My pretzel cabin with a graham cracker roof and vanilla wafer windows

I LOVE the idea of gingerbread houses, but I don’t really like the reality of rolling out stiff dough, dealing with a flour-covered kitchen or cursing at crumbling soft gingerbread walls. So as I was sharing these thoughts with my best friend, Tera, she said, “You should make a pretzel log home! It looks really cool and you’d just stack the pretzels and use graham crackers as the roof!” Tera’s so smart. Everyone should have a go-to friend like her. (She made my red velvet wedding cake, too.) Anyway, she forwarded me a recipe online that I used, and I’ll share my experiences in case you want to try this recipe.

The side of my cabin shows my marshmallow snowman, icecream cone tree and chocolate sugar wafer chimney.

First off, this is a PERFECT recipe to make with friends and/or family as a weekend project. The recipe says it’ll take you an hour and 40 minutes. Yeah. If you’re Martha Stewart or have some sort of crazy cake show on the Discovery Channel it might. So dedicate a weekend to this since time is spent waiting on parts of the pretzel house to dry.

1. INGREDIENT TIME: Basically, I bought a big tub of pretzel rods (for the walls), a package of vanilla and chocolate wafers (for the doors and windows) and a box of graham crackers (for the roof)  at Aldi (it’s cheaper for this stuff). Then at the regular grocery store I got 2 small packages of Meringue Mix (each has about 6 tablespoons) you can find near the spices. I already had the green food coloring and powdered sugar. This is important: Buy enough for TWO BATCHES of icing (12 cups of powered sugar)- the online recipe doesn’t make enough for gluing and decorating. (Then you can buy whatever candies you want to decorate with- pecans for shingles or peppermints, etc.)

2. GET MESSY: First, you’re going to make a mess making the icing. (Make one batch at a time- two total) But it makes the PERFECT glue. Mix it first with a spoon to wet the powdered sugar and meringue mix. When you’re done, keep a wet paper towel over the icing bowl when you’re not working with it. (it’ll dry out otherwise). The recipe is confusing about how to stack the pretzel rods: make the first square of the walls flush against the ground (aluminum-covered foil) with one of the ends of each pretzel rod jutting-out a 1/2-inch and the other end pushed against the other pretzel. Then ALTERNATE the rods so the ends LOOK like a Lincoln-log cabin. Use the pictures for reference.
-I used my fingers to apply the icing between the pretzels because applying it with an icing bag was actually TOO messy. Also, once you glue together your graham cracker pieces together and ice them, WAIT so they harden together before trying to move them to place them on top of the cabin. And when you do, use cans or corn starch boxes to prop up the roof before it dries.

Adding the icicles was my favorite part of decorating the graham cracker roof.

3. DECORATE IT! This is the fun part. Get a small icing tip or cut the corner of a plastic bag and fill with icing to pipe icicles off the roof and to make trees, use sugar cones, turn them upside-down and pipe green icing onto them. (I bought the peppermint tree at Aldi.) For “snow”- I just sprinkled powdered sugar over the whole deal.

4. SHOW IT OFF! I was really lucky to have nothing break or fall during the construction, so I took many pictures of my cabin before it gets picked-at/eaten. (I even eventually added 2 figurines I coated in chocolate to the front porch of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler.)

If you want to try this or have any questions, post a comment and I’ll try to help! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Lark zombies!

Halloween is almost here so bring out the scary! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and Asheville is home to some great events to celebrate, the best of which (in my humble opinion, anyway) is the Asheville Zombie Walk through the streets of downtown.

A group of friends and coworkers decided we just had to join the shamble. First up, visiting the local thrift stores for that perfect outfit to destroy and cover in fake blood. Some of our finds included a bridesmaid dress, a whole bin of golf clubs, and a great bathrobe covered in teddy bears. We then met up at Lark to zombify ourselves using makeup, fake blood, bandages, and my secret ingredient: gelatin. Gelatin is great for making homemade zombie inflicted wounds. Continue reading to find out how…

Getting ready for the zombie walk.

