Quick Gift for Readers- And Your Time Starts... NOW!

So a plague has swept through my house...

Not a vomit, rash, or pestilence sort of plague,

but rather a worst-cold-this-side-of-hell kind of plague,

infecting basically everyone in my husband's side of the family.

I won't bore you/gross you out with the details,

but needless to say, I haven't done much creating in the past weeks...

This was first venture back,

and I started off easy peasy...

I love to give the gift of books.

Usually not for any special occasion,

but just a "hey, I like to read, you like to read" kind of gift.

and I've started accompanying them with these cute magnet bookmarks.

They're easy

They're a "happy hour" craft, meaning I can start and finish in less than an hour/a nap time

They're cute

Best of all... they're made entirely of things that I have on hand and can't really use for anything else.

Let me start by saying that no one has more scraps than this gal.

Okay, probably someone does, but I have a lot.

I don't really make new year's resolutions, but I do have a goal for the foreseeable future to try my very best to use up some of my stash and buy as little as possible.

This is also a great reuse for those business card magnets you get from the pizza place, realtors, or in this case... your mom. :)

This card is from my mom's old job, circa 1995.

I randomly found it wedged in a book as a bookmark... how fortuitous!

Can we just take a moment, and look at her job title...

yes, "blind consultant."

No, my mom's not blind, but she loves her some window treatments!

Anywho... here's what you need:

Some fabric scraps

a magnet or two (any kind will work but make sure they're strong enough to hold through some fabric and at least one sheet of paper

thread, sewing gear, and the like

Step One: Cut all your pieces

You need 2 pieces of magnet (about 1" x 1.5-2")

2 pieces of fabric cut 2" x 14" each

Step Two:

Place your fabric pieces right sides facing.

You can pin if you wish.

I did not. Lazy sewer.

Step Three:

Sew these pieces together with a 1/2" seam allowance,

leaving a couple inches of an opening to turn it right side out and to insert your magnets.

 

 

Step Four:

Clip your corners so it will turn out nicely.

 

Step Five:

Turn right side out.

It helps to use a knitting needle or scissors to get up in the corners.

 

 

Step Six:

Iron flat.

Step Seven:

Insert your magnets, keeping in mind that they will need to stick together when you fold this in half, so double check to make sure you have the right sides facing before you close up.

 

Note: It also helps if you cut a curve in your magnet corners.

That way, it won't catch and pull your fabric.

 

Feed the magnets all the way to ends.

Step Eight:

Sew along the edges of the magnets to keep them in place,

and sew along the edge of the entire bookmark.

 

Step Nine:

Iron in half, making a decent crease.

Step Ten:

I sewed slightly along the crease so it would stay in place.

That way, you also have a little tab that sticks out when it's in the book.

 

Fini!

You could go crazy with embellishments like initials, buttons, whatever.

I think I like the simplicity of these for now.

Obviously, this is nothing spectacular, but it's nice to have something handmade to go with a gift, right?

Right.

Speaking of which, anyone out there in the universe have a good book suggestion?

I'm in need.

I hope you and your family are not infected by the various illnesses that seem to be running rampant.

If you do. Make something.

You'll feel better.

A More "Sophisticated" Gift for a More Sophisticated Gal

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

And now that the gift giving has dwindled, I am free to share with you some of the handmade gifts that I made for family and friends.

And, hey, the 12 days of Christmas has just begun, so I'm not too late, right? right.

Let me begin by introducing you to my niece, Ruby.

Some things about her: she is beautiful and awesome and smart. She was born with a full head of dark, silky hair, which is even more impressive to me now that I have a 10 month old who has only a few Alphalpha-like sprigs of hair on the rear of his dome... and that's being generous.

She is now almost 10 (how did THAT happen???), and being the oldest of not only 4 children in her immediate family, is also the oldest of her generation in the extended family.

Therefore, I am sure, she is constantly surrounded by toys, cloths, and such that are below her maturity level.

Because of this, it was no surprise to me that, when I received her Christmas list this year, it consisted of:

nail polish

hats

books (God love her)

and my personal favorite... "more sophisticated clothing"

Who can blame her? I can't.

I did, however, have to think long and hard about what to make for her for Christmas.

So far, I haven't had to make anything for a preteen.

I was stumped.

Luckily, I wasn't stumped for long thanks to a chance meeting with a fabulous black Friday deal.

I had planned on buying some extra white towels at Kmart on black Friday.

They were on sale for 1.50... So cutting them up and using the terry fabric for something else was my plan.

However, when I got to the towel aisle, only aquamarine was left.

What to do? What to do?

Ah Ha! I had some scraps of white terry left over from another project. Not enough to really do anything with.. except make a little initial.

And this is how my preteen-friendly monogramed towels were born.

Step One:

Get yourself some towels. I was able to get 2 washcloths, 2 hand towels, and 2 bath towels for about 9 bucks! WHAT A STEAL!

Step Two:

Grab your heat n bond and trace, free hand, cricut, whatever your initials. I got away with freehanding this lowercase "r" because I chose a simple font, and mostly because I'm lazy and didn't want to add another step. You could also do symbols or whathaveyou. This project was so simple that I was thinking of doing some hooded towels with a boat or whale for Ben... but I digress.

Note: you want your initial to be a mirror image so you can iron it onto the back of your accent terry cloth.

Here's my accent terry cloth. I chose white for a classic, "sophisticated" look. :)

Step Three:

Iron on your heat n bond. Get it good with the iron so it sticks dispite the texture.

Step Four:

Cut it out!

I mean, seriously.

This is so simple, I feel silly making a tutorial.

Step Five:

Find the midde of your towel.

You might want to mark it with a fabric marker. You're going to line up that mark with the middle of your initial(s) and then iron on.

 Again, get it good with the iron so it sticks.

Step Six:

Serge or zigzag around the edges to keep that thing in place.

That's it!

Repeat on other towels of the set.

I had to snap a few shots on the towel rod in my guest bathroom. They turned out great if I do say so myself. And probably took me an hour for the whole project. I paired them with some tween body wash and accessories. Hopefully she liked them.  I know I liked that when I was her age, and I felt soooo much older. ha.

Pardon My Progress

Soooo... I haven't posted anything in awhile,

And I would like to give excuse by sharing a quote from the wise, Jodi, at Sew Fearless,

"Christmas: when crafts blogs go silent."

I have been ITCHING to share some photos of the crafts that have been keeping me so busy...

but it will have to wait until after Christmas...
I'm buried under fabric in my studio right now. January will definitely be the month of cleaning and organizing that space, as well as replenishing my stash for my Etsy shop.

But for now: CHRISTMAS, and I am having SO MUCH FUN making gifts for everyone.

I can't give anything away to the recipients just yet, though, so you're left with vague close ups of crafting supplies.



Not to worry (I know you were). All will be revealed in due time, and I promise to get some cool tutorials up.



Some of the gifts turned out great, and I am PSYCHED about it.
Others, I guess I'll have to secretly post to Craft Fail. :)

In the meantime, here's something that will change your life for the better:

My mom's (grandmothers?) pecan tart recipe, a bite sized taste of my sweet home, Georgia,

which, by the way, is the leading domestic source of pecans. Eat that, Texas.

but I digress...

Here's the recipe. It's simple. It's awesome. Enjoy.

Cream 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter and 1 package (3 oz.) of cream cheese, softened. Add 2 cups of sifted flour. Using mini muffin pans, shape 1 tsp. of dough into each cup and press into the sides, making a little cup shape. Flute the edges with a fork if you're feeling ambitious... I was not.

In a bowl mix together 3/4 C. brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 2/3 C. pecans.
Put a tiny bit of filling in each dough cup (it will rise a little).

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 250 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove to a rack to cool.

Putting up Pumpkins

No joke, the farmers market has about 20 million different kinds of pumpkins right now...

 

okay. maybe that's a teeny bit of an exaggeration,

but there's a lot.

My husband will eat ANYTHING pumpkin,

so I've been roasting them and using the puree in just about everything.

Pumpkin granola with pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin risotto (one of my personal favorites).

Pumpkin curry (one of my husbands favorites).

and in honor of my brother's birthday...

pumpkin pie.

Specifically, my mom's recipe which was, most likely, my grandmother's recipe before that.

*Recipe below*

Most people will tell you that canned pumpkin puree tastes the same as cooking and pureeing it yourself, so it's not worth the time and effort.

This is probably true.

but it's easy,

it's DEFINITELY cheaper,

and even if it's just in my head, I prefer it.

Not to mention my lesser but more honorable intentions of supporting local farmers.

I just roasted the cleaned pumpkins at 375 degrees and then pureed. Simple.

Note: if you place them upside down on a cookie sheet, they don't get that crusty, less than desireable skin on the top.

I use the same process for butternut squash

(and pretty much all squash for that matter).

After that, you can freeze the puree in freezer-safe bags or containers.

To be honest, we've been going through it so quickly, I've not freezed any yet this year.

This past Saturday, I asked the professionals at the market which pumpkins they suggested for cooking... and ended up bringing this thing home...

It's called a peanut pumpkin

(or "punkin" as my farmer friend pronounced it)

named for its peanut shell-like exterior...

So we're going to give it a shot.

Worse case scenario: it doesn't taste as great, but looks really cool.

And I'm alright with that.

And without further ado...

Pumpkin Pie

1 3/4 C pumpkin puree (if you cook it down a bit to reduce the liquid, the pie sets up a little bit better)

1/2 C brown sugar

1 cup sugar

pinch salt

vanilla (I'm always pretty liberal with the vanilla :)

3 eggs beaten

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 C milk (warm, but not scalded)
a shot of bourbon if you wish

Mix ingredients and fill your choice of crust.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 300 degrees for 45 minutes, or until middle of pie is "just a tiny bit wobbly"

This is for a 9" pie plate.

Enjoy!