A New Discovery

I have recently discovered a new website which you all should be aware of.

http://www.etsy.com/

It's like an e-bay but for crafts! You can get lots of ideas from the items on here, you can buy things or you can sell things. What a great idea!

Activity Books Cases

My dad loves Sudoku and doesn't ever leave home without a Sudoku book. So this year for his birthday I decided to adapt one of the activity books I made for Maggie into a case for my dad. It holds one book, mechanical pencils and an eraser pen.

Supplies:

2 pieces of felt

1 inch long piece of Velcro

piece of pleather or other study material

Basic How to:

Lay out a piece of felt and then place the second piece of felt on top. Cut second piece to the desired size you want your pockets. Sew lines on pockets to desired sizes to fit your materials (pencils, etc.) Then sew the felt onto your pleather (with the latch in between). Trim. The options are endless with what you can put in these or how you can make them just use your own creativity!

Pimp my Sit and Spin

I think one of my greatest talents would have to be my ability to turn trash into treasures. I got this sit and spin for $4 at Kids Market. I loved the one I had as a kid and plus I need to prep Maggie for the teacups at Disney World so she doesn't puke like her Daddy. Well, the paper on this one was in pretty bad shape not to mention that it is straight from the 80's. Maybe it is the one I had as a kid... well, to make a long story short, the plastic was in nice shape so I bought it, added paper and paper polka dots and then Modge Podged it to seal it up. Much cuter and Maggie loves it!

Award Winning Cranberry Apple Pie

True story - I won 1st place at a baking competition for this little concoction. I came up with it 45 minutes before the competition. It must have been an inspired recipe.


1 can apple pie filling
1 can cranberry suace (whole berries)
1 deep pie shell

1. Mix pie filling and cranberry sauce.
2. Pour into shell
3. Bake in oven at say, 375 until crust is golden brown, maybe 30 minutes.

Halloween Cards

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

The Basics: Stamped cardstock with clear embossing ink and used clear powder. Large tag was stamped with white stars. Added orange dot paper using ziz zag on sewing machine and ghost paper using a squiggle stitch. Glued on ribbon to resemble a bat. Added smaller tag using punches and clear embossing ink and distress black powder. Same technique with the BOO. Added accents of orange dot paper and crinkled black paper. Inside used same stamping technique as outside with paper accents. Glued entire card to a black piece of textured cardstock.

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

The basics: I used a sewing machine and white thread to create the BOO spider web. Added a spider created with clear embossing ink and black distress powder. Accented with orange dot paper, gross granied ribbon of alternating lengths and inked edges. Inside has ripped ghoost paper and orange brads.

Bread

I love bread making. Breads are easily my favorite thing to make. I have stopped buying bread since I left work and make only homemade bread now that I am home long enough to do it!

Here's yesterday's batch. I should probably add that it was made with Canadian flour! :)
Homemade Bread

Soften 1 T. yeast in 1/4 c. warm water

In a mixer combine 2 1/2 c. hot water, 1/4 c. oil, 1 T. salt and a little less than 1/2 c. sugar. Mix until dissolved and blended. Add 4 cups of flour, mix until blended well. Add yeast, and mix thoroughly. Add about 3 c. more flour. Let raise until doubled (at least an hour) twice, if needed. Form into loaves (2) and let raise at least one more hour. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes on the rack second to bottom.

Canadian Thanksgiving Pierogis

In lieu of a turkey this year, Tom opted for the much cheaper pierogis.

Card Making

I haven't made any cards for awhile, but here are some of my better ones I made at Card Camp.



These ones I did create on my own at home.

Halloween Crafts

Last week Maggie and I decided that it was time to decorate for Halloween! The only problem was that we didn't have very many decorations. Solution? Make your own! Also the dollar store has some great buys!

Placemats - Old black fabric that I stamped with paint and a 10 cent foam stamp I bought 2 years ago at an after Halloween sale and paint I got from a yard sale for $1 for a box of 20 different colors. I then sewed it into placemats.

Candles - Candlesticks I got from a relief society activity a while ago. I just melted 2 black crayons and dripped the wax on top.

