Another Sprout Story...

So I am totally rolling with this bean sprout garden. It takes about 4-5 days from bean to sprout, and when they are done they go into the fridge until I'm ready to use them, and I restart the garden. We eat brown rice a few times a week and the sprouts are a perfect addition. We grow just enough to use without getting tired of them, and if we do have extras, lucky for me chickens love them too.

My original plan was to also sprout alfalfa seeds. We love alfalfa sprouts but they are hella expensive at the grocery store, and now there are all kinds of cootie problems with commercially grown sprouts so I'd rather to grow my own. Unfortunately I could not find alfalfa seeds at sprouts, but they did have chia seeds. Having been the proud owner of a chia pet (classic "bull" style), I knew they looked very much alike, and if Sprouts had them in the bulk seed bin, they must be for eating. I never ate my chia pet's sprouts because I was worried about chemicals & stuff being used on the seeds and/or pottery. So I took the chia seeds and the mung beans home to start sprout gardening. What worked great for the mung beans did not pan out for the chai seeds. Duh! Of course not. Chai seeds do not settle on the bottom of your jar after each rinse, waiting to sprout. As soon as you get them wet they turn into a sticky blob, which is perfect for smearing onto a terra cotta bull but not so much for a jar sprouter. They stuck to the side, bottom and mostly to the mesh screen. Fail! Oh well. I have since learned that chia seeds are extremely nutritious without sprouting. They are better for you and have a much longer shelf life than flax seeds. You can sprout them, and some day I will, but until then we can reap the benefits by just sprinkling them onto our food. Good to know.

Tiny Little Garden...

I have been wanting to try sprouting my own sprouts for a long time. Like literally 20 years. For some reason, I never tried very hard to make it happen, but this year it made it to the "List of Things To-Do" and now I wonder why I waited so long. It could not be easier to sprout mung beans into the most delicious bean sprouts I have ever tasted. Maybe I never tried it because I figured a bean sprout is a bean sprout, and I don't buy them that often so why even go through the trouble. I was wrong. It is no trouble. I think part of it was I assumed I would forget to water them (a frequent problem in my gardening attempts), but since I kept the sprout garden right by the sink, and I visit the sink like a dozen times a day, it was no problem at all. So worth it. If you even like bean sprouts a little bit, you can get into this.

 Start with some mung beans. I got mine at Sprouts. This bag of beans costs less than two containers of bean sprouts and will probably make about 20 times more. You also need a very clean wide mouth jar, a small piece of cheesecloth or something similar (I happened to have a spool of tulle ribbon about 4" wide so that's what I am using),  and a rubber band. Put enough beans in the jar to cover the bottom, then cover the jar with the cheesecloth and rinse the beans a couple of times in cool water. Drain off the water & let them sit next to your sink til it's time to water again. Keep the jar out of direct light (I just propped a Tupperware lid up against the jar to cast a little shade on it) and rinse 2 or 3 times a day til your sprouts are the desirable size. I like to sprout them until tiny leaves form because I think they look like little snakes. Once you taste these, you will never want to buy sprouts from the store again.

mung beans

it's a tiny garden!

ready to eat, or wait a couple days and get 'em nice & big

How to Unstring Beads...

When you buy beads, they come packaged on a few different ways. One way to buy them is strung on what are called "hanks", which is sort of like a bundle of strings of beads. Books are written about how to string beads, but unstringing them is usually accomplished by trial and error. And believe me, I've erred a few times in the past. What that means is beads flying everywhere and nobody wants that.
I recently read a tip on unstringing hanks of beads in a book I'm rereading called "Getting Started With Seed Beads", a fun and informative book by Dustin Wedekind. He suggests placing the strings of beads in a bowl and then clipping the strands one at a time and gently pulling the strings out. Dustin knows a lot about beads, but I've got a better way...

Using a tall plastic cup, hold the entire hank in one hand, right at the knots. Let the hank of beads dangle into the cup, then clip all of the strands and let gravity unstring the whole lot right into the cup.













