Paperwhites

Growing up, my mom's favorite thing to have around the house this time of year was paperwhite flowers. They have a very distinct smell that fills a room. My sister threw me a baby shower not long before my little girl was born and as favors gave out these bulbs and mine have just started to bloom. I love getting to smell these all day long.

Homemade Candles

I have to give most of the credit for this project to the hubby. He has been wanting to try to make his own candles for a while now and I was looking for a gift to make my sister for her birthday... put our two thoughts together and you get a trip to Hobby Lobby.

3 colors of candle wax $2.99 each
Peach Mango candle scent $2.99
braided wick $2.49
4 cute ceramic containers second-hand $3.25

It was a pretty easy project all-in-all. He started by taping one half of the wick to the bottom of the containers and tying the other half to utensils going across the top of the containers in order to steady the wick in place. Then he melted the wax in a pot on the stove, added a few drops of scent, and poured it into the container. Once the wax dried, he cut the wicks down to size.We did three matching tea cups and this cute sugar pot.(This was after my sister had opened her gift and let this one burn a little while)

a Scarfette

...or cowl... I'm not really sure what you would call this, but I love the way it turned out.It started with a cool scarf design... but then I ran out of yarn. Instead of buying more, it sat unfinished for a few months waiting to be dealt with until I saw this idea of a cowl with buttons. Viola! I shortened what I already had and added these cool metal buttons I found.

my baby pumpkin

I think it is fitting that my fall baby get her very own pumpkin beanie. I saw this and thought it was way too cute to not try out. I can't wait to try it on her.

Happy Election Day!

Butterfly Tree

Before Hubby and I were even married we did this project for Hubby's sister while visiting Boise (Can you tell I've been looking through old pictures lately?). She was putting together a room for her two girls and wanted to use a little pink in the room. We started by painting the walls a light pink. Then I took painter's tape and created an outline of a tree which we then painted in with a darker pink. We removed the tape and hubby cut out a sponge in the shape of a butterfly. Then we randomly covered the tree with butterflies and added some swooping across the wall like they were being blown away in the wind. I remember having a lot of fun on this project and feeling very satisfied with the end result.tada!

Lily's Garden

A few months ago my sister-in-law asked Hubby and me if we would help out with decorating my niece's bedroom. That was back in my first trimester and I was a little under-the-weather so I was a spectator for most of the work. My contribution was sketching and painting these cute little flowers along the bottom of one small wall. The big job was painting this wall. My niece has kind of an odd-shaped room, which actually worked out really well for a bold focal point like this. We used painter's tape to create vertical lines randomly all over the wall and then got to painting. It is a very bright wall, but I think it turned out really cute especially once we moved the furniture back against that wall. And the important thing is... Lily loves it.

a Blanket for baby R

I made this blanket for a new little baby girl in our extended family. I saw this idea of using a zigzag stitch instead of ties for a baby quilt in a sewing book once and just had to try it. I just love the green thread on yellow. Too cute.

Chicken Enchiladas

Taken from allrecipes.com:

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon margarine
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl mix the soup and sour cream; set aside.
3. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and chili powder, and saute until tender. Stir in the chicken, chile peppers, and 2 tablespoons of the soup mixture. Cook and stir until heated through.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of the soup mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas, and place, seam-side-down, in the baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture on top, and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

These enchiladas are so good and simple to make. They have kind of a bland, comfort-food kind of taste which is so yummy. Next time I think I'll try some jalapeno seasoning to spice it up though. Also, the recipe says it serves eight, but I'd say more like 3-4 adults.

Jean Blanket

Ever since my mother made my oldest brother a jean blanket years and years ago he has been collecting for another one. He LOVEs jean blankets. So for his 30th birthday I secretly took his stash and put one together. I cut the jeans into rectangles because it seemed cooler than the standard squares and also maybe less time consuming. Most of the jeans I cut into 8 inch wide rectangles and made them however long I could. Some of the jeans were smaller and I had to cut them 6 inches instead. The back I did in corduroy I found 40% off at Joanns. The middle section is made of three of my brother's favorite old shirts he had given to me in order to make into a t-shirt blanket for myself. I also used batting in the middle and tied it all together with yarn ties throughout. I think the finished blanket turned out to be about 5ish by 5 1/2ish feet. I'm not really sure.
I loved how it turned out and actually it didn't seem like that much work all together. I think I'm going to have to make one for Hubby and me now.

for baby

I recently was able to take a trip to visit my parents in Kentucky for a week. And what a productive week it was. We spent lots of time shopping, crafting, eating good food, and visiting around the fire on the back porch.

