Craft Day...Please join us!

We are partnering againwith Craft Hope and  Christmas in Dixie  ( here is their Facebook page ).  Our hope is to love on others by doing something we love.  Please join us!

This time we are looking ahead a few months to Christmas.  Yes!  Christmas in September.  
It's time, right?

We will be making handmade stockings for the Tornado Survivors. Over 12,000 families lost everything in the Alabama 2011 Tornados.  There are many many organizations helping these families put their lives back together.  This Christmas, however, they will have to start over with their Christmas decorations.  I would be so sad to loose my decorations, they have great sentimental value to me.

Sometimes things like this seem so little, but to the person receiving them they make a big difference.  They will know that someone all the way across the country cares for them.

We will be meeting again at my house.

On September 10, 2011

from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm (or whenever)

Feel free to bring any fabric, trims, vintage doilies, or even vintage sheets.  See the Craft Hope web site for some really cute stocking ideas.   But feel free to come with your own ideas and inspiration as well.  If you have a sewing machine, that would be great too.  If you don't know how to sew, never fear.  There will be plenty to do for non-sewers.

Let me know if you can make it.  We would love to see you here.

xoxo,

Carol

P.S.  Will it be legal to play Christmas music while we are working away?

Easy Chicken Costume

Fall is just around the corner and it's time to start thinking of Halloween Costumes.

Last year we dressed Chloe up like the cutest little chicken I've ever seen.

Most items were purchased.

White long sleeve onsie

White tights

And white feather boa.

I made the hat by just drawing a 1/2 circle and then a strip for the middle section.

I added ribbon to tie it on.

I then drew out the comb of the chicken head on paper and cut out of red felt.

I stuffed it with fiberfill and hand stitched it to the hat.

I think you may be able to find a hat online to avoid having to make one.  I just waited too long.

We pinned the boa to the onsie with safety pins.

And that was it!  How simple and adorable!

xoxo,

Carol

Sewing Room Update

I've added a few items to the walls in my sewing room since I last posted about this project.  This is one of my favorite places to be in my house, but I haven't spent a whole lot of time here lately.  With summer here and the beautiful whether we have been having, I just want to be outside. 

I am starting to get antsy for fall, though and with that I always want to get back to sewing and crafting.

I added some embroidery hoops with fabric. This just makes me happy!

I also found this vintage box spring at an antique store on my last trip to my happy place.

I decided to use it for my inpsiration board.

What is your favorite spot in your house?

xoxo,

Carol

What do you do when your 14 year old asks for Justin Bieber and Cash for her birthday?

You give her what she wants!

Cali hid Justin in her older sisters bed to scare her later that night.

It worked!

Justin was then put just inside the front door and scared everyone who walked in, including Tom, who almost swung at poor Justin.  Haha!

xoxo,

Carol

My mom's famous spaghetti.

Today is recipe day.  I am posting my favorite spaghetti recipe.  When I moved out on my own, this was the first recipe I got from my mom.  Eveyone loves this spaghetti.  I grew up eating it, so it I always thought, yeah, it's good.  But eveytime I make it, people go crazy for it. 

First saute onions and garlic in olive oil.  Add the hamburger and cook.  (I like to use grass fed, no hormone beef.)  Drain and then add the next ingredients.

I add whatever sauces I have in my pantry.  I love the flavor the fire roasted tomatoes add.   I made this meal for a large crowd so I used twice as much sauce as you see here.

This is the secret ingredient.

Well, not really a secret, but eveyone always seems surprised when I tell them what makes it taste so good.  

Simmer all of the above ingredients for an hour or all day.  The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.

Since we had a large group for dinner, I decided to make regular pasta and a gluten free option. 

If you have never tried spaghetti squash,  you really should.  I like to offer this as an option for people who don't eat grains, or pasta.

Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Place squash in a cake pan, add a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan, cover in foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until squash is soft all the way through.

