Ready to start brewing your own kombucha tea? This is the perfect place to start. I've included tutorials for beginners, as well as answers to common questions and my favorite flavored recipes!

Chef Ty shows you how to prepare Alkaline Electric Breadsticks in this recipe tutorial! Get the Dr. Sebi approved recipe here!

The dark, crunchy crust of a cannelé gives way to a delicate, pudding-like center. Cannelés are baked in specially designed three-inch-deep molds made of copper, tin, ceramic, or silicone. If you do not have eighteen molds, bake the cakes in batches.

Thank you for all the sweet comments about my temporary hiatus and life changes ! I am especially glad to know that I have new friends waiti...

This is a Northern twist on a global classic. Rhubarb grows well here in North Dakota and we are always looking for fun ways to use it. I used fresh rhubarb if your using * frozen rhubarb- measure out frozen, allow to drain while thawing, do not squeeze

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in this post. More details here. Let’s make some Lilac Wine. I am not completely done with the process, but it’s going well and I’m confident enough to share what I’ve done. I roughly followed the instructions from here. Start now by saving your lilacs. […]

For some reason the first few months of the year seem like the perfect time to knit to me, I don’t know why I always feel this way but I do. A couple weeks ago I finished up my new favorite cowl, I’m even wearing it as I type this post! I called it the […]

How to prep the crunchy veg--stem, fronds, and all

Want to know the scoop on your favorite celebrity chefs? We have the dish on their newest restaurants.

Chef Ty shows you how to prepare Alkaline Electric Date Sugar in this recipe tutorial! Get the Dr. Sebi approved recipe here!

When I knitted my first cardigan, I followed the directions for the buttonband carefully, experimenting with different needle sizes and types of buttonholes. But despite my best efforts, I ended up with a droopy band

To make beautiful geodes in your own kitchen you need more patience and time than anything else! Here is the basic recipe to start you off in the world of beautiful geodes.

Hi, it's Finn again here! I hope you enjoyed the posts from my fabulous Creative team Members - Marta and Monika as much as I did! I'm so lucky we have them on board! Today is my day - and I'm ready to share with you another Art Recipe - quick peek into project I've made in my "Odyssey" Family Journal - the one I keep filling with pages dedicated to my loved ones. I can't express how much I'm inspired working with old photos showing my family - parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, my grandparents - there is a kind of magic in them, bringing all the deep emotions back on the surface, warming my heart and guiding my hands in the creative process. This page is special - like most of the pages from this journal. I've picked a photo of my grandparents - Helena and Edward, walking through the most beautiful Royal Baths Park in Warsaw. I was lucky to visit this place often as they lived very close to it and it was a perfect place for relaxing walk. They were the best grandparents you could dream of - loving, caring, helpful. We lost our grandpa in 1993 - I can't even express how heartbroken my grandma was loosing her best friend and the love of her life. Now, after 21 years of separation, they are together again. I really like adding real old elements to the projects including vintage photos: for this one I've chosen a bunch of lace, couple of old paper scraps, few old buttons from my rubbish box and one beautiful rusty washer. For the finishing touches I've decided add a bit of stamping too - my Vintage Vanity "Stamps and Adverts" set was just perfect for that! Here is the list of the supplies I used to create this page and short step-by-step: 1. I've started my page putting 2 or 3 coats of Art Basics Heavy Gesso on the book pages: the paper in this book is very fragile so I wanted to protect it and prevent my inks and paints from soaking in it. When the page was primed and dry I was ready to add the next layer. 2. I used Prima Damask Stencil and Art Basics Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife to create beautiful, dimensional white texture. Pastes are great for this technique - and they add a bit or resist effect too! 3. When the Modeling Paste was drying I've been working on creating multi-layered composition of papers, lace and other scraps under the photo. As soon an the background was more-less dry I added some washi tape to it, started gluing strips or Resist Canvas, papers, lace and other elements. Then I glued my composition on the top and added... a bit more layers! 4. I used 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L) both to decorate the pages and to adhere some of the elements such as buttons or snaps. Note: these foam are great for mixed-media techniques - they don't melt when heated and keep metal, plastic and acrylic in place! 5. When all the elements were in place I spayed the pages with homemade tea stain and a bit if Primary Elements Pigments mixed with water. (I covered the photo with paper towel!). I dried everything with heating tool. 6. I added more color using Watercolor Pencils in shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and brown. I mixed them and watered them a bit using sprayer and water brush. I dried the project again and added some finishing lines with very soft pencil. 7. I added the last missing elements such as pins or buttons. I've also decided some black texture is missing, so I stamped a bit around my composition with Prima Vintage Vanity stamps (I used Jet Black Archival Ink) and I splashed black Indian Ink. After drying the spread was ready! Here is the list of products fro our Mixed Media Place Online Store Did you notice? Yes, we have NEW ARRIVALS!!! I hope you liked the project and my new "Art Recipe" - soon I'll be back with more ideas for you... and this Friday there is a new Creative Team project coming! Don't miss it! Have a great creative week!

