Brownies!!!

I'll be the first to admit that brownies aren't my favorite dessert. Until I discovered my most recent recipe, I actually greatly disliked brownies. Do you ever notice the variety of flavors and textures? I mean, there's burnt, there's deliciously moist, there's the kind with nuts (gross), and there's also kinds with chocolate chips. It seems that you can do most anything with a brownie. The best thing you can do with a brownie is to make it from scratch! NO BOX REQUIRED!!

Every now and then I get this overwhelming desire for sugar. I'd like candy (Whoppers anyone?) or ice cream, but I rarely have either in my house. Then I discovered homemade brownies. I originally made some for my husband with the intention of just letting him have the cooked stuff and I'd eat the batter. The first batch I burned. Nasty. It took a few tries, but I discovered the secret ingredient.... BUTTER! Yes, oil just isn't as good. I can't figure it out. Kudos to you if you can!

Here is my recipe:


1/2 cup  butter
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (note the picture) Let cool.

** You can think of it like a cake, where if you stick in the toothpick and it comes out clean that it's done. I don't follow this, I stick in the toothpick and if the last quarter of an inch has the brownie on it, then it's done. This creates a very moist brownie and is so perfect. People rave about it. 

If you use a dark, non stick pan-- set the oven to 50* cooler and keep checking the brownie at the 20 minute mark. 

Happy Baking!

Slippers?

Like my question mark in the Subject Line? Yeah... This picture, these slippers are what my husband and I have been working to figure out how to make. He played around with my "mess up" last night and said, "I just don't think it's going to work." I looked at it this morning and flipped it inside out, and suddenly it looks exactly like what I was going for.

I would love to tell you how to make it, but I'm not sure how to yet. So... Stay tuned while I make my husband finish the other slipper, teach me how to make it, and then I'll share with you.

I can say, without a doubt, that this entire slipper is made out of flannel material. I cut it out so that there were two pieces for the bottom and two for the wrap around. It's a little bit sturdier and a little bit warmer because of it. I love this fabric, it's super cute!

Stay tuned for a how-to!

The Day I Arrived Part Two

I know I say this most every time I post about my son's quiet book, but I think they're the coolest things. It's turning out so good that other people can't help but say "Wow." I guess it's just not as corny as people were originally thinking.

I have so enjoyed making this for my son. I can't wait for his birthday and the chance to give it to him to let him play with it. Until then, I'm a bit possessive over my hard work :). Plus, I enjoy playing with this by myself. I will admit that my favorite part is the letters and where the felt gets hard because of the stitching. I spend less time playing with it and more time petting it. Part of me wonders why the church ones aren't as fun. Maybe that's where people are thrown off by my little creation.

Anyways, here's part two of "The Day I Arrived..."

The Day I Arrived Part One

I just realized that it's the end of October! Well, it's pretty close to the end of October. I've been working hard on the Quiet Book that I'm making for my son's birthday, but for the past week I've had my mom in town and have been doing other projects with her. You know, the really fun stuff like shopping and walking and eating. I've got priorities!

Well, yesterday she left to go spend some time with her parents, so I have to get crackin' on that Quiet Book. I've been working on the last few pages, which seem to take a whole lot of creativity. The page after this one (The Day I Arrived) is asking me to make up my mind! haha.

So... The Day I Arrived Part One. Here are some pictures:

 

The bow I pretended I knew how to make.

Cupcake with removable candles.

The picture doesn't do the colors justice. It's neon yellow with light blue.
It reminds me a lot of Flounder from The Little Mermaid.

Sashay Scarf!

I'm pretty excited about this scarf. My mom has come into town from the complete opposite coast of the USA. She's a very crafty person with mounds of knowledge about so many different types of crafts. When she came to my house, she brought a scarf that my grandma had shown her how to make. It was so beautiful and I was quite sure I couldn't convince her to make me ten or more. So she bought me all the stuff to learn how to make the scarf myself. 

Let me tell you something about me. Crocheting and Knitting do not interest me in the slightest. I've dabbled in crocheting a little due to an attempt on passing time when hanging out with an elderly friend of mine, but honestly... I hate it. The crocheting, not the passing of time with a friend. 

This project is a form of knitting. I've heard knitters saying that it's not knitting, but for those of us who don't enjoy knitting, this is as close as we're going to get. If you're attitude is like mine on knitting, take heart! It's not that bad and the results are VERY quick! 

