Come visit me at my new/other blog! New Tute and FREE Pattern today.

Little Eme

AHOY there!!

Pirate Pj's on my other blog!!  Little Eme

Ever wondered how to make a SIX pointed snowflake?

Tutorial on my new blog:  Little Eme; a photo blog of the things I make.

Come join me on my other blog.

Here's a sneak peak of todays post:

LittleEme.blogspot.com

This poor little blog...

I've kind of abandoned her in favor of this one: littleeme.blogspot.com.

Little Eme is my company name, so I decided to start blogging there instead. Please feel free to join me there... There's a new post today featuring this sweet little bunny:

Come join us!! :)

I've been cooking again...

This time it was no-bake cookies. I (of course) adapted it mostly because the recipe called for milk and butter, of which I cannot eat. But, I also added more chocolate and peanut butter.

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL NO-BAKE COOKIES

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco (Yes, I know how bad it is for you but when you can't have butter, you do what you have to do.)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
3/4 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

They turned out great, satisfied my craving to cook them (because, yes, I was craving the cooking part) and bonus!! I stumbled upon a dessert that my husband actually likes!! Ha!!

No Fail French Bread

I tried (and tweaked) this recipe yesterday. It make really good bread and is SUPER easy. The best part? I started it at 4:30 and IT WAS DONE BY 6:00!! Well, a few minutes after 6:00, but still!! Fresh homemade YEAST bread in an hour and half!?
UNHEARD OF!! At least by me. Until now. So, here is the recipe:

In a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid) mix:

2 cups very hot water

2 T honey

1 T salt

1/3 cup oil


In a small bowl mix:

½ c warm water

1 T honey

2 T yeast


Add 3 cups flour to large bowl (or your Kitchen Aid) and mix well. Add small bowl and 3 to 4 more cups flour. Mix until smooth and you have a cohesive ball of dough. Leave the dough in the Kitchen Aid (if you are using one) and mix every 10 minutes for an hour or knead every 10 minutes for 1 hour. Divide and shape into loaves. (You don't need to let it rise again!) Bake at 350’ for 35 minutes.

Try not to eat all of it at once. ;)

The Fourth.

Hey all.

I know it's been a long time. I've made stuff; Ive done stuff, but I've had no camera to document all the stuff with! :(

Guess what?!

We FOUND the camera!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, hopefully, we will now return to our regularly scheduled blogging. :)

Please enjoy these sweet pics of Eme enjoying the fourth. (Taken by his fabulous photographer-uncle, Nate of Caulford Photography.)



p.s. Perspective makes it seem as though I am a crazy mother who is allowing her six month old to hold fire. That IS NOT the case. I swear Eme is NOT holding the sparkler. It is NO WHERE near his hand even. It just looks like it.

p.s.s. Eme LOVES fireworks!!!

Baby Mamas (Put a Sling On 'Em)

Oh my. I'm a babywearing fool and I LOVED this.



Honestly, I laughed so hard!

I use a (fake- read fabric from Joann's) Moby. It is the best, most used "baby" item I have. I wear him at home when I'm trying to get stuff done (the rest of the time I usually just hold him.) But when we're out and about, he is ALWAYS in it. To the point that friends say, "I've NEVER seen him." Because he is often asleep and therefore mostly covered. Haha. What can I say? He's happy in it and I'm happy to have him in it.

I could go on and on about it, but I'll save it and just say, if you have a babe, you NEED this.

Emerson's Birth Story

I'm so excited to be sharing our story over at The Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts!
Guess what? I had him naturally. Head on over for the details! :)

Special thanks to Jenny for allowing me to participate!

I better watch out, my nerd is showing.

It's been a wonderful weekend.

On Saturday, Dave (that's the hubster), Eme and I went to a friend's moving sale. Mostly to say goodbye before they leave for med-school in Iowa. But. I got a AWESOME table so that I can cut my fabrics without crawling around on the floor. YAY!!! For $15 bucks no less! It is SUPER solid too. It was quite exciting for me. I'll post some pics as soon as I find the lost camera.

