Amish drawing salve to heal splinters, stings, and minor cuts and scrapes.
I’ve been consistently journaling for 25 years now. I have no doubt that this has been the most important habit in my life that helps me stay sane (or at least return to sanity when stress, confusion, or circumstances knock me down). This is what I think is most important about journaling: find what works for you. What do you want to get out it? That’s really all that matters. When I boil it down to the simplest reason for me, I journal because I like how it makes me feel. I look forward to ho
Neatly store your supplies with these creative and simple craft storage ideas. You'll love our budget-friendly tips for getting organized.
Take your sewing projects to the next level using these sewing tips and tricks.
Needles + yarn = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.
Our backyard was overflowing with violets, so I thought I would try this awesome Violet Jelly recipe from Bakers Brigade. Of course I'd heard of Dandelion Jelly, but I hadn't seen a recipe for Violet Jelly before. I was really interested in the "magical color change" this food blogger spoke about. After collecting violets in a jar, you pour boiling water onto them. Then let the jar sit overnight to infuse and create a lovely sapphire blue "tea". When you strain out the flowers and add lemon juice, the dark blue tea turns purple. WOW! Just take a look at Bakers Brigade's cool color changing video or our time-lapse video. A post shared by Alison (@canning_crafts) on Apr 26, 2017 at 6:45am PDT Violet Jelly (makes approximately 4-half pint jars) 1 pint violet flowers (approx. 2 cups) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 4 cups sugar (*see low sugar recipe note below) 3 oz. liquid pectin Collect a mason jar pint full of violet flowers. Pour boiling water into the jar of flowers. Gently press the violets to release any air bubbles. Cover the jar and keep out of the sun for 24 hours. By the next day, the violet “tea” will be sapphire blue. The next day, strain your violets through a colander lined with a coffee filter or paper towel. I also squeeze the flowers to release all the juices. You will need 2 cups of liquid, so you may need to add a little more water to the violet tea. Mix the tea and lemon juice in a large pot. At this point, you will see the dark blue tea turn purple. Oooooh aaahhhh. Magic! Bring the liquid to a boil and continue to boil for one minute. Add sugar and pectin, then bring to a hard boil one more minute. Turn the heat off and skim the top of the jelly if needed. Pour into sterilized mason jars. Makes approximately 4 half pints of jelly. Let cool and store in the fridge. Note: You could process the jars in a water bath to make them shelf stable, however, you would need to collect an awful lot of violets to make processing them worth it in my opinion. I’ve always just gotten enough violets for a few half pint jars at a time. Low-Sugar Recipe: Pomona's Pectin has a low-sugar Violet Jelly recipe. I recently tried this recipe and it tastes great! Pomona's pectin is a 2-part pectin that uses calcium water that allows you to drastically reduce the amount of sugar in jam and jelly recipes. Some Pomona's Pectin recipes reduce the sugar by 50% over a traditional recipe. So if you want to reduce sugar in pectin recipes, this is a good option. Our Cottage Chic Flower oval jar labels fit quilted canning jars, perfect for flower jelly! The resulting jelly is very sweet with a subtle floral taste. And the color is simply amazing! Who knew flowers could taste so good? If you have an abundance of these beautiful purple flowers in your yard, go pick them now! Violets are unlike dandelions, they won't last all season in your yard. Wild violets are typically found May through June in most areas (zones 3 through 9). Shop for Floral Canning Labels to decorate your jam & jelly jars. If you don't want to make jelly, you'll be happy to know there are plenty of other violet recipes to try. Violet Recipes: Sweet Violet Syrup Candied Violets Violet Sugar Violet Jam Violet Jelly Violet Muffins with Violet Sugar Violet Vinegar Violet Salad Violet Leaf Tea Violet Lemonade Recipe The process is pretty simple for violet lemonade. Spend hours collecting tiny violets in a mason jar, steep with hot water, strain out flowers, then add lemon juice. While it's back breaking collecting so many teeny-weeny flowers, it's worth it to witness the "magical" color change. After soaking the flowers overnight, the resulting liquid is a lovely sapphire blue. But once you add lemon juice to the strained solution, it turns purple. Ooooo aaaahhhh. Magic. I tested two batches of violet lemonade. For the first batch, I filled a pint mason jar HALF full of flowers. The second batch had a mason jar packed FULL of violets which resulted in a much darker navy blue color. I used one large fresh squeezed lemon and added several tablespoons of raw sugar. But wait, the color change is NOT magic. It's SCIENCE! You all know I like science. So WHY does the liquid change from blue to purple? It’s a basic acid/base chemical reaction. The anthocyanins (color pigments) in the violets (the base) are reacting to the lower pH from the lemon juice (the acid). oooooo SCIENCE! Violets have always been seen to have medicinal and even mystical properties. In the 10th century tome “Macer’s Herbal”, violets are noted to be powerful to combat “wykked sperytis”. 