Domestic Goodies!

I started this post ages ago, but never finished it. Here are some of the cooking and sewing projects I have done recently (meaning in the past 6 months) to keep myself from going crazy!

Here is a farewell cake I made for my cousin Michael when he left on his mission to the Ukraine, hence the colors of the Ukranian flag. It's not the fanciest cake in the world, but it was an accomplishment for yours truly, since I have no experience with cake decorating whatsoever.

This was my Valentine's gift for Adam: a giant chocolate kiss, made of chocolate rice krispies with M&Ms. 

This is the Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake, which I made for Adam's birthday. It was soooo good!

And this is one of Adam's gifts, a remote control holder, which I made for his birthday. I have never sewn anything "remotely" like that before (haha), so I'm glad it turned out okay. :) Tutorial found here: http://www.sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/spring-clean-tidy-week-sofa-caddy.

My friend's baby was turning one, so I made him a toy and a reversible bib in honor of the occasion (I found the pattern for the bib on this website: http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/05/bapron-tutorial.html)

I enjoyed making the baby bib so much that I made several more for baby gifts.

These are opposite sides of two matching bibs that I made for Lily and for her (self-proclaimed) best friend, a little girl in our ward who is about 5 months younger than Lily.

Well, I never would have guessed it, but I suppose I have gone and gotten "crafty." I don't know if I am going crazy or what, but I honestly hated doing crafts when I was younger. They just seemed like such a waste of time. Does it say something about my life that I am doing them now, and actually enjoying it? No, I am not less busy. I guess I just have fewer outlets for creativity now that I stay at home all day. A girl's gotta do somethin! As my mom would have said, I'm just practicing Alzheimer's prevention. :)

Magical Sewing Machine + Pictures

I have a wonderful aunt who generously thought of me last summer when she bought a new sewing machine, and gave me her old one. This has really been quite a blessing. Of course, I thought it would be fun to have a sewing machine, but it was also an answer to prayers lately. We have been trying everything possible to reduce our budget and postpone the looming necessity of taking out student loans, and gifts have been the hardest area to stay within our budget. This is definitely my fault. What can I say? I like giving people stuff. :) 

I had thought for a few months that if I just had a sewing machine, I could make gifts instead of buying them. Yes, I know it is possible to make gifts without a sewing machine, but it has been a struggle for me to come up with crafty gifts that people would actually appreciate and use. Of course we didn't have money for a sewing machine, so I figured that was not a realistic option, but I kept praying to figure out ways to save more money. And then (bling!) a sewing machine magically appeared! Isn't it great when God answers our prayers my making stuff magically appear on your doorstep? (Okay actually, my aunt brought it to a family reunion, but it felt magical to me.)

I should also mention that I am not very good at sewing. My daydreams went something like: "I wish I had a sewing machine because after I learn to use it I will quickly and effortlessly whip out amazing homemade gifts for all my friends and family and save tons and tons of money and we won't have to go into debt to complete the fourth college degree of our married lives. Hooray!" Needless to say, it hasn't solved all our financial woes, and my first few sewing projects were anything but quick or effortless, but I am pressing on and becoming not-quite-as-bad-of-a-seamstress-as-I-was-before.

Here is one of the first gifts I made with my new money-saving gift-making machine/toy. It is just a simple burp cloth for a dog-loving friend of mine who is expecting, but since I made it out of a never-used dish towel and some scraps I had leftover from Adam's kilt, it was free! (And yes, in case you are wondering, my husband is obsessed with kilts. He says it is because of some bit of Scottish heritage, but I think it's really because at some level he just has the need to wear a man-skirt.)

I also made this Christmas card holder for my mom and a friend, from a table runner I got at the dollar store.

And I also used it to make Lily's Christmas dress. This project was obviously much more challenging, and it's a good thing my mother-in-law arrived in time to save the day. I actually finished it myself the afternoon before she arrived, but some of the inner workings of the dress were less than ideal, so she graciously took out a few seams and fixed them for me. Now the dress might actually last until Christmas. She also helped me figure a rough pattern for the second dress, which I made for Lily's cousin, Amelia. But I actually made that one all by myself. I was so proud! :) Amelia's dress is on the left; Lily's is on the right.

And, just for the grandparents, here is a picture of Lily eating a piece of toast:

And Lily walking:

And Lily "talking on the phone":

And I just think this one is cute (In case you are wondering what Lily is doing, she is stealing a bottle of aspirin from another baby who was playing with it. Real safe, I know)

And now it's December so happy Christmas season! Yay I love Christmas! 

Recents Crafts and Experiments

I have been inspired in my new motherhood by my two sisters-in-law, Amber and Lisa, who are both ridiculously crafty, artistic, and creative. I am generally none of these things. But their talent has inspired me to try a few crafts of my own, which I never would have done in my working non-mommy days. Here are some of my first attempts to develop my inner craftiness:

This is a French memo board I made for Adam's mom for her birthday:

 

This is a baby album I made for my friend Candice when she had a baby boy:

This is a hair-accessory-organizing-board I made to put all of Lily's (and my) hair accessories on (which is funny because Lily hardly has any hair!):

And this is the shelf in Lily's room which I decided to use for her stuffed animals. Please note that I did not make anything in this picture. The stuffed animals are all store-bought as far as I know, and Adam's aunt made the gorgeous quilt underneath them.

Besides this stuff (simple I know, but I am proud of myself anyway considering that I have never done anything crafty in my life before now!), I have also gotten into somewhat of a make-it-yourself craze. I long ago gave up using canned cream soups, and have been making my own for several years. But recently I decided I wanted to make a whole bunch of other things by myself. I started with tortillas, which proved to be very simple, although time consuming to roll out without a tortilla press. I also decided to make my own yogurt, which is AMAZINGLY easy! I seriously takes only 3 ingredients, less than 10 minutes of active time, and just has to keep warm for a while. We have been mixing homemade blackberry jam into it, or sometimes the leftover juice from canned pineapple or bottled apricots. It is so yummy, and cheaper and healthier than store-bought yogurt.

Last week I also decided to try my hand at homemade granola bars. Mmm, they are so good! The only problem is that the ingredients are kind of expensive, since they have lots of nuts, dried fruit, and honey in them. But they are so much healthier than the store-bought kind that I think it is worth it. I also make pizza dough, something Adam is very good at, but that I had not mastered, and homemade breakfast granola (quite different from the granola bars). Next, I think I will try homemade stewed tomatoes, and I heard that you can make applesauce easily my microwaving apples and then putting them in the blender with some cinnamon. Do you have any great ideas or recipes for easy homemade foods?