Nothing for now...

If you periodically come around, I'm sorry there haven't been any updates.  Soon after my last post we had a road trip, we were getting sick, helping my mom babysit my nephew, and there was also a new expansion for a game I play :X.  That's in combination with all the usual stuff going on in our daily lives.

I've still been creating, making, and cooking, but haven't had as much time to document what I've been doing with pictures or anything else.  So for now I'll leave the blog up, probably no new posts for a while... but who knows?  Maybe I'll get the blogging bug again soon :).

Stamped Christmas/Holiday Card and Tags

I've had quite a few stamps for a while, but I haven't made a great use of them yet.  I guess I really like the idea of stamping, I just never really made an effort to try too much with it.  I would like that to change, so this past week I've been experimenting more with different techniques I see around, and with stamps I may not have thought to use before.

For the most part I'm actually pretty cheap when it comes to stamps.  I shop in the $1/$1.50 section at Michaels, or I get them second hand from thrift shops in my area (I've had good luck at one particular Goodwill 15-20 minutes from where I live).  If I buy more expensive stamps, you can bet I wait until there's a sale and/or I have a coupon!  Let me give couple of examples of things I threw together using cheaper stamps.

This particular card used a total of 5 stamps.  The stamps I used in the background, a variety of 3 snowflakes for some added detail came as a set that I got on sale (probably no more than $1-$1.50 a piece).  The "Seasons Greetings" stamp was only $1 last holiday season at Michaels.  And the snowy homes stamp was a part of a bag of stamps I picked up at Goodwill.  I've been practicing with my distress inks to try and give a cohesive color.  I may add more to this card, but for now I'm keeping it the way it is.

The next 2 projects are more holiday pieces.  The first being a set of stickers, and the next being a set of tags.  Both use the same stamps, I just was experimenting with how I would like everything to look.

The dove with an olive branch, was another $1 Michaels buy from last holiday season.  I also picked up some $1 acrylic stamp letters from Michaels (again).  The to and from are from regular set of acrylic stamps I have lying around.

In the end I kind of prefer the tags to the stickers, maybe because I like the border.  Hopefully when our friend returns our other camera I'll take proper photos and I'll list these in my Etsy shop.

I did have a few more things made, but the photos I took were sub par.  I've been having a lot of fun with stamping this week, and hope to continue experimenting with the materials I have.

Don't forget to check those dollar sections or second hand stores, sometimes you'll score a great buy!

My New Work Space

I mentioned in my previous post that we were rearranging things.  My main crafting station (once my computer desk) and sewing spot (once a foldout table) are now combined in the corner of our bedroom.

I'm still trying to clean it up, but this is kinda close to what it will look like in the end.  I need to reorganize some of the stuff, but for the most part this is it.

We got the shelf, desk, and drawer at Ikea, although the I had the drawer for a while now.  The peg board was from Home Depot.  A lot of the little drawers and containers around were from Staples or Target.

I really like that my sewing machine almost fits perfectly in the shelf, it sticks out a little onto my desk, but I can definitely live with that.  Most of my cloth is stored in a closet, but anything I couldn't fit ended up in the shelf for temporary storage.

Everything that's on the shelf is not necessarily completely organized.  I'm really trying to figure out what works best for me.  I'm also trying to keep the lower shelves somewhat free of anything dangerous to my daughter.  She likes to actually play underneath the desk, so the four shelves there are her toys, books, and random other things she enjoys playing with.

Sorry for my lack of posts recently.  I've been trying to sleep early (with success most of the nights), but that's also my prime time for posting.  Hopefully I'll get a post up soon of some of my recent creations.

Rearranging

So, I'm rearranging my crafting area.  I'll be combining my sewing and crafting stuff into one corner of our bedroom.  So my computer desk will be fro my actual computer stuff.  We've been trying to set up the area for about a week, working on it little by little.  Figuring out what I need and how to best suit my needs.  Once I finish I'll hopefully be back to creating and posting again!

I just wanted to post a quick update on what's happening :).  See everyone when I'm all done!

Baby Shower - Decorations Around the House

Yup, more baby shower stuff.  This post will focus on the general decorations put around the house.  Not everything was photographed, and the photos I did take weren't all that great (sorry).  Honestly, I'm not a great decorator, but I volunteered for the job... I just did the best I could, with the materials I had, in the time I was given.

This was the main sign/banner type thing I made.  The top row of pinwheels are actually layered with two pinwheels, the larger one with double-sided paper, the other a plain colored paper.  I went with a semi-rainbow look with them.  The little poster I made simply with markers and some colored tape.  And more pinwheels with circles around them, because my mom wanted them there :).  

Baby Shower: Diaper Cake

Continuing on with the baby shower stuff!

This was my first attempt at a diaper cake.  I didn't look up any real instructions or tutorials, since it looked pretty easy.  Luckily my assumption was right, the most annoying thing was rolling the diapers and trying to put them together.  I don't exactly do things the correct way necessarily, but it worked out.

I'm not sure how most people make diaper cakes, so I basically winged it with what I had on hand.  In order to keep the rolled up diapers rolled up, I used my daughter's little hair ties (those flimsy ones that come with a few hundred or them in a pack)... I can never get them in her hair properly anyway.

