Warm and Cozy

Yesterday I went to breakfast and shopping with a good friend, we have not chatted in a while it was very nice to catch up.  We are going to plan a trip to NYC together with some other friends, since I have never been. 

Friday we had a snow day, it was nice to stay warm and cozy with the family for an extra day.  While home and the kids napped I looked up simple projects I could complete.  I found this really cool scarf on Martha Stewart.com called the "No Knit Scarf"...I could do that.  Here is the link: http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/yarn-crafts  Off to Joann's I went, I got a big fluffy pile of cream colored yarn.  Last night with my hubby at the CU basketball game and the kids in bed I went to work.  It was really easy! I am really happy with it, I am sure there are things that I would change if I did it again, but for a first time-go me!

The supplies (doesnt the yarn look warm!)

I taped it to my mat to keep it steady and tight.

All done, very cool!

Happy Sunday,

T.

SNOW DAY!!

Can you believe all this snow....because we have a snow day! Yeah!

Our front porch! Yikes! Look at that drift!

My hubby shoveling...hard!

Enjoy your snowy day!

T.

When it snows ALL day...

When it does this all day (pardon the bad pix I was taking it from inside)....

All you can do is...sew! I have been a sewing lady tonight. I have sewn a half a Mother's day gift, a mini Easter tree skirt (I will post just as soon as I have the very last part done), the panels for my bulletin board, and put it together...all in about 2 hours! Busy little lady!

The story of the BB (bulletin board); I work at a Ivy League University and my building is currently having some MAJOR overhauling so they, meaning facilities, from time to time offer office supplies/furniture for free. When the opportunity came up for a free bulletin board, I got TWO! Free is free...right? They have been sitting in the garage for a while now. I mainly got them for my craft room to post my current projects or ideas that I have found I have to do. Well I hung it up and…blah! So boring, that isn’t going to do, this is my creative workspace it needs some PeP! The wood trim I gave a nice coat of black semi gloss, that looked better already, but I still was not convinced. Needed something more….ahhh fun fabric! I knew I wanted to go with purple as its my favorite color, and the green was just a last minute decision. It has a little pattern nothing crazy, some small circley flower things.

I got home with my fabric, the purple looked good however this BB is much larger than I remembered. Lets face it no matter how many times you measure sometimes it just doesn’t set in until you are ready to tackle sed project. That’s where the panels come in. I just zipped them through the sewing machine and…T a Da. Lovely. Last step was to trim the edges and tuck them under the edging. I love it! I can not wait to hang it back up and see the difference.

The next step in my craft room; I want to borrow an overhead projector from my friend, he is a school teacher (they still have those don’t they?) and write fun, inspiring, and creative words on the wall and paint them, like they are floating. Pipe dream for the moment.

(Close up of the fabric-simple and cute right?)

Well, off to bed I go, I am hoping for a snow day tomorrow ….not that will happen but we can wish for a three day weekend.

(See much bigger than you think-its covering my whole kitchen table!)

T.

Sunday and Silhouettes

Hello!  What an awesome day it was today, the sun was actually shinning! Can you believe it.  I went to a movie today with my besties...B, A, and K...missed you J.  Okay this is where it gets tricky...they saw Precious, I saw Dear John. It was so good. I cried the vast majority of the time, but none the less it was great, two thumbs up!

I started 4 projects today.  Can't just do one thing at a time, watching the paint or modge podge dry is a waste of precious time, I can sew something...right, thats multi tasking at its best! I have been continuing to work on my mother's day gifts, started a quilted tree skirt for my Easter tree, and a upcycle project. Busy, busy busy!

Lately the trend all over the internet is Silhouettes.  I remember when we were little my sister, my childhood friends, and myself used to sit in front of a flash light and trace our heads on paper that was taped to the wall.  We were so cool back then and like anything great they are becoming popular again!  (Insert a great 80's tune)  When I was at a local store with a bullseye they had them but I would rather have my own kids than some strangers head hanging on my wall! Ha.  I know someone out there can relate to that...right? Throw me a bone here.  Anyway I search my 8000 pictures I have on my computer and found two good silhouettes of the kids, printed them off and went from there.

1-Upcycle some old pictures-these used to be in my apartment...11 years ago (literally), the frames and glass are in great shape.

2- Trace and cut the outline of the person you wish to have a silhouette of-in black

3-Paste or stick the "head" on to another paper, and you can stop there. I however added some scrapbooking touches-ribbon and my kids names.

4-Hang and enjoy.

