design of flying butterflies. I used a round paper punch for all four corners of the card stock on both pieces. I then used craft glue to glue the fabric to the un-punched side of card stock and then sandwiched the butterfly punched piece on top. It came out really good! I really like the way it feels, the glittery paper and then the fabric peeking through. One of my favorites I've made so far!

Here it is finished:

Here is the paper I used, cut down:

And the fabric I used:

And here is everything cut and punched, getting ready to glue it all together:

Close up of the finished bookmark:

Another shot of the finished bookmark:

Day 95

2011-05-11T19:31:00.000-04:00

I'm reading a really good book on my Kindle called "Bloodroot" by Amy Greene and because of this I needed a quick craft so I could get back to my book! You readers out there will understand!

I went with my trusty Origami Stationary book and whipped up a Diamante origami fold which can be used as either an envelope or note. I decided I'm going to use all the origami stationary that I have done in a journal of some sort, like perhaps glue them or somehow put them in a journal, but write in them, on some of the pages instead of the actual journal. Just a thought, but I really like the origami have been turning out and I don't want them to go to waste.

Here is the Diamante origami finished:

Here is the paper I used:

Here is half way through the folding:

And another shot of it all done:

And here is the back, a bit hard to see though:

Day 94

2011-05-10T20:08:00.000-04:00

I have no idea why I didn't come up with this craft idea sooner. I saw a similar craft online today, and revised it to tiles I already had done. For our wedding, we had planned on making coaster sets with movie monster posters as give away gifts, raffle item type thing...it was going to be so much fun...but anyway, I had made a couple sets to see how they would go, and now that the wedding has been upended, well I had them laying around and wasn't too sure what to do with them. Then today I saw ceramic tile bookends online and I thought "DUHHHHHH"!!!!! I have so many books lying around, so of course a set of bookends would be perfect!

All I needed was four of the movie poster tiles I had already done, four plain tiles and the hot glue gun. I hot glued one movie poster tile to one blank one, so I then had four sets of sandwiched tiles. I then took one set and hot glued it to the edge of the other. I didn't even have to wait for it to dry, it dried on contact!!! Which is why they are a bit crooked, I didn't have time to correct it. But overall, they are F A N T A S T I C!!!!

I am totally in love, I want to sell them to the masses, because they just are so fun and awesome!

Here they are done and doing what they were made to do:

Here they are before I glued everything:

Here is a close up of the finished bookends:

And a front view of the finished bookends:

Day 93

2011-05-09T16:34:00.000-04:00

I know I'm not going to have time to do a craft tonight so when I was on the phone today I did this doodle of the woman I was speaking too and figured this could be my craft of the day. Now, let me explain, I've never seen or met the woman I was on the phone with, but she was evil. I had to do some collection calls at work today, which I'm not good at and frankly do not like doing, because of women like this....so in my mind it only made sense that she is indeed a vampire, who comes out at night to suck the life out of people looking for the money they are owed. Just my opinion anyway...

I did in in pencil while she had me on hold for the umpteenth time....and I couldn't sharpen my pencil since the sharpener is in the other room, but I think overall it came out pretty accurate to what I had in mind...maybe should have had bigger fangs though, or perhaps more blood running from the eyes...

Here is what I believe the evil lady looks like, feel free to click on it to get a better view of her:

Day 92

2011-05-08T19:16:00.001-04:00

Yesterday's craft was fun, so I decided to do it again today, just with a different size glass container and red paint instead of blue! Stan helped me with a different design as well. We wrapped the masking tape on the top and bottom and around the middle at an angle. This can be used as another candle holder or something else, not too sure yet!

Here it is finished:

I was trying to get another shot of the design, but the camera wouldn't focus:

And here is a shot from the inside, just because I liked the way it looked!:

Day 91

2011-05-07T21:16:00.001-04:00

I wasn't feeling too crafty today, so Stan jumped in and helped me because he is supportive and wonderful and cute too. :)

We made a candle holder, using a glass container we had from somewhere. I seriously wonder where we get some of this stuff, it just shows up, or so it seems anyway. We painted it blue, added black sand and a tea candle and it's really gorgeous actually. The paint finish makes the light come through in a freaky kind of way, almost reminds me of walking the beach at night in Florida, with the moon peeking out from behind some clouds. It's a nice memory to have with this craft.

