Valentine's Heart Tree

I love this craft for a Valentine's Tree made from a paper cone and paper hearts. The original post was from I Gotta Create.

What You Need:
12" x 12" or 8.5" x 11" card stock paper
Hot glue gun
Heart shaped paper cutter
Scissors

Directions:
Cut a paper cone from one sheet of paper and tape the seams. I put the cone on top of a cup to hold it up off the table.

Cut paper hearts out of a few colors of card stock. 

Start on the bottom of the cone and glue a row of the hearts on with the point up.

Spaghetti Squash with Chicken and Vegetables

In August of last year I made Spaghetti Squash for the first time.  I was hesitant at first but I really do love it. I can buy a squash at the story and keep it at home for a few weeks until I need a last minute dinner idea.

This particular recipe was originally from Ruffles and Truffles. It seemed like a good one to try but I had almost none of the ingredients at my house. It was quite delicious but would have been better with more flavor.

What You Need:
1 medium size spaghetti squash
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 broccoli crown, chopped
2 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
grated parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)


Directions:

Here I have directions form my last post about how to cook a Spaghetti Squash in the microwave. I do this because it's faster however, you can also cut it in half, place it in a baking dish with 1/4 inch of water and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

After the squash is cooked and all the insides are scraped out, add the squash to a a large, deep skillet. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat adding the garlic. Saute this foe one minute, then add spaghetti squash and saute an additional 2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, sundried tomatoes, and broccoli. Sauting for 5 minutes.

Add peas, grilled chicken, and remaining 3/4 cup chicken broth. Shake about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese into mixture (just enough to thicken the chicken broth).

Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover skillet and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Serve with fresh shaved parmesan cheese. 

A Successful Resolution

Well it's been a year since I came up with a crazy resolution to blog my adventures with Pinterest in an attempt to broaden my horizons and actually stick with something.

Since I've never stuck with one hobby for a year, I consider this blog a success! Not only did I not quit, I actually did something from a pin almost every week. That being said, I now have a HUGE appreciation for people who blog regularly with a family, and jobs. I only have a job and still couldn't find the time to write blog posts.

So here goes another year of trying to make something every week. Let's see if I can beat my own record of a year long hobby

Printable Subway Art

I've been debating on following the trend of placing subway art in a picture frame on the mantel,  but at my house no one sees the mantel so it seemed kinda pointless. For a friends Christmas present I decided it was the perfect way for her to start decorating her house.

I found printable Subway Art for almost every holiday or season and even created a few monogrammed ones. Below are pictures of each printable in the frame and the links to the original blogs they came from.

I printed all of them out in 8.5" X 11" because not all of the ones I liked came in a 16" X 20" version. But the larger size is very popular.  I found an 8.5" X 11" frame at Micheal's, which made it much easier since I didn't have to trim any of the papers for an 8x10 frame.

Click the Links below to jump to a section.

New Year's
Valentine's Day
St. Patty's Day
Summer
Fall/Thanksgiving
Christmas
Monogram's

New Year's:

From eighteen 25- 16x20

Valentine's Day:

From Designs by CP- 8x10 or email her to get a new 

St. Patrick's Day:

From eighteen 25- 16x20

Summer:

From eighteen 25- 16x20 

Fall/ Thanksgiving:

From Pink Ink Doodle- 8x10 

Christmas:

From eighteen 25- 16x20

From Eye Candy Event Details- ideal for 8x10 but could be 11x14

From Smile Like You Mean It, It comes in 8x10 and 11x14

Monogram's:

From For Chic Sake- 8.5x11

These monogram printables come in 3 styles and multiple colors

Only 1 i did actually turned out well. I think it would be best to save the .pdf as a .jpeg before taking it to print so the letters don't get messed up.

Large Paper Ornaments

Like many people who have crafty blogs, I love the Christmas season. The cold weather, twinkling lights, decorations and holiday music make the month after thanksgiving the best time of the year.
I get a little craft crazy this time of year and make way too many decorations.

These paper ornaments from Curbly are similar to the paper pumpkins I made in October. I love these because they are super cheap and quick.


What You Need: 

12x12 scrapbook paper with a color or pattern on both sides
Paper cutter
Hole Punch
Brads


Directions: 

Cut the paper into 1" strips.  Keep two of them 12" long, two at 10" and one at 8".  I also tried a few ornaments with different sizes to make them different shapes.

