Sewing or Something

Adventure Time Birthday Party 2013

2014-09-21T18:17:00.001-07:00

Star Wars Birthday!

2012-11-19T09:37:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun at R's, Star Wars themed 4th birthday! The C3P0 and R2D2 cutout was definitely worth it! Made for great pictures! If you have any questions on how I made something or where I got it, just ask!

Magnet board via pinterest..kinda

2012-01-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

So have you seen those magnet boards with the ABC's modge podged on it and a cute toddler playing at it, on pinterest? Well I took that idea and made it more "pre-teen". These are oil drip pans from Ace Hardware, which I had to order and wait 2 weeks for but at $7.42 each, it was worth it. It does have that stamp on it, but my son thought it was cool, and so did I. It also doubles as a dry erase board! Look how sweet the first message is??!! Ok.....I wrote it....but it doesn't make it not true! When I take pics of the rest of the room I will go into more detail, just thought it was cool and wanted you to see!

Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe

2012-01-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

This is a HUGE favorite in my house with all the kids and my hubby.

This makes a lot, but if you have a family of 6 like me, it makes just enough with a little bit of leftovers. The leftovers are always gone the next day.

I am going to give a few different options on how to make it.

Ingredients:
Chicken- 3 breasts or grab a ready made Rotisserie chicken at the store if you're in a hurry
3/4 can of chicken broth (if you boil your chicken you don't need this)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken and mushroom soup
1 8 oz. bag of shredded sharp cheese
1/2 cup of onion (finely chopped)
1/2 cup of celery (finely chopped)
1 tbsp butter
1 16oz pkg of THIN spaghetti
Secret Ingredient*** Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
Optional :Mushrooms and sliced green olives

Let's get started!

Cooking the chicken:

**Option 1- You can put your chicken in a big pan of water and boil it for 1 hour until the chicken is done. Take it out and put in a bowl and shred it, set aside for later. You can then grab a cup of that chicken flavored water to use for later. Save the rest of that water to boil your noodles.

**Option 2- I forgot to take my chicken out of the freezer last night, so this morning I stuck my frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot with a cup of water. Cooked on low for 8 hours - 2 birds, 1 stone..my shredded chicken AND chicken broth done.
**Option 3- Shred a cooked rotisserie chicken and use a can of chicken broth later.

Alright, now we are going to saute the veggies. This is where more options come in. Because I am making this for the kids AND for us, I do this a little wonky. I saute my finely diced onions, celery and a little mushroom in butter. (They are finely diced so the kids can barely see them) I do NOT add my extra mushrooms or green olives yet.

Next I add my soups and broth (appox 8oz) to my cooked veggies until nicely mixed. Then I add the entire package of shredded cheese until it becomes a melty goodness.

Here is where we add the chicken, and then the secret ingredient.. Tony's.. greatest seasoning ever! I sprinkle it on the chicken before I mix it in probably about a teaspoon in all.

At this point (if you used option 1) use the rest of that water to go ahead and boil your noodles. You might need to add more water. I cooked my noodles an "al dente" about 6 minutes because I planned on baking my tetrazzini later.

*** Noodle side note*** You can go ahead and cook your noodles all the way if you are in a hurry, you do not HAVE to bake this dish at the end as everything is cooked when you assemble it. Many a busy night we have just eaten it right off the stove and it's still VERY good!

Now that your noodles are cooked and the water is drained..dump that chicken mixture right on in!

Mix it up really well. I test it and see if I need to add more seasoning. Remember it's spicy seasoning though, so go light for the kiddos. My dinner is done, well for the kids....

*** If you're in a hurry you can eat this now! Everything you've added is cooked!

NOW, here is where my other options come in, green olives and extra mushrooms. I go ahead and put half the mixture I just made, in a lightly greased 8x8 baking dish for the kids. THEN I add my green olives and extra mushrooms, and some more Tony's to the remaining mixture for the hubby and I. I then put this into another 8x8 for us.

You can tell ours is on the right with the extra chunkiness. You can bake like this...but... you might want to top with a little sprinkling of cheese for some extra yum!

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly!

Here it is right out of the oven! YUMM

I hope this will be a new family favorite in your house as it is in mine!

Crockpot Mexican Chicken Soup

2012-01-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Crockpot Recipe!