Here it is finished, sort of hard to see since it's dark and the candle is lit:

Here are the supplies, and the glass container all ready painted, forgot to take a "before" picture. The supplies were the glass container, blue acrylic paint and masking tape:

Here is the inside, full of black sand and the tea candle:

And another "after" picture, with the candle lit:

Day 90

2011-05-06T21:07:00.000-04:00

I am having a very "off" week, mentally I'm just not myself. When it came to do a craft tonight I felt like doing something mindless, something fun, but that I didn't really have to concentrate to hard on.

I used to have a necklace, a spiral goddess pendant that I really liked, but lost a long time ago. I've been thinking about it for some reason lately, so tonight I pulled out some Sculpey clay and fashioned my own spiral goddess pendant. It didn't take long to make, and I did it flat, so it can sit on a table or bookcase. I didn't bake it though, since it's late I didn't want to pull out the oven that we use for baking clay. Once it's baked I think I'll go over the spirals in white paint so they stand out more.

For more information on the artist who I believe is responsible for the Sacred Goddess, Abby Willowroot, visit HERE:

Here it is finished:

Here is the clay I used:

Here is after I got the form, and as I started doing the spiral:

And another picture of her finished, just need to bake her:

Day 89

2011-05-05T20:09:00.000-04:00

Since I had stuff to do I decided to do what I thought would be an easy craft. I pulled out the Kirigami book and chose to do the Bell Net fold.

It went well, until Cody grabbed the finished craft (not before ripping it while I was trying to take pictures of the finished work), he ran down the stairs, only to be attacked by Izzy and well...this is how it ended:

R.I.P Bell Net paper craft....

Before the carnage, I folded the paper and free handed the design for the cutting:

I then cut the lines, being careful not to do all the way to the end:

I gently unfolded it:

I then strung a thread on a piece of scrap paper and used it to pull the center up, to unfold the bell:

And here it is open, and this where Cody decided it was a cat toy:

And ripped it.....sigh....:

Here is an attempt at trying to show it hanging:

Right after the last photo I put it down flat and turned around, with my back turned that's when Cody grabbed the bell and ran down the stairs. Refer to the first photo for the end of the story. Ah well they are pretty cute, and I forgive them. :)

Day 88

2011-05-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

I was playing around online earlier and just happened onto this craft, totally by accident, and I just knew I had to do it because I needed something funny and cute and really meaningless. Fun was the order of the day.

If you have ever visited the website "I Can Has Cheezburger" you know where this craft came from. Someone turned Ceiling Cat into a paper craft, and if I knew where they lived, I would hug them. The site for this template can be found HERE.

Basically what I did is printed the template out on white card stock, cut the cat head out and the ceiling square, used a bone folder to go over all the folding lines, folded everything and taped (not glued, since I was having a heck of a time with the glue) all the folds down to form the cat. Then I used white craft glue to stick the cat head to the ceiling hole. And then I adored it lovingly!

Here is what it looks like when I finished...(I can't put it on the ceiling until the glue dries and don't think I'm not going to, because it's too cute not to stick it up there!):

Here is ceiling cat and ceiling panel all printed and cut out on white card stock :

Used bone folder to get all the creases:

Taped the cat head:

And glued the head to the ceiling tile:

Day 87

2011-05-03T21:49:00.000-04:00

I came home tonight and looked around at the supplies I had around, and I came across the extra beads and stars from the Day 68 bookmark I did. Mom bought me a really pretty topaz necklace for my birthday (yes, a month early, but I can't wait for fun stuff!) and I thought these beads matched it nicely so I gave it a try.

Now I have to apologize for not taking pictures during the earring making process, but I was on the phone while I was doing it and totally forgot to take pictures! I did however get the finished shots, and I have to say I'm not too happy with them. They are very pretty, but very long, and they don't really go with the necklace. I've put shots of the earrings with the necklace below.

Here are the finished earrings:

Another shot of the earrings, a bit closer for more detail:

Here are the earrings with my birthday necklace. The necklace sort of looks like a sand dollar which is why I thought the starfish charms would look good, but I'm thinking they are too busy:

Day 86

2011-05-02T19:35:00.000-04:00

After some searching online for some bookmark ideas, I came across an origami bookmark and thought it would be a good way to incorporate the two things I have been enjoying lately, bookmarks and origami!

