CD Coasters

While over at my house one evening, my sister was venting about how she couldn't find a coaster that didn't stick to the bottom of her glass when she picked it up or one that didn't fill up with water as your ice melted. I told her that I could make her one using an old CD and if she liked it, then I'd make her a whole set.

So... I made her a "prototype" using this pattern. This is a great pattern, well written and works up really fast. It took about an hour to make, at the most and she took it home that night - then took it to work the next day to try out. She loved it. She wanted a whole set (with different colors to match her home decor). I got busy with the holidays and such but finally got around to making her a set. Now one of her co-workers wants a set of her own.

I used Lily's Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn in Softly Taupe and Landscape and and some old bank CDs that I got from a previous job (they were duplicate CDs and we didn't need them so I decided to put them to good use and just as a safety precaution I put a long stratch in each one the day I took I was given permission to take them home)

I was really happy with how they turned out - my mom even asked if I'd make her a set for mother's day and my mom (in general) doesn't usually ask me to crochet her anything, so you know she loved them!

Scrapbook Sketches

I have a ga-billion hobbies. I first learned crochet at the tender age of 9, I started drawing around that time too (although kind of stopped that around the age of 15). In the past I did needlepoint, crewel, embroidery, macrame (yes, macrame!), string art (remember those), hook rugs, punch needle, plastic canvas (never too fond of that look), paint (mostly by numbers). I still like to cross stitch, though haven't done that in a while, currently I crochet, knit and SCRAPBOOK!!

I don't have as much time (or more importantly enough space) to scrapbook as much as I'd like to. I have about 20 + sets of photos I want to scrap.

I am not a fancy scrapper, I fall into the group of scrappers called "simple scrappers" - I like my pages fairly clean and straight lined - not too many embellishments or fru-fru stuff. I like people who can do those kind of more intricate pages and think they are beautiful. I just don't have the time and plus they aren't really "me" - I've always been a plain-kind of girl - like things simple yet elegant (vanilla is my favorite flavor of ice cream so that gives you some insight to who I am)

Well...several years ago I found someone whose style was very close to mine - the very talented Becky Higgins. She then started having sketches of her layouts in Creating Keepsakes magazine and I loved using them. You don't really do the sketch exactly - you take the sketch as a base and build your own idea around them.

You can imagine how excited I was when she came out with her first sketchbook, then later another one. She also has a best of..book (of course I have them all). I use these magazines/books quite often! I also have a binder of many of the sketches from Creating Keepsakes website (most of which are Becky's) and Simple Scrapbooks website (which is now gone - boo hoo - that was my favorite magazine)

Now that Becky H. has left CK and isn't releasing new sketches, I find most of my sketch resources on various Internet websites.

I have been wanting, for quite some time now, to compile the ones I like in one place so I have all the links in one place but I hope other scrapbookers might find this and find it useful also.

I tend to scrap mostly 2-page layouts and in 12 x 12 format so those are the sketches I seek out the most but I can adapt pretty much any layout to fit my needs.

Here are some great ones:

4 x 6 photo sketches (I almost always use 4x6 photos)

8 x 8 sketches

52 Sketches-52 Weeks (1-page)

63 2-Page Sketches

Alison Davis' Blog

Creative Scrappers

Google Images (not a website, per se, but lots of great sketches none-the-less)

Got Sketch? (notice on side bar - have 4x6 photo sketches)

Becky Higgins (75 sketches from her 1st book-posted on 2peas)

Jane Eubank's Sketches

Leisha's Page Plans

Page Maps

Pencil Lines (most are 1-page)

The Scrappiest (mostly 1-page; 1-photo)

Sketch Savvy (great Disney LOs & several 4 x 6 LOs)

Scrapburbia

Simple Schemes (use to be in Simple Scrapbooks-posted on 2peas)

Sketches by Suzy (mostly 2-pages)

Stamping101 WebShot

Stickers N' Fun

I am sure this list will continue to grow. If you know of any other great sketch sites - please leave a comment with the site listed. I always love checking them out.

Old Spice Commercial !!

I love this commercial. I typically fast forward through commercials (thank you TiVO) but I always stop when I see this one. I love it and it cracks me up everytime!

Reason #103 to Love Barney Fife - He Sews, Crochets & Knits!

