Picking and Preserving Strawberries

I went strawberry picking with my sister-in-law and my nephews this week and picked over twenty pounds of strawberries.  (And I probably would have picked more if my nephews were a little more interested.)  It always seems like such a good idea at the time.  But then, of course, I have to come home and do something with them.

So far I've managed to make strawberry sauce, from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which is delicious.  I made it to add to plain yogurt, but I'm going to have a hard time not putting it on top of anything it could possibly go with.  (That was fun--I chose an 85 degree day in my non-air conditioned house to can something that requires constant stirring of a boiling pot for fifteen minutes.)  And I made a cold-process strawberry shrub.  (Thankfully, no stove required!)  Shrubs are amazing and so easy to make.  I highly recommend mixing one up.  I normally make non-alcoholic drinks with shrubs by mixing with sparkling water, but I'm going to try some cocktails with this batch.  I've also frozen a bunch of strawberries for later use, but I still haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do with the rest that are in my fridge.  I was originally planning some strawberry rhubarb jam (with our own out-of-control rhubarb,) but I haven't gotten around to that yet.  Maybe today.

there were two of these

cut up and ready to go

strawberry sauce

New Canning and Crochet Books

 

My birthday was a few weeks back and I got some wonderful new canning and crochet books: 

Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia by Robyn Chachula
- I can never have enough stitch dictionaries, which are basically lists of instructions on how to do different stitch patterns.

Creating Crochet Fabric by Dora Ohrenstein
- This book is supposed to be amazing if you write your own patterns--or have any interest in doing so.

Food in Jars by Marissa McClellan
- Food in Jars is one of my favorite canning websites so I definitely wanted the book.

The Joy of Pickling by Linda Zedrich
- We love pickles around here, so an entire book about pickling seemed like an obvious choice.

So far I've mostly just looked through them and picked out things I want to make--like Gingery Sweet Pickled Vegetables (Joy of Pickling) and Cantaloupe Jam with Vanilla (Food in Jars.)  I also did a little Tunisian crochet swatching from some stitch patterns in Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia for a possible summer scarf pattern.  (And learned I need more practice at Tunisian crochet.)  I'm sure I'll let you know as soon as I get around to making anything from them.

New Design - Felted Bubble Bowls

I have a new felted bowl design available in my Etsy shop that I'm pretty excited about--I'm calling them bubble bowls.  I kinda love these little round, roly-poly bowls.  As is my usual habit, most of the ones I have done so far are in bright colors, but I am working on some in a more subdued color palette.  I'm thinking these should be available in different sizes, so those are currently in progress.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Gardening and Growing Plants From Seed

I have kind-of a love/hate relationship with gardening.  Mostly because I'm not very good at it.  I kill houseplants frequently and I'm not disciplined enough to take care of my garden the way it should be taken care of.  I almost never manage to stake the tomatoes, I let bugs and weeds get completely out of control and I often forget to water.  I keep at it though, because I love being able to pick fresh, organic food from my yard.  Besides, if you are a canner, having a garden is pretty much a must.  It means I can make jars and jars of tomato sauce and pickles for practically nothing.

seedlings about a month ago

One part of having a garden that I definitely do love is starting plants from seed indoors.  It's almost like magic to start with dirt and tiny little seeds and end up with living things.  And it seems especially magical to do that when there's snow on the ground outside.  Plus, growing your own seedlings is so inexpensive compared to buying seedlings.  One package of seeds often costs about the same amount as one or two seedlings so if I want to grow something in bulk (like paste tomatoes), it seems like the only way to go.

tomato plant seedling today

My plants grew so well this year that I now have more tomato plants than I have room to plant, so I hope I can find people who want to adopt some of them.  (The problem was exacerbated by the fact that I couldn't resist a special pack of five different kinds of tomato seeds and so had to plant those along with my pear and paste tomatoes--giving me seven different types of tomatoes to find room for.)

New Logo Rubber Stamp

adorable packaging

I just received my hand carved rubber stamp with my business logo from Brown Pigeon on Etsy and I love it!  The owner, Meagan, was lovely to work with and the entire process was super easy and fast.  If you need a custom stamp of any sort, I definitely recommend this shop.

Of course I neglected to buy ink for my stamp, so I had to try it out with an old green stamp pad I found in a drawer.  Try to picture it in blue.  I'm planning to stamp all of my bags for my craft shows and my packaging and anything else I can think of.

