Pencil Holder

I just got a chance this morning between loads of laundry to finish the pencil holder.  I like the fabric choices my daughter chose.  I'm not too fond of the tutorial I used.  I'm not even going to post the link to it.  I have to make one for my youngest, so I will figure out something better and post it sometime next month!  I can't believe tomorrow is March!  I love March!  I love spring!  Okay enough rambling!  Here's my pictures.

I was so excited I finished this, so I rolled it up and took a picture.  It's sitting on the chair I sit on when I sew.

Here's the front and a peek of the inside.  The rug came from Walmart right around the time we moved here, just in case you were wondering!

It's been stuffed with pencils.  I think the black ribbon needs to be placed a little closer together for shorter pencils and the sewed lines need to be a bit further apart.

Here it is all rolled up.  The tutorial didn't have a closure for it.  I was going to sew a ribbon on it to tie around but forgot when sewing up the ends.  I had to cut a strip of fabric and add on like a binding.  Don't get me wrong it was fun to make.

I have an idea for the next one.  My buddy wants one to cover a coloring book with a pocket for pencils on the inside. (Hope that makes sense.)  I'll work on that sometime in the next few weeks.  I got to go find my bias tape maker so I can get to work on my daughter's quilt that I was going to do in January!  Yikes!  I really want to work on my son's music quilt, but I need to do hers first since that was the goal!  I really need to sew today.  That's my stress reliever.  Have a great day!

Have you made anything from tutorials found online that didn't work out?

Happy Wednesday!

It's been a busy morning here.  I am working on finishing the craft and trying to fix my banking info for my Etsy!  Needless to say my 5 year old ate all my brownies a friend gave to me this morning!  It's not been a good day with my buddy.  He's had way too much sugar!  I did buy peach Jell-O for more cookies and course salt for pretzels.  I really hope they turn out! 

Kids will be coming home soon.  I will post pictures when I finish the craft, but for now happy Wednesday!

Jell-O Cookies

I tried to finish the craft I am making from Pintrest that I want to share with you.  I started sewing it again yesterday, but got side tracked when kids got home from school and the hubby coming home from dinner.  It will be done soon!  I promise...okay no promises.

Here's something else that got me side tracked!  Jell-O cookies!!!  Oh my gosh they are so yummy and addicting!  Here's a few of my picture's.

 

 

Getting ready to mix!!

 

 

Here's what they look like right out of the oven!  This is the first batch!  They didn't last long!  My little gremlins gobbled them up like no tomorrow!

Here's what they look like on the inside!

Okay here's where I found the recipe! Follow the recipe just like it says, dough will be soft but not sticky!  I didn't use course sugar on the top.  I rolled them in sugar and flattened them with a cup, sprinkled with normal sugar, but they looked kinda weird so the rest of the batches I didn't sprinkle sugar on them!  Use any flavor of Jell-O you have on hand!  Mine are strawberry!

I think I just found my new favorite cookie and a reason to buy more Jell-O!!

The lady who's website these are from is friends with my little sister!  She is an awesome baker!  She's funny too!  I like her blog.

Okay have a great day and don't forget to make these cookies!! YUM!

PS I am going to go finish up my crafty project for you all to see tomorrow!! Here's the start of it.  I took this picture Saturday night when I started it.

See it really does exist!!  I'll show ya the finished project tomorrow!! Take care and go make those phenomenal cookies!

Pinning and Boards

I know interesting title for the post, Pinning. Have you ever looked at your Pintrest boards, went thru one and went why in the world did I pin that?  I have.  That would be me.  I was looking at my boards this last week, particularly my craft board and was thinking why in the world did I pin that.  I had multiple pins for making rock rings. Yes you read that right. I think there was 4 different ones.  You paint the flat side of a glass rock with nail polish and then super glue a ring piece to the back and voila!  Okay I tried this, well part of it.  I used pink sparkly nail polish, painted on the rock.  That's as far as I got.  I used about 3 coats of paint and it just wasn't looking like the pin.  Needless to say I deleted the 3 out of 4 ideas.  The pins were all different too; none the same. Sooo, on to the next project!

I am working on this pencil holder pouch for my daughter that loves to draw.  I took her on a mommy date.  She picked out the fabric all by herself!  I'm going to finish it today so I can post a picture of how it turned out.  So far I am liking it!

I am almost ready to go live with my Etsy shop.  I need to check to see if I set up the banking info correct and maybe a few more crafts in it too!

