The Modern Bohemian's Creativity Station

Homemade Pet Treats

2010-12-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

I will try my best to give you good directions, but my cooking is very experimental (meaning... I don't follow recipes very well! haha) But here is a recipe (of sorts) for homemade pet treats that are good for cats, dogs, and even humans!

What You Need:
Oat Flour
Flax Seed Flour
Carrots
Low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock
Sea Salt
Eggs
Oil
Skim milk
Shredded colby/jack cheese or cheddar cheese
Olive Oil cooking spray
Catnip (optional)

1. Put a small pot of water on the stove and add a tiny bit of sea salt. Bring to a boil and boil carrots until slightly softer. Turn off heat, let cool a bit.

2. Pre-heat oven to 350.

3. Mix 1 cup of oat flour and a 1/2 cup of flax seed flour in a large bowl.

4. Switch gears. Go back to your carrots. Put a little chicken broth(stock) into a blender. Add carrots (no water). Grate, then puree on high until you get a "baby food" consistency.

5. Go back to the flour bowl. Add about a tablespoon of oil, 1 egg, about 1/3 a cup of milk, about a 1/2 a cup of chicken broth/stock, and a heaping handful of cheese. Mix thoroughly. Add some carrot puree and mix in evenly. If the consistency of the dough is liquidy or super sticky, just add a little more oat flour to make it a little more stiff.

6. Spray the olive oil spray on a cookie sheet.

7. Beat an egg with a little of the chicken broth/stock in a separate bowl. You will be using this to add a coating to the treats.

8. Take your dough and put about a teaspoon size amount in the form of a ball on the tray. (You can fit about 15 on a tray)

9. Using a spoon, put a little of the egg/broth mix on each, flattening each ball of dough as you coat them. Try not to let the egg mixture pool in the center.

10. Bake in the oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Take them out and let them cool completely.

You can feed them to your pets right away or save them for up to 7 days in the fridge.
For cats, you can add a little catnip to the dough as well. When they are cooked and cooled and a little crunchy break them into small crumbles for bite size kitty treats that are more cat-friendly in size as well as taste.

Humans can eat these treats too. (Without the catnip, please.) They taste kind of like bland crackers. If you added seasoning, they could be human treats. But animals don't need seasoning, and some seasonings can have bad effects on animals.

On another note, you could probably also add little bits of meat to the dough for another variation to the recipe.

I hope your pets enjoy them! :) By the way, I will post pictures soon! Come back to see them!

Arts and crafts can be made from recyclable materials too!

2010-10-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

I love making arts and crafts, and some of my favorite arts and crafts projects involve junk, trash, broken things, etc. Why? Well, for one, if you are using stuff you can easily find at home (jars, tin cans, newspaper, pop bottles, etc.) then that means that you don't have to spend money at the store to make your projects. This is very important these days, as money is hard to come by. Another reason I like this "turning trash into treasure" mentality when it comes to home arts and crafts projects is because I believe in "going green," promoting sustainability, and reducing, reusing, and recycling. So since I love being creative and I love working to save the Earth, making crafts at home from old stuff is just one great way for me to combine those two loves into one awesome good time!

Now, since I DO love "recycled crafts" so much, earlier today I was drawn into an article by GreenVerbs on List My 5 that I liked so much, I decided to share it! Check it out here:

The Top Five Recycled Crafts Websites

I hope you check them out and get inspired! Have fun!
Peace and Love,
Meagan

Basic Melt and Pour Soap

2010-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

What You Need:

Soap base
Colorant (or food coloring)
Essential oils or fragrance oils
Soap molds
Glass bowl
Spoon
Microwave
Plastic wrap
Spray bottle of rubbing alcohol

Directions:

Put your soap base in a glass dish and cover it with plastic wrap. Microwave (on high) for one minute to one minute and fifteen seconds. Remove the dish from the microwave and stir in any hard pieces to melt them.
If you add fragrance oils or essential oils, add it only after the base is fully melted. Mix the base and oils well so that the base doesn't get a cloudy appearance.
Add colorant, but remember, a little goes a long way. Mix well and continue to add small amounts of colorant until you have reached your desired shade.
Pour the finished base into your soap molds. Spray the top with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any bubbles.
Let the soaps set for a few hours. When they are hardened, remove them from the molds and you should have some lovely, homemade soap.

