Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Whoops.
First, a tutorial to make this cute little pouch from Three Bears. Don't you love that fabric?
And this! Directions on how to unravel a sweater to reuse the yarn. I love it!
I've been trying to manage my time better lately. I'm a huge list maker (which helps!), but sometimes there's just so much to do that I end up making multiple lists. So I designed a weekly schedule sheet to keep it all straight. And I'm sharing it with you! Because of the sections I made, it will only really be helpful for those of you who blog and have an Etsy shop, but hopefully some of you will find it useful.
Get it here: Download weekly schedule PDF
(for personal use only please!)
So... pretty embroidery next week. Also next week - Election Day!
I cannot wait.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
It's almost Halloween...
The one above is from Emily from Inside A Black Apple. You can find it here.
The one below is from Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist. You can get that one right here. She even has a printable envelope template!
And just because I like witches, I wanted to share with you this cute knitted witch from The Purl Bee. I unfortunately cannot knit it up because I messed up my wrist by knitting! It used to just bother me a bit only when I was actually knitting, and stupid me, I ignored it. Well now it hurts all the time.. so no knitting for me for awhile. It's pretty maddening... what the heck am I supposed to do with my hands while watching a movie now?! Quilting and embroidery require too much attention (because I'm not that good! ha).
Anyway, sorry for that rant :) ... it's a cute witch though isn't it?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tutorial Tuesday - Matchbook Notepad
Just a note, the title of this post isn’t necessarily a promise for future “Tutorial Tuesdays” (although I think it would be fun if I could pull it off), I just liked the sound of it! :)
Anyway, I've been making a few things as little gifts to include in my Etsy packages and these cute little matchbooks are one of them.
Here's what you'll need:
- Heavy-ish scrapbook paper for the outside. One piece of 12x12 paper will make 8 books. I like the double-sided kind because once you open the matchbook you see another pretty pattern inside. (see photo below) I found that Scenic Route paper is a great thickness.
- Filler paper. This can be anything you want (Junk mail? old school papers?). I used 8 ½" x 14" sheets of old accountant's work sheet paper I found at the thrift store.
- A paper trimmer (or just use a cutting mat, ruler, and xacto knife)
- A bone folder
- ruler, pencil, stapler
7. Use the bone folder to get rid of the arch in the scrapbook paper, making that top fold more like a real matchbook. (I hope that makes sense...)
And you're done! Wouldn't these be cute as stocking stuffers??
Monday, October 27, 2008
I won an award!?
Oh, and about Christmas.. I know it's not even Halloween yet but I'm starting to get ready for the holidays.. like making lists and planning and such. That's all I've allowed myself to do so far (I'm trying to hold off until after Halloween)! I'm one of those people that think Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves.. but really, how can you get everything accomplished between Thanksgiving and Christmas? There's just too many crafty projects I want to do. So once Halloween is over, get ready for some Christmas posts every once in a while.. I have some fun things to share.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Birthday Cheesecake
The only bad thing is is I'm afraid the poor apple pie will be forgotten about in the fridge! (I think I'll freeze some of it..)
Happy Birthday, Brian! I love you! And thanks for waiting so patiently while I took this photo! :)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Cute Crafty Projects
A tutorial for a sweet little needle book/sewing kit from Nini Makes.
And The Small Object shows us how to make fabric covered floss bobbins. What a great idea, no?Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Giveaway Winner & Pie
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Halloween Party and a Giveaway!
Thank you Vanessa for hosting!
(I just found out about this party earlier this week, so I'm kind of bummed I didn't have time for a few things I wanted to do.. But I'll post them eventually if they work out right!)
I have some fun photos I took last night at a Halloween event, a few recipes and a giveaway.. hope you find something interesting!!
And did you all know I grew up in a haunted house? It's true, but it was only my great grandfather and grandmother, so we were family! :) But toys used to start up all by themselves, we'd feel a tapping on our shoulder only to find no one there, cups would fall out of cupboards, our cat would totally freak sometimes and hiss and hide, and we'd hear their dog barking and a man talking on the porch. Well..even if they were family, it was pretty scary when I was little!
2 c crushed graham crackers
1/3 c sugar
½ c melted butter
2 eggs
¾ c sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c pumpkin
3 egg yolks (save whites)
½ tsp salt
½ c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ c milk
1 envelope plain gelatin
¼ c cold water
3 egg whites
¼ c sugar
-Beat 2 eggs, ¾ c sugar and cream cheese. Spread on top of graham cracker mixture. Bake 2 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool.
-Combine pumpkin, 3 egg yolks, salt, ½ c sugar, cinnamon and milk. Cook until thick.
-Mix gelatin and water. Add to pumpkin mixture. Let cool.
-Beat 3 egg whites and ¼ c sugar until stiff. Fold into cold pumpkin mixture. Pour over cooled crust.
