A New Year and New Projects

It is 2010 and I am looking forward to some more fun creative projects. To kick off the new year I have decided to start with a project I have been thinking about for a while. This February I will be turning 30 and I want to make a scrapbook of events from my life.

About six months ago when I realized I would soon be 30, I started to "freak out", mostly because I didn't know how to be happy about getting older if I wasn't pleased with where I was. SO, I started to make a few changes...I started going to the gym, I started going to bed earlier (before 1 am), and I have been thinking about all of the things that make me who I am. Exercise was one of the best things I could have done to feel good about myself. I have been a physically fit person in general but after my second child I wasn't motivated to get out and do much about it until I decided I just wasn't feeling good. I feel so much better now! Exercise was the key :)

As I have been thinking about my life and the past 30 years, I started to think of my childhood and what it was like growing up the youngest of 9 children and having parents who were the age of most of my friends grandparents (which I am so grateful for my parents, I wouldn't have it any other way); to the tender years as a teenager and what it was like to loose my father when I was 13; to high school and fun friends who would go hiking, boating, skiing, sledding and lots of other good wholesome fun; and on to college and boys and dating and roommates and lots of self discovery and what I have to offer the world. I also started to look at the 1 1/2 years I spent as an LDS missionary for my church and what amazing experiences I had in California learning Spanish and teaching about Jesus Christ. I also thought about when I meet my husband, our marriage, and the 5 years since then that have been filled with 2 children, college degrees for both of us and countless wonderful memories.

After considering all of that, I realized how thankful I am for being me!

This album is a celebration of the events that have shaped me into who I am and although it is only an 8x8 album I think it will be just right for what I want to do. I have already picked out the pages and embellishments as you can see and all I need to do is add pictures. As I finish pages and layouts I will post them.

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you take some time to look back at what has happened in your life to make you who you are.

Happy Crafting!
Sarah

Merry Christmas and Happy Crafting!

Christmas is a week away and my tree is up and decorated (thanks to my honey who did it while I was at a meeting!) If you are like me, you are getting those last few gifts for family or friends to finish off the list. I have been making presents for the past few weeks and I think it is now time to put my sewing machine away and just enjoy the magical holiday feeling that comes this time of year. I hope you all enjoy your festivities and have safe travels.

Merry Christmas,

Sarah

Christmas Crafting

Christmas is not to far away and I have been busy making gifts for family and friends. Last night my friend Rebecca and I got together at her house for a night of sewing, it was lots of fun! We worked and talked into the weeeee hours of the morning (2'ish) when I decided it was time to head for home and a warm bed. The best part of having a good friend is the unstructured moments when you get to chat and talk about life and also those not so important things such as the spoofs on "Twilight" and "New Moon". We are both fans of the Twilight series and she showed me some hilarious videos that seemed even funnier at 2 am.

So, I have been hard at work getting Christmas presents made but I can't post anything until after Christmas or else you might know what you are getting...until then, here are some other projects I have done over the past year that haven't made it to my blog yet.

My Past Projects

I made these pillow covers to hide our brown and green well worn pillows. I got the fabric from IKEA, however, I picked out the fabric this summer and I 'm not sure the bright green matches my decor or the season. But hey, they work. Now when someone takes a nap on them and slobbers I just slip off the cover and toss it in the washer instead of trying to stuff the pillows in my washing machine and then having to listen to it as it thump, thump, thumps off balance. Pillow covers are a pretty smart ide if you ask me, especially since I have heavy sleepers who are bound to drool. I finished these just last month.

(Lauren helping me measure out the material, she is the best little helper!)

This is a baby quilt I put together before Lauren was born, over a year ago. I found a supper cute pattern and down sized it and changed the colors to fit a baby girl.

A little Valentines card from last year.

And of course, the two best creations I have ever made!

My Sweet Girls.

Katelynn (almost 4) and Lauren (1)(Picture taken Nov. 2009)

Happy Crafting!

Menu Makeover

~ CRAB CAKES ~

I tried a new recipe to add some ZEST to our menu. They turned out really good! I got the recipe from MarthaStewart.com here is the link

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/zesty-crab-cakes?autonomy_kw=zestycrabcakes

I tweaked the ingredients a little to suit our family's tastes. Instead of breadcrumbs (we didn't have any) I used some white bread I had chopped up in my Pampered Chef chopper I also added crushed up saltines because I didn't have enough bread slices to make 3/4 cup.

You make due with what ya got, right!

I skipped on the hot peppers because my hubby doesn't do "hot" but I did add the cayenne pepper which was just perfect on the flavor scale. Another difference was that I used canned crab meat, I wanted to see how it went over the first time before I went a little more spendy on the "good" crab meat.

With all of those changes they turned out great!

I Loved them and my little one year old gobbled them up!

Good job I say...it is worth a pat on the back! Another successful adventure.
Happy Cooking :)

Bathtime Hoodie

I made this cute little bath towel/ hoodie for my little one year old's first birthday. I made her one because she was always shivering when I got her out of the bathtub. I saw a little kid wearing one of these after swimming lessons this summer and I asked the kids mom what it was made of and how it was made. It only takes a bath towel and a washcloth for the hood plus whatever extras you want to add to it. I think the one I originally saw had little bear ears on it, SUPER CUTE!

This is my version of what I saw. I bought a towel for $1.50 and a washcloth for $1.00 and used some little pieces I had at home for accent. I sewed the accents on first to both the washcloth and the towel. Then I folded the washcloth about 3/4 of the way down and sewed the sides together to make a hood which I tweaked a little by sewing the corners at a diagonal to make it look "rounded" to fit her head.

I attached the unfinished edge of the washcloth to the middle

of a long side of the towel and VOILA!

It is super easy to make and works wonders!

Laurens 1st cake...and mine too!

I set off on an adventure last week, I decided to make Lauren's first birthday cake a little more than just a box of mix and a can of frosting. I have a great friend who does novelty cakes and we have been doing some fun stuff together. So, I thought I would try all by myself to make Lauren's cake and add fondant frosting with some decorations. Here is how it turned out...

The bottom layer is 8", the top is 6", and the cake itself is a strawberry cake mix with lots of good stuff added to it like a cheesecake pudding mix, extra flour, sugar, and some sour cream. It was really moist and yummy!
The lady bugs were a last minute addition and were just perfect! Lauren is a Halloween baby and she is only one so she really isn't going to care too much for witches, jack-o-lanterns, or anything scary so I made her cake cute and sweet.

The little birthday girl.

Close-up of a lady bug. They were pretty simple to make. I rolled a ball of black fondant and used two petals from the smaller flower as wings and then added tiny black dots. Cute and simple! I have to admit,

IT WAS A LOT OF WORK!

Hats off to those who make cakes professionally!

I didn't realize how much time it would take to put it all together; there was making the cake mix, baking the cake, making the fondant, dying the fondant different colors, rolling out the white fondant, covering the cake layers, rolling out the colored fondant, cutting out the flowers, placing the flowers, making the ladybugs, and then finishing off the cake with the white fondant rope on the edges. I didn't keep track of how long this took but it was a few hours...at the least! But it was worth it :)

Happy first birthday Lauren.

Zipper Critters

THIS is a little project I finished a while ago, it is called a Zipper Critter and the pattern is by Indigo Junction. The mouth is a zipper that opens and closes and inside is a little pocket to hide things. It is made of pieces of left over fabric from my scrap bin and buttons I bought on sale at JoAnn's. I have lots more scraps, zippers, and buttons waiting to be put together.

I made this one for my oldest girl as a little toy and she loves it. This is the first project I have sewn a zipper in. Fun and educational!