My latest project!

For my Christmas present this year, my husband surprised me with a miter saw. (I know it is not Christmas yet, but my husband does not know how to wait until Christmas!) I have been asking for one ever since I found Ana's awesome site ana-white.com. You have to check it out! She is so talented and has a ton of building plans. My first project was a picnic table for my kids. You can find the plans here. It was really easy to build, especially with my husband helping me. The paint I bought was oops paint from Home Depot and it only cost $1. Love it!

For my next project....My husband and I are building this dollhouse for my daughters for Christmas this year. We are changing it a bit so it can fit Barbie dolls since that is what my girls love to play with. I am excited to start building it. I just bought all the materials!!

Baby gifts!

My baby is almost 18 months old and I don't make the itty bitty baby things anymore, except for gifts. I made this skirt, little baby booties, and headband for my friend's new baby girl. The fabric is corduroy again. I have a lot of corduroy right now. It keeps going on sale! I love making these baby shoes. I got the pattern from Stardust shoes. They are so easy to make. I used the same fabric as the skirt. For the bottom of the shoe, I used pink flannel. And for the elastic casing, I used this really soft material that I had. I made up the headband and really like how it turned out.

 I cut out three different size ovals from my fabric, then cut out some tulle. Layered it. Added a button. Then sewed it to 1/4" elastic.

 I do not have the pleasure of making many boy things, because I have three girls. My friend asked me to make her little boy a tie, so here it is...

I followed this tutorial on Very Homemade and it was really easy to make. I made it in 10 minutes. The neck is velcro. My 3 year old daughter loved being the model for it. She asked me to make her a tie! I also made a matching tie for my friend's husband. I made up the pattern for that. I traced one of my husband's ties and put it together. It actually worked and it looks great. I still need to take pictures of it, but I do not know how to tie a real tie!

I love corduroy fabric :)

Well, not much crafting has been happening at my house between my family and the four classes I am taking this semester. It is so sad, but I managed to finally finish this dress. I won't tell you how long it just sat on my sewing desk waiting to be hemmed... 5 months too long!

I love corduroy fabric and I love when I find it for really cheap!! I just finished making this dress for my niece and I love it how it turned out!

Yummy Lo Mein Recipe

I love eating Lo Mein from my favorite chinese restaurant, but it is pricey. I have been searching and searching for a good recipe to make at home, and I finally found one. My 3-year old even ate it and that girl does not eat anything, really pickest eater I have ever seen.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I listened to some of the reviews and changed things. The real recipe is here. I am going to post the recipe that I used. I did make my recipe vegetarian. We aren't vegetarians, but I made it that way anyways :) I added whatever veggies I had in my fridge. You can add so many different veggies to this recipe.

Lo Mein

Ingredients:
4 packages of ramen noodles (It can be any flavor since you are just using the noodles)
2-1/2 teaspoons white sugar
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
8 green onions, cut into 1/2" pieces (I didn't count this. I just cut up what comes in the bushel from the store)
small red pepper, diced
broccoli florets, sliced

*Keep adding the veggies. You can even add water chestnuts chopped up. Whatever you like :)*

Directions:
1. Fill a pot with water (I used a 5-qt pot) and bring to a boil. Add ramen noodles and cook for 2 minutes. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok, or skillet, and add garlic. Saute garlic for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add veggies and stir occasionally.
3. In medium bowl, combine sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, broth, water, sesame oil, and pepper.
4. Add sauce and noodles to the veggies in the wok. Stir.
5. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often, or until most of the juices are gone.

Take it off the burner when you like how the sauce looks. I left mine on the stove a little too long so it wasn't very saucy,  but it still tasted really good.

Enjoy!

Triplets!

I love when my girls match! I made my girls matching dresses and I love how they turned out. Now getting a picture of all three of them is a challenge :) My 14-month old just moves too much and is too fast! Please excuse my photography skills...they are lacking!

Toddler Skirt

I love, love this skirt I made for my daughter. I just love the fabric. I used the McCall's pattern M5455. Since I used cotton fabric and not a stretch knit fabric, I changed the back of the skirt and added two buttons.

I know the pictures are horrible...I took them with my phone, but my camera is still broken :(

Recipe Friday: End-of-Summer Pasta

I have been trying out so many new recipes, ever since I started doing Bountiful Baskets. I have to use everything in my basket so I have been cooking a lot more, and eating a lot more healthy.

I got this recipe out of my latest issue of my Parents magazine. It was so yummy and light. My kids even ate it all up. The first time I made it, I substituted zucchini for the eggplant. The second time I made it, I used eggplant. I did make a few changes. I used about 5 to 6 cloves of garlic. We like our garlic! I used a lot of salt and pepper. I also used different kinds of pasta each time I made it.

