A Different Kind Of Scarf and Yummy Garlic Bread

Hi everyone.  Happy Sunday night.  I am up a little later getting things done tonight because I have tomorrow off-yeah!!  It has snowed here all day.  I love snow.  I was unhappy to see the rain wash most of it away last weekend, so I am thrilled to see some of it return.

I want to share an awesome scarf with you.

It is a t-shirt scarf and it was really easy to make.  I watched several you tube videos about them and took a few tips from each and went off on my own.  I love it.  I bought a plain black t-shirt and pre-washed it.  I laid it out on my cutting table and snipped real close to the hem.  I discarded that piece.  Then I cut straight across armpit to armpit.  I was left with a wide tube from the shirt.  I eyeballed strips and cut as neatly as I could.  The strips weren't too skinny but not too wide either. When I was done cutting, I stretched each ring of fabric.  I even put them, one at a time, on a cabinet knob so I could really get a good stretch.  Try to get them in even stretched lengths because you are going to bundle them together.   When you are happy with their length, bundle them and use a strip from the leftover part of the shirt.  Just tie the bundle together tightly and cover your fastened part with another strip.  Wrap it around several times and tie it as neatly as possible.   I have seen these with beads added and big fabric flower pins on the bundled part.  I love a project that is versatile. I have since bought many bright colored shirts on sale.  I think the weight of these lends itself to summer shirts.  It isn't a heavy warm, Wintery scarf.  I also am on the lookout for a floral print t-shirt. I think that will be cute.  I will keep you posted.

For dinner tonight, with homemade French onion soup, I made this yummy Caprese garlic bread.  I had pinned the recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod .  I just used half a crusty loaf of Italian bread and sliced it down the middle.  I slathered it with softened butter mixed with 3 cloves of finely minced garlic.  I sliced up some fresh mozzarella and put that on top.  I baked the two hunks of bread at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  When they came out of the oven, I topped them with thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper and chiffonades of fresh basil.  I then topped it with my fave-balsamic glaze.  It was delicious.  I am loving this whole Pinterest thing.  Why do I resist some new things so vigorously?  I need to stop that!

To give you an update on Jiggs, he is doing quite well here.  He is looking more and more handsome each day as he has a regular food supply and a family who looks out for him.  We are planning on taking him to the vet soon to be neutered.  I kind of want to wait until the below zero weather is past.  He will spend one night at the vet clinic, but I don't want him coming home in pain to a freezing garage, even though we do plug in the heating pad on his favorite cushion when he needs it!  I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  Take care.  Nancy

Cool New Sneaks and a Very Special Salad

Hi all and happy Sunday.  First I wanted to say, thanks for all the heartwarming comments and stories you shared after reading my post about Jiggs.  We keep finding out more endearing qualities he has and he has definitely become a member of our family. 


I don't know if you know this, but I live in the Northeast and we got pummeled with snow Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.  Yeah for two snow days from school but it was a scary time for people who got stranded as the roads were impossible to navigate with zero visibility.    My husband put in extra hours at work and was anxious to get away yesterday.  It was raining(go figure) and the temperature was in the 40's so, we lost a lot of our snow.  I took advantage of this so I could wear these beauties:

I started out with $5 Walmart white sneakers and followed the instructions on yesterdayontuesday blog .  She did an extra step by painting the stripe along the rubber bottom.  Also, she painted hers pink like the Kate Spade sneakers that were her inspiration.  These were easy, just a little time consuming with the drying time and all.  I got compliments on these sneakers from complete strangers where we went yesterday!  Malia also has some cute polka dot sneakers on her blog and I am definitely making those!

I don't know if you do this, but when I go to a restaurant and have something unique and delicious, I am compelled to recreate it at home.  I went to a local privately-owned Italian restaurant and had a pear salad that was to die for.  It seemed fairly simple so I made it at home.

It was just as good!  I toasted some chopped walnuts in a small dry frying pan.  Your nose will know when they are done-be careful not to walk away-they will burn.  Transfer them to a small bowl and put some butter in the pan.  Over medium high heat, cook some pear slices(I used well-drained canned pears) until they are caramelized.  I bought a bag of baby Spring greens and put some in a bowl.  I sprinkled Gorgonzola crumbles and the walnuts on the greens.  I tossed these lightly in the bowl and put the warm pears on top.  I dressed the salad with a balsamic vinaigrette I had purchased.  It was wonderful.  My husband opted for a garden salad so I made one just for me!