When it came to trying to get them into a nice circle I simply built out.  I used a cord/rope to help keep things nice and tight.  I circled the cord around the diapers, tied it, then slowly built out, loosening it as needed to fit more diapers.  There's probably an easier way, but that's what I did ha ha.  At the end I tied everything with a ribbon or three and took off the original cord.

Baby Shower - Diaper Babies

When I was shopping for baby shower stuff, I came across some baby socks and washcloths that were on sale.  This reminded me of a diaper baby that was made with these very two items and a diaper.  I think I was pretty lucky since the baby socks and washcloths actually matched, not only that, but they also matched the general color scheme of blue, green, orange that had randomly came up with all the paper I had been choosing.

If I can find the tutorial that I vaguely remember to make these, I'll be sure to post it.  They are very easy to make, and oh so cute!

The materials.  6 diapers and washcloths, and 3 pairs of socks (yup, 6 socks too!  go figure).

Basically, you roll up a diaper, swaddle the diaper with the washcloth, then roll the sock up a bit on itself and it becomes a little hat (kind of like a beanie).

I did add a little paper to draw silly faces on them, and slipped them underneath the sock and washcloth.  I didn't want to draw directly onto the diaper. Googly eyes would have worked too probably.

Since I didn't have any real ideas for these cuties, they ended up on top of the giveaways.  Basically so the little kids wouldn't start digging into the cookies right away ha ha.  It worked too.

While they didn't workout with the whole theme of everything, at least they found a place :).  Originally I thought it would be cute for the mama to be to take them home, but some people ended up taking them with their giveaways, oops!  

Baby Shower - Thank you gifts

Even though we had a fairly small baby shower for my brother and his wife (mostly family and some close family friends), we still had little giveaways for thank you gifts.  I wanted to keep it fairly simple so I made chocolate chip cookies.  I packed 2 cookies in a clear plastic treat bag, and used the stickers found in this post to seal them up.  All in all I ended up with 32 little packages of yummy goodness for people to enjoy.

I was quite happy with how they turned out.  The stickers worked like a charm and the cookies were also quite tasty.

Curious about the cookies?  I actually based my recipe on Alton Brown's, The Chewy.  Although I did have to change a few things when I discovered that I didn't have enough brown sugar for doubling the recipe.  So what did I do?  I substituted part of the brown sugar with more white sugar and some molasses.  I couldn't actually give any measurements since I sort of just threw it in.  I may try to recreate it next time, maybe take down some measurements too.  I actually like my accidental cookies a bit more than the original recipe (which I have made a number of times).  In my opinion they turned out chewier, more moist, and had a richer flavor (if you like a slightly molasses flavor).

On a side note, I now want to make pinwheel everything!  Stickers, cards, tags, random stuff like that.  

Upcoming posts...

We had the baby shower, and now things can get back to normal in my life hopefully.  At least until the next one, next month.

Hopefully I can write a few posts regarding what I did for it.  I tried my best to take some photos, but by the time everything happened I was pretty tired.  I'm actually still tired, so I better go get my rest.

Sorry for such a weird short post, but I just kind of want to give people a heads up of what's to come.  MORE baby shower stuff.

Stamped Birthday Card - Robots!

Remember my failed attempt at a card here?  Basically, I couldn't make an idea pan out.  So instead I just came up with another idea.  And I got to use what have become my favorite stamps to use.

I used a set of 3 robot stamps on a silver cardstock, then colored them with markers (Prisma, since they work nicely on the paper).  I then used a paper edger with robots and gears on some black paper.  Stamps some silver gears behind it.  Layer everything on, and this is what I came up with.

Honestly I'm not that thrilled with it, but my husband seemed to like it a lot.  It's one of those things where I want to change something, although I have no clue as to what it would be.  Maybe the colors, maybe the background, maybe lots of things.  It's too late now though, it's long been given away.

Meanwhile I've also been busy chugging away at the baby shower decorations.  I'm surprisingly on schedule, at least so far.  I think I'm done with the majority of the decorations, and we will just have to set everything up before Sunday.  For the next 3-4 days I will be cooking and making lots of goodies for the party.  Here's a sneak peek at the thank you stickers I'll be putting on the goodie bag.  I don't think we had a theme for the baby shower, but I'm making one I guess.  Pinwheels.  Because they're cute.  It all started with a banner/sign I made, and it sort of snowballed from there.

When/if I get more pictures I'll post them up.  I probably won't be posting much until after the baby shower on Sunday though.  Hopefully my brother and his wife and everyone else will have fun.

Baby Showers - continued

I went to the store to purchase baby stuff for the baby shower.  I have a few ideas on how to decorate the diaper cake that I'm planning, which will involve lots of ribbon, some pinwheels, and maybe some diaper babies.  I still want to buy MORE stuff though, so hopefully I'll have something that's full of little goodies for the parents and baby :).

Baby Showers!

It's raining babies!!!  Well almost.

