Monday, October 31, 2011

My Favorite Time of the Year!


I don't do a lot of seasonal decorating, but I did pick these cute little pumpkins up on clearance at Hobby Lobby after Thanksgiving a couple years back. So I set them around every year and the grand kids think they're fun! There are four different sizes and I think I paid 10 cents each for the small ones and 30 and 40 cents each for the two larger sizes.

Oh, I always buy the candy corn too, but it doesn't last long as a decoration!!





I picked up this cute "Give Thanks" cup and plate at Cracker Barrel last weekend. Love it!! And a friend gave me this cute tiered server for letting her family stay at my home for a couple of nights last week while they were in the area. Wasn't that sweet?




This little girl hangs on my door most years during the fall. I picked her up several years back at Big Lots thinking my grand daughters would like her. When my next to oldest grand daughter (who is six now) was younger, she didn't like me to use it. She said it hurt the little girls arms to hang like that for so long!!



And fall wouldn't be complete without a good Pumpkin Spice candle making the house smell wonderful!!



I hope you're having a wonderful fall!!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Words To Live By!


I found this quote on a friend's Facebook page and thought it was worth posting here.

"If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in it's place, but have not love - I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker."


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Chocolate Wasted Cake!!





I've been dying to try this cake ever since I saw this post over at Art of Dessert! So here's my version.

My nephew, who can never get a cake that is chocolaty enough, asked me to make his 20th birthday cake. I knew exactly which cake I was going to try!




I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa instead of regular cocoa. Wow!!

I did cut one cup of cocoa out of the frosting though, since I used the dark. I was afraid it was going to be a "Death By Chocolate" cake!


Here are a few of the cupcakes:







How would I rate this recipe?

It was a more dense cake that I prefer, but the people at the party who prefer a dense cake loved it! My husband was one of them.

I'd say Peyton enjoyed his too!! Check out those chocolate eyes!!



Happy Birthday, James!!


Friday, October 14, 2011

Fall Leaf Cookies


Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year and I've been dying to do some fall leaf cookies! I finally got the chance!!



A friend wanted me to do some for her and I decided to do some for my son and daughter-in-law as a welcome home gift!

I took pics, but as usual, I had most of them bagged before I remembered.



These are so much fun to do. You really can't mess them up.



I used a toothpick to drag the colors through the filled cookie.








Last time I made these, I poured the glaze over them. This time, I outlined and filled. I think I like the outlined cookie better. Of course, I could also have outlined these and achieved the same affect. That's the fun of doing these - there's no wrong way to do them!!



I hope you're enjoying this beautiful fall season as much as I am!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

My Little Clowns!!

Last Friday night was the annual Chili Supper for the school my grand kids go to. The theme this year was "A Night at the Circus"! My project for the week was to make clown costumes for three of them. I made Nicole, Sylvie and Sydney's costumes.

Here are all my little clowns!

Emily:



Peyton:



He won the "best dressed" prize for his category!

Natalie: (she didn't want to be a clown, so she was a popcorn girl)



My sad little clown, Nicole:



A couple little boys made fun of her and ruined her night! I told her to ignore them, but it didn't work.

Sylvie:



Sydney:



I didn't get a picture with her face painted. It was actually already washed off when she arrived!!

And, last but not least . . . .

Kami:


Her mommy didn't dress her up, but isn't she cute?

Here they all are together:




Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Pink & Green Birthday Cake


We just celebrated my youngest grand baby's first birthday!! Her mommy decided on a pink & green theme.

Here's what we came up with:




She had wings and everything!!

And she enjoyed her cake immensely!!




The bottom layer of the cake was covered with light pink, dark pink and green fondant stripes. The middle layer was frosted with whipped frosting from Sam's. For "Kami" we used gum paste. The top layer was also frosted with whipped frosting and the little butterflies were made of gum paste. We used my mini Cricut for the butterflies.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kami!!

Monday, October 3, 2011

How Does Your Sewing Machine Sew????


A couple months back, I purchased a Singer 4423 Heavy Duty machine. My old Singer machine which I used for over twenty-two years, finally kicked the bucket. I spent some time looking at different machines and finally decided on this one.



As it turns out, it may not have been a wise decision. I'm now on my second one!

The first one had some trouble with "birdnesting" but I could usually work with it and it would do alright. But then last night, something inside snapped and it wouldn't work at all!! So I returned it and exchanged it for the same model.

Big mistake!!

I have been trying to sew the same seem for at least three hours!! This is a sample of what is happening.



I have tried re-threading it, top and bottom, at least a dozen times. I have re-wound the bobbin, I have tried every tension setting. I have adjusted everything there is to adjust. I've read and re-read the instruction manual. Now I've decided, "Who needs this?" Even if I get it working like it's supposed to, who's to say I won't have to go through this EVERY time I sew? It shouldn't be that hard, should it?

I don't have time for this! This little outfit should have been done hours ago!! I have another just like it still to make!!


Instead, I will make yet another trip to the store and return yet another machine.

I think I'll go for a cheapie this time.

Oh, by the way, after the fact I looked up this machine online. Turns out a lot of seamstresses are having the very same trouble!!



Sunday, October 2, 2011

More Arkansas and Razorback Cookies


I made seventy-five each of these for a friend this week!




I'm ready to move on to something else!!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

If You're Wondering Where All Those Posts Came From . . .

Just in case you're wondering where all those additional posts came from . . . . I had another blog besides this one. I decided that one blog was quite enough to keep up with, so I kind of merged them!

It was easy to do. First, I exported the other blog posts to my computer, then I imported it all to this blog. Once all the posts were here, I chose which ones to publish and which ones to delete. It was a lot less complicated than I thought it would be!

Just thought you might like to know.