Show and Tell: It's A Toss Up

So I didn't do it. Not a single top was created for Top Week. I had grand goals and a lovely number of options picked out. I even got one cut out but nope, business was booming (which I'm thrilled about) and I needed to get ahead so I wouldn't be too behind when we get back from the cruise. So... nothing to show, but I think I do want to make a new commitment to make at least one thing for me a month. I think that's a much more achievable goal. I'm not giving up on the tops. I still want to make them, eventually.

 But it really is a blessing to be too busy to make stuff for myself. So while I don't have any tops to show I do have these little bottoms that were made for a custom order. A photographer liked my ruffle diaper covers but for cake smashing pic you want the cuteness to be in the front so this is the result. Be sure the full ruffle style bottoms will be appearing in my shop (and probably a giveaway) soon enough.

Do any of you guys have suggestions for what I should call this style? I call my lace across the butt Ruffle Bums and the different fabrics on the bum part Ruffled Diaper Covers, I kinda want an informative name but I'm not sure what yet.

Recipe: Oreo Cheesecake

I had a ton of people asking for the recipe so here it is. I cannot stress enough that you need to let your ingredients come to room temperature. Let me know if you try it. Enjoy.

For the Crust
1 1/2 (about 1.5 C) packs of chocolate graham crackers (crushed)
1/3 C Butter (melted)

For Cheesecake
3-8 oz pkgs Cream Cheese (use philidephia and make sure it's room temp or it won't turn out)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 C Sugar
3 Eggs (room temp)
3 Tbls Lemon Juice
1 Tbl Vanilla

15-20 Oreos chopped
Chocolate Topping (for ice cream)

The Steps

• Bring cream cheese and eggs to room temp (this will take 2-3 hours). Don't skip this step.
• Break up the graham crackers (I like to stick them in a ziplock and mush).
• Melt the butter and mix with the graham cracker crumbs. Press them into a springform pan.
• Beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
• Add sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice until well combined.
• Add eggs one by one until combined.
• Pour 1/3 of mixture into springform pan.
• Sprinkle a third of the oreos.
• Repeat with another 1/3 of cream cheese mix and oreo two more times then top with the rest of the cream cheese mix. Reserve a 1/3 of the oreos for the top.
• Heat a dish while preheating the oven and pour hot water in the dish when you stick the cheesecake in. Bake at 300F with steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes (until outside is set but inside is still jiggly).
• Let cool in the oven with door closed for at least 2 hours 
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours I think overnight is best, the texture and taste are much better when it's colder 
• Top with oreos and drizzle chocolate topping before serving.
• Cut with a knife rinsed with hot water between each slice

So it looks like I'm still totally cheesecake obsessed. I know what I'm trying next, Lemon curd swirled cheesecake with a blueberry topping or maybe I'll do raspberry since we already did blueberries.

Gardening: The Plan and a Weed Question

(ignore my reflection in the window I was too lazy to walk downstairs and take the picture)

First the question. Should I just wait for the next rain and dig up the dandelions? In a moment of denial I had the music maker dump the grass clippings all over the dandelions but they are breaking through. That's the spot that I want to put the watermelons and pumpkins. So is it an option to use some kind of weed killer or do I really have to dig more. Seriously I dug out all the dandelions from the big patch there were like one every foot but the edge just seems too overwhelming to me.

Here's how I think I may lay out the space. Let me know if you see any potential problems, suggestions to tweak things, or have any knowledge or tips about the dandelions. B's are beans and peas, T's are tomatoes, P's are peppers, S's are squash.

What's for Dinner: Week 31

For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

Yup I made the Oreo cheesecake. It was delish. Recipe coming. UPDATED: Recipe is here.
 

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Fancy Ramen	Grains and nuts: brown rice, Veggies: Stir Fry Fish: stir fry
Monday	Shepherd's Pie
Tuesday	Eat Out: Last week of Dineoround
Wednesday	Chicken and Two Potatoes
Thursday	Grilled Cheese and Soup
Friday	Bangers and Mash
Saturday	Shrimp and Veggie Stir Fry

Making It Ours, A Home that Is: Studio Tour Part II

So here is the second part of the workroom -my stuff close up in all it's clutterful glory. If you missed the first installment you can see it here. Let me warn you it'll be a pictureful tour. Right now the space is totally functional but not really pretty yet. Eventually I want to get a sort of retro feel decorated around my husbands records on the wall over his work area. But for now I'll just show you what's here and what I know for sure I want to do.

