Bacon Ice Cream!

As part of my Creative Challenge on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/sugarshoxcrafts), I made Maple Bacon ice cream! I made it with my new ice cream maker, and frankly, I was skeptical the whole time. I see lots of kitchen gadgets promising the moon, and then find out I had to satisfy almost impossible rules to get what's promised on the box.

Anyhow, I came home to an awesome surprise of ice cream! Here's how it turned out and some possible sticking points if you decide to make it.

-With the ice cream maker, be sure that the freezer bowl has frozen for at least 24 hours and you chill the ice cream mixture for 24 HOURS after you cook it. Yes, chill the mixture for 24 HOURS. I got really lucky, and it still turned into ice cream after I had only chilled the cooked mixture for 40 mins. I do think that it took longer to turn into ice cream because the mixture was much warmer than it should. I checked it this morning and was terrified it was just going to be this weird bacon slush.

-Use already cooked, boxed bacon to cut out the bacon cooking time. Be sure it's the "real bacon" kind. I LOVE turkey bacon, but it may have less flavor.

-Have a nice Tupperware container ready to freeze the mixture. It doesn't have to be Tupperware, per se, but you want a thick walled container to freeze it in.

-Use a good quality syrup. The maple syrup is probably the strongest taste in the ice cream, so pick a really flavorful syrup to really bring out that maple flavor. I used IHop syrup I bought at Walmart.

-Be prepared to freeze the mixture for 24 hours after it comes out of the ice cream maker. Be patient...the longer you wait, the thicker the ice cream.

RESULTS:

-A very flavorful ice cream with strong bacon and maple syrup taste.

-Thick consistency (I froze mine for about 24 hrs after churning in the ice cream maker), and doesn't melt too fast.

-Good size chunks of bacon. Bacon retained its crispiness even after being frozen!

-A little goes a long way---it's tempting, but don't eat the whole tub like me and my hubby did.

Check out my Facebook page for my 365 Day Creativity Challenge and more unique projects like this! http://www.facebook.com/sugarshoxcrafts

Extra, Extra!! Newsletter Now Available!

I've decided to create a newsletter for my crafty interests :) I really wanted to combine my love of writing and crafting, and I think that my very own newsletter is a great place to start! Each month's newsletter will have a tutorial on a cool crafty project, an artist\crafter profile, shop updates, and much, much more! Reply to this or email me at sugarshoxcrafts@live.com if you'd like to receive my monthly newsletter or be a feautured artist! I'll also be offering discounts and coupon codes on each newsletter, as well!

Oct\Nov Newsletter Tutorial: Fringed Fleece Blankets

Here is the first tutorial for our first newsletter! Each newsletter's tutorial will be posted on my blog.




Some call them fringe blankets, some call them knot blankets and some others call them plain old fleece blankets. Ever wondered how to make one? I developed this tutorial from my own special "recipe" of creating the blankets. I was a bit frustrated by having to ask for measurements at the fabric counter each time I would go to make these.

Measurements from these instructions will make a baby or cat-sized blanket. The blanket that is shown in the tutorial was made for my son-to-be. Larger blankets for adults or dogs are made in exactly the same way--just replace the baby measurements with the measurements listed at the end of the tutorial. Happy crafting!


1. Get two pieces of fleece that are about 1.25 yards in length.






2. Place the first piece of fleece FACE DOWN on your work surface. Place the second piece of fleece on top of the first piece with the design facing UP towards you. Line up the edges as best as you can.



3. Cut off any borders or rough edges from fleece. Cut edges so that top and bottom are somewhat even.

4. Measure a 3" square on each of the four corners of the fleece.



5. Measure 3" in from the edge of the fleece, and draw a line with crayon or marker at the 3" mark. Draw the line all the way down the side of the fleece.





6. To make the fleece fringe strips, measure 1" in from the side of the corner square. Mark with crayon. Repeat this all the way down the side of the fleece until you've reached the next corner's square.






7. Cut fleece up to the 3" line you drew in Step 5. Repeat this cut for all the lines you made in Step 6, all the way down the side until you reach the next corner's square.



8. Tie top fringe piece to bottom fringe piece using a DOUBLE KNOT. Double knotting is very important as it makes sure the fringe will not untie eventually with use. Repeat this step all the way down the side of the fleece for all the fleece strips.





9. Repeat steps 5-8 for all 3 remaining sides.

10. You're done, and you now have a warm & cuddly blanket! Unfortunately, these kind of blankets aren't really that photo-op friendly :(






MEASUREMENTS FOR ADULT\LARGE DOG BLANKETS:
-Use a 2.5-yard length of fleece for each side. (Step 1)
-Cut 4" corner squares on all four corners. (Step 4)
-Cut 4" into sides for the cut "baseline". (Step 5)
-Cut 1" wide fleece strips for fringe. (Step 6)

UPDATE: Walmart's Craft Department

Better than bacon and eggs TOGETHER! The full service craft department in my Walmart will stay!