Have a fabulous Monday!

Tell me, have you pinned something on Pintrest that you turned around and wondered why did I pin that?

Another Funny Friday!

It's been another crazy, hectic day here!  The rain is pouring down and the wind is picking up!

Here's a few crazy Friday Funnies for you.

The other day I am microwaving leftovers after lunch for snack for a starving teenager.  The microwave starts making a groaning noise. The teen starts to imitate it.  I ask him are you trying to be the hungry microwave that is eating your food or the whale on Finding Nemo that is hungry!  They sounded just the same!  He told me that he was imitating the microwave because it reminded him of the whale in the movie!  Good thing the microwave can't eat the food it heats up!  Good thing my teen's tummy wasn't making the noise!  Guess you had to be there!

My oldest is helping clean up after school today.  I am getting dinner in the oven early because it is getting super windy outside and just in case the power goes out.  we have cartoons on and the conversation goes like this: do you want to stay for dinner? No answers the other character, my mother wants me to live to breakfast.  It was funny! We were watching the Disney channel.  I think it was Jessie or Shake it up.  Not sure though.

What are you doing this weekend?

Crazy Day!

It's been a crazy day here at home.  This morning started with driving the high school carpool drop off, getting gasoline in my gas guzzler. Came home to wake up the middle school student at 6 am. Back to pick up kids and take them to school from their bible study class. Back home to wake up the elementary child, get her ready and off to school on the bus.  Home to shower, wake up my buddy, feed and dress him, okay he dressed himself. Then instead of heading out the door to go grocery shopping for the next few weeks I spent the next the next almost two hours looking for my buddy's lost shoe.  I found it in the reclining part of the couch, where the bum part meets the back!  I was done trying to look and sat down and decided to kick back and guess what I found!?!  The shoe!

Once we left the house I went to Lowe's to pick out a few small size tiles for craft projects and water.  We do the big 5 gallon jugs.  We return the bottles, get the tickets and buy more.  Six jugs and 3 tiles later... We run to Walmart just around the corner.  My buddy wants candy.  I ended up with a bag of Bing Chocolate covered cherries, a big bag of Cadbury mini chocolate eggs, bag of sour gummy worms and something else.  I only wanted something like chocolate covered peanuts.  My sis had mentioned laundry pod soaps so I had to grab a bag of those to try. Then after looking thru the remnants and finding no good deals we end up in the toys department. TMNT is the cool thing for my turtle loving 5 year old. We ended up giving up the sour gummy worms for a TMNT helicopter toy. I traded the big bag of cadbury eggs in for a mini package, my figure is going to love me!! Haa haaa! Went home, unloaded the water, tiles and Walmart things, then back in the car for a trip to Burger King.  After we ate in the car I tried to walk around Fred Meyers.  My buddy wanted to look at his things and not mommy things, so we left shortly.    Freddy's has a great sale right now 70% off clearance things!

Kids are coming home from school right now. Two home one to go!  I have laundry with those pods.  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.  I hope I like them!

Keep having a great day!

What are you doing this weekend?  Any big plans?

Blankets, A little bit of warmth!

It sure is cold here!  My cell phone says its a mix snow rain here where I live.  Not a drop of rain or flake of snow is falling from the sky currently as I write this post!! Its almost lunchtime.

Here's a few blankets going into my Etsy shop. Let me know if you would like to purchase them before the shop goes live!

Here's a quilt I made when I first got my new sewing machine last year.

A double sided crochet baby size afghan. Light blue and white for your newborn son.

Light pink and pink camo yarn crocheted into a beautiful afghan for your newborn daughter.

This is the same pink camo yarn with a raspberry pink color paired together to make a beautiful afghan blanket for your newest member of your family.

These will be available in my Etsy shop. Coming soon!

I think I will go finish another one I have started. It's kinda chilly here and working the crochet hook will warm up my fingers!

I am not a big fan of crocheting. I can do a straight line but not circles. I tried making a hat a few weeks ago.  I got the stitch down but....lets just say I think I will stick with straight lines!! Blankets, scarfs; things like that!

Can you crochet?  What do you like to make?

Crafty Tiles

The weatherman said it was going to snow this Friday here in the Seattle area.  That was Sunday night.  Last night, Monday, he's saying snow for Saturday instead of Friday!  I say, make up your mind; I just want the cold to go away because I want Spring to come instead! My vote: no snow!  No snow equals schools out sooner (no make up days)!!! I know it's not up to me!  Mother Nature, pretty please warm up our earth! Okay enough about the weather!

