christmast basket

Hi everyone! sorry for the absence but our house was filled with sickies starting with the little man then I got sickie then the hubby... still a little stuffy but apparently not contagious.  Today I want to share with you a very cute basket I made but will not be showing you the one I made because I made a mistake and I don't want to show you so instead going to post the author's picture and post a link to her site where you can find the free basket pattern and pictures of this basket.  Juliana at A Hand Woven Life wrote the pattern and shared it on her website here is a link to the basket:  Jingle bell basket.  Juliana is very talented and a very good teacher! I visit her site often and learn lots of things from her! hope you enjoy the basket as I did though I will be redoing mine just because of the mistake I made... wondering what I did? well the basket calls for you to basically make 2 round base one natural color and the other one using red spokes.   When I put the two together to sandwich the bell, I put the red one right side on top and wrong side on the bottom so when I did the rim, it got hairy and yucky then I realized the mistake I made!

happy weaving!

Basket of Joy

 just about once a month Baskets ofJoy posts a free pattern and this pattern I got several months ago called Sunflower tote.  It is no longer available free but she has a kit available.  My version is little different since I used  blue and made these kitty and fish charms my self using air dry clay called Clayzee its soft when wet but when it dries it turns into rock like consistency. The company has different types of clay clayzee kids and I'm sure you can find it at your local craft shop or Meijer if you have one! that's where I found them at Meijer.  I got the Rock one and the Pottery one.  I haven't used the Pottery one yet but the way the Rock one turned out I'm sure it'll be pretty cool as well.  After it dried I painted it with acrylic craft paint, strung it with twine and tied it to the handle. cute right? 

Charms, buckles and buttons can be quite expensive so if you can find the air dry clays you can make your own charms and buckles, save some money and have a one of a kind basket charm! 

make sure to visit basketsofjoy.com  often so you won't miss the free pattern! and when you get there don't forget to print it out!

Free basket patterns

Hi everyone,  Today I don't have a basket I made to share yet, I'm working on it, but I've started other projects that kept me from finishing the basket I originally wanted to share with you all so today I'm sharing a link to joannas collections  If you already know about it, think of it as a reminder to visit her site often to check on the monthly free patterns she posts.  Its only available during the month so when you see a basket you want to make in the future, make sure you print it.  If you miss it, you can purchase a pattern from her site.  This basket above, is free for August, today, Sept 4 it was still up there, but I would not be surprised if she post a new one soon so if you like it like I do print it so you can make it later! you can get her monthly pattern by going to her site http://www.joannascollections.com/ She sells basket patterns, kits as well as hand woven baskets. 

pineapple upside down cake

 last Friday, I didn't have a chance to post but I made pineapple upside down cake.  Its a simple fool proof recipe by Better Homes and Gardens that I've used for years which you can make it in a pinch if you have the pineapple and the cherry available in your pantry.  ok you don't really need the cherry but pineapple is a must.. a can of pineapple, maybe an item you should always have stocked in your pantry just like the pear slices in case your in-laws or someone drops by without any warning and you need to make a quick something! My other quick fix desert is the pear tart, (click here if you haven't seen it yet) 

2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp water
8 oz can of pineapple slice
maraschino cherries cut in half
1-1/3 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2/3cup milk
1/4 cup butter softened
1 egg
1tsp vanilla

turn your oven and set at 350F, melt butter in your 9" round cake pan in the oven while you gather all your ingredients. 

once the butter melts, add brown sugar and water, melt well. 
Arrange pineapple and cherries in the pan how ever you like set aside

in a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar and baking powder, add milk, 1/4cup butter, egg and vanilla, beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Spoon batter into pan, bake for 30-35mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

 Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Loosen side; invert onto a plate, serve warm!

I'm really sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the cake inverted!! but you can pretty much guess how it turned out.