Hold all of the strips together with the ends flush, put them in size order with smallest one in the middle and the largest on the outside. Hole punch the flush ends of the strips and secure with a brad. Then make the strips on the other side, line up and hole punch them again and secure with a brad.

I stapled the pumkpins and a few of the ornaments but one comment on the original post made a great point about them being easily stored at the end of the season if you make them with the brads.

Ribbon Christmas Tree

These ribbon Christmas trees from Michaels are another cheap craft that can be made to match any decor.  I think I might make a few in different sizes.


What you need:
3 or 4 kinds of ribbon  (1 inch width or more works best, 4 yards of each is enough with 4 types of ribbons)
Stryofoam Cone (mine was 3"x11")
Sequin Pins

Directions:
Cut ribbon into 4-inch pieces.  Starting at the base of the cone, fold ribbon pieces in half and use sequin pins to attach to the cone, placing each loop next to the previous loop. Continue until cone is completely covered with ribbon loops.

Paper Ornaments: Flower Shaped

These flower inspired ornaments from How About Orange, look great with the other paper ornaments I made on this post.  I may have a gone a little paper ornament crazy.

What You Need: 
12"x12" or 8.5"x11" sheets of paper with color or a pattern on both sides
Stapler
Double stick tape, I used scrapbooking mounting squares

Directions:
Cut the paper into 1" strips. Stack them in one pile and staple together in the middle on the stack, and fold them in half like a little book.

My stapler wasn't big enough to reach the middle so I opened it up and stapled onto the sewing cutting board. Even then it wasn't strong enough to make it through all the papers so a heavy duty stapler may be worth it.  

I put a photo mounting square on the tip of the first paper and bent it toward the center.  Continue bending the papers to the center until the flower shape is finshed. 

Upscale Veggie Tray

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently had a Stella and Dot jewelry party to support a friend who recently started as a stylist for them. I made a few recipes from Pinterest for the appetizers and couldn’t be happier about the way they turned out.  I made this grown–up veggie tray and also these South of the Border Sandwiches.

What you need:

Fresh chives

Optional veggies:

Carrots

Cumcumber

Any variety of bell peppers

Yellow squash

Red cabbage

Directions:

Thinly slice the veggies and tie them in bunches with fresh chives. Simple right? Not so much. Since I am a horrible chef; I had no idea how to go about thinly slicing some veggies. I probably could have used a veggie slicer, if I had one but instead I resorted to a regular knife.  It was fairly easy to cut the peppers in thin slices but the cucumber and carrots were very difficult. 

If you know of a better way too slice these, I would love to know. Other than my own personal difficulties with slicing the veggies, they came out really well.

Turkey Sandwich Bites

I had a Stella and Dot jewelry party for a friend who just started as a stylist and decided to try a few recipes from Pinterest for appetizers.  I tried these South of the Border Sandwiches and a fancy veggie tray.  

What you need:

1 loaf French bread, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices
1/2 cup black olives, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup lite mayonnaise

1/3 cup nonfat sour cream

1/3 cup green onions, chopped

1 pound sliced turkey

2 medium tomato, thinly sliced

2 ripe avocados, sliced
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine olives, chili powder, cumin, salt, mayonnaise, sour cream, and green onions.

Place bread on an ungreased baking sheet and spread 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise mixture on each slice.

Top with slices of turkey and tomatoes. Top with avocados and cheeses (I added the cheese before baking and put the avocado on after).

Bake @ 350 for 15 min.

Of course I made these and then get distracted by shiny jewelry and friends; and completely forgot to take photos of the end result. They were pretty much like the picture I pinned (below), and very delicious. I will definitely be making them again, and I will post those pictures. 

Picture from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Since everyone in the office knows I love baking, I usually get put in charge of bring treats for birthdays and other celebrations. I wanted to do something with pumpkin since its fall and I decided on this pumpkin coffee cake from my fall board.  The recipe looked great but also time consuming so I actually cheated by buying a box of crumb cake mix from Krusteaz and added canned pumpkin to it. For my first time trying to alter a box of mix, it turned out very well.

What you need:

1 box crumb cake (depending on the box of mix the ingredients may be different)

1 egg

2/3 cups water

2/3 cups canned pumpkin

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Follow the directions for the box of coffee cake mix. Adding in the canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice with the package of cake mix.