Finagling Life

Tutorial: Flatten Bottle caps

2011-09-02T10:22:00.001-07:00

A new Tutorial is up over on Treegold and Beegold on how to Flatten Bottle Caps for Crafting.

Come on by!

Bread Makings

2011-08-16T11:18:00.001-07:00

Last week I wrote about an Italian Herb Bread Recipe I tried out. It's over on Treegold & Beegold.

Cool new tool: Pinterest

2011-08-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

I have joined what appears to be the newest crazy, especially in the DIY/crafting world. It's called Pinterest.

Catch the rest of the article over on Treegold and Beegold.

Weekly Project: Building a Light Box for Macro Photography

2011-07-27T10:31:00.001-07:00

Go over to Treegold and Beegold to check out the new weekly project post on a building a light box.

Combining Blogs..

2011-07-20T12:26:00.001-07:00

So I've had this personal blog for awhile and I've dreamed of getting my business blog up and going. I just don't have the time to do 2 different blogs though so I'm considering migrating all future material over to Treegold & Beegold. For awhile I would post links back here to send traffic that way but I think that if I ever want to have Treegold & Beegold be my main online presence then I need to start doing that now while I'm still small. I'll probably copy over some of my most popular posts also, the ones relating to tutorials or general information.

All this is coming about because I am slowly seeing my traffic numbers increasing and I've started working on a large tutorial and pattern that I am planning to offer free on the site. I am projecting that this pattern may help to increase my traffic by quite a bit and well I really want the traffic over at Treegold & Beegold more so then I want it here. I also forsee having more time to put forward towards the blog in the future. I've received some unfortunate news from work. Due to the continued decline of available projects for at least a temporary amount of time I'm being asked to drop my hours from full time, taking about a 20% pay cut along with it. So I'm going to take this opportunity and try to all my extra time at getting Treegold & Beegold up and running strong. Expect a week or so for me to get all the formatting and links done.

I hope everyone will continue to follow me over there. I'll make sure to leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

New Links

2011-07-14T10:49:00.001-07:00

I've added 3 new and I think major links to the reference page.

These links are to 3 of my personal notebooks in Evernote and are constantly updated with information I find around the web. I know I've gone on and on about how much I love Evernote and really I can't say enough. Those should show you the power of it. I have craft projects from sewing, to crochet, to knitting, along with felt food, and cupcakes. The projects notebook at this exact moment contains 137 notes. I'm sure by the end of the day their will be at least 5 more. Earlier today I clipped multiple tutorials from around the web on felt food. I've tried my best to ensure that all notes link back properly to their source.

Many of the project notes contain .pdfs or files that contain a pattern or the instructions. Please enjoy and continue to check back in with all the folders.

My Collections

Personal Evernote Notebook of Patterns & Projects: This is a link to my personal Evernote notebook of my collected patterns and projects that I find over the web. Where possible I try to always link the source site. If it is a pdf then the site may be listed in the pdf itself.Updated Constantly
Personal Evernote Notebook of Crafting Techniques: This is a link to my personal Evernote notebook containing tips and techniques I want to remember and find useful.Updated Constantly
Personal Evernote Notebook of Creative Food: This is a link to my personal Evernote notebook containing clips to creative food. Mostly it is cupcake, cake and cookie decorating. Updated Constantly

I have a zillion different notebooks including one on recipes. In time I may share that one to the public also but at the moment I'm still trying to collect and compile it to be a good representation of what I have. For a long time I downloaded all my recipes as .pdfs to my computer and after awhile that did not lend well to good sorting. The technique was good for archiving everything but one of the powers of Evernote is the ability to tag every note and search by tags or just words within a note.

I've thought of doing link round ups and posting some of these hear to the blog directly but I'm unsure as to what everyone wants to see. Are their any types of projects that someone is most interested in? If so I'll keep an eye out among my blog roll and post them as they come through.

Birthdays!

2011-07-13T08:42:00.001-07:00

So today is Wee Rose's 1st birthday, also Lil' R's 3rd birthday was last month.

I can't believe how big they are both getting. :(

A creative use for that lonely sock

2011-07-13T06:57:00.001-07:00

So I found this on Lifehacker this morning and thought I'd share it with everyone. We all have that lonely sock or multiple lonely socks that have lost their mates. Well here is a useful way to put them to use. My office desk for sure could use one.

