Reading Frenzy

One of my January goals was to read the Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy by Sandra Gulland, recommended to me by my friend (and Las Vegas photographer extraordinaire) Elizabeth. And now I recommend it to you.

I loved it. I could not stop thinking about the story, even when I was finished.
I've read other books about Napoleon and Josephine, but Gulland uses a diary format which really brings the time period and characters to life.
I am exponentially more grateful for deodorant.
More specifically, that my husband wears it.
One warning: These books are addicting and your children may suffer from neglect for a couple of days while you read.
Be sure to check out a lot of Disney movies along with the book at the library.

Another book I just finished that was equally well written-
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie SocietyHonestly the title made me a little wary at first, though I had heard good things.
Sort of sounds like a book about a group of Red Hat Ladies or something.
Not the case.
Also historical fiction, the novel (written in letter form) was about the German occupation in the Channel Islands, something I knew nothing about.
So interesting. I feel smarter now that I've finished it.

Next up: The Hunger Games, though I'm number 2,209,303 in line for that one at the library.
Any good books I should be reading in the meantime?

Let's chat.

I realize I've already published this post once, but it needs to be done again, mainly because a lot of new people have been commenting and I have no way to respond. Darn.

This little favor literally takes less than five minutes to do--and makes blog life so much easier for everyone!

And since I'm rewinding a little with this post, I thought it would also be a good time to remind you about all of the tutorials that I have posted (including the Ruffle Scarf Tutorial).
They are all linked on the sidebar over there---------->
Happy crafting!
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I get comments all the time that I want to respond to. Questions about Etsy, nice things about stuff I've made, introductions from new blog friends.....

But I can't reply to you because you haven't checked one little box.
Just one box!!

So, I want you to open a new window now.

Go to your Blogger account page (even if you don't have a blog, you have an account in order to comment--this is called the Dashboard). On the left hand side of your Dashboard page you should see Obviously, it is your picture and not mine.

Click on the words "Edit Profile."
Got it? Good.
Now you should see a window that looks like

See "Show my email address"? Check the box. That's all you have to do!!

P.S. That doesn't mean that it'll show the world your email address, but when you comment on my blog (or any Blogger blog), suddenly I will be able to reply to you from my email account!! Won't that be fun! It's a quick and easy way to keep a conversation going with your favorite blogger friends.

Wish you could get the comments left on your blog to show up in your email account? Well, that's easy too!

Go back to your Dashboard and find this (but with your blog name and such)Click on the link for Settings.

Now you should see this at the top of your pageClick on the Comments tab.

Scroll down to the bottom and you will find The empty box next to "Comment Notification Email"? That's where you are going to type in the email address you want all of your comments to be forwarded to. You aren't going to be approving them (you have to check a different box for that), just notified that someone commented.

AND if they have checked the little box to show their email address, you will be able to reply right from your email account!

Now go tell all of your friends!

Mini-Loaves

Until recently, I have been afraid of making bread products. My bread always came out hard, my rolls dense, and all that kneading.....ugh.

Right after I had Storey, my friend Melissa brought over a delicious meal--complete with perfectly risen, non-golf ball-like rolls. When I raved about them, she gave me the recipe along with the assurance that I too would be able to make them successfully. And without any kneading!!

It took a few months to gain the courage, but I finally baked a batch of rolls and they turned out so great that I've made them over and over--and amazingly have never screwed them up!

Last month, I came across a Wilton 4 mini-loaf pan at Target on clearance, so I bought it, thinking that it would be fantastic for making neighbor gifts or Visiting Teaching treats. Using the same roll recipe, I finally got around to trying out my new loaf pan today.

I am in love.
Little loaves perfect for giving.Visiting Teaching Mini-Loaves

2 C. warm water
3/4 cup sugar
2 pkgs yeast
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening, melted
1 scant of salt
5 1/2 cups flour

In a bowl (I do all of this in my Kitchenaid), dissolve warm water, sugar, and sprinkle yeast on top of water. In a separate bowl (I use a glass bowl and the microwave), melt shortening and cool in fridge. Add eggs to melted shortening and stir together. Add that to the yeast mixture. Then add 5 1/2 cups of floud and mix. This does not need to be kneaded (YAY!). It is supposed to be sticky.

Cover and let rise.

