Welcome to Saturday Snippets. This is where I share links and odd bits of info from the past week.
1. This is amazing and very moving. It’s amazing the good that comes from technology.
2. The life-saving qualities of dogs.
3. I love reading stories like this.
5. We love Maru the cat.
Well that’s all the Snippets I have for today. Have a wonderful rest of your day,
I like walks and all, but I think 6,000 miles is a bit far. You think that too, right?
Welcome to the {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word} blog series. Every day during the month of May, I’ll be posting a bird craft or bird-related item on my blog as well as placing that object on my wall tree. I can’t wait until the end of the month when my tree will be alive with a collection of chirpy chums.
Today Charlie the Canary came to stay on our tree. Charlie just retired from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he spent the last several decades singing his heart out for millions. He enjoyed traveling around the world, singing for kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, but with all the traveling he never developed any long-lasting friendships. And all Charlie has ever wanted is a close circle of friends. As you can imagine the Three Chicks have taken him under their wings and are feeding him large portions of pie. He’ll have to spend a couple of all nighters getting to know Olivia and Douglas, but in no time at all, I think Charlie will discover he’s found those friends he’s always longed for.
Charlie is a wood cut out with metal legs. His body is painted canary yellow, his beak is orange and his eyes are black.
Here’s a view of the tree so far.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow,
If Charlie needs more friends, we’re available.
Welcome to the {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word} blog series. Every day during the month of May, I’ll be posting a bird craft or bird-related item on my blog as well as placing that object on my wall tree. I can’t wait until the end of the month when my tree will be alive with a collection of chirpy chums.
Today Three Chicks came to stay on our tree. They are called Henrietta, Charlotte and Annie. They’re very friendly girls, enjoy sitting around chatting and can’t get enough pie. Boy do they love pie, lemon meringue to be exact. Henrietta learned how to make lemon meringue when she studied at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and now they enjoy it on a regularly basis (every week!). The Three Chicks met in Paris at a local patisserie. Charlotte was visiting with her family on a summer vacation and Annie was doing a semester as an exchange student. They’ve been friends ever since.
I found a video tutorial to learn how to make these chicks. They’re actually supposed to be pin cushions, but I decided to just stuff them and put them on the tree. I’ve included the video in case you’d like to make some of your own.
I was able to raid my scrap basket for all the pieces. It was fun matching up different fabrics for the bodies and tails. The beaks and combs were all the same fabric: yellow and red.
Here are the finished chicks:
Here’s a view of the tree so far.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow,
Pie? Henrietta knows how to make pie? Let’s get her off that branch and into the kitchen, then.
Welcome to the {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word} blog series. Every day during the month of May, I’ll be posting a bird craft or bird-related item on my blog as well as placing that object on my wall tree. I can’t wait until the end of the month when my tree will be alive with a collection of chirpy chums.
Today I decided to add a bird house for the first few guests. There’s no place like home especially when it’s “Home Tweet Home”.
Pete and Polly Pom Pom said they’ll use it at night so that Douglas and Olivia can use it during the day for those all important naps they need after their all-nighters.
I found this unfinished wood bird house at Michael’s a while ago with the intention of painting it for the wall tree.
I used red paint for the walls and the chimney, dark chocolate brown for the roof, ground and top of the chimney, and buttercream for the picket fence, decorating and facia on the roof.
I really like it and plan to use it for my Valentine tree also.
Here’s a view of the tree so far. Still a bit sparse, but it’s starting to fill up.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow,
I like the bird house, but it’s no dog bed. Guess not everybody’s as lucky as a dog.
Welcome to the {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word} blog series. Every day during the month of May, I’ll be posting a bird craft or bird-related item on my blog as well as placing that object on my wall tree. I can’t wait until the end of the month when my tree will be alive with a collection of chirpy chums.
Today’s guests are a pair of Pom Pom Birds (not a real species). Say hello to Polly (on the left) and Pete. Polly and Pete are twins, very social and have enjoyed meeting Olivia and Douglas. They use Facebook, but their favorite social media is Twitter (for obvious reasons).
I was inspired by this craft over at MollyMoo Crafts. I followed their general directions, but I didn’t have a pom pom maker. So I hopped over to YouTube and found a tutorial on ‘How to Make a Pom Pom Maker’. Here’s the video if you’re interested.
This craft transported me back about 40 years. And I think that was possibly the last time I made a pom pom. 😉
I constructed my pom pom maker out of heavy weight cardboard and wrapped the yarn about 4 times. When it was time to cut the yarn, I snipped a little bit on each side and then strung the small piece of yarn that secures everything in between the cardboard discs. It was easier to do this at this point because my hand was too small to hold the whole piece and I risked letting everything fall apart unless it was somewhat secured.
