Crafting for a Purpose

I feel like I should be writing a reflection post right now instead of the piece that I am, seeing how it is almost the end of the year and it definitely was a busy year.  But I'll leave that for late December.  Instead I'll write the post I originally intended to do.

I'd like to introduce my newest project: Crafting for a Purpose. 

I had recently started to look into what I'd like to do with my life and what makes me happy.  From there I started thinking about two of my favorite past times: being creative and helping people. And you know how it goes, my mind started wandering, thinking about Pinterest, all the crafts I want to do, reading blogs, and the list goes on. And then something came to my mind: Crafting with purpose, for a purpose, for good, etc.

And from there my mind started racing with ideas.  So here is what my thoughts have boiled down to: every other month (in the future it might be every month) find a different cause to help by creating/crafting. During each time period, I will blog about the organization, what craftable/creatable items they could use, the time frame and then I will post updates on the crafters' efforts.

 

So now I'd like to ask you to be a part of this group!

 

After a little research on the internet I found something easy to start out with: St Anthony's Holiday Knitting Donation Drive (Click here to see more information on St. Anthony's) which asks people to knit or crochet scarves for those less fortunate. The deadline to submit the scarves is December 21st.

I've listed the details below:

Here's how:

• Knit or crochet on your own
• Scarves will be given free to guests of St. Anthony's during the holidays.

Here's what:

• Size: Our scarves should be 5-7 inches wide and 48-60 inches long.
• Yarn: Mid-weight yarns in washable wool or wool/acrylic blends (but please no cotton yarn (its not warm and holds moisture)
• Colors: Neutral, classic or bright (but please no white or light colored yarns which soil easily)
• Yardage: about 200 - 250 depending on yarn weight
• Needle size: U.S. 7-9 depending on yarn weight

Please let me know if you'd be interested in this project and if so how many scarves you'd like to commit to making. If you're not interested in this project but think that you might be interested in one down the road, please let me know and I'll be sure to include you in my updates. And/or if you know someone that might like to participate, please forward on this post or send me their contact information and I'll send them an email.

Thanks and I really appreciate your time!  Now let's craft with purpose! :)

Starting where she left off...

My grandmother, well she was... a great seamstress.  She had a ton of energy and she was the most creative person I knew.  She was always busy sewing, cooking, baking, sketching, painting, traveling, tending to her garden or working with one of us on any one of the projects above.  I spent a lot of time with her until her death in 2004.  So its no wonder she rubbed off on me in some way or another. 

I realize I'm not a great seamstress, actually I'm really just a beginner (though I've sewn a bit here and there).  Around 2000-2001 my grandmother gave me her sewing machine but I wasn't ready to do anything on my own...or even take it home with me. At that time in my life I was too preoccupied with sports and hanging out with friends. But last summer I finally brought the 1970s Singer to my apartment. And slowly, I've been using it for my projects. Anyhow, I feel with practice, dedication and concentration that maybe, just maybe, one day I could be a good one.


As I've mentioned in a previous post, my grandma started many projects that she never finished (another thing that rubbed off on me).  And now 7 years after her passing, my mom and I are finding these unfinished projects as we clean out and organize her craft room.  One such project that I found was some gorgeous fabric (purchased on one of her trips to France) that she was turning into a tablecloth.

The beautiful fabric that someday soon will cover my table

It looks like she sewed a few pieces together to make it long and wide enough to fit a small table (which is perfect because it should fit mine).  Now, all I have to do is finish it - which I hope to do in the next week.  I know it won't be as fancy as hers would have been if she finished it, but I know it will make her proud.  And I know she'll be happy to know I'm starting where she left off...

Cupcakes are everywhere...

I love community education and Chabot College offers a variety of great classes.  On Saturday, Faustino and I had the opportunity to take Cupcake Decorating I.  When I say, opportunity, I mean I wanted to take the class and I convinced Faustino into taking the class with me.