I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I feel like I am coming down with a cold so I am hoping if I baby myself, it won't go full-blown on me!  I used the two snow days to straighten up my craft room.  To reward myself, I bought the cutest dress form lamp at Cracker Barrel.  I am trying to decide where to put it.  I will include a picture next post when it finds its perfect spot.  Take care.  Nancy

A Tale of Two Kitties

Happy New Year!  I have a good feeling about 2014 don't you?  I probably have most of the same resolutions I usually have but I have added a few more and this may be the year I push myself to actually conquer a few of them!

Meet Jiggs.  He was dropped off near our house right after Thanksgiving.  It has been a roller coaster ride with Jiggs, to say the least.  He was absolutely starving when we noticed him, rummaging through our garbage until he got at our turkey carcass.  He has the loudest, most obnoxious meow and the wildest front feet I have ever seen.  He looks like he has opposable thumbs.  We didn't know what to do with him.  We aren't really equipped to have an outdoor cat.  We only have a garage and it is closed up at night.  We live next door to the most animal-dangerous highway around.  I have a house cat Mickey who never goes outside and, at 6 years old, is very set in her ways and doesn't seem to care for other animals at all.   We started feeding Jiggs until we could set up alternate arrangements, looking for a home for him or, last resort, the ASPCA.  My 19 year old son, who volunteers at the local vet clinic and wants to be a groomer, took over the care of Jiggs in the garage.  My son was carrying the new bag of food we had just purchased at the grocery store and Jiggs bit him.  I have no idea where this cat has been and whether the lovely previous owners he had kept him up to date on his shots so I had to report it to my local vet clinic who had me call my local public health department.  I had two choices:  have him picked up by the dog warden where he would be quarantined for 10 days and then destroyed even if he was healthy or quarantine him myself for ten days.  A friend had a nice big cage we could borrow, so we quarantined him ourselves for 10 days.  At the end of the 10 days, we took him to our vet and had him get his shots and a check up.  We are thinking of getting him neutered, when we can save up the money, so hopefully he won't end up in the road by our house. So far he seems content to stay in the garage.  He took very well to the litter box when we had him in the cage, so we lock him in the garage at night.  He is very affectionate.  We realize that he bit Jake because he was starving and probably is used to fighting for whatever food he can get.  Jake made this observation right away and was devastated that we might decide to have Jiggs put down for his basic fear of starvation.
My husband named him Jiggs, by the way.  I have told him all the pets friends and family had when I was growing up by treating them like real people, giving the first and last names.  My godmother had a daschound when I was little named Jiggs.  He thought that was a riot so this stray cat was the first animal my husband was able to name in our family.  The ladies at the vet clinic had a few chuckles over it!

We are getting attached to Jiggs so I made him a collar.  I also hope you can see his front "mitten" foot in this picture.  Oh and I made my Mickey a couple of collars too!  So you can see I have a city cat and a country cat.

These collars are super easy to sew.  I got the idea from a wonderful animal lover who always seems to have room for one more- Susan at FlossieBlossoms  .

I have been on vacation these last 2 weeks.  We started the vacation with an ice storm and then we went right into Christmas so I haven't been as productive in my craft room as I would have liked but I got a few things done.  I made another watchband.

This is the fifth one I have made.  They are so easy and I love how much fun I can have with the fabrics.

I can also share the necklace I made for a good friend across the country from me.  

It matched the bracelet and earrings I sent her for her birthday.  I plan on winding down my vacation today by working on a few jewelry pieces.  It really relaxes me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  I have lots to do and I am excited to begin some different projects that will bring some new challenges with new skills to learn.  Stay warm and take care.  Nancy

Something to Celebrate

Hi all and happy Sunday night.  I have had a busy week and it only promises to get busier as Christmas gets even closer.  My oldest son is officially engaged to his girlfriend.  He gave her a ring on her birthday this past week.  They are close to graduating nursing school and will be taking their boards and getting jobs in the field they have prepared for.  I am happy for them.

On the Christmas cookie front, I welcomed a yummy newcomer to my cookie bunch.  These sugared date squares are different from the usual cookies I make this time of year.  A coworker and good friend made me a batch of these for my birthday this year and everyone that had one asked for the recipe.  They are that good!  In a large saucepan, combine 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, and 8 oz. package chopped dates.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until almost smooth-about 5 minutes.  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 cups rice krispies and 1 cup chopped walnuts.  Spread in a buttered 9 inch square pan.  Cool and cut into squares.  Dredge each cut square in powdered sugar.  They make a wonderful addition to any cookie tray.

