Craft of the Week and Bonus "Craft"

So this week, I made these super-easy washer necklaces. I just made sure the diameter of the washer and the hole in the washer coordinated with my circle punch sizes. Then I punched out a bunch of retired DSP I have adhered it with Tombo multi-purpose glue, let dry, and sealed with SU! Crystal Effects. Voila!
It felt way to easy -kind of like I was cheating, so I made them double-sided and added assorted SU! Jewels.

This one is my favorite:

It's very dainty and pretty, well, for a washer anyway!



Since I seemed to have a bunch of extra days in the week (I finished these last Saturday), well technically, I finished them before the week even started, I went and bought a dozen more washers that I'll finish by Saturday.
Also, late last week, our new local produce shop got in tons of peaches from their orchard over in Eastern Wa. I couldn't resist and bought 2 boxes (40lbs), as the price was amazing, and they're non-certified organic. Well, I learned a little something: Don't try to peel/skin unripe peaches. I thought they were good as they gave a little under pressure, but they were a little green. So, couple days hanging out in the warm-ish garage, and ta-da! They peeled perfectly yesterday, and today, and more again today. I gave my first try at canning them, next will be jam, and the rest into the freezer and crisp for tonight.

Ironically peaches aren't my favorite, and after a year of 40lbs of peaches, I'll probably stick with a single 20lb box next year. But, boy oh boy, I can't wait for the blackberries to come in (our yard ones are a later variety), to make some peach/blackberry cobbler -Yummy!

Oh, and for those of you who are local, here is the link to Bill Pace Produce . He's not new, but he's got a new shop in our 'hood. I'm so excited about getting fresh local apples by the box soon. Applesaucin' here I come!!

Happy Crafting!

Craft of the Week: Week 6

Still on track for Crafts of the Week! I am looking to sustain this through August, and hopefully it will have become enough of a habit to carry on into the holiday season.
This past week's project was purely a practical one: A bed/pillow for puppy.

 I used two solid colors of blizzard fleece on sale at Joann's -kind of a limey green and chocolate brown, and a 27" square pillow form. Ironically, we did not have puppy then, but I knew we would get a puppy at some point in the near future and tried to choose something neutral color-wise. I just had to take advantage of the great 4th of July sale and military discount.
Don't the colors go great with her coat and collar??

Happy Crafting!

Bad Blogger's Crafts of the Week

I really enjoy reading good bloggers, but I'm hoping if any of you followers are still around, you don't mind checking out blogs of bad bloggers like myself. Many life changes since the last blog posting. I have implemented a "craft-of-the-week" this summer to keep myself crafting, and using the supplies I just "had to have". I started 6/24.
Weeks 1&2 were these cute recipe boxes:

I've got more paper ordered so I can make some more -love the way they turned out with the matching divider cards.

Week 3 were swaps for Girl Scout camp that I volunteered at with my 3 kiddos:

We made over 150 to go with our camp names: Bunny, CrocStar, Snorkel, and Pearl (like in Finding Nemo)

Week 4 was basket weaving at camp:

Basket weaving (for those of you who don't already know), is so amazingly zen. Must do this again!

Week 5 was these super-fun and easy necklaces:

I'll be selling these along with some other style necklaces at a community craft fair in the fall.

Week 6 will be a bed for this little cutie, our newest family member:

Thanks for hanging in with me! I'm thinking along with Craft of the Week, I need to start Blog of the Week. :)
Have a great afternoon wherever you are!
Happy Crafting!

Cupcakes: Take 2

Wait, where is Take 1 you might ask. Too bad, it's already been eaten! They were Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcakes, but I would call them more Mocha cupcakes with Salted Caramel frosting. They were yummy and are now gone.
I've been having this cupcake "thing" lately, I think it started at our school's auction fundraiser. Our table won a bunch of cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. I had the Lemon Drop (YUM!) and then split a Chocolate Salted Caramel one with frosting that was just amazing!! They've been on the brain since then.
So, today in an effort to test-drive a recipe for a friend's birthday treat, I made Carrot Ginger Cupcakes with an Orange Ginger icing both recipes from MarthaStewart.com.