10 oz. bag mini marshmallows
¼ cup brown sugar
3 quarts popcorn
1 cup m&m’s
In a large pot, melt butter. Add marshmallows and sugar. Allow marshmallows to melt. Add popcorn and m&m’s and mix. Make balls from the mixture. (Butter your hands first so they don’t stick to all of that marshmallow goo)
From Mrs. Gardiner’s Receipts, 1763
3 cups apples
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Pie crust
Peel pie pumpkin. Cut off seedy parts, and cut pumpkin into slices. Peel and core apples; cut into slices. Place bottom crust in 9” pie plate. Sprinkle ¼ cup of sugar over pie crust. Layer apples, pumpkin, and sugar in pie crust until full. Dot filling with butter, and cover with top crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
Friday, October 17, 2008
free calendar download
Oh and tonight Brian and I will be going here for this. I'm so excited! We love Greenfield Village and go all the time but we've never been to the Hallowe'en event.. it should be fun! (If you're in the Detroit area, the Holiday Nights at Christmastime is lots of fun too)
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Lobster and Swan
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A Few Things
And this! A Halloween Blog Party? Looks fun! I wish I knew about this sooner! :)
And finally, a couple things I found on the Craft blog today:
A Mary Poppins softie from My Paper Crane. Isn't she fantastic?
And a homemade recipe for lotion from Wabi Sabi Baby. I made some lotion a few years ago but it had to be stored in the fridge and I forgot about it! I've been meaning to find one that didn't need to be refrigerated and it seems like this one doesn't need to be, but it would extend the shelf life if it was. This one only calls for olive oil, water, and emulsifying wax. Simple! That's how I like it. (I just looked and found emulsifying wax at my favorite site, Mountain Rose Herbs. You can get 1lb for $5.90)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Dover Clip art
Friday, October 10, 2008
I've been tagged!
1. I very rarely eat red meat, but I love ribs.
2. I met my guy Brian on the internet about nine years ago. He’s from Georgia and I’m from Michigan. We didn’t meet in person for two years (because I was 15!!) but we’ve been together ever since. aww!
3. When I was 11 I broke my arm ice-skating in our ditch.
4. My parents let me have ducks when I was younger. They lived in the backyard in a pen that my dad made. It featured a kiddy pool sunk into the ground (which they got filthy again as soon as I cleaned it) and a rabbit hutch with the legs cut off. The ducks eventually went to live on a friend’s farm. :)
5. I can’t stand mushrooms. I hate that I dislike them so much because it seems like they’re in all sorts of great dishes.
6. When I was a kid I was obsessed with the Rocky movies. I think it may have been the slow motion fight scenes with the blood and spit flying through the air.. Now I sound completely crazy. Ha!
7. People used to think my cousin and I were twins. We would let them think we were and made up crazy stories about our parents and the house we live in. (Like we have pet monkeys or we each have a hot tub in our rooms. lol)
I'm supposed to tag seven other people but I don't always follow the rules, sorry! :) So if you're reading this consider yourself tagged! If you do it, post a link to your blog in the comments. :)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Halloween House
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Boo to Bottled Water
Monday, October 6, 2008
Handmade baby toys
Knitted and felted wool balls from this book. It's a great book, especially if you're just learning how to knit. You could start at the beginning and work your way through the entire book. A tip about the balls: hand felt them instead of doing it in the washing machine as the book recommends. The bottom ball in my photo was felted in the machine and it didn't turn out anywhere near as well as the ones I've hand felted.
Knitted and felted rainbow chain. This one I made up myself with some trial and error. I cast on 6 stitches on a double-pointed needle and made an I-cord until it measured 6". I then sewed them together with the tail yarn and felted them.
And finally, I made a few Fabric balls from a pattern from the Purl Bee. They were fun and quick and used up some of my scraps. All good things.
Oh, and she loves them all. :)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Halloween Finds
1. foxberries ver.2 2. Candy Corn Soap 3. Pumpkin Baby Booties
4. Dried Marigold Hand-Dyed Merino Wool 5. Mom, this is the friend I told you about 6. Pumpernickel the fat Pig
7. Halloween Paper Crown 8. Hand Felted Pumpkin 9. Where Ghosts Sit
Thursday, October 2, 2008
More for fall...
First up, this amazing looking pumpkin spice cream cheese spread recipe from Pinch My Salt. I must make this.
And some sweet Halloween embroidered coasters from Green Jello. I found them from the feeling stitchy blog.. scroll down because there's some other cute fall/Halloween embroidery projects. *sigh* Now I really want to embroider something. :)Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Muffins... in the forest
Here's what I changed: I used 1-1/2 c. whole wheat flour and 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (in the recipe it's the other way around), 1/2 c. white sugar and 1/2 c. brown sugar (recipe calls for 1-1/4 c. sugar), instead of the apple butter I used apple sauce, and for the 1 c. raisins I used a mix of craisins, cherries, peaches and raisins to equal 1 c.
They turned out great! Next I want to try the apple pumpkin muffins but I think I'll omit the topping. I looovvveee pumpkin.. and I'm so glad that it's October. Pumpkin season!
Oh and I made my first treasury! They're fun.. I may be addicted. I'm still surprised I even got one on my first try.. Find it here.