Traveling dragon Amugurumi-FREE pattern

As promised I am sharing my Dragon who has been to Washington state, and PT and back!

 He reminds me of the dragon from Pete's Dragon-this FREE pattern is from Lucy Kate Crotchet.  I again learned a lot from this little guy:
* Stuff him a little more
* I personally like to use a smaller hook then just one smaller than the yarn calls for.
* I really like working with 100% cotton, less stretchy than acrylic.

I plan on selling more Amugurumi in MY Etsy shop when I get them made!  From this guy I have 5 more orders!  I think it helps when you use bright colors and FUN patterns!

Thanks SO much for stopping in today-hope your day is FANTASTIC!

wedding party

These two boys are the best of friends and got to be a part of their cousin's wedding party last year-SO super fun!  I used up some leftovers-which I have A LOT of!

Just a quick post today sharing some FUN!!   Thanks SO much for the visit!

Pinterest food find-taco Pizza

picture and recipe credit: Ree Drummand Pioneer Woman

Pizza AND tacos?!!!  Sign me up!!!
This recipe I found on Pinterest and comes from the talented Pioneer Woman:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil
• 1 can (14 Oz. Size) Black Beans
• 1 teaspoon Taco Seasoning (prepared, Or Make Your Own)
• 4 whole Corn Tortillas, Sliced Into Thin Strips
• ½ cups Canola Oil, For Frying
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce, Sliced/shredded Thin
• 2 whole Ripe Tomatoes, Diced
• ½ cups Cilantro Leaves
• ¼ cups Sour Cream
• 3 Tablespoons Hot Sauce (more To Taste)

Preparation

Make the pizza dough: Mix yeast with warm water and set aside for 8 to 10 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and olive oil in a mixing bowl. With speed on low, drizzle in yeast/water mixture. Allow to mix until totally combined. Cover bowl with a towel and set bowl in a warm, draft-free place. Allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours.
Pour black beans into a saucepan. Add seasonings to taste and heat up beans over medium-low heat. Use a potato masher to mash the beans to desired texture. Continue cooking/heating beans over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer runny (should be the texture of refried beans. Set aside.
In a small skillet, heat canola oil over medium heat. When hot enough to fry, drop in the tortilla strips in batches, frying quickly and removing from oil with a fork when crisp–about 30 to 45 seconds per batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.
Place oven rack in the bottom position in the oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Remove half the pizza dough from the bowl. Place remaining half in a large plastic bag and refrigerate, saving for another use. With hands, spread pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet, making sure it’s relatively thin. Spread layer of refried beans all over pizza crust. Sprinkle mixed grated cheeses over the top. Place pan in the oven (in the bottom half of the oven) and bake for 9 to 12 minutes. Watch it to make sure crust doesn’t burn.
Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle on shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cilantro leaves.
Mix together sour cream and hot sauce, adding enough hot sauce to make the mixture pourable. With a spoon (or you can put it in a pastry bag) drizzle mixture over finished pizza.
Sprinkle with tortilla strips. Cut into squares and serve immediately with good quality salsa.

Amugurumi-kitty cat; FREE pattern link!

So I have REALLY enjoyed making my Amugurumi!  I have made 4 of them in a month-last week I was on a 3 hour flight and really got a lot done on my Dragon-which I will share next week!  Today I would like to share a kitty cat that I made for my cousin:

This seriously is CUTE if I do say so myself- ;) . My cousin LOVES cats and she LOVED this little dolly.  I learned that I need to slow down on the attachment of the parts and I won't have to pick them out!  I also learned how to incorporate other colors into the pattern--my goal is to eventually make a calico kitty.

This was a FREE pattern that I found on Pinterest and the direct link can be found HERE.  If you want to follow my Amugurumi pinterest board it can be found HERE.  I currently have two orders I am working on-I've been seriously thinking of selling these and someone at my son's PT ordered 2!  I'll definitely share those with you when I get them done.  I planning on selling my creations in my etsy store.  When I start listing those I will share the links!

thanks for the visit today-hope your day is FANTASTIC!

Balace-part 2.

A few weeks ago I had a post about BALANCE (see post HERE).  I didn't want to write it ALL down in one go as that would've made a REALLY long post and I don't really want to put anyone to sleep.  So here are some key steps that I think will help with me keeping balance, especially since we are in summer time without a real schedule; except for my son's twice a week PT visits...I am a goal oriented person-I like to break things down into little pieces to accomplish the BIG things!

*Be ORGANIZED; now for me that means meal planning, which helps me use what food I have and keep my budget down.  I really love using Pinterest food recipes that don't call for strange ingredients that I will never use again.  And my boys are great at eating left overs. 

