Today I'm inspired by:

I stumbled upon this blog where the lady took a picture of one of her collections every day for a year. Here are some of my favorite collections:

Craft Room inspiration

My craft room is a little lacking in the beauty department. It's very functional, but not mouch more than that. I would like to create a beautiful craft room on a small budget. Do you know of any blogs who have done this?

I love the simplicity of the both of these rooms. The one on the right looks so functional!

These aren't sewing rooms, but they sure are neat. I love the storage on the right. It has the right balance of rustic and functional.

11-11-11

It's 11-11-11. This won't happen again until 2111, when most of us won't be around. I find this day so exciting because it's veterans day and it's 11-11-11! 

Please remember all of the soldiers, the ones who have returned, the ones who are serving, and especially the soldiers who have paid the ultimate price.

When it turns 11:11 remember to make a very important wish! What will you be wishing for?

Weekend Recap

 What have I been up to this weekend? Mostly relaxing and getting ready for the 5 day week coming up. I have my last volleyball game on Monday so then I'll have more time to craft and blog!

Today I made a few bows...

I planned on only making a couple

but then I saw some really cute prints!

I also started painting some frames. I am planning on hanging them up in my room once I get new bedding and the walls painted. The colors are so beachy and fresh!

 P.S.I used my hair bow tutorial.

Perfect Pencil Pouch: a Tutorial

Here is a tutorial one of my favorite pencil pouch! I use it every day at school to carry my pencils, pens, and calculator from class to class. It would be great for stashing things in your purse to keep them organized.

Materials:

denim
striped fabric
a zipper

To start determine how big you want the pouch to be. I suggest 6"x8" for a standard pouch. This will fit a calculator, pens, and pencils. You can switch up the sizes for fitting different things.

 Cut out the pieces: 2 of each.

Pin them wrong sides together and make sure the sides match up.

 Sew lines down the stripes. Make sure to be careful to go straight--the stripes can be kind of an optical illusion after a whiel! I suggest about 5 seams to hold it in place. Repeat with the other set of denim and fabric.

 Pin the zipper on upside down to the striped fabric. Sew a 1/8 inch seam. This is to hold it in place for the next step.

 Flip it over and pin the panel up onto the zipper. Sew along the zipper on the fabric.

 This picture shows the nice piping effect you get from sewing the zipper on this way.

 Turn it inside out and pin. Make sure to open the zipper up 1/2 way so you can flip the bag inside out when we're finished. The bottom seams should match up so you can sew a 1/4 inch seam along the bottom.

  Next pin it so the zipper and bottom seam match up. Sew the short sides.

 Flip it inside out, trim any extra strings and there you have it, a perfect pencil pouch!

Do you know your ABC's?

Here are the ABC's of me :) Most of them are favorites but a few are facts about me.

Age: 16

Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal (I'll have to share the delish recipe sometime!)

Color: Turquoise, white, gray, and coral

Dessert: ice cream! (cookie dough to be exact)

Essential Clothing Item: a simple necklace

Food: Ham and tapioca pudding...not together of course

Gold or Silver: Silver

Height: 5'11"

Ice Cream Flavor: Cookie Dough

Job: babysitter and uh blogger if that counts :)


Knick-Knack: A glass seahorse we got on vacation


Least Favorite Chore: Dusting...it isn't very rewarding


Movie: Food, Inc.


Name: Abby (no, my real name isn't Abigail. it's just abby)


Overnight Hospital Stay: The answer is no and let's hope it stays that way.


Pop: Don't drink pop. I like water though!


Quote: 

Righty or Lefty: Righty


Siblings: One sister and one brother, both younger







Time you wake up: weekdays 6:20 weekends around 8:00


Under your bed: An extra leaf for our dining room table. 


Veggie you like: Beets and asparagus are my favorite


Why do you run late?: I usually don't. I go by the FFA motto: "Early is on time and on time is late"

 
X-Rays: Just for dental stuff

Yummy food I make: Tapioca pudding and chocolate chip cookies :)


Zoo Animal: Giraffe


Please do this tag too! Let me know if you do it because I would love to read yours.

tutorial tuesday: my favorite coaster tutorials

 I was looking around the purl bee blog when I stumbled across these adorable citrus coasters! Although they remind me of springtime I still think they are adorable.  I think these are going on my crafty to-do list :)

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 I also saw these fruit inspired apple coasters. They would be perfect with a glass of warm cider on a crisp fall day!