 My huge Ikea shelf full of fabric.

I've been thinking of making containers out of fabric or covering the file boxes with paper but then I found this idea at Make it and Love it and this is what I'll definitely be doing once I decide on fabric. It's just Modge Podged onto the front, so easy and fast.

 Oh and there's more fabric. And all along the wall under the princess dresses there's more bolts. Yup I admit it I do have a problem.

I have a love hate relationship with the cutting table. It's wonderfully big. It folds down if I want it to. It's the perfect height so my back doesn't ache working at it. But it's rickety. It's not solid enough for my tastes so in all honestly I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. When I press down with my rotary cutter I feel it bend beneath me.

 I cut on it. Pile ruffles on it. Pack envelopes on it. It's super duper functional.

On an smaller Ikea Expedit I've got my ironing station and secondary packing station since I can fill up the cutting table pretty easily. When I decide about fabric to cover the boxes I'll make a cover for my ironing board (here's my tutorial for the ironing board if you're interested).

 I have four big windows that let in the best natural light but to get the more retro feel I'm pretty sure I'm going to make window boxes like these from Little Green Notebook. I'm not sure if I'll do the curvy detailing or just rectangles (what do you guys think?) . But it would be in black with white or off white trim or maybe turquoise and black.

And of course my machines. I love this chair. I used to sit in a rock hard chair so being comfy and able to swivel and turn is a welcomed upgrade. So that's where I spend most of my time. Thanks for visiting.

Naughty TIme: Four Down Two To Go

I know I promised part two of the studio tour but I didn't have time to write up that post. There's a lot I want to include so that'll be later this week.

In the mean time the naughty girls have been in Thailand for 4 whole weeks with my parents visiting relatives. Even though they've been calling almost every week and I get the full report via email from my mom of Lanna peeing in my grandma's friend's garden, Tira walking through a restaurant saying "I don't want to pee pee Yai Yai (grandma), and other non-pee related tales I miss them so much. But they'll be back soon and we will resume playing.

Making It Ours, A Home that Is: Studio Tour Part I

Thanks to my husband I can finally show you the work room. He decided to vacuum so I sorta picked up (well kinda), I figured I don't know when I'd "clean up" this room because after all it's a work room so the whole point is to have things out and function. This room was the thing that put this property over the top for me when we toured it (you know before we bought it). They advertised it as a master bedroom but the second I walked it I knew it would be the perfect studio.

The musicmaker works from home doing social work stuff but also puts in many many hours each day making music. You can hear some of his stuff at his website here. Before we bought this place we both (me with my sewing and him with his music) had our stuff in the living room and I loved being so close. We could do our own thing but still be together so that was really important to me. This room is just perfect. We've got a whole wall for his music stuff. I've got a huge chuck for my RaeGun and other crafting stuff. A wee couch for breaks, for naughty girls to sit and watch cinderella while I sew, and for seated tasks. And finally a computer station for printing, for hubby to do real job work stuff and I suppose I could work on my dissertation if I wanted.

There is NOTHING that I dislike about this room. I do however LOVE how huge it is, it is so perfect for us. And I love how much natural light there is. That I can peek out over the back and front yard. I'm just so happy with it. I'm still decorating of course -my never ending struggle to find the right stuff to go on the walls and covering the boxes so they're actually pretty and a few other functional/beautifying tasks.


And to avoid a psycho long post and because I love studio tours so I'll take you through all the parts of my specific sewing/crafting of the work room tomorrow.

UPDATE: here's part II of the studio tour

What's for Dinner: Week 30

(shrimp bisque)
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

I resisted making an oreo cheesecake this weekend, although I bought all the ingredients. I've got test week for my personal training. I'm hoping that I'll show some "body composition" results. The last few tests my weight/inches have stayed exactly the same although I could run way more, jump way higher, lift more and do all the push ups and sit ups better errrr. So we will see, although I did see my weight freaking go up this weekend on my own. Blast. Just a few more hours til the weighing measuring part of the test.
 

