Homemade Bread and Last Week’s Features

My kids are home this week for spring break.  They’ve been pretty busy but today the girls seemed to be getting a little bored so I had them help me make some homemade bread.  I wish I would’ve taken a picture or two but I’ve been such a terrible blogger lately!  I will share our recipe with you though!

Ingredients
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour or bread flour

Directions
1.  In a large bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water and stir in sugar until dissolved.
2. Add the salt.
3.  Mix in the flour, one cup at a time.
4. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. (We rubbed a little veg. oil on our hands first). 
5. Place the dough in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray or lightly coated with cooking oil and turn to coat.  Cover with a damp cloth and    place in cold oven to rise for one hour.
6.  Put the dough into two loaf pans and let the dough rise for another 30 minutes.
7.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
8.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top.
9. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before slicing.

It was so delicious (this was our first time trying it too)!   We each had a thick chunk slathered with butter while it was still warm...mmmmm!

Now, at long last, on to the features!

Couturier Mommy made a magnetic road on her son’s wall- how cool is that?

Taidye.Original made this awesome Book Clutch ( & gave it away to celebrate over 100+ followers!)

Housing a Forest made this cute spring specimen art from painted burlap and buttons!

Life in Rehab made these beautiful ocean wave candleholders.

How Does She made a fabulous goggle holder- how fun and original!

Lazy Chef Recipes made Orange Pop Cheesecake Pie- WOW!

If you were featured be sure to grab a button and let everyone know how Krafty you are! 

<a href="http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="WWFB" src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/kroady76/WWFB.jpg "/></a>

If you have a project you’d like to share, there’s still time to link up to this week’s party! 

Gettin' Krafty With It

Hello!  I am still not caught up but didn't want y'all to miss linking up this week.  I haven't finished going through last week's projects so no features yet but they'll be up soon so make sure you check back! 

Also, you may have (but probably not) noticed the list of link parties at the bottom of the page.  There’s a story behind that!  I was linking up to a link party and there was a discussion about blog etiquette and linking back when you link to blog parties.  Then, I saw another blog saying the same thing.  I felt like maybe my current method was not enough.  I mean, I would love to put everyone’s button into each and every post that I link up to but if you take a look at the list of all the places I link up to, that would take up 1/2 of my entire blog!  So, for a while, I added text links at the bottom that I would add to each and every post but it became VERY cumbersome to manually do that.  So, my next idea was the link party page.  However, even after I worked and worked at it, making sure all of the buttons were the same size, it ended up that links were no longer working, I lost all of Wednesday’s parties (I have NO idea!) and I don’t think it was doing justice to the blogs who I was linking up to if no one was clicking over to that page.  So, my next bright idea was to put  text links at the bottom of the main page and reference it at the end of each post with something like, “Scroll down to see my party list of all of the places I’ll be sharing this post.”  I named each party and each blog in the links.  Somehow, though, I ended up with only the blog address showing!  How frustrating!  I really spent a lot of time on that too!  So, for now, this will have to do until I can find the time to fix it. At least they are there and the links work. 


I am curious as to what are your opinions on link parties and linking back to the host in the post? 


I do believe it is the polite thing to do.  I want to link up to the party to gain exposure for my blog and the host wants to gain exposure for their blog.  I do, however, believe that some people make way too much of a big deal about it.  I mean, I host a party so I know both sides of the situation.  Yes, I would love it if you post my button in your post or even a text link but I will be totally honest when I say, I don’t really care!  I don’t .  I am hosting the party for fun.   I am not into having a lot of rules.  Too many rules takes away all of the fun.  And parties are supposed to be fun!  Yes, I like for new people to be able to find my blog but not at the expense of me having to nag.  I hate nagging! 

So, here's the party, link back if you like, follow me if you'd like, link up whatever you like...anything goes as long as it's Krafty!

<a href="http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="LINKPARTYBUTTON"src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/kroady76/LINKPARTYBUTTONWOOD.jpg "/></a>

Happy Easter!

Hiya!  Just wanted to check in. Everything’s been really hectic here lately so don’t be surprised if there’s nothing new around here until a few days after Easter.  We’ve had so much going on this week: parents’ luncheon for 3 kids, egg hunts, talent shows, school dances, not to mention EASTER!  I’m swamped with all of my motherly duties until then and next week the kids will be on Spring Break!  Sheesh!  It’s like everything has been crammed all together!