Once risen, punch down and add enough dough to each mini-loaf pan so that it fills about half way. You should have enough for 4 mini-loaves and one regular loaf. Or 8 mini-loaves. Let rise again until it doubles in size.

Cook the mini-loaves in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (or until brown on top). The regular loaf takes 25-30 minutes (same temp.) to cook.

Dear Internets,

If Conan O'Brian can lose his job, no one is secure.

But in the past two weeks, our family has learned of two layoffs a little closer to home.
Men who received a lot less than a 45 million severance package.
In fact, one of them is receiving ZERO severance because his company is so broke.
How awful.
But I know the power of the internet and networking, so I'm calling on you.
These friends of mine have beautiful wives, adorable children, and are now wondering how they will make ends meet without employment.

Can you help?

If you happen to know of employment for these men or anyone who runs businesses that employ people in their fields, please pass along their information.
I have resumes, cover letters, and contact information for both of them that I would be happy to forward to anyone.
You can contact me at bethanycr(AT)gmail(DOT)com,
Below I've added a few of their education stats and job experience.

Thank you so much for any help you can give.
We all need to stick together during these hard economic times.
Tragically, you never know if it could be your family next.
Prayers are always welcome as well. As we all know, with God all things are possible.

Nate -willing to relocate ANYWHERE

BS-Construction Management

MBA

5 years of management experience as project manager in both residential and commercial construction firms

Phil-also will to relocate ANYWHERE

BS-Psychology, Business Minor

MBA

8+ years in HR as HR Recruiter, HR manager

Totally Unrelated:
Did you watch American Idol with Neil Patrick Harris? That man needs his own show.
And, originally, it should be called The Neil Patrick Harris Show.

I love him.

Surprise!

As Zak so graciously announced, last week was my birthday.

My 30th birthday.
I think I'm supposed to feel differently about this milestone.
It seems like everyone else dreads the big 3-0, but 30 is the new 20, right?
Maybe I'm just too busy to care.
When my life slows down and I have time to think about it, then I'll feel miserable about getting old(er).

To celebrate, we went with The Ingalls to Tepanyaki, one of those restaurants where they grill up your food right in front of you .
Yummy.
The waiter threw shrimp at us.
Specifically, in the direction of our mouths.
But my mouth-eye coordination isn't what it once was and I missed.
A sign of old age I'm sure.

We came back to the house to find a party!
My sister in law Crystal made me a gorgeous fondant cake.
She's like my personal Ace of Cakes!Maren had made Red Velvet Cake Pops as well AND we had leftover Funfetti cake from the night before-it's a good thing "go on a diet" wasn't on my goal sheet for this month.
I'm a realist.So we did what any good parent would do-
we woke up our kids and let them partake in the festivities.

Storey wasn't too happy about the beauty sleep interruption.After a piece of cake and a cake pop, Jakson was experiencing a bit of a sugar rush.
Reliving our wedding cake memories.

New Resolve

It's a new year (well, 24 days ago it was), which means new resolve.

A new burst of motivation to become better, change things, lose weight, gain skills, and of course, come up with a way to actually get around to keeping those goals.

Last year, I started out strong with GAM '09 or Goal a Month.
I even convinced a few of you to play along.
It went really great until April---and along came Mr. Layoff.
Zak lost his job and I lost my ambition.
The move, job search, home sale, etc took it out of me.
Survival was my only goal.

But I'm feeling like 2010 is going to be a good year.
With hopefully a lot less drama.
So we started out right by setting up a system.
And we are determined to keep it up beyond April.

Every month we are setting an attainable number of goals (5-6) and displaying them where we will see our lists every day.
Since we were hanging them, I wanted the lists to look like something that fit into our decor as opposed to something that I would slap on my college dorm room wall.

I needed the displays to be interchangeable, so I decided on 97 cent clipboards from Walmart.
I know, ugly.
I gave them face lift with bright blue craft paint and then added the labels "Mom", "Dad", and "Family" using some old scrapbooking letters I had around.

I love the way they turned out.

Even more in love with the idea that I'm going to get so much done this year!!
Or at least how many lists I get to make!

T-Shirt Ruffle Scarf Tutorial

* All proceeds from pattern orders in the shop this week will be donated to Haiti Relief!*

Raid your husband's side of the closet,

grab that bag destined for Goodwill,
sift through the box marked "Too Small" in your closet
(let's face it, after two kids and more birthday cake than you'd like to admit, they will never fit again)
You're about to turn a t-shirt that is too small,
too old,
too stained,
or just too darn ugly,
into something fantastic.
Something that will fit no matter how many chocolate chip cookies you ate for breakfast.

