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Dust ruffle done!

2012-01-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the dust ruffle for the crib! I say finally, but I only started the thing last night and finished it tonight. But still, it feels like it took forever! :)And it even seems to fit! Imagine that!

Progress!

So much to do, so little time...

2012-01-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

The clock keeps ticking and yet nothing seems to be getting done around here. I, of course, blame the spouse entirely (although I suppose a teeny tiny tiny amount of blame could be put on my shoulders). Since I work best with lists and uber organization, here goes my way of trying to feel control. :) Here are my near term to do lists. Hopefully at least the first list can get done soon!

Baby's Room List

~~Finish baby quilt~~
~~Finish matching pillow~~
Make crib dust ruffle
Make curtains with blackout inserts (x4!)
Make fabric birds
Paint birdhouses
Find some fancy sticks for curtains and birdhouses
Make name art for the wall (including finding a flipping name for the kid!)
Paint room
Make other art for the walls

Loft List

Paint stripe & add stencil overlay
Figure out upper shelving
Figure out desk for the hubby
Paint my desk
Accessorize!
Clean up more of the techno MESS caused entirely by the hubby ;)

Other List

Finish masterpiece wall

Hopefully this is enough stuff to get done over the next several weeks. I really do with there was more time in every day. Working full time with a 2 year old and being all fat and preggo makes it a tad bit hard to get ANYTHING accomplished!

Finally! Baby pillow DONE!

2012-01-26T09:19:00.003-07:00

So I thought I broke my sewing machine shortly after starting this pillow. I cleaned it. Took it apart. Everything I could think of. But, alas. It was broken. Weeks went by (we were sick, busy with MANY other things) and then I decided I would try to clean it and take it apart again before finding a repair shop. And magically it started working again after I went through the same steps I had previously. SERIOUSLY??!

Well, since it was "working," I took full advantage of it and finished my little pillow. It matches the baby quilt I made and will probably go on the rocking chair. At least one more thing is now done off the list! So much more to do!!

Baby Quilt Finished!

2012-01-04T21:59:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my first quilt! This is a big achievement! And it honestly wasn't hard at all - just a bit time consuming! And I think it actually turned out pretty good! I did learn as I went and would make changes/adjustments if I had to do it over again, but overall I am very happy with the results!

First I had to pick out my fabrics, which of course took longer than it should have! I was a bit disappointed with the selection at the fabric store. It just seems like there are too many trendy (aka UGLY) fabrics and very few cute fabrics: especially baby fabrics! But I finally decided and started by cutting out 5x5 inch squares (well, relative squares) out of the various fabrics. I did buy a wheeled fabric cutter which made the job pretty easy.
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2012 Goals

2012-01-01T11:31:00.001-07:00

I thought I would list out my crafty/creative goals for 2012. Keep in mind that come March, we will be adding a newborn to our family, so will I be able to get ANYTHING crafty or creative done ever again???!

Baby #2's Room: Including sewing blanket, pillows, bed skirt, curtains, etc. Painting: something cute and creative.
The goose's Room: Finish her "upgrade" to a "big girl room"
Craft Room (/computer/office room): Finish this upgrade too! So much progress made in the past week, but now I don't know what I want to do next!
Random/Smaller Projects: Masterpiece art wall, soap labels, baby books,
Other potential projects: Redo kid's bathroom, bathroom cabinet painting, kitchen cabinet painting

I think this list may be too long already! Wish me luck!

Baby Quilt Sneak Peak

2011-12-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

Work has officially started on Baby #2's room! Colors and fabric were finally picked out today!

Loving the fabrics!

Quilt squares cut!

End of Year Donations

2011-12-29T22:13:00.002-07:00

I am usually very organized. Usually. I try to make an official donation to the Salvation Army or Goodwill at least quarterly. I even stick reminders on my calendar. But this year I have been a tad less organized. I have piles of donations collected in various areas of the house but I never made the effort to actually donate much this year. I blame the hubby, of course, since I am always waiting for him to go through his clothes. But we finally squeezed it all in before the end of the year (December 29th!). I don't think I have ever donated so much stuff at once -- a whole van full!

This is just a small sampling of the stuff!

My goal for 2012: Actually donate stuff regularly and do not let it pile up in various corners of the house! I have big "plans" to add a permanent (and beautifully decorated) section in our closet just for donations. We shall see if that happens!