The full service fabrics and crafts department in my Walmart store (Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst, NY) will STAY!!! A "source" I talked to there said that Walmart listened to its customers and decided to keep the department after lots and lots of people called Corporate's customer service to complain.

The department will also be in the new store that will be built to replace this current store too, the source told me.

This is really surprising to me because mostly all the craft departments in the stores in my area have closed or were consolidated into a limited selection and pre-cut fabrics (at one of them--the Supercenter in Niagara Falls--I can't even find colored zippers because of the limited selection). Also, very rarely do I ever hear about a big company (especially as big as Walmart is) actually listening to their customers. Wow! I really have a lot of goodwill towards Walmart now!

It's really a good thing because in my area there just aren't a lot of places you can buy fabric at, and even less if you don't have a lot of money to fork over for the fabric. You've got JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and a couple independent stores. Hobby Lobby's prices are very high and so are the independents--as much as I want to shop the independent stores, I don't have $15 for one yard of fabric. That leaves just JoAnn's and Walmart as your budget-friendly options, and with JoAnn's you have to use a coupon to get the best prices too.

Have any WM craft departments around you stayed full-service?

Lessons Learned From My First Craft Show

This spring, I had the honor to display my work in the Artist's Alley of a big fantasy and video game convention at a university in my city. I made about 30 Nintendo cartridge purses for my table in both large and small sizes. I also handsewed about 10 vinyl recycled Ramen noodle wallets.







I had LOTS of people looking and complimenting, but had NO sales for the entire show. Pretty frustrating, eh? Especially when you consider that I spent almost every spare second I had for a month preparing (and about $300 in materials too). Craft show veterans say that every show is a mixed bag--some you get tons of sales, others you don't get any--but I was frustrated over this for quite some time. Luckily I had many online customers to boost my confidence afterward :)

Anyhow, I've learned from this show. Here's what I've learned (and you can too!):

1. Keep smiling no matter what at your table. Nothing's selling and you're frustrated and bored. The last thing you want to do is smile--not so fast Jethro! You never know who the next sale might come from. Plus you must also be a good sport for the image of your business as a whole. You want people to take your card or flyer and remember to visit you after the show. If you're a Grumpy Gus, customers can perceive you as having an attitude and definately WON'T come back then. I put my big girl panties on and smiled and spoke with good humor the whole time. I waited till me and my gear were safely in the car--and then I bawled my eyes out.

2. During the show, pay attention to what seemed to grab the customers' interest.
If nothing at all, this is what I love craft shows for--instant critiquing and market research--even a no sale show like mine came out with some good data to use for next time. For example, I learned that a certain line of vinyl bags that I make are not really in demand, so I will put them much lower on the priority list for making and/or possibly stop making them. This helps me to focus my creating on things that actually have a chance to sell :)

3. Sit down with a notebook and record your observations of the show you attended.
This is probably the best thing you can do after any show. Sit down and write out what happened at the show. It will help you mentally organize and can help you think of ways to improve for the next show or even your business in general. Make a chart showing what sold or had a lot of interest in, and also what didn't sell and what people didn't really seem interested in. This can help you find items that you can focus less on so that you can work more on items that have more of a chance of bringing you success in the future. Not too many people took your promo flyers or postcards? Note that too and you can save yourself some money on those things if you do a show later on by not buying them again. If you haven't run out of these things, do put them on your next table--never waste!

4. Have at least one low price point item.
Don't sell yourself short at your table--but don't price yourself out of people's leagues either. People from many different financial situations are probably coming to your show, so cater to everyone's budget by having at least one lower priced item--around $5. Figure out an item you can sell for that price that requires minimal labor and materials. This is one of the things I did wrong at my table. My lowest priced item was $20. At this particular show, many of the vendors around me were selling things around $5-$10, so I was beat out on that aspect. People would come on over to my table, marvel at my bags, and put them down. They thought my items were too expensive. I'm still working on that super low price item--I think it may a small wallet of some kind that I can sew up with my machine--minimal labor, minimal time to make the item, but still at a good price for the customer...EVERYBODY wins :)By all means, again, do NOT sell yourself short! Don't mark down your regular stuff to bargain basement prices--you'll just lose the labor and material investment you put in.

