Craft Room Clock

As you may know, I gave my youngest daughter the boot out of her room and moved her in with her bigger sister so I could convert her room to my craft room...selfish? I think not. Their room is actually huge and they LOVE sharing. Anywho- I'm still in the process of taking pictures of the finished result (actually- the room is currently in shambles from about 30 projects I've been working on so I'm embarrassed to take pics...) but I did want to share a cute clock that I made for the room. I originally had a wooden square clock that I dismantled and was going to mod podge some scrapbook paper to the back and reassemble it and hang that- a nice simple re-use project, right? WRONG- as soon as I took the back off, all the clock dials started coming undone- it was a mess. SO I moved onto plan B. With the help of my trusty craft buddy, Kaitlin, we set off to create a plate clock. I had seen several of these at the bakery Amelie's in Charlotte, NC and I loved them. They looked easy enough so off I went to get the necessary materials. I needed a plate (duh) $3 from Homegoods, a clock kit $6 from Hobby Lobby (plus 40% off), scrapbook numbers $2 from Hobby Lobby, a dremel drill, and drill bits meant for porcelain or glass $12 for 4 sizes at Lowe's. We submerged the plate under water (in my handy dandy lasagna pan) and started drilling. Slow at first then faster when I became inpatient but eventually we had a hole big enough for the clock kit. The rest of the assembly was easy then I added my sticker numbers and voila! A plate clock! Here are some pics...

It's a....

BOY! Yipee!
We went for our ultrasound yesterday and found out we're adding a boy to our crew! The little ladies are really excited! Some of the names they suggested: Samuel (nice), Justin (my brother's name), Ashton (Olivia's new BFF in kindergarten), or Lilly (that was my 3 year old's idea...) While all the above are nice, I don't know if we'll be going that route. Now that we know, hubby and I can start discussing nursery and name ideas- yay!! Right now the nursery is our guest room. Over the next 5 months, it'll be changed into a sweet nursery for our little man. Where will the guests go you ask? (ok- so maybe you're not asking, but our guests- mainly my mom- are...) They will go up on our 3rd floor...which was supposed to be the man cave but then turned into an extra playroom and will eventually become a guest/media room. It's scary up there...toys and craft paraphernalia are strewn about. It was the landing zone for the kids when I had a mom's small group at our house and the babysitters would take them up there. I had BIG plans to clean it out up there when my mom was here in July for 3 weeks (sniff- miss you mama!) but I got too busy crafting, and playing, and reading, and going out on date nights with the hubs (free babysitters RULE! sniff- miss you mama!!) So there it sits- in all it's destructive glory...I'm waiting for the nesting urge to kick in- then I'll really whip this place in shape- until then- I'm going to take a nap...

:o) Katie

Lemon Blueberry Trifle

My friend made this for our small group a few weeks ago and my taste buds danced- never mind the fact I'm currently a little nuts-o about blueberries. There's a guy at our local farmers market that has the BEST blueberries- oh my- I've probably spent over $100 this season on blueberries alone. We froze 10 pints of them so I can make blueberry pie this Thanksgiving along with blueberry pancakes and blueberry scones all Fall and Winter long. It's my nod to Little House and the Prairie (I love that book!) Anyway- I digress (I do that often...) I begged and pleaded on my knees for the recipe (actually, I emailed her and she emailed me back...in like 15 minutes- what a gal!) It is SO good- I made it the other night for my mom's last night visiting here (she had been here for 3 weeks- oh how I miss her!) Check it out, then do yourself a favor and make it...and try to not eat it all in one sitting...with the bowl between your legs and a spoon in your hand watching Cake Boss (not that I speak from experience...)

Ingredients:

* 1 frozen prepared pound cake (16 oz)

* 1 lemon

* 1 1/2 cups milk

* 1 (8oz) container sour cream

* 1 container cool whip

* 2 packages (3.4 oz each) lemon instant pudding

* 1 pint blueberries

* 1 square (1 oz) white chocolate for baking (I used 1 oz white chocolate chips and food processed the heck out of them)

Cut pound cake into 1 inch cubes. Zest one lemon and set aside. Juice the lemon and sprinkle lemon juice over pound cake and toss gently. Combine milk, sour cream, half of the cool whip, and reserved lemon zest, whisk until smooth. Add pudding mix, whisk until begins to thicken.

Set aside 10 blueberries for garnish. To assemble place 1/3 of the cake on the bottom, top with 1/3 blueberries, grate 1/4 of chocolate over, and top with 1/3 of the pudding mix. Repeat layers 2 more times. Use remaining cool whip to make rosettes or dollops on top- place a blueberry on each dollop and sprinkle remaining chocolate on top.

**side note- I used all of the cool whip in the mixture- whoops!- but it still tasted heavenly.**

:) Katie

So much to share!

Good grief! Has it been long enough? I go into summer every year dreaming about carefree days where much will get accomplished and all will be happy and tanned by the end of it and about halfway through I wake up. We are one busy crew here! Especially add to it the fact that I'm now 15 weeks pregnant (yipee!) and exhaustion pretty much made the first half of the summer nothing but a hot, sunshiney blur. It's been like 900 degrees here for about the last 2 months- I believe we skipped right over spring and got into the dead of summer within a matter of days and here we stand. So- not only do I have 2 beasties to chase after, but I'm 15 weeks pregnant, trying desperately to NOT gain 60 lbs with this one (it's ugly...really, really ugly), and possibly living on the surface of the sun- whew! BUT, I'm back (for now) and boy do I have a lot to share...we have the craft room set up (it's not quite done yet- but almost!) and I LOVE IT!! The color is perfect, the crown Derek and Nate put up is perfect, the furniture is perfect (I'll tell you about my cutting table another time) and it's a great spot to go and create. Never mind the fact I have about 30 unfinished projects or things I'd like to do (which I should probably do in the next 5 months- I somewhat recall newborns being kind of a time-suck...that's all a blur too...) Anywho- I'm back and ready to post! Maybe when school starts it'll be better?? Maybe not...

:) Katie