End-of-Summer Pasta

Ingredients

• 1/4  cupextra-virgin olive oil
• 2  medium eggplants, cut into 1/2 to 1-inch chunks
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1  lb.farfalle or other dried pasta
• 6  small or 3 medium tomatoes, cored, seeded and cut into 1/2 to 1-inch chunks
• 1  to 2 tsp.thinly sliced garlic
• 1/2  cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Chopped fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Directions 1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and stir occasionally until it's browned and tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Add pasta to boiling water and prepare as directed. While its cooking, add the tomatoes and garlic to the eggplant mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is nicely softened, about 10 more minutes.
3. When the pasta is done, drain and toss with the eggplant sauce and Parmesan. Adjust the seasoning and garnish with basil if you like.

Technical Difficulties

I wanted to have more posts posted and new items in the Janey Sue shop, but I can't get the pictures off of my camera! The USB cord to transfer the pictures from my camera to my computer broke. Plus, I cannot find it in the stores. I had to order it online and now just wait for it to arrive on my doorstep.

Check back soon...we are having an awesome giveaway :)

Am I the only one that has a million sites bookmarked? Almost all my bookmarks are projects that I want to make. Their are so many talented people out there, that my bookmarks grow daily. I am starting a new goal. Sew something for myself, kids, house, family once a week. 4 projects done a month...I will keep you posted on my progress. You can follow along too. Every Thursday I am going to post the project that I am completing for that week. If you love it too then follow along. We even created a CraftingLT flickr group so you can add your photos too. I am new to flickr and am still figuring it out. We would love to see any of the projects you are working on, so feel free to add away :)

Since my camera is busted and a post needs pictures, here are some projects that I would love to make!!!

Split Twirl Skirt by Crap I've Made

http://www.crapivemade.com/2010/02/split-twirl-skirt-tutorial.html

Lime Green Necklace by V and Co

http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2009/12/turorial-that-lime-green-necklace.html

Messeanger Bag from Cargo Pants by Noodleheads

http://noodleheads.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-messenger-bag-from-cargo-pants.html

Being matchy-matchy is cute!

I made this little girls skirt with a matching doll. I love the doll. I named her Addison and she is adorable! I added this matching set to our new shop at www.janeysue.com.

Pajama Pants

My daughter really needed pajama pants so I decided to try and make some. I folded the fabric in half, laid a pair of her pants down and cut around them. Measure, cut, sew...she can actually wear them and walk in them :) These pants were a lot easier to make then I thought they would be. Making pants kinda scare me. You should try it!

I made them after she went to bed and I really wanted to try these pj pants on her. I tip toed into her room and put them on her while she was sleeping. I even captured some pictures, and did not wake her up!

T-Shirt to dress

 My oldest daughter is starting kindergarten this year! They have to wear collared/polo shirts. My daughter was bummed about this, because she lives in dresses. One of her polo shirts were too short on her, so I made it into a dress.

She is ready for her first day! Gotta love her shoes that she picked to wear with her dress :) 

Operation Care Packages

Go check out Above All Fabric for an easy way to give back for a great cause, Operation Care Packages. All you need to do is make one drawstring bag. Read more about at Above All Fabric or click the link below.







Changing a picture frame with a matte

I had two black frames with a matte in it for 4 pictures (sorry no pictures of the original). I did have 4 pictures in it for years. I decided that I wanted something different. We just got family pictures taken and used my frames to make this.

I took the matte out, then I put my ribbon and buttons down. I used my scrapbooking dots to stick the ribbon and buttons in place. (Zots brand. Love them. Great for sticking buttons down). Then I put my pictures on the piece of cardboard that came with the frame. I love how it turned out.

This is how I arranged them. I really like it!

Spring dress

My three year old keeps asking me to make her a dress, so I made this for her yesterday. I love the fabric and it is so lightweight...perfect for the Arizona heat. I think I am obsessed with ribbon accents, because it tends to end up on almost everything that I make.

Pleated Pocket skirt

I just finished making this skirt and love how it turned out! I love the contrasting fabrics and the pink ribbon. I want to make one for myself now!

For the waistband and the ribbon tie, I used this Twirly Skirt Tutorial from house on hill road's site. It is a great tutorial and was easy to do.

For the pleated pocket, I used the pleated pocket tutorial from Made by Rae's site. I did make the pocket a little bit smaller and loved how it turned out.

For the hem, I just did a normal-fold-under (or whatever the verbiage is) hem, but I used bright pink thread to help tie in the pink a little more. It does look awesome...at least I think so :)