Craft-a-Boo

Campus Book Rental.com and Summer Kickoff!

2015-05-06T12:00:00.001-06:00

**This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own**

It's coming up on graduation time around these parts. All the colleges are gearing up for their graduation ceremonies, and people are starting to feel ready for summer. But there are those of us out there that still have people in college for the summer semester. For all of you out there that join us, here's a shout out to you guys!

There's this awesome company called Campus Book Rentals.com. Guys, they're so cool and easy to use! There's so many perks to using their service. Why buy textbooks that you're barely going to need a few times, when you can rent them? Here's a few of their perks.

-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices

-free shipping both ways

-can highlight in the textbooks

-flexible renting periods

Check out this video for more information on this awesome service.

So for all of you still doing the college thing, make sure to check them out! For everyone else, let's celebrate summer with some pool time, lemonade and flip flops!

Easy Peasy Leftovers Omelette

2015-04-09T10:36:00.000-06:00

Easy Peasy Leftovers Omelette

Back in January we moved across country from Utah to Tennessee. For a couple of months after we arrived, we were living in a weekly motel, while we looked for an apartment. For the first couple of weeks it was an adventure...and then it got old fast. The hardest part was not having a full kitchen to be able to cook in. One of my favorite breakfast foods is eggs, and you can't cook a lot of eggs in a microwave and a crockpot. (believe me, I tried every variation of this!)

So now that we're in our own place again, I'm loving being able to cook like a normal person again. So because I'm cooking a lot, there's a certain amount of leftovers in the fridge. I decided to combine some leftovers and eggs and whip up this easy tasty omelette. I figured I'd share it with you guys in case you were hungry and at a loss for what to make for breakfast. (Or dinner, it works great for dinner too!)

You will need:

3 eggs
leftover pot roast, chopped (or you can use ham, turkey, whatever you like)
1/4 cup grated cheese (any kind you like, but I used cheddar)
1/4 c chopped mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
2tbsp butter or margarine

Start by heating your pan over medium heat, and adding the butter.

Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Beat them very well, for about two minutes. This is how it should look when you're done.

Pour your beaten eggs into the warmed pan on the stove and DO NOT TOUCH. The trick to a great omelette is patience. (Now I don't have any of that, but if I can do this you can. I promise!)

After about two minutes your eggs will start to look like this. Wait for the edges to cook and then move the pan around on the heat to evenly cook the top.

Slide your spatula around the edges to make sure they're free and not sticking. Your eggs should be almost completely set up with just a little bit of liquid ontop.

While your eggs are cooking prepare your filling ingredients. This is the fun part, you can add whatever you like! Mushrooms and roast were my choices today, but it would be awesome with tomatoes and spinach, zucchini, etc.

When your eggs are almost completely cooked reduce heat to low, and add your filling to the top of the omelette. Let it cook on low for another minute and then turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the stove.

Using your spatula, very carefully fold the edge over to create the pocket of tastiness we all know and love. Leave the pan on the stove and let the remaining heat from the skillet finish cooking the eggs and melt your cheese.

Slide your masterpiece onto a plate, add some fresh fruit and viola! Easy peasy!

Enjoy your tasty omelette and pat yourself on the back for a cooking job well done!

Green White & Blue Baby Blanket

2015-04-02T11:07:00.001-06:00

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed earlier this week and ran across this pattern from Moogly titled "Red White and Baby". It was beautiful Americana crocheted baby blanket. I instantly fell in love with it!

I loved the colors that Moogly picked, but when I saw it for myself, I was seeing bright spring colors. And colors that could go for a boy or girl. It didn't call for a lot of yarn, and luckily I had some colors in my stash that went together well.

It only took me a couple of days to whip this up. The pattern is definitely not something I can just "set and forget" but I actually enjoyed this. It was a challenge, and it was fun. It measures 35''X38''.

Anyway, I've put it up in the Etsy shop to see if there's any takers. I'm also going to be taking this with me to craft fairs this summer. I think it turned out super cute!

What's your favorite summer/spring accessory?

Minion Cell Cozy Giveaway Celebration!

2015-03-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

This summer I'm planning on heading out to a few craft fairs. I'm haunting Pinterest lately finding new fun ideas of things to make! I've run across a few fun patterns, and one of them was for a cell phone cozy, minion style!

So the problem with Pinterest is you get all excited because you see this awesome little thing, and click through....and there's nothing there. So I dug a little deeper and finally found the link to the pattern on Hopeful Honey for this awesome little minion phone case.

It worked up super fast, and turned out too cute! So then of course being the purple ~~whore~~ enthusiast that I am, I had to make a purple minion as well.

Now I've got one for each kind of mood I'm in. The best part about this little guy is that I can slip my debit card and a chap stick in here and be good to go. (You know ladies, instead of hauling around a 20lb purse, we sometimes have to give our shoulders a break and just take a couple things!)

I think they're super cute! I'm going to put them up on the Etsy page and see how they do. If they do well, I think it's a good sign that I can make them for the craft fair.

But guess what guys? I'm giving away a Custom Made Minion Phone case FREE to one lucky reader! I will custom make it to fit your phone. You can chose purple or yellow minion.

All you have to do to enter is use the little Rafflecopter linky below!

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the re-naming of the blog, can you? Good luck! Winner will be announced next Saturday on the Facebook page!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Barefoot Sandals

2015-03-18T09:51:00.000-06:00

The weather this weekend was fabulous! We almost hit 80 degrees and it was sunny with a breeze. This obviously put me in the mood for summer! Sunshine, grass, picnics, swimming, walks after sunset. All of which you can do BAREFOOT!

Now I don't know about you, but the best feeling is to walk barefoot through the grass during the summer. And my feet aren't necessarily my best feature. I don't treat them very nicely sometimes. So I of course need to dress them up a bit.

