Me Monster

Do you ever wonder what you would look like if you were a magical creature or monster? ok so maybe I'm the only one who dreams about things like purple skies, flying giraffes, and me as a monster. But don't take my hope away, just go with it ... come on, you know your just a little curious. no? Well for those of you who aren't party pooper's lame jerk-a-saurus party pooper's, here your chance to find out what you might look like as said monster and/or magical creature just in time for Halloween! First of all, as a disclaimer, I am NOT good at portraits so its ok if you aren't either, you can improvise and work around the drawings flaws (it might make for a better monster) or you can enhance the parts that you thing look well drawn :)
First I took a couple photos of me and The Hubby and then printed them out. they don't have to look good as long as you like your smile or facial expression because your going to distort you face anyways.
Next I traced the prints out onto paper. ( I couldn't find a pencil that had an eraser on it so please excuse the scratched out parts)

For fun, they Hubby and I chose to create each other into a monster and see what each other picked. So he decided I should be a plant and I decided to make him into a robot/ Borg thing. This is were the fun begins. You can do what ever you heart desires and you imagination can conceive! Then I transferred my drawing to water color paper. (Hubby didn't because he decided it was to detailed for water color... I think it would have been better but who am I to judge someone else's artistic eye. )

Lastly, I just painted it in water color the way I wanted it.

And that all folks! Happy hunting's and joyous jests!

Fall Fun List

As life gets more and more crazy and I seem to have the desire to rip my hair out escape the hectic-ness, I find myself at a lost for things to do with the hubby for a good time. It seem everything that we would want to do has been done already. that's when I came across this brilliant idea for Kate Bower. Its a list that me and the hubby sat down and talked about all the things during the fall that we would like to do that we might not be able to do (or want to do ) during other times of the year. By doing so we found 20 things that we BOTH like to do and because most of them are things we can only do during the fall, a lot of them are things we have never done together or even ever! Some of the things you might notice I stole from lovely Kate but all of them are definitely 100% us approved :D

If you are unable to read this (thats as big as I could get it ) here is the list -->

♤ pumken patch  ♤trich-or-treat

♤ pumken carving  ♤trail walk

♤ orchered picking  ♤chair project

♤ museums  ♤fall fair

♤ leaf picking  ♤paint cabnet

♤ antiquing  ♤wood carving

♤ corn maze  ♤dinner date

♤ monster painting  ♤build model boat

♤ gost walk tour (missed it :( )  ♤coloring book

♤ make a weath  ♤starbucks date

package, packing, and primping

Today the Hubby and I finally got a note in the mail for a package we have been waiting for for quite some time now. It was a box-oh- goodies from his grandparents for our birthdays and such!! Also, because John took today off (there is little work to be done at his work so they suggested people to use up there vaca. time now and John took the advice and took off for a couple of days) we spent all day cleaning the house and packing.

Packing? yep... packing. You see I am nothing if not a doer. I can't sit down for a second without thinking of whats the next thing I could be doing. We are planning to find a house and move with in the next few months so me, being a busy bee, decided to get a head start on packing thing we don't use on a day to day bases; like books the sewing machine, out door summer dishes, and so on.

 A lot of people might think I'm jumping the gun or rushing things but I think other wise. The way I see it is that if I don't make an effort toward something every day then my mine does not stay focus on it and the need and priority of that goes away. So by doing things like packing it helps me stay focus on the time line which I wish to stick to and at the same time keeping my mined thinking about that goal. It may seem like I'm being a worry wash to some or that I'm preparing for something that might not happen but to me its a good thing. By doing this helps me make sure that my goad DOES come true. :)
Well after we got a bit of work done we decided to treat ourselves with a luscious treat of gifts! I mean who doesn't love getting stuff in the mail?! It feel like Christmas on a random day and I think that makes it even more special. XD here's our new digs...

Sorry that the photo is blurry this is the best one I could get. This is the new embossing kit I got for my grandmother-in-law! It even came with cards, envelopes and stickers. This is my first attempt at embossing something and I think it came rather well.

I'm so excited to use my new kit to make a nice thank you letter to my sweet grandparents.I also got these new stamps to go with the kit I already have.

It will be great to sink my teeth into crafting with my new scrapbook and scrapbook paper :).

