Wednesday, December 28, 2011

inspiration

Made another little ear bud pouch this evening.
This one is for my SIL,he likes Star Wars.
Sorry that I didn't post the Link for the tutorial
last night :(  By the time I was finally able to get my
photos to post I was so irritated that I forgot the link!

This is the outside back/bottom of the pouch.

The inside is made from Darth Vader fabric.
This is a little something,something,for me ;)
You can find the Free Tutorial here

I used some felted wool on the inside.

In reply to a New reader
Jen @ adventures of....

Sorry that I could not reply to you personally,but you are
a No Reply Blogger!
Which means that if you leave a comment I will not be able to
reply to you through email.

To fix this lil problem check out This Post

Thanks for reading ;) 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Mini-earbud/headphone pouches

After dinner this evening was the perfect time to work on these.
They have been on my short list of projects to do!

The top one is mine,the one on the left is for Jolene,and the one
on the right is for Gil :)

Gil's is made from MARPAT fabric (Marine Patrol)
Jolene's has flower smile faces,because she always writes,
"Happy says Hi"!
Mine has little birdies!
I am thinking that I might need to make one for Jolene's hubby too.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today Mr. P and I took a trip down the canyon.  I snapped
some photos on the fly,as there was no place to pull over.
Well,okay there were places,but they were snowy and icy.

We had a foot of fresh snow the other day.


In some places the Arkansas River is not all the way frozen
and covered with ice and snow yet.


In some places it is.



Where the river is not frozen over there are patches of ice
along with the current.



This mini island in the river stays like this most of the winter,
as it hardly gets any sun.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from Colorado :)
                                                     

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Chicken Enchilada Casserole & Peanut Butter Sweeties recipes

As you can see Mr. P dug right in before I could get a photo of
the casserole :)
To make this you will need....
1 can each,cream of chicken,cream of mushroom,and fiesta nacho cheese soup
1 can olives
1 cup milk
1/2 onion chopped,or sliced
2 small chicken breast,cooked and chopped,or 1 12oz can of chicken
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I use Mexican blend) but you can use what you like
tortilla chips,I used Mission,but again whatever kind you like is fine
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Make sure that you grease the casserole dish or use Pam,because if you don't
it will stick to the bottom of the dish.

Start by opening and mixing the three cans of soup in a medium size bowl. 
Spread a layer of the soup mixture on the bottom of your casserole dish,then a layer of
tortilla chips,1/4 cup of shredded cheese,1/2 chicken,1/2 olives,1/2 onions,repeat
the layers.
Pour the cup of milk over the top of all the layers.

Top the layers off with a few handfuls of crushed tortilla chips.
Cover with foil and place in oven.
Bake for 30-45 minutes
Enjoy!

This is a great recipe for when you need a meal that doesn't take a whole lot
of prep time,like a few days before Christmas ;)

One of my followers requested the recipe for these!  So here
you go Bookworm222 :)

Peanut Butter Sweeties
1 cup peanut butter*
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes),softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
5 dozen miniature pretzel twists,or waffles (about 3 cups)
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (your choice of flavor)
1 tablespoon oil

In a medium to large bowl  mix Peanut butter,and butter until smooth.
Mix in confectioners sugar,until combined.
Shape into 1 inch balls.  Gently press each ball onto a pretzel.
Place on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet,refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a microwave safe bowl or heavy saucepan,melt the chocolate chips and oil.
Dip the peanut butter ball into the chocolate,then return to the wax paper lined
cookie sheet,pretzel side down.
Return to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

*Generic brand,or reduced fat Peanut butter is not recommended for
this recipe.

Check out these Huge Cinnamon rolls that a friend at work
gave me today for Mr.P and myself!  They are about 7-8 inches
across!
Mr. P already tried out his after dinner this evening :)  I am saving mine for
breakfast and break at work tomorrow :)

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Cookies,marshmallows,candy,fudge...

Do you think Santa will mind that I ate a couple of his cookies??
hehehe ;)

A while back I posted about asking for a recipe as my "extra"
for my month in the Sew Bee Blissful Bee.
Well below are the first few of what I received!

First up are Cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies,this recipe came
from Lyanna over at Purple Panda Quilts.
I searched High and Low for the Cinnamon chips so that I could
try out this recipe!  I finally found some last night at City Market.

This is recipe is a keeper :)

Last night I also made Marshmallows,for the first time ever!
Mr.P and I had some homemade marshmallows at the craft fair,and
Mr.P requested that I make some this year.
I found the recipe here

As requested I dipped them in chocolate,or should I say,peppermint,
Andies cream de menth,cinnamon chips,cherry chips,and milk
chocolate.  Three of which are pictured above.

Here is the bowl of all the marshmallows.
Mr. P wanted me to cut ours around 2 inches square,as
opposed to the 1 inch the recipe called for.  So we
ended up with about 45 marshmallows instead of 96.

This is what is left of the cherry/chocolate chip,pecan bark that
I made on Wednesday of last week.

These are Peanut Sweeties,I make these every year,they are one
of Mr.P's favorites!

Here they are all dipped in milk chocolate.