What you need:
adult t-shirt at least size M with 8-10 inches of solid below any images
matching thread

I discovered this little gem in a bag of kids clothing that was Freecycled to me.Adult Size M.
Why anyone ever got rid of it, I will never understand.
Thankfully, when my project is complete, there will be one less Liger shirt in the world.
You're welcome.

Measure out 8-10 inches below the image on your t-shirt and cut.
If you'd like to get fancy and use a rotary cutting and mat, be my guest, but it is not necessary.
Cut off the bottom seam of the shirt as well.
It's just ugly.
You should have a big long tube.
Cut it in half so that you have two long tubes.

Open them both up and cut one side of the each tube so that you have two long skinny pieces of t-shirt.

Now put the two strips right sides together and sew the short ends on ONE side together to make one very long strip of fabric.

Before we move on to the 5 minutes of sewing that this project requires, let me tell you a thing or two about knit fabrics.
Raw edges are okay because knit doesn't fray.
Knit ruffles VERY easily.
So, we won't be creating hems or pulling on a basting stitch.
Hooray.

Instead we will be messing with the stitch length and tension on your machine.
Every sewing machine is different, so you may want to practice on some scrap knit
(cut off the t-shirt sleeves or something).
On my machine, I changed the tension to 9 and made the stitch length as long as possible.
But yours may be different.
You'll know you have the right settings when your knit fabric goes in flat on one side of your needle and comes out ruffled on the other.
Like so:Once you have adjusted your machine settings, you want to take that long strip of fabric and fold the end in thirds. Place a pin where each third is divided.Begin sewing where the pin was placed to divide into thirds.
Sew all the way down the long strip, ruffling all the way.Starting at the other pin, stitch all the way down the strip of fabric.We want the scarf to be extra ruffly so that when we take the basting stitch out at the end, the ruffle will remain. So, using the basting stitch, stitch over both seams that you just made.
Extra ruffles.

Now you need to adjust all of your settings back to normal.
Make sure you change the tension AND the stitch length.
With a regular stitch, go back over the basting stitches that you sewed. You only need to do this once on each side.
Remove the basting stitches with a seam ripper.

And you're done!
What once was an awful castaway is now a ruffle scarf perfect for pairing with your favorite coat!***Reminder: All proceeds from pattern orders in the shop this week will be donated to Haiti Relief!***

We Hope You Live To Be 100!

One Hundred Years or More

To a wonderful wife, daughter, mother, and woman - Happy Birthday!

Quirky

I am a gourmet cook.

My children beg me to make them my speciality every lunchtime-a cheesy tortilla.
Man, I'm good.This particular day while I was slaving over a hot stove, Jakson yelled, "Work it, mom!"
Not real sure where he picked that one up.
I probably don't want to know.

Notice Animal is laying next to Jak on the table.
He insisted that Animal needed a cheesy tortilla as well.
Animal also wanted a jacket when we left the house.
And needed pajama pants at bedtime.
Problem: Animal has no legs.
Well, among other things.
He also doesn't have feelings, can't become hungry, isn't EVER cold, but I overlooked those throughout the day. I draw the line at putting pants on a legless stuffed creature.
I have SOME limits.

Haiti Relief

For the next week, all proceeds from my pattern sales will be donated to Haiti relief. They are perfect for a beginner sewer or an experienced seamstress!!

Click here to see all of the patterns currently available.

Chicken Dinner

A few weeks ago, I entered my advent calendar into the Crafty Chica Deck the Halls Challenge on Flickr. I already had it made and I figured that I didn't have anything to lose.But apparently, I had everything to win!
The winners were announced today and my calendar was one of the three runners-up!!

Among other things, I won a Crafty Chica bobblehead.
Dreams meet Reality. Reality meet Dreams.

See all the winners here.

Looking for some help

We've been on a little bit of a haitus over at A Little Etsy Love, but now we're back and ready for a new year of features and giveaways!! We're looking for a couple of new writers to help us out-finding shops, writing up features, and posting giveaways. It's a great way to get to know other Etsy sellers, highlight some of your personal favorites, and even make a sale or two. Free advertising!!