Last week I went to a friends to hang out.  We made some crafty 12" x 12" tiles using her Silhouette machine. I want to share.

This is the easy one we did.

And we did this one!

This was a whole bunch more work!  Oh my! It turned out beautiful! I'm in the process of making an Etsy shop.  When the shop is done I will post a link to it.

I think I need one of these machines! I can just imagine all the projects I can do with it!

Do you have a Silhouette machine?  What's your favorite thing to craft?

President's Day

What does President's day mean to you!  For our home it means a day off from school where everyone is home and tired from staying up the night before! Last year it was the start of the week for mid winter break.  This year the school district we are in does not have it.

Here's a link to favorite foods of the US President's.  It's all about the food in our house!  We got growing boys and a hubby that loves his meat.

Here's another link to go find out which President's were left handed. Although this is an old article you can add the current president to this list too! I find it interesting that when Obama and McCain were running against each other they are both lefty's too.

That's it for today.  I hope the sun is shining your way and everyone is healthy and happy on this extended weekend

What do you do on President's day?

Hello Friday!!!

Hooray it's Friday!  I love Fridays!  I really do!  It's been a really busy week here in our household.  The usual school stuff is happening, but my older kids have kept me on my toes all week. When things get hectic and the kids aren't listening and obeying I feel like there's a full moon out! I don't know if there is or not. The oldest hasn't really been behaving. I'm not going to go into what he's doing but he's grounded for two weeks. The next one down wont get his stuff packed for camp.  He's going snow cave camping with the other scouts & their leaders. Finally last night I told them all to leave me alone.  He asked if there was anything he could do to help. I asked him if he was willing to do anything. Yes mom.  I said go look at your list and get all the missing stuff you need to take with. BAM!!! He was done in 15 minutes.  I asked him what he still needed.  I gave him a scout made first aid kit, my sunglasses and fleece Tinkerbell pj pants.  He added the stuff and was done!  I asked him, does it feel good to listen to mom and how does it feel to know you'll be prepared this weekend?  He smiled and I told him it feels good doesn't it? He nods. Then I say next time do it the first time so your prepared!  He then did dishes and cleaned the whole kitchen!  Fabulous! I rewarded him with chocolate covered strawberries!  YUM!

Here's your funny for Friday!  Three of my kids are sitting at the table eating breakfast, no school today and one has been dropped off for snow cave camping. It's the P: 16, almost K:7 and A: 5 year old.

The conversation went something like this.

K: I don't want to eat these.

P: you have to.

K: no I don't.

P: why not they're lil smokies or you can call them sausages.

A: no, they are baby weenies.

K: that's why I don't want to eat them, they might pee all over my plate!!!

What a good laugh for the day!

This week is ending better than last week did!  Coming up this next week, some yummy food recipes I've tried and maybe a craft project or two!

What are you doing this weekend?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I hope everyone has an awesome Valentine's Day with their loved ones! Take an extra moment to kiss the kidos and really listen to them. Hug your hunny and love'm even more. My day tomorrow is going to be busy from early in the morning.

My almost 14 year old is going snow cave camping with his scout troop this weekend.  I am excited for him to go, but trying to get him ready has been a pain in the butt - literally!  He has most his stuff he needs ready to go.  I talked with his leaders last night on what he still needs.  One of them told me about a store about 15 minutes away that sells second hand gear.  We're talking snow pants, long john undies, coats etc.  All the good stuff.  He told me there were barrels of used things in great condition for only 5 bucks!  I'm heading there tomorrow as soon as my kids are all off to school.  I'll post my finds either tomorrow or next week! That is if I find anything!

I have an awesome card for my hunny and I am going to make him a recipe he requested for dinner.
I really hope he likes it!

What are you doing for your special someone? Do you do something for your kids too?

Clean a Little Love!

I don't know what to get my hubby for Valentine's day. Usually we go out to dinner or BBQ.  With him working nights, that wont happen! We might get each other something we didn't get for Christmas because we didn't have the money then.  This year I thought I would deep clean our bathroom for him.  I've always wanted to try something with vinegar.  This is what I found.



Vinegar, Dawn Dish Soap, Laundry Soap.

Here's the website where I found it, pin it too on Pintrest!  Here it is, they call it Blessing in a Bottle.  It's blue and the first one.  I think I might have to try the others too.

