Something Special Saturday

I love making handmade things for the holdiays. Whether it is decoration or gifties, I believe that a little bit of my love goes out the door with my own creations, and that love stays around forever, long after the holiday has passed. I am disheartened by so much of the commercialism of the season, the Over-Gifting of Things. I want to throw up when I see ads on TV indicating that some person really, really wants a Hummer for a present. Ack! That in NO way indicates the deep message of the Season, which is love, kindness and gifting of meaningful presents.

With a mug of tea in hand I traipsed around the Net yesterday and stumbled on some Major Keen. Serving it up with a side of hot buttered toast, here it is, along with some home made goodies from me.




Collage by Me

Your Daily Cool Things:

My friend has bee hives in her yard, seven of them! I often get the organic beeswax to make massage butters and lip balm. I have always admired bees. And the geometric pattern of honeycomb is so pleasing to my eye. This soap looks so great! And, with the harsh weather, a humectant soap is just what we all need!

















Honey Oatmeal Cold Process Soap

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Many wonderful things can be found at Poppytalk Handmade. Go visit. Just make sure you type well, cause "Poopy talk" will get you something entirely different!

Coffee Print from Poppy Talk Handmade













This got me to thinking about my recycled foam tray art. So I broke out the supplies and crafted up a demonstration for a nifty gift tag.

First clean and dry one of those foam trays you find from the grocery store. They make nice printing blocks! Cut the rim with an exacto knife. I use oatmeal container lids as paint palettes. I rinse them and use them again and again. I also use old ice cube trays I get from thrift stores or yard sales. Using a ball point pen inscribe the foam with your design, keeping in mind that any text must be backwards so that it will transfer correctly. Also keep in mind that what you are pushing down will NOT get ink. (That means if you are using dark ink or paint and white paper that the image lines will be white. If you are using black or dark paper and light ink your lines will be dark). Brush paint over the block. I use acrylic white here, because my paper is black. Place the paper over the block and lightly press and rub the surface to ensure even distribution of ink/paint. Peel off and let dry.

Here is the final product. Pretty nifty, heh?


















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Your Daily Wonderful Design:






Hi and Low Modern

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Your Daily Inspiring Words: We clasp the hands of those that go before us, and the hands of those who come after us. We enter the little circle of each other's arms and the larger circle of lovers, whose hands are joined in a dance, and the larger circle of all creatures, passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it except in fragments. ~ Wendell Berry

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Your Daily Wicked-Good Food:



Agave-Ginger Bites

1/3 cup Agave Nectar
1/4 cup butter
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 egg


1. In a small sauce pan, combine agave nectar and butter. Heat and stir until butter is completely melted. Remove from heat, pour into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. In another bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and pepper. Add the ginger.
3. Mix egg into the Agave mixture.
4. Gradually stir or knead the flour mixture into the agave mixture.
5. Cover and chill for at least an hour.
6. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
7. Divide dough into 4 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion into ropes. Cut each rope into 1/2 inch pieces.
8. Place each piece 1/2 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (I use parchment or silicone liners.) and bake for 6-8 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.
9. Cool on paper towels.
10. Roll in powdered sugar.
Store in an airtight container in layers seperated by wax paper at room temperature up to 3 days. Freeze up to 3 months!