Bearded Hats and Chicken Taco Pizza

Hi everyone and happy almost New Year!  I love the new year because I can envision a clean slate on which to imagine myself doing everything I should be doing or all the things I always wanted to do.  Maybe one of these years I can make those things a reality-at least a few of them!

I want to begin this post by sharing a project I am pretty proud of.  I am a novice to crochet and I managed to take info from several places on the internet and make 7 of these beards.  My sons have the greatest group of buddies.  My husband and I feel fortunate that they are such good kids.  They tend to hang out in my husband's shop several nights a week watching movies and playing games.  They call themselves "bros" because they have been friends since grade school and are as close as brothers.  I wanted to make them official bro hats and I loved these lumberjack looking bearded hats I saw on various crochet blogs.  I didn't have time(or the skill) to make 7 hats too so I cheated and bought seven basic Winter hats at Target for a little over $3 a piece to start.  Then I bought 2 big skeins of basic dark brown yarn and a 9mm"N" crochet hook.  I had to fiddle with how many to chain on for a men's size because I saw alot of info for kids hats on line but I came up with chaining 24 loosely with two strands of yarn.  I had to keep my tension loose because I tend to knit and crochet pretty tightly.  The whole thing is done in half double crochet so you just do that for the first row then you chain 2 and turn.  Go into the second stitch and 1/2 dc 8 stitches then chain 4 for the mouth opening.  Skip 4 stitches on your project and continue 1/2 dc until the end.  The next row is all normal until you get to that chain 4,  then yo just 1/2 dc 4 times into the opening and finish the row like normal.  Now you taper off at each end by doing the first and last 2 stitches differently.  You yarn over and go into the first stitch you would normally do, but then you pick up the next stitch, yarn over again and go through all 4.  This may not make sense because I am not a true crocheter(is that a word?)  Maybe I should just say decrease each row at both ends the way you would normally.  I think they turned out cute and the whole gang of bros liked them.  I hear they keep your face really warn while shovelling snow!  We have gotten quite a bit of that lately!

     Here is my youngest son Christmas morning trying on a shirt he got for Christmas and being a good sport to model his bro hat.  I am amazed I got them all done in time for Christmas Eve but I am very happy I came up with the idea. 

On to a yummy idea my husband had.  Christmas Eve we usually have hot and hearty appetizers for the four of us.  We watch a Christmas movie or two and play games.  It is a very special tradition we enjoy.  This year, while discussing what we wanted to have, my husband came up with this pizza idea-chicken taco pizza.  I started with a Boboli pizza crust.  I mixed mild taco sauce and Ragu pizza sauce and spread that on the crust.  In a large frying pan, I heated the shredded breast meat of a rotisserie chicken, water and taco seasoning mix.  I cooked it until the water and seasoning mix really coated the chicken and became thick and bubbly.  I put the chicken all over the crust and sprinkled shredded Mexican blend cheese over the chicken.  I baked it according to the Boboli instructions.  Meanwhile, we chopped tomatoes and shredded lettuce to put on top.  My oldest doesn't care for lettuce or tomatoes so we let everyone put on their own but you could pile that stuff on when the pizza comes out of the oven.  We served it with taco sauce and sour cream.  It was fantastic.  We will definitely have that again!  We also had Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip and we played Clue and Uno and Mario Cart on the Wii.  It was a great Christmas Eve.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I can't believe how fast this vacation has gone.  I am not even close to being ready to go back to work this week!  Have a safe and happy New Year and take care.  I will talk to you next year!   Nancy    

Last Minute Christmas Projects and Cookies!

Hi everyone and happy Sunday.  I have been very busy these past few days doing my last few handmade projects for Christmas.  I made this felt Ninja lip balm holder for my great niece as a package tie on for her gift.  I think it turned out cute.  She can attach it to her backpack and it will go everywhere with her.  I love that you can personalize it by choosing felt colors the little girl likes.  Riley likes pink and purple.  I found the pattern and instructions in the new magazine Make it Yourself .  It is a Better Homes and Gardens publication.  There are a lot of great projects in the magazine.  It was a first issue. 

 

 

I also made a loyalty card wallet to put a gift card in as a gift.  These loyalty card wallets are fun to make and easy. I just thought it was way nicer to present a gift card this way instead of just keeping it in that cardboard card they come in.  This way it's two gifts in one!

