At last, its almost done

I was looking for a good before picture of this table, but I couldn't find it. I think I bought it last summer at a yard sale for $20. Not too shabby. It however has taken be forever to work on it! I have had grand plans but never seem to find time to work on it.

The other day Emily and I had a crafting marathon (much needed) and just before quitting we decided to stencil the design onto the table. We didn't have a plan, we just went with it. As you can see in the middle, is a very nice deer head with some awesome swirly antlers. Chance called it a "fantasy buck" whatever that means.

It looks a little iffy here.. I know.

It gets worse before it gets better:

I know that is an awful picture, terrible lighting. I let Chance help me pick out the stain. He wanted one called black cherry. It looks a little purpley here, but that was before you wipe the extra off.

I will post a another, better picture of it this afternoon hopefully. This morning I added the first layer of sealer. I think in will be awesome when it is done. The stain did tint my white paint a little purple, but I think it looks cool.

Here is my dining room window, all decked out. I have more little bottle brush trees to blog about too, but you can see a couple in the window sill here.

Have a good Monday! 

Grinchy grinch

Doesn't Meadow look like Max from the Grinch. I think that is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies.

I need to get busy! I want to make Christmas cookies for school tomorrow and I need to get going on some Christmas cards!

I know this is short, but at least its something!

I can't wait to show off the secret projects I have been working on for Christmas.

Christmasy

I am the worst blogger ever! I want to! I do, I really do. It just seems like its always the last thing I have time for these days. I decided if I had someone to follow me around and take picutres of all the stuff that I do, then I could blog more. Ha!

You all know I am a pinteresting fool. By  the way I wish I had invented pinterest. I went a little glitter crazy last week.

 Don't pay attention to that little place on this poor deerys antler. I'll touch it up. I also made some glitter pine cones. So festive. The deer came from here. I started following her on pinterest after reading her blog a little. Fun!

 I love wrapping Christmas presents. I stock up the year before after Christmas, then its so fun to re find all the things I bought the previous year.

Well me dreams came true last Saturday and Emmy took some pictures for me. I'm spoiled, you could say.

Thanks for still reading my blog, even though its only once a month. Smooch.

You win some, you lose some

Emily and I had a busy weekend last week. We had a booth at a little flea market/craft show in Billings called Vintage Cottage. We had hoped that we would sell, you know, everything in our collective inventory, but alas... we brought home a lot! I haven't been investing as much time into my crafting as I wish that I was, so all in all I feel motivated to get to work and build up my inventory for craft shows this spring and fall. Emily and I have some lofty goals. Maybe I will make enough with my crafts that I won't have to work PRN anywhere. That would be awesome.

I mean look at all that cute stuff!! Who wouldn't want to buy that! Speaking of which Emily has posted a lot of new stuff on her Etsy shop, so go check that out!

We also hung out Saturday with my Momma at her open house for her pottery studio. It was very fun and I hope she does that again next year. She had a lot of customers come out!

We brought aprons and wreaths there and made a few sales, so that was oh so very nice. The best part of the weekend though, was introducing Huck and Gibbs to each other. It was precious!

 Gibbs likes to pull Aunt Ash's hair.

Is your heart melted yet? How could it not be with those cute baby faces!? OMG. These little boys are destined to be best friends. ESPECIALLY since my brother and sister in law are moving back to Springfield. I am so happy, words can't describe.

Hope you're ready for Thanksgiving. Maybe I will post something between now and then.

<3,
Ash

cathartic crafting

I love knitting in the fall. I can't do it in the summer, but as soon as the first crisp day comes, I'm ready to dig out some project I started the year before. I posted a picture a few days ago of the pumpkiny scarf I am working on. I like knitting for its brainless quality. I don't follow patterns and generally I don't switch stitches. There are far better knitters out there than me, but I like being able to knit without thinking and without looking. It makes me feel like less of a bum if I am knitting while watching the Voice and other generally brain melting type television. I would like to get a little better though, so I could knit something like this very cute hat:

So cute. Porkchop has generally been uninterested in Huck until now. I think he was mystified by him getting up on his hands and knees. He was talking to Huck and Huck was laughing so hard. It was very precious.

Like knitting, I find embroidery to be quite cathartic. I have to look while I do it, but it doesn't require much thought at all. I whipped this little number and a matching bib up for Huck while he was napping the other day.  I hope he likes it!

I like making onesies. It is too fun and so easy. I have some fun Christmas fabric I might have to do something with. Too bad I don't have anyone to make a Hello Kitty outfit for.

