11 Random Things...

Happy Leap Day!!

Rachel, of Maybe Matilda, posted some fun responses to random questions about herself on her blog today...and, then shared some for others to answer.  So, of course, I thought, "Heck, why not?"

So, here you go...11 random things about me...I know you've been waiting on the edge of your seat for these insights, I'm sure.  :)

1. Go ahead and name one (or two, or three) of yours celebrity crushes: Christian Bale...Yes. This one began with Newsies...but I mean come on - LOOK at the man now.  Oy.  Nathan Fillion...he's so handsome and heroic as Mal Reynolds...and just cute and silly as Castle - gotta love that!  Hugh Jackman.  His Lipton Iced Tea commercials are priceless. All I can say:

2. What’s your favorite book?  My favorite non-scripture book changes a bit, every so often, but a book I can read at least once each year is Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  Yeah.  I'm that girl.

3. What are your 5 favorite TV shows?  Currently: Sherlock, Avatar: the Last Airbender (all three seasons), Phineas and Ferb, Castle, and Firefly.

Have you seen Sherlock?!?!  Check it out HERE.

4. Guilty pleasure?  I love bread.  Really good bread.  Especially when it's dipped in olive oil and a fantastic balsamic vinegar.  Mmmmmm.  I'm not sure that counts as a guilty pleasure...but it's definitely a pleasure.  See below for a great recipe.  Just sayin'.

5 Minute Artisan Bread

5. Any goals you’re currently working on?  I'm trying to be a more attentive wife and mother.  I know it sounds a bit cliché...but with six other people in the house I sometimes turn into robot-mom (clean house, make dinner, fold laundry, bathe kids, sweep floor, etc, etc, etc), and I kinda forget about being a real person with my family.  I'm working on it.

6. A trend or style you’ve wanted to try, but been scared to?  I would love to dye my hair purple.  Like this:

My pin...

Isn't it so cool?  But I always feel like I couldn't pull it off...I guess I worry too much what other moms, teachers, neighbors, family members would think.  And I probably shouldn't...but I do.  I still secretly dream about doing it one day, though.

7. A skill you’d love to learn?  I really want to get the hang of knitting.  I'm PATHETIC at it.  Seriously.  You don't want to see how bad it really is.

8. If you had a day to yourself with unlimited money to spend and no obligations, what would you do?  Honestly I think I'd spend the day chillin' with the fam somehow.  I'm a bit of a homebody...and I don't like feeling stressed about having to meet a schedule.  Which is funny because I happen to be the scheduling queen.  You should see my Google calendar.  Ugh.

9. A person (living or dead) you’d love to meet?  I'd love to meet my hubby's mom.  She passed away when he was 13 years old, but she had such an amazing impact on so many lives.  She was beautiful, smart, talented, and loving.  I've always admired her.  The first time I saw a picture of her I got this feeling in my gut that she was really looking back at me, and that I knew her already!  I would love to meet her someday!

Isn't she lovely?  Look at that smile!

10. If you weren’t doing the career you’re doing now (being a stay-at-home mom counts as a career), what would you want to be doing instead?  A fine artist.  I think.  I love to draw and paint...and I have a degree in graphic design and illustration...but I've found that even though I enjoy occasional illustration jobs, what I really would like to do with that talent is just paint for fun!  Here's a pic of one of my paintings:  It's nothing spectacular.  But I like it. :)

11. What are the names you want/wanted to give your kids until your meanie-pants spouse vetoed them?  I've always liked old-fashioned names...and we've had five children...and each has a middle name...so my list of unused names has definitely decreased, but there are a few that got completely ruled out:  Hazel, Molly, Daniel, and Andrew.  Maybe I'll have to write a book...and those can be my characters...Hmmm.

So in the spirit of spreading the love, I'm posting 11 questions of my own here!

If you'd like to join in and answer 11 random questions about yourself, too, you can post these ones to your own blog!  Please come back and share a link in the comments here!  I'd love to get to know you better!  :)

1.  What is the scariest thing you've ever done?

2.  If you could be a character on a TV show, which show would you be on?

3.  What are your three favorite colors of fingernail polish?

4.  Who are your celebrity crushes?

5.  What are you really, really good at?

6.  A place you'd like to live?

7.  What do you really wish your name was?

8.  The silliest mistake you've ever made?

9.  If you could be any type of (real or imagined) animal, what would you be, and why?

10.  What part of yourself do you like the most?

11.  What is your most absolutely favorite thing to eat?

Feature Friday: FaveCraftsBlog.com

Somehow I missed getting this post up last week!  Sorry.  I know it's not Friday.  Anyway...

I've been following the FaveCrafts blog for quite some time!  It is such an awesome place to find ideas for ALL kinds of crafts!  Seriously.  Favecrafts is one of the sponsors of several sites that gather free craft tutorials...so they have a huge database!  They host awesome giveaways, too!

Just one warning, though:  There are a TON of ideas...so don't get overwhelmed!

Here are just a couple of ideas I came across this week, and have added to my never-ending things-to-try list!

Fun St. Patrick's Day crafts!

Pretty Felt Flowers to make!

Easter Crafts for kids!

Cute Puppets to play with!

If you get a chance, go check out FaveCraftsBlog.com!

Things to Make: Mardi Gras Treats - Revisited!

Looking for something yummy to share with your family for Mardi Gras?  Check out these YUMMMMMMY Beignets!  You won't be sorry!

Things to Make: Beignets!

I whipped some up for the family yesterday...and there's nary a beignet left in sight!

