Silly Happy Sweet

National Bundt Day 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

S till playing catch up on my blog. November 15, 2011, was National Bundt Day and if you haven't heard of The Food Librarian, you simply must check out her blog.

Here is Mary's round-up of all of us who made a bundt on National Bundt Day. I made a lemon bundt. Delish! Mary sent me a new button for my apron. It is my second year making a bundt for NBD. I'm starting a collection of sorts of bundt pans. The Monkey Bread bundt recipe (see image below), has been my family's favorite. I have made the Snickerdoodle bundt that was pretty popular with my kids too (see Mary's blog for both recipes).

Embroidered Towels

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:45:00 +0000

My friend just finished her basement and she has a new, beautiful kitchen. I decided to embroider some towels for her as a birthday gift. I had purchased the iron-on images some time ago.

I've decided that iron-on transfers are the only way to go. There are some adorable embroidery patterns out there but most all of them require you to use those ink transfer sheets. No matter how hard I press, I CANNOT get the image to transfer over well enough for me to see the image. I end up making some of it up as I go and it isn't pretty. Yup, I'm sold on the iron-ons!

Well Hello!

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:24:00 +0000

I have long ignored my blog. I don't know where time went! I'm going to try to be a more regular poster.

So much has happened since my last post. Some family birthdays have passed. A Christmas has gone by. MiniMe is mid-way through first grade. Where should I begin? How about a little craft love.

I finished this quilt as a Christmas gift for my in-laws. It has a lot of Joel Dewberry fabrics. After completing a hexagon quilt, this one seemed SO easy. I wish I had been more careful in taking pictures. We were trying to get the package to the post office so I took what pictures I could take quickly. I love the colors.

4th of July

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:00:00 +0000

I had one of the best Fourths ever. It was all about family and it was just.....well.....nice. I woke up and went for a run and this beautiful sight was in the sky.

We went to Snooze for breakfast and I ordered some yummy red velvet pancakes with cream cheese icing. I wish I had taken a picture but I was much too anxious to eat them! MiniB sure liked them though!

After breakfast we walked around Old Town Fort Collins. I love the piano project going on in Old Town. There are random pianos placed all over town and there is a note on them asking that you just cover them if it starts to rain (there is a tarp nearby). What a great idea!

The kids were so excited to get their faces painted. Aren't they cute?

We ended the day with more family fun. I made a delicious apple pie and failed again to take a picture. What can I say? I'm all about eating the food and not stoping to capture it! Ha ha. I wish I could say we watched some fireworks but the kids were zonked and were asleep by 8:00pm. We could hear them though! It's the first 4th of July I didn't actually see one firework but it was one of my favorite ones nonetheless.

Tin Can Robots

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:31:00 +0000

MiniB LOVES robots. I saw some tin can robots on Pinterest and thought it would be a really fun craft for the kids. I think the robots were featured in Family Fun magazine too but I didn't see them there. I love that magazine!

We used a lot of misc. stuff from our junk drawer (i.e., spools, magnets, paper clips, google eyes, sponge) and got creative. I love this robot with earrings:

The kids are using the cans to hold their pencils. They totally loved this activity. It was fun and easy--two things that I completely need right now.

Sock Love

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:58:00 +0000

I received a gift certificate to KnitPicks for my birthday. I've been wanting Cookie A's book, knit. sock. love. for some time now. As soon as I received my certificate, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! It arrived this week along with this yummy sock yarn and some new sock needles. I can't wait to get started. But I'm still working on this project so my socks will have to wait....

I Heart Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:40:00 +0000

S ummer is officially in full swing here. Today we hung out at the Slip and Slide and ate popsicles. Isn't summer the best? Oh yeah!

New Polish

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:46:00 +0000

I am a BORING nail polish person. If you look through my stash of colors, you'll find various shades of very light pink and tan and taupe colors. I branched out and bought some granny apple green just for fun. I kind of like it! As I was drinking my morning drink, I looked at my nails and thought they seemed rather festive and fun!

Kool-Aid Clay

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 01:23:00 +0000

A friend gave me the recipe for Kool-Aid clay. It smells yummy and is really easy to make.

1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
1 Tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 pkg. unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 c. water

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Cook over medium heat until mixture forms a ball. Pour onto waxed paper or bread board and knead. Store in airtight container.

Mixing it with Kool-Aid gives the dough surprising scents: lemon, cherry, lime, orange, and will last for weeks in an airtight container.

A Little Something for Myself

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:14:00 +0000

M ost things I make are for others. But this time I have something I am knitting for MYSELF. I have been eyes the Brigit Jacket in the Vintage Modern Knits book. On a recent trip to our cabin in Estes Park, I visited The Stithin' Den. I love starting a knitting project while sitting on the deck of our cabin! So far this is a simple and fast knit. I'll keep you updated!

More Embroidered Towels

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:06:00 +0000

I have mentioned how much I love all things Hillary Lang. She has an adorable line of Gnome embroidery towels. Ever since we saw Gnomeo and Juliet, I've fallen in love with gnomes. I can't wait to gift these towels!

For the Love of Embroidery

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:57:00 +0000

M y favorite kitchen towels are the ones I've embroidered. I decided I need a few more when I found these cute iron-ons from Stitchers Revolution.

