Sweater to Leg Warmers and Scarf Transformation

Before the kids came home for Christmas, I packed up most of the sewing/craft room to make room for it to be used as a bedroom again. I did not figure I would have much time for projects anyway! But as you read yesterday, I turned my daughter’s thin maternity coat into a warmer coat (but most of that I was able to do by hand.)

She did bring another project for me to do which I finally got to just before they left. It was a quick project to make an old thick sweater of hers into leg warmers for her daughter. Of course I started cutting it up before I remembered to take pictures! So this is what the top part looked like with the sleeves:part of sweater topOut of the lower part of the sweater I cut two pieces that would fit my granddaughter’s legs when each was seamed together. The length from the bottom of the sweater to the edge I cut off at the bodice was just the right length for her legs. I made the width of the warmers wider at the thighs than at the ankles. After sewing a straight stitch seam, I zig zagged the seam and turned right side out. The bottom edge of the sweater made a nice finished edge for the top of the warmers.  Since the warmers at the ankles were unfinished edges, I also zig zagged around the bottom edges. They needed a finishing touch and I sewed some ruffled lace around each warmer at the ankle.leg warmersleg warmers with lace

They fit her perfectly and she wore them the rest of the day!Leg Warmers from SweaterThe top of the sweater looked like it was begging to be made into a scarf. So I cut it out and sewed it to a piece of flannel. It wraps twice around her neck and is very cozy.scarf from sweaterI have another set of leg warmers for Miss Tickles from the rest of the bottom part of the sweater. Now I still have two short sleeves left…what to make?

Warmer Coat Transformation

My daughter was given a maternity pea coat to help keep her and my new grandbaby warm through the rest of the winter. Problem was that it was not very warm and she did not want to spend the several hundred dollars it would cost to buy a really warm maternity coat to wear for a couple more months!

When she came home for Christmas, I determined to send her home with a warmer coat by adding an extra lining. Hanging in my laundry room was an old coat. The quilted lining was still in good shape but the outside of the coat had several tears. I should have gotten rid of the coat a long time ago, but kept it thinking I could use it if I needed to do something outside and did not want to wear my nicer coat. (Now this is why I have a hard time getting rid of things, someday they just might come in handy!)old coatI pulled out the seam ripper and removed the lining from the coat. I also carefully unfastened the hem of the lining in the maternity coat along the bottom and in the sleeves. I turned the maternity coat inside out and cut panels from the old coat lining to fit the front and side sections of the maternity coat and hand stitched them into place along the seams (to keep from adding bulk to the seams of the coat.) It was easiest to pin the lining piece of the old coat in place along the straight edges and then cut to fit the neck and arm and side seam as I pinned. The sleeves of the lining were too wide, so I sewed a narrower underarm seam into the lining and hand stitched the old coat sleeves inside the sleeves of the maternity coat at the shoulders and the bottom of the sleeves. lining coatWhen all of the old coat lining pieces were sewn in place, I sewed the hem of the original maternity coat lining back in place along the bottom of the coat and sleeves.sewing lining back in place

When it was finished, you could not tell that anything had been done to it, but it was definitely warmer than it was to start with. warmer coat

Creative Organization, Planning, and Gratitude for the New Year

Creative Organization
Do you have a drawer or closet or shelf that looks like this?

junk drawerIf you are like me, there are probably several spots in your home that could use a little organization. Nina, a friend of ours has put together a Facebook group called Organized in 2014 to encourage others to do a little organizing in the month of January. She has posted a calendar for the month with a prompt for a space to organize each day. Then you can post pictures of what you did to the group page to help encourage others in their efforts to get organized. You just might find some new creative ideas for your home. At the end, Nina plans to do a drawing for a gift card for all those who participate. Even though the month has already started, you can still jump right in and participate. Nina is the owner of Lexamae Fancies n Frills.

Creative Planning
The ladies at Art to the 5th blog have launched a project called The Documented Life Project that is free to participate in and will help encourage you in your creative pursuits. You start with a daily/weekly planner that you buy or make yourself and add an extra page to the end of each week for a small creative project.