Here’s how you do it: Put some powdered gelatin in a bowl and mix with water until it is the consistency of pudding. Grab a handful (I find it easiest to apply with my hands) and apply to area of skin where you want the wound, molding it into the shape you want. While the gelatin is still wet, use a popsicle stick to create a tear, rip, or teeth marks in the gelatin. Quick tip: work quickly as the gelatin sets fast. Once the gelatin wound has set and is no longer runny, cover it with makeup that matches your skin, put blood in the rips and tears, and you’ve got an awesome wound! For a more dramatic effect, use gray, purple, and red zombie makeup from a Halloween store to make your scar look more bruised and infected. The gelatin wound will last for several hours, as it will start drying out, shrinking, and pulling away from the skin. To remove it completely, soap and water should be all you need, though baby oil helps soften it up if needed.

Applying gelatin and makeup for zombie wounds.

After we finished getting ready, it was time for the zombie walk! We shambled our way throughout downtown joining hundreds of other zombies, having a great and ghoulish time! And if you would like to participate in a Zombie Walk, check the events in your city or one near you. Many places now hold annual Zombie Walks, and they’re becoming more popular every year. And if there isn’t a Zombie Walk near you, maybe you could start one!

Enjoy the gallery and videos below of the zombie invasion of Asheville. And vote for your favorite zombie movie at the end of the post!

Thanks to Matt Johnson for the awesome videos, and to Frank Gallaugher, Meagan Shirlen, and Kristi Pfeffer for the great photos! And thank you to ashtoberfest for putting together and hosting such an amazing event!

[View with PicLens]

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. ]]> http://www.larkcrafts.com/more/zombies-invade-downtown-asheville/feed/ 6 http://www.larkcrafts.com/uncategorized/marshmallow-murder-and-kcrws-good-food/ http://www.larkcrafts.com/uncategorized/marshmallow-murder-and-kcrws-good-food/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:05:12 +0000 Craft Your Life Team http://www.larkcrafts.com/?p=14652 I found this hilarious video posted on KCRW’s Good Food website/blog. This has been circulating here at Lark this week—lots of mirthful, shrieking, devious, laughter up and down the halls. (Great insight into this group’s brand of humor.)

Here is where I get to tout Good Food with Evan Kleiman. It’s a radio show from KCRW in Santa Monica. They podcast the shows on their site or you can subscribe via iTunes (and there’s now a KCRW & Good Food App). The show is a weekly news magazine on seasonal foods (seasonal to LA, enviable and fascinating for an east coaster like me), sustainability, cooking, dining, along with bites of food history, trivia, and antics. My best resource to keep up with the emerging food trends.

One last thing. Evan has taken on a near Herculean challenge to post a Pie-A-Day, both sweet and savory. Yummy inspiration/temptation every day!

Check out KCRW’s Good Food after the vid

This interview was created by Kathy Sheldon, the development editor of Craft Hope: Handmade Crafts for a Cause.

A year and a half ago, I was tooling around on the Internet, half goofing off from my then-job as managing editor at Lark Crafts and half hunting for book ideas. I wanted to do a book that offered both beautiful craft projects and a way to make a difference in the world, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. I googled “craft” and “charity,” probably for the 20^th time in months, and this time I landed on the recently launched Craft Hope site. As soon as I saw the Craft Hope logo, I knew I loved the aesthetics of Jade Sims, the site’s creator. Part way into her description of the first project—sewing pillowcase dresses and bandana shorts for a children’s shelter in Mexico—I knew I loved Craft Hope and had found my author. What I didn’t know was that I’d also find a friend.

