Planet Nice Crafts

Hello Everyone! It is the official start of summer. The Chicagoland weather this Spring has been...odd. Windy, hot, and very very dry. But before I get to the various updates, I wanted to share some behind the scenes news. In mid-April, it was announced that Blogger's email subscription service, Feedburner, would end in July, which is right around the corner. So, Planet Nice Crafts has been doing some research on what to do next. I would like to remain on the Blogger platform because though it is not very fancy or powerful - it is really easy to use. For subscribers to continue to receiving posts via email, I am going to try MailerLite. Of course, there may be a hiccup or two so bear with me. Planet Nice Crafts has much work to do and it is not going away, but in case you don't receive any notification of blog activity for a couple months, please check this page, contact planetnicecrafts@gmail.com, or message us on Instagram @planetnicecrafts. Planet Nice Crafts really apprecia...

Hello Everyone! Hope all is moving along and tolerable. Planet Nice Crafts continues to strive to be an antidote to life’s burdens – at the moment, slightly different interests are being pursued to accommodate a new work schedule that only allows an hour or two each week for creative activities requiring full energy. As mentioned at the end of the last post, reading is the interest that has grown in dedicated time. Since last time, the second volume of the fantasy soap opera A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin was completed. Now that I am oriented to Westeros and Essos and the players – it is becoming easier to read and cutting myself off after my daily reading goal of 20 pages helps too. The characters are so richly written that you do become emotionally attached to them, akin to a feeling of familiarity to your favorite dysfunctional family. The unfortunate thing of reading such a lengthy book is that by the time I reach the end, I can’t recall what occurred in the first chapters....

Hello Everyone! The wintery weather continued from the end of last month to last week and now we have a very Springlike forecast. I am going to acknowledge right at the beginning that I have no video to share this month. I need to think of interesting 10 second snippets of the projects to share. Luckily, there is plenty to show this month as the exploration of pies continues and progress on the box was made. The first pie to be examined was a savory kale pie. This pie was the opposite of last month’s vegan beet pumpkin – it had lots of butter in the crust and filling ingredients included sausage, mozzarella cheese, eggs, and cream. For all the pies shared this month, one of the first steps was a partially baked pie crust: Do you see the butter pooling? Here is the filling of the kale pie that was placed into this partially baked crust: Another crust was placed to top of the pie before the whole thing baked again to reveal this treasure: Very flaky, decadent crust – the filling gave m...

Hello Everyone! I hope 2021 has treated you well thus far – even with the remaining challenges. It has been pretty good here at Planet Nice Crafts. The weather has been mild up to about a week ago and then normal, wintry weather kicked in but still very nice. As much time as possible has been devoted to crafts and experimental baking. Baking and cooking are somewhat unique because they provide adventure and immediate benefit, something to eat. So if there was a choice between baking or cooking and crafting when the fridge and freezer are quite bare, you can guess which one wins. Food brings community across the animal kingdom. With the addition of safflower seed to the birdbath, winter visitors have been numerous and all are welcome. The cardinals have been daily visitors. They provide entertainment and are not demanding so I would put them in the preferred category. I think it is interesting to watch the interaction between the females and males. I have never seen them eat at the ...

Hello Everyone! I hope the winter holidays have been a good experience for you. 2020 is a challenging year to put in perspective. Foremost, it is accomplishment enough to be able to witness the end of the year as so much tragedy has occurred. But then daily life needs come in to the picture which can be complicated and stressful such as going to the grocery store. What keeps me going are the stories of the spectacular such as a high school student, Emma Davenport , leading the IL effort to create masks and those individuals using this time to make giant strides in their personal growth. Enough of high philosophy, however, it has been busy at Planet Nice Crafts with creative activities and I am sure you have been quite busy too. A common creative activity this time of year is holiday decorating. Because so many of the tree stands had sold out in my area, I purchased a Christmas tree on December 8 th , about two weeks earlier than I usually do. I chose a white pine, which I had one befor...

Hello Everyone! And Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had at least a little bit of a special day. I had some good homemade food delivered to me which I am always very thankful for because this week was the annual Fruitcake Frenzy. Yes, I bake fruitcakes for Christmas presents to a select group. Fruitcake has a horrible reputation, but I have to say myself that the ones I make defy that generalization. They are not for everyone because the cakes are heavy or dense – and if you don’t really like it, there is a slim chance that you will receive another. They also have a lot of alcohol and nuts, which may not be very appealing. I bake them Thanksgiving week because, the traditional 4-week aging is followed. I use sherry not brandy, perhaps another reason why they defy the fruitcake stereotype. My favorite way to eat a slice is toasted or I have heard that under a broiler is very good. The namesake fruit in the fruitcakes I make as well – when I first started this endeavor many years ag...

Hello Everyone! We are hanging in here at Planet Nice Crafts. The weather has been quite nice this month so outside time was taken advantage of as much as possible with exercise and gardening. Though I had high hopes, the garden petered out soon after the last post during the first week of October. There was a chilly evening and almost everything (except the kale, of course) decided to pack it in for the growing season. The tomatillo was the first to give up followed by the string beans and the pumpkins. The tomatoes and peppers held in as best as they could until the last harvest was picked last weekend. Not everything was ripe so I am trying to ripen the pumpkins, tomatoes, and peppers indoors with mixed success. All at the plot is tidied up for the winter except for the kale, a couple of cabbages that refuse to grow, and delicate peas. We are supposed to get some nice weather next week here in the Chicago area but I think it will be a very lucky occurrence if the peas make it – they...