What do you do when you need a photo album but can't find one for a big boy?

Just change the ones you find!

My son likes to put his photos in little albums. We used to be able to get them that had a pretty generic cover on them, but in the past year or so we haven't been able to find ANY that were big boy appropriate. I don't like to spend too much money on them either. I can usually find them in the dollar range. That is a good price to me.

The other day I was at Walmart and found the albums I wanted but they all looked like this:

They were not big boy appropriate. I couldn't find any with a cover that was even decent for a boy at all. Or an adult for that matter. I was frustrated but looking at them anyway, when I opened the cover and I realized that these you could take the cover out! BINGO! I can use my scraps and make a cover to his liking and not embarrassing to pull out with his friends and show them the big fish he caught or the latest Boy Scout camping trip. Three albums hopped into my cart. They were also on sale for 67 cents a piece. BONUS!

I got home and showed him my find. He of course turned his nose up at them until I told him that we could change the cover. He went with me to my scrapbook paper and we looked through and found some paper that he liked. I went immediately to work as he gathered his photos.

This is what they look like now!

I used a piece of cardstock inside under the patterned paper to give it some stiffness. Inside the cover and the back I placed a journaling card so he could write what the event was and the date.

I also put patterned paper on the back too so it matched the front but not exactly the same as the front.

I was thinking that these would be great little gifts for grandparents, family, friends, etc.

Oh Halloween!

First I need to apologize for neglecting my, oh, two loyal followers of this blog. You know who you are and I am so sorry for leaving you hanging for so long.

I HAVE been busy and I have been creating. I have lots to post and lots to still take photos of so I can post. But I will give you a hint: knitting, scrapbooking, sewing and crafting have all been in my "idle hands" recently. I will post in good time though all the nifty things I have been working on.

Today, though is all about Halloween. And these:

Aren't they so cute??? I got the idea from here who got their idea from here (I loved their blog title, ha ha) and when I saw that post I just had to make some myself. I have Mason jars floating around my house and these are a perfect craft to use them for.

I followed the directions and instead of using ribbon at the top I used Raffia string. I thought it looked a bit more rustic. I put in a flickering tealight that is battery operated so I could leave them on all the time. The person from Not So Idle Hands used a string of Christmas lights in hers.

Also, new in our home are these fun placemats.

I serged the edges and backed them with a quilted white material. They are so quick to make. I bought the Halloween material last year when it was on super clearance sale and I had the quilted material left over from this past spring's Easter placemats. So in all this project was free for me.

Leave me a comment and let me know that you still read and what you did new and crafty for fall or for Halloween.

Box Cushion, oooo la la!!

My lovely box cushion turned out wonderful! I love this cushion. I took the box cushion sewing class from Joann Fabrics for the past two weekends. It is hard for me to take a class when I have no idea what the end product will look like. That is my only real complaint for this class. The instructor was wonderful but she didn't have a sample for us to see prior to us making the object. So while she is giving us directions I was having a hard time picturing what she wanted me to do. She would say things like, "fold the material in 1 1/2 inches to make a pocket on the outside", but I would have no idea why I was doing what I was doing.

Without further adeiu here is the end product.

It will go on the bench we have at our river place. So the colors and material is perfect for that bench. (I have a feeling my mother might want to steal it too for her house.)

See the close up of the piping!!! I am so proud of me.

And just look at that zipper! Doesn't it look professional???

Ha ha. I have been super busy with some other projects too. I will update you on those when I get them done. It shouldn't be long now.

For my two readers, thanks for hanging with me in my blog drought. I promise to post more often. I have been super crafty recently so I will be posting more now.

Puzzles and Cards

Over the past few weeks we have been dumped on with snow. Not near as much as those in PA and WVA but we have had our fair share. In the process of waiting to be melted out of the house the kids and I did some puzzles. We took pictures of two. We got them from the Goodwill and the top puzzle had four pieces missing. Do you know how hard it is to do a puzzle when there are mystery pieces missing?

This puzzle below had all the pieces. It was a thousand piece puzzle as the other one was "only" five hundred pieces. They both took us a couple days to complete. I tell you, my smallest child is the one with the most patience to complete the puzzles. She does a good amount of the work on them too.

Below, I have a few of the Valentine's Day cards I made. The top is just a general one.

These are the cards I made for the kids! They turned out great and the kids love the handmade cards.

This Valentine's Day card below was to my wonderful husband.


This is a close up. I just love this stamp.

This was a 'warm up' card to get the juices flowing. I hate this one. I don't think I did very well and because of that I just kind of stopped and didn't finish it. I am not really sure why I took the picture of it either. Oh well.

Old Meatloaf Recipes

I found these when my MIL gave me a bunch of old crochet and knitting patterns that she collected over the years. She cut them out of magazines and in the process inadvertantly saved some recipes that happened to be on the back of the patterns.

These come from the Woman's Day Magazine, January 9, 1978! Enjoy.

Mushroom Meatloaf Square

1 container (1/2 ounce) instant, dyhydrated mushrooms (can you even get these anymore? I would use regular mushroom slices either from a can or fresh.
3 slices firm white bread
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 cup hot broth, tomato juice or water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
Paprika (optional)

Put mushrooms, bread, onion, and parsley in a large bowl. Pour broth over all and let stand until cool. Stir in salt, pepper, and eggs. Add beef and mix well. Pack in a greased 8x8x2 inch square baking pan. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until done. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut in squares. Makes 6 servings.

For a more up to date recipe, I would substitute fresh mushrooms for the dried, and diced small onion for the dried minced onion. I would also add a bit of garlic and reduce the liquid to 1/2 cup.