👻 Part of the mysticism surrounding them comes from their extract turning from dark purple to magenta when combined with lemon juice. Witness the magical & scientific color changing video below. Mwahahaha. Violet Lemonade Ice Cubes Recipe: When life gives you violet lemonade, you should make violet lemonade ice cubes! These tri-colored ice cubes are like a beautiful watercolor painting. It just takes a little patience to make the cubes because you have to freeze them in steps. You’ll need equal parts of blue violet water tincture and violet lemonade. To Make the Violet Lemonade: Add boiling water to a mason jar full of violet flowers. For the darkest blue water, steep overnight in refrigerator. Strain flowers from the blue violet water. Divide the blue violet water into two separate mason jars. Add lemon juice to ONE of the blue mason jars. The blue water will magically turn purple. Watch our color changing video. Oooooh Ahhhhh. Optional: Add a little sugar to the lemonade mix. To Make the Violet Lemonade Ice Cubes: Freeze violet flowers in ice cube trays with a small amount of water, about 1/4 inch. Make sure they are completely frozen before moving on to step 2. Remove ice cube tray from freezer and add about 1/4 inch of violet lemonade. Put in freezer until completely frozen again. Remove tray from freezer and add about 1/4 inch of blue violet water. Put in freezer until completely frozen again. Once the cubes are fully frozen, add them to violet lemonade, water, or other beverages. Violet Infused Vinegar Recipes I tested three different violet infused vinegars. For each, I filled a mason jar half full of violets. Then I filled each jar with a different vinegar. I used plain white vinegar, white rice vinegar, and a white wine vinegar. I added a piece of parchment paper under my metal rings so the vinegar didn't react with the metal. I then stored the jars in a cool dark place for a week. After a week or two, strain the violets from the vinegar. Each vinegar turned a lovely pinkish color from the violets. I'll make salad dressings with these colorful vinegars later this spring. Wild Violet Lemon Cookie Recipe Our Wild Violet Flower Lemon cookies are a real head turner! They are also a fun project for kids to help make. If you have an abundance of wild violet flowers in your yard, give this fun and healthy recipe a try. It will wow your friends and keep your kids busy in the yard. Read our blog post to get the Wild Violet Lemon Cookie recipe. Violet Salad You don't need a "fancy" recipe to eat violets. Besides eating them in jelly, cookies, or vinegar, you can eat the fresh in salads. Fix up any basic salad by topping it off with a sprinkle of fresh violets and a sweet vinaigrette. Nutritional Benefits of Wild Violets: So why eat violets? Well, they have fantastic health benefits much like dandelions. According to The Herbal Academy, violets have been used to treat: coughing and bronchitis colds and sore throats cystitis rheumatic complaints, reduce inflammation eczema psoriasis acne cradle cap for babies and even cancer! Violets have ample Vitamin C and A as well as other vitamins and minerals. Violet leaves are also sold as a supplement. Harvesting Wild Violets: There are 40-50 violet species in the US according to The Herbal Academy. Here's another handy website to help identify violet species. The medicinal properties of most wild violet species are interchangeable. They are NOT to be confused with the African Violet houseplant which will make you sick if eaten. Wild violets are typically found May through June in most areas (zones 3 through 9). Much like foraging for other edibles, be sure to harvest in areas free of pesticides. Avoid flowers in yards where pets may go to the bathroom as well. Harvest flowers and use fresh soon after picking or dry for later use. Our Cottage Chic Flower canning labels look great on any flower jam or jelly jars! Want to know more about eating flowers! Read our Using Dandelions as Food & Medicine blog post. Sign up for our newsletter to get more gardening tips, product updates, & a 10% off coupon on your first order of canning labels in our shop. Follow our Foraged Food & Wild Edibles Recipes Pinterest Board Have you ever made Violet Jelly or other flower recipes? If so, we'd love to hear about your foraging & cooking experiences in the comments blow.
