Getting Organized

I've never been one of those people that could design beautiful things just with my own creativity. Now, I am a pretty good copier, but I need things to copy. I have dozens and dozens of things bookmarked, but that's nothing compared to the stack of pages I had pulled out of various catalogs, magazines and whatnot. And they were taking up a lot of space in my inbox, so last night while watching a movie with B, I cut out the pictures I liked and categorized them by item of clothing or type of household item. So now they are all nice and neat and organized in a way that I can quickly reference them when I'm thinking of what I want to do. Sometimes it's also helpful to see the similarities in the things that I like; often I've been able to identify patterns of what I like after I see that I've cut out 8 pictures that all look the same.



Sorry for the terrible pictures, but I didn't feel like waiting for the morning to take them. And I have TONS more pages. Looking at all the pictures makes me want to start sewing. So it's both organized and motivating.

Hello Again!

I know I've been gone for A LONG time, but I'm hoping to rejoin the craft-blog world again. It's not that I haven't been creating and crafting and sewing, but I just haven't had the energy or the desire or the time to take pictures and put them up. I would like to say that life has calmed down, but it hasn't. I think I just have a better handle on it.

So here's to coming back and joining all you lovely crafters!

This Is Getting Ridiculous

My fabric stash is starting to turn into it's own fabric store. I think I better work on reducing it and quick.

Sweet Decorations

The last two years I have used the space above my kitchen cabinets to decorate/store Christmas presents so that 1) my kitchen is decorated and 2) small hands don't get into them early. And I love it! It's so festive, and I never worry about anyone peeking (or demolishing). But there's this let-down when I take the presents down and then it's just empty. So this year I determined to finally fill the void. The problem was that I didn't know what to put up there. I don't really collect anything and I didn't really want to spend a ton of money. And I'm not even sure where I came up with the idea, but one day I decided to fill various glass jars with candy in the same color scheme as the kitchen. And look! It's so pretty!





A few things about this project:

• I had to look at a lot of thrift stores and craft stores to get jars at an affordable price (AC Moore, Michaels' and Joann's all carry them and you can use a 40% off coupon)
• Trying to find candy that matches your colors can be hard when you decorate in "Bay Mist" - aka light aqua. But I was able to find a lot of things at the specialty shops at the Farmer's Market and then at a candy store. And in order not to spend a fortune on candy, most of the jars have a plastic cup in them to take up space.
  
• Most importantly - there isn't a single candy up there that I would eat. And definitely NO chocolate. And after the first day of telling CJ that "we don't eat decorations", she lost interest in them too. {My brother told me it was silly to buy candy that you weren't going to eat. He didn't seem to see the logic in it. Guess he needs to take an interior decorating class.}
  

I had originally thought of putting them up until I found something more permanent, but I think this may be permanent. So what do you think?

The 90-Minute Shirt Turned Dress

MADE did a 90-Minute Shirt tutorial that I really loved and wanted to try, but my girls have too many shirts so I opted to lengthen it into a dress for Verry Berry. Which worked out perfect because I had some grey sweatshirt fabric that I had tagged for her. Grey sweatshirt fabric - doesn't that sound terrible? But it is such a fun dark grey with deep pink damask/swirl design on it. And here's what I ended up with:
I even busted out my twin needle for the hems and I really like how it turned out. Now that I know how easy it is to use, I will be using it a lot more often.

Isn't my baby so precious in her new dress?


I love this picture!
Go check out the tutorial and make you're own 90 Minute shirt!

Little Girls Need Little Bows

Have you noticed how much it costs to buy a hairbow at the store? Usually, for a nice one, it's $4-12. Isn't that ridiculous? And yet when we sit down to make hairbows they end up looking lopsided, or boring, or they fall apart. But no more! {I feel like I'm in an infomercial.} There is this fabulous website called Girly Things Bows that has probably a hundred different types and styles of bows with COMPLETE tutorials AND pictures! YAY! It may take some time to sift through all of them, but you are sure to find something that fits the personality of your little girl.

Happy bow-making!

The Best Spaghetti Sauce I've Ever Had

{photo credit}

Not kidding. This stuff is amazing. And, even more amazing because it's ridiculously easy to make and SUPER cheap. Who doesn't love that? I got this from my friends Dana and Candace who got it from Noel Piper while their husbands were studying under John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Savory Spaghetti Sauce {serves about 20 healthy appetites}

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 large onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons parsley
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 6-10 drops Tabasco/Texas Pete
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 2-3 bay leaves
  
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 3 (28 oz) cans tomato sauce

- brown beef and onions in a large skillet; drain
- mix in all the seasonings and add tomato sauce and cook on med-high heat
- simmer for at least 30 minutes, but the longer it simmers the better it'll be

Variations & Tips:
- Instead of cooking on the stove, you can brown the meat and onions and then simmer everything in a crockpot for several hours
- Often I make a vegetarian batch so that I can add meatballs to it, or use it as marinara sauce.
- This sauce freezes really well; once you finish cooking, put a dinner portion in ziploc bags and put them in the freezer for a quick and delicious dinner when you need it.