Melon Days Sneak Peak Part 2

Here is the second half of the Melon Days booth projects and I am happy to report I am finished. I am not making another thing (well that may not be true, I might whip up a few more hair clips tomorrow...we'll see). I am going to attempt to sell some of this (all would be nice but not likely in my town) on Saturday so wish me luck.

Small reversible bibs.

Decorated wipes containers

Diapers and Wipes pouches.

Baby Booties (You can find a tutorial for these here)

Little Boys Ties (A tutorial for these can be found here. I made mine differently but the tutorial is a great source of inspiration)

Various flower and ribbon hair clips

I am sure you have seen these around (Pee Pee Teepees). I have seen them at Motherhood Maternity. They are cute but overpriced in most stores I am sure. I made these and had my husband help me come up with a different name. He is a genius. He came up with "Lil "Guy"ser Visors"

Baby is sleeping door hangers. I have always wanted one of these so I can alert my husband, In-Laws, visitors to be extra quite when entering the house while the baby is sleeping. I know, I know, I should just train my child to sleep through anything. I thought I had but I now realize that is not the case. Anyway I think they would be a super handy thing for any new parent.

Here is the girls version.

Baby glasses. I think these would be really cute on a shelf by your changing table. They are perfect for holding all the extras needed for your baby.

A few wooden signs.

Lastly a couple of "baby notes" clipboards. These could be used for writing down questions to ask your doctor, keeping track of diapers and feedings, or just writing down cute things your baby did.

There you have it. Like I say, we will see how it goes on Saturday. Stay tuned to see what I have left over and will be selling here.

Noticably Absent

Some of you may have noticed that I have been MIA from the blogging scene for a few days (okay I think it has been a week). I have been meaning to post a few things but was just struggling to find the time. Then today both my brother and a great friend called to see if all was well since I hadn't updated my blog for a bit. I knew I had to find the time. The peach canning didn't do me in so don't worry. I have just been trying to do a number of projects at the same time. When small fry naps I go outside to paint her dresser and bookshelf for about 20 minutes, then come in and move some stuff out of my old craft room and into my new, plus do my daily To Do's, have a snack, organize my new craft room and occasionally make a phone call. I am getting about 2 and 1/2 hours of free time during the day so as you can imagine I am not sitting idle during that time. So don't worry, I am okay-just 8 weeks away from having another baby and slightly stressed.

Today marked two "firsts" for me.
#1-I have spent the whole day in my husbands basketball shorts and an oversized t-shirt and yes I hate to admit it but I even went out in public. I have never done that before (always said I never would) but I must admit it has be SOOOOO comfortable. I usually get dressed in good clothes everyday because I just feel better but today I was embarking on another first (see #2) and I didn' t want to get my good clothes all dirty.
#2-I dug, washed, cooked and peeled beets in preparation for making and canning beet pickles and beet relish for my husband. I have no interest in beets myself (I peeked in beet consuption at an early age and can't think about eating them for now) but my husband loves them and so it is all for him, but it is a really messy job. But we have a great crop of beets and I still have a desire to can so they will be put to good use.
And speaking of beets I just wanted to show you our HUGE beet (like the biggest one I have ever seen)

Look at that bad boy!! And my father in law said he didn't think anything that required long roots would grow here. Hah Hah-just look at that root. Don't tell me it can't be done.

A melon days sneak peak

I still have a couple of melon days projects to finish before next weekend and the big "to do" but I thought I would post a little sneak peak of what I will be selling in my booth (Small Fry & Co. Baby Creations). This is just half of the items. I will give you a sneak peak of the other half when all are completed.

The change pad clutch (my original design)

Folding change pads (pattern courtesy of Heart to Art)

Nursing covers (You can find a variety of tutorials on line for making these. I just used my own as a pattern)

Bib gift sets (2 include booties and a burp cloth as well as the bib and the others include a change pad, a burp cloth and a diapers and wipes holder as well as the bib.)

Onesie and matching burp cloth sets.

An assortment of appliqued onesies sizes newborn to 12 months.

Just a closer look. (my favorite one is the moose. I won't be offended if it doesn't sell).

Burp cloths (both cloth diaper style and flannel & Cloth diaper style)

Large bibs. Some are with only one print of fabric and some are pieced together. All are reversible.

A closer look.

I am not sure how any of this will go over so if you see something you like after melon days I will be selling the remainder on-line. If that doesn't work then hey I have plenty of baby gifts for a a few years.