When the pom poms were tied and knotted several times, I gave Pete and Polly hair cuts to even up the yarn strands. The is a dangerous step because there is a great tendency to ‘take a little here’ and ‘take a little there’ and pretty soon you’re left with nothing. I had to restrain myself.
I cut their eyes and beaks out of felt and secured them with hot glue.
The only beads I owned would not thread through yarn, so I threaded a piece of embroidery floss through each bird and strung their ‘legs’ with beads.
And here they are, close up.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow,
I met Douglas and Olivia today and they’re pretty cool. They’re not dogs, but they’re okay. They sure have big eyes, though.
Welcome to the {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word} blog series. Every day during the month of May, I’ll be posting a bird craft or bird-related item on my blog as well as placing that object on my wall tree. I can’t wait until the end of the month when my tree will be alive with a collection of chirpy chums.
Our first guests are a sweet couple of tiny owls. Say hello to Olivia (on the right) and Douglas. They are the first set of birds to make their home on my wall tree. They look a bit silly all by themselves on the tree, but by the end of the month they’ll be joined by many feathered 
friends.
I discovered this pattern over at Love the Blue Bird blog and was pleased to find the instructions very clear with wonderful pictures to demonstrate certain stitches.
I crocheted the owls using dk weight yarn, then attached the button eyes and finally used floss to embroidery their beaks.
In addition to learning how to crochet these cute little guys, I learned how to crochet a magic circle using a YouTube video I found. The owls are crocheted from the middle out and if you use a conventional circle cast on (not sure if that’s the correct terminology) you’ll end up with a hole in the middle of your circle that won’t close. When you use the magic circle technique, you’ll able to close the hole and it gives your project a cleaner finish. It really is magic! If you’re interested in learning this technique I’ve included the tutorial I found on YouTube.
I’m really pleased with how Olivia and Douglas turned out and I think they’re quite pleased with their new home.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow,
Birds are going to come here and stay??? And we’re not allowed to touch them??? Are we going to be rewarded for this level of goodness you’re requiring of us???
Every now and then when I’m walking dogs, I will just stop, ask them to sit for about 30 seconds and then I will say “walk on”. That is there cue to start walking again. I do this for a couple of reasons: 1. They’re super focused when they’re on the walk and I like to know I can get their attention any time I need it. 2. It’s good to continue to incorporate training into their daily routines. Just as we need to continue to refine our skills, so must dogs.
This always reminds me how important it is for me to pause and reflect on the past week and then think about the next one as I “walk on”.
Paws | Week of 4.26-5.2
• spoke to my grandpa this week.
• still watching West Wing again (for the 3rd time). Yes, it’s that good.
• almost finished reading Platform by Michael Hyatt. It’s a meaty book and I’m taking notes.
• finished the
April photo-a-day challenge.
• still wearing my boot. Officially tired of wearing the boot.
• Doodled everyday with the a 100 day project. My favorite from the week. I call it ‘Cat’.
• still reading Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton.
• walked the dogs. Decided to keep track of our walks on a calendar. So far for 2015: 99 out of 124.
• made soap with my mom.
• met to start helping with item inventory for a fundraising auction.
• skyped and knit with my friend my San Diego.
• reached 10,000+ followers on Pinterest. Did nothing to ‘achieve’ this, but feel absurdly proud.
• spent a couple days in bed not feeling well. On the mend as of this writing.
• finished my April blog series, {DIY From Scratch}.
• continued with the Ripple Crochet Blanket for a wedding gift.
• still working on Margaret’s scarf.
Walk On | Week of 5.3-5.9
• call my Grandpa in England.
• continue with the Photo-a-day challenge for May.
• start on ideas for Mother’s Day.
• continue to work on Margaret’s scarf.
• need to make and post cards from January Card Series || Cards for 2015 in my Etsy shop. Have.got.to.get.this.done. Been waylaid by Spring Cleaning, but now with the bum foot I could get this done.
• continue reading Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton.
• start prepping for Mike’s Dr. Who Quilt.
• start prepping for May blog posts and projects.
• finish a couple of super easy baby quilts.
• continue to make the Ripple Crochet Blanket for a wedding gift.
• continue to organize my craft room. You’re probably wondering when I’ll be done with this. Me too.
• Skype and knit with a friend.
• finish reading Platform by Michael Hyatt.
• work on Quest46.
• work on and post projects for {DIY From Scratch}
My favorite quote from the week: “The tallest oak in the forest was once just a little nut that held its ground.” Unknown.
Have a wonderful week,
Did you hear… mom made us biscuits this week. We’re really happy.
Welcome to Saturday Snippets. This is where I share links and odd bits of info from the past week.
