It's All About Me

Quick little knitting share

I'm in love with headbands... fortunately she is the biggest girlie girl ever and if I can get pink somewhere in an accessory, she is all over it!  I got the itch to knit again about a month ago and have made some things for a couple of shoots I had, but also managed to make Makena and myself some stuff also.  I haven't taken the shots of everything, but did want to share what I made last week... so adorable!  I tweaked a pattern I found a bit and then added the flowers!  Love how it came out and since it was pink, Makena was sold also :)

 

and the headband in action....

 

Adorable, both her little pose and the headband :)

I'm getting ready to finally catch up on my P365 album here on my blog, I had intended on adding them here each time I posted, but that never happened!  I stay pretty current on my Facebook and on Project 365, so I just need to add a few more here.  I wanted to share a couple of my favorites from January though...

snazzy leaves in the backyard and some red shoes I have never worn:

 

my fist shipment of K-Cups for the most amazing coffee machine ever:

 

New short haircut:
 

a rainbow the kids and I came home to that was directly over our house:

 
  
Homemade felt IPOD cover's:

    

Giants love:

 

Getting baked goodies ready to deliver to some friends:

Peanut butter & jelly panini's, Valentine's Day style:

  

and from last week, "Band Hero" excitement:

 

Alright, off to add the rest of my images to the album here and maybe to Flickr!  If you are on  Project 365365 or Flickr, go ahead and let me know so I can add ya to follow!

Week 4/Recipe 4- Turkey Tamale Pie... in your Crock Pot :)

I thought I would take a bit of a break from the sweets and post one of my favorite slow cooker recipes this week. To tell you the complete truth, I have had my cooker for at least 3 years now and unfortunately I have only used it a handful of times!  I have tried to find recipes for it everywhere, I swear I have! Nothing I ever found really jumped out at me.  I see lots of stuff for roasts, but I'm completely happy using my Dutch oven to roast and love how they turn out in it.  This year, because of my goal for cooking more dinners at home, I swore I would dust off my slow cooker and get to cookin with it asap!  So, this is one of my favorite things to come from my fancy little machine sent from heaven that I rarely ever use...

 
This recipe kinda fell in my lap a couple of months ago when I was in L.A. and I was going through some cookbooks my mom had.  It was one of the only recipes in the book that sounded interesting enough to try.  I found it in the "Prevention Guide- Slow Cooker Meals" booklet so I thought I would give it a whirl...didn't think I would fall in love :)  so easy, so perfect, almost reminds me of a fresh tamale, definitely the next best thing!  I don't even know where they sell this little booklet, but it looks just like the ones they sell at the checkout in the grocery store... here is a link to their site!  And here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 lb ground turkey

- 1 minced onion

- 1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

- 1 envelope (1 1/2 oz) taco seasoning mix (I use this because I like to pretend its better for us)

 

- 1 pkg (8 1/2 oz) corn muffin mix ( I use JIFFY and am perfectly happy with it)

 
 
 - 1 large egg

- 1/3 cup milk

-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I try to find a "mexican blend", but cheddar will work fine)

- optional 1 can (15 1/2 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained (personally,I hate beans, but if ya like, throw those bad boys in)

DIRECTIONS:

Coat a non stick skillet with cooking spray.  Add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened on medium high heat.  Add ground turkey and cook until browned.  Turn off heat.  Coat your slow cooker with non stick cooking spray and then add turkey mixture.  Add tomatoes,  seasoning mix, cheese, and beans (if using them).  In a separate bowl, mix together corn muffin mix, egg, and milk until combined. Batter will be a bit lumpy.  Spread mixture over your turkey mixture in the slow cooker.  Coverand cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or until a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out clean.

PDF Printable recipe can be found here!!!

