A Dress for Amanda

I know this isn't stamping related, but it is crafty. Amanda has been needing some new dresses, and when I saw the dresses Aubrey made for her daughter, I figured I'd break out my sewing machine too. Except I used a pattern. I'm not that brave to make a dress with no pattern. I got this nice jean fabric at the Goodwill store several months ago for $1. I already had the pattern from a dress I made for a friend's daughter about a year ago. So this dress was made for the cost of the ric rac and zipper plus $1 for fabric. About $4 total.

It was very easy to put together. It took no time at all until I got to the zipper. I HATE ZIPPERS!! It took me as long to put in the zipper as it did to make the whole dress, and it's still not right! As you can see, the top didn't come out even,

Which made the ric rac in the back not even!! Plus there is a pucker right below the ric rac on the left side. I may take the whole zipper out and redo it, or I may take the whole dress to my mom who can sew anything that needs to be sewn. See this post to see what I mean.

Well that's all I have time for today. Come back soon and see what I've been up to!

Homemade Butter

Happy Saturday to you!! I'm so glad today is Sat. because that means no schoolwork! We completed our first week. It's always hard to get back in the routine of school after summer vacation. Anyway, today Sam took the boys to mow the lawn at church, so I stayed home and folded some laundry and made some homemade butter with Amanda. You start out with heavy whipping cream. You pour it into a bowl that is bigger than what you think you need, because it gets pretty puffy when you are whipping it. I should have used a bigger bowl but didn't want to dirty another one after I realized it. Now that's lazy. Amanda started out with the whipping, but pretty soon her arms were tired and I took over. You just whip and whip. It usually takes about 10 - 15 minutes with the mixer on high.

See here how it has gotten fluffy? It's starting to thicken....

Here you can see its still getting thicker and has more texture to it.....If you stop here and add sugar you have some great whipped cream for your desserts.....

Then the fluffiness goes down and it still gets thicker.....

It begins to resemble cottage cheese, and you know you're getting close. Once it starts to change, it goes fast!

Suddenly, you have butter and buttermilk. All you have to do is kind of mush the butter together into a clump and pour off the milk.

I always save the buttermilk. It makes great biscuits and pancakes. If you use regular pancake mix, except use buttermilk instead of water, they get really fluffly. Bubba loves his pancakes that way!

Next, you have to rinse the butter with some ice water. Make sure the water is really cold. This helps the butter to clump together.

You just kind on knead the water into the butter, then pour the water down the drain. I usually do about 3 rinses. If you don't wash the milk out of your butter, it may cause it to spoil.

After you're done rinsing, form your butter into a ball and squeeze out all the liquid you can. Now you're done!! This homemade butter is really good on some fluffly homemade buttermilk biscuits! I've also used my butter to make chocolate chip cookies. That's Sam's favorite dessert!

If you want to see a video of making butter, just go to Youtube. That's where I learned how to make it. Thanks for stopping by today. Please be patient with me until I have time to stamp again. I'll get in the groove soon, I promise!

School is in Session

Wow!! Where did the summer go? It seems like we just finished up last year's school work. It has been a hectic couple of days around here, trying to get back in the routine of school. We are doing online school this year through Connections Academy. There's alot to learn and figure out. I think after we get familiar with it, things will go smoother. I thought we would just flow into the new system effortlessly, but that not how it's worked out so far. I'm seriously thinking we need another computer. We have 2, but with 3 kids trying to do work at the same time, it would make things alot easier around here. So I said all that to say this: I probably won't be posting anything this week. I haven't had time to do any stamping, plus my computer time is way down since the kids are using both computers for school all day long. I'll check in on you guys when I find some free time. I hope to be back to stamping next week. See you then!

The Park!!

Monday afternoon the kids were so rowdy and rambunctious I had to get them out of the house for a while. Our park has this fountain that the kids can play in, and they think it's so much fun. While I got to read a couple chapters of my book in peace, they had a blast in the water.

And the following pictures should have some sort of warning. In the true spirit of "boys will be boys," may I present two gross pictures of "my boys being boys!"

Bubba sits on a sprinkler head and says, "Take my picture!!" So I did. Then Sammy comes along and does this. So I took another picture.

And with that, I'll say goodbye.