I wanted to share my favorite traditional Christmas Spritz cookie recipe.  I have made these every year since I was on my own.  My Mom made them every year when I was growing up.  They are so delicious and festive too.  Cream 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup softened real butter.  Add 3/4 cup sugar and 1 egg.  Blend and add 2 1/4 cup sifted flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon almond extract and green food coloring.  Blend until a fairly stiff batter comes together.  Fill a cookie press fitted with a tree disc.  Form the trees on an ungreased cookie sheet, decorate with colored sugars and bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack.  I use the old-fashioned metal Mirro press my Mom got me as a Christmas gift my first Christmas in my apartment at 18 years of age.  It was just like hers and I love it.  It brings back such memories.  Traditions are my favorite part of the holidays. 

  I haven't shared a picture of Mickey in a while so I thought I would throw this one in!  She was sprawled over my husband's lap as he sat and talked to me in my craft room.  Don't you love her Christmas collar?  She was sound asleep and when I was about to snap this picture, she awoke just enough to give me a dirty look for disturbing her!  Here she is, five years old, and she acts like a kitten with the Christmas tree.  We can't put the skirt under the tree because she runs and bunches it up under the tree.  We got tired of fixing it.  She is also chewing on the tree(and it is an artificial one!) and makes it move when she hides under it.  Hopefully she won't tip it over. 

I wanted to thank all of you who dropped me a line hoping I was feeling better.  I am feeling better, thank you.  I am working on a fun project for some of my son's friends.  It involves crochet and it is a lot of fun-more on that later.  Well, have a wonderful week and take care.   Nancy   

Ornament Swap and Some Amazing Sweets

 Hi everyone.  I am officially struggling with yet another upper respiratory infection, a severe one, or so the Urgent Care doctor said.  So, I am benched from going to work for the next two days.  I have lost my voice due to the lovely tickle cough making my throat raw so I am being picked on by the men in my house.  They are calling me "squeeky" and asking me to repeat things as they snicker.  I am trying to hold on to my sense of humor.  So far, so good! 

On to my crafty adventure of the week.  I joined an ornament swap hosted by the Natural Nester sisters.  My partner is an avid runner.  I asked her what she collects and she said running shoes!   We could either make or buy an ornament.  I felt it was important to make one so I set out to make a running shoe.  You know how I am without a pattern.  I stressed about it a little and then I got a photo-like picture off the web of a good running shoe.  I was trying to figure how to translate that into felt when a friend suggested I use a clip art picture instead.  That worked out much better-thanks Nicole!  So I was off and running-no pun intended!  I think it turned out kind of cute.  I used pinking shears for the tread and embroidery floss for the laces.  I lightly stuffed it with fiberfill and sewed everything by hand.  I hope she likes it.  It was fun when I headed in the right direction. 

 

I don't know if I mentioned that I found out recently that I am allergic to chocolate.  It really upsets my stomach so I stopped eating it.  It has been several months.  I went for a check up and my doctor mentioned that I had lost weight and he wanted to know if it was intentional.  I kind of thought about it and said it must be the chocolate and explained it to him.  Well, I better keep the stuff you see above out of my house or I will be gaining weight and will have some explaining to do!  That amazing stuff in the jars is crock pot dulce de leche from Your Homebased Mom.  She mentions that you will probably eat it by the spoon right out of the jar and she was tragically right!  It is amazing.  I made the three jars as a trial run because I want to give some as gift add ons for Christmas.   I think I should make a disclaimer and put it with the jars to warn the people who I give the jars to so they will be aware of the danger!  It really is that good.  Seriously there are recipes to make with it, mine just never made it that far! 

 

My husband enjoys using my Babycakes appliances from time to time to make some goodies.  He recently made maple-glazed donuts  from Making Memories.  They were awesome.  My maple extract is way darker than the extract used in the original recipe.  It almost looks chocolate.  I think we made way too much frosting but better too much than not enough!  I am a frosting girl for sure. 

I have asked for the cupcake maker from Babycakes for Christmas.  I have liked all the other Babycakes makers I have so I am sure the cupcake one should be fun.  It is like the Easy bake oven for grown-ups!  I LOVED my Easy bake oven when I was little.  I used it every weekend! 

 

I hope everyone has a great week.  Are you finished with your shopping?  I am almost done.  I have a few things to make yet and I have get togethers starting this week to exchange gifts.  I also have to come up with what to make for Christmas Eve here with my own family and what to bring for my husband's family gathering Christmas day.  We usually have elaborate appetizers and hot dips Christmas Eve.  I'm thinking homemade pizza and chicken wing dip.  Stay healthy and take care. Nancy

Handmade Gift Exchange and Cooking with Leftover Pumpkin

Happy Sunday everyone.  December is here and now time will literally fly until Christmas.  My mother always used to say that the older she got time just flew by, and as a youngster thinking Christmas would never get here, I didn't really believe her.  Now I do!   

