What's Cookin' #12

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. The strike at my husband's work is finally over so I'm hoping things will be getting back to our weird little version of normal soon! 

Sunday: Mexican One Pot {One of these day's I'll share this recipe. It's delicious!}

Monday: Shrimp fra diavlo and corn

Tuesday: Tofu stir fry with rice

Wednesday: Burgers, fries, and corn on the cob

Thursday: Shrimp and peperjack quesadillas with spanish rice and corn

Friday: Chicken Thai curry with rice and naan

Saturday: Empanadas with black beans and corn

 

Quick Market Tote {or I always forget mine}

This little diddy will take you less than an hour to sew. And that's if you're like me and are the slowest sewer on earth. Its quick, its easy, and I think its cute!

All you'll need to make your own tote is some heavy duty fabric {canvas, home decor, or duck cloth} and belting. I got half a yard of of duck cloth {from Hobby Lobby} and 1 yard of belting. You can change up those measurements based on how big you want your bag to be.

To keep this bag super quick, there's no lining. You'll have to finish your edges if you want to be able to wash it. For me, that's finishing edges is quicker than lining a bag! 

You'll start by folding both of the short ends of your fabric a half inch twice towards the wrong side. Then, sew to create the top of your bag.

Fold your bag in half, right sides facing. You'll sew each side at a slight angle to give your bag a fun shape. Trim your seams to 1/4inch and then finish {I used a zig-zag stitch}.

For the handles I cut two 15 inch pieces. Again, this can be adjusted to your preferences. With the bag still inside out, measure in 3 1/2 inches from the edge and pin one side of the handle. Do the same thing 3 1/2 inches in from the other edge. You'll want 1 1/2 inches of the handle down your bag. Sew in a square, like I cleverly dashed in above. This will help the bag hold up to the heavy load it will need to carry. I used Fray Check for the end of the belting so it won't unravel. You can always carefully heat seal the ends before you sew them on to the bag.

Happy shopping!

Come party with me!

C.R.A.F.T, Mommy By Day, Crafter By Night, Shwin & Shwin, Tip Junkie, Southern Lovely, Uncommon Designs, Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hempworths, 52 Mantels, The CSI Project, Serenity Now, Tatertots and Jello, Family Ever After, The Grant Life, Positively Splendid, I {Heart} Nap Time, It's Overflowing 

Just a Moment Monday {or awesome free pattern!}

For those of you who have little girls to sew for, you need to head over to Shwin & Shwin ASAP. The wonderful Shauna has a new pattern that she's about to release to her shop. She is offering, for a limited time, a free download of The Pleated Penny. She's asking for testers but anyone can download the pattern. Now, this is a tester pattern so there may be some mistakes or issues that have not yet been worked out. However, there's a full tutorial and this sucker is cute!

Shwin & Shwin

Take a moment to hop on over to Shwin & Shwin if you can be a tester. To sweeten the deal, Shauna is offering a free pattern from the shop in addition to The Pleated Penny. I know I've been drooling over the Every Little Thing Dress and Tunic for awhile now!

 

Three Bead Necklace {or adventures in jewelry making}

So, I decided to give necklace making a go. I found a great tutorial for making a bird's nest necklace. It was a complete craft fail. The chain was too thick and heavy for the necklace. The nest was all lopsided and weird. It was a really quick process so I'll be trying it again sometime soon.

Despite the craft fail, I decided to try out different necklace tutorial. Awhile back, I pinned this Simple Beaded Necklace tutorial by Jess over at Craftiness is Not Optional. I wanted to make a necklace for my Spring Swap partner but I did have the eye pin. So I winged it with wire I had on hand from my failed necklace. I love how it turned out so I did a little tutorial for how I made it.

What you'll need:

Chain

Jewelry Wire {I used 22 gauge}

Clasp

Jump Ring

3 Beads

Wire Cutters

Needle Nose Pliers

Start out by cutting your chain to your desired size. I wanted a 16 inch long chain so I cut two 8 inch pieces. 

Then, cut a piece of wire about half an inch longer than your three beads all lined up. I cut about a two inch hunk. It's better to have too long of a piece. You can always trim it down later.

Start making a little hook on the end of one side of the wire. Then slide the hook through one of the loops of your chain. Keep bending the hook until you have a closed loop. This step should leave you with one end of your wire connected to one end of one of your chains.

Now, thread your three beads onto the wire. You'll want just enough wire sticking out to form another loop. If you have too much wire, trim it down.

You'll repeat the same process to attach the other side of the wire to the other piece of chain. Lastly, you'll attach a jump ring to one of the chains and then a jump ring and clasp to the other chain. Sorry I don't have pictures of these steps You can search Pintrest for a tutorial if you need it.

I'll defiantly be making more of these necklaces. They're very quick and I think they're pretty cute.