With lots of help from Lark Assistant Editor Beth Sweet, Jade and I spent the next nine months reaching out to designers, contacting charities, gathering and photographing projects, editing instructions, checking illustrations, marking up layouts, figuring out the legalities of having our publisher donate one dollar to Global Impact every time we sold a book (turns out giving away money is complicated), and generally making a book—in about half the normal time! Meanwhile, I was in the process of leaving Lark to start a new life in Charleston, SC, and Jade was in Texas, raising her two young children, having a third baby, keeping up her chikaustin.com blog, and processing the hundreds and sometimes even thousands of cloth dolls, baby blankets, sock monkeys, knit scarves, quilts, etc., that poured in for Craft Hope. After countless phone calls and emails, we finally got to meet in person this summer, when Jade, her husband, and three kids came to Charleston for some well-deserved beach time.

Jade with her three kids

Kathy making a sock monkey for Operation Sock Monkey

Some of the dolls collected for Casa Bernabe in Nicaragua

Blankets for an orphanage in India and the Miracle Foundation

Jade, how did you get started blogging?

I’ve been blogging on chikaustin since October, 2006—so for almost four years. In my past life I was a teacher, but now I was a stay-at-home mom. I started blogging as a way to connect with other mamas. What I found was an incredible community of women, some mothers and some not, that quickly became friends. I also wanted a good way to document the day in and day out of life with my kids.

What made you realize you wanted to do more and start the Craft Hope site?

Honestly, Craft Hope was an idea I had one morning at breakfast. I loved writing about and photographing those special small, picturesque moments in my life, but I also felt a calling to do more with it. I knew there was this community of incredibly beautiful women out there in blog land, and I hoped this would be something they’d be interested in.

I think you had just finished up your first project—the pillow cases dresses for the shelter in Mexico—when I found your site. Tell us a little about those first projects.

We started with that first project and quickly collected 27 dresses, mostly from my blogging friends around the country. It simply took off from there. The beauty of Craft Hope is that is has spread over the Internet and so all over the world. We’ve had such an overwhelming response simply because other people blog about it and put our button in their sidebar. Craft Hope is becoming a global movement of people helping others. We give people a direct connection with people who need them. It’s not about donating money; it’s about taking your time to make something handmade for someone who would never otherwise receive such a beautiful gift. I truly believe that time is one of the most precious gifts you can give another person.

Boxes of Craft Hope projects ready to be shipped

Happy recipients of quilts from Craft Hope!

Can you talk a little more about that: What it means to give something you have taken the time to make by hand?

Handmade works allow crafters to provide someone in need with something tangible from the heart. And you end up creating such personal connections between everyone involved right down to the local letter carrier or delivery driver. We’ve also recently created something called Working Bees that encourages Craft Hope groups to form based on crafters’ locations. It’s amazing what a collective group of diverse individuals with varying skill sets can offer. It’s such a wonderful representation of the good in society.

A Working Bee in Hamburg, Germany, working on Project 7: Bean Bags

The Hamburg, Germany, Working Bee

I remember we also felt a bit as if we understood the limit of a handcrafted gift when the earthquake hit Haiti and people needed help immediately. Crocheting an item to send just didn’t feel right, but then someone suggested the Craft Hope for Haiti Store on Etsy.

The Craft Hope for Haiti button

Yes, we realized that what was needed in this case was money.

With a lot of help from online friends, we opened a shop so artists around the world could sell their handmade items and 100% of the proceeds went to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.

In just over a month we raised $33,000! All of this happened because we created a button for people to put on their websites that took folks directly to the shop. People could donate items and others could shop to support the cause. The outpouring of support from the crafting community was just overwhelming.

You’d just found out you were pregnant when the Craft Hope site started to take off and we began work on the book. I remember before you signed the contract, you called me and said, “My kids and my pregnancy are my priority–is this going to work?” I knew right then I wanted to work with you. Can you say a little about the challenges of having two young children and then a newborn at the same time you were on a book deadline, writing your blog, AND running Craft Hope?