This could be called Chicken Tortilla Soup, but I didn't add the tortillas on top so I decided it's just Mexican Chicken Soup. It had a good spice to it and was really easy.

1 can mexican rotel (use mild for a milder soup)
2 cans chicken broth
1 pkg taco seasoning(again use mild for a milder soup)
2-3 chicken breasts (mine were frozen)
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can fire roasted tomatoes with garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/4 onion chopped finely
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can black beans drained
1 can corn-drained
Add all to crockpot, cook on low 8 hours.. shred your chicken in or out of the crockpot,
put in a bowl, top with sour cream and some crunched up tortilla chips if you want..ENJOY!

Family Photos- what to wear?!

2012-01-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is probably one of the hardest things for a mom. You would think it would be something like balancing work, home, family, cooking, cleaning etc...but NO, it's planning your whole family's wardrobe for pictures! I stress out over this EVERY time! I didn't want everyone wearing the same thing and color as we have in past years, but wanted to make sure we looked cohesive. I was pretty happy how it worked out. Oh and it helps to have an AMAZING photographer, which we do.

All photos by Lyncca Harvey Photography.

I also really wanted to make sure the older kids were dressed appropriately for their "pre-teen" age and not look too babyish.

(E's plaid shirt by Abercrombie, B's solid navy by American Eagle, J's Cardigan by Hollister)

Of course R's toddler outfit had to be stylish too!

(Navy long sleeve shirt by Land's End, Cardigan by H&M)

Hubby and I jeans by American Eagle, my top Forever 21, his plaid shirt Daniel Cremieux @ Dillards

We always have a good time, which includes us climbing the tree BEFORE the kids got to!

I liked R's cardigan open..but being 3 he kept wanting to take it off so it ended buttoned up later.

Make sure you grab quick individual shots while you're there!

I also did these fun matchups from last year's pics to see how much everyone has grown!

Sept 2010 vs Dec 2011

I think the most important thing for great pictures is to have fun and try and be comfortable!

Fun Farm Birthday!

2011-11-16T19:30:00.001-08:00

So R's 3rd birthday was a big success! Everyone had so much fun at the farm! I had a lot of fun making and designing his little party. I got most of my cool party stuff at an awesome little Etsy shop Pink Lemonade Party.

OMG Crockpot Baked Potato Soup!

2011-11-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

This was SOOO good and really easy! I got the recipe from here Mama Loves Food, via Pinterest cut the recipe in half and made some minor changes.

(Sorry about the not so pretty bowl but I was ready to eat!)

This is what I did:

2.5 lbs potatoes diced 1/2inch cubes (I guessed half a 5lb bag) after reading some of the comments on her blog, I peeled half and left half with skins on..perfect!
I diced small about half an onion and used 2tsp of minced garlic from the jar which equaled 4 cloves
I used 2, 14 oz cans of chicken broth
1pkg cream cheese
1 tsp Tony Chacherie's seasoning and 1/2 tsp pepper

Add everything except cream cheese and let it cook on high for 4 hours. (I am sure you could do her suggestion of low all day but I started late) I scooped out appox 1/3 of the contents of my crockpot and added 1/3 of 1 pkg of cream cheese and blended in my blender until it was creamy, and poured it back in, then cubed and added remaining cream cheese to the crockpot. ***UPDATE** I've made this twice since this post and now I just add the whole package of cream cheese when I blend the 1/3 of my soup and potatoes and it works great!*** At this point you can take out more if it doesn't look creamy enough to you, but this to me was the perfect consistency. Cook for 30 minutes on high after you add the cream cheese then it's done! I had some bacon in the fridge so I fried it up and crumpled over some shredded cheese. Again, SOOOO GOOD!! We ate the whole thing, next time I might have to make the regular sized recipe so we can have leftovers!!

Homemade Costume Success!

