Blog Swap: Craft From Your Stash Hoopla Dreamcatchers

It’s time for another blog swap! Wondra (Wondra's World) and I spend Wednesday nights crafting and chatting over Skype. Sometimes there’s more chatting than crafting, but it’s always epic. A couple of weeks ago we realized that we hadn’t swapped blogs in almost a year! To remedy this, we’re sharing craft from your stash tutorials. 

Hoopla Dreamcatchers:

Hello from South Wales! It's Wondra from Wondra's World again and I've stopped by to share a fun stash busting project.

It's easy to turn this:

 

into this:

What you need:

embroidery hoop
hemp, leather cord, embroidery floss
beads

What to do:

1. Separate the hoops and wrap them in hemp or leather cord.
2. With the first hoop, wrap embroidery floss or hemp cord loosely around the outside of the hoop.
3. Now start weaving.
4. Add beads when you get to the center and tie it off to finish.
5. With the second hoop, tie lengths of hemp or embroidery floss (or feathers or whatever) around the center and bead it up.
6. Tie the hoops together and you're done.

This was my first attempt at making a dream catcher. It's a little bit lopsided but I think it turned out alright.

If you're going to do this yourself, I'd suggest you use different sized hoops and just tie them together loosely. It's a fun project but can be time consuming so give yourself an hour or so.


Thank you for the tutorial Wondra! 

Don't forget to visit Wondra’s World for my Catch-All Bowl tutorial.

Baked French Toast (With Blueberry Syrup)

When my family stayed over last Christmas, I made Baked French Toast for breakfast. The recipe is the perfect for feeding guests; just make it the night before and put it in the oven in the morning!

Since it was for only Matt and me, I halved the original recipe; my instructions reflect my changes.

Baked French Toast (With Blueberry Syrup) (Feeds 4-6)

Original Recipe: Cinnamon Baked French Toast via Lovin the Oven

1/2 Loaf Sour Dough Bread*

4 Eggs
1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk*

1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

2/3 cup Sugar

1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg+
1/8 tsp. Sea salt*

1/2 Stick Cold Butter, Cubed

*Substitution

+Addition 

Directions

1. Grease a 8 X 8 pan.
2. Tear bread into chunks and arrange in pan.
3. Mix eggs, milk, cream sugar, and vanilla. Pour mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. In separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter and mix until crumbly. Store in a plastic bag in fridge.

 To Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sprinkle cinnamon crumbs on bread.
3. Bake 1 hour.
4. Serve with blueberry syrup (see below) and maple syrup.

 

 

Blueberry Syrup

Original Recipe: Blueberry Syrup via Kleinworth & Co. 

2 cups thawed blueberries (I used the blueberries from Ludington)*
1/2 cup sugar*
3/4 cup water
Splash of orange juice+

*Substitution

+Addition 

Directions

1. Add ingrediants to saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature.
4. Use blender to pulse until liquid is smooth.
5. Serve. Store in airtight container.

 

We both loved the taste of this dish. Matt is excited that we have leftovers for tomorrow. He also approved of the blueberry syrup which added the perfect flavor.

I'm definitely adding Bake French Toast to our weekend breakfast rotation!

The recipe was found on Pinterest and it is pinned into my eat breakfast board.

This Ain't Your Mamma's Book Club

Today's blog post comes from Wondra of Wondra's World. 

Connecting with other bibliophiles used to be difficult, but with today's technology readers can share the books they love without leaving their home. 

    This ain't your mamma's book club.


Imagine a nice suburban living room full of soccer moms sipping (Sipping? I meant gulping.) glasses of wine as they completely ignore the paperbacks sitting on their knees. They talk about their husbands, their children, the local supermarket, the weather, the local gossip... Everything BUT the poor, neglected books that half of them probably haven't even started, much less finished.

Imagine you're at that book club because - stay with me now, this is radical - YOU LIKE TO READ. I know... It's hard to believe. You try to interject with random questions about the novel: "And what did you think of the author's use of symbolism?" but no one pays you the slightest bit of mind. You get frustrated and leave in a huff, never to return again. At home, alone, you squeeze the novel onto one of your many overflowing bookshelves and sigh a sad little sigh because there was such brilliance in those pages and you had so badly wanted to share your awe with someone.

That was the way it used to be.

There are probably still countless "book clubs" all through The Burbs where housewives are tittering over their Chardonnay - the only difference is that us real bibliophiles (If you don't know what the word means, you aren't one.) don't have to endure their presences any more.

Thank the gods for the internet!

Now, bibliophiles can interact with like-minded people without ever having to leave their own homes. We can just get online and let it all out - because that's what drove us to those so-called book clubs in the first place: full to bursting with love, hate, desire, joy, despair, hope... all those things that good novels inspire in us... we're dying to let it all out, to see if anyone else was as affected by the words as we were. We just want to know that we aren't alone by being totally and utterly consumed by the stories we read.

That's where websites like Shelfari and Good Reads come in. These websites are where bibliophiles connect, engage, and share their passion for the written word. We use these sites to review books, to suggest them to our friends, and to add more and more names to our ever increasing Lists of Books to Read Before We Die.

And is if that wasn't enough - because there never is enough when books are concerned - we can connect, not just with other readers, but with the authors themselves via websites like Twitter and Facebook. Ever wonder what an author meant when they wrote that? Now you can just tweet them and ask!

The internet is our living room now and these websites are our modern book clubs - complete with guest speakers! (Wine optional.)


Be sure to check out my post Sharing the Joy of Reading at Wondra's World.

Guest Post by Wondra

Today's blog post comes from Wondra of Wondra's World.

Doomsayers believed the Mayan Calender predicted yesterday would be the end of the world. And while the Earth is still here it makes one wonder how we should react in light of an apocalypse.