Well that's it folks. Have you ever got a nice surprise in the mail? Anyone out there packing for a move ? I'm sure I can't be the only one who packs way ahead :P and pre-packers out there? How many fall cleaners are out there? isn't it so much better then spring clean since there's less distraction from the amazing weather ? I think so.

The Small Things

Yesterday, the weather was a bit warmer then it has been in the past week so the Hubby and I decided to go on a nice walk with Pepper. Right as we are about to leave a little black cat came to say hello on our back patio.

This is not a new occurrence, you see, I have found out that there is quite a bit of adorable stray cat around our apartment complex and I have made it my duties to care for them. It all started with a little gray kitten that showed up on our back patio about a month ago. She was visibly malnourished and so hungry that she would come right up in front of me and cry for food. She would even eat right out of my hand cautiously; jerking away when I moved or adjusted my hand. Mind you, these cats are feral and were never house pets so to see one eat out of a persons hand is quite a shock. After that day I decide to leave a bit of Peppers food out for them each day so that no more of them would starve. I had pondered on calling animal control but after doing a lot of research around my area I found that there are no non-kill shelters near us! So I decided that it was better for the cats to live out there lives as they had before (many of them are more then a year old so I know they can handle the winter) and to just do my best to make sure they make it out there in the world (i.e feed them a little bit) for as long as we live here.
So,  as we headed out for our walk I decided to snap a few photos along the way. Mind you I am new at this day-to-day kind of blogging and photo taking so most of the photos (in fact all of the photos except for the cat) are plants. :(  I hope as I do this more often that I will get better photos of our life so that I can share more memories with you all and to look back on. But for now here you are.
I'm not exactly sure what kind of plant this is but I'm sure its a weed of some kind but what ever it is I just love it. I like how bazaar its flowers look and how bright they are. Its almost odd to see so much life at such a cold time of year yet, at the same time its so pleasant to see plants holding out for the winter and staying strong!
p.s. I just found out (with a little bit of research) that these are called Showy goldenrod.

I love these little wild daises. There are just to sweet and delicate. Plants like this is what makes wildflowers my favorite type of flowers. There is just something so organic about them that you can't find in things like roses in my opinion.

When the Hubby and I got home (with a well tired Pepper) I put this together with a few of the flowers we gathered along the way.

Nothing is as free as mother nature!
So have any of you gone on a nature walk lately? or taken in a stray animal? Is it just more or does that cat look mad at me for taking its photo? 0.o

Pizza Bread Bites

I found this recipe on pinterest and just love it. The pizza bites didn't turn out as small as the ones on Pinnies on a Platter but all in all they were really tasty. I think next time I'll experiment a little more with the filling just for fun. Oh, and I used the recipe for the pizza dough for it two. It was so fluffy and and tasty. The only thing I would change is more cheese. The hubby can't get enough cheese so I'll have to add some more next time :) Also, if you like this would make a great bread roll I'm sure. If you simply made it into a bread roll and folded it open you can fill it with what ever filling you like, cook it, and use a pipping bag and filler tip to fill it with sauce once its cooked.I'm only listing the recipe for the pizza bread so you can use the link above for the dough or you can use your own recipe or use store bough dough; happy cooking !

You will need: A cake pan, a frying pan, basing brush, and a spatula.

•  1/2 a batch of pizza dough
• olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• Parmesan cheese (grated)
• 'toppings' (optional)-
• pepperoni
• small onion, chopped finely
• small green pepper, chopped finely
• mozzarella cheese cubed
• mushrooms, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease your cake pan with some of the oil. roll your dough into a large ball and set aside.
2. In your frying pan, add a little bit of the oil and fry all the vegetables that are desired for your filling (if you are using any other then cheese)
3. When the vegetables are frayed, set them aside and let cool. From the dough ball, pull off a small amount and roll into a ball in the palm of your hand. Press the ball between your palms so it is flat.
4. Place about a tb spoon (or less if you want small bites size pieces) of the filling in the middle of the dough on your palm. Add a cube of cheese and pepperoni.
5. bringing up the sided of the pressed dough, form it back into a ball with filling inside. Place the pizza bite into the cake pan on the edge with the seam side down.
6. Repeat this until all the dough/ filling is used up. make sure the pizza bites are close together and seem cramps. (this will help them keep their shape when cooking)
7. using your basting brush, brush on just a little bit of olive oil on the top of the bites and season with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. serve with pizza sauce or marinara sauce.