Sleepovers at grandma’s house can be the best times of your kid’s lives but they can also cause anxiety for all if you’re not prepared. So how do you have successful sleepovers at Grandma’s? In this post, I’ll give you 10 simple tips to help make sure the time spent will be wonderful for both […]
These homemade vitamin C gummies are a great way to save money on your kids' vitamins & skip the sugar that is sometimes added! A win-win for healthy kids!
Finding new things to reuse is a fantastic way to save money in your personal budget! This list of 52 things to reuse to save money will have your bank account filling over and over again!
Here are some of the most important lessons I picked up in my first year of sewing. This isn't an exhaustive list, but these are some of the things that I struggled with or that confused me at first. These tips and tricks should help a beginner who is just learning to sew.
Feeling the pull to simple country living but you're stuck in town? Here are 30 skills to build while you're homestead dreaming!
The Linen Stitch Pattern with Studio Knit creates a beautiful flat, thin piece of knitting. It looks quite intricate, but it is simply a 2-row repeat of knits, purls, and slipped stitches.
Needle felting artist Teresa Perleberg shares some of her needle felting secrets that she has learned over the years felting everyday.
If you're like me, you might have an old sweater or two that you're never going to wear again. Here are 15 ideas for giving those old sweaters new life!
Browse free vintage patterns, retro hair tutorials and affordable vintage clothing. Enjoy diy fashion crafts and classic style inspiration
Do you dislike how your knitting looks after you've woven in the tails? Or do the ends wriggle free and poke through? Or do you just want to learn how else to weave in ends? Then click through and read on to learn how to do it like the pros!
When a project requires steep increases, the pattern will instruct us to cast on a certain number of stitches at the beginning of a row. At first, it might seem confusing, because we usually cast on stitches when there are no stitches on the needles, not when we are already halfway through the project. Despite […]
Edible pine needles make very tasty cookies, drinks, and syrups! Get all of the foraged pine needle recipes you need here.
Basic Stitches Britannica Online Encyclopedia Dressmaking is a craft of making dresses. It is the basis and the start of the fashion world. When you make dresses, you will be called a dressmaker or historically, modiste. Learning the basics of...
It is officially spring when little yellow flowers begin to pop up in the thousands, turning every lawn into a star-studded carpet worthy of applause. Not everyone thinks the same way though. Much has been
You may have seen an article I wrote a while back here on the blog called 6 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I started Crocheting (view that HERE) -
Sewing tricks from professional seamstresses. Your sewing is about to get easier and more efficient. Grab a project to test them out!
The top knitting in the round tips and tricks. From joining in the round and knit decreases in the round. All the top tips for every skill level.
One of the most common questions that we get from beginner knitters is about how to stop stockinette stitch from curling. And for a good reason — it can be super frustrating! After all, stockinette is the most iconic stitch associated with knitting. So why don't we have a simple solution to this problem? And why on Earth does stockinette curl in the first place? The dreaded stockinette stitch curl has to do with the size and shape of the stitches themselves. The right side of stockinette (the side that forms the V-shaped stitches) is shorter and wider than the wrong side (the side with the purl bumps). Because stockinette works by pointing all of your stitches in the same direction, you don't get the same balance of stitches pulling and pushing on each other, like you do with garter stitch. The result is that it curls in towards the right side vertically and towards the right side horizontally. The only time that this is a real problem for knitters is in stockinette scarves and shawls. Most other knitted items, like socks, hats, and sweaters, take curling into account with their shaping. We've gathered our top tips and tricks for how to prevent this from happening, but keep in mind that there is no one way to prevent it totally. Try any of these six methods to beat that dreaded curl and let us know in the comments what works for you!