The Apocalypse: Will it end with a bang or a whimper?

Wondra of Wondra's World

I read an article this week that said there have been a hundred dire warnings, predicting the apocalypse, since Y2K. A hundred. In twelve years we have survived A HUNDRED apocalypses!

That's a few more than Buffy, isn't it?

Some sociologist somewhere is studying these predictions, no doubt, trying to figure out why people make them and why so many others believe them. Until that secret is revealed, I think we're just going to have to brace ourselves for a few more wacky doomsday prophecies.

I don't know why people make these wild claims or why we are so quick to latch on to them but I know that, if they ever DO get it right, it's probably not going to end in explosions and flames but with a weary sigh of relief.

Being a witch means being in touch with Mother Earth. Sometimes that's harder than others. There's nothing quite like standing barefoot on the beach, listening to the gulls call, feeling the pull of the wind and the waves, knowing that you are part of a wondrous, miraculous thing.

The good times.

The bad?

Watching a news reel showing another hundred acres of rain forest disappear under the wheels of mankind. Hearing that another species of whale, frog, dolphin, bird, etc. has disappeared, lost to us forever. Knowing that the polar ice caps are melting away, bit by bit, every year.

Sometimes being a witch means crying your eyes out for reasons no one else understands.

As a daughter of Mother Earth, I feel Her pain. And what about the men and women who make money off this dear planet of ours? Do they feel Her pain? Maybe they do.

Apparently money helps mask the pain.

But the money won't last forever, will it? One day, maybe tomorrow, maybe seven thousand years from now, someone is going to get it right and we're going to reach the end.

How do I feel about that?

Personally, I think that humans are the worst thing that ever happened to this planet. I think that Mother Earth can only take so much pain before She strikes back. One day, She'll heal herself - and that means taking us out of the equation. Will there be flames? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it'll be as simple as a soft exhale of breath... And then nothing.

And then everything.

A new heartbeat, the flutter of wings, a sigh of wind... Life begins again. Whether the apocalypse finally arrives with a bang - or with a whimper - it'll be without us.

Maybe THAT'S what all these predictions are about! Maybe they aren't just the rantings of lunatics... Maybe they're a call to action, a warning from Mother Earth to get our shit together - while we still have a chance.
 




You can read my guest blog post, In a Post-Apocalyptic World, on Wondra's blog

Guest Post: Wondra of Wondra's World

Today's blog post comes from my good friend Wondra of Wondra's World.

Wondra and I have been friends for over half our lives. We have similar literary and crafting sensibilities; we tend to terrorize book and bead store attendants. Wondra and I are the type of friends who can pick up right where we left off. Now that she lives in Wales, this is no small feat. 

We have been confused as sisters (why do people assume that all short people are related?), and she even lived at my house for a month while her parents built their house. My mom eventually separated us because I was finding it hard to sleep with Wondra speaking what seemed to be German in her sleep.

Without further adieu, here is Wondra.

Michigan Linguistic Quirks

Wondra of Wondra's World

As the old saying goes, Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language. Being an American who's lived in Britain these past ten years, I can confirm that no truer words were ever spoken.

Moving from a small town in Michigan to a village in Wales has been a linguistic adventure to say the very least (I had to turn the subtitles on the first time I watched a movie with an all Welsh cast) - and not just for me!

If you're a fellow 'gander who plans on spending any time abroad there are a couple of things you need to get used to:

1. Being asked if you're Canadian. Yeah, I don't get it either but the rest of the world finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference between a Michigan accent and a Canadian accent. What's that about, eh?

2. The question, "Michigan? That's near Detroit, right?" You may be laughing but I can assure you that it's a conversation I've had no less than A MILLION times. (Allow for a small exaggeration there...) I consider it great cosmic payback for every time an American has ever said, "Wales? That's in England, right?"

I've developed a standard response to #2 that you might find useful: "No, Detroit is in Michigan. Yes, I have shot a gun. Yes, I have been to Eight Mile. No, I don’t know Eminem." It saves time.

But we have a few interesting linguistic quirks of our own, us Michiganders. Take, for example, the word "across." We know that there is no "t" at the end of the word and yet every single one of us will add one when we say. I imagine you’re shaking your head right not but, trust me, it’s true. Just listen to the people around you. I’ve never known anyone from Michigan who didn’t say “acrosst” instead of “across.”

(Years of teasing from my Welsh husband has cured me of this little eccentricity.)

Then, of course, there’s the small matter of “can.” Why do ‘ganders say “ken” instead of “can?” I don’t think it matters; it’s just one of those little things that make up the sounds of home.

And let’s not forget the ever useful “Right?!” which conveys everything from assent to dissent, confusion to sarcasm, annoyance to amusement – and everything in between. I have sisters in Tennessee and Illinois and I’ve never heard either of them use (what I like to think of) as the Michigan Right.

(Not to be confused with the British “All right?” which is used as a general greeting and should always be answered with “All right?”)

There are lots of little sayings and linguistic quirks that make us Michiganders special but these are a few of my favourites. I couldn’t possibly end this post without mentioning just one more thing…

Speed!

Unlike our Southern cousins who like to take their time over ev-ery sin-gle syl-la-ble, Michiganders love to talk FAST. It’s like our tongues just can’t keep up with our brains and we rush to get everything out as quick as possible lest we forget it before it had a chance to be said. Well… That’s what my husband told me, anyway, after spending a night listening to me and my friends catch up.

And in case you’re wondering… Yes, after ten years of living here, I do have a very pronounced Welsh accent – which is gone the moment I hear another Michigander talking.




You can read my guest blog post here on Wondra's blog. I am looking forward to guest blogging on her blog in the future.