Quiet Book: Christmas Gift Idea

It is my personal goal to have each member of my family make something for each other every year. I love the idea of taking the time to do something special, show your love through your effort. This year I am making my buck-a-roo a quiet book. Using fabric, felt, my sewing macine, a pair of scissors and a little "Mighty Mend It" I will hopefully have something that will keep him happy for an hour at a time *fingers crossed*.

Bucky loves his Potato Head, but it's too big and noisy to take to church. I wanted to make him one that would entertain him but still be quiet. That's where the whole quiet book started. The background for all of my pages is flannel since felt 'sticks' to it. The large objects and all the little pieces are felt. I cute and sometimes glued all the little pieces for the house and the potato, but if there's something I think of later it is easy to add ot your collection of pieces.

Ooops. I realized this is upside down just barely. Anyway, it is grass and sky and the pieces I cut are farm-themed. There's a cow, hay bales, a white picket fence, etc.  You could make a pool scene, or a little house with flowers and pets.... whatever you want. You can even make more than one set of pieces for the page.

My little one looooooves pizza, so I made him a page with a pizza on it. I cut a smaller circle of cream colored felt to serve as the cheese and then cut red circles (pepperoni), pink circles (canadian bacon), green strips (peppers) and brown globs (sausage).  You could cut gray fish for anchovies, mushrooms from tan... whatever you felt like. The other side of this page is an ocean scene. I haven't cut the felt pieces yet, but I'm getting to it. I'll probably do some kelp, fish, a dolphin, a sail boat and maybe a treasure chest.

The cover pages are pockets where you can store all the little pieces for each page (in baggies). I did ties with ribbon, but snaps or velcro would work great, too. Maybe eventually I will sew little envelopes or baggies for each pages pieces, but for now I went with a plastic baggy.

Halloween Inspiration

http://www.marthastewart.com/852559/hanging-bats?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/outdoor-decorations-for-halloween#slide_1

http://www.marthastewart.com/271198/paper-mice?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/creepy-crafts

http://www.marthastewart.com/273529/papier-mache-decorations-floating-ghosts?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/creepy-crafts

http://www.marthastewart.com/267447/felt-pumpkin-people?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/creepy-crafts

Browsing Martha Stewart today (I subcribe to "Craft of the Day" there) and just had to share these. There were a lot of cute ideas, but these stuck out the most to me. As I sit here on my couch with rain spattered windows and a sweater on I cannot contain my excitment for fall. Like many of you bloggers out there, my mania will manifest in crafts and cooking. Knowing my penchant for going overboard I was hoping to find inexpensive ways to do this as to not bankrupt us our first year in our new home (did I mention we bought our first?!). Of course, having a home instead of an apartment puts me in a tough spot since there's SO MUCH I want to do and SO MANY more places to decorate.... what's a girl to do? :) I liked these crafts for that reason. They are inexpensive but dress up a large space or can be used all over the place. I do not, sadly, have a lovely, large front tree, so the ghosts don't have a home, but I am thinking.... LAWN STAKES. What do you think?!

Question: I know of someone who has these ghosts made from upside down tomato cages and white fabric.... and the fabric covers the tomato cages and then they were dipped in something (water and paint maybe??) And had little faces. Has anyone made something similar and if they have.... What are they dipped in and do you have a pattern for the fabric bit?

Okay. Well, I hope you have a lovely day... and I hope it is drizzling for you as well.
One last link of inspiration for you (I made this for dinner last night):
http://www.food.com/recipe/panera-broccoli-cheese-soup-150384

I did not simmer for 20 minutes the first itme, I just cooked it until it bubbled and thickened and let it bubble for a minute (I also doubled the butter and flour bit because it is never thick enough in these recipes and I added them straight to the sauteed onions. Butter first, melted, then flour stirred until completely combined) and then added the (grated, not Julienned) carrots and broccoli. I simmered until the broccoli was soft (maybe 15 minutes), but not soggy (ew). It was.... yummmmmm. Soup season is the best season in the kitchen I think. I plan to make a LOT of soup this fall. If you have a favorite soup and feel like sharing the link in the comments, feel free!

Love, Me

Getting on the ball

So summer is over for us. Phew. What a crazy couple of months! How was your summer? Kids back in school yet? Is that a relief for you or are you lonely and bored now? Maybe a little of both? I'm not judging.

We moved this summer and with that came a lot of projects  and busy-ness. I had no idea. Truly. But. I learned some new skills, tried my hand at landscaping, and practiced deep breathing.

To start off... I bought these pantries for our last place. They are simple and plain. We have moved and our house doesn't have a pantry... go figure. BUT! As luck would have it our two pantries fit purr-fectly into our kitchen. But. They are plain. And we can't have that!

 I had, at one time, painted these door handles black. With spray paint. I was hoping it'd give the pantries something. But. The paint chipped after a week and made a big ol' mess. But we lived with it.

 Then I went to Hobby Lobby. And guess what I found. But they only had one. So I bought it and ordered three more. They never called. The day of ourhousewarming party we called and they had some more. Order must have gotten lost. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

And voila. Minus the baby proof locks... aren't they so much better. Still plain, simple, etc. but for the small-ness of our kitchen... perfect.

(static)

just moved.... stay tuned... my life is in upheaval....

