Friday, January 13, 2012

Christmas Countdown

I know. I know. I'm a few weeks late for this post, but better late than never, right? I started making this Christmas countdown board in early November... and finished it last night.

A couple ideas of what to put in the pockets: a scripture for each night to share with your family, something that you're thankful for, a family activity for the night, what to have for dinner, a chore (this would totally take the fun out of it, but whatever), a song to sing, a favorite memory, etc. Really, you choose what to do. We have a book with a song, scripture and poem or story for each day in December. I'll be putting the scripture in each pocket then we, as a family, can read through the scripture, sing the song and read the story together. What a great way to make a habit of having family scripture study, right!?

When November rolls around again I'll be sure to post a tutorial... will someone PLEASE remind me!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Fotoshop by Adobe

For about just under five years I worked at a newspaper. Though it is illegal to digitally touch-up a journalistic photograph, it is certainly okay to do it for advertising and marketing pieces. There are far too many young people who do not understand that EVERY photo they see of a celebrity is touched up - yes, even the ones where the celebrity looks like they've just come back from the dead - even that one is touched up in some way (possibly to make them look worse?).
As a photographer you are trained to "see the light." Literally. The other day I was standing at my kitchen window staring out at our apple tree. My husband walked in, looked at me, then went to the window to see what I was looking at - like perhaps there was a four-headed green monster outside. No, no monster, just some incredible light wrapping around the frozen fog on the tree branches. He was completely oblivious to how beautiful it was, but I was so engulfed with its majesty that I couldn't even run to get my camera. It was almost as if I didn't want to invade in that sacred, peaceful moment of the morning.

This post is two-fold. First, check out this link. Then share it with your friends. This is a very real thing that we live with today and I just wish I would have learned to be comfortable in my own skin a whole lot sooner than I did. Hopefully this link will be of some help to someone out there.

Secondly, as a creative person it's important to find new inspiration. Naturally, creative people 'tick' a different way than most sciency people (my hubby's one of those cut and dry sciency nerds... it's kind of cute). One of my favorite things to do is to sit outside (or at my living room window) and look (contrary to what my neighbors think, I'm not watching them) and look at the light. Watch the way it curves around objects. Watch the way the shadows dance across the ground. Watch the way the clouds wisp through the sky and the way it falls on the hair of the kids playing in the yard. Watch the way it highlights the colors in the flowers and the way it causes shadows to change the perspective of objects. When you flip through a magazine, look at the way the light is falling on the subject. Try to determine where the light systems are set up - look at the eyes of the individuals in the photos and look at the way the light is shining on them.

Ug, I think I could bore you for a good hour with a lecture on 'light.' Isn't it an incredible thing? Ok. Ok. enough about the light... just open your eyes and take a look for yourself! I think you'll learn to hate certain magazines, love others, and be more intrigued with the world around you! Like any painting in a museum, light has a story to tell and if you'll just look, you'll be able to see what every detail of that story is! Pretty fascinating!

Happy looking at the light (and allowing yourself to look silly in front of your so-not-creative husband!)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Ridiculously Cute Apron

My friend, Moriah, and I are starting a Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op site in our town. We're pretty excited! If you don't know what Bountiful Baskets is, I'd highly recommend looking them up, checking to see if there is a site in your town and participating! It is a great way to have fresh produce each week. When we lived in Washington I participated and lost almost every pound of baby weight in just a couple months... when we moved to Montana I gained almost every pound back because I wasn't able to eat as healthy.

Anyway, we're starting a site and are just a little overly excited! Moriah had this great idea to make some aprons to keep our pens, knives, box openers, markers, etc. handy while participating at the site. Great idea, Moriah - that's why you're the brains of this operation.

So, I put my creative juices to work and here's what I've come up with. I think they're a tad bit cute, let me know what you think! (I've got big shoulders, literally, so I won't be offended if you offer suggestions for improvement.)



P.S. If you're reading this and live in my area, be sure to make your contribution online by 10pm tomorrow (Tuesday)! See you Saturday at 3:00 for pick up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Gramma's Egg Rolls



























I love egg rolls! I think my love began in high school. My bestie, Cara, and I would go to her house between school and basketball practice, take a couple of the frozen Costco egg rolls from the freezer, cook 'em up and eat 'em with 1000 Island salad dressing. I know, most of you are crinkling up your nose at the thought of 1000 Island dressing with egg rolls - I wouldn't recommend it with home made rolls, but paired with the frozen ones from Costco = YUMMMMM!!!!!

Then, a few years later, I'm much more mature with much more defined taste buds. I was on the hunt through my Gramma's recipe box for her Pumpkin Roll recipe (it's a family secret and I nearly had to sign my name in blood to receive it). But, in my search for what we, in our house, affectionately call the P-Roll, I stumbled across an egg roll recipe.

Now, those of you who know my Gramma Judy are probably wondering why on earth she would ever have such a recipe. I truly cannot imagine her ever making such a dish. I can't imagine her ever even thinking that with a super wild hair she'd give it a shot. Who knows. Perhaps I don't know my G-ma as well as I think I do. Afterall, she was the one who introduced me to breakfast for dinner (such a thing has possible happened once in my mother's home).