In the evening Dave took me out to the same friend's parent's Japanese restaurant. Oh man, was it good. We had sushi and tempura. Which it pretty much the best meal ever in my opinion.

This morning, Dave surprised me with a book that I have been mooning over for TWO years. It's a first edition, signed copy of "The Great Conspiracy" published in... are you ready?... 1887.

Awesome. It has newspaper clippings all through out the book from then too. I am so excited about it. See, I'm kind of a book nerd.

This book is about the civil war. I can hardly wait to read it. Gotta get some latex gloves to wear while handling it. I'm so excited about it!! :) And now I've said that twice.

I hope your Mother's Day Weekend was as exciting for you in your own way as mine was for me!! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all.

Anyone seen my camera??

If you have, please tell it to come home IMMEDIATELY!!

Please use your best "mom" voice to convince it that I mean business.

Thank you.

Do Not Disturb

I have all kinds of plans for different projects. I even have the materials bought and ready. Life sure has been getting in the way lately. Though I wouldn't change it either. My little bud needs me right now. In a few years he's gonna be begging me to find something else to do and all I'll want to do is hug him and be allowed in his life. So for now, my crafts can wait; so can the dishes. I'm lovin' my bud and that is enough.

Poor Baby!

My little guy has pink eye! :( I have no idea how he got it. One minute he was fine. The next his eye was pouring out goop. And it really was that fast. He's been so sad about it. But it is getting better. Hopefully he's feeling better tomorrow, even if it's not completely healed yet. :(

I feel so badly about it. I know it's not my fault. But, I still feel responsible. I should have kept him safe! I shouldn't have let those yucky germs anywhere near his sweet blue eyes. But they got there! Stupid germs. It is completely ridiculous that I'm feeling ashamed for letting him get it. (Because really, I didn't let him get it.) But there it is. O-well. He'll be good soon. Wish I could find my camera so that I could post a pick... not of the pink eye, just a cute one of him. He's getting so big!

If you are interested...

I'll be sharing my birthstory in a few days over at The Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts. It's a lovely little blog.

I'll tell you when! :)

Some thoughts on dreams.

The lights a low and Eme's sound asleep. I've been very pensive and melancholy today because I dreamed a lot last night and remembered them. Which is weird because I very rarely remember dreams. In every one of them I was either dead or dying (mostly of cancer.) I was horribly upset in the dreams because I wasn't going to get to raise my children and because they wouldn't know or remember me.

I woke up early and kind of upset. I actually laid in bed for another hour and thought while my babe slept all curled up next to me. I thought about what I would do if I really was dying. How I would say goodbye to my husband. What I would do to try and get him "ready" for that day. How I would hug and hold my sweet little guy one last time and hope that it would be enough to last for the rest of his life. What I would try to leave behind so that he could in someway know me, from me, and not just by what his daddy, family and friends told him.

It's affected me all day. Now, as far as I know, I'm totally healthy and I will live to bare this babe some siblings and live far into his future. But, what if I don't? I would hope that other's would love him for me and teach him about his mom that loves him so much and is certainly watching from the other side. And, I know that my family would.

But if something was to happen to me, I would want to "leave something behind" that was just for him from me. Something to help guide him through his life. A piece of me. Is it weird that I feel like I want and should do something in response to these dreams? I have no idea why on earth this was what my dreams were about.

No good, Horrible few weeks.

So. I haven't written in a while... Oh, you noticed? Sorry. Eme had some tummy troubles and then I've been in a funk for a good while. Our ward has been dissolved. We now have to go to our home wards. I might have cried. A lot. For days.

I'm doing somewhat better now. But obviously, I haven't been. Our ward was just so wonderful. It was a married student ward, so we were around the same age and stage of life. Now we have to go back to a ward that we've been to before. A ward that my husband grew up in. The same ward as my parent's in law. A ward that did not welcome us when we were a part of it before. And so, I've cried.