Conquer Your Cable Clutter with an Extra Sock

There is an alternate universe that claims our socks after we put them in the drier, leaving us with an orphaned member of the pair. What can you do with that extra sock? Home and lifestyle blog Real Simple suggests you use it as a cable organizer.
All you need to do is cut off the toe at the end of the sock to essentially create a fabric tube that can keep all your cables together while still giving them a little breathing room. To be extra safe, just keep the sock away from any electrical outlets or the base of the plugs.
2 Clever Ways to Organize Your Cords | Real Simple

Yeah for winning

2011-07-07T11:43:00.001-07:00

Remember I said I won a blog contest that involved a crafting book? Well this is what I won! It's so awesome and I'm so happy to have gotten it.

Added to the blog to do list is a review of it after I make something.

Between work and the kids birthdays things have been crazy. Wee Rose's 1st birthday party is on Saturday. I can't believe its almost been a year already.

Yumm... Apple Pie

2011-07-05T09:01:00.001-07:00

This week I didn't get to finish completing any project but I did work on Wee Rose's baby blanket some more. I'm glad I decided to make a more toddler sized blanket because of how long this is taking me. I swear I'm closer to done then is in that picture.

Instead I made my first good apple pie. I love apple pie and I've always been good at the seasoning but not so much at the top pie crust. Well I got it figured out this time. I also took pictures because I was so proud. I used this recipe for the pie crust and this one for the apple filling.

Before the top crust goes on.

My second attempt to get the top crust right. For the holiday I used a star cookie cutter instead of just slits.

And voila! My final pie out of the oven. It looks pretty darn cute if I don't say so myself.

I think next may be a berry cobbler. I've tried it in the past to minimal success, now to find a good recipe.

Inspiration: Happy Together

2011-06-29T10:43:00.001-07:00

The blog Happy Together has put up a great tutorial for an adorable nursery item. She does such great things. I only wish I could sew like her. She is awesome at altering clothing. The project includes a tutorial and print outs for the background. If Wee Rose's walls weren't already full I'd be so tempted to make this myself. Umm.. maybe as a future baby shower gift for a crafty mom.

Check out her site though, it's adorable.

Weekly Project #1: Crochet Flower

2011-06-28T09:32:00.001-07:00

I have a large amount of WIPs (work in progress) laying around I realized. This past weekend Hubby and I worked diligently on tidying up and organizing the house some. In doing that I came across an almost completed project. It was a modification from this pattern at MyGurumi. Everything for this crocheted flower was done except it wasn't put together. I had made the stem, all 5 petals and the 2 leaves but they were just sitting in the box. I just finished putting it together and then took apart a wire coat hanger to add into the stem so that it would be stiff.

What is worse is this project was intended as a gift. Yes yes I know really bad of me. But not it will make its way to the intended recipient and I hope they like it.

This got me thinking though. I have a laundry list of intended projects or in progress projects. So each week I'm going to either finish a project or report on the status of one. I have one or two I expect to take longer than a week to complete so I must at least show you all what I have gotten done.

In a way this is to make me accountable. After I have completed my intended projects I'm going to move on to creating at least one thing each week out of my craft supplies stash. This includes my fabric stash and my yarn stash. I can not buy any new primary supplies to create a project, notions will be allowed though. I really don't have that large of a stash of them and things like interfacing. I can not buy any fabric to complete it though. And I hope to continue this through the and of the year.

I guess we can call this a mid years resolution since I never made one in January.

Food Troubles

2011-06-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

Wee Rose appears be starting to wean herself. She has little interest in her bottles anymore and the only good size bottle she will eat anymore is at about midnight everyday. We think that one is out of hunger. We're trying to adapt to giving her more solids, specifically finger foods that are good for self feeding. Unfortunately her skills there are still developing and it's looking like a mix of spoon fed food and finger foods is best. Well to give her a bit more variety to her diet I went on an Internet hunt for suggestions and recipes. I found this site aptly labeled Homemade Baby Food Recipes.

This morning I put forth on of the sites suggestions in regards to sticky fruit that is hard to pick up. I cut up some peaches and dusted them in baby oatmeal. I'd only call it a so so success. Yes she was able to pick up the fruit easier and eat it better but boy was it a mess. She had this sticky oatmeal on her fingers which she got all over her face and into her hair. We finished off the peaches with just a bowl of oatmeal. I think it worked pretty well as a breakfast. At least she still lets us spoon feed her. When Lil' R switched to finger foods he refused anything but that. He's always been an very independent sort where Wee Rose is much less.

This site has this recipe up which I really want to try. It looks like it's something I could make in bulk and freeze the extras.

