The Planner and The Procrastinator

Sourdough Bread

2011-04-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, my computer has been acting reaaaally funny. Which was all leading up to a big break down! AH! I had taken and edited and was attempting to publish the images to finish up the little elephant and my computer died. Halting all blogging, photo editing and well doing much of anything. I felt like I wasn't wearing my underwear. It was really a bad feeling. It is like leaving your cell phone at home. You dont really NEED it per se but you feel very naked with out it!

So Friday I was going to re-take the pictures so that I could re-edit them and type in all the instructions and lo an behold my crochet hooks are GONE! I am positive the babes have hidden them somewhere. I vaguely remember them giving me a "present" of crochet hooks (a birthday bag with random things from around the house, sweet and thoughtful) but not they are gone. SO I am headed to Joann today to purchase the hook I need to finish the elephant and attempt for like the hundredth time to finish this sweet little elephant! I may also be purchasing some faux leather (vinyl) for a project. That I'm not entirely sure you all would be interested in?! hmm....we'll have to see.

I thought I'd leave you today with a little recipe or tweaked recipe of mine for sourdough bread.

Let me start by saying I LOVE sourdough bread. I LOVE it even more when I know exactly what is in it and where it came from. I recently came across this recipe from Our Seven Dwarfs via Ucreate Food. I had all of the stuff on hand except potato flakes because I am firm believer that mashed potatoes should NOT come from flakes rather real potatoes. I ran out and grabbed some and made up a starter.

Dont mind the saran wrap "seal". This is a vintage Atlas jar
that I dont have a seal for. Nor do I know where to get one.
Basically just a rubber gasket. But the saran wrap does the trick!

Five days later I made my first loaves of bread. They were good. They had good flavor but they were WAY too dense. Not flaky and sort of crusty like sourdough should be more like a quick bread like banana bread or zucchini bread. I made one HUGE mistake and I will share it with you so you don't do the same!

I'm impatient, I didn't want to let the dough rise over night. See, I started the dough process in the morning (first mistake, not reading the directions entirely through). The recipe clearly says start your dough the night before. Which means take your starter out the morning before.

Five days later, I added my "feed" to the starter (3 tbsp potato flakes, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 cup warm water) in the MORNING! Then let it sit on the counter all day long. About halfway through the day you can see it start to foam up, just like yeast would! This is good, very good! Before going to bed I added the rest of the ingredients to make the dough.

This time I changed a couple other things. I used extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil, I reduced the sugar to to 1/4 cup. I added 1/2 cup of vital wheat gluten, and upped the starter to 1 1/2 cups.

My resulting ingredients list looks something like this:
1 1/2 cups starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (or just virgin, this is what I had on hand)
6 cups bread flour (you could do half wheat if you wanted)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten flour
4 tablespoons of butter melted for the tops of the loaves when baking

Then I let them sit on the stove and rise ALL day long. You need them to double in size and my kitchen was sort of cool that day. I could have stuck them in a warm oven and let them "proof" for a little while. That would have sped up the process. But we were out and about having fun so really it was downtime anyway. Before dinner I put them in the oven. Then we had some with jam and butter, and some with cinnamon sugar and butter for dessert. BOTH were heavenly! It is also really great for sandwiches, just as long as you cut it thin enough.

So head on over to Our Seven Dwarfs and check it out!

I dont think I'll ever buy bread again. This is so easy to make and even though it is somewhat time consuming. Most of it is downtime. Alot of rising, sitting, and fermenting. The result is a really delicious bread that I feel good about feeding to my family. The starter will get more and more sour the more you use it, or the more times you "feed" it.

If you aren't going to use your starter for bread that week you could either gift the excess to a friend to use or make sourdough pancakes. A friend of mine suggested them to me and the first attempt was just ok. If I make some that are any good I will let you all know.

So, do you make your own bread? What are some of your favorite bread recipes?

Love and Hugs,

PS. I'm not entirely sure why the font is funny at the end of this post. Blogger says it is the same as the rest of the text but obviously it isn't. It is also adding extra page breaks where I dont want them...whatever, it's still readable!

Here's to the best neighbor in the world!

2011-03-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know I said Monday...but I was busy soaking up the last couple days with the most wonderfully incredible neighbor ever!

I remember when the house next door to us went up for sale. I didn't know our "old neighbors" very well, they were a quite older couple with no children. We waved and were polite but I didn't KNOW them at all. So when they moved out no biggie. As soon as the house went up for sale I started sort of watching people to see if I thought I'd like them. Dang I sound really nosy! haha

Well when Karrie and her family showed up I knew I liked her immediately. Then they showed up again the next week. AND the week after that. When I saw them 3 weeks in a row I knew they must have put an offer on the house and were scoping it out before they moved in! I specifically remember being on a walk with the hubs, babes and pups and sort of jogging back to my house JUST to say "hello!" to them!

I remember when they first moved in. I gave them a couple days but I was so excited I couldn't stand it! I baked some chocolate chip cookies and headed over. With my 2 1/2 year old and 3 month old Baby Belle. I knew they had kids (I'd seen them like 10 times at this point). So I made sure I put extra cookies on their plate to share! The house was disheveled (ha! who am I kidding mine is always sort of awry!) and Karrie and I sat in the media room talking. For no joke at least an hour. I knew we'd be close friends!

Since that day almost 3 years ago we have been so incredibly close! I've come to rely on my friend for so much, it truly is hard to say goodbye!

We "shop" at each others house because again we live in the middle of nowhere and the closest grocery store is a good 10 miles (not to mention the hassle of getting two sweeties in and out of the car, just for something little) away. So we would call randomly and borrow things. We would go out back and hand them over the fence (because we {usually me} were not "presentable enough" to do this hand off in the front yard! haha). Our house is sort of lower than hers, like the elevation changes a little bit so she would try not to drop things on me. Not to mention I am a shortie! Once she bombed me with a gallon of milk! That was HILARIOUS!!

yeah...were kind of dorks!

Eventually our children were in school together and we quickly determined that I am NOT a morning person. So she would take them (at 7:45 am! EEK! That is early) and I'd pick them up! If one of us had an errand that ran late while the babes were at school, no biggie they'd just stay here or there for a tad longer.

If I had to run to the post office she'd keep my kids so I could go quickly to make sure packages went out the same day. If she had a sleeping baby I'd go over and sit with them while she ran up to the school to pick her older daughter up from school. The babysitting (as with most things) went back and forth like this every day sometimes! And the best part?! It was always without any guilt! Sometimes leaving your kids with people you feel guilty but let me tell ya she is an AMAZING Momma! And I NEVER felt guilty about leaving my kids with her. I hope she never did either.

Here in the past couple of months when Belle was so sick (she said her ear hurt every other day), she'd check her ears to see if we needed to head to the doctor (because again we live in the middle of nowhere and it is a good hour each way to the doctors office). Because did I mention she is a NICU nurse! YEAH! She is a nurse for teeny tiny babies! Incredible.

At the very very end like the past 2 months when her husband was already working out of town, we kicked it up a notch! We did dinners together at least once a week. Her house is up for sale so there were constantly people coming to look at it. One night she called (clearly flustered), a realtor had called on a Sunday night right around dinner time. The kids were eating spaghetti of all things, and someone was coming to see the house. I asked how long do we have? She said MAYBE 45 mins! I ran over (luckily my Momma was here to watch my babes). We quickly turned the vent fan on, opened the windows and boiled cinnamon water (to get rid of the garlic bread smell, haha! Seriously of all nights?!). I quickly said you grab the kids I'll get the kitchen! We had the house cleaned and children bathed in like 20 minutes! It was like record breaking! Then they came over and hung out while the people looked at their house. All the while the hubs was out front "cleaning his bike" and listening in on their conversation! haha! (yeah I guess we are all kind of nosy!)

Did I mention we are big dorks?!

We really became more like family. Not really friends or neighbors. At one point we even joked about knocking down or putting a gate in our wall between our two backyards because we would send things back and forth so frequently! haha

If anything I have learned one thing over the past year or so is that you learn who your real friends are when they move away. I've had a couple friends move that we simply fell out of touch, and while I am saddened by the situation. I KNOW that Karrie and I will never fall out of touch. Our bond is so much stronger.

So if you are in Dallas and getting a new neighbor in the next couple days, YAY! for you! She is great, their family is great and the kids are incredibly adorable and funny!

Here is to the best neighbor EVER! And a very sad me...

Love and Hugs,

Sweet Elephant Amigurumi Intro.

2011-03-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know I said Monday (Thanks Kim for calling me on it! love ya!). Gosh I'm such a bad blogger...but sometimes we have to prioritize. We had a crazy week this week. I was feeling less than stellar, not sick just not great. Really tired and CRAZY allergies! The babes have been testing me too...so when I would normally blog, I was disciplining, disciplining, and disciplining some more! Trying to assert my Mommyness. By the end of the day I was so drained I didn't even open the computer. All the while trying to soak up as much time as possible with my dear neighbor before she moves away :(

Anyway I took the pictures LAST SUNDAY! Thought I'd edit them that night but alas I fell asleep before editing a thing.... So I finally got around to editing them and here they are! Honestly I probably wont be back until Monday again... I will keep shooting and editing and doing behind the scenes stuff. But I wouldn't expect much until Monday again. And this time I mean it! Promise!!

Today we will start with the body of the elephant and work our way into the trunk. We will add eyes and be working increases and decreases. Nothing new if you followed the first crochet with me series. All links can be found here if you want to check it out again or for the first time! If you are new to the series and have never crocheted I recommend reading the first two posts in the series. Simply follow the link above.

First and foremost go here to the lion brand website and either bookmark or print out your pattern. I am going to change it slightly only in the beginning though and it will make it a tad easier. Remember in this post when I talked about the amazing magic ring?! Well apparently lion brand didn't get the memo when writing their pattern.

Because of copyright infringement I can't copy the pattern and put it up on my page. So I'll just show you things when they are different. Be sure to have the pattern up and ready or printed out so you can refer to it. This little elephant is SUPER easy I'm sure you guys will breeze through it. In fact I think the slippers were a touch more difficult.

When working amigurumi you want to work your stitches as tightly as possible. To the point where it is almost a bit difficult to get your hook into the stitch. You don't want the stuffing coming out or showing through the stitches. Because of this you will almost always use single crochet. They are the smallest and tightest stitch.

So at the beginning of the body where it says chain 2...don't. We will start with a magic ring. The first round says work 6 single crochet into the second chain from hook. Well we are just going to work 6 single crochet into the magic ring.

These are the couple extra things you need for your elephant. The black little screw kind of things are craft eyes, the white is to secure the eyes, and the little green safety pin thing is a stitch marker. To keep track of your rounds.

The next round says "2 sc in each stitch around" Basically work 2 stitches into each stitch opening all the way around. You will be doubling your stitches so you should end up with 12 stitches. Be sure to count your stitches after each round before starting a new one to make sure they are correct. If not you may be pulling your hair out later!

The next round says "*2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 18 sc." The star means to repeat from that point. So in your first stitch (where your stitch marker is) you work 2 single crochet. In the next stitch you work 1 single crochet. Then repeat from star, 2 single crochet in the next and 1 single crochet in the following stitch.

Follow the pattern increasing stitches as it indicates, this is what it looks like after 7 rounds. After all the increasing is finished.

After the increasing you will work 10 rounds even. So one stitch in every stitch.

The next stitch you will see is sc2tog (as it is referred to in the pattern). Basically it means single crochet 2 together. We will now be decreasing to create the ball of the body.

Starting round 18 the pattern says "*Sc2tog, sc in next 5 sc; rep from * around - 36 sc."

Then work a single crochet into the next 5 stitches, and do this sc2tog stitch again. Until you are back to the beginning where you stitch marker is.

At round 20 will need to start stuffing your sweet little elephant.

Put your craft eyes directly into the stitches on round 20. I put mine about 12 stitches apart but this is totally up to you how far apart or close together you would like your little elephant's eyes.

And here is your finished body and trunk. Next time we'll work on the rest of him. His ears and feet. Then finishing him off!

So have an amazing, fun, and family filled weekend!

Love and hugs,

Amigurumi Voting results!

2011-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the results from the amigurumi pattern voting!

Little monsters : 2
Elephant : 2
Lily : 1

Runners up are :
Easter eggs : 1
Little Monsters : 2

So when you all were checking out patterns did you realize she completely illustrated the little monsters pattern? I didn't! haha I'm such a dork sometimes! I will read the first couple lines of things and then the last couple lines and totally scroll past whatever is in the middle! haha So we will make the little elephant since the little monsters are already completely illustrated!

Lets get to gathering our supplies then meet back here on Monday.

Supply list:

One skein of grey yarn (they recommend Vanna's choice Silver blue) but you can use whatever your heart desires! Like I mentioned I think I'm going to use a pale purple! I do like Vanna's choice for amigurumi or the stitch n bitch brand yarn has some really super fun colors too!
Size G (6.0mm) crochet hook sold in a pack or by itself
Yarn needle
Stitch markers (found near the crochet needles, used when crocheting amigurumi in the round. They makes a world of difference! Trust me!)
fiberfill stuffing
9mm craft eyes (found at the craft store in the doll making area. Heads up though, I've never been able to find them at Michael's only JoAnn's)

Pretty simple right?! I know I've got everything on hand probably even the yarn but of course I need to get a new skein! This is probably why I have bins full of yarn...

Love and Hugs,

Dressing Room stool makeover

2011-03-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

Note: Don't forget to vote for your favorite amigurumi pattern here. We'll start that pattern soon!

I bought this stool at the White Elephant {only my favorite thrift store ever} for $5! My friend Monica spotted it and thought it might make a nice photo prop. Light and easy to transport. The ideas of what I could do to it were instantly swimming in my head. I bought some of this fabric from this etsy store and went to town matching paint colors, tightening joints, reupholstering seats, and distressing wood!

I didn't take any before pics because honestly I wasn't going to post this. But I just LOVE the way it turned out I couldn't not share it with you all!

This is what I came up with...

Love, love love the turned legs!

I started by painting it solid black. Which in hindsight I don't think it really needed it. Maybe just a primer instead next time.

