What are you doing to enjoy this last day of April? :)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
a breath of fresh air
Today has been a much needed "buckle down and get it done" sewing day. I'm really getting a lot accomplished. At the moment, I'm finishing up another one of my wallets. Since I made the first one in January, I've revised the pattern and added a layer of interfacing to make it thicker and more durable. I also added a detachable lanyard, which turned it into a "run to the store" type of thing. This is how it looks now:
It's the exact same pattern as before, but adding the interfacing really made a huge difference in the looks. I absolutely love it and I have made several for family and friends.
The one I am working on today is for a lady at our church. She asked if I could make it big enough to fit her checkbook inside. Of course I can! So, I re-measured everything, made a new pattern and set to work. I am really like how large it is, so I think I'm might have to make myself one to carry around in my purse.
I was told to surprise her with the fabric. Here's what I chose:
I found this on clearance at Walmart for $2.50 a yard! After making myself a skirt out of it, I decided that I loved it so much that I just had to get some more! I hope she likes it!
When I have major sewing days, like today, I have to scatter breaks throughout my day so I won't get totally frazzled (which happens very easily...). Can you other seamstresses relate? So, earlier I decided to take the Canon and step outside for some fresh air. I haven't taken pictures in quite some time, but I got some lovely ones today to make up for it!
It's the exact same pattern as before, but adding the interfacing really made a huge difference in the looks. I absolutely love it and I have made several for family and friends.
The one I am working on today is for a lady at our church. She asked if I could make it big enough to fit her checkbook inside. Of course I can! So, I re-measured everything, made a new pattern and set to work. I am really like how large it is, so I think I'm might have to make myself one to carry around in my purse.
I was told to surprise her with the fabric. Here's what I chose:
I found this on clearance at Walmart for $2.50 a yard! After making myself a skirt out of it, I decided that I loved it so much that I just had to get some more! I hope she likes it!
When I have major sewing days, like today, I have to scatter breaks throughout my day so I won't get totally frazzled (which happens very easily...). Can you other seamstresses relate? So, earlier I decided to take the Canon and step outside for some fresh air. I haven't taken pictures in quite some time, but I got some lovely ones today to make up for it!
Mama's roses. <3
Does anyone else love onions as much as I do?
Daisies :)
The hay field...
Don't you just love sunlight dancing in the trees?
Green beans. More fun to take pictures of than
they are to pick!
Flowers on the porch.
Oh, I just love home! There's nowhere else I'd rather be!
Well, I guess my break is over and it's time to lock myself in the sewing room again. With the wallet almost finished I am hoping to begin tackling the big project on my list: an outfit for my Grammy. I'm using another outfit as a pattern, which I've done before, but for some reason I'm just a teeny bit apprehensive about it this time. We shall see... :)
Friday, April 27, 2012
My book of Post-It notes :)
Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I am not the most organized person in the world, though I do try very hard! I've found that the easiest way to keep myself on track is to write everything down on paper. And I do mean, everything! The problem is keeping up with it all!
I keep a large binder that sits on my desk that I use to hold things that I want to keep handy. It's mostly filled with prayer lists, scripture studies, recipes, patterns, and other miscellaneous things that I stuff inside whenever I clean off my desk. If you were to ever come across this binder and flip through the pages, one of the first things that you would notice is my obsession with Post-It notes.
It's true. That's my confession of the day. I absolutely love those wonderful, colorful squares of sticky paper. Most of my personal space is littered with those handy colored squares, containing hastily scribbled to-do lists, reminders, and random thoughts or quotes. Those little sticky notes are what help me keep my sanity. My short-term memory is...well...shall we say, lacking! However, they do tend to pile up, making the task of remembering where I put the one that I need rather difficult. A bit more organized way of keeping up with things was definitely in order.
So, a few months ago, I began the process of putting together together a homemade daily/weekly/monthly planner to add to my binder. I have found that I enjoy having my time planned out on paper, whether I actually follow it to the letter or not. The satisfaction that comes from organization is worth the time spent putting it all down. So, with this goal in mind, I set to work trying to decide what format to use.
I spent ridiculous amounts of time browsing through free printables that other lovely ladies have created and posted online, but I never seemed to find one that suited me. I suppose that part of the problem was that I'm too practical. The idea of printing off an new page for every single day didn't sit well with me. Not that I'm a tree hugger, but it just seemed wasteful and it would also take up a lot of room!