This is what it looks like all mixed up.

Here's my thoughts on it.  I mixed 10 ounces of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of Dawn and 2 tablespoons of my laundry soap, Tide Sport for HE (this stuff works great with stinky boys!).  I used it on my shower and in my kids shower tub combo.  It worked great on the soap scum on the walls.  It didn't clean the ground as well as I thought it would.  The smell of vinegar wasn't masked by the laundry soap like it says it will be. With knowing that I will give it a B+.  I really needed it to clean the ground or bottom of the tub.

There ya go!  Clean a little love for Valentine's Day for your hunny!

What have you tried from Pintrest lately??

Brownies Instead of Cookies!

I'm kinda burnt out of making cookies, so I made brownies instead!!!

YUM!  I just use the box mix because they never turn out from scratch.  That's just my own opinion though.  I told ya I had heart pans!  These are from Walmart last year!  My hubby's going to love these! Maybe even his coworkers too if they don't get eaten by my cookie monsters!! Or would they be called brownie monsters since these aren't brownies?!?!!!

I'll post pictures later!!  Check back!

Are you doing anything special for your hunny this Thursday?

Cookies and Cookie Tools!

We're baking up a storm the last few days in our home! I wanted to tell you about some of the things we use to make cookies!

Kids!  I love when my kids want to help! Big ones, little ones! They like it when they get to eat the cookies and I get to clean up!!

Measuring devices, cups and spoons!

And of course the best loved paddle attached to my black Kitchen Aid mixer!  I got this mixer a about 4 years ago when my hubby worked at Boeing.  They gave him safety points for helping create a tool to build the planes.  Then they gave him a layoff notice, he was one of the 10,000 canned. Okay enough of that depressing time.  I want to get the bigger one in red.  I buy a lot of kitchen stuff in red!  It's just a bold color.  Power.

There's more!  Now all the ingredients are tools too!  Must haves for cookies, flour, sugar, powdered sugar!

I'm not using my usual recipe for these sugar cookies.  I wanted to try something different! I hope they are just as yummy!  This is the cookbook I used for the sugar cookies!

I love this cookbook!  So many delicious recipes in it! I have their newest ones too.  I bought this one at Costco before we moved two summers ago.

Here's our cookies!

Somewhere on pintrest I read to use jello for coloring the frosting.  It didn't have directions so I melted about a tablespoon of butter and added about 1/4 of a teaspoon of jello. The jello pretty much dissolved! I used a few more tablespoons of butter,  a dash of milk, and 1-2 cups of powdered sugar (depends on the consistency you desire it). Mix well.

A close up of these yummy cookies!

We made these too! They didn't last long! We made more chocolate chip cookies that I shared with you last week.  Those are gone too!  I have heart shaped pans I am going to dig out to make some other things with!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

What are your favorite cookies?

Not So Funny Friday

I usually do a funny thing or things my kids say or do on Friday.  I just wanted to say something different along the lines of my kids today.  Last night my oldest was skateboarding home from his friends when he was hit by a car.  That's all I am going to say on that.  I am so grateful I am able to help his booboo's even though he is old enough to do that on his own.  I'm so grateful the man upstairs was watching over him this night.  Each one of my kids is different and unique in their own way.  I couldn't imagine life without any of them. Not one.   Time to make this a short post so I can go spend more time with all of them.

I promise cookies for next week.

Cookie Fest Coming soon!

What a day!  My husband works evenings, so when he gets home I am already in bed fast asleep.  For some reason he likes to wake me up. I am not a happy person to be around if I do not get my sleep!  It's true, just ask any of my college roommates!  Ask my kids! My hubby has still yet to be trained.  He woke me up to tell me about the food a co worker's wife made.  He's dying for me to make him something comparable to it.  I am going to try to whip something up this weekend to create what he told me about. Until then I am going to start a cookie fest for Valentine's!  I love trying new recipes.  I can't wait to make some, I better get off the computer and get to the store to buy the ingredients; I don't want to run out of anything I already have!  Did you know you can use jello to color frosting? I read it somewhere online while I was searching for some scrumptious recipes! Who would have thought to come up with that instead of food coloring!!!

What are you going to do for your loved ones for Valentine's Day?  Do you make Valentines for kids to hand out at school or buy them?

Spring Fever!

I am so excited that the ground hog did not see his shadow this past Saturday!  I am so ready for Spring to arrive!  I have been doing a bit of spring cleaning around here.  Well actually laundry and lots of it!  I love my washing machine and dryer!  I love that I can do a BIG load and get it done quickly and efficiently!

