Roadtrip and Guest blog post.

So I have been away for a while. No literally away. My husband and I went on a five year anniversary trip. It started out with a sad stop. We attended the funeral of one of my husband’s friends father. Jason also happen to have worked with him for years when we first moved to Houston. We then decided to extend our trip, we went from Mississippi, up to Memphis, Tennesse, then to Louisiana, over to Jefferson, Texas to stay in a historic haunted hotel. It was a great getaway. Jason and I have not gone anywhere just the two of us since our honeymoon and it was sorely needed.

We started out driving from Houston to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This was the longest leg of journey. It was pretty weird though. So Texas has been in a drought lets say just about forever, as soon as we crossed into Louisiana it started pouring down rain and did not let up until we got to Mississippi. I dont know Texas but Im thinking we should start praying! We stayed in a hotel, got up the next day and went to Tylertown, Mississippi for the funeral. After the funeral we jumped back into the car and continued up to Tennesee. Now what else was weird was that every town we came to during 5 or 6′clock traffic had no traffic. None, it moved right along. It was the strangest thing.

My favorite place was Memphis. I have wanted to go there ever since I first heard Elvis’ music. I love Elvis! Not the crazy he is still alive love, just normal love! We stayed in a hotel near Graceland. We went got there we changed clothes and headed down to Beale Street. On our way we passed Sun Studio ( where Elvis’ recorded That’s All Right Mama). We were directed into a parking place by a very nice homeless man who would told us he would watch our car. We gave him all the cash we had which was roughly $3. We then headed down Beale street, its great. Its like 6th street without the college students. We went and ate at Rum BOogie’s Cafe. The music was fantastic, it was the Patrick Dodd Band, the food was not so hot, but the drinks were strong. On the whole pretty cool. Now Jason and I never make it down to the free breakfast at the hotels. We enjoy our sleep too much. But we woke up the next day and went to Leonard’s BBQ. We saw them on Diner’s Drive-ins and Dives. This place was only open from 11am-2:30pm. Lemme tell you from a girl that was raised in the Texas Hill COuntry, this was literally some of the best food I have ever eaten. They have a buffet that is $13 and this day it had on it all the sides you could think of, brisket, dry and wet ribs, pulled pork, spaghetti, catfish,hushpuppies, they have homemade desserts. The banana pudding was the best I have ever eaten. So if youre in Memphis give them a try.

Then my hubby took me to GRACELAND!!! Super excited still about this. I have always wanted to go. It is much smaller than you would think and well gaudy would be the correct word for its decoration. I will post a few pictures. We went to all the exhibits and the car museum and the airplanes. Those were Jason’s favorites.

We then went to Louisiana and had a cruddy stop off in Monroe…oh well it was just a stop off. The IHOP people were thoroughly nice though!

Then we went and stayed in the Historic Jefferson Hotel in Jefferson, Texas. The hotel and its people were great. We had dinner at the restaraunt joining the hotel La Maches and it was the best Italian food ever! As for ghost, you kept seeing things out of the corner of your eye, we got some cool pictures, and Jason swears he heard heavy breathing in his ear when I was not in the room. Who knows, but it was fun nonetheless.

We then came back to Houston and hit Traffic! We picked up the kiddo and came home. Super happy to be home!

While I was gone did a guest post over at Nena Metcalf’s Photography Blog. Go check it out and use her services, I have!!!

In the works is a recipe and a tutorial……The tutorial will be posted after November 13….I have my first craftshow in Austin, Tx at Bethany Lutheran Church. Hope to see you guys there.

Craftily Yours,

Kimmy

October 29, 2011. Uncategorized. Leave a comment.

Little bit of this and little bit of that!