If you are interested in writing for us, please email me at etsyfix(at)gmail(dot)com. Include your blog name, shop link, what you'd be interested in writing (features or giveaways), and anything else you'd like us to know about you. Each editor will be expected to post once a week. Please pass this along to anyone else you know that may be interested.

Adorable

Amy, one of my pattern testers, sent me photos of her daughter Alivia in her new Cinch Skirt.The zebra print, those leggings, the hot pink, the BABY!
Oh, the baby.
Stop it.

Christmas Recap--Part 2

Zak's mom decided that Christmas 2009 would be a handmade/garage sale/thrift shop Christmas.

Totally up my alley.

Right away, I knew what my mother-in-law would be getting.

What every woman secretly wants.

A handmade Snuggie.

I combined it with a couple of secondhand good reads (The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Poisonwood Bible) to create the perfect gift!!

You know you want one.

I was also roped in to helping my brother-in-law Tyler with his present to Katy.

He wanted to buy her thisbut unfortunately (fortunately?) it was out of stock.

So, we made one instead from a shirt from D.I. (I washed it first!!), some stuffing and a pillow.Now Katy can have a man without the drama!
Don't mind the deformed hand.

The best part of this entire experience? Reading the reviews for the original "Hug Me" pillow.

I've slept on this pillow every night since I got it. I bought it to give my husband the "cold shoulder" for some long forgotten misdeed. -Bragin

I can't begin to tell you how much I love this pillow. I love it so much I named him Paul! Paul goes well with my mullet, so much that I don't ever plan on cutting it. It fits so well into the armpit slot and I will never feel lonely again. Paul, you're the greatest! Paul and my mullet.....together forever. -Mullet

I LOVE YOU OVERSTOCK! YOU JUST REINVENTED MY SELFWORTH! -Anonymous

I LOVE the hug-me pillow. I sleep with 5 of them, it makes me feel like i'm in bed with a whole family.I've always felt there was something missing in my life, a void. I can't explain it but I now feel like one complete person. thank you hug me pillow! -Anonymous

For the nights when I am alone and the simple pleasures of life are not enough. This lonely arm brings me the love that I need. I come home and it greets me, it cooks me dinner, it loves me the way no one could ever love me. His grip is tight and his love is true. His hand holds me tight and I never want to let go. I would not give this gift a negative review. I love itFor those of you who are lonely single and need a mans touch please consider this product it has done wonders for my life. -lonelyarm

It's true folks, you can't make this stuff up.

Other gifts (though nothing quite as exciting as the Hug Me pillow):
Hooded towels for the boys (not made by me-these were Katy's invention)

Storey received a new baby doll.
I used this pattern from Black Apple with a couple of additions (the skirt and the bow).

Zak made framed monograms for a couple of his sisters (I'll be posting a tutorial to make one of these hopefully soon).and I made Zak a twin sized patchwork quilt, though I haven't taken any pictures of it yet. In fact, I got it back too late from the quilters and the elves weren't able to finish the binding. Finishing it is one of my goals for January.

Even Zak and I participated in the secondhand or handmade idea. Zak bought me a fabulous new camera--the exact one I've been wanting, but pre-owned (and much less!!) and I purchased my sister-in-laws old Zune for Zak. And she was kind enough to leave the Twilight (the book AND the movie) on there for him. How thoughtful.I really loved doing Christmas this way. Maybe a new tradition?!?

Love, love, love

Because all of the Christmas decorations had been taken down, I was feeling like the fireplace mantle was looking a little bare and sad. So, I turned to my trusty bookmarks folder to find something to make that would be worthy of center stage.

True to its purpose, I found this link that I had saved to Amy Butler's free patterns, specifically the Love and Peace Wall Art Pattern. I didn't want to make my canvas exactly like it, but I thought I could do something with the LOVE idea for Valentines.Fast forward two or three days when Julie of Joy's Hope posted her one word canvas tutorial. Not as complicated as the Amy Butler pattern, better font, and on a smaller scale, I scrapped my original idea and finished my one word canvas in less than an hour.

I used a smaller canvas (11x14) so I printed my letters at 600 font instead of 700 and laziness was my companion so I didn't bother to stitch around each letter (adhered them with no-sew Heat and Bond-love that stuff!). I love how it turned out.And since I was missing the advent calendar strung across the fireplace, I used the same fabric, Love Notes by Marcus Bros, and made a banner to hang in its place.If you want your own vintage Valentine banner, get one here.