Then I matched a teal-blue color with a color in the fabric (the smallest flower part was my favorite color!). Put at least 2 coats, 3 in some places on.

After it was dry I sanded some wear spots, where I thought it might have been loved the most (like the back of the chair and around any raised edges.

Finally I grabbed some glaze (latex based which dries clear) so I added some black acrylic paint to it and rubbed it on with a dry cloth. Then rubbed the excess off with another dry cloth.

I finished it off with a quick spray of clear spray paint. To prevent the paint from chipping.

I think the entire painting process took about 2 hours. But it was a warm, sunny, slightly breezy day. The paint dried quickly and I was painting a couple different things at the same time. So I actually got 3 projects done in that 2 hours.

Love and Hugs,

Amigurumi pattern voting :)

2011-02-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

YEAH! I'm so glad you guys share my excitement!

So I went and googled amigurumi and found some crochet patterns. Apparently amigurumi are more commonly knit? There were TONS of knit patterns. But I cant knit, my hands just dont work that well together...

Anyway here they are. I tried to pick some that could be for either a little boy or girl (or you!). But keep in mind the colors you pick can definitely change the gender of an item! You can click on the link to view the whole pattern if your too excited to wait and follow along and already know the basics. Some of them are on free sites that may require a log in like ravlery and lion brand website. I've got logins to them and they don't send a bunch of spam. Which is always nice :)

This cute little guy is rated beginner. I think he/she'd be adorable in a pale purple. I'm sure Hailey would call it a Hefalump!

Who doesn't love a cute little owl? This guy is so sweet!

These little monsters are cute enough to not be too scary. I think I'd make them brighter but that's just me...

Love, love, love matrioska dolls! I am kind of obsessed. Although if I made this I'd have to make like 4 and scale either up or down depending on how big this one turned out! Again in brighter, fun colors!

This little guy is tiny! He is meant to be a keychain but I think I'd put him on a necklace!

This cupcake is much bigger. Still SUPER cute just more for say...your child's play kitchen?! Would also make an excellent gift with maybe a cupcake pan!

These would be perfect for Easter! Just trying to think ahead.

These monsters are really, really cute! Hailey said she wanted one of each! By the way this chick has some AMAZING patterns in her etsy store for sale! Really incredible life like amigurumi patterns!

Meet Lily. She is really cute and a super easy doll. Obviously this would be for a little girl. No way to really make this one unisex but I had to throw it in because she is SO cute and on the website (Sugar n cream, a yarn brand) there are many many different options to make her special and unique. Like changes of clothes and even a Billy (boyfriend)! haha

This is Magdalena and she is by my favorite amigurumi pattern writer ever Ms. Mia @ Owlishly. Keep in mind you can change her hair to be whatever you "style" you like and also change her outfit's colors for a bright fun doll!

Let me know which one is your favorite (and your runner up, maybe we can do two?!) in the comments. And we'll get started! I'll leave pattern voting open for one week even though I'm sure there'll be other posts going up....

Love and Hugs,

Amigur...what...i?

2011-02-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Amigurumi.

Say it with me ah-mee-goo-roo-mee

It's fun to say, right?! Just saying it makes me smile :)

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. According to wikipedia.com.

Anyway, I found amigurumi when I was looking for some ballet accessories for when Hailey first started ballet (almost 2 years ago now). I found her a cute ballet bag with her name embroidered on it, got her a ballet girl water bottle and found this pattern for a little ballet amigurumi doll (and then I made it) by the very talented Owlishly on etsy! I gave her the bag full of goodies on her first day of ballet. She was SO excited! Since then I have purchased several of Owlishly's patterns and they are incredibly easy to follow. Very well written and illustrated.

Photo courtesy Owlishly.etsy.com I can't seem to find the one I made Hailey.
She said she put it "somewhere special! Go figure...

Photo courtesy owlishly.etsy.com. I've made several of these little girlies for
a couple special little sweeties in my life! 5 total now! One for
Hailey and Belle and three for some close friends little girls.

Photo courtesy owlishly.etsy.com. I've made 3 of these now
Hailey didn't want one she said it was too "boy". But I made Belle
a pink and purple one. Then a couple for a friends' little boys who
are twins.

However there are other free patterns out there. I started googling and found some that I thought were interesting. They vary in difficulty from very easy to difficult (just like any crochet pattern) depending on the pattern and how clearly the instructions are written.

Despite the intricate look of these dolls amigurumi is no more difficult than regular crocheting. I can usually whip one of these dolls out in a bout 5 or so hours. Usually done after bedtime over a couple days so that I can focus on the stitches.

Anyway I thought it might be fun to do another crochet with me series and do a little amigurumi doll. Is this something you guys want to make? Would you like me to show you how to do it? I had tons of fun with the last crochet with me slippers! If there is enough interest I will pick some patterns and we can start voting again!

Love and Hugs,

PS. This is NOT a sponsored post. All of the thoughts and feelings are completely my own. I genuinely LOVE Ms. Mia at Owlishly and her amazing patterns!

We have a winner!

2011-02-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

The winner of the fabulous giveaway sponsored by

Thanks to random.org!

And the winner is.... drum roll please!

Renea Broadhead

Renea, I'll send you an email shortly with how to get in contact with Ms. Tricia and claim your prize! You lucky duck!

Thanks to everyone who played along and welcome to my new followers! I look forward to hearing form you! This giveaway was really exciting for me, I'll try to do more giveaways from time to time to keep things interesting!

Love and Hugs,

hmmm...did I tell you?!

2011-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

NOTE: Don't forget to enter the giveaway from Baby Night Night boutique here.

Have I told you all yet that baby Belle (well she's not a baby anymore) has basically been sick since...like...Christmas! I mean seriously! Her fever started December 28th so right after Christmas. I gave it a couple days because I figured it was viral. When it started to spike to 104 I decided enough is enough. By then of course it is New Years Day and the only urgent care open is like an hour away (granted we live in the middle of nowhere, haha). I didn't want to go to an ER because again it was New Years Day and I figured all the crazies/sickies would be there. So I drove the hour to the Urgent care (which does happen to be my favorite out of all the other urgent cares Northwest Medical center urgent car on Ina/Shannon, if your local).

A rare happy Bellie moment for us these past couple months.

The verdict?! She had an ear infection. Only her second ear infection ever (she's almost 3). Which I thought was pretty impressive. I mean Hailey had ear infections like every month when she was a tiny tot. Well...it gets better! I told the doctor that amoxicillin did not work last time and asked if we could just jump straight to augment-en (which is a step up in antibiotic world, just a bit stronger). She said no, to try this and if it didn't work in a couple days to go see my pediatrician.

Well guess what! It didn't work....

So I went to the pediatrician who stepped up her antibiotic. After a couple days I decided it should be working by now (and it didn't seem like it was) and took her back. Yep still has an ear infection. We went back and forth like this until I dunno the beginning of February! Yes FEBRUARY! She had an ear infection for over a month! We tried ALL oral antibiotics and were getting ready to do injected antibiotics. Which did NOT sound like a good time! 3 consecutive days of not only driving to the doctors (a 45 min drive) but then having to make my sweet baby cry because of a shot. Not to mention I'm sure the amount of bowel issues it would cause!

Seriously broke my heart. Literally. She lost any sense of balance a toddler could have. Which meant constantly running into walls and tripping over thin air. She was no longer sleeping, eating, or drinking much of anything. She literally was a shell of herself. She ended up loosing 2 whole pounds. Which is about 10% of her body weight. Not good! Not good at all!

Finally we gave her the augmenten which knocked that stinkin ear infection out! After our 10 days it was gone! Letting me breathe a sigh of relief. February 9 she was declared healthy!

So what happens?!

This Monday she starts sniffling...

Tuesday she starts coughing...

Last night she started with a fever and "barking" like a seal. I'm sure you've heard seals bark. right?! I KNOW what this bark means. It means one thing and one thing only...

CROUP!

She also said her ear hurt. But the cough was icky. I was more concerned about that.

My poor sweet baby cannot catch a break. Luckily for her croup is treatable. A couple days of steroids and she should be good as new.

So what have I learned in this almost 2 month journey?

1. If you are on antibiotics you need to take an acidophulis supplement. Acidophulis is a culture found in yogurt, and promotes digestive health. It also helps combat the side effects of antibiotics. The icky side effects. Ok I'm just going to say it the diarrhea. The pooie that burns your babies bum and makes things just that much more miserable for them. My wonderful neighbor (who is a nurse and AH-mazing Momma of 3) let me in on the acidophulis secret. You can get it at any health food store. It is refrigerated and you can get it in tabs or powder. I got chewable tablets and Belle actually really liked them!

2. Be persistent with your doctor. And if you are at a practice with more than one doctor. Go to your designated doctor. I LOVE my doctor but I think by seeing the other doctors the ball was dropped somewhere along the line. I mean I didn't see one consistent doctor. So everyone was treating it as if it were the first time (or second). Not as if she'd been sick for an entire month. I think the other doctors were great but somewhere between seeing oh 5 different doctors the lines got crossed somewhere. In the end I opted for less convenient appointment times (like 8am, still do-able just not as convenient) in order to see OUR doctor. And if they aren't feeling better in 3 or 4 days CALL THEM! BUG THEM! Tell them EXACTLY what is going on.

3. This is not a time to be afraid of taking medication. I am a big believer in dont take it unless you absolutely have to. But babies do NOT deserve to be in any pain. Most of January we were alternating motrin and tylenol every 3 hours in order to avoid any temperature spike (because she is prone to febrile seizures as well, just another concern!). We also had some ear numbing drops which worked wonders! Ask your doctor for them, you can only get them with a script. But they dont ever go bad (I mean I suppose they expire eventually). But they are a good thing to have on hand. Especially because these things seem to pop up at the worst times. Some ear numbing drops and motrin can get you through a weekend until you can see your pediatrician. Trust me, I know!

4. Keep them hydrated and get calories in when you can. I think Belle lived off of jello, smoothies, juice, and milk for a month. When she did eat I packed the calories into her food. For breakfast I could occasionally get her to eat scrambled eggs. I scrambled the eggs with full fat sour cream, buttered the pan (with real butter), and lots of cheese. Even if this was the only meal she took in for the day at least she got SOME calories. Give them whatever you can to eat, this is no time to be fussy about finishing a meal to get a snack. We also added ovaltine to her milk. Which was only given 2 hours before or after her antibiotic was taken or needed to be taken. To avoid and upset tummy.

I hope and pray that this never happens to your or your babies! I would not wish this on my worst enemy!

LOVE that sweet cheese-y face!

I'm off to finish steroids and start sleep training (sleeping through the night which has only happened twice since December 28th), food training (getting her to understand she doesn't get to eat whatever she wants anymore) and hopefully potty training (something I had planned on working on with her all of January after all she is almost 3)!

Belle's Dress a tutorial

2011-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Note: If you haven't already entered the giveaway head on over here and hop to it! What are you waiting for?

So a few of you expressed interest that you would like to see how to make this crazy easy dress! Here goes!

Materials:
approximately 2/3 yard for size 2t dress or 4t tunic top
1 pack coordinating double fold bias tape
coordinating thread
scraps of lace and/or no fray chiffon ruffled
a couple buttons
a bit of elastic

I started with a simple a-line dress and made a pattern. Lucky for you I am SHARING this pattern with you for absolutely free! YEAH! Thanks to Kelly over at Sewing in No Mans Land for helping me create a pattern! She is awesome!!

So go print your pattern and tape your pieces together. I did it so there are only four pieces to print. All 8 1/2 x 11. I did it in such a way so that the bottom piece (pieces B and C) stays the same and you just change out your top piece (piece A) for the front or back of the dress. So print your four sheets out, tape them together and lets get started!

Start by cutting all of your pieces out of fabric. Cut two main dress pieces (one with the front bodice piece and one with the back bodice piece) and two sleeve pieces. If you position your pieces correctly you can get it all out of a 2/3 yard. I actually only used about 20" of fabric. I left it folded in half (selvages together) and the bottom hem of the dress butted up against the selvage, neckline closest to the fold of the fabric. If you need to make it longer I would change the orientation in which you cut your fabric so that you can play with the length more and up your fabric to maybe a yard or yard and a half.

We are going to use a technique called sewing in the flat. It makes things SO much easier. Usually when sewing I will read a pattern before hand and see if there is anything I can change to sew in the flat because it makes most things (especially sleeves) incredibly easy to machine sew.

Place your body pieces right sides together and stitch both shoulder seams. Turn right side out and press seam open. Set aside for a minute.

Take your two sleeve pieces and fold in half placing WRONG sides together (so you have right sided fabric on both sides of your fold).

Stitch with your longest stitch length around the curved side. Pull your strings and gather them up nice and tight.

Fold in half (pointed sides together) and press a crease. This will be your center line. Match that up with your shoulder seam and pin in place. You want the points to come right to the curve of the armpit seam. Finally stitch it down.

Grab a strip of elastic. I used about 5 inches each arm. There is no science to how I did this I just kind of did it. So I pinned it to one side and backstitch it a couple times, until you feel it is secure.

Then I stretched the elastic and straight stitched over it along the edge of the sleeve. Making sure it was about 1/4 to 1/8 inch from the straight edge. When you get to the other end back stitch a couple times to make sure it is secure. Repeat for to the other sleeve.

At this point I decided to finish the rest of the sleeve by folding in the bit of fabric that is unfinished. I simply folded it under and stitched it down. You could also run a bit of double fold bias tape around it to finish.

Now making sure to match up the armpit seams and the bottom hem pin the side seams right sides together and stitch down. Repeat for the other side seam. Turn right side out and press each seam.

Then I stitched the bias tape around the bottom hem. You could surge this also if you dont have any bias tape on hand.

Fold your dress in half and press a crease.

Then cut a 3 inch slit down the middle of the back of the dress. This will make it easy to get on and off of your little pumpkin.

Then stitch bias tape around the entire neck opening. Starting with one side of the slit and working your way around to the other side of the slit. Making a nice 90 degree fold at each corner.

Backstitch a couple times where the two ends meet.

Then grab a dot of fray check and put some onto each end of the bias tape.

