It seems in my house that October kicks off the holiday season. I start to get in the mood, the kids start to ask for too many things for Christmas and my Hubby is already asking about the menu for Thanksgiving. (Please tell me this happens in your house, too) Stores have a full stock of pumpkins ready to be carved and lit. But I’m still not quite ready for a Jack-o-Lantern yet.

Flipping through this months EveryDay with Rachael Ray magazine I came across a nice way to begin adding Autumn to my house, without too much Halloween inspiration. Pumpkin? Check. Cinnamon? Check. Over the weekend we went to our local U-Pick farm and I selected a smallish pumpkin. When we got home I began cutting and scooping and carving (and baking those yummy seeds). My husband shook his head as my kids squished “guts” between their fingers.

I cut some ventillation holes near the top of my ‘kin and rubbed the inside with ground cinnamon. (I never said this was clean!) I popped an unscented tea-light inside the pumpkin and I’ve enjoyed the smell of Autumn.

Things needed:

• Small-Medium Pumpkin-I put mine on the kitchen table, so I picked a smaller ‘kin
• Carving Tools (or Hubby’s favorite steak knife)
• Ground Cinnamon
• Tea-Light

Cut and remove the top of the pumpkin. Removed seeds and guts. Make sure to scrape the sides clean, you don’t want any strands hanging and make sure the bottom is scraped flat for the tea light. Rub the inside with ground cinnamon. I wasn’t too liberal with the cinnamon, I wanted a good mix of both scents. Insert tea light and enjoy.

Photo Credits: Photo by Jonathan Talbot, World Resources Institute, 2006 & MarthaStewart.com

Trysha runs her own special kind of crazy over at Toasted.

I’m back with another digital scrapbooking project idea for the kitchen, a mini kitchen guide that you can make with digital scrapbooking products quickly and easily! But first some background…

One day I was (yet again) going through every one of my cookbooks in search of some cooking substitution or other. After wasting a good 10 minutes going through my cookbooks, I finally gave up and log onto the computer to Google it instead. This is not the first time I’ve wasted time looking for a little bit of kitchen info that I just can’t remember when I need it. So I came up with the idea of making a little kitchen guide to fill with all those little tidbits of info I’m always needing while I’m cooking and baking.

My first task was to compile a collection of all of the little bits of kitchen info I’m always in need of plus a few extras just in case. Next I decided on a size, I wanted something small and handy so I chose to make it into a badge album. I purchased some badge holders at Staples and a loose leaf ting to hold it all together. Then I chose a digital scrapbooking kit to pretty it up with - I used Backyard Blooms kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow.

Using the kit I pasted a paper background onto the badge insert size documents, added some flowers, ribbons and tag elements to them. Some of the elements required resizing, rotating and croping to get them to look just right. Then using the text tool I added the kitchen info, choosing just the right fonts and font sizes. This was all done using a photo editing program such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Then it was time to have some fun and create some cute little cards to fit the badge holders. I typed up all of my handy kitchen info and prepared to print! The sizes were small enough to print 2 cards per 4×6 photo paper so once they were done I copied and pasted them by 2s on 4×6 image files. Saved as jpg.s and printed them! I like to print at my local Walmart on matte photo paper, for a 4×6 print it only costs me about $0.20 each.

All that was needed to finish them up once they were printed was to cut the cards out, slide them into badge holders and thread them all onto the ring. And just like that I had a mini kitchen guide that I keep handy on a hook in my kitchen!

Now for some eye candy, here are a few photos of my finished Mini Kitchen Guide:

And here is the kind of info you will find in my mini kitchen guide:

• A steak (temp & time) cooking chart
• Oven temperature conversions
• Measurement equivalents
• Freezer storage times
• Emergency substitutions (liquid, dairy & seasonings)
• Homemade seasoning mix recipes

I love my mini kitchen guide, it’s small and handy, it’s not bulky yet it’s got some cute scrapbooking elements on the design, and it’s protected from spills in the kitchen by being in those little badge holders! I love it!

So what have you scrapped lately?

I’ve been addicted to digital scrapbooking since 2005, scrapping anything I can… desktop backgrounds, my blog design, greeting cards, wall art, recipe cards and of course layouts! You can find more scrapbooking inspiration and information on my regular blog, Monique’s Scrappin’ Blog and if you’re on Facebook feel free to join me there too! And please join me in the Creative Bliss forum to talk about what else… scrapbooking!

Before my daughter was born, I was aimlessly walking around in a fabric store when an elderly clerk struck up a conversation. I mentioned that I wanted to make some things to use when my baby arrived. She suggested making receiving blankets because the commercial ones are never big enough.

I made a few of these blankets that very afternoon. Each one cost less than $3 because I got the flannel on sale.

Here’s how to make your own flannel receiving blankets:

Materials

• Two yards of baby flannel. I like to use two different but coordinating prints, but you can use whatever you like.
• Coordinating thread

Preparation

1. The first step is to ask the girl at the fabric counter to cut two one-yard pieces of the flannel. If you’re using two different fabrics, it’s obvious. But if you’re using two pieces of the same flannel, the clerk might not be willing to cut it in two pieces. Ask anyway.
2. Wash and dry the fabric. Iron if necessary to remove any big wrinkles.
3. Place a one-yard piece of flannel, right side up, on a smooth, flat surface. Lay the second piece of flannel, right side down, on top of the first.
4. Pin the layers together every inch or so, the whole way around. In the sake of full disclosure, I’ll admit that I always skip this step. I shouldn’t, but I always do.