I participated in Craftaholics Anonymous's Handmade Gift Exchange for the third year and had alot of fun making my partners gifts.  I asked what the colors of her dining room were and I made her a really cool 4 fat quarter apron.   I enjoyed making this and will probably make myself one when things die down after the holidays.  You know what a collector of fat quarters I am!

 I also made her a loyalty card wallet because I loved mine so much.  I really loved the fabric I used for this.  Mostly it came from a charm pack I won in a giveaway from my Friday Night Sew In and I also threw in scraps from fat quarters.  I finished it by using my machine to embroider her name on a ribbon so it is uniquely hers. 

I enjoy doing this gift swap.  It is alot of fun trying to really make something personalized toward your partner. 










Now onto my leftover pumpkin dilemma.  I bought a ginormous can of pure pumpkin this year.  I am not sure why except to say that in years past all of my local stores sold out before Thanksgiving and I had to use the preseasoned pumpkin pie filling.  Anyway, I decided to make the Impossible Pumpkin pie this year from Bisquick.  That left me with some serious pumpkin left.  I hate to waste food and, besides that my husband loves pumpkin so I set out to find other recipes to use it up.  Here we go...

We have the pumpkin cream cheese braid.  It was delicious and amazing.  I like to have breakfast for dinner once a week so I really fancy it up and make sure I have either a coffee cake or danish to go with the savory foods.  This was perfect.  It was gobbled up very fast! 

I also made pumpkin muffins.  They were super easy and I ate them for breakfast for a couple of days as well as the fact they served as our bread course for Thanksgiving dinner.  Blend 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1/2 cup milk and 1 egg with a fork in a bowl.  Stir in 2 cups Bisquick, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ginger until just moistened.  Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.  By the way, please don't judge the amount of spread on them in the picture.  That is I Can't Believe it's not Butter- not the real thing!

Last, but definitely not least, is my pumpkin pudding.  You won't believe how easy this is.  Combine in a large bowl: 1 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 small package instant vanilla pudding and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice.  Whisk all the ingredients until thickened.  Stir in 1 cup pumpkin.  Chill and eat.  It is amazing.  It seems like it would be much more complicated but it is easy. 

We put up our Christmas decorations yesterday and I discovered some areas lacking so I am going to start working on making what I need to fill the gaps.  I could use some real Christmas tree skirts on a couple of my small trees that have fabric puddled at the base.  Also, I need to make two place mats for my kitchen table.  I have a couple of contenders so I better decide and get going!  I hope everyone has a great week.  Take care.               Nancy

New Thanksgiving Side Dishes and A Snazzy Scarf

Good morning and happy Sunday morning.  My hubby got called in to work this morning when one of his crew couldn't complete his shift so I got up early when he left and stayed up so here I am posting now instead of tonight.  I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Here is my story about the above picture: I have never been much of a meat cook.  I was practically a vegetarian when I met my husband so I had little experience cooking meat and it is my least favorite thing to cook because I don't feel confident with large cuts such as roasts(and whole turkeys!).  Every Thanksgiving, I overcook the turkey and it falls apart getting it out of the roaster.  I have this thing with poultry(and pork) that I am terrified of under cooking it and having people get sick.  Do you remember that scene in Christmas vacation where Clark goes to carve the turkey and it is so overcooked and dry it just implodes when he puts the knife to it?  Mine never made it that far-they just totally fell apart!  This is the first year that the turkey stayed together so I had to snap a picture of it.  Yes, it was slightly overdone, but not as much as other years!  So behold, the traditional turkey above that actually needed carving!

I wanted to share two new sides I tried this year.  The green beans are from the Pioneer Woman.  We love green bean casserole and had it every year, but none of us liked it warmed up.  I thought this new dish would be good because it has bacon in it.  I couldn't believe the smoky flavor so prevalent in these beans from the bacon.  It had mixed reviews from the family so I don't know if it will show up next year.  It got my stamp of approval and my younger son's as well.