I decided to whip up some of these super cute barefoot sandals to add a little bling to my rockin bare feet! Check them out below. Also check out more pictures on the Facebook page!

Made some red-white-blue themed sandals. Gotta get ready for those 4th of July picnics!

Ignore my less than beautiful feet, and focus on the cute sandals!

Then I decided to make some in some fun spring colors.

Testing them out by walking barefoot outside on the pavement. It felt great, and my feet of course were stylin!

I'm gearing up for summer craft fairs, and decided to make a few pairs of these as a test to see how they'd fair. I'm going to throw them up on the Etsy site and see how they do.

Tell me Stalkers, what's your favorite part of the weather warming up? Do you wear flip flops, or go barefoot? Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Also stay tuned this weekend for a super fun giveaway coming up to celebrate the blog name change.

Happy Hump Day!

Winter Snowflake Crochet Blanket

2015-03-13T06:50:00.000-06:00

Winter Snowflake Crochet Blanket

I am so beyond excited to share this project with you today. I've been hinting at a new project to appear on the blog and today is finally that day. Calm down, I know you're just too excited...

Around Christmas time last year, my Mom was talking to me about gifts for our little family of two. She told me she wanted to get me something I'd love. I asked for a Hobby Lobby. When she stopped laughing, I asked for a Jo-Ann's.

After that round of laughing (by this point I was getting upset with all the laughter, I mean who doesn't ask for a Hobby Lobby for Christmas, right?) we finally settled on her buying me some yarn. Her reasoning was that with all the crochet work I'd done over the last few months for others, that it was high time I make something for myself.

Now as good as that is in theory, all of you crafty people know that to make something for yourself is easier said than done. It's so much more rewarding and fun to make for others! But she convinced me to do for me. So we hopped in the car and headed to Jo-Ann's. (I was super sad when I realized we weren't going there to put a real estate offer on it...) We fondled all kinds of yarn for a good half an hour before I found the ones I loved. I struggled with colors for a while. As any long time stalker of this blog knows, I'm a purple ~~whore~~ enthusiast. But I really didn't want a whole blanket of purple. That's even a little overboard for me. But I did settle on grey, white, blue and purple. Winter is my favorite season. It's so pretty and still, and so I chose these colors to kind of represent that theme.

I wanted to make myself a blanket. I decided I was up for the challenge and so we bought out the ~~whole yarn section~~ amount I'd need for a good size blanket.

And then the yarn sat there. And sat there. And then it sat there some more. I haunted Pinterest trying to find crochet blankets that inspired me. I had made a granny square blanket before, but I wasn't wanting something that traditional this time around. I also wanted this to be something I ADORED not just liked. So I found a few things that I liked and started in on them.

Turns out, I hated all of them. Every last design. I ripped out each and every one I started on, and went back to Pinterest. Finally I found a picture of a blanket that was crocheted, but looked like quilt squares. PERFECT!!!

I got all fired up and did a little bit of it....and then we ended up moving across country. Yeah...cause you can work on crochet blankets while driving a moving truck across Nebraska...This is just a long winded way of saying, that I finally had time now that we're in our new place to sit down and work on this seriously.

I am in love with how it turned out!

Let me take you on a picture tour of this awesomeness.

This was an "in progress" picture. After I'd finished the first two rows, I couldn't wait to put them together.

If you follow my Facebook page this was the sneak peek I posted. I was simply too excited to share this. This was after I got all four rows put together.

This was after I got the first round of borders on it. I added a wider border on top and bottom. I needed some length to cover my little piggies!

This was me trying to decide if I liked the second border I put on it enough to keep it.

A closer look at the border. I used the same yarn that I joined the rows with as the border. I wanted it to tie everything together.

I love how thick and chunky this yarn is and how it offsets the purple perfectly.

This was after I got it completely done. I love how the snowflakes just add a certain pop to the whole thing.

It measures 58''X72''. Perfect for taking naps, or watching TV.

More closeups of the snowflakes. I love how they stand out!

Looks ready to take a nap!

And more close-ups of the snowflakes. I love how I used one yarn and got so many different looks!

So there you go guys! My brand new blanket. My Christmas present from my Mom to me. She said on the phone "sorry you had to work so hard for it." I responded with "What work? This was fun!"

And it really was. This turned out so much better than I even thought it would!

Have you ever had to make your own Christmas present before? Tell me about it in the comments!

PS. To celebrate the new name change, we're going to be having an awesome giveaway soon. Stay tuned!

The long, short, and pictures of it

2015-03-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

Good morning Stalkers! I felt like popping in today and giving you a short update on the going's on around these parts. It's certainly been a while since I was here with you all, and I think you deserve to know why. So here's the long, the short, and a bunch of pictures!

While we were living in Utah and working and living we learned that my Mother in law's health was rapidly deteriorating. She had two strokes between June 2014-November 2014. We were in Utah 1600 miles away. This was not a good thing. My hubby's side of the family while awesome and lovely, are not the most communicative sorta folks So we did a lot of praying, and a lot of soul searching. Finally we decided that we needed to be closer to his side of the family for his mom's health's sake.

It was a painful decision because I have family in Utah, (Including these two stinker nephews)

(Hunter--Age 4mo. Sitting up for the first time!)

(Aiden--Age 2 Trying out his Cowboy attire that he got for Christmas)

But what it ultimately boiled down to was our gut feeling, and God telling us in no uncertain terms that we belonged out here.

So we packed up our apartment, sold most everything, stayed with my side of the family for a few days... (in the process we had an impromptu family photo shoot...)

And just think, two little boys call the one on the left Mom...lol

The whole fam-damily

(My not so little brother. He just turned 17! And all of his big sisters...)

...rented a Penske moving truck...and drove 1600 miles across country to Nashville from Utah.

We ended up getting a 14ft truck instead of a 10ft. We barely had enough stuff to fit the 10ft truck, so it was quite amusing driving this monstrosity!