Chef Ty shows you how to prepare Alkaline Electric Peach Tarts in this recipe tutorial! Get the Dr. Sebi approved recipe here!

This Persian Lamb Stew is beautiful, refreshing, and unique– it's perfect to make in the springtime, when there is an abundance of rhubarb and mint.

Here is a delicious recipe for vegan challah with several braiding options and video tutorials. It's kosher and vegan!

It's been a while since I have posted here mainly due to the fact that I've just barely been able to keep up with life in general due to sicknesses going on here with myself and the kids. Nothing serious, just constant! I'm still sewing though, but possibly not getting done everything that I would like to! Nothing new, right? I have had the opportunity to attend two workshops the last two weekends. Considering that I have only attended four workshops in my quilting career up until now, it felt like a very busy week! Last weekend's workshop was with Chris Jurd, which I will blog about next. This weekend's workshop was with none other than the wonderful Kaffe Fassett! Nearly as long as I have been quilting, I have wanted to attend a Kaffe Fassett workshop. I have spent many many hours over the years pouring over his books and dreaming of quilts to make inspired by him. When I heard that Addicted to Fabric in Canberra was going to host Kaffe Fassett and run a workshop for the Bordered Diamonds quilt from his book, "Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts", I jumped at the chance. And I have no regrets! If anyone is unfamiliar with how Kaffe runs his workshops with his partner Brandon Mably, they are all about the design process and colour placement. There is no sewing involved, but rather a lot of cutting and placing of fabrics on a design board and then moving and arranging the fabrics around. For me, this is the most exciting part of quilting, so a workshop dedicated to this process was extremely interesting to me. The morning started out with a brief introduction and discussion on how it is important that we work quickly and not hesitate or over think what we put up on the design wall. Their mantra is the same as the Nike commercial, "Just Do It". Most important was that we get something up on the design board and then stand back from quite a distance to look at our work. They suggested using a reduction glass to look through so that we could see what was working and what wasn't working easily. For the Bordered Diamonds quilt they suggested that large prints would be most effective and that smaller scale fabrics would be effective to use as the frames for each diamond. We were to cut the large diamonds out first and get them on the board first and then go back and work on filling in the frames for each large diamond later. Neither Kaffe or Brandon teach the workshop in a manner that they spend time babysitting what you are doing, but rather there is the feeling (particularly of Kaffe) of someone standing in the background parenting with a bit of gentle guidance here and there. This method I feel allowed me to be able to work and gain confidence as the day progressed. After I had placed about 15 diamonds up on my board, Kaffe did wander over and was quickly able to see what the color palette was that I was mainly using. He picked out about three or four of the darkest diamonds and said that they created too much contrast--too dark against the lightest of the fabrics that I had already had on the board. It surprised me how simply taking out those diamonds, suddenly made the start of my quilt seem clear and gave me direction as to where I wanted to go with it. I had brought with me a range of blue/purple, red and yellow/gold fabrics with a desire to try to use yellow in my version of his quilt. I told Kaffe that I find it tricky to use yellow in general and wanted to concentrate on this as an exploration on how to use it! Brandon mentioned that next to black and white, yellow is the most difficult color to work with. Kaffe's suggestion was to add in green, which I didn't bring with me, so I did get the opportunity of having him go "shopping" with me to pick out possible fabrics. That too, was an educational experience to see how his mind works. I suggest that if anyone ever gets an opportunity to do a workshop with them to take them up on their suggestions! It's the easiest way to begin to see what they already know. Close to lunch time I had already starting working on my borders for each of the diamonds. The suggestion was not to try and match the border fabric to the large diamond, but rather use instinct and choose the fabric based on what we feel works. Using a single or two color fabric seemed to work better than using detailed fabrics with many colours. Here is where I was up to when we broke for lunch: After lunch we kept working and trying to fill in as much as we could. Kaffe would walk around the room, sit down on a chair looking very relaxed and just look. Then he would walk up and point to an area and say, try this here, or this here. What I got from it was that where there is high contrast next to each other creates a starkness and doesn't let the colours dance together. Neither should the fabrics blend into each other. It was effective to choose a different colour for the border than the centre diamond. There is a subtle play and harmony when it works which allows the integrity of the shape of the diamond to remain clear. Below is a photo of where I was at at the end of the day. He then goes around the room and talks about the process each student went through to create their own palettes. This was an extremely interesting part of the workshop and fun to see how each person came up with really beautiful palettes of colour. This is a quilt I would like to try again to see how I could make it work in a different palette. Maybe next time I will try a darker palette. Here are some photos of what some other ladies in my workshop made during their day at the workshop: All in all, I was very pleased with the entire experience of the workshop. It's an educational experience. Be warned though, Kaffe and Brandon are very disciplined in their approach to teaching and expect you to be on your best behavior! We had a very nice group, so everything went very smoothly. At the end we got a chance to have our own books signed by Kaffe and then we rolled up our flannels with our quilt layout to be sewn up at home. I hope to get mine on my design board in the next week or two so that I can still remember what I learned in the workshop as I finish it! I want to add another row to each side so that it is the same size as the one in the book, which I believe is approximately 55" x 80". If you ever get an opportunity to attend a workshop with Kaffe and Brandon, don't hesitate, just do it!

