Quelf-- My New Favorite Game!

QUELF- it sounds weird, but it will make you laugh harder than you have in a long time.  I played this game twice over break and it was so fun. 

My favorite was probably the draw an elephant and rhino arm wrestling with your non-dominate hand. I laughed so hard at the results and the competitiveness of my friends! 

There are pictures and videos of us doing ridiculous things such as holding a plunger, wrapped up like a mummy,  singing a dong song, and much more, but I think my family and friends would kill me for posting. 

Here is the description from Amazon: 

• Get ready for a hilarious, unpredictable game night Winner of over 6 awards, including Board Game of the Year, Quelf will make you laugh till you cry
• There is no right or wrong answers, just read each card aloud and follow the instructions
• Have you ever balanced a shoe on your head? How long can you go without blinking? Have you ever wanted to sit underneath the kitchen table? Well now is your chance
• If you obey the card, you move forward Be the first player to the finish space that completes the Scatterbrainz question and you win
• Quelf is the ultimate party game made for 3-8 players ages 12+

Quelf on Amazon get it, you won't regret it! 

Pork chops & Potatoes

WARNING: THIS POST WAS CREATED AND PHOTOGRAPHED IN OCTOBER. I HAD IT IN MY DRAFT FOLDER. IT'S MOSTLY GOING TO BE PRETTY PICTURES, AND NOT A RECIPE!

These beautiful purple potatoes came in my Door To Door Organics box. I sprinkled some salt, drizzled some olive oil, and added some fresh rosemary and baked them for 30 minutes or so. 

I also made this pork chops and apples using up some of the apples I had from my box. However, it was so long ago, I can't find the recipe I followed! :) So you just get a pretty picture and know that apples and pork chops go great together! 

I teach, therefore I drink

These tea towels were a hot gift for my teacher friends! They are available in my Etsy shop

Here!

                       

                                   

Mustache baby

This might be one of my new favorite gifts/outfits! My cousin asked me to make her something for her good friend. I sent her a bunch of ideas and she went for the mustache option. I had the little onesie made and the burp cloth and went to Target and found these AMAZING pants for $5! 

So, of course, I went back and bought 2 more pairs. Wishing I would have bought about 10!  

I made it again for my friends new baby, Ian. I even got to use my new tag gun and Create Cook Teach tags!! I love that I can make my own personalized things and take them to the hospital, especially when the baby's name is a secret, or undecided! 

                                

Dream big

My friend asked me for this sign for her nursery. I think it turned out so cute, just like her little one! I had this board leftover from when I made my table, and it was the perfect size and already stained! I used my handy dandy Silhouette and cut out some vinyl. I was able to get this made and delivered in less than an hour! :) 

                   

Navy

One of my good friends has a brother-in-law who is in the Navy. She wanted some gifts for her niece, nephew, and BIL. I think these turned out so cute! Her girls even helped me paint the sign and cut out the words for the shirt and onesie! 

I still need to perfect my PVP techniques. Thankfully, she wanted a rustic sign! It was made from wood that I got off of an old pallet. The white paint is chalk paint, and the blue is acrylic, so it distressed really nicely. 

Pillows

I needed Christmas Pillows to match my house, so I went to work. A lot of these are made from scraps that I had in my craft room! I made the chevron and canvas ones tie pillows because I didn't have as much fabric! I love them, and still have them in my living room! 

To make this one, I traced a sign that I liked and cut it out with heat transfer vinyl using my Silhouette. This one I made into an actual pillow, instead of a cover. I stuffed it with a lot of random scraps of stuffing and batting! It cleaned up my craft room a lot!

These pillows, I made for my cousin's boss. They initially wanted me to embroider a blanket, but it was NOT working. So we had to revisit the gift! I think these turned out 100 times better! Each employee chose one word to describe their boss. Then I put them into a word cloud and cut them out of heat transfer vinyl.  I stuck them on to IKEA pillows! IKEA came to town recently, and I LOVE it!

NICU Graduate

This was a custom order for a friend whose niece was in the NICU. I love the pink girly version and the fact that she is now doing well! 

Photography

I grew up in a Camera store that my parents owned for 30 years.  So, I've always been interested in photography.  In high school I took a few photography classes, and I always have a camera with me. About a year ago, my mom gave me a "real" camera and I have slowly been learning how to use it outside of Program, or Auto! This year I even had a few friends use my picture on their Christmas cards! For right now, I'm not doing it to make money, just to make memories! So enjoy some of my favorites of 2014!

iPhone costume

So this is way delayed! Here is my Halloween costume from this year. I used my Silhouette to cut out almost everything. I used the trace tool to make a lot of the apps. I used scraps of fabric and heat transfer vinyl to iron it all on to a black t-shirt. I got a ton of compliments on it and my students LOVED it! It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Baked Wings

I made these baked wings, what seems like forever ago, when we had a Royals World Series watch party. They tasted just like ones we get at the bar and were a big hit! 

Ingredients
4 pounds chicken wings
2 tablespoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
Franks Wing Sauce

Directions: 

1. Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions.
2. Heat the oven to 250 degrees.
3. Pat wings dry with a paper towel.
4. Place baking powder and salt in a large ziplock bag. Add chicken wings. Shake wings and make sure that they are evenly coated with baking powder and salt.
5. Cover a baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack in it. Spray it with vegetable oil spray.
6. Place chicken, skin side down, on a single layer on the wire rack.
7. Bake wings on lower middle rack for 30 minutes. Turn up the heat to 425 degrees, move it to the upper middle rack. Bake for 45-50 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through the baking to ensure through baking.
8. Take them out of the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes.
9. Place wings in a large bowl and add the hot sauce over it. Toss to coat.
10. Serve with ranch or bleu cheese dressing.

Adapted from Fool Proof Living

Nativity Sign & Christmas Decorations

This little sign here was part of the reason I was so busy this Christmas! I posted a picture of my decorations and had so many requests for this sign, that I bought the commercial license for the design and created a "sign factory." I think I made and sold/gifted 25 of these puppies. The sign is available on my Etsy shop. 

I had the boards cut at Lowes, stained them (Kona & Barnwood), and then cut out the vinyl. Next year, I think I might try to stencil them, because I think it will go faster. 

I loved my new light up JOY sign from Big Lots and my red/white/silver/gold tree. Well, actually I loved all of my decorations! The wreath on my door was a fresh cut wreath from Lowes that I picked up while shopping for the wood.

Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups

These are one of my new favorite go-to recipes! They are healthy and delicious! I used some of my summer zucchini that I had grated and froze. It mad it super easy to just pull it out of the freezer! 

Ingredients:

8 lasagna noodles
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium zucchini
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1 3/4 cups Marinara sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
fresh basil for garnish


Directions:
Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. 

Grate zucchini and squeeze dry. I use my food processor, it is super fast! 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Cook garlic and olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute; add zucchini, salt and pepper to taste and cook about 4-5 minutes, until soft.

Combine the cooked zucchini, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

Pat the lasagna noodles dry with a paper towel. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over the noodle. Roll up the noodle, and place in baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Pour the remaining sauce over the lasagna rolls and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of each roll. Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Top with fresh basil. Enjoy! 

I think this would also make a great freezer meal, however, I never had any leftover to freeze! :)

Adapted from Skinny Taste 

Scarlett

I love how this outfit and birth announcement sign turned out (I framed the sign, but didn't get a picture)! When I delivered it, I took my camera and did a little newborn photo shoot with this little snuggle bug! I think I finally have the newborn photography thing figured out. I'm still not a professional, but I am getting better.