I got me a SEWING MACHINE!!

I've been whining for awhile now about wanting a sewing machine so I could join in on the fun I see all around blog land! There are "sew" many sweet ideas I come across and I'm dying to try them myself! Well, I got this one for $25 off Kijiji from a sweet lady.. whose neighborhood is infested with mosquitoes! By the way, she was just finishing up with dinner (pot roast to be exact) and I really wished we could have eaten over for dinner it smelled that good! haha! All it pretty much needs is a little cleaning and a new lightbulb and I think it's good to go! I'm so excited! Not sure what I'll experiment with first! There are always clothing refashioning ideas I run into and want to try with some of my own boring clothing items.. but I just got rid of a big bag of all the clothes I don't wear or am I tired of! hahaha.. oh well! 

Wahoooo for my new sewing machine! :)

Framing my necklaces

I used to never wear much jewelry before, except for earrings. Without earrings on I feel naked and not completely put together. Necklaces are something I enjoy more so now. I find them here and there, thrift stores, dollar store (hehe I know..) My collection seems to be growing, which I like! So now I need a place to put them all and preferably create a pretty display too! 

I Picked up a huge cheap frame the other day at, none other than, the thrift store. It was just a the wooden frame part and for a buck. Cool. I can find something to do with that. It's kind of a plain boring frame though, but oh well. So I sanded all the stain color away and painted it a nice yellowish color {I'm really into the mustard yellowish color lately}. I used some little cup hooks that I found at Walmart. I had Hubs handle the drill and hooks.. I just like to watch the drill part ;) I adorned a corner of the frame with some fancy schmancy fabric rosettes. 

I rather like it :) 

I was thinking about making this up and just selling it.. that would be kind of fun, picking up cheap frames and turning them into jewelry holders to sell :) But I think I might just keep this one for me. 

 Say "cheese" Hubs :)

I'd kind of like to pretty up a frame for some of my earrings, but I already have something for my organizing my earrings and I actually really like it.. even though they aren't out on display. You can see what I use for my earrings here. 

Oh, and this little guy will soon be hanging up with the rest of my necklaces :) 

I bought him on ebay the other night! {.99 cents!} Such a cutie. I'm falling for little owls lately.

A springy day

 Hubby and I took a lovely little evening stroll after he got home from work. It turned out to be a nice day today and I had my balcony door open all day to let in the nice breezy air. Ahh, I love the feelings that the spring time brings. I like the pretty weeds it brings too :) There are tons of these little dandelions everywhere! If you look closely you can see all the yellow dots on the grass below me. On our little walk I picked this ginormous dandelion! It's awesome! I've never seen one so big in all my life. I don't think the pictures express the reality of it's size. 

That was my little bit of sunshine for the day :) 

DIY apothecary jars

I love pretty things! And apothecary jars are pretty! 

I see them all over blog land and I'm always wanting to make some of my own. 

I'm always saving food jars in case I find cool ideas for them, and this is definitely one! 

Here are a couple of candle sticks I found at the thrift store for $1.99 total.

 

 I spray painted them and the jar lids black

Then hot glued the jars to the candle sticks

 

 

Then in my giddy excitement I rushed to the dollar store for some sweets to fill my new pretties!  .. seriously, seconds after securing the last jar down with glue I pretty much reached for my purse and took off! The project just wasn't finished until I had something inside. haha!

Ta-da!!

What?! York Peppermint Patties at the dollar store?! 

.. ya, I snatched up a few bags of those!

And some other candies too!

I love how they look on my counter!

Total costs spent on making these- pretty much only $1.99 since I had everything else on hand.. the candy doesn't count!

Gotta love a fun, quick and pretty little project like this!

Chocolate Chip Cake

I made a cake. Last night at 12:00!

Yesterday I found a a square cake pan while I was out thrift shopping. Thought it would be fun to make some square cakes. So I brought it home and while hubby was preparing his sermon for next Sunday night I was making use of my new-to-me baking pan. 

Last Sunday we celebrated a cousin's birthday and his cake was a white cake with blueberries throughout it. It gave me an idea to try a chocolate chip cake. So I looked up a recipe online and found one. 

Isn't it cute?! 

It was getting late and Hubby wanted a piece so bad, so I frosted it while it was still warm.. hence the frosting spillage all over! I was hoping for the pretty drizzle drip down the side look..

Yes, it's a thin layer of frosting, but Hubby doesn't care for too much chocolate so I went easy on it.

Aren't the little blue plate/dishes SO adorable! I also found them yesterday while thrifting. There are four of them. I'm such a sucker for little dishes and things like this! Look how small they are compared to Hubby's hand! Love it!

M..mm..mmmmm. It was yummy :)

And Hubs went back for more! (and he tells everyone he doesn't like chocolate! I think the longer he's living with me the more he HAS to learn to like it. haha .. although, he did scrape the frosting off!!)

Now for the recipe!! 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil {I used 1/3 cup apple sauce instead}

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 egg

Chocolate chips {I didn't really measure this}

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking power, and salt.

2. In small bowl whisk together egg and vanilla. 

3. Make two small wells in the flour mixture; Pour oil in one, and the egg/vanilla in the other. 

4. Add milk and stir until well mixed. 

5. Add some chocolate chips!

6. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350* F. 

