TUTU for sale!

SOLD

How cute are these! They were a special order from craigslist for 3 cousins. I used the same pink sparkle mesh for all three to tie them together and I doubled the layers to make them extra full. I just loved how they turned out- and so did the mom who bought them. Horray!

For Sale

Here's some more hats I'm trying to sell on craigslist

For Sale

Here I go again- using my blog to further my craigslisting. Some very cool caps for this baseball season. Jason kinda wanted me to keep them so he always has a nice looking, clean hat to wear. I just told him to quit getting all his hats dirty! I'd rather not have a billion hats floating around my house.

When you get lemons...

MAKE LEMONADE!
I recently puchased some crayons for Zack and was disappointed to find that more than half of them were broken. Now, since I'm a terrible perfectionist. I just couldn't leave them be. But instead of must having the little crayon chunks float around my house for all eternity I decided to make these fun little gems. I just put the broken pieces into my lined mini cupcake pan and melted them. After they dried we had a collection of uper-fantastic multi-crayons. Zach loves them!

More For Sale!

The craft fair's aren't really attracting a lot of foot traffic these days so I'm back to Craigslist. Here's a few of my tutus as posted there. I'm selling them for $12 a piece or $15 with a matching wand. I love it! Ahhhhh.... to have a daughter...

I'm a DESIGNER!

So, a while back I signed up to do this May Day gift exchange. I have to be honest- I didn't even know what May Day was let alone WHEN... I just finished my gift today. OOOooops!!!!

I haven't ever met the girl I'm exchanging gifts with but I did learn that she was a cook so I determined that I would make her an apron but not just any apron. My own PERSONAL design!

I have a denim apron myself and love it but I wanted to try something new so I used the front of a pair of jeans for the bottom half and then added a portion of the leg to make the upper bib. This way you can have working pockets and fun belt loops to pull the tie through.
Since I'm not the most experienced seamstress I wasn't sure how to make the back look decent since it still had all of the pocket stuff. So I used some fusible interfacing and scraps and Wa La!
Now it's a reversable apron to boot. Though I wish I could have made it one solid piece I still like the way it turned out.

To add some flare I made these cute flowers that I found HERE on Tip Junkie. They were so easy! I might start adding them to more of my projects.

Needless to say- I'm pretty excited about sending out my package. I just hope the likes it enough to make up for my being VERY VERY late.

SOLD!!

I've bragged about things I've gotten on Craigslist and tutus I've sold but now thanks to Craigslist I'm a little bit less cluttered-- and $15 richer. Wahoo!

Felt Board

So, I've had this cork board out in my garage for months and now that I'm finally cleaning out the garage I had to make a decision. Toss or Repurpose? I chose to repurpose and this is what I made.

I decided to make it blue so that it could be "sky" sometime but today it's the "Red" board. I plan to make objects to go along with each color so that we can use this as practice. I have great visions of having the words Red, Yellow and Green up on the board and Zach putting the pieces that match under each word. I know it might be a while before he understands the game but I think it will be a great learning tool. AND- I'm not copying anyone. Horray! I was kinda creative.

I do plan on adding seeds to the watermelon and STOP on the stop sign so this isn't quite the finished product but you get the idea.

On a semi-related point: I accidentally got TONS of blue felt. Like OH- 4x what I needed. I kinda said yards when I meant feet and... well, you do the math. Anybody need blue felt?

Card Swap Preview

So, they aren't super fancy. I'm still learning. But I LOVE the paper and I actually did something that is Totally out of the box for me. I tore! I did the little ripped edge look. I'm such a perfectionist that I have a really hard time with tearing paper and being OK with the outcome but I actually liked how these turned out. I'm learning to love the imperfections in my creations. It's what makes them homemade afterall right?

Placemat Bag

I'm sure you've seen those placemat purses around. VERY cute- however, I am a recovering purse-aholic so I've been trying really hard to avoid adding to my collection. NOW- that does not prohibit me from collecting a bag or two. As long as they have a specific purpose. This bag was actually inspired by one a girl at my church used to carry her primary stuff in. Though hers was all cute and ribbon-ey. I was just trying to work with what I happened to have on hand. Most placemat purses are made with a single placemat. In order to get a larger, more- baglike creation I used TWO placemats sewn together and then a single strip of tan strap to creat the handles. It may not be as cute as one of those bamboo handles but it's cheap and functional.

