Ten Thousand Villages Giveaway

 

Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles, serve ware and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

One of the world's largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Ten Thousand Villages accomplishes this by establishing a sustainable market for handmade products in North America, and building long term buying relationships in places where skilled artisan partners lack opportunities for stable income. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.

Founded in 1946, the company has grown from the trunk of founder Edna Ruth Byler's car to a network of more than 390 retail outlets throughout the United States selling Ten Thousand Villages products. The company encourages artisan partners to use environmentally friendly processes, sustainable natural resources and recycled materials to ensure each product offered has been crafted responsibly. Ten Thousand Villages is a partner of Mennonite Central Committee.

GIVEAWAY

Prize: $50 Ten Thousand Villages Gift Certificate

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter. Giveaway ends December 16th and is open to the US only.

Disclaimer: Ten Thousand Villages is the sponsor of this giveaway and is responsible for prize fulfillment. a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Easy Kids’ Thanksgiving Table

   

This week on WDRB in the Morning, Craft E Magee and I collaborated to create an easy kids’ Thanksgiving table.  The idea was to create something fuss-free, entertaining for kids, and easy for adults to clean up.

Instead of a traditional tablecloth, Liz used brown kraft paper and set out adorable branch colored pencils so kids could easily draw on the table as they waited for food to be brought out.  At each place setting, she set out mini pumpkin pies, flanked by  a feather name card.  To create the names on the feathers, she used kraft and letter stickers found at Target dollar-spot.  Simple and super cute!

Keeping with the kraft paper theme, we filled small paper bags with Thanksgiving trail mix made by mixing popcorn and candy corn.  We used stamps and bakers twine to decorate ours, but you can also use these as name/place settings.

Finally, we used my Thankful Tree as the table’s centerpiece.  Set out leaves at each place setting for kids to write (or help them write) what they are thankful for this year.  Be sure to add a date on these to keep as mementos each year.

After dinner, you can roll up the kraft paper tablecloth and recycle.  Easy!

You can find more details and photos at craftemagee.com.

Do you create a special table for the kids at your Thanksgiving dinner?  Any additional tips for keeping kids busy while they patiently wait for dinner to be served?

Happy Thanksgiving, DIY’ers!

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Travels with Gannon and Wyatt Book Review and Giveaway

 

Our family spends time each night taking turns reading aloud from my daughter’s books.  While the reading and family bonding is great, what isn’t always great are the books themselves.  We’re not typically a family of quitters, but I’ll admit that we have quit quite a few books mid-chapter when none of us could stomach going one page further.  Some kids books are really bad, people.  We have resigned ourselves to a lot of classic books because we find few new books that keep my daughter’s attention.  Her chapter books have to be either full of mystery, or full of funny.  I’m sure that’s probably pretty typical reading requirements for a lot of 10-year olds.

When I heard about the middle-school adventure book series Travels with Gannon and Wyatt written by Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet, I was excited for our family to give them a read.  I had high hopes that an adventure series would keep my daughter’s attention, and I wasn’t disappointed.  The books are loosely based on real-life twin bothers Gannon and Wyatt as they set out on adventures around the world with their flight attendant mom and international businessman dad.  So far there are three books written in the series: Botswana (released May 2013), Great Bear Rainforest (released October 2013), and Egypt (to be released January 2014).

My daughter chose Great Bear Rainforest for us to read together, and she chose Botswana to read on her own.  The books are written in a journal form, alternating entries between each of the twin brothers.  The brothers’ relationship and interactions with each other are written in an endearing and humorous way such as I would expect twin brothers to act toward each other.  I loved that Great Bear Rainforest was not only educational (Did you know bears are mostly fond of salmon eggs and typically only eat the midsection of female salmon?  I didn’t!), but was also full of action and mystery.  Some nights we read a little longer than normal because we didn’t  want to wait until the next night to see what would happen next.  We each enjoyed the book and we took turns trying to guess the outcome of the mystery.

My daughter is a 5th grade advanced reader and she had no trouble reading these books herself, although a few words did come up that we had to help her pronounce or define.  For us, this only increased the educational value of the book.  We all loved Great Bear Rainforest so much and now we can’t wait to start on Travels with Gannon and Wyatte: Egypt.  If you have a reader on your Christmas list this year, I would highly recommend this book series.

Do you know an adventure reader who would love these books?  One lucky reader will win the entire Travels with Gannon and Wyatt series!  Enter via the Rafflecopter below.  Also, Travels with Gannon and Wyatt is giving away 3 Kindle Fires in November, and you can head to their Facebook page to enter to win.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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DIY Thankful Tree

I have seen many, many versions of thankful trees online lately, and I love them all.  Finding a few bare branches in your yard and placing them in a pretty vase or jar is all it takes to create this personalized décor for your own home.  I used a circular paper punch to create leaves for my tree, but you can also cut leaf shapes from cardstock, or even use silk leaves if you prefer.

This will be perfect as a Thanksgiving table centerpiece and you can have all of your guests add their thanks to the tree.  I especially love to see what kids are thankful for.  My daughter’s thankful list this year included books, light to see, and a bed to sleep in.  Simple gratitudes that we often forget to acknowledge.

What are you thankful for this year?

Happy Thanksgiving, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Belle of Beechmont

Photo used c/o Benjamin Marcum Photography

No, I’m not the Belle of Beechmont, but the very awesome (and crazy adorable) Amy – who blogs all the happenings in our neighborhood – certainly is. 

So let me back up…The Louisville Bloggers group held a workshop a few months ago, and I was excited to meet a blogger who not only lives in my neighborhood, but a few houses down right on my street.  I’m telling you, bloggers are everywhere.  We’re multiplying. 

