Behold the cuteness!

I know...probably not the most appropriate/grown up luggage for an almost 30 year old woman...but I love these! I decided to go ahead and get them as a really early birthday present (although my birthday isn't till the end of November), because I figured these would be long gone by then!



They're a nice little set. I think I'm in love. :)


Plus, they totally go with the pink suitcase my mother in law bought for me a few years ago! *grins* Jeff just loooves these, I'm sure!

Creative Monday: Halloween edition!

We're having a big Halloween party again. So much fun! :) My general theme is based off of Disney's Haunted Mansion, but I like some general little stuff too...soooo, I made a little bat garland from tissue paper (an idea I saw on the Martha Stewart site)



It's easy enough to do. I just drew a little bat and then traced him onto the tissue paper (that was already prefolded. I used pencil so that I could see what I was doing, and my tiny embroidery scissors to make the tiny cuts. Each strand is about 5 bats long and then I just taped them together.

Let's make some pie!

With the temperatures dropping, I've been in the mood for some baking. This weekend, the project was apple pie. Yum!



The Recipe


Crust (this will make enough for the top and bottom crust of one pie):
2 c flour
2/3 cup crisco (I use the butter flavored crisco)
1/8 t salt

1)Mix together ingredients with a pastry blender (or cut in with 2 forks). I often add the flour a little at a time, just to keep things more manageable.

2)Add warm water 1 T at a time, mixing well between each until you've added 4 T warm water to the dough.



3)Finish blending by hand, then pat into a ball (and separate in half if you're making a top and bottom crust) and roll the dough flat between 2 sheets of wax paper.

4)Remove one of the wax sheets and flip crust over into a pie plate and remove second sheet of wax paper, then prepare apples.

Apple Filling


1)Peel 5-6 apples (for reference, I used about 3-3.5 pounds for 2 pies). You need a tart apple, like Jonathan. I like to use Gala, because we'll eat those if we have any left over.

2)Once peeled, core and slice the apples into slices.

3)Mix together cinnamon (I don't really measure this, I just try to make sure that the mixture ends up looking a little more brown than white, if that makes sense) and 3/4 c sugar. Sprinkle over the apples and mix to coat the apples.



4)Dump apple filling in pie shell and slice one stick of butter (or margarine) into butter pats and spread all over the pie.

Finishing and baking:
Add your top crust (removing wax paper the same way you did with the bottom crust) and crimp edges to seal. Use a spoon to poke vent holes in the top and bake at 375 for about an hour.

Voila! Apple pie from scratch! :D

Nermal Says...

Ummm...no, mommy. I have NO idea how your fabric keeps getting furry!!

Creative Monday: Cupcakes!!

A belated creative Monday post:

I've done a ton of baking this week (these were for my hubby's birthday) and I attempted to do the icing like a real person. That's sort of creative, right?



Recipe:

Carrot Cake:
2 c flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 c grated carrots (1 lb.)
4 eggs
2 c sugar
2 t cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

1) Mix dry ingredients and carrots.
2) Add vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
3) For cupcakes: Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (toothpick should come out clean)
4) Allow cupcakes to cool completely (I allowed overnight) and then add frosting.



Frosting:
1 stick butter (softened)
1 t vanilla
4 c powdered sugar
1 8 oz. "brick" of cream cheese (softened)

1) Whip together cream cheese and butter. Add sugar (I tend to do this a cup at a time) and then vanilla.

Jumpity.

Jumpity...


Jumpity...


Jump!!


I still need to put eyes on the grasshoppers, but I'm having problems with placement. *grumble*

*cross-posted to creative monday*

Pictures!

My friend, Bonnie, came back in town last week and offered to take some pictures for us. She's learning how to do portrait photography, so we were more than happy to be her guinea pigs! ;)

Here are some of my favorites:
(as always, you can click on them for larger sizes)


















Jeffy's "ummm....yay?" look:






I'm resisting the urge to post all of them, cause they're so cute! :)
If you're interested though, the whole album is here.

Thanks again, Bonnie!! :D

Creative Monday is back!

Happy Monday! Sorry I missed last week. Leaving town just messes with my productivity. I'm back though, with some more smocking!

This design is called "Li'l Stinkers". Isn't it cute? It's not quite finished yet. I need to do some bullion stitches for the stem (I HATE bullions) and then the little bows on the skunks will be pink and white gingham :)

Happy Anniversary, my love!

Can you believe it's been 6 years already? :)

Here's one from a few months before we got engaged:


*grins*

Creative Monday: Smocking

It's not a quick craft, but this is one of my favorite things to do.

Sitting in my rocking chair, soaking in the sunbeams, smocking away. It's just so relaxing!


Here's the finished version of the little scotties design that I was working on: