Month: April 2016

Posted in Crafts, Uncategorized

Traveling with Portable Craft Projects

Posted on by lmc


The greatest dilemma I face when traveling is “How can I travel with a few compact and relaxing crafts while I’m away from the amenities of home?”
Once a year, we travel to Disney World and I am often stumped as to what I can bring along that isn’t too complicated or oversized.

I have thought about bringing quilt squares to hand sew poolside but the sewing machine does a much better job of securing the blocks as opposed to my, less than stellar hand sewing skills. I have also thought about bringing along my long term crochet projects but most are large, cumbersome (blankets or scarves) and too hot to be draped across my lap in the summer sun.
This year, I visited a YouTube website and found a video for a super easy crocheted sock pattern and I was thrilled to find a project that I could easily travel with.  

Here’s the website: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gasKXmcyrXgGlamma’s easy crocheted tube socks

Here are a few pictures of the craft items I carried in my tote bag. 

Here are a few other ideas I packed for soaking up the sun in a relaxed environment:


All were perfectly portable and helped me to find plenty to do as I relaxed in the sunshine of the Walt Disney World – Old Key West -Disney Vacation Club – Main Pool.



Who says Spring Break in Walt Disney World can’t be relaxing?!  Once again, we had a “magical” vacation.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Syrup

Homemade Maple Syrup Muffins

Posted on by lmc

This year we decided to try our hand at tapping the maple trees on our property so that we could make our own maple syrup.  Last fall, just before the leaves fell from the trees on our wooded lot, we marked trees that we had identified as maple trees.  After a long hard winter, as the overnight temperatures dipped below 30 degrees and the daytime temperatures climbed above this mark, we tapped the trees so that a clear syrupy liquid (sap) would flow down the trunk of the trees into our collection buckets.  We were surprised to find that this process was really quite quick and our buckets were filled within the first couple of hours.  Next, we boiled down the syrup until it was golden and met the temperature standard for just the right consistency.  



This morning, I made a batch of Oat and Maple Muffins using our very own, utterly delicious maple syrup.  I’m so happy we decided to try the maple syrup making process and I look forward to doing it again next year!

Oat and Maple Muffins 

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

 1 cup flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin liners.  In a large bowl, mix together oil and brown sugar. Beat in maple syrup, egg, milk and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture just long enough to incorporate. Fold in chopped walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from pans and place on a wire rack to cool before serving.