So, I continued searching, and one day I found an idea on Pintrest. (Don't you just love Pintrest?????) After mulling it over for a while, I came up with a way to make it my own. It involves the use of Post-It notes. PERFECT!!!!!!
This was the original idea:
This functions as a To-Do/Project planner. One side is labeled, "Urgent" and the other, "Not so urgent". You can move the notes from one side to the other as deadlines near and then throw them away when they are completed.
I decided that I could use the same principle for my daily planner:
Cute, chic, incredibly crafty, it most certainly is not, but sometimes you've just gotta use what you've got! A little masking tape and markers and I had a daily planner. I love this because I use the same pages over and over and just add new Post-It notes. It also takes up a very small part of my binder so I can continue to use it for other things as well.
In looking for organization ideas on Pintrest and visiting various blogs, I found an idea that I am really excited about. I have been blogging now for about a year and I absolutely love it! No really, I love it! However, so far my posts have been unplanned and rather sporadic. I have decided that it is high time to change that.
So, I am now in the process of coming up with a schedule for my blog posts (yes, I'm using Post-It notes for this too! :). I plan to begin using it May 1st. This schedule contains recipes, tips, maybe eventually a few tutorials, scripture, and a few other things. I'm really excited about getting started!
To start with, I made sure to give myself plenty of flexibility (hence, the sticky notes!). Sometimes my day goes slightly haywire and blog posts are the last thing on my mind, so this definitely isn't something that I plan to get stressed out over.
In the future, I may be adding a few more things, but for now I'm just going to settle in to working off my "simple" schedule.
Now, that I have my planner made, I am enjoying that wonderful feeling of accomplishment that comes when everything that was planned for the day gets done, and then some! I love it!
I keep a large binder that sits on my desk that I use to hold things that I want to keep handy. It's mostly filled with prayer lists, scripture studies, recipes, patterns, and other miscellaneous things that I stuff inside whenever I clean off my desk. If you were to ever come across this binder and flip through the pages, one of the first things that you would notice is my obsession with Post-It notes.
It's true. That's my confession of the day. I absolutely love those wonderful, colorful squares of sticky paper. Most of my personal space is littered with those handy colored squares, containing hastily scribbled to-do lists, reminders, and random thoughts or quotes. Those little sticky notes are what help me keep my sanity. My short-term memory is...well...shall we say, lacking! However, they do tend to pile up, making the task of remembering where I put the one that I need rather difficult. A bit more organized way of keeping up with things was definitely in order.
So, a few months ago, I began the process of putting together together a homemade daily/weekly/monthly planner to add to my binder. I have found that I enjoy having my time planned out on paper, whether I actually follow it to the letter or not. The satisfaction that comes from organization is worth the time spent putting it all down. So, with this goal in mind, I set to work trying to decide what format to use.
I spent ridiculous amounts of time browsing through free printables that other lovely ladies have created and posted online, but I never seemed to find one that suited me. I suppose that part of the problem was that I'm too practical. The idea of printing off an new page for every single day didn't sit well with me. Not that I'm a tree hugger, but it just seemed wasteful and it would also take up a lot of room!
So, I continued searching, and one day I found an idea on Pintrest. (Don't you just love Pintrest?????) After mulling it over for a while, I came up with a way to make it my own. It involves the use of Post-It notes. PERFECT!!!!!!
This was the original idea:
This functions as a To-Do/Project planner. One side is labeled, "Urgent" and the other, "Not so urgent". You can move the notes from one side to the other as deadlines near and then throw them away when they are completed.
I decided that I could use the same principle for my daily planner:
Cute, chic, incredibly crafty, it most certainly is not, but sometimes you've just gotta use what you've got! A little masking tape and markers and I had a daily planner. I love this because I use the same pages over and over and just add new Post-It notes. It also takes up a very small part of my binder so I can continue to use it for other things as well.
In looking for organization ideas on Pintrest and visiting various blogs, I found an idea that I am really excited about. I have been blogging now for about a year and I absolutely love it! No really, I love it! However, so far my posts have been unplanned and rather sporadic. I have decided that it is high time to change that.
So, I am now in the process of coming up with a schedule for my blog posts (yes, I'm using Post-It notes for this too! :). I plan to begin using it May 1st. This schedule contains recipes, tips, maybe eventually a few tutorials, scripture, and a few other things. I'm really excited about getting started!
