Animal Felt Magnets

Today was an uncrafty day. I was so busy running around trying to find Courtney thee perfect first communion gift, I totally lost track of time. On the other hand, I am so excited about what I just made a couple days ago. This project is for all who do not know how to sew or just do not have access to a sewing machine. They are really easy and fun to do. I started doing them a couple nights ago while in bed. Usually, I read in bed at night but that just seems to put me to sleep after 5 or so minutes of reading. They are fun little magnets for the kids to play with and they keep Kat busy while I am making dinner.

You can go to Michaels Craft store to get all of your supplies.

Materials:

Soft felt

embroidery floss

magnets

Once I started I was addicted, I could not stop. I first started of making the tree, cat and dog. When I saw how much she loved them I knew I had to make more so that's when I did the ducks and the water, horse, and the pig. Now every morning when she gets up she runs to the fridge to play with them.

They are 2 pieces of felt. you can cut them out individually or you can fold the felt and knock out two birds with one fold (my silly sense of humor). Once they are cut out then you start to sew them with the floss. You can use regular thread but the embroidery floss is a lot thicker and won't break a easly. So you start by putting the two pieces of felt together and I sewed around the seams with a whip stitch you could also use a blanket stitch (I perfer the whip stitch). Before you finish your stitching put the magnet inside (you can put some stuffing inside if you want) and close it up.

Now that I am finished with these I think I might make a farm house to go with the lonely animals. Or for the oldest daughter I think I might do a alphabet magnet set. We will see, we will see.

Something Old.....Into Something New

A couple days ago I went to a local consignment shop (and those who know me know I am a sucker for junk shopping). I went into the junk shop looking for something to put into a corner of my Dinning room, because I just recently moved some furniture around and that corner just looked so bland. Marty was not to thrilled when I told him "Honey, I am going out junk shopping". But, he knows how I am. I am pretty thrifty, if I am questioning the price of something and I have to make an excuse to justify the purchase. Then I will not buy it, so he does not have to worry to much. Back to the table. I knew I had some stain from a project that I was supposed to do YEARS ago, but never got around to doing it.


So, this is what the table looked like before...

I used the Miniwax spray stain.

Spray on your 1st coat and allow it to dry for two hours. Then after the two hours spray on a second coat. After the four hours are over, the stain did not look dark enough for me.

See what I mean. It doesn't look any darker from the 1st coat.

So, I thought of a show I watch that comes on MPT on Saturday mornings call "She's Crafty" or something of that sort. She showed how to make a stain by watering down some brown Acrylic paint. To apply, use a old piece of cloth and dab it on the furniture to give it an antique look

Once I did that, I was really impressed. That technique made it look like an old table. When the paint dries, spray a sealer on it so the table can keep its look.


Annnnnd here is the table. I think I did a really good job.

Grilled Chicken with Angel hair pasta

Here I go again, it's been a while. Keeping up with a blog is harder than I thought. The day goes by so fast and then more and more days go by and I realized I didn't post anything in DAYS. A couple days ago i was at my mother house and my little sister was making some pasta and OMG it smelt sooooo good. So I thought to myself, why don't I make that for the family but put a twist on it.

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breast
• Pkg. of Angel hair pasta
• peppers (you can pick your own colors, I picked yellow and red)
• Garlic clove
• Medium onion
• 1tbsp of butter
• 1/2 cup of white cooking wine
• 3tbsp of olive oil

1. In a 5qt pot, boil your water and put a little salt (to give the pasta some flavor)and Olive oil (so it will not stick to the pot). Once the water is boiling place your angel hair pasta in and do not break them.




2. While the noodles are boiling you can mince your garlic cloves, peppers, and onions.




3. By now your noodles should be done (b/c they are not thick at all). So strain your noodles and allow them to sit until needed.




4. In a wok saute you veggies with 1tbsp of butter until firm. Then, add all of the white cooking wine and let it simmer for 4min on low.




5. While the veggies are simmering, you can cook the chicken in the grill (you can put your chicken in any kind of merinade that suits you, for about 3hrs).






6. When you chicken is done set aside and cover with foil so it can remain hot.




7. Place the noodles in the wok with the veggies and mix well.





8. Last you can put your food on your plate and ENJOY.
   
   
   
   
   

Fabric Clutch Purse

I know I have not posted anything in a while but I have been trying to hunt down a specific treasure for this project. For the last couple days I have been trying to find the right size metal frame for the clutch. I still did not find the one that I wanted. But, the one that I have will do. I've always thought that making a purse would be hard. After watching the Martha Stewart show (one of my favorite shows during the day) and seeing her and her guest do a demo. I thought to myself "that looks very easy". Then off to the fabric store I went and went crazy while I was there. I spent so much money on just fabric, it was crazy (I had to hide the receipt from Marty :-O). Anyway, lets get to the tutorial.