.

The reason I finally was able to allow myself another bag to add to my collection was that I needed something to carry our library books now that Zach and I have started making weekly trips. We've really enjoyed it, AND it means I get to enjoy my bag. HORRAY!

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If I were to do it again: I'd sew the strap on BEFORE I sew up the sides. That would make it a TON easier to maneuver around my sewing machine.

Best Mac 'N Cheese

I have discovered the best Mac 'N Cheese EVER!
This is a classic Pioneer Woman recipe and I love it. I have tried to make homemade mac 'n cheese many times but it always came out so bland and mushy. This one had a great kick and was so nice and smooth.

The secret ingredient: Ground Mustard!

I would never have thought of using it but it really gave it a nice flavor. I also learned about tempering eggs. I've never done that before. Now I feel so gourmet!

The one thing I wish I had done was left the noodles a bit more Al Dente (See I'm gourmet now) I think it would have held up better for leftovers. Really! Check out the recipe HERE

How Firm A Foundation

This is how I taught my kids "How Firm A Foundation" in primary a couple of weeks ago.
As we added each new picture, starting from the bottom, I had a child come up and "hammer" it on with a toy hammer. They got a kick out of it and they seemed to really pick up the words quick.
After they built it I turned it around to reveal the chorus on the back.

Thank You

Just starting some brainstorming for that card swap again. The background on this was done with a stencil.

Tutu Final

So- this tutu has already been picked up. I ended up making 2 detachable bows for it. The pink one you saw earlier and then this one that I just LOVED. The mother told me that she was going to be wearing a brown monkey shirt with it so I thought this would be perfect. So cute! Man I need a girl don't I.

PomPom Princess Wand

I decided the wand was a little gigantic so I trimmed it down and added a bow. I just love it. I wish I could come up with a reason I could carry it around and play with it all day. :)

TuTu with PomPom wand

Another TuTu off to a new home. This one is precious pink.

I also remembered seeing these pompom wands once before so I thought I would give it a try. I think next time I'll make it a little smaller. This one is kinda gigantic in comparison to the little person I was making it for.

If anyone is interested in purchasing any of my creations just e-mail me at
Sunkistmk@gmail.com

Bella Bites

Officially these are called "cake balls" but since I made them to celebrate the DVD release of Twilight I thought the other name fit better. I also like to call them "Cake Truffles".

I cant take credit for these either. They are actually from Bakerella but I followed the instructions from Pioneer Woman at this link.

I'll have to admit I'm almost sad to share this because any who have tasted these will now know my secret!

Its pretty simple really- just a boxed cake mix, baked as directed. Then I let it cool overnight, crumble it up in a bowl and mix in a container of cream cheese frosting. As you can tell already, this is not a light dessert!

Then I just rolled it into balls and dipped in chocolate to finish them off.

YUM!!!!

Chicken Crescent Rolls

As promised- I present the Chicken Crescent rolls.

I was actually quite proud of myself with this one because... dun dun dun... I DIDN'T follow the recipe. That's right, ME, the person who agonized over following instructions to the LETTER. I did not follow the recipe. I thought outside the box- HORRAY! I'm no longer a CYBORG!

OK- it really wasn't that big of a deal. I'm thinking this was kind of a fool proof meal to begin with. I couldn't have screwed it up if I had tried.

Here's the recipe as was given to me if anyone wants to try it:
Filling:
1 package Cream Cheese
2 diced green onions
2 cups cubed chicken
1 cup drained sliced mushroom.
Outside:
1/4 cup butter
Corn Flake Crumbs

Last time we made this (sans onions and mushroom per hubby request) it was a touch on the WAY TO RICH side for us. Though it may have been because it was missing half the ingredients. Anyhow! This time, I tried to think of something to tone it down so I used:

1/2 package of cream cheese
1/2 cup light mayo (we're trying to be somewhat healthy here)
1 can of cubed chicken
a bunch (that means I'm not sure how much) of finely chopped broccoli- I used my food processor. I LOVE that thing!
Oh- and just for fun I added some italian seasoning. Figured it couldn't hurt.