A few years ago I pulled out the recipe to give it a shot and oh. my. heck! Gramma, you don't know what you're missing!!!!! (or maybe you do and secretly make these egg rolls without ever letting anyone know you'd be so wild!)

My favorite part about these egg rolls is that you can really vary the ingredients. Sometimes I add bean sprouts, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I add celery, sometimes I don't. Just whatever you think would be good, go ahead and throw it in! Egg rolls are actually pretty healthy... uuuuuuntil you put them in the deep fat fryer!

So, here's Gramma's Egg Rolls (don't worry, you don't have to sign your name with blood for a copy)

Egg Roll Ingredients:
1 well beaten egg
vegetable oil for frying
sweet and sour sauce
egg roll skins
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb. ground pork
1 c. celery, chopped
2 c. bean sprouts, chopped
1 medium head cabbage, chopped
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. sherry
salt and pepper
Directions:
Start heating your oil. I used my fat daddy fryer at 375 degrees.
Brown pork and chopped onion. Drain any fat. Add celery, bean sprouts, cabbage, soy sauce and sherry. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Saute until vegetables are softened a bit. Then, drain the liquid.
With an egg roll wrapper, spoon in 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetables. Fold your ends and wrap up, sealing with a smear of the well beaten egg.
Cook 2 to 3 egg rolls at a time until they are golden brown. Set on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet in a warm oven until ready to serve. The cooling rack will allow excess oil to drip off/out.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
2 T. corn starch
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. white vinegar
1/4 c. pineapple juice
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. ketchup
Mix all ingredients together in a small sauce pan. Heat until thickened to desired consistency. Then pour into small bowls and set in refrigerator until ready to use.

We usually serve the egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce and some sticky white rice.
Happy egg rolling and eating on the wild side!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Baby to Toddler Hooded Bath Towel

I've been a busy little beaver the past couple days! Normally I make growth charts for all my friends who have babies - but all my friends who are having babies live over 100 miles away. Sorry gals and babes, not getting a growth chart if I must ship.
Soooo... I've been wanting to make a hooded towel like the one Ayla got when she was born. I thought about getting my seam ripper out and having at it - but... then again, maybe not.
Thank goodness for the internet! I found this super cute blog that just happens to have a tutorial for hooded towels! It's seriously the easiest project E.V.E.R. Ayla's hood is made a bit differently (which is why I was fearful of ripping into it). And actually, I like the hood on Ayla's better, but  I'm still not willing to tear it apart... yet.
I added a pleat in the towel part, which was not done in the tutorial I used, but was done on Ayla's. I think the dart adds a little something more.

So, without further jabbering, here's how I did it! I'm new at this tutorial business, so feel free to email me or post a comment if you have questions!

Happy sewing!


Supplies:
• 1 hand towel
• 1 large bath towel
• embellishments (ric-rac, buttons, flowers, etc. - really anything you can find would be cute)
• coordinating fabric measuring approx. 4"x25" and 4"x 52"
• coordinating thread
• iron
• cutting tools and pins

Directions:

















































Step 1:
On your hand towel, cut the hem from the two short sides. This will make your towel approx. 24"wide


Step 2:
Make your embellishment strip. It should be approx. 4"x 77".  I found it easiest to make my strip for the hood and for the towel all at once. It should be the same anyway (if you want). Pictured are a couple different ideas. Do whatever you want. Get those creative juices flowing... and dig through that fabric scrap pile!





Step 3:
Fold your hand towel in half, widthwise. Pin fabric strip approx 1" to 2" from the fold. Only pin on one layer - you will unfold the towel in the next step.






Step 4:
Unfold your towel and sew fabric strip in place. Don't worry about finishing the ends, they'll be taken care of later.





Step 5:
Fold towel right sides together lengthwise. Sew up the sides leaving the side with the raw edges of the fabric open (the side opposite the fold should be left open).




Step 6:
Here's a better picture of the sewn sides. Turn the towel right side out (be sure to clip your corners).



Step 7:
Fold this corner (the one I'm pointing at) into the opposite side (shown next).


 



Your towel should look like this (above).



Step 8:
Now open up your hood and straighten your raw edge. I cut off about 3" to square it up. If you want a shorter hood, take more length off.





Step 9:
Make your pleat by folding your large towel in half with shortest sides together. Place a pin at that center point. Then, place a pin on each layer of fabric about 4" from the fold.





Step 10:
Take the top layer and fold the 4" pin to the center pin. This will create three layers. Shown above. Pin in place.





Step 11:
Repeat folding the second 4" pin into the center pin. Pin this in place.






Step 12:
You will create a pleat looking like this (above).  Sew across the pleat using 1/2" seam allowance.



Step 13:
Your towel will unfold to look like this (above). Add your embellishment to the bottom of the towel. If your fabric is directional, make sure the direction from the hood matches the direction at the bottom of the large towel.


Step 14:
Then, pin your hood to the towel over the pleat. Sew in place using about 5/8" allowance. I also did a zig-zag stitch over the raw edges to keep from fraying.





And, voila! You've just made a hooded towel! So fun! So simple! Even a few local gals will be getting these baby gifts in the near future!

Happy sewing!