So, I am jumping on  the bandwagon of homemade household cleaners, laundry detergent, and dishwasher detergent.  I made these last week from recipes that I found on pinterest. I even went so far as to toss out (aka give to my mom) all the other cleaners in the house.  With my husbands history of cancer and all the other toxins we are exposed to daily without conscious thinking, I wanted to limit contact where I can.  Besides honestly these were easy changes, but only if they worked!    I changed up the dishwasher soap and the laundry soap a little but the recipe is still pretty basic.  Now it is super cheap to make these and I dont have any big complaints about any of them. Here is the break down.  I’ll post recipes if wanted.

General All Purpose Cleaner- Basically its 1:1 ratio of white vinegar and water.  This worked well.  I used it to clean the microwave, stove top, and granite counters.  It did smell like vinegar but apparently if you add a few drops of essential oils it will take care of that problem.  It only smelled like vinegar until it dried and then there was not smell.  AT All, it just smelled clean.  If my stove was particularly dirty, I would use the cleaner where you add a few drops of dishsoap to act as a degreaser.  At first I kept wiping and wiping to dry to get it not bead on the top of the counters until I relized it just had to evaporate, there was not alcohol in it to make it dissipate faster.

Dishwasher Detergent-  This is the one that is not my favorite, even with the tweaks.  I used borax, lemishime, and baking soda washing powder, and kosher salt.  Mixed it all together.  Dont get me wrong it cleans the dishes, there is just this film on my dishes when they come out.  Oh, I also used just plain white vinegar as a rinse aid.  When using this stuff, you have to pre rinse your dishes.  It will not scour food away like Cascade.  So its a little more time consuming, and honestly the film could be my lame dishwasher.  Eitherway I generally happy with it and I usually rinse my pans and cups before using anyway.

Laundry Detergent-  This one makes my super happy.  I did not do the liquid one which yields even more product because frankly I dont want to store 5 gallons of detergent. I used borax, washing powder, white Zote, and baking soda.  THis stuff is great.  It gets the clothes clean, you dont use alot at all, and the clothing is soft.  It does have a faint smell(pleasant one) and if you want more you can use dryer sheets and what not.  If the clothes are really soiled you can through in some oxyclean.  I used just plain zote soap to pretreat tough stains.  I like this one and will definately continue to make.

Soft Scrub-  I made a scrub to use on my sink, tub, tile, that kind of thing and its basically baking soda, lemon juice, and dish soap. You mix until like icing and use as you would commercial Soft Scrub.  It worked great, cleaned well, no film left behing and I had a blast squirting it with the vinegar wash!!hehehe  I store it in an old pickle jar labeled with chalkboard paint and chalk.  If it dries out, mix in a little more lemon juice or soap.

Thats if for reviews for my cleaning products so far.  I have a few more ideas up my sleeves on uses for the same items. So keep coming back and checking things out…..

Oh, I owe a tostada recipe too!

Here’s the low down.

Ingredients

tostada shells or bake off your own tortillas

refried beans( I cheat and use can black beans, rinse, add herbs, and smash)

cabbage

radish

cilantro

lime

olice oil

purple onion

tofutti sour cream

Shredded cheese

Layer you beans and your cheese, bake off in the oven until cheese is melty. I usually do 350F for about 5-8 minutes.  Shred your cabbage, slice your radishes, slice your purple onion, chop cilantro.  Mix a small amount of olive oil probably 2 tbs with equal parts lime, add salt and pepper to taste.  Taste your dressing, it should be more acidic then oily, adjust lime accordingly.  Toss with your salad

Place salad over tostadas, top with sour cream.  Enjoy!

Adapted from food network.

We eat Tofutti Sour Cream, it stays fresher longer and has a better taste in my opinion than regular dairy sour cream.  However, recipe will work just fine with whatever you use.  My husband does not like radishes or cabbage and looked at me like I was crazy for feeding him this, he ate 6 of them!  Little guy would not touch the salad but ate the tostadas just fine.

Let me know what you think!!!!  Oh, btw sorry for spelling errors, WordPress is not cooperating!

Craftily Yours,
Kimmy
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October 4, 2011. Uncategorized. 2 comments.