Here is a little sneaky peek of what I have going on at the moment, was going to be for this week, but didn't finish them until today... wouldn't want to get behind with the blog after all, so I will wait until next week!  I totally and utterly have a fascination with mushrooms... after trying a recipe I found for cupcakes, I thought I would change it a bit and make these:

 

Oh and while I'm here, I also wanted to share these I made last week when So Cal was practically flooding because of all the rain we had!  It rained 5 days straight... may not be a concern for people who live in other states, but us folks that are used to sunny, 75 degree weather all year round, well we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves!  Being cooped up in the house all wekk, I dug up some crafty stuff and ended up with these IPOD covers:

 

 
How bad did I want to add a mushroom to this one... actually, I think I may have to find a mushroom button for it.  Yes, thats what I must do! Aahhh, that would make me smile :)  Anyways, I was hoping to do a little tut for this since they are so super simple and take almost no supplies, I'm pretty sure you can find what ya need in your immediate stash!  Hopefully, I will get to that tomorrow and post with the next recipe! 

I should have a picture share as well this week also... so much to do, so little time!

Muah XOXO

Week 3/Recipe 3- Double Cocoa Cookies

Normally I am not a huge chocolate fan... I mean, I like it, but I could also live without it.  I don't crave it at all like a lot of other people I know.  Recently though, I seem to be gravitating towards it!  The recipe I was going to share this week was for Oreo Truffles which are probably the most rich, heavenly things in the world, but that will have to wait until next week... I made them for Blake's birthday last weekend as a last minute little goody, so didn't have a chance to take any pics or anything :)  For now, I will share the recipe I tried this week from "better homes & garden" for these cute little chocolate-y cookies!  A recipe that is GREAT to use with kiddos because there are some steps they could totally help out with and have fun doing...  So here it is:

 

Double Cocoa Cutout Cookies

Ingredients:

cookies

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour (plus more for rolling cookies out)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 cups sugar

cocoa butter frosting

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

I don't know about anyone else, but baking is so much easier when you measure everything out for the recipe and have it waiting for you to drop in.  So I like to start by doing just that... measure out all of your ingredients and have everything waiting for you :)  Start with the shortening and sugar and add them both to a large bowl or your stand mixer. (sorry for the poor pictures, did these late in the day and had no light to work with!)

 

Combine all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt).  

 

 

Stir until completely mixed. Set aside.

 

 

Beat shortening and sugar together until well combined.  Then add egg, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

 

 

Add milk... then SLOWLY, add the dry ingredients to the bowl.  

 

 

Try adding them in 3 batches... mixing until it just comes together and starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.  Yum!!!

 

Cut 2 pieces of plastic wrap, large enough to wrap dough.  Turn out dough onto your table and divide into 2 portions.  Press out into a disk about 1 1/2" or so and wrap each disk tightly in the plastic wrap.

 

Refrigerate for at least an hour until you are ready to roll it out and cut them!  

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Take dough out and begin rolling out to 1/4" thickness on a lightly floured surface.

 

Of course this is the perfect opportunity to get a kiddo involved :)  What kid doesn't like playing with any type of dough?  Anytime Makena sees my rolling pin, she ALWAYS goes to grab hers, regardless of whether or not I have asked for her assistance!

 

 

Lightly flour the cookie cutter... 

 

 

You can make these cookies any shape you like, but I have been wanting to use some new scalloped biscuit cutters I got a couple of months ago... I only rolled out 1 of my disks for these, but I think Makena will want to make some hearts as well :)

Anyways, cut each cookie out and place on your parchment lined baking sheet.

 

Bake for approximately 6-7 minutes.  I like my cookies a bit "under done" so I get them out a little early! Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a rack to completely cool.

 

In the meantime while your cookies cool down, you can make the frosting.  Now, I'm all about short cuts and cheating a bit, so this is an opportunity to do just that!  Instead of making your own frosting for these, you can totally run to the pantry and grab a pre-made cake frosting :)  Nobody will ever know the difference, although the homemade recipe is quite yummy as well, but if you are slow on time or missing an ingredient, don't sweat it, CHEAT!  If you wanna make your own, here is that recipe:

Frosting

In a medium bowl, beat 1/4 cup of softened butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and cocoa a little at a time until completely combined.  Add in milk and vanilla.  Mix well and then slowly add the remaining powdered sugar... if its a bit too thick, you can add a tad more milk until its spreading consistency!