The materials for this project:

• Decorative fabric for outside of clutch
• Fabric for lining
• Heavyweight fusible stabilizer
• Fusible fleece
• Rotary cutter
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Coordinating sewing thread
• Bond 527 Multi-Purpose Cement
• Metal clutch frame hardware (8-by-3in)
  

1. Cut 13 1/2 (width)-by-13(height) inch pieces from from the decorative fabric, lining fabric, and heavyweight fusible stabilizer. Cut a 10 1/2 (width)-by-13 (height) inch piece of fusible fleece. With an iron, fuse heavyweight stabilizer to wrong side of decorative fabric, then fuse fleece to center of stabilized side of fabric.




2. With right sides of decorative and lining fabrics together, sew 1/2-inch seams along both longer 13 1/2-inch edges.



3. Turn sewn pieces so right sides are facing out, and press seams flat.

4. Fold in half, matching seams at top, with lining on inside. Sew a 1/4-inch seam on outside raw edges, then trim seam allowances to 1/8 inch and snip in at the corners. Turn again, so decorative fabric is on the inside. Sew 1/4-inch seam along edges, creating a finished French seam, then turn right side out.

****When I fold the fabric in half, I used a paper clip to keep it in place.

5. Fold corners down; mark and sew a 2-inch gusset on each. Trim corner to 1/8 inch. Turn again so lining faces out; sew a 1/4-inch seam along gussets to finish seams. Turn right side out one last time.

6. Apply a bead of fabric glue to metal frame. Center over top seam, carefully insert fabric in metal frame, and secure in place with tape. Allow glue to set for several hours ( I didn't listen to the directions and the fabric kept falling out of the frame, silly me).

Annnnnd here are the results..........

Zesty Grilled Chicken Kabobs

Wow, I am feeling really good because this is my first food post. Last night for dinner, I made some really tasty chicken kabobs. I mean they were so good that the baby even ate some and might I say she is a really picky eater. I also got a thumbs up from Marty (that's the husband). Now for the ingredients:

2lbs of Chicken breast
Now these below are just an approximate guess
3/4tbsp cumin
3/4tbsp ground pepper
3/4tbsp sea salt
3/4tbsp chili powder
3/4tbsp garlic powder
EVOO- for all of you who don't know what that is; Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Rosemary garlic seasoning
Yellow, green or red peppers
Squash
small potatoes
5 metal skewers

1)Cut your chicken breast into large cubes, then on a separate cutting board cut all of your veggies.

2)Put into a small bowl your cumin, ground pepper, sea salt, chili powder and garlic powder. Then mix together with a fork so all the spices are incorporated well.

3)Now mix your cubed chicken with the dry ingredients above and drizzle in the EVOO then toss and in another bowl mix your veggies and potatoes with the Rosemary garlic seasoning and drizzle in the EVOO and toss as well.

4)Now let the Chicken sit in the marinade for about 1hr. So they can be nice and tender when it is time to grill

5)After the chicken is done marinading, the fun part begins: putting it all on the skewers

This is how we did it (Courtney loved helping me do this part)

Make sure your grill is nice and hot. Place the kabobs on the grill for 4-6mins then come back and give them a 1/4 turn. Keep doing that until the chicken is about 160 degrees in the inside.

Then serve and let your family bask in your awesomeness.

They absolutely loved this meal.

Courtney's face says it all.

Busy Busy Busy

I know this is a blog all about my crafting and food experiences and what do we have here. Nothing about crafting nor food. I was so busy, I literally did not have any time to do any crafting today. I was spending all of my time on and with my 7 year-old today. Recently, I've decided to home school Courtney (my 7 year-old) and I am so confused on where to start. So I spent most of the day with one of the mothers from my church, who also home schools her four children. I got tons of information from her. Thanks Teresa. But, I am so far away from actually making a decision on which curriculum I am going to use.



Hopefully tomorrow I can start some crafting and be able to post it. Since our family was supposed to go camping this weekend. Mother nature had a different plan for us. till next time bloggers and blog followers.

Hello

Well, I am new to the whole blogging thing. So, please bear with me. I've seen other blogs and thought, maybe I could do that too. Then that voice in the back of my head (the one we never listen to, even though we should) was telling me. Hey Taisha, Why not? Who or what will it hurt? I have nothing but time on my hands since I quit my job. Which by the way was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made.
I have tons of crafty ideas I could share with everyone and I've seen lots of tutorials from one of the craftiest (if that is even a word, but I think so) persons in the WORLD Ms. Martha Stewart.

So lets get this blogging thing crackin.