Yogurt Muffins!

This mommy found a recipe that has made it to the top of favorite lists in this house!  Both the boy and the princess are addicted and this mommy doesn't mind, I mean, who can deny the little ones a midday snack of muffins that are made with yogurt and applesauce!?  I found the original recipe at JCasa handmade blog which she adapted from The joy of cooking!  It was love in just one look!  You can check out her blog but I'm also adding the recipe here, and instead of canola oil this mommy uses regular applesauce!

You will need:
1 egg
1 cup yogurt (or 2 individual containers) -you can use any kind you like but this mommy uses the store brand vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. applesauce
2 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
whatever add-ins you want (fruit, chocolate chips, etc)




Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Either line a muffin tin with liners or spray a generous amount of non stick cooking spray into the muffin tins. (this mommy doesn't use liners as the boy is allowed to get a muffin himself and sometimes he forgets to take off the liner!)
In a bowl combine the egg, yogurt, vanilla, and applesauce.  Stir until it is all evenly combined.  In a seperate bowl combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Slowly stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, make sure you don't overmix the batter as it will result in tough muffins!  Pour in your add-ins and stir until evenly distributed in the batter.  The boy loves it when I add chocolate chips! 
Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full in each cup (this recipe will yeild between 12-18 muffins depending on how big you make them!)
Bake for 12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown!  12 minutes works beautifully for this mommy and her oven!
Take your yummy muffins out of the oven and cool!
Enjoy! 
But this mommy does warn you they are good! And they are addicting!  Be prepared to be making these a lot!  We have to have a supply of these on hand at all times, its the all time favorite snack for this mommy's house!  The princess has gotten to the point of pulling down the container of muffins and pouting until it is opened and she can have one, that's how much she loves them! 
Experiment with different add-ins and different yogurt flavors!  There are so many yummy possibilities! 

The princess turns 1!!

This mommy is in disbelief..... the princess turned 1!  Where, oh where has the time gone?  How could it be that my little baby girl is now an active, energetic 1 year old?!  The last year has flown by!

This little baby girl......

Has become this big girl........

Oh how this mommy wishes time would slow down a little! It seems like only yesterday we were about to welcome our little princess into the world!

We celebrated with our friends and family with an owl themed birthday party!  A good time was had by all! 

Here's a look at our decorations!  Tons of balloons, hanging decorations (handmade by this mommy), owl pinata centerpiece (again made by this mommy), and a fingerprint tree for guests to sign.  This mommy was pleased by how it all came together!

This was this mommy's first time making a stacked cake, and boy was she nervous!  But after much thought and a little luck this mommy was able to pull off making this cute as can be owl cake for the princess!  And of course the cake inside was pink as well!  :)

Of course just one cake wasn't enough so this mommy made of bunch of these owl cupcakes to match!  We also had a matching owl smash cake just for the princess to destroy!  :)







We couldn't have asked for a better birthday party!  Here's a look at the day......

We started the day in an adorable petti romper and flower hair clip (the clip was made my this mommy).  This mommy was excited that the princess finally had enough hair for the clip to stay in!

The flower clip made it through the morning before she was done with it.

Right before the party we had an outfit change into a handmade tutu dress (again made by this mommy, seeing a trend? lol)  :)

Although leary at first, once she got a taste of the cake she dug right in!

She loved it!!

Opening presents began!  (note: the painted fingernails, especially for the party, her first time getting her nails painted!)

The boy of course had to help his little sister open the presents!

She got pink everything, and this castle (found at my local Michael's) was painted and walpapered by this mommy for her princess peg dolls.

She loved being the center of attention all day!

New toys are awesome!

Officially 1!!

The tutu suprisingly made it through the entire party pretty much clean!

The day ended back in her petti romper!  A quick picture with mommy! (please ignore how horrible this mommy looks!)

And the day wouldn't be complete without the boy giving the daddy some love too!  Oh how I love my boys!








So whether this mommy likes it or not the princess is growing up!  Soon she will be walking and this mommy is in for trouble!  :)  How sweet it is to be the mommy to 2 amazing children!

How I spend my "free" time

I thought I'd share with you how this mommy spends all her free time..... between work, 2 kids, babysitting, cooking, cleaning, sewing, family outings, craft shows, fixing up the house, and refurbishing old furniture this mommy needs to fill the gaps  :)  This is what she does...... she runs a photography business known as S&F Designs!  This mommy goes out and takes people's portraits (or pet's portraits in some cases), and also enjoys taking photos of all the beautiful nature around her!  I thought I would share a small peek into this mommy's "free" time work!