Make a little elastic loop slightly larger than you think it would need to be. I think mine was about 2 inches.

Finally attach a button to one side and loop of elastic to the other side.

This is a really cute dress on its own but it needs a little something...

So now comes the fun part! Embellishing it!

Sorry no pics of this step...I dunno where they went?

I think you can get the gist from the pic though! Originally I thought I'd just do multiple layers of no fray chiffon but it didn't give it enough umph for me. So I layered chiffon and some vintage lace that I had on hand.

I started by ruffling a couple 1 1/2 inch strips of chiffon. Then I stitched one down in a U-shape at the front center of the dress. I added a bit of vintage lace on top that already had a bit of a wave to it. Not ruffled but sort of wavy. Still not enough for me. So under the first strip of no fray chiffon I added some more lace. Finally more chiffon under the last round of lace.

After all the lace and chiffon is stitched down I added some of the same bias tape (just unfolded and pressed) then folded one side under the neckline of the dress and ironed the other side under so that it wouldn't fray. Stitched it down. Finishing it off with a couple fun buttons down the front of the bias tape.

As I mentioned before this is approximately a size 2t dress or 4t tunic. It has plenty of room in the width so even sweet Hailey could wear it as a top with some jeans!

I hope you try it out! If you do I'd LOVE to see pictures! If you have issues with the pattern pieces let me know and I'll figure it out! This is my first time offering the pattern so let me know what you guys think!!

Love and Hugs,

Reversible baby toucher de-tourer! Car seat cover

2011-02-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

NOTE: If you haven't already head over here and enter the giveaway!

A good friend of mine is having a baby soon. She wanted one of these little guys to cover the baby while in the car seat to hopefully prevent strangers from touching him and or breathing their icky germs on him. Tell me I'm not the only one who worries about those sort of things?! I know there are other tutorials out there but I haven't found one that is reversible so I started thinking about it and this is what we came up with. Hopefully you wont make the same mistake I did. This project was ALMOST a huge flop! AH! I'll tell ya more about this later...

This is a really easy peasy project so I didn't take a ton of pics.

You'll need:
1 yard of main fabric (front)
1 yard of coordinating main fabric (back)
20" or about 2/3 yard of a fabric that coordinates with both front and back fabric
coordinating thread

Start by cutting all of your fabric. Here is a cut list for you to make things easy!

8 - 2 1/2" x length (usually 44") strips
Cut each of your yards 19 x 36 and 25 x 36

Lets start with our straps so that we can assemble quickly when it comes time.Start by folding 1/4- 1/2 inch under on each short 2" side. Then lace two strap pieces right side together and sew down the both of the long sides. Leaving the small ends open.

Turn right side out and topstitch all the way around.

Measure how wide your handle is. You want to be able to carry the carseat while the ties are tied. So you want the ties to be just on the outside of where you would grip the car seat to carry it. For us that was 8 1/2 inches.

Take your main fabric pieces and fold in half and press a crease. I put the 4 1/4 mark at the center crease to evenly space the ties. Then pinned the ties to the right side of the fabric where I made the marks.

Then take your other piece of fabric (same print) right sides together and stitch a 1/4-1/2" seam.

Repeat this for the back piece.

Finally place the front and back pieces right sides together and stitch around the whole thing leaving a 4-6" opening for turning.

Trim your corners, turn right side out, press your seams and topstitch. You could also round the corners if you like before sewing them together!

Tada!

See totally reversible! Yippee! It's like a two for one!

So the big flub was: I was so excited about making this that I wasn't thinking straight. It was also sort of late, because the only time we get to sew together is after our cuties go to bed! I cut the fabric WRONG and we almost scrapped the whole project. I cut it so that the fabric was 18x44 and 18x44 instead of the corrected measurements listed above. Luckily I figured it out before we stitched the two pieces together and we basically cut them in half the opposite way and repositioned the straps so that it would work. There is however a big glaring seam down the middle. If you look closely you can see where the pattern doesn't quite line up. But it is still incredibly cute! I wish I had thought of this when my babes were still little!

Anyway I just wanted to share with you all that I am NOT a perfect seamstress. I mess things up too from time to time but it is all about making the best of it!

Love and Hugs,

Happy Valentines Day...and a GIVEAWAY!

2011-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than by doing a giveaway? Yup I said it! My very first giveaway! Yippee!

Everyone I'd like you to meet my Ms. Tricia the talented designer behind the esty store Baby Night Night Boutique.

Seriously there is some really awesome stuff over there! {Seriously} I immediately fell in love with this sweet little red striped bib front shirt!

These beautiful chiffon ruffled bloomers would be perfect for your little babe OR as a photography prop. I've been eyeing them to use as a prop! But can you just imagine them on a crawling little babe?! Stinkin' adorable!!

What shop would be complete with out some Up-cycling? This dress is crazy cute! Aren't the pockets sweet? LOVE.IT.

And seriously, Ms. Tricia is AH-mazing with these incredible hand drawn portraits! I mean WOW! I took many a art classes in college and was NEVER this good at drawing from a picture! How beautiful would this be framed?

Of course Hailey had to get in on all the browsing and said that she would love some of these vintage inspired flower leg warmers! In her words, "for ballet of course, Momma". Well, but of course! What else would they be for? Silly Momma!

Guess what?!

Because Tricia is super awesome and amazing she is giving one of you! Yes YOU! A chance to win a $10 gift certificate to her incredible Etsy store! Seriously I wish I were eligible for this! I would LOVE ~~all~~ any of these things!!

So lets get down to it! Here are the rules

1. Head on over to Baby Night Night Boutique's blog and become a follower. Leave me a comment letting me know your a new follower or if you were already following the amazing Tricia.

2. You must be a follower of The Planner and The Procrastinator. Again leave me a comment letting me know you are a new follower or if you were already following along in the awesomeness!

That means you get TWO entries! YEAH! So...what are you waiting for?! Go follow then head over to Baby Night Night Boutique's Etsy Store and take a lock around! Maybe YOU will be the lucky ducky who wins!

The giveaway will close Sunday, February 20th and I will announce the winner Monday morning! So go tell your friends! After all they deserve to get in on the action too!

Valentine's day card!

2011-02-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

This idea is floating all around out there in blogland! I think it originally links back to 24-7-365? I LOVE it so I decided to make some for Hailey!

All in all I think they cost about the same or maybe a touch more than regular store bought Valentines. I paid $4.90 for the pictures then 2.50 for the lollipops. Giving us a grand total of about $7.50 after tax. Not bad and SUPER adorable. It did take a bit of time maybe a half hour of shooting, editing, and uploading.

Hailey loves them! She literally gasped when I showed her the first one this morning. She then proceeded to help me tape the lollipops on the back! I think later today I will have her write each child's name on the backs of them. Just to reinforce what they are learning in preschool right now.

Here are a couple other shots from our little mini shoot yesterday!

KISSES!

Can someone please tell me why it is when I blink she gets bigger?! I mean when did my little tiny sweet baby get so big?

Oh and just so you know, yes she insisted on wearing lip gloss! Her lips are pretty red though, they always have been! But the gloss seamed to catch the light jusssst right.

Love and Hugs,

What?! WOW...Thanks!!

2011-02-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was SOOOO Honored the other day when I received a delightful little comment from Ms. Tricia over at Baby Night Night Boutique letting me know she nominated me for the stylish blogger award!

I mean seriously?! Sometimes I feel like I'm out there rambling on to myself! haha I still think it is amazingly incredible that we can all be so close through the internet! Share our creativity and be cyber blogging BFF's!

So here are the rules for the award...

1. Thank and Link back to the blogger that awarded you

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 12 discovered bloggers

4. Contact bloggers and inform them of the award

Here goes!

1. Thank you, thank you Ms. Tricia for this little award! It seriously made my day! By the way Tricia has some serious talent and is the creative mind behind Baby Night Night Boutique. If I were YOU. I would head on over to her Etsy and browse around a bit. There may just be a little giveaway coming up here shortly! (like Monday...I'm just sayin')

2. So seven things about me...I shared quite a bit here but here are a couple more!

I live in the middle of nowhere. I mean sort of...we live in a neighborhood but it is in the middle of nowhere. Seriously it is like 10 miles to the nearest grocery store! We do have a "corner market" which most people refer to as a gas station! haha Fortunately carry a good amount of grocery staples if you dont mind the 300% markup!

All of my close friends have moved away or are planning to very soon. This is a big thing for me lately. I feel like I'm driving people away. haha Seriously my two bffs moved away (a year ago and 6 months ago) and my other two closest friends are leaving in March and April. What the heck people? Am I really that bad? I'm starting to think it's me...

If I dont exercise I get really anxious. This is sort of a new discovery for me. I eat right with the exception of drinking a tad bit too much coffee and maybe too many sweets. This coupled with not exercising makes for one anxious and nervous Momma! I seriously lie in bed at night worrying about things until I fall asleep. So my goal is to workout more to burn off some of that anxious steam building up inside my head!

I replaced the kids tums with bottle cap candy. The babes thought they were candy anyway now I dont feel guilty for actually giving them the tums when I dont think they really needed it. The bottle cap candy looks the same and are just as chalky! haha

I take really really HOT showers. I mean I turn the water all the way to the hot side! It makes my eczema worse but I LOVE it!

I dont have any brothers or sisters. I'm an only child. I dont think I have only child syndrome though. I somehow escaped unscathed!

I had a bird named Baby, she was a Cockatoo (I think). She was all white and had a peach chest. She especially loved to cuddle in bed. I know odd, right? Especially for a bird but she really did have such a big personality! Not once did she ever poop or pee in my bed. I think she knew I'd be upset with her. When I moved away from home I left her there.

3. 12 discovered bloggers. Hmmm...I'm just gunna go off of my blog roll and who I check every. single. morning.

By the way, I LOVE that my Mac gives me a big blue star on a page when there is a new post! It shows up when I hit command + T to view a new tab. I dunno how I got it that way but I heart it! That way I am efficiently checking blogs! haha

1. Sewing in No Mans Land

2. Inspired RD

3. How sweet it is

4. Schwin & Schwin

5. Little Miss Momma

6. Under the Table and Dreaming

7. Creative Mommas

8. Ruffles and Stuff {even though Ms. Disney is not technically blogging anymore, she still does sporadically and I LOVE every single post of hers!}

9. Grossgrain Fabulous

10. Project Run and Play

11. Crafterhours

12. Delia Creates

Just so you know they are in completely random order just off the top of my head! I Love ALL of them the same! :)

4. Now I'm off to notify everyone! I can't wait because I was so stoked, I hope they will be too!

Thanks again Tricia!

Love and Hugs,

Grandma's egg rolls with a twist

2011-02-11T06:00:00.001-08:00

Grandma's egg rolls are highly coveted. No joke! Not only within our family but with most of our friends as well! She made them once for Belle's first birthday and anyone who has had them asks when she is making them again! They are really nothing like what you get at fast food restaurants or even higher end Asian restaurants. With meat being the main ingredient they are hearty and delicious! I put my own little twist on them and Grandma agrees they are even better than before!

Ingredients:
2 packs of fresh egg roll wrappers (found in the "health food" section usually even at Fry's {Kroger})
package of fresh bean sprouts (rinsed)
1 head napa cabbage
2 cloves of garlic minced
3 scallions diced
1 lb of ground beef (if you don't eat read meat you could sub it for ground turkey or chicken I suppose even tofu?)
salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste

The twist: Grandma does NOT add garlic, scallions, or soy sauce. I did because I was worried about them being bland. Hers never are and I'm not entirely sure why. So if you don't have garlic, scallions, or soy sauce no biggie just leave them out!

Put the ground beef into a pan and cook until it is grey-ish in color and really finely chopped up. Grandma says "chop chop chop" in her little Korean accent. I wish I could record it to play to you guys because it plays over and over in my head as I was making this!

I use my pampered chef mix and chop to "chop chop chop" and it worked like a charm. If you don't have one no biggie just use a wooden spoon!

Rinse the bean sprouts and add them to them to the pot. You can cut them in half if you like. But you dont have to. They will wilt down quite a bit.

Grab 6-ish leaves (more if you like more, remember this will cook down to about half) off of your napa cabbage and give them a nice chiffonade (finely chopped). Not a dice you want little strips. Then add those to the pot too.

Let this stuff cook until the veggies are softened. About 5 minutes or so. Until it looks like this.

Season with seasoned salt and pepper and a little soy sauce if you like.

Once all the veggies are cooked and it is seasoned to your taste dump it all into a strainer. No one wants a soggy egg roll!

This is the only brand I've ever seen. So I'm sure whatever you grocer has will be fine!

Grab a small bowl of water and get your pack of egg roll wrappers. Turn them so the look like a diamond.

Put a small amount inside. Probably 2 tablespoons of filling.

Take two fingers and put some water on the top two sides of your diamond. I usually use my right hand but it was snapping away so I used my left. haha The water will help "seal" the wrapper together.

Tuck the top corner up.

Then each side in.

Finally roll them up.

And set them on a pan. Until you are ready to fry.

This is the preferred way of freezing. So that they dont stick together.

At this point they can either be frozen or fried. If you decide to freeze them, leave them on your tray and let them get frozen before throwing them into a ziploc bag. Otherwise they will stick together. If you are low on freezer space (which we always are) and can't fit a half sheet into your freezer you could flour them before throwing them into a ziploc bag and then just toss them in the freezer. Make sure to lay them out to defrost or as they are defrosting they will stick together.

So we are ready to fry them! Put them in a pan with about a half to an inch of hot oil and fry until golden brown. Make sure they are seam side down. So where you sealed them goes down so they wont open up while they are cooking.

Finally grab a mixing bowl lined with paper towels and a small coffee mug and set them up right so that all the grease drains out of them.

Enjoy! In our house we put a little bit of soy sauce or tabasco into them when eating! Like a couple drops into each bite. haha

So go out make these, you will never want another egg roll again! Trust me!

Love and Hugs,

Linking up with...