We saw some sights...

We had our doggie ride in style. (She wasn't too thrilled with this setup, but hey it means we got to bring her!)

We stopped in random parking lots to play fetch...

And we finally made it to Nashville!

And we were able to see Mom! (she's out of the rehab center and back home now. Her health is getting better every day. We're so thankful we get to be here with her!)

Right now we're still in the process of getting back on our feet. Finding a home, getting a car , and getting back in a routine. We're so glad to be here, despite the heartaches of leaving precious family and friends behind. It's hard having family on each coast, but I am grateful for modern technology that makes staying in contact so much easier.

So that's the update on this end of the bloggosphere, Stalkers. Thanks for stopping in, reading, following, and inspiring me!

Right now I'm working hard on finishing up an awesome project, and will show that off for you! Can't wait!

Introducing Craft-a-Boo!

2015-03-07T12:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Saturday Stalkers! It sure has been a while since I checked in here with you. Life has been crazy. Between a cross country move, and other crazy life events, that hasn't left a lot of time for blogging. (Sad!) But I'm here now checking in, and more importantly sharing some awesome news!

As you've probably noticed, this blog has gone through an identity crisis. I have been feeling for a while that the title of this blog "Quilted Euphoria" has been a little lacking. Mostly because I'm doing so much more than just quilting. I'm cooking and sharing recipes with y'all. I'm crafting and sharing inspiration with you. I'm crocheting more than I ever thought I would, and loving every minute of it. To capitalize on how much this blog has changed, I felt a name change and re-direction was in order.

I racked my brain trying to come up with a name for the 'ole blog and Facebook page that would be creative, and reflect what I'm trying to do here. And then the name came to me. Like "Peek-a-Boo" but craftier! Craft-a-Boo was the name that came to mind, and it kind of stuck!

So Stalkers, I'm so glad you're here. I'm really looking forward to sharing this new blog direction with you. I'm so excited to share my new projects that I've been working on. I'm anxious to get back to connecting with you guys again.

Let's share our ideas, inspire creative thinking, and most of all, let's get crafty! Follow along on the Facebook page for updates and ideas. To kick this new blog re-branding off, there will be some giveaway goodness in our future. :-)

Here's a sneak peek of the project that will be revealed on the blog very soon.

I hope you enjoy the sneak peek and I'll see you around here very soon!

Fool-Proof Homemade Dinner Rolls

2014-06-24T00:30:00.000-06:00

~I posted this on The Crafty Blog Stalker and am now sharing it with you guys!~

My growing up years were filled with my wonderful grandmother. She baked bread and rolls for her family on a weekly basis and that kind of stuck with me into adulthood. This recipe is for homemade rolls that are light, fluffy and so easy to make! The best part is, they're FOOLPROOF! I promise you CANNOT screw them up! This recipe is easy and so worth it. It is a little time consuming as you have to let the bread raise, but that's to be expected with any good bread recipe.

Fool-Proof Homemade Dinner Rolls

~This recipe as written makes about 24 rolls. In our family of two that's about 20 more than we need for a meal. These rolls freeze beautifully and I love being able to make a huge batch and then pop the leftovers in ziploc bags for later. Just pull out a bag of rolls in the morning and by dinner time they're thawed and ready to go.~

You will need:
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp salt
6 cups flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Start by dissolving the yeast in the warm water. I had to use my hands to make sure it got completely dissolved.

Add the eggs, oil, salt and sugar and stir to combine.

Then start adding the flour. I like to add it one cup at a time and stir it well to make it less messy and make sure it's fully incorporated.

After one cup it's going to have the consistency of a cake batter. It'll be a little lumpy but smooth.

(I know that's an oxymoron, but it fits!)

Keep adding the flour one cup at a time. After about two cups the spoon becomes kind of hard to use. This is the point where you can get your hands dirty!

After you've added all the flour and removed the spoon, use your hands to continue to combine the flour into the dough. It will be sticky and a little crumbly but keep kneading it. Tip the dough out of the bowl onto a clean surface and continue to work it until all the flour is incorporated.

(This is my most favorite part of this process. I love playing with bread dough!)

This is what my dough looked like after all the flour was sucked up into it. I continued kneading for a couple of minutes to give it a good elastic texture and make sure it was ready to go.

Spray the inside of the bowl you were just using with some non-stick cooking spray.

Plop your dough in the bowl and cover with a towel. Set aside and let it rise for about an hour.

This was my dough after an hour. It had risen nicely and was ready to go.

This is the great part, is punching the dough down. I'll admit I got a little thrill when I punched it down and watched it deflate....(weirdly a cathartic experience...)

Roll the dough over and let sit an additional ten minutes.

When you're ready to start forming your rolls, split the dough into two even pieces.

Split each piece in half again (You'll now have eight sections total, four from each of the halves you split earlier)

Out of each quarter piece of dough form three small dough balls. These are the size of your rolls! You can always go bigger or smaller depending on how big you want your roll to be, but I like this size.

Lay your rolls out on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. (Honestly you could spray non-stick spray on them as well and it works fine. I'm just a really big fan of parchment paper for the no mess cleanup afterwards.)

Bake your rolls at 350 for about 20 minutes until they're golden brown. As soon as they come out of the oven spray the tops lightly with oil/butter to avoid cracking in the tops as they cool.

Serve warm!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you liked it go ahead and share away on Facebook and Pinterest!

What are some of your favorite recipes from your growing up years?

Guest Post @ The Crafty Blog Stalker

2014-06-22T10:51:00.002-06:00

Happy Sunday my friends! I'm so happy to say that I'm guest posting over at The Crafty Blog Stalker today. I'm sharing one of my favorite homemade recipes!

So make sure to come check it out and say hi!

My Craft Space Reveal

2014-06-08T16:50:00.000-06:00

We've lived in our new apartment for three months now. During that time life has been a little crazy and I haven't had a chance to unpack everything. Mostly it's been the essentials of day-to-day life and everything else has been stored in boxes.

