December 16, 2015: Starlight ornaments

I had my oven heated up yesterday when making dinner, which seemed like the perfect time to try these ornaments. The photo shows the results of two different methods.

For the bell, a metal cookie cutter was placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and the mints were jammed arranged in it before going into the oven. The circular one was cut from a square of mints that were allowed to melt together without any border holding them in.

When making these, you will come across some challenges. Toward the end, 30 seconds in the oven can make a huge difference between done and “what happened?”.  You can see on the bottom left part of the bell where the pattern started to blur too much as a result of this. A star that must have been in a hot spot in the oven did not fare as well and is mostly a red smudge.

Some will break. When removing the pieces from the cookie cutters, any thin or intricate designs will be more difficult to remove. I have a peppermint tree without a trunk as a result of this.

Some candy may leak out around the bottom of the cookie cutter. Because it is so thin, these candy pieces were easy to break off before removing the rest of the candy from the cutter. These pieces are still tasty.

The scraps and broken ones will not go to waste. Crushed, they will go into some peppermint bark where they will not need to look pretty.

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March 28, 2015: Coconut eggs and defining creativity

Today I made some coconut eggs, a favorite in our house, and it got me thinking about how I categorize the different things I do.

When I decided to start a 365 challenge of working on something creative every day, I didn’t stop to define what would count as “something creative”.   As a crafter and sewer, some things are obvious. Crochet a scarf: creative.  Sew a quilt top: creative. There are other things I don’t seem to think of that way. Try a new recipe: that’s just cooking. Sew a button back on a pair of pants: mending.

So for some reason cooking doesn’t fall into my self-decided category of being creative, but making candy does. Even though it is much simpler to make candy than to assemble a pot pie or make home-made spaetzle. I have a friend who creates incredible meals. Ones that take hours to prepare and might start with her making a mole sauce from scratch or cutting vegetables to the exact perfect size for beautiful colorful salads.  I consider her creative.

The same goes for different projects around the house. When I strip and refinish a chair, that counts. When I strip and repaint wood work, that doesn’t.  Should it?

Is creativity a feeling, or an action? And why is one person’s creativity not mine? Questions I am pondering today. I don’t expect to come up with an answer, but it is making me think about what I am doing, and why. Perhaps it has something to do with necessity vs. option.  I NEED to eat.  The wall NEEDS to be painted. But using that cute fabric or pretty yarn to make a bag or a scarf, turning a curbside chair into a bright seat on our porch? That’s just for my soul. The same goes for coconut eggs.