Yarn Covered Letters

Perusing Pinterest, I came across the nifty idea to cover cardboard craft letters with yarn. I've seen several fun ones, so I got the letter L, thinking I might spell out Love...never mind it's also the first letter of my first name. Coincidence? Maybe. Anyway. I thought it was going to be super easy. And, mostly, it was. But, I just couldn't figure out how to get the corners, and the edges. I read to tape, but the tape showed. I read it should just hold if you pull it taut enough. Yeah, it does, but it moves a bit too. Finally, I read, hot glue the yarn to the letter. I LOVE hot glue. And, it truly saved my butt with this letter. I hot glued the yarn all the way around each edge a few times. This allowed me to just wrap the letter two times, both vertical and horizontal so that I could cover all of the letter. This is how it turned out. Not bad for a first try.

Pillows and Pillow Covers

This past weekend, I was feeling super crafty with pillows. My kids love sewing when it has anything to do with stuffing things, and the best things to stuffy are what? You got it. Pillows! Well, I'm always trying to figure out what my niche is, and how I can turn my crafty energy into money, so I thought I would learn how to do the envelope closure on a pillow case. I think I mentioned before how my friend introduced me to the remnants bin at JoAnn Fabrics. My daughter likes Volleyball, and I came across this fabric. And, luckily I had enough to try out his new technique. Well, unfortunately, I haven't yet gotten great at my accuracy with my rotary cutter and measuring board. So, this turned out to be about a pillow cover for a 10x10. A bit of an odd size for a pillow form. My daughter thought she needed this, so of course I had to whip up a pillow to fit. Thankfully, that was a bit easier, although to be honest, the cover was pretty easy. Anyway, I learned how to do an invisible seam when closing off this white pillow. Love. So pretty. These pillows caused me to have to make 3 more pillows over the course of the weekend. 1 more so my 6 year old daughter could sew, and 2 for my son, so he didn't feel left out.

New Etsy Listing

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91119574/hunger-games-pillow

No Guilt Pizza, the rest

Ta da! Isn't it beautiful?






So, here's the Cauliflower Crust--found the recipe from a blog off of Pinterest.com


Ingredients:
1 c cooked, riced cauliflower (ricing info in previous blog entry)--one large head is about 3 c. cooked
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten (I forgot to beat it, but it worked out)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic (I used chopped from a jar)
1/2 tsp garlic salt

So, rice the cauliflower, then cook in microwave for 8 min. You don't needed to add water. It makes enough of it's own moisture. Then, mix with the cheese, egg, and spices. Spray a cookie sheet ( I used a glass pie plate) Spread out with your hands, and then brush olive oil to help with browning (optional)

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. Set to broiler on Low. Add toppings and cheese. I just added my sauteed veggies, and pizza cheese and seasoned grape tomatoes. Broil until cheese is melted. I went about 6 min.

OK, what I read on the other blog was that this might need to be eaten with a fork more so than holding with hands, but really, I held mine just fine in my hands. And, it was delish! So yummy! And, like I said, GUILT FREE!!!

Totally Guilt Free Pizza

Ok, I apologize for this being a totally crazy format, but I could only upload 5 images, so the end result will be in my following blog post. Also, I can't seem to get some of my photos to unalign themselves.



I found this great recipe for a cauliflower crust on Pinterest. So, step one is to rice cauliflower. This can be done with a food processor, or a cheese grater, as I've done here.














Step two is to put the shredded cauliflower in the microwave--this is what rices it. Then, you mix it with egg, mozzarella cheese, and spices.

Ok, here is where I can't get my pictures to do what I want so.
First picture below is of the crust after I smoothed it out in a pin pan. Then, I baked it at 450 for 15 min. Meanwhile, I sauteed some veggies. Here I have broccoli, onion, and black olives. I sliced grape tomatoes and seasoned them with Italian seasoning, although they are not sauteed.

The last picture is the crust right after I took it out of the oven. After adding my toppings, I broiled it on Low for about 6 min.

The Hunger Games

My friend received a pillow that was just stamped--nothing else--in a Craftster swap she did awhile ago. Well, she's become really obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy, and decided she wanted to create her own Craftster swap--The Hunger Games. So far, it's been very successful. She filled up all her spots in a matter of days. Anyway, I had just read the trilogy, and couldn't think of anything that I could make to do the swap, so I didn't join. But then, suddenly, I got inspiration. And, as she had introduced me to the fabulous crafting medium: Heat N Bond. So, I went online. I found an image of the mockingjay symbol. I also found a fabulous fire printout. I enlarged them to the size I wanted. Next, fabric. So, I scavenged the 50% bins, and found this great red satin. I cut it to size using my new rotary cutting board and ruler! Then, I used the fabulous Heat N Bond for the first time. So amazing. I then stitched around my apliques to hold them in place. Since satin frays so badly, I gave it about 1/2 in seam to hold the fray before I sewed 3 sides together. Since my friend lives a few hours from me, and this is going to go on a pillow she already has, I'm gonna just pop it in the mail, and she can just stitch up that last side, and her very un-impressive swap pillow will suddenly take new form, and new charm!

Shoes and Shirts

Ok, so yesterday I was supposed to take a self-portrait, but I decided to today, because I found this really cute shirt at Cato, with the bright pink tank that look super cute with my pink heels from Deb.