Tutorial Tuesday Guest Post from The Best of Momma Chef

First off I would like to

remind you to join in

the giveaway going on here.

It ends this Sunday 2-6-11 at midnight.

Now, I would like
to introduce to you our

guest of honor

 for

Tutorial Tuesday:

Sheena Jensen

From

The Best of Momma Chef.

She has some fabulous recipes over on her blog.

This is her first sewing tutorial EVER!!! 

I am so excited;

we are the first people that she

has shared this with!!

We are so special aren't we?

{*wink wink*}

Thank you once again Sheena for sharing this!

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 January... time to start working on taxes.  Every year at this time, I think to myself.... "WHY DID I NOT KEEP BETTER TRACK OF THINGS!!!???"  This year I just added another New Year's Resolution!  I am going to do better at keeping receipts and track of my mileage for business & charity things.


Did you know: 



-Tithing you pay at church is tax deducible?

-Your mileage to and from paying tithing and to charity events such as church planning meetings, visiting teaching,  goodwill donations, etc or tax deducible?

-hobbies are tax deducible? As well as mileage to and from getting craft supplies!!!!!???


Now, I am not a tax professional, but I heard these things from my tax professional.  

To keep better track of my HOBBY EXPENSES, CHARITY DONATIONS, and BUSINESS EXPENSES.... I created a receipt clutch and it fits a mini journal for me to write down mileage!!!

Receipt and Record Clutch

This is my first "non baking" tutorial, so don't judge!

I am not a professional seamstress.  I got this cute fabric from Dana at Saturday Mornings.  Thanks Dana, and as I promised... here is what I made:

1/2 yard of 2 different fabrics

small chunk of interfacing or thick fabric

thread

sewing machine

hot glue glue

needle and thread

pins

fabric scissors or rotatory cutter & mat

Choose what fabric you want for the outside of the clutch and for the pocket dividers. Cut an 8 by 12 1/2 and an 8 by 16.

Cut a piece for the inside of the clutch that is 8 by 12 1/2.  If you are using interfacing cut a piece 8x12 1/2 and iron on to backing of the inside fabric, or cut a piece of thick fabric to use instead (8 by 12 1/2), like me, if you are giggity ghetto you have no interfacing.


PS. We are talking inches here.

See all my 8 by 12 1/2 inch pieces?

Ruffle: Then cut a strip that is 3 1/2 inches by 19 inches.  Use what ever fabric you want your ruffle to be.






Sew the right sides together hotdog style to create a tube. 




Attach a clothes pin to help turn the tube inside out.




Shovel the pin thru as so. And ta da, a tube.  Now iron it.  I like to iron the tube with the seam in the middle.  Then sew the tube onto the front of the clutch fabric however you like.  I made a ruffly thing that went 3/4 across.  See here for a ruffle tutorial.



Lay the material that will be the inside of the clutch on top of the outer piece with ruffle.  Right sides together. Pin together and sew around the edges with a 1/4 inch seam.  Leave about a 4 inch opening on one of the long sides to be able to flip the clutch inside out.  See the opening I left? 




Also snip the corners to make for nicer corners when you flip it inside out. See?



Flip inside out and press!!!  I trick I use... I get a pen or pencil and poke it into the opening and into the corners to get them to turn all the way out.



Next, remember the 8 by 16 inch piece you cut?  Fold it hamburger style with right sides together and sew to create a giant tube. See?




Next, press the tube flat, then fold in half again and press so you get what I have below.  This will be your pocket dividers.




Lay your divider on the clutch and cut off any extra on the sides, be careful not to cut your clutch!!!!









Place divider on the clutch where ever you want it to be.  I placed it so that the bottom of the clutch will fold up and the top with fold down but that the top piece will be a tiny bit shorter.  You want the bottom to fold up and be even with the dividers. See below:




Pin the bottom flip in place and stitch from one bottom corner, all the way around to the other bottom corner, with a 1/4 inch stitch.
I made a little rosette and hand stitched it onto the front.  GO HERE to see where I learned to make the rosette.

Now, go organizer your receipts in your new clutch!!!

SO how'd I do on my first sewing tutorial???

Tutorial Tuesday-Guest Post-Subway Art

The guest poster for our Tutorial Tuesday is Bonnie from Somewhere in Craftland.  She has such a nice idea to share!  I think that you will really enjoy it!

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Hello to everyone from Happy Homemaker and Momma.  My name is Bonnie and I author the super fun craft blog called Somewhere in Craftland.  This blog was originally set up as a place for me to keep track of and share fun crafts I find from all over the internet, but, I started having too much fun making things and sharing them myself.  So, at my blog, you will find a little bit of both.

Kelly-Jo asked me to come and share a printable with you that happens to be my very first attempt at subway art.  I have seen so many different forms of subway art floating around the internet and I wanted to try my hand at it.




Since I wanted one to hang on my wall and be inspiring to anyone who saw it, I thought using the theme from one of my favorite songs would work really well.  A few years ago when life was super tough for our family, I felt like the weight of the whole world was on my shoulders.  I am sure there are plenty of you out there that can relate to this feeling.  It was during this time, that this song was especially meaningful to me.  One particular night, I was laying in bed wondering how I could go on, how I could possibly make it through one more day.  I knew I needed to say my prayers, but I didn't want to.  I was tired of pleading with the Lord for the things He already knew I needed.  After much more agonizing, I decided to pray, but I wasn't going to ask Him for anything.  Instead, I was just going to thank Him for what I did have.  I started my prayer thanking Him for the usual things I always thanked Him for; my Savior, family, friends, home, etc.  After awhile, I started to run out of obvious things to be thankful for, and so I started thanking Him for things like my broom to sweep my floor and the curling iron I had to curl my hair.  It was at this point that I realized I was giggling inside!  There was a literal lifting of that heavy weight I had been feeling for so long and suddenly, I was reminded that He is in charge, that His ways are not my ways and all would be well.  My problems didn't go away immediately or even soon thereafter, but I could truly feel that He was aware of me and these things I was experiencing were shaping me into a virtuous woman.