I am not a fan of traditional sweet potato casseroles because I don't like the marshmallows.  I tried this casserole and it was a winner all the way around.  It was almost like dessert but I think it will come back to future holiday dinners for sure.  I took 2 large sweet potatoes and baked them in the oven for 2 hours.  It took longer than I thought it would.  I scooped out the flesh into a bowl when they had cooled.  I added 2 eggs, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup heavy cream, a generous splash of vanilla, a teaspoon of cinnamon and ginger to taste, and stirred in about 1/2 cup chopped pecans.  Put all of that in a greased casserole and set aside.  In another smaller bowl, put 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter and a splash of vanilla.  Mix and drizzle over the casserole.  Swirl it in like a marble cake.  Bake uncovered in a 325 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  I made it the day before and baked it while the turkey was resting.  It was like a souffle.

 Lastly, I wanted to share a fun scarf I knitted to go with a new coat I got at Kohl's.  I love this Lion Brand Fancy Fur yarn.  I used tropical turquoise for this scarf and it only took one ball worked in stockinette stitch.  I have two other scarves made out of this yarn and they are my favorites.  They are so soft against my neck and they don't add unnecessary bulk down the front of my coat.  I even wear my other ones in the fall with my lighter weight coats when I just want something at my neck to stave off the wind.  I am not a knitter who tackles the tough stuff like mittens, sweater and socks but I love playing with different yarns.  I am really impatient for some reason with my knitting and I want fairly instant satisfaction so this scarf was great for an evening watching television.

I have some really awesome recipes I tried with leftover canned pumpkin that I will share next time and I will post what I made my exchange partner for the Craftaholics swap.   Some nasty Winter weather is supposed to be heading our way and I am very nervous for my 18 year old.  It will be his first Winter driving this season so there will be some tense moments for sure.  Take care and have a great week.  Nancy

November Friday Night Sew In

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  I am very excited to show you what I have been working on all weekend. I started with the FNSI sponsored by Heidi and Bobbi and this project spilled over into the whole weekend because they are addictive-I warned you!  A good friend shared this pattern with me and I have enjoyed making them for so many reasons.  They have a small material list, they can be easily prepped(cut) with just a mat and rotary cutter, there are all straight lines to sew, they are a blast to choose fabrics for them, and they make the perfect gift for just about everyone.  The tutorial is from LaRae Bunnell Clark and it makes the 10 minute table runner.  I made the corn one for myself first to see if it would really turn out well.  I loved it so I moved on to make gifts for a couple of family members and a couple of friends. 

I love the lodge look on this one and check out those cute buttons. 

 This one is homespun done in the perfect colors for a friend's kitchen.

























I had alot of fun picking out buttons for each one.  This next one is going to be hard for me to give up. 

And, last but not least, I wanted this one to look old fashioned because the person I made it for has a primitive colonial look to her home. 

So what do you think?  If you own a sewing machine, you should give these a try.  They are fun to make in holiday prints and I was thinking one would even look pretty as a dresser scarf or on a buffet.  I would love to see pictures if you make some.  But remember, if you get carried away and make a ton of them, I warned you! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and good food.  I am trying a couple of different side dishes this year, one from the Pioneer Woman.  I will let you know how that goes.  Have a wonderful week and take care.     Nancy 

Tom Turkey and the Best Bruschetta

Hi and happy Sunday.  It is a particularly happy Sunday for me because I have tomorrow off!  Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who has and does fight for all of us to enjoy our freedoms.

I wanted to share my "Tom pillow" I made this week.  I enjoyed my "Jack" Halloween pillow so much, I came up with my own design for Thanksgiving with a turkey.  I drew the pattern myself and made up the freezer paper stencils.  He looks homemade but I kind of like that.  My oldest son suggested I do different pillows for different holidays and I liked his idea.  I think I may do one for Christmas, a snowman and one for Easter. 

I am a huge bruschetta fan.  A friend and I go on a little trip every Summer to a wonderful craft shop that is about an hour and a half away and we visit this wonderful family-owned Italian restaurant for lunch after we shop.  There I was introduced to the best bruschetta I ever had in my life.  I finally succeeded in reproducing it.  It is so simple and so good.  Just put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small skillet.  Mince about 4 cloves of garlic into the pan and cook for about a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Take it off the heat and put the garlic and oil in a large bowl.  Take about one pint of cherry tomatoes(I mixed yellow and red ones) and chop them into small pieces.  Add them to the garlic and toss.  Add a couple of tablespoons of good balsamic vinegar.  Toss to coat and add salt and pepper to taste.  Put this in the fridge to marry the flavors.  When you are ready to serve, cut up a small bagette into diagonally cut slices.  I like to broil them with a litle butter on them so they don't get soggy when you top them with the tomato mixture.  Keep thet broiler on because you have to put shredded mozzarella on top of the tomato mixture and broil until bubbly.  Enjoy!