Most the chips seemed sink to the bottom.. so I was thinking maybe next time I try this I'll put the cake in the oven for about 5 minutes and then pour some chips in so they don't (hopefully) all sink to the bottom. But either way, it still turned out really good!

And for the frosting {mom told me this!}

In a big coffee mug:

Fill cup almost full with powdered sugar.

Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of soft butter and cream them together really good with a fork.

Add a tiny bit of milk and stir well. Add enough milk to get the right consistency. 

Then add cocoa! (however much to your taste!)

Enjoy!

Clothing style inspiration

It's Saturday afternoon.. it's wet and chilly outside... just being lazy.. 

... and spending lots of time on a blog that I just found! 

click photo to get to blog

I LOVE the way she puts her clothes together! Her outfits all look so nice and attractive. I enjoy going through blogs like this that share their clothing styles and tips. It inspires me to have fun and be more creative when I choose what to wear. It's great what you find at the thrift stores! If you're not a fan of thrifting.. sorry to hear that. I am! For sure it's nice to have some things brand new, but thrifting is so much fun and cheaper and you can find so many great items in great shape! 

Anyway, just thought I'd share my blog findings :)

Spicy Chicken Sandwich

My favorite fast food sandwich? Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich for sure! Love it Love it Love it! So naturally I was thrilled to run into a blog sharing this recipe for homemade spicy chicken sandwiches!! 

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Mmmmmmm... so good. 

You love' em too?! Well here's what you'll need:

6-8 cups vegetable oil (if deep frying)
1 1/2-2 cups vegetable oil (if pan frying)
1/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
1/3 cup water
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets

And then of course you add your mayo, lettuce, tomato and whatever else you prefer!

I cut the ingredient amounts in half since I was only making two pieces of chicken. And I cut back some on the cayenne pepper and the Franks Red Hot Sauce. Oh ya, I for the second piece I cooked I put in some crushed bread crumbs to make it a little more breaded crunchy. 

Directions:

1. If deep frying, in a deep fryer or cast iron pot, heat 6-8 cups of oil to 375 degrees. If pan frying, heat 1 1/2-2 cups oil (about 1/2 inch in the pan) in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan.
2. In a large bowl or pie pan, whisk together hot sauce, water, and egg.
3. In a shallow bowl or pie pan, combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, paprika, and garlic powder.
4. Pound each chicken breast with a mallet/tenderizer until about 3/8 inch thick. The chicken may be much larger than the bun when it’s pounded thin. If so, you may want to cut the breast in half before breading to make the chicken fit better on the bun.
5. Coat each fillet in the flour, then in the hot sauce/water/egg mixture, then in the flour again. Repeat the dredge if you would like a thicker coating.
6. After all of the chicken is coated, deep fry for 8 to 12 minutes, or pan fry 4 to 6 minutes on each side. After frying, drain excess oil from the chicken by placing it on a cooling rack or on a plate covered with paper towels.
7. Grill the faces of the hamburger buns on a griddle or in a dry skillet (optional) and prepare sandwiches with chicken, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato.

Ours turned out pretty stinkin' good! Hubs can't take as much spiciness as I can in my chicken sandwiches, so he said his was a bit spicier than he'd like..  And I LOOOOVED mine!

Enjoy!

Unique Mother's Day card

Got a mother who loves to sew? Here's a really cute Mother's Day idea for that special lady then..  

{This is what I made for my mother in-law}

 

Wooden spool of thread,some material to write a sweet note, and a sewing pin to keep it together. 

Just something simple and sweet to her know we love her!

See my inspiration here

Crochet baby headband

Crochet has come back to life over here! 

This week I found a really cute tutorial for a crochet flower. 

They are my new favorite thing!

 I do my flower a little different then hers to finish it. I form the flower, and instead of using felt and glue, I just leave a long tail where I finished off the flower and I sew the bottom together nicely. The bottoms of the flowers actually look nice and clean. You can barely tell all the weaving in and out that's done.

{no, that's not black yarn. I added some lines to the photo to show the stitches}

So I decided to make a baby headband with this new fun flower. They are super quick and easy to whip up.

I love it! 

Here's what I did for making the band:

Row 1: chain desired number of chain stitches.

(I found this head size chart- pretty neat)

Row 2: Single crochet in 3rd stitch from hook and all the way across. 

Then I weave in the end a little bit and come back towards that end so I can sew the two band ends together to form the circle. When I sew the flower on, I position it right over the seam on the band to hide it.

And here's another one

They're SO cute!!

Pet Deprived..

Oh heavens, my heart is breaking.

I'm sitting here watching youtube videos of tiny baby bunnies and I can't stop squealing and squeezing my skein of yarn to my chest! We're not allowed any pets in our apartment and I'm dying I tell you! Just imagine with me, not being allowed to have pets and then sitting here watching these videos.. 

{Oh the fluffiness! I can't handle it!}

{I want to kiss his little nose and eat him!

.. I love that little mouth.. cadbury bunny? .}

{I love that little tongue!}

{eeek! look at those fast little movements and jumps!}

Now do you see why I say my heart is breaking??! 

TOO TOO cute.