Craft Room Sneak Peak

2011-12-27T14:54:00.005-07:00

I finally decided to clean up and organize (and spend some money!) in the craft room. I should add that officially it is my craft room but it is also our office/computer room, but I like to think of it just for crafts!! :)

Here is a first glimpse. Nothing overly thrilling yet! Removed some furniture, added some new Ikea Expedit shelves and moved some other furniture around. I have many more plans, but this is pretty good so far!

A sneak peak (much left to do!)

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Christmas Cards on the Cupboards

2011-12-10T17:15:00.002-07:00

So I hung some ribbon on the cupboards this year to hang up our Christmas cards. Very festive! :)

Thanksgiving Sweets!

2011-11-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I am making quite a few desserts today, partially because I want to and partially because I have quite a few fruits/veggies from our co-op basket this week that need to get used.

Two pumpkin pies. YUM. ALWAYS use the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe. ALWAYS.

for more of Crystal's ramblings >>

Photography Cheat Sheet

2011-11-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

So I am certainly not a photography expert, but I think I am slowly getting there. But sometimes when my brain is shot, I haven't played with my camera in a while or when I am being distracted by a two year old it is helpful to have a reminder nearby. I found quite a few photography cheat sheets online, and although all of them had useful information, some were too fancy looking to be practical or easy to read for quick reference. So I took this one from Anna Hettick's website and tweaked it for my needs: added some wording that I find more useful/explanatory to me and that synchronize with my camera's specific settings (a Canon). After some tweaking, I printed it out to around a 3"x3" size and laminated it. So now I have a quick and easy reference card in my camera bag at all times. Let's hope I use it! :)

Organization Bliss!

2011-11-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Toy storage is a pain. Especially with a two year old. Toys are never really stored anyway. They are always in use. So my efforts may be futile, but alas, the OCD in me just can't help but try.

We bought two 2x2 of the expedit cube bookcases from Ikea, which I might add bring me much shame. I pretty much hate 97% of everything at Ikea as it is cheap, junky or too modern, but alas, these seemed like the best deal (and cheap!) for storing the kid's junk. And her existing storage boxes all fit inside.

I took pictures of all the piles of her toys and then added labels to them (in Picasa) and had them printed. I then cut them and laminated them with my beloved laminator and stuck them to the front of each fabric cube/box. I love them. I LOVE THEM.

Close up. LOVE labels. :)

Okay, now let's hope we can "train" the wee one to start putting stuff away correctly!

Mysterious Lemon Tree

2011-11-19T18:02:00.001-07:00

So apparently we have a lemon tree in our yard. Yes, we have lived here for years now and we just discovered a lemon tree. This "tree" is really more of a sickly looking branch in our front yard. We noticed "fruit" on it in the past years, but they never really turned into anything. This year, however, there were dozens and dozens of little fruits beginning to form. Months ago Matt decided to try one of them thinking at the time it might be a lime. Based on the look of disgust on his face after eating it, we determined that it was not a lime tree. Fast forward months later and all the fruits turned yellow. Our neighbor actually told us, "hey, I think those are meyer lemons." Well, heck, who knew? So we tried them again, and yes! they are sweet meyer lemons! Now what to do with all of them!??! We made lemon ricotta pancakes this morning... but that only used up one lemon. I had better start googling recipes!

Lasagna!

2011-11-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

So Matt just HAD to have this fancy lasagna pan. It is one of those "all edges" pans. I, of course, was skeptical and thinking it was a waste of money. But alas, I was wrong. Hard to believe since that NEVER happens. :)

All the edges came out perfectly crispy and Matt's little heart melted.

So the pan certainly doesn't make lasagna a quick process: it still took hours of effort (sauce making, ricotta mixing, assembly, baking...). But it was yummy. So yummy in fact, I think I now NEED the brownie pan!!

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-31T23:23:00.000-07:00

I put all my efforts into a Halloween costume for the kid this year and pretty much ran out of effort and time for mommy and daddy costumes, but all that matters is the kid anyway, right?!

My costume. An iron on I bought on Esty. Talk about lazy! :)

The kid in her Dorothy costume. I love it!!

The completed ensemble. A tutu, an apron/dress, a basket with Toto and ruby red shoes of course!

Dorothy and her daddy.

Pumpkin Seeds

2011-10-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

The BEST part of Halloween is pumpkin seeds! I bought 6 sugar pumpkins JUST FOR THE SEEDS! And they are delicious!!!!