Who knew that good ole' Barney was crafty ? I knew Barney was my kind of man! Watch the first couple of minutes of this Season 4 episode clip titled "Fun Girls"

Valentine Lunchboxes

Last year, I made my staff some cute little valentine mailboxes. This year I found these cute little valentine lunchboxes. I got them at the Dollar Tree of all places. I filled them with Twix, M&M's, Starburst, Skittles, Kit Kats, some erasers and bubbles. I also gave them a Russell Stover's heart shaped box fo chocolates. I hope they appreciate my holiday gifts. A couple of them seem to really like them. Then there are those that don't even bother saying "thank you". I don't know if they like them or not but I enjoy giving them. Maybe one day they will look back and say, what a neat thing my boss use to do.

Happy Valentine's Day !!

Debbie Osmond's Chicken Enchiladas

I have this AWESOME cookbook called "Dining with Donny", which is a collection of recipes from Debbie Osmond, some of her family and some of his fans. I would post a picture of the cookbook, but will have to that later since my co-workers all want to borrow it and one of them has it at the moment.

Since I've had this cookbook, I wanted to make Debbie's famous Chicken Enchiladas but have never made them. Donny says it is his absolute favorite dish !

So, I had all ingredients on hand and 3 hungry co-workers, one of which who loves Donny just as much as I do and I decided to make it and take it to work. I must say that it was SO GOOD and I mean really good !! It wasn't what I quite expected though. I thought it would be enchildas but it was more of an enchilada casserole - super easy to make and very tasty.

It got 8 thumbs up (2 from me and 2 from each of my 3 hungry co-workers) - then they all wanted to borrow the cookbook!

That Debbie Osmond is one good cook - how could she not be when she has 6 men/boys to feed !

Debbie Osmond's Chicken Enchiladas

4 or 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can 26 oz cream of chicken soup
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 small can of mild diced green chiles
1 doz small (3-4") round soft corn tortillas
2-3 cups grated cheese (cheddar and jack)

Boil the chicken breast with cut up onions until done (or do what I do and cook in crockpot on low for 4-6 hours until done), then cut the chicken into cubes

Mix together soup, sour cream and chilis in a bowl and add chicken and set aside

In a skillet heat olive oil (just enough to cover bottom). Place one tortilla in oil and just as it starts to bubble, turn over and heat the other side (a few seconds on each side - you don't want them to harden or be crispy, just heat them up) and then lay on paper towel to soak up excess oil. Repeat for all tortillas.

(Make layers)

In 9x13 pan lay 3-4 tortillas in bottom of pan, sprinkle cheese on top of tortillas. Then put 2 cups of the chicken/mixture on top of cheese and repeat till it's gone. Top with cheese.
Bake 350 degrees for approx. 45 minutes.

Fingerless Gloves - 1st Completed Project 2010

I have a lot of craft projects I want to complete this year (and a lot of new ones I want to start and complete).

So... I started making these gloves for my sister last year and made one. Then realized the nature of the yarn would make the gloves 2 different colors. Although they would match in a way, they wouldn't match in a way. I needed her opionion before I made the 2nd one. She said it would be fine to continue with the same hank of Noro Silk Garden Lite (Colorway 2410), which was a good thing since this particular color had been discontinued.

I love the beautful colors of Noro Yarn, which is a Japanese yarn, and have wanted to make something with it for a long time. I found this particular hank at the NeedleNook and was told it was the last one they had but knew it would be enough for the gloves I wanted to make so I got it (not thinking about the gloves would be different colors). Many stores stopped (or are stopping) carrying the Noro Silk Garden Lite because it is so similar to the regular Noro Silk Garden.

But I digress...So I found this pattern designed by Nancy Ricci and knew that they would be perfect. Number 1 - didnt' require double pointed needles and Number 2 - would let me do a small project with cables (something I had been wanting to try).

This pattern was amazing well written, very easy to follow and worked up rather quickly (even though I'm a very slow knitter). I loved making cables - not near as difficult as I thought they would be.

Here is my work in progress (see how pretty the yarn is?):

Here are the completed gloves - the best news - sis loved them and wears them a lot ! I want to make myself a pair now but... must ... finish...projects...already...in...progress FIRST!