Savory Cupcakes

I made these 'cupcakes' for dinner the other night.

They're tuna rice cupcakes. If you like tuna casserole, you'll like these.

I got the recipe from Sweet Peas and Bumble Bees blog.

It was just Dax and I at home, but I think I'll try them again when the kids get back. I may also try them with peas in them too.

If you decide to give them a try, let me know what you think.

Sweatshirt Refashion

I saw this post (it has a tutorial) awhile back and decided that I needed to try making a sweatshirt into a vest for myself.

The other day I was going through the clothes that my son had pulled out to get rid of and found this black sweatshirt. I don't think he had ever even worn it.

The tutorial says to use a sweatshirt that's a little smaller than you would wear, so this one was perfect.

I got out my scissors and went to work. I cut off the arms, the bottom band, and around the neck. Then I cut it up the middle. I used a plate as a guide for rounding the bottom and around the armholes. I cut it into a racer-back style in the back.

By the way, that's all you need for this refashion. Just scissors. There's no sewing involved.

When I was finished cutting, I wound up with this.

I actually wore it belted but I had already taken it off when I remembered I should take a picture. lol

It was quick and easy - two of my favorite things!! My girls are all out of town right now so they haven't seen it. I'm pretty sure that when they do they'll be going through their clothes in search of sweatshirts to cut into themselves.

Crochet beaded bracelet

Have you seen this bracelet at Nikki in Stitches?

(picture taken from her blog)

I absolutely love it!!

I tried making one this weekend, but mine didn't turn out anywhere as nice as hers. So I'll be pulling it all out and starting over again. I was finally starting to get the hang of it as I decided to quit. The beginning was just too bad to try to hide. lol

Kid crafts

Last weekend was Dax's birthday. All three of the girls made him something for his gift. None of them had any coaching from me what-so-ever. As a matter of fact, I didn't see any of the gifts they had made until they were done. I'm really proud of the things they came up with (they did do some searching on the internet) and so was Dax. Gifts from the heart are always the best!

Addison made this with popsicle sticks.

Abigail went a little crazy with the crafting and couldn't stop. lol She made all kinds of things.

She made this pop-up card.

This camera out of construction paper. It's folded into a triangle so that it will stand up on its own.

I suspect that for the lens she used the baking tin from her easy bake oven. :0)  This picture of her and her Dad when she was little sure makes me miss my babies. They grow up sooooo fast.

And she made him this 'beer'. The mug is filled with his favorite Lindt white chocolate truffles and topped with large marshmallows. By the way, have you seen the new jumbo marshmallows they have out now? They're huge!!

And Kirsten drew this picture for him. I thought she did a great job of drawing. She found a picture online and looked at it while she drew this one. I couldn't even trace it this well. I have no talent for drawing or painting at all.

I just love to see them be crafty and creative. It does my heart good that they have an interest in it.


However, someone doesn't have any interest at all. As you can see, there is no homemade gift from our son. He couldn't be bothered. LOL

New use for old books

You've probably seen all of the awesome projects out there using old books and folding the pages into a new design. Awhile back I made some jack-o-lanterns using that concept.


But when I saw these birdhouses at Red Hen Home I knew I had to give it a try.


Mine aren't a nice as hers but I'm pleased with them just the same.

She has instructions for two diffent ways to fold them, so I tried one of each. They're super easy and pretty quick. I think it took less than 30 minutes each.

These were both actually made from one book! It was a really long book so I cut it down the middle of the spine. I would really like to find a taller book to make one more with for this grouping.

I just need to go dig through my boxes. I have a bazillion books in boxes all over the place. Very few of them are actually books that I'm interested in reading but the kids and I went to the dumpster for the paper recycling to drop off some shredded files and it had a ton of books in it. I think they are from a used book store that closed down. So the kids dove into the dumpster and retrieved the books. They loved it!!! Now they're disappointed every time we go back and there isn't anything for them to climb in and get. lol

One lesson that I did learn while doing these is to make sure the spine is well broken in. The book I chose had a good patina because it was pretty old, but I don't think it had ever actually been read. When the spine is still like new it's much harder to bring your pages into the circle. I had to glue all the way down the spine and then try to hold that together while the glue dried without messing up the folded pages.

Do you have any other book folding ideas? Remember, I've got a lot!!

Penny Mat

I know I said in the last post that I had too many BOM's going on, and I do, but one of them isn't a block at all. I've been wanting to learn to work with wool so I signed up for a penny mat of the month club (PMOM?).

The first mailing was at the end of June and it started with this mat.

I'm participating in this one through Homestead Hearth and I really enjoyed this first penny mat. I can't wait to see what the next one brings. The kits include everything you need except the thread.

I was pretty pleased with how this one came out, especially since it's my first attempt at anything like this.

I wish....

Oh how I wish I could participate in this BOM program.


It's to make this quilt top:

(I copied this photo from their website.)



Isn't it amazing?! 

If you sign up early (before July 31) you can save $15 on the sign up fee. The blocks are only $25 per month and include the cosmo thread and fabric in the pictured colorway to complete them.

I am totally in love with this quilt and want so badly to sign up, but I've got so many BOM's going right now that I just can't justify adding another one to the mix. *sigh* Maybe if I can get some of these wrapped up before the October kick-off I could justify it a little more?