The Health Benefits of Eating Pumpkin Seeds

With the taste of the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie still fresh in my mind and a few pieces of last week's batch of pumpkin-seed brittle still floating around on the counter top, I suppose it's no wonder that I'm still thinking pumpkins. Specifically I'm thinking about pumpkin seeds and the many tasty, yet very healthy benefits they provide. They're really a little miracle snack.

Pumpkin seeds often mimic nuts in their nutrition content. Whereas nut allergies are common, however, allergies to pumpkin seeds are very rare. This makes them a great substitute for people who are sensitive to nuts but still want the health benefits.

Transforming a Room with Color

A little color can go a long way. It can turn a hum-ho room into a bright and happy place. Here I redo the window, bed, and dresser in this room, giving them a splash of color to make them pop. The Buddhist style motif was inspired Inara's lavish shuttle decorations in Firefly. A little bold color goes a long way to making the room seem energized with life.

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Thoroughly enjoying my time off from getting ready for craft shows and changing instead to holiday mode. And what's the first thing we all think of when it comes time to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday? Food of course!

I generally suck as a cook (really I do, ask anyone who's ever eaten some of my mysterious culinary NON-delights), but once in a while I find that rare recipe that I'm actually good at (usually something in the area of baking that contains some sort of dough). So I recently stumbled upon a recipe for pumpkin-seed brittle. I must say, the stuff is delish! (and easy enough that even I can cook it).

How to Tie a Perfect 6-loop Bow

A bow is a pretty basic need in crafting, but sometimes a perfect bow can be an elusive item, especially when it involves multiple loops. The trick is to use wire-edged ribbon, as it allows you to bend the loops into any shape. That and a little twisting, and you've got an easy, perfect bow. I use these on wreaths and centerpeices and sometimes even on wrapped gifts if I want to make them look extra fancy.

Website Redesign

Well the markets ended in October and tomorrow is my last craft show of the year (The PTSA Holiday Show 9:00AM - 3:30PM). It's actually a bit of a welcome reprieve. Now I can go and start catching up on that ever-extending to-list that just seems to spiral out of control during the busy summer months. At the top of my list is reconstructing my website. (Yes, I'll admit to being slightly OCD when it comes to my website's design, but hey, I think it's been over a year since I redesigned it, so I did pretty well in containing my desire to trash it and restart.)

Craft Show this Saturday

I'll be at the PTSA Holiday Show Saturday with my crafts and photography. 9AM-3:30PM



Wheat Weaving: Easy Harvest Braid

Autumn time is usually when I start getting heavily back into the wheat weaving, but thought I'd start with something simple. A harvest braid is very traditional wheat weaving. It's also very easy, as the "hair braid" is the only plait you'll be needing. The trick to making this braid look good is to ensure the straws all stay in the same order and remain flat as you're weaving, otherwise it tends to look messy.

Christmas Comes AFTER Thanksgiving

I'm a person who loves all the seasons, and especially loves them in order, but lately it seems as though Christmas is getting earlier and earlier every year. This very year, two weeks before Halloween even, Target was already running a Christmas shopping commercial. (For some strange reason, listening to Christmas carols while I'm carving pumpkins just doesn't do it for me.) Seriously, Christmas commercials before Halloween? That's just too early.

As far as I know, Christmas still comes AFTER Thanksgiving, which in itself comes after Halloween. It's gotten to the point where our society's economy is so reliant on people shopping for the holidays that a store's entire year now seems to revolve around that mad rush of shopping and gift giving. The ironic part is that a large portion of the shopping being done involves purchasing items that were probably cheaply made in another country.

How to Make Flowered Gourds

These are something I make every year. They're just cute little table decorations and look great in a bunch. They can work for any of the autumn holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. Usually they'll last all the way through Thanksgiving before they start to rot (so long as they're not kept in a very warm spot). Although one year I gave one to my grandmother and it dried, so she kept it right through Christmas!

The nice thing about these is that everything on them is real, except the silk leaves. (I tried real leaves one year and they ended up a crumpled, powdery mess by the end). You can usually find them by the bag at Michael's or Joann Fabrics. If not, you can cut the leaves off one of those holiday leaf garlands.

Craft Show November 3rd

I'll be at the American Legion Holiday craft show tomorrow from 8:30am-3pm. Canandaigua American Legion.