It definitely is a juggling act! Miles [Jade’s husband] would often take over in the evenings so I could write. We have three children and we live in the Hill Country just outside of Austin, Texas, near Lake Travis. We moved out here from Austin to simplify our lives and spend time doing what really matters. And to me that is being a family—just enjoying the little things in life. On the other hand, I think it’s incredibly important to give my children a worldview that is outside of their daily lives. Craft Hope lets them get directly involved in helping others. They understand what the packages [of Craft Hope projects] coming to the house are for. They help sort the items, talking about each one and who it’s going to.

Jade`s kids help gather boxes of Craft Hope projects

They’re able to learn about the countries and people we help. We also talk a lot about the beautiful people who make up Craft Hope—the people around the world who selflessly craft for others. Craft Hope also keeps me involved in the world. I spend many days cleaning up messes, changing diapers, playing with play doh. Craft Hope gives me an outlet, a connection with other people around the world that I would not otherwise have. I never take those relationships for granted. They’re a part of who I am.

Craft Hope has become a true community, an international one, hasn’t it?

It really is becoming a global community of people exchanging ideas and giving from around the world. I think it’s so empowering for crafters everywhere to be able to use their voices through blogs and other online means. Everyone wants to make a difference (we have a lot of children involved in the projects now, too), and I believe Craft Hope gives people an easy way to do just that. They’re connected instantaneously to a global community of like-minded individuals who simply want to make a difference. To me, it’s the most beautiful thing.

It really is the Internet that allow all this to happen, isn’t it?

Yes. It was certainly the Internet that allowed Craft Hope to take off so quickly. We’ve reached a global audience that otherwise would have taken years to reach. And I do think the Internet has provided mothers who once might have been isolated at home a new way to be activists. You have a generation of well-educated women who are now deciding to stay at home with their children (and, of course, privileged to be able to stay at home!). I never thought I’d stay home; I have a master’s degree in education and planned to eventually teach at the college level. But the Internet has given mamas like me an avenue to reach out to others while we’re at home with our children. Sites like Etsy have allowed women who craft a wonderful place to sell their items. They don’t have to spend weekends at craft shows; they can simply make their items during nap times and late at night and sell them online. So now it’s possible to create a business and contribute to the family from home.

Kids crafting together, making towels to help marine life affected by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill

And blogging is an incredible tool for expression. As I said, I started simply to document my kids’ lives. I’m a terrible scrapbooker, but I love to tell stories and take pictures. I soon found that I had a community of friends around the world who were interested in my life and my kids’ lives. They offered support and encouragement on those days when all you need is a bit of adult interaction.

And of course, not everyone involved in Craft Hope is a stay-at-home mother. We have plenty of women who work outside the home, men, grandmothers, teenagers, and children who are making items and sending them in. More and more kids have been participating, learning about other cultures around the world. Compassion and giving—what beautiful things to teach a child.

What has been the reaction to the Craft Hope book so far?

It has been incredible. The stories that touch me the most are the ones where people read it cover to cover and cry. I love that people now have a portable version of Craft Hope they can take with them so they can do projects without having to wait for us to announce it on the blog.

Beets are the most beautiful vegetable on earth, I think. When in the company of beets I think of what Tom Robbins said in Jitterbug Perfume: “The beet is the most intense of vegetables.” In that book a mysterious and sexy quest culminated with beets. In my own quest for the sexiest salad ingredient, Beets command my undying devotion.

This salad is a simple as can be. It’s the other recipe I make for covered dish dinners when I don’t make my Cucumber Wasabi Soup. This intensely colorful salad, using perfume terminology, is a graceful blend of zesty top notes, sweet middle notes, and savory base notes. I serve it with grilled or poached salmon, along side yellow corn on the cob, for the most colorful, perfectly blended summer meal that can be assembled on a plate.

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Don’t be intimidated. This is a simple salad that follows a simple process. <1> Cook beets with eggs. <2> Put onions & cukes in pickle. <3> Make dressing.  <4> Assemble salad.  That’s it. Many steps can be done days ahead, then assembled when ready. And the salad can be prepared 2–3 hours ahead.