Once your cookies have completely cooled, go ahead and frost them!

 

VARIATIONS:

You could also make little sandwich cookies out of them... those would be cute :)

 

 

OR another opportunity for the kiddo's to help with some sprinkles!   I don't know about anyone else's kid, but mine LOVE using sprinkles!  And with Valentine's around the corner, well, what's better than that theme of sprinkles right?

 

Voila... easy, cute, and chocolate-y!

Alrighty folks... off to grab one of the rugrats at school... I will leave ya with a little sneak peek of project I made yesterday.  With all this rain here this week, I started getting a little ancy and broke out the crafting supplies!  Hopefully will get a chance to do a tut to go with it by the weekend!

 

 
 

Here, finally updating and w/ a project!

So much to do, so little time.  It's the story of my life.... knew I HAD to get in here to post the new hybrid project (which, by the way, has been in the store now for already 2 weeks).  Yes, I am a loser!  Ok, on to stuff.

Here are the pieces for the new hybrid kit:

It comes with a 7 Gypsies spiral album,  a handful of foof-a-la buttons, a set of Basic Grey glazed metal brads, 1 package of Heidi Swapp felt butterfly embellishments, Cloud 9 dimensional flower stickers, Amercian Crafts "thickers", 1 metal key,2 metal photo turns, and 2 metal photo corners, and 2 sheets of Kimberly Poloson cardstock journal stickers.  OH... and not shown, but I also include some fabric pieces and super cute trims :)  As for the digital portion... look at this yumminess:

Didn't the girls do a fab job on this one?  Love the warm, rich colors... playful, fun, and totally cute!

This is what I did with my hybrid kit... notice I didn't include pictures because Im waiting for Thanksgiving to roll around and will add those pictures after the holiday :

and some closer details....

   

 

 

 

So, you can probably tell from the samples, but this project seriously took me about an hour and half to do.  I did it super "free form"... no ruler, no measuring stuff.  Just a stapler, small scissors, glue dots, and a liquid glue for the trims I attached.  Sometimes Im super anal about having things straight and "just so", lined up, even margins or whatever, but this time I thought I would save all that stress and just go with it.  For anyone wanting some brief instructions... here ya go:

• Decide what papers you want to use in the album.  Open those in your program.

• Resize each paper to 6"x6"

• Print at home or send out to an online developer (I use Costco because its easy and convenient).  You will need approximately 8 sheets.

• Cut a template out of chipboard 5.85"x3".  This will be used as a guid for you to cut out all of the digitally printed papers.

• You can either do your cover now if you have an idea of how you want it to look or wait until the album is finished and grab inspiration from your pages to complete it.  You can paint the covers, inke the edges, etc. or leave it plain like I did.

• Grab the first paper you want to use, grab the chipboard template and use it as a guide to cut the paper out.  If you are going to use a stapler as much as I did, its a good idea to complete each page in order.  Go ahead and start to embellish your page... remember, don't adhere it to the album yet, if you are stapling stuff down (if you adhere it first and then staple, you will see the backs of the staples and they might get in the way of the design of the next page... of course, if you don't care about that, adhere away!)

• Once your page is all embellised and ready to go, go ahead and adhere it to the album.  I LOVE using glue dots for this because they are SO strong.  I like sticking them right onto the backs of the staples, corners, and 1 in the center, but use whatever you have and whatever works!

