Blog Award

Oh my goodness! A new blog friend of mine just honored me with this cool award. The Triple Cute Blog Award! Thanks D! She has some super recipes which I love and also some fun crafts. You can find her blog here: The Shady Porch

I'm so flattered to receive the super award. I'm still surprised that you wonderful people read my blog.

Blogging has been so much fun and inspirational. I have found some wonderful people that I now call friends through blogging.

Now it is my turn to pass on this award on to seven deserving followers. This is going to be a dilemma because I love all of my blogger friends! The seven blogs I pass the award on to are:

What About Pie

There's no place like home

Sweet Something Designs

Little Treasures

Just a Touch of Gray

Notes from the Heartland

Shut Up Duffy

I'll leave you all with a couple of pic of fall.

Thanks everyone!!

Baby diaper cake

I offered to make a diaper cake for a baby shower at my school. This is my opportunity to sink or swim. I really like crafting but was I in over my head? In the past I have tried all sorts of crafting. Back in the old days I tried macrame. It was fun but my fingers got sore and blistered. Ugh! I've sewed flags and tons of Halloween costumes. I even took a painting class with oils. Well ...here I go again. Before: During: After: Ta da!!!!

I used a bottle of sparkling cider for the center. All the diapers are centered around it.

After that all you need is rubber bands and or twine. I hot glued black and pink ribbon to hide the rubber bands. Thanks to the millions of people who posted directions on the world wide web.

Crocheted Sock Monkey Hat

This is the latest crochet hat I have made and I'm so proud of it! I wanted to make a gift for a friend that was having her first baby. I thought I would make a little something but not sure what to make. Well one day I stumbled upon this idea. Cute hua! This was really a lot of fun to make. It worked up quite fast. It is made very similar to my other hats. I only changed up the color and added ear flaps. My friend who is having the baby is having a girl. Ha ha! I guess you could tell that by the color. I hope it fits but we won't know for another week or so. :) But if it is to small I can make her another one. I added a little crochet flower but didn't get a snap of it before I wrapped it up.

My daughter really likes it and wants one. Sorry Carmen, too small. Ha ha! Well if you can believe it, a couple of my friends want me to make some for their kids. I don't feel that experienced! Plus they offered to pay. Now I'm in a dilemma because I don't like to charge my friends. I have looked on several Etsy spots and they charge anywhere from $18 to $25. Why didn't I know how to do this when my own children were little? I remember...I had kids. ( no time!) Ha ha!

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Link to:

Be different act normal

About A mom

Thirty HandmadeDays

Someday Crafts

At The Picket Fence & Skip to My Lou

Popular Grove Plantation

This past Thursday the first grade classes went on a field trip to a plantation not far from here. This isn't one of the big fancy ones you see on TV.

Their main focus is education and to preserve history.

It is one of the oldest peanut plantations in North Carolina. The orginal land was purchased in 1795. The Foy family owned the property for 6 generations.

There are several things that go on there. Not only tours for schools but Civil War reenactments too.

This is the tenant house. Looks like pretty meager living if ya ask me.

There were 64 slaves on the plantation and after the war 63 stayed to work here.

They have several out buildings set up for demonstrations. My favorite was the weaving house. An interpreter showed us how to spin wool from sheep and demonstrated the spinning wheel and the weasel.

Remember the old nursery song; "Pop goes the weasel"?

The weasel was used to count how many times the yarn was wrapped around the wheel. This way you would figure out yardage. A small peg in the middle would pot out when it was full. Ha ha! How cool is that!

As you know there are several other steps but I won't bore you all with that.

We also learned all the plants used to die the wool like black walnut and onion skins.

Back in the old days, if ya didn't have it ( grow it your self) you did without.

This weaving is called "Tabby"

We ended the day with a hay ride, actually it was a wagon ride.

It was such a beautiful day. We all had a great time and especially me!

Thanks for stopping by.

Decorating for Halloween and Thriller!

My daughter and I decided to dress up the place a little last week. She did most of the work. She was really into it. We added little touches here and there and lots of candles. I love the smell of pumpkin and apple spices in the fall.