Sewing

1. Begin sewing in the middle of one side. Do not start at a corner! It seems like a corner would be a good place to start, but you’re going to have to turn the whole blanket right side out later and an unsewn corner will fall apart and give you a big headache. Using a straight stitch and a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew to the first corner. Without cutting the thread, turn and sew the second side, then the third. Stop, turn, and sew some of the fourth side. Leave a hole in the fourth side large enough to put your fist through.

   

2. Turn the blanket right sides out. Use your finger or the blunt end of a pen to poke the corners out into points. Look at my two example photos. The corners won’t be perfect and pointy, but that’s okay. Smooth the edges out with your fingers or press them so that they’re really flat.
3. Locate the hole where you turned the blanket. Pin this together so that the edges stay tucked inside while you’re finishing the blanket.
4. Next, sew around the edge of the blanket a second time. Do not start on side one this time, as that will weaken the seam on that side. As long as you start on side two, three, or four, it won’t matter whether you start in the middle of the side or on the corner.



5. Start sewing, using a very small seam allowance, 1/8” if you can. Like before, don’t cut the thread until you’ve gone the whole way around. You will want to back stitch at the beginning and end of the seam. Look at the blankets in my photos to see examples of this seam.

That’s it. Your blanket is finished. Wasn’t that blissfully easy?

Variations

• If you follow my directions exactly, your blanket will be 36 inches by 45 inches, a nice big rectangle.
• If you would rather have a square blanket, cut the end off to make a 36 inch by 36 inch square.
• If you want your blanket to have rounded corners (instead of square, semi-pointy ones), you could trace a dinner plate or CD at each corner and cut along the curved line.
• If you want the blanket to have a fancy, satin, or lace edge, you could buy a pack of blanket edging at the fabric store. Lie it in between the  two layers of blanket in step 3 of the preparation. If you do that, you’ll definitely have to use pins in step 4 of the prep.
• Rather than using a matching thread, you can use a contrasting thread to give the edges an extra detail. I did that in my sample blanket above. You could use a zigzag stitch to finish the blanket or, if your sewing machine has fancy stitches programmed in, you could use one of those for a fun edging. Place it 1/4” to 5/8” from the edge of the blanket.
• If you want a heavier weight blanket, use a layer of flannel with a layer of fleece, or sew a layer of fleece in between the two layers of flannel.

Next week, I’m going to show you how to follow this same procedure to make your own diaper changing pad. It’s just as easy, you’ll see.

Inspired? Please share your thoughts and your blankets in the comments below or over in the forum. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Tara is a freelance writer/editor and high school teacher who prides herself on being a little crunchy and a lot quirky. She loves food, photography, and crafts, but really Feels like home when she’s being silly with her husband and their toddler.

Have you noticed the whole knitting craze? I have. And I’ve been confused by it. Partly because I’ve always thought crocheting was easier and more versatile! (I’m no expert on either for the record, you have to talk to my mother for that).

First: To crochet you only need ONE hook (and it won’t jab your 2 year old while you are using it, and TSA won’t haul you away for attempting to bring one on a plane). Knitting uses TWO long pointy needles. And do you know what my 4 year old can do with innocent sticks in the yard? Imagine him with these babies?

Second:  When knitting you hold ALL the stitches on your row on one needle and then with each stitch you transfer all those stitches to the second needle. Serious potential for lost stitches when any of them slip off!

Last:  In order to start a crochet project you make a loop and chain away.  To start a knitting project?  There’s this whole ‘casting on’ business and it’s a lot like cat’s cradle!  I swear you can learn it, but ONLY if someone is sitting right next to you, helping you the whole time.

Photo by OlivePress

I realize my opinion doesn’t matter, and that this knitting craze just keeps gaining speed.  So, if you can’t beat em….?

{I recently started an afghan.  I wanted to crochet it.  But the yarn wouldn’t cooperate; it was the fluffy nubbly kind ya know?  So…off to my mother’s house…yup, figure out how to knit an afghan!}

Oh well.  Besides.  THESE are amazing…

Photo by Alheard

Photo by 40333775@N00

 Carissa writes @ GoodandCrazyPeople and Crafts @ ApricotALot

This year, Coats and Clark is partnering with the Special Olypmics to provide each of the 5,000 athletes at the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Idaho with a hand crafted white and delft blue scarf. So, you want to help out, right?

Scarves can be made using the free patterns that Coats and Clark has provided, or you may use your own. The only requirement is that scarves are knit or crocheted by hand using delft blue (885) and white (311) Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

Easy enough, right? I think I’ll knit up a scarf or two to send along to these dedicated athletes. How about you?

More information can be found at the Coats and Clark Website.

Rhiannon lives in her own pink world and blogs at Rhi in Pink. She also knits things especially for you at her Etsy Store, See Rhi Knit.