Forever And A Day...

...is how long it's been since I've updated. I keep thinking every day, "I need to do something on the blog today" and then I don't get to it, and now it's been almost 4 months. Holy cow.

You may have noticed the new blog theme, inspired by SPRING! :)
I made the background and header myself using The Cutest Blog on the Block's background tutorial and digital scrapbooking elements from Pixel Scrapper's Birds and the Bees blog train (This link takes you to the forum where all of the designers linked their creations, so in order for it to take you to the correct page, you must first register or log in to Pixel Scrapper's main website).

So, I've been working on some pretty cute things lately and thought I would share some of my favorites. :)

These are a couple of stitch markers I made for my cousin. I've recently been playing with clay a little bit.

Flower headband.
This is still for sale in my shop on Etsy.
Pattern for the flower is here.
Pattern for the headband is here.

Striped hat photography prop (before weaving all ends).
Pattern is mine and will be released sometime in the next couple of months.
The color choices were the photographer's but I fell in LOVE with this while making it!

Frog hat.
This is also my pattern that will be released hopefully sometime soon.
I thought this thing was just SO darn cute!

Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket.
Pattern from Attic 24's Neat Ripple Pattern starting with 73 chains.
This is my latest finished project. I couldn't STOP working on this blanket. I started it at about 5 pm, worked on it a few hours that night, and finished the edging at about 4 pm the next day. It worked up SO fast! I think I only spent like 5 or 6 hours on it (not including weaving in all the crazy ends!).

I've also been working on getting my photography business started back up again and I got a Canon Rebel t2i to play with. Here's some of my favorite pictures I've taken in the last few weeks:

And finally, last thing (I promise!), a new scrapbook page that I'd like to show off. :)

I've only done a 9 month update before this, so I'm hoping to catch up on all the others. Aiden turns ONE in only TWELVE days so I need to get going on his baby book! 

NOW...let's hope that I remember to get my butt back on here within the next few days! I'm hoping to get a couple of my patterns tested this week and I have lots of Easter photos to edit, so I'll probably make it on here for SOME sort of update. :)

Gluten (And Dairy!) Free Peanut Butter Cookies!

Soooo....I won't have a photo of the day for today until we go to the homecoming parade and football game tonight. BUT I'm making gluten free peanut butter cookies and thought I would share with all of you (the recipe, not the actual cookies...sorry). :)

The recipe is from this book. There are a few others that I'm going to try soon too, like chocolate cheesecake. I chose this recipe today because I already had everything it needed, and they're things that you *should* already have in your pantry/fridge and it doesn't use very much of each ingredient either.

These four ingredients are seriously all you need. 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (it says to use dairy free for the dairy free recipe, but do chocolate chips even have dairy in them to begin with? I don't know about that one...), and 1 egg lightly beaten.

Beat peanut butter, brown sugar, and egg until smooth. This was as good as mine got and it started to clump together to the point where it was actually pulling itself off from the sides of the bowl. (P.S. I used a KitchenAid mixer, not that wooden spoon)

Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls. My first attempt at this, I used a muffin tin instead of a cookie sheet (you are better off using the cookie sheet). I got the idea after I read Amanda's post (Kevin and Amanda), where they baked cookies using a muffin TOP pan. It didn't work as well for me as it did for them.

You're supposed to bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, until they SET. Guess what...they don't set until they cool. So after 10 minutes, they are cooked completely even though they are still the same consistency as the dough. The brown sugar in the dough hardens once they start to cool. So don't let the recipe fool you like it did me. That's how I burned the first batch. By the way...they don't even flatten themselves out as they bake, so if you don't smush them down, they will end up coming out like the picture above.

Second batch, I used a regular cookie sheet and cooked only for time instructed. These were much better. The cookies from the first batch still tasted good, they were just a little burned on the bottom.

Then, I put the chocolate chips in the microwave and hit the wrong number. I went downstairs to check on Aiden, and when I came back up,  the whole kitchen was smoking. My chocolate chips caught on fire.

I'd say we need to try this recipe again on another day. Or you can just try it for me. Just please don't burn your house down. Anyway...I'd like to know how this turns out for YOU if you try it. :)

I got the nutritional information from Calorie Count Recipe Analysis. All you have to do is type the ingredients and the serving size into the required areas, and it will come up with an approximate nutrition panel for each serving (it will vary a little since the website uses average calories for each generic item, not the actual calories in specific brands). These you will only be able to enjoy one or two at a time, as they have a lot of calories and sugar for just one cookie. But if they turn out, they're WORTH it.


Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dairy free semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat brown sugar, peanut butter, and egg in medium bowl with electric mixer until blended and smooth.