I'm not sure how this is different from a muffin other than the frosting on top. I'd be happier calling it a muffin and eating it without the frosting. If you know the difference between a cupcake and a muffin, other than frosted vs. unfrosted, please leave a comment and enlighten me. Also, please know that I belong to the camp that believes that Costco muffins are cupcakes without frosting.
Now, don't get me wrong...the cake is yummy, but not quite what I'd consider a cupcake in texture. The frosting was really flavorful and yummy, but not super fluffy considering the amount of dairy in it, and a little too cream-cheesy for my liking, but great combo of flavors. The ginger and orange together...mmmmmm.
This would be really good over your favorite gingerbread recipe!
If I were to try this again, I'd halve the cream cheese, up the butter and conf. sugar, and use milk or cream to smooth as needed. Also, thinking this might make a good loaf recipe...
I'm on a roll, but I'm not going to be so ambitious as trying a different one each week, but 2 a month is pretty doable!
I definitely will be attempting a Chocolate-Bacon-Maple Buttercream concoction I tried from Whole Foods about a month ago...stay tuned!

Sunny days...

...sweepin' the clouds away! It's been a Sesame Street kind of week, you know friendly neighbors, sunshine, the occasional grouch. :)
Spent some time outside with the kiddos in the yard -had some fun, did some work.
Here is an example of fun my son and I had:

I was pretty pleased with my no-previous-practice Cookie Monster, but my son added the verbage and the giant chocolate chip cookie to make it even better! We had some other characters hanging out in the driveway too, but C.M was my favorite.

 Now, for a couple of challenges:

 A little Color Throwdown, and mix in some Mojo Monday

And you get:

Believe it or not, the green in this card is Old Olive...it looks way brighter, thanks to the fabulous sunshine we've got this morning. I loved the color combo in this weeks color throwdown, and the sketch was simple enough to my liking, but with enough elements to challenge me.
I used: Upsy Daisy set; Old Olive, Marina Mist, Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede c/s; Pumpkin Pie Patterns DSP (Brights pad); Old Olive & Versamark inks; 1 3/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches; Watercolor Crayons (Old Olive, Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, & a little Daffodil Delight); Big Shot Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder; Big Designer Buttons (Springtime Vintage -Olive); 1/8" taffeta ribbon -Marina Mist.

Enjoy!

Christmas is coming...

12/20/2010
Thought I would take a break from cookie baking, etc. to post what will likely be my last blog of the year.
I just wanted to share a few things I've been working on, but as I mentioned before, I can't post many so I won't spoil any Christmas surprises.

(fade to new year)

Happy New Year everyone!!

I started getting this post ready some months back and got swallowed up by the holidays and the busy-ness of whatever rolled my way.

I've missed you!

Here are a couple of bags I made as Christmas gifts:

Gifts I made also included button bracelets, ornaments, tons of cookies and goodies, snuggies for the kids, and one for my brother-in-law that included a matching one for his rifle. That was a hoot to make and give.

Hubby was busy too and made some beautiful wooden puzzles.

The new year has just flown by so far, I once again volunteered to lead  a class auction art project (same teacher, different child this time). Again, I opted to do a quilt. This time, instead of having the kids draw on it, they got to design their own squares, which my helpers and I translated to fabric. It turned out amazing!! Here's a sneak peek:

I'm so excited to attend the auction and see how it does -every dollar counts for the schools in this economy!!

If you missed it the first time, here's a link to the first class quilt I did.



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My oh my! What a Thanksgiving week we have had. The week started off with snow -the kids only had one day of school, the rest were cancelled for snow. This is quite unusual in the Seattle-area especially this early!
It was fun to have everyone home though, take the kids to the sledding hill, and have homemade hot chocolate (like mom & grandma made) laden with mini-marshmallows.

Roads cleared up enough to do last minute shopping at the grocery store (along with the rest of the neighborhood!), and make it to my sister's for a blessed holiday meal.

Yesterday, my daughter and I, along with some fellow Girl Scout troop friends, participated in the Macy's Holiday Parade. I had such a good time -totally able to "anonymously" ham it up! Cannot wait to do it again!

Today we did some shopping, and managed to avoid the crazy crowds of yesterday. We were also able to do all of our holiday decorating, with the exception of our tree which we won't put up for another couple weeks. I am soooo excited -love coming into the decorated house!