Cinnamon Rolls

This weekend is a blur and it's not even over! I sang for 2 concerts yesterday for Remembrance Day. Nice. Then singing at 2 church services this morning and tonight a sing along for the agency that I Christmas Carol with. it's only 2 days of singing in a row, but after focusing on my family for the last 8 years, I wonder how I ever did it as a singer/music teacher. every. single. day. My whole life was singing. Over all parts of town. now I get wiped after 2 hours! stamina I tell ya, it's gone!

Anyhow, some time this past week, I got to play house mom and made some cinnamon rolls.

The recipe comes from the back of the brown sugar bag and my memory, as I threw it out the bag after the sugar was all gone.
First up is some bread dough. You can use premade pizza dough, or as I did, make it in the bread maker. (recipe at end of post)

Roll it out to a rectangle. Brush some melted butter. They suggest 2 tablespoons.

Mix a teaspoon of cinnamon with 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Spread it on the dough. Please note, I used more cinnamon and did not spread all of the sugar on the dough. This was a mistake! Use all the sugar! It makes it sloppier and gooey-er. Mine, not so much. I added some raisins to one side of it. ( i also used some of the leftover cinnamon brown sugar in my tea. So good.)

Roll the dough from the short side to the opposite end.

Cut them about 1 inch thick.

Place in a greased dish. Let rise for about 1.5 hours until the rolls touch each other. I didn't let it rise long enough. next time I will.

Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes. I think. I can't remember. Sorry.

There ya go. A nice afternoon treat with a cuppa.

Here's the pizza dough recipe that I use in the bread maker. I also use it as a bread recipe:
Put it in the bread maker in this order:

1+cup of water. (Sometimes the flour needs more moisture, so I add up to 1/2 C extra sometimes. Depends on the season and where you live)
1 Teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
1.5 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of bread machine yeast.

Use the dough setting for 1.5 lb bread.

If you want to make a nice pizza dough recipe, use the one above, then add a tablespoon of cornmeal and a teaspoon of dried herbs, ( I use a Newfoundland savory or oregano)

There ya go. This is not a quick treat, but one that can be tended to when you're in the house all day.

At the moment, the kids are playing with boxes brought home from the grocery store. They made cars from them and are now traveling around the world with the maps I printed out of places I've been too. They are at the drive in watching old Pink Panther movies on Net flix. Ah, Sunday afternoon.
DH is in the basement making a brew of beer. He's doing it from scratch, Mad scientist that he is. I'm ok with all this experimenting. It gives me equal footing to get lost in my sewing room from time to time!

I think I'm off for a nap before my next appointment. No crafting for this weary body today.

Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

My Heart is Full sachet

Howdy,
back in the summer, I signed up for a heart swap and this is what my swap partner received, along with a few other goodies.

It is very fragrant with lavender. Maybe a little too fragrant? Just let me say, you can't really iron linen after the lavender has been put in. Thus, it's a little wrinkly. It's a little hard to tell, but the trim on the top and bottom has hearts on it. aahhh.


that's it for now, off to make more mittens.

Amanda

Yo Yo Trees

This past weekend, My church had it's annual Craft and Bake Sale Bazaar. Now you must understand, the ladies of the craft guild meet once a week for most of the year, making and baking stuff for this grand, most anticipated event. it's where I got the Snow White Doll in the previous post.
And of course, what's a Christmas sale without Christmas tree ornaments? This one made me chuckle. I love it!

A tree made from various colours and sizes of yo yos. Brilliant. They made the yo yos, cut a wine cork in half, put a pipe cleaner into it and threaded the yo yos on to it. Then they glued a wooden star to the top. Easy peasy. And effective.

Cheers,
Amanda

Snow White Doll

I Just HAVE to tell you about this great doll I got today at the Church Bazaar. you'll believe that I saw it across the table and practically leapt over everyone beside me to get a better look. You'll not believe that the price tag said $3! only $3.
Here is Snow White with her 7 Dwarves.

Isn't she great!!!
And here are her 7 friends

Aren't they great? but wait, there's more...

See that on the back? You can put them on your fingers!

Isn't it just awesome? There's more than your 3 bucks worth right there ladies.. But wait, there's more....
When you turn her upside down, you get the stepmother!

Get outta Town! How Cool is THAT? But wait... there's more! Yes, more!!
On the other side of the stepmother is...
Wait for it...

The huntsman who was sent out by the Stepmother to kill Snow White!


I tell ya, this doll is amazing! And it's hand made! I kid you not.. At first I thought it was factory made, but the more I examined it, the more hand stitching I could see. All the dwarves are hand stitched together. They eyes, the machine zig zag around the faces and clothes. I tell you, This doll is of the highest quality sewing and it must have taken ages! I'm just so glad that we now own her and that she is truly appreciated!
When you wanna have a party, just add 7 little dwarves.

