Pumpkin Smash Smoothie

By Lindsey Riley (The Crafting-Challenged Blogger)

October is just a few short days away, and that means popular fall entrees and goodies are becoming available at various restaurants and coffee shops. Like Mallory mentioned earlier this week, pumpkin flavored snacks and drinks have already made their way onto menus and have caused a war of pumpkins.

Photo: Property of Jamba Juice

There's still one contender waiting to join this battle. Next week, Jamba Juice is bringing their Pumpkin Smash smoothie back to the menu for a limited time. For those who have no idea what this is: Imagine taking a pumpkin pie and throwing it into a blender until it was in liquid form.

Personally, I am beyond excited to drink pumpkin pie from a Jamba cup but if it weren't for my campus meal plan, I wouldn't be able to afford to drink this smoothie a few times a week. Also, while Jamba Juice is healthier than some drinks, there's still quite a bit of sugar mixed with those vitamins.

So how can we be friendly to our health and wallet and still consume this wonderful fall beverage? Well, we can make it ourselves of course! I found us a good recipe through Skinny Kitchen with Nancy Fox. This is a Weight Watchers friendly recipe (only worth four points), and it has half of the calories and sugar that the Jamba drink has.

All we need is:

• A blender
• 2 cups fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt
•  ½ cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup light vanilla soy milk or reduced-fat milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups ice

Now what?

• Add all of the ingredients into the blender. Blend on high until smooth. This should only take you five minutes, if that, to create.
• Consume beverage with a smile!

I am better at cooking than crafting, but I still like these quick and easy recipes. I felt like this drink tasted the exact same as Jamba's but for the sake of tradition, I'll probably end up in line at Jamba to get one of their own.

And now that you have an easy recipe to follow, you can make this drink all year long! #winning <- ;D

Let us know what you think of this recipe!

Celebrating Apples in the Midwest

Happy Thursday!
Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday, I've been quite sick the past few days; nonetheless, the show must go on.

September 26, which was actually yesterday, was Johnny Appleseed's birthday. He was born in 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts, as John Chapman. He worked as an apprentice at an apple orchard in Pennsylvania and began collecting apple seeds. After 1800 he traveled west towards the Ohio River valley, planting seeds along the way. He planted over 1,200 acres of apple trees all across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. He died in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 18, 1845.

The 39th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival was last weekend in Fort Wayne at the Johnny Appleseed Park and Municipal Campground. There was some commotion this year at the festival from PETA supporters. PETA asked the festival to take all meat products off their menu since Johnny was a vegetarian and reknown lover of all animals. With the festival only a few weeks away there wasn't much that could be changed in such a short amount of time. Bridget Kelly, spokeswoman for the festival, said the board would consider adding vegetarian dishes to the menu for next year; however, meats will stay on the menu.

What do you think of making the festivals go vegetarian?

Even though the Fort Wayne festival is over, here are some other cities with Johnny Appleseed festivals coming up soon:

• Saturday, September 29th 9a.m. - 5p.m.: 19th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival in Leominster, Massachusetts 
• Saturday, September 29th 9a.m. - 4p.m.: 2012 Johnny Appleseed Festival in Crystal Lake, Illinois

In celebration of Johnny Appleseed's birthday, I decided to make mini apple pies. This is a recipe of my own made up of a few other ones I've found. I took the best from each and created what I think is extemely delicious. This recipe makes 12 little pies. Let me know what you think of it- I'm always looking to improve on my recipes.

Homemade pie crust
-6 tbsp melted butter
-1 whole package of cinnamon graham crackers
-1/4 cup sugar

• Set the oven to 350*. I used a potato smasher and broke up all the graham crackers. Then combine the sugar and butter into the same bowl and mix it all until the graham crackers are pretty
• The place the mixture into a muffin pan, spray if not greased, and push the crust up against the sides with the back of a spoon.

• Put the pie crusts into the oven for about five minutes just to firm them up a bit.

Apple pie filling
-2-3 granny smith apples
-2 cups sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1-2 cups brown sugar [for topping when finished]

• Cut the apples into small diced pieces and mix it with the vanilla extract and sugar.

• Put the mixture inside the pie crusts.

• Cook for about 12 minutes, or until the apples start carmelizing.
• Sprinkle brown sugar over the pie.

I served mine with vanilla icecream, but it taste just as good without it!

