Glass Tile Necklaces

On Fabulous Friday a couple weeks ago, I made this cute Hello Kitty Necklace for my daughter. I bought extra kits so when craft night was at my house, it was another one of the projects! Everyone got to choose their own patterned paper. So fun and cute!

Box of Cards

We had stamp night at my house last week. This is one of the projects we made. A simple box of cards. I thought they turned out pretty cute. I love the stitching. I gave this box to a dear friend who is always helping others. I hope she enjoys them!

Thankful Banner!

I made this a few years ago at a craft night at a friend's house. I really like how it turned out. (I copied her banner exactly!) I put it out every year. I think it adds a lot!

Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins this year! Aren't they cute???

Mystery Quilt

Several years ago, our quilt group did a mystery quilt. You bought an allotted amount of 3 fabrics and did a different set of blocks each month. You didn't know what it would look like until the end! Here's mine. It's been sitting in storage since I didn't have the binding done. So I used my new tool and got the binding done in just a few hours!

Our New Fence!

Yesterday we (my husband) finished building/replacing our fence that was falling down. This one is so sturdy, it'll probably last longer than our house! It looks great!

Circle Halloween Quilts!

Last year our quilt group exchanged Halloween circles and made Halloween quilts... I went a little crazy... I made three!!! The first I made for a friend who loves Halloween. This is the first quilt I've given away, which is quite a compliment! It's smaller so it can be a display quilt or wall quilt. I love it... and the binding is actually glow in the dark!

The next one I made for myself and I love it! The jack-o-lantern border is especially fun! I put it on my couch from September 1 until Thanksgiving!

This last one is totally different, but I love it too. I have it on our love seat from September 1 until Thanksgiving! I have been tucking it under since I didn't have the binding done. I bought this fancy tool to help me do the binding quicker and I couldn't figure it out. A friend came by this week and helped me with it and we got it done! I love the striped borders and binding!


And I had to share the back of this quilt... I had so much Halloween fabric from making all those circles, that I decided I couldn't buy more... so I pieced this together and I think it turned out pretty cute!



Now can you believe I still have Halloween fabric left over? What am I going to do with it all?

Fondant

On Friday, I went to Fabulous Friday! It's a night of crafts & fun! One class I took was cake decorating! How fun! We each got a 2-layer cake to decorate. Lots of tips on how to ice it smooth and then we got to try some fondant! We were supposed to be making a Halloween cake, but since my icing turned out kinda pink I used the candy corn cookie cutters to make flower petals instead. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Birthday Banner!

A good friend asked me to cut some letters and scalloped rectangles to make a banner. She purchased this banner from MyEmmyCakes. A friend of hers really liked it, so she wanted to make one that said Welcome for her birthday. Here's what I made for her. She going to decorate with ribbons, etc.



I used Mini Monograms & Storybook Cricut Cartridges to cut these.

SPOOKY!

I met with a group of girlfriends last night and we made this banner & cute Frankenstein bag! The banner looks fabulous. The picture doesn't even do it justice!


Isn't this bag cute! I absolutely love it!

Here are the 3 cards I made for our swap. Our challenge this month was difficult for me. We had to follow these card template challenges:


This is my favorite. Here's the sketch challenge for it.



This card was the first I made of the three. It's not my usual style, but I still like it. Here's the sketch challenge.

Here's the last one and the sketch challenge for it.

I finished my pinwheel blocks!

Here are the last four blocks I made for the pinwheel trade. My favorite is the one with the light blue background and pink flowers. I'm so excited to get the rest from the others so I can start my quilt!

Blackberry Pie

My absolute favorite pie is blackberry. My grandmother & father made the best blackberry pies, but of course I don't have the recipe. And even if I did, mine wouldn't be as good! I remember asking my dad for recipes. He would always say, oh just a little of this and a bit of that, until it tastes/looks right. Grandma & dad didn't use recipes... they cooked from skill. Something I just didn't inherit. But I try!

I was coerced into going blackberry picking the other day... even though the season is all but over. About an hour later I had several scratches, dark purple hands and about 1/2 flat of blackberries... it was hard picking.



I'm used to the blackberry picking of my youth where if you couldn't get a flat in 10 minutes it wasn't worth your time. But I was happy we ended up with enough for a pie.



And since I was making a pie anyway I decided to make more and use up some of the 48 pounds of peaches I have... I made a full size and three mini size blueberry peach pies.



I feel very domestic!

4 Ingredient Easy Cobbler

I made this cobbler yesterday trying to use up the 48 pounds of local fresh peaches I bought. It's so easy & yummy. I did have to increase the cook time from 30 to 50 minutes.



I've really been enjoying this new recipe site: Tasty Kitchen. Everything I've tried has been delicious!

Faux Pad Thai

Last night I made Faux Pad Thai for dinner. It was delicious. Here's a picture.

Note: the link is broken and Faux Pad Thai is no longer listed on the Tasty Kitchen site... I'm not sure why since everyone who's tried this recipe (besides children) have loved it! So here's the recipe:
Faux Pad Thai
By Sophie McNeil
2 packages raman (I do 3)
3 cups cut-up vegetables: broccoli, red bell pepper, pead pods, carrots and/or onions, etc.
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
1 T cornstarch
1/2 t powdered red pepper
2 cups cooked chicken in small pieces
1 8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 8 oz. can bamboo shoots, drained
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup slice green onions

Seat aside 1 seasoning packet from noodles to use in recipe. Store remaining packet for another use. In a large saucepan bring 2 quarts of water to boil. Break up noodles slightly and add to water along with cut-up vegetables. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 3 minutes. Drain and return to saucepan.

Meanwhile for sauce, in a medium saucepan whisk together the 1 1/4 cups water, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch, red pepper, and seasoning packet. Whisk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Add chicken, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots to sauce; heat through. Add to noodle mixture in saucepan. Toss to combine. Top with peanuts and green onions. Serve immediately. Makes four 1 1/4 cup servings.





I added an extra package of raman, added extra vegetables: red onions, snap peas, red bell pepper, carrots & broccoli. Yumm!

I won a Red Letter Words Canvas Art Print!

Oh wow! SkipToMyLou.org had a giveaway and I won! RedLetterWords.com was giving away a 12x12 Wrapped Canvas Print. I won! I chose Love Spoken Here. It's so beautiful! I'm so surprised and happy and thankful for such a beautiful work of art!

Card Swap

These are the cards I made for my card swap last month. The theme was Fall... I did not try to use the same pumpkin stamp for each card... but as I made them, it just turned out that that certain pumpkin looked best there! I do have other pumpkin stamps!

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

A good friend of mine has an incredible blog with quilting, craft projects and of course, recipes. I just made her banana bars this morning. They are delicious! I did bake them in a 10x15 pan like she recommends, but had to cook them for 35 minutes (10 minutes longer than recommended). Better than any banana bread or banana cake you've had!

Southwestern Beef Wraps

One of my favorite blogs to read is Our Best Bites. Everything I've tried on there turns out delicious. Today I made this recipe I've wanted to try since I saw it. Southwestern Beef Wraps Oh! So yummy!

More Pinwheels

I made these pinwheels for the swap this month. I have 4 sets of 8 to go! I was hoping to have them all done ahead of time, but I'm barely keeping up! I love how they turned out.

Some Cards I Made

I got together with some friends and the project that was planned was to do this fun technique. I was able to make 9 roses that night and yesterday I put together 9 simple cards with them!



I also made these two cards for a trade that night.

A Cute Card

I made this card last month and a few friends came over and I had it ready so they could make one too! :) It's an awesome card (if I do say so myself)and I'm going to give it to someone who always gushes over my cards when I give her one. I have a hard time giving away cards that take a lot of time to make... but when someone really lets me know they love it, I never feel bad about giving them a great card!

Our new stove & microwave!

We just installed a new stove & microwave! We're so excited. The old stove was a hazard. When you used the oven it actually made the whole stove very hot and you could burn yourself touching the stovetop or any part of it. When I pulled it out, it had actually scorched the cabinets on both sides where the oven door was. I cleaned as best I could, but needed to repaint behind it. I'm not sure what color I really want there, but I had this white and thought it'd be a good base for the future. We put in a double oven & overhead microwave with the help of some friends! :) Here are before and after pictures! I love the extra counter space... does anyone need a decent counter microwave for free? :) Our next step is to get a new fridge. Ours either freezes our food or doesn't keep it cool enough... all the drawers are broken and it leaks water inside & out... and we bought it new only 8 years ago! :)

I'm working on a pinwheel quilt

I belong to a quilt group. We're making a group pinwheel quilt. Each month we each make 2 sets of 8 pinwheels. Then we switch and come away with 16 different pinwheels! :) It's easier than I thought it would be... but very time consuming. Here's a good tutorial on making a pinwheel. If you're making a lot of the same fabric you can sew in strips to make several triangle squares at the same time. Here are the pinwheels I made this month:

This is what happens when you leave the stove for a second to work on photoshop...

This photo doesn't even do it justice. There is a thick layer burned to the bottom... I've scrapped everything possible out. All you can see is rock hard... the pan may be a loss...

Photoshop Elements Class

About a month ago I signed up for a free class at JessicaSprague.com. I know the basics and some of the class is review, but there are some really cool techniques & shortcuts that I'm excited to learn! Each night there is a 5-10 minute tutorial. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I like it and look forward to it! This was today's tutorial. Here is my original photo:
















Here is my photo with some added texture, photoburn gradient and some text. I'm playing with the idea of developing these and using them as the front of some cards!

My First Quilt - Fireflies at Night!

This is the first quilt I ever made. It is covered with cute little fireflies with the occasional night sky and stars. It is the first time I ever quilted. I stippled and bound it myself and am very happy with it. It was even in a quilt show once in the first quilt section.