2. Shape dough into roughly 24 1-1/2 inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten dough slightly with fork (I would flatten them until they're as thin as you want your cookies to be). Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set (you really should just bake them for 12 minutes, not question the consistency, and then reevaluate after they've cooled). Remove to wire racks (I would let the cookies cool a little bit first, otherwise they'll break into pieces as you're trying to move them); cool completely. Drizzle with chocolate. 

                                                                                                                                                                      

I also started testing this super cute Santa Pixie hat for Tanya from Hodgepodge Crochet. The pattern is not released yet as it's still in the testing phase, but I will try to remember to post a link for it when it's published and for sale. I have to finish the brim tomorrow after I get some fun fur yarn, but I should post another picture of it after I'm done.

UPDATE!: Since I'm finally posting this at 11 pm (almost 12 hours since I started writing it this morning!) I just thought I should let you know that I haven't had ANYTHING with gluten in it in over 48 hours! Not even the one noodle that made it on my plate Wednesday night when my parents made Chicken Parmesan, and even though I was SO tempted tonight when James got a hot pretzel at the football game. I even got some extra exercise at the game by carrying Aiden in a front carrier instead of pushing him in the stroller. I'm so proud of myself! And I already told James that he has to massage the knot out of my shoulder before I go to bed tonight because it HURTS!

Now....GET SOME SLEEP! Because I'm going to. My bed is calling my name............

:)

Aiden's First Foray Into Solids

Aiden turned 5 months old on Thursday. I was going to try to wait until he was six months old before starting solids, but he is interested in EVERYTHING we eat. Yesterday, he wanted to suck on our red rope licorice at the Tigers game. He gets a formula with rice cereal in it for spitting up, and he's had some banana, but not any other solid foods. Sooo...James and I made a trip to the store today for oatmeal cereal, bowls, and ice trays (for freezing pureed veggies that he starts next week). My mom had already gotten him a sippy cup, and we had spoons and bibs with pockets in the bottom from my shower, so we were all set to go.

He likes his big boy chair since he can sit up all by himself.

He got to use his sippy cup for the first time too. I just put the remainder of his formula in there after I mixed the cereal. It took a little while for him to figure out how to suck out of it instead of using a nipple.

First bite of cereal. He kept sucking on the spoon. He liked it for a little while until he was just plain hungry and the food wasn't coming fast enough for him. :)

He likes his sippy cup. He was getting frustrated with me because that was all he wanted.

This was the end. He ate about half of the cereal before he made it clear that he was done. I'm surprised he did so well in the beginning. I figured that he would throw a fit the whole time because he wasn't used to it. This week, I have to puree and freeze the sweet potatoes and then we can start those next week.

Craft update: I found my old sewing machine and tried to line my crochet bag. Unsuccessful. I have to make something to cover my oopsie, but I can't sew a straight line. I'm amazed I could even sew it together at all. Sewing together the lining was fine, but not so much when it came to attaching the lining to the bag. I should probably look up some sewing machine tutorials, or see if anyone at Hodgepodge (an amazingly awesome crochet/craft/support group on facebook) can help me out. :)

Return From My Long Hiatus

Soooo....it has been a crazy couple of months.

We just got done moving into my parents' house to save money while we look for a new place, my grandpa had surgery on his lungs to remove cancer and we almost lost him (very unexpected complications during surgery but now he's doing GREAT after only a few weeks! :) ), and after some issues that have been resolved, James and I are starting to plan our wedding with hopes that we can move it up to early next year instead of the end of next summer. Life has been completely turned around in any way possible multiple times, but today is a good day, and today is a start. All I can say is thank God that I started crocheting since it seems like my craft and the love for my son are the only things that have stayed constant during this amount of time. And it's an awesome stress reliever. If you haven't started some sort of craft or hobby...now is the time to do so, especially if you find yourself constantly wanting to pull out your hair.

I have been pulling things off my hook left and right recently to prepare for a sale that I was going to be a part of, but James got sick, so we had to cancel at the last minute. :(  I have a large inventory of hats, winter, and baby items now though so hopefully when I enter a sale at the beginning of this fall, I don't have to work so frantically to get everything ready. But that also meant a lot of unfinished personal projects that I started and didn't get a chance to finish.

Right now I'm in progress of:

1. A diaper soaker for Aiden

2. A Swiffer sock

3. Ripple blanket

4. Granny blanket for Aiden

5. A hat for myself (Callie Hat. Not free but it was included in the September edition of Inspired Crochet Magazine)

6. A hat for James (I forgot how stinkin long it takes to make an adult hat now that I make so many baby/kids hats)

7. Aiden's cowboy booties

8. About 3 orders that I have to work on.

Once I finish all this in progress "stuff", I'm resolving to only have 2 personal projects and 2 orders in progress at one time. Otherwise, I would never finish anything before I start something else.

Make it a great day! :)