As always, I'd love to see what you come up with if you make something using one of my tutorials! You can email me a link or a picture at coveredinmodpodge@gmail.com.

Come party with me! 

C.R.A.F.T, Mommy By Day, Crafter By Night, Tip Junkie, Southern Lovely, Uncommon Designs, Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hempworths, 52 Mantels, The CSI Project, Serenity Now, Tatertots and Jello, Family Ever After, The Grant Life, Positively Splendid, I {Heart} Nap Time, It's Overflowing

Just a Moment Monday {or it's about time!}

The first Trader Joe's in Texas just opened. Lucky me, its in my town! Score! Brad decided he wanted to go as part of his Father's Day festivities. It felt a little bit like being home.

Now, here's where I add another thing to my list of things about Texas that drive me nutty. Really, its one thing that was already on the list and then a new one. We went at 9am on a Sunday. We wanted to beat the crowds. Well, in Texas you can't buy any liquor on Sundays and can only buy wine and beer after 12pm. So no Two Buck Chuck for us. But, there will not ever be Two Buck Chuck out here. TJ's raised the price to $3 because of "transportation costs." Booo!

Source

Anyway, I finally got to try Cookie Butter. It's a little slice of heaven. Seriously, go right now and buy some. 

Have a good monday!

 

What's Cookin' #11

Sunday: Special Father's Day Dinner {Apparently my husband has started reading this to figure out what he'll be eating during the week.}

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Tofu Stir Fry with snap peas

Wednesday: Heirloom Tomato and Parmesan Crusted Quesadillas

Thursday: Cooking Cream Pasta

Friday: Marinated Chicken with corn

Saturday: Pizza Night :)

 

Father's Day Gift {or a spot of tea}

My dad loves tea. Really, he lives off of it. But only the caffeinated stuff. I've seen him drink herbal tea once {and I may have "forgot" to tell him that it was herbal}. He had me exclusively drinking tea until I went to college. Then, much to his horror, I learned to love coffee. But, tea is still my first love as far as a hot morning beverage goes.

My dad has been drinking only loose leaf teas for the last couple of years. He buys disposable tea bags from Amazon every couple of months. So, figured I'd buy him a tea diffuser for Father's Day. Since diffusers are both small and super affordable, I got him a mug and some tea to round the present out.

I bought a white mug off Amazon and then jazzed it up a bit. Using a Sharpie paint pen, I drew on the tea bag label {which was inspired by this}. After drawing on the tea bag, I stuck the mug in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes to set the marker. It should last wash after wash.

I wrapped it all up and got it in the mail yesterday. Now all I have to is finish up the present for my husband.

Come party with me!

C.R.A.F.T, Mommy By Day, Crafter By Night, Tip Junkie, Southern Lovely, Uncommon Designs, Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hempworths, 52 Mantels, The CSI Project, Link text, Serenity Now, Tatertots and Jello, Family Ever After, The Grant Life, Positively Splendid, I {Heart} Nap Time, It's Overflowing

Just a Moment Monday {or recovery}

As I dropped the last of the family off at the train station this morning, I may have done a litte happy dance. We were thrilled to have everyone out visiting us. We get to see family so infrequently living far from home. But have three extra people in our house from sun up to sun down {and one of them staying overnight} can get quite overwhelming. Throw into that mix a party and I'm pretty peopled out for awhile.

Today has been about doing absolutely nothing for the first time in quite some time. Tomorrow I'll start trying to return the house to some semblance of normal. But, for today, there's lots of playing with the kiddo and too much time spent on Pintrest on the menu! 

Happy Monday, everyone!

What's Cookin' #10

Sunday: Out with family

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Shrimp Fra Diavlo with spinach salad

Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Taquitos with corn

Thursday: Sausage Tomato Rissotto and crusty bread

{This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen. The website seems to be down so I can't get the link. I'll try to remember to update it later.}

Friday: Chicken and Veggie Pizza with Spicy Plum Sauce

Saturday: Pepper Jack and Shrimp Quesadillas with spanish rice and black beans

 

Just a Moment Monday {a sneak peek}

I'm knee deep in dress and decoration making for my little miss' birthday. In addition, I've been working on two furniture projects. Here's a sneak peek of one of them! It's my first time using {homemade} chalk paint. I was really worried after one coat {which is when this picture was taken}. After the second coat, I'm smitten!

 

What's Cookin' #9

Last week was filled with lots of little bumps in the road. As a result, this week's menu is a the same as last week {we ate lots of left overs!}. Also, my dad and brother and Brad's mom will be in town the second half of the week for Emma's birthday. I've been knee deep in cleaning and projects so I haven't figured out what we're going to do to feed all those people!

Sunday: chili lime tofu with rice and steamed snap peas

Monday: asagio chicken tenders with corn

Tuesday: roasted peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and chicken sausage