The Joys of Pinning

Happy New Year!

OK, um. Pinterest is the greatest thing ever.

I used to email myself links to blogs or websites I wanted to remember - crafts, recipes, etc. NOW I just "pin" them to my oh-so-organized Boards and can save them all in one place. PLUS I can see other people's pinned ideas and find MORE great ideas!

If you need an invite (yes it is invite only...ooh, la, la how exclusive) to Pinterest, let me know your email address and you too can soon be in Pinning heaven.

Coming soon: Trying lots of fun new recipes and even more fun home decor and craft ideas. Guess the point is to actually TRY the ideas, not just pin them as I have done thus far.

OK, here I go!

These might be the first few...

Recipes:

Chicken tamale casserole

Roasted baby potatoes with mushrooms, asparagus and parmesan

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese 

Crafts:

Sweater Vase 

Braided Tshirt Scarf 

Photographs in a jar 

Happy pinning!

So There.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow....

My cousin found this goldmine of a craft tutorial on You Tube, and taught us how to make them at Thanksgiving:

3D Paper Snowflakes

You can just use regular white computer paper, or get fancier printed paper or cardstock, as long as it is printed/colored on both sides.
Then, you just need scissors and either glue, hot glue, or tape.
Watch the video above, but just a few simple cuts and folds and you have a huge, three dimensional snowflake! It makes such a bigger impact than traditional flat paper snowflakes we all made as kids.

Try these!!

I also have it on my Pinterest page, from my cousin's post - she made one out of old sheet music! Beautiful!

http://pinterest.com/pin/90353536243779475/

PS....Pinterest is my newest OBSESSION!!!!
Such the perfect way to organize ALL my craft and recipe ideas.

So there.

Pumpkins!

.....Yes, I am just getting around to posting about these pumpkins I made for Halloween/Thanksgiving.

Don't judge.

These were the cutest little things ever, and easy to make!

I bought cheap plastic mini pumpkins (don't use real ones, folks, or you can't keep them for next year!) and covered them with festive, fall fabric.
First, I cut a long stripof fabric that was wider and taller than the pumpkin, and used hot glue to attach the fabric into every crease of the pumpkin, as I wrapped it around.
I trimmed the top and bottom so only about an inch or less stuck up, and glued those pieces down, flat to the top, and bottom, respectively.  Then, I cut a round piece to glue on the bottom for a smooth surface.
Finish the top with a green felt tube glued into the middle as the stem!

I also made some oh-so-trendy Chevron stripes on a real, mini white pumpkin with silver and gold paint pens.

Happy Autumn!

Craft Project!

Kylie has so many dress up and real necklaces that I decided to make her a jewelry holder/hook rack.

I bought a cheap, plain wood letter "K" at Michael's, and painted it a bright, glitter pink!
I also bought a few small cup hooks, painted those, as well, and screwed them into the base.
(I like to hammer small nail holes partially in first, to mark where the screws will go, and make it easier to screw in the hooks by hand)

The letter "K" came with a hanger on the back, so all I had to do was hang it on the wall with 2 nails.

And, voila! Totally cute necklace holder!  This would work with larger hooks as a coat rack or scarf/purse holder, too.

You should make one, too!
So there.

The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

....and they are. We ate them in 2 days. Don't judge us until you try this recipe!

The photogenic look of them is sub par - doesn't matter. They taste amazing.
But my brilliant friend Jessica (by way of Martha Stewart) gave a tip: put the cookie sheets with cookie dough already scooped on them into the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
I'll try that next time, so the cookies aren't so flat.
And also, I should try coating the chocolate chips in flour before baking so they don't sink to the bottom.
Again; none of this matters. The taste is wonderful.

OK, on with the recipe!
( I halved the recipe listed below and made about 12 giant cookies)

The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Makes about 23 3-inch round cookies
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
7 oz chocolate chips (I like milk chocolate; use whichever you prefer)

Directions:

1) Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

2) Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until it is smooth and lump free. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

3) Add the vanilla and egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

4) On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the chocolate chips and mix until they are just incorporated. If using a hand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir them in. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour, and preferably 24-36 hours. (yeah, I didn't do this......)

5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Adjust racks to lower and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. (Or don't. I used a plain, ungreased, non stick cookie sheet that worked perfectly.   (*see note at bottom about Silpats)
Spoon the dough 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets.

6) Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown around the edges but still soft, almost underdone-looking, in the center. Turn the sheets front to back and switch racks halfway through.

Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully slide the parchment or Silpats directly onto a work surface. When cookies are set, remove them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy the amazement.

*Silpats:

OK, so these Silpats are very fancy non stick baking mats, and I was so excited to finally get one. Well.....My cookies on the plain cookie sheet actually turned out better.  The ones on the Silpat were very underdone on the bottoms and therefore were actually harder to get off of my supposedly fabulously non-stick new baking mat.
Hmmmmmm

On another note, my wonderful friend Traci sent me her extra felt she didn't need to add to my flower hair clip supplies....look how much she sent! How exciting!!! Thanks!!!
Traci make awesome crochet items, check out her Etsy site,  HERE, too!
I will be posting several new hair clips soon, and Halloween themed ones after that!
Stay tuned to my Etsy site!

Pillow Victory is Mine!

I finally completed my first pillow on the sewing machine!
The real first attempt was the second piece of fabric that had ever touched my sewing machine, and let's just say it didn't go so well....
So this one counts as my real first project!

A throw pillow (which quickly became Kylie's new favorite thing that she sleeps with, hehe) made from 2 16x16 pre cut quilting squares of different coordinating patterns, sewn together and stuffed.

These pre cut squares are so great - I got them at JoAnns Fabric.  They have just about every color and pattern, and I try to locate 2 of the same print or just mix and match.
This made it SEW easy to make a pillow, because they were already cut out.
Thought, I did have to iron the fold creases out of them...

So, I sewed around the three sides, with the right sides facing each other, flipped the pillow right side out, stuffed it with batting, then, hand stitched the rest of the opening closed.
I now know for next time to sew around all 4 corners on the machine, and leave the opening in the middle of one side, because the finish is much nicer on a corner done by a machine than by hand. But mine looks ok!

I'd like to add some buttons to some pillows or other items I make soon...I bought a huge mixed bag of buttons, and some look so cool!
But actually, good thing I didn't, since Kylie actually sleeps on this one after all!

I think the next pillow I will make, I'll do a bit smaller (cut down the pre-cut squares a bit) so that I can put it around a 12x12 pillow form I bought , instead of stuffing it. This pillow took forever to stuff, and always is a bit lumpy, no matter how long I tried to get it smooth.

How to stuff that pillow form into the pillow is another story...any tips???
I guess just sew 3 sides, like usual, and barely around the corners, and then stuff the pillow inside, and finish by hand...I hope it fits!!

The next one is actually for Kylie, and is pink - just think how excited she will be if she loved this blue one so much! Score!

Also, adorable, Kylie now is dying for me to teach her how to sew!....If she only knew my real skill level...HA!  But, I had her sit on my lap at the sewing machine once while making the pillow and she thought that was pretty cool.  Then, I was hand sewing the pillow and she wanted to learn.  So, I took a scrap piece of fabric, and folded it in half - so she'd have 3 sides to sew together - and gave her a pile of straight pins, and a needle and thread. I showed her how to pin the sides, then thread the needle, and sew up and down from one side to the other. Surprisingly, she wasn't scared of the sharp objects, was very careful, and did great! So proud.
She's probably going to be better than me in no time!
I bought her her own little sewing kit, to be opened soon...that should be fun!

Learn-To-Sew-Frog-Felt-Critters-Kit

She did fine with real needles, but the kit has kid's plastic needles, and pre-punched holes in the fabric to make it even easier to practice.

Stay tuned for our next sewing adventure!


No fun food recipes to report...maybe soon!
I still want to make more flower hair clips, too....also soon...I hope!!

So There.

I'm gonna shine

Wow, these look really cool!

See the Free People blog for the How To - I really want to try this!
Free People blog - sun jar

Be sure to wear a flower in your hair

Another blog that I love, showed a tutorial on making felt flower hair clips that I have been dying to try!

See her blog for all the steps - I just followed them exactly for the pink flower.

http://flexibledreams.blogspot.com/2011/02/felt-flower-tutorial.html

They are really simple: cut flowers out of felt, fold them up, and hot glue to the main circle piece.
I cut the pink flowers for the first one a bit too big for what I wanted, but it will be perfect for Kylie!
On the second blue one, I tried to  make all the flower pieces quite a bit smaller, and it was exactly what I wanted for my hair.  Then, I glued two stacked buttons in the middle, instead of the last middle piece.

I also used a bobby pin on the back of the blue one, instead of the hair clip.