Infant finger food recipes - Butternut Squash Ravioli (age 6 months+)
2 oz (1/2 cup) flour (unbleached)
2 oz (1/2 cup) semolina flour
2-3 fl oz (1/3 cup) very warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
around 6 oz (3/4 cup) butternut squash, peeled, cooked and mashed
pinch of sweet paprika (optional)
Mix the flours together, then slowly add the oil and water, mixing well (this is easiest to achieve with a food processor set at the lowest speed).
The mixture should become a ball of dough - if it seems too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time until a ball is formed.
Knead the dough thoroughly, then divide into two pieces.
Roll out each piece VERY thinly.
Stir the paprika into the butternut squash.
EITHER
Take heaped teaspoons of the butternut squash and place at intervals along 1 sheet of pasta.
Place the other sheet of pasta over the top and press down around the 'mounds' of butternut squash.
Next, cut around the butternut squash mounds with a very sharp knife.
Create a decorative edge for your ravioli by pressing all the way around the edge with the wet prongs of a fork.
OR
Splash out on some ravioli moulds.
They are inexpensive and make it much easier to create perfect ravioli shapes!
NEXT...
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then carefully slide in your ravioli shapes (we find it best to cook just three or four at a time).
When the shapes rise to the surface of the water, they are ready. Carefully remove them with a slotted spoon.
Serve as they are - with a fresh tomato sauce for babies already enjoying tomatoes - or even with a sauce of another veggie puree thinned with a little stock!

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Re-Organizing Mayhem

2011-06-16T13:48:00.001-07:00

So remember awhile back when I started my Organizational series? I wrote one on Evernote and Part 1 of a group on Google products. Well I've been diligently trying to work on the the next one on Google Calendar but I use it for so much it's pretty complicated because I use it for a lot. Insert curve ball though in that Evernote just did a major update to 4.4 and it looks like I'm going to adjust a bit how I organize my meal planning. There has always been a kink in my process in that I have always desired a place to have a single list of our favorite recipes to easily reference. Well I've figured it out by combining my use of Evernote with Google Calendar.

I encourage anyone who is constantly bookmarking sites for inspiration in any manner but would love to add notes on top of it then Evernote is the greatest your best friend. I have recently started using it to help organize things in my office and it's streamlining things so well. No more trying to find that single note file I saved on how to do something, now it's at my finger tips, literally, since it have it both on my Android Smartphone and my Nook turned Android Tablet. (oh yah that's another post idea!) So to add to my too do list, my Google Calendar blog post, my Evernote part 2 post and turning my Nook into a full Android tablet.

I know I haven't sewn or made anything in a bit, though I did make my android a case but I really don't like it much. At least not enough to show it off. Maybe I'll try it again and show it off. I've been all about technology recently either regarding the Android, Evernote or searching out new blogs. If you go over to Treegold & Beegold I've added a Blog bundle of all the awesome Pagan blogs I've been reading recently. It's a pretty decently length list and I'll hopefully keep adding to it.

Is there any interest in my discussing Android apps I find useful for organizing crafts & family also? I'm forever hunting out new ones and trying them out. I don't know how many people have smart phones now and are specifically Android ones (though some of the bigger apps are on multiple platforms). If you're interested in that idea either leave a comment or just click the "interesting" box.

Okay well I'm off to make some notes and update my to do list.

I'm a Winner!!

2011-06-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

In the past few weeks I've won contests at 2 blogs, go me!

The first was over at a friends blog Uniquely Normal Mom, she was having a giveaway for Skoy Cloths. I've started using them around the kitchen for general cleaning, and spills. They really do work well. I won a pack of 4 and I'm sure they are going to last a long time. It's just breaking my paper towel habit that's going to be harder.

The second contest I won was over at Whipup.net. She was doing a multi-day giveaway of Family friendly books and honestly I'm not sure which book I won! Yes I know that's pretty bad but I'm excited to see which comes in the mail soon.

New Inspiration Blog: A Magical Childhood

2011-06-10T07:13:00.001-07:00

It seems this blog has been around for quite awhile but I just stumbled across it and I just had to share. It's called A Magical Childhood and is a blog full of ideas for making every day with your child that, magical. Not in the spiritual sense but it could be applied that way. To me my children's laughter is spiritual in itself and I look forward to doing some of these activities with my kids. Especially now that Lil' R is getting to the age where he can begin to do this stuff.

I'm going through her archives and I bet her children have a lot of fun. There is everything from playing in the mud, dancing in the rain, salt paintings, building towers out of blocks with shaving cream as the mortar, and many more. Often she links to other sites but she appears to be a wealth of a resource. I hope you all enjoy it too.

