Make and Share Monday - Update

It seems I am making a habit of having my Make and Share Monday post on Tuesday. I apologize. Yesterday, we spent the day in town at the doctor with my littlest one who had been sick all night. So, needless to say, I didn't get much done in the way of crafts.

However, today I didn't actually want to share a craft at all. I want to share with you an update of a craft I did 2 weeks ago. If you remember, I made a homemade card to send to a very sweet lady in the church. Here is what happened.

After I finished making the card last Tuesday, I put it in an envelope and set it with the other mail I would be taking out in the morning. Wednesday morning, I put my card in the mail, and off it went. Really, I didn't think much more about it.

Sunday morning, I stayed home from church, because I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't able to see this sweet lady. But Sunday night, after church, she was there, and she came rushing up to me very excited! She said, "I just have to come and give you a hug and thank you. That was so sweet of you to send me that beautiful card in the mail. And for you to take the time to MAKE me a card, that was extra special. My husband and I had a hard week, and that just made it so much better getting your card in the mail. Thank you."

I was thrilled! She liked it, and she DID realize that I had thought about her and spent time making that card just for her. But there was more. Several other people in the church began telling me how this lady had stood up in front of church Sunday night and showed off her card to everyone. She had bragged on it to everyone. (I teach on Sunday nights, so I wasn't in there to actually see this.) This made it even more wonderful! I knew it had really blessed her.

So I tell you this, not to brag about what I did, but to encourage you to do the same. It took me a very short little while to make this special card for this special lady, but it blessed her immensely. Take some time this week to think of someone you could bless. Make a point to stop for a moment and write a card to someone, let someone know you are thinking of them. Take a break in your busy day, and call someone or send a card. You never know what is going on in someone's life and their day. You may be just what someone needs to cheer them up. And you'll be VERY glad you did.

Make and Share Monday - Homemade Card

OK, I know today is not actually Monday. Yesterday turned out to be one really busy day for us. We left early for town, and when we finally made it home, we were busy until bedtime. So it goes without saying that I didn't have time to do anything for Make and Share Monday. But today, I made up for it! I hope you like what I came up with.

Recently, we started attending a new church. Everyone there has been very nice. But there is one older lady who has been especially sweet to my family. She goes out of her way each time she sees us to come and give me a hug and speak to the children. So I've been thinking about this for a week or so now, and I decided I'd like to send her a card to tell her how much she means to us. However, I really dislike going to the store to buy a $5 card for someone. First of all, I'm a cheapskate. And secondly, buying a card seems very impersonal. So I decided to hand make a card for this sweet lady.

I started out by gathering my supplies. I picked a few pieces of cardstock, some sticky ribbon that I had left over from another project, my embroidery thread, some wavy cut scissors, a ruler, a pencil, some glue, and my template for drawing straight lines.



I tri-folded my paper long ways, because I am going to mail this card, and I wanted it to fit nicely in a standard envelope. Then I cut the contrasting paper with my wavy cut scissors.



I then glued the contrasting paper on to the front and the inside of my card. This would be where I would put the writing. Also, on the inside of the card along the sides, I applied brown sticky ribbon.





I used a lighter brown color of embroidery thread, and I tied a bow that I glued on to the front top of the card above where the writing would be. Then, I used my line template and I drew very light lines with my pencil. This would ensure that I made my writing nice and straight.



I found one of my favorite verses in my Bible, and I wrote it first very lightly in pencil. Then, I went back over it with a blue fine tipped marker. When the writing was dry, I went back and erased the light pencil lines I had made. Then, I wrote my message on the inside of the card in a fine tipped black marker, and went back and erased those lines as well. I decided to add another small brown bow on the inside of the card, too.





And there you have my finished version of my handmade card. Tomorrow, I will put this in the mail and get it on its way to this very sweet lady. Hopefully, when she receives it, she will realize that I put a lot of thought in to a card just for her - that I was thinking of her.

I hope you liked this weeks craft for Make and Share Monday, even though it was a day late. And as always, check out the link above to get all the great details on how you can get involved in this fun event. Look for another craft next Monday - unless it happens to drag out to Tuesday...