Chocolate covered pretzels.
I used up all the left over melted chocolate on the pretzels that were
left from making the Peanut Sweeties :)
They are yummy!

Next up Fudge.
This recipe came from Melissa,over at Sew Bittersweet Designs
This recipe got the stamp of approval from the Sweet Tooth of
the house,and me too of course!

The last Sweet of the day,is Peppermint Fudge,Which is going
to be a New Tradition if I have anything to say about it,and I Do ;)

Now the trick is to Not eat too much of all this Low Calorie  goodness!
Ha,yeah right ;)

Friday, December 16, 2011

Giveaway over at....

Melissa over at sew bittersweet designs is having a super giveaway!!!
She is giving away a $25.00  Gift Certificate for The Intrepid Thread

Sew,what are you waiting for???????
Get over there and enter to win some extra Christmas/after Christmas
fabric $$$$!!!
Good Luck ;)

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Santa mug rug

This was in the mail box today!  No not the hot chocolate and
peppermint fudge sillys :)

This is what I received from my partner in the Christmas Swap
at my quilt guild.
We each filled a quart sized baggie with Christmas fabrics from our
stash.  Then we swapped baggies and made something for our partners
kitchen!
I posted about what I made  here

This is the back side of the mug rug.
I really love it! 
Of course it is made from fabric out of my stash :)

This is one of my current "in progress" projects,I need to finish
sewing on the binding.

I was playing around with a quilt block pattern for one of my
partners in the Christmas block swap.
This one is not what she wanted,but I like it.  Am thinking that I
will make a table runner with this one and a couple more that are
similar to it!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sewing and listing away!

Today was cold but sunny,so I was able to get outside
to take some pictures.
These are the 12 Elf stockings I made a while back.
I was playing around with this photo on picnik.
Most of these are now for sale in my shop

One of the sets of coasters that are now listed for sale in my etsy shop!
This set is coffee themed.  The other set not pictured here
is rooster themed.

Early this morning I was able to "occupy my sewing room"
and sewed up 6 sets of  triangle pot holders! 
Three of the sets are going in gift boxes for Mr. P's bosses wives,
the other 3 are now listed for sale!

This is one of the sets in my shop,it features penguins.

How about some Christmas cows? 

Or maybe some peppermint snowmen with candy canes!

This set just would not line up for me!
I still like it,even tho the triangles do not line up like they are
supposed to.
I used some Kate Spain that I had left from making the elf stockings,
and one of my Christmas block swap blocks.
Also the candy cane on black fabric,which I can not remember
who makes?  The back,or bottom of this set is a solid white by
Moda.

This set is also going to one of the bosses wives.
I love all the green :)
Too bad I have to give it away,just kidding!
I actually made myself a rooster one that goes great in my
kitchen :)

The last set features Snoopy/Charlie Brown,and a coordinating
Christmas print.
Hope that the ladies like them!

These coasters will make a great teacher gift,at least I think they
would.  These were made this summer,along with another couple
that are similar.

Well I am off to whip up something in the kitchen!
Not sure what yet,but will post about it soon :)

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Once upon a time....

When Jolene was just a twinkle in her daddy's eye,I bought seven
little Reindeer,with muslin bodes and resin heads,and legs,on Clarence
at a store called Sprouse Ritz.  (I know I am dating myself ;)

The plan was to find some doll clothes in Christmas prints,dress them up.
Then I was going to give one each to,my husband's four sisters,his mother,my mom,
and keep one for myself.

However as the best laid plans sometimes do,this one went awry.  Even tho I looked
at all the local,and not so local stores,there were no dolls clothes that would fit my
little reindeer!  So they were put away for a future Christmas.



Fast forward to Last year...
There is a lady that works at the store where I work,she is also a
crafter,and is an Awesome Crocheter!  So last year when I pulled
out all my Christmas decorations I came across these little guys
and decided to ask her if she would be willing to crochet clothes
for them.

She said that she would give it a go :)  but would have to do
so in between her own crafting projects.  Which I had no problem
with at all. 
After all they have been in my Christmas totes for at least 23 years
already!  Besides she was doing me a favor by even trying to make
the clothes.

This evening I stopped by her house to drop off some mini ornaments
that I had picked up for her in the city.
She pulled out these four and said that hopefully she will have the
other three done before Christmas!
This is one of the two boy's she is making,the other five will
all be girls.  She asked if this was alright,because it is much easier
to just crochet a dress.
I am totally okay with that!  Especially since it will be easier for her.
I am just ecstatic that these will Finally be part of my Holiday decor
after all these years!!!
                                                                                        
Below is "S" Mountain
AKA
Tenderfoot Mt.
Spiral Mt.
And at this time of year...

Christmas Mountain :)
Every year on the Friday night following  Thanksgiving
there is a Parade of Lights.  After the parade Santa Always
Flips the Switch that turns on Christmas Mountain.

Sorry about the two street lights in the photo,but this is the view
from my deck.  There is no way to get a photo with out getting the
street lights in there too :(

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I will try to get some pictures of
"Holiday Park" and post them too.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful and productive weekend !