Joel Dewberry Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:26:00 +0000

I *heart* Joel Dewberry fabric!!! I have been wanting to start a new quilt and when I saw Joel's new line, I couldn't pass it up. Not every piece is JD fabric, but the majority is. Here is the pattern I'm going to use:

And here are a few finished squares:

Eunice Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:11:00 +0000

M y favorite sock designer is Cookie A. These Eunice socks are from Cookie's Sock Innovation book. I purchased the yarn in Nebraska at Brown Sheep Co. Cookie is a sock genius!

Daisy and Eddie

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:01:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of all items Hillary Lang creates. She is, well, amazing! I received her Wee Wonderfuls book as a gift and my kiddos love to flip through it making requests. I finally got around to making two little cuties for MiniMe and MiniB.

When I was little, my mom made me my own Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. I am so touched that my kids seem to cherish these dolls even more than store-bought toys. I can't wait to make more for them!

Crochet Mario Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:43:00 +0000

W e had a Mario Bros. birthday party for MiniB's 4th birthday. He is Mario-obsessed! I made these cute little mushrooms (pattern here) as prizes for some of the games. They are cute little guys and so easy to make!

Quilting Along

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:16:00 +0000

S orry for my long absence. Life can sometimes get in the way of my creativity and blogging. I've missed it though and I've spent a great amount of time catching up on all your blogs.

I finally finished this quilt I started, oh well, a YEAR AND A HALF AGO! Like I said, life got in the way.

I love hexagons but they are really hard to quilt. I don't think I'll ever quilt a hexagon again. The design of this quilt is my own. When I started the quilt we were living in a different house and I finished it in another house. The final size of the quilt is much smaller than I'd initially intended but after working on these teeny little hexagons, I was ok with making the quilt a square.

Thin Mint Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:21:00 +0000

I love Thin Mint cookies. I can't get enough of them this time of year.... so much so that when I read The Food Librarian's post about Thin Mint pancakes, I had to try it. They are truly yummy.

Slouchy Cardigan

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:14:00 +0000

It only took me forever to knit this sweater but I FINISHED! The Slouchy Cardigan from the Greetings from the Knit Cafe book. If you ever plan to knit is sweater, make absolutely sure you Google the errata. I must have a first edition book because I had to frog and start over on the sleeves. I'm happy I finished it though. It is my new favorite sweater!

The images aren't the best (and were taken right before bedtime!) but you get an idea of the cardigan.

B's 37th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:33:00 +0000

B's birthday was really special this year because we had family in town. Every year we have fresh lobster on his birthday. As fun as this tradition is, it is amazingly difficult to find them the day after Christmas. This year I got smart and ordered them online from simplylobsters.com I ordered B a 4lb lobster! The lobsters came from Maine but were delayed arriving by a day due to the weather issues in the east. No problems though. We went to a Denver Nuggets game on his actual birthday and had our dinner a day later. I wish I had taken a picture of the lobsters but all of the scurring around trying to time everything for dinner made me temporarily forget to capture the moment. Bummer.

I'm glad B had a good day. We love you B!

Christmas Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:29:00 +0000

A s a child, I remember the delight in finding Santa's gift on Christmas morning. Having little ones takes me back to those days. It's so fun to see their faces the moment they see their gifts from Santa.

Not Wanting the Season to End!

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:18:00 +0000

H ere are more pictures from our holiday. I'm just not wanting to say goodbye to the holidays. They just flew by so fast! Anyway, on Chritmas Eve, we put some faralitos outside our house. We were the only house in the neighborhood to do so. Faralitos are so common where I'm from (Santa Fe) so I'm always surprised that I never see the same here in Colorado. We're only one state to the north! Oh well. My fellow NM friends also put some outside their house here so I know I'm not alone in trying to have a Santa Fe Christmas.

We had a lot of fun decorating and lighting all of the candles!

Santa Brunch

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:04:00 +0000

S o if you read my blog and don't let your kids believe in Santa, please don't be offended but I've had three instances this year where kindergarten-age kids have told my kids that Santa isn't real. It just kills me that one of them said it to my 3-year old. I totally understand if you don't want your children to believe in Santa for whatever reasons you might have but it is so frustrating for our family who chooses to let our children believe. Really, can't we just let them believe for as long as we can? I think if B and I chose the path that we weren't going to let our kids believe, we'd really stress to them that some kids DO believe and to not go and tell them otherwise. One child in my daughter's class actually said, "Santa is dead." I'm afraid to ask why that is a better belief to have than Santa exists. But I digress....

Anyway, after all of the discussions about the reality of Santa were over, my kiddos went and visited Santa's "co-worker." We had a lovely brunch with Santa and even got to visit with two reindeer.

Bokeh

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I 've been playing around with my camera. This time of year I see so many lovely Bokeh pictures online. Taking a bokeh picture is harder than you'd think--at least it was for me. Here is my attempt!

Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies!

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:53:00 +0000

I got the idea for these melted snowman sugar cookies from Smashed Peas and Carrots. Please visit and you'll find not only a lovely blog but an awesome tutorial and recipe for these snowmen.

My daughter did all of the decorating. It was a fun project for us! :)