The outside was the same- Dip in Butter then roll in crunched up corn flakes.
Then

Ahhhh! Aren't they pretty? I'm not sure you can tell but I love cooking on my pizza stone. Everything seems to turn out perfect. It may seem unorthodox to cook on a round pan when one isn't cooking anything round but... I'm NO LONGER A CYBORG! Remember?

Besides- I'm too cheap to go out and by another stone pan if this one works just fine.

NOW- question for the bakers out there, how does one create crescent rols that actually still look like crescent rolls when you pull them out of the oven? Mine always puff up and look all funky. Especially with the corn flakes all skewompus.

For the gravy I used my Magic Mix from earlier but instead of water I used the broth from the can of chiken. Yum! It was so easy and perfect! Though if you are following the recipe:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

It's still really yummy I just was trying to be frugal and use only what I had on hand.

Now, I'm always looking for ways to improve and I actually found the crescents were a little limiting. I could only get a small amount of filling in them. Maybe I just don't know how to make crescents. Either way I though: you don't see filled crescent rolls at the grocery store in the frozen foods isle. They just have those big round things- so why not! This was great. I was able to get a ton of yummy filling in AND it didn't end up looking all funky after it was cooked. It's just a rectangle rolled up and instead of a triangle. So, unless I learn a new technique for Crescents I think I'll just do this from now on.

Question: since I'm using an entirely different filling AND rolling into a roundish something or other, I guess it's no longer the Chicken Crescent Rolls recipe I started with. What should I call this concoction?

Refrigerator Rolls- from Tami

I've been meaning to post this for a while (sorry Tami). Things have just been a bit crazy and I've not been the best at keeping up with my planned posts here.

This is a great recipe that my Grandma actually used to make for us. It's a great way to make a simple dinner seem fantastic. Especially if you have some really good gravy to soak up with your roll. Here's the rundown...

First we disolved 1 tablespoon of yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water (top left in pic)

Then we have:
Yeast mixture
2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour (to begin with- 3 more for later)


After mixing the first ingredients add:
3 remaining cups of flour
3/4 cups melted butter.

I like to alternate the butter and the flour a little at a time so you don't get a big ::POOF!:: when you turn on the mixer.

You can use more or less flour to get the right consistency- so it's pulling from the sides of the mixer as shown here.

Last- cover and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. I didn't make it to that point though- if you do, back at 350 for 15-20 minutes. This can be used for all kinds of different rolls- crescent, orange, dinner, the favorite Cinnamon Roll- you can get really creative here. If I remember right, I think my grandma used to make crescent rolls and freeze them before she baked them. She put them in little plasic bags so we could just pull out a few at a time , let them raise and bake them up for hot fresh rolls whenever we wanted them. They were fantastic.

I only let it raise a few hours this time then used it in my dinner recipe: Chicken Crescent rolls, Coming SOON!

Fan-cy!

Since the in-laws were here I just had to take advantage of my mother-in-law's mad crafting skills. I had a baby shower on Saturday and I had some ideas of what to make for my friend but I thought this was so much cuter!

These are actually not the ones I gave away. I put together a pink and purple set instead but I still thought these were pretty fun.

Ahhh... I remember the days. Dancing around in my fancy socks. Listening to the beads clickety clicking away.

Isn't it just a little funny that all of my fun creations are for little girls and all I have is a boy? Poor kid- I made him model my last tutu. I'd better not push it by sticking these babies on him.

These will be for sale also. Once I figure out how I'm going to market myself. Any one have a little girl who might want to dance around in my creations? Someone I can live vicariously through? Pass them my name will ya?

SOLD!

I sold a tutu on craigslist! Horray!

It was for a 10 month old who is getting her pictures taken. This is the finished product. I'm pretty proud. I think it's pretty darn cute and I'm hoping they will pass the word around so that I can get some more interest. Word of mouth is the best sales tool right?

Finished!