• Go through each page the same way and if you want to, go ahead and grab some extra trim or whatever ribbon you have on hand, and tie off the spiral binding to make it nice, fluffy, and purty!  (I didnt tie mine off, or havent yet at least)

• Another option you can do if you don't like this more "paper scrapping" approach.  Make your template in your editing software and create each page digitally, then print, then embellish, then adhere.  Since I really do love the look of layers and it looking more 3D, I chose the other option :)

I can't wait for Thanksgiving to roll around so I can snap my pictures and then add them to this to complete it!!!  Before I forget, lemme show ya some digi layouts using the kit also that the girls at FPD did:

     

The first batch of kits sold out the first week, but I just received a shipment in to replenish the stock :)  Those were added to the store last week and now I only have 4 left!  I will not be reordering these items again, so if you want to give the kit a try, you can grab that here!!!

Alright, I have a lot more to share, but will leave it at this for now!  For anyone that has already purchase eithe rthe hybrid kit OR just the digital portion of "Together", I would LOVE to see what you have done with yours, so please link me up! 

 

 

I *heart* Sewing

Lookies what I made this week, like with my own 2 hands and everything....

 

  

You really have no idea how impressed I was with myself when it was done.  Granted the freaking little dress took me HOURS and I keep telling Joe that Makena will only be able to wear it once because we can't put it in the washing machine (I'm convinced that it will fall apart lol), but I loved making it.  I didn't want to use my good Amy Butler fabric the first go around with the new pattern, so I used this "scrap" one I had.  I have had an ongoing love affair with fabric for about a year now :) so I have a ton to play with.  And to be quite honest, I'm getting a bit sick of all the pink in her closet, so this was a nice change.

Anyways, so after this dress was done, I started making another one with better fabric and get this.... it only took me about an hour AND that was with Makena asking "my dress?  my dress?  pinky dress mine?" about 1,000 times!  She was so cute.  I was worried that she wouldn't wear them, but surprisingly she kept this one on all day and didn't want to take it off... awwwweeeee :)  Actually, I was so impressed and addicted that I made 2 more trips to the fabric store and ended up making another little dress,  2 aprons for me, and 2 pairs of pajama pants for Blake AND have the next 2 projects lined up.  I also have a shopping cart FILLED with yumminess over with Heather Bailey new store... can you say YUMMO (this girl is so seriously talented and gorgeous to boot... ) .  Here are the next patterns I wanna play with too:

Adorable huh?  They will probably look like shit on me because I'm short, but at least I will have something pretty to look at on a hanger! 

OK, I also wanted to give a little update on my CT call.  Technically it was supposed to end earlier this week, BUT it looks like I'm having some mail server issues.  Keep in mind I spent most of the past week sewing and maybe 1% of my time on the computer, mostly checking customer service and personal emails, but luckily I did notice this email yesterday...

I don't know if you can see it, but the inbox for the ct call was FULL and what's worse is that I know there were a lot of emails that got rejected and didn't come through :(  Seriously, I'd love to think that I was that popular to receive thousands of people wanting to be on my ct lol, but sadly that isn't the case haha!  I think a setting was jacked and it only allowed a certain amount of attachment MB's through.  In any case, I changed my settings on the back end of the store and once I did that, more emails came through, so I'm thinking that some may have been stuck.  If you have applied for my call AND haven't received a confirmation email from me, PLEASE email me again ([email protected])... sorry girls about this, sometimes technology is NOT what its cracked up to be!  I will officially end the call on Friday night at 9pm EST!!!!

From all of the ones I have received.... man oh man... LOTS of talent out there girls!!!!  Even though I knew I had to do a call, this is the part I absolutely hate!  I wish I could take everyone and seriously compared to other calls I have done for the store and other personal ct calls, I don't think I have come across 1 gallery that I didn't love this go around... seriously everyone was amazing!  So while I'm totally excited and motivated to design more after seeing what's out there, I'm dreading only having to pick a handful of the girls :(  bleh.....

OK, Joe is officially off as of today for the next 3 days so I won't be around doing anything!  Still have to share the new big gift I bought for the family, Joe's reaction to it, and why I'm in love with it :)  Peace out home skillets!

HUGS