Sepia Saturday

I have had some of the laziest weekends over the past month. It was nice. Well deserved even. October means fall for me... and I certainly am ready for it. The fall is the most perfect season ever, and it makes me feel energized and excited.

I mentioned earlier that I am working on my craft room... getting it organized and turning it from a junk pile to an inspiring oasis. I have been yearning for the perfect working desk. One that is nice a sturdy that won't shake when my sewing machine works too hard, and one with plenty of drawers for all my junk.

What a steal for $15! If you figured it per pound, it would be basically free. It was quite the feat to get it loaded and unloaded, but oh so worth it.

I even tricked my bestie into a breakfast date! Huck loves breakfast dates.

I literally did nothing else on Saturday after that. It was delightful! I really am sad we didn't have a craft booth this year though... I am looking forward to it next fall. My crafts might be commonplace on pinterest and etsy, but here in the Ozarks they are still new and fresh and different.

The time has been flying... here is some of what I've been doing...

Starting a new job has been more stressful than I predicted it would be. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my new job, but it has came with challenges.

I know I am an awful photographer... but I will show you all some pics of what I have been up to lately anyway. I will get better, I promise. (someday)

 Babysitting this cute kid. Garage saleing, going to the park, drinking lots of pumpkin spice lattes.

 Family dinners.

 Trying, failing, and trying again on "easy" pinterst crafts.

Making tasty dinners for my honey like spinach, grilled onion, bacon, and Alfredo french bread pizza.

Going to baseball games.

Going bowling with my honey and my friends.

Oh and some more babysitting with this little fellow. So precious.

Last weekend Chance got to ride this really awesome bike designed for people with disabilities. It was pretty sweet.

See? This is why I am a terrible blogger.

But maybe I am getting better.

Doggie Dress Up DIY

My little Meadow is quite the prissy little thing. She doesn't like to be cold. To her, 50 degrees is freezing and she doesn't want to go outside. I have realized that if I want her to go outside this winter, I better get her used to sweaters now.

I whipped this little number up in about 3 minutes. I have a very cute thin sweater that is nice and stretchy, but I just never seem to pull it out of the closet. I have it in my mind to make a few other things out of it as well. It was so easy to make this doggie sweater, I didn't even need to take step by step pics. Here is how it goes:
1. Cut a sleeve out of a stretchy sweater or knit long sleeve shirt
2. Try it on your doggie to figure out where you should cut the arm holes
3. Take it off the doggie, and cut the arm holes. I made some v shape slits that worked perfect.
4. Put on your doggie and watch them try to get it off.

Now, this next picture I am going to show you, is kind of violent, so young children or the elderly should look away from the screen as they might be frightened.

I know. It gets intense around here.

I'm working on this little knitting project too. I think I started sometime last fall... le sigh. Meadow is a good model.

Hey look I did something productive...

I'm working on organizing this crazy craft room. It shouldn't be so hard, but I am the queen of procrastination. There is always something I would rather be doing, like you know, watching 48 hours on the ID channel for 4 straight hours.

Not only did I make a very cute little upcycled storage box using found brown wrapping paper and chalk board labels I got at World Market months ago, I also set up a little table and side table for my lap top/printer. Woo. Go me. I really really want to find a nice sturdy desk, I think I mentioned that, but for now this works. I started going through some craft supplies too, sorting thread, hair accouterments, and sharpies into their designated places. I have a lot of projects I could work on at any given time here... Its a sickness really.

I'm also procrastinating on my work documentation. I HATE IT SO MUCH!!! I need to get caught up and planned to this weekend but something always seemed to get in the way. Maybe I'll work on it after dinner... Doubtful. There will probably be something good on TV.   

Right now I am waiting on the most delicious smelling dish to get done in the oven. It is called "No Peek Beef Tips," but I'm about to go break the rules. They are supposed to cook in the oven for 3 hours but I can't remember exactly what time I started them. I also only had a pound of beef and it called for 2, so I added some venison. I hope it doesn't disappoint. I should make a salad to go with, but I'll probably go for green beans because I am lazy on Sundays.

These pretty little things are smiling in my garden. They have done really well. The rest of my garden was a toss up. I got a few harvestings of cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and one good cantaloupe. The corn absolutely fried in the heat and drought... which sucked! Oh well, I did better this year keeping the weeds out at least... maybe next year will be better. I wish I would have planted some fall lettuce... I guess its not too late.

Oh one last thing... Tomorrow makes exactly the 173rd time I have given up diet dr pepper. Wish me luck. Without the looming deadline of the wedding stressing me out, I really have no reason not to get in awesome shape and kick all my bad habits!