In order to prepare for Saturday's class as we had to take 12 cupcakes each, thus I made 24 lemon cupcakes on Friday night.  I finally took the last 6 out of the oven around 11:15 and went to bed.  Saturday came, after my short run and a shower, we were on our way to Hayward.  We arrived just on time, signed in and gave our $20 each for materials.

During the class, which was only 2 hours long, we learned how to do simple decorations on cupcakes.  And if I do say so myself, I thought mine turned out pretty good.

2 hours, $59/per person, 12 plain lemon cupcakes, materials bag, frosting and accessories and the following is what you get:

The first set of 3 cupcakes decorated were summer themed: a watermelon, a summer sun and a sunflower.

Watermelon, Sun & Sunflower

The next set of 3 were Spring cupcakes and consisted of an Easter Bunny, an Easter basket and a flower. 



Easter Bunny, Easter basket & Flower

The third set of 3 were the "Novelty" cupcakes: Graduation, Pinwheel & a Puppy.


Graduation Cap

Pinwheel & Puppy

And for the final set of 3 we used fondant to make flowery decorated cupcakes. 

 

Pink fondant used to decorate

I have to say the 2 hours was well spent.  The cupcakes were yummy and pretty.  I learned a few decorating tricks.  Hey who knows maybe I'll start my own decorating business (probably not, they didn't come out that great, ha!).  I will be decorating again though...and as always stay tuned for more.

Year of the Rabbit...

...the bunny rabbit that is.


Bunny #1 right after I completed her

As I mentioned earlier in the month, I had goals for February.  Unfortunately moving to Jack London (by the way...its only been two weeks since we moved and I absolutely love it here, but that's another blog post) got in the way of many of those goals.  But goals are merely intentions, they aren't meant to tie you down.  They are there to guide.  Thus, I'm not sad I didn't finish everything I planned.  Because though we plan, life tends to get in the way.  ;)  March will hopefully bring the completion of the February goals...

But enough about that, on to the bunny rabbit.  Last Tuesday the stuffing for my bunny rabbits was delivered to my office.  Since one rabbit still needs to be sewed together, only one rabbit was ready to be stuffed and so as soon as I got home, I sat on the futon and ripped open the stuffing.  I was so excited it finally arrived!  For the next 1.5 hours I stuffed and I stuffed and then I mended and sewed.  And finally around 9:00PM I finished making my first stuffed animal ever!  Though its not perfect, well actually at first I thought it was pretty ugly, its another completed project and something my niece will hopefully enjoy.  Right now it has some thread tied around its neck and I'm still trying to decide whether or not to actually put ribbon instead.  For now, I'll enjoy it just the way it is.



Bunny #1 with her scarf visiting the Tour Eiffel in the background. ;)

And tomorrow...I'll work on finishing the second bunny.  My nephew's bunny has been cut and its just patiently awaiting my return...   Now that I have a clue ;) and more of an idea of what I'm supposed to do, I plan to insert the eyes, sew it together and get it to the stuffing point.  If all goes well (and I buy more stuffing) the second rabbit will be completed by Friday.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed but at the same time won't fret over it.

A weekend with the kids...

I can't believe its been almost 2 weeks since I last posted.  But fear not, for I am back.  The last 2 weeks were filled with packing, moving and then unpacking.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, Faustino and I decided to take our little family of 3 (that's right I consider Faustino, our cat Bootsie and I to be a family ;D) to Oakland.  After a strenuous move, and the past week of putting our things away, the place is finally starting to look like someone actually lives in it.  I'll post pictures when its done. :)

But now back to the weekend with the kids.  My brother had a couple tai chi performances this weekend, so we watched my niece and nephew for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday.  Instead of watching movies and/or playing the Wii, I wanted us to do something creative.  And that's exactly what we did.  Saturday we completed an arts & crafts project and on Sunday we baked.