I really like the way they turned out.  The names are not that dark so its hard to see them which is fine by me because I want the focus to be the silhouette.  I am going to hang them in my craft room, since my children give me so much inspiration!  I am working on another project for there as well, some day we will recover from the minor flooding....ahhh dream.

I hope everyone has a enjoyable Monday....

T.

It's official-I have a button!

This is super exciting, I have a button! Yeppers,  I found some super easy directions at http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ A HUGE thank  you Steph.

<a href="http://simpleinspiredhomemade.blogspot.com/" width="150" src="http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac197/S-I-Homemade/Button-1.jpg[/IMG]" height="125"/></a>

This almost makes me feel like an official blogger just like the others I so often follow and inspire to be! Please add it to your page!

T.

A new place to live-

It's finished! I can not believe it, finally!  I stated this project at the tale end of November in hopes it would be done for Chirstmas, life happend and that didnt.  Well Friday night while watching the Olympics I finished sewing the final two sides...and I admit that I did a little happy dance! My husband said "you are weird but I love you"- thanks hun! I think he knew just how excited I was to finish this project in time to give my two little Valentine's a special gift. And truely from the heart!  Thank you to Jill from http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/  she gave me the idea and I changed it a bit from hers to adapt to my kids.  Side one is the front: the door (bright orange), a yellow mailbox, a window with the panes cut out and flower garden.  Side two: the farm the barn door opens to allow crawling in and out, a pig and a chic.  Side three: the tree, right now there are 5  apples to pick and an owl-I want to make some pears in the future.  And the final side is the veggie garden.  The mailbox on the front side opens so that the kids can "mail" letters to each other. 

This project even though it took me A LOT longer than I thought it would I am super proud of it and the kids LOVED it-Enjoy, I know my kids are!!!

T.

Happy Valetine's Day!

A and I made 10 dozen heart shapped sugar cookies! Can you believe it, 120 cookies! That was a lot of frosting. However I smartened up this time, I thinned out my frost a little and put them in squirt bottles, A loved it! They were so easy for her to use and really participate with.  We had so much fun, we gave some to Nana and Papa, Gma and Gpa, her Pre school class, dance class, I took some to work for my co-workers and some for the research lab students, and my husband took some as well...and you know what...we still have plenty at home! 

My husband I went and saw Valentine's Day today and had a wonderful late lunch at the Boat Yard in Ithaca, it was wonderful.  I hope you and your Valentine have a lovely and warm day!

T.

All About Boys

One of the blogs that I have marked on my favorite list is celebrating boys all this month. Crafts, projects, and ideas for boys! As a mom of a girl and a boy this is very exciting. I can always find things to make for A but not so much for P.  So if you are looking for some great ready check out Dana's blog MADE, http://www.dana-made-it.com/ .  And one of her blogger friends, Rae, http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/, is joining in the fun as well! Great job ladies, I am very excited to see...well...EVERYTHING!





  

A is 5!!

My little girl turned five this past week, it so hard to believe where the time has gone. She had three parties! Yeppers three. One with her friends from school, one with just grandparents on her actual birthday and this past weekend with everyone else in the family! It seemed like she was turning 5 for 7 days! Ha. The theme of the week was Tinkerbell. I made all three of her cakes! Very time consuming and I could not use my hand after piping all the icing, but I love to see her face when it is done!

I always make my own icing, it’s the simplest recipe but sooo yummy! The first cake was for her “girly” party, a Tinkerbell face. I used the Wilton cake pan, find that here http://www.wilton.com/shapedpan/Disney-Fairies/. I previously bought cakes for their birthdays, however I have decided it would mean so much more to make my/our own. Alyvia is at that age where she will help me; use the mixer, pour some of the ingredients in, pick out the frosting colors, and this time she actually piped some of the flowers! My big girl. Happy birthday baby girl! The big 5!!!

T.

A little Homemade Mac and Chz....

My Grandmother "Mema" made this my whole life. Even to this day she still makes it for Holidays. Its a tradition.  This is the easiest recipe ever!

You will need:
Elbow noodles: I use whole wheat pasta (they do not know the difference)
A brick of cheese: I use Colbet Seriously Sharp
Milk: about 1/2 cup
Flour: about 2 Tbsp

Boil your noodles.
Cut the cheese into small cubes.

Heat the other ingretients to make a "rue".

Put into a baking dish and bake for about 30 min at 375 and ENJOY. Or you could just eat it gooey and yummy like that!!!

T.