Food Swing

I'm not sure if it is the anticipation of Fall or what, but I have been on a HUGE food kick! Last week kicked it off when I made these awesome cupcakes!!

The recipe comes from The Baked Perfection blog and it was sooo yummy!!!  I made a few changes: I used a Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Double Fudge pudding mix.  I also used less vanilla in the frosting.  Everything else was the same and they were really good.  I gave most of them away and I received RAVE reviews.  My version turned out SUPER rich, so beware :-)

Yesterday while I was trying to create our weekly menu, I came across this recipe for Brown Ale and Cheddar Soup.

It was super yummy and really easy to make.  Not exactly the healthiest of recipes, but what is life without a little indulgence?  I only changed one thing in this recipe,  I used a Pale Ale instead of a Brow Ale.  I am more familiar with the Pale version and thought that I would be more likely to drink the rest of the beer. I used a New York cheddar, and I will also note that I used only 1 jalapeno, as suggested, but I think that it could have used another jalapeno or 2....  there wasn't any spice and I would have liked a little more of the pepper flavor.  Other then that it was awesome and easy to make.  I highly recommend this recipe...  especially for the boys.  They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and it couldn't be any more true with this soup.

Since I had all the makings, I also made a homemade chicken noodle soup today... from scratch.  A little time consuming but totally worth it!

I use my mom's recipe, which consists of 'a little of this' and a 'pinch of that'.  It turns out different every time because there is no measuring involved and if I feel like more celery, then I add more celery.... you get the picture.  But as a close guide here is a homemade chicken soup recipe that will help.  My mom also cleans out her freezer when she makes her chicken soup, so any of the leftover bags of frozen veggies get thrown into hers too, so you never know how it is going to taste.... other than you know it will be good!!  :-)

I have a few more recipes that I am making this week that I intend to share with you and with Fall right around the corner, I have been working on a lot of yarn projects that will soon be posted as well, so keep an eye out for that!!!!

Until then, happy eating :)

Trip Pix

Sooo....  I am from Las Vegas.  Born and raised, I moved away when I was in high school and then when I went to college, my parents moved back home.  I stayed in the Midwest and I have acclimated to the point where I don't know if I could assimilate back into the Vegas culture.  Regardless... I love to visit.  If not for the fact that it is home and it is Las Vegas, but because a good portion of my family lives there and I love to visit them.  We recently got home after a weeks long trip and I am just now able to post pics of our trip's Insta-highlights.

Hometown LOVE right here:

We went rock scrambling at Red Rock Canyon:

Took at trip Downtown:

You can't visit the Southwest without eating at In-N-Out Burger...  they have THE BEST burgers!

 My baby cousin had a birthday while we were out there:

So, us old fogies tagged along for a night on the Strip:

Our trip was centered around our anniversary, so we renewed our vows.... Vegas Style!!  Making sure that our officiant was the same Elvis that was at our wedding reception.....

10 years ago!!!

That's it for now...  I have a few projects in the works, and of course Fall is almost here and you know what that means?!?!?!  Tis the season to start yarning...  crochet and knitting, here I come!!!  Until next time!!!

Yesterday

A quick hello, a small project and then I'm back to cleaning.  This is the busiest time of the year for us, with 3 birthdays in a 1 week span, it gets a little crazy.  We are hosting a small birthday party for my oldest tomorrow so it has been non-stop cleaning for the past few days.  As I was dusting my living room yesterday, I decided to update my mantle arrangement.  I'm not sure why, but arranging my mantle is very challenging for me.  I either have too much on it or not enough on it and it just turns into a thorn in my side.  Yesterday I kinda just threw this arrangement together and I actually like it.  Here is the result.

I also have a bare wall next to the mantle that at one time has a piece of art on it, but I then moved it to a different location.  I don't mind having the bare wall, except with how the other walls are decorated in the same room, it didn't look balanced.  I had to put something on there that was small and light... if I put something that was dark and heavy, it would have just been too much.  I spent less than $8 on the embroidery hoops and I used some of my favorite fabrics from my stash.  I trimmed off the excess fabric on the back and hot glued the salvage onto the frame.  So far so good.

I have some other projects in the works, but with the craziness of the season and an upcoming trip, it might be a while before I get to them. Until then, Happy crafting!

Sewing Kick

I made another shirt last week.  We carry this pattern for the Schoolhouse Tunic at the store and it looked easy, and comfy to wear so I gave it a go.

Years ago I bought a 100% cotton "tapestry" from Urban Outfitters for under $10. It was for a full size bed, so I used that to for this tunic and I have plenty of the fabric leftover for another tunic or 2, or even for another project entirely.  Here is the result.

Sizing for sewing patterns is soooo crazy.  There doesn't ever seem to be a universal system, everyone just kinda makes up their own.  Some pattern companies run small, some run large so I usually check with the pattern recommendations before cutting out a size, which I did with this pattern.  It turned out to be too big (which is better than too small).  I will still wear it, but I definitely want to make another to fit.

We also just received Tula Pink's new line in the store, which I have been drooling over!!!

And we had Kristin Roach, Author of Mend it Better, in the store on Saturday for a book signing.  She was awesome and really fun to talk to...  LOVE her!!!

Until next time, Happy Sewing!!

Canvas Transfer

Last year I used this DIY on A Beautiful Mess to make a few canvas image transfer of my kids.  I had a bunch of trial and errors and I finally figured out what the trick was.   When you "paint" on your medium (or glue), paint in on to the canvas and then paint it on the image side of the picture.  That way, when you apply the image, it will be glue on glue which will create the best adhesion.  Seriously, I had to literally take sand paper to remove the transferred image during my trial and errors.  See for yourself, here is the finished project.

Hope this helps with your future canvas transfers!

Chicago-Grams

We took a family trip to Chicago last week and here are some of the Insta-highlights.

 Until next time, Happy Travels!

New Summer Top

Sunday, I had an idea for a new summer top.  The original idea, I remember from thumbing through this this book a few years ago.

And more specifically, this project.

I'm not really crazy about the granny squares crocheted into the top of this shirt so I decided to kinda make up my own.  It honestly started with the fabric...  I bought the Anna Maria Horner, Little Folks Voile 2 years ago, with the hopes to turn the less-than-a-yard that I bought, into a skirt.  

Right after I bought it, I make one french seam to turn the yardage into a tube and then I got distracted and the skirt ended there.  Voile is a lightweight mercerized cotton and it flows beautifully and I knew that it would be perfect for this project and I just so happened to have the perfect yarn, which I bought on sale at Tuesday Morning wile visiting the in-laws a while back.

It took 2 balls of this yarn for the top, mostly because of trial and error, otherwise I probably could have made it with just 1.  I gathered the top of the Voile tube, I made my own biased tape to enclose the gather, I attached the crocheted section to the fabric, then made a channel at the bottom which I enclosed a crocheted "ribbon" to gather the bottom and add a bit of detail.  I LOVE how it turned out.  I also learned a lot in the process.  Here is the result :-)

I had to add in a little something extra, but serves a huge purpose....

This is to remind which side is the back, just in case I forget what side the bottom tie goes on :-) I have an upcoming project in the works for this fabric, so hopefully I can share that soon.  

Until next time, Happy Sewing!!