Thai beef salad

2011-02-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

So I originally titled this most Thai MEAT salad. Then the hubs told me that his Momma calls it Thai BEEF Salad. See, Grandma still has a thick Korean accent and while I understand 99% of what comes out sometimes things get a little lost in translation! haha What I heard was meef. Like meat and beef combined into one word so I said "meat?" she said yes. But meat to her is beef. She doesn't eat a whole lot of chicken or pork. She much prefers beef so to her meat is beef, I guess!? You can most definitely make this with chicken, pork or the way we usually do with beef. I've had it with all of the above and I do think it is best with beef!

Anyway...the first time Grandma Harris made this for me I fell in love instantly! It is spicy, sour, salty and tastes so refreshing! It is perfect for an appetizer, light lunch, or a side dish with any other Asian dishes. Especially bulgogi!

Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 lb top round steak (pork or even chicken) thinly sliced like bulgogi
cilantro (diced about half a bunch)
3 green onions (finely diced)
rice powder (blended) I dont believe you can buy this I think you have to make it. I'll tell you how though!
lemon or lime juice (I prefer lime)
soy sauce
thai hot pepper or cayenne pepper {you can find ground thai hot pepper at any Asian market then grind them up in either a clean coffee grinder or spice grinder (Grandma gave me some she had ground up already) This ground pepper will last in your fridge indefinitely according to Grandma!}
salt and pepper to taste
lettuce cups (we used Romain, because we had in on hand. Use whatever is handy!)
sticky rice

Start in advance by making rice powder. You can do this by taking some rice and putting it in a pan and letting it get brown. No oil or anything, just the rice. Once it starts turning color be sure to pay close attention because it goes from brown to black fast! Let it get light golden brown. Then pop it into a food processor, spice, or even clean coffee grinder. Grind it into a fine-ish powder. Sort of like corn meal. Not as fine as flour. If you make this the day or even week before it will "soften" in the refrigerator. If not it will just be a little bit crunchy, still delicious but a tad crunchy. This "powder" can be stored in the refrigerator indefinitely or until you use it all up. Please don't leave this out it really adds ALOT to the flavor of this meat salad.

Grill or pan fry the strips of steak (pork or chicken, you can use any of them I just had beef on hand). I used an indoor grill pan for mine and it worked really well! Don't over cook it though you want the meat to be very tender and juicy to help create the "sauce". It can over cook fast since it is so thinly sliced so don't step away or it WILL burn!

Take the meat off and put it in a bowl. You just want it a little charred.

Add in the cilantro, green onion, lime juice (probably one whole lime maybe two depending on how much juice you get), and soy sauce (just for a bit of color and a hint of saltiness). Mix thoroughly.

Then add about a tablespoon of rice powder.

In the end I added about double this, but we like it HOT!

Finally thai pepper or cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. I actually prefer more soy sauce then to add salt. It just gives it more flavor and creates more juicy yummy sauce.

Mix it all up and serve with lettuce cups and sticky rice like a lettuce wrap!

Most of the ingredients are "to taste". If you like more cilantro add more, if you like more or less onions then go for it! I like it lime-y, salty, and spicy! To me it tastes just like summer! You can serve hot or cold although I prefer it cold the next day when all the flavors have had a chance to mingle. :)

Linking up with...

Love and Hugs,

For all you lefties out there!

2011-02-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

So sometimes I'm sort of a space cadet. I mean really I got pregnancy brain (obviously when I was pregnant) twice. And well, it never really came back. haha So I forgot about all you lefties out there. After trying unsuccessfully to photograph myself awkwardly crocheting with my left hand. I decided to just link you guys up with someone who really knows what they are doing with their left hands!

I found this lovely little lady Teresa on youtube and she really knows her stuff! The only catch. Instead of her showing you exactly the pattern we are doing you'd have to learn the individual stitches and follow along with the pattern over at Oh My Good Knits. This is just one of her videos if you click the little blue rectangle under the title of the video that says "subscribe free crochet" it will take you to her "channel" on youtube. Where she has many many more videos to view for absolutely free!

Hopefully I've taught you all enough to be able to read the actual pattern. But Ms. Lisa over at Oh My Good Knits has really illustrated the pattern very well and if worse comes to worse you could just do a head stand and read your monitor upside down! haha just kidding!

I'm sorry I'm not better with my left hand! :( I hope this helps!

Love and Hugs,

What's black and white and red all over?

2011-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

My slippers of course!

Today we are going to work on a little flower. I chose to do a white flower with a little flat black button in the middle.

The written pattern for this little flower is as follows. I just sort of made it up as I went.

Round 1: Work 5 sc into a magic ring sl st to first sc

Round 2: *ch 3, 3 tr, ch 3, sl st* in same sc repeat from * 5 times

finish off

Enjoy your slippers! I had fun showing you all. I hope you like them!

So did you guys enjoy this? Would you like to see an amigurumi pattern or a charted pattern? Or should I go back to sewing? I have been working on sewing in my spare time and cooking! I have a couple recipes to put up and some sewing stuff too!

I've also lined up a really fun giveaway coming up later in the week!! :)

Love and Hugs,

PS. If you followed along I'd LOVE to see pictures!

Linked up with....

All the trimming :)

2011-02-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today we will work on trimming the slippers and finishing the little straps.

Here we go!

Do 31 single crochets so that you are now on the other side of the toe of your slipper. On your 32 single crochet you will pull up a loop.

Now go do your other slipper. Only when it says do 31 single crochets only do 19, then pull up your loop. You want your straps to go out toward the outside of your foot not both going in one direction, right?! Other than that directions are completely the same!

Apparently overcoat and suit buttons haven't changed much since the 1930s. I grabbed these out of my ~~pot of gold~~ stash and they just so happen to have been copy written in the 1930s!

Tomorrow I will show you how to make an adorable little flower to go on the toe of these. So if your sick of crocheting you could definitely leave them like this but let me tell ya they are even more adorable with the little crocheted flower on them. AND you could totally use the flower for other things like headbands, hair clips, hats, necklaces...oh the possibilities are endless!

Leave your questions in the comments section. I assume you all are getting along ok!?

Love and Hugs,

Crafts from Valentines past :)

2011-02-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last year I really should have had a blog! I think I accomplished more last year than I have this year. BUT all of my accomplishments were what spurred me to start this little bloggy. SO I thought I'd show you what I was up to last year. I was sort of obsessed with wreaths.

Here are some I created for Valentines Day.

Burlap heart wreath. I LOVE this wreath. So simple, clean, and beautiful! It literally took a half hour to put together. With a grand total of $6 how can you go wrong? 1 yard of burlap $2.99 and 1 spool of red ribbon $2.99, I had the wire and "bling"!

Here is a link to the tutorial, although I think it is pretty self explanatory. :)

And since we only have a double wreath hook. I HAD to make one for the inside too! Or vice versa.

So can you tell what this is made of? You guessed it...cupcake wrappers! All that went into this baby was some hot glue styrofoam mold and lots and lots of cupcake wrappers! 309 to be exact! Complete with cupcake wrapper flower, covered button and leaves! I LOVE that it looks like carnations!

Jenn over at Tatertots and Jello is responsible for this amazing tutorial!

Finally, I made these cute little xo xo frames.

The flash caught the glass balls but I assure you they are NOT glowing! haha They are actually very shimmery and pearlescent.

Another great idea by Jenn! Here is a link to the original.

I have these cute little hearts on my list to whip out. Probably at least 3 or maybe 6 (depending on how easy they are) to throw on my entry way table. And I think I might make a little Valentine's bunting. Maybe print and frame a Valentines printable or two...there are so many great printables out floating around now. I love it! But other than that I think I will just work on finishing other projects that have been in-limbo for WAY too long!

What are you guys creating for Valentines Day? I'm always game for another!

Love and Hugs,

Tighten 'em up

2011-02-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

Ay yay ya! What a day! I told you guys it was ridiculously cold here yesterday even compared to the rest of the US. We are usually much warmer than everyone so it was a fun (and by fun I mean not so much) day yesterday. Because we are usually warmer our water pipes are outside (not inside or underground). They are completely exposed to the elements. Usually it's not such a big deal. But they froze the night before (Wednesday night) and we went without water until 4pm yesterday! Thankfully my neighbor let us borrow some pool water to flush the toilets! Last night when the hubs went out to cover them up a little better. In hopes to prevent a re-freeze he realized they had CRACKED! AHHHH! So he spent most of the day with a friend of ours fixing them!

Luckily I did get pics of the next couple rounds taken and have finally finished editing and adding directions to them this afternoon.

Without further ado today we will be working on tightening up the opening so that the slippers stay on our feet!

It doesn't really matter what two loops. Just as long as you get two not just one :)

Again whichever two are calling your name.

The pattern says to continue working down the side. 23 single crochet. This means that there should be two single crochets into each double crochet. So one in the top half and one in the bottom half of each double crochet.

We will now work on a specialty stitch. Written in the pattern it says sc3tog or single crochet 3 together. We want to work them into one single crochet to tighten up the opening a bit so that the slipper stays on our foot.

Work a single crochet into each of the next five double crochet "v" spots. Until you reach the other corner. There should be 2 more double crochet "v" spots left to work.

Work your way to the back of the slipper and slip stitch together. Then finish off like we did at the end of the last post.

And just so you know... my children do NOT always cooperate with me taking pictures. Because they don't nap anymore I have to get creative with keeping them busy while I snap away! Today I ~~locked them~~ let them play in the shower. AFTER the hubs and his friend got the water back on. Hailey sprays shaving cream on the shower doors and writes or draws in it while Belle LOVES to play with a little cup and an old makeup brush! She calls it "painting her nails". Haha!

We've got a busy weekend so we will do the trim stitching on the slippers on Monday. AND Just in case these slippers aren't cute enough I'll show you how to make a flower to attach to the top of the toe area! SOO cute!

Again, if you have issues leave them in the comments!

Love and Hugs,

Whistle while you work!

2011-02-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Today we will complete the main part of the slipper. After this we just have to tighten it up and add the trim! I wish mine we already complete because it is a whopping 21 degrees here in Tucson today. For our Southern Arizonans this is COLD! I mean Anchorage, AK is 29 degrees. There is something really really wrong with this picture!

Please excuse my blue hands. Apparently my hands being cold is translating into my picture taking! haha Again this is picture heavy so give it a minute to load :)

So lets jump right in!

Update: I forgot to mention that if you have large feet (like bigger than a size 7) you might want to add a couple rows. The 13 rows were perfect for me and I'm about a 6 1/2 or 7. If you wear an 8 I might add a row, 9 I'd probably add 2, and if you have ginormous feet like my mother who wears a size 10 (haha sorry Momma!) I'd probably add 3 rows. Just try 'em on and if they look like they are going to cover your heal they probably will!

Now go make another one! So that you have a pair! We will work on tightening and trimming them Friday.

As always if you have any issues let me know in the comments section and I'll help ya out!

Love and Hugs,

Finally getting started!!

2011-01-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Warning: this post is picture heavy! But it sort of needs to be...so I hope you understand everything. If not leave a note in the comments and I'll try to answer them the best I can!

So if you haven't already go on over to Ohmygoodknits and save, print, or bookmark yourself a copy of her mary jane slipper pattern. She asked nicely if people would simply link back to her pattern instead of copying it and reposting it. So you may need to refer back every once in awhile. But I will work line by line and explain everything in laimans terms!

This pattern starts by crocheting in the round. So you work in a circle rather than line by line up to a certain point. Then you will go line by line.

So we will start by making a magic ring. The "old way" of working in a circle would have been to chain so many stitches, join them to make a circle and work 8 stitches into this teeny tiny circle. Which generally resulted in the ripping out of hair. Because you want the circle to be tight and the last couple stitches would be very difficult o get in there. BUT whoever invented the magic ring is genius! It is adjustable and you tighten it AFTER you get all of your stitches into it! A very big excitement for me...I only wish I'd have known that after making 50 stars for an American flag blanket using the "old way" of crocheting in the round.

The pattern says to start by working 8 dc (double crochet) into a magic ring.

So...

Basically just pull the back yarn (or yarn attached to the ball, not the tail) forward through the ring.

I start EVERYTHING with the magic ring whether I am chaining to start (like for a blanket) or working in the round. At this point if you were going to chain you'd pull your tail and keep chaining. But were not so don't pull your tail just yet!

Lets make our first of 8 double crochets!

So you pull your "yarn over" through the next two loops. The two loops closest the end of the hook.

Remember your yarn should be BEHIND your hook you are bringing it over the hook toward you.

Repeat this until you have 8 double crochets in your magic ring.

The very first little "v" we did.

Now you can pull your tail and tighten your magic ring. Pull it as tight as you can without breaking the yarn off! haha that wouldn't be good! So this is your first round of stitches.

This is 8 dc worked into a magic ring.

Before moving onto the next round make sure you count your little "v"s to make sure you have 8. This is important if you mess this up now it will cause you many a headaches trying to get the right stitches later on in the pattern.

Got your 8? Good!

Let me show you this. I used a bigger hook so that you could see the stitches a bit more easily. If you click on it you can see a larger image. It is important to know which space is where you joined and where the next stitch is.

Ok, now that we've got that sorted out lets start the next round.

This is called a chain. In the pattern it says "chain 2", or "ch 2"

The next part says "2 dc into each stitch" So lets start with one dc.

I think you guys can take it from here and finish up to the toe section on your own.

Let me explain a bit more about the next round. Anytime you see a asterick * it means this is where you start the repeat. So Line 3 says "1 dc into same space" this means after you chain 2 put one dc into the joining space or the "v" space from the picture above. Then the directions say "2 dc into next stitch" so work your two dc into the next stitch. Then you see the * this means pay attention you will repeat this all the way around. She says "*1 DC into next st, 2 DC into next*" So you will do 1 dc into the next then 2 dc into the stitch after that. Repeat this until you are back at the beginning. The last part of this line is to "slst into top of the first DC, ch 2". Slip stitch into the top of the first double crochet, then chain two. You should have 24 stitches at the end of this round. Be sure to check your work!

The next round (4) I think you guys can handle!

Finally round 5 and 6 say "work 2 rounds even". Which means work one stitch into each stitch all the way around.

At this point your little cup should fit over your toes.