Make and Share Monday - Bread

Yep, it's that time again - Make and Share Monday! Today's project - homemade bread! My friend asked me to share my recipe, so I decided that, instead of just writing it down for her, I'd just make up a few loaves today. So I am "making" bread, and "sharing" the recipe. Also, I will be giving away most of the finished product to friends!

I found this recipe in an Amish cookbook that I bought several years ago. It is called "The Wooden Spoon" and was written by Miriam Miller. This is one of my FAVORITE cookbooks ever, and I make this bread all the time!!

So here's where you start. First, gather your ingredients:

1 cup lukewarm water 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. yeast 1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. salt 1/2 c. oil
1 qt. warm water flour

In a small bowl, take 1 cup lukewarm water and mix brown sugar and yeast in it. Let it sit while you are mixing your other ingredients, and it will get bubbly and look like this.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, salt, oil, and 1 qt. warm water. Add 4 cups of flour and beat well.



Add the yeast mixture.



Add 3 more cups of flour and beat well. Keep on adding flour 1 or 2 cups at a time, beating well after each addition. I like to start out using my wire whisk, then, when it starts sticking in my whisk, I swap to a really large spoon to stir, and then I finally end up using my hands. The amount of flour you use is not ever exact. A lot of it depends on the weather or how thick or airy you like your bread. The more flour you use, the thicker your bread will be and it will have fewer holes. You want to arrive at a dough that is elastic and no longer sticky. Be sure to mix in ALL the flour really well.



Once you are finished mixing, you need to lift the dough slightly to one side of the bowl and pour in a small amount of oil. Roll your entire ball of dough around in this to keep it from sticking to your bowl while it's rising. I do this step in the bowl as opposed to doing it on the counter, because it saves much time on clean-up! Cover your bowl with a dish rag and put it in a very warm place to rise. I like to use my laundry room, because this is the warmest room in the house!! You'll know it has risen enough when it looks like this.



Make a fist and punch down that dough! Then, cover it and put it back in its warm place. Let it rise again. You need to let your dough rise and punch it down 3 times. After the 3rd rise, divide your dough and put it in your sprayed bread pans. This recipe usually makes about 5 loaves, but I actually cut the recipe in half today. So my batch made 3 loaves. Don't fill your pans too full, because they will continue to rise.



Let your dough rise to the top of your pans.



Put them in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. They need to bake for about 35 minutes. But really, you want to keep an eye on the color. I like to bake in glass pans so I can see the bottom of the loaf. When the top is golden and the bottom is nicely browned, they're ready.



You can see how they kept rising in the hot oven. If you overfill your pans, they will rise too much and go over the pan! (I speak from much experience on that one!)

After you get them out of the oven, put a dish rag on the counter and turn them out onto it. Let them cool, and then package them up to go in the freezer or to give away as gifts.



And there you have it! This is how I make bread. It's one of my great loves in life. I hope you will give it a try, and that you will find as much joy in it as I. One of these loaves will find its way to MY freezer, but the other two are reserved for two new friends.

I have so enjoyed being crafty again this Monday! Look for more "Make and Share" crafts next Monday. Be sure to check out the link at the top to see how to get involved with this fun idea! And a big thank-you to Katie and Kristy for putting together the idea in the first place.

Today is Monday. Actually, it's "Make and Share Monday." And that means that, for awhile today, I get to set aside time to be crafty!! That's sometimes a hard thing to do when you have four children. But today, I set aside time with my oldest daughter to be crafty and make a gift.

My cousin is having her baby shower this coming Sunday. We needed to make a nice baby gift in a relatively short amount of time. So off we went to our local store to purchase a few supplies. We started off with a wooden picture frame, a few pre-made animal shapes, and some paint. Britches (aka Big Sister) wanted to make this picture frame to be a jungle theme.



First, Britches painted the picture frame a light green, we came back and painted another coat of light green, and then she and I both worked on some vines around the sides.


Now time to add our pre-made animals to round out our jungle theme, and I wrote the new baby's name on the bottom. And there you have it.


This is our finished product. For our first "Make and Share Monday," we made this adorable baby picture frame.

Look for another crafty something next Monday from Britches and myself. And in the meantime, be sure to click on the picture at the top to find out all the details of this fun crafty idea! Participation is so easy, and Britches and I had a lot of fun being crafty together! And a big thanks to Katie and Kristy for putting this together.