Ten Cow Chick

NEW BLOG!

2011-01-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

I just noticed that people are adding themselves as followers and leaving comments on this blog. This is my OLD blog.

Click on over to the NEW Ten Cow Chick!

Thanks!

Designer Blog Giveaway

2011-01-01T16:43:00.001-08:00

Designer Blogs is having a giveaway.

DOT COM!

2010-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I now have a dot com!

Click here to be redirected to my new blog!

http://tencowchick.com/

Be sure to update your bookmarks and add yourself as a follower on the new site!

Thanks!

Piggy Bow Tutorial

2010-08-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

After I had Macey the girls in the ward (neighborhood) got together and had a bow party. I didn't know how to make bows so it was fun to have someone show me how. After that I went out and bought tons of ribbon and made a bow to match every one of Maceys outfits. So here is how I learned how to do bows. I'm sure there are lots of other ways, but this is one way I do it.

First your going to need 7/8ths width ribbon and 3/8ths width ribbon, a needle and thread, hot glue gun and a clippy to glue the bow on to.

Cut your ribbon at an angle and seal your edge with a candle or Fraycheck. Then pinch your ribbon into thirds about two inches from the end.

Bring your ribbon around to make a loop and pinch it into thirds again. Pinching into thirds gives the bow some oomph and makes it poofyish.

Make a loop on the other side and pinch again. Do this until you have two loops on each side.

Once you've got your double looped bow your going to take the center where all your ribbon is pinched together and stick a needle and thread through it. Be sure and double or tripple knot the end of your thread! Pull your thread all the way through and then wrap the remaining thread around the center really tight.

So it looks like this.

Take your 3/8ths inch width ribbon and tie a knot in it and pull it tight.

Put the knot over the midde where the thread is and hot glue the knotted ribbon on the backside to the bow.

Now we are going to line the hair clip with ribbon (you can get these at Sally Beauty supply.) Put a dot of hot glue on the backside and put your 3/8ths width ribbon on it.

Flip the clip over and put another dot of glue on the front side and pull your ribbon around the back and to the front.

This ones tricky. Put a dot of glue on the inside of the clip and pull your ribbon around an inside. Now that you've got your clip lined with ribbon and there's no ugly metal visible stick a big dob of hot glue on top of the clip an glue your bow down to it.

And your finished! Except your going to want to cut your ends so they are the matching length. Maybe it's just the funny angle of the camera that makes one look longer than the other.

Rinse and repeat as desired.

{Thanks for the awesome dishes Virginia!}

Macey looks soo cute with piggy bows in her hair.

Linking to:

Letters to My Girls

2010-08-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Macey I came across dooce. I followed her blog to try and figure out what the big deal was all about. I never did figure it out and I don't recommend her site. She's so crude and anti-religion. However, the one good thing that came from it was that she wrote a letter to her daughter every month. I liked that idea. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we are told to keep a personal history. I keep a journal for me, so why not keep a journal for my children, since they obviously can't do it for themselves. So when Macey was born I bought a journal and every month I write her a letter in it. I write down her favorite foods, colors, toys and the funny things that she's doing lately. I also keep the journal for her to let her know just how much her mom loves her and how much her mom loves the gospel. I want my girls to know that their mom has a testimony of the gospel. I hope I get to continue to raise them, but you just never know what the future holds. I don't mean to sound negative, but really, you just never know when your time on earth will be up.

When Justin was born his mom kept a journal for him in a notebook and she elmer-glued his hospital picture to the front of it. It was nothing fancy, but she kept a record of his life in it. When he was five years old she passed away from cancer. Had she not kept a journal for him a lot of those early childhood memories would have been lost.

Maybe when my girls are sixteen or eighteen or move out to college or something I will give them their journals as a present, and hopefully they will sit down sometime and read them and feel how much their mom loves them.

I'm not blogging about this to say look at me I'm such a great mom, because I'm not. I'm blogging about journals so that maybe some other mom will come across this and decide to keep a journal for her children and preserve their childhood memories.

Baking Bread

2010-07-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got up bright and early (not by choice, my little girls don't know how to sleep in) and made two loaves of wheat bread and one loaf of banana bread. I always have "bake bread" on my to-do list but it never happens because I don't get around to it until it's too hot outside to turn the oven on inside. The house smelled so good yesterday though, I think I'll try and get up and get the dough started early more often. Justin ate half the loaf at dinner time last night, so I think I'll have to bake more bread in a few days anyways. The recipes I use always turn out really good so I thought I'd share them with you.

Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cup warm water

2 T. yeast

2 T. white vinegar

2/3 cup sugar or 1/2 cup honey

5 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (I do 3 cups wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups white flour)

1/2 cup wheat gluten

2 t. salt

4 T. dry powdered milk

2 T. oil

1/2 cup potato flakes

Mix ingredients in order listed for 12 to 15 minutes in mixer bowl with dough hook attachement. Let rise until double - 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then shape into loaf or rolls. Let rise again until double and bake at 375 for 20 to 30 minutes until crust is golden brown and bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

Banana Nut Bread

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350. Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and beat well. Sift or mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Add bananas (I mash them up in a pie plate with a potato masher, it seems to work really good), vanilla and nuts. Put batter in a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

Stroller Blanket Dimensions

2010-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here is the dimensions of the stroller blanket for those people that were interested in making their own. The finished size is 15 inches by 25 inches long. The straps are 8 inches by 1 inch (finished). So if your using solid fabric you would cut it at 15.5 inches by 25.5 inches and use fourth inch seams. If you want to make the top patchwork style with squares instead of a solid piece of fabric you would need 15 squares 5.5 x 5.5 inches. Once you get your straps sewn together and turned right side out all you do is sew button holes at the end of the strap and then sew your buttons on the top of the blanket and your all set. I hope that makes sense. It's just a simple blanket with straps sewn at the top. But if anyone needs more info I would be happy to go into more detail.

When I was shopping at Walmart this morning I happened to walk past the fabric section and noticed they had over 100 bolts of brand new flannel in stock. I almost never buy fabric at Walmart unless its a fabric emergency, but look how cute this lady bug fabric is! I'm going to make a purple blankie for Maddy and a pink blankie for Macey. I'm thinking of doing mini denim blankets for the girls . . . but we'll see, sometimes I change my mind.

Little Birthday Present

2010-07-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

My little sisters birthday is coming up (she never looks a my blog, so I'm safe posting this) so it gave me a chance to try out my new crafty machine. Macey and I made this cute little box and temple bracelet to give to Kirby. The fun thing about the Silhouette website is it has a lot of 3-D downloads you can get. There are a lot of mini boxes to put treats and little presents in (Silhouette should be paying me for this.) I also downloaded a different, more flat kind of box to put cookies in and take to my visiting teaching people next month - I can't wait, it's gonna be soo cute! I can't tell you how many times I've wanted just a little box to put a small present in and then I've ended up putting it in a huge gift bag - like little hair bows or jewelry or something. I love my little machine.

