Paint Chip Chain Links for Fall Decor

Need to add a little fall decor but don't have much time or money?

This is a fast, easy and super cheap craft.  Use fall color paint chips to create a chain link to loop anywhere you need a little fall pizazz.

1. I chose green and brown multi color chips from past painting projects to make this one.

2. Fold the strip in half (so both sides have paint chips rather than words).

3. Bring ends together.  Hold and staple - just one staple is plenty.

4. Fold next strip.  Insert into first loop.  Complete step 3.

Repeat step 4 until your chain is the length you want.  Hang to create a fall display or decorate for a party in a pinch!

Tombstone Bunting

The first time I saw the Creative Memories Tag Maker, I thought - hmm... tombstones! and Halloween Fun.  I've made several scrapbook borders for Halloween Scrapbook Pages using the tool but today I made a Tombstone Bunting.

When I'm done with a painting project, I stash away my paint chip samples.  I'm never sure what I will do with them but these days EVERYONE has the same idea and paint chips are indispensable in the craft world.  Today I went for the pile of GREYs.

Don't have a Tag Maker? CLICK HERE TO SEE AND BUY the Tag Maker.

This project is VERY easy.  Here's what to do.

First, turn the tag maker upside down and insert a paint chip.  I've used single color chips as well as multi-color chips.  Squeeze the maker and out pops a tombstone.

Next, use your creativity to create funny or frightful epitaphs for your tombstones.  I also adorned mine with R.I.P. and cross symbols and fake dates.  If you need a little help in the epitaph department, just google "funny epitaphs" or "Halloween Tombstone sayings" and you get a slew of pages full of creative lists to use.  I drew on my paint chips with Sharpie Markers.  I tried a few in silver, but black seemed to show up the best.

Line up your tombstones and begin to string them.  I used a heavy duty weight black thread and the smallest needle that could poke a small hole but that had an eye big enough to fit the thread through.  The biggest stitch of thread is behind the tombstone. 

Once all the pieces have been added, lay the long strand of tags/tombs out on the floor and slide them so that they are evenly spaced.  Create even thread extending from both ends of the bunting.

Hang or suspend your bunting for all to see!

Easy - Fun.  Give it a try.

Crochet Tools Case

Need a great place to keep the little tools you use for crochet?  What could be better than a little Crocheted Tools Case?  Try this!

Are you a beginner at crochet?  This project will be perfect for you.  When I was brand new at crochet I had a lot of trouble finding useful projects that were simple to make.  This one will be no trouble.

However, if you are a more advanced crafter, you can add more difficult variations that make the project more challenging.

FIRST... you will need the following: 

• worsted weight yarn (I used the cheapest type I had on hand - RED HEART 100% acrylic).  Beginners can choose a varigated skein to add lots of color without having to know how to change color yarn.
• optional worsted weight contrasting color yarn for whipstitching details
• large needle (to weave in ends and whip stitch sides)
• scissors
• size K crochet hook (6.5mm)
• measuring tape or ruler
• button
• pearl cotton
• embroidery needle

Here's how:

Create a foundation row of chain stitches (22 stitches).  Add one additional chain as a turning chain.  Turn your work.

Single crochet to the end of the row.  Chain 1 to turn.  (count to make sure you have 22 single crochets).

Continue making rows of 22 stitch single crochet until your piece measures ~14" in length.  (the width should be about 8 inches depending on how loose or tight you crochet) Finish off.

Lay your crocheted piece wrong side up.  (don't know which side is right or wrong?  look at your beginning tail string.  if it's to the left it's right side up if the beginning tail string is to the right it's wrong side up)  Fold the bottom part up about 5 inches.  Pin the both sides of the folded pieces together using T-Pins.

Thread a large dull needle with either your coordinating yarn (my example uses red cotton worsted weight) or the same yarn.  Starting at a either bottom fold, whipstitch the two sides together.  Here's a link for more info about doing the whipstitch with crochet.

Continue whipstitching over the top of the piece and then down the other side.  End your whipstitch yarn inside of your pouch.  The whipstitching can add a decorative detail to your piece.