People:

Pets:

Nature:

So there ya go, a very, very small peek into all my works!  This mommy would run out of blog space if she posted everything  ;)  Hope you liked the peek into my art!  And now you know what this mommy does in all her free time  lol!  :)

Easy-Peasy Glazed Donuts!

This mommy again must admit that she has a pinterest problem!  She found this on there from http://www.littlebitfunky.com/ and instantly had a mouth full of drool!  Donuts that take about 15 min to complete and are simply amazing!  Plus this is super easy and this mommy loves that!  Here's what it is......

Donuts made out of canned biscuits!  Yes you read that right, canned biscuits!  You can check out the littlebitfunky blog and see the whole thing but basically you will take your biscuits (non-flakey kind) and press them a little flatter than they are, then cut a hole in the center of the dough.  Put 1/4" vegetable oil in a pan, and put your "donuts" in the oil.  Cook on one side til its golden brown, flip and cook til that side is golden brown as well!  Take donuts out of oil and place on a paper towel lined plate.


Here is where this mommy did things differently!

On the littlebitfunky blog she then dipped her donuts in butter and then covered them in sugar/cinnamon mixture.  This mommy changed it up, they were good with the butter but this mommy found that the butter made the dough a little soggy so instead this mommy glazed them!  Here is what you will need for your glaze....

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
-Mix these in a bowl until it is well mixed (be patient and slow as this can take a little work, the powdered sugar doesn't always want to mix well with the milk but it will, just be patient!)

Now take your donuts and you are going to dip each side into the glaze.  You can leave it as just a plain glazed donut or you can immediately dip it into powdered sugar, or a cinnamon/sugar mixture...... just make sure you dip in these while the glaze is still wet. 
Then set these aside for the glaze to dry. 
Once the glaze dries place them in an airtight container to keep for breakfast (or a midnight snack if you are anything like this mommy).
These are oh so good and I think the glaze keeps the donuts from being soggy.  Try it both ways and see what you like the best!

Don't forget to use the donut holes as well, they make just as yummy treats as the donuts  :)  Just cook them the exact same way!

Here's my donuts cooked and ready to glaze!:

They look so yummy already!!










And here's the final product:  I did a little bit of plain glazed and some powdered sugar ones:

Yummy!!










And because I ran out of room on one plate...... here's the other plate:

We are going to have such a yummy treat here in this mommy's house at breakfast time!









So there ya go, make some donuts!!!  :)  They are so good!

Big Dining room makeover reveal!

This mommy has been working hard with the daddy to do a complete room makeover on the dining room!  It needed something, and this mommy must admit the new room is FANTASTIC!  This mommy knows that some of you have been anxious to see the new look and I've been making you wait, well the wait is over, this mommy will torture you no more, the big reveal is here!  The best part of this whole thing was it was all done for $200!!

To be fair for those of you who hadn't seen our dining room before this mommy will post the before picture so you can see the difference:
Before:

As you can see this room had potential but this mommy and the daddy had other things to fix up in our house before we worked on this room.  So it sat this way for 3 years!









And now.............
After:

Much better!!  This mommy is in love with her new dining room!  The mixture of grey and yellow makes this mommy smile!  Even the unsightly dog and cat food bins got a makeover to match the room!  This mommy made the curtains, the curtain rod, the lampshades for the chandelier, and painted the food bins!






The details make the room..........

These shelves (which this mommy is planning on adding more to as soon as she figures out what she wants to put up there) originated as part of a flat door we pulled out of our house 3 years ago when we replaced the doors with 6-panel doors!  They were a dark wood look, this mommy thinks it looks much better cut up and painted white for shelves!  The vases were painted by this mommy to match the room color!

This mommy covered the lightswitch covers with the same fabric the curtains were made out of to bring it all together!

The artwork (which this mommy noticed you couldn't see from the first picture) is on the right side of the room and is a photo taken by this mommy.  I made it black and white, then blew it up to a large size, cut it into fourths, mounted it on MDF boards and hung it up on the wall.  This mommy's very first sunflower grown in the front yard is now forever hanging on the wall  :)

This has got to be one of this mommy's favorite parts of the room (the chairs will soon be replaced with chairs and a bench that match the look better, but for now these will do!).  This table was handmade by the daddy and this mommy! (mainly the daddy but hey this mommy did help stain and measure!)  :)  So this is an original piece of furniture and this mommy loves it!!  Very time consuming but it looks fantastic!  Ahhhh!  I could sit at it all day!