Well I finally got around to unpacking the last few boxes! And that meant I could finally get my craft room organized and put away. It's been a labor of love, and I'm so happy to have my space back!

This was an "In progress" photo. See those shelves? I found all of them for a grand total of $10 at the local thrift store. I was totally psyched to find them!

UGLY UGLY UGLY vertical blinds! Not creative at all! Just ugly and loud when the wind blows. They had to go immediately.

This is the after picture! Standing in the doorway to the room, my craft space calls to me!

See the curtains? I took down the blinds and slipped a safety pin on each tab and put that in the clips on the track instead. The Love, Faith, Hope on the top of the track are actual little candle holders my mom gave me. They don't have any candles in them, but I love the way they look sitting on top of the curtains.

My chair set up and waiting for me at the sewing machine. I decided to hang one of my favorite quilts on the wall behind me for inspiration! (Ignore the stuff on the ironing board, I forgot to move that stuff after I was done with the room! Oops...)

My view from the end of the table. I have the TV set up to watch some Netflix and TV while in there working on something crafty. My most favorite part of this view is the shelf above the TV.

While I was organizing all my craft supplies I found some old vinyl sayings that were supposed to be used on a different project that I decided to up cycle. The best phrase I found was "thankful". This is a great reminder to me every time I look at it to be thankful for my awesome craft space.

These shelves I found at the thrift store for under $10. I love how my stuff is organized and within easy reach for fast crafts! The bin on the floor is full of fabric waiting to be turned into a project.

The other side of the shelves with my "Live Laugh Love" Wall hanging on the closet door.

I just love the look of this quilt on the wall. It gives so much warmth to the room and makes me feel ready to create.

Now it's hard to not want to spend time in this room. It's warm, it's inviting and I'm ready to create every time I look at it.

I am so in love with this room! There's a lot of things I'd like to do to make it better, (More shelves!) but for now I'l take what I can get. This is just such a blessing for me after having my crafty stuff boxed up and stored for the last year and a half. I haven't really had a space to go and create and it's been driving me crazy!

Tell me where do you get to tap into your creativity?

My Crochet Daisy Blanket!

2014-05-25T22:52:00.002-06:00

My childhood best friend is having baby #5 in July. We've known each other since I was the age of her youngest daughter, so of course I had to whip something up! I was in need of something to do at work (working graveyard shift in a call center!) and so I decided to do a little crochet blanket.

I saw this daisy blanket pattern on Repeat Crafter Me, and knew this was the one I had to do!

I followed her step-by-step instructions and soon had enough little granny squares to form the blanket. (They're super easy to make, I can whip one up in about half an hour!) Then I had to make sure to lay them out in a way that didn't hurt my head. I didn't want too many of the same color in the same place, but yet I still wanted a slightly random look. This is the layout I finally settled on.

Then it came time to join them together. I once again followed her instructions and single crocheted between the squares. I used purple as an accent color and love how it made the squares really pop!

Then I tested which of the daisy flowers I like better. The one on the left looks kind of like Sponge Bob's friend Patrick...not so much like a flower to put on a blanket. So I settled for the daisy on the right. These are so fun and easy to make!

Made a couple different color variations and couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I figured I'd use both!

Testing to make sure that they fit within my squares and that I liked the placement before I made any more. Turns out I loved it and couldn't stop making them once I got started!

Then I had to figure out which flower went where. This was almost as bad as the square layout in the first place! My head hurt after this! (Notice the signs of being at work? The Diet Coke, the phone cord, the computer screen? It was 3am..there was nothing to do but this project!)

When I finally had all the daisy's made and attached the way I liked, then it was time for a border. I did one row of single crochet all the way around to square things up, then did a simple ruffle border around that. I originally wanted to do a few single crochet rows in each color, but decided I liked this for a little girl better.

All in all I think it turned out super cute! What do you think??

DIY Picture Frame Book Ends

2014-04-07T18:24:00.001-06:00

Hello my friends! This has been a crazy couple of weeks. With work schedules and living, and cleaning I haven't had a heck of a lot of time for crafting. However this last weekend I was finally able to complete my very first craft project in our new home! I've got so many ideas for things I want to do to this place that I'm having trouble keeping track of them all. (Let alone all the $$ I would need to accomplish them!)

So we've lived here a month, and I haven't yet unpacked a few rooms. My craft room for one, and the bedroom for another. The bedroom has been stressing me out because I can't relax in there without unpacking. But to unpack my bedroom I had to start with my books. I have some really cool built in shelves in our bedroom that I planned to put my books on. The issue is that they're kind of floating in the middle of the wall with no way to support the books on each end.

I tried looking for some bookends at a few places, Walmart, etc but couldn't find anything that hit the spot. I wanted something a little more...me...so to Pinterest I went. I stumbled across this blog. I loved the idea of pictures as my bookends. So off I went. The blog says to use some shadow boxes, but I couldn't find any, so it was regular old picture frames for me. I found these at Walmart for about $2.50 a piece. SCORE!

Of course when I got them home I was too excited to get started to wait and take a picture, but you'll get the idea. I started off by painting my frames. I chose black and purple to match my re-done antique dresser.

(See the can of Diet Coke? I was a happy girl, crafting and caffeine!)

In her post the blogger attached a peice of MDF to the back of her shadow box frames for stability. Now I couldn't find what I needed that fit that description so I went with some wooden letters that added some great stability. The letter "E" seemed to do quite nicely, so this is me painting the support to make sure it can help hold up the books.

The next order of business was to add some weight to the picture frame. The regular frame itself was not heavy enough to help support the weight of the books. I whipped out my hot glue gun and some of these floral beads. I glued beads to the supporter and to the cardboard backing of the picture frame. When it was all done, it was nice and heavy.

