Crappy Craft Night

For the past six years, my sister and I have held an annual Crappy Craft Night in the week before Christmas. It's become one of my favourite nights of the year filled with friends, food, laughter, and -- of course -- crappy crafts.

Now, I've always been a crafty sort; my sister less so (though she does enjoy putting together model cars). And usually in my stocking, I would find a small craft kit to make an ornament at Christmastime. What I found about these craft kits is that they often were poorly conceived and assembled, with materials missing or incomplete instructions. Even as an accomplished crafter, it could be difficult to achieve the end result pictured on the package. I often ranted about this to friends and family.

Then one year, my sister happened to be in St. John's before Christmas and picked up a few children's craft kits at Michaels. We had a craft night in her living room, with a fire, some wine, and a few nibbles. We did more laughing than anything else as we assembled our crafts, realizing that no child could possibly successfully complete them (at least such that they resemble the package). In those early years, there was a strange penguin made of a gritty clay and some foam that never stayed together despite trying a variety of glues, a polar bear made of white pom poms, and wooden ornaments that you simply coloured with markers (the most successful of the lot). There was also this fellow:

This felt penguin, made by my sister, looks cute enough. But what you can't see is how the pieces of felt weren't cut to the right lengths (so that green band doesn't meet up in the back) and how the glue didn't actually hold the felt pieces together properly (so his red hat is partially open on the sides). That the jingle bell stayed on at all is a Christmas miracle.

Part of what made these early craft nights so funny was that my projects always seemed to work out, while my sister's were (at least in her opinion) utter failures. Of course, the kit was usually the problem, but I'm not sure my sister believed me when I said that.

For sheer entertainment value, we decided this had to become an annual event and began inviting friends to participate. Each participant was to pick out a child's Christmas craft kit and bring enough of that craft for everyone to make one. Purchasing the kits from dollar stores or the discount section of Michaels was strongly encouraged.

Over the years, we've made paper snowflakes, jingle bell snowmen, perler bead ornaments, felt Santas, decorated gift bags... The highlight of one year was the Makit and Bakit "stained-glass" ornaments that had to be baked in the oven so that the coloured plastic pieces melted together (the fumes nearly killed us).

For the fifth anniversary of Crappy Craft Night last year, we decided to decorate gingerbread houses using kits. The kits, of course, contained old, dried out royal icing and therefore were epic failures -- which only made the night better. I didn't have a kit, because I'd arrived home from Cape Breton so late that there were none left in Corner Brook (Trooper Ron drove me all around town, certain that we'd find one somewhere, but we were unsuccessful). I ended up buying the pieces for a train at Bulk Barn and making my own royal icing.

And this year -- 2017 -- we had a Crappy Craft Night: Paint Night Edition. We all followed a YouTube tutorial to paint a snowman (click here if you're interested in trying that out yourself). We bought crappy acrylic paint and brushes, and Trooper Ron made some impressive easels out of kindling in just 15 minutes, and we tested our abilities to follow the tutorial. There was a sense among some that the video was too advanced -- but everyone finished it and all of the paintings looked great in the end. It definitely was one of the more intense Crappy Craft Nights, though.

You see, it may just be Crappy Craft Night, but we're all pretty serious about it.

And the marker of a great CCN is when we laugh so much that my sister needs her Ventolin inhaler.

This is by far one of the best Christmas traditions ever and I can't wait for the next Crappy Craft Night, when we'll return to the original crappy kid's craft kit format!

Now I Understand Why Men Love Power Tools

I've been away from crafting and my blog for far too long. Maybe life got more busy than usual. Maybe I was travelling too much. Maybe my focus was on other ways of filling my "spare" time (what precious little of it exists). Maybe I just wasn't feeling inspired. But I still love the process of bookbinding and I renewed my interest in it recently when I stumbled upon a new material to use for covers.