Here's a video tutorial for making the scarf. As you can see, it's only six "stitches" and the yarn looks more like a ribbon, which accounts for the results being fast. You can see what you are making and how it will turn out after only a couple layers. If you use the video to learn, I just want to say that the first three-ish rows, you'll think you're doing it wrong. But I promise you, keep going and you'll see that you're doing it right!

Here is how my first scarf turned out!

These scarves are so nice for regular outfits. You can tell that even with my baseball style shirt and some jeans that the scarf kind of dresses it up a bit. 

So here's what I think:

Easy to do and very stylish! It doesn't take much work to finish it and the end result makes the work worth it!

Be stylin' people!

My Last Name Is...

Welcome to today!

I am super excited to be sharing these two quiet book pages. Even while I was creating it (before it was finished) I kept showing it to people. Not only was I excited and impressed, but other people seemed to be as well. Before I show the pictures to my lovely little creation, you should check out this page first. This is where I first got the idea.

This is how mine turned out.

I really liked the original site that I found the picture on. I tried to get the design pretty close to the original, but my drawing isn't as good as their templates. What was amusing to me was how close to my locomotive looks to a tractor.

The animals and clown are finger puppets:

Here are some close ups:

My Middle Name Is...

I'm pretty excited about this page. This is the page that helped my imagination realize that all of my pages could be fun and entertaining. Even though it's the second page in my Quiet Book, it's the first page I ever completed. Let's just say, things just get better from here!

Let's not keep you waiting!

Here it is!! I love how bright and bold this page is. So here's the story with the big white blob at the bottom right hand side of the page. Originally it was going to be an igloo, but as I started piecing it together, I realized I had no idea how to build one or what it was even supposed to look like. So then it just became a big block of ice. Once I had the block of ice, I realized I had some ribbon. So my little penguin is "jumping." You can slide him up and down on the ribbon. 

The other penguin (on the left) is an accident. He did not end up as he was intended to be. I don't remember what his original purpose was, but as I started sewing the back on, I came towards the end and realized that he could be a finger puppet. So that is what he became. I think he's the cutest finger puppet and my son just thinks he's the coolest thing. Every time I stick the puppet on my finger, my son gets the biggest smile on his face and he'll laugh. Babies laughing is the best sound ever!

Here are some close ups of the fun parts of the page:

 Hope you enjoyed looking at this as much as I enjoyed making it! Looking forward to sharing the next TWO pages tomorrow!

Birthday Card!

My son's birthday is less than two months away! We've already decided on a theme for his first birthday and I'm very excited. Last night, we hit up my favorite store... HOBBY LOBBY! Oh boy, this girl was in HEAVEN!

I picked out some scrapbooking paper and blank cards that fit with our theme. Today I started on the cover of the card, just to get them started. I probably won't finish them or send them out till November (even though his birthday is in December).

Here is what one of the cards look like (they're all just a little bit different):

For some reason the picture isn't working so well. No matter what I do, I can't get it to flip around so we don't have to strain to see it. BUT it's there! I'll take that one!

So here's all I did:

I bought the card, some scrapbook paper (which is the red dots) and stickers.

I cut the paper to about the size and shape I'd want it to be on the card and then glued it onto the card.

Then I applied the stickers. I'm pretty excited about the buttons as well because they're helping to keep the paper on the card.

Simple as that!

In my opinion, it's cuter than any sock monkey card I could find online! All I have to do to the front is add a little "You're Invited" sign!

Perfect!

The Big Reveal!

It's official! The first page to my son's Quiet Book is completed! I'm super excited to have finally gotten passed that cursed first page!

Here's the pictures!

A Star Button in the "A"

A little button in the "R"

A BIG button for the nose!

The Whole Page!

Upcycled Shirt

So I have this shirt that I love. It's a plain, brightly colored blue shirt that just adds a nice POP to every outfit. One day, a while back, a very devastating thing happened. I stained it! Gasp! Since then, I've tried most everything to get this stain out and I have to say, the stain is now fainter than when it first appeared. I know if I really wanted to, I could get the stain out. But, I'm feeling a bit lazy.

This morning I needed an outfit as I also need to do laundry. I suddenly remembered that my Grandma had given me some lace. I had seen styles of adding lace onto shirts that I didn't really care for, but I thought, "Why not? At least I could save the shirt and start wearing it again!"

