Alaskan Christmas Bazaar 2014

We are half-way through our craft-fair season, with only one more show to go!

This past weekend, we were at the Alaskan Christmas Bazaar at Anchorage City Church and were thrilled to see so many of you there! It was by far the busiest this show has ever been. We had a steady stream of people from before the show started until at least 3:30, which is rare. We loved every minute of it. Thank you to all of you who came out. We saw plenty of friendly faces and met many new people. It was great!

This is the only picture I took...but at least there is a picture, which is an improvement from our last show!

We now a have a break until the Wonderfully Made Christmas Bazaar at Cornerstone Church on 12/13/14. If you didn't get a chance to come out this past weekend, hopefully we will see you then!

Sarah and Nathania

New Products this year!

This year we have some great new products that we are selling at the craft fairs!

First off we have wreaths:

The wreaths come in two sizes and have flowers that are made with vintage buttons. They are made with a multitude of colors and we have different color combos for every holiday!

This is one of our smaller wreaths.

Large wreath perfect for Easter or Valentines day....or everyday!

Next Hop...Cashmere bunnies! Nathania came up with these cute creations and we're making them exclusively with our cashmere wool. We have some that have wool and cotton for some pizazz and then some that are completely made out of cashmere!

Finally today, we have our friendly snowmen. These are perfect additions to your Christmas tree. Each one is hand embroidered, and has a whimsical touch unique to each snowman.

Hope to see you at one of our shows!

Sarah

Craft Fair Season!

Hey all! The craft fair season is upon us!!! WOOHOO! I do love a good craft fair, and I find them so fun when I get to be a vendor too!

We had our first craft fair last Saturday at South High school...but did we take any pictures? Not a single one.

I wish I could say it was because we were so busy selling things...which we did...but it was mostly because we have a new booth design, and it didn't quite work out the way we wanted it to. One of us had to hold something up the whole day...or it would come crashing down. Yeah it was pretty janky!

Lets just say I have minimal construction skills and they were gone by the time I got to the second part of our display. oops! It will be fixed by our next show. 

We did however have a great time meeting new people and seeing so many familiar faces!

Speaking of our next shows,  we will be at the following shows in the next couple of months:

Alaskan Christmas Bazaar

Anchorage City Church

1301 West100th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99515

Saturday November 15th, 2014

10 AM until 5PM

We will be located in the nursery, right off the main auditorium.

Wonderfully Made Christmas Bazaar

Cornerstone Church

10431 Brayton Drive Anchorage, AK 99507

Saturday December 13th, 2014

10 AM until 5PM

Our booth is located in the main sanctuary near the stage.

(the sunset last night!)

We hope to see you there!

Box Tops for Education

Does everyone know what these are? No?

Well they are coupons that are on various types of packages--food, toiletries, etc.--that earn money for schools. Very similar to the Campbell Soup labels that have been around for decades.

Schools collect these Box Tops and then send them in for money to help buy different things. They are super helpful for all schools, but really helpful for lower income schools like the one I work at. Each BoxTop that a school sends in is worth 10c, and that 10c can add up! If you want more info you can check it out here.

I've been collecting them and the Campbell Soup labels for a while, but have always had a messy pile of them in a drawer and then if I don't remember to send them in soon enough they might expire. Boo! Wasted money!

A while back, Nathania had made a little box that went on her fridge to collect them. She made hers all cute with scrapbooking paper and such and actually had a label on it. I finally made one and it was easy as can be.

Here's what you'll need:

A small box--I used a straw box, but a mac and cheese box would work too.

Fun looking duct tape--I've found lots of cute stuff in the dollar bins at Target

A magnet--I used one of the free ones you get in the mail.

To make this handy-dandy organizer, I cut the top off the box, covered it in duct-tape and voila--cute box!

                                   

I just matched up the lines of the tape. and created a cool looking chevron pattern.

                                     

I then just taped the longer sides of the magnet on to the back and stuck it up on the fridge.

Now, this isn't a take forever project, and probably not pin-worthy, but it organizes those Box Tops and keeps them visual so I bring them into school more often!

Win in my book!

