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I am blogging today... come hell or high water...

Homemade Cocoa Wheats!

One of the absolute favorites here at The Pumpkinhaus is Homemade Cocoa Wheats for breakfast (... that is, when I am not making waffles!) This is so easy to make, and the kids totally freak out for it.

Homemade Cocoa Wheats

makes four good sized bowls

• 3 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup farina
• pinch o' sea salt
• 2 heaping tablespoons natural process cocoa (I like Penzeys)
• up to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (Penzeys the Korintje Cassia Cinnamon is my fav and the Extra Fancy Vietnamese is wonderful too.)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (Penzeys you haven't had vanilla until you have had theirs.)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (Penzeys one small bottle has lasted me 3 years so far, and I use it all the time)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or more, depends on how sweet you like it

Put water, milk and pinch o' salt in a good sized pot with a fitting lid. As this starts to heat up, add all of your spices and extracts minus the butter and sugar and stir well to melt the cocoa.

Just before the mixture starts to boil, slowly pour in farina... stirring the whole time (this is the secret to no lumps). Stir until it begins to boil, and then turn the burner to simmer and leave it for about 8 min or so, stirring occasionally. Then, put the butter and brown sugar right on top, put the lid on tight, and move it to the back burner and leave it set for about 10 minutes. While it is setting make your toast for dipping, and perk up a fresh pot of coffee.

My kids like it served up with a splash of milk and some extra cinnamon on top to make it pretty. Try dipping with a slice of buttered toast... that is the Dani and Ro special!

Enjoy!

Pumpkinhaus at the Tiny Studio

My show at Tiny Studio last friday was great! It was really wonderful to be able to have an event that included both Joe and I. For so many years now, it has either been his performance or my exibit, never really together. Rowan was there and she worked hard on her art, and then showed Mia and then Teatah around the art hop. She is becoming so independant lately... I can really tell how much she has changed and matured over the last year in moments like these. Of course, she loved it that her dad was performing as Harts Horn, and got to show him off as well!

My handspun yarn and art dolls were very well received, and I also ended up spinning for about three hours straight. Everytime I stopped, someone else would come in and exclaim "Oh wow... " so then, I would sit down and give another demo! I don't care though, I love it and could do it all day, everyday! It is really funny the people who are super interested in watching someone spin. Little boys, and grown men alike just really wanted to know all about it, and how the whole process works... my Gramma thought that was just a hoot! Even she was pretty mystified by the whole thing and watched herself for over an hour... lol.

I have so much stock built up right now, and the massive shop update begins tomorrow and should go steady through wednesday, so please stop by often to see what I have to offer! I will start with bright handspun yarns tomorrow, and then more art yarns on tuesday, and round out the update with many new art dolls on wednesday... I am so excited to have so much new stuff!!!

All right... now off to put my tiny haus back together! It is amazing how messy it can get when you are knee deep in preparations for a show!

More peeking...

Tiny Peek...

Prepping for a show at Tiny Studio

I have a gallery show coming up in Kalamazoo, MI at Tiny Studio on June 5th which will feature my art dolls and handspun yarns. I have been spinning like crazy, and I have about 20 skeins of yarn so far... I am going to double that, which means I will spend ano ther whole day carding batts again. It's tough work, but I love it!

For now though, I am spending the next couple of days sculpting some new little sitting gnome dolls. My doll peeps should be glad to hear that! I'll post a preview of those over the next day or two... but, for now, here is a smattering of what I have done so far.

Tiny Studio Music/Arts - Exhibit

Date: Friday, June 5, 2009Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: Park Trades Center #219, Kalamazoo, MI

Email: tinystudio@charter

Tiny Studio blog:
http://thethreepeas.blogspot.com/

Joe Davis/ Harts Horn blog:
http://homepunspacerock.blogspot.com/

Harts Horn/ Etsy Shop:

http://homespunspacerock.etsy.com/

A lovely afternoon

Ahhhhh... sweet, sweet sunshine! I had the most wonderful day today, my kids spent the day with Grandma, and I got to sleep in!! I woke up, perked up a pot o' coffee and dragged a bunch of wool and my wheel outside and just spun to my hearts content in the sunshine.

