1 crafty mother

I made this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Step 1: Went to a Store …probably wise to say no names, just know that it rhymes with Shmottery Shmarn I saw a table I adored. And I mean adored. It was just so… rainy day, hot coffee, parquet with like pomegranates and hurricane candles and strewn linens ...you know the type...beautiful.  I did not make this....this is from the store...this was my inspo. I imagined hosting elegant dinner parties around it, I imagined reading newspapers around it as

My Word. This weather makes me so hungry, like I need to feed in order to make it through the winter or something. Time to blow the dust off the crockpot and check out the following fresh, and scrumptious slowcook ideas.Honestly, is there anything better than coming home from work to a house that smells like maplely mustardy, meaty goodness? I think not. 1. Maple‑Glazed Apple Cider Pulled Pork...mmmmmmmmmmm Ingredients: 3–4 lb pork shoulder (or butt) 1 cup apple cider ¼ cup p

Eating sugar-free and refined-flour-free doesn’t have to feel limiting — it’s all about stocking the right ingredients. With the staples below, you can build delicious meals, snacks, and treats without relying on refined sugar or flour. Each staple includes a recipe plus what it can substitute in your everyday cooking. Let’s fill that pantry. 1. Almond Flour Almond flour is naturally sweet, tender, and rich — a dream for baked goods. Recipe: Almond Flour Lemon Mini Loaves Ing

A finishing carpenter lived in our house before we did, and for the most part, we are beneficiaries of artful and skilled updating to our 1880s house. For the most part. One major departure from this line of gratitude existed as the kitchen. Wow. excuse the bright window into the afterlife...bad picture taking..can't go back and do it again. So our kitchen fits the profile for an old house in that it is very small….like it could fit on a boat. That’s ok. There are only 3 of u

I stepped outside to take out the garbage the other night and brought a flashlight to scare away the raccoons. Walking by the roses, I got distracted by the awesome shadows on the house. Could this be a new trend? House shadows? Cool decor!

Evidentally, privet bushes have a lifespan and our 24 privet hedge was reaching its end when we bought our house.  Slowly over the first two years we lived here, whole chunks of our 6 foot tall hedge would grow more sparse, leaving windows in an otherwise solid wall of prettiness.  I tried to fortify, I tied up and supported the weakening branches, I fed the soil...but there was no real hope. To quote Apollo 13, “from where I’m sitting, the hedge is dying. “ …or something lik

I Quit Sugar Sugar. Yummy, addictive, delicious, thief of my happiness, sugar. There was a time when I could not even conceive (that’s true, I was not able to conceive), but here I mean I could not conceive of giving up sugar.  As far back as I can remember, I have NEVER been someone who was fine with one cookie.  You know how some people have “just a taste”?  Not me. Not with sugar.  For me, opening the door to sugar was more like unlocking a closet that was so full that it

www.craftymotherllc.com Fresh off of my Masters in Elementary Education ,  I spent long , delicious afternoons in the tiny alcove off of the kitchen cutting , pasting ,  learning and creating with Lily ,  my little dynamo. super artful and cute and individually organized with everything you need!!!! Cardboard cups , bags and paper plates became fierce lions , spiny dinosaurs ,  and happy bumblebees just like when I was a kid…and my Lily saw her imagination take flight. Wonder

So my copy of the first one, The Moosewood Cookbook , is in tatters for those of you who do not know what to get me for Christmas. This cook book is so, so good. It is not necessarily sugar free, but the ingredients are all actual food and not lab grown junk. Mollie Katzen has peppered hand drawn illustrations throughout and includes wonderful tips and tricks for handling and substituting different ingredients. I love the easy to use layout. My favorites are the gazpacho, whi

This could be a whole blog with many many many posts. Infertility. ugh. seriously, what a slog THAT was. If you are going through it right now, please accept my deeply compassionate virtual hug. It absolutely gutted me. For over a decade, I tried EVERYTHING . I will say that I turned my life upside down in this pursuit. I started eating and sleeping like a celebrity...meditating, dry brushing, yoga-ing, the whole nine. There were many turning points, but one comes to mind. Th

https://amzn.to/3WKF1UB I just love this beautiful book. Every now and then, a book comes along that doesn’t just tell a story—it shifts something inside you. For me, The Orchardist  by Amanda Coplin was that kind of book. I picked it up expecting a quiet, historical novel about a man who tends fruit trees. What I found instead was a deeply meditative exploration of grief, solitude, and the unexpected ways love can show up in a life. Set in the Pacific Northwest in the early

well if that isn't the darndest thing I guess the snow has to stop somewhere, yes? This time it stopped half way down my street. A squall came through and only snowed on half of my yard, which was super cool. I guess we could go deep and reference life and transitions and carrying two truths at once...but I think I'll just let this be pretty.

So. We had company coming over and the house was a mess. So ,naturally, I spent the week removing 4000000 years of paint layers off of my front steps. If you are nodding in agreement, then you are my people. Read on. Painted wood tends to make me feel just a little curious and well, if I'm honest a little sad. These steps were painted several times before we moved in, stretching back in all liklihood to ...I'm gonna say....the Ordovician period. There was red, there was cream

Thank you, God, for this warm, pretty, old house. It took a long time for us to find one and we love it dearly. That said, there have been many, many things that we have fixed thus far and many more to come. A few projects (that I intend to post about) have been: added a fence and cut a garden along the driveway. resurfaced all of the cabinets in the kitchen. layed a brick patio behind the garage. dug out 26 dying privet and planted 24 lilacs for a hedge. big.fun . carpeted,