If you don't already collect the Box Tops and soup labels....please do! It really is free for you to do, and can help schools in need out. Check with your local school to see if they are collecting them! If not I know a great school in Anchorage, AK that would love to be the recipient!

Sarah

Plums....everywhere!

Long time no post...but we have enjoyed this amazing summer that Alaska had this year!

Recently, I have come into some plums...for free...

Now I can't resist getting free food, and can't really think of anyone who can. So I took the plums home and made plum jam!

I cut out the stone and cut each plum into about 8 pieces. Sticky work, but isn't the color awesome! Love the color of these plums.

I put the plums in the pot with some lemon juice and some sugar and began stirring. And stirring. And stirring.

Then I got impatient and decided they were done. I put them in jars and a water bath for about 15 minutes. 

The plum jam may have turned into more of a thick sauce due to my impatience. I've made this before with better success, but I should have waited until it was more of a honey consistency. Oops! It still tastes great and will be fantastic on ice cream. So I still count it as a win.

Here is the recipe I used:

8 cups of plums

3 1/2 cups of sugar 

4 TBSP of lemon juice

Cook, stirring consistently until the plums become a honey like consistency. Then put them in sterilized jars and give them a boiling bath for about 15 minutes.

I have more plums....lots more so I'll probably freeze them and then make more jam...maybe even a salsa!

Are you preserving any food lately?

Sarah

Food Glorious Food! Challenge #9

Admittedly, I'm falling behind on these challenges. Spring Break and a wonderful dumping of snow are to blame. Nonetheless, I will try to continue to post. Here is last weeks challenge this week...

9. Food, Glorious, Food! This is for the Food Network Junky who loves "Chopped" Wait until you have to go to the grocery store...and then challenge yourself to make a new and creative dish from the pantry/freezer. Incorporate the leftovers that need to be eaten and create a new meal. You are not allowed to go to the store for this challenge.

This is actually a weekly challenge here at my house, only for the main reason that I hate going to the grocery store. Don't ask me why, cause there isn't just one reason, but it is just not my favorite task.

I looked in my cupboard and fridge on Saturday afternoon, and was struck by how many veggies needed to be used before they were bad, so those were definitely going to be in my creation.

I also found some sausage that would be tasty in my dish so out that came as well.

My ingredients were the following:

1 orange pepper

some spinach

can of diced tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

quarter of a white onion

about 10 baby carrots

a package of reindeer sausage

some left over rice/quinoa

parsley

Cajun seasoning

garlic salt

red pepper flakes

bay leaf

water

I began by putting the pepper, spinach, onion, and carrots into the food processor and chopped them up really fine. I also chopped up the garlic. I put all the chopped veggies and the can of diced tomatoes into a large sautee pan...which should have been a large pot, but whatever...I added some water and let them cook down. After they had cooked down a bit I added the spices. I didn't measure the spices, but added them to taste. I also added a bit more water and let it cook down again.

While it was cooking I cut up the sausage and added it, along with the rice/quinoa--which was already cooked--and let those stew for a bit.

And I came up with a very healthy and hearty stew.

What kind of concoction did you make up?


Linked to:frugallysustainable.com

St Patricks Day Craft

With St. Patty's Day coming up I decided to make a banner for the front door with Aria and finally take down the Valentines Day wreath!! I thought we should make a 3 leaf clover banner but Aria decided a 4 leaf clover would be much better :-) so 4 leaf clover it was!!

  I grabbed some white and green plaid fabric from my stash, 3 corks, green craft paint and paint brushes and we got started.   I cut the four leaf clover from the white fabric and using the corks with green paint Aria made some awesome 3 leaf clover prints on it while I added the stems.

After the paint dried I bonded the 4 leaf clover to the green plaid, hemmed the edges and added twine to hang it up.  I wanted to add weight to the top and bottom so it wouldn't flap around in the wind so before I sewed the hems shut I put 2 bamboo skewers each into the top and bottom hems. It's what I had on hand and it worked perfectly :-)! 

Start to finish it took about an hour and we both had fun making it! I loved seeing how excited Aria was to put it on our door!!

 

What crafts have you done for St Patty's Day?

Nathania