Pumpkin Spice Frenzy

By: Mallory Jordan, Moderately Crafty

Fall has begun and the pumpkin spice flavors have arrived. Starbucks is known for having a pumpkin spice line every fall, but now the coffee shop might have a competitor.

Dunkin' Donuts has introduced their own pumpkin spice line including pumpkin lattes and pumpkin muffins. Although many people are already hooked on the Starbucks pumpkin line, Dunkin' Donuts seems to have started off with more ideas and more product.

Einstein Bros. have pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin bagels and pumpkin muffins as well, which would affect Dunkin' more than Starbucks. I suspect many will flock to Starbucks for the traditional pumpkin spice latte that coffee lovers are so accustomed to now. But, since Starbucks only has the pumpkin cream cheese muffin and scones, the extensive pumpkin food line at Dunkin' and Einstein could cause some customer trade offs.

Could this turn into a pumpkin war? Or will Starbucks junkies and Dunkin' lovers stay true.

If it is just too difficult to decide, there is a solution to this pumpkin battle problem: make your own pumpkin spice latte!

Note: This is gluten and vegan safe, so anyone can enjoy the comfort of a pumpkin latte. And, it serves two so you can share!



You will need:

Coffee
1 c milk (almond milk or half and half work well too)

2 tbsp pumpkin puree (aka pure pumpkin in a can
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp sugar at the end
Optional: pinch of other spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon to add to taste

First, start brewing your regular or decaf coffee. Make it a little stronger for this recipe than usual.




Combine all of the ingredients besides the regular sugar in a bowl and mix. Using a blender would give the best results because you will want to whisk well. Not all of the spices will dissolve, though.

The mixture will look pale and slightly milky. You can add more spices (nutmeg and cinnamon) to taste. Other recipes include those spices, but I prefer the recipe without.

Once it is whisked or blended well, pop the mixture in the microwave for one minute.




Split the pumpkin spice ingredients in the bowl between the two mugs, then pour in the coffee. Add in 2 teaspoons of sugar to bring out the flavor.

Again, to keep it to taste for people who enjoy coffee more, add more coffee and put in less of the pumpkin spice mixture and you can save some of that mixture for later.

Feel free to add any kind of whipped topping and sprinkle some pumpkin spice or nutmeg on top of that to make it just like Starbucks or Dunkin'.

Now you have delicious, homemade pumpkin spice lattes without ever having to go out into the cold!

To quote Kim Bhasin from Business Insider, "That's a lot of pumpkin."

Slasher T-Shirt Scarf Making

By Lindsey Riley (The Crafting-Challenged Blogger)

Hey everyone! First off, welcome to the weekend.

The recent and, in my opinion, sudden fall weather has caused some people to dust off their leather jackets, boots, and pull out their fall fashion accessories. Also, there are tons of stores that have placed their cooler weather clothing items on the sales floor and are using great sales to get you to buy those fall and winter items you already have or can create.

Well, why not save money on an accessory that can be used in the fall AND the winter? Scarfs are perfect for this time of the year and go great with any ensemble. Rather than spending $15 for a new scarf, we are going to make one from a recycled t-shirt. See, we are being green and saving green!

The scarf I am making I found on the blog "A Beautiful Mess." It says to use a t-shirt that has lycra or spandex and to have a pair of fabric scissors. I have neither, so I am going to use a cotton t-shirt and paper scissors.

 You then cut the t-shirt. I cut mine from arm to arm. Once you finished that, cut along one of the sides so you have one long rectangle.

 Now pick an end, any end will be fine, and start folding the rectangle like an accordion. Make sure that each fold is even or else you'll have an uneven looking scarf. When you're done with the folding, grab the scissors and begin cutting slits on each side. Make your cuts a good size but not too large. Also, try to aim the cuts on the second side in between the previous ones.

 Unfold your scarf. If you don't have something that looks like

<- this, you'll have to start over again. If you do have this, then begin stretching out each cut with your fingers. Only do one hole at a time, and don't stretch them too much or else you'll have a hot mess of a scarf.

