Taylor's Recipe Project: "Cinnamon Tortilla Yummies"

Everyone welcome my daughter, Taylor, as she guest posts today!  Her class was assigned a project requiring them to complete a recipe, document the recipe and take pictures. 

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Cinnamon Tortilla Yummies

by Chef Taylor

Ingredients

8 Flour Tortillas
1 stick Butter, melted
4 Tbl Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Spread  melted butter on tortillas.

3.  Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl.

4.  Sprinkle mixture over tortillas.

5.  Using a pizza cutter, slice tortillas into 8 wedges each.

6.  Bake in oven 6 minutes or until crispy.

Enjoy your Cinnamon Tortilla Yummies! 

Empty Plate = Yummy Recipe

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Taylor loves being in the kitchen as much as I do!  Her recipe tastes great dipped in fruit salsa or my favorite --- used as an edible spoon for ice cream. 

Friday Night Sew-In

It's time for another Friday Night Sew-In!  Every month, the girls at Handmade by Heidi and Crafty Vegas Mom host a Friday Night Sew-In where they encourage crafters to spend the evening working on projects in progress, new projects, etc.  They even have a few giveaways each month.   It is just the motivation I need to get some more inventory ready for the Pendleton Fall Festival being held in a few weeks. 




I've had a booth at the Pendleton Farmers Market most weeks this summer in preparation for the fall festival.  It has been a ton of fun getting to sell my products and meet so many people in town.  Most weeks, I have taken both kids with me.  That has been fun... but definitely challenging! 

So.... tonight for Friday Night Sew-In I will be working on:

1. Cutting fabric for crayon rolls
2. Finishing a few luggage tags that are already cut out
3. Sewing a few Art Notebooks

Hopefully all will go as planned and I'll end the night with some more inventory to take to the Fall Festival.

Pattern Review & 2 MAJOR Clothing Redos!

Using this pattern:

Little Smarty Pants by Favorite Things

and these 2 atrocities purchased for $1 each at Goodwill:

women's size 18 pants

The UGLIEST corduroy pants I've ever seen!  Check out that massive split!

.... I created 2 cute pairs of shorts for my kiddos! 

This was my first time creating inset pockets.  Why did I wait so long???  They are so much easier than I thought they would be. 

Keep an eye out when scavenging those thrift store racks!  You'd be suprised at the things you can transform with a little creativity. 

Robot Messenger Bag

TJ had a backpack dilemma this year.  He had to have a backpack that would hold a folder, but it also had to be small enough that he could handle it.  A standard backpack is still way too big and his toddler sized backpack crushes folders.  Ideally, I would have ordered him a backpack from LL Bean, but I procrastinated.  And to be honest, I really didn't want to spend the money on top of all of the other school supplies I already had to buy. 

The solution:  a messenger bag. 

I used the toddler messenger bag pattern from the book One Yard Wonders.  I love this book so much!  I have already completed a few patterns from it and find it to be the perfect book for when I get the urge to sew and need something fast. 

One Yard Wonders

TJ wanted a robot on his bag, so this is what we came up with...

And it holds a folder perfectly! 

I used fusible web to applique the pieces and did some simple stitching around. 

A handy little pocket inside

Pattern Review: Insulated Lunch Bag (in 2 sizes!)

Lucky for me, I get to be best friends with a great new pattern designer, Becky Ann Designs.  This summer she released a great new PDF pattern for an insulated lunch bag.  Of course, once Taylor found out about it she wanted one for the new school year. 

She spent a solid half hour at the fabric shop looking for the perfect lunch box fabric.

I am thrilled to report that the pattern is simple and straight forward.  Becky does a great job at simplifying the process for beginners.  Plus, it comes in 2 sizes!  I made the large size for Taylor, so that it would accomodate her drink thermos as well as all of the food. 

And the best part?  You can make it with 2 fat quarters! 

You can find the pattern in Becky's shop online:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/53820593/2-sizes-insulated-lunch-bag-pattern

The pattern is only $3.50 and is delivered to your email address within 24 hours in a PDF format.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

Oh how I love French Bread Pizzas

The plan was to make Italian Beef Sandwiches tonight, but I decided to switch it up.  French Bread Pizzas were just what we needed!  In fact, we were so happy to be having them for dinner that we made them at 3:00, instead of waiting until the "normal" dinnertime.  And you know what?  We do that a LOT!  When it's just me and the kids home for dinner, we'll eat dinner around 3:30 when everyone gets home from work / school and then just have a snack around 6:00 before they start the whole bath/bedtime thing.  Reversing snack and dinner works just great for us. 

I'm sure everyone knows how to make French Bread Pizza, but in case you don't.... here's how we do it. 

French Bread Pizza

Ingredients

French Bread (we used french rolls, since we had planned to do sandwiches)

Pizza Sauce  (you can get a huge #10 can at Sam's for less than $2.50)

Cheeses

Italian Seasoning

Toppings of your choice

Directions

1.  Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Slice your bread the long way, like you would to make a sandwich. 

3.  Hand over the bread to each family member to make their own.  (I LOVE dinners like this!)

4.  Everyone can spread sauce, cheeses, seasoning, toppings to their liking.  Once they've loaded up their pizzas, plop them all on a baking sheet and toss into the oven for about 12 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. 

Enjoy!

See that one with huge chunks of pineapple?  That's Taylor's.  :)

Tater Tot making her pizza

Mr. Mudpie pouting on the couch.  He thought when I said "come to the table!" that dinner was already done.  haha!!  Apparently make-your-own is not his thing.

TJ waiting for his to be done

Sorry, there are no pictures of the finished pizzas.  Oops!  We were all really hungry and I didn't think to take a picture until it was too late. 

Friday Night Sew-in Accomplishments

As expected, I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted to done.  I'm happy though -- I got the 3 items I needed for today done.  Here's a look at them...

Crayon Roll for Barak:

Owl Pillowcase for Abby:

Horse Pillowcase for Aly:

Friday Night Sew-In!

Tonight, the girls at Handmade by Heidi and Crafty Vegas Mom are hosting "Friday Night Sew-In".  It's a night, once a month where you dedicate the evening to working on some projects on your crafty to-do list.... sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, whatever.

The plan is this:   tonight you work on your projects, Saturday you post pics or blog about them, and Sunday they are giving away some goodies!  Want to join in too?  Go HERE to sign up. 






My Sewing List for tonight, in order of importance:

• Owl Pillowcase   (Abby's birthday - need for tomorrow!)
• Horse Pillowcase (Aly's birthday - need for tomorrow!)
• Crayon Roll  (Barak's birthday - need for tomorrow!)    are you noticing a procrastination trend, here??
• Cushion Reupholstery Project
• Hooded towel

Since I won't be starting until around 7:30, I'm guessing this is where I will run out of steam.  If I have enough energy, I want to work on these:

• Finish cutting fabric for Cabin Quilt
• Baby Shoes (2 pair boy)
• Burp Cloth (3 boy)
• Prep supplies for some hand sewing projects to take on our camping trip

Jersey Ruffle Scarf

When I saw the Sew Much Ado: Jersey Ruffle Scarf Tutorial. I knew I had to make that scarf.  What really sealed the deal was the reminder that I had quite a bit of Jersey yardage in my stash.  I bought about 10 yards of jersey material about a year ago, but I have absolutely no idea why.  It is a total pain to sew and I definitely do not have the skills needed to tackle it.  Well, the regretted impulse jersey purchase has finally been put to use! 

As predicted, it was nowhere near easy to sew.  Not hard necessarily, just tempermental.  I will say though, that I love the fact that it does not fray.  This non-fray factor allows you to leave the edges unhemmed and gives it a really cool effect.  I see many more jersey projects in my future! 

Start to finish, the scarf took about 2 hours to make, which is entirely too long.  However, the moment I put it on, I was in love.  It is incredibly soft and silky feeling.  As I was sewing, I had every intention of giving the scarf as a Valentine's gift.  But.....I'm thinking I need to make a second one -- I do have PLENTY of fabric left afterall -- so I can keep this one for myself.  It is that luxurious feeling.  If I could figure out a way to sleep with this thing on and not wind up choking myself, I would. 

Burp Cloths, Bibs and Binkies... oh my!

Ok, so maybe just burp cloths!  Our family friend Chip, aka "Uncle Trip" is expecting a baby this spring.   They are having a boy, so I thought a little something to honor dad would be nice.  Chip is a non-active U.S. Marine.  Mr. Mudpie and I found some Marine Corps fabric tonight and thought it would make some great manly burp cloths for those father and son outings.

Let me tell you ladies.... having the hubs pick out fabric with me was quite a nice suprise!  It may have lasted all of 5 minutes, and we may have had 2 sugared up kids with us, but it was one of those moments that made me very happy.  What can I say.... the way to my heart is through a bolt of fabric. 

I think I may make some bibs with the rest of the Marine Corp fabric. They'll be backed with terry cloth, so they can be used to wipe down the baby at the end of the meal. Those were always my favorite bibs with my kids!

Late Night Quilting

I drank a 20 oz Caramel Macchiatto at 7:00 tonight.... not a great idea!  I'm completely wired!!!  I grabbed batting for my latest quilt today at Hancock Fabrics and am totally feeling the urge to quilt it.  I know I said I was going to wait until after I took the class in February, but I just don't want to.  I want to finish it so I can start using it.  Do you ever feel that way about a project?  That urgent need to get it finished?

 

Speaking of which... that feeling has inspired the name for this project.... The Nesting Quilt.  All you mamas know that nesting feeling when you are pregnant. I've been feeling that way ever since Mr. Mudpie got home a few weeks ago.  And NO I am NOT pregnant!  I just have this unexplainable need to make our master bedroom a peaceful, pretty place.  Maybe it's because I have to share it for the first time in two years.  :) 

So if anyone needs me, I will be spending the late hours of the evening jacked up on caffeine and piecing the backing for my soon-to-be favorite item in my master bedroom.  Night everyone!

Homemade Gifts Recap: Camera Cases

Mr. Mudpie's mom joined the digital camera world a few months ago finally!  She received a cute little pink point and shoot camera for her birthday, but was carrying it around in this old, beat up, hideous case.  I mean seriously ugly!  I take that back, the first little bit she crammed it into a travel tissue holder that Taylor sewed for her... then she switched to the hideous outdated case.   I knew she wanted a case to match her camera, so I made this:

I was testing out the case at TJ's Thanksgiving Parade at his preschool to see if it functioned good and Angel saw it.  She wanted one for her preggo sister to match the nautical themed diaper bag, so I made this one:

Now, have I made one for myself?  Nope.  And I really need one too.  My poor (currently having issues, hence the horrible photos lately) camera has no case.  It just takes it's chances every time it gets flung into the deep abyss I like to call my purse. 

**** I used a tutorial on another blog to create these, but lost the link when my laptop went to the shop.  If anyone knows what blog it was on, please post so I can give credit.