I also wanted to share an easy scarf I made to go with a green coat with an unusual hue of green.  It may not look like it matches in this picture, but one of the greens in the variegated yarn matches exactly.  I used Deborah Norville's serenity chunky yarn in Forest.  I used size 17 needles and cast on 8 stitches using 2 strands of yarn.  I knit the first 6 rows.  For the next row, I knit 1 and then wrapped the yarn around twice and knit another one. I continued like that all the way across the row.  On the next row, I knit 1 and then dropped the extra wraps from the previous row and then knit one.  I continued that on that row and then knit the next 3 rows.  It was an easy pattern and with only 8 stitches in each row, it went quickly.  

I hope you all have a great week ahead.  I have several gatherings with friends to exchange gifts which means several dinners and lunches out this week.  We are also doing our secret Santa swap at school this week.  It will all be hectic but fun.  Take care.  Nancy

Knitting and Baking

Hi everyone and happy Sunday to you.  I can't believe how time is flying.  Christmas will be here before you know it. 

I wanted to share this fun scarf I knitted and completed in time for my son's girlfriend's birthday.  It was a lot of fun to knit and a little different from my usual-which is a good thing as I easily get caught in the rut of using the same pattern over and over again.  I used a soft yarn with sequins in it and an eyelash yarn.  She loves pink and black so I hope she likes it.  I followed the instructions for the snow bunny scarf from Knit and Crochet Now   tv show.  I watch that show every week and have learned so much from their visual tutorials.  Their patterns are free.  You should check it out.  This season, they are doing a different scarf every week.  I love scarves because they are perfect for my crafting attention span! 

I also wanted to share some delicious cupcakes I made last week. 

They are strawberry filled cupcakes.  I was impressed with the cake's texture.  They were dense without being heavy or dry.  To an ordinary cake mix, add 2 cups of sour cream(thus the wonderful texture) and 2 eggs.  Combine on low speed and beat for 2 minutes.  Fill 24 muffin cups by half  with the batter and make a little well in each one with a butter knife.  Put 1/2 teaspoon preserves of choice in and put the rest of the batter on top.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove to a rack to cool completely.  Frost as desired.  I am going to try lemon cake mix with raspberry preserves next.  I think they will be fantastic!

My jewelry of the week is a set that I personally thought turned out quite well.  I am not sure if it is because red is my favorite color or something else, but I really took a shine to this jewelry.

I wrestled with the idea of keeping it, but instead I sold it.  I thought the silver discs were especially cool.  I am also experimenting with putting chain in my jewelry along with the beaded segments.  It is a lot of fun just putting beads together and deciding what looks right.  I always have the option of making another set just like this to keep.  I may do that!

We had an anniversary party for my in-laws yesterday.  It was an informal open house at my sister-in-law's home.   They will have been married 60 years this Christmas Eve.  They are a wonderful and loving couple and I feel blessed to be a part of their family.  I am cooking a nice dinner for my son's girlfriend this Thursday on her birthday so we are looking forward to that.  I also have my Secret Santa exchange coming up in the school I work at.  I want to make a bracelet as part of my recipient's gift so I better get crackin'!  I hope you all have a great week ahead.  Take care.  Nancy

More Great Ideas from Fellow Bloggers

Hi and happy Sunday evening.  Is everyone getting ready for turkey day?  I know I am!  My in-laws are coming to my house for the first time in twenty-four years and I am oddly a little nervous!  It will be fun though and I am anxious for all those turkey sandwiches! 

I want to start off sharing a wonderful project that was both fun to create and unique. 

This peacock bracelet has a velvet ribbon band with twill tape added for stability.  I got the idea from Bev at Flamingo Toes .  She has awesome tutorial with great ideas.  I thought this would be a great gift.  I am going to make myself one after Christmas and I am toying with the idea of using an old pin that was my grandmother's as the centerpiece.  I love that pin and hold it so dear because I remember my mom giving it to me and telling me how much it meant to her mother.  I guess I am afraid of something happening to it.  It isn't really serving any purpose shut away in a jewelry box so I may just go ahead and use it.  It would make the piece I am planning that much more special.  I will include a picture when I complete it.

