Peanut Butter Ball Squares

So how many of you bought all the stuff do make peanut butter balls at the holidays but never got to the task. Well that was me. I never had time to get in the kitchen and roll out tiny balls for an hour and then have to dip them in chocolate... But how I LOVE peanut butter balls. Well my grandma suggested to make them into squares. And here we are... Mid January and I'm finally making them. So I found one recipe online that I have adjusted and actually am writing into proper recipe format. I know, it's the little things, right??
So here we go....

Peanut Butter Ball Squares

1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1/2 Tbsp vanilla (I used imitation but I'm sure pure vanilla would be even better)
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick in a coffee cup for 30 sec in the microwave)
2 cups confectioners or powdered sugar
2 cups rice krispies (optional, I don't use)
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 Tbsp shortening


Mix peanut butter, vanilla and butter until smooth.

Then mix in the powdered sugar and rice krispies, if using.

Press mixture into a 8x8 or 9x9 square pan. Melt chocolate chips and shortening in microwave safe container. Put in microwave for 45 seconds. Stir and microwave again for 20 seconds. Repeat as necessary until it stirs smoothly. Then pour over peanut butter mixture and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Once hardened cut into 1" squares and enjoy!

So I'm a little impatient and wanted yumminess early. So here is a breakdown...
At 30 minutes in the fridge you can eat it with a spoon
At 3 hours in the fridge the chocolate is hardened and you can cut it. My picture was taken at 3 hours. It was all I could take!
This will be a recipe I add to my holiday baking. Super, quick, easy and yummy!

Microwave Coffee Cup Scramble

Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 45-60 seconds
Makes: 1 Serving

What you need
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. Milk
2 Tbsp. shredded cheese
Salt and pepper

Here's How
1. COAT 12 oz. microwave safe coffee cup with cooking spray. ADD eggs and milk; beat until blended.
2. MICROWAVE on high 45 seconds; stir. MICROWAVE until eggs are almost set 30-45 seconds longer.
3. TOP with cheese; season with slat and pepper.

Taken from Cooking Light magazine Jan/Feb 2012

DIY Dry Erase Menu / Chore board

So I found on Pinterest the idea for a dry erase Menu / chore boad. So this morning I made one as a wedding gift. It is super simple and cheap. I had a frame at home but you can buy frames pretty cheap at dollar or discount stores. The one I used was $3 at Wal-mart. I did an 8x10 frame but you could do bigger if you wanted. I also used a piece of scrapbooking paper. I found one that had lines on it and thought that might help when actually writing the menu. I tried to use the colors that she registered for in her kitchen as an inspiration in choosing the paper. I found a piece that was the large 13x13 size, so I cut it down to the regular 8 1/2x 11 so it would fit through the printer.

I chose some fun fonts and set it up so that I could print it out.

Family Menu

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

I even changed the colors so that it would print out in color. Do whatever you'd like and will fit your kitchen theme the best. Next print it out and put it behind the glass

Okay, add a couple dry erase markers and your gift is complete.

Nursing Cover

So I promised a tutorial for a nursing cover. So here we go....

**You need 3/4 yard of cotton fabric. Any pattern will work, but you need to keep in mind this is for coverage. So make sure you can't see right through it.
**1/4 yard (9 inches) light boning
**2 "D" ring buckles
**Small piece of fusible interfacing (5"x5")
**matching thread

Cut your large piece of fabric to 25" x 36". Then cut the neck strap 18" x 3", the other side of the neck strap (to hold the buckle) 4"x2" and a pocket at 5"x5".

Starting with the large piece, fold over side 1/4", iron and then again 1/4" and iron (the ironing step will save a lot of headache when it comes to sewing and it makes it look less "homemade"), so that the edge is inside. Sew right down the middle of your 1/4 inch fold over. Do this to both sides of your fabric, keeping in mind that it is longer than it is tall. Do this also to the bottom of the large piece.
Now onto the top. Center your boning on the fabric and mark about 1/2"  to the side on each end. Fold down 1/4" and iron as you did the other sides. However the next fold will be different. You need to fold it down 3/4". Make sure your boning fits inside the seam. Once you fold down and iron the top. You need to tuck your boning inside the seam into your marks and pin it in place. Then you will sew right along the edge making sure you sew your boning into the seam. Once you finish sewing your seam go back and sew about 1/2" on the ends of your boning to keep your boning in place.

