DIY Holidays: 2 Sweet Ornaments to Make With Kids!

The 1st ornament is a “make your own necklace” kit and the 2nd is a sweet keepsake of hand-written-well-wishes for a loved one (in our case, Grandma 🙂 )

Both of our holiday ornaments are made with clear, empty bulb ornaments that we purchased from a craft store for 50 cents each.

The well-wishes ornament was made simply by using an old scrap of Christmas paper.  Any paper will work!

We cut the wrapping paper into strips.

Write sweet, personal messages on the strips (use at least 2 per ornament) and gently feed them into the bulb.  Pop the top on and add a little tag. Captain’s tag reads “Well-wishes for Grandma”. Her little messages on the strips of paper are very dear. One wish was to “come and visit me a whole bunch!” These are so incredibly easy to make, and each one can be quite personalized.

The 2nd ornament is a “make your own necklace” kit for a friend of Captain’s. She filled the bulb with an assortment of beads, then we added some lengths of cord, and little ends, so that her buddy can make a couple of necklaces. Add a festive little tag and you’ve got a sweet gift for a craft-lover. (We cut out a small paper round and added some edging with a red fine point Sharpie).

We were inspired by Heather at Green Eggs and Goats. She and her daughter filled a bulb with lovely feathers!

Today is a perfect day for doing some crafting here at The Cabin. The snow is falling again, and after playing outside, it feels so good to be indoors getting ready for the holidays.

Do you have any ideas for filling the clear bulbs? We would love to hear about them here on Kartwheels. Have a most wonderful day….

Cheers! Karen

Grain Mills and Flour Milling: Self-Sufficiency and Frugal Living Class, #1:

There is nothing like the smell of fresh bread baking in a cabin in the forest… but to mill my own flour with my daughter and see it all the way through to bread just warms my homesteading heart. Lets get milling! Thanks to This Path Less Traveled and big, yeasty cheers… Karen

This Path Less Traveled...

Today, it is my goal to hopefully answer all of your questions regarding grain mills and flour milling–why to mill your own flour, what type of mill to choose, what grain mills are easily available (and all about each one’s specifications and capabilities), common grains that you can mill and how to use what you produce, with recipes galore!

Let’s begin, shall we?

First up, why to mill your own flour—

As you more than likely know, there is a large difference between refined, commercial flour and that which you mill yourself. Commercial flour (that you buy in the store) has all of the “good bits” of the wheat/grain taken out of it, like the nutrient-rich germ, and the remaining endosperm is then ground into flour. Why would a company choose to remove the best, and most nutritious part of the wheat and grain?…

View original post 2,152 more words