To start with, I made sure to give myself plenty of flexibility (hence, the sticky notes!). Sometimes my day goes slightly haywire and blog posts are the last thing on my mind, so this definitely isn't something that I plan to get stressed out over.
In the future, I may be adding a few more things, but for now I'm just going to settle in to working off my "simple" schedule.
Now, that I have my planner made, I am enjoying that wonderful feeling of accomplishment that comes when everything that was planned for the day gets done, and then some! I love it!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
a little side dish
When it comes to food, I'll eat just about anything. The only exceptions that I've come across so far are sushi, eggplants, and beets. My mom once made beets when I was about 8 years old. It was a rule that I had to eat two bites of them whether they appealled to me or not. After eyeing the smelly, dark, jelly-ish looking stuff, I cautiously took a tiny bite. My stomach promptly returned the morsel to my plate and Mama's never made them since.
Aside from these items, I am easy to please. I love Italian food, Mexican food, French food, Chinese food, American food (aside from hot dogs, burgers and fries what exactly is American food?), I love it all. I am also one of those annoying people that is constantly adding something spicy to whatever I'm cooking. Oh yes, cayenne, spicy mustard, peppers...you name it, I have probably thrown it in at some point. Just give me a tall glass of water for a chaser and I'm set.
I can handle just about anything. Within reason of course. I'm not the type person who drinks hot sauce straight from the bottle nor do I aspire to be. But my spicy limit is definately higher than the rest of my family. They finally drew the line when I brought out the horseradish.
Ok. We've established the fact that I like foods with a big kick to them, but I like the ones with little kicks too!
Occasionally, I'll surf through the endless resources for recipes on the Internet and jot down some that I think the family will like. We're always needing new side dishes to go with dinner, so that's usually what I try to find. Several years ago, I ran across a recipe for potatoes. I can't remember where it came from, but in all probability it was allrecipes.com. At first I was a little hesitant to use it because after viewing the ingredients I wasn't sure how it would go over. It sat in a drawer for a couple of months before I finally decided to give it a try. To my pleasant suprise, everyone loved them! Sarah has been begging me to make them for a week and I finally got around to it today, so I thought I'd share it with you.
Don't they look delicious? Trust me, they are! All potato dishes seem to end up tasting the same, but these have just enough bite to them to make them stand out. Don't just take my word for it. Try them sometime!
Aside from these items, I am easy to please. I love Italian food, Mexican food, French food, Chinese food, American food (aside from hot dogs, burgers and fries what exactly is American food?), I love it all. I am also one of those annoying people that is constantly adding something spicy to whatever I'm cooking. Oh yes, cayenne, spicy mustard, peppers...you name it, I have probably thrown it in at some point. Just give me a tall glass of water for a chaser and I'm set.
I can handle just about anything. Within reason of course. I'm not the type person who drinks hot sauce straight from the bottle nor do I aspire to be. But my spicy limit is definately higher than the rest of my family. They finally drew the line when I brought out the horseradish.
Ok. We've established the fact that I like foods with a big kick to them, but I like the ones with little kicks too!
Occasionally, I'll surf through the endless resources for recipes on the Internet and jot down some that I think the family will like. We're always needing new side dishes to go with dinner, so that's usually what I try to find. Several years ago, I ran across a recipe for potatoes. I can't remember where it came from, but in all probability it was allrecipes.com. At first I was a little hesitant to use it because after viewing the ingredients I wasn't sure how it would go over. It sat in a drawer for a couple of months before I finally decided to give it a try. To my pleasant suprise, everyone loved them! Sarah has been begging me to make them for a week and I finally got around to it today, so I thought I'd share it with you.
Deviled Roasted Potatoes
Whisk together:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. dry mustard (prepared mustard works just as well)
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Coat mixture on to 1 pound of cubed red potatoes.
Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with a nonstick spray. Place coated potatoes in a single layer on prepared pan and roast in a 450 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until tender. (I had to cook them a bit longer today because I didn't cut my potatoes small enough.)
Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with a nonstick spray. Place coated potatoes in a single layer on prepared pan and roast in a 450 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until tender. (I had to cook them a bit longer today because I didn't cut my potatoes small enough.)
Don't they look delicious? Trust me, they are! All potato dishes seem to end up tasting the same, but these have just enough bite to them to make them stand out. Don't just take my word for it. Try them sometime!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)