Family Home Evening Box

2010-07-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

At Walmart right now you can get these crates for three dollars. I saw them and I thought "that would make a perfect family home evening container." So I brought it home and pulled all of my manuels off the bookshelves and my papers out of the filing cabinet and put them in. It's soo nice to have everything in one spot! I didn't realize I had soo much family home evening resources. The talk Mothers Teaching Children in the Home (I know I've talked about it before, but it was such a great talk) gave me the idea to copy the lessons that I give in primary and keep them in a folder along with my pages of notes and the visual aids I used. So that way when Macey and Maddy are older I can pull these lessons out and use

them again.

Sorry the picture is so dark, my photoshop program is on the frits right now. But anyways, doing this gives me more motivation to read every scripture associated with the lesson and to put more effort into the visual aids because I can use them again for a family home evening lesson in the future. Right now they're to young to understand the Samson and Delilah lesson or the Ruth and Naomi lesson. I'm pretty sure the lesson I gave Monday night on Obeying your Parents from the nursey manuel didn't quite sink in. Oh well, I'll just keep trying I guess. :-)

Been Busy

2010-07-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've been making lots of stuff lately, I just haven't taken pictures and posted them yet. I just got called as the Activities Day leader. For all you non-LDS people, Activity Day is for girls 8-11 to go to activities and build friendships, learn new skills and have fun. The first activity we do is going to be a big, fun get-together party. I'm soo excited for it! I have soo many fun ideas for it - hopefully I can fit it in the budget I was given :-) I'll get some pictures taken (after I do the laundry and get back from the library, oh and do the dishes too) of the fun things I've made and am working on and get them posted here. I know ya all want to see.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! My fourth of July crafting mojo didn't kick in until a few hours before we went to a BBQ yesterday. (Bow tutorial link here.) Luckily I had a little bit of red ribbon around the house. Anyways, I hope you all have a happy and safe fourth!

Sock Puppets

2010-07-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

"Hello, my name is Bob."

All you need is old socks, yarn, felt, googly eyes and you've got yourself hours of entertainment. Thanks for the idea Mom!

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Stroller Blanket

2010-06-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Necessity is the mother of invention. - Plato

And a stroller blanket, I believe, is a necessity. I came up with this little blanket because I hate picking the blanket up off the ground and putting it back on the baby (yuck!). Maddy seems to be a little kicker and is good at kicking her blanket off every ten steps. However I can't let her go blanketless or else her legs would fry in the Southern Utah sun. Anyways, I made this while the girls were down for a nap. If anyone wants to make one let me know and I'll give you the dimensions and such. Yay for an easy and useful project!

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Anniversary Present

2010-06-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

This was my anniversary present to Justin. It's a scrapbook called "100 Things I Love About You." After about 70 my things that I love about him got a little creative, but I made it to 100. This wasn't the easiest thing to do with a three year old and a three month old around, but I'm glad that I did it because he loved it, and even got a little teary eyed. It was nice to let him know that the little things that he does for me don't go unnoticed. The album is a 5x7 one that I picked up at Roberts and then I made and saved the pages in photoshop and had them printed at Costco. I thought we were on a budget this month so I was trying to be all creative and thoughtful with his present and then he goes all out and buys me this. I love it, but I feel like such a spoiled brat. But not so spoiled that I'm going to return it or anything. There are soo many fun projects than can be made on this baby, I can't wait to get started.

Bean Bags

2010-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the simplest games are the funnest. I got this super squeezy-easy tutorial off of this blog. It's not like I really need instructions on how to sew a square, but her top-stiching idea is good because then you don't have to hand sew the opening shut. I made the bean bags yesterday while Macey was at the dentist and then when she got home I showed her how you stand behind the line (the line being legos) and then toss them into a bucket. Well, she thought it was funner to toss them NEXT to the bucket, just to be difficult. Maybe today she will throw them INTO the bucket. I don't know what to do with that kid sometimes. . . .

Teaching My Girls

2010-06-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

We've always done some sort of family home evening on Monday nights, but it usually involves DOING something rather than LEARNING about something because of Maceys short attention span. Last Sunday in church the talk, Mothers Teaching Children in the Home was retold and it reminded me that it is MY responsibility to teach my girls. I knew that before but for some reason the way the talk was told it really hit me. So from here on out I plan on preparing a spiritual lesson for our family home evenings and maybe once a month doing a fun activity. These pictures are from last night. Macey loved the visual aids and loved learning a new primary song. I really need to be focusing more on teaching her and less on my projects. The lesson I gave was on loving our families and is in the Nursery Manuel "Behold Your Little Ones." This website has a whole section of flannel board stories that look really fun, but Macey is still a little to young for those right now. I can't wait to try them in the future though.

Library Bag

2010-06-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking that I really need to take Macey to the library more. I hate going there because I end up picking out the books while she sits and plays with the germy wood puzzles. (Gag!) So I made her her very own book bag to carry and put books in. We tried it out this morning and she loved it. It was two dollars very well spent. (The bag was one dollar on clearance at Joanns and the fabric paint was one dollar.) It was soo nice to have her pick out books and put them in her bag and she had fun doing it. She felt like such a big girl when she walked up to the check-out desk and handed the librarian her (my) card and pulled all the books out of her bag. And then after the librarian scanned all the books and handed them back she handed me the receipt which Macey intercepted and put in the outside card pocket. Although, not as neatly as it is shown in the picture. The front is just a freezer-paper stencil and the back is a vinyl pocket with ribbon sewn on the edges. Easy, cute and functional, that's my kind of project!

Linking to:

Piggy Bows

2010-06-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

That picture of fabric scraps was driving me nuts, so I took a picture of my latest little project, piggy bows for Macey. I bought her a bunch of those "Ultimate Tees" by Cherokee at Target awhile ago and have been meaning to make matching bows. Well, I finally gave my sewing machine a rest for the day and made the bows. When I find a shirt that's comfortable and that I like I buy one in every color, so why not do that for Macey? Hers are a lot cheaper though. I wish I could find shirts that looked cute for only five dollars for me. Anyways, now she has bows to match her shirts. Nothing fancy, but sometimes simple just looks better.

An Old Quilt Along

2010-06-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite quilt blogger is starting another quilt along. I was soo excited when I read about it. Then I remembered I didn't finish the last quilt along. Crap. I can't buy more fabric and start another one when I haven't finished the last one. After I started it I got morning sickness and then started on baby projects and just hadn't got back to it. So last night I dug the box of scraps out of the closet and whipped out another three blocks. There is supposed to be 70 blocks total (that's a lot of nine-patch blocks!). I don't have a purpose in mind for this quilt. It's not really a little girl fabric and it will only make a twin size quilt. But I am having a fun time putting these blocks together with my patchwork foot and knee lifter. It really makes a difference in efficientness (is that a word?). Sorry, didn't mean to brag about my sewing machine, I am just loving it soo much it's hard to not talk about it. So this is my project for now. It's nice to have a little something to work on after the kids go to bed and the house is all cleaned up.