A cookie nightmare on Clark street

Have you ever had monster cookies? Oatmeal, peanut butter, sugar, M&M's, chocolate chips, lots of butter and no flour? Well they are divine by anyones cookie standards and I have been making them for a few years. A student's mom gave me the recipe a few years ago when I needed to bake a bunch of cookies for a school event. She noted on the recipe that a half batch made quite a few and I have been baking half batches all along. The instructions for a full batch tell you to mix it in a washtub so that gives you a clue as to how many it makes. Well I decided I would make some Monster cookies with the Halloween M&M's my husband bought and I set out on the project. I think that I will blame my lack of judgement on pregnancy, when I started adding in the ingredients for a full batch of cookies. I should have clued in with the dozen eggs that this is not what I normally do but no, I just kept on adding. It wasn't until the 16 cups of oatmeal that I began to realize I had made a mistake. My bowl was too full, I didn't have enough M&M's, I couldn't hardly stir the stuff and I knew I would be baking cookies for the rest of the day.
Case in point: here is the bowl of cookie dough. (this is the largest bowl I own)

My cookie dough balls (notice how few you can fit on a pan at once)

This is how they look once baked. I think due to the fact that I had way more dough than I could mix by hand in my bowl, I didn' t get it mixed enough and though the cookies taste great, they were much softer than usual and therefore were a huge pain to deal with after the fact.

I don't think that anyone will disagree with me however when I say that a stack of cookies this size with a huge glass of milk would make anyones day (not that you should ever consume that many gigantic cookies in one day...or at least not in one sitting).

Hence the nightmare on Clark street as I had cookies on my island, my counter, my table and my freezer, plus some left on the pans one the stove. What will we ever do with all of these?

Small Fry gets a trim

Though the shag hair cut seems to be popular with teenagers right now I decided it was time small fry got a bangs trim so we could see her beautiful blue eyes better. It was an ordeal just like last time and if you look really close (okay well you don't even have to get that close) they are super uneven (as my friends mom would say, "it's popular somewhere") but she looks just as darling as ever and a bit more grown up with her knew do. I would never think of paying money to have someone else go through the hastle of trying to cut her hair right now. I don' t think many hair salons have a variety of elk hunting videos to distract her either. When she is older she will probably wonder why her hair didn't look better but for now she is as happy as ever.
Before-shaggy hair sweetie in her new sandbox daddy built her the day I was canning peaches (he wanted me to mention that he was occupied in a good cause that day, not just hiding out so he didn't have to help)

And after

The only way I could get a picture of her actually looking somewhat at the camera was on the swings at the park. Oh the things a mother will do.

She's a singer

My husband was quick enough to catch small fry in action one night before dinner. We are not sure what sparked this or who it was directed too but she put on quite the performance for our water cooler this evening. Here is just a small snip it.

We pretty much think it is adorable as usual.

A day in the life of an amateur canner

Canning; my mom did it, her mother did it and on back through the generations. So it is only natural that I too would have the instinct to want to put up food in glass jars for future eating and the satisfaction that I too am preserving this seasons harvest for later enjoyment. Or something like that.
To me canning is the ultimate test in multi-tasking. Having jars hot, lids hot, syrup hot, canner hot, fruit ready all at the same time in limited space with no help, one can only feel like a truly successful (or completely insane woman) at the end of a canning day.
Last year marked my first attempt at canning and I must admit day one ended in tears and plenty of ill feelings towards my husband who spent the day hunting leaving me home with 2 boxes of peaches an a 5 month old baby. But I persevered and survived and came back stronger this year to give it another go.
So for all those who are contemplating canning or are beginner canners, or for those who are more seasoned perhaps you might recall days gone by that were similar to this experience.