I have no idea what's in the water, but there are a TON of babies that have been born in the last year, and will be born in the next few months.  My sister, my sister-in-law (brother's wife), and my other sister-in-law (husband's sister), are all due between September to January.  That's only the family, that doesn't include all of my friends that I know who are also expecting!

On Sunday we have one baby shower, and I've sort of volunteered to help with decorating, food/desserts, and the giveaways.  I don't think I'll be doing a ton of decorations, the shower will be mostly family and close family friends.  Plus, this is the second shower being thrown.  I do want to make a few things at least though.  I'm planning on a banner, and I'm trying to figure out if I want to try out a diaper cake, or something along those lines.  Most of the food will be ordered from near by restaurants, but I will be making some fresh baked pan de sal (bread/rolls).  For desserts my mom has requested broken glass jello, and a fruit salad (not a healthy one either ha ha).  As the giveaway I'll be baking cookies and hopefully making a nice little tag to put on it or something.  I'm not sure if I'll be making anything else.

Now... for presents... I wanted to make a special blanket, matching pillowcase, matching burp cloths, and maybe a soft rattle for them, but I don't know if I'll have time before the shower.  Luckily I already have some made.  I think I'll will make them a different set for when the baby is born :).

Sorry, no photos this post, but I'll try my best to get some of what I do finish!  I will definitely be a busy little bee for this week.

Ginger Chicken

From time to time I will browse and post things to Pinterest, I try to make an effort to at least try a few of the things that I pin, otherwise it's pretty useless for me to spend time doing it.  I suppose if you're just pinning about things you like that's fine, but I try to pin things I would want to try to cook and create, or simply use them as ideas.

This brings me to something I pinned a few days ago, Ginger Chicken.  Strangely enough I found it while I was looking for blueberry lemonade,  I decided that I wanted to try out the recipe since my husband had ordered this really tasty ginger pork at our favorite local Japanese restaurant.  I was thinking if I really like it I can change up the recipe and use pork.  Luckily I had most of the ingredients in stock, I was only missing sake and scallions (which I wanted to omit anyway, first change in recipe).  A shopping trip to a Japanese market fixed the missing sake.  Even though the trip is a bit far (20 or so minutes drive) for one item, my daughter and I were able to enjoy lunch at one of the food shops there :).

Anyway, I ended up almost doubling the recipe since the pack of chicken thighs I got had much more than the recipe called for.  As I was prepping all my ingredients, and letting the chicken sit in the marinade, I decided that I wanted to add some onions to mix with the chicken (second change in recipe).  While I steamed some veggies for a side dish, I sliced half a large onion, making very thin slices.  I thought it might be best to cook them after I finish the first phase of cooking the chicken.  In the end, I liked how everything turned out.  While I did exclude one ingredient, and add another, I think I followed the recipe fairly well (for me, that is).  Definitely watch your temperature, since there's a good amount of sugar with the honey, things can burn if it's too hot.

A bowl of rice, topped with the ginger chicken, steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, and zucchini), and sesame seeds for garnish.  Yum!

Too all you pinners out there, if you haven't started trying all those awesome things you're putting up on your boards, maybe you should!  Out of my food section I've tried at least 1/3 of all the things I've posted, 5 out of 15 so far.  They won't all be home runs, but you may just find a few gems.  I think I'll be keeping this recipe :).

Stickers, stickers, butterfly stickers.

I purchased a Xyron 5" Creative Station a few months ago.  I was interested in making my own stickers, either for my personal use and/or to sell (I still haven't decided that myself).  I finally decided to break it out of my closet and see how it works.  I've done two test runs on some butterflies (remember these?  except a single layer), and I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the results.  I may experiment and use them somewhere, I just haven't a clue as to where yet.

Now that I can make stickers, will I try to rule the world?  I doubt it.  Will I try to decorate, scrapbook, make cards, tags, and other crafty things?  All signs point to yes!  I may need to share my new power with another crafty friend of mine, I think he'd like it.  Actually, he'd like it more if it were a button maker I think.

Don't be surprised if you all end up with flower stickers next, or something else equally as awesome/lame ha ha.

Choosing to be a Stay at Home Mom

When I had gotten pregnant in 2010, we were fairly certain I would be a stay at home mom.  There were a few reasons behind this.

First off, I wasn't working full time.  I had a annual contract for a part time teaching job.  Each year I would get a pink slip and maybe they would offer me a job the following year (maybe not).  So I didn't exactly have job security.

Second, even if I did stay teaching part time, day care is expensive.  Why would I spend a good portion of my paycheck to have someone else take care of my child?  I had a friend who had the same position as I did, and she would tell me that some months her nanny would get more of  her paycheck than she did (some months are light on work days for school breaks).  I know nannies are expensive, but even regular daycare would be pricey for us.

Thirdly, and I think most importantly, we both wanted one of us to be at home with our child.  It's time we can never get back, and it goes by so fast.  I also believe that having at least one of our parents stay at home when we were young affected us.  My dad stayed home with my 3 siblings and me once he retired, and before I was around my mom took care of the kids.  My husband's mom was at home during the day when they were young, later picking up a night job.  We saw the sacrifices that our parents had gone through to raise us, and I believe in giving our daughter the same.