Happy rest of the weekend...

<3,
Ash

The devil, aka pinterest made me do it. Again.

Did you know that when you cut a hole in a canned biscuit and fry it an a half an inch of oil and then roll it in cinnamon sugar it turns into the most tasty doughnut ever? And served with milk it is magical? And if you also whip a thin maple glaze to drizzle over it, it is sinfully delicious? Of course you did. Your parents did it probably at least a dozen times when you a kid. BUUUUTTTTTT you forgot, that is until you spent an hour looking through recipes on pinterest.





The end.

p.s.
pinterest also made me do this: deep dish pizza

 and this: frozen produce

 and these: pie pops

 and these: frozen blueberries dunked in honey greek yogurt

 and a banana oatmeal smoothie

I just looked back on my pinterest board and just as I suspected... I didn't pin or like any of these things... Sometimes I just like to look at 10 of the same thing then take what I like and mix it all up.

Why are all my blog titles about pinterest?

I am getting my hair chopped off in a week. Any suggestions???

Marvelous Monday

I really hate Monday's. I mean, I am pretty sure my bed is never as comfortable as it is any other time than Monday morning,. Yesterday I was out of bed at like five just chipper as a squirrel. This morning I hit my snooze about 17 times and barely made it to work on time. Luckily, I have premade coffee in my fridge, and I also whipped up some tasty breakfast sandwiches for my freezer the other day. I didn't take any pictures while I did it, mostly because I suck at taking pictures, but also because I am a terrible blogger and wasn't even thinking about it while I was slaving away in front of the stove. I didn't use this recipe (who needs a recipe for making a breakfast sandwich, oh wait I'm about to post one here) , but I used the same egg baking method. I think if you were going to eat the eggs right then it would be tasty, but I'm not really a fan of the yolks of hard boiled eggs especially after they are frozen and reheated. Next time I shall try another method. I digress... It was fast, and it was edible, and I fed the dogs the yolks... and everyone was happy. I actually think next time I will try making frozen b-fast burritos... mmm...

So I do have an actual real recipe to post here on the blog today. Shocking I know. I got it from Better Home and Gardens Canning edition. It was almost 10 bucks, but I think it was worth it. Here goes:

So Sweet Squash Pickles:
3 Small yellow summer squash cut into 1/2 inch thick slices (I used that fancy wavy cutter, worked like a charm)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 large red pepper cut into thin strips
1 Tbs pickling salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 tsp celery seeds
1/4 tsp dry mustard

I doubled this recipe and I also added turmeric...  This was an accident because I was making these at the same time I was making bread and butter pickles and I looked at the wrong recipe for a second... however, I like the addition and these things are freaking awesome. It made the onions all tasty and yellow too.

So back to the details. These are so so easy. They are just refrigerator "pickles" so need for any fancy canning equipment. Just remember that any recipe for "refrigerator" pickles of any kind means they have to stay in the fridge, and they only stay good a few months.

1. In a large nonmetal bowl combine the veggies and sprinkle with the salt, cover and chill one hour. Drain well.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar, and spices. Bring to a boil. Add veggies. Return to boiling, then remove from heat.
3. Ladle mixture into sterilized jars.
4. Chill at least 24 hours before serving.

Ta da! Someone will think you have mad skills if you make them these. I do beleive Chance must have said "These are SO good" at least 10 times during dinner.

These are bbq chicken tacos, but these sweet pickles would be good on just about anything. I also put them in potato salad the other day and it was awesome.

Chance approves this message.

See that pile of wedding stuff in the back of the picture? I moved that to the craft room tonight. It was a good accomplishment. Jessi moved out earlier this summer and I have just been delaying re organizing my craft stuff. My "dining room" feels giant again.

I have so many unfinished projects! The biggest one being the craft room. What's your biggest unfinished project?

Laters.
Ashley <3

Pinterest Made Me Do It

Cake batter cookies just sound so wrong... mmm but they were tasty, and easy. I used this recipe although I'm sure there are several out there. I even found some cute little brown, yellow, and orange sprinkles to use. I only baked a few, and decided that they would be very good as slice and bake cookies.

I wrapped them up in some heavy duty foil and ta da! These cookies are good, but best right out of the oven, or shamefully, as the frozen cookie dough.

I have been doing several crafts and recipes from the beloved pinterest lately. I have a lot backed up that  I need to share. My bestie gave me a slap on the wrist for being a blog slacker. At least I have loyal followers! I can't be mad at that!