I hope all of you have a very safe and Happy Easter with the ones you love!

Gettin’ Krafty With It

It’s almost Tuesday again, you know what that means….link party time!  Also, today was my sweetie’s birthday so it was a fun day!  His daughter drew this and gave it to him.  It fits us so well!

We didn’t really do anything special but we had cake (three layer lemon) and ice cream and just enjoyed being with each other and the kids! 

Can’t beat that!

So, before we get started with the party, let me show you some of the stars of last week’s show...

That’s My Story’s Jelly Bean Feeder

Giggles Galore’s Easter Egg Hunt Party

Life in the Thrifty Lane’s Easter Egg Centerpiece

Moms of All Trades’ Rock Shoe Mat

Homework’s Paper Bird Centerpiece

I’m a Mom Not a Professional’s Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

If you were featured, go ahead and grab that button!

<a href="http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="WWFB" src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/kroady76/WWFB.jpg "/></a>

Now, on with the show!

<a href="http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="LINKPARTYBUTTON"src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb370/kroady76/LINKPARTYBUTTONWOOD<br /> </div>

Oh, and by the way, be sure to stop over at While He Was Napping today...I'll be guest posting!  See ya there!

Plastic Egg Crafts

What do you do with too many plastic eggs?

Make them into something else! 

The possibilities are endless but here are three ideas that are kid-friendly too:

  1. Make a colorful caterpillar

Glue the round sides to each other to make a chain.  Use a larger size egg for the head.  Glue on googly eyes and a yarn smile.  Cut two pieces of pipe cleaners for antennae.  I just pushed them into the little holes on the egg but they could be glued on.

He’s so silly! 

2.  Make cute spring chicks.

Glue a half egg to another egg like this.

Apply glue to eggs and cover with shredded yellow tissue paper.  Glue little black beads on for eyes.  I cut small triangles into orange ribbon to make the beaks.  You could also use orange felt, paper, etc.

Aren’t they adorable in my jute nest!

3.  Make teeny tiny teacups.

I found this idea on Design Dazzle and thought it was so cute.

Using the longer side of the egg, glue buttons on the bottom to stabilize.  Decorate as you like.  We added little handles to some of ours using pipe cleaners. 

So dainty!  Perfect for a doll-size tea party!

There are 3 ideas. What else can you think of to make with them?

Proud to be featured:

Please see the list of links at the bottom of the page for parties I'll be linking to!

Guest Posting at HoneyBear Lane

I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday!  You can find me today over at HoneyBear Lane...





I'll be guest posting and sharing how to make this faux chocolate egg topiary! 

I hope you'll hop on over and while you're there, be sure to check out Heidi's amazing quilts!  You will fall in love!

Easter Hats

I found these great plain children’s hats and knew they would be so cute if I dressed them up a bit!  I added lots of ribbon, rolled flower rosettes, and even jewels and tulle. 

They are all glammed up and pretty now! 

My girls had fun wearing them for the photos and they would be perfect for photo props, tea parties, birthdays, or just playing dress up! 

 

 

 

I'm going to put them up for sale in my NEW etsy shop!  I am so nervous excited about it.  I am going to give it a try and see how it goes.  I am open to any suggestions, advice, etc. from all of you out there who are experienced sellers.  I have sold (and continue to) on ebay but I realize this is much different. 

Also, did you notice?  I am now up to 500 followers!!!  I am just blown away!  This is like a milestone for me with my blog and I am so thankful for each and every person who ever reads any of this that I write.  I wish I could give all of you a big hug but my arms just won't stretch that far.  So.... 

Thank You!

:)

Denim Fascinator Headband

Remember the denim headband I made from my daughter’s old jeans?  Well, I was having so much fun, I couldn’t stop there!  I made another denim headband, this time in more of a fascinator style.  I took strips of the jean material and sprayed them with bleach.  Some of the pieces were sprayed completely and some just in spots.  I covered the headband in the totally bleached out denim.  I made some rosettes from the bleached denim strips and also a big, pink, satiny flower and some other colorful rosettes.  I glued the rosettes together and added some bling.
 


Then I attached a piece of felt to the bottom of the grouping and another to the headband.  I sewed the two pieces of felt together to keep it secure.  I Love it!  It’s so over the top girly!  My daughter had a ton of fun modeling it and asked if she could wear it to school the next day!   Of course, I told her no but it makes a great photo prop!