I don't know how winter has been everyone else out there, but here in Canada it has been extremely cold and snowy this year! I for one am soooo ready for Spring to make an appearance! So to warm myself up a little I thought I'd work on a summery photo. This is a photo I took a few years back of my oldest daughter when we were taking a summer vacation near Sable Falls in (Northern) Ontario. I've recently been putting together a color inspiration board for myself on Pinterest and I find one of my favourite color combinations is purples with greens, but I'm particularly fond of the these colors in soft smokey tones. So for this page I reached for some of the soft smokey plums in the Maja Design, 'Ska vi ta en Fika' collection and mixed it with some taupey grey and soft green from the Vintage Summer basics colleciton. I wanted to add some 'lush' greenery to the page so I matted behind the photo with some green paper from the Life In the Country paper collection (Sowing Seeds-bs), and added a new vine chipboard design from Dusty Attic called 'Ivy Corners' adding a few Dusty Attic purple roses in as well. I just love to add vintage style embellishments to my Maja Design layouts because the beautiful papers lend themselves so well to these types of embellishments, like vintage lace (from Tresors de Luxe), Natural floral accents (also from Tresors de luxe), chipboard designs (Skelleton clock and flourishes, from Dusty Attic Designs) and the Flowers are from a tin of blooms from Recollections. Clocks are one of those design elements that I feel work with almost any page. So again on this page I've added in some of my favourite clock designs from the Vintage Autumn Basics collection (XVI). When I get my Maja Design collections, I love to fan out the papers and enjoy how the different patterns and designs look against each other. I always want to share these pretty designs in a unique and fun way, ....here I was able to do this using a new chipboard by Dusty Attic called 'Geometric' border. I glued a small sampling of a few of the patterned papers behind the small square designs. And nope, that is not my handwriting you see above (I wish!), it's a little bit of rub-on I have from some old Daisy D's rub-ons I still have in my stash ....yep, still trying to add a bit of my older stash on each page :) Maja Design Papers used in this project: Ska vi ta en Fika (Söders höjder - bs, En Kopp te-bs, Chaite-bs, Favoriter-bs), Life In the Country (Sowing Seeds), Vintage Summer Basics (1932-bs), Vintage Autumn Basics (XVI). Note: I often get email from my blog readers looking for good sources for Maja Design products and Dusty Attic chipboard. I list links to retailers in the right side column of my blog but for a quick link you can check out these great resources.... http://www.thescrapbookdiaries.com/product-tag/maja/, http://moments-of-tranquility-shop.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/vickyalberto I hope you enjoyed my little project today using Maja Design products and hope that it brought you a little Spring warmth as well! xo

