Karla's Cottage

How to make and paint memory foam Squishies

My creative efforts have been kinda low key lately.  Because of knee surgery which was harder to recover from than I had expected, I haven’t gone to the studio.

So, I did a little busywork, and some simple things to keep my hands busy.

And to take my mind off of the world wide crisis we are in the middle of.  I don’t think I have the mental focus to start a big project, and these little bits of cuteness were just what I needed.

Sugarwings is hooked on watching Squishy makeovers on Youtube, and I told her we could probably make our own little critters.  When I went on the long camping trip to Florida, we trimmed up some memory foam pads to fit our camper bed and I saved the remnants.

They were not perfect for this craft because they are not as thick as I’d like and they have a grid pattern cut into the backside.  But for our purposes, they were fine.

First step is to draw the design on the foam with a marker, then roughly cut it out.

At first, the cuts are larger, but as I get the shape to come out, they become teeny snips.

When my fairy girl started making hers, she was chunking them up too much and got frustrated.  Once I showed her the trick of making itty bitty cuts, she got the hang of it.  And soon, my home looked like the scene in Edward Scissorhands where Johnny Depp made snow from paper and created a blizzard.

I use fabric glue to seal the grid cuts that I mentioned, and to add pieces, like a wing or something to them.  I try not to do many add ons, I like the challenge of cutting 3D shapes.  But Sugarwings enjoys making hers in pieces and then attaching them with glue like they do in the videos she watches.

The kitty has a glued on mouth and nose, but the puppy is all one piece.  They can be done either way.

Mine were all made to give to kids to play with and paint themselves.  But I wanted to try out the paint myself first to see how it went, so I could offer some advice.

The paint has to be pliable so that when the foam is squeezed, the paint moves with it.  You can use puffy paint, or fabric paint.  Or make your own fabric paint by adding textile medium to acrylic craft paint.  I have heard that you can make your own by using glycerin, but I had used all of my glycerin to make hand sanitizer.

Here is what I discovered: These are SPONGES, so they take a lot of paint!

It soaks right in and makes them hard to decorate.  I decided that my best move was to cover them in a solid coat and leave it over night to dry.

Once dry, it was much easier to add other colors and details.

In the scheme of things, these are not anything that were worth much.  But, they gave me joy and in my mind, creativity is good for the soul, whether you are making something simple and cute, or a spectacular masterpiece.

 

Have people snapped?

A quiet, uneventful few weeks was what I had expected when we were told to stay in our homes to flatten the curve.  
But instead, things have been more lively than ever.  

It started with a sheriff  knocking on my door to ask if we were shooting in the woods. Nope, not us.

So he trotted out to our creek to find a family out there target practicing. In preparation for “the corona apocalypse”.

Then a few nights later, we heard a loud CRUNCH, and headed outside to find a car stuck backwards in our fence.

The guy by the car smelled beer-y.  

Very beer-y.  

And he was trying to get the wedged in car out and take off, so I hobbled over and squeezed in between the vehicle and smashed fence to take photos of the license plate in case he left.

Well, the car was trapped pretty good, and I wished I had taken a photo of his face too, because he ran off on foot when he wasn’t able to free his trapped car. 

Our property borders the city limit line, so we had an assortment of sherif cars and city police cars come by, with not just flashing lights, but search lights, as they drove through the neighborhoods trying to find the runaway.

I guess he didn’t want a DUI?   But is a hit and run violation any better?

While waiting to see if he was insured, my husband built a makeshift patch with materials on hand, so the dogs could still use the yard.

I don’t think they mind having a window.  With so many people out walking along the sidewalk, they can actually see who they are barking at.  

Social distancing has been a dream come true for the dogs. Not only has it added to the traffic of dog walkers in front of our house, but we are home with them nonstop.  

They love it.

And so far, we have been lucky that our problems have been non-medical.  I hope you are staying well also.  Take care and stay safe.