My newest journal was inspired by a find in the trading zone in my building. Many of you will know that all sorts of gems can be found there if you visit it regularly and are quick to pounce on the good stuff. Lucky for me, I pass it everyday on my way out of the building and, since I often leave before 7am, I'm one of the first to pass it in the morning (which seems to be prime picking time). Now, I don't often take items from there (though I love decluttering and leaving stuff there), but once in a while something catches my eye and is worthy of being brought upstairs. I've happily claimed office supplies, labels, a few 1L Mason jars, some Christmas ornaments, and two juicers (I kept one and gave one to a friend who has been wanting one for a long time). On rare occasions, I've also found craft supplies there.

The craft supplies I found recently were thin, pre-cut pieces of wood from Michaels. Ok. Confession time. When I say "recently," I actually mean that I found them sometime in the past two years. I rediscovered them in February of this year while doing some organizing in my office. Among the pieces were two small plaques and three door hangers. I took them initially thinking that I would use them to practice wood burning. That never happened. And when I did see them again in February, I thought that the two plaques would make a nice set of covers for a notebook -- something a little more rustic, perhaps for a cottage. Instead of burning an image on one of them, I decided to pick up a wooden cutout from Michaels to give the cover some dimension. The anchor, purchased back in March or April, sat on my sideboard for a few months before I was so motivated to finish the intended project.

Now, back when I first got into wood burning (during the mono period), I decided that I needed a dremel-type tool for drilling small holes in the pieces of wood I was using. My parents gave me one for Christmas that year and I put it with my craft supplies, but a project for which it was needed never really materialized -- until about three weeks ago. I decided it was time to finish the anchor notebook and, of course, I would need to drill holes in the wooden covers to be able to stitch them onto the notebook. I unboxed the dremel-style tool and was thrilled to find that it had held its charge after more than a year (amazing, no?). I quickly marked off where the holes would go, clipped the two pieces together using binder clips, and drilled the holes.

What. A. Feeling. I now understand why men love power tools. The sound. The rpm. The power. This was far more satisfying than punching a hole through a piece of heavy cardboard using an awl and brute force. The bit passed through the two pieces of wood like they were butter. In the blink of an eye, I had perfect little holes through which to pass my binding needle. I felt triumphant as I lightly sanded the cover.

Next, I glued the anchor to the centre of one of the covers. I pressed it under heavy books for several hours before proceeding to be sure of a solid bond. Then, out on my balcony, I sprayed both covers with a matte clear coat. While that was drying, I prepared my paper.

I had seen a tutorial recently (again, a relative term -- sometime in the past six months) where the individual making a notebook put a different colour of paper on the outside of each signature and I decided this would work for the anchor notebook. I chose a seafoam green and prepared my folios and signatures. And then I sat down to stitch it together.

I have to say that it was much easier to stitch this notebook because the cover was so rigid. And I'm incredibly happy with the way that it turned out. I think there may be more in my future! Especially since it means using my dremel tool again!

Carrot Quiche

It's been a while since I've blogged. I've been busy with many other projects. And while I have been cooking and baking, none of the recipes have been from the Cream of the West Cook Book. I decided recently, however, that I needed to get back to it, and so I looked at the list of recipes I'd intended to try and picked one for this week.

I admit, carrot quiche doesn't necessarily sound all that appealing. And, believe it or not, I'm actually not a huge fan of carrots (though I do add them to soups and stews). I am, however, a quiche lover. It's great for lunch or supper, and it stores and reheats well. I've tried many different quiche combos in the past (broccoli, ham, sun-dried tomato, onion). The idea of carrot quiche was so foreign that I decided it was worth trying.

I didn't make the pastry myself -- that was too much work after a busy week of decluttering and reorganization (which is still in progress). Instead, I purchased a pie shell at Sobeys. I also decided that there was no reason why the carrots would have to be sliced (despite the recipe suggesting they be arranged "attractively" in the pastry), so I bought matchstick carrots (yes, a bit of a cheat or, as I like to call it, time-saver). My only other modification to the recipe was the addition of one small onion, sauteed in some olive oil. I anticipated that the carrots alone might be a bit bland and I also believe that onions make everything better. Reading the recipe, I was worried about the salt content, but decided not to alter the quantities.

