Rain, rain go away....

Don't let the post title fool you,

I LOVE rainy days.

They are the perfect days for working on homemade Christmas presents.

I am in the throws of a couple of presents and I wanted to share them with you.

I do not have any pictures of my own

Because

well, I'm not done with anything yet :)

But I did want to share two projects I am

working on and the sites I got the ideas from.

Just in case you need some inspiration!

First, I am working on a baby blanket for my

soon-to-arrive sweet

niece or nephew.

(They aren't finding out!!!)

I am mostly following the directions from this blog post.

Secondly, I am making four photo calendars,

following the directions (mostly)

from this blog post.

I usually make and buy photo calendars for all the grandmas from Walgreen's,

but this idea is so stinking cute.

AND

so far I have only spent the amount on all four that I usually spend on

ONE when I order them.

SCORE!

My finished project pictures are coming soon! (I hope ;)

~Merry Christmas!

Last minute Turkey Shirt {and my first applique!}

Can I get a Whoop Whoop from all

of my fellow procrastinators out there?!!

Hahahah!

Sorry for being a corn-ball.

I am being serious about the procrastination though.

I have a serious problem.

So the fact that I finished this shirt 3 whole DAYS

BEFORE

Thanksgiving is a truly magnificent thing.

Maybe I am changing my ways. ;)

I followed this tutorial to make it.

I am not showing you her finished product because it is

WAY

better than mine!

But that is okay because this was my

FIRST applique!

She used her daughter's hand as the pattern in her tutorial too .

(I used mine)

I think it is a WAY cuter idea to use your child's hand,

but I was not up to the extra curves challenges a little

hand would bring.

It only took me an hour.

Seriously.

If you have procrastinated and need to make something

cute for your child to wear tomorrow

then go make this.

NOW!!! :)

~Happy turkey making!

Finished lamp

A while ago I shared a picture about a lamp I redid using an idea I got from pinterest(surprise surprise!)

Here is the post if you missed it.

And a before picture, just for kicks! :)

It is a cute lamp it just didn't match my house anymore

AND

I paid entirely TO MUCH for it to get rid of it.

Step one:

I wrapped the base in rope and hot glued it down as I went.

Step two:

Was to remove the existing fabric from the lampshade and recover it.

But, miss happy fingers over here :)

destroyed the ENTIRE shade as I TRIED to take the fabric off.

I looked for days and days trying to find a way to salvage at least the metal supports of the shade.

There were options

but

they were expensive options.

THEN one day while meandering through JoAnn's

I happened to see that they sold self adhesive lamp shades!

So I whipped out my coupon and paid a whopping 7 bucks.

I had this burlap remnant from a previous trip to JoAnn's.

I just cut it to size and pressed it down.

I folded the excess fabric inside the shade and hot glued

it down.

I covered the rough edges with gray bias tape.

Step three:

Should be adding the painted knob to the top to hold the

shade down.

BUT

It was Z-baby's favorite toy for a little while

AND

now it is in never-never land.

I WILL find it though!

DO any of you have my luck? It seems like every time I am almost done with a project I realize I missed a step/ or am missing something!

It just causes me to be even more creative right?! ;)

I hope you have a wonderfully magnificent Thanksgiving week!

~Happy creating

Craft closet!!

Do you ever feel like your life is spiraling out of control!?

I am not talking about the times where you loose someone close or go through a major life tragedy.

I am talking a little bit more mellow dramatic like-

You wake up one morning and realize that your new baby will be here in EIGHT WEEKS

And you have not done ANYTHING to prepare.

So you go on a mad dash to get everything done in one week (yeah right)

and you are like the abominable snow man to live with.

Biting heads off.

Breaking in to tears.

Laying on the floor catatonic.

Pretty much being 3rd trimester pregnant and NESTING.

like a crazy woman.

Can you tell I speak from experience?

Have you guessed that I have been living in this daze for the last several days?

Thank the Lord- very literally- for giving us a rainy day today that completely screwed up all my plans and made me slowly fall out of the fog.

I love creating rooms for my child(ren).