Next, find a button that will fit through one of the single crochet stiches in your piece.  I just found an old button in my craft box.  Fold down the top of your tool pouch.  Use a T-Pin to mark the best location to sew a button onto the folded pouch.  Use embroidery floss or pearl cotton and an appropriate hand sewing needle to stitch the button onto the crochet pouch.  Tie off the knot on the inside of the pouch.

Slightly stretch one of the crochet stitches on the flap of your tool pouch in a place where the flap will naturally align with your button.  After buttoning and unbuttoning your pouch flap a few times, the hole will be easier to use.

I made a removable felt pocket insert for my pouch.  The felt pocket insert is optional.  If you just want to use the pouch without the felt pocket, add your crochet tools to the pouch.

Here are some tools that I like to use inside my pouch:  crochet hooks, scissors, tape measure, row counter, etc...

I also like to use the crocheted area under the flap to hook my stitch markers, T-Pins and large eye needle.

If you'd like to make the removable felt pocket, here's how:

Cut a piece of felt to 8"X7"  (I used red craft felt which is very cheap - you can also use a wool blend felt which is stronger and softer or a piece of a felted sweater). The photo below shows the felt before I trimmed it to size.

Fold the felt in half so it's 7" wide and 4" high.

Use an appropriate embroidery needle and a piece of pearl cotton thread to stitch a running stitch 1/4" from each side.  I made a loop stitch go over both the top and the bottom of each side.  End your stitch on the outside with a knot and trim it close.

Because I used craft felt which tends to stretch and pull, I made a blanket stitch across the top of each side of the pocket insert.  The blanket stitch also adds a decorative detail.  Here is a link explaining how to do a blanket stitch from futuregirl.  Use coordinating or contrasting color of thread for the blanket stitch.

NOW, your pocket is complete.  Because I wanted to store pointed scissors and small-ish crochet hooks in my tool pouch, I added the felt insert so those items wouldn't poke through the crochet stitching.

Are you a more advanced crocheter?  Consider changing colors while crocheting your pouch to create stripes or other designs.

If you make a crocheted tool pouch - post a photo of it on the Fly the Coop Crafts Facebook Page! I'd love to see your creations!

Hurricane Balls - No Bake Cookies

So yesterday, we all had a sweet tooth, but I didn't have anything dessert-like in the house.  I surveyed the kitched and realized I was out of white sugar, stick butter, and much of anything in the way of chocolate other than some cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips.

It was also humid and rainy and kind of hot - I didn't want to turn on an A/C OR an oven.  I wanted something sweet that required no baking.  I searched around on the internet but every no bake recipe called for something I didn't have - mostly white sugar.

I gave up.

I went to the kitchen and pulled out some dessert flavors...earth balance in the tub, powdered sugar, brown sugar, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats and some colored jimmies... hmmm..

I ended up with a most FANTASTICAL TREAT!  I will make them again and experiement with more variations.  Even a 5 year old could make these all alone.

1/2 cup peanut butter - in this case I used Jiff
1/2 cup confectioner sugar - the sweet stuff I had the most of
3/4 cup of rolled oats - uncooked
3/4 cup honey bunches of oats cereal (w/almonds - what I had on the shelf)
1-2T of milk (skim, could substitute anything wet that works for you)
1t of vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)

I dumped it all into a bowl - yes, literally dumped and I didn't measure very accurately either.  I stirred it with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute until the wet was dry and the dry was wet.

I then scooped with a small spoon into my hand, pressed to make it ball-shaped and put it on a tray.

We ate them JUST like that - it actually tasted like eating chocolate chip oatmeal cookie dough -

It made about 2 dozen balls - everyone loved them.  They were gone before dinner time!  I will definately make them again!

YUM.  And by the way - if you're in the path of hurricane Irene (who is following the earth quake to the east coast and the mid-Atlantic areas) this will be your most beloved snack.  If you lose power, you can still make these, they require NO oven, stove or any kind of heat - I didn't even refrigerate them afterwards though they weren't around long enough to do so anyway.

Enjoy!  And by the way, if you grocery shop anywhere in Hurricane Irene's path, these ingredients will be far more readily available than flashlights and batteries which are apparently sold out EVERYWHERE in the Philadelphia area!

Seismic Stuffed Mushrooms

What's for Dinner?  That's the question that starts to bug me every day about 4pm.  I don't really plan my meal schedule, nor do I shop for specific recipes (since I rarely use recipes - or if I do I tend to use the IDEA of the recipe and make it my own).  So, around 4pm I start to look around to see what I have to make into something called dinner.