Garlic Worcestershire Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Separate the seeds from the pulp of the pumpkin. Rinse, lightly dry and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, Worcestershire Sauce, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and garlic powder and whisk until well blended. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss, thoroughly coating in the butter mixture. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, checking them often and tossing occasionally, until butter topping has dried and the pumpkin seeds are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool and dry-out the rest of the way on the cookie sheet on top of the stove. Store in an airtight container.

Apple Cider Brown Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Pour the apple cider in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add the pumpkin seeds and boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. Drain the seeds and pour them in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the melted butter or olive oil into the bowl, along with the salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well to coat and spread pumpkin seed in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, checking them often and tossing occasionally, until butter topping has dried and the pumpkin seeds are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool and dry-out the rest of the way on the cookie sheet on top of the stove. Store in an air-tight container.

Smoked Cayenne Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Separate the seeds from the pulp of the pumpkin. Rinse, lightly dry and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, salt, paprika, and liquid smoke and whisk until well blended. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss, thoroughly coating in the butter mixture. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, checking them often and tossing occasionally, until butter topping has dried and the pumpkin seeds are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool and dry-out the rest of the way on the cookie sheet on top of the stove. Store in an airtight container.

Front Door LOVE

2011-10-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

So after over two years of living in a PINK house with a TEAL front door, we finally had the whole thing painted. And yes, I am in LOVE with it. In love with neutral browns! LOL! I finally took the time to create a vinyl "welcome" for the front door along with a vinyl "unless you sell thin mints, no soliciting" sticker/sign. I am so happy with how it turned out!!!

Love my front door!

I also made a wreath with a pool noodle for the fall with some leftover fabric from an ottoman we built long ago. Love it all!!

Halloween Costume Sneak Peak

2011-10-09T22:00:00.001-07:00

I have also been spending lots of time working on the goose's Halloween costume. And I have actually made a lot of progress! (Can you believe it?!)

Here are a couple sneak peaks:

I know it is a bit blurry, but alas, the child NEVER stands still. Her tutu.

Toto and his basket

Birthday Party Sneak Peak

2011-10-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

I have been VERY busy with crafty things lately. Mostly surrounding party planning. Sometimes I think I take on too much, but frankly I love it.

A couple sneak peaks of the munchkin's birthday party:

Retaining Wall Progress

2011-10-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

So after pretty much 2 or 3 months of sitting there, we finally added some soil behind the retaining wall we built and planted a few strawberries. Still A LOT of work left to do back there, but it looks so much better now. And the kiddo's horse helps too!

Busy Crafting

2011-09-17T18:37:00.002-07:00

So I have been so busy with, ahem, other things that I haven't had time for any crafting. Or anything else, including eating, cleaning, shopping, living, etc. But alas, time has ticked on enough that I am feeling a bit more like myself again. Hopefully.

Bleach Pen Shirt - FAIL

2011-07-28T17:58:00.002-07:00

I decided to make the kiddo a bleach pen shirt with an older shirt she had hanging in her closet. Seemed easy enough. I looked up a few diy tips online and pretty much all of them said "trace your design in chalk, go over it with a bleach pen, let it sit for 5-15 minutes, wash it off." Done. Easy. Right?

WRONG. :)

I took my time making a nice design with chalk. I put some cardboard in between the layers of the shirt to prevent bleed through. I carefully traced my design with the bleach pen, being SO careful not to get bleach anywhere! (I am anti-bleach. Very anti-bleach. Don't own a bucket of it. Haven't had it in my house for probably a decade. Yet, here I am playing with a poisonous bleach pen all for the sake of craftiness. Hmmmm...)

After ~5 minutes I checked under the fabric. Nothing, no change. After 10 minutes. Nothing. 15 minutes. Nothing. 20 minutes. Nothing. I removed some of the bleach to check underneath and still nothing. So I started googling how long it could take for the bleach to work. I verified my shirt was cotton and would, one would think, change color due to bleach. I finally found a few bloggers that said they had to let it sit for up to 8 hours to get the desired results. So I decided to leave it sitting overnight.

Sorry for the poor pic quality. Too lazy to use anything but my phone camera. :)

The next morning the bleach gel was crispy and flaky. I rinsed it off in the sink. The result: only the areas where my original chalk lines were had any "bleaching" effect, and even that was extremely faint.