--Also, organization means calendering; I have created a google calendar that is shared with my whole family.  Which means they also put there items in there so EVERYONE (when they look!) can see what is going on.  I also write them down on a magnetic dry erase calendar found HERE on the fridge (quick look tells you what's going on and what's for dinner) . If you are interested in a tutorial on how to use google calendars, on your phone I can post about that...let me know!

--organizing means cleaning up after yourself.  I like a clean house, things put away no piles-does this happen often?  NOPE, it's a never ending battle living with other people in the house and even myself on those days when I feel like I don't want to.  So I set the expectation for myself and the others-you make a mess you clean it up. 

--meal prep, planning what you will eat for a week or even a month.  I also have an online google calendar for that-makes grocery shopping easier.

--there is a lot more that goes into organizing but I'll leave you with these and touch on others when I think of them...

*Consistency is also key in being organize.  It's like going to the gym to strenghten your muscles-you have to consistently be doing the little things.  Some of your balance items (creating, reading a book, cleaning, shopping) doesn't happen EVERY day-find what works for you.  It's a peace of mind thing for me...

*REEVALUATE; okay some of my best laid plans don't work out the way I have had them envisioned, lets be truthful-MOST of my plans don't work out "My"way.  It's okay to be open minded to change it up-maybe another approach to accomplish your tasks will work better for you.  Don't be afraid to try something different to accomplish your goals.

*CLEAR/PATIENT; okay so the last thing I'd like to touch on is being CLEAR with what you want to do to accomplish your balance.  This may take some thinking and PATIENCE with yourself and others around you.  But once you have a bit of a vision you can do it!

Thanks for "tuning in" I hope this is helpful to you!  I tend to have a lot on my mind at one time and it's nice to share what I know-have a FANTASTIC day!  And if you have ANY questions please feel free to ask!

Hershey track

Been using up my scraps to create fun pages with my pictures-love the NO stress of combining and using certain products.  Literally this product is 6-7 years old, and guess what?  I STILL love it!

Fun thing is that all of these kids are MUCH older now and have done track in high school AND I got to be their coach!  GOOD times for sure!

What we ate, pinterest food find

I pretty much buy ground turkey meat and was looking for new ways to cook it and I found this deliciousness:

(photo and recipe credit: skinnyms.com)

Skinny Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground turkey or chicken, (hormone and cage free recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Kosher or sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Make sausage patties to desired size and thickness. I usually get about 8 patties. Uncooked patties can be frozen up to one month.
2. Add patties to a large nonstick skillet and cook on medium heat until brown on both sides and cooked through.

Balance.

Lately I have been thinking about balance...especially now that the kiddos are home from school. 

I've been thinking about how to

budget my money?

how to budget and SAVE $$?

still be creative?

find time for meal planning?

off the shelf cook?

find time to read books?

update my home without breaking the bank?

work my business and make connections?

make creative tasty meals on a budget?

have the kids not constantly on the video games or TV?

make meals that don't heat up the house now that it's REALLY hot outside?

Does anyone else find themselves asking these same questions?  I'm thinking of making this a several blog post idea, it's still forming in my brain so I'm hoping I can get it out to share.  I will warn you I am sort of all over the map-I had a friend ask me if I had some sort of attention disorder (She asked in a loving way) I really do go from one thing to another... ;) So stay tuned, tomorrow I plan on sharing a recipe that is a MUST!  Thanks for stopping in for a chat-hope your day is FANTASTIC!!

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Honestly ALL the boys gave this a thumbs up!  SO yummy don't know that I will ever buy buns anymore-you can even use this for hot dog buns!!

photo and recipe credit: Cheery Kitchen

Homemade Hamburger Buns

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
• ½ cup (4 oz) warm water
• ½ cup (4 oz) milk (whole, 2%, or skim)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl, if mixing by hand), stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Knead at low speed, or by hand against the counter, for 10 minutes. The finished dough should be smooth, feel slightly tacky, and spring back when poked.
3. Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
4. Dust your work surface with a little flour and turn out the risen dough on top. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a tight ball. Transfer the balls to a baking sheet and let rise until they look puffy and hamburger-sized, roughly 30-40 minutes.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
6. Melt the butter and brush it over the risen hamburger buns. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft. Bake the buns until golden, 15-18 minutes.
7. Let the buns cool to room temperature before slicing and using. They are best if eaten within the next day or two, but will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.

my first Amugurumi-Hootie!

What are Amugurumi? 

