Pink and Green Flannel Tattered Baby Blanket

Yes, it is yet another tattered flannel baby blanket.  I love how apple green and pink look together.  I started this blanket at least a year ago, but then my sewing machine was having problems and I couldn't finish it.  When I tried to sew the rows together, the fabric in the seams was just too thick for the machine to handle.  So, when I got my new machine, I pulled it out and finished it!  And just in time for a little baby girl's arrival- perfect! 

One of these days I will manage to use up all of the rest of my flannel!  I think at that point I may switch to exclusively making quilts.  They are just too much fun to make!  (And they don't clog up the machine with all the little flannel fuzzies (kind of like flannel dust)!   

April Fools' Day Cupcakes

This is a fun thing to do for April Fools' Day--- TV dinner cupcakes!  I found the idea in the book Hello, Cupcake, and thought they were fun.  All are cupcakes--- the top left is supposed to be corn on the cob, the top middle are peas and carrots, the top right is mashed potatoes (LOVE how that one  looks!), the bottom left and middle are supposed to look like chicken drumsticks, and the bottom right-- a cupcake.  We had the scouts make these, and we just bought the cupcake liners that come in the foil tray and baked the cupcakes in advance.  The boys had lots of fun making them and were excited to take them home to their families. 

Stenciled Frames with Vinyl Sayings

Things have been a little.....shall we say busy????.... around here lately, so I'm sorry I haven't been as consistent with posting.  I am trying, but there might (will) be gaps for the next month or two.  But then I should be getting right back into finishing off my unfinished projects and using up my "stash".

 

I haven't even started yet, and I'm already off on a tangent.  In my old age (ha, ha!), I sometimes forget the correct spelling of words, which is actually mortifying for me.  I have never had a hard time remembering how to spell!  Until I had kids, that is.  Recently I have found myself looking up words like- is it stenciled and canceled?  Or stencilled and cancelled?  Without any real luck on my part because all I have been able to discover is that stenciled and canceled are the American way of spelling those words, while the British way is stencilled and cancelled.   The concept of spelling things differently doesn't really bother me.  For example, I would never spell "favor" as "favour", "honor" as "honour", or "color" as "colour", but I have no problem with someone else (say in Great Britain) spelling them that way (although it does seem pretentious if an American spells it that way, but not pretentious at all if they are from GB.  Go figure.)  But when it comes to conjugating a verb, it just seems strange to me that the spelling would be different.  I am dorky enough to have done a tiny bit of research on it.  On the internet.  And we all know we can trust everything on the internet (another ha, ha!), so take what I say with a grain of salt.  (BTW- how did that expression come about?)  According to the internet, and the technical rules of the English language, it would be cancelled and stencilled.  I already forgot why.  But, in America, those words are exceptions to the rule.  I also forgot why.  Awfully strange and confusing, if you ask me! 

 

Ok, so back to the subject.  A couple of years ago, I was looking for a gift that I could make.  I saw an ad for a frame at Shopko (or somewhere like that) that looked cute.  I thought that I could make one that would look similar.  This was what I came up with. 

A couple of weeks ago, I knew that I needed a few more gifts, and happened to come across this picture.  I thought it could make a nice gift again.  It took a while to find my damask stencil, but I did.  When I looked at the stencil, I thought that it wasn't quite the right shape, but then remembered that when I stenciled (I'm an American!) the first frame, I chose a small section and repeated it to get the shape on the frame that I wanted. 

This time I chose to change the saying because this speaks to me right now.  When I hear it, it brings to my mind images of my children when they were younger.  As happy as I am to be done with those particular challenges (of having little munchkins running around), I have found that there are new challenges always ahead.  Some days I miss having little ones.  Some days I am so happy to have my kids be a little older (like when we went to NYC and saw Wicked, and ALL my family enjoyed it.  There was no stress of trying to keep little ones happy and quiet- they loved the performance!) Then again, sometimes I just want to reach right into a picture of my little cuties when they were still so little and be able to give them a huge hug and a kiss.  To feel their little tiny arms reach around me.  But then each night or morning I have the chance to give my now big kids a huge hug, and I get to tell them that I love them.  That I am proud of who they have become.  What an amazing thing, to be a Mom. 

And, duh.  I forgot to take a picture of the new frames.  Lame-O.  I unwrapped one of the gifts to take a picture.  Shhhh.  Don't tell. 

