Random Creativity

Grilled Yellow Tomato Bisque

July 16, 2014 at 7:12 am | Posted in Food | 1 Comment

A rich tomato bisque – which makes a nice change from salsa and pasta sauce with an overabundant tomato garden. A bisque is thickened with cream, which results in a rich, smooth texture and makes for a satiating meal. The original recipe (from Fine Cooking) recommended mint as a garnish, but I thought basil might be a more appropriate herb. This recipe could really work with any color ripe tomato – but the yellow/orange tomatoes make a stunning soup. I used 2 cups of stock because I like thicker soups – use 3 if you prefer it thinner. Continue Reading Grilled Yellow Tomato Bisque…

Indian Banana Leaf Puppets original

July 9, 2013 at 8:58 am | Posted in crafts, homeschool, Postcrossing, printable, thrifty projects | Leave a comment
Tags: articulated puppet, banana leaf puppet, indian craft, kids craft India

This week we are learning about India in the home school co-op that I participate in. Since I am teaching that class, I went to postcrossing.com and wrote to someone in each country we will be “visiting” to see if we could exchange postcards. As postcrossing is a postcard exchange site almost everyone I contacted was happy to exchange cards, and the member in India exchanged souvenirs as well as postcards. One of the souvenirs was a set of banana leaf puppets. I looked for information about banana leaf puppets online (I even used google translate to search in Hindi and Urdu) and was absolutely amazed that I couldn’t find anything. Continue Reading Indian Banana Leaf Puppets original…

Corn Husk Dolls

November 6, 2012 at 11:01 am | Posted in crafts, homeschool, printable | 8 Comments
Tags: corn husk craft, corn husk doll, history, printable directions, thanksgiving craft

I love hands-on activities for school – it is much easier to remember learning something if it is fun. Corn husk dolls are a fun way to learn a little bit about the handmade toys used by native Americans, so they are a great project for making around Thanksgiving. The dolls are pretty easy to make, and are surprisingly durable. It took my seven year old son 15 minutes to make his doll unaided. Continue Reading Corn Husk Dolls…

Indian Banana Leaf Puppets

October 5, 2012 at 11:49 am | Posted in crafts, homeschool, Postcrossing, printable, thrifty projects | Leave a comment
Tags: articulated puppet, banana leaf puppet, indian craft, kids craft India

This week we are learning about India in the home school co-op that I participate in. Since I am teaching that class, I went to postcrossing.com and wrote to someone in each country we will be “visiting” to see if we could exchange postcards. As postcrossing is a postcard exchange site almost everyone I contacted was happy to exchange cards, and the member in India exchanged souvenirs as well as postcards. One of the souvenirs was a set of banana leaf puppets. I looked for information about banana leaf puppets online (I even used google translate to search in Hindi and Urdu) and was absolutely amazed that I couldn’t find anything.

Read the rest (and get the free printable) at randomcreativity.net – sorry for the inconvenience, but I have moved to my own domain 🙂

A fresh coat of paint and a little bit of caulk

September 30, 2012 at 10:38 pm | Posted in for the House | Leave a comment
Tags: redo 70's kitchen, wallpaper over soffit in kitchen

This is was my kitchen. Wasn’t it lovely? I suppose the dark stained cabinets and wallpaper might have looked ok when they were first done, but by the time we bought the house last year it was pretty bad. I was absolutely thrilled last month when I found a great deal on 3 gallons of paint in almost the exact color I wanted, and after I painted the rest of the living areas there was almost a gallon leftover, more than enough to do the kitchen. Continue Reading A fresh coat of paint and a little bit of caulk…

Melted crayons southern summer style

August 17, 2012 at 9:25 pm | Posted in crafts, homeschool, Quiet Activities, thrifty projects | Leave a comment
Tags: independant activity, melt crayons, rainy day fun, summer fun, upcycle

Melting old crayons isn’t anything new. I picked up a set of clearance silicone ice cube trays just so we could melt crayons. Being my weird self I decided to try and melt them in the sun, just because I could. And wouldn’t you know, it worked. My son absolutely LOVED doing this activity – it took him an hour to peel and arrange his crayon pieces in the ice cube tray (he was being very particular) and he spent at least an hour after they were finished, admiring them and eventually coloring. Continue Reading Melted crayons southern summer style…

Newspaper seed starter pots

August 9, 2012 at 7:02 am | Posted in crafts, garden | 1 Comment
Tags: garden, newspaper seed starter pots

In December my family moved from a small 2 bedroom apartment into a 3 bedroom house on 1/2 an acre. I was thrilled to finally have a yard, and had just enough time to get seeds started for a summer garden. Being the cheap person that I am, I decided to make my own seed starter pots from newspaper. Since buying a $30 gadget to make my own newspaper pots hardly seems cost effective, I used a toilet paper tube as my mold.

Continue Reading Newspaper seed starter pots…

Using Sure Cuts a Lot with Windows 8

August 1, 2012 at 6:13 am | Posted in crafts | 12 Comments

My husband is a geek, and constantly updates all our technology. As frustrating as I find it to be constantly relearning things as they change, most things do actually work better once you get used to the new versions. A month or so ago my husband upgraded our desktop to Windows 8, which I think is still in beta mode. I found that my sure cuts a lot program wouldn’t work with my cricut, but it turned out to be pretty much the same problem we had with windows 7. Continue Reading Using Sure Cuts a Lot with Windows 8…

Tardis T-shirt (bleach resist)

July 26, 2012 at 10:18 am | Posted in crafts | Leave a comment
Tags: bleach resist, DIY clothes, doctor who, tardis shirt, tardis stencil

I am constantly amazed at how quickly my son goes through clothes, between growing and staining them. So when I saw Michael’s had plain t-shirts on sale for $2 each, I picked up a bunch, thinking he could just wear them as is. He would have been fine with that, but I, on the other hand, just couldn’t leave them alone. And since one of the shirts was black, I decided to try out bleach resist, with a tardis stencil of course. You could also do planets, a space ship, or the death star. Or really anything on any other color shirt.

Continue reading the tutorial on randomcreativity.net – sorry for the inconvenience, but I have moved to my own domain 🙂

Masculine Card

July 10, 2012 at 10:29 am | Posted in crafts | Leave a comment
Tags: fathers day card, masculine card

I know its a little late for Fathers Day this year, but I can never think of good cards to make for guys, and the idea is so clever I’m sure you can use it for numerous other occasions. Continue Reading Masculine Card…