It is looking like one of my friends might be in the ward, so I'm crossing my fingers that that is the case and if so, sticking close by her.

Is anyone else as ridculously excited about...

GLEEEEEEEE as I am? 'Cause I'm about at loose-my-head-crazy excited! :)

OMHECK!!!!

EEEEE!! I was featured over at V and Co.! Thanks V!


There were a TON of sweet projects. Go check 'em out.

This is the story of my Epic Fail.

Today is the hubster's birthday.
I decided to make him a cake.
You know, because it's his birthday.
It's what you do for birthdays.
So I got to work, whipped up a yummy tasting batter and put it in the oven.
The minutes ticked by; I watch it closely.
I pulled it out right as it was springing back from my touch.
It looked awesome.
Then it started to cool.
And deflate.
"WHY???" I cried in despair!
Then I had a vision of the instructions.
It said to sift the baking soda and flour together.
BAKING SODA!!!!!
Aww NUTs.

Today (and tomorrow)...

I'm watching this:

Yup. It's general conference weekend AND Easter! :) Here's a link if you're interested.

Hey all, it's that time again...

It's time for Friday Follow!!! :)

If you're new around here, Welcome!

I'm a new stay-at-home mom that likes to crochet, cook, read, sew and dance... Really those are just a few things I enjoy, but those are mostly what I blog about. come on in and look around! :)

Can I tell you what really irks me?

Two things. One is when Blogger LOOSES an almost finished post. Freaking TWICE.
The other is this:
Today one of my friends (Jessica Kettle of Jessica Kettle Photography) found out that an Etsy seller (Bridal Bliss Designs- DON'T work with her) had stolen a bunch of her pictures and was is using them to sell knock offs of the dress that her client (also a friend of mine) had designed and made with her mom for her wedding. She cropped out Jess's watermark too.

WHAT A LYING THIEF!!

Sorry for the rant, but this has my knickers is a bit of a twist! Jess is sweet and cute. And majorly hysterical. In both her writing and life. She is an incredibly talented photographer. I love her and her work.

Here is a picture that she took from my little brother's wedding:

Beautiful huh? You can see the rest of my bro's wedding here and here.

A few new hats.

Here are two hats I finished last week:

Isn't the button pretty?

I call this one the Goldie Bear, after the little miss it was made for.

Another Polar Bear hat... This one made for and sent off to Alison, the giveaway winner.


I'm working on a Pink Polar Bear hat order and then I think I'm gonna make a bunny for the Little Mister to wear on Easter.

Yup, I'll have plenty of embarassing pics when Em's a teenager. ;)

New Header

Well, me and photoshop had a date... What do you think of our photo/header love child?

I think it's ok, but I'm not quite convinced yet. We'll see how I feel about it in a few days.

Since I've been on vacation I haven't done a whole lot of creating. I've made several of the same hats, but I haven't created anything new. I'm feelin' kinda itchy to make something new.

Guess I better get on that.

Oh. And I've sort-of opened up an Etsy shop, but I've only listed the Koala Hat so far. Kind of as a test. I'll get the rest up soon, and then we can have a grand opening party! :) It'll be fun; you're all invited.

Please excuse the mess...

I'm doin' a little spring cleaning. :)

Mickey Hats

These are my nephews wearing a Mickey version of my hat. I heart Brady's cheesey grin!

Guess where I've been?

Here's a hint:



My parents took all of us. It was awesome.

And the winner is...

Alison!

Who said:

"I'm a follower of Ballet Shoes and Yarn and Hooks and Books!

I'd LOVE to win the polar bear hat in blue for my second surrogate son who is due in June. :D

THANK YOU!!"

Congrats Allison!! I'ma email you in just a minute!

Thank you all for entering! And Extra Super Thanks to Helena for hosting!!! For those of you that didn't win, have no fear! I have decided that I AM going to open up a shop. It's gonna be a few weeks, but it's in the works. Until then, if you need something made, just email me or comment and we can work it out!