“Starting January 1, 2014, we will issue a weekly challenge on ways to use and decorate your planner to make it uniquely yours.  Interpret the challenge in any way you desire or be inspired by our artists.  Yes, this is free and open to everyone – artists, scrapbookers, calendar keepers, organization lovers, art journalers- yes, YOU!”

You can join their Facebook group and post your creations or just be inspired by the creations and encouragement of other in the comments. Some of the participants are using the weekly challenges for art journals, scrapbooking, or whatever suites their creativity. Get started now for a full year of creative planning!

Creative Gratitude
If you like photography and want to express your creativity through this medium, you may be interested in the 365 Grateful Project. Hailey Bartholomew is putting together a documentary about…

“uncovering what happens when ordinary people unlock the remarkable powers of gratitude.

This documentary was born out of a project created by Hailey – the ‘365 Grateful Project’. In early 2008, in an effort to fight depression, Hailey started a year long photographic project which involved taking one Polaroid photo a day of something she felt grateful for. Initially this was a chore but eventually it became a delight.

The discipline of having to look for the good things that happened every day changed her life in so many ways. Hailey found not only her marriage, spiritual life and health improved, but this project accidentally, wondrously spread and affected the lives of many others.”

Read about what she did, watch the video and start your own creative project focused on gratitude. If you want to become involved, you can upload your project on her site.

Christmas Reflections

grandkidsChristmas of 2013 is over. The kids have all gone back to their homes. Lots of fun memories…

There was lots of laughter, lots of good healthy food, and lots of dirty dishes (thankful for a dishwasher!)

We did not take many pictures of the things we did together…choosing instead to savor the moments as we shared them instead of having to look back at pictures to see what happened.

Our two youngest grandkids (both two years old) were a joy to watch interacting. Last time they were together in the spring they did not get along very well. But after months of Facetime sessions on the phone, they were best buds this trip. Miss Tickles cried when her cousin left.

Our family loves musicals. Well, actually, to be honest, most of the family likes musicals once in a while. The grandkids LOVE musicals all the time (if we’d let them.) Their favorites include Singing in the Rain, An American in Paris, Sound of Music, Oklahoma, White Christmas, and several other classics. My two year old granddaughter we call Songbird (for this blog) has the musicals all memorized. Besides watching my husband (Pa) perform in the Dicken’s Christmas Carol at Silver Dollar City and watching the dance recital in which Melinda (ballet & tap), Ninja Boy (tap) and My Princess (ballet & tap) performed, we watched a few musicals until our brains are playing a continuous replay of the songs!

We tried to keep gift giving to a minimum this year. Small gifts were given to the kids. The adults in the family (including my siblings and mom) who wanted to participate, exchanged names and gave a gift to the charity of the person’s choice in their name. We decided to make a change after reaching the point of just exchanging gift cards with each other year after year.

Gallons of the best coffee ever were consumed the past two weeks, compliments of my son-in-law and his coffee company. You too can drink the best coffee ever when you visit one of New York city’s three Birch Coffee locations or order the special blends online to make at home.

We shared with you our plan to have a stocking filled with fun family activities in a post before everyone arrived. After they got here the adults filled the stocking with lots of ideas of things to do…and we never drew out any of the slips of paper! We had planned to have the kids draw out an activity slip whenever they were bored and needed something fun to do. They never got bored, and we actually did a lot of the things that were written in there any way, spontaneously. I think this is still a great idea for any time of the year (just use a different container).

Ninja Boy and his uncle spent some time nearly every day setting up scenes to draw together. Ninja Boy’s drawing skills increase every time he gets to “do art” with his uncle. Songbird got to paint three masterpieces on the easel for the first time. I think her daddy is going to be on the lookout for an easy to store in a small apartment type easel very soon!

Melinda planned a scavenger hunt for the kids on Christmas Day using the nativity figurines from the kid’s nativity set. The figures were hidden all over the house. When one was found, she read off the clue for the next one and all four kids went hunting together. They had a great time.

