Book Page Wreath

One of the very first things I pinned on Pinterest was the Book Page Wreath, from Vintage Violet Style. I kept my eye out for the perfect book to use and finally came upon one at a yard sale for 25 cents. I liked the book I chose because it was a little brown around the edges of the pages and there was that gold, shimmery, ink on the very edges of the pages. Perfect for this project!

So, the tutorial is very nicely laid out on the website I linked above. What I would emphasize is this:

• on your first (outer row) do as they suggest and kind of place each page directly across from on another so that the whole foundation is pretty balanced and even.
• the pages on that first foundation row do not have to be touching eachother. If there is a little space between them, it's good, because the row you do next will nestle nicely in between.
• on the third (inner most) row, it got a little tricky. It started to get tight and they kind of wanted to start spiralling (sp?) around rather than fanning out like the 2 other rows. It's workable, but it just kind of caught me off guard so I wanted to make you aware if you choose to do this project.

I absolutely LOVE how this wreath looks hanging over my bed. I highly recommend this project if you're in need of covering a wall!

Meatless Monday! Pierogie Bake

Oh this was GOOD! The other night I had something bigger planned for dinner and I just wasn't feeling it. I knew I had a box of pierogies and I remembered my cousin feeding us a yummy, easy pierogie bake while we visited her. So, a quick search through her food blog, Savoring Earth's Flavors, and here's what I came up with.

1 (16 oz) package frozen potato and onion pierogies

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup reduced fat cream cheese

1/2 cup broth

1/2 cup (or more) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped tomato (I didn't have any tomatoes. Not even a can of diced! So I sprinkled some frozen chopped spinach on top instead.)

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Arrange frozen pierogies in an 11 X 7 inch glass baking dish coated with cooking spray or oil.

3. Heat small amount of olive oil in pan over med-high and saute garlic 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese, stirring until begins to melt. Stir! Gradually add broth, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour cream cheese mix evenly over pierogies. Top with cheese and green onions.

4. Bake for 25 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from oven and top with tomatoes and black pepper.

Fibers on Friday: Multnomah

Well hello there! Welcome to another Fibers on Friday! I had the itch this week, my friends! I spent HOURS working on the Multnomah Shawl. I would say at least 5 hours since Sunday night. So here's the progress:

I'm so close to being finished. Under 10 rows left. But each row takes so long! I'm going to keep at it, while not adding any other yarn related crafting to the mix, and hopefully be done this week.

A Fail? A Work in progress? To Be Continued?

I've been wanting to make my own hand soap pumps for a little while now. You know....it's all the craze, turning a mason jar in to a soap jar. I love the idea. I didn't want to use plastic pumps, though. So, when I saw good quality, METAL, pumps advertised in last month's Organic Gardening magazine I knew I was ready for a project.

I ordered the pumps from onedreamdesign.com. I already have tons of mason jars.

Then.....oh then....Pinterest got the best of me. I saw an idea for turning a bar of soap into liquid handsoap. I got excited because I have lots of bars of soap from Goat Milk Soapers, but I'd rather it be liquid soap. So.....I got to cookin'.

Ugh! It's been 24 hours and this is the gobbly goopy mess I have right now! I've read through the comments on the soapdelinews site, because lots of people had to tweek their recipes. Originally my batch turned out too runny, so I added a tad more glycerin.

That didn't work.

I used an immersion blender to whip it up.

That didn't work, just made it milky in color with all the extra air.

I added a salt water mixture. This step thickened it up, but it's still pretty gloppy and yuck as you can see.

Has anyone ever done this? Do you have any advice?

I'm going to keep working it because I'd really love to figure it out...fill my beautiful pumps (which I'll show you later) with lovely soap that's not laden with chemicals, and eliminate all that plastic from store bought soaps. I'll keep you posted!

Meatless Monday! Pumpkin Bread

This counts! Oh yes it does!!

I'm doing everything in my power to make it feel like Fall here in Florida. My Fall decorations have been up for weeks, we had friends over for chili night, and I've made this pumpkin bread twice! It's so good....

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs. Add pumpkin and mix well. Combine dry ingredients; add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with water. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes or until bread tests done. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack; cool completely.

For the glaze, melt 4 TBS butter. Whisk in 2 cups of powdered sugar. Cut with about 2 TBS milk until it's a nice glaze-like consistency. Spoon it over the top of the cake and push it over the sides to make those pretty drips ( I learned that when I decorated cakes for Baskin Robbins.....oh yes, I did.)

Happy Fall, Ya'll!!

Fibers on Friday: Hair Pretties

Hi! Welcome to Fibers on Friday! Thank you so much for continuing to party last week even though I had nothing to show! This week, I crocheted two things; a bunch of hair pretties and a baby cocoon for photo shoots.

Here are the hair pretties. A terrible picture taken in the dark. I'm sorry.

And now I can't, for the life of me, find the link that showed how to make them. Argh! Essentially it was this:

chain 6 and connect with a slip stitch to make a ring.
chain 2
2 HDC through the center, chain 2
slip stitch through the center
repeat 4 MORE time. (as you can see I only did 4 total which leaves me with only 4 petals. I think 5 would be better.)
Then hot glue a button on the center and glue it, along with some ribbon, onto an alligator hair clip.

As for the baby cocoon....TEASER!! I really want to wait and show you when I have an actual baby posed in it! I took pics of a baby yesterday, but she was having nothing to do with the cocoon, so it will have to wait. Maybe next week.

Wordless Wednesday: More Creepy Crawlies

On the outside of our bathroom window every night. The light above the toilet attracts the moths and the geckos come to eat the moths. It's cute, I have to say!