I also wanted to share a beverage that is so good and crazy simple to make.  It is a hot pumpkin spice steamer  that I saw on Crafty Chelsea.  I had to whip one up when I read about it and I was hooked!  I happened to have the little individual pumpkin spice creamers so I can tell you(if you are interested) that it takes six of these little devils to make one cup of this stuff.  After I used all my little creamers, I went ahead and purchased the full-size creamer.  I am sure I will manage to use it all! 

   Lastly, I wanted to show you a project that went in a different direction than it began.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I was excited to be learning a new jewelry technique in my bead of the month club.  Well, I became very frustrated using the silk thread to bead, especially knotting the beads in place.  I ended up using silver chain I had and making up my own pattern.  I was happy with the result but a little disappointed that I gave up.  I have another kit that involves that same silk thread technique, so I think  I will give it another go.  This time I will try to be more patient. 

I have been doing a lot of knitting lately and will share a project I made for my son's girlfriend next time.  As it gets colder here, I am really enjoying working with yarn as I watch television in the evening.  I also have been a pinning fool with my new love of Pinterest.  Nobody warned me how addictive it is!  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Take care.  Nancy

Awesome Bracelets and a Yummy Recipe Accident

Hi everyone and happy Sunday!  It most definitely is a happy Sunday in my opinion because it is a Sunday of a three day weekend!  I have been busy and I am dying to share a project I completed yesterday. 

I don't know if you are familiar with those trendy bracelets that are half chain, half braided cord.  I have been seeing them everywhere so I decided to recreate my own version. 




I started out with the materials I show in the picture.  I bought the silver chain and the white cording at Walmart and the endcaps, lobster clasps and the silver and black cording at Michaels.  I don't live in a big city so the endcaps were not the easiest to find.  JoAnn had them online but not in our local store.  They come in different sizes so purchase them according to the size of the cording you are using. 

I measured out my chain.  I used 3 1/2 inches but you could change that based on your wrist size and how much chain you want to show.  Next, I measured out the cording to 3 1/4 inches and wrapped a very slim piece of tape around it so I could cut it and it wouldn't unravel.  I repeated that so I would have 2 pieces of cording cut to size.  I glued the ends in an endcap with E6000 glue.  I had to replace the jump ring that came with the endcaps to a large one because the chain I picked was too big for the little one.  I connected the cording to the chain with the large jump ring and attached the toggle clasps to either end.  I had so much fun with this bracelet, I looked through my stash and came up with two other different ones. 

As you can see by the picture of the different bracelets, you can mix it up by switching out the chain sizes and styles, colors and diameters of cording and the way the bracelet clasps.  I had the small piece of decorative chain left that you see on the black bracelet and I was thrilled I could use it.  It is a great way to use up snippets of chain.  I think these would make great gifts, especially if you chose to make a bracelet like I made the black one.  The lobster clasp and dangling small chain make it adjustable.  Have fun with this if you decide to make one.  It really was easy. 

I also want to share a happy recipe accident with you. 

What you see here is a plate of peanutty goodness that tastes just like a Payday candy bar.  It was supposed to be, according to the recipe, peanut brittle.  The texture was solid enough to come off the buttered cookie sheet intact and be cut into squares, but it was chewy and gooey-just delicious.  Here is the recipe and you will end up with brittle or what I ended up with-either way, it's a win!
Line a cookie sheet with foil and butter it.  In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup heavy cream and 1/2 teaspoon course salt.  Heat over medium low heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring the whole time.  Boil over medium heat 4-5 minutes, until it turns a dark amber color.  Adjust heat to maintain a steady boil but not to scorch or boil over.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts.  Immediately pour onto prepared baking sheet and allow to cool for about an hour.  Break into pieces.   Mine never turned amber in color but I didn't want to go beyond the 5 minutes.  Now I know most of you would say that a candy thermometer would be a wise choice for a brittle recipe and you would probably be right.  I am not sure why I resist using one of those, except to say my Mom never used one and used to tell me they were too complicated when I was young and showed her a candy recipe I wanted to make that required one.  Now I am on a quest so I will get the candy thermometer out from the cupboard(I think I got it as a gift) and give a real brittle recipe a try.  But in the meantime, this recipe turned out delicious and I hope lightning strikes twice and it will turn out the same next time.  It was a happy recipe accident! 

I hope you all have a great week ahead.  I finally broke down and signed up for a Pinterest account.  I don't know why I waited so long(maybe it is like the candy thermometer!).  I will probably be experimenting with "pinning" a lot this coming week.  If you have any tips, feel free to email me.  I am new to it.  Take care.  Nancy