Made by Momma

2010-06-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

Madisyn was blessed yesterday. She looked soo adorable in her momma-made blessing dress. It fit her perfectly. That's not to say the dress is perfect. It has some flaws in it. I just hope that when my girls are older that they will look back at their homemade blessing dresses and feel the love that their mom put into them.

Finished

2010-06-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Denim backside

Fluffy flannel front side.

Bring on summer. I'm ready for picnics and camping now.

Fridge Magnets

2010-06-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

As seen on TV. Well, for about 3.5 seconds. I entered these into a contest on Studio 5 (a Utah craft/lifestyle show) and made it onto TV, but didn't make it to the final 5. The contest was you enter a picture of a craft you made for under $5 and if you win you get a Silhouette machine. I wanted that Silhouette soo bad, oh well. So anyways, I made a few more magnets so I could give some to my sister tommorow for watching my girls while I go to sewing class. These are super easy to make, so I thought I'd share.

Step numer one: hot glue or crazy glue magnets to the back of the clothespins. They are adhesive on the back but it's not strong enough to hold on for more than a day or so. A pack of magnets costs 98 cents at Walmart and you can make a bazillion clothespins magents with one pack.

Cut some strips of scrapbook paper. Just wing it, I didn't measure exactly what size they are. You can draw an outline of the clothespin and then cut a little smaller than that and use it as a template.

Brush some Mod Podge to the top of your clothespin and then put your paper on top of that and brush another coat of Mod Podge on top of that to seal it on. Let it dry. And your done! I told you it was super easy. You could add some matching flower on top or buttons or whatever ya want. So cute, easy and cheap.

I'm making some progress on my denim blanket. I got the "sandwiches" sewn together. Now I've got to sew them together in rows. This is going to be the tricky part. I've never made a rag type blanket before and I'm kinda nervous!

Linking to:

Denim Quilt Progress and a Wipey Case Cover

2010-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Since Monday all I have got done on my denim quilt is to cut out the squares. What really took forever was cutting the denim into squares. The batting and flannel was a piece of cake.

The clothespins are clipped onto units of 10. It makes it soo much easier to keep track of where I'm at when cutting up the fabric. Don't be fooled though, I really have no clue how this blanket is going to come together. I'm just winging it.

Since Maddy was born I have lost wipes cases like crazy. Up until yesterday I have been carrying around a full size wipes box in the diaper bag because I lost my last one. So when I went to Walmart yesterday and bought another wipes case I thought I would do the "popular" thing and hot glue batting and fabric onto it, maybe that way I will keep track of it better. Ok, maybe the logic isn't all there, but it's worth a shot. Only problem is I put a little too much hot glue onto the part where it hinges open, so it only opens at a 45 degree angle. Whoops.

The Market Skirt

2010-05-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

I had fun making this Market Skirt for Macey. The tutorial at MADE is really easy to follow. She looked soo cute in it on Sunday. Unfortunatly I didn't get a picture of her in it before church, because, as usual we were rushed. And then when we got home from church she was way overdue for a nap and wouldn't smile for anything. I want to make a few more. Next time I will make the middle panel a little bit longer and try a yellow or blue seersucker fabric. That would be cute.

Now onto my next project: a denim quilt for camping and picnics.

I'm soo excited for summer!

Mastering My Machine

2010-05-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

That's the name of the sewing machine class I am taking. After I bought my machine the lady at the store said that they offer free classes on how to use your machine. I signed up thinking that since I bought a more basic model that I wouldn't really have that much to learn and that the class was probably for the more fancy models. Boy was I wrong! Yesterday was class number two out of seven and I have already learned so much more than what I could have ever learned on my own. In the class it's mostly more "mature" women with machines that cost more than my car. But there is one other girl that is about the same age as me and she has a machine that's close to my model. The older women in the class just upgraded their machines and it is their first time taking a Bernina class. They have commented more than once that they wish they would have taken this class when they bought their first Berninas, they didn't know they could do so much. So the way the class works is we get a workbook at the beginning of each class and a glue stick. As we go through the book the teacher hands out the squares of material that we will need for each page.

This is one of my favorite ones so far. We learned how to sew a stretchy seam on knit fabric with a special stich that the machine does.

This is another one of my favorites. We learned how to make a shelled edge of tricot fabric. The same presser foot that makes the shelled edge on slippery fabric can also do a rolled hem on cotton. How cool is that? I know!

This is my favorite presser foot! It has a bar the guides the fabric on the right so you line the fabric up on the inside of it and you get a perfect 1/4th inch seam every time. My machine also does a quilters backstich which really isn't a backstich, it's 6 tiny little close together stiches, so that there isn't bulk in the seam when you press it open. The machine does soo many cool and useful things that my old one didn't. I am loving taking this class!

Check Book Cover

2010-05-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this tutorial over at Crazy Mom Quilts awhile back and didn't think much of it,

(because my husband did the finances at the time.) But now that the bill paying duty has been passed off to me I decided I needed to make some cute check book covers. It will take the pain out of paying the bills, right?

Linking to:

'Smores - With an Extra Chocolaty Twist

2010-05-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from a Family Fun magazine while waiting for one of our many doctor check-ups. So, first you roast the 'mallow. I can't say that without thinking of The Sandlot. Anybody else love that movie? You're killing me smalls. Ok, back to the 'smores. After you roast the marshmellow you dip it in the chocolate syrup. Mmmmm. Then you dip it in the crushed up graham crackers.

Oooh chocolatey! Then you put it on a graham cracker square, top it with Hershey chocolate bars and put another cracker square on top of that.

Oooey, gooey and soo delicious! I ate more of these than I would care to admit.

Dish Mat Tutorial

2010-05-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love to make these dish mats! This is my last post about them, I promise! This is a simplified version of the dish mat tutorial on Fly Through Our Window. When I looked at the dimensions of her mat it was HUGE! I guess you would want a big one if you are doing all your dishes by hand, but I just want a smaller one to put sippy cups on after they get out of the dishwasher.

So, step number one: cut a piece of terry cloth 21"x16"

Cut three strips of fabric 5.5"x16

Cut two strips of coorinating fabric 3.5"x16

Sew it all together.

Iron your seams so the the two smaller pieces are pressed towards the three larger pieces. This makes it look like they are inset. Next you are going to put the right side of your pieced fabric to the right side of your terry cloth and with a half inch seam sew around the edge. Be sure and leave an opening big enough to pull it right side out. Pull it right side out and then hand stich the small opening shut.

