Boston Dictionary Party

I'm a teacher's assistant for class where some students are doing a group project on tax policy in Massachusetts. Sounds boring, right? Well, when pennies are coming out of your pocketbook* to generate a sales tax revenue stream, it might pay to be an informed citizen.

I thought some of you crafters would be interested in better understanding the finer points of craft material taxation policy here in Taxachusetts. They've thought this through here.

Generally speaking, "Materials that become part of articles of clothing, such as name tags sewn to a garment, are generally tax-exempt."

Exempt
Sewing goods: Buttons; Elastic binders, tapes; Fabric and materials for clothing; Thread; Yarn (other than rug); Yarn goods; Zippers

Nonexempt
Sewing supplies: Dress forms, patterns; embroidery hoops; Knitting bags; Needles, pins, thimbles; Needlework instruction books; Rug yarn; Scissors; Sewing kits; Skein and yarn holders; Tape measures

I had no idea that all this time I was not being taxed for my yarn or fabric! I will have to check my receipts more carefully.

Also, the finer points of sales tax on apparel were amusing. The important distinction is that, "While apparel designed solely for athletic or protective use is taxable, items that are also suitable for everyday use are exempt."

For instance:

• Boat shoes are tax exempt but bowling shoes are not.
• Jogging bras are tax exempt but clothing primarily designed to protect from physical injury is not.
• Choir and clerical vestments are tax exempt but special clothing for jockeys is not.
• Scarves are tax exempt but handkerchiefs are not.

I guess by that logic, handkerchiefs are considered protective gear.

There are some amusing distinctions in other categories as well.

• Infant rubber pants are tax exempt but baby wipes are not.
• Food substitutes are tax exempt but food supplements are not.
• Comic books are tax exempt but dictionaries and encyclopedias are not.

Hey, that last one seems unfair!

Maybe we should throw some dictionaries in the harbor and start a revolution!

_________

*Translation: Pocketbook is New England speak for what the rest of us refer to as a purse. It took me awhile to figure that one out. I only did after a co-worker told me she put a milkshake in her pocketbook. True story. Before then I thought a pocketbook was a wallet. And yes, the milkshake spilled inside her new leather purse.

Shop Facelift and Sale

I experimented last weekend and came up with some better photos of my PhotoJournals and Mini-Journals for the wanderCRAFT shop. Much happier - I think they do a better job of showing what they are like, and the shop looks more lively!











I'm also running a sale all week to get things moving along for the holidays. The shop announcement reads:

"To show my thanks, I'm running a sale the whole week of Thanksgiving, from Monday, November 23rd through Sunday, November 29th.

Deal 1: Buy any PhotoJournal, and pick out a Mini-Inspiration Kit for FREE!

OR

Deal 2: Buy any PhotoJournal or Mini-Journal and get the second HALF OFF. The discount is taken on the journal of lesser value.

Just add both items to your basket, and after payment, I will refund your PayPal account for either the Mini-Inspiration Kit or half the price of one journal, depending on the deal you choose. Happy Thanksgiving!"

Also, I played around last weekend with a new concept for some new albums. What do you think?





I was thinking of these for children actually. A stocking stuffer. They will be filled with blank paper, and can be used for free writing, drawing and such. They can also add special photos of themselves. I thought it would be so cool to have your child create their own little journal or scrapbook that you could tuck away neatly for them to look back at in later years.

And then I think I'll add some PhotoJournals with various words on the front.





These last couple journals aren't uploaded yet, but I will add a few soon.

Any suggestions for words? Anything else you'd like to see in the shop? I'm all ears!

Evidence of Midwestern Girl

Sometimes I feel like I've lost my Midwesternness.



Boston has gotten to me. I'm a little sharper than I used to be. Maybe a little more pretentious. I admit it. Definitely, a little more jaded.

But from time to time, I notice the Midwestern girl coming through.