Happy Fat Tuesday! :)

Things to Make: A Snail Birthday!

As promised, here are a few pics of the Snail-themed Birthday Party I planned for my six-year-old daughter.

I know.

Snails.

Really.

Anyway...

We had a lot of fun playing some silly snail games like "Slug, Slug, Snail" (which is basically my made up version of "Duck, Duck, Goose," modified so that they have to go slowly...and crawl instead of run!).

We also had a "Snail Race!"  All of the kids colored their very own snail and wrote their name on the back.

You can find this cute little snail clipart HERE.

I set up a "path" for them to follow from the living room to the dining room, where a Snail Feast awaited them.  The path was made of green construction paper leaves, black paper rocks, and blue paper puddles taped to the floor.  Each child took turns rolling a dice, and moving along the path according to the number on the dice.  If they landed on a rock or puddle they had to wait another turn (because it's tricky for snails to get around rocks and puddles, you know).

After the party my daughter turned the rocks and leaves into a tree on the door! :)

When each snail reached the table they got a little Fruit by the Foot roll, and some "mud" - ie chocolate pudding - to dig in.  We also added some gummy snails to the mud to make it fun!

Sorry for the crumby picture...for some reason it was really hard to get a pic of the gummy snails in the mud! ;)

When everyone finally got to the table we ate our Snail Feast!

There were Snail Shell crackers:  These are just swirls of Easy Cheese on Ritz crackers!  A big hit! ;)

Sweet and Savory Snail Roll-ups:  The sweet ones are tortillas spread with peanut butter, cream cheese and apple-cinnamon jam.  The savory ones are tortillas spread with cream cheese, avocados, and deli turkey.  You just roll them up and cut them into little pinwheels!

Sweet Snail Roll-ups!

Savory Snail Roll-ups!

And finally Hot Snail Dogs:  These are hot Dog wrapped in Crescent Roll dough.  Then we added little chow mein noodle eye stem thingies.  The serving platter was drizzled with honey to make the "snail slime trails."  I got the idea for these on Pinterest, here.  Aren't they cute?  (And sort of disgusting?  There's no accounting for taste.)

Hot Snail Dogs! 

See the little snail trails? Tee hee!

After our meal we opened present and then it was time for cake!!

The dirt on the cake is made from crushed up chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreos), with the squishy white stuff removed.  (I saved that stuff for another part of the cake!)  The grass is made from coconut tinted green with food coloring.  Rocks and flowers are made from jumbo gumdrops...the flowers have lemon drop centers.

The snails are my favorite part!  Their bodies are made from the white Oreo filling...I just kinda rolled it into little snake/slug shapes!  The snails shells are made from Hershey's kisses with the tops chopped off...and then swirled with edible writing gel.  The little eye stems are those chow mein noodles again!

All in all it was a great party!  I'm just glad I was able to make a snail-themed party work!  I mean, whose kid ask for a snail-themed party?

Oh, right.

Mine.  :)

Things to Make: Felt Happy Heart Pin

THIS TUTORIAL HAS BEEN MOVED TO MY NEW SITE, SARAHNDIPITIES.COM!

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO GO TO THE TUTORIAL!

Things to Make: Happy Little Heart Pin!

I also shared this fun little tutorial over at BeccaWilhite.com!

Guest Posting at BeccaWilhite.com!

I'm sharing this happy little heart pin tutorial over at BeccaWilhite.com this week!  Becca is my super talented Sister-in-law.  Not only is she beautiful, but she's also hilarious.  And she's an author.  Of REAL books!  So. Cool.

Go check out her site...she's doing LOTS of great stuff this month...and giving fun stuff away!!

I'll be giving away the cute little pin shown above...along with this fabulous set of six notecards during the giveaway she's having this week!!

Really!  The giveaway ends on Friday Night! Go check it out...

Things to Make: Sarah London's Wool-Eater Crochet Along!

If you crochet, you are probably familiar with Sarah London.  She has written some fantastic crochet patterns and books...and her use of color is FANTASTIC!  I love looking at all of her awesome pics on Pinterest!

I'm a little late coming to the Wool-Eater Crochet Along...I didn't know if I'd be able to keep up...but, I decided that even if I fell behind I'd like to make one of these amazing creations!

So...here's my progress on my very own Wool-Eater Blanket!  (I was technically four weeks late for the start of the CAL, but Sarah's said to work at your own pace...so I'm not stressing about 'catching up!)  I opted to try her new Oblong Wool-Eater pattern...

So far I LOVE the pattern...it's a bit tricky at first, but once you get going it's really pretty easy to follow!  The instructions are written in Australian/UK terms, though...so watch for that!  ;)

My blanket is measuring about 18" wide by 35" long, and I've completed 8 rows so far!  I'm using up some odd balls of yarn that i have in sort of neutral earth tones...and a hint of teal.

I love the texture and feel of the afghan...it's nice and thick...but not too bulky.

Wanna make one of your own?

CLICK HERE to go to the info page on Sarah's site!

And you can check out what others are making on the Wool-Eater Flickr Group!

Things to Make: Cupid Bow Beanie

Hey!

Just wanted to share my latest hat pattern with you all...just in time to make a cute accessory for Valentine's Day!!

I call it the Cupid Bow Beanie! ;)

The Cupid Bow Beanie  

You can buy this pattern in my Brand-Spankin' New Craftsy Pattern Store...or by clicking the "Buy Now" button in the caption to get it from Ravelry!

And, of course, if you'd rather not make your own hat and you'd like to purchase a finished hat...you can do that HERE!