I am so grateful for the cool weather yesterday and today. I'm currently sitting by my open window with puppy and kitty on my lap snuggling for warmth! Lol. I also made some very tasty homemade maple coffeemate type creamer. It is perfect in pumpkin pie spice flavored coffee.

Uh oh, the puppy just noticed the kitty so I better go before this computer gets knocked off my lap.

lazy day

I had the day off today and had all kinds of grand schemes cooked up.  So far, its 530 and I've hardly accomplished anything! I hate it when I do that! I'm in that "I have so much to do so I'll just do nothing" mode. Lol. On the upside I did find my fourth and final bridesmaid dress today. I am so happy at how its all going to work out. they are all going to look so cute!!! I also got some stuff to start working on my veil, so that will be fun.

What I need to do first and foremost is finish my dining room table because it really sucks not having a table! I did get some stuff to work on that today too though... Guess it wasn't a total waste. Maybe when it cools off a little outside I'll get some painting done.

In the meantime, I am trying to keep this little booger from eating all of my hair ties.

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles

,Ask and ye shall receive Jamie! I am so happy someone is reading my blog!!!! Maybe I will be semi famous for my musing some day.

Three years ago I made 26 quarts of dill pickles from the cucumbers in my garden (my first garden). I had watched my mom can pickles and jellies and applesauce and pasta sauce so many times, I figured canning would just come natural to me. My mom came by one afternoon and helped me set up my kitchen. She also brought me all the tools I needed.  After some step by step directions, she left, and turned me loose! I have to say those pickles turned out almost as good as hers. Emmy in the Making's hubby loves them! I have gotten away with giving him them for Christmas every year since! Lol. I however, am kind of tired of those pickles! I still have a few quarts in the back of my pantry. I decided to try something new this year. Oh that and I don't have near the cucumber harvest as I did that first year.

This is it for this year! Some of those little ones are just a couple inches long. I had to run down to the produce stand to grab some more. I paid 4 dollars (a tad steep) for 2 pounds of pickling cucumbers.  I had some of these giant ones:

You can't really tell the difference on here, but it was bigger than all those little ones combined. First rule to making good pickles: Use small, crisp cucumbers. If they are mushy, toss them out. You will be very disappointed with your results.

Pinterest is a household word these days. I am really not sure what I did to waste time before it came along. Who invented it? It is so much better than facebook. Anyway.... I found my recipie there this morning when I wasn't even looking for it! It came from here!! I'll let you read the details if you end up making them yourself, which you totally should.

After I washed all of my cucumbers, I set to work using a handy wavy knife to make nice thick chunks.  I added 2 tbs of pickling salt to the mix and covered it all and put it in the fridge for and hour or so.

Next I mixed the vinegars, sugars, and spices and brought them to a boil. This really couldn't be easier, you drain your cucs, add an onion, then pour the mixture over the top. You let that sit out for an hour or so.  Last step you simply fill your jars and pop in the fridge. The recipe says to chill for 24 hours... I just tried one after an hour to see how they were coming and they are PERFECT.

I highly recommend you try this recipe first if you are new to canning. It is waaaayyyy easier than the hot water bath way, and you don't have to sterilize your jars and such. However, if you were giving these as a gift or serving them at a party, no one would know how easy they were. They would just think you were freaking awesome.

This made 2 quarts for me (2 pints and 1 quart jar). I used more cucumbers than it called for and it I did almost run out of the juice. So good!

In fact, this was so easy, I had time to try out another pinterest idea while I was waiting for the brine to boil.

I have seen several ways to dye a tank/shirt with an ombre type design. I found this pin a few says ago. While I was at dollar general getting my vinegar for my pickles, I scanned the clearance aisle and found some RIT dye for 1.25. STEAL! Perfect time to try it out. I also bought some wife beater tank tops while I was there to use. One of my problems with pinterest is I do not always read the directions or even go to the full link. This kind of kicked me in the butt on this craft, as it didn't really come out ombre, but more just tye dye looking... I still like it though! I may even wear it to work out in if it gets dry in the next half hour.

What do you think??? Maybe its not so bad. Definitely cute enough for a workout! I hope it doesn't bleed purple dye on me. I've had enough of sweat and color for one year! lol.

Its been a pinteresting month...

I was on such a good roll! I was posting every day! What happened??? I have just been busy working I suppose. I also started working out with a personal trainer at this awesome place down town, and that is kind of time consuming.

I have still been crafting and the like though.

I will have more detailed posts coming up... but here are some teaser photos to keep you on the edges of your seats!!!