Market Beet Salad

[ serves 4 ]

1-1/2 lbs beets (4-6 medium size). Use a mixed of varieties if available

3 tsp salt

2–4 eggs

1 Tbls fresh dill, coarsely chopped

Pickled Onions & Cucumbers, below

Honey-Mustard Dressing, below

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Prepare beets and eggs

•  In saucepan place un-peeled (unwashed is OK) whole beets, eggs, salt, and enough water to cover

•  Bring to rapid boil, then turn down to moderate boil

•  After 10 minutes remove eggs. Place in ice cold water. Peel and set aside

•  Continue cooking beets another 10–15 minutes, until sharp knife pierces easily to center

•  Drain beets and cover with cold water (can add ice). Let cool until they can be handled. Slip off skins and tops. Pat dry with paper towel.

Beets and eggs can be prepared a day or two ahead

Cooked beets are easy to peel beets by slipping off skins

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Ice makes the onions and cucumbers super crisp

Pickled Onions & Cucumbers

1 small onion, a red or sweet variety, very, very thinly sliced (approx. 1/2 cup separated)

2 medium cucumbers, diced (approx. 2/3 cups)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

Generous amount of black pepper

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•  Place all ingredients in bowl

•  Cover with 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water and top with 4–5 ice cubes. Set aside while preparing dressing

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Honey-Mustard Dressing

I use yellow mustard for its bright sunny color and turmeric flavor

[ Makes ¾ cup ]

¼ cup yellow mustard

¼ cup mild flavored oil—canola or walnut

2 Tbls honey

1 Tbls vinegar

1 Tbls water

¼ tsp salt

1/2 tsp tarragon, crushed

Add to taste: Cayenne, white & black pepper, and garlic powder

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•  Combine all and whisk vigorously to blend

Can be prepared a day or two ahead

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Assemble the Salad

Arranged on platter ready for pickled veggies and eggs

•  Drain Pickled Cucumbers & Onions on paper, set aside

•  Slice beets and arrange on platter—in rows or circular pattern

•  Sprinkle on Pickled Onions & Cucumbers. I push most of the cukes to the sides

•  Slice eggs and arrange on platter

•  Drizzle 3–4 Tbls Honey-Mustard Dressing on and between eggs

•  Sprinkle with fresh dill

•  Add generous grinds of black pepper

Can be prepared to this point  2–3 hours ahead, covered loosely

•  Serve with remaining dressing

Yum-O!

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Beet Notes

•  Pickled Onions & Cucumbers are great in salads. Try them with watermelon and basil, plus a dash of the vinegar

•  You can serve your beet salad on a thin bed of arugula or lettuce

•  Add walnuts, or crumbled goat or blue cheese

•  Add razor thin slices of fennel to the pickled onions

•  When I prepare beets for this dish I always cook extra and make pickled beets—a house specialty to serve as appetizers or on salads. See below…

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Bonus: Pickled Beets

Cover sliced or wedged beets with 2 parts vinegar/1 part water. Add sugar, salt, fresh garlic, black pepper, dash of cloves or allspice, some hot pepper, and a good amount of onion slices. Ready to eat in 30 minutes and will keep in the fridge for a week—but not in our house.

Sue's winning sweepstakes prize, all boxed up and ready to go to Florida!

We wanted to hear from Sue about her crafting/creative endeavors and WOW, she’s a creative dynamo! Here are her responses to our questions:

Lark:  How do you like to spend your creative time?

Sue: I’m currently a student at Florida International University majoring in sculpture, so some of my creative time is spent doing assignments for drawing and sculpture classes. I love to work with the wood shop machines, to carve stone, and to shape metal. At home I work on jewelry, glass casting, knitting, and needlepoint.

Lark:  Where do you find inspiration in your life?

Sue:  All you have to do in South Florida for inspiration is walk outside and look at the wonderful birds, trees, flowers, fish, etc. that we have here.