Exhibit A: The woman at doggie daycare busted my chops for about the 6th time this month. I was 5 minutes late about 4 weeks ago and she won't let it go. It's been getting on my nerves. So what did I do yesterday in response to her teasing? Smiled and changed the subject to the weather.

I think she got the hint because today she didn't say anything.

Exhibit B: I was asked to bring my special dish to a pre-Thanksgiving meal. As much as I'm into sustainable food and all that lately, this morning I whipped up a huge tray of traditional green bean casserole for 30 people.

The recipe? Buy a large aluminum tray. Dump in 5 big cans of French style green beans, 2 big ole' cans of cream of mushroom soup, a few cups of milk, some pepper, and a generous helping of those yummy fried onions in a can. Stir. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Open a second can of fried onions, and sprinkle on some more. Bake awhile longer.

Perfection.

I actually tried to make a homemade, non-canned foods version of this once. It was an abysmal failure. Since then, I've just gone back to my roots on this one.

When it comes to certain things, you can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl.

A Sunday with November Orange

It is precisely the middle of the month today. Matt's been down with a fever all weekend, so we've been moving at a slower pace. A little sleeping in. A little TV watching. A little cooking. A little computer work. And a little hike, for the healthy ones in our crew.

The farmer's market closed two weeks ago - sniff sniff - and I went home on the last two days with pounds and pounds of carrots. My fridge is loaded with orange.

So yesterday I got a little adventurous and made up a recipe for Coconut Curried Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup. Say that three times fast.

It's sweet, with a little kick.

Unfortunately, the man with the fever isn't much into soup, except for plain chicken and noodle. He's missing out because this one is balanced just right.

My recipes aren't super precise because I tend to throw stuff together, but hopefully you can replicate this, if desired.

Ingredients:

2 tbls. butter

1 large onion, or two small, diced

1 tsp. curry powder (more if desired)

salt, to taste

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne (or less)

3 sweet potatoes, diced

8 large carrots, diced

1 large box of chicken or veggie stock

1/3 cup coconut milk

Directions: Melt butter in a pot, and add diced onion. Saute on medium low until translucent. Add spices and allow to cook for a minute. Add sweet potato and carrots. Saute for a several minutes to soften. Add box of stock, and bring to simmer. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until carrots and sweet potatoes are soft.

I used a stick blender here to puree the soup. I just bought it a week ago and I've used it about every other day - works so much better than my regular blender, and less mess than the food processor. But, you could definitely use a regular blender or food processor. My soup was fairly thick, so you may want to add extra stock here to thin to the desired texture. Water would do in a pinch. You could also strain some of the soup to make it a little smoother.

To finish, add coconut milk to the puree and stir. I added a little on top for serving.

After I had some soup for lunch, I took the dog out for our sometimes regular Sunday hike. Some orange soup seemed like the perfect starter for a mid-November hike.

Orange abounds!

This vernal pool is a favorite spot because it changes through the seasons. It'll be frozen over soon!

I was enjoying all the orange, and was surprise to look down and see this neon purple popping out at me. Quite spectacular.

Kaia was remarkably patient today while I kept my head buried behind the camera lens. Miss thing is prone to running off, so she has to be leashed at all times.

I gave her time to splash in the mud though. She is unphased by close-to-freezing ponds.

Before we headed home at 4:30, the sunset lit the landscape up for a final hurrah of the day.

After the intensity of September and October, the slower pace of November is a welcome change. We're getting used to nightfall that comes before 5.

The fever is unwelcome though. If I come down with one myself, at least I've got some more soup on hand to nourish me through.

Freshly squeezed update

I had a busy weekend around the house, and am starting to feel slightly more organized in life. I squeezed in some time to update the Etsy shop (get it, squeezed?).

Wow. That was bad.

Moving on, thanks so much to all the pretty flowers for writing a post about my shop! Super nice. Jen was my very first friend. Our nursing mothers (they were nurses too!) set up a child care co-op where they swapped babysitting time. Really inspiring practice. And it meant I got to spend good quality time playing at my friends' houses. I have a lot of random memories from those days, everything from being mesmerized by Jen's fancy humidifier to riding the 'green machine' scooter outside to stacking up all their couch cushions into a tower and taking pictures of each other on top of it.