So now I am not sure what I will do with it. My design is there. Just very faint and outlined. Do I color the entire design solid with chalk then retry the bleach pen, or do I just use some fabric paint? Not sure. We shall see.

As of now. This project is a complete FAIL. :)

Kale Chips

2011-07-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

We got a bunch of kale in our last Bountiful Basket and I decided (based on many recipe searches) that the only thing kale is good for is chips. Tossed the kale with some olive oil and salt and some Parmesan cheese and cooked it for ~15 mins @375. I flipped them over a few times as they were cooking and watched them very carefully until they were SUPER crisp. Semi-crisp = tastes like leaves from my backyard. Super crisp = pretty good. Now they are certainly NOT a replacement for potato chips as so many of the super vegan freak recipe comments seemed to claim. But they are a good salty, crispy snack!

I made a second batch, this time on parchment paper (a must!), and used olive oil, onion salt, cayenne pepper and Parmesan cheese. These were really really good!

Mini Kitchen Update

2011-07-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

An update on the kiddo's new kitchen set. It is nearing completion! SLOWLY.

The painting is pretty much done. Remaining: creating a microwave and a stove door, installing the curtains on the sink and making a kitchen sign.

The sink. The kiddo washes her monkey and horse in it. :) Complete with hooks for her oven mitts and towels and a flower holder.

The stove and microwave with working knobs.

So far the kid loves it!

Chipolte Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

2011-07-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

We had two butternut squashes left over from our Bountiful Basket a couple weeks ago. And since it is summer and hot and miserable outside, I find it hard to even think of things to do with butternut squash. But since I have been wanting to make a mac and cheese for some time and the spouse somehow managed to bring home BOXES of Ritz crackers (that I would never buy), I figured I would find one with butternut squash inside. I derived my recipe from this fabulous looking blog and made it based on the stuff we had in the house.

The wee one was so hungry and impatient that I had to break into it before I could take a pic!

And a full confession: This is only 1/2 the recipe. After I poured it into the pan, it looked HUGE, so we decided to freeze half of it (without the Ritz) for later. And am I glad we did. I WOULD HAVE EATEN IT ALL IN ONE SITTING!

Mmmm! So delicious!

Chipolte Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash (about 3 cups)
1 lb whole wheat elbow macaroni
1 small onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp chipolte powder
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the good stuff!)
1 cup grated mozzarella
2 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 "tube" crumbled Ritz crackers - or as many as you need to cover the pan's surface
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Slice the squash diagonally, remove the seeds. Sprinkle the bottom of a pan lightly with olive oil and place the squash in face down. Bake for 45 minutes, flip the squash over and bake approximately another 15 minutes. Shred the squash with a fork to measure 3 cups.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente according to the package instructions, about 10 minutes.
3. While the pasta cooks, heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the butter, chopped onion, sage and chipolte powder. Saute about 4-5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add the flour and stir to combine. Let the mixture cook for 1-2 more minutes. Whisk in stock and milk, and let come to a boil to thicken up.
4. Next, add the cheeses, mustard, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Then, mix in the squash. Use an immersion blender to blend until mostly smooth and creamy (AMAZING how much richer the sauce tastes by only blending it!!) Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Drain the cooked pasta and return it to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and combine well. Pour the mac and cheese into a buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle the crumbled Ritz crackers over the top and drizzle with a little olive oil.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for ~30 minutes until it is warm and gooey and crackers on top are browned. Cover with foil while cooking if the crackers brown up too fast).

The results:

Delicious! I will definitely be adding this to our rotation! In the future I think I will try 1) adding more chipolte powder (probably another 1/4 to 1/2 tsp) and 2) cutting down the cheese (by 1/2 to 1 cup). It wasn't nearly spicy enough for me and after immersion blending the sauce, I think it was so creamy that some of the cheese could be left out.

Start of a Mini Kitchen

2011-07-10T23:40:00.001-07:00

Basic little shelf mostly constructed

So the wonderful spouse and I started making the kiddo her very own mini kitchen this weekend. It is actually a pretty simplistic design and task. The basic template can be found on Ana White's fabulously inspiring site.

All the accessories waiting to be installed. And I have so many more! And so many more ideas!!