We're Now Mobile Friendly

2011-06-08T08:09:00.001-07:00

Blogger informed me today that I can now set my blog to have a mobile version for viewing, awesomeness! So if you have a smartphone check us out and if you have a Blogger blog yourself you'll find the setting under Settings -> Email & Mobile.

I wish I could quilt

2011-06-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

And more so I wish I could make this! Actually instead of R2-D2 I'd really want Wickett, yeah I admit it. I have a soft spot for Ewoks.

Technorati Tags: R2-D2,quilting,flickr,starwars,crafts,awesome

New Blog Tool - Embed.ly

2011-06-07T05:55:00.001-07:00

Besides sewing and crafting you all should know by now is that I'm a huge geek and I'm always on the look out for the coolest newest technology. Well I came around this in my blog roll and thought I'd share it since so many have their own blogs they may find it useful. It's a service that helps to embed about anything you want into your blog. Want to imbed a CNN video, a tweet, Facebook, or something from deviantART? It currently supports 218 services.

Here is a test embedding an article from Wikipedia.

A blog (a blend of the term web log)^[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.^[2]

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

And a video from National Geographic

Technorati Tags: blog tools,embedding,embed.ly

A lot of the services are video or photo services so for someone who often writes blogs commenting on current events, movies, etc. this could be really useful. I'm not sure how often I'll get to use it. I know it'd be a lot more if I started making Youtube videos of tutorials etc. but I don't see that happening too soon. Until then it's just a nifty thing to know.

Big Butt Baby Pants

2011-06-06T07:05:00.001-07:00

When it comes to sewing patterns made by RAE has some great ones. Last fall I purchased from her the Big Butt Baby Pants pattern which is specifically designed for the big butt of a cloth diapered baby and I finally got around to sewing 2 pairs this weekend for Wee Rose. See we were starting to run into an issue with her in regards to pants. Because of the cloth diapers and that she's a chunky monkey she's gone up in sizes by leaps and bounds. She'll be 11 months next week and already we're putting her in 18 month clothes. If it's a t-shirt often she can wear a 12 month size but if it's pants the 12 months look like Speedos.

I'm happy to say that the pattern is a huge success!! I forsee myself making quite a few pairs of these in the next few months. For my first try I used some quilting cotton I had laying around which I have no pictures of her in. It was really to make sure I didn't screw up using the cute fabric. For the second pair I used this adorable cotton print fabric I made a dress out of for my niece. There was the perfect amount left to make Wee Rose the pants. The size I made is a bit long but I just cuff the pants up and she seems to get around okay. I may do a basic hand stitch to keep them where I want but easy enough to remove once she grows taller. The patterns has directions for multiple variations including a ruffled butt panel. I think I may try that out for the next pair. I also want to set some jersey knit and make up a few that would be great for pajamas. This may call for a thrift store raid to look for interesting fabric.

made by RAE has a lot of great patterns for boys and girls. Please go check her out!

Technorati Tags: baby,sewing,pants,made by RAE,cloth diapers,infant

Meal Planning Fail

2011-06-02T12:18:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: cooking,organization,menuplanning

So I fell off the meal planning wagon. After our vacation to Florida Pagan Gathering I got completely screwed up. We came back and I immediately needed to grocery shop for a weeks groceries with no meals figured out. I also had to go back to work immediately so I didn't really have to free time to figure it out either. Well yes that was a few weeks ago and I still haven't gotten the full swing back.

This is horrible because without knowing what to cook our food bill went up immediately. I mean the difference was $40 when I bought things "just encase" I mean it isn't like the food went bad it's in the pantry or freezer still to be eaten but we didn't need to buy it. If I don't get my act together quick though we're going to repeat this all over again. I go shopping again this weekend and only have a handful of meals down on the calendar.

I think part of the problem is that I'm bored with I've been cooking. I need to change things up a bit. It can't be too much though or I know I'll feel overwhelmed. I picked up the Sneaky Chef Cookbooks because Lil 'R won't eat a vegetable save his life right now. I've already started adding a puree of sweet potatoes and carrots to our mac 'n cheese which he doesn't notice but I need to add more and more green vegetables at that. It has this recipe for egg and bacon breakfast bars that I want to make within the next few days.

Anyone have any favorite recipes that they cook that can be done either in the crockpot or within 30 minutes at night? I suck at making things ahead of time though I really wish that wasn't the case. If I could do that I know we'd be eating a thousand times better.