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Bourbon Chicken and Fries	Grains and nuts: brown rice, almonds Veggies: green beans with dip,salad Fish: buffet
Monday	Gouda Chicken Sausage with potatoes and peas with almonds
Tuesday	Homemade Pizza and Salad
Wednesday	Panko curry chicken strips and potato springrolls
Thursday	Sausage Wine Basil Tomato Pasta
Friday	Fun Bus Buffet (seafood)
Saturday	Chicken and Two Potatoes

SLC Locals: DIne-o-round and Record Store Day

 Dine-o-round is back starting today for you Salt Lakers. If you are in town I definitely recommend taking advantage of the 3 course meals for 15$ or 30$.

I mentioned my new love for the Copper Onion, but I don't think 30$ for a three course meal there is necessarily the best deal. I votes for this time around are Eva, Cafe Molise, Bambara, and Z'tejas (maybe gracies but they are only doing lunch and I haven't been there before). Click here to see all the participating eateries.

This Saturday is also Record Store day. Go and support your local independently owned record store. If you're in SLC stop by 4th Street.

Show and Tell: Baby Carrier and More Langdon

I'm a bad friend. I just barely gave Heidi her baby shower gift (carriers) this past week. I am such a carrier fan. Both of my nieces lived in them. I used to sew and make dinner and dance around the house with Lanna in a pouch sling. Daniel even played wii wearing her and I walked all over Park City's outlet mall with Lanna in the Moby style one, sometimes awake, sometimes napping. They were a lifesaver.

But anyways back to Heidi's slings, I miscalculated the amount of fabric I needed for the Moby style one so I'm still working on that but I handed over the pouch sling and she put it on and Langdon just snuggled up all cozy! Anyways just wanted to share my little creation and more baby Langdon cuteness.

Also don't forget that the Tutu Skirt Giveaway is almost over go enter now if you haven't entered (last day is 4/20). Also  4/30 will be my last day to order on the regular turnaround time from the shop after that I'll be on vacation for a little bit so orders may take up to a month to make before shipping.

Gardening: Seed Starting AKA Hubby's Most Hated Time of the Year

The weather in Utah is seriously on crack but that is a normal thing. In the Spring it can be tank top and flip flop weather in the morning and snow on the ground at night. And it does that for like 2 months. So while I'd been waiting to till the ground to get going I finally just forced myself to start seeds. When the musicmaker came down to see all my seed stuff he said "NOOO" in a long drawn out defeated voice. He hates having all my little pots of "dirty" plants around. But oh well, that's part of it all right?

A question for all you master gardeners before I forget... do you guys think putting my plants on stools so they're under my kitchen hanging lights would work as grow lamps? Or a desk lamp? I just don't know if I can set up and buy/build real grow lamps.

Anyways so here's my master list of what I planted.

• corn silver queen hybrid
• pumpkin casper
• pumpkin jack o lantern
• peas wando
• watermelon triple baby seedless hybrid
• tomato yellow pear
• tomato brandywine red
• tomato viva italia roma hybrid
• pepper sunbright
• carrot little finger
• edamame
• bean top notch golden
• peas sugar snap
• squash black beauty
• squash acorn
• pepper anaheim long red
• pepper jalapeno
• pumpkin jack be little
• pepper early jalapeno
• pepper california wonder
• peas oregon giant (snow peas)
• squash early white bush scallop
• bean contender
• random corn from last year
• lots of marigolds
• lots of poppies

 I welcome all tips, this is my first year putting stuff in the ground and I have no clue. Last year it was all in pots and I treated everything more like pretty plants, I'd love to really have a thriving garden this time.

Shop Update and Announcement

Just a quick note to let you all know that I'll be adding a bunch of new stuff to the shop all week long. I've got some more rufflers. I feel like I'm constantly selling out (i.e. running out of fabric) of them. Also I'll be going on vacation the beginning of May so orders placed the last week of April and the beginning of May will probably take longer to be filled so if you're thinking of buying anything and want it sooner rather than later you should consider ordering soon.