I really can never have enough bookmarks, so even though it may seem like overkill, every bookmark I've made to date has found a home snugly in a book, since I tend to read a few books at a time.

This bookmark was made with a piece of origami paper cut down to 3" x 3". I used the template HERE.

Here is how it looks on the book:

Here is the paper I used, before I started folding, cut down from 6" to 3":

Here is the bookmark folded, all lonely, looking for a home on a nearby book (awwwww!):

Here is the other side of the bookmark, like how it saves me from dog-earring any corners:

Day 85

2011-05-01T20:06:00.000-04:00

I was out all day with mom and just as we were heading home I started feeling a bit queasy, I laid down hoping it would go away but it hasn't so when it came time to do a craft, I really wasn't feeling up to doing something in depth. Since I enjoy doing origami, and since it's usually a pretty easy craft, I decided to do the "Sailboat Note". After you do all the folds, the closure, or buckle, is a sailboat. The other side has a space for an address, or a name, or something else creative that I can't think of at the moment!

Here is the finished Sailboat Note:

Here is the paper I used:

This is about half way through the folding:

And here is another finished photo:

Here is the other side:

Day 84

2011-04-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

I had a busy little day doing household chores, going grocery shopping and doing my general domestic duties. I had every intention of doing a regular craft today, but before that I had a hankering for chocolate chip pancakes. I have actually been craving them for a while, but being vegan you can't just head over to Ihop for a stack! I had some non-dairy vegan chocolate chips I had bought when I saw them on sale a while back and decided today was a good day to have pancakes for dinner. When I finished cooking them I was so impressed with how nice they looked on the plate that I realized they were truly a work of art and could clearly pass for my craft today!!! They looked like they belonged in a nice Veg magazine! And let me just tell you, there were D E L I C I O U S!!!! I ate slowly and made sure to say "MMMMMMM" after almost every bite! Seriously, they were awesome!!!

I used Bob's Red Mill Organic 7 Grain Pancake Mix, using applesauce instead of the egg, I threw in the vegan chocolate chips into the batter and cooked those babies up! Then I smothered them in Earth Balance butter and Blueberry Agave Nectar. *sigh* Sooooo good!!!

Here they are done, aren't they pretty!:

A closer view of the beautiful pancakes:

And even closer, admit it, your mouth is watering!:

Day 83

2011-04-29T20:31:00.001-04:00

I have this really pretty peacock themed scrapbook and card stock paper that I wanted to use tonight but wasn't really sure how to. I decided a mosaic style card might be a nice way to showcase the different papers. I was trying to be precise about my cuts and then realized I wasn't getting anywhere trying to figure out measurements, so I just went for a haphazard approach, which when your crafting seems like a fantastic idea!

I picked a pretty blue card stock for the actual card, I then picked three different peacock themed card stock to go with it. I cut each peacock paper into three strips and then each strip into squares. I then applied each square to the blue card stock in a varied pattern. It was really hard to photograph this when I was done because the paper is very shiny. But here is what I came up with:

Done card:

Here are the papers I used after I cut the peacock paper into strips:

Here is a close up of the finished card, trying to get a bit more detail:

Day 82

2011-04-28T22:05:00.000-04:00

The other day I was doing a search online for craft ideas and I came across a bookmark called "Honey Bunny" and I just knew I had to make it and who I had to make it for!

My Ome (my mom's mother) calls me Honey Bunny, she has since I can remember, and still does, even though I'm in my 30's and honestly if she ever stopped, it would break my heart. I couldn't believe there was a craft called "Honey Bunny" and it made me grin like a little girl when I saw it. Here is the link on how to make it: Honey Bunny Bookmark.

I hope she likes it! Here it is done:

Here is the template I printed on pink card stock:

And here are some of the supplies I used, chenille pipe cleaners, craft glue, also used scissors and contact paper to laminate the template:

Laminated the template with contact paper, cut it out and then cut out the face area:

Wrapped the top of the bookmark in the pipe cleaners:

Printed a picture of my face and glued it on the circle I originally cut out and glued into the hole:

Here is the back, I looped some pipe cleaners and glued them onto the back of my picture:

Day 81

2011-04-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

I do believe I am suffering from crafter's block, or something like that. Work has been keeping me so busy and I'm thinking that has something to do with it! The nerve of them, don't they know they need to back off! :) Ah well...