 

Laundry!!

 

This was actually last weeks laundry.  Mostly the little kids!  The teenagers do their own laundry. There's no way I am touching their stinky stuff.  Just imagine turning a dirty sock they wore more than once or their PE clothes from school at the end of the week. Yuck! Yes that is one of the reasons they do their own.  I believe that kids should know how to do their own laundry when they leave the nest for whatever reason it is. I knew how to do my own laundry when I went off to college in another state with no family around.  I actually learned when I was really young.  Practice makes perfect!

 



 

My washing machine!

 

When we moved to Georgia the summer of 2011 we needed a washer and dryer.  Our own. Our rental didn't include laundry, just the room and hook ups.  As soon as we found a place my hubby would go search places and machines.  Ones we liked were at Home Depot, but it was a wait to get them.  Sears had these ones which was just like the ones from Home Depot that he wanted.  A great time to buy appliances is around holidays. There's always almost a sale!  Ours were almost 50% off the regular price!  I love the chimes and the big depth of the washer, the blue lights and the time of how much longer the load will take.

 

Who does the laundry at your home?  Do the kids help?



Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe of really good looking chocolate chip cookies.  The cookie looks kind of fluffy. Yum, who doesn't love a fluffy cookie?!? So I made these cookies. You can find the recipe here.  I won't go into the details of the how to make them, but here is my pictures of these deliciousness I baked up.

Kinda flat, but still yummy!  I added big chocolate chips and they turned out a little fluffy,

And here's a close up!

I doubled the batch so I could have lots of cookies for my cookie monsters when they come home from school!  I saved some dough because I want to try a tip someone gave me.  I heard stack it high and make sure it's straight out of the fridge and that will help it not be so flat.  Flat or not these cookies turned out very tasty. I'll have to give it an A!!

Follow the link above to find the recipe used for making these cookies!  Don't forget to pin it on Pintrest!

What kind of treats have you baked in your home?  Where do you find recipes to bake from?

Orange Bag

I've been busy crafting away and looking for some really good deals on fabric.  Here's something I sewed up recently with some fabric remnants I bought at Walmart.  The light orange with small white flowers and the quilted lining fleece I already had.  The big white flowers on the main body and the dark orange lining fabric cost me less than 3 bucks! Wahooo, I love a good deal!

This pattern came from online. The bag was fairly easy to make and didn't take a lot of time.  I did the handles a bit different than theirs and didn't round the corners as much as their pattern. I used a quilt lining fleece that I had instead of their regular interfacing.  Here's the site where you can find the tutorial of how to make it found here. I love their green colors!

Okay I hope you crafters out there have recovered from the big Super Bowl game and that your team won!  Let's craft up a storm this week!

What are you going to craft this week?

More Funnies For Friday!

TGIF!!  Is everybody ready for some football??  I know my kids are!  They have been practicing the football tackle which my 6 year old came to me saying her big brother gave her a tickle hug!  Aka he tackled her and started to tickle her!  She could barely stop giggling while she was telling me!  Sometimes kids have the funniest things to say!

I know this might not be the funniest thing, but I was at the dollar store earlier this week.  My buddy wanted this one particular toy. I looked at him and asked are you going to clean your room for it? Yes mommy his sweet innocent lips replied with big puppy dog eyes.  Good thing he can't get the droopy puppy ears going too!  I broke down and told him he could get it!  As soon as we walked in the house when we got home he told me he was going to put this toy right here and go clean the room!  I found him half an hour later going to town on the room cleaning.  He was doing an excellent job!  I've never seen him clean like this before!  If I had taken a picture of the before, there would have been toys covering the entire floor!  Not a spot to step without stepping on something!  That's how messy it is! He cleaned and put everything away!  Nothing was left out!  Amazing!  I am truly shocked he could clean this well!  Time for a chore chart for him!!

It's timbe to roll out the grills to the driveway, open up the garage, bring out the camping chairs and start the pre game TV watching!  BBQ up some hot dogs and cheesy hamburgers with some icy cold soda.  Invite the neighbors over! TGIF!

Have a fabulous weekend and stay safe in whatever you are doing!  Here's a shout out to my baby brother!  HaPpY bIrThDaY!!  Have a faboulous day!

Tell me are you planning on watching the big superbowl game? Getting out of the house so the spouse can have a party with his friend?