I sat in the same spot for over 4 hours. I listened to the birds. I enjoyed the breeze.

I even got a bit of a sunburn. That felt so good.

I have a pretty good life.

Hausbatts!

Fellow Fiber Fiends... get your fun fiber fix here at The Pumpkinhaus!

I am listing hand carded batts galore in the shop!

Hausbatts!

These are beautiful fiber batts that are comprised of any or all of the following:

hand dyed: merino, bfl, corridale, falkland, coopworth, romney, mohair

also possibly: angelina, firestar, sari silk fibers, the kitchen sink, tencel neps, silk neps, toys, yarn bits, love, beads, feathers, passion, color, bling, shine, stars in your eyes!

These are all fun, bright hand carded 2oz batts that come from color combinations from my home The Pumpkinhaus. Each one is a surprise... you may get my kitchen floor (wha? it is fabulous), Rowan's spring jacket, my day of the dead bathroom... my favorite song at the moment... whatever it is, it is sure to be packed with love, passion and color! Just like my little home!

Spinners!

Felters!

Lovers of mad texture!

Dollmakers!

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkinhaus Handspun Yarn

Yea! I listed some new items today... Pumpkinhaus Handspun Yarn! And... would you believe it... yes, someone snapped one up immediatly! Whoo hoo! That felt pretty great.

I have been spinning for years with a drop spindle, and as you may have seen in a previous post, I finally got a me big girl wheel! So you will be seeing sooooo much more yarns in the future of my little shop! I am and always will be a fiber feind, and this feels so good to be making! I love to use handspun yarn for my art dolls and softies!

These are all made from hand dyed wool and various other fun stuff and then carded up on my drum carder into the most beautiful batts ( I don't know why I didn't photograph them...) which is then spun up with massive luvin'!

Moss and Bark

Pinky Lee

Mermish

Fffffffun.

Superman Ice Cream

Thanks for looking!

Etsy Bloggers May 11 Edition

Welcome to the May 11, 2009 edition of etsybloggers.

I am your host!! I really thought long and hard about what I would love to read about... I went with these two topics:

More thoughtfully written:

1).Art vs. Craft: Is it an issue / non-issue and how do you feel about the argument?

More playful and fun:

2).What is your favorite fairy tale? Any parallels to real life?

So... it is monday morning. Brew up a pot of coffee and relax (like me, I actually look forward to monday mornings... what? Am I the only one?), or sneak it in between bulk emails from your boss. What ever you do, this should be really good. I plan to write my blog post as a summation of all that I have read from fellow teammates in the next day of two. So, stay tuned.

Rose Works Jewelry presents Snow White, Cinderella, and Rambo? posted at A Jedi's Musings.

Terronda Clarke presents Etsyblogger Blog Carnival - Fairy Tale posted at ~Unique Commodities~.

Tammy presents Do Fairy Tales Inspire You? posted at tamdoll's workspace.

A Keeper's Jackpot presents A Case for Art Vs Craft posted at A Keeper's Jackpot.

Kraken presents Art vs. Craft « posted at Kraken Mosaics - Where Art & Inspiration Collide.

Kathy Johnston (Cozy) presents Life gets better....... posted at A Cozy Life.

Elayne Teitelbaum presents ChezChani: ART VS CRAFT (In This Corner...Craft) posted at ChezChani.

cindy devine presents Art vs. Craft: Is it an issue? posted at Devine Designs Jewelry.

maryeb presents Princesses All posted at Colorless Green Ideas.

AliciaMae presents The Craft War posted at Crafts and Cooking.

Rainy presents Art Vs. Craft Blog Carnival posted at RainyDayArt.

Vanessa presents If the Shoe Fits... posted at Designs by Vanessa.

pesky33 presents Fairy Tales & Real Life posted at Life's Big Canvas.

MagdaleneJewels presents A Fairy Tale Life posted at MagdaleneJewels's Blogs.

Two Zany Zebras presents Once upon a time... posted at Two Zany Zebras.

BunnyKissd presents Blogger Carnival: Art Vs. Craft posted at Diary of a Crazy Rabbit Lady, Too.