New Steps

I can not lie, my ambition for this blog had been fading. Maybe it was the lack of viewers, or the lack of responses to posts, the overwhelming feeling of so much to do and the feeling like its not worth it for such little payback..., or the lack of anything to post (other then recipes), or maybe it was simply procrastination getting the best of me. But, what ever it was I am sorry for it. I miss blogging and I miss getting my feelings and inspiration out there and heard. That is, if anyone is listening. I have finally got up the ambition/ motivation I needed to post something.
Just the other day The Hubby and I took a walk though Target to see their new line of stuff (which was almost nonexistent thanks to a massive sell out on Monday) and my wonderful husband bought me a pair of shoes.

The last ones they had in fact! I suppose this is the one and only benefit to having such small feet. They are a size 3 children's and although they are a size to small, due to the style of shoe and the elastic back, they fit perfectly!

The things is, that getting them made me want to show them off, and wanting to show them off made me realize that there IS stuff I could write about and things I have to say. Things that I have over looked because of the feeling that they wouldn't be heard or neglected or just straight up ignored. And, that's when I took a step back and thought about thing for a minute. This blog isn't all about me. Its for the public, for the people I love and care about, for friends and family. Its for curious cooks, and DIY divas, and passionate home makers. I have been so selfish to hide my life away because I though something wasn't impotent enough or that no one would care about a pair of shoes or old chairs or trips I take. But in the end, its not up to me to make that decision and it was wrong of me to think so. Its you the readers who should have the right to decide if a subject or post is worth reading or skimming though not mine. So I am sorry and I will try better to post (even if it may seem like the most mundane thing ever to me ) my life as often as I can. Even if that means sharing the days when nothing at all happens and the highlight of the day is play with the dog. So be it!  I guess the moral of the story is, sometimes you have to walk in new shoes to see a new point of view. :P

fabulous free fall fashion

Surprise! I'm back... and with a treat. This is my first tutorial post since switching over to this page. That mean this might be a little crazy but hopefully I'll get it right the first time (with the whole making sense part) so you guys can make your own :).
Because fall is coming up ( and because I'm obsessed with scarves) I have decided to DIY my own scarves!

 This DIY is super easy and doesn't involve a sewing machine OR spending any money ( provided you have a glue gun, needle and thread, and a big t-shirt just laying around like I do).  SO here we go!
First you will need a L-XL shirt with no side seams, (You can use one with a print if you like, this doesn't do much to the outcome of the scarves.) a pare of sharp scissors, a glue gun (optional), a needle and thread (also optional).
Next, you want to lay out your shirt on a cleared working space.

Staring at the bottom, you then want to cut from one side of the shirt to the next making sure you cut though both sides. You should end up with a loop (its OK if the strips aren't perfectly straight). Just repeat this all the way up to the armpit of the shirt. You will have a pill like this

Once your done cutting you can throw away the rest of the shirt. Take one or two of the strips in your hands so that one end loops around one of your hands and the other end wraps around the other hand. Stretch the pieces so that the curl up on themselves. Now your pile should look like this instead.

You can either leave the strips like this a ware them just as a bunch or you can do what I did and make the all connected. Play around with them, be creative. You can try braiding them or twisting them together or what ever your heart feels like. For me, I gathered them all together so that they were hanging neatly and then took a broken strand ( I had two that broke but you can cut two finished strips in half to make this) and raped it around all of the other stands. Then I tied a knot to secure them all.

Then I too the left over of that stand and another one and made these little loop flowers. (ps. this is the most accurate photo of the color :). )

To make them I just made a loop, glued in the middle and did that five times for each petal using one long strip. I made three flowers so that they could surround my knot.

Then I sewed them on by hand so that the knot wouldn't show.

And that was it! tada!

How cute is that?! And it was free! Its quite bright and looks great with neutrals and grays (which I know a lot of people wear during fall and winter). If you have a fall colored t even better! So there you have it, hope it was helpful and hope everyone who tries it has fun!

Question time! have any of you made something fab and free? how about all those in favor of fall coming soon?  any great tutorials going around that you'd love to share (oow oww please do!)? anyone else brave enough to try pooling orange off in your outfit? would love to hear from you all.