We opened glow sticks on New Year’s Eve and had a glow stick dance party in the living room. The kids love dancing anyway, and adding glow sticks makes it crazy fun. It’s a good way to get the wiggles out before bed!

Sleeping arrangements included some mattresses on the floor which meant there were four little monkeys frequently jumping on the bed.

Since our family has members with various food allergies as well as some preferring vegetarian diets, Melinda and I tried to plan out meals ahead of time that would allow for individual options. It worked out very well and meal preparations went much smoother than in past gatherings when we did not pre-plan.

Here are some of the meals we planned:
Tacos- with many options of fillings.
Chili- made one crockpot with meat and one without.
Spaghetti Squash- made an alfredo sauce and a tomato based sauce with meat in a separate bowl.
Stir Fry- cooked meat separately to be added on individual plates
Potato Soup- made two pots, one with a vegetable broth base and one with a turkey broth base.
Pizza- lots of different topping combinations on several homemade pizza crusts

Our pasty dinner on Christmas day was a big hit. We made the dough using a healthy pie dough recipe and let each person put together their own pasty with the fillings of their choice. All of the left over cut up vegetables and meat were thrown into the crock pot for a stew for the next day.

Melinda’s Unprocessed Corn Casserole went great with the chili.

A couple of mornings we enjoyed homemade waffles and also chocolate gravy!

Melinda brought over her bread machines and we enjoyed lots of her homemade bread.

Well, enough reflecting. Now we are excitedly looking forward to 2014 and the new changes to our family the next time we are all together. Both of my daughters are pregnant, one due in March and one in June. Fun times ahead!

No matter what the previous year brought your way, we pray that 2014 will be a wonderful year for each of you. We plan to continue finding ways to encourage you to grow creatively. With the new babies on the way (and Grandma helping with both arrivals) and Melinda’s family launching their new ministry this winter, Melinda and I are seeking out creative ways to continue to grow at in a Tickle.

Happy New year!

 

 

Creative Christmas: The Reason We Celebrate

Merry Creative Christmas

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.Baby Jesus is born

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”Angel talks to Shepherds

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”Shepherd visit Jesus

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Star of Bethlehem

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Wise Men Visit JesusAnd going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Jesus Lamb

Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

 

Creative Christmas: The Thank You’s

Merry Creative Christmas

Pretty soon Christmas will be over, the presents will all be unwrapped and put away, and then it’s time for the thank you cards.

I know it can be difficult to get those thank you’s written, and because of how busy people are these days, they often get forgotten entirely.

I don’t think it’s because people are not grateful. I think about writing Thank You’s. I will even write them or have my kids write them. And then they sit on my desk or counter and never get sent. I am so terrible about getting things into the mail or handed out to people.

Then I discovered an app that makes all that so much easier. I am in no way getting compensated for telling you about this app. I just think it’s genius and want to share it with you.

It’s called Red Stamp.

You can send Thank You’s as texts, emails, and even through the mail (and they do all the mailing for you!). It’s a free app, but you pay if you want to send the Thank You’s as cards or postcards through the mail.

The picture is saved to your photos and you could then use it however you want.

If you are like me and have trouble with getting Thank You’s out before the next year, try the Red Stamp app.Merry Christmas Card from in a Tickle

Creative Christmas: Food Traditions

Merry Creative Christmas

At some point our kids decided that having the same kind of dinner for Christmas that we had at Thanksgiving was not very exciting. When the kids still lived at home, we started a Christmas dinner tradition that has continued ever since when any of the kids (or my sisters’ families) are able to be together for Christmas. The tradition is to choose a different ethnic meal for Christmas dinner for everyone to plan and cook together. I think we started this tradition at my sister’s house with an elaborate Chinese dinner complete with chopsticks.

This year, when we found out one of my son-in-laws had never heard of or eaten a pasty (pronounced past-ee), we decided that would be our Christmas dinner.

What? You’ve never heard of them either?

Pasties are a type of meat pie popular in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. When Cornish miners immigrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, they brought with them the tradition of pasties for their lunches in the mines. Many other ethnic groups in that region adopted the pasty, adding their own touches to the recipes.