These are a few things that I'm going to think about before and after every show, shoud I decide to do more. At this point I may not, because I missed my son too much :) I did have a fun time schmoozing with my fellow crafters though. As disappointing as the show was sales-wise for me, at least this guy was around:

Mystery Meat Monday Recipe 1: Peanut Butter Creamy Pie

Our first recipe is Peanut Butter Creamy Pie from a recipe book called "Centennial Cook Book", which was put together by Cheektowaga (NY) Community Baptist Church. It appears to be from 1994. Well, not exactly vintage but it certainly smelled vintage--nice and musty. I guess that's what happens when books spend an unspoken amount of years in the very back of a used bookstore. Here's the book:



The pie certainly wasn't musty. It was amazing!! It had a very rich, smooth peanut buttery taste. This taste contrasted very nicely with the graham cracker crust as well. The filling was also of a pleasingly thick consistency. The best part of this pie besides the taste is that it required very simple, easy to find and cheap ingredients!! It called for cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla flavoring, milk, powdered sugar, Cook Whip and the graham cracker pie crust. I had a lot of the ingredients already on hand, so all I had to really buy was the cream cheese, Cool Whip, and pie crust. Great deal!



Below is the making process...

Mixing the cream cheese and peanut butter. My measuring cup did not like the peanut butter one bit--it cracked right down the side.





Mixing the rest of the ingredients with the peanut butter and cream cheese. Might I say, that peanut butter and cream cheese together is the ultimate sit on the couch and eat treat--it's much better than ice cream.



Here are all the ingredients mixed together. I don't have a hand mixer at this time, so I had to mix it myself. It was a very thick batter so I ended up with very sore arms!



Spooning the very thick filling into the pie crust. I tried to pour it, but it was too thick to move. It also didn't want to come off the spoon, so I had to take big spoonfuls at once.



Got all the filling in, nice and evenly distributed throughout the crust. Swirled around the pie a few times with my spoon to make it look pretty.



I then put it in the refrigerator for about 4 or 5 hours (that's all my husband and I could stand waiting for it--we are total peanut butter nuts), and it came out gelled pretty solid. The color got a tiny bit darker too.



Ready to serve! I gave myself this special awesome cheese plate that I never get to use otherwise. Be careful when cutting it because the crust is very brittle. This is an awesome recipe to make for work parties or kids birthdays. It's easy to take places, and very quick to make! My pie took me about 15 to 20 minutes to make.

Mystery Meat Monday Retro Recipe Weekly Feature!

Introducing my Mystery Meat Monday Retro Recipe feature! I've got a huge collection of retro homemade cookbooks (the kind with the spiral binding that a lot of churches and organizations put together), and I will be cooking one recipe a week and publishing my results here on my blog! I've also always thought that those kind of cookbooks were like little time capsules and that we're missing out on a lot of tasty food by those recipes still being covered in dust.

My features will have plenty of pictures on the cooking process and a review of how each one tasted when it came out. These reviews will be honest not always flowery and congratulatory :)

Also be warned: I'm going to be choosing some off-the-wall recipes for my feature. Not ALL of them will be out of the ordinary, but many of them will be--what fun is it to keep making the same old thing time after time?

We'll start gently with a homemade take on peanut butter pie for the first week.

Now...ignore the "Monday" part...the recipes are all made on Mondays, but my little guy Cameron (he's almost a year old) doesn't like Mommy on the computer, so I have to find a half hour to steal and post. I will be posting one recipe & review a week, though, guaranteed.

A creamy and easy-to-make peanut butter pie will posted later today!

Making a Smart Business Card!

Sick of boring templates? I was too and thought it was time for a change from my Microsoft Publisher template-created business card. Ordering business cards was out of the question (I don't need to PAY for boring templates--especially the prices some of those companies want), but I still loved the smart and clean look of the business cards that a company called "Moo" makes. I also wanted to show off my products in the template. I futzed around with a few ideas and also happened to be posting my Etsy Mini on another website. A light bulb went off, and thus, my business cards were born!

Believe it or not, this uses Microsoft Word and the simple cut and paste function. Here's what you do:

1. Make an Etsy Mini by going to the "Your Etsy" section of Etsy. Make sure you have a few items featured in your shop (starred) to do this.

2. Make an Etsy Mini with the following specs:
A. Use items from your shop.
B. Use thumbnail pictures.
B. Make the Mini have 3 columns and one row.

3. Highlight the Etsy Mini that the system generates. Include the pictures and also where it says "Etsy" and your username right underneath the pictures.

4. Open up Microsoft Word (I use Word 2003), right-click and paste the mini into the blank Word document.

5. Erase all the text underneath the pictures, if there is anything there (it will say your item's description, your username, and price). There may not be anything underneath the pics, so if not, just skip this step.