Thanks for your support! :)

I know who won-un.

But I'm not telling 'til 6:00 EST.

I said that in a sing-sony voice, just so you know. ;)

Exciting news!

At least in my mind... I made a button!

You can grab it if you'd like. It's on the side bar --->.

Grab it and enjoy. :)

Friday Follow :)

Welcome one and all.

Last Chance!

Giveaway ends tonight!!

If you haven't headed over to Life in the Pitts yet, you had better go now before you miss out!

Good Luck to all!! :)

Giveaway!

So, I'm a little late getting this up this morning. Sorry about that... but Eme and I just woke up. And yes, I know it's 11:40. Our schedule is a little funny. We usually stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning and then sleep 'til, well, around now. So anyway!!! On to the GIVEAWAY! Helena, over at Life in the Pitts is hosting it.

I will be giving away one of these:

It's your choice which one you want me to make for you! And, since I'm making it for you, that means it can be what ever size you need it to be. Happy day!

All you need to do to win is become a follower here, then head on over to Life in the Pitts.
and tell her which hat you'd like! That's it!

Now, if you'd like more entries you can:

Tell others about the Giveaway. Facebook, Twitter, Blog (3 entries), etc. Then leave a comment telling us what you did! (with a link). This is completely optional.

The Giveaway will end Thursday night, at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time.

Goodluck!

p.s. This also happens to be my 50th post... ;)

I have a fun secret...

I'm doing my FIRST EVER giveaway.

It starts tomorrow!

And is being hosted here.

What am I giving away you ask?

Well it just MIGHT be a hat. If you want a sneaky peeky, head over to Life in the Pitts.

Check back tomorrow to join in the fun!

And feel free to tell your friends.

Weird...

Lately, as I am out shopping, people double take me and then ask if I'm carrying a stuffed animal?? Yeah. Cause I'm that kind of crazy. I'm so nuts, I strap a stuffed animal to my chest. One person came running up to me thinking I was carrying a cat! That would have been the freakiest (green headed, FIVE eared) cat that I had ever seen. At least once they realize I'm actually carrying a BABY they say they like my hats. Haha.

Yup, Joining in the fun again. :)

Hmm... Maybe this is why I love performing.

"When you perform...you are out of yourself - larger and more potent, more beautiful. You are for minutes heroic. This is power. This is glory on earth. And it is yours nightly." -Agnes De Mille

I think this is the best discription of how I feel when I'm performing that I've ever heard.

What to do, what to do...

Lately, I've had a lot of feed back here on the blog (and from random strangers at Walmart) that I should be selling my hats and whatnots. And I think I want to.

But I'm nervous.

I've gone to the 'register to be a seller' page on Etsy like fifty times.

Then I just stare at it.

And do nothing. Well, nothing but stare.

It feels like this huge step and what if?... What if my product isn't as cool and cute as I think it might be? How do I effectively market so that people will actually SEE my stuff? 'Cause there's a lot of people selling. What if people think my stuff is cute, but not cute enough to actually invest? What if they think it's crap?

*Sigh*. And so, I stare.

Then I make another hat for Eme. And don't waste my time worrying that he's gonna reject my stuff.

'Cause he won't... At least not for a few years yet.

Have any of you 'taken the plunge'? Any words of wisdom or encouragement?

Participating in...

So, boo.

I forgot to take a picture of the blanket I made to match the pink polar bear hat. Sorry guys, you'll just have to imagine the sweetness. And the sweetness was great. I can hardly wait 'til Andrea has her Little Miss! I'll see about getting a picture of her in it.

Two more...

These ones are polar bears. The pink one is going to a friend tomorrow (hopefully along with a blanket in the same colors... gotta get it done!) for her baby shower, the blue one is for Eme.



I have puppy, kitty and bunny hats in the works! :) Oo. And a different dinosaur one too! I'm having fun with these, can you tell? ;)

It's Friday..

Time check out and follow a few blogs! :) Welcome, come on in and look around!

Hehe. Dinosaur Hat.

