TGIF

Actually really looking forward to this weekend. 100% family time as soon as I get a few more things uploaded to www.fiskarscrafts.com for the big Sept 1 hoopla. The first of the month is always BIG over at fiskars, but this month it’s extra big! I actually sneaked some peeks and blogged about it here.

 

See that fabric? LOVE IT!!! Working on some clothing projects with it that I’ll be sharing real soon. Oh, and sooo much more to come too. Give aways, sneaks to my big picture class, projects… a lot.

But right now I have a date with “gym”… so I’ll be back later.

pony pages…

oh how my life is to be filled with my little pony layouts and projects… oh yes. I’ve got a wee girl who LOVES them, and another learning the ways. I think it’s fun because they were a favorite of mine back in the day- so cool to play with the girls with toys like I used to play with. Anyhow- I had all these photos from Rebecca’s birthday, and of course E got a few presents too…

Mostly all Heidi Grace little birds tale, and the layout was done playing a little game I call “use up the leftover chipboard bits!!!” So many little random hearts and things I had- now they have a home. A fun and quick page, and way to get my mojo up and use some leftover supplies too.

I’m off to finish some sewing layouts and upload even more to fiskars site… have a fun evening!

THE enchiladas

I have nothing against traditional (red sauce) enchiladas. I make and eat those too. It’s just that these are sooo much yummier and it’s one of the first recipes I called my mom for when I moved out on my own. They’re a lot easier than I ever imagined!

  1. Mix: can of cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, splash of milk, a nice pinch of salt and pepper into bowl. this is the base of sauce.
  2. put a little (enough to barely cover) in bottom of pan. Then heat some oil on stove and dip corn tortillas in one at a time until soft. Ever tried to roll cold, dry corn tortillas? yeah, that doesn’t work. Trust me on the oil heating!!
  3. Fill tortillas with chicken (breast- pre-cooked and sliced/chunked), cheese (cheddar or taco mix), a small dollop of the sauce mentioned above, and roll up nice and tight. Then put in pan until full.
  4. Add 1/2 cup milk or so to sauce and mix. Then pour over top spreading evenly and top with generous amount of cheese. Bake at 350 until the top starts getting golden brown.

Note: you can totally do this a day ahead and keep in fridge.

You’ll need:

  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • milk
  • sour cream
  • salt & pepper
  • Chicken breast (cooked and sliced)
  • corn tortillas
  • oil (for heating tortillas)
  • cheese
  • OPTIONAL: Chilies for sauce or to put inside enchiladas. Jason likes jalapenos, my mom likes green chilies, I prefer NONE.

the satin lined blankie

As I mentioned last week, I’m really working on my sewing skills. Not only is it helpful and productive, but it’s also fun, frustrating, and rewarding to work on a new type of crafting skill. My most recent project was this blanket. It should probably have taken 1-2hrs maximum, but it took me about 4 1/2 hours start-finish… and I still have 2 seams to rip and re-do. Ah well, a lot of good learning happened here!

Ok so first I layed out the fabrics (1 yard fleece + 1 yard care bares) on the dining room table. Then I measured the care bears since it was smaller and found (miracle of miracles!) that it is EXACTLY even. 36″ across all the way. I didn’t measure the fabric width because I figured there’s no human error there. And I’m the lazy sewer- remember?

So I put a bunch of pins in to hold stuff together flat and even, then trimmed off all the excess fleece.

(Note the ‘helper’ in background) Next I put the satin binding (ribbon?) around. Here’s where my simple project got  tricky on me. First off, I was THRILLED to discover this stuff is already folded in 1/2 so that when you put it around you don’t have to iron the seam yourself. It’s done! WOO HOO!

However, I hadn’t thought about what I was going to do about corners…

I inspected the girls blankets that they have, and found that the corners seem to be folded under to create a mitered seam look. I was pretty sure I could pull this off without too much trouble.

Except I wasn’t careful enough on measuring length of satin vs length of blanket. Ok. I didn’t measure at all. SOOOO… I ran out. I took a scrap and covered that icky spot, but lesson learned.

Blanket all pinned up and ready for machine. (gulp)

The machine part was HARD, and there are no photos as I was SOOO not in the mood because of issues. I try to never change the bobbin thread because it hates me. (really) So having to change out for pink thread sent me into panic mode. It was justified too- the bobbin thread was all crazy loose/not right after the 3rd side. Panic set in, I got out Matilda’s manual, and it took me 2 hours (no not kidding, stop laughing at me!!!) to get it right. Well… it still wasn’t just right so I switched to a zig-zag stitch and then I was fine to finish it up. PHEW! Oh, photo shows the corner (almost) finished. I’m cool with the folded corner like this.

I did two corners like this (how they are in my grandma’s quilts, actually) and I don’t like it as much. Not as easy somehow, and not as good looking I think. But I’m all about the learning and experimenting, that’s why I did it!

So there it is. All crumpled up and in full use. The blanket was intended for Rebecca but Elizabeth has taken a fancy to it (and care bears in general) so guess who uses it. I was only allowed to take a photo of it if SHE could arrange it, hence the crumpled up look.

Am I still a terrible sewer? Yes ma’am! Will I do another blanket? YES! But first I have some other projects in mind, and I need some interfacing (thanks for the tip Lisa!) before I start them. More adventures in crafting to come!

Monday, winners, draft, and more.

Thoughts from within my models minds:

E: I want to go to Olive Garden, NOW.

R: Look, it’s our neighbor. That makes me smile!

Well it’s Monday, so as promised here are more prize winners!

Martha (“junk” kit)

Jennifer Ryan (stamp press + stamps!!)

Bobbi in KY (stamp set)

Melinda (stamp set)

Shoot an e-mail to mflaum (at) comcast.net to claim your prize and be sure to tell me what you won/where to send it! I’ve got a LOT more stuff in the works to share… so do stay tuned!

In other news today is Jason’s fantasy football draft day, which means he needs MY laptop + his own computer. Humph. I’m in the middle of about 48 projects so it’s not the best timing… but I’ll survive. Hopefully once I get back on-line I’ll have something to sneak peek for you.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day!