Yummy recipe

Red Lobster-esque biscuits from bigoven.com

I made these the other night to go along with some lovely crockpot split pea soup. yum. They turned out really good, however I have an edit:

Instead of spooning/brushing the butter, garlic, and parsley at the beginning, cook the biscuits for 10 minutes and then spoon or brush the melted butter mixture on top. Bake for another few minutes or until they are nice and golden brown. If you put the butter on at first, they will burn!

A little catch up... again

 Embroidered this for my mama's birthday (and I sewed the towel too. Broadbent's has some awesome towle material)

 Have you ever played that game, "I never" at a sleepover or whatnot? It's a fun get to know you game. The instructions I was told are as follows: Everyone in the group gets ten candies (individually wrapped it best, they will exchange hands a few times... yuck!) and then one by one you go around the room and say something you have never done. Anyone who has done that has to give a candy to that person. You can go around as many or as few times as you want. The person with the most candy at the end... wins!

So, we were playing this at an activity I helped organize and I was in charge of getting the candy. Using simple return address labels and my acrylics alphabet stamps I stamped a cute little seal and put them on four by six cello bags I had put ten candies into. I like the way they turned out. It made it so everyone had a way of keeping their candies together after the game and made it easy so we didn't have to pass out ten candies at a time when we were ready to start the game.

Mini quiches I made for the activity I mentioned above. I am not going to write out the recipe right now. If you want it... please leave a comment and I will post it.

Happy day!

Cousins, monsters, all.

Remember when I made that monster for my lil' buck-a-roo? Well. It was a hit. So I made one for a nephew and then I made these cuties for my two nieces. I made them out of curduroy and flannel (though the flannel when pulled tight with stuffing ends up tearing so I suggest using thicker, better material). I cut a little tummy for these ones and sewed a bow on the corner of the heads and tied it in a bow before sewing the middle to keep the bows tied. I also embroidered eyelashes (3 separate, straight stitches) on them.

Whaddaya think? I think they turned out cute.

Pap, pap, papioca... PAPER

So do you remember this:

from this post?

Well I bought the paper towel holder at Ross for 2 or 3 dollars. It was white and it had a rooster. I'm not a rooster person, not really. So I made it ME. I had hoped to make more as Christmas presents for my sisters but could never find any for a good price and it was hard to find any that were un-varnished.

Recently I was at my local thrift store and picked up two for $1.50 each. SCORE! They had clear coat on them but I just sanded them before painting.

One of these is for my sister. My other sister has one she likes so I just made over the other one for fun. Maybe I'll sell it at a craft/ yard sale I'm planning.

As always: Pick your coordinating paper, cut it out, mod podge, smooth, mod podge, and put together.

I did a smaller circle of a coordinating paper for some visual interest.

My sister has simple taste and her kitchen is black and white so I just did this paper. Simple, but cute. I could have painted the top black, and if she wants me to I still will.

And for the reveal:

Button, button, who's got the button?

Target clearance is fab. I mean really.
I always wanted some fancy leather gloves. Totally Audrey, right? But I am not paying 15$-20$ for a pair of gloves. I'm just not gonna.
So I found this pair for $4.34 (or something), originally $18. They were missing a cute black leather covered button. They only had 3 instead of 4 buttons.
SO! Instead of chucking them aside and still not having a nice pair of leather gloves, I made a stop by my local fabric and notion shop and bought some cute white buttons and sewed 'em on.

Gorgeous, right?!?!

Valentine's gift

So. This project is a little late but I think it would work for Father's Day, Birthdays, etc.
I purchased this baseball card display and instead of filling it with baseball cards... I scrapped 16 cards about why I love my husband or cheesy things about our love and on the backs wrote messages. Now he can have those messages to keep in an envelope and fill the display with  his favorite baseball cards and hang it in his classroom.
But of course, he could keep the cards there if he wanted.
You could do this for children... and use mementos... or anything else.
Have fun! And let me know is you take this idea and run with it. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Happy Crafting!

Do you wanna know how much I love my family?!

I had to find the hole, stuff the veg inside, and then tear up the skin and rub seasoning under it. This is not something I have ever done. I have cooked chicken, but have never done the yuckiest parts -- until the other day. But! Because I love my little family I sucked it up and did it. I hope to never do it again... but there it is. And p.s. home roasted chicken... very good.

You know on the new P&P they eat boiled potatoes when Collins comes to visit? They look so yummy, don't they? I finally broke down and made them. I want you to know something: They are as good as they look.

Peel yellow potatoes and cut any big ones. Boil in water with peppercorns, (plenty of) salt, and a bay leaf until fork tender. Drain. Melt butter and pour over potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and fresh, finely-chopped parsley and enjoy. YUM!!!!!

Let me know if you try them and what you think!

Check out this giveaway!

http://sherbetblossom.blogspot.com/2011/02/giveaway-twinery.html

Manu

My buck-a-roo is a big monster fan. Since he has just started talking he calls them 'manu' and gets very excited to see Sesame Street monsters or read 'There's a nightmare in my closet'. I decided to sew him a monster of his own.

 

I drew the outline of what I wanted my monster to look like and then cut it out.

  

I cut out two pieces of coordinating fabric (my pattern wasn't symmetrical so one needed to be facing forward and one backward) with a dark almost plain on front so his facial features would be visible.

I sewed circles of wool onto his face and then buttons. Then I cut out a mouth and sewed green wool inside. Make sure you do all the facial features on before sewing him together.

Put right sides together and sew leaving an opening for the stuffing. Stuff. Sew up the hole. Enjoy!