I recycled most of my decorations from last year. You might remember my creepy skeleton face. I found it over at the Graphic Fairy. I also found this hand too. I already had a couple of frames, so all I had to do was get the black spray paint out.

This cute little sparkle tree is from Micheal's in the scrap booking department. All I did for this was place it on scrap book paper.

I placed the Heebie Jeebies in the down stairs bathroom.

I thought that was apropo. Ha ha! I don't go all out for Halloween decorations. Just a few touches here and there. Just enough to get in to the spirit of the season. This is a great time of year! I really love this cooler weather. You can't have Halloween without the classic thriller!

Have a great Halloween!

Crochet hats I have been working quite a bit on my crochet lately. There's been a baby boon in my school so I'm making some gifts. I was trying to think of something that I could make. I personally love homemade gifts. I've found several patterns on line that are very easy. Alli crafts have some very cute patterns and they are free! You can find her patterns here. This pattern works up real fast. The entire hat is made using double crochet. The striped hat also uses single crochet. So easy even a cave man can do it! Ha ha! I've made 5 hats so far. My daughter was a little jealous so I'm making one for her too. Oh yes, I won't be forgetting my boys and my daughter-in-law. Now that the weather is slowly cooling off we can wear hats and scarves soon, I hope anyway. If you check out my Pinterest, you can see more crochet ideas. Theses are made from alpaca and is very soft. I've also made some pink ones but forgot to take a picture before I gave them away. Oops! Thanks for stopping by. Have a supper weekend!

Carmel Fruit Dip

This is the best fruit dip I have tried in a while.

At our school the little kiddo's have been studying all about apples. For example:

• The life cycle of apples,
• Johnny Apple Seed
• Counting seeds
• Apple poems
• Different colors of apples
• Apple pies
• Apple sauce
• Apple tasting

The list goes on and on.

Well all this talk of apples was making me hungry for... APPLES!

And since it's fall, I'm all about some Carmel. Right!

Here's an easy, fast and yummy recipe for Carmel Fruit Dip:

6 oz pkg cream cheese

1 small jar Marshmallow Fluff

2 heaping tablespoon Carmel sauce (for ice cream)

Mix and enjoy!

All you need now is a spoon and maybe an apple.

I'll leave you with a little poem from our class:

Two Little Apples

Two little apples hanging in a tree.

Two little apples smiling at me

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the apples Mmmm they were good!

Vanilla cake with Butter Cream Frosting Kicked up a Notch

A couple of days ago I was asked to make a cake to bring to school. A co-worker was leaving her job and we were having a farewell lunch for her. Making a vanilla cake sounded dull to me, but that is what I was told to make.

So this is what I decided to do:

First I bought 2 French Vanilla Duncan Hines cake boxes. Then I came home and put my thinking cap on.

I have found a blog from a talented young lady from Your Cup of Cake. She has some very tasty cup cakes and frosting's. I looked around her blog and then in blog land and came up with my own creation. Ha ha!

When I mixed the 2 cake mixes I substituted half of the oil for apple sauce. Then I poured both mixes into one 9x13 inch pan. The pan was lined with aluminum foil and extended a couple of inches over the sides. That was so when it baked it could rise up to the very top of the pan.

When It came out of the oven I placed a cutting board on the top and smashed it down. I let it cool that way.

This will make the cake more dense.

When it was cooled I frosted it with my own creation.

I wasn't sure the frosting would be any good so I asked my daughter to try it. I got a definitely yes from her. Yeah!

Butter Cream Frosting

1 stick of softened butter

2 Tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 cup Sweetened Condensed milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Doesn't this have a nice color.

I remember reading PW blog and her commenting, sweetened condensed milk was so good. That's where I got my idea to add it to the frosting.

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished cake. My decorating leaves something to be desired. My daughter laughed and said it looked like something an old lady would make. I was crushed! Not really.

When I took it to school I received tons of compliments. I felt so good inside.

Ha ha! Everyone thinks I'm a good cook. What they don't know won't hurt them. :) At the end of the day there was only one small piece left.

It may be ugly but damn it was good! Ha ha!

Say, anyone got an idea what I should name the frosting?

Thanks for stopping by.