Lark:  Now that the long, sunny days of summer are here, do you have a creative to-do list that you’re working on?

Sue:  I’m finishing a wood and metal sculpture from last semester, finishing my first designed-by-me needlepoint, working on needle felting (to use for next semester’s sculptures), casting glass jewelry parts, knitting a pair of socks, reorganizing the art room, making a Christmas ornament from a kit that I bought about 15 years ago, and sketching ideas for new pieces.

Read about the other winners of our sweepstakes:

Sweepstakes Winner Week #3: Bonnie!

Sweepstakes Winner Week #2: Lynn!

Sweepstakes Winner Week #1: Debbie!

A series of seasonal market recipes
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This weekend at your local market you will experience a crescendo of cucumbers. It’s their time and they will be abundant. Cucumbers are the flavor of summer. They taste cool and green and shady. And they satisfy both thirst and hunger. In our house, when it’s really hot, the kitchen flag flies at half mast and we’re only “cooking” cold food, so cucumbers get eaten every day in some way, shape, or liquidy form—cucumber salad, cucumber sandwiches, quick-pickled cukes, cucumber martinis, grilled veggies with cucumber dressing, cucumbers stuffed with pimento cheese, and in our favorite summer concoction, Cucumber Wasabi Soup. Which is one of the best things I make, I’m told.

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I think it’s because of this soup that Skip and I are invited to more covered dish dinners in the summer than any other time. “What can I bring?” “That wasabi cucumber soup, of course.” And I get asked for the recipe more than for any other thing I make. So here is a recipe that does not have to be followed rigidly. The only thing you must follow exactly is to use nonfat or low fat dairy. Anything else will coat your tongue with butterfat after three bites and totally block the clean, refreshing flavor.

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CB’s Cucumber Wasabi Soup

Make 4-5 servings. Can be stretched by adding more buttermilk

Place the following ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until very smooth.

2 cups cucumbers (2–3), partially peeled, coarsely chopped

½ cup scallions (2–3), coarsely chopped, green tops included

1 cup nonfat yogurt

1 tbl chives, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

1–2 tsp wasabi paste or powder (see note)

½ tsp dry mustard

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

the above mixture yields approx. 2.5 cups

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Pour blended puree into mixing bowl or serving container then add:

1 cup nonfat or low fat cottage cheese

2 cups nonfat buttermilk

1 cup nonfat sour cream

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Add to taste:

Cayenne pepper, don’t be shy

Fresh dill or mint

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Notes:

• All wasabi is not the same. Some is potent, some bland. I suggest starting with the lesser amount, allow a couple of minutes to pass for it to bloom, then adjust to suit your taste.

• I sometimes add an additional cucumber, finely diced into perfect squares, to the finished soup. Makes a nice texture contrast with the cottage cheese.

• Can make this up to two days ahead, leaving out the cucumber cubes mentioned above. Will last up to 4 days in the fridge.

• For a thicker soup—best when serving as a meal—you can thicken with ½ packet unflavored gelatin, dissolved in ¼ cup water, brought to boil, cooled, and added to processor mixture.

• Cold food requires more seasoning than warm.

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Dish this up as a first course or serve from a carafe (or vase!) and pass around in cocktail glasses for a fun appetizer. It delivers a bolt of heat and aromatic rush from the cayenne, mustard, and especially the wasabi. And cottage cheese is the surprise component—a pleasing texture paired with the cukes.

One of my favorite things about social networking is that it not only affords us the opportunity to be inspired by people worldwide whom we might not have ever crossed paths with otherwise, but also allows us to directly connect with them.   Such was the case with how I (virtually) met Canadian multi-media artist, Joan Rzadkiewicz.

While perusing Flickr one day, Joan found me asked if she could use one of my photos in her next installment. Although in hindsight I’m not really sure she needed me (she could’ve easily manipulated an unpainted light), I am thrilled and honored to have been a small part of what is truly a fantastic work!