Use a fork to shred the squash into "spaghetti" like pieces.  Serve with the sauce on top instead of noodles.  This is so yummy!

Here are a few things to serve on the side of your spaghetti meal.

Heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil with a drizzle of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.

Watermellon chucks with fresh mint.

  Let me know if you made this and how it turned out.

Have a great weekend.

xoxo,

Carol

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Time for Embrace the Camera

I told you it would take me a while to post a picture of me and all my kids for Embrace the Camera over at The Anderson Crew.  So this week, the picture is of me and Court!

This isn't a very good picture, but it is of a very special time Courtny and I had.

We snuck away and went to Disneyland.  Just the two of us.  I couldn't even tell Bailey and Cali for a year.

They would have killed me!

Can you tell where we are having our morning coffee?   We are at the StoryTellers Cafe at the Grand California Hotel. Disneyland really is magical, especially when it makes great memories!

Love you Courtny.  Let's plan another mother/daughter outing soon. (And No, I won't go skydiving!)

xoxo

Mom

My youngest won't stop growing!

When my kids were little I would ask them to please stop growing!!  They would always say ok mommy.  Now they say No Way!  Today Cali Girl is 14!  As her mom, I feel very sentimental and like to reminisce about when she was young.  Look how cute she is!  Can you blame me?

At the same time, though, I am so excited for her 14th year.  Cali is brave, a hard worker, a voracious reader, great with babies, compassionate and LOTS of fun. She is the youngest of 5 and is well loved!  When Cali sets her mind to something, she gets the job done.  She is very determined.  She loves dance and works her butt off to improve.  She is a good friend and sister AND auntie.  She is growing into a fun, beautiful teenager.  I am so proud of you Cali and love you mucho!

xoxo,

Mom

Give1save1

Hi guys,

Sorry I've been absent the last few days.  Tom and I are traveling in Idaho/Oregon.  I'll be posting more about that next week.  I wanted to pass on a great organization that everyone should know about.  They are called give1save1.  They promote a family that wants to adopt and helps them to fund it with the help of the readers from their blog, facebook and pinterest pages.  Check them out.

The cost of adopting a child can be very expensive and a lot of loving people want to give a great home and family to a child that does not have one.  By donating and sharing, we all can help to give a child a home, even if we do not feel called to do this ourselves.  I am in awe of loving generous people who have a heart for adoption and grateful for their example.

xoxo

Carol

Roasted Vegi Enchilada Recipe

Well, here is the recipe I promised you last week.

I found a recipe similar to this on Pinterest.  Pinterest is a great resource to find recipes.  If you haven't tried this website, you must.  It is so much fun.  I have way too many things on my "to do" list though because of it.

I changed a few things, but the majority of the recipe is the same.  I loved it so much, I made it for two different parties that I was going to, two days in a row.

First I bought pre-cut vegitables from Whole Foods.  Chopping takes so much time so I love when I can find ways to get out of that chore.  There are never enough onions though in these pre-cut vegi packs, so I added one whole onion as well as any other vegi's I had in the fridge.

I added sweet potatoe, broccoli, peppers and cauliflower.  I also like the homemade version of corn tortilla's.  They are thick and yummy.  Put all the vegi's in a large bowl and add oil and seasonings.

The recipe calls for coconut oil or grapeseed oil.  I only had coconut oil, but I know that it can take over the flavor and then you can't taste anything else.  So I used olive oil with just a small amount of coconut oil the first day.  Day two, I used grapeseed oil.  I liked the second choice better.

I also decided to use different kinds of cheese.  I didn't want to use the usual shredded cheese.  This was a good choice.  It really made the flavor of  this dish!  I used sheep and goat cheese.

Roast the tossed vegi's in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Be sure to flip the vegi's so they get browned on all sides.

Layer with Salsa, Cilantro

Then spinach, corn tortilla's

Then vegi's and cheese

I did this twice.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

  Chloe hopes you like it!

xoxo

Carol