Which reminds me, I should add that to my 'should be scrapped' list. It's been fun to reconnect with her via this blogging thing. She lives a very inspiring life of crafting, child raising, and experimenting with the farming lifestyle.

I got into this PhotoJournaling small business because of my love for documenting and reminiscing!

To the shop, I added six new PhotoJournals in various sizes, and at different price points. I experimented with block printing on the cover, for two albums listed in the shop. I also added some white albums that you can customize yourself.

If you don't see a color combo or size here you want, please let me know because I probably have materials on hand to custom make one for you. It'd be a pleasure!

I also added a couple more patterned albums in orange and blue.

My mom told me that she likes one of the aqua mini-inspiration kits but wasn't sure how she could use it (she's more of a fabric crafter than a paper crafter). I wanted to try out the kits myself anyway, so I made up some samples of what you might do with some of the kits.

I used the pink and purple mini-inspiration kit to make a card for a newly engaged friend.

(everything but the kraft paper card and the pink American Craft letter stickers is included in the kit)

And then I used the brown kit (which I love love love) to make a scrapbook page. This is sort of a slice of life page. Nothing mind blowingly special about the topic, but I had this photo from awhile back that I wanted to do something with and I paired it with a little fact about my current life. Some day when I move away, it'll be fun to look back and remember this little part of my daily routine right now.

I cut out the hand-stamped stamped sticker, and added brown paint around the edges, along with a date stamp. I simply stapled the ribbon onto the page. The cork has adhesive on the back already so it was as simple as sticking it on the page. Gives it great texture. Everything above comes with the kit, minus the paint, 12x12 white cardstock, the date stamper, the cream paper I journaled on, and the staples!

Hopefully the kits just provide a few bits and pieces to get you started on creating something fun.

In related news, my inspiration clipboards finally filled up this weekend with new pages. Once I make another page, I'll rotate one of these into an album. I love having them out for awhile to look at before they get filed away. Fun stuff!

Open for Business! Yay!

This took all day, and a few late hours last night, but my etsy shop wanderCRAFT design is finally open for business! I've been thinking about doing this for at least a couple years, so I'm quite excited! Lots of dreaming, planning, gathering and creating went into this day.

I have about half of my items listed at this point. I had a couple unsuccessful rounds of photographing my photojournals (terrible light here) so I'll have those up later this week. I may need to get a lightbox. I'm also continuing to work on my handpainted chalkboards, so that they will be just right for you!

In the meantime, there is a lot of good stuff.

Here are a couple of the photojournals:









And a few of the very reasonably priced ($3) mini-inspiration kits, that can be a great jumping off point for a scrapbooking page, card, artist trading card, or an art journal page.







And lastly for now, these cute mini Tweet journals, for recording your favorite one-liners. They are available in three color combinations. The bird design is mine. I haven't block printed since middle school and am very much looking forward to doing more!



A huge thank you to the very inspiring Madeline of Barn-Raising, who tested out one of my photojournals and blogged about it not just once, but twice. So great to see it in action.

I considered taking out ad space on other blogs to promote the shop, but I want to keep prices low so I'm going to rely on word of mouth for now. If you buy something, please consider sending me a couple photos of your creation or a blog post review that I can link to.

Thank you so much and please let me know if there are other items you'd like to see in the shop. My mom has requested greeting cards with some of my photographs so those are on their way as well!

What mom wants, mom gets! :)

Etsy on the way!

On Sunday, as you're recovering from your sugar coma, come over and check out opening day at wanderCRAFT design @ etsy.com.

There will be handmade photojournals, embellishment packs and hand-painted chalkboards, and a little block printing thrown in for good measure.

I'll be busy this weekend pulling everything together so I can ship the lovelies out to you!