Product Photography - Before and After Editing

I'm not much of a photographer so I struggle with product photography.  I try to stick with very simple photos (hopefully letting the products speak for themselves), although I have been attempting to use more interesting camera angles in the past year or so.  I take most of my pictures inside in a fairly small homemade light box.  The items that don't fit in the light box--like ones taken on my mannequin, Helena--get photographed outside because I don't have a good place to do it indoors.  So for those, I try to wait for an overcast day and hope it's not raining or snowing--obviously I much prefer to take pictures inside.

My editing process is extremely simple.  I use Photoshop Elements to make the background white, crop and occasionally brighten or darken or slightly adjust the hue, though that's not usually needed.  My main concern is getting the colors to look like they do in life--I never want someone to be disappointed when they receive their purchase.

Original photo

Edited and cropped

No matter how I try to streamline the process, I still end up taking lots of pictures to get ones I'm satisfied with.  I took 434 pictures yesterday and I should have 21 Etsy listings when I'm done editing them.  I never realized how much time I would have to spend on photography when I started my business--I feel like I'm never caught up.   I hope to continue to improve so I can spend a little less time taking pictures and more time making the things I need to take pictures of.

Etsy Wish List Treasury

My birthday is coming up at the end of the month so I decided to make a Treasury including some of my favorites on Etsy. 

'My Etsy Wish List' by Ruth & Hazel

Porcelain Baby doll hea... reshapestudio $55	doily coasters for tea ... uncommon $19	Rustic Reclaimed Wood K... ParadiseHillD... $29	turquoise LACE screenpr... StirAtHome $18
Married to the Sea . ar... tastesorangey $25	Natural Edge Salvaged W... RedOnionWoodw... $71	Milk Glass Soap Dish robynsetsy $12	Illustration, E. E. Cum... ObviousState $24
Square Ceramic Spoon Re... paigepuckettp... $15	Modern Concrete Bookend... roughfusion $50	Kitchen Utensil Holder ... HurricanePott... $38	Giraffe clock - SMALL -... AsymmetreeDes... $60
Ornate Robins Egg Blue ... CatsPawPotter... $14	Vintage Pie Dish set of... TheVintageIsl... $15	Yes We Can Recycled Cot... blacksheephea... $20	Lightning Bolt Necklace... BootyHeartJew... $65

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Felted Soap

supplies for felting soap

Last week, I made some felted soap at the request of a friend.  I don't think I've felted soap since 2007, the year I started my business.  I ended up not ever adding it to my Etsy shop even though I always intended to do so--I think my other projects just took over.  I had forgotten how much fun I have making it and I may just have to felt some more to sell online.

soap wrapped and ready to felt

Felted soap is basically a bar of soap with a wool felt covering--it's sometimes described as soap in a sweater.  You don't need a washcloth because one is built right in and I'm told it's wonderful for camping, though I don't camp so I can't say from personal experience.  It's a fairly simple first felting project, but it can take some practice to get it looking smooth and even.

finished soaps

I won't try to reinvent the wheel by writing a tutorial on how to make felted soap.  (I didn't get enough pictures to really do that, anyway.)  If you are interested in trying it, I learned how to felt around soap from this excellent tutorial at Mielke's Fiber Arts, though there are great tutorials all over the web.  You can also buy your supplies from Mielke's (other than the soap) if you don't have a place locally to buy wool roving.

Some of the Many Possible Uses for Felted Bowls

I had a comment on my Facebook page the other day wondering what felted bowls are used for.  While I do make a few suggestions in my Etsy listings, I thought it might be fun to post a list of some of the many possible uses for felted bowls.

-  loose change, keys or whatever is in your pockets at the end of the day
-  jewelry
-  craft supplies (my mother-in-law uses them for beading)
-  decoration
-  office supplies, such as paper clips or thumbtacks
-  wrapped candies
-  Lego, Matchbox cars or other kids' treasures
-  cotton balls and other bathroom items

I'm sure you can come up with many other uses on your own.  I'm always interested in hearing what you do with your felted bowls so comment or send me an email and let me know.

In related news, I just shipped a box of felted bowls to 6.25 Paper Studio in Grand Rapids, MI.  If you happen to be in or near the area, go in and check out the store.  I haven't actually made it there myself (since it's a bit of a drive) but it looks fabulous in pictures and Abbey, the owner, is super sweet.

Brand new blog

So this is my new blog to go along with my new business name Ruth & Hazel (named after my grandmothers, Ruth and Hazel, who were both also crocheters.)  My old blog Grasshopper Handmade is now defunct--though I guess it really has been for ages now.  This is somewhat a business blog, but in addition to posting about the business, I'll definitely post about other crafty things that I do and probably post about some of my other interests like gardening and canning. 

I'll leave you with one of the attempts at a Facebook cover picture for my new Facebook page.  (The ivory blanket on the couch was crocheted by my Aunt Connie.)