I am presently working on my gift for The Craftaholics Annonymous Christmas swap.  I love participating in that.  This is my third year.  I am not loving Elfster, however.  I know I am probably the only one but I am having a hard time connecting with my swap partner.  what happened to the good old days where you just emailed each other?  She asked me a question and when I clicked on the reply button, it looked like a facebook entry.  So I emailed her and I haven't heard back yet.  I don't even know if she got my reply.  I know who my swap partner is and yet, somehow there are people annonymously asking questions.  What is that all about?  Oh well, this may be my last year to participate unless this swap ends successfully!

 Have a wonderful week and take care.   Nancy

Deliciousness and Something Different

Hi everyone and happy Sunday evening.  Wasn't it grand to have an extra hour to sleep last night?  Some of you may have used that extra hour as time to accomplish something but I used it to sleep! 
I had a grand time doing something a little different in my craft room this weekend-more on that later.  I will bet you are distracted by the plate of yumminess above.  They were fairly easy to make and amazing.  They are coconut cream raspberry pastries.  How can you go wrong with puff pastry-am I right?  Set your oven to 400 degrees.  Unfold one sheet of thawed puff pastry and cut it into 8 fairly even rectangles.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with silpat or in my case, a kitchen aid silicone baking liner.  Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.  Let cool and split horizontally.  In a large mixing bowl, beat 3 cups whipped topping, 1 cup whipped cream cheese from a tub, 1/4 cup cream of coconut(also makes amazing pina coladas!), and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.  Divide among the bottoms of the pastry rectangles.  Put raspberries on top and pop the pastry tops back on.  Voila, done and perfect.  You will be very happy!     

Now I want to share what I was up to in my craft room.  I don't do much jewelry making.  I admire what others make but I don't often feel the urge to start making any of it.  The only thing that lures me into the process is my compulsive matchy-matchy nature.  I have a wonderful necklace and bracelet with no matching earrings.  That bugs me!  So I came across this tutorial for box chain earrings and I had to give it a try.  It was fun.  I made big ones:

 
and medium ones that are my favorites:

Here is a side by side comparison of those:

But I also attempted delicate little ones and this is as far as I got:

I just couldn't fit all the rings in the middles but I love how dainty they were.  I am not usually a huge earring person so these appealed to me.  Maybe I will just add another three rows and see what they look like without doing the box chain pattern.  Anyway, it was fun to break up my usual routine of sewing and painting.  I bought myself a new Winter coat so I have to get some yarn to knit myself a scarf to match.  Also, I am desperate to find some Thanksgiving projects.  I put my decorations up and they are sparse compared to Halloween and Christmas!  

Well, I hope you all have a great week.  Take care.  Nancy

Friday Night Sew In-October

I am finally getting a chance to post what I made for Friday Night Sew In. 

I got the idea for this adorable Jack pillow from the October 2011 issue of Create & Decorate magazine.  It was fun to make.  I enjoyed the fact that both sewing and painting were involved in this project.  As usual, I tweaked the instructions a bit.  I used freezer paper and made stencils for the parts of Jack.  I free hand painted some of him too.  I loved the effect of the primitive hand stitching all around him.  He is a perfect addition to my Halloween decorations. 

I have to straighten my craft room.  I keep purchasing new sewing books and I am running out of room.  Between that and my cookbooks, I could open a library!  I hope everyone has a great week and I am keeping in my thoughts everyone in the path of the perfect storm that will be hitting the East coast.  I am far enough inland so we are mostly expecting wind and rain-not that I don't worry about massive power outages!  Take care.   Nancy 

Pumpkins and Prunes-Oh My!

Hi and happy Sunday.  I get so many wonderful ideas from all of you creative bloggers out there.  Recently I came across a blog with the most adorable pumpkin table runner.  I emailed her and asked where I could purchase the pattern and she told me she had gotten it a while ago and told me where it had come from.  I didn't have any luck locating any pattern like it now.  So, I winged it!  I know my stems are longer than the runner I had admired but I really like mine.  Sometimes I rely too much on having a pattern.  I usually go off on my own after starting a project anyway so this time, I came up with the whole thing myself!  I had fun picking out fat quarters in various orange prints.  It was a fun experience and I love that this runner isn't Halloween or Thanksgiving specific, it can be displayed all throughout the Fall.  What do you think?