This is Caitlyn, she's definitely worth it!

We don't have a lot of extra cash lying around, we don't go on extravagant trips, we don't have a ton of expensive material stuff (that we don't really need), and I'm okay with that.  We do have what we need.  We both do what we can for our daughter, and it's worth it :).

Side Note: We don't do this completely on our own.  We have help from our family, specifically our parents.  And we're lucky that if my husband and I want to have a night off, they are more than happy to take care of their grandchild.  We have truly been blessed.

Thought Process: Idea for a birthday card... from a pumpkin?

While browsing randomly on Pinterest I had come across this Halloween decoration.  I initially thought that it was a very cute idea.  I haven't done much decorating for Halloween since I was a teenager, so I didn't think much of it, let alone bother pinning it.  For some reason I kept thinking about this cute pumpkin.  I then thought that those O's looked awfully like 0's, which then led me to think how they would easily be numbers...

This is where it leads to birthday cards.  I have a 1st birthday party to attend to on Sunday, and I thought that a 1 would be easy to fabricate with buttons on a card.  I broke out my button box and tried to throw something together, gluing about 16  buttons onto a pieces of paper.  Let's just say that it currently looks like crap.  Of course it's also glued onto a blank white background (how boring!).  I didn't think this through.  I was hoping to have the phrase cute as a button pop up on this card, but it's not working out.  I need to step away for a bit and rethink this idea.  I also want to find a way to salvage these buttons I haphazardly glued already (it's late, I'm not thinking properly).

I did have an alternative idea.  Similar to my button idea I would create a number one out of circles (most likely blueish in color), then I would cover the background in muted color circles as well.  I'm not sure if this idea will be any better than my buttons, but I'll most likely find out.  If this sees any progress I'll be sure to post something up :).

There are SOOOO many babies around that I can definitely reuse this card if I get something solid thrown together in Photoshop.

Another thought, I can make those circles look like buttons, if I really want to carry on with that idea.  It really is starting to get late, so I better either sleep or start working on this card.  Until next time!

The Sewing Machine is Here! And Dinner?

I was surprised to see how fast the sewing machine (that I mentioned in my last post) got here!  The first thing I did was read the manual, well... I mostly skimmed the stuff that I wasn't planning on doing quite yet, and read the basic parts.  It threads and winds the bobbin a bit different than the previous two machines I've used, but it's fairly straight forward.  I had enough free time to make two pillowcases.

So far I'm liking the machine.  I like how quiet it is, I could probably use it when the baby is napping (if it was already set up.  I don't have a permanent table to work on, only an old, flimsy, folding poker table).  And I REALLY like the automatic thread cutter!  I'm not wasting thread with each time I have to cut and start a new thing (so technical).  In short, so far I'm digging the SINGER 9960 Quantum Stylist 600-Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine, but I will need more time to give any sort of real review.  I also hope I won't break the poor thing.

And just for fun, this is what we had for dinner tonight!  Shrimp Fra Diavolo and Lemon Spaghetti, as requested by my husband.  While I wasn't going to give the semi-spicy shrimp to my baby girl, she did love the lemon spaghetti!  This was even after she had eaten some chicken, rice, and squash.  My girl just loves to eat :).  The recipes are from Giada De Laurentiis.  Soooo tasty!  Almost everything was eaten up!  We had enough for my husband's lunch tomorrow and a little extra to take over for my mom to try it.

YAY! I'll be getting a new sewing machine!

I've been without a sewing machine for maybe 2 or so weeks now.  There's a few reasons I'm getting a new one, but first and foremost I tend to beat my machines up.  I'm not formally trained, I haven't taken any classes, I learned the very basics from my mom (that includs how to thread, thread the bobbin, basic tension stuff, and how sew a straight line).  The machines I've used have all had issues, and I'm going to guess that I was the problem (user error).

Now that I do have more knowledge and experience I wanted something a little bit more than the basic machines I've been using (preferably one I haven't utterly destroyed, seriously, I have no idea what's wrong with me).  On my Etsy shop I've had several inquiries on personalizing an item with a name or something else, so I wanted my next machine to have that capability, even if it's fairly basic.  I also know a ton of babies that are to be born soon, so maybe I can make some personalized gifts!  I have read mostly good reviews on this machine, so I'm really hoping that it will survive my hands.  After it arrives on Tuesday, I hope to dive back into sewing!

I'll definitely let you know how I like it.  I'm not terribly good at reviews, but I can at least tell of my experiences.

My Desk and Muffins!

After a few projects my desk is starting to resemble it's old self again.  Before I can work on any more projects, I need to clean it up so I can see the desk again.  I will try to make more of an effort to clean after every project or two so it stays fairly clear for my next project.

I also made banana bread muffins today, since we had 3 bananas that were more ripe than we like to eat out of hand.  When I make my banana bread muffins I like to make a variety of them with one batch, so I made some plain, some with walnuts, and more with chocolate chips.  I made an attempt to change around my usual recipe, and it turned out pretty good, except it was a little too sweet for my tastes.  That usually means it was perfect for my husband, which it was.  Perhaps I'll post my recipe sometime...