You guys, we need to talk about this cheesecake. It might not look like much, it's brown and kinda rough around the edges. But OH MY GOD ...

These pastries are found in bakeries and home kitchens throughout Greece and are often eaten at breakfast time or with coffee. They are thought to have originated in Macedonia where the idea had come from Constantinople ( Istanbul ). They can be made with different fillings which meant they offered versatility and flexibility to working families and are quite quick and easy to make. Like many Greek dishes, different regions make their own versions. These ones are filled with the popular semolina custard while others can be made with a sweet cheese filling, which is very similar to Tyropita ( cheese pies). These are also made with Filo pastry which is common today but sometimes puff pastry may be used.

I declare this dragon bread to be unbelievably awesome. The detail! And looks so re-create-able from the step-by-step photos. Find the how-tos HERE at Show Tell Share.

This is the second post in a series of three – click to read Part I and Part III. As promised, here’s the follow-up to my last post on Danish pastries: how to shape and fill the Danishe…

Make your own invisible ink so you can write and reveal secret messages. Here are recipes and different ways to hide and reveal messages.

Rolled up in cinnamon-laced cream cheese pastry, apricot jam mingles with sweet almond filling to deliver bold flavors and textures in these Apricot-Almond Rugelach. Adapted from Real Simple. Makes 48.

Have you seen those awesome colorful marbled mugs but didn't know how to make them? This step by step photo tutorial will help you make your own marbled mug

Happy news! (well for those of you who aren't hoping for this one in kit form :) ....The video tutorial I created for this kit layout is now available as 'Video Only'. This kit sold out quickly, but as with my other video's for The Scrapbook Diaries, the video can now be ordered on it's own for unlimited online viewing. Just click on the links under the layout photos to take you to the one you are interested in.... **NEW** Memories Captured ~ Video Tutorial  Love ~ Video Tutorial Happiness ~ Video Tutorial Memories ~ Video Tutorial Love Beyond Measure ~ Video Tutorial Precious ~ Video Tutorial No worries for those of you that have gotten your kit orders in previously, (I know that there is a second batch of kits going out next week...starting on the 17th because Janene had to order in some extra products to try and meet the demand). Hope you enjoy! And as always, I'm happy to answer any questions or take suggestions for future tutorials! xo .....and a quick NOTE: Want a chance to win some fabulous scrappy products worth over $100.00?? 'LIKE' The Scapbook Diaries on FaceBook and tag a friend and you will have a chance at this amazing prize! Here is the link. xo

They may sound complicated but they are quite easy to make and well worth the effort! These would be great for a potluck party because the recipe makes quite a bit of cabbage rolls. The quantity depends on how large you make each of the cabbage rolls but I'd say you'd get between 25-40 with this recipe.

Caramelizing sugar is a term most often applied to melting sugar until it becomes a caramel color liquid. Caramelized sugar is simply a mixture of sugar and water cooked until

(Video of Kiffle Making Process Included at Bottom) One of the big themes I want to emphasize about Allentown is cultural interaction an...

Her best recipe yet, TBH.

I've had the recipe for these crispy cinnamon-sugar roll-ups for years. They're one of my family's favorites and so easy to make. We enjoy them at breakfast with a cup of coffee. —Emily Engel, Quill Lake, Saskatchewan

Cheese Spaetzle or Käse Spätzle are traditionally from Swabia. Käsespätzle is a complete meal and might remind you a little bit of Macaroni & Cheese ... but so much better! How to make it (with video tutorial) and Tipps & Tricks ... here ...

In this post, I will tell you the secret shortcut to change serger threads on your Overlock/ Serger Machine quickly and without errors.