Sunday we will pick back up and finish off the main portion of the slipper!

Terms, terms, terms | American crochet terms

2011-01-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

So today while I should start the pattern I thought I would tell you a bit more about crochet terms first. So that when I abbreviate you aren't lost in la la land! haha

When purchasing a pattern on your own or even hunting for free ones you want to look for patterns written in American Crochet Terms. There are other terms like British Crochet terms and even Scandinavian crochet terms. all which vary slightly. These terms obviously are for written patterns not chart patterns (which I touched on yesterday).

Isn't yarn beautiful? I just LOVE all the different varieties out there!

Here is a list of terms and their abbreviations for quick reference.

sl st - slip stitch

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

tr - treble or triple crochet

dtr - double treble/triple crochet

yo - yarn over

finish off/fasten off

gauge

We will not be using all of these to make the slippers I think we only use the sc, dc, hdc, and maybe a sl st here and there. As well as a couple "specialty stitches" which I'll explain as we go. At the end after we finish our slippers I will explain the rest of them step by step for future use with different patterns.

So this is how I "hold" the yarn. My hook in my right hand (because I'm right handed) and my yarn in my left hand. Sorry I had to use my right hand to shoot the pic... I loop the yarn through my fingers under my pinky up over my ring finger, under my middle and over my index finger. This is how the by good friend Jamie taught me to hold it and I never looked back. Some people just let it hang from their left hand but I find that this allows me to control my tension better. Therefore creating even, uniform stitches.

Index finger lowered for looser tension.

Index finger raised for tighter tension.

I use my index finger like my tension. If I need stitches to be looser then I let my index finger down and if it needs to be tighter I put it up to tighten the tension.

I hold my work with my left middle finger and thumb. While my right hand does all the work with loops.

Tomorrow we'll start by learning the magic ring and work on the first section of the pattern! Yeah! I think I will explain the stitches in the beginning and then walk you through the pattern step by step.

Love and Hugs,

Shall we gather?!

2011-01-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

Note: I meant to post this last Monday but I was stricken by the plague. Ok maybe just the flu but I was in bed for literally 3 days straight. I'm still not quite right but at least I can sit up and stand now without the room spinning!

SO... lets tally the votes! haha

3 - slippers
1 - ear warmers
1 - fingerless gloves
1 - hat

Yeah! We'll do the slippers which I was really excited to make myself. But if I do my job correctly over this coming week you will know and understand crochet terms and stitches as well as the "magic adjustable ring" used so frequently to start crocheting. You should also be able to read a pattern written in American crochet terms and hopefully be able to create any of these quick and simple projects!

There are also so many patterns out there written in "graph" or "chart" form. And if I stumble across any free ones we can work on those too later on. I just learned to read these recently when I was making some Hello Kitty amigurumi (a big fancy Japanese word for crocheted doll) dolls for the girls. The patterns are "written" in Japanese luckily the book I purchased also had the charts! My hubby called me crazy for buying a book written in Japanese, until I showed him the charts. haha

So for the slippers you will need:

one skein of worsted (medium) weight yarn in the color of your choosing
a small bit of a contrasting color (for the edging and straps) in worsted (medium) weight as well
An H (5.00mm) hook
A couple large buttons
a tapestry needle (or any needle really, used to sew on the buttons)

Let me explain a bit. If you've never worked with yarn your probably asking yourself what the heck is a skein and worsted weight?

A skein is a length of thread or yarn wound in a loose long coil. So in simpleton terms that means one ball or bundle of yarn like what is pictured above.

Worsted weight is a general weight for yarn. It is a medium weight smooth yarn (also pictured above). It is easy to work with (since you can easily see your stitches). It also yields smooth, warm finished products. So your feet will be soft and warm! You will find what type of yarn on the label of yarn. See that little number 4 on the wrapper of a picture of yarn. That will show you your weight. Also on the label you will find the best suited hook for that specific yarn as well as the washing instructions and usually a lot number. If you are making a blanket or something larger pay attention to lot numbers when purchasing multiple skeins of yarn. Sometimes colors will vary slightly from lot to lot.

Basically, if you use a fine yarn your slippers will be too small in contrast to if you use a bulky yarn you slippers will be too big. I can usually tell by looking at the yarns. And soon enough you will be able too as well!

Please oh please refrain from purchasing these beautiful yarns for this project. Both are bulky weight (so they aren't the right weight anyway). But more importantly from a beginners standpoint you will want to rip your hair out because of how difficult the stitches will be to see! When working with a hairy yarn you more or less "feel" where your next stitch will go since the hair covers what you would normally look for. The finished product is beautiful (like the soft pink cocoon I did) but you will probably add some of your own ripped out hair to the product! haha And the bauble sort of thick yarn is really beautiful too. Probably easier to work with than the hairy one but a nuisance all the same. Either way these are examples of what NOT to get!

When you are looking at hooks I like metal hooks. They don't flex when you are working with them at all and they are nice and smooth making the stitches work evenly. You can get a variety pack for very inexpensive. You can also buy the ones with bamboo handles and they are good too more ergonomical or whatever?! But I hold my hook higher than the handles so they don't make much of a difference for me.

SO go gather and meet me back here on Wednesday and we'll get started!! In the meantime I'm going to work a few of these up and see if I run into any difficulties!

Love and Hugs,

Well...should we get started? Pattern voting!

2011-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ok guys! I am so excited you want to learn! SO...should we pick a pattern? I've been scouring the internet for fun, funky, FREE patterns. My absolute favorite jumping point for searching for free patterns is Ravelry. It is sort of like the Ucreate of Crochet/Knit-world. Well almost. They do have alot of not free patterns. That are actually really reasonable if you cannot find a free one anywhere. Sometimes I get sick of searching and break down and buy the patterns.

So here is what I came up with for some free and easy starter patterns.

This sweet little bag by Tangled Happy. The size can also be easily increased!

Really really cute slipppers! By Ohmygoodknits. I have a pair of slippers similar to this that I got at Target and I LOVE them. So incredibly comfy!

To brim or not to brim by Vallieskids. I LOVE that little one on the end with the strap across the front and buttons on each side. Who doesn't want a cute knit brimmed hat? This pattern says it is for a baby so I'd need to make one first and adjust the size to fit an adult. But there is a good amount of give in the yarn so I dont think it'd be a huge issue.

Fingerless gloves. By Julia Crossland. I think these are beautiful. Picture your favorite colors!

Beautiful yarn necklace by creativeyarn. So simple and beautiful. This is probably the easiest project on the list.

Uhm, seriously? These are adorable! Either for Momma as ear warmers or lil girls as a sweet headband! Also by Tangled Happy.

Leave your vote in the comments section. I'll leave voting up for the rest of the week and weekend, then we'll start gathering supplies!

EEK! I'm excited! I want to make everything on the list right this very minute!

Love and Hugs,

Do you crochet?

2011-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

I finished these awesome pieces for a newborn shoot I had over the weekend. I purchased the patterns at Polka Dot Posh on etsy. The patterns were simple to follow and I had each piece done within a matter of hours even with the babes doing laps around me. I was sitting on the floor with my lap top in the play area. haha

The hooded cocoon

The hanging cocoon

So do you guys crochet? Would you like to? I've taught many a friends to do it and I'm sure with lots of pictures I can teach you guys too!

Of course we would NOT be making these ones because they are copy written. But I'm sure I can find a fun free pattern that we can work with! Just let me know in the comments and I will start looking for a pattern for us to work with. We can make it like a week long series and learn a little bit each day. Slowly working up to the finished project.

Love and Hugs,

If were going to be bff...

2010-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was so inspired by Ashley over at Little Miss Momma's candid approach to blogging and most recent post "Things you should know about me if we are going to be bff..." that I thought I'd come up with a little list of my own!

I am an only child.

Sometimes when eating and talking I wave my fork in the air. Not like "look at me here I am" but sort of straight up and back and forth like tapping, my elbow is usually resting on the table. It makes the hubby crazy!

I love animals....sometimes more than people.

I hate folding laundry, doing laundry, putting laundry away. Anything laundry irritates me....

I use ... way too much! haha

I am addicted to blogs and facebook. Seriously addicted.

I LOVE to create but it's hard for me to focus when the house is messy.

I get really anxious when there are lots of people around. Especially with the babes. I hold their hands and wrap my fingers around their wrists. I am really scared someone will try to steal them. Have been since they were born...

I've been pregnant 5 times. I have 2 children. 3 miscarriages. I dont know if I'll ever try to be pregnant again. It might literally break my heart in two if I loose another one.

I rarely drink. I'd rather waste my calories on dessert!

I was never really a "teenager". I graduated at high school when I was 16 and started college immediately after...still don't have a degree. Maybe I'll work on that this year.

I had Hailey when I was 20. My Mom had me when she was 20. Kinda funny :)

I get my feelings hurt easily, but am hard to offend. Does that make sense?!

I would much rather give than receive. Seriously.

I let the babes wash my feet during bath time. It's relaxing.

I think Bailey (our first born {dog}) must be a human reincarnated. She has way too many human characteristics!

I am a perfectionist.

I love making lists. I love finished lists even more.

Clutter makes me crazy. So I put it in the office or the bedroom and close the door, to take care of when I "have time". It's still there and making me crazy!

I failed my first written drivers test. Something about pedestrians not in crosswalks...to this day it is sort of the running joke. "your not in a cross walk I don't have to stop for you..." haha I wouldn't actually hit you!

I love and adore my husband. But sometimes don't show it. I'm really trying to work on this.

When 7pm rolls around {bedtime} I have usually lost all patience and am ready to sit and veg I mean all out vegging TV, computer, and some form of dessert!

A little more about the above. I wait to eat dessert until after the babes go to bed so I don't have to share.

So what do I need to know about you if we are going to be bloggy bff's?

Just in case you missed it here is a link back to the original post. Ashley has quickly shot to the top of my "check blog list". BECAUSE she is so candid. It is so refreshing to know there are other SAHM out there who often struggle with the same things. Not everything is peachy. Sometimes I get really frustrated and irritated and wonder if I am really giving my children the best they deserve. I wonder if I'm doing enough, instilling enough, teaching them enough, playing with them enough. To know we are all in the same boat is a really incredible feeling. We'll all sink together! haha j/k We'll all survive together is more like it!

Love and Hugs,

PS. I dont hate comments or followers...in fact they usually make my day!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day! It started at 7am which was surprising in itself. I thought Hailey would have woken us up significantly earlier. But I sure am thankful she didn't! We waited for Belle to wake which wasn't long because Hailey was so excited she would randomly squeal just looking at the gifts santa left her and her sissy.

Then sissy woke up and she was grumpy!!

Until she realized these were for HER too!

Then she was in full excitement mode being her usual happy, bubbly, laughing Belle self!

Hailey unwrapped meticulously (which really is no surprise) and was very methodical about what she would open and when. She went from smallest to biggest!

After the girls had wrapping paper strewn around the entire room I thought it was my cue to bow out and start Christmas breakfast while the hubby helped clean up the wrapping paper and started opening packages.

Usually I make a breakfast casserole involving eggs and sausage. But this year I decided I wanted to make these Gingerbread pumpkin waffles with fresh whipped cream and homemade buttermilk syrup. They were divine! If you've never had buttermilk syrup you really do owe it to yourself to go make these. Maybe a good night for breakfast for dinner! And I got to use some of the pumpkin puree I made back in October.

Also while making breakfast I threw together the bulgogi for our Korean Christmas dinner later on in the day.

With breakfast out of the way came assembly of toys. I assembled and assembled and assembled until I finally decided they had enough to occupy them while I snuck away for a quick shower. After showering we headed to my brother in laws for our Korean Christmas dinner of bulgogi, grilled hot ribs, egg rolls, kimchee and rice! Yummy!! Luckily here in AZ it was perfect grilling weather with highs in the 70s! Sorry had to rub it in a teeny bit :) Followed by another session of gift giving and receiving.

Hope you all had as much fun as we did yesterday! Now as if my living room weren't already pink enough, I am off to assemble more pink toys.

Love and Hugs,

72 lunches

2010-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

So this is what 72 lunches looks like...

Only half of what we attempted to hand out yesterday morning. We did it before Christmas which was goal number one. And we doubled what we did last time which was goal number 2. Although this time we had our work cut out for us. When we showed up to the park we went to last time there was hardly anyone there. Which really makes me sort of thankful. It was really cold and rainy the night before so I think everyone was in the shelters.

We gave out some lunches to the people who were there. Then we headed downtown and handed out a couple on the way. Hopping out periodically to make sure everyone got one. Gave away some more downtown and headed to a couple other parks. At this point we still had about half of what we came with and were starting to wonder if we'd ever give them all out. So we headed back to the original park we stopped at which also happens to be kitty corner from The Guadalupe Mission. Now that the storm had cleared and it started to warm up there were significantly more people there and we ended up handing out most of the lunches.

What we weren't able to hand out personally we left with another very generous man who had set up a grill and was grilling for the people at the park. So that they could have a hot meal right then and there and save our sack lunch for later in the day when they started to get hungry again. The gentleman who was grilling also had some very useful things with him like beanies, toothpaste, and gloves all free to anyone who needed or wanted them. Seeing that someone else was out there and that we weren't the only ones who had the initiative to feed the less fortunate really warmed my heart!

Merry Christmas Everyone! God Bless!!

Love and Hugs,

Matching cosmetic bag!

2010-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've had this Clinique cosmetic bag since I was...oh maybe 15 years old!

I remember my bff Teresa gave it to me. I LOVED that it was bright bright pink. I loved that it zipped closed and as a 15 year old I didn't have nor need all that much makeup. Now that I am a grown Momma and have lots to hold it sort of needs to be a bit bigger. See..I LOVE these palettes from Urban Decay and I would kind of like them to fit inside. Not that I use them everyday I just like the option to have them at my fingertips instead of having to dig into the "surplus" makeup ~~drawer~~ bag. I make it sound like I have tons, not at all. It just kind of irritates me that it is all thrown into a drawer because it doesn't have "real" home.

Here is what I came up with!

So apparently my camera or my computer lost the images of the step by step so I'll walk you through it without pics. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments!

