Saturday, January 30, 2010

NRYP #6-9

WOOTS! The kids and I (J included!) made four, count it: 1, 2, 3, 4; pillows!
Here's J with is own pillow. He is making a gun pillow.  Each kid did their own patter, hey did a gun.
L is doing great on her heart pattern!
M did a heart pattern too! She's been a handful lately and so she made a lot of drama centered around her.
 All three with their pillows!

And then there's mine... it was suppose to be a cat, but turned out more like a fox... the blue pattern is a bunch of cats and the other side is just a white/cream color.

So all in all, I got FOUR projects done today! Counting all of them because I did so much work with the kids on each one, I'm taking this!

Friday, January 29, 2010

NYRP #2, #3, and #4

Well let's see... we have project #2 (the toothbrush bracelet), project #3 (pink bunny pillow for Trinket, different pattern then NYRP#5) and project #4 (light/dark purple scarf).




Now there is an issue here, the original NYRP#3 was suppose to be a green toothbrush bracelet, but just like last attempts the toothbrush was too dense and therefor could not bend easily even after boiling for about 60 minutes. So what was going to be NYRP#6 was bumped to fill in the necessary spot. I WILL do the rest of the 8-9 projects for this month! Kids craft weekend is coming tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Layout

I think I like this layout. Tell me what you guys think!

Granted I would love to fine someone that would do a layout for me that I would just love, but until I can find such a person, the basic ones are going to have to be the ones.

Monday, January 25, 2010

NYRP #5

Yes! New Year Resolution Project #5 DONE!!!

Started out with a big piece of brown paper to make the outline/pattern.


Next I attached the fabric to the pattern.


Cut the fabric to the pattern.


Whoops! I forgot to turn it right-side-out, so when you sew it it's the front pattern on the front, and not on the inside... I make that mistake a LOT.


 Sewed the rest of it by hand after I stuffed it.



Sewed the eyes on AFTER I stuffed and sewed it all together... not going to make that mistake again!


Add a nose and all done!


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Just an Update

Well, life on this end of the internet is still uneventful. There are little kids screaming and snowmen melting. Such is life.

After much thought in the past day or two I have decided to not use Trillian because it makes no sense on how it works! Yoono on the other hand is so much easier for me to understand.

In the title of this post, is "an" suppose to be capitalized?

A job is needed for my sanity.


PROJECT NEEDS:
  • I need used toothbrushes for a project of mine. 
  • Spare/lost/unknown-use keys would be great for my key-fish I would like to finish this year. 
  • Old clip-on earrings would be greatly appreciated as well, I would like them for a different project; only if you can part with them and they are okay to take apart and such.
  • Misc. junk yarn, can be only a little bit left from a previous project or ugly yarn.
  • Old wooden boxes (with lids) that can be painted over/finished/glued/basically redone.
  • Old cassette tapes, they don't need to even be able to play music.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Internet Junkyard 4


Here are a few things I found interesting in an email I got from my cousin, hope you get a lesson out of it as well! Sorry it's so long, but it's worth the read.

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Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. 

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking. 

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!!  Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for- get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS - The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us  that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share! Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it .. the water ran right threw the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Project 1 of 100

Progress on the first project of the New Year has not been going by fast enough. There is suppose to be a project ever three days to accomplish my goal. Well... Lisa thought of an idea, not sure if it's cheating or not, but when I do crafts with the kids and help them with the crafts I should count those ones as part of the 100 New Year Resolution Crafts. What do you think?

Here is my progress so far:

 
Then here's a picture of Isabelle in "her" chair that she lets dad use sometimes, with the heater infront of her. She's not spoiled at all. :-P


 
And here's Samuri wrapping himself in the blankets that he pulled from the bed... Isn't he cute though?



PS- does anyone of a copy of the Lord of the Rings the first one on DVD that I could barrow? I'm going nuts with only watching the last two. I have to watch things in order!!! GRRR!!!

Saturday, January 02, 2010

New Year, New Blog

Well... in case you haven't noticed my blog site is getting a new look. If I can ever figure it out! I want to have a custom background and better font. I think it's a good time to look into doing just that. Since it's the new year and a new chance to do things right it just seems like the best time to do it.

What's your New Years Resolution (sp?)? Mine is to do 100 craft (knitting, painting, etc) projects in the next 364 days left.