Meatloaf Ring

1 cup broth
1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
4 gingersnaps, broken
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 small bay leaf,crumbled
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon peper
1/4 teaspoon allspice (optional)
2 eggs
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

In a large bowl mix well broth, bread crumbs, gingersnaps, onion, bay leaf, salt, pepper allspice and eggs. Let stand 5 minutes. Add beef and mix well. Pack in greased 5 cup ring mold. Bake in 350 degree oven 50 minutes or until done. Let stand 10 minutes. With a knife loosen edges: unmold. maske 4 servings with leftovers.

Frankfurter Meatloaf

1 cup beer, broth or water
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 egg
1 1/2 pounds lean ground bef
1/2 pound frankfurters

In a large bowl mix well beer, onion, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, mustard, and egg. Let stand 5 minutes. Add beef and mix well. Pack half the mixture in greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Press frankfurters lengthwise on top. Cover with remaining meat mixture. Bake in 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Makes 4 servings with leftovers.

Last one.

Beef-pork meatloaf

1 cup broth, tomato juice or water
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs, divided
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried sage or poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound pork-sausage meat

In a large bowl mix well broth, 3/4 cup breadcrumbs, the onion parsley, sage, salt, pepper, and eggs. Let stand 5 minutes. Add beef and pork sausage and mix well. Shape in smooth, firm 12 ince loaf in greased 13x9c2 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs. Bake in 350 degree oven for one hour or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Let me know if you try any of these recipes.

Easy Chicken Parmesian

This is a great recipe for the rush rush family. From start to finish you can get this meal on the table in less than thirty minutes.

Ingredient:
1 bag frozen breaded chicken breasts
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
Angel Hair Spaghetti
1 bag shredded mozzerella cheese or "pizza" cheese

Heat the jar of spaghetti sauce in a pot, boil the spaghetti noodles, and bake the chicken breast according to the package. When the chicken breasts are done pull them out of the oven and spoon a spoonful of spaghetti sauce on top of each one and top with shredded cheese. Return the chicken to the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Serve noodles then spaghetti sauce then chicken on top. YUM.

Serve with warm bread and a salad for a full meal. Kids love this recipe and they can cook it too with an adult helper.

New Year's Resolutions and Food

This year, 2010 will be bringing several changes to our lives as a family. Oh who am I kidding. Not much is going to change around here. We are set in our ways and we like our meals on the go. That is because we are an on the go kind of family, which is one thing we are trying to change, the on the go part. We are trying to settle down a bit and not fill our calendars too fat. With that we will be having more dinners at home. The biggest part I suppose is that we will be planning more which will reflect in our meals.

Here is our first plan:
Monday: Chicken Parmesian, spaghetti and salad
Tuesday: BBQ, made in the crock pot, chips and raw veggies
Wednesday: Steak, Potatoes, salad
Thursday: left overs/sandwiches
Friday: Dinner on the road to the beach
Saturday: TBA? (we will be at the beach so who knows what we will feel like)
Sunday: Dinner on the road back from the beach.

Have you ever spent $75 at the grocery and then the next day run back to the grocery and spend another $30 and then later that day go back for a few more things and spend another $30 and two days later spend another $65? That seems to be us right now. AND my husband is at the grocery yet again for the fifth time in as many days. This is another resolution we have. We need to plan a menu and stick to it and then shop for the week and not go back. We spend way too much money going back and forth to the grocery every other day.

I think two food related resolutions are enough don't you think? I do.

Oh, and I will be posting more from my Dad's collection of recipes as I go through them as well as some of my own.

Happy New Year.

Christmas Crafts

In my last post I mentioned that I had been sewing Christmas tree skirts and napkins. I thought I would post a few pictures of these crafts.

This is the first one that I did. The poinsettias in the middle are machine embroidered.

And this is the second one. I altered the pattern slightly so that the top piece isn't there. I love this one.

And this is the napkin. It is two pieces of material cut in a 15 inch circle, sewn together. Then I trimmed it with a fancy stitch trim and the Christmas tree part is just in the fold.

It's reversable!! See!!

Have a crafty day!

Happy 2010

I am back. Not sure for how long but I am back for now. I started a new blog today for my Project 365. You can find my photo of the day here at http://photodayinthelife.blogspot.com/ . I have already posted my first day there.

Well, I haven't been blogging but I have been crafty in the past several months. I have been sewing a bunch and took a few sewing classes. We have made lots of things too. The most recent things we made were Christmas Tree skirts and napkins that fold into a Christmas Tree. You have to see it to believe it. We put the napkin sets up at the local pharmacy to sell and they have all sold. I think we had 20 sets total up there. They sold quickly too.

In November I started my Disney 2008 album and am about 1/3 done it. I had wanted to get the whole thing done before we went to Disney in December but that didn't happen. BUT it did get me moving on it. As I said, I am about a third done. This one won't take me 7 months to complete though. Well, it better not!

I am still making and selling my princess hair ribbons and need to make more. I am still crocheting and knitting too. While on our trip to Disney I made little neck scarves that cross just in front and don't have all the weight of a long scarf. They are fun and I gave one to my MIL for Christmas. She seemed to like it.

I have some crafty goals for 2010 this year.
1. complete my project 365-photo of the day blog.
2. make a quilt
3. complete my Disney 2008 album.
4. get a complete list of birthdays, anniversaries, etc for all of the family and make sure I send a card for every one.

Okay #4 isn't very crafty but it is necessary. I am so remiss in sending cards to people. If you are family and you are reading this I am sorry. It is never my intent to forget your birthday or anniversary but somehow I find myself doing it every time. I intend to be better this year.

Do any of my two blog readers have crafty goals for 2010???