Athena Workman presents A Wicked Great Fairy Tale posted at the weblog of artist athena workman.

Becky presents Favorite Fairy Tale? posted at The Fab Miss B.

Heather presents Blog Carnival: Art vs. Craft? posted at Heather's Custom Sewing.

Virginia Burnett presents Favorite Fairy Tale??? posted at Luna's Baublebilities

Trina Baker presents Etsy Blog Carnival « gallery32 posted at gallery32.

HomeMadeOriginals presents Art Vs. Craft, Along the Continuum posted at Home Made Originals.

storybeader presents Etsybloggers carnival - May 8, 2009 posted at Stroll Through Storyland.

Erika presents The Fairy Tale of Life posted at NICO* Designs.

Glorybe1024 presents Fairy Tales - Blog Carnival Post posted at Lucky Ladybug Designs.

Edi presents Artist vs. Crafter posted at Memories for Life Scrapbooks.

Patti presents A.........rt vs. Craft posted at peacoxcreations.

Now let's go visit our teammates blogs and read this edition of the EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival!

Technorati tags: etsybloggers, blog carnival.

More New Hats

A couple more new hat additions to the shop...

more mushrooms, only this time...

REVERSIBLE!

I, personally, love it. I am keeping one of them, and I am not taking it off! Super cute, really versatile (my own design, as always). I am going to add many more of these to the shop a little at a time, so keep those peepers peeled!

And I updated the Gnome Cone pics too.

I finally got an order for one of these!

Alrighty... thanks for looking!

I am off to spin up some more yarny goodness... keep ya posted!

The Mach 1 Has Landed!

Oh yes... I am the proud owner of a brand new spinning wheel!!! The Mach 1 by Spinolution arrived at my doorstep last night searching for a new home... I welcome it with open arms and spinning hands!

I purchased this baby from janicerosema on etsy. She is a super sweet seller, and she happens to live just blocks away from the man who makes them. I was only able to sit and spin for a few minutes last night, but so far, I am in love! The action on this wheel is so smooth and I had absolutely no problems taking it out of the box and assembling it... it took all of about 15 minutes, then I was ready to spin! I am going to devote some real time spinning this afternoon, and then I will be able to give a more accurate description of how it really works.

here are some pictures:

I had Janice's special treatment added... taller peg hooks, and the "orifice" hook has a ball on the tip to prevent any snagging of bulky or art yarns. This wheel has no orifice btw, it is a hook so there is no actual threading.

I have heard a few people on ravelry describe this as a rather "ugly" wheel, but I actually love the way it looks, it has a really sturdy almost industrial feel to it. It is actually made by hand in the makers home garage wood shop! I love that about this wheel.



Of course, Little Man's favorite thing to do is to grab the hook and spin the flyers! I thought this was good to show the height of the wheel... its about 27" tall.

Okay! Off to go play!

Shop Update! Hats and Yarn!!

Forgive me bloggers... for I have sinned. It has be too long since my last blogfession. OMG!!! What a freakin' month it has been! I tell ya, the weather has me ever so crazy right now. But, I truly believe the fog has lifted! So much going on right now... we started tearing out the walls and doing some MAJOR renovations on Ye Olde Pumpkinhaus. Not pretty right now, but oh so needed (I'll share some pics really soon)! We are growing out of this little haus, and it is time to make some changes! Swappin' rooms, moving the bathroom, biggifying the kitchen... not to mention the garage! Long summer ahead, I just hope we can keep up the pace!

I have added some hand dyed yarn and a new style hat to the shop. When exactly did I make these? I dunno... it was all a blur...

Introducing:

The Miss Muffet Hat

Super cute and puffy. Little Miss Muffet! Two variations on this little sweetie hittin' the shop soon!

Pumpkindyed!

Melted Popsicle
190 yards hand dyed bulky

On the pond
190 yards medium weight merino

County Fair

190 yards hand dyed bulky

Green Meadow
190 yards hand dyed worsted

Swampy
190 yards hand dyed bulky

Superheroes
190 yards hand dyed worsted

So, thanks for looking, and I am going to be back sooner! I have a few projects to finish up, and some orders to get out! now... back to work!