The pasty became popular with these other ethnic groups because it was small, portable, was very filling, and could stay warm for 8-10 hours.  Pasty rivalry occurred between the Finns, Swedes, Irish, Poles, Germans, Scots, Italians and French with each group contributing something in the way of seasoning and other ingredients.  All groups agree that pasties must contain two things, potatoes and onions.  

The portability of the pasty not only made it easy to carry, but if it should get cold it would be relatively easy to heat up.  This was done by putting the pasty on a shovel and holding it over a head-lamp candle.  Miners never ate a pasty with a fork, they ate it end to end, and held it upright to keep the juices in.  Since entire Cornish families worked in mines and each member of the family wanted different ingredients in the pasty, the Cornish wife would stamp the bottom corner of each pasty with an initial.  According to the Cornish Recipes Ancient and Modern, “The true Cornish way to eat a pasty is to hold it in the hand, and begin to bite it from the opposite end to the initial, so that, should any of it be uneaten, it may be consumed later by its rightful owner.  And woe betide anyone who take’s another person’s corner!” 

There was a superstition among the Cornish miner’s that the initial corner should not be eaten, instead it was dropped on the ground for the mining gremlins to eat.  These “gremlins” caused mischief in mines, causing accidents and mine collapses, feeding them supposedly kept them out of trouble.  There is some truth to this rumor, because the early Cornish tin mines had large amounts of arsenic, by not eating the corner which the miners held, they kept themselves from consuming large amounts of arsenic. 
(Read more history of the pasty here.)

My husband grew up in northern Wisconsin eating pasties made by his grandmother. For years she always made sure he had them for his birthday. A few years ago, while visiting the northland, Tom and I stopped at Betty’s Pies along the north shore of Lake Superior. It had been a long time since we had eaten pasties and were excited to see them on the menu. What a yummy treat!

Betty's Pies Restaurant

Pasty at Betty’s Pies in northern MN.

We decided to find a recipe and try making them at home. We made big batches and froze them so we could enjoy them often. They can easily be reheated in the oven and are delicious with gravy or ketchup. Here was our first batch:Homemade PastiesFor our Christmas dinner, we plan to let everyone stuff their pasty with the fillings of their choice since we have family members with various allergies and food preferences. I guess we will follow the Cornish wives’ tradition of marking the corner of our pasties with our initials so we will know who the rightful owner is.

If you would like to make pasties, here are some recipes for you to try.

What Christmas food tradition does your family have?

Creative Christmas: Unprocessed Corn Casserole Recipe

Merry Creative ChristmasFor the last several years, I have made corn casserole for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner. It has always been a huge hit.

This year, because of family diet needs and our desire to avoid GMO corn, I decided I wanted to make an organic, non-gmo, whole foods version rather than the processed Jiffy box and canned cream corn version I had made in the past. I looked up recipes online but couldn’t find one that didn’t use the Jiffy mix. So I came up with my own.

It was as much or more a success than ever before.Natural creamed corn casserole

Here is the recipe…

Unprocessed Corn Casserole

Start off by making the creamed corn (this can be done ahead of time).

1 16 oz pkg of organic frozen corn

4 TBSP butter

1/4 cup milk (we use quinoa milk now because of a dairy allergy)

Heat on the stove until corn is thawed and the mixture is boiling. Stir often.

Remove from stove and let it cool for awhile. Then pour it into a food processor or blender and pulse until you like the consistency.Natural creamed corn

For the casserole:

Homemade creamed corn

1 can organic corn or 1 pkg organic frozen corn (heat up with a little water first if using frozen), drained

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (melted)

1 cup greek yoghurt or sour cream

2 egg (beaten)

3/4 cup corn flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp honey (optional)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Chopped Green Chiles or Chopped Green or Red Pepper (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º, and grease a 9×9 square pan.

2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour ingredients in pan.

3. Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes until top is golden brown).