The components came together quickly. While I boiled the carrots for 3 minutes, I mixed up the egg mixture and grated the cheese. The assembly took no time at all.

Following the recipe, I preheated the oven to 425F, but I actually baked the quiche for 35 minutes at 375F. Having made quiche in my oven before, I knew that would yield better results. Thirty-five minutes later, I removed the quiche from the oven and let it cool before carving it into 6 pieces for suppers and lunches this week.

The end result was as attractive as any quiche I've made. But how would it taste?

I tried my first piece for supper tonight. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared it might be. I consider it a pleasant supply. The salt balance was good and the cheese really complemented the carrots, which still had a little bite to them (thankfully -- I don't like mushy veggies). It could use a little more flavour, but the nutmeg was a nice addition. In the future, I might try it with a grated potato crust instead of the pastry.

For now, I'll rate it 7/10.

Beauty and the Beast

This month I was thrilled when a colleague shared a baking opportunity with me on Facebook. I hadn't heard of the All Fool's Night fundraiser held by the Cape Breton Regional Library. As part of it, there would be a silent auction featuring altered book art and books to eat. I immediately contacted the organizer to get the details.

Then I needed to choose a book to inspire my cake. I covered a lot of ground in my deliberations -- from Dexter to Ramona Quimby and Murder on the Orient Express to Shopaholic and The Telling Room to In Too Deep (those last two were a nod to my book club). In the end, I choose something popular now as a result of a new movie -- Beauty and the Beast. After reviewing several videos on YouTube and pins on Pinterest to inspire me, I determined that I would make a 9" contour vanilla cake filled with strawberry buttercream and covered in yellow rosettes to suggest Belle's dress. A few white pearls would be added for interest. The centerpiece would be an edible red rose under an acrylic dome if I could find one. I had less than two weeks to plan, prepare, and execute my design.

Naturally, I started with the red rose. I had read online that it was possible to make a rose out of fondant -- the instructions were on the Wilton site. I was skeptical, though. From my experience, the rose would need to be made out of gum paste. I tried making one with some fondant I had on had and my suspicions were confirmed -- fondant simply wouldn't do. I made a special trip to Michaels to purchase new gum paste, some pearls, and new red colouring. I was much happier with the results and made three gum paste roses, along with about eight leaves. I wanted to have back-ups in case something went wrong on the day of the assembly.

I then searched Dollarama for something that would work as a dome over the rose. Nothing seemed appropriate in terms of shape and size. I was getting ready to scrap that design and find a workaround. Luckily, while strolling through Walmart a few days later, I found an acrylic stemless wine glass in the seasonal section. It would be the perfect dome over the rose.

Then the worst part was ahead of me: I had to wait another six days before I could do anything else related to the cake.

On the afternoon before the fundraiser, thanks to a snow day, I baked my cake and levelled it. Since I expected to have some buttercream left over and I was having a few friends over for dinner on Saturday, I also baked four cupcakes. The next morning, I made a double batch of buttercream. I took out about 1 cup and mixed it with pureed strawberries -- and used that to fill the cake, which I'd cut into two layers. Then I dyed the remaining buttercream the yellow of Belle's dress and covered the cake with rosettes. I had seen online that the best way to add candy pearls is to throw them at the buttercream so that the pattern is random. This was hilarious and resulted in pearls all over the floor of my apartment -- but it did work. Finally, I added the rose and a few petals, and covered the rose with the acrylic dome, held in place by the buttercream.

I was very pleased with how the cake turned out. Hopefully it did well at the auction. I would have liked to go, but I was busy at home eating cupcakes with friends. :)