Joan says, ” It was necessary to find the right objects to bring into each composition. As well as using borrowed images, I was photographing all kinds of things at home. I couldn’t always find what I wanted so it was sometimes necessary to drastically modify or construct entire objects from flat textures so I could get the right material quality, shape and angle. ”

A little background: the picture of mine she inquired about is of a chandelier I painted last year for an I Love to Create article. I’d been looking for a cool light-fixture for my the, unborn daughter. After being underwhelmed by the choices out there however, I decided to just funkify a boring one with a little paint. But I digress.

My Photo of Hand-Painted Chandelier

Ladies & gentlemen, may I present Joan’s digital composition series: Calling Planet Earth! Look closely my friends, to fully explore the dioramic worlds she’s created using found photo’s set inside re-imagined, television skeletons.

"Blast Off"

"Space View"

"Historic Moment"

Soirée Lounger

“Television, as it has been known for so many decades, is undergoing some change, merging into dynamic networks of technology, no longer confined to a single piece of furniture. I found myself looking at an old television set and for the first time began to realize the nostalgic side of this object that has been long associated with the push to the future. Recalling how young children sometimes thought that there were real people and places inside their home TV, it seemed like an interesting project to actually set up a little microcosm inside a television.”

Interesting Joan, indeed.  Your work is amazing!

Craft.Rock.Love,
Vickie

Occasion number two: Longtime art teacher and family friend Sandy Carlman recently contacted me through Facebook. Her son passed away many years ago, and she continues to craft as a way to deal with her loss. In fact, she sometimes gives presentations to Hospice bereavement groups about how engaging in something productive and creative is one way to begin the healing process when talking about loss is too difficult. Her medium of choice is collage, and she often incorporates meaningful text from poems or scripture.

Crosses by Sandra Carlman

Looking at Sandy’s work and thinking about how perfect collage is for providing comfort and building hope—intentionally ripping scraps of cloth, layering remnants of letters or paper, and piecing it all together—I suddenly had the impulse to dig up some old fabric and try my own collage. Admittedly, I’m still afraid of my sewing machine but desperately want to do something with colorful fabric and other pieces of things I find around the house. I looked up some ideas online (that were in line with my ultra-beginner skill level) and happened upon this adorable fabric collage at a craft site for kids called The Crafty Crow.

Adorable Collage from The Crafty Crow

Occasion number three:  I wasn’t embarking on my own project for the purpose of healing—or so I thought. I just wanted some me-time after thinking only about my newborn for 4-plus months. I collected some cloth from curtains I made last year; found leftover hankie material from a mini quilt I gave my grandmother; gathered some old string my husband had used in his workshop; and sat down at the table with a bottle of Mod Podge. A few rips in, I realized how relaxed I was feeling. A few more strokes of adhesive, and I was absolutely lost in my tiny abstract landscape. I was feeling like myself again after months of trying to understand my new identity as a working mom. The simple act of creating was breathing energy into a place I couldn’t otherwise tap into or even articulate.

Gathering Supplies and Prepping

I share this journal-like blip in the blogosphere as a not-so-hot-crafter who is surrounded by amazingly talented people every single day—I easily get caught up in the self consciousness of making something that doesn’t seem quite cool enough to show, or something that didn’t turn out hip enough to give away. This is a simple little reminder that the process is so rewarding—healing, even. I hope you feel great, but if you want to feel a little better, go make something!

THE CREATIVE CONNECTION will bring together women who are passionate about being creative in their everyday lives as artists, bloggers, cooks, business owners and crafters. Come learn, create, market, shop and connect with like-minded women from all across the United States!

As a proud sponsor of The Creative Connection, Lark Crafts will send 3 lucky winners to the event in Minneapolis!  Enter for a chance to win a trip to Minneapolis and a ticket to The Creative Connection! It’s simple; just answer this question in 250 words or less:

How will attending The Creative Connection impact your creativity or creative business?

Read the official rules and entry information. Check out thecreativeconnectionevent.com for more information on the event!