EDIT- More shooting!  A car drove around the corner in front of my house while I was walking Twinkle, shots were fired from it as it sped away.  I was very close but only heard, didn’t see what happened.  The light blue car passed me seconds after it happened.

Our policemen arrived quickly and I gave them my view of what happened, but it wasn’t that helpful.

What is happening here in my little corner of the world?  How are things in yours?

 

 

 

 

Simple bread making tips from the Bread Witch

My family calls me the Bread Witch because I whip up bread so easily.  Bread making can intimidate people and is considered a science where you need scales and meticulous care to produce a loaf.

Nope.  It isn’t that hard.

I take a lot of short cuts, like using a bread maker for the mixing and kneading, and my measurements are by eye and experience, not very precise.

As long as you follow the basic principles and use the approximate components, it all comes out okay.

Not that mistakes don’t happen. I can set bread to rise, forget, walk away and hours later come back to popped balloons.

Or jostle the pan too much when moving it to the oven and create a sinking mass of dough.  I always try to peek in the oven a couple of minutes after loading it in, to see if there is wrinkling.  That means it wasn’t treated gently enough and will soon collapse.

Hint- if the corner of the dough looks like the inner thigh of a 62 year old woman who just had surgery on her knee and lost too much weight, in a not very pretty way, the bread is on its way to falling.  Too much info?  It is sad but true.

But all is not lost, just remove it, stretch it, ball it up, reshape it, and let it rise again.  It usually doesn’t take as long for a second raising, so check back. (Or again, walk away for hours and let it happen again, and it can still be salvaged.)

(Just in case you get careless, always start with a clean surface.  I wipe out my microwave before adding the pans to rise, because if the dough flops over the sides, I won't want to save it if there were stray crumbs it fell into)

This is how I make my yeast bread. With stores running out of yeast, I have also began a batch of sourdough starter, and will let you know how that goes.

First, some oil.  I like avocado or olive.  I do not measure, but it is anywhere from 1-3 tablespoons.  Or I can use butter.  Or no fat at all.  Seriously, choices can be made as you go.  Think about the flavor profile.

I use pink Himalayan sea salt.  Or garlic and rosemary salt. Or table salt. About 1-1/2T, a bit more if I want it extra garlicky and I am using flavored salt.

Next, liquid.  I prefer nut milk, but water is fine.  Or regular milk. You can even sub a 1/2 cup of coffee for some of the 2 cups of liquid, or throw an egg in as part of the liquid. Just use two cups total.

See, choices!  Use what you have, or what sounds good.

It is nice to use bread flour, I sometimes do that half and half with regular flour.  Or use all of either kind.  One thing I do not do, is go full on with a specialty flour like whole wheat, sprouted spelt, or almond.  If I want to use one of those, I will add only a third or so of them, because they all tend to make a more dense bread and I prefer mine lighter. 

The cup I use to add flour isn’t exactly true as a measuring cup  it is more like 1-1/4 C.  I use three and a half of those, so let me do some math...about 4-1/3C?  Honestly, some of my scoops are heavier or lighter than others, so, again, I am not exact.
Add 2 or 2-1/2T of fast rise yeast.

I often throw in a handful of chia seeds, ground flax, sunflower seeds, or mashed potato flakes.  
Or honey, but not a handful, that would be sticky.  More like a spoonful or two.

My point is, that bread is not scary. Make it with what you have. 

I mix and knead in the bread maker, On the dough setting, but don’t leave it in the full amount of time.  Unless I forget... still, it isn’t ruined if it grows and pops.  It just needs to have the machine turned on for another minute or so to stir it up again before putting it into the pans.

I prefer mine baked in the oven, not the machine.  So I turn it into oiled pans.  Two small or one bigger.

To proof it (let it rise), I heat a cup of water in the microwave, and turn on the light.  That creates a non drafty, warm environment for the bread to grow.

Leave it about a half hour. 

Check and see if it is tall enough.  Leave it longer if needed. Then bake at 350 for about a half hour.