6. In the pasted document, erase where it says Etsy, and type in your business name. Use an attractive but professional font and color--I used Cooper Black in a soft purple.

7. Now erase the next line (it will say your username) and type in your name. Format this text all nice like we did in step 6.

8. Type in the addresses to your shop, studio, Facebook...whatever site it is that you want to get seen. Format this to be the same font as the other lines.

9. Type in a description of what you do or a tagline about your business, if you like. I typed in what I sell, "recycled wallets, jewelry, & home decor".

10. Highlight the whole thing (pictures and text), right click and choose "copy", and paste this underneath the original so you have about 4 cards per sheet.

11. Save your document and print using some nice heavy cardstock! Cut neatly down the sides and between the cards. A guillotine cutter would be a great help in doing this (too bad I can never find mine).
*****Keep in mind, your document is a Word document and not a photo, so if you want to post your card online for some reason, you'll need to scan a card first and use the image of that scan.

This card also gives you the flexibility to change up the items on your card--just go back to Etsy and feature some new items in your shop and follow these steps again. I love making my cards this way. I've been making them this way since September and they really don't seem to take too much time or printer ink (and I have the ink hog kind of printers too--no fanciness here :)). If you want to save on ink, you can always print the text in black instead of color, but the color is one of the things that draws your eye into these cards, in my opinion.

Happy crafting!!

Just Say NO to Etsy Forum Reorganization!

I wasnt pleased to find out today that Etsy's forum reorganization plan is to continue. Important forums for critiques and techniques & materials are about to be shut down & converted to teams instead. This means in order to either get or give info you have to make a commitment to a team. I am part of many great teams but I dont think people should be required to do this simply to get information. It sounds like only exclusive people are allowed to get or give info which ruins objective speech in my opinion. Yes it's Etsy's site and they can do what they want with it, its just that actions like this ruin the free thinking advice that a lot of us on there like to use Etsy for.

Give It Up for Working Moms!!

I really think that working moms deserve a lot more credit than they are given. I, personally, am a working mom--I work full-time at an insurance company Monday through Fridays. My son is now 3 months old, and over that time and also during my pregnancy, I'm starting to sense that working moms are being penalized for having a job to have to go to, especially if you work the 9 to 5 shift. Very few doctors offices are open late or on Saturdays, many baby stores and boutiques are only open till 6 and only open a couple hours on Saturdays, most "Mommy and Me"-type classes and playgroups are only during weekday mornings or afternoons, and people just generally look down on women who just plain have obligations outside the home. That last one in particular is confusing because my logic thinks that with the economy being the way it is, this would be more commonly understood.

Working women need to be recognized for the awesome job they're doing in taking on two jobs--an occupation and motherhood. They need to be recognized for taking the initiative to get up every morning and to have to deal with being apart from their child so they can earn an income and bring their families the gift of financial security. Working also takes a huge emotional toll.

This is not to say that I look down on stay at home moms. I don't; I have a lot of respect for stay at home moms, because SAHM motherhood can be even harder than working when you get to the motherhood part of it. On my leave, I was pretty much a SAHM and it took an incredible amount of mental strength. I also didn't write this because I am a working mom and wanted pity, it's just that working is a huge, selfless sacrifice and it's time that every woman who does this gets a salute.

RIP Fabric Section @ Walmart Part II

Apparently the company had been in talks to get rid of their craft department for a couple years now. This at least dates back to 2008--at that time I found out through a purse group I belonged to on Yahoo that craft departments were disappearing at the other members' stores little by little. At that time, Walmart was saying they were getting rid of the craft department so they could replace it with a "Celebrations" department, which was supposed to be an expanded selection of party garbage (Ooops, I mean GOODS). I haven't really seen any of these departments in the stores I go to, seems like nowadays, they're just chucking the craft department to just get rid of it instead of replacing it with something else. The Super Center in Clarence, NY spontaneously kicked out its craft department just to leave an empty corner of the store where the staff just piles random boxes to be placed on shelves.

I talk to the ladies at my Walmart's craft department pretty often. The company is now moving towards having a small craft department with precut fabrics. Precut fabrics may not neccessarily be such a bad thing (especially if they keep the $5 bolt test program like they have now), but the way I've seen some of the precut stuff they have already there (again, not including the $5 bolts), we'll be paying a heck of a lot more than what we pay now, for the same fabric. One precut yard of some unlicensed graphic fabric ran for around $9. At that point, you're better off just going to either JoAnn's or even your local higher markup fabric store.

I'm tempted to go on a rant about how Walmart is becoming more and more useless of a store as the years go on, but I won't do this, though this is true in my area. I will say, though, that keeping the craft department would fit real good into their "Save Money, Live Better" motto they're promoting. What better way to save money than to make your own stuff?