It was one of my favorite things to do to prepare for Zadie.

I want to enjoy creating her big girl room and personalizing the nursery for new baby just as much.

I don't enjoy anything when I am in the nesting funk

BUT

I did get a lot of REALLY annoying projects done yesterday.

Pretty much my cute little spare bedroom got Completely emptied and became this.

 We painted the room Benjamin Moore's neon celery (what a terrible name!)

 I LOVE all the naturally lighting in the room and I really wanted to play it up with a clean crisp paint color.

 Our house was built in the 50's which translates to: no storage space. So, this closet was FULL of everything that we needed more often than to be put in the attic but less than to be kept in our bedrooms.
Needless to say we are having a garage sale this weekend :)

So now begins the decorating.

We are planning on building a window seat first with toy storage.

Be on the look out!

Now on to today's project.

I finally put the finishing touches on my craft closet.

I was kind of pressured to because I found A LOT more stuff that had to fit in there when I cleaned out the spare bedroom.

For such a small closet, and I mean small, it is about a foot deep and 3 feet wide, I really think it turned out great.

If you did not see what it originally looked like go here.

 My sewing machine just came home from the doctor and now she is all better ;) I thought she deserved a nice home after that ordeal!

 We added these shelves up the side of the closet today. There are two more under the sewing table.

 I saved a few jars over the last couple of weeks and just screwed the lids to the top shelf of the closet.

 I originally did a HUGE peg board over the door, but the shoe organizer held everything so neatly that I donated that to my hubby and just hung up a scrap piece to hold a few things that I would need regularly.

 Old sample paint cans with fabric hot glued on them turned into SUCH cute storage! I bought the magnetic strip at Lowe's in their organization section.

 Don't you just want to get to work on there!?

 The fabric shelf (my favorite part :)

 The other side of the closet.

Isn't she a beaut! ;)

The chair even folds up and fits in the bottom!

Would you ever guess the oasis that awaited you behind this plain jane hallway door?!

Now to USE my crafty space!

~Happy crafting!

Shhh... A birthday present!

I really should not be showing you this yet.

It is a birthday gift for my mom.

I am going to give it to her tonight

BUT

I really, really, really am bad at keeping my own secrets!

AND

I really LOVE how it turned out!

I made her a scarf and cardigan set.

(BAHHH!! I am SO pregnant!)

Didn't it turn out cute?!

I followed the instructions for the scarf from mamma says sew's blog.

Mine did not turn out NEAR as ruffly because I did not use very stretchy fabric.

I knew this would be the case,

But I really loved the fabric for my mom

And she is not really a ruffly kinda girl!

I like the understated ruffles.

I got the idea for the cardigan from behind the seam's blog.

It is seriously the EASIEST thing EVER!

I made one for myself a while ago and I love it.

 I wore it last night to hang out with some of our friends

and I got so many complements

that we decided

to have a cardigan making party.

The only thing I did different when I made my mom's

was to serge the edges and arm holes.

Her fabric was lighter and I was scared it would not hold

up very well without some help!

This is a FABULOUS Christmas gift idea.

No sew.

One size fits all.

One yard of fabric.

Definitely a winner in my book!

~Happy gift making!

Cookies!

Today was cold and rainy in the great state of Florida.

In my opinion that is the PERFECT day for one of two things.

1. A Harry Potter marathon

2. Baking, baking and then eating!

We chose option number 2 today and I thought I would share our finished project with you. I wish I could let you have a taste test.

These cookies are GOOD!

I set the hubs on a mission this morning. I opened my Pinterest baking board and I told him to choose.

He chose well.

First we have chocolate chip cheesecake cookies

AKA heaven on earth!

Here is the recipe:



Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 12 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine dry ingredients (flour through soda) in a bowl and set aside. In mixer, blend butter, sugar, egg, cream cheese, and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing with each addition, until all are incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Grease a cookie sheet. Drop dough by the spoonful onto sheet, at least 1 inch apart.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The only reason it is  not 5 stars is because this second recipe may be my new favorite cookies recipe so nothing could really compare.

Ginger cookies anyone?!