All you need for this bag is...
a bit of velcro (sew on or iron on works!)
2 scraps of rectangular fabric one for the lining one for the outside (mine measured (18 x 20 I think and its a bit big...)

Start by placing the lining and outer pieces together right sides together. Stitch down the 18" (shorter sides). Turn right side out and press.

Then you can either iron on (what I chose because I had it on hand) or stitch on your velcro to the 18" sides. Leave about 1/4-1/2 inch on each side for your seam allowance.

Fold the fabric in half outsides together and stitch the short sides without velcro. Leave it lining side out for the next step.

We want our bag to have some dimension so we need to put the side seam and the bottom crease together to make a triangle. I measured 3 inches down the seam and marked a line then stitched along it on both sides. Then you can pink off the extra or zig zag it and trim.

Finally turn right side out and fill with your cosmetics!

I LOVE that this bag holds everything! AND if I am going on a trip I could even throw my cleanser, toner, and moisturizer in there as well. Probably my travel shampoo and brushes too! haha it did turn out quite large which is ok with me, it just means that I get to buy more eyeshadow palettes to fill it up!

I've been eyeing this one ,this one, and this one!

Love and Hugs,

PS. If you ever need any makeup help/advice check out these two lovely ladies and I'm sure they'll have an answer for you!

Ms. Becki from Whippy Cake who also has really great hair tutorials.

Ms. Kandee Johnson from Kandeeland. She really is fun to watch! Dontcha think? She is responsible for my cheshire cat and queen of hearts makeup as well!

Project "Toddler" Runway try-outs

2010-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

So, I'm trying out for Project "toddler" runway over at Schwin & Schwin.

I think the idea is a really awesome one and I'd love love love to compete! I feel so honored to even be in the top 15, but I want to play too! The catch? So far it looks like I'm not really in the running :( You see, only the top 10 get to actually compete in the fun little competition.

So head on over and check out the competition seriously there are some talented ladies up there! You can vote for your favorite 10 in the right sidebar. I just hope my Queen of Hearts dress is one of them!

Here is another link...just in case!

Love and Hugs,

It's her birthday!

2010-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe my baby girl turned 5 years old yesterday! Seriously it blows my mind how time has flown. I know it sounds cliche but it was just yesterday I was snuggling her in my arms.

Some fun facts about you right now:

your a major Momma's girl
you love to cook, clean, and fold laundry and in your words you are "learning to be a Momma"
you can draw, color, paint like no one's business!
you are very creative and are always making something out of fabric scraps and notions

you love animals. Not just our animals, ALL animals (something you've inherited from me!)
you say you don't like school but when I pick you up you are having a blast with your friends
you are incredibly intuitive. You always know when anyone is upset.
you want to learn to sew.

sometimes I think you don't like your sister then I catch you being nice to her and it makes me smile!
you "mountain bike" down the hills in the backyard "just like Daddy"
you love to play outside, swinging, sliding, making sandcastles and sand cakes!

Happy Birthday sweet Hailey! I love you so incredibly much and am so honored to be your Momma!

This Weeks Bounty!

2010-12-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

This week will be our last bountiful basket pickup until after the New Year. So I wanted to be sure and get a pic of it as well as a meal plan to make the best of what we got. Whenever I have to actually purchase produce I never know what to get, I feel sort of lost. I have to make a meal plan BEFORE going to the store instead of making it around our produce. It seems I've gotten used to the co-op! I am also not nearly as adventurous when I have to pick it out myself!

In our basket this week we received:

2 LARGE heads of romaine lettuce
1 small butternut squash
1 bag of red grapes
1 - 3 lb bag of fuji apples
9 bananas
5 yukon gold potatoes
8 sweet potatoes
8 roma tomatoes
2 large and 1 small zucchini
5 pomegranates
6 green chilies
1 honeydew melon

Our meal plan for the week will look something like this:

Sunday (today): Spaghetti with turkey sausage and whole wheat pasta.

For spaghetti I usually add in TONS of veggies since marinara sauce disguises the taste and I can get some extras into the babes! SO I added a yellow squash (from last week), an onion a zucchini, and all of the tomatoes. Everything is diced up finely except the tomatoes, we like it kind of chunky! For the actual marinara I used some that I canned over the summer. If I didn't have this on hand I'd use Trader Joe's tomato basil, and if I couldn't get to TJ's (its about a 45 min drive for us) I'd use Newman's Own plain marinara (sold at any major grocery store). I started the sauce today around lunch time so all the veggies get really soft and palatable. Later tonight when I prepare dinner I will cook the sausage and slice it and serve it all over whole wheat thin spaghetti.

Monday: Left over night

Tuesday: Chicken stir fry- using the other zucchini, an onion, green bell pepper (from the store).

Wednesday: Left over night

Thursday: Alysa's Black bean sweet potato enchiladas. With the addition of some shredded chicken and red enchilada sauce. No need for a side with this dish, everything is all wrapped up! SOOO delicious!

Friday: Christmas Eve. Not entirely sure yet. We don't have plans so maybe I'll get a small ham for just us and do a small Christmas Eve dinner. Fresh green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Saturday: Korean Christmas dinner with my husband's family. I'm in charge of the bulgogi!

Sunday: We'll probably have leftovers from Christmas and/or Christmas Eve.

All of the fruits will get eaten as snacks throughout the week. If we get to the end of next week and I've still got apples left I might try making apple butter. I still have a drawer full of honeycrisps, as well as almost all of the apples from last week, plus 3 more pounds this week!

Not entirely sure what to do with the butternut squash, I don't really care for squash nor do the kids or the hubby so we'll see what i come up with!

What are you doing with your basket this week?

Love and Hugs,

Family portraits 2010

2010-12-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend my cousin, the family and I headed out to finally take our holiday pictures. She shot all of the "family shots" (anything I was in) and I shot anything I was not in. She really did an incredible job and I am so thankful she didn't get irritated with me yelling "zoom in!", "get this!", "get that!", "No, move a little this way.", "get lower", etc. I suppose I was sort of a backseat photographer so to speak! Anyway we had a lot of fun and got some really incredible shots along the way!

This was Hailey posing for me! See hand on the hip foot turned out...

I think we found the only tree in all of Southern AZ that is actually changing color!

Throughout these pics you can see all of my hard work in creating all of our portrait pieces and how they all came together in the end! Sunday morning (the day of the shoot) I realized I had forgotten to make hair pieces. So I threw our hair pieces together. I like how they came out and if you are unsure about any of them I'd love to show you how. They literally took 30 mins for all three. The most time consuming part was choosing how it all went together!

This one's my fave!

Sweet Sissies!

Precious Belle looks like a big girl!

uhm..yeah! They look like their Daddy! Isn't he handsome!?

Story of my life!

Ok so I know I've been a bad blogger. I never posted the tutorial for the makeup bag hopefully I can get that up tomorrow. But for now I'm going to try and fold my way out of this laundry pile that keeps building up walls around me!

Love and Hugs,

Makeup brush roll

2010-12-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

I finally got my act together yesterday and actually created something. Yippee! I know the idea isn't exactly original (basically an adult version of a crayon roll!) but I made it my own and used whatever supplies I had on hand. I'm actually quite proud of myself because I've been in a bit of a funk. This would make a good neighbor/teacher/babysitting/hairdresser gift, and if you are anything like me you have amounted quite a mass of hoarded fabric! haha And thats about all ya need!

Want to make one?

You'll need:
2 pieces of fabric 15 x 17 "
some ric rac or ribbon
matching thread

Take your two pieces of fabric and place them right sides together. Pin and stitch around both long ends and one short end. Leaving one 15" end completely open.

Turn right side out, press, and topstitch around those three edges.

On the unfinished edge press about 1/4 inch towards the "lining" piece of fabric and stitch down.

Then put some ric rac, ribbon, or even bias tape if you want over that stitch line.

Then fold the fabric up enough to cover the handles of your brushes. You can press this if you like. I just pinned it and it was fine.

Grab some more ribbon (or whatever embellishment you chose) and snip a pretty long string fold in half and tuck under (and pin) one side of the short ends. I chose the right side. Stitch down the two short ends to make a pocket and secure your tie.

Finally tuck all of your makeup brushes into the big pocket and pin in between them. Then remove the brushes so they dont get caught up in your machine. You could use a disappearing ink pen to draw lines if you want but I just eyeballed and stitched it.

Then snip your strings, put your brushes back in and wrap it up! Easy peasy, right?

Fold the top over to keep brushes clean.

Then wrap it up!

I made mine in vinyl covered cotton left over from this post. Sometimes ::cough cough:: the bottom of the makeup bag can get kind of dusty from shadows and powders. I thought the vinyl would keep the brushes nice and clean and wipe off easily. You could definitely do this in cotton it might just need to be washed every once in awhile which isn't a problem because it is totally washable!

A friend of mine suggested to put the vinyl on the inside because the brushes are dirty when you put them away. For me this ins't an issue. I wash them after every use because I have super super sensitive skin. If I didn't I'd get really bad breakouts. But by all means if you like put the vinyl on the inside! It is a very good idea if you don't obsessively wash your brushes like I do! haha

Be sure and check back tomorrow for a matching makeup bag!

Love and Hugs,

Rest In Peace Grandma Bunny

2010-12-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning I got the call. The call I knew was coming. The call I was dreading. The call that my beloved Grandmother had passed. Fondly referred to as Grandma Bunny. I think I'm ok though. I mean not ok ok, not normal I am sad, very very sad. My heart is broken. I miss her so so much. But she was in so much pain the past couple months and it broke my heart each time I saw her little face wrench. It broke my heart to see her slipping away.

I know that she is in Heaven now, resting peacefully, and watching from above. I know that she is an angel watching over me and our family. I especially know she is watching the babes. She loved them so much. Even in the end when she didn't remember their names she continued to ask for them to come and visit. When she was healthier she would go to bingo at her assisted living home and win them beanie babies so they'd have something to play with when they came to visit.

My Grandmother was an EXTREMELY creative person. Which in turn led to my Dad being so amazingly creative. Therefore forcing me to be creative in some way or another. I see alot of my Grandmother in myself. She was an incredible artist working in mediums such as paint, drawing, sewing, quilting, sculpting, etc. the list truly goes on and on. She taught me to sew when I spent the summer with her. We made this adorable Winnie the Pooh pillow. It was a picture of Pooh appliqued onto a cloud fabric and made into a pillow. It was adorable and I promptly lost it on the flight home. I had to only have been about 11.

I now see a lot of my Grandmother in Hailey. She is incredibly creative and truly amazes me with her drawings, colorings, ability to read people, and general intuitiveness (is that a word?!). Belle is a bit young to recognize any of these things but she too loved her Great Grandma Bunny. Towards the end we would visit and Belle would crawl in bed with her and just lay. Not move, not wiggle, not babble, not irritate, not laugh, just lay. Very unusual. Very unusual indeed. In hind sight I wonder if she understood. I wonder if she knew Grandma was close to the end? Hailey was unusually intuitive about the entire situation as well. One day as we were walking in she says to me, "Mommy is this where people come to die." It hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn't know how to respond. I told her something along the lines of when people get older they need help with things. Like when your kids you need your Mommy to fix you meals, clean your room, and remind you of things that need to be taken care of. She understood why Grandma needed me there. I would comb her hair, put lotion on her hands, chapstick on her lips, and hold her hand for countless hours while she slept. Things that a Momma would do. I will never forget her asking me that. I dont know if she understands death and dyeing. Obviously not because when I told her Great Grandma passed she said she wanted to go to Heaven as well. I told her absolutely not!

Grandma as I remember her. So full of life always smiling and beautiful!

So I am taking a bit of time to gather myself. I know that she would want me to continue to be creative, which I will eventually do. But it seems like every time I start to do something I am grief stricken, the tears come and I have to stop. Obviously since it took me 3 full days to get all of this written...

Love and Hugs,

Burberry headband

2010-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

So awhile back I entered this giveaway from Sewing in No Mans Land. Never, ever, ever do I win ANYTHING! But to my surprise this time I actually did! I got Kelly's package a couple months ago in the mail. The napkins are to die for! I'm kind of afraid to use them though because they are so pretty. The cupcake wrappers are perfect but I've yet to make cupcakes to fill them. Something to do with trying to loose a bit of weight...

Anyway she ALSO sent me a bit of scraps that she had left over. I seriously almost cried when I opened the box with tears of joy! I immediately thought of this headband Ms. Disney made awhile back for Ucreate. Scroll down a bit....see that one?! The plaid kind of burberry looking one! I've been coveting that since this was posted. So I made it! We'll I didn't follow the tutorial per se. This is how I did it.

You'll need:
2 Small strips of fabric (mine was 1 1/2 x10)
Bit of elastic (9 inches or so depending on the size of your head)
button (if you like)
matching thread

Start by cutting your fabric. Ms. Kelly included some of the lining for the Burberry so I used that as my underside. Put them right sides together and stitch 1/4 seams.

Turn right side out using a safety pin.

Press your seams and tuck in the little tails.

Cut your elastic and pop one end into each end of the headband.

Pin or hold in place and stitch down.

Finally add a button if you want and hand stitch it on. I grabbed this one from my stash!

I think if I did this over I would make the fabric a bit longer. As it is it just barely comes to the edge of my ears. But I'll just cover it up with some hair. Maybe next time I'd make it 13 inches of fabric and 7 inches of elastic.

Love and Hugs,

Welcome Mr. Pfaff home!

2010-11-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Preface: if you are a "real life friend" who is having a baby in December. And the baby's name starts with an H. Please avert your eyes now. Or you might catch a glimpse of her sweet present!

Not sure if anyone noticed or if I even mentioned it but Mr. Pfaff (my primary sewing machine) was in the shop for a LONG time. He needed to be cleaned and oiled. Since he is an embroidery machine and computerized I can't do it myself. It took the shop a good 2 weeks to get it done and then another week for me to get up there and get it (it's about an hour drive, yeah we live in the middle of nowhere!).