I was a little nervous about how I would do completing these cards for the swap tomorrow night. But, I surprised myself. I always tend to be a procrastinator. This time, I paced myself. I set daily goals, planned, simplified and TA DA! I did it. I have 18 cards ready to go and I am really excited about them. I think they turned out really well.

Magic Mix- premade white sauce

What is the key step in so many fantastic recipies?
WHITE SAUCE
So, when I found this little trick on Everyday Food Storage- I was pretty excited to try it out.
She calls it Magic Mix. I'll be honest- I havn't actually tried it yet but I made it today and I plan on using it with dinner tonight.
Ingredients:
2 1/3 cup powdered milk
1 cup all purpose flour (she says it has to be all purpose)
1 cup margarine or butter (2 sticks- NOT spread)

Now, on her site she said to have the butter at room temperature but I had some trouble with my mix being too soft . You should be able to just mix it up and it will end up being kind of a corn meal texture.

Mine turned into a dough instead so I put it back in the freezer for a little bit then threw it into my food processor to break it down to the powder.

I had some fun with it- I even modge-podged an empty baby cereal container to keep it in.

How cute!

Here's the finished product.

To make a white sauce you just use

2/3 cup of Magic Mix

1 cup water

Put it in a sauce pan and heat on medium while wisking briskly till it starts to bubble.

You can even freeze it or keep it in the fridge for 6 months.

Card Swap Decision

I mentioned before that I had joined a card swapping group and I was getting ready for our first swap. Well, it's coming up so I had to make a decision.

The theme: Special Occasion (so the card I made before wouldn't work)
The # of girls- 16! I needed a card that was fairly quick to make

Here's what I've come up with so far.


I wanted to make a fairly generic card- one that could be used for lots of different occasions because I'm not too very confident in my card making skills yet and I didn't want them stuck with an ugly Father's day card that they would never use. This way- they can congratulate someone they may not know very well if it's not their favorite card.

The decision I need to make now is

Ladybug or No Ladybug

What do you think?

Valentine's Dessert

Jason's favorite dessert is Strawberry Shortcake- perfect for Valentine's Day
Once again I'm really not too very original. I turned to the old standby- bisquick!

I'm going to have to start making my own. I actually did find a recipie for premaking a baking mix. I think it's a great idea and I'll have to post it here but for now- just substitue what ever baking mix you prefer.

2 1/3 cup "baking mix" aka Bisquick
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp butter or margarine

Mix everything into a soft dough. Then spoon it out onto an ungreased pan. The instructions I have say to do 6 spoonfuls. Usually we just put it into a 9x9 square pan as one big cake. This time though, I borrowed a cookie cutter from a friend and formed individual heart shaped cakes.

Preheat oven to 450 and cook 10 minutes or until browned-

Now, I always have to have some sort of "duh" moment in my cooking- you'll get to know that. This one: make sure the oven is completely heated BEFORE putting the cakes in. Otherwise you'll burn the bottoms.

Yes, our bottoms were burned. (lol!!)

Finally, top with sugared strawberries and whipped cream- YUM!!!

Tutu-Treat

This is my most recent creation.

I know- I am the mother of one BOY- still, a girl has got to get some frills in sometime right?

I'm hoping to get into some craft fairs or something and try to sell these babies. It's something that I can do while I'm hangin' with Zack so I hope it works out. I know there are fancier versions- but I'm all for simplicity. Pass the word around if anyone knows someone who does have a little girl. ; )

Then I can live vicariously through them.

Card Swap

I recently joined a card swapping group. I've never really been into cards- making or giving- so it's kinda new to me. But, I thought it would be a good chance for me to meet some new people and I'd like to get into the habit of using cards as well.

Now, me and creativity don't really mesh too well. On the other hand, me and copy cat-ing are actually quite good pals. SO, this is actually a bit of a stretch for me.

I'm going out of my comfort zone. I'm trying to make new friends, I'm creating something of my own. Eeeeek! I'm out on a limb so I need some reassurance.

Here is my first idea for my cardYou may not be able to tell from the pic but the "SPRING" is embossed. It's nothing fancy and to be honest, I'm not sure when or where a person might actually use this type of card but I had limited resources so this is what I came up with.

