Sunday Puffs

I got up a little early this morning to surprise my girls with a delicious batch of these:

they are Pioneer Woman's "French Breakfast Puffs" and they are, in one word, divine!!! They take just a few mintues to whip together...and they bake for 20 minutes, so just enough time to get the dishes washed and the butter and cinnamon melted.

Here's another photo showing them in all their glory:

If you get a chance to pick up Pioneer Woman's book you will find the recipe on page 66....I would encourage you to try them. They are a cross between an airy, puffy muffin and a cinnamon sugar donut. They are a fantastic, once-in-a-while treat!!

**Just as I finished typing I did a search and found the recipe on PW's site.  Here it is....try it, you'll be glad you did!!

Making Merry Gifts

This year my goal is to make lots and lots of homemade goodies for my friends and family.  Many of those gifts involve my sewing machine and my serger. The first project checked off my list was my countdown chain and #2 on that same list was a set of these:

I am s-l-o-w-l-y steering my family toward the trend of going paperless, and by that I mean less buying of paper napkins, paper towels and paper plates. I know they are convenient to use, but they are so costly, and take up so much room in my trash can, not to mention the landfills where they ultimately end up.

Here's a set of Christmas-themed flannel fabric towels that I am gifting this year:

It's a set of 6 all bundled up with a twill tape and decorative tag. The towels measure 10x10 and are made with soft flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. I use a similar set in my kitchen for cleaning up spills around the sink. They are super absorbent and have saved me from wasting countless paper towels. I didn't have a tutorial when I made these, but I first serged the edges and then top-stitched around the perimeter so they would hold their shape after being washed.

And last up, a quickie card I made for a friend:

This was a quick card using a sticker from my Christmas stash, a fiskars edge punch, some twine and a cute tree die from Quickutz.

See you next time!

Thankful for you

I have so much to be thankful for, I don't even think I could compile everything on one list....I would have to have multiple lists...but I try to stay grounded and stay in the moment so that I don't let the "little" things slip by. I think that's what we all strive for, right?

Here's my "thankful" card for this season...I only made a few, but I wanted to share this one with you...my blog reader.

I enjoy your visits and your comments and hope to post more often as I let go of some resposibilities which keep me very busy.  I want to have more creative time for myself and my family in 2011.

This card was made with some yummy Papertrey products, including their new stamp set, "A Wreath for All Seasons". You will be seeing lots of projects made with that set...I just love grapevine wreaths.

Take care and have a wonderful holiday!

Cute Countdown Chain

Hey there! I've been dabbling in a few things here and there, but finally managed to complete a sewing project I began a few days ago.

After getting this fantastic book a while back I decided to put roots down and get started on one of my favorite projects.  If you don't have this book I would highly recommend it! There are some extremely cute projects in it!

One of the projects that immediately caught my eye was a fabric countdown chain. Remember those construction paper chains we all made in elementary school?  Sometimes they were stapled together and sometimes they were glued together...well, I decided to make a Christmas countdown chain, complete with 25 links.

Here's a picture of my links all stacked up and pretty:

I used a stash of Christmas fabric I bought a while back at a community sale. I was able to snag an entire grocery bag full for $5.00.  Those pieces definitely came in handy for this project.

Here's what they look like all spread out on my kitchen table:

I was going for a traditional look with a "side" of cutesy charm...

Next up I took them outside and linked them together for a group photo:

And then back inside for a photo in front of my kitchen cabinets:

It's really an easy project, but a little time consuming. Lots of cutting, ironing and sewing (but isn't that what most sewing projects involve?). I made 25 links so it seemed a little never-ending, but I probably didn't spend as much time as it sounds.

This set is going to a dear friend of mine and her three children. I hope it will brighten her mailbox as she is going through a difficult time right now.

I would love to make one for myself, but mine will probably be more rustic which = not turning inside out and ironing, more like frayed ends and a distressed/shabby look. 

Let me know if you need specifics, I decided to forego a tutorial but instead gave credit to the book author because I know she worked extremely hard producing this fabulous book.

Yippee, Woohoo...What?

Two of my teacher friends received some really great news this week, so I thought I would whip out a card or two to celebrate.  These are more pieces from the "Funfetti" collection I mentioned in my last post. I also used a few of their papers which are now scrap-sized pieces in my stash. These are such fun colors to work with.

I thought some sparkly gems would add to the excitement factor and they ended up being just the finishing touch I was looking for. 

Congratulations are going out to Mrs. Carroll and Mrs. Bailey on your accomplishments!! Yippee! Woohoo! Way to go!!

Scenes from My [Messy] Desktop

I'm having the most wonderful kind of day....no commitments, no time schedules and NO LAUNDRY DUTY! And, on this kind of day, I love to get a few chores done in the morning so I don't feel guilty about "playing" for the rest of the afternoon. I'm in the midst of creating some fun and cute projects and thought I would take a quick break to snap a few photos to share with you.  

Here's the scene from my desktop:

I usually clean in-between projects because my space is a little limited.  And, right now, my youngest daughter has her "classroom" set up on the other side of the room, so I'm feeling a teensy bit cramped.

It's funny how I can start out with a "plan" and then, for some reason, I have the hardest time sticking to it.  I bring out a million and one things to find the pieces that make the project "just right." I wonder if anyone else uses that kind of method.

Here's a brightly-colored card I finished for my big sis who will be celebrating a birthday tomorrow:

I have several of these fun birthday papers and die cuts from the We R Memory Keepers "Funfetti" collection. Talk about some fun images and birthday stickers to choose from.  I could have gone way overboard with this collection! I also think some pretty Stickles or glitter added to the candle flames would have been fun.

Next up is a card for a sweet friend recovering from a recent surgery. [Sharon- Sorry I didn't send something sooner.]

This card mixes some patterned paper from my stash (in other words: I don't remember when and/or where I got it) with some Papertrey Ink cardstock and ribbon. I also used some of my favorite Spellbinders dies.

That's it for now...I'm moving on to some gift wrapping and one more card before...who knows what!!  See you next time!