Yeah...I sew in my living room with LOTS of coffee! While my kids color on the side :)

I had been using Ms. Husqvarna Viking and while she is a good solid sewing machine but she is a bit older, not quite as precise, and doesn't have as many cool features as Mr. Pfaff. So when I got Mr. Pfaff back on Tuesday I was stoked! Only Thanksgiving was coming up and I couldn't set him up until after Turkey Day. I got him out Friday morning and am so excited to have my old friend home!

A few things I learned at the sewing store when picking Mr. Pfaff up that I thought I'd share with you all. They were not initially obvious to me but now that I think about them they totally are!

1. When removing fabric from your machine always pull to the back. Do not pull your fabric toward you to check it out. Pull it completely to the back trim your threads and then look at what you've accomplished.

This will prevent your needle from bending, breaking, and inevitably causing major headaches! You see when you pull the fabric back the needle will not bend or move around at all but when you pull to the front there is some give and while it will give just a bit to the front if you do it over and over it will eventually bend. Resulting in skipped stitches and broken needles. Not fun! Not fun at all!

2. Try to keep your machine as clean as possible. Ok, ok, so I did KNOW this. But the nice lady who was helping me just reinforced it even more. And even showed me how to properly spray air into my machine to clean it out.

My machine has a thread cutter in it. So after I've backstitched a couple times I can hit a little button and it cuts the thread and brings it to the back so that it can be tied off. When it cuts the thread sometimes other little threads get caught in there. If they are not removed it can result in jamming the machine and blocking the motor. Making things a BIG mess to clean up! When spraying air into your machine to help loosen or remove the excess thread/dust spray at an angle away from the bobbin housing. Making it nearly impossible for the extra threads and dust to get back in there and make it all gunky again!

3. Always use an appropriate needle. If you are using knit or anything even remotely stretchy use a stretch or ball point needle. If you are sewing denim or several layers of home decorator weight fabric use a denim needle. Just cotton? Use a universal needle! Again results are less skipped stitches and not nearly as many headaches!

She showed/told me all of these things amongst other machine specific tidbits. If you have a Pfaff 2140 I'd be happy to share. You might already know all of them but I never had any show me how to use my machine I just read my manual and figured out how to do basic stitch functions. I bought it a few years ago off of craigslist for a killer price!

Love and Hugs,

PS. I've been working on a pattern for Bellie's dress for you all! If all goes according to plan I hope to get a full pattern and tutorial up by the end of the week!

Happy Turkey Day!

2010-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for so so many things things.

First and foremost my family.

I am thankful that we can afford for me to stay home with our babies and raise them the way we would like them to be raised.

I am thankful for the roof over our head, food in our bellies, and lots of love!

I am thankful for two sweet baby girls and two sweet little lambs.

I am thankful for an amazingly supportive, encouraging, and loving husband.

I am thankful that we have a yard to run and play in.

I am thankful for infectious belly laughs, alligator tears, and big bear hugs.

I am thankful we are healthy.

I am thankful to be able to craft and be creative till my little hearts content AND be able to share it with all of you!

This morning my good friend Monica (from this post) and I went to feed the homeless in our own little way. Our children are too young to volunteer at the shelter/food bank so we decided we would do our own thing. We each made about 36 turkey sandwiches, little baggies of pretzels, a bottle of water and a sweet treat to hand out to the homeless. The girls sat down yesterday and decorated the paper bags for us too!

We stopped at ONE park in South Tucson. Desi (Monica's hubby and I) got out to hand out all the bags. She stayed in the car with the babes. We gave out 72 lunches and still weren't able to give one to everyone. There were at least 20 more people we could see that we hadn't spoken with. But we were all out of lunches.

When we left we wanted to do more. So next time we will each double what we made and hopefully we can hit a couple more parks and the downtown area. I felt this amazing feeling come over me as we drove away from the park. People said "thank you" with tears in their eyes. As we were walking away from a group of people I overheard a woman say "I love pretzels!". To see their grateful faces truly made my Thanksgiving Day.

One man said "I knew I'd eat like a pig today!" Which made us think, we really should do this more frequently. And we should do it on days other than major holidays. Because every one else was out this morning giving away food as well. While at the park there was a group cooking a hot fresh breakfast for the homeless. Which was really amazing to see as well! We are going to do this again in just a couple weeks for Christmas. And this time we will do it a day or two before Christmas so that they can have a few good meals. Instead of a bunch in one day.

And here is what our Thanksgiving menu looked like like:

Turkey (of course!) brined using PW Turkey brine and seasoned using this Giada de Laurentiis recipe
rolls (purchased from this co-op)
mashed potatoes with gravy

sweet potatoes (using this PW recipe, sooo yummy!)

stuffing

roasted carrots

corn

cranberry orange sauce (homemade of course! using my own haphazard recipe)

salad with cranberries and almonds

pies (apple, cherry, blueberry, peach and pumpkin {fillings made throughout the past couple months} with vanilla bean ice cream and real whipped cream)

a veggie tray to munch

a cheese, meat, cracker tray to munch

Other people brought:

Green been casserole

jello salad (my absolute favorite thing!)

macaroni and cheese

broccoli cheese casserole
cherry cobbler

After making all of this food, sharing it with friends and family, and sending each family home with a significant amount of leftovers. I couldn't help but think of the homeless we fed this morning. How they might like to have some mashed potatoes, carrots, stuffing and all. I had never done anything like that on my own before (well with a friend). I have volunteered at soup kitchens and done other volunteer work. But nothing where I was able to get out there and talk to people and truly connect with them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know we did!

Love and Hugs,

White Elephant Wednesday Volume VII

2010-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

I finally got a chance to do some treasure hunting this week! I don't like to take both kids with me because it gets too crazy with them running in different directions and this thrift store in particular is really really busy! So Belle and I headed over to White Elephant while Hailey was at school. We found some really cool fun things but this is what we ended up getting.

So a couple cool metal candlesticks, a fun jar with closure, 2 zippers (one red, one white), a handful of belt buckles, 3 pillowcases (there are two of the one on the right with pink in it), and a fun remnant of some black, white and red plaid that feel so so soft! I'm thinking of making this scarf from my favorite blogger ever out of the plaid maybe with red pockets!?

I also found some fun sweaters to embellish and make into cardigans.

Inspired by Ms. Kathleen over at Grosgrain who has been making over sweaters all November long. You can check them all out here. You can see all of her sweaters in one spot here.

Total this week we spent $15.25! Not to shabby :) I usually only take $20 with me and this week I came pretty close to spending it all! I only wish I had gotten there right at 9 when they opened. There was this lady walking around with a really cool vintage noisemaker push toy. I admit I followed her around a bit to make sure she didn't change her mind! :) She didn't...oh well! There is always next time!

Love and Hugs,

Baby leg warmers!

2010-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last year I made this hat from Ms. Disney's tutorial. It was originally meant for Hailey but she doesn't care for it. It isn't pink...so I got to keep it! While I was making the hat I thought that it would be a shame to throw away perfectly good sleeves. So I saved them. They went into my "up-cycle" box and sat. For an entire year!

Then last week at ballet we saw this little girl with her cute little leotard, tutu, and ballet slippers. But she had these adorable little knit leg warmers on! And the light bulb went off ::ding ding ding:: in my head and I turned those sleeves into baby leg warmers.

Wanna make some?

All you need is:
an old knit sweater/long sleeved shirt
matching thread
bit of elastic (I used 1" because I had it)

Start by cutting your sleeves off right at the hem where the sleeve meets the sweater (armpit seam). Mine were already cut off otherwise I'd show you exactly where!

Then lob off the diagonal to make the edge straight. I used my cutting mat and rotary cutter but you could eyeball it if you want!

Turn inside out and fold over about an 1 1/4 inches. You cant try to press it. Mine had a bit of angora in it and the angora melted to my iron! AH! So I just pinned the rest of it.

Stitch together using a long zig zag stitch and leaving about an inch opening to work your elastic through. The zig zag will allow the knit to continue to stretch a bit.

Measure you babe's upper thigh and use that length of elastic. I can't remember exactly what Hailey's was I think it was like 10 inches or something. So I cut 10" of elastic and thread it through the opening using a safety pin.

Overlap the elastic about an inch and stitch closed. It is hard to see but I stitch a rectangle and then an X in the middle of the rectangle to make sure nothing goes anywhere. Backstitching at the start and stop of course!

Pull the elastic taught and all the way into the little pocket you made. Then close the opening!

Pop 'em on your little munchkin with her favorite tutu and go play! These little guys are super warm especially when layered over tights.

Hope you try 'em out! Super quick and easy. You could totally bust out about 10 pairs in an afternoon! You could also do this with any long sleeved shirt or even trouser/knee high socks! Anything stretchy and knit. Heck you could even through these on yourself over some leggings if you really wanted too!

Linking up with...

Love and Hugs,

Portrait Pieces...3 down accessories to go!

2010-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Here is sweet Bellie's dress.

I based it off of this dress and made my own pattern.

I got this dress from Tracie as a hand me down and absolutely love love love the color and different sized polka dots. But the cut is so incredibly cute too! Simple A-line, bib front, and cute gathered sleeve.

I changed it up a bit by moving the closure to the back and adding a bib detail to the front rather than the closure. I thought it would take up too much of my precious print fabric!

I used grey double fold bias tape to finish the neckline and bottom hem of the dress. Best of all this dress only needs about 20" of fabric...less than 2/3 yard!

So, is this something you guys would like to see a tutorial for? I took pics of everything but it is a very very simple dress!

Now I just need to add some fabric to the belt on my dress and hopefully *fingers crossed* I have enough fabric to make each of the puppies a bow! Because seriously there isn't any more of this fabric for sale anywhere online! AH!

Linking up with...

Love and Hugs,

Now Available!

2010-11-15T14:06:00.000-08:00

Remember those shoes I showed you all yesterday? They are now available for purchase in Ms. Alysa's Cancer Kicker shop.

They are both made using Amy Butler and Sandi Henderson fabric as well as some faux leather for the soles. They are super adorable, go well with fall wardrobe and some of the fabric is even discontinued! Which makes these babies SUPER special!

Cancer hits close to home for a lot of people. My family included. My Grandma Noel (my Mom's Mom) died from breast cancer. My Grandma Bunny fought and won breast cancer. I've seen this disease ravage the body, leaving the patient a shell of their former selves. I am worried for my Cousin, Aunts, Mother, Myself, and my little girls. I know Phil is obviously not suffering from breast cancer. But maybe someday we can find a cure for one type of cancer. Which will lead to cures of other types of cancers. Hopefully breast cancer! Because cancer has affected me so I felt it was very important to get the word out about Phil and his sweet family. Not sure what I'm talking about? You can catch up by reading this post.

Also if you are a crafter and would like to donate to Alysa's Cancer Kicker shop you contact her through her blog here. Or you can convo her directly through her Cancer Kicker etsy shop. Together we can kick cancer's booty!

Love and Hugs,

This Weeks Bounty

2010-11-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed posting this so much last week for Ms. Alysa I decided to do it again! I hope you checked out Alysa's fabulous blog last week. If not here is another link.

And if you didn't already see...Alysa is lunging for a cure! See this post to catch up a bit. She has also set up an etsy store in order to help this amazing little family. Now I KNOW you all are crafty so if you have something really incredible that you make maybe think about letting Alysa put it up in her etsy Cancer Kicker Shop. ALL of the proceeds will go to the cancer kicker foundation. If you are not really the crafty type and just visiting please consider passing this information on to someone who might want to donate something. If your a blogger please please grab a button from Alysa's blog and help get the word out!

I am going to donate a couple pairs of sweet little soft soled shoes. I frequently make these for baby showers or friends having kids and everyone always loves them! If you guys want to make some let me know in the comments and I'll put a little tutorial together!

Ok ok, on with the basket!

Even though this Saturday was CRAZY! We left the house at 8:55 to pick up our basket at 9am (it's just down the street) and seriously did not get home until 9pm! WOW! Needless to say I was a wee bit tired last night so I didn't get this up right away. Sorry for that.

Here is our haul:
9 concorde pears
1 bag black seedless grapes
8 persimmon
8 clementine cuties
5 massive bananas
1 acorn squash
1 small bag brussels sprouts
1 head celery
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 5 lb bag + 2 russet potatoes
6 ears of corn

I also got some extras this week!

1-24 lb box of only the best apples ever! HONEY CRISPS! AH! These are so so good. I would grab one of these over chocolate ANY day of the week and I really, really like chocolate! These babies are massive the girls and I can share one and all be satisfied. Perfect with some peanut butter or all on it's own. :)

I also got the partially baked dinner rolls. In preparation for Thanksgiving. I threw them in my freezer where they'll stay fresh until the big day! Of course the hubby and I had to try one today for lunch. We cut a couple of the sourdough ones open and added some pulled pork that we made last week. The bread was sour, soft, and oh so delicious! There are also whole wheat and cranberry orange rolls too!

Our Meal plan for this week looks something like this:

Monday: Pork Stir fry. I will use some frozen veggies for this since we dont really have stir fry veggies in our basket this week. Served with rice of course!

Tuesday: Leftover night (Sunday, Monday leftovers)

Wednesday: Beef Pot roast using some potatoes, carrots, onion and celery.

Thursday: Beef Enchiladas (leftover meet from the night before and black beans with mexican corn (grilled and sprinkled with taco seasoning, yummy!)

Friday: Hopefully dinner at Grimaldi's since we never made it last week :(

Saturday: Chilli baked potatoes and salad.

Sunday: Leftover night.

Last week I planned meals for every day of the week and what I found was that we had LOTS of leftovers. So I ended up taking 2 of the meals out the pork stir fry, and chili baked potatoes. I also simply did not have time to make the brussels sprout salad. Instead it turned into grilled chicken, baked potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts. So I will be making the brussels sprout salad sometime this week for lunch! :)

Ok, so we have LOTS of potatoes now. I'm sure plenty for Thanksgiving even. I think I might cube and boil the majority of them and freeze them for the big day. Saves me a step and I can keep these potatoes from going bad since we do not eat all that many potatoes. We barely made a dent in the 5 lb bag we got last week and then got another bag this week! Seriously we have potatoes coming out of our ears!

What are you all doing with your produce this week?

Love and Hugs,

Portrait Pieces...2 down 1 to go!