Making Soap for Fun and Profit

Natural Handmade Soaps and Gifts

Soap Making Supplies

Soap Making Recipes, Tips, Instructions, and More

Cottage Garden Therapies

Soap on Etsy

Sharpies and Art

2010-02-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

All I can say is this... get some sharpies and something to draw on and start making art! It's my new craze of the moment, and I can't wait to get pictures up to show you. It's like Hippie/Graffiti/Pop Art. I love it!
So like I said... go out and invest in a big pack of sharpies and get creative! And keeping checking back for some Sharpie-Art of mine. :)

Peace and Love,
Meagan

Impromptu Art

2010-01-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

I made this on my computer one night while we were all hanging out, spinning records, playing games, and having an all around good time. I was inspired by the music, by the friendship, and by my housemates, who I love so dearly. What do you think?

How to Make a Decorative Paper Chain

2010-01-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

Paper chains are great. You can make them to fit any holiday or special occasion, they can be used for decoration year round, they are relatively easy to make, AND they can be made from mostly recycled materials.

What you need to make paper chains:
1. Paper. I like to use old magazines and catalogs.
2. Scissors (to cut the paper).
3. Tape
4. Creativity

STEPS:

Step 1: Gather all your paper product together. Hopefully you've found some old magazines or catalogs that we can use. Scan through the magazines and catalogs and find pictures that stand out to you. Maybe they have amazing colors to them or neat designs or whatever. Cut those pages out of the magazines and such and set them aside. Continue to do this until you have a huge stack of paper.

Step 2: Once you have lots of paper, you can start cutting it into strips. Try to make the strips even, but make them however thick or however thin you want. Pile up your paper strips, but mix them up, so that all the strips near each other in the stack are from different pages.

Step 3: Pick up one strip and make a loop. Connect the two ends of the loop with tape to make a circle out of the paper strip. (It should look like a bracelet.)

Step 4: Pick up another strip of paper and slide it through the center of the first paper circle. Make a loop, connect the two ends, form a second bracelet-like circle and you have now "linked" your loops like a chain.

Step 5: Continue Step 4 over and over again until the paper chain is the desired length. Then stop, hang it up, and love it!

Step 6: Clean up all the scraps and any other messes, and enjoy your paper chains!

Paper Chain And Other Paper Craft Resources:

A Paper (Fabric) Chain Tutorial
Papercopia
Advent Paper Chains: An Easy Christmas Craft
Printable Paper Valentine Chains for Kids
How to Make Paper Chains - Ring Type

PonchoMeg Says: Coloring books are NOT just for kids... Oh yeah... and I love my cats!

2010-01-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is true... I absolutely love the cats at our house. Ava is my baby, but Sam and Binks have been very welcome additions to my life. I am so glad to know them and live with them.

Now, because I am a super creative person, and I love making things, and I love coloring, I decided a while back to color a coloring book photo of three cats to look like Sam, Binks, and Ava. How do you think I did?

Here are the cats just as they are:

And here's the coloring book page:

What do you think?

Tie Dye

2010-01-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

Tie Dye is such a fun activity. You can be completely creative and let your whims lead your fantasy to create a truly original piece of art.

Sometimes though, it is also fun to start a project having some idea of what the product is going to look like in the end... especially when it is a sweet tie-dye project such as this one:

Camo Peace Sign Tie-Dye T-Shirt Pattern

In case you get bored and want to do even more tie-dye, check out these other great tie-dye resources:

How to Tie-Dye.net

How to Make Different Tie-Dye Effects: eHow.com

60's Fashion: Hippie Clothes

Tie Dye: The How-to Book at Amazon.com

Above: Me and my former roomie (aka: "Roomie for Life") Kelsey back in college. I am rockin' out my tie-dye tank top! Not to mention an amazing peace sign necklace and cool jewelry. What fun!

Have fun in all your tie-dying, high flying, death defying, arts and crafts adventures. hehe

Until next time...

