Decor Ideas

Headboard made from an old door for Master Bedroom. I found a good tutorial at Sweet Nothings.

I am also stronly leaning towards the farmhouse bed at Ana-white.com

or a old fashion metal headboard in oil rubbed bronze.

Check out how the Lettered Cottage saved money on the one they did.

Kids Art Display at Posh Pieces blog.

Display board at Two Crafty House Wives

I love the uses for this, stocking hanger then decor hanger. I have clear glass knobs to use, I just need to figure out how to attach them.

A storage shelf like this over at House of Smith's.

It is an awesome  blog I stumbled upon a year ago. I love her design ideas and projects.

She is a thrift shopper to boot!

I would really like to put a shelf up like this in the bathroom and my daughter's room.

I also have three old windows to refinish.

I am so intrigued by the beautiful things people are making from thrift store finds. My decor desperately needs a facelift. I am inspired by the projects on so many different blogs.

A bunting we will go . . .

I love the buntings I have seen all over blogs. I have made a few and have plans to make MANY more.

I have even made cake buntings.

What you don't know what that is?

I was introduced to them by Leigh Anne at yourhomebasedmom.

photo: yourhomebasedmom

I think it is so cute I had to make one.

This is the one I made for the Relief Society Birthday Party.  

Simple Instructions:

I cut the triangles using this tutorial.

Banner Tutorial

I doubled up the fabric.

Then used a crochet floss to hand sew the flags together.

I tied it onto bamboo skewers.

An adorable cake topper!

I made a large one for my friend's nursery.

I cut the triangles, two for each.

Then zig zagged around the two long sides in brown thread.

For the letters I ironed on wonder under to brown fabric then cut the letters out using a template.

I ironed the letters on each triangle.

To finish it, I sewed the triangles between store bought cream binding.

I am in love with them. I am going to make a cherry bunting to hang on my kitchen windows.

Happy bunting making!

A Great Giveaway

Have you heard of the DIY Dish? It is a site created by twin sisters that love to craft and sew. There are celebrating their birthday this week with fabulous giveaways. Go on over and sign up to win.

Fabric Giveaway

I have been following this blog, iCandy handmade for awhile. They have fabulous projects. They are doing a giveaway to an online fabric store, Raspberry Creek Fabrics. I had so much fun browsing the store. I need to find a few more fabrics to make the boys quilts.

So I looked around and found this brown and blue polka dot  flannel.

I also found these cute snowman fabrics. I would love to make a quilt out of this whole line of Be Merry fabric by Riley Blake.

Head over to iCandy handmade to signup for the giveaway.

fabric + buttons + lots of time = stockings

Papertrey Ink is having their anniversary celebration this week. A new line of stamps and dies is being released and it is all about BUTTONS! I love buttons, so I am very excited.

There is a challenge to create some thing with buttons. I just happened to do that for Christmas. Hooray I am ahead of the game. lol  I made stockings for my kids, then spelled their names with Papertrey Ink buttons. I love their big bags of buttons.

Yes the stockings are HUGE. It is a tradition in both mine and my husbands family a box of cereal is in your stocking Christmas morning. My mother-in-law created this pattern and I copied to make them for our family.

Here is a close up of the names. I love how they turned out!

Sewing info: 

I cut 4 layers and sewed them all together. 2 of corduroy, 2 of cotton fabric

Then sewed on the loop to hang them.

Glued the buttons to the cuffs.

Sewed the buttons.

Attached the cuffs to the stockings.

. . . . many hours later and I was done. Now I just need to make them  for hubby and myself. I did buy a ton of the fabric for future family additions, so everything would match. Best of all the kids love them.

Menu Planning

What to make for dinner? I think about that a lot. I decided I would brain storm and list our family meals, to help relieve the stess in the future. The next step is to post recipes for these dishes. Yum.

Pork chops, scallop potatoes and veggies

Chicken Cordon Bleu, seasoned rice and broccoli
Hot Dogs, baked beans and green beans
Russian Chicken over rice with veggies
Sloppy Joes
Breakfast taco
Pancakes and eggs
Spaghetti
Lasagna
Noodles with Alfredo Sauce
Chicken Stir Fry
Teriyaki Chicken with brocolli
Meatloaf and mashed potaoes
Shepards pie
Fajitas
Enchiladas (I have at least 4 different recipes)
Tacos
Taco Soup
Taco Salad
Black bean soup with homemade rolls
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken Noodle soup
Chicken Pot Pie
Quiche
Steak glorious steak
BBQ Chicken
BBQ Beef sandwiches
Chicken and seasoned rice with mixed veggies
Chef salad with rolls

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Here are a few recipes I want to try that look scrumdiliumptous!!!
Stromboli over at Sister's Cafe. I love browsing through the Sister's Cafe blog. It is full of so many yummy recipes. Go take a look, but don't go when hungry!

