Pumpkin Cake

Remember those pumpkins that I cooked at the beginning of the month? Well I have made 2 pumpkin pies, 2 pumpkin cheesecakes, one pumpkin pecan pie, and 1 batch of pumpkin cake and I have used almost half the pumpkin. That is just how much pumpkin puree you can get from a few pumpkins. I did learn one interesting thing: when you use pumpkin puree you have made yourself you need to strain some of the water out, because there was a lot, and some of my things took a little bit longer to cook then with canned pumpkin.

Today I am showcasing the ever so simple pumpkin cake. I stumbled upon this over a year ago when my mother in law was here. I think it might have been her that told me about it, I honestly don't remember. But anyway, this is the best and easiest way to cook a cake. It comes out so moist and delicious!

Ingredients:
one cake mix - spice cake is really best for this, but you can use anything
2 C pumpkin

Mix together and bake according to cake instructions. I usually cook it in a bunt pan because it just looks nicer. :) Let cool and add a simple glaze frosting! Enjoy!

Tell me that is not the easiest thing ever! I made it for my husbands Thanksgiving work party and everyone loved it! It would be perfect for Christmas entertaining as well, especially when you are pressed for time!

Linking up to: Made by You Mondays, Craft-o-Manic Monday

Blog Hopping & Mint Cleaner

Jen from Tatertots & Jello and Infarrantly Creative are hosting a blog hop to win this cool machine that will clean your hard surface floors. I need one of those! So to answer one of the questions that they asked:

* Are you more of a Black Friday or Cyber Monday girl?  Tell us about your best deal or your craziest shopping story.


I am definitely a cyber Monday gal. I do not like to go out and fight my way through the store just to find out that they do not have what it is that I want. I have gone out once on Black Friday and I spent way more then I should have because I saw things that I thought my kids would like and it was a good deal. Needless to say they were very spoiled that year! I cannot recall a best deal from Black Friday or Cyber Monday, so I obviously did not buy anything great! But I do remember two best deals that I got recently, I got a charm pack of fabric for 5 dollars and a real leather coat for 15 dollars.

I am participating in Infarrantly Creative and Tatertots and Jello’s Blog Hop for a chance to win a Mint Cleaner. It is the revolutionary machine that cleans your hard floor surfaces for you.

Click here to join the blog hop and a chance to win!

The Mint Cleaner is available at the following places:

Amazon


The Mint Cleaner

HSN

Bed, Bath & Beyond

Christmas Cards

I have to admit, I used to never really send out Christmas cards. But times have changed. Now I love to send out cards. This year I did something a little different then normal. I am addicted to Photoshop, I love what it can do and so I made my family's cards with it this year. Well at least the picture part of it. I did make some handmade cards to send with the pictures. I made 3 different variations in trying to find the one that fit with us perfectly. Here they are: (the picture obviously goes in the blank square)

I sized them down to post on here, so some of them are a little bit blurry. (I am still not the greatest at these things.)  They are all 4x6 so I can go and get them printed anywhere and they will fit nicely inside the envelope.

And here is the card that I will send along with our picture. I used a new edge die cut by Tim Holtz - I love the way it turned out!

 Which digital card would you choose to add your family picture to? And which edge cut on the cards is your favorite?

Linking up to:Free for all, Motivate me Monday,

Upcycled Pillow

In our house we use throw pillows a lot - and as their name implies we use them to throw. Conan and a few of the kids love to throw these pillows at each other. Well I decided that since these pillows are hardly ever going to be used for decorative purposes, I did not want to spend a ton of money on them. So I set off to my local thrift store. I found this beauty for $1.50.

Because I have already used up my crafting budget for the month, I decided that I would use a few of the clothes that were in the pile for the thrift store to make the cover for this pillow. I cut the background from an old button down shirt that used to be Conans. I really liked this pillow here from the house of smiths and decided to try making mine like theirs:

So with that being my inspiration I took on ruffles again. I have to say it went much smoother this go around and I was done sewing the cover in under 10 minutes. I used the button part of the shirt for the back so that when you are putting it on and off the pillow form you just button and unbutton it. (I got this idea from someone else, but I cannot for the life of me remember where -sorry).