Next we will work on the straps. First the 18"x3".  Fold the fabric with right sides together and iron. Then sew down the edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then fold up one end of the strap, iron and sew. Trim the seam allowance close to the thread but be careful not to clip the thread. This will make it lay a little bit flatter. The next step is turn it right side out. I used a chop stick and found it very useful. Basically just keep stuffing and stuffing until you get it right side out. Be careful not to strain your seam too much. Use your pencil or chop stick to help get the corners all the way out on the end. Once it is turned to the right side you will fold, iron and fold and iron the other end. Just fold 1/4" and another 1/4", iron and then sew. Then you have the main part of your strap complete.
Next is the short part of the strap that will hold the buckle. Just like the first one, you will fold it with the right sides together, iron and then sew a 1/4" seam allowance. Then fold up the bottom, iron and sew. And again, turn it right side out. Now we will fold the unfinished end down about 1/4", iron. Then fold that same end again about 1 1/2" and iron. Before sewing this seam you will but the D ring buckles in place. Put them both together in the fold and sew down, again I use a 1/4" seam allowance.

Now we will sew the straps in place. Pin each strap in place. One at each end of your boning at the neck of the nursing cover. Then simply sew into place. I like to use 2 rows of zig zag stitches to firmly attach the straps.

Next, probably the easiest part is the pocket. The pocket will be used to hold pacifiers or nursing pads while nursing. I have seen a terry cloth fabric used here but I think the same fabric you used for the rest of the cover will work just fine. So we start with the 5"x5" square of fabric. Fold over each side 1/4" and iron. I then iron on the fusible interfacing. This gives a little more strength to the pocket and also eliminates a little folding, ironing and sewing. Trim the edges of the interfacing so that it is not hanging off the side of your pocket. Now, you simply sew it into a corner. It is nice to have it in the right side of the nursing cover (from the mom's point of view) if the mother is right handed or vice versa for left handed.  Simply place your pocket in the corner and pin in place. Then sew along the right, bottom and left sides of the pocket making sure to leave the top open (so you can use the pocket) :)

Iron it all and Ta Da! Easy Nursing cover at a fraction of the cost that you can buy one for. I also enjoy the fact that you can make some other things to match the nursing cover.

I don't have detailed pictures of each step at this point but I will take and add pictures of each step after I complete my next nursing cover.

Baby Shower Crafts

So I've been crafting away for a baby shower today. I unpacked my sewing machine and some of my craft stuff just this Thursday and have been having a BLAST crafting (instead of unpacking. :)) So I made the Tiny Quiet Book that I posted yesterday. Then I made some super cute burp pads using Homemade by Jill's template. That you can find here. I used her tutorial exactly, except I found I only needed 1/4 yard of the quilt batting... here they are.

Then I made a wipes case cover. It is super cute. I also used the template/tutorial from Homemade by Jill. You can find it here. I however didn't make this one exactly as she says. I only covered half of the case. I found it helpful to glue 3-4 inches and then glue down the fabric and then glue a few more inches. It helped me get it nice and tight across the case. I used the left over quilt batting from the burp cloth as my batting. I used just under 3/4 yard of the braided edging. Here it is....

Lastly, I made a nursing cover. I will write the tutorial for it later as I'm out of time. It's time for the baby shower! But here is a picture of the super cute nursing cover. :)

Until later... :)

Tiny Quiet Book

So, I was browsing Pinterest the other day and came across a super cute "Needlebook" that had been posted on Etsy by someone from the UK. I however didn't see it as a needlebook (somewhere to keep your needles) at all. I saw a cute little quiet book that is small enough to take in your purse to keep the little one busy at church, the doctors office or anywhere else they need to keep quiet.

So I started planning my book and decided to do a sea creature theme. So I found some clip art online and sized them all about the same size in Microsoft Word and printed them out.  Then I cut them out.

 I traced them onto felt and then cut out the felt pieces. I used several different colors on some of the creatures... such as the boat. I used brown for the base and mast, blue for the sails and red for the flag at the top.

Then I traced circles onto different colors of felt and cut those out for the "pages" of the book.

I used a glass bowl to get the right size and make sure I was actually tracing a circle onto my felt. Then I layed out my cutouts onto my felt circles until I had color combinations I thought looked good.

Then I started stitching. I tried machine stitching the first one but it is really just to small to do machine stitching. So I hand stiched the rest with just plain thread, although I'm sure the embroidery floss would look great too.
Here are what each finished "page" looks like... close but not exactly the same as the clipart.

Next I took 4 small scraps of ribbon (just about 2-3 inches each) and folded then in half. Then I turned two backs of the circles together and sewed them together, with the ribbon peaking out of the side of the seam.

Next I trimmed the edges of my circles to make them match each other. I would have loved to pink the edges but my pinking shears are currently missing. I put them all together on a plastic ring that you can purchase in the baby section at most stores. I think they are called "Link A Dos" I bought 24 for $4 at Walmart. See below for the finished product.