If you are looking for a new idea to freshen up your painted flat frames, try stenciling them!  If the stencil isn't the right shape, look at it to see if you can just use part of it, or repeat part of it to make it work.  I held a piece of paper over my stencil to mask what I didn't want to stencil.  Then repeated one little part of the stencil on both sides to get the shape I wanted.  Think outside the box!  I love that the stenciling changes the flat frame so much.  It adds a lot. 

St. Patrick's Day Home Decor

I enjoy having apothecary jars.  It is fun to have them out and to change the contents up every month or so.  I don't often have holiday treats in them, but when I do, my kids have been pretty good about not eating them if I promise them they can have it after the holiday.  They did really well with these.... until Dad started sneaking the gold chocolate coins.  Then it was a panicked free for all.  So funny.  I loved the combination of the gold and the green.  I found the green gumball mix at Orson Gygi's in Salt Lake, but you can also buy them online from various sources. 

Argyle Plaid Baby Quilt, Take 2

Ok, so I know that last week's sewing project was an argyle plaid baby quilt.  This time I thought I would try it again, making a few changes.  Instead of trying for a more random look, I made it a repeated pattern, with the light diamonds in the middle of the yellow plaid lines.  I feel like it helped the top look more like a plaid top.  So-- the key was to use a more noticeable pattern, not a more random pattern. 

This time I also thought I would add the baby's name on the back.  I wanted to on the first baby quilt, but wasn't quite sure how to make it look ok.  After a lot of thought, a ridiculous amount of thought (why do I have to overthink these little things?), I finally decided to do the name in plain white with little yellow flowers with purple centers.  I like how it turned out, and am even happy with the quilted look after washing.  Yay!  Another baby project done! 

St. Patrick's Day blocks and board

I thought I would show the other side of the "My Sweethearts" blocks.  I really love that they work for two holidays/months!  This one is also on the How Does She Blog. 

I decided to take this concept and make it my "own"... I used a 9 inch by 24 inch board.  First I painted it white (probably not necessary), then mod podged 5 pieces of scrapbook paper on. 

Then I painted the "lucky" letters (from Hobby Lobby) and glued them on.  Next, I added vinyl and clips with ribbon, and a quick spritz of glitter spray.  Wahoo- a St. Patrick's holiday crafty board, nice and easy!

Multi Grain Bread

I spent a lot of time trying to make good loaves of bread, and over time became very frustrated with lack-luster results.  I kept thinking that the problem was with me, and that I just couldn't make bread for some reason.  Then my friend, Jen, came over and showed me how she makes bread using her Grandmother's recipes.  Both the white bread and wheat bread turned out great!  And then when I tried making them on my own, they still turned out!  I had been doing the process right, I just wasn't using the right recipes.  Since then, I still try new bread recipes from time to time, but generally stick with the tried and true ones for bread.

When Our Best Bites (I know, I know) posted a recipe for multi-grain bread, I thought that I would give it a try since I like so many of their recipes.  It was wonderful.  The flavor was very similar to Jen's recipe, but it had that little extra chewy-bite texture to it (that is sometimes desirable, sometimes not) that you get from grains that aren't finely ground.  I still use the other recipe the most because my kids like the fine textured wheat bread, but this is nice for when I am in the mood for chewy, grainy wheat bread! 

Our Best Bites has the recipe here. 

I am lucky enough to have a wheat grinder, so I grind my own wheat.  Because I don't enjoy cleaning out the grinder (even though it is really easy), I always make 2-3 times more whole wheat flour than I need.  Then I just put it in plastic zippered freezer bags and store it in the freezer.  When I'm ready to make bread again, I just pull out the bag to let it come to room temperature, then make the bread.  The reason for keeping it in the freezer is because freshly ground wheat can go rancid really quickly.  It will last a couple weeks in the cupboard, but I use the freezer because I never know if something will come up where I am too busy to make the bread.  And, yes, that was learned by experience and a couple batches of whole wheat flour that went rancid.  Bleh. 

I tried the recipe using Bob's Red Mill 8 grain and then with the 10 grain.  I liked the 8 grain better.  The 10 grain was definitely just more cornmeal- and maybe millet?- so it was more gritty.  The 8 grain had more of the chewy whole wheat berry texture that I liked. 

My favorite way to eat the bread?  Toasted, lightly buttered, with sliced avocados and a little salt and pepper on top.  Heavenly!