Tie Dye Coffee Filter DIY Wreath

I have a ton of coffee filters I bought over the Summer for the pure reason as they made me money as overage on a coupon at the Commissary. We have a reusable filter in our coffee pot (and if you don't I highly recommend one!). I looked at them the other day, and decided to use some dye we have from our handmade tie dyes on them. I had no idea what I was going to use them for, but hey not risking any money, why not?

Well, I found out what I would use them for, when I spotted a foam wreath form at Dollar Tree! Of course, I hopped on Pinterest to see just how I might go about this. I found so many tutorials that I was able to "wing it" in my own way!

For the first step, I decided to use some leftover ruffle yarn I had from a scarf project, and wrap it around the form.  I wasn't sure how the foam would hold up to constant use of my hot glue gun, so I wanted a barrier.

After that was secured, I tied a loop of the yarn, so I would be able to hang the wreath.

From there on all I did was fold the filters in quarters, pinch the bottoms, and fluff them up a bit to give an almost flower effect. I did a bunch at a time.

I then put a small dab of hot glue on the pinched end and pressed the filter onto the form. Put A LOT of them in there to give a full effect!

You can see here how it looked halfway through:

And the finished product:

This was such a fun project! And I was able to finish it (other than the drying time for the dye) in about 1 hour.

Lessons From My First Craft Fair

Recently, my friend Maria and I ventured onto a new adventure - a craft show! Neither one of us had ever done this before, but we had received many compliments on our tie dyes at the company picnic this year. Many suggested we sell them. So when the opportunity to do just that at a charity craft fair, we jumped at it!

We started right away with building an inventory, but it wasn't until we signed up for a second craft fair next week that we decided maybe we should do some research. Um, can you say overwhelmed! Between a crash course in  pricing, booth design, business cards, packaging, and phew even starting the bare bones of an Etsy shop, we felt like our head's were spinning!

I think we did an amazing job with the time we had! The picture above shows our set-up today. Looks pretty good, except our measurements were a bit off and we should have brought two tables. Less clutter on the table and better use of space! 

Here are some lessons we learned:

A craft fair is not always busy. Actually this one was very slow. Not that many people came. It was not the fault of the coordinator. It was well advertised. It's just that we had a gorgeous day and there were more outdoor events going on in the area.

Bring something to do! Even better if it is in your power to work on some of what you sell to replace what might sell. Now we sure can't tie dye at a craft show, but a book would have been nice.

Do not take it personally if your items do not sell as well as another crafter's. For THIS fair, your items may not be what the majority are looking for, bu next time might be your opportunity! Kinda goes along with you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Do not wait until the last minute to prepare! This is pretty self explanatory. We were pretty exhausted today.

Get a brand. Make what you do stand out. OK, so tie dye pretty much stands out all on it's own, but everything else should go with what you are hoping to represent. Notice the table cover, sign, etc.

Socialize with the other crafters! We got so much encouragement from others there today. And we learned about their crafts, processes, and of upcoming fairs! We met some lovely folks and it made the event a bit more fun.

Did we do well today? Not really. We only made $36. We sold a baby onsie, 2 towels, a candle holder, and 2 child's shirts.  Traffic was slow, what can you do? The fact that items DID sell in a low traffic environment, when others around us did not make any sales was pretty encouraging.

Tie Dying The Evening Away

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend and I are renting space at a craft fair.  Our primary focus will be tie dying.  Last week, after work, we spent a few hours getting some of our offerings prepared.

I love how these all came out! We have here 6 bandanas, 3 pair of socks, 2 heavy weight dish towels (these were my favorite!) and 11 T-Shirts. It's a good start and will be followed up with a few more sessions. The best part? Our bottom line is soooooo low!

The materials for dying were all leftovers from the company picnic. My manager let us keep packets and packets of dye, about 8 large bottles of already mixed dye, elastics, and gloves. So those materials were all free.

The dish towels were just .50 each on clearance! The T- Shirts averaged 1.27 each, the socks were .50 per pair on clearance, and the bandanas were .99 each!

So far, out investment for everything is under $25 and another $30 for the space.  That $30 will be donated to help NF Childhood Cancer.

Planning For An Upcoming Craft Fair - First Time!

My friend and I are participating in a craft fair for the first time ever. I am super excited and a little worried. Excited to have the possibility to earn a few extra bucks doing what I love, creating stuff. And worried because, well it is my first time and I want to make sure my overhead does not exceed the sales.