Remove the loaves from the hot pans right away so the bottom doesn’t get soggy, let the bread cool on a wire rack (I use one I have taken out of the oven)

I was pretty proud of myself for getting a few bags of flour so I’d be able to drop bread off on porches for family members. But I didn’t realize I was low on yeast, so am going to experiment with sourdough during this time of making do.  

I haven’t done that before, and it might be a learning curve. But bread isn’t rocket science, it just takes trial and error. And a house that smells like hot, fresh bread is worth the effort. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh bread during lockdown

When I went to the grocery to stock up before we were told to stay in and avoid crowds, I was careful to buy mostly ingredients I would need for meals, not snacks or pre made things.

Since I regularly bake bread, I bought two bags of bread flour, one of regular.  I figured I might be dropping off bread to the porches of family members too.

What did I not get? 
YEAST

And apparently, I am not the only one that thought she’d be doing a bit of baking.  There was no yeast to be found at that point.   I have enough for my household, just not enough for the whole family.

Then, I saw a suggestion online to make sourdough starter.  I found a simple recipe and am trying it out.  This one is 3/4 cup plus 2T flour and a 1/2 cup water, every day for five days.  You stir it together, keep it lightly covered at room temperature.  I went with a clean kitchen towel and rubber band as a lid.

I have never made this before, but I am enjoying the science experiment aspect of it, and miss having my little homeschooler here this week to share it with. (She is with her mom)

Also, it is kind of cool that it is living. And needs to be fed.  I have named it Sara Jo.

The guy we bought our layers from also raises “Meatbirds” as he calls them, and sent a frozen meatbird home with us.  I am hoping to make sourdough biscuits with roasted meatbird to try out the starter in a couple days.  Then, will move on to loaves of bread to share.

When I bake, I use a bread maker to mix and knead it.  Then, I oil pans, place the dough in, oil the top of the dough and set the pans into my microwave to use as a warming box to proof in.

I have found that boiling a cup of water in the microwave first, and leaving the cup next to the dough promotes a good rise.  Also, I think that you get a crustier crust and a more attractive loaf if you bake it in the oven instead of leaving it in the bread maker to cook.

I’ll let you know how the sourdough turns out.

And if you are in the area, are needing chickens to raise or meatbirds to eat, I can give you our guy’s name.   He has some friendly little hens. We like our few.

 

 

 

Cooped Up in a Positive Way

Our coop has been empty for over a while now.  Sadly, each season there was always attrition in the number of birds.  So every spring we would buy more.

Due to my husband’s previous travel schedule for work, then his amped up travel plans for retirement, we decided to not replace the flock a couple of years ago.

As you all know, everyone’s travel plans are different now.  
It looks like we will be home a while....

So we took a trip out to the country and loaded up a dozen hens.

We debated getting more than 12, since all of the raccoons, hawks, and other critters on our land will be every bit as glad to see the hen house fill up as we were.

But, while having a few chickens to keep us entertained and provided with eggs while social distancing, that same confinement means less trips to the feed store.

And 12 can produce a lot of eggs to keep us, our family and friends well supplied.

We already got 4 the first day!

After frying them up, I wondered why on earth we went without chickens for so long.
You really can taste the difference.

 

A Later in Life Career Change

Before spring break, in what seems like a lifetime ago, Sugarwings was in the school play.

And we picked up one of her friends for our family outing to the Shriner’s Circus.

Now, we are adjusting to social distancing, and no school in Kansas, even possibly past August.

Mr. Pop, my husband, is the new Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, and PE teacher.  

For now, we have asked Bill Nye the Science Guy to telecommute lessons in his area of expertise, because we can’t handle that one.

I got lucky and was hired to teach Art.  Our first lesson was about the color wheel, and complementary colors, displayed in Sculpy.  

 I am called, Mrs. Gram and will also be the lunch lady.  Sugarwings made the schedule and has been a model student.  I can already see her making the honor roll if she keeps it up.

One day down..

Good luck to all of you out there who have surprisingly become teachers, too.  If you have any tips, I’m listening.