Did I mention crafting?

First off, a baby toy I crocheted stuffed with plastic bags to give it a slight crinkling noise when squeezed. Good for church I think. In real life it is mostly purple with white. It is hard to tell in this picture.Here's a sling I talked my mother into making for me to carry the little one around in that goes around my neck and shoulder. And a nursing cover my mother also did for me made out of nice, heavy-duty fabric for privacy.And finally a little quilt perfect for snuggling. The inside fabric is this beautiful yellowish fabric that is oh so soft.It's good to go home every once-in-awhile, especially when you come back with a suitcase full of new and pretty things for your little girl.
P.S. Did you notice my new rocking chair? I bought it second-hand for very cheap.

Classifieds

I am so excited today because as luck would have it I found two great deals scouring online classified ads. Here is the fruit of my labors:
One bag of 0-6 month clothes: $5
Two bags of 6-9 month clothes: $12.50

I was going to lay them all out so you could see all the cute little girl stuff I got, but you can fit a lot of little baby clothes in three bags. So here they are ready to be thrown in the wash and stored away in the nursery (which still needs a lot of work before the big day).

Among my favorite things are a stash of cute rompers ready for the summer months.

drawing again

...well not really. I used to draw quite a bit in high school, but haven't done anything in a couple of years. Here's a picture of my brother's dog, Annie, which I did as a birthday gift recently.Maybe while I'm on "maternity leave" this semester I'll find some time to work on some more pictures.

Dress-up skirts

I made these skirts for my niece's 4th birthday. She LOVES pink and purple and she is in that stage where she goes through several outfits during the course of the day, mostly pretty dresses. I followed this tutorial for the pink one, and then modified it to fit my needs with the purple one. I learned this: tulle is NOT fun. I'm sure I will be using tulle again in the future especially with my own little girl on the way, but it can be a major headache. Maybe there are some tricks of the trade I still need to learn. We will see.

The pink one is a layer of lace, a layer of pink cotton material, and finally two layers of tulle.
The purple one is a layer of silky purple material and I don't know how many layers of purple and pink tulle to use up all of my stash.
I think total they were around $15 for the pair. I'm not completely sure. The tulle was like a dollar a yard and I used 4 yards. The other material I found in the 50% off scrap section at jo anns. The ribbon and rick rack I had laying around and then I had to buy the elastic for the waist bands.
And here's a picture just because I love my pincushion so much and it has never had a spot on my blog.

Bibs for baby E

A friend of ours recently had a baby boy. I made these bibs using this tutorial (I love the ice cream pattern she used). They were fairly quick and easy. I got the blue material on clearance at Joanns, not knowing what I'd do with it only that I loved it, and the green material was some random big sheet of material I got for 2 bucks at a second-hand store. They are reversible with snaps to hold it around baby's neck. Cute no? I love the shape and how teeny tiny they are. Are babies really so tiny?I wanted to add a little something extra to the package so I also whipped up this cute little whale to go with the bibs. I just free handed the shape I wanted, sewed it inside out leaving a little gap to turn, stuffed it with batting, and hand sewed the opening shut. I'm terrible at hiding hand-stitches so I decided to not even try. Hence the obvious blue thread detail.

A tradition

My mother used to bake fresh bread for her family of eight every single day. Completely by hand. Not even a mixer to help out. Can you imagine? I've done this once or twice before and believe me, you've got to have a lot of love and a strong back to accomplish this feat.