I did this on all four picture frames. I then sealed the paint and the beads with a nice coat of spray on Mod Podge. (Let me tell you how great the room smelled after two hours alone with the door closed with hot glue and Mod Podge!)

The result of this adventure were four decked out picture frames ready for family pictures. I chose a few different ones to represent the people in my life I love the most. You would never know that these were reinfored in the back and ready to hold up the written word!

The result is a few picture frames that I can change the pictures out in every so often, but still have a really great bookend!

Our wedding picture likely won't change however...

(Do you notice my jewelry hanger fits nicely on the wall next to the bookcase? I am loving that I'm able to pull most of my craftiness together into one space!)

I am so happy with how these turned out! It's made my bedroom more relaxed and peaceful. (At least for me!) Now I can relax in bed with a good book and know that the shelves are ready for my next reading adventure.

Chevron Homestead Sign VOTES NEEDED!

2014-03-14T15:34:00.001-06:00

Since moving into our new apartment, my brain has been spinning like a hamster running in a wheel. How can I decorate this place and give it my "stamp". It's an apartment so I can't do too much to it in ways of paint or wallpaper. But I can do something with it, but what...?So therein lies the issue.

For the longest time I've wanted to make one of those signs that says "established...". Do you know what I mean? My grandparents had a wood sign posted outside their home for all the years I can remember. I am not a wood decor kind of girl...I am a quilty kind of girl!

I spent a few hours fiddling around with my quilt program and came up with a couple of different options. My favorite colors are purple white and silver (or black depending on what it is). I have all hand-me-down furniture and so I don't really have one cohesive design in my home decor wise. So my jumping off point is just my favorite colors. I did re-do this dresser a few months back and it's become one of my most awesome pieces of furniture. So I figured maybe something like this might get the creative juices flowing.

And flow they did! I came up with several plans for the new sign I'm going to make, but the problem is I can't chose which one I like the best! So I need your help dear readers. Take a look at these two established signs and tell me which one speaks to you more. It comes down to the lettering mostly.

I'm leaning more towards this one, but I can't decide!

This one speaks to me too, but I can't decide which one I like more.

So help a girl out! Tell me which one you like the most! Or if you don't like either one, say that too. (Just nicely because I'm not the kind of girl who cries pretty...)

This is going to be the very first piece of decor that I make that will be the jumping off point for all decisions in the future, so I'm hoping I don't screw it up! I'm so excited to crack open my sewing machine and fabric stash you can't even imagine. It's been almost a year for this quilter and I'm going nuts! So as soon as I've decided which one of these I like most I'll be diving right in.

Thanks for all the help everyone! Happy Friday!

Breaking (Back Into) Blogger

2014-03-12T16:59:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! It's certainly been a while since I've whipped out the blogger interface and written anything. I'm not even sure who is still reading. (Echo-ing silence fills the auditorium!) There have been so many changes to the blogging world in the last year. I see trends going on that I'm not able to keep up with, I see new ways of posting and new awesome social media outlets. I see blogging friends that I've been fans of since I started blogging disappear, and new ones crop up. I've seen old friends re-name their blogs and have tremendous success. I've seen new ideas for ways to gain readers, I've seen amazing projects and stories. I want to be a part of this again. But there's one tiny problem.

I'm scared.

I want to break back into this world, it used to bring me so much joy. And I'm going to but it's like a brand new experience all over again. This last year for me has been a roller coaster. There have been some awesome moments, and a lot of not so awesome moments. All combined it's kept me away from this world that I've grown to love so much.

Where am I going with this post? I'm not too sure myself. For all intents and purposes, I'm feeling like coming back. I am a little more stable in my personal life and once again feel like CRAFTING! I haven't had the opportunity to do so in so long and I'm going NUTS!!! So today I decided to heck with unpacking I'm going to sit down and do some crafting. Just for me. It's nothing special, but I did want to share it with you all.

When you move for some reason your stuff tends to disappear. I'm not quite sure where it heads off to. Does it end up in the same place as all those lonely missing socks from the dryer? Does it take a vacation to the Caribbean and never come back? Do the neighbor kids that are helping you move see something and decide to find it a new "home". I'm not so sure. All I know is that in the process of unpacking my kitchen after this last move, all of my dishcloths have up and vanished. So today I sat down with my crochet hook a ball of yarn and several episodes of "Bones" and made a few to put in the kitchen.

I loved this project because it's so simple that I can do it practically without thinking. It just takes an hour or so and viola, more dishcloths!

So here's the few that I've worked up,and I hope whoever is still reading emjoys this rambling post. Next time I think I'll post an update on where we're at and my new apartment that I get to decorate!

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you next time.

Fingerless crochet gloves. Perfect for the fall weather!

2013-10-20T16:09:00.003-06:00

Hello all! I hope you're having a great Sunday. I just popped in to show off some things really fast before I get back to enjoying my lazy perfect weather Sunday.

With the weather changing I've been doing more crochet projects. This has two reasons. First off, I haven't been able to set up my sewing table again yet since the move. It's in the works, but as of right now it's still in boxes and scattered all over the storage room. Second reason is that I've been dealing with a back problem which makes my mobility limited. I need something creative to do to not lose my mind and so I've gotten back into my crocheting lately.

I've been crocheting since I was 13, but it's kind of been a dormant hobby. But I think these two projects turned out rather well if I do say so myself. I'll be having them for sale officially on my Etsy shop very soon. (need to do some maintence after the long hiatus!) In the meantime take a look and tell me what you think.

This pair of fingerless gloves is a short style coming up to the wrist. It has a flower on the back to add some fun! Extra warm and stylish for the changing weather.

This pair of gloves is longer with an optional strap around the wrist for added security. It also adds a bit of style!

Both of these can be custom ordered, (if you're interested) or you can just feast your eyes and wish you had something this cool (or warm) to wear! :-)

Thanks for popping in my friends! Have a great remainder of your weekend!