I decided to go with another card today, just an everyday, all occasion card. We have these three little wire rings, that honestly I can't remember where they came from, but I know Stan said to keep them because I might be able to use them in a craft. I'm glad he had me save them.

I took the three wire rings, some extra decorative scrapbook paper and pink card stock to make the card. I used some decorative scissors to cut the scrapbook paper, to give it a cute "different" look and glued that onto the card stock, then glued the wire rings over the scrapbook paper. I really like the way it looks!

Here is the finished card:

Here are the supplies:

And again, the finished card, you can see the white glue holding the wire rings, but that will dry clear:

Day 80

2011-04-26T20:19:00.000-04:00

My dad's birthday is next week and I of course wanted to make him a card, so I did that tonight, and even though I'm pretty sure he's not visiting this blog, I don't want to give away any surprises, so I'm only going to give a sneak peak tonight and after his birthday (May 6th) I'll come back and repost this with better pictures!

Until then....

Day 79

2011-04-25T20:08:00.001-04:00

Today's craft had a bit of planning involved. I've made these little drawstring bags in the past and I'm becoming an old pro at hand stitching them, but they are a bit time consuming. They are very handy though, and well worth the time put into them. I cut out the material yesterday and started the stitching, then brought it to work today and worked on it during my lunch break, then finished it tonight when I got home. I didn't think to take pictures of the material I used, and because I did a bunch of the stitching at work I didn't bother with a "during" picture, so all I have are after photos! My hand stitching is messy, but it's all pretty well hidden, accept where the string comes out, but overall it came out good. They get better each time I do them!

I love the magician material, it's so cute. Inside I just used a silky plain black material.

Drawstring bag done:

Close up of material and drawstring at top, you can sort of see my (bad) stitching:

Here is the top folded over so you can see my stitching better:

And now the inside, really bad stitching! hehe:

Day 78

2011-04-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

I decided to give knitting another try today. Because it has been so long I had to revisit the DVD "The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting". This time I changed the yarn I was using to a beautiful but frizzy blue yarn. I love the yarn, but because it's frizzy while doing the knitting I kept catching the little fly a ways and had to keep starting over. After an hour of trial and error, I got through the first part of the DVD, up until the end of the knit stitch and she tells me that I'm now ready to do a Garter Stitch Scarf! I agree and pull out my practice knitting and start on the scarf.

I had to cast on 26 stitches for the large scarf and then just do knit stitches until I have 24". After that I have no idea! Okay, well I know I'm supposed to bind off and weave the ends. Well I haven't got to those parts of the DVD so once I have a 24" long scarf, I"ll watch those two chapters and hope I can figure out what needs to be done. I worked on this knitting for a few hours, stopping for breaks and to get ready for work tomorrow, so I didn't get too much done, just about 7". But I really enjoyed working on it, and I would still be working on it if I didn't need to post this and then finish getting ready for tomorrow. Knitting is really fun, who knew! I'm really proud of myself though, I can't wait until I can make something bigger. I have directions for a prayer shawl so I think once I"m more comfortable I'll make that!

Here is what I have done so far:

Here is a close up of the work:

And here is Karma trying to walk off with the "working" string:

Day 77

2011-04-23T19:59:00.000-04:00

I decided on a simple craft today and revised the Origami Stationery. I chose a project that actually incorporates two different origami folds. The finished origami is called a "Pillow Note", but it incorporates another origami called "Ship Mates".

First I folded the Pillow Note, which is pretty simple, just a few folds here and there. Then I went and folded the two pages that make the Ship Mate origami. You put the Ship Mate origami inside the Pillow Note, finish folding and the Ship Mate sits inside the Pillow Note, with the edges "fluffy" like a pillow. It's pretty neat actually...

Here it is finished:

Here is the paper I used for the Pillow Note:

The folds needed to make the finished note:

Here is the paper used for the first half of the Ship Mate note:

Finished folds for the first half of the Ship Mate note:

The paper chose for the second half of the Ship Mate note:

Take the two half's and join them:

Joined and finished Ship Mate note:

Put the Ship Mate inside the Pillow Note and tuck the corners of the Paper Note and tuck them into the folds of the Ship Mate:

All tucked and "fluffy" like a pillow!: