Shut the front door!

It's suddenly kinda cold around here.

So I figured I'd boil up some sugar and dunk some fresh Ohio apples in it.

Oh yeah, I'm talkin' about boilin' down that sugar til it's golden, stirring for what seems like hours, watchin' the red line in the candy thermometer slowly crawl up to the magic number.

HOMEMADE CARAMEL APPLES, BABY!

This isn't my recipe.  It comes from Cooking Light Magazine. I'm a big fan of Cooking Light. I particularly like to buy the books they publish at the end of the year with the whole year's worth of recipes and NO ADS. Each one has an index so you can search by type of food or ingredient.

A link to the recipe is here.

Here's what you need to know about this recipe that is not mentioned in the instructions.

Use a good heavy-bottom or anodized aluminum pan, something that conducts heat well and evenly. Sugar and cream can burn or over flow easily. The heavy pan will help you manage the process. But importantly, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THIS while it's boiling.

If you are not an experienced candy-maker--and I am not--you'll need every ounce of patience you can muster. Once the sugar and cream mixture gets to a certain temperature, the rise in temperature slows down considerably. What the recipe says takes about 45 minutes actually took more than an hour. And at some point you might be saying to yourself, "For cryin' out loud this is never going to get to 235 degrees!"

But it will, it will. You just have to be patient. Don't turn up the heat to try to speed up the process. My electric burner was only on "3" at the end boiling stage, maintaining a good rolling boil, requiring moderate stirring, not boiling over, but eventually reaching that thick consistency we all know an love.

Then as soon as it reached 235 degrees Fahrenheit, I transferred it to my old aluminum double boiler because it's narrow and deep and it worked great for dipping the apples.

The recipe said it would do 16 small apples. It did 10 medium size apples.

I chopped up peanuts, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to dip them in. I dipped some in one topping, and I dipped a few in all three toppings. Of course the fatty toppings make up for the fact that it's a low fat Cooking Light recipe. As I think I've mentioned, I live to eat!

I'm falling down drunk at the following parties:

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Ironstone Nest Transformation Tuesday
Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got
Skip to My Lou Made by You Monday
The Dedicated House Make it Pretty Monday

Was that a bird?

Additional musings about my particular crazy crafting style . . . while I show off my bleach pen project.

I like to have many different projects going on because lots of different kinds of things interest me and I don't like to be bored. As such, it doesn't bother me to go from one thing to the next fairly quickly. Like, how I am in the middle of cleaning my house and I get a hair up my butt about trying these Clorox bleach pen t-shirt graphics.

However, because I have so many projects going on all the time, I often think I need more focus in order to follow through on any given task. Such thoughts lead to spurts of motivation in which I make lists (as you've seen from a previous post), prioritize my projects, and clean and organize work areas.

These efforts lead to very clear-headed and decisive thinking in which I plan, for instance, exactly how many necklaces I'm going to make and exactly what they will look like, which beads to use, what findings, what the color schemes will be, etc.

Then the day comes to make the necklaces and something happens.

No, on second thought, not just something, but lots of things happen.

For instance, I put the beads together that I had planned on using and decide suddenly that the whole idea sucks and I need to re-work it. So I go in a totally different direction after spending all that time planning.

Or, halfway through the necklace I get an idea about some earrings to make and I stop to make them instead of finishing the necklace.

Or, before I even start the necklace I had planned on making, another completely different idea pops into my head because I'm thinking of someone in particular and designing with that person in mind.

These shirts were made while I was supposed to be cleaning my house, packing, and preparing to leave for my 2-month stay on Block Island. I had seen this idea on Pinterest from The Next Bird and I'd been wanting to try it for some time. She revitalized stained clothing by creating a graphic to cover the stain using a Clorox bleach gel pen.

The shirts I used had stains on them also. One was a bleach stain, the other were various stains because I'm a sloppy eater with big boobs and food just tends to land there. But these were favored shirts and I didn't want to get rid of them.

So I created several designs that would cover or mask the existing stains.

These are cotton shirts, which will bleach out easily, unlike a 50/50 shirt. A couple of them have 5% spandex, but that doesn't seem to matter. The long sleeveless one has a cotton knit top and cotton linen bottom. The loose weave of the bottom part created a lot of bleed on the bleach design, but I still love the end result.

This was taken a couple minutes after applying the bleach.
You can see my pen drawing of the design in the upper right-hand corner of this pic..

I highly recommend practicing your design on paper before taking bleach pen to cloth.

I used a double layer of terrycloth between the front and back of the shirt to prevent the bleach from bleeding through to the back of the shirt. I let the bleach pen graphic sit for 30 minutes before throwing the whole thing, terrycloth and all, into the wash. By the time I washed them, the bleach had done its magic and was practically dried up, so there was no transfer of bleach pen gel to the back or to the other shirts while in the wash (I washed all the shirts together, believe it or not).

Staying focused is good for some things, like making lists, planning, and organizing. And sticking to one's plan is good in some instances. But when it comes to creating, sometimes being easily distracted brings about wonderful twists and turns in the creative process. If I am too tied to the outcome I had planned on, I could miss an opportunity to let something spontaneous creep into the creative process, to look at a bold color choice, to create a piece that is a-symmetrical, to come up with a new earring design on the spur of the moment, or to create some fun new shirts when I should be cleaning and packing.

In other words, when I am creating, I have to remember to . . . . look, there's a bird!





I am on the coast and partying at:
Kathe with an E Anything Goes
Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got
Kammy's Korner Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Skip to My Lou Made By You Monday
C.R.A.F.T. Making Monday Marvelous
Singing Three Little Birds Inspire Me Monday
The Ironstone Nest Transformation Tuesday
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Beez Rental Designs Frugal Treasures Tuesday
Centsational Girl Pinterest Challenge
Full Circle Creations All Star Block Party
Saavy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Made in a Day Made You Look Linky
Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday
Primp Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday
Days of Chalk and Chocolate Link Party
The Shabby Next Frugal Friday
504 Main Tickled Pink
My Repurposed Life Catch as Catch Can

Come see me at The Thrifty Groove!

I'm honored to be guest posting over at The Thrifty Groove today.

I was in Newport, Rhode Island at the end of May and found this fabulous consignment shop called Closet Revival. Go over and check out my post at The Thrifty Groove and leave Diann a nice comment so she can feel your love and support.

Diann is busy with her business in the summer and that's why she's asked some of us to guest post for her. I am more than happy to be a part of that since I'm all about thrifting and second-hand shopping, and since Diann's blog is full of thrifty inspiration.

Thanks again, Diann, for the opportunity!

What will you give me for it?

If you are like me and you go to a lot of garage sales, eventually you end up with a lot of stuff in your basement, garage and attic that you no longer use because you've replaced it with cool stuff you got at a garage sale.

Rented child loading wagon

Soooooo . . . . . . .

Time to have a garage sale and clean out my basement and garage so I can make room for more stuff.

Here's my short list of how to best go about preparing for your next garage sale.

1.  If you don't have one or more of your own, rent or borrow a small child who can do labor for you. Mine is 11 years old. She's my niece. She can't carry a lot, but she is really good at painting signs, cleaning, pricing, making displays, and counting money. Less work for me. Plus, she gets to sell stuff and make some money.

Rented child merchandising her own products

2.  Put out a good Craigslist ad. Garage sale junkies like me depend on Craigslist to find the best sales. A good Craigslist ad should list a lot of the items you are selling so people (like me) can decide if it is worth it to make the trip to your house. Ideally, you should be posting your Craigslist ad sometime in the week before your sale.

3. Pre-pricing. To price or not to price your items. My niece and I, we like to put price tags on things. What's a garage sale if you can't go to the drug store, buy some little stickers and adhere them to anything that's not tied down? Even so, when things are priced, people will still ask what you want for it. The lesson here: people want to haggle at garage sales. So even if you are pre-pricing, take that into consideration and give yourself some room to negotiate. People are always happier if they feel like they're gettin' a deal. I know I am.

4.  Pickers like to pick. Since I am totally drawn in by visual gorgeousness, I have to at least put some pretty displays out near the street because I believe it draws people in. But remember that "pickers" are often people drawn to chaos and the idea that they might dig through some things to find a treasure. So while you might do a little merchandising, leave a few things in boxes for the pickers to pick through.

5. Don't forget to have some change on hand. You want to be able to take people's cash immediately and give them change back if necessary.

6. Relax. Having a garage sale--much like going to them--is an opportunity to connect with fellow pickers. Maybe stock a cooler with bottled water to offer people if it's a hot day. Plan to hang out, sit and chat with your neighbors, who will undoubtedly stop by and maybe even buy something.

bootie one of my neighbors bought

7. Prepare yourself for failure. Nobody sells everything at a garage sale, not even you with your circa 1989 wok and your 1980s fishnet scarf with the knots on the ends (oops, that was me, not you). I plan a 1-DAY SALE ONLY, and then just put the leftover stuff in the back of the Jeep and head to Goodwill. But even before I get that far. I'll pile up the stuff that's going to Goodwill right near the curb, stick a FREE sign on it and see what happens. I live in the city, so there's free-style curbside pickin' goin' on all the time.



It's a hot one today, so we didn't get a lot of traffic, but so far I've taken in over $100, so that doesn't suck!

Happy pickin' y'all!

It's my birthday and I'm partying at:

Ladybird Lane Weekend Show Off Party
My RePurposed Life Catch As Catch Can 77
Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday
All Things Fee Calling All Crafters
C.R.A.F.T. Making Monday Marvelous
Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got
Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Today's Creative Blog Get Your Craft On
Beez Rental Designs Frugal Treasure Tuesday
Singing Three Little Birds Inspire Me Monday
Saavy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
From My Front Porch to Yours Treasure Hunt Thursday
Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday
Made in a Day Made You Look Linky
No Minimalist Here Open House Linky Party
The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday
The Thrifty Groove Thrifty Things Friday

Block Island bound!

This is my first attempt at posting from my phone, but I couldn't wait to share my news.

I've been in Rhode Island for the last 10 days visiting friends, including a few days on Block Island, a tourist island off the coast where I used to live.

While I was there, I visited some gift shops and showed some pics of the jewelry I've been making.

It's one thing to show your handmade pieces to friends and family. They love you and always say such generous things. But when we take that step out into the world and show other people what we do, what we lovingly spend our time crafting, pouring our soul and heart into, it becomes a totally new adventure.

Remember the first time somebody commented on one of your posts? It's such a great feeling. It spurs you on to the next project.

If you are already in the retail business with your handmade creations, maybe you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, here's how it played out.

I walk into this adorable shop on Block Island. The proprietor is a lovely woman named Mary who has filled her shop with beautiful over-sized beach bags made of oil cloth or woven from jute, coastal accessories for vacation homes sitting atop old distressed wooden display cabinets and tables, and bright print sun dresses and summer scarves gently blowing in the breeze all around the front door. A gorgeous little shop.

I approached Mary to talk about the jewelry I've been making. I showed her a few pieces I had brought and she didn't seem too excited. She was polite though and said I could send her some pics by email and she'd let me know.

Then I showed her the pictures you see here of my new coastal-themed ceramic pendants, and I could see her expression change and her eyes get wide. She said her customers would definitely be interested in them.

And I found myself floating on air. It was all I could do to stay focused and talk with her further. But she gave me some good ideas on how I could complete the necklaces for fast sales in her shop and we are going to communicate further about how many pieces she wants and how much she'll pay.

I left there feeling like a million bucks. Me and my little ceramic pendants! In one of the nicest shops on Block Island! What a great feeling!

I'm going to clink glasses with the women who command the following:

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday

Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party

Primp Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

No Minimalist Here Open House Party

Today's Creative Blog Get Your Craft On

Not Just a Housewife Show Me What Ya Got

Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday

From My Front Porch to Yours Treasure Hunt Thursday

Embracing Change Creative Inspiration

All Things Fee Calling All Crafters

Uncommonly Yours Linky Party

Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday
Ladybird Lane Weekend Show Off
Skip to My Lou Made by You Monday
C.R.A.F.T. Making Monday Marvelous
Our Delightful Home Show Me What Ya Got
Full Circle Creations All Star Block Party

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Where's Waldo?

Waldo, Ohio, that is.

The boyfriend and I were out free-style pickin' yesterday. Yesterday was the perfect day for a drive. The sun was out, the temperature was moderate. We decided on a general route, a 2-mile hike to take halfway through the journey, put the dog in the back seat and headed out.

Our route was dictated by our lunch destination.

The sleepy little town of Waldo, Ohio is not much more than a spit in the road. It's located alongside what is considered the main north and south route running right through Columbus, Ohio--state route 23. Travel north out of Columbus, through the sprawling bedroom community of Delaware, Ohio, en route to Marion, and--if you blink you'll miss it--Waldo, Ohio lies between Delaware and Marion, Ohio.

Why Waldo, you ask?

Because if you Google Waldo, Ohio, the second thing that pops up is a review of Waldo's G&R Tavern, a humble little tavern, much like many other taverns in many other small towns in our state. Humble outside, humble and unassuming inside.


(buffetbuster photo)

One significant distinction puts this tavern on the map in Waldo, Ohio and is the reason for the food review on Roadfood.com that pops up when you google Waldo, Ohio.

The fried bologna sandwich.

Oh yes, you heard me. Fried Bologna Sandwich. And this is not the pathetic little fried bologna those of us who grew up in Ohio had to eat in our school cafeterias during the 60s and 70s. No, this is the G&R Tavern's house made bologna, sliced 3/4 inch thick, topped with cheese, sweet pickles, and onion.

So before I regale you with photos of all my great free-style pickin' finds yesterday, here's some mouthwatering pics of G&R Tavern's famous FRIED BOLOGNA SANDWICH.

Plus, fried pickles and fried cauliflower on the side. If you don't like deep fried sides, this may not be your kind of place. They also had some pretty hefty pieces of cream pie, but we'll have to do that another time. We were both completely stuffed once we devoured the sandwiches, the cauliflower, and the pickles.

Stay tuned for pics and tales of free-style pickin' in rural Ohio.