Eat MORE soup

With tax season approaching, I wanted to find something that I could quickly eat when I got home at 9 at night. Eddie tried once or twice to make me a soup in our crock pot..turns out our crock pot cooks too high!!! So one day I got an email from PETA, they had a soup recipe at the very bottom. After skimming the recipe I realized that this was all stuff that I typically bought and I only had to use a large pot!


The recipe called for:

•  6 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 med chopped onion
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

•  1 tbsp olive oil
• 32 oz veggie broth
• 28 oz canned tomatoes in juice
• 14 oz white beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 med sliced zucchini/squash
• 3 cups chopped kale

•  4 sm purple potatoes
• 2 small yellow potatoes
• 2 small red potatoes
• Note: I used 6 small red potatoes, simply because we already had them! Potatoes should be cubed.
• 6 cups of water

1. in a VERY large pot (i used a lg and med), saute onion, basil, oregano, salt & pepper in oil for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.
2. Add broth, tomatoes with juice, beans, zucchini/squash, kale & potatoes - cover pot and bring to a boil.
3. Lower heat and slowly add the water while stirring occasionally. Simmer for about an hour and is done if can pierce a potato with a fork. 

   

The soup was SOO good, I was so proud of myself. The recipe claimed it was 10 servings, but I had myself a bowl the night, and then had so much left over. I ate if everyday for lunch at work last week and froze the other half!

Simple sign for a big day

It might have been a bit of a disappearance since the last time I put effort into this blog. I really want to learn the ins and outs, and get really good at it. So I hopefully can dedicate myself better, even though tax season has come yet again.


   


Well I haven't been up to that much, but a few things here and there. My dear friends Becky & John, who started dating around the same time as eddie & i are getting married in october. One day i came home and saw this wood we have had sitting on our porch for a few years and i was like I need to make them a sign!!
Eddie & I actually had one at our wedding, I didnt make it, and it was from new wood to look old. As you can see, this was just a simple piece of wood. It was a little long, so after i painted it, i had my husband saw a piece off and then he screwed a stand into it.
Eddie & I were very fortunate to spend a lot of time with John and Becky this weekend! We had such a great time, wine, politics, food, shopping, coffee! We did give them the sign, they loved it! Becky promised they'd get a picture with it soon! Can't wait to share!

Christmas Ornaments

So this year for Christmas, I made ornaments for myself, and for friends and family. Took me awhile to not only track down supplies but to get everything done!

My Christmas tree looked absolutely beautiful, even though you cannot see each fine detail in this pic - there is a small snowflake midway up on the left that stands out, and I MADE IT!

I got mini cookie cutters and applied white craft glue on them, and with red or silver glitter in a huge ziploc bag i shook them right up! then with a hot glue gun i did an attempt of a bow. this was not my husband's favorite due to the amount of glitter!

Another glitter project was the pinecones that I got from my parents yard. I applied white craft glue with a foam brush and then sprinkled the glitter on. 

I got a wacky idea to paint my own bulbs. This one i called "marbel" others refer to as tye die. Some bulbs I painted were a single color with embellishments. The paint was slowly drizzled on the inside of the ornament, rotating the colors. then for several days while on its side, I rotated the bulbs. These took about 10 days to dry. If you attempt, drain the excess paint (not too early or the affect will go away) to speed up the drying process.

These snowflakes were made with crayola model magic and a snowflake cookie cutter. FYI - model magic does not get 100% hard but it is pure white!

I bought festive baskets and placed these handmade ornaments, with handmade tags, and some chocolate for the husbands, with a few other ornaments i either made or bought. and i think it came out to be quite cute! Shame i didnt get a pic! Another ornament that I think was the crowd favorite was a garland heart! It was two strips of 6x2 paper, one side the photo and the other cardstock, and i shaped it into a heart! This is what mine looks like:

 Finally, this ornament I actually made last year. Correct that, I made probably 20 of them. After getting fabric from a local store ("Pin Cushion"), I made a stencil with a heart cookie cutter and cut out tons of fabric, then the handsewing and stuffing. Took a long time, but they are my favorite. 

Now to figure out what to do next year...

Get Ready --- GO!

So for awhile I've been wanting to blog about everyday in's and out's - what i'm thinking, what i'm doing, what I want to be doing! 
Unfortunately I found myself forgetting and then when I remember I wasn't able to.


This will definitely be a slow process for me, one because i have NO idea what im doing, but I want it to become something that I do often, and I want to learn all the ins and outs. So - any advice or suggestions are MORE than welcome! 


My blog, I think at least, will be surrounded around the crafts I've done. I must say, it's hard to come up with ideas, but I think I'm good at the execution! 

 Here are a few things I did this year:
Ribbon Wands for my wedding:

Embroidered Table Numbers, also for my wedding:

Embossed thank you cards:

Programs (used paper supplied from brides.com):

And here's the final product for the ribbons and my tables!

(I also put together the centerpiece from supplies at a flower warehouse in lancaster, pa)

(These birdcages were the "place cards"- mini bird cages from Michael's that my MOH and I spray painted white, then I used my cricut to cut the tags)

(This was behind the bird cages, the wood and plate stand were both from Michael's, the wood my husband stained and I painted)

I'm not typically doing anything in the kitchen, but in the fall I had a tupperware party, and wanted to do something with an autumn feel, so I made acorns, with mini nalla waffers, and hershey kisses!

After I get used to what I'm doing and make some changes, I'll add a few things I made for Christmas!!