Now your are going to topstich with a triple stich (I'm soo happy my new sewing machine does a triple stich!!) a fourth inch seam on your three larger panels. You can do a regular stich, but the triple stich gives it a little more substance. Once you do those six lines you are going to do a half inch top stich around the edge of the mat to give it a more finished look. And your done! Soo easy and way cuter than an old dish towel on the side of your sink!

I had the best Mothers Day yesterday! I love being a mom to my two little girls! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mothers Day as well!

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Dish Soap & Drying Mat

2010-05-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

I love putting dish soap in an olive oil bottle. It makes the kitchen sink look a lot prettier than it would having a plastic bottle sitting there. My little sister was over here last week and thought it was such a cute idea. So when I was racking my brains trying to figure out what to get her for a college graduation present I remembered that she loved my olive oil dish soap dispenser. I know your thinking that that's a lame present to give for a graduation, but I know my sister will love it. Her husband does all the cooking and she does the dishes so I also made her a girly dish drying mat. I'm thinking maybe next week I'll do a tutorial on the dish mat if anyone is interested. They are super easy and look soo much cuter than putting a dish towel on the counter top. I need to make a few more for me and for my mom. I promised to make her one months ago and I still haven't done it yet.

Soo cute!

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Camping Stools - Girl Style

2010-05-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

My dad gave me these old camping stools. You're jealous, I know. So I girlied them up with the girliest canvas I could find at Joanns. I should have taken a picture of me sewing the fabric onto the frames. It was pretty darn tricky! I sewed a pocket on the side of one of the stools for Maceys' "treasures." I was thinking it will be the perfect place for 'smores supplies or a nature notebook or something like that, but I'm sure she will just put "pwitty wocks" and things in it. And of course, AFTER I sewed the fabric to the frame I realized I probably should have spray painted the metal white. That would've looked way cute. Oh well, Macey likes it, and maybe in a few years Maddy will like her stool too.

Who says camping equipment has to be manly looking?

Out With The Old, In With The New

2010-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

My trusty old sewing machine died on Monday. It was a sad, sad day. I learned to sew on this machine when I was 9 or so. During summer break in high school on the nights my friends didn't really have anything going on, it was just me, the sewing machine and Mr. Darcy, ohhh Mr. Darcy. Then I got married and my mom got a new sewing machine. I'm not sure if she really wanted a new one or if she did it just so I could have her old one, but either way it was really nice of her to pass this one off to me. It would be interesting to see how many hours I have put on that thing. The past three years or so the stitch quality has really gone downhill just due to the amount of wear and tear. It also developed a short in the power cord. Justin kept fixing it somehow with Gorilla glue and as long as it didn't get bumped it was just fine. Well, on Monday I went to turn it on and nothing happened, it had shorted it's last short. I have been reaserching sewing machines over the past year and have found that Berninas' seem to be the best quality machine out there. Lucky for me, Bernina just opened a store in St. George.

I am the proud owner of a new Bernina. And let me just say, "It's stinkin' awesome!" I'm soo happy I'm going to cry! I still have a lot to learn on it, like the knee-lifter and button-holer, but I'm soo excited! I'm soo glad I have a husband who understands that a good sewing machine is a NEED. I can't wait to get going on my projects.

(Hello pretty feet all lined up in your pretty accessory case.)

Unfortunatly it didn't come with a ruffler foot and a walking foot, but that's ok, I know what to ask for for my birthday and Christmas. :-)

The Best Baby Wrap Ever!

2010-04-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Alright all you baby mama's, you have got to check this out! This is the most comfortable, most inexpensive baby wrap you will ever see! I just made this yesterday and have used it soo much already, I can do laundy and dishes with it on because I can bend way over and the baby doesn't budge. Can you tell I'm excited about it? I have a store bought Mei Tei type sling but my back aches soo much by the end of the day, plus Maddy gets scrunched down in it after awhile. To make this all you need is 5 yards of fabric by 30 inches. You'll want a fabric with a little bit of stretch to it. I used an old jersey knit bed sheet that I had on hand. I'm not super picky about color because you can't beat free-ninety-nine (those are clouds on the sheets, not clorox spots, just to clarify).

Step number one (after you get your fabric cut and sewn together). Take the middle of the fabric and hold it at your waist.

Take the tails and throw them up around your back criss-crossed. Does that make sense? You'll want to pull it a little tighter in the next step.

Then you take the tails over your shoulder and . . (Please excuse my mini-assistant, she wants to demonstrate as well.)

Tuck the tails under the strip of fabric that is around your waist.

Now your going to take the tails and cross them and then . .

Tie a double knot around your back.

Pick up your little schmootzy-poo and put her legs in the straps that went over your shoulders.

Now your going to take the fabric that was around your waist and pull it up over the baby as far up as you want to go.

And there you have it, the best baby wrap ever!

Thanks to my cousin Chels for sending me the instructions on how to do this. Every mom needs to know this!

And since we're on the subject of baby slings, you've got to check out this video!

Fun Fabric Flowers

2010-04-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

With spring in the air I wanted to make some fun fabric flowers for my girls. I saw the instructions on how to do fabric flowers on another persons blog but the way they made them was a little more tedious than necessary. So here is my easy version of fabric flowers.

Your going to need 4-6 squares of fabric for the petals. For the white flower I wanted big petals so I did a four inch square. For the other flowers I did a three inch square.

Fold your square in half so it's a triangle, with the wrong sides together.

With your sewing maching, baste around the raw edges.

Pull on your loose strings so it sinches the square up into a little petal.

Once you have as many petals as you want your going to take a button . .

and squirt a lot of hot glue on the back and attach your petals. Be sure and clip your loose strings first though.

And that's all there is too it. For the printed flowers I used a regular button and then cutesied it up with a scrapbook metal flower on top. Once you get your flowers done just hot glue them onto a hair clippy and your all set. I made all three flowers in under an half hour - so this really is a fast and easy way to make them!

Linking to: Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, and Sew Much Ado.

Fun Hairstyle Blog

2010-04-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

A lot of us have little girls with a lot of hair. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out what to do with alllll that hair. Check out Mommy + Daughter Hair for some awesome tips on how to do cute hairstyles. She's also going to have posts on big girl (mommy hairstyles) as well. I can't wait to try out some of her fun ideas on Macey. The poor little thing looks like a orphan most days. I wasn't blessed with the hairstyling know-how that most girls are. Chelsea is a cosmetologist and works in a busy salon, with a diverse client range in the Las Vegas area. She's also the oldest of nine, eight of them being girls, so she knows her stuff! Be sure and go on over there and leave her some love!

Cute Scrapbook Paper Pens

2010-04-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

Cut a strip of paper 3/4" inch by 3 1/4" inch.

Roll the paper long ways and wrap it around the ink stick thingy (that's the technical term for it :-) and push it up in the pen.. Now no one can steal your nice pens again!