I also wanted to share the latest Pioneer Woman recipe I have tried.  It is Iny's Prune Cake.   I watch her show on Food Network and, even though I am not a fan of prunes, she made it look amazing. 

 It was good.  It tasted similar to Hermit cookies.  It is a very moist cake with lots of spice.  My favorite part was the homemade caramel icing.  I could have easily licked the pan after I iced the cake! (but I didn't) The cake was a pretty big hit with the family and I was even honest about the ingredients.  Nobody even blinked-what a surprise! Aren't those plates cute?

I got those on clearance at Cracker Barrel last year after Halloween.  They were dirt cheap and I was excited to realize that they fit in a wrought iron holder I have for square dessert plates that go with my everyday stoneware dishes.  Score!  I finally got my Halloween decorations all up and I love the spooky atmosphere as well as the Halloween lights everywhere. 

I hope everyone has a great week and I am looking forward to the Friday Night Sew In next week end.  Take care.                       Nancy

Halloween Baking without the Calories

Hi and happy Sunday.  I am a little under the weather this evening.  I think the little ones I am around every day have finally infected me with my first sinus infection of the season.  I took it easy today but I was anxious to make the felt stuffed softie "cookies" you see in the picture above.  They were fun and easy.  I found them here:

I love the BHG holiday publications and look forward to getting my hands on them every year.  The Halloween cookies were in there and I thought they were cute.  I would definitely change a few things if I made them again.  The tan felt cookie wasn't big enough to be a border around the "frosting" layer.  I would make the tan pattern substantially bigger next time.  Also, I didn't top stitch because there wasn't enough tan showing.  I also thought the spider web was too plain and I glued a felt spider on there with French knot eyes.  They were fun and I think little kids would love them in their play kitchens as well as I enjoy them as cute holiday decor.  If I were feeling better, I might make some for my class at school. 

 

I also wanted to share an amazing grilled sandwich I made recently. 

 

Trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice.  This is a gouda portabello grilled sandwich and it is very tasty.  I don't know if you know this about me, but I eat many of my meals pretty much meatless.  I occasionally eat some meat but I am very picky about it.  So, the mushrooms in this sandwich are right up my alley!  Portabellos are so beefy tasting, even my husband didn't miss the meat(just so long as I served meat the next night!).  I used the George Forman grill to press the sandwiches and they were delish.  I also made a killer cream of broccoli soup that night but that will have to wait until another time.  

 

I hope you all have a great week.  I think I see a doctor visit in my future this week.  Take care.  Nancy 

 

A Fun Day of Sewing and Birthday Gifts to Show Off

Happy Sunday night everyone.  Why am I so chipper on a Sunday night you ask?  I am off tomorrow for Columbus Day.(Yahoo!)  I had a fun day today closed in my craft room sewing the day away.  I decided to make this loyalty card wallet from a tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar.  It was super easy and it is so practical.  How many times have you been to a store or restaurant that you have a discount card for and you can't find your card quickly among all your credit cards and appointment cards that are in your wallet?  This is small and fits nicely in my purse and I will always know where to find my Michael's card now! I love small projects that I can pour over my fabric stash to put scraps together to make.  These would make great stocking stuffer gifts.  I just may have to whip a few more up. 

  I wanted to share some birthday gifts I received.  My two sons got me the Babycakes pancake maker.  I am a big fan of Babycakes small appliances.  This one is particularly cool.  Whenever we have pancakes, everyone else is eating while I stand at the stove flipping pancakes.  This contraption makes four at a time and they are decent sized pancakes. I used a pouch of pancake mix and we had pancakes lickety split!   Actually, because it said it also makes omelets, we had to try that out too.

These eggs were a little crispy on the outside.  Perhaps we cooked them too long.  It is probably a trial and error thing.  But they were good and wow, were they easy.   Needless to say, me being the gadget queen, I loved this gift.  Thanks boys! 

Hubs really brought the wow factor with his gift to me.  I have wanted a cutting table for quite some time.  He got me this one at our local JoAnn Fabric.  The picture above only has one of the leaves up.  It can be even bigger than that picture shows!  It was awesome today to cut big pieces of fabric for a project I am working on with no back ache or neck ache.  The height of this cutting table is perfect-no more stooping over!  I love it.   Now I can get to work on some of the larger-sized projects I have been wanting to get started on. 

I want to get my Halloween decorations up tomorrow.  That is my plan.  I also have some dusting to do.  Now that I have that wonderful cutting table, it may be hard to drag myself out of my craft room!  Have a great week everyone and take care.  Nancy