What's for Dinner: Week 29

(potato garlic bread that we'll be eating with the soup)
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

I've got a new cooking obsession to take over from the cheesecake making (not that I plan on stopping that one). SoI know I've had fresh pasta before but this past week we tried a new restaurant called The Copper Onion (which I highly recommend) and had amazing fresh pasta. I usually follow my policy of never ordering pasta out (I tend to think it's a waste of money since pasta dishes areeasy to make at home) but it was highly recommended here and it was absolutely delicious. So I've decided that this will be my next cooking venture when I save enough amazon gift cards from redeeming Swagbucks (see this post if you don't know what Swagbucks is) or when I break down and actually fork the money out for the pasta attachments for my kitchen aid.
 

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Shrimp Soup and Homemade bread	Grains and nuts: brown rice, almonds Veggies: green beans with dip, lettuce Fish: Shrimp, Talapia
Monday	Sweet Pork Tacos and Homemade Refried beans
Tuesday	Campanelli
Wednesday	Black bean Chinese ribs and brown rice
Thursday	Talapia, potatoes and peas with almonds
Friday	Eat Out: Dineoround starts this week!
Saturday	Hanging out with the sewing girls I think we're doing dinner if not something simple like fancy ramen

RaeGun Finds: Spring Happies

(click on the image to enlarge)

Here are a few lovelies from Etsy that just shout Spring to me. I want them all.The musicmaker gets paid today. Let's see how much I can resist, every time I post one of these I end up buying like half my list haha.

1. Silhouette Brass Pendant Necklace from lepapierstudio
2. Happy Garden Hair Pins from MiaBeads
3. Family Tree Necklace from SoulPeaces (I will be getting this it's just a matter of when)
4. Flower Clips and Brooch from Cultivar
5. Bubbles Necklace from MDsparks
6. Big Bow Purse from Breagha (I love this SO much)
7. Avalon Hoops from Kusu
8. Bird Mug from MudPieNC
9. Rose Necklace from RosebudLips

Harry Potter Land, i Can't Wait

Oh my gosh I can't wait to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here's a sneak peak at it. The musicmaker convinced me not to go this year (right when it opens) because of the rush and kinks that will probably have to be worked out but I'm so regretting having agreed to that plan.

Recipe: Taco Mac and Cheese

Lonesome Road Studio asked for the recipe after I posted this in one my What's For Dinner posts. We eat this a couple times a month, it's easy, fast and yummy.

Makes 2 large portions (doubles and triples great)

Ingredients
1/4 to 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef (I've done both, just depends on what I have on hand and how meaty I feel)
2-4 TBS Taco Seasoning (really this depends on your own taste)

1TBS butter
2 TBS flour
1 C milk
Salt to taste
1/2 to 1 C cheese (I use a taco blend but really any meltable cheese will work)
1 Avocado
4 oz. Elbow Macaroni

Directions

• Cook pasta.
• While the pasta is cooking make taco meat. Brown meat add seasoning to your taste. 
• Remove meat leaving grease in the pan. Add 1 TBS butter (you want a total of 2 TBS grease so adjust how much butter you add depending on how much grease is left from your meat)
• Add 2TBS flour and make a roux (just cook over medium heat until combined) over medium heat.
• Add 1 C milk a small part at a time. This should make a cream sauce.
• Add cheese and stir.
• Add taco meat and taste. Add salt and more taco seasoning to taste.
• Reserve 1 C pasta water. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Add some pasta water to thin the sauce if needed.
• Dish up and top with avocado (we usually do 1/4 avocado per bowl) . The contrast of the avocado is our favorite part of the dish.
• Enjoy

To Make: Tops for Top Week

I'm really going to do my best to be apart of Made By Rae's Top Week. The challenge is exactly what I need. When I'm wonderfully busy with orders (always a good thing). I need something to help me make things for myself.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Here are a few tops I hope I get to.
1. I'd like another of these ruffly tops
2. Jersey Flowers inspiration from Antrho Archives
3. Mod Shirt inspiration from Antrho Archives
4. Pleated Tunic inspiration from Antrho Archives
5. Pleated Neck Line tutorial at Make it and Love it
6. Yoyo Top from Wet Seal a couple years ago
7. Vanilla Bean Blouse inspired by Anthropologie
8. Corsage Top instructions at Dear Lizzy video instructions at Studio5
9. Spring Ruffle Top tutorial at Sew Mama Sew from Made by Rae
10. Freezer Paper Screen Print (I want to do a Harry Potter one) instructions at Super Capes for Super Kids No Picture

Okay if I can get 3 done by the time the challenge ends I'll consider it a success