New Year and New Projects

Knitted clogs before felting
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00
Happy New Year! Yeah I'm a couple weeks late saying that but I've been doing all kinds of creative stuff and just haven't gotten around to blogging it all.

I have been knitting!! I have been finding this such a soothing thing to do and so much fun to see the projects grow from a twisted skein of yarn into an object of clothing or an accessory. Useful items are such a joy t make and use.

Starting off my entry this time is the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. It's amazing that something so huge and floppy will become a firm fabric with shape and are so comfortable to wear. This is not a hard pattern if you follow it exactly line by line. I even was able to felt them in my front loader washing machine with out any trouble!

Next up are socks that I knit for my sweet husband. I actually made it through the whole pattern twice with out having to rip out a bunch of stitches and start again. Yeah Baby! That was a real accomplishment. Well, gee, I have to find that photo so I can post it! Arrgh. On the other computer right now.

I made a fun doodle of a lovely little girl's name. She asked and we did a pinky promise. So, I had to follow through. I'll find out tomorrow what she thought of it. Then I'll add the photo of it here. :)

Hey, I hope you have had a chance to get out and do something creative already!
cheers,
sb

Happy Holidays....

Hum, well...I have been one of the busy elves.
Honest...lots of creative stuff but I haven't been posting any of it as I'm using almost everything as gifts this holiday season.

First, I Machine embroidered a Happy Holiday Banner that is decorating my front porch I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Here are the Yummy Cupcakes that I made last Sunday for my dear son's 24th birthday party. These cupcakes are made from Elizabeth Barbone's Classic Chocolate Cake recipe that is wonderfully GLUTEN FREE! She has it in her Easy Gluten Free Baking cookbook. If you are interested she also has a web site with lots of free recipes and a paid membeship section with even more!


Knitting, drawing and playing with felt, making gifts and decorations has been filling up my evenings and weekends.

Oh yeah, baking and candy making too. I've been having fun! I just have to stop eating so much of the goodies! I really do need to get on the ball and lose about 20 lbs!!

I hope you all have a great Holiday Season and find time to do something creative for yourself or someone special!

Cheers,
SB

Boo! Happy Halloween Weekend.

I said something in my last post about fun and simple crafts with very few supplies and really no 'special equipment" Here's a couple pieces that I have decorating the front windows of my house.

Photo by Mark Bergeron

The first is the coolest Owl head.

Just made with card stock, hot glue and double stick tape.

Just like grade school--fan fold a few pieces of card stock paper double stick tape the folded papers fan it around into a circle, glue the face pieces on put on a string and hang up in the window.

Photo by Mark Bergeron

The second piece is a paper lantern.

So simple!!

Print out the design on translucent vellum and tape to the inside of the cut out card stock lantern sides. tape the lantern sides together and either put a wire hanger in the top and use little battery powered candles or put in the window sill over a real votive candle in a protective glass candle cup. (That's what I did!)

Looks cool and lots of bang for the tiny amount of time and supplies!


So do you do any decorating for Halloween? Drop me a line, share a link to your blog with what you've been doing.

cheers! Remember to get out and do something creative!

sb

Oh, Chocolate Cup Cake how I love thee...

Well, that title may sound a bit over blown but gee...


If you really like chocolate and you really like cake with twinkie cream filling, wouldn't you be just a bit effusive when savoring a cupcake that looks like this?----------------------------------------------------------->

Warm, dark, moist, homemade and get this...WHEAT FREE!

I have Elizabeth Barbone's Gluten Free Baking cookbook and it is WONDERFUL! I actually started with her Vanilla cupcake recipe and then added cocoa powder and buttermilk and a bit of extra water to make the batter. Then I used the cream filling recipe from her Whoopie Pies to finish these little pieces of heaven. My hubby--a gluten eater ate 3 of these the day they were made. Yup, they really are that good.

I'm having so much fun baking and cooking. Being creative in the kitchen, making messes and ending up with foods I thought I'd not get to eat again.

I don't have a photo yet but I seem to be in a bit of a chocolate phase right now. I'm almost done knitting and hooded sweater made with chocolate colored yarn and I already made a sweet little pair of knitted fingerless mitts in a milk chocolate wool silk blend yarn.  I'll see about the photos for those soon.

I have also been doing some crafts for Halloween! Martha Stewart's web site is a treasure trove of quick easy crafts that really can be done with out all the expensive tools and superfine glitter. (The tools and glitter do make it more fun though) :)

Any way Happy Almost Halloween and remember to get out and do something creative!
sb

I think I'm figuring this out...

I've been a bit quiet this past 6 weeks or so. I have a really good reason...Honest! I found out that I can't eat wheat. Why would that make me be a bit quiet on the blog? Well...I have been figuring out how on earth I can eat a reasonable diet with out one of the basic American staples in my diet.

I have come to the realization that I am a very flexible person, I can learn to cook and bake with new and different flours and feed my family good food that tastes and looks like 'Normal" food. My super husband has even told me to stop buying him separate loaves of bread. He likes my home made yeast bread just fine! Yeah!

 So the "normal" kinds of food I made this weekend? Cinnamon Rolls from Ellen at I am Gluten Free this is what mine looked like all hot and cinnamony--

Then for lunch on Sunday? Gluten Free Breadsticks!!  Oh baby! They tasted as good as they look. Crunchy, chewy, salty. Perfect for dunking in my homemade Cheddar Broccoli Cauliflower soup.

Yeah, I think this is going to work out just fine. I just have to figure out how to do Thanksgiving. Sigh...

I have already figured out the bread dressing and the pumpkin pie. Those are my two most favorite things that it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving with out.

Now, we just have to figure out with the rest of the family where that meal is going to take place and if I'll even be able to bring my new found recipes along. Who knows...may be I can talk my hubby in to running away to the coast for the holiday and make dinner in the room? Sounds good to me...

Hey remember to get out and do something creative!

sb

It's all over.....

So, here's what I have been up to for the past week and a half!

front cover of my Doodle Adventure

Pages 1-2 A Hefelump?

Pages 3-4 Mouse of Mystery

Pages 5-6  the Fluter-snoot!

Pages 7-8

Pages 9-10  Wild Wings

It's been almost 2 weeks, it is amazing how much more difficult it is to get creative stuff done with you are back to work full time! But, I have been being creative--  From Unit 7 of the Drawing lab, I chose to do the book. It took about 40 hours to do the whole thing! I can hardly believe it.

I had an amazing time working on this project. It started by making a little cover stock book with odd shaped pages.(the book when closed is about 4.5 x 5.5 or when open it is 4.5 x 11 inches) All of the pages all had a bit of the next page peeking out behind. That way when I drew on a page some of the marks were going on to the following pages. Then, I had to incorporate those marks into the other pages and make new marks on the next pages.

It was so surprising seeing the book develop before my eyes. I did this whole book an an exercise in doodling with a purpose. :)

What do you think? This was one of the most creative things I think I have ever attempted.

Now, I need to figure out a way to make a good copy of it. I'll probably take the book completely apart and scan all the fronts and backs of the pages and see what I can come up with.

If I get it to work out I may even put a few up for sale at some point. Who knows?! Would anyone buy it? hum...

so my message to you is to get out and be creative, even if it's just for a few minutes!!

Cheers!
sb