That's it for now!  Until next time.

Random Card Making Day!

I felt like making cards today, so I did.  Nothing spectacular, but maybe they may give some people out there ideas.

Card for wedding, housewarming, or an I love you.

First I made this greeting card, based on several other cards and a scrapbook page I've made.  I really like the saying, "home is where the heart is," which is why I have used it on a number of things already.  Previous cards I made used hand cut pieces of colored cardstock, which look beautiful, but can be tedious to make.  I wanted to try printing something out and this is what I came up with.  I designed a black and white version in Photoshop several weeks ago.  I came back to it today and added some color.  I like it, but not as much as the hand cut cards.  If I ever need a quick card for a wedding or housewarming at least I have this ready to go :).

I hope this would make someone smile.

This is truly a totally random card.  I wanted to make a card that reminded me of pictures I used to draw as a kid, they just make me happy.  This card was made with a mixture of paper punches and my handy X-acto Knife.  I'm not sure if I'm 100% done with this, I feel like there's still something missing, maybe a puffy cloud or a butterfly or bee flying around.  I was thinking that this card would work for most happy occasions or maybe to help cheer someone up.  Maybe next time I'll make the sun and flowers not so huge, ha ha.

For a baby shower or welcoming a new baby boy.

This was the last card I made this evening.  There are a TON of babies that will be born in the next 6 months, it's crazy.  For some reason most of them are boys (at least the ones I know about).  I figured that I could use this card at one point or another.  I was mostly playing with layers and colors.  Next time I make a similar card I would probably use less busy patterns or solid colors.  I love the little feet ribbon on the side.

That's it for now.  Maybe I'll have something new in a day or two.

Recipe: Salted Caramels

Remember that jar of salted caramels I made?  I think it's time I finally put up the recipe for it :).  Mind you, I'm new to candy making.  I've made this recipe a few times now though, so I feel comfortable sharing it with everyone.  I haven't messed it up yet, so hopefully if you try it, it'll work out beautifully!

The recipe I used is from here, and one of the major differences is I don't use Fluer de Sel since I've never found it (and I'm lazy to go buy it online).  I also cook the caramel mixture to a different temperature, so it's not as soft.  Enough rambling, and more recipe!

Salted Caramel Recipe

Recipe: Sweet and Crunchy Granola

I enjoy eating granola.  I don't eat it all the time, but from time to time I like to snack on it.  Besides eating it out of hand, my next favorite thing to do with granola is to add it to my yogurt with some fresh fruits.

I've made my own granola now for over a year now.  I originally made it for a secret Santa gift where I needed to give a present each day of the work week, of course the person I got wrote almost nothing that was within the budget except granola.  What I ended up doing was make a base granola, then added different things to it each day :).  First day he got it plain, the next dried berries, another day dried fruits, another extra nuts, and the last day chocolates.  He said his favorite was plain, and I tend to agree with him.

The recipe I will feature will be just the base recipe, but even there I will have optional items.  It simply depends on your tastes, or on what you have in your kitchen.

I did base this recipe on Alton Brown's granola recipe, but I have added more to it, and changed around a few things.  


Oatmeal Recipe:

3D Paper Butterflies

Sometimes I just like to make embellishments for fun.  Usually they're tests for cards, scrapbook pages, tags I have in mind, for my Etsy shop, or I really have no idea what to do and I just want to make something pretty.  I ended up refining these butterflies from decorations used at my daughter's birthday party.  Long story short, my aunt (who hosted the party) wanted me to make some decorations, showed me some pictures of butterflies, and I ended up making some 3D paper butterflies we could plaster around the place.  They aren't terribly big, 2"x1.75", but I thought they stood out against contrasting colors.

Since I didn't have a ton of time to get these done, I made a quick butterfly design in Adobe Photoshop that would fit my EK butterfly paper punch.  The design took me 5 minutes.  Photo credit goes to a friend, Mary, who does some very nice macro shots.

That was over 2 months ago, and I liked the initial idea and wanted to simply make it a little nicer.  I kept the general design, but I cleaned up the lines so they're smoother (at least to me).  I didn't necessarily take a ton of time with them, it probably took me 10-15 minutes, but in the end I came up with something I liked.

I made a lovely pastel rainbow of colors.  Each butterfly is 3 layers, the middle is vellum, I like how it turned out.  It's very subtle.

12x12 Paper Storage

I'm addicted to patterned and textured paper.  I love the stuff.  I use it with scrapbooking, making cards, making tags, sprucing up a blank gift bag, and whatever else my crazy brain can think up.  I have tons of paper, and I usually like to get a pad of 12x12 paper, for the variety (and it's cheaper than buying the individual sheets usually... I only buy them when they're on sale and/or have a coupon).  Storing all this paper has been a bit of a challenge for me, especially since I want something that will stand the paper upright (like a magazine or file holder), except it needs to be 12" deep, and also cheap!

I started doing this since my husband has been getting so many packages in the mail, many of which are priority mail boxes (13-5/8" x 11-7/8" x 3-3/8" sized).  Now it's not exactly 12" deep, but 11 7/8" is pretty close and works out alright.  I'll be using a new box for this tutorial, but the same idea can be translated to a used one, just be careful when cutting.