2011-11-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well it was my first try at making a homemade costume since learning to sew. I have to say I think it was widly successful! It was SO much cuter and sturdier than the store bought version. I have to admit it was VERY simple because of the material I didn't have to hem anything, but it gave me the oomph I needed to definitely try again next year! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Pumpkin Pre-Pre School Printables

2011-10-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to send you a quick link to some of the pumpkin themed "school" work we are doing right now. Perfect for a 3 year old! Here is a great source (links to the pumpkin printables) Confessions of a Homeschooler

Starting school with mom

2011-10-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

R and I started "class" today. I wouldn't exactly call it "homeschooling" because I think that is a certain cirriculum that you follow and mine is just willy nilly, but, it is me teaching him at home. There are so many resources and printables out there for free that it really makes my job easy. Day 1 theme was trains. R loves to learn anyways so I knew it wouldn't be a problem getting him to do any of these activities and it wasn't, plus..hello it's TRAINS! He'll be 3 next month and he has a great memory like his older brother. He already knows his abc's. He can recognize all the uppercase abc's and we are working on the lowercase (that lowercase l is tricky since it looks like a 1 or an I). He also knows and can recognize his numbers to 20 sometimes 25. We are working on recognizing 2 digit numbers like 35 instead of just thinking it's a 3 and 5. He's great at patterns, shapes, and puzzles already but those are ready to be expanded into sizes, small, medium, large etc.. There is so much to learn and teach! It's been a few years since I have done all of this, my oldest is 11 now. I think I did a pretty good job the first time around though and now with the internet my resources are even greater. Here are a few pictures from day 1. (ignore the toys on the ground behind him) I got my train printables from LAWTEEDAH.

Crockpot Pork Carnitas and Cilantro Lime Rice

2011-09-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Tastes even better than it looks! I know my blog has been a lot more "or something" than sewing lately. I hope to get back to more sewing soon, but for now here's a really yummy recipe I made this evening!

Crockpot Pork Carnitas

Ingredients:

2-3 lb pork tenderloin roast (trim off the fat, it should be pretty lean though)

1 can salsa verde sauce (I found Hernandez brand at the grocery store)

1 can diced green chilis

1/4 cup of chopped onion

1 can of rotel (I used mild for the kids, but mexican would be good)

1/2 the juice of a lime

1/4 tsp of cumin

1/4 tsp of salt

1/8 tsp of chili powder

Rub tenderloin with seasonings. Place in crockpot and put the rest of the ingredients on top. Simmer 8-9 hrs on low until pork is shredded.

When done, I scrape off most of the sauce and put the tenderloin in its own bowl and shred it.

I scoop out the sauce from the crockpot and put in a separate bowl since only my husband and I add that to our tacos.

To add as toppings to our tacos I use cilantro, cheese, sour cream and salsa. I also made Cilantro Lime Rice, which I will tell you the recipe for below.

I like corn tortillas but the rest of the family uses flour.

Cilantro Lime Rice

I have looked all over the internet for recipes similar to Chipotle's because I love their Cilantro Lime Rice. The one I ended up with is from Skinny and it's pretty dang close! I loved it!

Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice
1/2 lime, juice of
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

Overall a DELICIOUS MEAL!! Hope you enjoy!

Jars of Salsa

2011-09-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

I could look at these all day! But instead they were eaten. If you have never made salsa, like me, I highly suggest trying The Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Salsa it uses canned tomatoes and rotel. SO EASY! I follow it exactly except I use one can of original rotel and one can of mexican rotel. My whole family loves it! We are never buying salsa again now! Fresh homemade salsa is supposed to last about a week in the fridge. Mine didn't even last 24 hours! But my hubby did take some to work, where another batch was promptly requested. It took 10 minutes to make this so if you haven't given salsa a try yet, here ya go!

Beef Enchiladas your kids will eat!

2011-09-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Another quick easy meal, one my kids LOVE! These aren't like they make in the restaurants with all that sauce, just a little on top.

Ingredients:
1 lb of lean ground beef (or if you want to be tricky, lean ground turkey, or half of each)
1 can of MILD Rotel
1 package of taco bell taco seasoning mix
1 package of shredded cheese
1 can of mild enchilada sauce(red kind, I like Old El Paso)
1 package of small flour tortillas

1) Brown your ground beef and add taco seasoning just as if you were going to make tacos.
2) When done, add can of mild Rotel (I drain out the juice)
3) Add 3/4 package of cheese appox 4-6 oz
4) Put a scoop of mixture in tortillas and roll up and place in baking pan
5) Add can of enchilada sauce on top, sprinkle cheese
6) Bake 15-20 min at 350 degrees or until bubbly.