So I opened her bag of lace, thinking I'd find some straight pieces. No luck. Instead, I found a lot of triangle shaped pieces. I started arranging the pieces on the shirt in such a way as to hide my unsightly stain.

This is what I came up with:

I sewed it on, in such a way that the edges aren't sewed down. For some reason, I really enjoy the look. PLUS, it was really nice to not have to be so picky about what was sewn down. It makes sewing it on SO much easier!!

I think the best thing about this shirt was that my little brother was impressed. That's kind of hard to do when you're talking about sewing. I'll also admit, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I keep sending its picture to people. I don't know if it's necessarily that I'm impressed, or that I'm more shocked that it turned out so well. :)

Quiet Book: My First Name Is... Teaser!

Good Afternoon!!

As I've mentioned in the previous posts, I'm working on a Quiet Book for my son's first birthday. I've decided in honor of his birthday, I would make him a book that was all about him. So the first page is his name. 

This has been the hardest page to actually complete! When I first started the page, it was my introduction to working with felt. I had no idea what I was doing, I still have no idea what I'm doing!! My original page had a name tag that said, "Hello My Name Is" and then his name was in big letters below. My intention was to allow him to put on the letters of his name, in an effort to teach him how to spell it. Well, when I did my second page, I was disappointed with my first page and thought it was quite boring. So I did what any perfectionist would do... I gave up on it and started over.

My next attempt was to make a fish bowl with different fish that had the letters of his name on them. I was going to velcro the fish onto the page, but when I went to sew on the Velcro I ran into some major problems. The first being that the thread kept breaking and the second being that the needle wouldn't move to actually sew. It seemed to keep getting stuck. I was frustrated and about ready to give up. Who needs a first name right? Needless to say, I was angry and considered throwing my sewing machine and all this felt out the window. Instead, I did a more mature thing and decided to not work on my book at all. Then a few days went by and I kept thinking about it.

I decided that velcro was not a good choice. I also decided that if I really wanted the fish, I would have to redo them to attach snaps. Considering how much work it took to make the fish in the first place, I didn't like this idea. I actually could feel myself starting to procrastinate. I don't have time to procrastinate! Quiet books are actually really hard work and even time consuming. Yeah, I know it doesn't take a rocket scientist to create a quiet book, but it does take someone with a good amount of patience and dedication to actually complete one. So I did the adult thing and abandoned the fishies. They just weren't worth the trouble. 

So... I'm currently on my third and final attempt at creating a "My First Name Is" page and am proud to say that it's almost done! All I need to do is add some buttons and it will be finished. You know what that means? It means that I can only offer you a "teaser," I'm only willing to show you the parts that are finished.

Hope you enjoy it!

It's hard to make these small letters easy to read!
The letters are bright and busy, I'm actually enjoying this!

Here's one of the letters in his name.
I think it's pretty cute with the Greyish-Blue and  Orange thread. 

Pajama Pants!

I have been working on making my son a Quiet Book for his birthday. I'm pretty excited about it. It's a book that's all about him and our family and our life, it's becoming so special that it might be better to give it to him when he has kids. Eh... but then what would the fun in that be??? :)

So yesterday, I was working on a specific page that tells him his first name. On it is a huge lion with a mane made completely out of scraps. I would post a picture, but it's not finished yet. I discovered that sewing on the scraps with an actual sewing machine seemed like a smarter plan when I'm expecting a little one year old to be pulling on it and such. Well, I got to a place where my page needs a trip to Hobby Lobby and decided that since my sewing machine was already out, I should make something. Then it hit me... why not finally make those pajama pants I've been wanting to do?!!

A while ago I discovered this this blog (Thank You Pinterest!), and thought it looked simple enough.

The thing I find to be amusing is how a lot of tutorials promise that their project can be done in such-n-such time. I think they're amusing because for me, it only works out to be somewhere in that time frame if the sun, moon, and all the stars line up just right. This tutorial, though, was actually simple enough that I could have taken Fifteen Minutes if I didn't have a ten month old wanting my attention.

So here's my final result:

Aren't those the cutest pants you've ever seen? They were a bit long, mostly because I felt that "too long" shouldn't be in my vocabulary. I wanted pants that would stick with him for a little while. So Daddy rolled up the pant legs for him. Otherwise, pretty much perfect is what I'm thinking.

I think what I love most about this "pattern" is that it's easily translated to all sizes! I'm thinking about making myself a matching pair.

Would it be too weird to have Mother/Son Matching Pajamas? :)