Baked Chicken Breast

In the fridge we had 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, and I figured it was about time I cooked them up.  Now I usually have a problem with overcooking chicken breast.  It's dry and not very tasty.  Welp, I decided to do a random search for baked chicken breast and found with lots of good reviews.  I used the recipe from Baked Chicken Breast, but as I tend to, I do things a little differently.  I'm pretty bad at following recipes, I'm also a cook who does not measure most of the time (unless I'm baking).  Anywho...

Baked Chicken Breast (serves 4)

Cleaning Challenge: My Desk Clean!

 There's still a few things that need to find a proper spot, but for the most part my desk is clean and clear!  I have plenty of space to work, and hopefully I'll get crafting soon :).  So if you remember what it looked like (not posted all that long ago), but here it is again, just for fun:

Salted Caramels

I was bitten by the candy making bug today, with my sweet-tooth coming in to play as well.  I made a batch of salted caramels.  I really like that it's fairly easy to make, doesn't have a huge ingredients list, and only needs 1 piece of special equipment (candy/fry thermometer).  I haven't messed this recipe up yet :).

I tried my best to take photos of the process, and I'll try to write up the recipe sometime in the near future (within the week maybe).  For now just stare at my jar of tasty, salty, chewy, caramel goodness.  Decided to take it outside for a quick photograph, I don't know why, but I kind of like how it turned out.

I already ate two pieces (as I wrapped them), and I think my sweet-tooth has already been satisfied.

Cleaning Challenge: My Desk - Realization #1

I'm sad to admit this, but my mug/jar organizing system must go.  It simply doesn't use space efficiently enough.  It's a system I've used since I was a kid.  I already have an idea of how to do this, now let's see if I can actually do it (and stick to it).  I'll shop around to see if I can find something that will suit my needs.

Now what will I do with all those cool mugs I receive as gifts?  I guess drink some coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.  Too bad our cupboards are also filled to the brim with glasses and mugs.

On second thought, if I can find a way to keep a few of my mugs, I would probably be happier :). What's the point of having a working space if you don't have what you like around you?  I guess I'll just have to see what I can come up with.

Cleaning Challenge: My Desk

Here's the thing, I'm bad at cleaning and I'm horribly unorganized.  I'll try to clean, things will get kinda clean, and in less than a week whatever area/room that I cleaned will revert back to the mess it was (or worse).  I try different ways to organize myself, but nothing ever seems to stick.  I'm also lazy, I was about to say a bit lazy, but that would be an understatement.  In addition to all that, I think I simply have too much stuff.  I need to use my space efficiently.

To give you an idea of how bad things can get, here's a picture of my desk.  This is usually as bad as I'll let it get before I start cleaning.

I wrote little notes all over if you want to see what kind of junk has found it's way on my desk.  Not everything is listed obviously, but I say my captions cover the majority of stuff.  I also didn't take a picture of under my desk, which leaves very little room for my legs.

I used to actually have a scanner on the left side, so just imagine all of that stuff on top of an old scanner ha ha.  My challenge to myself will be to clean up my work space and organize a good chunk of my things.  This will include getting rid of things I don't need/don't want (the pack rat in me is screaming).  I won't give myself a deadline, but I may post periodic updates.  If I simply give up, I'll also let you know that.  If I do end up getting clean and organized, I can't say how long it will last.  I know if I complete this challenge my husband will be happy :).

Baptism Card (Baby Girl)

Today we are going to a baptism of our friend's baby girl.  My husband said he'd look for a card when he went into Target (while I was in Micheals next door), well... he forgot to even look for it.  Of course I already figured if he couldn't find a nice one (or forgot) I would make the card.  I looked online for card ideas, both for the cover and something nice to say.  I sort of pulled together some ideas and tried them out.

My first attempt I was embellishing a cross, but it ended up looking weird and clunky (to me at least).  I decided simpler would be better.  I picked pink and white paper with a pearl/metallic like finish and started cutting and punching what I needed.

Cross and surrounding vellum is hand cut with scissors and a scalloped paper edger.  The pink  middle was punched with one of the Martha Stewart paper punch edgers.  The heart punched with another of Martha's punches.  I printed out a very simple Bible verse that fit a baptism, and there we have it!  The inside is just a simple message from us to the family, printed on vellum.

I wanted to embellish the card more, but I didn't want to over do it.  I really wanted a simple, clean look, which I feel I achieved.  I kind of wish I made the text on the front fit in nicer, but oh well.

Pan De Sal (Bread of Salt) Recipe

 Pan de sal is a Filipino bread/roll.  Despite the name translation, it doesn't taste at all like salt.  In fact it has a slightly sweet flavor.  We were lucky enough to have a few Filipino bakeries in our area, and it's something I grew up with.  I always wanted to learn how to make it, so of course I love the fact that I can turn to the internet for guidance.  I found the following recipe on Pasalang Pinoy, my ingredient list is the same as theirs, but I do some things different from their procedure.