Recipe…..

The other day I was out with my Mom’s group and the idea popped up of a recipe exchange. Since I already had this recipe in the works to be posted it knocks out two birds with one stone.

Like fashion, cooking fads go in circles. Currently crock pot cooking is back in style. I drag my crock pot out every now and then, but it’s not my favorite. I don’t like not having full control over my food. Yes, that’s a little OCD but that’s just the way I feel.I think another reason I don’t  like it is that my Mom instilled the fact that you don’t leave a house with appliances turned on. Yes, apparently my Mom is OCD too!  Crockpot cooking is easy. You toss all the ingredients in, turn it on and you are good to go. Crock pot cooking is all about time-saving and that is what makes it so appealing. The recipe, I say that loosely because I don’t really measure, I am about to give you can be done in about 20 minutes.  So while not as quick as the crock pot is at the end of the day, it is still a pretty good front runner on the fast food front.

Tandoori Spice Rubbed Chicken and Tomato Jam

Ingredients

-Chicken (whatever is needed to feed you family, I used breast but tenders would work too)
-Assortment of spices (make sure one of these is a curry powder, I use coconut curry)
-tomatoes
-purple onion
-balsamic vinegar
-olive oil

So for the chicken, dump spices into a bowl. I used garlic powder, coconut curry powder, paprika, salt, and coriander. No measurements but if I had to guess about a 1/2 tbsp of each. Pour in enough olive oil to make a paste. Rub this on the chicken coating it. Place on your preheated grill, pan, what have you. Cook throughly!

Tomato jam-
Coarsely chop tomatoes and red onions. Place these in a pan. Poor about         2 tbsp balsamic vinegar for every 3 tomatoes. Dash of salt, turn heat on med/low and let simmer and reduce.

When chicken is done and tomato mix is reduced, place chicken on plate cover with jam.

Roughly adapted from Bobby Flay

Pair it with curried potatoes and peas, and Naan bread. The naan can be bought at the store already made and you just heat it up!

It’s a super yummy dinner looks great and quick to make.

Craftily Yours,

Kimmy

September 17, 2011. Uncategorized. 2 comments.

Spa Party for a Tween on a Serious Budget!!!

For those that know me, know that I have a serious problem with parties. There can never be enough decorations, activities, food, and party favors must be spectacular.  There really needs to be 12 step program for this.  A friend of my husbands daughter (did you follow that one) was turning 10.  She wanted a spa party for her and two friends.  Thats totally easy right.  My husband and I decided to do the party for her for her present and were like stated above on a serious budget.  Well with a little help from my friends, my trusty silhouette, and the dollar store we were totally in business.

Decorations were kept pretty simple.  I had the spa paryt at my house. Please excuse whatever mess you see, I well, I live in the house with a three-year old and a husband who might as well be a three-year old.  I made tissue poms, covered my dining room table, used the party favors on the buffet as decor, made a banner and a door sign.  I lit candles around the house and toned down the lighting.  I had every intention of putting on music but the girls were so giggly it would not have made a difference.  From here out it will be uber heavy on pictures!!

This is the sign I made.  Taylor(little bit turning 10) wanted peace signs.  It’s just scrapbook paper, made the sign on publisher, glued it down on to a piece of cardboard, strung with ribbon and hung on wreath hanger on the fron door.

Forgive the pictures I am not a photographer in the slightest.

Tissues poms hung in the kitchen archway.  YOu can’t really see it but behind that pillar is a metro shelf with everything set on it for the spa portion of the party.  I had pedicure buckets, bowls for manicures, towels, a basket with bath salts, lotions, finger nail polish remover etc…

This was a cake that the lovely Hope Frohbieter from Hope’s Sweets and Treats donated for this birthday party.  It was so cute and super yummy.  I bought cupcakes from Hope for my son’s birthday and they were so cute and scrumptuous. If you are in the Houston, Texas area, I definitely say give her a call for your next event.

Here is a blurry pic of the whole table.  The stand to the left has white chocolate covered pretzel rods and Oreos drizzled with colored white chocolate. The bottom layer is just plain every day strawberries.  The green bucket is one I had on hand with some picks in it that I cut out on the silhouette.  Its stuffed with material on hand.  The cups and napkins were purchased from the dollar store as was the foiled wrapping paper on the table.  The peace signs were just cut outs and the paper plates I had on hand.

The girls getting their pedis.

manicure

Oatmeal strawberry face mask, cucumbers, and their footsies soaking.

If yall want I can post an individual picture of these. But they are plastic boxes that I wrote “You are beautiful” in paint pin.  I filled them with sizzle, cut out their initial on the silhouette and put on a cup.  The favors contained a microfiber wash cloth, flip-flops, bath salts, bath foam, toe separators, nail file, clippers, a powder puff and a nail file key chain.  Oh it also had some jolly ranchers.  I scored and hit a 50% off sale at the dollar store. (say what, yeah I know)

To start the night out I had bought them each a pair of flip-flops to decorate.  I let them go in the craftroom and they had a blast with ribbon and sequins. The girls also did blind makeovers.  They put a blindfold on and attempted to put make up on one another.  I also made smoothies for them to sip on out of their personalized cups from the party favor boxes.  Overall I think they had a blast!  Total cost for the party minus the cake and a few goodies that some truly awesome women donated to me was around $45.00.  I don’t think it could have went better!

Craftily Yours,

   Kimmy

September 7, 2011. Uncategorized. 2 comments.

An update and some opinions

Hi all,

First off I am incredibly sorry on how long it has taken me to update this.  Its been almost two months and my only excuse…well life gets in the way sometimes.  When I started this I thought that it was going to be incredibly easy.  Its soo not.  Anyhow what has kept me away besides life, is that I am preparing for my first craft show and hopefully preparing for a move.  Oh, and another thing responsible for taking my time away from this is Pinterest.  I started getting into it before and then pushed it aside.  Well now its back with a vengeance and really its like a blackhole for DIY-ERS.  Before you know three hours is gone from your day (while the kiddo is napping, Im not that bad of a MOm.).  Dont judge, if you are on it , you know what Im talking about.  If you need an invite email me (Craftilyyours@gmail.com).  Alright, I am going to post some pictures you all need to vote and tell me which one you want me to talk about first.  There are two recipes and a party post.  Lets get to it!

This is a sneak peek to a Spa party done for a 10 year old girl.

This is Tandoori Spiced Chicken with Tomato Jam, Curried Potatoes and Peas, and Naan.  For my vegetarian and vegan friends this could easily be converted. Oh the three year old dug the bread and the chicken w/o the Jam

These are homemade tostadas with a cabbage salad and tofutti sour cream on top. This is vegetarian friendly and could be vegan friendly way easy!

So all, leave a comment and tell me what you want to see first!

Craftily Yours,

Kimmy

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September 3, 2011. Uncategorized. 2 comments.

What do you think?

I hope for all my American peeps you are having a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. This is not really a great post either but a chance to show you what I’ve been working on for getting my business together. The other day I was surfing the net and stumbled upon. Saw that I could designs logos, print business cards, t-shirts, pretty much anything business like you can think of. I designed myself a logo and ordered some business cards for an insanely low price. Let me know what you think? Oh and by the way I am in now affiliated with vistaprint and have not been paid for a review. Though this is not really a review seeing as how I have not got my merchandise yet. I’ll update back when I do! In the mean time there are two to choose from, tell me which one you like?

LogoColorTextBelow

LogoColorTextRight

Again I hope everybody is having a safe and fun weekend.  I will update again later in the week.

Kimmy

July 4, 2011. Uncategorized. Leave a comment.

My first REAL Post!!

