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Mmmm...Monday - Yummy Homemade Bread

Mmmm....Monday!

Remember awhile back I had a post The Best Bread Ever!? Well I was wrong! I found a better one. I got this one from Deals To Meals.

It soooo good. My hubby decided he didn't like the bread I was making. "It's to dry...and falls apart when I cut it for lunch!" (winny voice over)

What ever! But I decided to look for a new recipie.

One afternoon last week I made three recipies of bread. Two of them worked out and my hubby did a tast/crumble test. He approved of both and all was right in the word. (sarcasm!) This is the one I am making currently. The other I will share later.

You can go to the link to see the original recipie that makes four loaves. I have halved it here and it works great.

Emilie's Whole Wheat Bread - Makes 2 loaves.

3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (grind your own if you have a wheat grinder)
1/3 c. vital wheat gluten
1 1/4 T. instant yeast

2 1/2 c. steaming hot water

1 T. salt
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. honey or 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/4 T. bottled lemon juice

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.

Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into 2 loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes (approximately...mine takes 40 minutes in Las Vegas) until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks.
**Another tip..when the dough is put into the bread pans, squish the dough softly into the corners of your bread loaf pans. This will make your bread cook more evenly and not have the large lump in the middle of your loaf.

Enjoy!

Sew What! Sunday - Clutch Bag and Labels

Today is Sew What! Sunday

Today I made a cute little clutch to go in my new purse I made last week.

I found it at Noodle Head. Super easy and it went pretty fast too.

Do you see that little label? I made it! The Cottage Home did a post on labels and she linked to a post from Patchwork Pottery.

She showed there how to make your very own labels.
Inside.

With my hand to show you how big it is. This will be perfect for my small items that get lost in the bottom of my purse.

This is one I am in the process of making. Cute!

Love gathers!

Here is how I made my labels. Go to Patchwork Pottery for her tutorial.

I used Avery light T-Shirt Transfer paper. I had it on hand so I was lucky.

Printed out my label on the computer word program. Make sure to Mirror it. You can find that option in your advanced printer settings.

After my test print on regular paper I printed it out on the transfer paper. Then I cut it in strips.

I followed the directions with the transfer paper and ironed it on to a few types of ribbon. I used regular grosgrain and twill.

You can kind of see the shinny transfer on some of the ribbons, but in general I really like it. It adds a cute touch to my stuff and if I ever sell anything I am ready!

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A THEME for every day of the week!

Many of you bloggers out there understand me when I say,

"What am I going to post today?"

Thousands of ideas start rushing through my head and within a few minutes I

find myself totally confused and overwhelmed.

So what is the solution?

I have decided to have each day a theme.

That way I will not have to think too hard :0}

Now, I will not necessarily be posting everyday, but at least I can narrow down the list a bit.

So this is it!

Monday: Mmmm...Monday - Food and a Recipe

Tuesday: 2x4 Tuesday's LINK PARTY - You can join me! Anything you have created made of wood (I like 2x4's but I am not going to judge you if you use something else!)

Wednesday: Wordie Wednesday - Just words, maybe a few pictures. My thoughts straight to you. Boring? NEVER! I am amazing and I have many thoughts that I know you want to hear.

Thursday: Thursday's at Target - I Loooove Target! Don't you?! So I will make something with Target items. Maybe I'll make it even better!

Friday: Cricut Crop - I love my cricut and today I will make something fabulous with it. Paper, vinyl, fabric...the possibilities are endless!

Saturday: Super Saving Saturday! - Was it on sale? Was it on clearance? Then I will craft that sucker up!

Sunday: Sew What! Sunday - Anything that I sewed!

Pretty simple. Hope it works! Ha!

2x4 Tuesday!

Hey all! I am starting my first Link Party!

I wanted to do something different and fun and this is it!

2x4 Tuesday's!

(other size wood is acceptable!)

If you have a project you have made or are in the process of working one, LINK IT!

I love working with wood and I want you to show off your stuff!

Rules:

BE NICE! Visit other links and post comments to cheer them up!

TWO is the limit. If you have more then wait till next week silly!

Please take my button and put it somewhere on your blog.

Now link it baby!!!!

Mom-A-Go-Go Purse and Pattern (coming soon!)

I have made several purses over the last few months.

Not any one of them was just right for my needs.

I am a mom of three. In my purse I carry many things.

• wallet
• phone
• brushes and clippies (me and my little girls hair)
• sanitizer (MUST have!)
• 2 pull ups (she is three...no comment)
• wet wipes (good for so much more than bums!)
• lots of receipts (you never know what will need to be returned)
• snacks (duhh! 3 kids!)
• camera (memories)
• makeup clutch

And on occasion, more often than not, I also have:

• sippy cup
• water bottle
• book/magazine

So needless to say, I need a larger than average purse. Yet it can't be so big that I can't throw it over my shoulder. Oh! And speaking of shoulders, the strap must go over my shoulder and STAY! Not so long that it hits my butt and not so short that it sits in my arm pit!