Long Time No Blog!

2013-08-21T13:56:00.001-06:00

Wow. I mean seriously. Wow. Where do I even start. I've been out of the blog world for so long it feels like I'm starting over. I've missed it! I've missed you guys! I've missed reading up on posts, and doing crafty things. So I decided today now that life is calming down a little to come back! The rest of it will work itself out, and I'll re-learn how to blog I suppose.

First thing's first. I've got myself a brand new home! After six months of life tossing me around like a Kleenex in a tornado, we've finally found a home again. Feast your eyes!

Our living room...the red wall HAS GOT TO GO!!!

Red wall is HIDEOUS!

Love our kitchen, and apparently the three year old does too!

We haz pantry

My bedroom. The vinyl saying is gone now...it was crumbling, gross, and just not me...

Our huge backyard!

My master walk in closet!

My master bathroom! (I promise it looks better now!)

Bedroom across the hall!

Downstairs living room!

Unfinished bedroom downstairs, we're going to use as the man cave...and apparently hubby wants Sponge Bob to stay put...go figure!

My future sewing room! The orange wall is hideous, and will be painted over ASAP!

Remember this post a while back about my friend from high school who got married and took on a ready-made family? Well I'm living with his family! It's a long story, but the Readers Digest version of it is that Alisha and I have been friends since high school and just basically lost touch. We re-connected when she married my friend Nathan, and we've gone through some crap together ever since. We decided that family is what you make it, and decided that we'd make this a family. So we're living together, and waiting anxiously for her solider to come home!

We're slowly unpacking and putting things away. Finding places for everything and re-discovering things that have been in storage for six months. I am itching to get back to my crafting! We need to find a few things to re-create a sewing room, namely a TABLE! So as soon as I get those things together I'll be diving headfirst back into crafting. What a great excuse now too! New house, new projects.

The best part of this for me is that we're into our new place just in time for my FAV time of year...the "Brrs". SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER! I love fall, and how I have several reasons to celebrate it.

I cannot wait my friends to get back into the swing of blogging. I've missed it, missed you guys, missed reading about your lives and getting inspired by your creativity! Have a wonderful week friends, and I'll see you again really soon! :-)

Summer, Pools, Flip Flops, and Textbooks? (Sponsored Post)

2013-06-08T13:51:00.002-06:00

Summer is officially upon us guys! It's longer days, warmer weather, swimming pools and flip flops!

However, some of us are still in school with summer school and summer semesters in college. My dad is actually one of the later ones. He's in his 50's and back in school to get his masters in teaching! We're so proud of him! 30+ years in the field of construction management and he realized his old body is going to give out on him sometime. (His words not mine!) So he decided to go get his education furthered to prepare. To me that's a great example that it's never to late to learn as much as you can!

The one thing that is hard for my Dad is the ever rising cost of textbooks, and supporting a family at the same time. As his kid, I try to do whatever I can to lessen the burden on him and give back wherever I can. So when I ran across CampusBookRentals.com I decided to check it out for him. I was actually very pleased at what I found! Check out some of the perks.

-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-flexible renting periods

They also have a new program called RentBack. RentBack is a new initiative that allows students to rent the textbooks they own - to other students! Which is awesome because it makes them 2-4x more money compared to what they'd make through buyback options! (selling their books back at the end of the semester) Isn't that awesome?!

One of the other cool things about this company is that they make a donation to Operation Smile with every textbook rented! Operation Smile provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities for children around the world.

So if you're in college, or know someone in college that needs some good deals on textbooks, check out campusbookrentals.com and see how they can help you with your textbook needs!

And if you're not in college, or don't have to worry about school until fall, then go get in the pool and drink a Diet Coke! (I mean seriously, why are you online anyway?)

Happy Weekend!

Hitting Rock Bottom

2013-05-30T17:12:00.001-06:00

Hello all my blogging friends. I know it's been quite a while since I've checked in here. Life has thrown us a few curve balls in the last couple of months, and I really haven't had much time to check in with all my friends. It's something I've sorely missed! (And need to get back into!)

Today I'm not going to go into the in-s and out-s of what's been going on, because I honestly don't want to come across as whining or being ungrateful. I'm counting my blessings daily and trying to keep on keeping on. Today's post is honestly me reaching out to you my friends for some advice. It's times like these that I appreciate and love even more the community of bloggers that we belong to. You have such a network of people to draw from in times of need!

First of all I want you all to know that any and all comments, advice are welcome. I'm honestly at a point where there can be no bad advice. So here's the question. How to recover when you've hit rock bottom financially?

Let me first give you some background on us so you know where we're coming from. When Eric and I first got married six and a half years ago, I had some debt that I was managing, but quickly it got out of control. We could blame this on several factors, but what it all boils down to is that we were irresponsible with our money. We were young and in love, and made some horrible choices. When we first got married, Eric was paying on some payday loans, that we let go on for about two years, living off of them so to speak. It finally got to a point that we decided to suck it up and pay them off, and I'm glad we did! The sense of relief was awesome!

Then two months later, Eric lost his job. We were totally blindsided and had nothing in reserve. We spent a year and a half living on unemployment and food stamps, looking for work. We ended up having to move back to Utah with my parents (a tad humiliating) and look for a job.

Fast forward to feb of this year. Our landlord told us he wasn't renewing our lease because he had family that needed our apartment. We once again had nothing in reserve, and we were barely scraping by as it was. We ended up having to live with friends for a couple of months, and now with my parents once again. (If it was humiliating before, it's completely embarassing now...)

So here it is. Eric has a job that pays about $11.75/hour with benefits and a 401K. He's been there a year and a half, and it's looking steady. We don't have a car payment because we bought a car outright. We do have car repairs come up every once in a while. Our insurance is paid through his work, so we do't have to worry about that. We have no credit cards, because everything is in collections. We've had two cars repossessed, and both he and I have student loans. Our credit is so bad we couldn't finance a can of peas if we tried.