What do you think? (if there really are people who look at this thing)

Stuffed Crust Pizza

Yesterday I met a few of my girlfriends at the mall to let our kids play together and give us moms a chance to wind down. While we were there someone started talking about homemade pizza and I've been craving it ever since.

I actually had heard of doing stuffed crust a while back and so I just had to give it a try.

Once more, here's our cast of characters:

For the dough:

*2 Tbsp yeast

*1 cup warm water

*3 tsp sugar

*1 tsp salt

*2 Tbsp oil

*2 1/2 cups flour (+ or -)

Can you tell from the picture I shop in bulk- who would EVER go through that much salt in thier lifetime right?

Then we have the toppings:

I'm not saying thses are the brands that must be used but they happened to be what I had on hand. You could even make your own pizza sauce, I have a recipie, but.... why?

Also- I left out some slices of mozzarella cheese that should have been in this picture. SORRY!

Start with disolving the yeast in the warm water then add all the ingredients but the flour. Finally, add the flour and knead it till its a nice smooth ball. You can add a bit of flour if you need to. You don't want it to be too sticky. That makes laying it all out on the pan a huge hassle.

Let it rise for 10 min- 1 hour. I always end up going for the 10 minute route and it seems to work fine.

While the dough is rising get you pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

I like to use the pizza stone because everything cooks so evenly but it's kinda a pain to get the crust onto the stone- to remedy that. I also use a non-stick pizza pan with holes. Maybe it's a bit redundant but it seems to work great.

After risen, shmoosh the dough into the pan and arrange long pieces of mozzarella cheese around the edge. The original recipie I found said to use string cheese. I just didn't have any on hand.

Seal the cheese in around the edges and poke the dough to keep it from bubbling.

Cook the crust for 7-10 minutes or until it starts to brown. I left it in the full 10 and it was a bit too long. This is an example of a tad TOO done.

Now, the fun part. Add your sauce and toppings.

Bake again for 10 minutes and Enjoy!

Ratings from the hubby were fairly good. Though, I do think that string cheese would work better. My pieces were too small and most of the cheese leaked out leaving an empty hole. Sometimes we'd get a piece where it was still nice and gewy and that was fantastic. So, bottom line, it definately has potential I just need to fine tune it.

Dessert Failure!

You know what really hits the spot when you want a treat but don't really want to slave over a hot stove all day? No-Bake Cookies!

Sadly, I have not yet mastered the art of creating good, creamy no-bake cookies. Here was my attempt last night.

Cast of Characters: (according to recipie #1)

*2 cups sugar (holy moly- don't tell my dentist)

*1/2 cup butter (or my weight loss coach- if I had one)

*1/2 cup milk

*4 tsp cocoa

*2 cups oats

*1/2 cup peanut butter

*1 tsp vanilla

The instructions in my book were as follows:

Put sugar, butter, milk and cocoa in saucepan and bring to good boil. (and I took the "good boil" literally, this may have been my mistake)

P.S. this pic is before the cocoa was added. The one with the cocoa showed too much of my dirty stovetop and I want to all to think I'm perfect. (ha ha ha- laughing histerically)

Then add the oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.

*again the vanilla shot showed my stovetop. yuk!

Mix well and drop onto waxed paper or a greased cookie sheet.

Ummm.....considering these "cookies" actually needed to be eaten with a SPOON! I don't think it worked right.

Still, I refused to give up. I hopped on the internet and searched for a new recipie to see what I could have done wrong. I found one that called for 3 cups of oatmeal instead of 2. So I thought I would try to rescue the cookies.

I added some oatmeal.

Now it started to somwhat resemble the no-bake cookies in my memory.

See, no spoon required!

Sadly, they were only pretending to be no-bake cookies. The creamy gooeyness just wasn't there. They were powdery and crumbly. Now, I know it's not just me who has failed at these decievingly simple treats. I confirmed this same dilemma occured on multiple occasions for a friend of mine here in WI.

But WHY!!!!!!???!!!

Oh Dear....:::sigh:::

Alas, I was sorely disappointed last night and had to resort to a granola bar for my sweet fix. Maybe it's for the best considering I'm supposedly on a "diet".