Saturday

On Saturday before the kids were dropped of we headed to Michael's to pick up a few items for the Handy Wardrobe Planner craft that I found on their website a couple days earlier.  Instead of purchasing everything on the materials list I decided to improvise.  I had paint at home so all I decided that all I needed was cardboard paper, foam paint brushes, stickers and clothespins.  After eating lunch at the Buttercup Grill, we cleaned off the table, laid down newspaper and the craft time began.  We were on a mission to create a wardrobe planner for each weekday. 

I cut each cardboard paper in half (perfect, 5 pieces of paper divided by 2 and I got 10 sheets...enough for the weekdays) and gave each child one of each color.  We painted their hands whichever colors they wanted and pressed them onto the paper.

Serena looking at her yellow paper while I paint Diego's hand yellow

Showing us their painted hands

 After the kids finished pressing their painted hands to each sheet of paper, we laid them out to dry for a bit. 

Waiting for the paint to dry

I then cut each hand out and used my scrapbooking circle cutter to cut perfect sized holes so they could hang the hands easily onto their wardrobe hangers (the Michael's website says to use velcro to secure the hands to the hangers but after some thinking and a good idea from Faustino, I decided this was easier and made more sense).


The kids choosing their stickers for the days of the week

The kids then decided which hand would be for each day of the week and then they deliberated on which alphabet sticker they would use to spell out each day.  Just for fun (and because I had bought these cool little clothespins) they chose a different color mini clothespin to attach to each hand.  Then of course I wrote their names and dates on the back of each hand just for future reference.  And voila, the final product. 

Final Product

Diego's hands

Serena's hands

I'm so proud of the kids.  We had a great time on this project and we were really able to spend some quality time together.

Sunday

On Sunday we made lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting.  Unfortunately, I do not have the pictures of the final product, however I do have an adorable photo of my kids in the aprons that I have.  Serena is wearing the apron my grandmother made me when I was about her age or a couple years older (still have it and will still wear it though its a little too small... yellow has always been my favorite color and my grandmother made it especially for me with my name stitched on it and I absolutely treasure it) and Diego is wearing an apron that I had in a mini bake ware set I bought to use with the kids.


Serena & Diego

Unfortunately baking was not as successful a project as the Handy Wardrobe Planner was on Saturday because it didn't take up as much time and there is more waiting time while the cupcakes actually baked.  Their minds started wandering after the initial mixing and filling of the pans thus I finished the rest of the project.  But all in all, I'd still say it was a success because the kids enjoyed the cupcakes and stayed away from the tv. ;)

And because I have the day off today (thank you Presidents' Day) I was able to write, reflect and enjoy the photos of the weekend.

January Insight, February Foresights

Its officially February.  We have indeed left January behind and I'm proud to announce that I was indeed creative every day in the month of January.  In the first month of the year I:

1. finished Faustino's scarf
2. finished sewing a shirt that I started in September (lessons learned: make sure to use right type of material or it might not fit - yes the shirt didn't fit correctly.  But I was completely joyed that I finished sewing my first shirt ever (despite the outcome)!
3. took some decent photos at Point Reyes
4. baked coffee cake and banana bread

I am having this satisfactory feeling of accomplishment and its thanks to Creative Every Day.  I have been able to finally put my creative energy to work.  Now onward to month 2.

February will bring more completed projects as well as creative ideas that I've found online.  This month I plan to:

1. make 2 stuffed animals.  Bunny rabbits to be exact - one for my niece and one for my nephew.  I will give them the rabbits on Easter (yes, I know its far away but I'd like to finish them early on instead of waiting until the last minute - have I ever mentioned I'm an overzealous procrastinator?)  This will be another finished project - seeing that I bought the fabric and pattern at least 10 years ago.  EEK!
2. organize my new creative space.  Faustino and I, we're moving again and I'll need to reorganize my project area (if I have a dedicated space) and supplies.
3. complete 1/4 of the my Spain scrapbook (I already have about half completed...almost there). :)

The way February is looking, it will be another busy month in creativity.  But I'm looking forward to it all.   And of course, I'll make sure to keep the cyber world posted...

