Something For Your Valentine's Day

As you all know, I love blog surfing. My favorites are the do-it-yourself kinds. I love the feeling of seeing something and thinking, "I could totally do that!" The DIY Show Off is one of those blogs that always has great ideas for all levels of crafters. In honor of The Pink Holiday (as Suzanne calls it) I'm posting some awesome V-Day craft ideas from The DIY Show Off and featured guests. They're all inexpensive so why not try more than one?



Valentine's Topiary



My personal favorite, the Wooden Love Banner



Here's the scoop, I like you!




Kiss, Kiss!



Love Birds, another favorite

Yummy Pincushions!

Check out these tasty looking Homegrown Tomato and Teacup pincushions from none other than Martha Stewart. After looking through some of her craft ideas I'm thinking I need to visit her more often. Is that super cliche? Martha Stewart? Either way, these are sweet.

A closer look at the Teacup pincushion made me realize that my mom received something VERY similar for a Christmas gift from a neighbor, only instead of a teacup they made a cupcake. The top is identical, but the base was made from some sort of ribbing. You can find each of the tutorial for the Teacup/Cupcake at the link above. I am so going to make some of these!

Free Stuff Rocks

I came across this little beauty while blog surfing (one of my new favorite past times at work). The good news is that it's free through Valentine's Day! I love me a little hand-stitched goodness. Check out Urban Threads other great stuff while you're there, including their awesome tutorials! Trust me, you'll like it.

A word of caution: if you're anything like me, all of this talk about embroidery will make you want to get an embroidery machine! But they're just so dang expensive!

The Practice Quilt

A month or two ago I started working on my practice quilt. I didn't care how the end result looked, as long as I learned something! But once I had sewn all the blocks together it looked nice and I decided to keep going with it. It's now a 58" x 51" quilt that very closely resembles something you'd make a baby. Honestly I just used scraps of fabric I had left over from some other projects and they happened to all coordinate. Don't judge. But someday it will be for a little girl, we just don't have one at the moment.




When I finally finished the quilt top I opted to quilt my quilt (not tie it). I've never done this before but I figured there's no better way to learn than on a practice quilt. So that's exactly what I'm doing. I "stitched in the ditch" for the center of the quilt, around the blocks. I'm hand quilting everything else. I think it's easier than what I first imagined, but it is time consuming. I'm having fun though and it's a great outlet! I'm so glad Edward made a quilt frame for me because it's coming in handy.

Stuffed Mushrooms

This is the first time I've posted a recipe (my own, too) so if I leave something out, forgive me. I made these for the first time last night and I love them! My brother made some a couple of weeks ago and they were eaten up so fast! He couldn't find the recipe he used so I just made my own. Enjoy!

about 30 small - medium size mushrooms (I used baby portobellos)
12 oz package of ground sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)
about 3/4 cup soft bread crumbs (I made my own in the food processor)
2 beaten eggs
about 1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar flavored rice cheese since I'm allergic to dairy)
onion powder
garlic powder
salt

Remove the stems from mushrooms and chop fine in food processor.
Cook sausage over med-high heat. Chop fine in food processor.
In a large bowl combine cooked sausage, mushroom stems, bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs and cheese. Cook over med-low heat until thoroughly heated and cheese is melted.
Add onion powder, garlic powder and salt to taste.
Remove from heat.
Arrange mushrooms in baking pan or on a cookie sheet. Stuff with cooked mixture.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 mins.

Experiment with different seasonings! I haven't had a chance to do it yet since this was my first time making them. I took some pictures of the finished mushrooms but none of them turned out. Just imagine that they look really good!

Just Another Card

I ended up making a birthday card for my soon-to-be 25 year old brother and this is how it turned out. It's fun... and I'll admit I stole the idea from Allison's Love Birds card. I used my Cricut to cut out the letters and branches and my exacto knife (love it!) to cut out the owls. On the inside of the card is a cute little bear and snail. I used Glossy Accents to make the owls eyes stand out and to raise some of the dots in the background. I love paper.


On another note, I finished my "practice quilt" top yesterday! I totally spaced taking pictures of it so I'll add some soon. It turned out great for a practice run!

Cards for Thought?

I love getting ideas from other bloggers. Here is today's contribution from me and my friend Allison. It was her first time making cards and I think she's brilliant! No stamps were used in the making of these cards. We used some Glossy Accents to add highlights. Enjoy!

Allison's "Love Birds"

Why does this LOVE card remind me of a Beatles song?

An Evolving Blog

Welcome to my new blog! I'm dedicating this blog to my self-described crafting and DIY experiences. As I learn and grow so will this blog. I am inspired by others who have shared their experiences and have helped me learn. I know it sounds super cheesy but it's true. Last year at this time I would have laughed if you had told me I would be starting a blog like this. But here I am! I look forward to sharing what I know with you!