I've been busy. :)

LOVE the tongue!

Here's a side view.

What do you think?

Sharing a few projects

I.Think. I'm. In. LOVE.

With the hat.




I fell for the child a long time ago! The cuteness of this hat just might kill me. Kill me dead I tell you. It took us a little while to figure out what kind of ears they are, but, now we know, they are koala ears! Seriously, I love how this hat turned out.
Don't you agree?

I'm a dancer.

The small child at dancing class may never become a professional dancer - but the courtesies and disciplines, as well as the joy in movement, will touch her forever.
-Helen Thomson 1943

I'm a dancer. Even though I rarely get to dance anymore I still identify myself as such. As in, when people ask me to describe myself, I lead with "I dance..." I'm not a pro (my boobs pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn't be - I developed big and early, even though I was a stick) but, like this quote says, it touched me forever. There are few things I love more.

Mittens, Hat and Blanket Set for Nora

So, I was able to get the blanket done in time! Barely. As in, I finished it during the shower. And I didn't get them wrapped. Haha. O-well. But here are the pics of the whole set. (You've already seen the hat and mittens in action... thanks for modeling Eme!) Enjoy.







(I have another hat in the works at the moment... it's almost done. It has ears. And a chin strap.)

Quote

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong. --Lao-Tzu

Also joining in with this one! :)

Welcome one and all!



p.s. I totally messed up when I was adding my link to this Friday follow- Sorry! But at least you made it right? ;)

Joining in the fun again. :)

One skein.

This is what I ended up with after winding this yarn into a ball(s). Don't you hate it when the skein is all messed up? I do. Besides the three balls you see, there is also a knot in the middle of the medium sized one and three other major blemishes in the big one. I'm going to attempt making a baby blanket with the largest one... we'll see how it turns out.

In other news, I was able to get a hat and mittens set finished yesterday. Good thing too, I need the whole set (blanket included) done by tomorrow night! I'll be giving them to my sister-in-law at her baby shower on Saturday.

Here's Emerson modeling a sneak peek of the mittens and hat set:

Can you tell I really like this green yarn? I think it works well for a boy OR a girl, depending on the colors you pair it with.

I'll share the blanket as soon as I'm done. It's gonna be the yellowy cream above and the charcol gray contrast color in the mittens and hat set.

p.s. Do you like the ear flaps? I do. Super easy to add to the origional hat pattern. I'll share later. :)

I do, I do, like green poop and ham?

Ok, no ham really, but, as a crafter/reader/blogger do you ever feel guilty for not crafting/reading/blogging? I do. 'Cause I have all these plans and then life happens and I end up not being able to devote the time that I want to to my craft. Poor Eme has had an upset tummy for a little over three weeks now and because of that wants to be held a lot. And bounced a lot. And NOT sleep a lot (at least during the day.)

Last Friday I was VERY flustered by the time my husband got home. Like, flustered to the point of tears flustered. I had all these things that I had planned to do and had gotten NONE of them done. Plus, after two and a half weeks of going milk free and CHOCOLATE free M's poop (yes, I'm gonna talk about his poop- if you're not a mom, sorry; if you are a mom, I know you totally get it) was still green. The only other thing I could think of that I had had everyday was wheat. I went from flustered to depressed VERY quickly. Wheat is in EVERYTHING. And, I was freaking out. No bread. No cookies. No marinades. No SOUP!! (Those that know me, know I heart soup. ) Or at least thickened soups... So I can still have pho. I can't even have soy sauce!

So, I have been wheat AND dairy free since last Saturday night. Guess what?! His poop was yellow again all day yesterday!! Maybe I was getting some milk in there for the first almost three weeks? Or maybe he's allergic to both? I guess we'll see as time goes on and as the doc figures it out. Oh. We went to the doctor's yesterday- I hadn't mentioned that.

