mustard

One of my best friend's had her birthday last Friday. Since I had been traveling the week prior I took my crochet hook and had picked up some wonderful mustard colored yarn. I made a yellow cowl that was crocheted flat and then added a twist to it when I put it in the round. It is similar to the infinity scarves that I have seen all over the web so it won't have a twist when looped once around.
I fell in love with it, which seems to happen every time I make a gift, but it looks so much better with her reddish hair.

homemade

So I love to do stuff homemade, but please don't think I am some crazy nut who has to have everything homemade! This project came about because I saw these crackers on Pinterest, I was intrigued.  Then we had a block of cheese that nobody was going to eat so I didn't want it to go to waste and this seemed like the perfect use.

I really don't like Cheez-Its. It is not something that I go out of my way to buy at the grocery store. Every once in awhile they end up in our cupboard but always seem to go stale before the box is empty. But these crackers...oh my gosh...they were gone before we could enjoy them for multiple days. So tasty and really relatively easy. They actually taste like cheese, which means Mae didn't want them since he didn't like the cheese to start with.  The wonderful thing about these is the seasonings. You can add just about any spices you want to personalize the flavor. I had some cajun type spice blend and so added that- yum!

Homemade Cheez-Its
16 oz cheese (could really use any kind)
3/4 cup flour
4 T butter
1 T milk
salt and pepper to taste

Shred cheese in food processor. Add flour, butter, and seasonings and process until you have course crumbs. Add the milk and process until you have a ball. Turn out ball on lightly floured surface and roll into rectangle shape. Cut into small pieces with pizza cutter and add a hole with a chopstick.
Place on parchment paper and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

love the imperfections

hop hop

A couple weeks ago I ran into this bunny via Pinterest. I liked his ears and thought it might make a cute baby toy, similar to this bear I made for a shower gift.
I started by embroidering her face and she came out looking sad, but I liked the pink nose. I cut her ears and after sewing them together added a piece of a chip bag to make them crinkle. The ears turned out a little bigger than I imagined they would be but it added a quirky element. She's perfect for the top of a baby gift!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today happens to be the birthday of a good friend as well. I thought it would be only fitting to make a Happy Day Felt Garland for some birthday love. Happy Birthday Breanne!

travel

Another trip means more crochet. It is so nice to have a crafty project that is mobile. This one pulled inspiration from a couple different places. The top part came from this hat pattern, the same pattern I used for the earflap hat for Case. I finished it similar to this hat. And then added a pompom to the top. Definitely one I will make again.

day

Spent a whole weekend with sick kids but we are on the mend and headed out of town today. Started oatmeal so now Case will sleep at night. Mae got a haircut and can't wait to see grandma to get some Peeps.  Case is fully fascinated by blocks and squirms his way to knock them down. Just life.

new baby

My grandmother was Carol Mae. She was an incredible homemaker who could do pretty much everything. I have inherited many sewing items from her including the pattern weights that I use almost daily. There are many recipes that I make that bring back many fond memories of sitting in her kitchen when I was just a little girl. Runzas is one of them.  A sweet dough that is filled with beef and cabbage- yum!

My best friend, who just had the sweet baby girl,  made these for me in the days after I had Mae. They are so good and are such a process to get made I think they taste that much better. I made them for her today to return the favor.

Runzas
Dough:
5 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 pkg yeast
3/4 c milk
1/2 c water
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs (room temp)

Filling:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 c cabbage, chopped
Salt and Pepper

Measure 2 cups of flour into bowl. Stir in sugar, salt and yeast. Set aside. Heat milk, water and shortening until shortening is melted. Allow to cool to warm. Once cool add to flour mixture and stir until combined. Add eggs and beat at low speed. Then beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour. Knead 3 minutes and cover to let rise.

Brown beef and onion. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When beef is fully cooked stir in cabbage. Break dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll 1 part of the dough and cut into 12 squares. Spoon a couple tablespoons of filling onto each square. Fold in corners and pinch to close. Flip over and place on baking sheet so corners are on the bottom. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

upcycle

If this shirt is in Mae's drawer, he will wear it. It was even paired with yellow skinny jeans one day, oh my! It is safe to say that this is quite possibly one of my favorite shirts to date as well. The front white knit is from an old polo of my husbands and it has teeny tiny little skully faces on it. The back and sleeves are from another Ralph Lauren Polo from my dad. Same pattern as this tee I made awhile back from Make It and Love It.
What I realized this morning though as Mae looked through his drawers to get dressed he needs some more solid long sleeves. All the crazy colors and patterns have resulted in some interesting outfits!

Felt Garland

My best friend had her baby yesterday, baby Claire. She is so very cute and so teeny! You forget how tiny newborns are, plus with Case weighing in at close to 20 pounds Claire seemed extra small. So I wanted to make something to welcome this sweet girl to the world. Using this tutorial over at Made I created a felt garland but added felt letters to spell her name. Took it to the hospital and added some love to the bassinet.

Crinkle Toy

Two crinkle squares. One for Case and the other was tied to another baby gift. I used a square cut from a plastic tortilla chip bag inside so they are extra crinkly. Easy and quick to make, each taking no more than 20 minutes.