Amigurumi  is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures. The word is a portmanteau of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.  In the West they are called amigurumi, which are the original phonetics of 編みぐるみ in Japanese language. Amigurumi vary in size and there are no restrictions about size or look.^[3] While the art of amigurumi has been known in Japan for several decades, the craft first started appealing to the masses in other countries, especially in the West, in 2003.

Here is my first attempt!  His name is Hootie; I learned a lot while I made this guy!  The pattern was free and I of course decided to put my twist on him by changing the colors and making eyes for him.

I ordered the eyes from Amazon and can be found HERE.

The yarn that I used for the body and eyes can be found at Michaels (HERE); 100% cotton worsted yarn.  Hobby Lobby also has nice soft 100% cotton worsted yarn HERE both have a great assortment of colors.

Someone asked me how I figured out how to make this.  Well...my grandma taught me how to crotchet a long time ago and I have only really made rectangles.  My son will be going to lots of Physical Therapy appointments and I wanted to do something other than look at my phone.  I had a friend make one of these and I thought it was SO cute and wanted to try it too!  I googled them and found a very helpful website with videos found HERE.

For my owl I went to Pinterest and looked for easy FREE patterns for Amugurumi there are SO many cute and fun ones.  I am currently working on a Unicorn and will share it when I finish him!

Keeping Life REAL...

So it appears to have been over two months since I was on my blog...life has been happening (a BRIEF summary):

* organized and have my own office space for creating and family history.
* I was a Sprints coach at the High school which took up A LOT of my time but I LOOOOVED it!
* My youngest tore his ACL in a Lacrosse game the same day my daughter sprained her ankle at a track meet, my middle son sprained his ankle two days later-that was a FUN week-NOT!
* Finding time to create has been a bit tricky so I have been collecting items for my Project Life which is now piled on top of my desk.
* Still trying new recipes-which I will share!
* painted my kitchen and cabinets!
* painted two bathrooms!
* Made my first Amugurumi doll-so fun I'll share that as well!
* first day of work for my middle.
* surgery for the ACL tear, and first PT visit this week...

As we have become a "picture" instant gratification society here is a picture of something I created:

LOVED working with some old paper from American Crafts- ;)

Pinterest Food find: Super Lemon Bundt Cake

Our family LOVES lemons-honestly it's sort of silly how much we love them!  My mom gave me a few lemons straight off the tree and I decided to make a bundt cake-I turned to Pinterest and found this DELICIOUSNESS:

Picture and recipe from: Sprinkles Some Sugar

Ingredients:

Lemon Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs + 2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cups whole milk

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-5 tbs lemon juice

Lemon Sugar Topping

1 tbs lemon zest

1 tbs granulated sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease a bundt pan very well making sure to really get into all crevices then lightly flour pan. Set aside.

Lightly whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you're using one) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on low until they are thickened and very pale yellow in color. Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar to running mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined.

In a small saucepan, heat milk until very hot and butter is just melted. Do not boil and whisk the mixture to help the butter along. Pour into batter and mix until smooth. Batter will be very thin. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 27-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Once done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan. Release the sides of the cake with a butter knife to ensure it isn’t going to stick. Turn cake onto a large round platter or cake stand. (If using a 9x13 pan, do not remove cake, just place entire pan onto wire rack so underneath the pan can cool also.) Allow cake to finish cooling until warm to the touch.

While cake is cooling, prepare lemon sugar and glaze. For the lemon sugar, thoroughly mix the lemon zest and sugar together and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you don’t want the lemon zest on top of the cake, push the sugar through a fine mesh strainer, separating the two and discard the zest. If you don’t mind the zest on top of your cake (it will give it a nice pop of color!), then just set the mixture aside.

For the glaze, whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice, using more or less lemon juice as needed to get desired consistency. (I like to keep mine slightly thick so it won’t thin out too much when I serve it over warm cake.)Once cake is cooled down slightly, drizzle glaze over warm cake. Alternately, you can drizzle the glaze over each individual piece being served. Sprinkle lemon sugar on top.

Cake will stay soft and moist for 3 days stored in an airtight container.

awesome.

For this layout I wanted to keep it simple-love the clean lines and GORGEOUS paper by Jillibean Soup!

 closeup of the title:

Thanks for stopping in for a visit-hope your day is FANTASTIC!!

family

 This fun picture was taken on Mother's day 2016-fun to have some of the cousins together-and take a picture with their grandma!  Here are some closeups of the details of the page:

 the bohemian pattern is right up Grandma's alley-totally reminds me of her! ;) . Thanks for the visit today!

