2/25/11

a little late but i couldn’t ruin the surprise

i was finally able to give my hubby his valentine’s gift! this means that i can post what my mom, sis-in-law and i did a couple of weeks ago! we think these are the new “roses” for anniversaries and gifts because you get chocolate and “flowers” in one! we had a wonderful time making these and hope they inspire you!

IMG_6129

IMG_6133 IMG_6126  IMG_6132

2/19/11

on the menu – chicken. bacon. ranch.

I have wanted to make these chicken, bacon stuffed pizza rolls since they were posted, but never got around to it until tonight. Oh these are heaven! Especially with some A&W Root Beer. Thank you Our Best Bites!!!

2/13/11

crinkly owl teethers

i saw these owls on homemade by jill and i thought they were so cute, i just had to make some!

IMG_6310

i can’t wait to see these in some chunky baby hands!

the tutorial can be found here

2/12/11

i spy with my little eye

did you read those books as a child? not only do I remember the books, but we used to play the game on trips, while we were waiting in lines, and when we were bored. the older A gets, the more I find us playing that game as well. she has even started to ask me where things are. it has been really fun.

over the past 25 years, my mom has been collecting scraps and scraps of fabric. we came up with the idea to use the scraps to make i spy quilts. it is a quilt full of novelty blocks and you can play i spy with them. we have blocks of Dora, doggies, Barbie, john Deere, fishing, animals of all sorts, cars, and more. it is fun because we can remember what all the fabric was from – other blankets, shorts, aprons, crayon rolls, girls’ camp, etc.

my mom, sister in law, and myself put together these quilts this week. it has been A LOT of work to do all three quilts, but so much fun. each one is different and I will take photos once we get them done.  my mom has been champion at quilting her first quilts with her sewing machine. my quilt was the guinea pig for the other two. it turned out great! this is my sister in law’s first bigger sewing project and hers looks better than ours :)

IMG_6303 IMG_6299 IMG_6300

2/11/11

on the menu - valentine’s whoopie pies from Family Fun Mag

my mom and i made these this week… it is a good thing that they were for people or we would have made ourselves sick! we got the recipe from Family Fun Magazine.

 IMG_6206 IMG_6226 IMG_6232

Ingredients
  • CAKES
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup softened butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • FILLING
  • ½ cup softened butter
  • 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 cup marshmallow crème
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Red food coloring (optional)
Instructions
  1. null Heat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

  2. null In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla extract.

  3. null In a large bowl with a hand mixer set at medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until evenly blended, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg, increase the speed to high, and beat until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute more.

  4. null Pour half the fl our mixture into the butter-sugar mixture, and beat at medium speed until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and continue beating until just blended. Add the remaining fl our mixture and beat again.

  5. null Use a cookie scoop or spoon to place a heaping tablespoon of batter on a prepared cookie sheet. Add more mounds of batter, evenly spacing them, until there are nine on each sheet. Slightly fl atten each mound with a spoon.

  6. null Bake the cakes one sheet at a time for 10 minutes (they should be moist and spongy). Let them cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Reline the sheets and scoop, shape, and bake the remaining batter.

  7. null Using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat all the fi lling ingredients except the coloring in a medium bowl until evenly blended, about 2 minutes. If you want to give the fi lling a Valentine hue, fold in drops of red food coloring until the desired tint is reached.

  8. null To make each pie, spoon and spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of a cake, then gently press another cake on top.

2/8/11

projects out our ears!

I am SO excited to show you what my mom, me and my sis in law (pulled her in this time around) have been up to this week… in our spare time from our 3 girls.

In the meantime – which one of these do you like better? I want to print one out and do a really cool project on canvas that I saw here.

IMG_6120 IMG_6120-1

2/5/11

discovery – see jane cook

since all I can think about is food :) I have been in the deep search of some great food blogs. I came across this one today and I am in LOVE with it! Her photography is amazing!

Check out http://cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com/

Look at some of these photos-

Yum ~ I have got to get some food! Later!

2/3/11

no before photo

I so didn’t dare take a before photo of my hair… it is SO damaged and just gross. Being prego has not helped my case either. So before I head back to Colorado, I am getting my hair done today. I am pretty sure that about 3-4” is going to come off to get my hair back to healthy, then who knows what. I think I want a more blunt cut than the crazy layers I have right now and I would like to keep growing out my bangs, but they need some serious TLC before that can happen, so they might have to go short again for a while. AND I do not like being my natural color of dark... so I need some more blond for a pick me up! Anyway, these are my inspirations…

hair 1

I will post photos soon!

2/2/11

milkman tote, baby shoes, snot skirt, rosette clips, and flat iron cover

Well, isn’t that tons of stuff? These are some of the other projects that we did while at my mom’s house… I am home for three days and then I am going back. My sweet, hard-working hubby is extending his work trip for at least another three weeks. Now you know why I have to do all the projects! I miss my hubby so much!

This in the milkman tote that I made my mom for xmas, but never posted it. I love the houndstooth on the inside.  She puts her Seminary materials in it… love it!

IMG_6012

These are a pattern that my cousin has introduced me to. I made the boy shoes and my mom made the sweet girl ones. I have cut out like 6 more pairs to make as gifts. I think they are a perfect, personalized gift all wrapped cute!  Thanks Linz!

IMG_5980 IMG_5981 IMG_5982

These are what we have deemed the “Snot Skirt”… Abi wore these around all day for three days once they were both made. They were so easy to make and I can’t wait to make more. If I am having a girl, I am totally going to make a newborn one… can’t you just see one with a white onesie and a cute headband? Ooo… do you think I want another girl?

IMG_5990 IMG_5998

These are some rosettes that I made from this tutorial. I did them just a bit differently, but got the same result… I want to make some more to go along with those cute baby girl shoes.

   IMG_6002

This is something that I have wanted to create since I saw some at Swiss Days in Midway, UT back in September.  They are for hot flat irons or curling irons… so you can put them away after you use them and not have the cords and stuff out for days on end, like mine are. :) This one is really cool because we elongated a diaper clutch pattern from online, and added a divider in the pouch so either I can put in both my flat iron and curling iron, OR put in a hot tool with the cord in a separate pocket. My mom did a great job on this after I cut it out.. I worked on my bally band while she did this.

 IMG_6005 IMG_6006

 

Wow! That was a lot of crafts… but there are some great ones to come next week!!!!