Innovative Solutions- Jewelry Storage

Instead of all my jewelry ending up on a big heap on my dresser or in some little box, where it gets all tangled up, or strewn around the house, I hang it all up on a cork board. It works great for earrings, bracelets, necklaces and even hair accessories.

Idaho Trip

Once upon a time last weekend, we took a trip up to Idaho with my husbands parents. We visited His aunts and uncles place where we played games and hung out.

We drove by the Idaho temple. It was pretty.

We stopped at these falls. I think they were called the shoshone falls. They were cool. I didn't grow up near much water, so it's fun to see this kind of stuff.

Lastly, we went to this amazing dinner that a member of their stake who owns a restaurant put on. It was by far the most elaborate church activity I have ever been to. It was like going to a restaurant. The tables were set up formally with decor from his restaurant as table centerpieces and it was fancy stuff. Everyone dressed up. There were pasta options of penne, spaghetti, chicken alfredo, and lasagne. There was salad, breadsticks, and french bread. Everything you would get at the restaurant. Afterward there was dancing. I made my husband get up and dance with me. We were the second couple to go out on the dance floor in a room full of people we didn't know. You should have seen how bright red his face went. It was epic. Sorry I don't have pictures of this part. I only made him dance through 1 song.

The end.

Budget Friendly Meals- Chicken Wraps

I'd have to say that my favorite meal this week was chicken wraps and I thought I would share my recipe with you, so you can enjoy them too.

I started out with this stir fry meat from Macey's.

It is already pre-chopped up for me. yay.

Fry it up and add Chicken seasoning. yum.

Next, I got out all my ingredients: Lettuce, tomatoes, tortillas, ranch dressing, and cheese.

Wash and chop up your tomatoes and lettuce and grate your cheese.

Put it all on a tortilla.

Wrap it up, and eat it.

Delicious.

Letter Pillows

Christmas 2010, when my husband and I were still dating, I made him these letter pillows:

Green is is favorite color and I thought it was a cute way for him to remember me each night before he fell asleep. He loved them (and still does)

They were super easy to make. If you have never sewed anything in your life, this is probably a good starting point for you. I would say that this pattern, by far, is the easiest pattern I have ever used. Its simplicity 4928.

I used fleece to make these, but you could really use any material you want. Its a very versatile pattern. All you do is cut out 2 of each letter pattern provided out of whatever fabric you want. Then you sew the two sides together (right sides together) almost all the way. Turn it inside out and stuff it with poly-fil. Then hand sew the rest shut. Easy. This would probably be a great pattern to teach your children how to sew with and a great way to use remnants. You only need about 1/3 to 1/2 of a yard for each letter.

Innovative Solutions- Pants

Since we are living in a small Provo apartment, sometimes we have to come up with innovative ways and places to store things. So I thought that periodically I will share some space saving ideas with you all.

Those hangers that have the clips on each end that you get when you buy new clothing can sometimes be a pain. I use them to hang up my pants- one on each end. It saves space in my closet and puts those hangers to good use.

More Printables and a Pizza

I've got a couple more items in my shop.

Families are Forever

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

Also, We make pizza on a pretty regular basis at our place. It fits nicely into our college student food budget. So I thought I would share a picture of the yumminess we get to eat all the time. My crust recipe is HERE. I just use a can of Hunts traditional tomato sauce and mix in pizza seasoning from WinCo. and colby jack cheese and dontt forget to put cornmeal on the pan.

Taggie Toy

I have a whole box of ribbons lying around, and I couldn't even tell you exactly why, because I almost never buy ribbon. Well, I decided to use some of it up by making this little taggie toy. I have no idea what I am going to do with it. I guess i will have a child someday that can play with it.

Anyway, it was super simple. I just sewed some fabrics together to form a square.

For the back side, I cut out a square of fleece. Then I pinned the ribbons in between the two fabrics. Make sure you have right sides together for this step.

Sew ALMOST all the way around. Leave an opening to turn your toy right side out. Then sew your opening up.

This is a great sensory toy to help with textures and colors.

Doing the Dishes

The other day I really needed to do the dishes, but my apron was dirty, and I didn't want to do the dishes in my normal clothes, because then they would get dirty, so I whipped up this little number, and got the dishes done.

This damask fabric was a table runner from my wedding. The pink was a fabric quarter. First I cut a rectangle out for the top part and two long strips for the neck straps. I cut out a rectangle of pink and three strips for the ruffles. I just cut a big circle for the bottom and cut the top off of the circle to make it flat to match up with the pink rectangle. Then I sewed it all together. ta da.

Hint: a really easy way to make those ruffles is to turn the tension on your sewing maching all the way up and turn your stitch length to the longest stitch. Then just sew away. The machine does all the ruffling work. You don't need any special thread, needles, or presser feet. Also, I didn't hem the ruffles either. I just brushed the edges with clear nail polish. Its lots cheaper then fray check and just as effective.

Date #2

Yesterday, we went on Date #2 of our twelve dates of Christmas and it was so much fun! Here is the paper that went with it:

Basically we were doing a slumber party. We had a free redbox rental coupon, and so we got cars 2, because my husband just loves Mater.

We splurged on a Little Ceasar's $5.00 hot and ready pizza for dinner.

And we filled the front room with all our pillows and blankets, cuddled up, watched our movie, and ate dinner.

After the pizza was gone, we had popcorn. extra butter. yum.

After the movie, we filled out quizzes about each other. 99 questions. It was fun to guess at each others answers and we learned some new stuff. Then we just stayed up and talked. It was lots of fun.

Stay tuned for date #3

Crafting Budget

So today I checked my bank account statement to add up how much I have spent at craft stores. Since it is a new account from getting married, my statements only go back to July 2011. That is seven months, and in the past seven months I have spent a grand total of $9.06. Yea, you read that right. nine dollars and six cents.

So now that I have had my moment of bragging, for all you other crafters out there, you can imagine what a great accomplishment this is. Most of the things I make that are featured on this blog are from scraps and stuff I already have on hand. I would like to encourage everyone to see how resourceful they can be this year with the crafting supplies you already own.

New Skirt

This has been a busy sewing week for me, and I am excited to show you the new skirt I made, so here it is. I'm sorry about the awful quality of the pictures, my camera was doing funky things.

I used a regular pencil skirt pattern and added a ruched strip down the front. Then I sewed in ruffles to add a little bit of length.