(If you want to make this dish ahead of time, stop at step 5 and refrigerate)

I also made the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Salsa..it was so easy and so good! I have a link on my Pinterest.

Seriously easy pasta dish recipe

2011-09-19T17:10:00.001-07:00

There isn't much to this. I grabbed what was in my pantry and freezer.
Frozen cheese tortellini (would work well with frozen ravioli too)
Package of chicken (all I had was southwest flavor lol)
Can of diced tomatoes
Minced garlic
Some fresh spinach I had in the fridge
Olive oil
Wish I would have had mushrooms
Saute all your ingredients until warm
Boil your pasta, drain
Put together add some parmesan
Eat!
P.S. I did this post on my phone! So I have no idea what the format will look like. :)

Crockpot recipes and more Pinterest!

2011-09-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

If you have yet to get on Pinterest, now is the time to start! I have a board just for Crockpot Recipes! Why spend all day in the kitchen when the crockpot can do it for you! Pinterest doesn't post a bunch of unwanted junk to your facebook or twitter if you connect through them, thank goodness! It's just a fun way to see what everyone else likes to wear, eat, craft or dream about.

Yummy Recipes

2011-09-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

I will be adding a Yummy Recipes tab to my page soon, at the request of family and friends. That always makes you feel good, people wanting to make what you eat! I post a lot on Facebook with pictures which probably entices a little. I will start out tonight with the easiest and also the kids and I newest discovery, Wingstop Ranch! Just a note if you didn't know...I live in Texas and in Texas we eat Ranch Dressing with everything! So us Texans are somewhat connoisseurs when it comes to good ranch. We have a place here called Wingstop. They have really yummy wings and awesome ranch dressing! Well, I have discovered EXACTLY how to make that dressing here at home. (I will not reveal my sources) What's funny is it's actually super close to the normal recipe.

Best Ranch Dressing there is:
1 1/2 packets (so obviously you need to buy 2) Hidden Valley Ranch BUTTERMILK recipe dressing
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of mayo (I used Kraft Real Mayo)

Uh yeah that's it, so basically you would normally only use 1 packet of dry seasoning, so you are just increasing that part to 1 and 1/2 of the dry seasoning and it makes a huge difference and tastes exactly like they make at Wingstop. Chill it in the fridge about an hour and use it on everything like we do here in Texas! It will actually last 2 to 3 weeks in a good fridge container. I found a really awesome dressing measuring cup and container in one through Pampered Chef, if you want to order one, click HERE.

Vintage finds for me and you!

2011-09-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

So I just scored some awesome vintage things today, some for me and some for you! I'll start with the ones for you, since I know that's why you are reading this. Do you remember these characters?

I was at our local antique mall looking for rustic/farm related things for R's bday party coming up in November. Well I didn't really find much there for the party that wasn't just crazy priced. That's the thing about antique malls, some stuff is super high and some is super low. BUT, I came across these 3 cookie cutters from the 70's and knew I was in love. I am not the greatest at the painting/art end of the craft spectrum, but I knew someone out there could make some baking magic out of them! So I grabbed them up for you and all 3 of these are listed in my Etsy shop, Sweet Stuff Shop.

The lowly worm from the Busy World of Richard Scarry.

Joan Walsh Anglund's famous little girl from her books and prints of the 60's and 70's.

And...who could forget Porky Pig's "That's all folks!"

Now onto my finds!

Some of mine is from Thrift Town and some from the Antique Mall. Thrift Town produced the $1.99 Milk Bottle which I will probably use for a vase at the party and the cool car that R picked out for himself for 75 cents. My antique mall finds were the $2.00 Napa Valley crate (again probably for the party), and of course the coolest cookie cutters, but I think my favorite find of the day is the Fisher Price School Days Desk from 1972 for $5! He immediately started playing with it and loves it! Right next to it was more magnet letters for $3 but I grabbed the lowercase ones (which we are still working on recognizing). There was another set there and I am hoping those were uppercase and will snatch them up.

It has a chalkboard and these cool paper pullouts that you are supposed to put your magnet letters in or I assume draw with chalk. I am glad he thinks its as cool as I do!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! as Porky would say, "That's all Folks!"

Elastic Sale!