Registration and Insurance Card Organizer Tutorial

2010-04-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

The other day Justin noticed that the auto insurance card was not in the jockey box (or glove compartment, whatever ya want to call it.) I know I put it in there, but my guess is that it got thrown out with the In-N-Out napkins. So I had the insurance guy print up some new ones and came up with a solution to make sure it doesn't get misplaced again. I made these little auto info organizers for the vehicles. So, if ya like my idea and want to make some for your vehicles, here's how I made them.

Your going to need:

- (2) 9.5 inches squares of fabric

-(1) 9.5 inch square of heavy fusible fabric

- Extra wide double fold bias tape

- 4 x 9.5 inches of clear vinyl (you get this on those big rolls by the tablecloths you can buy by the yard)

First you take you piece of vinyl and sew a strip of binding tape along the top. You don't need to fold the ends under because it will be hidden at the end.

Iron your fusible fabric to the backside of one of your fabric squares.

Now your going to put your layers together. First put your piece of fabric with that you just ironed right side down, then your other piece of fabric right side up on top of that. Then take your vinyl pocket strip and put that along the bottom.

Sew right down the center.

Put your binding around the edges, and your done! Rinse and repeat for as many vehicles as you have. It's super easy to make and could save ya a ton of stress if you were to ever get pulled over (heaven forbid!).

Linking to:

My Sweetie Pea

2010-03-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long blog absence! My little girl finally arrived and we seem to have our days and nights mixed up! She really is a good baby, if we could just sleep at night it would be soo nice. Since she was born my blog has been featured on a few other blogs and I have failed to recognize them. So thank you to Sew It To Me, Comin' Home, and Chick 'N Charge! And especially thank you to all my followers! Hang in there with me, I've got a notebook with pages, and pages and pages of awesome original projects that I want to do this spring and summer - and they don't include anything with burlap or vinyl lettering. Not that there's anything wrong with those things - it's just getting a little overdone. So anyways to wrap things up, thank you for following my blog and give me a few weeks to get our sleep schedule changed around and I promise I will have some fun posts comming soon!

Big Sister T-shirt

2010-03-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm still pregnant so I guess I better make the best of my free-time. I made a "I'm a big sister" t-shirt with an iron on transfer and a matching korker bow for Macey to wear after the baby comes. You can learn how to make korker bows here. The graphics came from Peppermint Creatives' free download, which you can get here. (She replaces her free downloads often, so that link might be broken in a week or two). I bought the t-shirt at Walmart for three dollars, and the iron on transfer paper and ribbon I already had. That sure beats the pants off of Gymborees twenty dollar "big sister" t-shirts. I hope this baby comes soon!

Bountiful Baskets

2010-03-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yep, I'm still here. No baby yet. Last week on the news I heard about this food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. I decided to give it a try, it sounded like an awesome deal. So last Monday I paid online for my basket and printed out my receipt. Then this morning we went to go pick it up and I have to say, I'm pretty amazed at all the good food we got. I was also surprised that there is soo many pick-up locations in Southern Utah. It's not just a Utah thing either. It's available in Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Arizona. We loaded up our bags and came home and made some breakfast smoothies with our strawberries and blueberries. It's kinda funny, last night I was telling my mom about it and I mentioned that I hope I don't get something wierd in my basket like radishes, and guess what? I got two bags of radishes. What the heck am I going to do with them?

Freezer Meals

2010-03-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

My freezer is all packed with meals, and I'm ready for this baby to come! My mom came over and we made my mama's Lasagna, Grandmas Green Chilli Burros (which Justin has already eaten half of), and Chicken Penne. I even got around to getting my bag packed and ready to go. Don't worry, I remembered to pack my Ipod. I wouldn't want to come home to a torn apart kitchen. Did anyone else see The Office? It was hilarious! Anyways, hopefully my next post will be a picture of my baby!

Mini Bow Tutorial

2010-03-06T11:10:00.000-08:00

Since this baby has decided to stay in awhile longer I thought I would get some little hair bows ready, just in case she's a baldy. I can't do bows the traditional way where you just do the rabbit ears thing and tie it. Mine always turn out skiddywampus. Some people can do it, and if you can, then good for you. For those of us who can't, here's a tutorial on how to make them another way and have them turn out cute. Your going to need:

-Ribbon

-Thread and Needle

-Print out the template on cardstock template pattern here

-Hot glue gun

There are two different sizes of patterns, a big one and a small one. This is the big pattern that I use on the thicker ribbon. First you cut your ribbon to 5.5 inches. If your using the small pattern and skinny ribbon you will cut it to 4.5 inches. You put your ribbon behind the pattern as shown.

Then you wrap the ends around the front.

Using a hair clippy you secure the ribbon down while you get your needle and thread ready.

Then you stick the needle through all three layers of ribbon and wrap the thread around the middle. Make a knot in the back and tie it off and cut it.

Then cut a small piece of coordinating ribbon, or use the same ribbon if you want.

Put a little dab of hot glue on the backside of the bow and wrap the little piece of ribbon around it and hold it until the glue cools down. Then cut the excess ribbon off. Trim up your ends so the match evenly on both sides and then seal the ends of the ribbon.

And your all finished!

I also bought some do-dads that were on sale at Joann's to make into mini hair clippies just in case the baby has a small amount of hair I can put a clip in. You can buy the little barrette clips at Wal-Mart.

First you line your clip with ribbon. Put a dab of hot glue in the middle and then put your little do-dad on top of it and there ya go.

Cute little clippies. I think this is the shortest tutorial there is.

And now I put it all in a little organza bag and throw in the hospital bag, which is still not packed yet. I guess I better get off the computer and get that done. Happy bow making to ya!

My Picky Eater

2010-03-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

My little Macey is the pickiest eater I have ever seen! Some days, if I would let her, I swear she could live off of nothing but chocolate milk and goldfish crackers. I have been looking all over the internet for a solution to this little problem and have tried a lot of different things. I have tried the "you can't get down until you try one bite." I have tried the "if you eat this then you can have your chocolate milk." I have tried everything! It usually ends up with a crying two year old and a frustrated mom. Then I came across this idea where you put a variety of different foods in a muffin tin. Some of the foods are ones you know your toddler will eat and some are new things you want them to try. The idea is to keep it fun and colorful. This has worked soo good at our house. She will try the new foods because I'm not standing over her making her take a bite of it. I usually use one of the cups for ranch dressing or some kind of dipping sauce, and we all know toddlers looove to dip food. It does take a little more effort to make a muffin tin lunch or dinner, but it's well worth it. I hope this helps some other mom out!