Recipe (makes 24 small rolls):
Approximate time: 2 hours (or less) from beginning to end

Last Minute/Late Night Papercrafting

I should stop waiting till the last minute to work on my cards for friends and family.  In less than 12 hours my brother will be getting married, and I should probably get to sleep soon.  I only have a few more details I want to put on my card for them, along with typing out something thoughtful for the inside.  I keep trying to think of a way to embellish the card even more, but honestly... I should just stop while it still looks decent ha ha.

If I remember to take a photo of the finished card, I'll post it up here :).  Hopefully I can remember...

Edit: I remembered!  I will also sleep right after this.

Tools of the trade.  I don't usually use that particular glue, but my desk is war zone, and my usual one is lost in it.  I find the one I did use causes the paper to wrinkle a bit (boo).

Finished product.  I had to look several times to made sure I spelled Shiela correctly, since it's not a usual spelling I'm familiar with.  By check, I mean look at Facebook ~_~.

 I did add a little on the inside of the card, but didn't want people to read my mushy stuff I wrote to my brother and his soon-to-be wife.  It also looked silly when I blurred it out, so no go.

Recipe: Steal Cut Oatmeal

For the past week I've been cooking and eating steal cut oatmeal, and I like the fact that I don't feel hungry too soon after I eat it.  I will make an attempt to eat steal cut oats more often, probably during the weekdays.  The year before I got pregnant I was pretty good about eating steal cut oats, but now it's almost been 2 years since I've made this a regular thing.  What I used to do was make a batch of steal cut oatmeal one evening, then I would either pack it in individual containers or one big ol' container and stuff it in the refrigerator (usually it depended on what containers were empty ha ha).  For the next few days we would have oatmeal for breakfast.

I love that my baby also is enjoying oatmeal with me!  I usually make her's a little less sweet, and I'll only add dried fruits (no nuts), and she likes it.  She'll point to the bowl when she wants more, which I think is so awesome.  I'm hoping she will continue to like it.

I have modified Alton Brown's recipe for steal cut oatmeal slightly (based on what I usually have on hand), and also on what I like.  You'll find I'm all about changing around recipes to suit what your tastes/needs are.

Craft Preparedness

So this weekend my sis-in-law got married, and it was fun, but they definitely made us work!  The wedding was held at a "Resort," although it was more like a small, upscale 6th grade camp location.  My husband, baby, and I went up the day before so that we could attend the wedding rehearsal and family/wedding party BBQ afterwards.  Before and after the rehearsal and dinner I was basically trying to keep myself helpful.  I asked what was needed, and apparently a box of some sort was needed for love letters and chocolates (something they used during the ceremony).

This is where the craft preparedness comes in.

I knew I would be needed to do some crafting or artsy thing while I was there, so I made sure to bring what I thought would be needed throughout the weekend.  What did I stuff in my bag o' art supplies?  A large pad of Bristol board, Prisma marker set (48), an X-acto knife, my cutting mat, scissors, double-sided tape runner, pencils, pens, and a sketchbook.  I used everything in my bag at least once.  I probably could have used more stuff, but everything turned out nice.

I was also in charge of embellishing a woven heart thing.  I wove some red tulle through the front of the heart.  I then took other colors of tulle and tied bows on the front.  Used some ribbon so it could be hung on this arch thingy the wedding party walked through.

The day of the wedding I was assigned to write all the names on some wooden blocks with chalk paint for everyone's place cards.  I kind of wish they had sanded the wood before they painted them, the names would have looked so much smoother and nicer, but they still looked super nice anyway (even if I wrote the names upside-down, oops!).

Everyone pitched in and I would say that everyone had a good time at the wedding.  It was definitely a group effort, that's for sure.  A ton of the stuff they did was DIY, and it turned out great.

... I also may have ANOTHER wedding to attend on Thursday lol.  Soooo much happening.

Last Minute Project

So I may or may not be designated to make someone's wedding program.  The idea was to make a fan program thing, since it's going to most likely be fairly warm/hot at the wedding location.  The wedding is in 3 days. I have no information yet.  So far I've only been sent a link to a template/tutorial thing found here DIY Fan Programs.  As nice as it looks, I'm trying to thing about the logistics of hand making each of these things in 2 days (I'm discounting part of today and part of Friday).  I have no idea if I'm expected to do this completely on my own, or if we're going to have some sort of "fan making party"... or something.

I'm trying to come up with a Plan B.  I do like the idea of this, but I'm trying to think of a way that wouldn't have to require all this cutting and piecing of fan pieces.  I do have an idea... not sure what the bride will think of it though.  I'll get more into later if I get approval, heck, I may still get into my idea even if I don't.

Oh, the stuff you do for loved ones.  I've been known to stay up late to completely projects, let's see what I do for this.

Edit:  So we didn't end up having to make any programs at all.  They definitely kept me busy before, during, and after the wedding.  They had some pretty awesome DIY stuff that I really liked.   Now that I think of it, I should have taken photos of what we all did.  Ah well.

Sketchbooks/Notebooks

After I made my idea book, I remembered I had some blank cards I picked up at the dollar section of Target.  I thought to myself that they might make a nice cover to a mini sketch/notebook!  This is what I ended up with :).