I noticed on a homemade-looking clip Kylie already has, a circle of felt was glued in between the sides of the hair clip, and then glued to the back, to help hold it on better. So, clip the felt circle, as you would your hair, then glue it like that to the back, making sure you don't fuse the clip closed.  Same with the bobby pin; I made sure I didn't glue the clip part shut, while gluing it to the base.

So there! Adorable, easy, custom flower hair clips!

Check out that blog for a ton of other fun ideas, too!
http://flexibledreams.blogspot.com/

Our Christmas party!

We had the best time at our Christmas Party we threw for our family and friends!
We had a white elephant gift exchange, and an ugly sweater contest!
I made Kylie and myself some pretty awesome "ugly" outfits! And Joe wore a Grinch t-shirt that he let me add a bit of glitter puff paint to!

 My sweatshirt!

Kylie's shirt I made from a plain red shirt....this was pre-bedazzling: we added about 50 glitter pom poms and jingle bells to this later!

I also made lots of fun party snacks!
We had pigs in a blanket, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, spinach artichoke dip with bread rounds, ranch dip with veggies, my sister's amazing guacamole and chips, olives, cheese, crackers, brownies, mini-cupcakes, and cookies!!

And warm apple cider with optional (amazing) spiced rum to add! YUM.

Recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients (I multiplied this recipe by three for the party, making 36, and they were gone in minutes!)

12 whole fresh mushrooms - white button are what I used, and some mini-portobello
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or olive oil)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus, I added more over the top before baking)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper - i skipped this and added mixed Italian Seasoning instead - basil, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel.
Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet.
Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.
When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper.
Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing.
(Then, I sprinkled the remaining Parmesan cheese over the tops to form a crust)
Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet. (So much easier to place one mushroom each in my mini-muffin tins - then they don't roll around)
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.
Party. check! so there.

...by the chimney with care

I made us three some adorable stockings!
I bought 3 plain stockings at Big Lots for $2 each, with cute little curled up ends at the...toes?, and each in a different color.
Then, I cut our names out in bubble letters (Thanks Momma, this is how she made our family stockings years ago!!) from white felt.
I used spray adhesive to attach the letters to seasonal fabric.  (No sew!) I picked out a different one for each of us: a (manly, ha ha) red and green plaid (with glitter) for Joe, a forest green polka dot for me, and a striped snowflake fabric for Kylie. She was upset hers had less glitter than Daddy's, so I outlined her letters with silver glitter puff paint!
Then, I cut out a bigger version of the bubble letters in that fabric around the white letters already glued on, and attached each of these to the stockings.

AND stockings I made for the kitties!!

Ta da! Stockings!! So there.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I am getting pretty excited for the Holidays…namely Christmas!!!

I bought some new decorations to be put up soon; got Kylie a mini fake tree with pink ornaments that we helped her decorate last night; and I made a wreath!

Kylie was so excited to get her own tree and to decorate it herself.

So fun!

…cats already attacked it once, spraying ornaments across the room. I hope this tree makes it until Christmas…or at least the weekend!  Test run for how they’ll act when we get our real tree. Two cats = double trouble for sure.

This wreath was so easy to make! Thanks to my friend Lauren and her crafty idea I copied!

I got some pretty ribbon and accessories at Michael's, along with this wreath base made of branches.

I tied the ribbon around to start, then just wrapped it around the whole wreath – hot gluing it at the end. The bow is a separate piece I also glued on. Then, added the little bird and leaves with a bit more glue.

I used one of those Command hooks (aka a hook that doesn’t leave a hole in your front door) to hang on the front door and voila! Festivity!

...and you better believe I am already listening to Christmas music non-stop. YES!!!

Scarflace Narf

I just got this adorably awesome "scarf" !
I use the term loosely because it's more like a fabric necklace, and more to make me look cooler than keep me warm.

Check it out!
AND it is only $10 right now.....so...you should probably get one, too! From here: Roxy.com
I love it!

One crafty thing about it: It has a little TINY pewter silver feather charm at the very back of the scarf...WHY is it SO SMALL and SO CUTE?! AND COMPLETELY HIDDEN?! sad day.
So, I clipped the thread it was hanging by, and sewed it....(ok, ok, I am GOING TO sew it)...(I swear! I will!).....(soon!)...down toward the main part of the scarf, off to one side.  I want to check out the craft store for more little pewter colored charms to add, as well!.....but too many and I may end up looking like a Monopoly gameboard.
So there.