Amanda's Apron

Yesterday Amanda was telling me she wanted an apron. I'm not sure what put the idea in her head, because I don't wear aprons, but I knew we could whip one up pretty easily. So I told her if she did her chores, we would make one. Nothing works better than a bribe! So, when she was done, I let her choose fabric from my pile, and this is what she chose. (I think I may have stolen this fabric from my mom when she wasn't looking!)

She also said, she wanted it to have pockets on the bottom, like my Stampin' Up! Apron does. So, luckily I also had some solid black fabric to make the pocket out of. (Also stolen from my mother.) I just so happened to have in my sewing drawer some multi-colored rick-rack that matched perfectly.

I told her she could pick some ribbon for the neck and ties, and she chose this black grosgrain with white flowers. Then the bottom looked too plain, so we hot glued some felt flowers from Flower Fusion on there. They are stuck together with black brads.

We took this picture before we added the felt flowers. She's so proud of her apron she helped me sew! Now maybe she'll clean the kitchen if I tell her she can wear her apron! Think so? Nope, probably not. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

Trying to be Organized!

Hey there! Last week I decided to hang my punches and ribbon on the wall like I had them before my DH installed my countertop and shelves. I found my towel rods and curtain rods that had been tossed into the junk closet, dug around in Sam's toolbox for a drill bit and some screws and went to town. It's much easier to remember to use what you have if you can actually see it right in front of you. Plus, it frees up more drawer space so I can try to be more organized. I'm not very good at being organized. That's why I only show pictures of my room after it's been cleaned up!


When he built the cabinets and shelves, he said he was going to make some nice brackets and use a dowel rod for a puch holder, but I got tired of waiting and decided my old way worked just fine. Here is the original post when he redid my room. It was back in February. I really need to paint those shelves, but stamping is much more fun.

Here's the close up of all my punches. If I get any more, I'm gonna need another towel rod! It's a good thing those rods are pretty cheap, cause I know I'm gonna need more punches from the new catty!

And here's the close up of my ribbon.. The top shelf is all Stampin' Up! and the bottom is everything else. I'm gonna need another ribbon rack soon, too!

Now I also have a computer in my stamp room. That should make it easier when I'm trying to follow a sketch or tutorial, so I don't have to print everything out. I can just follow off the screen! Right now that computer is out for repairs, but I hope to have it back this week. Well, that's all there is, talk to you later!

Stamp Club Projects

Last night was our Stamp Club night. I think everyone did a great job on their brag books. Here are all the different variations they came up with. I didn't get a picture of Kelly's.

Made by Dee

Made by Prissy

Made by Tiffany

Made by Barb

Made by Lisa

Made by Sharon


While all the ladies were hard at work, This is what Sam came up with. Isn't it cute?

Thankful

"I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby." ~Nancie J. Carmody

I came across this quote this morning, and thought this is so true! How often do I complain about the fact that the laundry is never ending? Or every time I think I have ALL the dishes done, someone is hungry? The grass seems to grow right before your very eyes, but yes, I do have a home, and I'm so very thankful for it. But I'm really thankful that I'm not usually the one who has to mow it. It takes a long time to mow and weed eat 2 1/2 acres. I'm going to try to remember this quote next time I want to moan about the fact that there seems to be so much to do. My loved ones are nearby and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Brag Book

Here is a cute little Brag Book I made yesterday. It was really quick and easy. This isn't my original idea for the front cover, but 2 different times I was stamping a little boy from "All in the Family" and I stamped his arm backwards. His fingers were growing out of his shoulder. So, I changed it up to something a little faster and easier. Anyway, this little book could easily be personalized to fit any occasion or person. We'll be making this at my club meeting this Friday.


The pages are made with clear envelopes from Stampin' Up!

You just slide your pictures right in!

If you plan on coming to class, make sure to bring your paper trimmer, adhesive and paper snips. Thanks!!

Marshmallow Meal

Amanda came home yesterday, adn as I was unpacking her suitcase, this is what I found. It's all made of Marshmallows. Looks pretty interesting, right? Well, let me tell you it doesn't taste good. I like marshmallows. The regular white fluffy kind. But these are not your everyday marshmallows. It's really gross. But since it was cute, and I didn't have anything else to talk about, I figured I'd post it here. It kind of reminds me of the Astronaut Ice Cream I got one time when I went on a field trip with school. It was kind of gross, too. I guess there's nothing like the real thing.







Thanks for stopping by today. See you later!!