Fantastic Fudgewiches over at Plum Pudding

Orange chicken by Leigh Anne at Portland Mama. Leigh Anne has a fabulous blog Your Home Based Mom, full of recipes, party ideas, and pretty things in life. Go check it out!

Well I am off to make dinner and pumpkin cake from Sister's Cafe. Oh how I love fall food, spiced cider, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, soups, stews, apple crisp, turkey and gravy. I think I need to do a series of posts dedicated to pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin soup, 2 varieties of pumpkin cake, pumpkin dip, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies. I have already posted two pumpkin favorites. I better stop before I gain 5 pounds!

A paperie gift

I made my mom amd mother in law (love) greeting cards for their Christmas present. These are just a few that I  made.

Birthday Hats: I cut out the hats from My Mind's Eye Party Time Pack.

Felt Flowers: I used my Big Shot and Sizzix flower die to cut the felt flowers.

Baby Shoes

I finally did it! Okay I made them back in December but I am finally blogging about them. I made adorable baby shoes for my friend Heather's baby. I used stardust baby shoe pattern. I also really liked this pattern and directions from familycentered.com. Here is another set of directions that might help with changing the size.

The picture was taken in the back of my van on my way to mail them.

Making the shoes: I didn't use interfacing on the shoes. (Too much work.) I used brown corduroy for the outside and pink broadcloth for the inside. The directions were easy to follow so there wasn't any confusion on how to sew the shoes together. The little curves were tough to sew, but I felt so proud when I was finished. I cut flowers out of pink felt using my Bigshot and a Sizzix flower die. Then I hand sewed them on, topping it off with a cute button. It was hard to part with these cuties, being pregnant with a little boy easied the parting! Plus I knew how to make them for my next little girl. I am excited to make a few pair for my little guy. Happy sewing!

Sewing Plans 2010

So I have quite a list of craft projects I would like to do. You can click on the project to see where my inspiration came from. In listing these ideas here I hope to be more movtivated to do the projects. wink

Heart Garland

Quilts for kids

LOTS of Curtains

Banner for boys room
Christmas Stockings (I am half way done on with this one!)

Superhero capes for the kids
Throw pillows for couches, stripe pillow, pleated pillow and a flower pillow
Apron for me and A
Felt cake to display on cake stand
Baby shoes (I made a pair for a friend which turned out darling. Now I need to make some for my little guy.)
Dresses and skirts for A
Birthday banner (I made one for a friend now I just need to make one for my family.)

Wish List

I have quite a list of favorites on my laptop of things I would like to buy to decorate my house. I thought it would be fun to put them here on the blog to share my ideas.

In the KITCHEN

artwork from JennysBakeShop

Enamel White Cake Stands

In the Dining Room (hung side by side)

Meadow Suite by Shirley Novak from art.com


In the Basement Family Room

Almond Branches in Bloom, by Vincent Van Gogh

In the DINING ROOM

found at Bellacor.com

Since this is a wish list I will add my dream dining room table.

Well a girl can dream!

Russian Chicken

We have a new favorite recipe, Russian Chicken. I served it 2 Sunday's ago and everyone loved it. Audrey asked if we could have it the next day and next Sunday. I just laughed! It is such an easy recipe and so yummy! You can easily double or triple this recipe. It is perfect for a Sunday lunch or dinner.

Russian Chicken
3 - 4 large chicken breasts, frozen***
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 cup Wishbone Russian dressing
1/2 envelope onion soup mix

Put the frozen chicken into a crockpot. Then mix the other ingredients in a small bowl. Pour on top of chicken and throughly coat. Cook on low for approximately 4 hours. Rotate chicken every hour or so. Yields 6 servings. I served it over rice with steamed veggies on the side.
***If your chicken is not frozen add a 1/2 cup water to the sauce before covering the chicken. Also cook for a shorter amount of time.