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These coasters would be perfect for all year round. You can change the paper to match the style of your house or the colors of a certain room.

 

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Which of these tutorials are you going to try?

i---am busy!

So what have I been up to? Quite a bit, actually! I am going to walk you through what a day in my life is like. 

6:15 am - Wake up and get ready

7:30 - FFA Parlimentary Procedure practice at school

8:30-3:30 - School

4-6 pm - Volleyball practice

6-6:15 - Drive home

6:15-6:30 Eat Supper

6:30-8:30 Homework

8:30-9:00 free time!

9:00-9:20 mandatory reading for english

9:20-9:30 Get ready for bed

9:30- Go to bed

As you can see I am quite busy during the school year. Not to mention every Friday night I take statistics for our HS football team. I am in no way complaining because I love being busy -- to an extent. Just last night I sewed a zippered bag and I realized how much I have missed sewing. It was the first sewing project I have done since school started!  I think I have been going too fast so I am going to slow down and enjoy life--after all isn't that what we're supposed to do?

I haven't taken the time to blog but I think it is time for me to get back in the swing of things now that I've been in school for about a month and have a schedule established. My goal is to publish one blog post a week.

i---Pin: Camping

 This week I am on a canoe trip with our church youth group. It is 6 days in

the woods away from civilization.  It should be really fun! I won't have very good 

pictures because I am just using a disposable waterproof camera. Maybe in a few weeks

I will post pictures from the trip. For now, I'm off to paddle my canoe!

i---create Granola

Today I am sharing my famous recipe for making granola. Okay, okay, maybe it isn't famous, but it sure is delish!

Doesn't it look good?

Here's the recipe:

i---create Granola

8 Cups Rolled Oats
1.5 Cups Wheat Germ
1.5 Cups Oat Bran

5 Cups of any mixture of the following:
Soy nuts
sunflower seeds
finely chopped pecans
finely chopped almonds
finely chopped walnuts
coconut
any type of nuts really

1.5 tsp salt
3/4 Cup Brown sugar
1/2 Cup Pure Maple Syrup(the fake stuff works, too)
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 TBS ground cinnamon
1 TBS vanilla
2 Cups Craisins or raisins (optional)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, soy nuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and coconut in a large bowl. Stir together the remaining ingredients (except for the raisins) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

Tips and tricks
*you don't have to use the exact amount of nuts shown. I sometimes use more than needed if I want to use up a bag.
*To finely chop the nuts, just stick them in a food processor! Works much better than chopping with a knife.
*Take the granola out of the oven when it is still a little bit wet.  Keep in mind that it will clump together when it is out of the oven.
*For storing I put it in 2 ziploc bags. I freeze one and leave the other one out to eat.
Granola is perfect for snacks and breakfast.  I enjoy mine like a bowl of cereal: with milk in the bottom! I also drink a glass of orange juice.  This granola keeps me full until lunch time with all of the protein it contains.

And the winner is...

So much suspense! Who will win these beautiful magnets?

Comment #11
Ruby Taylor said...Love what I have seen on your blog...I am now a follower and gladly placed your button on my blog!! http://rubyinga.blogspot.com

Please email me within 48 hours so I can get these magnets shipped! If you don't I will choose a new winner.

Hair Bows

Today I am showing how to make hair bows! These bows can be whipped out very quickly and look adorable.

Step 1: Cut a 4x6 inch rectangle of fabric.  Fold it in half the "hotdog" way.

Step 2: Sew along the short side and 1/3 of the way into the middle. Repeat so both sides are sewn.

Step 3: Turn it right side out and tuck the hole in. (you may need to iron this)

Step 4: Take a 1x2.5 inch piece of fabric and iron the sides under 1/4 inch.

Step 5: fold the sides in and wrap the small piece of fabric around.  I use fabric tack glue to secure it, but you can hand sew if you like.

You're done!

I attached a barrette to the back of the bows so I can wear them in my hair.You can attach them to bobby pins or safety pins.  There are so many options with bows!


What would you attach these adorable bows to?

i---Race: Turtle Races!

This weekend we picked up a few friends and headed off to the turtle races. I

thought this turtle portrait was too cute!