New Site

2011-06-01T19:48:00.001-07:00

I finally have begun launching everything for my home business. I just finished up the first posts on the blog. From there you'll find links to the Facebook page where the shop is located and also a link to the new Facebook I'm running for parents who follow any form of pagan spirituality.

This blog will continue to exist as a personal outlet with hopefully more entries. I think I just have too high of aspirations. I need to first post regularly and build connections. I worry too much about doing big posts and get so caught up in them needing to be these big things. I need to think baby steps.

Baby steps.

Adventures in Sleep Training

2011-04-29T14:12:00.001-07:00

On two occasions now we've had to go through sleep training with Wee Rose. The first time was well the normal first time just getting her to sleep through the night, the second time was after a prolonged illness that led to her learning new sleep associations.

The first time we went through sleep training Wee Rose was sleeping in her crib and having no problems falling asleep but she was still waiting up every 4 hours or so. She was 5 months old. I borrowed from the library a book called The Baby Sleep Solution. Though the book was very breastfeeding friendly I was at this point having difficulty pumping while at work and we decided to switch to formula during the day. One method the book said to do was increase of food per feeding during the day and gradually decrease the amounts per feeding at night. It took a few days but soon Wee Rose was asleep 11 - 12hrs. It was so easy and so glorious.

The second time was much tougher and we're still working on it a bit. This time Wee Rose had formed sleep associations with sleeping in her swing. While ill we had let her sleep in her swing to help ease the pains of her congestion. She was congested for over two weeks though and at the end of it refused to go back to sleeping in her crib. We made a hard call and pulled out the big guns. I had previously bought Dr. Ferber's book when we were looking for solutions the previous time but it didn't arrive until after she was sleeping through the night, so I never read it. This time I read it from cover to cover.

Dr. Ferber gets a bad rap often. I thought his book was going to be very harsh just saying to let our baby cry and cry until she just gave up on us. It expressly says no NOT to do that. Yes there is a progressive stage of time where you let them cry but crying isn't the point of it all. The point is for the baby to associate what you wish them to (in our case and most parents it was her crib) with sleep. If you let them cry but they never fall asleep then all of that crying was worthless. Once I thought of it that way it really changed my few. I didn't want my baby to cry at all but if it was going to happen then I certainly didn't want her crying for more than was needed. So once she was fully better I settled in for a hard night. That first night we went in like advised after 5 min then 10 minutes and then she was asleep. What was harder was 2 hours later she woke up and it took 20 minutes for her to get quiet to just wake up 10 minutes later and start over. We all survived and she feel asleep. Since that night it hasn't been perfect but more times then not she sleeps in her bed. Last night she went all night without waking either for the first time in awhile. I think she just went through a growth spurt because on Sunday - Wednesday nights all it took was a bottle and she went right back to sleep in her crib.

The moral is that though CIO seems tough what is tougher is instead of a few nights of crying going through months of it. It can work and everyone can be happier for it. Remember the point isn't to cry but to fall asleep.

First Line of Bow Designs

2011-04-28T12:38:00.001-07:00

I finally have photos of some finished products up. I've produced 6 different designs in the bows and 7 bottle caps that can be interchanged. The latter was Hubby's idea and I think it was a great one. 4 of the bows represent the 4 elements while the others are more in tune with the 5th element, spirit. The bows are all 4 inches wide whereas the bottle caps are 1 inch in diameter.

The bow that I am calling Air along with the Air bottle cap.

The Earth bow with the Earth bottle cap.

The Fire bow and bottle cap.

The Water bow and bottle cap.

Black and silver bow

Pentacle bottle cap

Triquestra bottle cap

Purple and Black bow with pentacle bottle cap on and off.

If you would like to get into making bows yourself it is quite easy. On the references page I have up many links to sites I found useful for free tutorials. Also check out Youtube. I didn't spend anything on materials or tutorials and neither does anyone else. There is plenty of free material on the web.

Facebook Page Launched

2011-04-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

I've been working on the launch of my side business recently and I haven't gotten much sewing done. Mostly I've been working on bows.

I have both a Facebook Page and an Etsy site so please go visit. There you can see why I haven't been posting recently.

Treegold & Beegold Facebook page

Treegold & Beegold Etsy Shop

As of this moment there is nothing up for sale. In the facebook shop are examples of items I have made. Right now I'm in high gear for an event that is next week and I have a store that will carry my items consignment. I'm trying to get enough up and going to start marketing myself. After the event I will hopefully have some stock left to put online.