PTI Challenge- Best Friend

I am once again participating in the Papertrey Ink Anniversary festivities. The challenge was to make a card for my best friend. Well I decided to make a card for one of my best friends that I owe a belated birthday card to.

The patterned paper is from DCWV Pocket of Posies stack, the ovals are Spellbinders nestabilities, cuttlebug swiss dots folder, Martha Stewart glitter Antique gold and everything else is from my craft stash.

Over the rainbow Challenge!

I am made another craft for the Papertrey Ink Anniversary party. The colors I had to use were Poppy Red, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado and Oceans Tides. I had a lot of fun making this ice cream cone card. I used my long rectangle nestablilities, a $1 stamp from Michael's and paper and ribbon from my stash.

Challenge: Its in the BAG!

Hello all! I am participating in Papertrey Ink's 2nd Anniversary Challenge. I made this cute bag to be entered into a contest to win a $100 gift card from them. If you haven't checked out their products head over there Papertrey Ink.

A Sweet Giveaway!

Check out this blog for a SWEET giveaway, Sweet Cottage Dreams.

2009 Crafty Goals

I have a few goals that I would like to accomplish this year. Here is my list:

Make baby shoes.

Make purses.

Make towel bibs.

Embroider my kids handprints.

Applique on the kids clothes.

Make busy books for church.

Make clothes for Audrey's doll.

Make hooded towels for the kids.

Get caught up on scrapbooking.

Have a stack of homemade cards ready to use.

Make quilts for the kids beds.

Its Pumpkin Time!

picture from www.verybestbaking.com

Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Pie

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 slightly beaten eggs

3/4 cup half and half or milk

1 unbaked pie shell

In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Add the eggs. Gradually add the millk, stir until combined. Pour into pie shell or greased pie plate. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle the nut mixture on top. Bake for another 20 minutes.

Caramel Pecan Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons butter, softened

Mix together the ingredients.

**I like to make my pumpkin pie crustless, I am not a fan of crust. Also my mother-in-law can't have gluten so this is perfect for her.

picture from www.verybestbaking.com

I made a pumpkin roll all by myself for the first time last Friday. It turned out beautifully. I did not add the nuts. Also my jelly roll pan is a little to long so I folded my parchment paper about an 1 1/2 on one end to shorten it. Then I placed butter knifes along the fold to keep the batter from over flowing my makeshift dam. For the filling I used fat free cream cheese and lowered the butter to 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons. Don't be intimidated it is actually very easy!

Libby's Pumpkin Roll

CAKE

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with parchment paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Optional: sprinkle with nuts.

BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar, roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

TIP: Sprinkle lots of powdered sugar on the towel and on top of cake before rolling up the cake so it will not stick to the towel.

FILLING
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Craft: Pay it Forward!

I don't know if anyone looks at my blog any more but I you do you are in for a treat. Lets play a game of sorts.

THE RULES: The first two people to comment get a craft from ME but then those two must do the same on their blogs and offer a craft to their first two comments. Easy enough, right? Also let me know what your favorite color is, to inspire my craftiness.

After you see that you either one or two, please email me with your address so I can send you your craft.

Comments Closed.

Monsters

This is my favorite breakfast, MONSTERS also known as German Pancakes! I LOVE them! I make them often. Delicious!

Here is my recipe:

1/4 cup salted butter

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Turn oven to 400 degrees. Put butter in 9x13 pan and place in oven while it preheats. Do not let it burn! Mix the rest of the ingredients in a blender till combined. Pour batter in pan and bake for 18-22 minutes. Do not open the oven till Monsters are golden and puffy. Serve with syrup, jam or powdered sugar.

Digital Scrapbooking

I have started to play with digital scrapbooking. Hubby and my friend Amy have been teaching me Photoshop Elements. I really like the program. So far I have done 2 scrapbook pages. Not much but a start. On the first page, the middle picture I actually did some editing. The original is of Audrey sitting on mine and hubby's lap. Hubby did help a little to smooth out the edges. I am so proud of myself!

I have been having a lot of fun downloading free stuff from digital scrapbooking websites. Here are a few sites that I like with great FREEBIES:
shabby princess
free digital scrapbooking
computer scrapbook
your pix
designer digitals

I also like these sites:

sweet shoppe designs

peppermint creative

scrap girls

Enjoy! Let me know if you have found any fun sites too!