When you're finished, you are have a scarf that is wearable and fashionable! That's at least $15 you saved by recycling an old t-shirt rather than buying a brand new scarf at the store. What I loved about this craft was it required no sewing. That is the one thing that I cannot do in life, and I made sure to find a way to make a scarf that required none of it. I hope you enjoy making this craft, and please feel free to comment with any opinions or questions.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Falling for Fall

by Britny Burton [self-proclaimed craft freak]

The start of fall is actually officially Saturday, but I'm like a little kid on Christmas Eve, I just want to start celebrating now. Fall would of course not be complete without cardigans, tall boots, hay rides, pumpkin patches and colorful leaves crunching beneath your feet. As promised, here's your little dose of news to accompany today's fall-icious craft::
With the drought we've had this year, some Hoosiers are skeptical as to whether we'll have as colorful of a fall as we usually do. As a state with a lot of touristic parks that thrive in the fall months, will we see a decrease in visitors this year? Parks around the state hope not and are asking visitors to be patient. Some parks, such as Brown County State Park, are already seeing changes. A naturalist at the park, Jim Eagleman, says that the drought may not have affected the trees as much as people expected.

“The drought and the high temperatures back in the summer definitely had a stress on trees and they responded by premature leaf drop,” Eagleman said. “Some people say, ‘Oh gosh, there goes our fall color.’ But you know what? We've never been disappointed with fall color here in Brown County.” - Fox 59
 

Brown County is the ideal spot for visitors wanting to camp out for the weekend and visit the historic town during the day. If camping isn't your cup of tea though, there are plenty of other fun fall events going on around Indiana. The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival will be open October 12th-21st this year. It's Indiana's largest festival and always promises to be a good time. And of course there's always Seymour's Oktoberfest on October 4th-6th full of food, shopping and even a 5k run/walk. There are plenty more festivals around Indiana, to search for more go to Visit Indiana.

Now onto today's craft! To celebrate the start of fall I decided to decorate my apartment with a few new fall accessories. I made a wreath to hang up on our door and of course our dining room table need a makeover so I made some napkin rings and a new centerpiece.

 

I bought the two twig wreaths and leaves at the dollar store and the shower curtain rings at Walmart. The ugly plate on the right side came in a package with three different sized candles, also from the dollar store. All of it was purchased for $15. I also used some leftover spray paint from another project to repaint the plate. I also have a ridiculous amount of yarn so I used some of it to spruce up the wreath.

Fall wreath:

• Since the two wreaths were sort of small, I tied them both together with string.

• Then I took the string of leaves and wrapped it around the wreaths, along with some fuzzy green yarn I had leftover from a scarf.

• This didn't really look like enough leaves to me, so I used some of the single-stem leaves and wrapped them around the wreath. The great thing about these is that the inside of them is wire so they are bendable, but once you wrap them around something they will stay there. Here's the finished project.

Table Centerpiece and Napkin holders:

• The centerpiece was red and pink and ugly all over, so with some leftover spray paint I painted it black.
• I used some of the leftover leaves and placed them on the plate and put the candles right ontop of it. It was super easy, and extremely cheap!

 

• Shower curtain rings come in sets of 12 for about a $1 at Walmart. If you put a piece of tape over the connecting area, they make a full circle and can be used for so many projects!

• After applying the tape you can use twine, yarn, fabric, pretty much anything and wrap it around the rings to make them into awesome napkin holders. I even added some of the wire leaves to a few of them.

 

These crafts took about 3 hours total. It depends on how many napkin ring holders you actually make in one sitting, but with 12 for $1 it's a super cheap way to make ring holders for any time of the year. If you have any other similar ideas be sure to post the links to them in the comment section! Also, if you have questions on anything made in this post feel free to ask.

 

 

 

 

 

Apples and Honey for the New Year

By: Mallory Jordan, Moderately Crafty

Being raised by a Jewish mother and a Catholic father has exposed me to many religious ideas. I have always celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays with my families. And, no, I do not get more presents because I celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas; my presents are just more spread out.

Today marks the day of the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. It is an extremely important Jewish holiday that many do not know about; the Chinese New Year seems to be much more popular. The Huffington Post has a wonderful article on what Rosh Hashanah means to myself and my people.

The Hebrew calendar is different than the Christian, so Rosh Hashanah and its partner holiday, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, usually fall about two weeks apart in September, but the days change. My family traditionally goes to temple each year for these two holidays. Unfortunately, since I've been in college, we only go if the holidays fall on a weekend and they both are during the week this year.

For Rosh Hashanah, everyone takes part in sharing apples and honey as a symbol of a sweet new year. The temple I go to, Beth El Zedek, always provides every one with an apple and some honey, but this year I will have to be creative and improvise.

To celebrate the New Year while away in Muncie, I have decided to make my own individual apples and honey to share with my roommates and boyfriend.




Start with just one washed apple, a sharp knife and honey

Cut 1/3 of the apple off of the top horizontally. The base should be the larger 2/3 of the apple. Using larger apples makes this snack easier.




