I love new ideas....

I found this tutorial at craft nest and thought it would fun to do.
Since the weather is cooling down here in AZ and i'm wearing more fall clothes i'm going to go through my summer tops and see what i can use to make these adorable hand bags.

Melissa's Chocolate Chip Cookies...

OK i have to thank Alton Brown for doing a show on chocolate chip cookies. He taught me the science behind them and i was able to come up with a recipe that gives me my flat but chewy cookies. And i don't even have to whack them on the counter. So after his show i came up with this recipe, i added 2 of my favorite ones together then add some extras.
I hope you enjoy it as much as i do!

The BEST EVER Chocolate Chip Cookies
(this recipe is doubled)

2c. Butter (4sticks) -room temp.
3C. Brown Sugar
1 C. White Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Egg yolks
4 TBSP. Milk (this is a must)
2tsp. Vanilla
5C. Flour
2 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Salt
4 C. Milk Chocolate Chips

-Cream the butter&sugars together,until fluffy about 4-5 mins.

-Mix Flour, Baking Soda, salt in a separate bowl

-Mix eggs, milk & vanilla to sugar mixture

-Add dry ingredients in 3 parts, and mix well in between

-Add chocolate chips, mix well

This is very important

- line your cookie sheets with parchment paper (NOT WAX PAPER)

-Scoop cookies on sheets with a cookie scoop so they are all the same size

-Bake @ 350 for 8-10 mins, turning the cookie sheet once after 5 mins. They will start to look golden brown on the edges.

-when you remove them from the oven slide the parchment paper off onto your counter so the cookies stop baking.

Let them cool and indulge.

Your going to hate me...

So i was at Target with my sister and i see this black chair on clearance for $17, so i thought that would go well with my sewing desk. So i picked one up and had my dad put it together for me. After he was finished Peyton said "mom is that for the big table?"
Well i didn't even think about a black chair for my brown dining room table. So we put it up to it and thought, for $17 a chair it could work. So off to Target we went, it took 3 different Targets to find 8 of chairs but it was so worth it.

This is my $17 chair.

This is my $150 dining room table and chairs. I still need to find 2 end chairs, i was thinking something a little bigger and chunkier.

NOTE: The table is from my dad, it was too big for his new condo. Thanks again dad, i'll take Pottery Barn hand me downs anyday!

Free Udder Cover

I just got this udder cover FREE over at uddercovers.
It is $32 and i payed only the shipping ($8.95). Enter the code cranberry2 at checkout
This is cheaper than making one.

disclaimer* I am NOT pregnant i bought this just to see it would actually work and i thought i could use it as a gift. So don't go spreading roamers.

Flower Shirt Tutorials...

Here is my tutorial of the floral T-Shirt.

You will need:
2 shirts - can be the same color or not (i got mine at old navy)
needle and thread
scissors

Step 1.
Cut out 3 different sized circles for each flower, each one a little bit smaller then the one before. The bigger the circles the fuller the shirt looks. So cut according to what you want. I usually cut all the same sized flowers at the same time. I cut out one and use that as my template.

Step 2.
Lay out all the circles and put them together, you can't really tell but all 3 circles are on top of each other. Click on pic to enlarge.

Step 3.
Double thread a needle (to learn how go here) and attach the circles together by coming up from the bottom and then back down, This just makes sure they stay secured together. You can see the little white thread in the middle of the circle.

Step4.
Bunch the circles and sew a few times at the bottom of it to get the look you want.

Step 5.
It will look like this. If it's not as bunchy as you like you will be sewing it to the shirt and can make it more bunchy at that time. (and yes bunchy is a word, at least in my vocabulary.)

Step 6.
Place the flower on the shirt where you want it and put the needle through the shirt (make sure not to get the back of the shirt, just the front)

Step 7.
Come back up through the shirt and sew through the flower again. Do this a few times to make sure the flower stays on.

Step 8.
Adding another flower. If you still have thread on your needle come up through the shirt from behind and start like you did for the first one. EXCEPT you need to go back through the shirt before doing the bunchy thing. This just makes sure the flower isn't too loose.
If you don't have enough thread on your needle skip to step 10. And repeat the process to add more flowers.

Step 9.
OK now that you went through the shirt and came back up now you can bunch it.

Step 10- tying off your flower
Make sure your in the inside of the shirt. Cute the thread off the needle and seperate the 2 pieces of thread. Tie a knot and bring it as close to the shirt as you can. Do this a few times.

Step 11.
This is what the inside of your shirt will look after you have attached all your flowers.

I also really liked this tee that enchantresses 3 made so i thought i would add it to this tutorial. It is super easy. Here is what i did...

Step 1.
Cut out hearts, i did a couple different sizes but ended up using the ones around the same size.

Step 2.
I laid them on the shirt before sewing them to see where i wanted them.

Step 3.
I used my sewing machine but you could use a needle and thread. I place a heart on the shirt and sewed alittle line in the middle of the heart (make sure to back stitch). Keep doing this until all the hearts are where you want them. I flipped some side ways and upside down too.

Step 4.
Enjoy your new shirt.

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Tutorial

These are so easy and so cute. I love making them for parties because everyone always comments on them and thinks you spent all day decorating. So i thought i would share a tutorial on how i make them.
What you will need:
tissue paper (6-10 sheets for each one)
wire or little girls elastics or twist ties
string or ribbon
scissors

BIG POM POM

1. lay 10 sheets of tissue paper out, i buy it the packs of 10 sheets from walmart

2. Fold it like a fan with 1 inch folds, go back and forth all the way to the end.

3. Use wire or 2 little girls clear elastics and wrap it around the middle. If you use the elastics just stretch them over and use 2 to make it stronger.

4. Tie your ribbon or string in the middle before you fluff them. I sometimes use dental floss or white thread so you can't see the string when you hang them.

5. Round the edges by cutting semi circle on the end, this is optional but if you want to do it this is where you would have to do it.

6. Separate each piece of tissue, bring the first one as close to the middle as you can.

7. Continue separating them all so they look like this.

8. And when your all done it will end up like this.

Little Pom Poms

1. start with 6 sheets of tissue paper

2. Fold them like a fan with 1 inch folds.

3. Tie your wire 1/4 of the way in at each end.

So it looks like this. Before you cut it in half.

4. Then cut down the middle so you have 2 pom poms to seperate.

5. Round the edges.

7. And separate.

And there you have it!!!

The Laundry Room Make Over

These are the only before pics i have of my laundry room before my mom and i gave it a face lift.
We obviously painted some of the walls red, which took 3 coats! Hung some shelves and some cute hooks and added the cutest bench.

Your not supposed to wear makeup or shower while your painting for 2 days right? I thought i read that somewhere.

There is my cute mom!

"P" for Peyton- these cute hooks can be found at hobby lobby

And "B" for Brody

It's hard to tell what we did because the room is so small i couldn't get a good angle of everything, so use your imagination.

All my cleaners and laundry stuff is hiding in the crates.