The current status: painted a white on top and in the shelves and brown all around. Notice the adorable counter top and back splash! The hubby did a great job with his new fancy router

We have gone from plans to two assembled and mostly painted little cabinet/shelves. Eventually one will be a microwave/stove/oven and the other a sink with storage. Totally cute. Totally. I am in love with them already! And there is so much more I plan to do! I hope she loves it! And seriously I am pretty proud of us so far: this is our first "furniture" project and it looks good so far!

So excited for the final results!

Past Projects: Kid's Room

2011-07-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post all my favorite crafts from my daughter's room. I seriously still love her room and am still so pleased with all these crafts. I hope she will eventually have some appreciation for them! HA!

First: her walls. Painted a brown on the bottom with pink on the top.

Added iridescent stripes around the whole room. This effort took FOREVER. Worth it. But took forever since there was no way to get all the stripes the right size based on the rooms weird walls.

I painted two fairy painting on canvas based on some prints I found googling. I really love how they turned out and how I could make them exactly how I liked.

The other fairy. Really love all the sparkle I added to it. :)

Her name hangs above her bed. Each rectangle is actually just a painted cork board with scrapbook paper and embellishments and a wooden letter. Hopefully when she is older and hates the color pink I can reuse most of this to create something new.

A closer peak.

A bow holder that I created based on something I saw on etsy. I love how this turned out!

Closer look at the details.

Some bows. Love this bunny that I made her for her first Easter.

Past Projects 2

2011-07-09T13:32:00.001-07:00

A few more:

I have been a bit obsessed with my laminating machine. I can't stop thinking of things to do with it! This is the beginning of our new weekly meal plan.

Magnets! Love these business card ready peel and stick magnets! Using them for so many things!

Our weekly dinner meal plan board complete! I think I will eventually jazz it up and make the frame more beautiful (just used an old magnetic white board we had laying around) and will add fancier vinyl lettering at some point.

Did I mention obsessed with my laminator? The fridge is all labeled now!

Seriously organization makes my heart flutter.

A place for everything!

Past Projects 1

2011-07-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was walking around the house today thinking about all the fun projects and crafts I have done in the recent past and I was wondering if I had taken pictures of them. So I dug some of them up. Here they are:

Chalkboard paint on file cabinet. Love this! The kiddo draws on it all the time!

Turned the armoire in our bedroom into a gift wrap station. And I LOVE it! A place for all the bows, ribbon, baskets, tissue paper, wrapping paper, etc. And it is beautiful!

Wrapping paper and gift bags neatly organized

The gorgeous labels I mad for everything. I love organization!


Glued some ribbons onto our family room plain lamp shades. So easy!

Cookie Jar

2011-07-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

Made a beautiful label for my cookie jar yesterday (along with finishing the kiddo's blackout curtains! yeah me!). Simple vinyl and chalk paint ink pen. Love it. Plan on making pretty labels like this for all my kitchen objects: dish soap, veggie wash, hand soap, etc. Well, just as soon as my hubby gets the ol' computer set up correctly for my fancy Klic 'n Kut. Until then I will HEART my cookie jar!

2011-07-02T22:00:00.002-07:00

I made a lovely pin cushion out of a mason jar. Adorable! And so easy!! I love it! And I think I will be upgrading the jar to a bigger size, but alas, this was all I had.

I also made lovely pillows out of this GORG material for our living room! And I am in LUV! So quick and easy!

Pinterest: My new favorite site

2011-06-28T19:30:00.002-07:00

How did I not discover this before??? Pinterest

I am now obsessed. Obsessed.

Bountiful Basket

2011-06-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a veggie/fruit basket offering every other week through Bountiful Baskets. So far we are loving it. Lots of yummy things. The only problem is figuring out what to do with everything we get! I need to start searching for recipes and things to do with butternut squash! It is over 100 degrees here! Hard to imagine ANYTHING with butternut squash!

The best daddy EVER

2011-06-19T16:07:00.002-07:00

My husband is the best daddy ever. Ever. EVER.
for more of Crystal's ramblings >>

Baby Grasses

2011-06-17T17:59:00.004-07:00

So our backyard has pretty much been a disaster since we moved in.
for more of Crystal's ramblings >>

Photography

2011-06-16T12:30:00.006-07:00

I took the second (of two) photography classes last night.
for more of Crystal's ramblings >>

Hiatus

2011-06-11T13:39:00.005-07:00

So it has been somewhere around 8 or so months since I last posted anything on this blog.
for more of Crystal's ramblings >>