We will be offering a variety of handcrafted items, with a focus of tie dyed items. They are an item that seems timeless and so much fun to make! My friend is amazing at this and I can certainly hold my own.  I will also be doing some smaller crocheted items, such as washcloths, coasters, and cup coozies.

We do not have a "business" so I do not feel that limiting my offerings by sticking to a "branding" attitude is needed here. I just want to spotlight the various things I love to create.

I have quite a few ideas and some time to work on them as the fair is a bit over a month away.  I was thinking of offering handmade gel air fresheners, sewn kitchen towels, and I may just leave it at that.

We have an 8'X8' booth with a table and I am bringing a clothing rack for the tie dye clothing.

Has anyone had experience with this? Any ideas?

I Made Yogurt- In A Crockpot- And It's Delicious

I have been dying to try my hand at making yogurt forever!  At first, I worried about the safety factor.  But, the more research I did and read about people who have made their own for years, the less of a worry it became.

Last night I decided to go for it. I am so glad I did!  I may never buy store bought yogurt again.  Not only was it tasty, but it was relatively easy.

I used ideas from many different recipes that I found on Pinterest. You can click on the word Pinterest in the previous sentence to see some I looked at.  I knew I wanted to try the crockpot method, so mostly that is what I looked up.

Some recipes rely on timing and senses. I wanted to rely on temperature to be extra safe.

Here are the materials you will need:

• 
  
• 1/2 gallon whole milk
• 1/2 c powdered milk
• Cooking thermometer
• Crockpot
• 1/2 c store bought plain yogurt w/ live active cultures
• Something for stirring
• Large Towel

Here's what I did:

1. Pour milk into the crockpot
2. Add dry milk and give it a stir
3. Leave on until milk temperature reaches 180 degrees (about 1.5h on high, but could vary widely depending on your crockpot, so please use a thermometer
4. When that temperature is achieved, turn off the crockpot. Remove the pan part from the heating element and take the lid off.
5. Give a stir to mix throughout. 
6. Let the mixture decline in temp to 115 degrees (no worries if it gets as low as 100). Stir occasionally.
7. When this temperature is achieved, take out a cup or so (no need to actually measure) of the milk and pour into a small bowl with the store bought yogurt (Make sure it has live, active cultures- the carton will say it on it!).  Mix together and pour back into the crockpot.
8. Now cover the crockpot again, wrap with large towel and place in oven without turning it on! 
9. Let it sit there for 8-12 hrs
10. Viola yogurt!

At this point, the yogurt should have a texture similar to the picture above.  To make a thicker yogurt (Greek style), place cheesecloth (coffee filters, paper towels, or napkins can do the trick as well) in a strainer with a bowl underneath.  You are filtering out the whey. Many people use the whey in place of water or milk in baked goods as it is very good for you.

There you have it!

Spoon this into small Rubbermaid type containers, mason jars, or what you have handy.  Be sure to take out 1/2 a cup to use as your starter for your next batch!

Flavor as you like.  Right now I am eating mine with fresh pineapple and a honey drizzle- YUM!

Homemade Ginger Ale Is So Cheap, Easy, and Amazingly Delicious

I have always been a ginger ale fan.  What I didn't know, is there was very little ginger in any of the store bought ones.

Being a crafter (not a fantastic one) and a Do it yourself-er, I looked for recipes online. I was amazed by how many there are! I tried a few and decided to take components of a few, plus my own added touches to "create" my own. First you will make a syrup.

Now, I do not follow a strict recipe; I rarely do! But here is a really good idea of what I do:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped fresh ginger
• 4 cups Water
• 1/2 Cup lemon juice
• 2 cups sugar ( for this I mix regular with brown sugar equally) You could use date sugar, coconut sugar, any kind you like to your taste
• 1/2 T  Red Crushed Pepper Flakes

Directions:

• In a saucepan, bring to a boil all ingredients.  
• Let boil, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.
• Reduce heat and simmer covered for another 20-30 minutes. You really want to get all of that ginger out of the root!
• After simmering is done, strain the mixture into jars (I love mason jars for this). It should yield about 5 cups.

This is your syrup. The next step is to mix with seltzer.  I have a Soda Stream, so I fizz up my water and fill the rest of the bottle with my syrup. And I am done!

Without the Soda Stream, you can use bottled seltzer. To make one glass, mix in a ratio of 5 parts seltzer to one part syrup.  You can customize the ratio to your liking.

Sit back and enjoy this healthy, crisp treat!