New Etsy Items!

While OmMama is doing well on Etsy, I've been hiding out for over a year. But I'm back with new items and a few old favorites. I will be getting more items up in the next two weeks as I get more crafting and photos done. Hope you enjoy these cute little terrarium ornaments and necklaces! I had a lot of fun making them and can't wait to make more. I will have larger terrariums and gnomes up soon as well.

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )

The Fiber Cooperative Giveaway!

I just got a nifty fiber follower on my twitter, Ms. Gusset, whose twitter post announced a great giveaway at The Fiber Cooperative. Hurry and comment on your favorite fiber to enter. Mine is Kentucky Bluegrass Posh Sock that of course has a wonderful name! It also is a really great color and it's a cashmere blend!

Happy Entries,

Cerise : )

Finished!

My first scarf is done and thank goodness as it is nice and warm and our weather is cold! It actually snowed here in Corvallis a couple of days ago and we have lingering below freezing weather. We are not prepared for this! No one has snow tires, boots or anything. A half inch of snow closed the schools. This is my second knit project to come to completion. It was a simple stockinette with some switcheroos thrown in to make it my own pattern, the Cocoa Palm. Actually, they were mistakes turned into a pattern. I believe that is the secret to knitting!
Theresa, Ommama

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're still trying to find one last minute Thanksgiving dish, here's a WONDERFUL last minute, easy-and-quick-to-make harvest slaw for your turkey table. Theresa made this up and it was SO good I made it last week for our weekend dinner and added my own little twist. You can add other special twists like nuts or dried fruit. Enjoy!

Harvest Slaw

2 yams, raw

1 apple, raw

1-3 carrots (the bigger the fewer), raw

~1 tsp. sugar

twist of lemon

Use a food processor (or the medium holes of a grater) to mince raw yams, apple, and carrots. Mix in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice. Add more sugar or lemon juice to taste. Serve room temperature or store in fridge for up to two days.

If you add your own special ingredients please share them in the comments!

Happy Cooking & Baking!

Cerise : )

First Day of Snow

It snowed tonight! It doesn't usually snow a lot in the Willamette Valley but we got a good dose of it last night and it stuck! I danced around outside, Theresa was hurrying her outdoor plants inside, my dog was running nuttily around the yard, and the cat was second guessing her evening excursion. And though I LOVE the snow, the garden looked quite dead and sad in the dark, covered in a light, downy blanket of snow. I began to reminisce our short summer, when the garden was more lively and striving to be lush.

This was year one for the garden and it didn't do that great. We did reap a ton of tomatoes and quite a pack of peppers that, yes, we did pickle. Theresa and I spent two whole days picking jalapeño peppers and making green tomato relish. The sun all but deserted us by late June so we had quite a few green tomatoes limply clinging to the vine. The chopping was a lot of work but the picking turned out quite well. We had a few jars break in the bath but all sealed properly. We winged the pickled pepper recipe a bit and the tomato recipe was derived from a few online. We ended up with so many jars that Theresa and I still had a full shelf each of canned goods even after dividing up the stash and giving away a few jars. Though we didn't get too much else besides peppers, tomatoes, and carrots, we definitely got quite enough pickled goods to last us through the winter. I think I will be hording my peppers and eating nachos alone!

Happy Harvest!

Cerise : )

Inspire Me to Draw

I used to love to doodle and draw but somewhere along the way I started getting really insecure about drawing and began to hate it. Once in a while I would doodle in my notebook during class or be forced to draw scientific illustrations in my paleontology class. But I stopped drawing on my own. I realized I really miss drawing but I usually couldn't think of what draw when I sat down with pencil and paper. A couple days ago my store got a GREAT book in called 642 Things to Draw. All the pages are blank save prompt words to get you drawing. This is my idea of a drawing book! I've already done two drawings, though I think the first one is kind of lame. I will try to figure out my scanner and post some of my not-so-lame drawings in the future. In the mean time, if you like to doodle, get this book!

Happy Doodling,

Cerise : )

Making Due

I am not very good at making circles. I have a protractor, but it only gets so big. So when I needed a large circle to make my zafu pattern, I simply used a dinner plate. For my yoga mat bags, I used a small plate. I'd like to think that there is some thought into form and function and exact size for the product. But sometimes it just comes down to the size of plate I have in my cupboard.
Theresa, OmMama

Sewing Injuries to Avoid

There is the obvious: sharp quilting pins poking into your finger and burning yourself on your iron. Recently I have caught my finger under the foot pedal, burned my forehead on the light bulb as I peered too close to thread a needle. The worst injury ever was "pinking" my finger with my pinking shears. I got a nice jagged cut that took forever to heal. One of my friends once cut off the tip of her finger with a rotary cutter. A true sewer, she was more concerned about the fabric she ruined than her finger. Luckily she healed well.

My older sister will never forgive me for stabbing her with a seam ripper. I think she may have been questioning my sewing skills (I was making an apron my second year in 4-H). Anyway, it wasn't very nice and perhaps I am paying for it still. Each time I get a sewing injury I think it might be payback for that seam ripper incident.

Be careful out there!

Sequins, Ribbon, and Felt, Oh my!

My Crafty neighbor friend, Nicole, and I started a new crafty Christmas project last week. We are both big fans of Anthropologie and decided to make some little "babushka" dolls similar to ones in a recent catalog. We compiled our felt, sequins, glitter, beads, ribbon, embroidery floss, and anything else we could find and got to work.

We were very skeptical about the little ladies at first but after starting our first ones we really go into constructing our miniature winter dolls. I was so excited about them that I couldn't wait to get back out to the craft hut and start another doll. Then the December issue of Martha Stewart came. While doing my initial flip-through of the pictures, I noticed a story on some adorable vintage elves. I couldn't find a picture from the article but here are some great examples!) I ran out to the hut with the magazine in hand and started making an elf, complete with lantern and woodland scene. I went back and forth between the ladies and some elves with a fervor.

So far, Nicole and I have spent two nights on our little people and are anxiously awaiting an order of more little wooden doll bodies to continue our new and exciting craft project. So stay tuned for more pictures of our wee women and elves!

Happy Crafting!

Cerise : )