Canning Peaches
The process actually begins the night before in Wal-Mart on a trip out of town for a baseball game with a screaming 16 month old because it is nearing 10PM and she has had only a 45 minute nap for the whole day. We are looking for the canning supplies. Why must every stinking Wal-Mart put things in a different place? Could not for the life of me find the canning supplies nor by that time did I care anymore anyway. Add in a cashier who looked at my crying child and said, "she seems to be having a rough time" and then proceeds to scan our items at a snails pace adding in unnecessary chit chat along the way. "Thank you Wal-Mart cashier for helping the situation." I digress.
The day of canning begins with a scan of the box of peaches acquired 2 days before. "Great, part of the peaches are spoiling." What to do? Are they usable? Who to call for answers? Who else but my mother; the canning expert in my eyes. (Side note, I learned after my first canning experience why my mom always canned through the night while there were no interruptions, the house was cooler and all children were asleep and there was no one to see the tears should they happen to flow). My mom tells me what to do about the spoiled peaches.
Then it begins:
-small fry down for a nap
-kick into warp speed
-water onto boil to blanch peaches
-jars washed in hot water and put in a sink of hot water
-blanch peaches
-peel peaches while canner goes on to begin to heat
-why are some of the peaches peeling easier than others? And why is it that a peach can be so ripe on the top it is spoiling and not ripe enough to peel off the skin on the bottom. Ughhh
-make the simple syrup
-back to the peaches, start slicing peaches.
-more slicing
-still more slicing (great what looked like only enough for one canner load now looks like it might make 2) Wasn't planning on that. Should be grateful right?
-find the lids, get them in some hot water
-Great not enough simple syrup. Add more water and sugar and boil some more.
-Start filling jars
-Add the syrup, put on the lids screw on the rings and repeat and repeat and repeat.
-Great I forgot to remove the air bubbles before putting on the lids. Now what?
-Call to the expert mother once again. Phone is busy. I will try again in a minute.
-Fill remaining jars and remove the air bubbles this time. Now what about all these left over peach slices. How long will they last? What to do with them until it is time to can again. I'll ask my mom. Call home again. Still busy. How can it be busy?
-Fill the canner with peaches (totally forgot I was going to ask about the air bubbles). Wait for water to come to a boil again. Begin to clean up. Call home again. Still busy. Doesn't she know I am canning here, how can the phone be busy for this long. She needs call waiting for sure.
-Can't waste any down time. Check my crock of pickles and remove the scum (yes it is okay that there was scum). Clean my crock of pickles and the plates. Run outside to start removing the handles from the dresser that I need to prime and paint for small fry's new room. Come back in, try calling home again. Still busy. Fine I will have to figure this out on my own. I leave the extra peaches and decide to start a second canner load when the first is done.
-The time passes and the allotted time is up. Jars come out.
-Bing Small fry cries and needs to get up.
-Ding round two begins this time only with small fry under my feet as well as the cooling racks, a pizza pan, jar lids, a spoon, sippy cup, toaster oven rack (the girl really likes racks), bread pans now are on the floor too. I keep her happy by offering small bites of apple in between filling jars and putting on lids. This time at least I don't have to slice all those peaches. I get 4 more jars in the canner and it is now time to make lunch. Sigh a big sigh and move on to the next task and mess. Always seems like there is a mess. And a sink of dishes. All part of the fun.
And why you ask would one put herself through all of this? For this:
7 beautiful jars of peaches. That is right I said 7. Well plus the 4 that are still in the canner as I type cooling down slightly so I can take them out. All of that work for 11 jars. If you are my mom that is only a small fraction of what is to come throughout the night.

Are we all nuts? Probably. Nuts, brave and strong and driven by some inner desire to see shelves full of shiney jars. I'm hooked now. It will take a long time before I can do it like my mom but it appears there is no turning back.

Correction

I recently posted about making appliqued onesies using the Cricut to cut out my designs. In that post I said that I learned that it is best to put the fabric in the Cricut with the paper backing side up. I have since then made more and realized that it works best with the paper backing side down. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about keep reading the blog and you will find my post entitled A bit of This and That. Sorry for any confusion.

Have you ever tried...

Baking potatoes in your crock pot? Well if not then you are missing out. I did it the other night...FABULOUS!! All you have to do is wash and prick your potatoes with a fork, wrap them in tin foil and put them in the crock pot. The instructions I found said 8-10 hours on low. I don't think mine took that long (in fact I know they didn't) though I cooked them on low a few hours and then on high and my crock pot seems to be "special" and works at an alarmingly fast rate. Anyway they were prefect. This is what I love most about his method:
1. You don't have to heat the oven for 3 small potatoes
2. On a hot day you don't have to have the oven on at all
3. It uses a lot less electricity
4. With a little advanced planning you can have baked potatoes for dinner after being gone the majority of the day.
Something new to try. I am sold.

Burp cloth cupcakes the continuing story

This week has been busy and I have managed to check everything off my To Do list but man, where does the time go? I have made some good progress on the new craft room and happened to take these pictures in there and I now realize that the lighting SUCKS!! Great, only day time pictures of projects from now on. But such is life, I finished the burp cloth cupcakes and took the pictures and clear or not here are the finished products.

I got these cute boxes at Expedex. I just decorated one side.

Inside you will find 3 adorable burp cloth cupcakes tucked in cupcake liners. I think they turned out pretty cute.

And for the boys....

Some cute puppy dog cupcakes. I made 6 sets all together and I am selling them for $8.00. I think they would make a super cute gift for a baby shower. Of course I am the original creator so I would think that. I guess we shall see in a couple of weeks.