We are completely horrible with our finances. We have hit rock bottom because of this. We get paid on a Friday, and by Sunday night it's gone. (I honestly think our biggest problem is that right there, we go for so long with literally no money that when we do have $$ again we just go crazy and spend it!)

I'm sick and tired of this. I think it could all be fixed with willpower, but I honestly don't know where to start to get things fixed. My question to you readers is this. How do you recover from rock bottom with your finances? How to apply willpower and budgeting? What has worked for you in your financial life? What hasn't worked? What luxuries do you allow yourself when creating a budget? How do you keep from overspending?

Please give me all comments and suggestions you can think of. I need a jumping off point so we can get some momentum to get things turned around.

Ready...set...go!

Springtime Updates

2013-04-02T12:56:00.000-06:00

Well my friends, it feels like it's been forever since I sat down and updated this blog. We had a very long, very stressful month and a half but I think we're finally at a point where we can breathe a little easier.

So we moved! Our landlord needed our basement apartment for family at the end of our lease, so he told us mid-Feb that he wouldn't be renewing the lease. So we scrambled around for a place to live. We couldn't find the right fit for us under our time crunch and financial situation, so we ended up moving in with some friends. We're living with them for a while as we attempt to find the right place for us. It's been a little over a week and so far there's been no eye gouging or hair pulling, so we'll see how it goes.

I don't have my craft station set up in full, so for a little while I'll have to get my craft fix by going and sniffing things in Hobby Lobby...maybe that will help! Other than that I've got a stash of yarn sitting here I can attempt to make something with to keep my hands busy.

Also, I've stumbled upon a great product that I wanted to share with you all. It's called It Works! and it's completely incredible! They have products to help with pretty much everything ranging from weight loss, to supplements, to skin care products. I have tried the supplements line and it's pretty much changed my life.

As many of you may know, I struggle with depression and anxiety pretty hardcore. I was given a week's supply of the supplement called "Confianza" to try. Confianza is a naturally based supplement that increases your energy levels while reducing stress and fatigue. Its special blend of herbs was developed to provide a safe way to enhance your ability to cope with all forms of stress: physical, emotional, or environmental.

I took this supplement every day for a week and was amazed at the results. It boosted the effects of the anti-depressant that I take everyday, and it made my stress levels and anxiety virtually go away. Nothing else I've ever tried has made this big of a difference to the way I feel about stress and anxiety! I was taking these supplements during the week of our move, and normally I would have been wigged out and stressing to the max. With these supplements, I was still stressed, but it brought the levels down to a manageable level for me. I have NEVER before felt something that gave me that drastic a change.

The best thing about their entire product line is it's 100% natural. Nothing in it is in any way manufactured or hard for your body. It's all natural herbs and extracts from things that God placed here on this earth for us to use.

You can check out more information on this product line, by going to my website http://ajohnson.myitworks.com. All the information is there, along with ingredients listed and a wide range of products to help with every concern you have.

I don't push stuff on people if I don't believe in it. And even when I believe in it, I don't want to pressure you for a "sale" or anything of the sort. I honestly believe in these products and what they can do to help everyone, and wanted you to have this knowledge because I thought it would help you out. So check it out or not, that's up to you!

So that's my shameless plug for the day, but honestly go check it out! They're AMAZING!

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday and enjoying this beautiful Spring weather!

March Sponsor Love

2013-03-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Happy March everyone! I'm thrilled today because it's 45degrees and sunny! That may seem cold, but we've been stuck in the teens and 20's for the last month, so I'll take it! It seems a pity that I'm stuck inside packing and hunting for a house! I think I need some ideas on how to get me outside enjoying the sunshine...

And what a coincidence I'm introducing to you my March Sponsor!

I believe Kathy from Adventure Mom will give me all the ideas and inspiration I need for some awesome outdoor activity! She is a local blogger who is all about the great outdoors! Take it away Kathy!

How do you raise kids that value the nature and outdoor

adventure more than electronic media?

Advancements in technology have created a generation of kids that are more adept

at navigating an electronic tablet than their own backyard.

Adventure Mom aims to help modern moms take kids outside by offering

easy-to-replicate exploration ideas. We’re helping adventurous moms raise

adventurous kids who are worn-out after a day full of outdoor fun.

I think Kathy has the right idea! Her blog definitely gave me some ideas on what to do this weekend to enjoy this awesome weather. How about you guys? Need some inspiration?

Make sure to go check her out on her Facebook page as well as follow her on Twitter. And most definitely check out her blog for awesome ideas on how to have adventures beyond the electronics in your home! Check out her button in the sidebar and show some love to Adventure Mom!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Moving...version 34.2

2013-02-25T18:04:00.002-07:00

I stopped and counted the other day. In my 30 years of life, I have moved a grand total of 37 times. No my father was not in the military, and no we aren't hippies (two most commonly asked questions). Life has just happened and my family growning up moved a lot...and as a married person we've moved a few times. When we moved to Utah I was pretty sure I was done moving for a while.

Until last week when our landlord showed up at our door.

And announced he wasn't renewing our lease.

It's up at the end of March...and he has family who needs our little apartment.

So out we go.

Needless to say...it's been a tad crazy around here the last week.

We thought we had a place to crash with my parents, but that fell through...so now we're scrambling to pack and find a place and keep our sanity and our marriage in tact...Can I just tell you how annoying it is to be packing when you have absolutely no idea where you're moving to? Yeah...it's the best...

(insert sarcastic groan here)

So I'm busy this week scouring the apartment listings, and finding boxes, and going through my things and donating lots to the thrift store. I'm going to have some sponsored posts go up in the next few days from my amazing sponsors, but other than that, it might be a little quiet around the blog for the next few days.