Can you tell she likes it?


ciao,
Amanda

Weekend Happenings

G'Day!
it's another beauty here. Any warm days after the middle of October are a gift. It's supposed to get to 15 degrees celcius today. Awesome!
We had a a warmish weekend also. good thing, I was selling my wares at an outdoor venue!
Special hi to all who are visiting here from the Fair! Welcome.
Here is my table. i forgot to bring a few things to add various heights to the table. It's rather flat, but tons to look at.

I made a batch of mittens that went like hotcakes. it was just enough chill in the morning before the sun came around the building to want cosy mittens. This is my almost empty basket. I should have taken a picture before to keep the ideas for future mittens. I have since scored with some great sweaters and will be sewing up a mitten storm this week. Another craft fair this weekend.

Here are some clothes and doll slings on a line, with the happy teapot bunting.

Here are some money cuffs to be featured later. I adapted a lunch money cuff from A lemon Squeezy Home

And lastly, Halloween!
Neve decided on 2 costumes to play with. The first is super woman. She has red and gold hairspray in her hair. You could hardly see it, but she was excited just the same. This was for the school-indoors.

For outside, she was a wizard. A few layers went under this costume. And Rafael wanted to be Mario. Homemade is good enough for him. The mustache was attached with 2 sided carpet tape. Let's just say that we learned to make it a little less sticky before applying to the face. ouch. Last year, he was Alvin the chipmunk. Next year, he wants to be an Angry Bird. Lord help me!

And when the Mario is in the washroom, the wizard goes into disguise!


must make some mittens....
thanks for stopping by,
Amanda

ballerina clothes peg

Howdy!
Here's is the latest in my design of clothes peg people. You can see the others here
I present... the ballerina(s)!

Here she is with her hair in a bun...

in her hot pink tulle tutu

Her criss cross in the back leotard..

And her pointe shoes.

They come in brown hair

or blonde

Maybe they'll get invited to a dance!


I hope those pirates are light on their feet and have good manners!

Cheers,
Amanda

Ogee ornament in many styles

Hello folks!
It's been a while. I've been in a little creative funk. Well, i've been trying some things, but not so successful yet. I think instead of a funk, it's a process of trying and experimenting. So, not much to show.
Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I made these ogee ornaments from felt and heat embossed overhead projector paper. (what's that called again?)

I first got the idea from Betz White a few years ago. Check out her post. It is a most excellent tutorial.

But it was before I delved into the world of good felt. Here's my original post here

This time, I also used Stampin' Up! stamps and heat embossed on the transparency. (there, I remembered). Here's the music one.

And here is the french script one.

I originally wanted to used eyelets to join them together, but I couldn't fit my crop-a-dile in the littlest spot, so I used brads instead.

I experimented with the stitching on the felt ones to make it decorative.

A few french knots. Love french knots.

These beads came from my uncle's stash. He used to make very ornate jester stockings for Christmas with silks and velvet and these beads on the tips. Gorgeous. I claimed the beads from his stash. Looking forward to using these up.

And here they are, swaying in the breeze.


thanks for looking!
Amanda

treasures at madrinha's

We got to visit Dh's godmother this weekend. There is always something to be learned, good food to be et, and hand crafted treasures to be looked at.
Here is a typical Portuguese style embroidered bag. it is just so bright, consistent and beautiful.

notice the inside of the heart? You achieve that effect by separating the threads in the weave of the linen and sewing them in this pattern. You don't cut any threads, as it would compromise the fabric. Instead, you pull them to create the holes. Incredible. I'm still in awe of it.

And here is a little hanging that was on the wall. I love the details from the direction of the threads to get the creases in the clothes to the french knots in the boy's top to add texture. I could look at this all day.

you can click on the pictures for a larger, somewhat blurrier view.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you've had enough Turkey! I had 2 lots and looking forward to my hot turkey sandwich with gravy and fries tonight!


Gobble, gobble,
Amanda

Teapot Bunting

This was whipped up for a little party decoration. It was a tea party, hence, the teapot.

I searched for a teapot on Google image and pasted it into InDesign. There may be other ways to enlarge it, but this was the easiest I could think of. Can't waste precious time trying to figure such things out when there is sewing to be done! The original teapot was more wide than tall, so I rotated it to be on the paper sideways and stretched it out. Just right for a triangle bunting.

Instead of cutting the triangles with my straight edged rotary cutter, I used a scalloped edge blade. Softens it up a bit.

The doilies came from Ikea. I knew I would find a use for them.


It was a warm, sunny day. 25 degrees Celsius. A gift really. It was enjoyed.

Cheers,
Amanda

He did it!

He did it! he did it! He got his 100 kilometer ribbon! He ran over 100K in the past month, just 4 days a week. he is so proud. I'm so proud. we are all so proud! But he's not willing to stop. There are 2 more running days and then he will be going to the area cross country meet. See, he got 15th place in the last area run..

there are only 7 kids from the school attending the next level. yep, so proud.
And check out his new hair!

I did finish up something yesterday. Just have to take pics. I've been cleaning my crap, I mean craft room. Long overdue. Maybe I'll be productive after it's done.
ciao,
Amanda