1. Here’s a different spin on ‘Cat in the Hat’… for all my cat-lovin’ friends.
2. Absolutely amazing what you can do with Legos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RadluR8vbDI
3. Came across this video the other day. Can’t get enough of Kevin Spacey’s impersonations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQMptnTf0s
4. I might like to make a Wonky Whirl Quilt one day.
5. This is really cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBwXZJlFDis
Well that’s all the Snippets I have for today. Have a wonderful rest of your day,
I hope you’re not getting any ideas for ‘hats for dogs’. Let this be your warning… I’ll eat mine.
Before I get into today’s post, I thought I show some photos from the soap I made yesterday. Cold Process soap needs to cure for 4-6 weeks, but it’s so worth the wait.
After the soap is poured into the mold, it’s covered and wrapped in blankets and towels for 24 hours. Then the blankets and towels are removed as well as the cover and the soap should have firmed up. The soap sits like this for 3 more days when I will cut it into bars and lay it out on paper bags to cure for the 4-6 weeks.
Okay – onto today’s post: Homemade dog biscuits.
Ellie staged a sit-in to make sure I didn’t forget to make biscuits today.
Last year for my birthday, a dear friend gave me a recipe book for organic dog biscuits because we’re a gluten free household. When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I made the decision to stop eating sugar, all grains and starched vegetables (it’s not as bad as it sounds). To make things easier for me, my darling husband decided to change his diet to match mine. It’s certainly been a culinary adventure and the support from friends and family has made all the difference.
Cheese, Please!
Ohm My These Are Good
This is an excellent dog biscuit cookbook with 25 recipes to choose from. I decided to make two: ‘Cheese, Please’ and ‘Ohm My These Are Good’. I gathered and measured all the ingredients, mixed them in my standing mixer and prepped the dough in two different ways. With the ‘Cheese, Please’ biscuits, I rolled out the dough and cut small and large bone shaped cookies. The other biscuits I rolled into 1″ balls.
Both recipes baked for 25 minutes and made quite a few biscuits. These should last a while. Ellie appointed herself as my baking assistant and hired Mindy to help with the official taste testing duties. Woody would have been included, but he 
mistook me handing him a biscuit for handing him medicine and took off to the farthest part of our yard. Mike will have to give him the biscuit and then he’ll let me give him one. He really doesn’t like his medicine.
Well that’s it folks for the {DIY From Scratch} series. I’ll be taking a few days off to regroup and prep for my May series called {Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word}. Yes, as you guessed, it will be all about birds. We have a wall tree. You can read more about that here, and during Christmas and other holidays, it’s decorated, but the rest of the year it’s bare. I’d like to change that by knitting, sewing, crocheting, painting and paper crafting a bunch of birds for the tree. I’ll be starting this series next Monday, May 4th and I’d be delighted if you stopped by to meet my birds.
Until next time,
Do you know how long we’ve waited for these biscuits of goodness? Too long.
Today I made soap using the cardboard soap mold I made yesterday. 
The recipe I use is from the Soapmaker’s Companion, by Susan Miller Cavitch. It’s called the Soap Essentials bar made from olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil. Very simple, and so luxurious. I’ve made this recipe before, in fact, it’s my go to soap recipe, but I usually make it in 40 bar batches. Today I only made enough for 15 bars.
The soap making process never fails to amaze me. How someone figured out to mix oil and lye (sodium hydroxide) and end up with soap baffles me.
Now despite the fact that I’ve made several batches of soap over the years, I’m still wary of the chemical process. The instructions in the book are excellent and I had an amazing teacher, but I’m always nervous I’m going to mess something up and waste a batch. So far I’ve not had to throw anything out, so maybe my nervousness is a good thing. I will put a caution here: LYE (sodium hydroxide) is not to be messed around with. It’s an incredibly corrosive alkaline and both wet lye and dry lye solutions are highly caustic and may cause chemical burns, permanent injury or scarring, and blindness. Lye may be harmful or fatal if swallowed. Don’t take this lightly and by all means make sure you have eye protection, latex gloves and keep your limbs covered. And make sure your pets and children are no where in sight.
Here are my steps to making a simple batch of soap (abbreviated version):
1. Mix lye with distilled water (let sit until the temperature drops to 80 degrees)
2. Mix oils together and heat to 80 degrees
3. When both lye and oils reach 80 degrees slowly drizzle lye into the oil stirring constantly.
4. When you’re able to see a trace of oil on the surface, mix in the fragrance (a combination of lavender and English rose) and pour into the mold.
I don’t have any pictures of my soap in the mold because at that point you have to move really fast to get it covered. I will tell you the cardboard mold worked beautifully. I’m going to whip up a few more and match some more soap with different fragrances. I will take a picture tomorrow to show you how it looks in the mold.
Tomorrow’s the last day of the {DIY From Scratch} series and yes, I’ll be making homemade doggie treats. I have three creatures here that are giving me two paws up!
Until tomorrow,
I can’t believe my ears… Are we really getting homemade doggie treats tomorrow? Finally!!!!
While Walking My Dogs 