Pinterest Food Find-Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Brocolli Casserole

I made this for dinner on Monday night and 3 out of 4 of us REALLY liked this-I TOTALLY recommend adding the optional bacon! ;)

• photo and recipe credit a Pinch of Yum
• 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups water, divided
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (optional… sort of)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 teaspoons seasoning (like Emeril’s Essence or any basic blend you like)
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (any kind will work)
• 3 cups fresh broccoli florets

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sauce: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a 9×13 baking dish (seriously, be generous because it really really sticks to the sides). Bring the chicken broth and 1/2 cup milk to a low boil in a saucepan. Whisk the other 1/2 cup milk with the poultry seasoning and flour; add the mixture to the boiling liquid and whisk until a smooth creamy sauce forms.
2. Assembly: In a large bowl, mix the sauce from step one, one cup water, quinoa, and bacon and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips and lay the chicken breasts strips over the top of the quinoa mixture. Sprinkle with the seasoning. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Broccoli: While the casserole is in the oven, place the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute until it turns bright green and then run under cold water. Set aside.
4. Bake: Remove the casserole from the oven, check the mixture by stirring it around in the pan, and if needed, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes to get the right consistency. When the quinoa and chicken are cooked and the sauce is thickened, add the broccoli and a little bit of water (up to one cup) until the consistency is creamy and smooth and you can stir it up easily in the pan. Top with the cheese and bake for 5 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese.

Happy birthday with Jillibean Soup

I created a birthday card the other day using the Bohemian Brew Collection by Jillibean Soup!  I even created my own little flower with paper, a sequin and a pop dot-I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

I have plan for this card already-for someone who loves this sort of design and who's birthday is in June- ;)
Thanks for popping in!  Today is a busy one, class, dentist and a track meet to officiate at! 

Project Life!

So I am officially caught up with the last 6 months of 2017!!!  yes, my project life is a work in progress, what you are seeing now is the beginning of this year.  

 I have to tell you most of my pictures are taken with my iphone and I am using different editing software to write right on the pictures.  My favorites right now are WordSwag and Project Life which helps me to format my pictures to 3 x 4 size on a 4x6-then I can send them out and get them printed.  I've also noticed that I really LOVE to have my own journaling cards.  My FAVORITE artist/designer;  right now is Geralyn and can be found at In a Creative Bubble.  I follow her on Instagram on her personal and business accounts found HERE and HERE.  She is guest designing this month for The Digital Press and her designs are 30% off THIS weekend!  I've already purchased my favorites an thought I would share them with you.  I LOVE digital stamps because you can use them on your pictures or create your own journalling and embellishment cards! 

This is a real QUICK post as I have the house to myself and I want to enjoy some uninterrupted crafting time! ;) . Happy Friday to ya!!

Well, HELLO March!

Life is FLYING by at a rapid pace and I'm trying to live life with my kiddos and enjoy the ride!

I wanted to share with you that Scrapbook Circle now has a class and kit which can be found HERE.  When I say class I mean several design team members have taken the kit and created different items and there are instructional videos to go with them!  Such an INCREDIBLE idea and deal for $35!!  I have a tutorial there as well!  We would LOVE to have you join us with the Only You class + kit!

Happy Valentine's day!

I still LOVE to give my teenage boys Valentine's and THEY still love it!  I quickly snapped these yesterday between the morning activities and track practice! ;)
I started their Valentine's with these-these cute little inspiring books came from Marshall's one says-make today amazing!  The other says if you change nothing, nothing will change.  The iTunes cards I already had on hand...

Next I measured the little books and cut out envelopes using my Silhouette and pattern paper from Jillibean Soup:

I wrapped a heart paper doilie around the edge and tied it with baker's twine.

I sealed the envelope with washi tape so that it wouldn't tear...

I added a few embellishments and tied the envelopes on top of 98 cent packs of candy for each of my boys-easy peasy!

February Kudos-LOVE it!

Okay-so my new job as a track coach started Monday!  It's been exciting and fun-and I am super proud of the kids that have come out and worked hard-SO fulfilling to be able to work with such FANTASTIC kids-seriously!
I wanted to quickly share with you today my February special-it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!  This will most likely sell out because EVERYONE has loved it that much!!

first of all let me tell you what is included:

*crease brush

*exclusive quad palette (these shadows are HIGHLY pigmented-a little goes a LONG way!)

*lip Bonbon (your choice)

This is a savings of 24%!!  Okay now look at this:

And the colors blend together to create even MORE beautiful colors:

So I had about 5 minutes to play with mine and I came up with this:

 This is PERFECT for Valentine's Day-and it's backed by a $$ back guarantee-LOVE that peace of mind!  If you are interested in purchasing you can check it out HERE-thanks for tuning in and letting me share with you some things I'm excited about! ;)