Peace and Love,

Meagan

Recent Arts and Crafts by PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian

2009-12-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

I have been super crafty lately. Here are some of my recent creations.

First, we have a Winter/Holiday Centerpiece I made in mid-November. I made about 5 total, and had enough materials left over to make a wreath! Fun stuff.

Then we have the paper chains that A. and I made to help make our home that much more festive! We cut the strips from old magazines like People, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Marie Claire and then fashioned them together with scotch tape. It was lots of fun and a nice project to collaborate on.

Then we have this crazy picture I edited in paint! haha I was feeling super excited about my Cloud Magic t-shirt so I created this fanciful, crazy, pretty picture of me blowing magic energy out into the universe. Deep, I know.

Finally we have a picture that I painted on a piece of cardboard from an old box we had. I wanted to do something with lilacs and I wanted it to be a bit impressionistic, in tribute to one of my favorite painters: Monet. What do you think?

Lately, I have also been big into crocheting again, and I made a great Scarf/Neck Warmer, but I haven't taken any pictures. I am also working on a blanket. And of course, I have some jewelry in progress. Ah... creativity. I love it!

How to Make a Dandelion Wreath for your Head

2009-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

If you are a hippie, bohemian, free-spirit like me, you know that there is a lot of joy in having flowers in your hair. It connects you to the Earth, it helps others to notice your natural beauty and the beauty around you, and it is also a cheap, easy, and "green" way to be pretty and fashionable.

So here, I give you a step by step guide for making a great floral wreath out of dandelions.

(Because I am not very good at details sometimes, as I just DO things and experiment, I will be referencing The Hippie Handbook by Chelsea Cain.)

First, you need to gather your materials. This is a project you will have to do in the spring and summer months if you live in Michigan like I do if you are looking for fresh materials. You CAN make floral wreaths with fake flowers, but not with the method I am going to show you today. If you want to make a floral wreath with fake flowers, check out this article by Melissa Howard.

MATERIALS:
25-45 blooming dandelions (yellow)*
A rag or washcloth
Your fingernails or a small, sharp object

*Make sure you pick your dandelions as close to the root as possible so that you will have a lot of stem to work with.

STEPS:
1. Using your fingernail (or your small sharp object) make a 1/2 inch long slit all the way through each stem. Make this slit close to the flower itself in order to have a thick, lush wreath.

2. Pick a dandelion to start with. Then, take another dandelion and insert it into the slit in the first dandelion stem. Pull through gently, but make it tight. Then take your next dandelion and slip it through the slit in your second dandelion.

3. Continue this process until your chain is the length you will need to have it fit comfortably on your head.

4. When the chain is the right length, take your last flower and increase the slit to about 1 whole inch. Fit the entire head of your first flower through it and pull gently to tighten it. You should have a dandelion wreath now!

5. Using your rag or washcloth, wipe all the dandelion goo from your hands. (Or you can wash them, if there is water available.)

6. Wear your beautiful, handcrafted dandelion wreath with pride!

Pine Cone Bird Feeder

2009-12-27T05:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun craft that is great for people of all ages to make and enjoy: A pine cone bird feeder! It's great to make in the winter months as you can make it indoors, hang it up outside your favorite window, and then sit by your cozy fire and watch the birds enjoy the treat through the window.

Here's how to make it:

First of all, gather your ingredients. You will need:
A large, open pine cone
vegetable shortening, lard, and/or suet
uncooked oats
bird seed
chopped dried fruit
sunflower seeds
string

Tie a few feet of string to each pine cone. In a mixing bowl, combine a roughly a 1/2 cup shortening, lard, and /or suet with roughly 2 and 1/2 cups of uncooked oats and blend well, until you have a thick, paste-like mixture. Apply mixture to the pine cones. In a bag, combine bird seed with the chopped dried fruit and sunflower seeds.

Close and shake bag until well mixed. Open the bag and gently place each pine cone in one by one. Coat each one in the birdseed mixture. Let them sit on some waxed paper in the fridge for about 20 minutes, then hang them outside on the branches closest to your window. :)