I could not find one that would work. So I made my own pattern. And here it is!

This purse is made out of leftover black corduroy and two fabric quarters. Black corduroy is not the best for taking pictures, but perfect for just about everything else.I used two kinds of lining. I used a light weight iron on interfacing and regular old felt.
It is pleated a lot. This creates a big puffy bottom that can hold lots of stuff.

The inside is open and roomy. The top band it only 12 inches across so that all my stuff doesn't fall out of the bag. I may add a center pocket for my wallet next time. It has a magnetic closure.

Inside there is a pocket with a flap on one side. I may add one to the other side next time.

Here it is with my phone in it, flap open.

Flap closed. Maybe it needs a little Velcro closure?

So there it is. Do you like it? Why am I asking you?! It's my purse after all! Just kidding!

If you would like the pattern then you will have to wait a few days. I am drawing it as we speak and will post in a few days. See you then!

Beaded Watch Band Tutorial Part 2

Here is part two of the beaded watch band tutorial video.

Beaded Watch Band Tutorial Part 1

I learned how to make beaded watch bands about a year ago and I have been obsessed with them ever since. They are so fun to make and soooooo much cheaper than the"name brand" ones. I love them so much that I want to share them with you! I started to do a tutorial and it quickly got out of hand. Way to much info and way to many pictures. So I decided to do a vlog.

So here you go! Let me know what you think.

T-Shirt makeover

I redid one of my plain old t-shirts the other day. I have seen them all over the web and even done one of my own awhile back. I saw a really cute one over at Momma Go Round, (click here for the tutorial) and decided to go for it.

It was really easy and just took a little bit of patience and time.
I started with a plain white t-shirt from Joann's for $3.00. I cut off the neck band and rehemmed it. It makes it fuller and less athletic.

I cut my little B's and stitched them up.

Here it is. So pretty and fluffy. I also trimmed a few inches off the bottom of the shirt to make it hit right at my hips. It is so cute and I think it is perfect with a cute skirt.

Thanks Momma Go Round!

Jealous Much?!

Look!!!! Look what I got!

A Miter Saw!

I know you are jealous ;0)

I went to Harbor Freight yesterday. I only have two in Vegas and of course both are FOREVER away. So needless to say I had never been there. I really wanted to get a miter saw and Harbor Freight has amazing deals. So after dropping off at school my little girl and I drove across town and went shopping!
Love it! I haven't even used it yet and I still love it!

I also got two c-clamps and a square. I have not had a decent clamp and it drives me crazy.

I found a few other things that were a good find as well. I got a blade, a pack of masks and a drop cloth for painting. I hate using plastic when I paint. The stuff always sticks to it.

So I of course had to go to Home Depot to get some 2x4's and a 4x4 post. You can't have a new saw and have nothing to cut!

All in all it was a great day. I can't wait to start making stuff with it. i of course will show you as I go along ;)

Kitchen Up-Do

What did I do this past weekend? Well, I had a spurt of Kitchen Re-Do fever.

This is my toaster. Sad don't cha' think? We have had it since...forever, 13 years?

I really want to replace it with a sleak red one but I feel wasteful because it is only a toaster and it still works. So I decided to make it pretty, but covering it up!


Simple cover. Nothing fancy. But it is red, and that is one of my kitchen colors.

This is my knife block. Isn't it pretty! Well it wasn't before I painted it. It was a yucky brown. I got this idea from Crafts and Deals. Why not paint it! Now it matches the colors, black and red.

I do need new knives, but now I can wait a bit longer.

I got these glass jars form Savers. I loooove Savers.

Clear glass is going to be the theme in the kitchen.

I got these at Target. They were 20% off and I think they are perfect.

So that was my weekend. My kitchen can't be painted {renting} so this is my little touch. I am not done. I have some baskets that I am going to paint black and red and I think I am going to make a soap dispenser out of a jar. I'll show you if I do!

DUMP Cobbler

This is so easy it is almost sad.

WARNING...This is not good for you, but it sure tastes good!

Dump Cobbler

I used fresh apples. You can use any kind of fruit, canned or fresh. My favorite is fresh peaches. This is a good way to use fruit that is about to go bad or fruit that is not quite ripe enough. These apples were way to tart and turned out perfect in the cobbler. This is also perfect for camping/dutch oven.

Cut into small chunks.

Ingredients:
1 large can fruit or equivalent in fresh fruit
1 box cake mix, white or yellow
1 tsp Cinnamon
3/4 cube margarine or butter

Dump your fruit in bottom of 8x8 ish' size pan.
Dump cake mix on top.
Sprinkle Cinnamon on top.

Cut margarine into slices and spread over top.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until bubbly and brown on top. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving to allow juices to thicken a bit. Topping will be crumbly.

Eat...and prepare yourself for heaven!