Needless to say, with all this whole wheat bread (which she ground the wheat herself btw) surrounding my childhood, I grew up with a real love and appreciation for real bread. Not that cheap stuff you buy at the store. And here is my attempt at carrying on that tradition:I just have to laugh at myself. Once in my marriage I have finally made my husband homemade bread and you know how I did it? I borrowed my sister's bread machine, poured all the ingredients in, and watched it knead, rise, knead, rise some more, and bake itself for 4 hours. Ta Da! Not quite the same accomplishment, but still worth the effort. I love simple homemade bread.

Here's where I found the recipe.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Get a bunch of strawberries and cut off their tops.
Mush them up nice and good and add a little sugar and pectin.Pour it all into cute little cups and...Viola!
Strawberry freezer jam. Lasts a year in the freezer and 3 months in the fridge. Although I don't think I'm quite going to need a year to finish off my spoils.

pasta salad

A friend of mine posted about making pasta salad on her blog and it looked soooo good. I immediately called my mom up to ask for her recipe which I know I love.

Cook tri-colored pasta
Add whatever you have or feel like eating:
I used cucumbers, grape tomatoes, green onions
(also try peppers, olives, red onions, chives, etc.)
Add lots of parmesan cheese
Add zesty italian dressing until it looks like you have a bit too much
Chill in the refrigerator for maybe a few hours
Add more dressing if dry

I know these direction may not seem too helpful, but really pasta salad is all about preference and taste so have at it!

apple cozy

Ok, this is a little silly I know. But when I saw this on ravelry I just thought it was the cutest thing ever. Plus I was able to finish it in the time I had waiting for Hubby to get out of class one day. Isn't it just adorable? Supposedly it will keep my apples from bruising when I throw them into my purse. Also a lot of people were making them as teacher appreciation gifts... which is so cute in my opinion. I need to come up with a reason to make these...

lavender "pears"

I've been seeing these around in the blogging world lately and really wanted to try them. The tutorial I found was less than clear (to me anyway), but I figured once I got into the project I'd figure a way to make it work. They're filled with rice and lots of dried lavender (from France no doubt, thanks to my sister!).They are each made out of three pieces. The first one is two orange pieces and one pattern piece. The second is two blue pieces and one pattern. I ended up completely changing the tops from having a stem and leaf to just having a ribbon loop. Zero headache involved in this revised version plus it probably shaved off 15 aggravated minutes for me. (I've noticed I lose patience quickly while sewing since becoming pregnant) Also they turned out smaller than I was imagining... I think I'd make them bigger next time. BUT they smell wonderful! and I think I love the finished product even though it isn't what I had initially intended. They are so cute.

Kitchen Chairs Redo

I bought these chairs second-hand for about $15 for the pair. They needed some wood glue for sturdiness and definitely some paint to cover the green marker left by the previous owners.We wanted to go a little unexpected with the color and why not? so we did. We went with a semi-gloss deepest aqua. Gotta love a trip to the paint store.I love how they turned out. Now all I need is a tablecloth to tie it all in ...

Patchwork Hots Pads

I've been wanting to try these for awhile, but have been a little scared to begin. You see... I've never tried patchwork, quilting, or used bias tape. Even though this is such a simple little project, it was the unknown that scared me.

Here's the fronts. And here's the backs.

And yes these came with many, many mistakes, but only because I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Oh well, handmade goods wouldn't be so special if they were perfect, right?

The beginings

I woke this morning to find our first little sprouts of the season. I can't believe it is happening so soon!I love spring.

Hubby's Bench

Here's a bench Hubby created for a Christmas present for my brother. He used simple scrap 2x4's, wood stain, scrap fabric, and scrap foam for the cushion.

I couldn't get a really good picture for it as it is already at home in my brother's closet. But I assure you it turned out beautifully and nice and sturdy.
now onto the next project!

a Baby Garden

We've decided to grow a few things this year. We both love gardening, but weren't sure when we were going to be able to start. Well I guess you make it work if it is important to you.We followed this tutorial on how to make newspaper starter pots at the best price... free! Plus you can plant the whole thing when you are ready because the newspaper biodegrades very quickly. All you need is water, some newspapers, and a 15 ounce can.


So far our little garden has cost us 80 cents for the seeds and $3.50 for the potting mix which we still have plenty left to use for the big pots we'll use later. We're big spenders, I know.