This Moment - Friday, August 20, 2010

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. Inspired by SouleMama.

"How to Preserve a Husband" - advice from 1969

I borrowed my Mom's 1969 edition of the Ball Blue Book over the weekend. Among some rather frightening recipes and instructions for home canning (smelt in tomato sauce, anyone?), I found this little bit of advice for "modern" homemakers:

How to Preserve a Husband

Be careful in your selection. Do not choose too young. When selected, give your entire thoughts to preparation for domestic use. Some wives insist upon keeping them in a pickle, while others are constantly getting them into hot water. This may make them sour, hard and sometimes bitter; even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender and good, by garnishing them with patience, well sweetened with love and seasoned with kisses. Wrap them in the mantle of charity. Keep warm with a steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream. Thus prepared, they will keep for years.

Something new from something old

I've been helping my mother clean out her attic and came across a box of odd dishes that belonged to my grandfather and and great-grandparents. I brought home two little custard cups because I liked the colors, but I knew I wouldn't use them for their intended purpose. I didn't want to just pack them back in a box, though, so I decided to make pincushions out of them.

I've seen lots of other pincushions made along the same lines but with teacups or small garden pots. They were really quick and easy to make.


To keep needles from sinking through to the bottom of the cup, I started out by cutting two cardboard circles big enough to fit in the cups about half an inch below the rims.


Next, I cut circles out of some scraps of quilt batting for the stuffing. Since my cups get wider at the top, I cut four the same size as the cardboard circle and four slightly larger for each cup. I just kept stacking them up and squishing them down until they seemed about the right thickness. I wasn't very scientific about it!


Time to pick out fabrics. The blue print is left over from making herbal comfort packs (like the ones here and here). The pink is from a thrifted sheet.


I cut a circle from each of the fabrics about twice as wide as my cardboard bases, then stitched around them by hand with a double thread to make a gathering thread. Next, I laid the fabric on my table right side DOWN and stacked the larger batting circles, then the smaller batting circles, then the cardboard circle on top.


I pulled the gathering thread tight and knotted it to make my cushion. See how the stack of batting squished down? It made a nice, firm cushion but not too dense to stick pins in.


Finally, I added a couple beads of hot glue around the bottom of the cushion (along the edge where the cardboard is) and popped them into the cups.


Aren't they cute? I gave the blue/green one to my sister and kept the pink one for myself. I love having a little bit of family history on my work table!

Cleveland Handmade giveaway: Stoneware Buttons from CMS Designs

Every week Cleveland Handmade has a giveaway to spotlight one of their members and thank all their wonderful supporters and customers. It's a great opportunity to win some lovely items and check out the high-quality handmade art in their member shops. Entry is easy - full rules at the Cleveland Handmade web site.


This week's giveaway is for a set of stoneware buttons from CMS Designs. These would be great for crafters or sew-ers!

My 15 minutes of fame

Audrey from Audrey's Country Crafts was nice enough to feature my Etsy shop on her giveway site. She did a very nice question-and-answer style interview and she's offering lots of ways to enter to win my new Spa-aaah Gift Set. Check it out at Audrey's Give Away Blog. And, of course, check out all her other great giveaways while you're there!

Sweet Tidings giveaway: Some very non-traditional fragrances!

Blogger Sweet Tidings is sponsoring a Valentine's Day giveaway for a five-vial fragrance sampler from The Poison Apple Apothecary. They have an awesome collection of scents with names like "Bloodlust," "Scorned," "Death by Sugar" and "Burial Bouquet." The full descriptions of the scents make a very entertaining read! These would make a great Valentine gift for your non-traditional sweetie, or even an anti-Valentine's day gift for yourself or a Cupid-boycotting friend.


Personally, I think I'm going to have to give this one - called "Gwyllion" a try!

Valentine's Day challenge: Shopping for a good cause

With so much in the news about Haiti and fundraising efforts, I did a bit of sleuthing on Etsy to see what other causes shop owners support. A search for "fundraising" brought up 1,771 results for products ranging from jewelry, t-shirts, and notecards to baked goods and teddy bear. And the causes and organizations they support are just as diverse: adoption organizations, support groups for parents who have lost children, Haiti relief, animal shelters, cancer research and camps for disabled children, just to name a few.


Closer to home, a co-worker is raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with her shop, Team in Training. That's her Curvy Pop-Tab Purse in the photo above. And fellow Cleveland Handmade team member JMT Glassworks supports a different animal rescue group each month through the sales from her shop.

With so many items and causes to choose from, I'll bet you could find a Valentine's Gift your sweetie would love AND support his or her favorite charity or cause at the same time!

At a loss for gift ideas?

This is a great post by Scoutie Girl: "A Dude's Guide to Shopping Handmade". It's written for guys shopping for Valentine's Day gifts, but there are some great tips here for anyone who's ever felt at a loss for unique gift ideas for any holiday.

Cleveland Handmade giveaway: felted scarf from Knitgrrl Studio

Every week Cleveland Handmade has a giveaway to spotlight one of their members and thank all their wonderful supporters and customers. It's a great opportunity to win some lovely items and check out the high-quality handmade art in their member shops. Entry is easy - full rules at the Cleveand Handmade web site.



This week's item is 100% one-of-a-kind wet felted scarf made from fine local Great Lakes–area wool, created by Knitgrrl Studio. Check it out!

Long overdue update

The holiday craziness seemed to spill right over into January. Whew! I feel like I'm finally getting back into a semi-normal routine. I made some shop updates yesterday and posted some new items. Any of these would make nice Valentine's Day gifts - drop a hint or two to your sweetie!


Spa-aaaah Gift Set includes a small herbal comfort pack, lavender eye mask, terry bath mitt and soothing Lavender Bath Salts.


Bath Salt Sampler/Gift Set - includes one 2-ounce container of each of my bath salt blends: soothing Lavender, energizing Citrus, refreshing Candy Cane, calming Lavender/Rose Geranium and Lavender Lemongrass. Each container is enough for two baths.


Bath Salt Mini Sampler/Gift Set - Your choice of any three bath salts in a 2-ounce trial size.

There are lots more new products in the works!