Hi all!  So as many of you know I am a geek/nerd at heart.  For those that dont know, you will surely find this out soon.  As long as I can remember back everytime a movie, be it Harry Potter, the new STAR WARS, any type of movie with a following that I follow, premiers my sister Gracie and I would make shirts for it.  Oh we also did book releases too   One of my favorites was when the heat transfer paper for inkjet printers first came out, Gracie (she’d be my oldest sis) made these shirts with it for  Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.  They had a giant Lego Yoda on the back with the saying “Yoda Loves You” on the back.  Those were great and I still kind of wish I had mine!  Well as many of you know CARS 2 just came out and my little man is going.  In true geekery fashion (no play on words there, har har) I have passed down the making of items to the next generation.

I made Ronan these fabulous flat front pocket shorts using this tutorial from Made.  I heart this blog by the way.  Great place for tons of tutorials!  Back to the pants, please do not pay attention to the not so even top stitching on the pockets, I did not feel like taking it back out for a pair of play shorts.  Call me lazy, my Momma did and still does.

Arent they cute~

Flat front, gathered rear!

Then because he needs a shirt too, I went and dug through his drawer and pulled out just a plain back t-shirt.  Heres my tip for this blog post.  If you want to jazz up a plain t shirt for a boy, topstitch over the existing serger stitches in an alternate color.  It looks way cute, gives nice contrast, and your boy isnt walking around with flowers on his shoulder!

Ta Da!

Heres the whole shebang.  Maybe tomorrow I will post a pic with Ronan rockin’ it out…

The geek torch is passed!

This is not what I had originally planned to post today, but it is what I got done.  I am thinking it needs something on the pocket.  Maybe alittle embroidered something or another what do you think?

~Kimmy

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June 28, 2011. Uncategorized. 3 comments.

Hello world!

So this is a big hello to everyone out there in blogland. I am not new to blogging but I am new to the world of craft blogging.  For the past two years I have kept a blog over on blogspot that detailed my hubby’s journey through cancer and the effect it had on my family.  If you want to check it out its address is http://jasonejourney.blogspot.com .  

On to this blog, I am Kimberly! You can call me Kim or Kimmy, doesn’t matter which one as long as it’s in time for dinner! I am a 28-year-old Stay at Home Mom to a terrifically rambunctious three-year old son, Ronan.  My hubby is Jason and we have been married nearly 5 years and together somewhere between 7 and 8 years. See men are not the only ones who have issues.

Let’s see.  Crafting and creating has literally kept me sane through some of the most trying times of my life.  I am certain that it has done the same for my Nana and my Momma, and most of you all as well. Some of my earliest memories are sitting in my Nana’s sewing room playing with mason jars full of buttons.  This past week I had a full circle moment when we were visiting my Nana and I was cutting out a pattern in her  craft room and my son was sitting on the floor playing with a bulldozer moving buttons around.  It was one of those “everything is right” moments.

I have two fantastically crafty sisters whom I’m sure at some point I can talk into to posting something on here.   They will be labeled G and B until I get their permission to use their names!

We live in Texas and I am trying to make a our house into a home that reflects my quirky style.  Jason doesn’t really care what I do as long as I stay away from yellows!  Which is definitely a blessing and curse,( not the staying away from yellows part, the doesnt care part),a blessing because I don’t have to ask his opinion, curse because when I do ask for it I can’t really trust it.  Sometimes when its down between Jason and Ronan for opinions, I ask both of them and then secretly opt for the three-year old!

This blog will be about crafts, redos, redon’ts, family, cooking, tips, etc.  Pretty much whatever strikes my fancy every few days!  I’ve got a couple projects in the works.  Im turning my diningroom turned playroom into a craft area/office. I have bedroom furniture to redo, a laundry room to decorate.  Tons of ideas and tons of laughs coming your way!  Come back often and see whats up with me and mine!

Craftily Yours,

Kimmy

June 21, 2011. Uncategorized. 1 comment.