It's faster and less chance of flinging beads everywhere, plus it's much easier to pour the beads from the cup into your bead storage. Mine happens to be portion cups with lids that I buy at Smart & Final (they're available at Vons too, near the Glad & Ziploc containers).

How to Photograph Jewelry and Other Small Items...

Here are some tips I use for taking great pictures of my bracelets using a regular old point-and-shoot camera. Mine is a Kodak EasyShare I've had for probably 10 years -



Use the "close-up" or "macro" setting on your camera. They all have one. On my camera, it's represented by a little flower icon.
Use natural light! This is probably the most important tip. I happen to have a skylight in my bathroom, so all my photo shoots take place in the shower, but any place where you get indirect natural light works.

No need to buy on of those fancy photo studio deals they sell in catalogs. A plain white piece of paper makes a great back drop. Prop it up against a white back ground like this (I'm using a ream of paper. It's perfect.) The pros call this a "seamless", and it eliminates the horizontal line in the background.






Place your item on the paper and get your camera up there real close. If you have shaky hands like me, you may need to brace yourself. Any jiggling while in macro setting will make your pix blurry.

There you have it. Great pix to showcase your beautiful creations!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120802869/bamboo-tile-bracelet-santos-clasicos

Art is good medicine...

So far this year I've been slacking on my to-do list. The usual post-holiday funk, then a wicked chest cold that totally kicked my ass. I got a tetanus shot AND a flu shot last week and have felt like crap ever since. Can you get the flu from your flu shot? I still have a knot the size of a gumball on my left arm from the tetanus shot, but at least it doesn't hurt anymore.

My latest project was a chicken coop remodel for my Showgirl Silkie chicks. That made me feel a little better. It was nice to be outside, and it got my creative juices flowing. Yesterday I finished stringing three bracelets, and today I plan on photographing them & listing them in my Etsy shop. Now I'm debating whether I should go to the store or string the rest of my bracelets. I really don't want to go to the store, and I really do want to string the bracelets. As a moody Scorpio, it's very hard for me to get motivated to do stuff if I am not in the mood to do it. But Sprouts has shrimp on sale today and I am in the mood to eat shrimp...

UPDATE: I did go to the store & I actually feel much better now.

Lucky '13

The Holidays have once again come and gone. My plan was to make this New Year kick ass but instead I've been getting my ass kicked by a hellacious chest cold and severe asthma. Good news, I am on the mend, and it's certainly not too late to start the ass kicking. I had a pretty nice Holiday season in my Etsy shop. Which is great, since I have recently given up my day job to focus on being a full time artisan.
Now the store is depleted and I need to get myself busy restocking it full of lovely one-of-a-kind art. I'm excited to begin experimenting with some new craft & art techniques, and to improve & expand on some cool stuff I've been playing around with.
Happy New Year, Everyone!

That Time of Year...

The Holidays are here! The time of year when everyone wants to spread joy but ends up getting stressed out by all the commotion. I used to be one of the worst offenders. I wanted everything to be perfect but ended up being miserable because I was putting so much pressure on myself and trying to do too much. My husband enlightened my with this helpful advice, "Stop it." He got me to understand that all the good I was trying to do was undone by all the chaos I was creating. I realized that having perfectly wrapped presents and tons of decorations was not the key to my Christmas happiness. I scaled back on the decor and relaxed my wrapping standards. I made an effort not to take on too much and to plan better and start my projects earlier. I prioritized them so if I couldn't get everything done, at least I would get the most important things done.

This year, I've been so busy making things for gifts and for my Etsy shop that I didn't think I'd have time to decorate, not even a tree. I really didn't think anyone would mind, after all, the kids are now 20-somethings and they didn't seem that into it the past few years. I was surprised when the family told me that they would be sad if we didn't get a tree, in fact they said I was being "Grinchy".  Who, me?? I relented and agreed to get a very small tree which we will decorate with ornaments that we make.  Sounds reasonable.

PS: The Holidays are the perfect time to give handmade gifts. Visit Red Scorpio Crafts & Art, or one of the many other Etsy shops that suits your needs. Or go to a local craft fair or Holiday bazaar. Handmade is better.