We're not a meat and potato family.  About 90% of the time our meals are vegetarian and about 50% of the time vegan - again, not by planning, just by what we regularly eat.  So, for me, dinner doesn't always have to be well matched, nor does it need to contain an overview of the food pyramid on a plate.  Thus, as long as I end up with enough healthy elements, dinner can be almost anything.  The whole family goes along with this style of eating, so it's no big deal.

Last night's meal was something new, an invented dish and in honor of the east coast Earthquake that could be felt all along the east coast (no I didn't feel it, my daughter and I were in IKEA and apparently, it's kind of Earthquake resistant - but my two kids at home said our house shook and my husband thought someone had sneaked into his office, and was standing behind him shaking his chair, my son who was at the skateboard park had no idea) I'm calling last night's main course (aka only course) Seismic Stuffed Mushrooms.

Here's the deal:  They are portabella stuffed mushrooms (the big variety) stuffed with Italian summer stuffing and pepper cream cheese. 

Ingredients:  Carrots (any kind, even shredded), Onion, Celery, Dried Bread (or bag of stuffing), fresh garlic, cream cheese (or substitute), peppers (about 5 any variety - some hot some sweet), granulated garlic, chili oil, portabella mushrooms - large, salt and pepper

The Stuffing:  Cook down a mirepoix (carrots, onion, celery) until they are soft and tender and the onions are translucent.  I added about 3 minced garlic cloves to my mirepoix to make it more Italian and less American Thanksgiving -ish.  I cooked them in both canola oil and Earth Balance for a buttery flavor.  I used a large handful of baby carrots - chopped small, one large onion and one celery heart plus 3 large cloves of garlic.  Throw in some herbs... I used a bunch of tarragon (I have bushes of the fresh stuff in my garden and I had dried some earlier this summer, I used the dried). 

I also used a few shakes of poultry seasoning and a bit of chopped fresh sage (also bushes of this in my garden).  Add dried bread stuffing (unflavored).  I used half a bag, you'll have to gauge how much you need.  You want only enough bread so that the mirepoix and herb flavor doesn't disappear.  Then, add broth (I make my own or use vegetable broth or use a vegetable broth cube diluted in hot water).  Add to stuffing mixture until all the bread has absorbed the juice.  The mixture will be kind of soppy but the bread is still somewhat formed.

The Cheese Mixture:  Remove the seeds from your peppers (I used 2 jalapenos and 3 green bells from my garden) and rough chop them.  Saute them over medium heat until they are soft but not mush.  Transfer them to the food processor for a quick (and I mean quick) whirl.  Scrape the pepper mash from the processor and add it to about 6 ounces of softened cream cheese.  Sprinkle in some granulated garlic powder, salt and about a teaspoon of chili oil.  Stir.  At this point the cheese/pepper mixture will be hart to resist and you'll want to add it to crackers and have a snack!  You can substitute the cream cheese for vegan cream cheese or soft tofu for a similar vegan effect.

The Portabellas:  Remove the stems and the black undersides (I scrape them clean with a spoon).  Drizzle some oil and cook them over medium high heat until they are MOSTLY cooked through.  Don't over cook them at this point.  I add a bit of salt when I'm cooking them. 

NOTE: I used the remaining mushroom juice and oil mixture from the mushroom cooking process and poured it over my stuffing mixture to give it more flavor.

Assembling:  Put the portabellas top-side-down on a tray or in a casserole dish.  Add some cheese mixture and spread it across the mushroom - it acts as a glue for the stuffing.  Pile in stuffing.  Give them a bit of salt and pepper.  Put them in a 400F oven for at least 20 mins.  The stuffing will get crispy on top - that's what you want.

Remove from oven and let sit about 5 minutes before eating.  When these babies came out of the oven and I called the family in for dinner (there were only 3 of us and 6 mushrooms at this meal) I was very nervous having NO IDEA if I'd been successful.  We all REALLY liked them - we ate 2 per piece.  No leftovers... I did add the remaining stuffing that didn't go into a mushroom into a bread pan and I baked it in the oven alongside the mushrooms.  My daughter has already claimed that extra stuffing portion for lunch today!