The Barefoot Contessa worked her magic again.

I am becoming a HUGE fan of hers.

Here is the recipe:

The Barefoot Contessa’s Ultimate Ginger Cookies
Makes 16 cookies

2 1/4 cups (270 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (170 g) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (80 ml) unsulfured molasses or black treacle
1 extra-large egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (170 g) chopped crystallized ginger
granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup, which is 90 g of dough). With your hands, roll each cookie into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten them lightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place them on the sheet pans. Bake for exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.



I modified this a bit.

1. I used the ingredients I had on hand such as regular store brand molasses, light brown sugar, and fresh ginger.

2. I made my cookies A LOT smaller. These call for monster cookies. My batch made about 2 1/2 dozen.

3. I asked my husband to read the directions for me and tell me what to add with the molasses. He go everything backwards.

I have no idea how.

But they still turned out great!

We also picked and cooked some fresh greens for dinner.

And....

I put together all the ingredients for homemade goldfish but that dough is still in the fridge because I just ran out of steam!

SOOOO if you get the time come stop by for a cookie!

I have PLENTY!

~Happy Baking!

I made jewelry AHHH!

Hey friends!

Happy Monday!

Or if your Monday has gone like mine has, so far, then hopefully you will have a quick Monday!

Well family photos are upon us this week. Yay!

And AHHHH!

I always want to run out and get invisaline and smile lessons and freckle lightener (does that exist?!) before picture day.

I am such a teenager sometimes!

I am not a very photogenic person, but luckily I have an AMAZING photographer!

Z- baby is having her 1 year old pics done.

(I know I am 3 or so months behind!)

I am having a few maternity shots done.

And we are taking our Christmas pictures.

I have been working on a few projects to use as props in the photos.

I wanted to share them with you.

First I'll show you the Christmas photo prop:

It was so super easy it is kind of embarrassing to show!

I just picked up this wooden tree at Michael's (for $3!) and spray painted it gold.

We are wearing neutral colors for our Christmas pic- off white, black and tan- so I wanted to keep our prop neutral too.

We shall see how it turns out!

A major plus is I cannot wait to use it in my Christmas decor. I love gold at Christmas time. Plus, those holes are for mini Christmas lights to stick through- How cute is that!

The second prop I worked on is a necklace.

If you know me, you know that I am not a huge fan of jewelry.

I wear it, but not often and usually only one piece at a time.

But I really wanted a sentimental piece for the new babe.

I, of course, stole the idea from one of my amazingly creative and talented friends.

She makes and sells these necklaces for people. Her etsy shop is called valley of Elah. She will use the person's child's name, name meaning, and initial as the decoration.

It always turns out SOOOOO cute!

To bad new baby has no name.

Well she does- I just haven't annoyed my husband to the point of committing yet :)

So I made my pendant more general but still so meaningful!

I LOVE it! Here are some close-up of the pendant.

If you want to make one I'll show you what I did to help you out.

Please remember: I am NOT a jewelry maker!

I bought the pendents from Micheal's. They came two to a pack....

I can't wait to try again!

I also bought another pack of charms that were the same brand to add to the necklace. That is where the medal piece came from.

The pendant is really easy to take apart, you just unlatch it!

I took it apart and cut a piece of white computer paper to match the size of the glass.

Then I pulled out an old Thesaurus I got at a yard sale FOREVER ago and started clipping.

For the heart on the back side of the pendant I just google imaged "vintage heart graphic" and picked one I liked. I moved it to paint and saved it as a Jpeg. Then I scaled it down and made it sepia in picnic photo software.

I then pasted it to paint and printed it on regular paper.

The button came from some scrap booking supplies I had on hand.

I just twisted the brad in the back around the necklace chain and then I dabbed some hot glue on it.

I really like how it turned out! I can't wait to see what my photographer does with it!

And just for kicks... Look how cute Z-baby looked for church yesterday!

I hope you like my necklace and Christmas tree!

Are you taking any Christmas pictures soon?

Are you one of those super-awesome people who can take your own?

If so I am very jealous.

~Happy photo-taking!