Jewelry - My First Attempt

2010-03-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

Like the title says, this is my first attempt at making jewelry. I saw an ad on Sisters Stuff for temple bracelets and of course I had to have one. I went to their etsy store to look at them and thought I needed to get one for me, my mom, my sister, maybe even my grandma (who just went through the temple, yay!), and then it started to add up. So I decided I could probably make them myself. I have never attempted jewelry before because just walking down the bead aisle at the craft store is intimidating with all the different hardware and things. Luckily, we had an enrichment activity about jewelry making and I kinda understood what I needed to buy to make these. So for starters I made one for me, the one along the bottom with pins and bigger beads. The elastic one in the top left is for my mom. I did hers elastic because she has arthritis, and with smaller beads because that's more her style. The other one is pink and was just for fun.

I also bought these little organza bags to keep them in in our temple bags. I can understand now why jewelry making is soo addictive. It's really fun! I have a feeling this is the first of what will be many more bracelet making projects.

Pretty & Cheap Jar Filler

2010-02-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

Spring is comming, I can feel it! It's my most favorite time of the year! I love the pretty Easter colors and the change in temperature. I'm skipping decorating for St. Patty's Day and going straight to Easter. Well, I never decorated for St. Patty's Day anyhow.

When Macey and I were shopping at the craft store a cute little chickie jumped off the shelf right into my basket - I hate when that happens. So we brought it home and decided we needed to somehow find a way to display our cute new Easter decoration in the hurricane glass that sits on our kitchen table. It looked silly sitting in it all alone, it needed something under it but what? Colored salt!

So, first you dump a container or two of salt into a big ziplock.

Then you squirt in whatever color of food coloring floats your boat.

Then you pretend it's Amish Friendship Bread and "mush the bag."

Lastly, you dump it into your hurricane glass or apothecary jar and put your decoration on top. Soo cute! You could just leave the salt white and put in a pretty spring blossom. You could do red, white and blue layers of salt with a flag sticking in it for the fourth of July. You could do red or green salt with a cute Christmas decoration. There's soo many possibilities!

Linking to:

Dish Drying Mat

2010-02-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

I came across Cheryls' blog after she left a comment on mine. She has pretty pictures, USEFUL craft ideas, and good recipes. My blog wants to be like her blog when it grows up! She posted about this cute little dishmat of hers and I said "I neeeeed one of those." I'm sure every mom can relate. You unload the dishwasher and put everything away except for the plastic sippy cups and bowls because they are still dripping wet. So I would pull out a flour sack dish towel and lay them on there until they dry. It's not the most pretty sight and it looks all disorganized. Cheryl's dishmat is a cute solution to that problem. Hers' is much cuter than mine, but I didn't want to spend that much time on it. So I cut up an old flour sack towel, put batting between the layers, went over it with a quilting ruler and pencil, quilted and bound it. And did it all within an hour. I love quick, easy and useful projects. It makes my kitchen counter look soo much better!

My Craft Space

2010-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

My craft area is finally organized! I've been letting stuff pile up forever and I finally got around to organizing everything. It feels soo good to walk in to a clean and cleared out area. Now I can move on to more projects, yay!

Washer Necklace

2010-02-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

When I saw the tutorial on how to make a washer necklace on Blue Cricket I didn't really think much of it. But as I get bigger and bigger my clothing options get smaller and smaller. I am now limited to one skirt that fits comfortably to wear to church, and I needed something cute to go along with my blah outfit. So then I remembered the post about washers on a ribbon and thought I could spray paint them burgundy since I have searched every single craft store in St. George and couldn't find burgundy beads.

So Macey and I headed off to the hardware store in search of washers and spray paint. If I were to do things over again I would buy all the same size of washers. I'm not sure why in the instructions she said to get three different sizes. And also, (of course I didn't think of this until AFTER I had finished the necklace) I should've spray painted some kind of clear laquer on after the spray paint so it won't come off if it gets scratched. Oh well, live and learn. The tutorial to make this is right here.

Good gravy, can I get any bigger?

Organza Flowers

2010-02-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

I saw a tutorial for organza flowers on Little Birdie Secrets and decided I had to make some. I mean, what if my baby is born bald? She'll need something cute on her head so people don't think she's a boy, right? So, I ordered the variety pack of nylon headbands off of this website.

Oooh it's soo pretty I just want to sit and stare at it. Keep in mind organza is totally different than tulle. It's a much finer fabric. You can find it in the bridal/prom section of the fabric store. I couldn't decide how much to buy, so I bought a fourth of a yard of each. Umm, ya, that's a bit much. I probably should have only bought an eighth of a yard. But, she who dies with the most fabric wins.

So then you cut out your circles or petals, either way turns out cute. Sorry for the dark picture. I can only light candles after Macey goes to bed. Otherwise I am forced to sing "Happy Birthday to You" a million times and blow out the candle. I have to admit I was kinda skeptical that the edges would curl under all cute. But once you put the edge close to the flame it curls up. The first time I did this I actually said out loud "Oooh pretty."

The more layers you do the cuter it gets. You want the smallest layer to be about the size of a quarter, and then do each layer after that about a fourth of an inch bigger in diameter. Once you get all the layers done (in this picture it's only half ways done) you sew the layers together with a nylon thread and then sew beads in the center. Glue it to a clippy or sew it onto your headband and there ya go, one stylin' baby headband!

Shower Cleaner

2010-02-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

So I ran out of shower cleaner the other day. You know, the kind that you spray on the shower walls everyday in hopes that you don't get scary soap scum build-up? So I went to add shower cleaner to my shopping list, and I don't know about you but looking at the long list of things to buy always overwhelms me. Shopping trips with my two-year-old are a nightmare. I try to get in and out of the store in as little time as possible before a meltdown erupts. So I thought if I could save myself a trip down an extra aisle at the store the better off we would be. I have heard of people making their own cleaners with vinegar and borax but had never tried it because the thought of a vinegary smelling house doesn't appeal to me. But I decided it was worth a shot. So I found this "recipe" online and put it together. And ya know what? I think it actually works better than the store bought stuff. The positives to it are this: it costs almost nothing to make, it doesn't have a chemically smell, and it's enviromentally friendly. The vinegar smell is really mild and it doesn't last very long. Here's the "recipe," try it out and let me know what you think.

3 Cups Water

1/2 Cup Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dishwasher Detergent

1 Tablespoon Borax

Happy housecleaning!

Toddler Dish Towel Bibb

2010-02-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

This bibb pattern is one that I came up with out of sheer necessity. I don't know what other people do once their kids grow out of the baby size bibbs. Stores don't seem to have much (okay, they don't have anything that I can find) in the way of cloth toddler size bibbs. My two-year-old needs something to cover her whole front and the more coverage the better.

This is my first sewing tutorial so if you have any questions be sure to let me know!

To start off your going to need:

-Dish Towels (new or used) most towels are 16 inches across which is what my pattern fits.

-Velcro

-Binding - Extra Wide Double Fold Bias tape seems to work the best
-Fusible Fabric if you want to add an applique and make it all fancy.