Amy asked to interview me for a new blogger series she’s starting on her blog, Meet Your Neighbor, and I thought, Do people really want to know more about me? Weird.   But I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about not only why I craft, but also why I love the neighborhood we reside in.  Because it’s a pretty great place to live, although sometimes underappreciated in our city full of bigger, more affluent neighborhoods.

And then Amy brought along Benjamin Marcum, a professional photographer who also lives in our neighborhood, and he snapped some awkward photos of me in crafty action.  I don’t take serious photos well, but Ben rocked it and told me to be as goofy as I wanted to be.  And then I loved him for that, because goofy is what I’m all about, really.

You can read the interview on Belle of Beechmont HERE if you’re interested.  (And by IF, I mean, you totally ARE, right? So click to it…).  You can also find more information about Benjamin Marcum Photography on his Facebook page.

So, anything weird happen to you this week?

~julee~

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Burlap Fall Inspiration

My brain isn’t ready to jump into the reds and evergreens of Christmas decorating just yet.  I’m still trying to embrace the coziness and warm colors of fall over here.  I have burlap sitting on my sewing table screaming to be made into something fall-ish, but what do I want to make? 

Here are a few inspirational burlap ideas from my favorite crafty bloggers that might help in my decision making:

I absolutely love this square burlap wreath from Craft E Magee.  The colors of the fall leaves pop against the red burlap beautifully and the square design is so unique.

These hand painted linen pillows from The Em Dash can easily be made using burlap.  You can now find printed burlap in most fabric stores and you wouldn’t need to paint your own designs if painting isn’t your thing.

This no-sew burlap table runner from Mandy at This Girl’s Life is perfect for those who want to create festive fall décor for their Thanksgiving tables.  No sewing skills needed – just burlap and hot glue.

After you’ve finished making these great projects, you can easily use any leftover scraps to make fabric acorns.  Fun, easy, and great for kids to help with.

What fall projects did you  make this season?  Did any of them use burlap?

Happy fall crafting!

~julee~

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Video: Make a DIY Fall Leaf Bowl

This week on WDRB in the Morning I tried to show Sterling how to make a bowl using silk leaves and Mod Podge.  If Sterling can do it, you can too!  Check out the video to see how fun and easy this craft project is to make.

You can see the full DIY Leaf Bowl step-by-step tutorial here.  To make this yourself, you’ll need a bowl to use as your form, silk fall leaves, plastic wrap, and Mod Podge.  Cover your bowl with plastic wrap, brush on a layer of Mod Podge, and then begin adding your leaves.  Keep adding Mod Podge and leaves until you have a full covering.  Let the bowl sit overnight to dry, and then peel away from the bowl and plastic wrap.  That’s it!

Don’t forget, if you’re in the Louisville area you can catch me and Craft E Magee on WDRB in the Morning twice a month.  Our next craft segments will air on Wednesday, November 20th at 7:45 & 8:15am.  If you can’t watch live, check out my YouTube channel for all of the video segments.  Thanks for watching!

Happy fall DIY’ing!

~julee~

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DIY Fall Leaf Bowl

This sweet little DIY fall leaf bowl will be perfect to add to your fall décor this season.  It’s super easy to make (I know I say that about all of my crafts, but I promise it’s true), and I love that you can customize it to create it in any size that you want.  I started out by making a small leaf bowl, but I have plans on making a larger one for my coffee table.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own fall leaf bowl:  A bowl to use as your mold (any size you want), cooking spray, plastic wrap, silk fall leaves, Mod Podge, and a sponge brush.

Start by spraying the bottom of your bowl with cooking spray.  Then,  fully wrap the bottom of the bowl with the plastic wrap.

Apply Mod Podge to the bottom of the bowl and begin adding your leaves, brushing on the Mod Podge as you go.  Continue until your bowl is covered with leaves, and add a layer of Mod Podge to the top of all of the leaves.  Let sit to dry overnight, or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

I wanted my bowl to be a shallow candy dish, so I didn’t go all the way up with my leaves.  Cover more or less of the bowl depending on the look you want.

Once the Mod Podge has dried completely, remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, and then remove the leaves from the plastic wrap.

That’s it!  Now you have a cute leaf bowl perfect for fall candy, acorns, or adding to your Thanksgiving table.

Happy fall crafting, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

A big gigantic ooey gooey easy-to-make chocolate chip cookie?  Are you kidding me?  I was all over this recipe when I saw it in Every Day Food a couple of months ago and had to make it immediately. 

And then devour immediately. 

And you should make it, too.  (Immediacy optional.)

The (supposed) allure of this recipe is that you only need one bowl to mix your ingredients and one cast iron skillet to bake your cookie.  Hence, very little mess to clean up.  But the real allure is that one giant cookie slice so much more enticing than a bunch of little cookies.  Am I right?

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (from Every Day Food)

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, combine butter and sugars with a wooden spoon.  Stir in egg and vanilla.  Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in chips.  Transfer to a 10-inch cast iron skillet.  Smooth top.

Bake until cookie is golden brown and just set in the center, 18-20 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.

The only thing I altered in the recipe was switching out the all-purpose flour for 50/50 flour.  That made my cookie a little crumblier, but no less tasty.

Fun fact:  Cooking in a cast iron skillet adds iron to the foods cooked therein.  Not to create any delusions that that makes this healthy by any stretch, but you know, bonus iron.

Looking for more delicious fall baking ideas?  Check out the recipes for Applesauce Bread, Cherry Pie Cookies, and Chocolate Gingerbread Cake.

Happy baking, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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