Bowl of skulls - I got the skulls at the dollar store but needed something to put them in. After looking through the garrage I found a bowl I made in high school ceramics!

Skeleton chandelier - I found a string of skeletons at the dollar store and just hung them up there!

These are little candy jars I made from Maggie's old formula cans, a pair of old work out pants and felt. I used the slick pants to make a little bag which I lined the inside of the can with. I then wrapped the can in felt, hot gluing it on. I then accesorized with more felt, wire, and felt filled with stuffing for the tail and the bolts. I'm going to make a pumpkin, devil, witch and vampire next.

These were all supplies I have been collecting over the years so the total NEW cost of making my Halloween decorations was $3. If you count the old supplies the cost probably goes up to $5. Not bad on the wallet and I sure had a lot of fun making all of it!

Info about the background

I was trying some new things out with the background of the site from some templates I found on another site. I'm still working on figuring out how to do a new template but still keep some of our important features. With the chocolate background the way it was I was not able to post to the blog directly from the blog. I assume you may have had the same troubles so for now I changed it back to the original until I can get that kink worked out. I hope that no one is inconvienienced by my experiments.

Pierogis

When we were in Rexburg Alicia made these one Sunday and we stopped by to try the leftovers. It was my first experience and I've been hooked ever since. This is her recipe. I always serve these with kielbasa sausage sliced and fried a little.

Dough:
3 c. flour
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream (I use light and it works just fine)
1/2 t. salt

Filling:
5 potatoes
1 onion, diced
3 slices of American cheese (I use a little more)
butter

Boil potatoes, drain, add sauteed onions. cheese, and mash. Set aside. Combine dough ingredients and knead for about 10 minutes. Roll out and cut in circles using a cup. Put 1 t. (I do a little more) of filling in each circle. Fold over dough and seal edges. Boil in water for 5 minutes and drain. Saute more onions in butter. Add cooked pierogies and fry a little. Sprinkle with dried parsley. Serve warm with sour cream.

Easy BBQ Recipe

Put equal amounts of soy sauce and olive oil in ziploc bag (we used canola oil). Add seasonings to taste (lemon pepper, garlic salt, etc.). Add pork, chicken or beef. Preheat BBQ on high, then put on low while you cook your meat.

This is delicious. Taylor made it tonight with pork chops and I was in heaven. We cut up the meat and used it to make fajitas.

Recipe Request

I know someone has a recipe for pierogies. I would really like it.

Felt Food

Here is the felt food I have made for my baby. She loves it! Included in these photos are the following: bacon, eggs, watermelon, cantelope, avocado, mango, yellow squash, carrots, strawberries, potato, hotdog with bun and my personal favorite a hamburger (sesame seed bun, mustard, ketchup, patty, cheese, tomato, onion, pickles and lettuce).

I just freehanded everything by just cutting out the felt in what I thought the shapes of the food should be. If you have any specific questions about how I did anything please feel free to ask and I will be happy to explain.

Supplies used: felt, stuffing, sewing machine, glue gun.

Coconut Curry Chicken with Basmati Rice and Warm Spinach Salad

Coconut Curry Chicken

1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can stewed tomatoes, drained
2 chicken breasts, sliced
2 Tb. curry
1/2 c. coconut milk

1. Saute onion & garlic until golden brown.
2. Add curry, chicken and tomates and cook for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add milk and cook for additional 5-10 minutes.
4. Serve over rice

Warm Spinach Salad

1-2 Tb. olive oil
3-5 cloves of garlic, large chop
1 busshel, half a bag or 5-6 cups fresh spinach
1-2 Tb. lemon juice
salt & pepper

1. Saute garlic in olive oil until golden brown.
2. Turn down heat and add spinach and lemon juice and salt and pepper.
3. Contantly toss the spinach so that it becomes soft and warm but not brown and wilted (about 2-4 minutes).

Tip for cleaning your shower curtain

Gross shower curtain liner? No problem! Instead of throwing it away and buying a new one just throw it in the washing machine with a little bit of detergent and bleach. It will be good as new!