-Print out the pattern here {for personal use only}

First your going to print out the pattern and cut it out. Fold your towel in half hot-dog style (I learned that in Primary :-) that means long ways.

Cut your fabric along the pattern.

This next step is the trickiest in the whole thing so pay close attention. Your going to cut a strip of velcro about two inches long. Pin the hook side of the velcro to the top of the towel. Pin the eye side of the velcro to the BACK side of the other tab. If you sew them both to the top it won't velcro together right. Your going to want to leave about a fourth of a inch space between the edge and the velcro, especially if you have the extra wide binding. Then sew the velcro on.

Next your going to pin the binding to the neck part of the bibb. Then zig-zag stich it on.

Now your going to fold the end of the binding tape in about a fourth of an inch so you don't have a raw edge sticking out.

Then pin the binding along the top of the bibb. Be sure to turn your edges under at the ends when you pin it. It will give it a more finished look. Once you sew this binding on your done if you want to be. Or you can sew some ribbon, ric-rack, buttons or an applique onto the bibb to fancy it up.

Don't throw away that extra strip of towel from the top. Square it up and cut it. Fold the raw edge under a fourth of an inch and zig-zag it. Now you have a new cleaning rag AND a cute bibb.

Baby Beanie

2010-02-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

Don't laugh! We'll don't laugh too hard anyways. This is my very first attempt at making a baby beanie. I really want to make one like this but I'm running out of time and I had to start somewhere. You know how right after the babies born that put that ugy pink and blue striped knit cap thingy on the babies head and then all of your pictures of your babies first moments in life have that ugly cap in them? Well it bugs me. I'm hoping she has a really small head though because this newborn size beanie is really small, I'm kinda worried it won't fit. Maybe I should hurry and make another one in a size bigger just in case. Hmm, so many projects so little time left.

Breakfast in Bed Tray

2010-02-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day. Ours was pretty good. Our plans never go the way we expect them to. I had a nice dinner all planned out for Saturday night (Sunday we were going to be with family celebrating my moms' birthday.) But by the time Justin got home from doing chores and running errands I was soo exhausted, my feet were throbbing and my back was aching (keep in mind I'm 35 weeks pregnant) that I wasn't in the mood for cooking dinner. So I gave Justin the recipes and he made it, and it turned out pretty dang good! I made up for not cooking dinner by surprising him with a fancy breakfast in bed tray Sunday morning. I thought I would share it with you all so you can use some of the ideas for the next birthday, anniversary, Fathers day or just a lazy Sunday.

Fabulous French Toast

The secret to making good french toast is to:

Use french bread or Texas Toast
Butter the bread before you dip it in the egg/milk mixture. It gives it a crunchy texture on the outside and it is soo good..
Mix your cinnamon in your vanilla before you add it to the eggs and milk. This way the cinnamon doesn't glump together. I learned this on the Food Network :-)
Top it with homemade Cinnamon Cream Syrup.

Cinnamon Cream Syrup

1 Cup light corn syrup

2 Cups sugar

1/2 Cup water

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 Cup evaporated milk

Mix syrup, sugar, water and cinnamon. Bring to a full boil over medium heat stirring. Continue two minutes. Cool for five minutes. Add milk.

Once you make this you'll never go back to that nasty store bought maple flavored syrup stuff again!

Cute Tray Decoration

I got the idea for this off of Shoestring Pavilion and the instructions to make the flowers off of Dozi Design. I ended up with a few blank spot so I put a little loop of ribbon in them and secured it with a straight pin. It's sitting on a ceramic candle holder that Justin made in shop class in high school :-) It turned out kinda cute.

Simple Napkin Fold

I have tried, and failed many times to do those fancy napkin folds that you see at the restaurants - fancy napkin folding just isn't my thing. So I have to rely on my trusty simple fold. If you don't have cloth napkins be sure and check the clearance section at Target. They always seem to have fun colors of cloth napkins for an awesome price.

Step one: Lay the napkin face down.

Step two: Fold in half.

Step three: Fold the bottom up four inches.

Step four: Fold the bottom up four inches again.

Step five: Fold both sides under.

Step six: Add silverware and your done!

I believe some of the best presents we can give are service to one another. I hope this gave you some ideas for a nice breakfast in bed tray for a special day or just any day that you just want to let your spouse (or kids) know that you love them.

Valentines Card Template

2010-02-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you Shutter Sisters for the FREE Valentines card template! I love how it turned out and it was soo easy. All you do is download their template, open it in photoshop and then insert your picture and print. Go here to get yours!

Valentines Day Skirt

2010-02-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

You'll never guess what I found. A {RUFFLER}! I have a feeling things are going to be getting a whole lot rufflier (is that a word?) around here. It looks complicated but once you figure out how to set it up it's not soo bad. So here's Macey sporting her new ruffly Valentines Day skirt. I'm not the kind of person that dresses my kids up for every single holiday. But since Valentines Day is on a Sunday this year, plus I found out I have a ruffler, I figured the occasion called for a ruffly skirt. And doesn't she look soo cute in it?

Car Seat Cover Dimensions

2010-02-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of questions from friends about the dimensions of the car seat cover so I figured I might as well post it just in case anyone else is wondering. The finished size is 32.5"x40". It's a little on the big size so if you want to do yours a little bit smaller it would fit just fine. The straps are placed 12.5" in from each side and 17" down from the top. The straps finished size is about 9" long and 2.5" wide. The strap was a little bit long so you might want to take a half inch or so off that if you don't want extra strap hanging down. I hope this helps someone out. If you have questions let me know!

I was featured!

2010-02-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Check out Fireflies and Jellybeans blogspot. I was featured on their Sunday Spotlight. How exciting! :-)

Valentines Day Korker Bows

2010-02-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

Whenever I have korker bows in Maceys' hair people always ask if I made them. And then when I say I did they have this shocked look on their face. It's not hard people. So I'm going to share with you all how to make korker bows.

First you wrap grosgrain ribbon around wood dowels. If you have wide ribbon you want a wider dowel, smaller ribbon a smaller width dowel. Then your going to clamp the ends with a clothespin. Put it in the oven at 275 degrees for 25 minutes. If I'm just doing one bow it usually fits in the toaster oven.

Then you take your hair clippy and use hot glue to line it with ribbon. I get mine at Sally Beauty Supply.

Then when your ribbon is done baking you line up the ribbon and cut it down to size. I did mine at about 2.25 inches.

Line up your little bundles of ribbon with elastic underneath and then tie the elastic tight around the ribbon.

Then you hot glue your little corker ribbon bundles onto your hair clippies. Touch up the ends with Fray Check so they don't fray out on you (duh, I know). And there you have some cute piggy tail bows!