I know that whenever I am feeling sorry for myself, I just have to hear or sing this song to be reminded not only of the many blessings I have, but also of the promises that come with remembering them.  If you are unfamiliar with this song, you can check out the words and music here.

I created many variations of this picture because I couldn't decide which one I liked best.  I will post 3 here so feel free to take them for yourself.  No requirements needed, but if you wanted to follow my blog and/or my fanbook page, you would make me all sorts of grateful!  Just click on the picture once to bring up the image and then a second time to enlarge it.  These will make an 8x10.  I have mine in a frame, but they would look fabulous mod podged onto wood also.  Please use only for personal use.

 

Okay, so there is 4.  Here is black and white for anyone who isn't crazy about the other colors.

Thanks so much Kelly-Jo for having me over.  :D

Tutorial Tuesday-How about a Yummy Recipe?

This Tuesday I want to change things up a little......

So I thought maybe you all would enjoy

a yummy recipe

So I asked Ceecee from Within the Kitchen

to share her yummy

Triple Chocolate Overload 

Cookie Recipe 

Because let's face it we can't survive without Chocolate!

So I hope you enjoy this one!!

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Hello I am Ceecee from over at Within the Kitchen and I would like to share a wonderful recipe with you.  But first a little back story.  It's a Wednesday night and I suddenly have a craving for chocolate chip cookies. Just thinking about the aroma of fresh baked cookies sends a shiver down my spine and puts a smile on my face. But I've had dinner, am comfortably sitting on the couch and waiting for something to come on the TV. And besides, how do I justify to myself eating cookies on a Wednesday night? Perhaps a bowl of strawberries will suffice??? Who am I kidding, it won't. In my head, I go over the ingredient list of one my fave recipes...I think I have everything so I thought; let's do it!

Well.....apparently I used all of the regular flour when I made chocolate turnovers. And I used all of the white sugar when I made a cake for a friend, and I didn't have any room temperature butter. Was my craving to go unfullfilled? No way,  I decided to improvise. I used cake flour, cocoa (cause by now my chocolate craving was out of control) and melted butter. And by adding 2 more types of chips, my craving monster was finally satified! These cookies are cakier than my other chocoalte chip cookie recipes, soft and dense...and the aroma....oh man, I'm craving them again!!!

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup melted butter

2 2/3 cups cake flour (not self rising)

2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee (optional)

2 tbsp hot water

2 eggs

1/3 cup cocoa, sifted

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C).

2. Dissolve coffee into hot water.

3. In large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and hot coffee water until smooth.

4. In medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

5. Stir into butter mixture until blended.

6. Mix in chocolate chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake 8 minutes.

8. Let cool 1 minute.

9. Remove to wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Cute Little Pumpkins And Guest Post!!

How about a Guest Post? 
Today is Tutorial Tuesday!!
I have become blog friends with Jessica over at

Happy Together

She has a wonderful husband who is in the Coast Guard,

and an Adorable little girl

they have recently moved and in the midst of moving

Jessica has agreed to share her little pumpkins that she made

and how to make them yourself!

They are so cute and so easy to make!

ENJOY!!!

♥*♥*♥*♥

Hi everyone :) My name is Jessica and I have a craft blog, Happy Together.




I'm very happy to be here and share with you this quick fabric pumpkin tutorial. It is so nice to have craft projects that don't require a lot of time and can be done while your little one is up and running around and this is one of them.

My daughter immediately took to them (as she does anything I make). She has already taken them to several stores and to our friends house who so graciously watched her last night so the hubby and I could go on a date.

I began with them on the fireplace and soon after the picture was done, she began to move them around.

Next, they went to the floor.....

then the coffee table......

then...well, they just went everywhere. That is when I decided these would be playful pumpkins. So, for those of you who want to make some real quick fabric pumpkins yourself, here is how I made them:

Grab some fabric and cut them into rectangles. The long side will make it more scrunched up looking the longer you make it, and the short sides will be the approximate height.

Fold them in half long ways, right side facing, and sew the short sides together. You could hand sew it or even glue gun it if you wanted.

Now baste and gather the end that will be the bottom. I used a needle and thread, but you could baste it with a sewing machine too.

Then knot it really well and turn right side out.

Fill it up now. I just used t-shirt scraps because they are heavy and would keep the pumpkin weighted well. You could also put some beans or rice in the bottom to help give some weight then finish off the top with stuffing.

Now baste and gather the top, making sure to leave a long end. Knot it really well too.

Now with the long end, put it in the needle and thread right through the pumpkin coming out at the center bottom. Pull it tight, causing the top of the pumpkin to come down some, and knot the thread good on the bottom. I just felt like this helped give it a more indented look for the stem of the pumpkin.

I then cut some fleece pieces for the stems. I played around with the size.

Fold down and hot glue together. I just did a row of glue on the bottom and the sides.

Then roll it up and glue in place. I usually had to cut some off the bottom for the look I wanted too.

Then hot glue them on top of the pumpkin (or hand sew it on).
Then that is it! Now you have some cute fall decorations. Thank you Kelly-Jo for having me :)