2010-11-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

I finished Hailey's skirt! yippee! I had all of these ideas swimming in my head. I kind of wanted to make a bubble skirt but decided that would take too much fabric. Then I thought maybe some pleats. But decided against it. Or maybe a tiered skirt. Nope still too much fabric. I finally ended with thinking I'd just make a simple tshirt waistband with the fabric gathered at the top. Simple, simple, quick and easy!

Then as I was cutting fabric (eek! I cut into it again! my hand only shook a little bit this time!) I decided I wanted to do a bit of a paper bag type skirt. Not sure what a paper bag skirt is? Well this is the one that kept popping into my mind from Made by Lex. Only I don't have any coordinating fabric. To make the drawstring. Yeah apparently Amy Butler trademarked her colors?! Joann and Hancock didn't have anything that was even close to the colors of this fabric...so I went with a color that will be used throughout the other outfits. Grey. The hubby has a grey cardigan and I have this grey dress coming from Shabby Apple!

Wanna make your little angel one of these paper bag-ish skirts? Here is what you'll need!

Materials:
1 old tshirt in a coordinating color
about 13" fabric (or however long you want the skirt)
coordinating thread

No really that's it! I'm telling you easy peasy, right?!

I dug a grey tshirt out of the recyclable clothing box and cut off the bottom hem at 3 inches. Why 3 inches? I dunno why it looked good to me for a waistband size. Then I measured my little pumpkin and her waist was 20 inches. So I cut one of the side seams off of it and sewed at the 9 inch line. Making the waistband about 18 inches. It will stretch to 20 inches and you want it to stay up!

Then I started with the actual skirt part. Normally for a skirt I just hem the bottom. This time we want to hem both the bottom and the top. For the top I did a 1/2 hem. Start by folding over and ironing a 1/4 inch then fold it over again and iron it at 1/2 inch! Finally stitch it down.

Do the same for the bottom only make the hem a bit wider. I like a 1- 1 1/2 inch hem on the bottom. I eyeballed it and this time it came out to 1 1/4 inches. Then stitch that down. You can double stitch if you like. I did for both the top and bottom.

After you have both top and bottom hemmed you can sew the two selvages together to make a loop. You could do this first I just think it is easier, faster, and more efficient to do the hem first in the flat rather than the round. I always do it this way.

After you have your loop, sew your longest stitch length and gather the top. I ran my stitch about a 1/2 inch below my lower top hem line. Overlap it a bit at the beginning and end to make sure the very back isn't flat. See how the gathering stitch overlaps a bit right after the seem? You want that! Then gather it to fit the waistband.

I pressed a fold into my waistband at the halfway mark. It is hard to see but it is there promise! Then make sure to match that fold up with the back seam of the skirt. Turn the skirt inside out and the waistband inside out. You want this to wrong side of the skirt to right side of the waistband. Opposite of what we usually do right side to right side.

Sew your skirt bottom to your waistband using a fairly long zig zag stitch. Right over your gathering stitch (so that it is in the middle of your zig zag). I made mine 3.5. After you have it sewn down and are sure your zig zag caught the waistband all the way around you can rip out your gathering stitch. Just pull the thread you were pulling to gather it until it slides out! Then your skirt will be nice and flexible keeping the elasticity of the tshirt waistband. And making it easy to pull on and off for those quick potty trips!

I always double stitch my hems and press with starch to make them look crisp, clean, and professional! I don't worry about switching to a double needle they are sew quick to sew I just do it twice.

See how you get that paper bag type look at the top? Like you packed your lunch and crumpled the top of the paper bag? I like it! Much better than a plain gathered skirt with the edges tucked under and just as simple! Next time I will do the drawstring! When I'm not so worried about having enough fabric for everyone!

I can't decide if I like the narrower waistband or the wider waistband pictured below...

Hailey liked the wider one because it "covered her belly button".

I think for the pictures I will tuck the shirt in so you can see the fun top of the skirt. I am going to add some horizontal ruffles to this little plain white shirt to coordinate with the rest of the outfits. Belle will have her off white pettiskirt on under her dress. So we'll use the leftover chiffon for Hailey's shirt.

Up next a sweet little dress for Ms. Belle and IF there is enough fabric a coordinating belt for my dress as well as some bows for the dogs!

Love and Hugs,

Portrait Pieces....1 down 2 to go!

2010-11-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

I finished this tie today for the hubby using Ms. Kelly's tutorial over at Sewing in no Mans Land just enlarging it so that it was about 36" long.

The tie turned out great but initially it didn't fit over his head, or mine, or Hailey's. It did fit on Belle's but it was as long as she is! ha! You see, I didn't use velcro because I did not account for any overlapping it JUST meets in the back. I should have followed Kelly's directions better!

I also needed to make both end angles 45 degrees. I just couldn't get it to work with 120 degree angle? But I think that was more operator error than anything else! Even making them both 45 degrees, I couldn't get the ends to line up. But they don't show when he is wearing it so whatevs...

I added a bra hook in the back! HA! I put it on him (unfortunately he was unwilling to take pics in it yet...) and he was like "seriously, there is a bra hook on my neck..." But it works! You can find it at your local sewing store. I got mine at Joanns. It is by Dritz and says that it is a "bra repair kit". Make sure you get one with the hook and loops. There were tons without the hooks.

I have to admit I was very nervous cutting into this fabric. My hands were shaking, my palms were sweaty and it took me a minute to gather the courage. Finally I took the plunge and hacked 10" off of it! I'm glad it all worked out in the end!

I hope you try Kelly's pattern for little tie's I think it would make an adorable birthday gift in fun funky colors! It would even be cute on dare I say... a little girl! With a jean skirt some leggings and a long sleeved shirt....hmmm maybe I'll make a couple mini ones!

Love and Hugs,

Our Bountiful Haul!

2010-11-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

This week my good friend Alysa over at Inspired RD gave me the honor of photographing our amazing bountiful basket haul. This is what we got for $16.50!

1 package of sweet cherry tomatoes
2 bunches of collard greens
5 bananas

8 regular pears

2 asian pears

7 persimmons

2 heads of cauliflower

1 5lb bag +1 russet potatoes

1 bag of black seedless grapes

1 bag of fresh green beans

1 small bag of brussels sprouts

7 fuji apples (1 not pictured Isaballe grabbed it and I didn't realize till later that she had already munched half of it! haha!)

I thought I'd give you a little look at how I prep everything for the week. First of all don't throw these little tissue papers away!

If you store your pears on the counter in the same basket as apples (or even in the same refrigerator drawer with apples) you will need these little guys! You see apples let off ethylene gas as they ripen and that little tissue paper barrier will protect them from getting ripe and going bad too quickly. It will provide a little wall that the ethylene gas cannot penetrate. Also if you store your apples with greens or other veggies it could cause your greens to wilt and carrots to turn bitter! Not my idea of good food...So don't throw them out!

I also prepare as much as I can on Saturday when I pick up my basket so that there are no excuses when it comes to dinner time! This week the only prep work was to wash all the fruit. But usually there are veggies to chop and peal (I'll touch on this later). So I washed all of the apples, pears, and persimmons. Re-wrapped the pears and put them all in the fruit basket. One of my pears was missing its tissue paper...that one will just get eaten first!

Then I picked all the grapes off of the stem and washed them in a colander. I put them in a bowl with a paper towel in the bottom to soak up any excess water. Finally I put them in the fridge right at eye level. This way when we open the fridge because we are bored or just a tad hungry we see the grapes first and grab a handful of them instead of a handful of say M & Ms.

But I'd never do that, ha! j/k But a handful of grapes obviously has significantly less calories, more nutrients, and energy that lasts! This also makes packing snacks easier because grapes travel well. They are already washed so it takes 2 seconds to throw them in a baggie for the girls! My bowl has a couple extra red grapes on top leftover from what we bought last week. We usually eat at least 2 bags of grapes each week!

Usually we get lettuce in our basket. I'm not entirely sure why we didn't this week. Maybe the collards were instead of lettuce? I dunno. But I usually cut the lettuce for salads (smaller pieces) and sandwiches (the ends in bigger leaves) and wash it in our salad spinner. I then put it in a ziploc bag with a paper towel lining one side of it. The towel will grab any excess water and keep the lettuce crisp for sometimes up to 2 weeks! If it lasts that long. We usually eat at least 2 heads a week!

I do the same for any other veggies for carrots I'd peal and wash them, then cut into sticks. The sticks can then be eaten or chopped for a recipe. Celery I wash and cut into sticks. I don't generally do broccoli or cauliflower ahead of time because it tends to get stinky fast!

Our dinner meal plan for the week will look something like this:

Monday: Grilled thin cut porkchops, roasted cauliflower, baked potatoes, and a salad of some sort.

Tuesday: Pork stir fry using green beans, cauliflower, and onion (that I'll grab from the store) with some Trader Joes General Tso's sauce. Maybe I'll try to make some homemade egg rolls this night. If they turn out I'll post a recipe for you guys!

Wednesday: I think we'll try Ms. Jessica's @ How Sweet It Is brussels sprout salad although I will add grilled chicken to it for some added protein and to make this a "dinner entree" salad! We have ballet Wednesday so I need something quick for this night. I think this dinner salad will be quick!

Thursday: Pulled pork sammies in the crock pot with bb q sauce, with collard greens and a big salad. Although this recipe looks really good! We'll see how the week goes. If I've got tons of leftovers come Thursday we'll just eat leftovers for dinner and make this dip later on for a snack or dinner appetizer thing.

Friday: We are going out to dinner for my birthday. PF Changs, my favorite! Followed by a stop at Allegro's Gelato for half chocolate, half strawberry gelato. yummy!

Saturday: My Mom is here so I'm sure we'll be heading out somewhere for dinner. Either Chipotle (her favorite) or Grimaldi's Pizzeria (they sent me a free pizza for my birthday! gotta love free delicious pizza!). Also pick up day for a new basket!

Sunday: Chili topped baked potatoes and salad. I'll start chili in the morning and bake some potatoes to go with it! Along with a big hearty salad to finish up the rest of whatever veggies we have left!

We usually eat leftovers for lunch or a sandwich and veggies. So I don't plan those out for the week.

Breakfast at our house is the same every morning eggs of some sort (I like mine over easy, the hubby likes egg whites, and the girls scrambled) along with some veggie sausages, whole wheat toast, and fruit.

The other fruit will get eaten as snacks along the way. The grapes will be gone first along with the bananas and apples! I'm not entirely sure what to do with the persimmons yet being I've never tried them before. Do you guys have any ideas? If you do leave them in the comments and I'll try them out!

Seriously you cannot beat these prices for the amount of produce you get! If you happen to be in Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, or Nevada you have to try it out! You will not be let down.

If you have chance stop on by InspiredRD and check out Ms. Alysa's amazing little blog! She has been a really amazing friend, trainer and dietician. She and Ms. Aubrey (this amazingly motivating Momma) have helped me lose over 45 pounds since having Isabelle. My body has completely changed is so much more muscular and I feel 100 times better than I did before.

Oh, and by the way if you already get a basket they are changing ordering time to Monday/Tuesday instead of Tuesday/Wednesday. So ordering for Arizona will start at 9am Monday morning instead of Tuesday morning. This will start this coming Monday November 8.

Love and Hugs,

Our newest addition! And a quick question...

2010-11-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

Meet Harley, the newest addition to our household.

We adopted this little dog that a good friend could no longer keep. She is adorable and so sweet and loving! She is a slightly older dog (probably around 5-ish) who is already house broken! She is really great with kids and loves to snuggle. Just my kind of little lamb. I LOVE animals and could not resist that sweet little face. She is right around 2 pounds, a perfect size for the girls to carry around and love.

haha! I snuck and got a pic while Hailey was watching The Jungle Book after lunch!

Hailey wasted no time at all and had her all dressed up (in cabbage patch doll clothes). She also made her a little bed in her doll cradle. Technically she is the girls dog but she really loves the Hubby. As soon as we went to bed last night she snuggled up to his back and didn't move all night! She spent the day in the office under the desk at his feet.

I think she is adorable and am thankful that my friend was willing to give up this sweet little lamb. She knows I like to spoil my furry friends!

So....this week I have really been focusing on getting my house in order. You see when I craft I kind of let things go by the wayside. I forget to do things and the house gets a little crazy. I can handle it usually but it was starting to grate on my nerves. I am almost finished and will start on the family portrait pieces here probably this weekend. A tie for the hubby, dress for sweet Belle, skirt for Hailey, and something for myself. I'm still not sure quite what...do you guys have any ideas?!

I don't have a ton of fabric. I could only find 1 1/2 yards for sale anywhere on the internet. The fabric I HAD to have has been discontinued (of course!), so I purchased some from a very nice lady in New Zealand off the internet!

Love and Hugs,

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

Phew, what a crazy day! We spent Halloween day putting the finishing touches on all 4 of the costumes. While there was a constant loop of Alice in Wonderland on in the background. Just so we could get into character!

At the last minute though (Friday) I decided my costume was kind of lame and wanted to go a much brighter and more colorful route! SO my hubby found me this cheshire cat costume at the Halloween store. I stopped at the wig store an got a purple wig and Target on the way home and grabbed a pink tee. I then spray painted purple stripes on it! Because the top on the cat costume was a bit too revealing! Why can't a there be any not so sexy but oh so cute costumes?! really? Anyway I used this tutorial for my makeup and it came out great!

I also used Ms. Kandee's tutorial for Hailey's makeup! And it turned out insanely cute...if I do say so myself! And you can't forget sweet Belle. Her wig really made the outfit! We did not do any makeup on her because she just doesn't sit still long enough and I don't really think her costume called for it.

We always go trick or treating with my brother and sister in law and this year was no different. Although we got to my BIL's house and realized we had completely forgotten the girls dresses! AH! So the hubby ran back real quick (as quick as a 20 minute drive one way can be!) and saved the night for us.

All in all had a fun night and I'm sure the girls will have a great time for years to come in those sweet little outfits playing dress up and letting their imagination run wild!

Hope you all had as much fun as we did this Halloween! Now on to the family picture outfits...

Love and Hugs,