Hollow out the bottom half of the apple. Do not cut through the apple and leave at least half a centimeter thick as an outside border wall.




Fill the carved out apple with the honey. Cut up another apple into slices to dip. Now you have a serving bowl or personal dip bowl for guests to dip the apple slices into the honey. It makes for a cute presentation and an easy clean up without having to clean out a small dish full of sticky honey.

To send you off with some inspiring words of Jewish wisdom, here is a video of a young boy singing the traditional "apples and honey" song that even adults sing on Rosh Hashanah. Shana tovah!

Mallory, the Pinterest Freak

By: Mallory Jordan
Your Moderately Crafty Blogger


I like to think of myself as a renaissance woman; I dance, read and write; I enjoy singing, acting, learning in general and I love tea parties. I like to dabble a little bit in everything and do my best to be at least moderately good at it all.

A year ago, when the Pinterest craze was just hitting its peak, my roommate got me hooked. I always saw her making delicious snacks with the cutest presentation. I didn't think that I would have any use for a site like Pinterest because I don't cook that much. Little did I know, there is so much more than just baking recipes on the site. I've made gifts for my boyfriend and family from Pinterest ideas and taken a few decorating tips, such as using ribbon and clothes pins as a pretty picture hanger for your bedroom wall. There have even been some recipes I've successfully taken a shot at, like cheesecake strawberries.

I became so in love with the site that I even wrote a story on it for my school newspaper, The Ball State Daily News, for our Valentine's Day special insert.





I think that anyone can craft. I am dedicated to help anyone who is willing to try to learn how to make easy, affordable items for gifts, treats, or just around the house decorations. I will be posting every Monday, so be sure to check out our blog for my seasonal projects for the moderately crafty person. Things to look forward to from me are how to make your own pumpkin spice latte in honor of the return of Starbucks' fall pumpkin spice flavors and fun Halloween treat ideas.

Be sure to check out my Pinterest if you have one. I will soon be adding a board called, "My creations" with more pictures of things that I have made if you are ever in need of some more ideas.

Lindsey: The Crafting-Challenged Blogger

 (By Lindsey Riley)

Hello everyone! My name is Lindsey Riley and I am not the most craftiest person you will ever meet. I am better at creating with words than I am with textiles, ingredients, and all that jazz. I am, however, open to giving things a chance.

My goal with this blog is to keep you up-to-date with the latest and coolest craft ideas while sharing something new and news-worthy with you. It sounds like a challenge, but it's a challenge that I am willing to face. I don't think it will be that bad because I am fortunate enough to have Britny and Mallory to work with me on this blog.

Some ideas I have right now to share with you include recipes for my grandmother's holiday fudge and my mom's amazing pumpkin bread. As far as crafts go, I know we will be making a t-shirt scarf for sure, and I think we'll be making some cool inexpensive things to give as gifts at Christmas. Let's face it: the holidays are about three-ish months away. No time like the present to get started on presents! :D

Be sure to follow me on Pintrest. I plan on making various pin boards as they relate to what I blog about and what Mallory and Britny blog about, as well.

Meet and Greet Part One: Britny the DIYer

Welcome to our blog! This project was created after a class of journalism students was told to come up with their own edge on a given news worthy topic and BAM: The Current Craft was created. Lindsey, Mallory and myself decided to center our blog around the current season and, being college students, keeping on a budget. We also are adding our own take on things by taking what's going on in the news and applying it to our crafts. [This will make more sense once our first official blog comes out. It's by Mallory and it's one to look forward to!]


Along with my other two lovely co-authors, I'm a Ball State college student. I'm studying news journalism as well as anthropology. I'm an active member of the Indiana National Guard and participate in ROTC on campus. My hobbies include swimming, cuddling up with a good book, knitting, scrapbooking evey moment of my relationship with my boyfriend of four years, baking yummy goods for him to take to the firehouse, scrounging thrift shops for good finds and playing with my puppy Belle whenever I get to go home. I'm also an addict to Pinterest and have come to enjoy taking photographs whenever I get the chance. I'm a big DIYer and love making gifts instead of buying them from the store. My crafting gene comes from my mom. She taught me how to look at something and see how I could make it myself with the materials I already have.


We already have some great ideas for upcoming blogs, but if there's anything you'd like to see please let us know. We're always open for ideas! Our first official blog will be popping up on Monday so keep an eye out for it.