Hopefully, he'll be right as rain soon and I can get the things that I want and need to be getting done. (Like the baby shower present for my sister-in-law.) Until then, I've realized that it is more important to tend to him and not be upset if I can't do all that I want to. He's only gonna be a baby once and I need to enjoy it. (And I am!!! Oh so much!) Green poop and all. :)

Lookit my lovelies

Aren't they pretty? I'm going to attempt a quilt for my little bud. Wish me luck...

This is a fun idea.

It's Follow me Friday over at Trendy Treehouse. I've found a few cute blogs to follow too! I heart finding new blogs to stalk. :) Check it out:

(*Blush*) I was featured!

Helena over at Life in the Pitts liked my Sweet Newborn Hat and Mittens Set and included them in this post! How awesome is that?! I'm pretty excited at the moment! And yes, I realize that I have ended every sentence with an apostrophe, but gimme a break people, I've never been featured before! It's an exciting moment in life for me! Ok. Now the apostrophes are getting out of hand. I'll stop. Anyhow. Go check her out. She has a fun "life" blog. "Life" meaning that she not only blogs about crafts or recipes or any one thing, she shares some awesome commentary on her Life (in the Pitts(burg)). Thanks for making my day Helena! :)

I'm Linkin' Up Again.

Also, I'm working on an awesome nursing dress. I'll share when I'm done. It just might become my first tutorial! We'll see how it turns out.

I'm linkin' up!

On a mission.

Eme LOVES to be swaddled. Loves. It. However, he is also a wiggler and therefore, eventually wiggles out of his swaddle. And then smacks himself in the face. Which inevitably wakes him up. ('Cause who wouldn't wake up after being hit in the face?) So, I'm on a mission to make a better swaddler. I'll share when I'm done. Loves!

I figured it out! Here is the Newborn Hat and Mittens Pattern:

Newborn Hat
Yarn used: Homespun by Lion Brand
Size H hook

row 1: ch 4, join last ch to 1st.
row 2: ch 2, sc in ea st around,join with sl st (5)
row 3: ch 2, 2 sc in ea st around, join with sl st (11)
row 4: ch 2, sc in ea st around, join with sl st
row 5: ch 2, 2 sc in ea st around, join with sl st (22)
row 6: ch 2, sc in ea st around, join with sl st
row 7: ch 1, 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next, repeat around, join with sl st (35)
row 8: ch 1, dc 1, sc in next 4 st, repeat around, join with sl st (29)
row 9: ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (30)
row 10: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st
row 11: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st
row 12: ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (31)
row 13: ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (32)
row 14: ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (33)
row 15: ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (34)
row 16; ch 1, sc in 1st st, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (35)
Tie off, weave in ends.

Infant Mittens
Yarn used: Homespun by Lion Brand
Size H hook

row 1: Magic circle 5 sc
row 2: ch 1, 2 sc in each st around, join with sl st (10)
row 3: ch 1, 2 sc in ea st around, join with sl st (20)
row 4: ch 1, 2 sc in next st, sc in next 4 st, repeat around, join with sl st (25)
row 5: ch 1, dc 1, sc next 3 st, repeat around, join with sl st (20)
row 6: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (20)
row 7: ch 1, dc 1, sc 2, repeat around, join with sl st (15)
row 8: ch 1, dc 1, sc 3, repeat around, join with sl st (12)
row 9: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (12)
row 10: ch 2, dc in ea st around, join with sl st (12)
row 11: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (12)
row 12: ch 1, sc in ea st around, join with sl st (12)
tie off, weave in ends

Tie

Ch 50, tie off, weave into double crochet.

I gave my baby a tattoo...

Ok, not really. I made him a Valentine's shirt. Of course I'm his Valentine.

Here's a close up of the "tattoo". Also, of all the pictures, it is the truest to the real life color.

The shirt is a nice, dark navy that in it's past life was a man's XL t-shirt. I recycled. I used this tutorial from Made. You could also make it with a onesie (get one at the dollar store!) or a purchased t-shirt. Then I cut out the heart (also from an old t-shirt) and just eyeballed the embroidery. I "heart" how it turned out!