File Folder Games

2010-02-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you mormonchic.com for the FREE downloadable file folder games! I printed these off yesterday and put them together and Macey has already spent a lot of time matching shapes and colors and dressing the cute bear. I would have done more but it's so dang expensive to get stuff laminated. Anyways, the link to the website is http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp

Blessing Dress - Part 2

2010-02-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

The blessing dress is done! What a relief! I went for a McCall's pattern this time and I'm glad I did. It was soo much easier. If there's anyone out there considering making a blessing dress here is a helpful hint: sew snaps in the back instead of buttons and buttonholes. Have you ever tried to button up the back of a little baby? It's not easy. I did sew really cute buttons on the top layer over the snaps so it looks like the buttons are done up. I tried to get a picture of them but the darn camera wouldn't focus on the buttons. They're super cute though. They have a little eyelet flower print on them. So that's another project down, a whole lot more to go!

Car Seat Cover

2010-01-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

Wahoo one more project done! I love this fabric. It's Lotus by Amy Butler just in case anyone wants to know. I thought about doing a tutorial on how to do car seat covers, but it soo easy anyone could figure it out. All it is is a blanket made out of 2 yards of fabric (one yard per side), plus you need 1/8th yard for the straps. And then you just sew straps to the top of the blanket. Add a little ric-rac and some ginormous buttons and and there you have a cute car seat cover. Tada!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

Every mom needs a good recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have tried a lot that are okay. Some that are too buttery, some that are too flourey. This one is just right. So I thought I would share it with you so you can quit wasting your time making cookies that don't turn out good.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup Butter softened (don't use margarine, that's just gross)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour
2 (7-ounce) Hershey bars chopped up or 1 (12-ounce) package of chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (if you like them)

Heat oven to 375 degress.
Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Mix in salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Add chocolate and nuts. Mold into golf-size balls and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press slightly. Bake 7-10 minutes. Cookies will be very soft. When cookies cool they will be firm. If you cook them until they are brown and firm they won't be very good. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Recipe adapted from "Remedies for the "I Don't Cook" Syndrome" by Janet Peterson. This recipe book was my bible when I was first married. I used it soo much that the spine fell apart and I had to take it to the copy store and get it spiral bound. I'm happy to say my cooking skills have improved since then. I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does!

72 Hour Food Kits

2010-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

With all the earthquakes going on in Utah and around the world I decided it was time to get the food part of our 72 hour kits done. I've had the supply part done for a few years but I haven't been to motivated to get the food part done until now. Thankfully foodstoragemadeeasy.net has a great supply list and it made the whole process pretty easy and painless. I only did three kits instead of four because the kit is only good for one year. I would rather spend my time and money on something cute and fun, but this was a necessity that needed to be done. It's amazing the peace of mind that you get once you have everything you need in an emergency. If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. :-)

Three Little Projects

2010-01-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

So I've seen a few people around with fancy camera straps. But when you look close at the stitching on them it's always crappy quality. Just for fun I went to some of the popular websites to see how much they cost and I couldn't believe that people were paying $25 plus for a bad quality cutesy camera strap. I came across this tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew (sorry, no link, I haven't figured that one out yet) and decided to give it a shot. My total cost of materials was a whopping $3. $1 for the fabric and $2 for the Pellon fusible fleece. It only took me about 15 minutes to do from start to finish and that's including turning it inside out twice to get the width just right. I'd give this project two thumbs up. Inexpensive, quick and functional.

My other project was to make refrigerator magnets. All ya do is modge podge scrapbook paper onto a clothespin and glue a magnet on the back. It's pretty darn simple! My little sister gave me the cute scrapbook paper and matching flowers for my birthday last year. I'm glad I found a way to display it and enjoy it everyday.

I love how it makes the fridge look so much more organized and cute. Before it just had random advertising magnets on it.

And lastly, my crocheted headbands that I ordered came in the mail yesterday. I do have to say that I didn't make the purple bow. I got that one from a neighbor when Macey was born. The nice thing about the crocheted bands is that you can put your bows on a clip and then stick it through the weave. That way you can put a different bow on it. I've still got more bow and flower ideas I want to do before the baby is born - but at least I'm off to a start.

Blessing Dress - Part 1

2010-01-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

I've got the material and pattern now. Wish me luck! :-)

Burpy Rags

2010-01-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

I now have the burpy rags crossed off my list. Macey was quite the little spitter when she was a baby. No matter how many times I have cloroxed and oxicleaned these things they still have yellow spots on them, the majority being in the middle. Since they are still perfectly good and I'm too frugal to buy new ones, the obvious solution is to put a strip of flannel down the middle and cover up the spots. I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. I have some pink and brown ribbon that would look super cute to put on the ends or on either side of the flannel but I decided against it because I don't want to be wiping my babys face with something that has ribbon on it - it's just not soft.

Crayon Roll

2010-01-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

I've seen soo many awesome tutorials for crayon rolls all over the internet that I decided it's time to make one for my little girl. I was surprised out how easy it was. If I wouldn't have used rick-rac for the edging it would have gone a lot faster too. We took this to church with us yesterday and now I'm wondering why I didn't make one a long time ago. It's soo much more convenient than keeping the crayons in a plastic bag because the crayons stay in place instead of rolling around on the bench. Macey loves it, I love it. I'd say this project gets two thumbs up!

The Laundry Room

2010-01-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

I know it's not a huge difference but I've got to start somewhere. We have lived here for over five years and for over five years I have had the best intentions of getting the house decorated. However, every time I go into a home decorating store I get soo overwhelmed by all the different styles and color schemes that I walk out empty handed. So that's why I'm starting in the laundry room. If I mess up the curtains it's not that big of a deal, right? Joanns was having a sale on their home decor fabric. I figured with it being 40% if I don't like it I can always start over. I was actually happy that I don't hate the finished product. Now I've just got to figure out what color I want in the front room. Well, now I've got one project down, a whole lot more to go. But I'm off to a pretty good start, wouldn't you say?

A New Year

2010-01-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

A new year - a new blog. Now that Christmas is all packed up and over with I'm realizing that I have less than three months before this baby is going to be here. I've got a list of projects I would like to get done before she is born, therefore I have started a blog to document my projects. I have two big projects (blessing dress and a quilt) and a whole lot of smaller projects. After I had Macey I think it was 8 or 9 months before I was able to pull my sewing machine out and actually work on something. So, I'm determined to get the project/sewing bug out of my system before this baby is born. It's also a place to post my favorite recipes and home decorating (or lack thereof). Why the title Ten Cow Chick? Well, it's a long story, but once Justin made the joke that he was going to get one of those vinyl lettering stickers for the back of my car that says "Ten Cow Wife." For some reason that made me laugh soo hard I almost peed my pants. If your not familiar with the movie Johnny Lingo - it's a reference to that. Unfortunately the blogspot address 10cowwife is already taken. Soo, here I go. Wish me luck! I've got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in!