The M1r and M1L knitting increases are used in various types of patterns for shaping. These are essential techniques for any knitter to know.
When a project requires steep increases, the pattern will instruct us to cast on a certain number of stitches at the beginning of a row. At first, it might seem confusing, because we usually cast on stitches when there are no stitches on the needles, not when we are already halfway through the project. Despite […]
In almost ten years that I’ve been teaching people to knit, I noticed that most beginner (and not just beginner) mistakes happened because of the lack of understanding how the knitted fabric is created. The skill of understanding what happens when we make a stitch, what kind of stitch it is and how it interacts […]
Strawberry Stitch Free Crochet Pattern + Video
Needles + yarn = INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.
Here's what to do when your sewing machine thread bunches up. Sewing machine thread bunching up on the top or underside of fabric is a common problem & a frustrating one! But don't despair, there are lots of things you can check to solve this issue. Refer to this checklist before call a sewing machine repair man!
21 Family History Questions To Ask Your Grandparents. Last month was a difficult time for the family following the passing away of my grandpa. If your
How to Knit the Basket Weave Stitch Diagonal Braided + Woven Cables Easy Free Knitting Pattern + Video Tutorial with Studio Knit
Looking to sell some of your things? Here are great tips for how to sell your unwanted items on Craigslist, Ebay, Facebook and more.
I love entrelac! I love that it can be manipulated to look like large rectangles with lots of drape or tiny rectangles that work like ribbing.
Tips and Problem Solving for how to fix bobbin tension. Tension issues can be tricky & not just a result of one cause. List of possibilities and solutions
Craft Pricing Calculator Looking for a pricing calculator to help you figure out what to charge for your work? One of the hardest things to determine when making the leap into selling items is how much to charge for your products. Pricing can feel complicated and confusing. Almost like a random shot in the dark…
Learn how to get a smooth, beautiful edge, avoiding that stair-step look of the normal bind-off with the Sloped Bind-Off Method. A simple technique that changes your...
When we need to adjust the length of a sweater or change the bottom band on a sleeve, we wish we could undo the cast on edge, pull the yarn and unravel the work the same way as we unravel it from the bind off edge. If you’ve ever tried to unravel the work from […]
Wondering how to make a narcissist miserable? These 12 things they hate will do the trick. Learn what they are in the article.
Old photos are a treasure indeed and, if you have one (or more), you want to be sure you keep your collection in the best possible condition for future generations to enjoy. We’ve gathered our ten best tips of what NOT to do with your old photographs so they survive to be treasured by your family’s next designated historian.
Learn everything you about how to block knitting in this article from the knitscene Handmade 2016 issue! In 7 easy steps, you'll be blocking knitting like a pro and create beautiful finished knits! This expert, resource guide from Interweave includes finishing techniques, steam blocking, and other helpful information!
We take you through the basics of how to use a sewing machine. Watch this video for tips on getting started with your sewing machine
Thinking about trying punch needle? Save yourself some frustration with these tips you NEED before you try it! + Free Printable Patterns! Get started off right!
Learn how to knit a scarf for beginners in this free step-by-step video tutorial. We'll cover the three main steps to knit a scarf!
Acorns are an abundant wild food source around the world, and a single tree can produce more than 2,000 pounds of nuts. Rich in calories and micronutrients, eating acorns was once a part of life
How to Carry Yarn Up the Side of Your Work with Video Tutorial by Studio Knit
Your Extremely Cluttered House or Apartment Could Be A Sign Of a Problem – Here’s How To Clean It.. even if you have ZERO energy to deal with it. Ready …
Learn about some of the different types of thread and when to use them as well as thread weights and spool sizes.
Want to learn to sew? There are so many different options for anyone who wants to Learn to Sew. I've made a of several Learn to Sew Tutorials and Classes.