So there you have it!  The big reveal!  A whole lot of work and planning but an amazing room to spend our family time in!  Hopefully you love it as much as this mommy does!  And just because I love it sooooo much here's the picture of it again.....

I'm so in love!!  I could look at it all day!  This mommy is one happy girl!

Sewing tips

So some of you who read this enjoy my sewing projects and want to start sewing  and since this mommy self-taught herself everything she knows about sewing, this mommy decided to share some tips she uses for her projects that maybe could help you if you are beginning out in the sewing adventures.

Tips:

1. Get to know your sewing machine inside and out..... yes, you should know every gear in your machine so if something goes crazy you know somewhat about where to check.  And make sure you get a brand you like, some are easier than others.... this mommy is a Singer girl all the way   :)

2. Don't be afraid to try something new...... yes new patterns can be scary and often you look at it and think "i can't do that" trust me, this mommy has done that a lot, but this mommy has also found that if you just say "I can try" and take it a step at a time most things are possible!

3. On that note: know that some projects will defeat you, be ok with that and move on to the next trial.  Getting frustrated and giving up is never the best option!  This mommy has been defeated by more projects than she cares to think about.  :)

4.  Measure twice, cut once....... this is a tip I used to hear in highschool from my shop teacher..... ironically I never heard it from my home ec. teacher......hmmmm....... who knew that my woodworking teacher knew so much about sewing?!?  interesting....... :) 

5. Go Bold!  Don't be afraid of bold, bright patterns in fabric.

6. If you are nervous about a project and don't want to risk wasting good fabric make it first using scrap fabric (this mommy likes to go to thrift stores and get sheets, these make great trial fabric and you get a lot for only a couple dollars..... and sometimes you'll find a fabric there you actually want to use for a project....... like the princess' skirts that I've made from pillowcases, and sheets, and tablecloths, and........)

7. Just because a pattern says to make something from a certain material doesn't mean you can't make it from another material, you can alter almost anything to use what you have!

8.  Never underestimate the power of the iron!  Trust me, this mommy hates ironing and used to skip the ironing steps in patterns, and this mommy also got so much more frustrated.  Ironing helps so much, and it makes your seams look much more professional.... DO NOT skip ironing!  This mommy knows its a pain but it's worth it!

9. When in doubt.... PIN!  This mommy also hates pinning and will avoid it if at all possible, and with practice a lot of things can be done without pinning, but if you aren't confident in having everything in the right place then pin!  And also make sure you pin the right direction, there's nothing more frustrating than pinning everything and then getting to your machine and the pins are going the wrong way!  Ugh, this mommy has done that too many times! 

10.  Sometimes bigger is better........ bigger projects can sometimes be easier projects..... for example, curtains are not that hard but they are big and you need room to work!  Don't be afraid to try a big project!

11.  Save your scraps!  You never know when you will need them!

12.  Just keep sewing!  with time and practice you will become a great seamstress and you will be able to take on any project you would like!

Hope this helps some of you out there!  Remember, this mommy is always here if you have questions for her!

Tinting glass vases

Ok so if you are like this mommy you like to have colorful vases to place flower arrangements into. This mommy has the easiest way for you to tint any glass jar/vase. This is what you will need:

Elmer's white school glue
Water
Food coloring of your choice
Sponge paint brush


Here is how you do it, don't worry this mommy promises anyone can do this, you could even have your kids do this......could be a great teacher present......hmmmm..... One day when my kids are in school....... Anyways.....

1. Mix up your color mixture by making a 50/50 water glue mixture and placing desired amount of food coloring into the mixture (this mommy only puts 3-4 drops in as she likes a subtle color instead of super bright but it's up to you. Stir well until color is uniform.

2. Next get your glass vase out..... This mommy knows you probably have plenty of them hidden in a closet somewhere from flowers you have gotten and didn't know what to do with all those vases.....

3. Take your sponge brush and paint the color mixture directly onto the outside of the vase, covering the whole thing in your color mixture.

4. Let dry completely.

5. Enjoy your newly colored vase!!

You can add flowers into vase or just use the vase as a pop of color to accent your room decor! Now wasn't that easy? Now you can go make a rainbow of colors so you can match every room!!