And the creativity starts...Adventures in making Coffee Cake

January 2, 2011 - Adventures in making Coffee Cake

I will start by admitting that I'm not a cook.  A couple of years ago I would have even went so far as to say that I hated cooking.  Besides Faustino is good at cooking so who am I to stand in his way.  But as time would go by he started complaining more and more informing me that he wanted me to try my hand at making dinner.  And since then, I have and I've even improved my cooking skills.

But that is cooking and we're now talking about baking!  I've always liked baking, but was never great at it.  Then some how in the past couple of years I decided to take up baking again here and there.  And by Christmas 2009 I was even confident enough to bake massive amounts of goodies and hand them out as presents to my family (they were awesome by the way).  It was definitely a step up from my thought of never stepping foot into a kitchen to make any kind of food for someone other than myself.

Anyhoo, I had planned on starting 2011 by making Country Living's Crunchy Coffee Cake.  Haha that didn't happen.  I was too tired and of course I needed milk and my kitchen was dry.  Moving forward one day...January 2, 2011.  I rested all day before so I didn't have an excuse to postpone my planned breakfast that I had promised Faustino and Megan.

Everything was going great until I had to start making the crumble that goes on top...Cake Flour?!?  What the hell is cake flour and where do I get it?  Store.  No way, I wasn't going back there, I was in my pjs and I intended to stay that way.  Looking like a raggamuffin and all.  Screw it.  I'm using regular flour.  And you're supposed to cut the butter in the mixture, but that was too much work for me.  I had the mixer out from cake portion so I decided to be lazy and mix in the butter and thought nothing more of it.

Until I laid the topping on the cake and thought that doesn't look right.  Oh well, into bake it goes.  20 minutes later and this is what comes out...

Now I'm not an expert but I know this doesn't look right.  Megan took one look at it and then the recipe and knew that I didn't cut the butter in like I was supposed to.  Whoops.  Well, I guess that's what I get for cutting corners and not following directions: ugly coffee cake.  We ate it anyway, because I had promised coffee cake.  And you know what?  It tasted great.  Maybe next time I'll follow the recipe a little closer and I'll have a better looking meal and thus a better photo op. 



Coffee & Cake :)

Here's to a Fruitful 2011

Here's to a great 2011 with the one and only

What would life be without my two big brothers?

Megan and I
getting ready to head out on the town

After spending a great New Years Eve with my family (my brothers Nick and Justin, my one and only Faustino, and my irreplaceable Megan), I'm starting to look forward again.  And as I said last year, I'll say it again this year...I'm excited about the New Year and whats coming.  Last year I had plans, and while some of them fanned out others fell short...very short.  This year, however is going to be different.  For one thing, as of yesterday around 2 we unplugged our cable.  Not only did we cancel the cable (actually we cancelled it in August they just continued streaming it to us for free) we actually unplugged the cable cord.  This means that if we turn on the tv we see static/white noise.  Yay!  This is a new step for me and I'm stoked with what this will mean for me.  That being said this is what it will mean...

More creativity:

A week ago I decided I wanted a challenge.  I wasn't sure what kind of challenge I wanted but I knew that I needed something where I would be held accountable.  Accountable to myself.  And what did I find but...Creative Every Day Challenge.  Now this seemed PERFECT.  I had wanted to be more creative for months but hadn't had the drive to do anything after a long day of work...especially since the tv was right there waiting for me to turn it on.  With the tv turned off, it will give me more incentive to find other things to do with my spare time.  Like finishing the scrapbook I started last year for my year abroad or sewing projects I had started in my teens and recently.  So among other small "resolutions" for the year, this is my goal.  I want to be creative every day whether it be finishing my knitting projects, completing new sewing ideas or taking pictures.  This year will be a year of putting my creativity to the test.  I'm putting myself to the test.  And I'm looking forward to the challenge.  And of course, I'm going to try to maintain my blog along the way, blogging about the adventures in creativity I'm having.

Keep coming back for a great year of great creativity.