I just loved the cute citrus fruit design, not to mention the vibrant colors!

They aren't perfect, some pages are not quite the same length.  Let's just say it adds to it's charm?

My set of 7, because I totally messed up the eighth one.

I'm trying to think of a nice way to embellish the front for a little more pop and/or dimension.  If I start making a ton of random sketch/notebooks don't be surprised.  I have lots of cute cardstock and other supplies I can "waste" on this type of project.  Just what I needed, another type of craft...

Organizing Challenge: Ribbons Complete

After 3 sessions of working for an hour or two at a time I was able to completely organize my ribbons (most of them at least, some I left on their original spools since they are super thin).  Now if you look back at my previous post you can see a "before" picture of my, big ol' tote bag full of ribbon.  I took an idea I've seen on thread, using pieces of cardboard/chipboard/some other relatively stiff piece of material, and winding it around.  I know, it's a simple idea, and I'm fairly sure many other people use it, but I simply didn't do any searching on what other people did.  Anywho... this is what I did, and what it looks like.

I realize after that fact that taking pictures of this process is kind of silly, but since I took the pictures, I might as well use them.  I feel like I should really apologize how silly this post is /hangs head down low, sorry.

Organizing Challenge: Ribbons (and lots of them)

If you step into my work areas it won't surprise you to find that I have way more material than I actually use.  I'm also terrible at organizing things.  This leads me to piles and piles of stuff, half finished projects, extra pieces of old projects, rejected ideas, and more all over the place.  I think I'll try tackling my organizing needs one little step at a time.

I will tackle this...

I have a big ol' tote bag full of ribbon varying in width and length.  What's  problematic?  It's taking up too much space.  I've tried various ribbon holders with little luck, in fact I had mostly bad luck (clumsy me = breaking things).

I have an idea though.  Something that will hopefully make these ribbons less bulky, and easier to find what I need.

If you're wondering why I have so many, the only thing I can say is $1 section at a craft store is good/bad news for me.  I had a project in mind for most of it, but it's been derailed.  I will just use them periodically for my cards and scrapbook pages.

Welp, that's really it.  I'm going to see how this idea of mine works out.  It won't be fast, but hopefully it'll at least be decent.

Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

I love surfing the internet for new recipes!  I usually try to find the recipes that have rave reviews (and having all the ingredients on hand is nice).  This particular recipe I used can be found right here: To Die For Blueberry Muffins.  Not sure if they're to die for, I like being alive, but I found them to be pretty tasty!  Another plus is my husband, daughter, and other family members approve of it :).

Now, I'm notorious for changing around recipes, but I kept true to this recipe.  The only thing I did add was the flour to the blueberries.

Recipe (makes 12 muffins):

Sketchy

I think about half the time before I start working on a project I tend to sketch out a rough idea of what I want onto a piece of scrap paper (some random post-it, left over printer paper that only has the URL of some page, an envelope, or whatever that has blank space really).  I tried keeping a sketchbook for my ideas, so I can go back to it, and I don't have to sift through my messy, messy workspace... but I'll be honest, I keep misplacing the darned thing!  I want to keep my sketchbook in my bag, but it makes it heavy.  I want it on my desk, but I move it around when working on something and it gets buried under piles of papers.  Maybe it's just my scatterbrained way that I do things. 

I really need to find a better way to be organized with my ideas.  I think about how many times I've doodled down an idea only to have it disappear, and of course I don't remember the idea (unless I find my doodle).  I'll try to do a better job of keeping track of my ideas, sketchbook, and doodles, and maybe try to show the process that I sometimes go through in order to create something!

I'm still trying to feel out this blog thing.  Hopefully I'll start posting actual projects, recipes, tips, and what not soon enough.

EDIT:
Okay, I still can't find my sketchbook, it's lost somewhere in the house (as often happens to me, I can live with that).  I decided I'm just going to make my own book I can jot down ideas and sketches.

Materials List: Cardstock (something kind of stiff), copy/printer/blank paper (10-15 sheets), stapler that can staple through said 10-15 sheets (with staples would help), and something to make it pretty... black marker, why not?!?

This is what I ended up with (also, nevermind the stuffed wind rider... I used to play Alliance in World of Warcraft, not Horde).

  I'm already thinking of making another one, but smaller.  I'll call it "My Little Big Idea Book" ha ha.  I also just thought of sticking all my stupid post-it notes inside of it too.  Then my ideas will be all in the same place at least :).

If I had some decorative tape, I could add that to the spine... and BAM!  Something to add a little extra to it.  I better go write that idea in my book.

First!

It's been a long time since I've tried blogging or keeping some sort of online journal of any type, but I figure I'll try it out again.  This time with less focus on whining and complaining to my friends, and more focus on sharing some things that I enjoy.  Hopefully I may be able to get to writing tutorials and/or recipes (with pictures and the whole shebang if I get motivated), or point to places where I've gone to find information.  I'll just have to see where this will go.

I'll also apologize in advance... grammar and spelling were never my strong points.  Beware of run-on sentences, using too many commas, ellipses, and things that would make an English teacher cringe.