2011-09-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned Pick your Plum before, but seriously they have awesome deals! Today is 12 yards of colored elastic for $3.24! On Pick Your Plum's Pinterest Board they give you a bunch of cool ways to use it. So go forth and get a good crafty deal!!

I'm back!

2011-09-06T18:26:00.001-07:00

Did you miss me this summer? It was hectic around here with all the kids home and I barely did any sewing or crafting. I did make a couple cool birthday presents that I am preparing a tutorial for. Magnetic play tins for kids. Super fun and easy. I keep promising my fb fans I am going to put up the tutorial soon but seriously it will happen! I have been coming up with ideas galore for my littlest's 3rd bday party, in which I will end up having a ton of tutorials. You can see my inspirations on my pinterest. Just look on my side bar to go to pinterest and follow me. See you soon my blog friends!

Cool cheap supplies!

2011-08-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

So I have found a few new sites that have great crafting deals. The first is Pick your Plum.

They have daily deals, a lot of times from Etsy sellers, for crafting/sewing etc.. For example, today's deal was 12 yards of different grosgrain ribbons for $4.Yesterday had colored elastic, 9 yards for 2.70! I have seen bare tile pendants, custom stamps, and vinyl chalkboard sheets! Shipping varies but I haven't seen it for more than $3.25.

The second one is Heartsy. I believe these are all exclusively Etsy people who are discounting their items. I have yet to buy anything from this site, but I have seen a few things I liked.

Lastly, is WhoopdWhoop. I have mentioned this one before. (I have a tutorial featured on their blog) This is really cool because it's currency free! ou make swaps! It's fun if you have some things sitting around that haven't sold or you were planning on giving away.

So go forth and save on crafting supplies! As soon as school starts back up in a few weeks I will get back to the sewing, tutorials and blogging more frequently!

Bow Tie and Party Dress!

2011-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

I made my littlest a bow tie for my sister-in-law's wedding using Prudent Baby's Bow Tie Tutorial. (Fabric from Hobby Lobby)

I ran out of time and didn't make the actual sliding clasp that it should hook on to. (I just pinned it to his shirt) I think that worked perfect for his age anyways. I actually got a compliment on it from someone I didn't know at the wedding! It makes my day to be able to say "I made it." If you mention the wedding to R and tell him how handsome he looked he says "I had my bow tie!" It's pretty adorable. I loved it on him and want excuses to make more!

My baby niece's dress ended up fitting perfect! I was so happy. A few helpful notes ...although the fabric big buttons on the back look pretty, if you have to put the baby in a carseat, it's not very comfortable for them. Also, sew the sash on all the way around not just at the sides. You might not have to for an older child but for the babies it's a really good idea. (Dress top and sash fabric from Joann's, bottom houses fabric from Ikea) ** That's her pretty mom holding her in the pics.

I'll leave you with a pic of the happy couple, because who doesn't love a gorgeous wedding photo!

Winner of Vintage Toddler Pattern!

2011-07-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

#3 Jennifer said... Oh, and I like you on FB now...thanks!
You win the vintage toddler pattern! I will contact you through your email.
Thank you!

Party Dress!

2011-07-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE how this dress turned out! I think it will be much easier for me to make if I need to do it again, I read and re-read the tutorial a few times. I am one of those people that needs to understand WHY I am doing a certain part and how it works for the overall project. I used The Cottage Home's Party Dress Tutorial. She gives you patterns, but I needed a smaller bodice so I did got a butterick pattern and shrunk her measurements for the skirt and sash too. I am crossing my fingers that this fits my niece! If you have any questions about the tutorial she is pretty quick at responding or you can ask me.

Vintage toddler pattern giveaway!

2011-07-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well I have had over 5000 page views to my blog in a little over 4 months since I started! Thank you everyone for your support! I hope to continue posting things everyone would like to see and learn. Now, for the giveaway I promised at 5000 page views. I have a vintage Simplicity pattern from 1963. It's an ADORABLE size 1 toddler jumper and blouse as pictured below. The pattern is cut but it is in great shape and I have double checked that all the pieces and instructions are there. To enter the giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment below. To get an extra entry please like my facebook page Sweet Stuff Creations. The giveaway will end at 9pm on Thursday, July 14. I will also do another giveaway via my facebook page when I reach 300 likes so invite your friends! Good Luck!