Use organic ingredients where possible. Recipe works great doubled in a 9×13 pan for about the same amount of time. Ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge overnight, but let it sit for about 30-45 minutes before baking to get it closer to room temperature. Adjust baking time if necessary.corn casseroleNatural creamed corn casserole

 

Creative Christmas: Old Fashioned

Merry Creative ChristmasAs mom and I were discussing our posts leading up to Christmas, we talked about doing a post about old fashioned Christmas. My thought was that we could talk about some of the old traditions and do a creative update on some of them. However, as we were talking about it, we realized that one of the biggest ways that a family could make their Christmas more old fashioned would be to just unplug.Power off

We rely so heavily on our technology these days. There is controversy over whether our new technology is making us more anti-social. While that might be the case, the thing that I believe is the biggest problem is that it is making us artificially social. We are so connected to everyone all the time but we lose focus of what’s going on directly around us. We rely on social media to feel connected with friends rather than making the effort to have face to face contact with the people we care about most. You can talk to your best friend from high school that you’re not that close to anymore, but you forget to make the time to meet for coffee with your current best friend who is there for you no matter what. You sit around a room with your family, and everyone checks out what everyone else in the world is eating for their Christmas dinner through their social media pictures.

Do you want a more old fashioned Christmas? It’s not about the activities you do anymore that will make it that way–it’s about the way you do it. If you are more concerned with documenting every second of every experience on your phone, that’s not old fashioned. If you are spending half your day fielding texts and social media messages of “Merry Christmas,” that’s not old fashioned. If you have to snap a pic of your turkey dinner to post online before you can eat it, that’s not old fashioned.

It’s too easy to get bored at a get together and pull out your phone. It’s harder to get bored and be creative and come up with something to do, or come up with a conversation topic with your strange uncle. If you want to have a Creative Christmas, you have to allow your mind to be free to get bored so that it will have room to be creative. If you want an old fashioned Christmas, have a basket at the door for people to put their technology in. If people are tempted, you can have a game where the person has to do something embarrassing or has to do the dishes by themselves if they pick up their phone.

This Christmas, choose to be with who you are with. If you must update your social media, do it before you are with people and DO NOT check it for updates while you are with people. Turn it off. And engage in the festivities that are happening with your family and friends.

And if you need help motivating your family to join you in being unplugged, break the ice with this hilarious and timely video from Rhett and Link.

 

Creative Christmas: The Gift of Giving

Merry Creative Christmas

A lot of people are more thoughtful about giving to others this time of year. We are getting presents for our loved ones. And gifts have become a huge part of the Christmas season. While it is fun to receive gifts, there is nothing like the feeling of giving to someone else.

We want to encourage you to use your creativity to bring joy to someone else this season. There are so many opportunities this time a year to give to someone in need. Opportunities are all around us. We just have to stop and take the time to acknowledge it.

Use whatever skills you may have…

1. Give coins to Salvation Army when you go to the store or sponsor a child who wouldn’t otherwise get Christmas presents.

2. Bake a treat or dinner for a neighbor or family in need, someone who is sick, or new mom that just had a baby.

3. Go visit a nursing home and sing a song, read a poem, or hand out homemade Christmas Cards.

Nursing Home Visit

Ninja Boy went with his Royal Rangers group to give paper snowflakes and sing to the the residents.

4. Offer to take Christmas Family photos for a family who can’t afford it.

5. Sew blankets or stuffed animals for a family in need.

6. Crochet or knit hats and scarves for homeless people in your area.

7. Instead of gifts, draw names for each family member and give to the charity of their choice.

8. Give someone something nice that was special to you that you already own but no longer need or use (my parent’s gave Ninja Boy a camera for his birthday that they didn’t use anymore. I gave my niece a play tea set because we had an extra one. I gave My Princess an updated version of my sewing basket.  Etc.)

9. Make and give homemade gift cards for a special activity, service, or experience. (babysitting, spending time together doing a project or hobby [card making for example], cleaning, running errands for someone, etc.)

10. Teach someone to do something you know how to do (tech related, painting, sewing, etc).

 

There are so many ways to give to others this time a year. It’s not about what you get. It’s about family, community, and thinking of others. Find ways to be creative and use your creativity for someone else this season.