Tell me, how many times have you moved in your life? What's your secret to packing and staying organized? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear your story!

Start Drooling Over the Best Marbled Cheesecake Brownies!

2013-02-18T13:11:00.003-07:00

Yep...still sick. And when you're sick, you do whatever you can to make yourself feel better. I have no shame in admitting that I've likely eaten more than my fair share of the recipe below. Oh well...that's life!

So I'm sharing with you one of my most favorite recipes...with a swirl! These brownies are incredibly easy to whip up, and gives you the chocolate fix that you are craving. (admit it, you know you are!) This is one of those homemade recipes that has been kicking around my cookbook for years, that is just "standard" and today I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Its made with apple sauce instead of butter, and egg whites, so it's a healthy (or at least low fat) version than what I've grown up with, but still delicious! At just over 100 calories per brownie, that's my kind of party!

Marbled Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie:
1 cup Applesauce
2 cups sugar
4 egg whites
2 tsp baking powder
8tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Cheesecake filling:
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp evaporated milk

Directions:
Blend together applesauce sugar, egg whites salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add in cocoa powder mixing completely, then add the flour. Make sure it's mixed in well!

Pour brownie mixture into a greased 13X9 inch pan and set aside

Combine cream cheese, sugar, egg white, vanilla, lemon juice and evaporated milk in a bowl and whip with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Spoon cream cheese mixture over brownie mix in pan. Using a knife slowly swirl the mixes together to create the marbled affect.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until tootpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

These went fast at my house...and rightfully so. The brownie part is the family recipe, but I decided to play around with the filling to see what kind of result I'd get. Good thing I did!

This is the last bite of thse little sinful devils that I made short work of just now.

Do you want the nutritional information on this brownie? Click on the "Magic" button below to grab it!

So what are you waiting for? Stop reading this blog and go get busy in the kitchen!

I'd love to hear from you if you make these?

What are some of your favorite sinful desserts?

PS. Have you checked out the advertising available on Quilted Euphoria? Packages start at just $10! So click here to check out the details and send me an email if you're interested!

March Advertising Sponsorships

2013-02-17T14:27:00.003-07:00

Happy Sunday all!

I am currently writing this from my sickbed...I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffy head...and figured that wasn't going to keep me from going to the "Build Your Blog Conference" hosted by Six Sisters Stuff. So I went...(and had a blast! More info and pictures on that coming soon!) But by the time I got home I had lost my voice. So I guess it's my turn with this stupid cold that everyone has had recently. (Grumble...)

So today I wanted to announce that Quilted Euphoria will now be selling ad space!

*Insert wild cheering and applause*

This is the first time in almost two years of blogging that I've offered this up, and I wanted to give you my awesome readers first stab at it, before I started ~~pimping~~ marketing this blog out elsewhere! ;-)

So check out the stats below, and if you're interested in advertising with me, just shoot me an email at amber (at) quiltedeuphoria (dot) com. Happy Sunday guys!

This blog began in April 2011.

As of February 1st, 2013

GFC followers: 281

Followers via facebook: 394

Unique page views last month: 4,551

Average unique page views per day: 250

Average posts per week: 2-3

All of my social media networks are slowly growing!

So this is a great way to jump in and maximize your exposure.

The Packages:

The large package: $20 (buy two months for just $35!)

You will receive your 250X250 button posted in my sidebar. Plus a feature on my blog introducing you to my readers, and getting your name out there. Plus you will get a shoutout in each of my posts during the month. (IE I will post a little love and drive some traffic to you at the bottom of each post that month)

The medium package: $15 (Buy two months for only $25!)

You will receive your 175X175 button posted in my sidebar, and I will do a shoutout on facebook and twitter and help promote you each time you have something that needs love. You can send me links to whatever you want to get highlighted that month, and I will help promote you.

The small package: $10 (buy two months for just $15)

You will receive your 125X125 button posted in my sidebar for the month. You will get a mention in a group sponsor post for that month. I will help send traffic to posts you tell me need some love via my social media outlets.

I also offer free advertising in the form of button swaps, guest posts, and sponsoring giveaways for my blog! Shoot me an email with questions or comments.

If you'd like to sign up to become a sponsor, please send me an email and we can get started! We're now starting advertising spaces for March!

I'm really excited to start offering ad space, so now's the time to jump on board and book your space. Have a great weekend dear readers, and I hope to hear back from you soon!

I want to live inside Pinterest. Who's with me?

2013-02-09T13:02:00.001-07:00

Ever have one of those days where everything in your life just seems to be out of whack? And in turn it makes you want to whack something? Yeah...that's me today.

I had to put on my fat clothes this morning, and they were even too tight. Which made me cranky. Some unexpected life events happened this weekend which in turn made me have to re-evaluate things on the fly. I hate that! Then I came home and saw the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, and lamented the fact that I had just done dishes two days ago...and why are they reproducing at this rate? Do they not use birth control?

Then I went in to use the bathroom and noticed how frumpy I was looking today after all this bad news. And shrugged my shoulders, turned to get in the shower and saw it was snowing...again...(I usually like snow, but we've had a lot of it this year, and I'm ready for spring!)

We got paid this weekend which is usually a cause for great celebration in our home. But this week we had more bills than money...and we grumped around about that too...*sigh*

I don't mean to turn this into a whining post, I really don't. But today I'm living without pretending. Life can't always be the pictures on Pinterest of perfect homes, perfect craft projects, happy people and sunshine days.

Some days (actually more days than we want to admit even to ourselves) are un-perfect. We have to pull out the fat clothes, guzzle Diet Coke in vast quantities just to stay alert through the day. Do dishes, wipe up after dogs, skip showers, and take cars to the repair shop. It's a struggle, and sometimes it just gets us down.

My life would be a lot more perfect if I lived inside Pinterest. Anyone want to join me? I'll split the cost of a moving truck with you...