RIP: Fabric Section @ Wal-Mart

Today I was at Wal-Mart for more zippers and stabilizer fabric for my clutches, and the fabric section was just a really sad sight. Yes, this was a different store than I usually go to as I was in a different section of town, but what I saw was a crafting graveyard. In case you don't know, Wal-Mart is eliminating most of its craft departments, so huge changes in the fabric sections are showing up in pretty much every store.

The huge fabric selection that this particular store used to have (I used to work there about five years ago) was reduced to one aisle crammed with bolts of unloved, expensive fabric. The real pathetic thing was that I saw Christmas fabric mixed in there, and usually when you see Christmas fabric you know it's a fire sale. No interfacing, no felt bolts, no plain colors...

The current store I go to is one of only two Wal-Marts in the area where the craft section is actually stocked and maintained. The company is also making more and more moves towards pre-cut fabric--OK if it's going to be as great of a price as their $5 bolts, I'm all for it, but that's probably just temporary so customers will get used to the precut fabrics idea. Then what happens, though, when you just need a tiny bit for a project? Another great thing about Wal-Mart is that they sell fabric remnants at great prices too.

It's getting to the point where there is only one fabric store left in my entire area--JoAnn's Fabric. There's also a couple quilting stores that sell fabric, but at $10 a yard for regular cotton fabric, that's prohibitively expensive. I love JoAnn's, but it's really not that great of a place to get fabrics from if you don't have the 40% off coupon, especially if its for business. I'm probably going to start looking for online suppliers...I've already found one for my jewelry on Etsy. I'm tired of the driving anyways :)

Dusting Off the Old Tapes...

Does anyone remember cassette tapes? You know, those square boxy-like things that had music on both sides? You could record your favorite song on the radio with em? I found myself dusting off a small stack I had last week when I was bored and wanted to see what I could successfully scan with my new scanner. I ended up doing that, and realized that those tapes had all sorts of funky designs on em. Even better was blowing up the image to the size of a sheet of paper, and playing with the image settings and such. The result? Check it out!!




So now I get to carry my wallet stuff in a giant tape!! I'm so excited. It's even got 4 pockets! I'll be making more of these in different sizes and with different shapes. A much smaller sized card wallet is in the works. Check it out at my shop;
http://www.etsy.com/listing/45186547/80s-grafitti-cassette-tape-clutch

Fringed Fleece Blanket Tutorial

Some call them fringe blankets, some call them knot blankets and some others call them plain old fleece blankets. Ever wondered how to make one? I developed this tutorial from my own special "recipe" of creating the blankets. I was a bit frustrated by having to ask for measurements at the fabric counter each time I would go to make these.

Measurements from these instructions will make a baby or cat-sized blanket. The blanket that is shown in the tutorial was made for my son-to-be. Larger blankets for adults or dogs are made in exactly the same way--just replace the baby measurements with the measurements listed at the end of the tutorial. Happy crafting!


1. Get two pieces of fleece that are about 1.25 yards in length.





2. Place the first piece of fleece FACE DOWN on your work surface. Place the second piece of fleece on top of the first piece with the design facing UP towards you. Line up the edges as best as you can.



3. Cut off any borders or rough edges from fleece. Cut edges so that top and bottom are somewhat even.

4. Measure a 3" square on each of the four corners of the fleece.



5. Measure 3" in from the edge of the fleece, and draw a line with crayon or marker at the 3" mark. Draw the line all the way down the side of the fleece.





6. To make the fleece fringe strips, measure 1" in from the side of the corner square. Mark with crayon. Repeat this all the way down the side of the fleece until you've reached the next corner's square.





7. Cut fleece up to the 3" line you drew in Step 5. Repeat this cut for all the lines you made in Step 6, all the way down the side until you reach the next corner's square.



8. Tie top fringe piece to bottom fringe piece using a DOUBLE KNOT. Double knotting is very important as it makes sure the fringe will not untie eventually with use. Repeat this step all the way down the side of the fleece for all the fleece strips.





9. Repeat steps 5-8 for all 3 remaining sides.

10. You're done, and you now have a warm & cuddly blanket! Unfortunately, these kind of blankets aren't really that photo-op friendly :(





MEASUREMENTS FOR ADULT\LARGE DOG BLANKETS:

-Use a 2.5-yard length of fleece for each side. (Step 1)
-Cut 4" corner squares on all four corners. (Step 4)
-Cut 4" into sides for the cut "baseline". (Step 5)
-Cut 1" wide fleece strips for fringe. (Step 6)