However, with just this blue it was lacking something. So I went to Thing #4's closet and pulled out a shirt that was not my favorite and a little small on him as well. I took this and made one of these flowers. I made it cutting a few squiggly circles of various sizes. Then I burned the edges to seal them - it was at this point that Thing #4 decided that he wanted that shirt back and asked me to sew it back together, that was not going to happen. I then was trying to find something to put in the middle that would complete the look but not b too fragile for throwing. When we were racking leaves I pulled out a stick and decided to cut button sizes pieces from the end. I did that and then painted them and gave them a little bit of aged look with some chalk ink. They don't quite match the blue of the pillow so I might go and change them later on, but they will do for now.

 

  And here we have the finished product - I decided that I would use a pin for the flower so that it could be removed to save it from being destroyed when the pillow is thrown.

 Linking up here: Creative Itch, Someday Crafts, Sugar and Dots, and Sew Much Ado.

Fresh Bread

I don't know about you, but nothing beats fresh bread straight out of the oven. That is the only time I really like or really eat bread - when it is still hot that it melts your butter, the outside is still a little crusty, and the inside soft and warm.

It was freezing cold this morning when I took the kids to school and so I thought that today would be a good day to make bread. I found this recipe earlier this year in a Martha Stewart magazine. Leave it up to Martha to give you a great recipe. I love this recipe because it is so simple - I have not messed up yet and I have made it so many times!

For this I use a wheat called Kamut, it gives it a great flavor, slightly sweet, and it lighter that regular wheat.

1 TBsp plus 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/4 C warm water (110 degrees)
3 TBsp  plus 2 tsp honey
4 Tbsp butter melted - I have also used olive oil here
7 C flour ( I use 4 Kamut or whole wheat and 3 white)
2 Tbsp salt

Sprinkle yeast over 1/2 C water. Add 2 tsp honey. Whisk until yeast dissolves. Let stad until foamy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with dough hook attachment. Add butter and remaining 1 3/4 C water and 3 TBsp honey. Whisk flour with salt; add 3 C to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed until smooth. Add remaining 4 C of flour, 1 at a time, mixing until dough comes away from the sides of bowl and forms a ragged, slightly sticky ball.

Knead of floured surface until smooth and elastic, but still slightly tacky. Shape into ball. Transfer to buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let dough stand in warm place until it doubles in volume - about 1 hour. Butter 2 loaf pans. Punch dough down and divide in half. (I use these little loaf pans because then when my kids want a snack they can just go and get a whole loaf and they do not have to cut the bread and end up with 1/2 inch top and 2 inch bottom slice.)

Shape 1 dough half into a long rectangle. Fold along sides of dough into middle, overlapping slightly. Transfer dough to pan, repeat with other half. Brush each loaf with butter or dust with flour for a rustic look. Preheat over to 450 degrees. Cover loaves with plastic and let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above tops of pans - 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake, rotating pans after 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, let cool slightly. turn out loaves. Let cool before slicing - I have yet to be able to do this step with any bread!

These also make great rolls for Thanksgiving. Maybe next week I will have some Thanksgiving recipes to share. You could use them for Christmas. ;)

Corn Husk Wreath

I saw this wreath over at How Does She? and I fell in love with it. It was that perfectly rustic look without being too much. It was super easy to make. I agree with the gal who made it, using pins was much more forgiving then hot glue, and less messy. (I always tend to get little stringy things all over everything when I hot glue). However, my finger was a little bit tender after all was said and done. This wreath turned out to be very full, I have it hanging on the inside of my door because it will not fit in between my door and my screen and I do not want it just on the screen.

This is just a super easy and cheap way to add a little bit of fall to your home - before winter hits! :)

Linking up to: House of Hepworths, Shabby Chic,craft-o-manic, and

Christmas Tree Skirt

 About 10 years ago I decided that I would make a christmas tree skirt for me and Conan's tree. This was before we had any kids. I was extremely cheap (seeing as we both were in school) and so I used some linen fabric that I got from my mother in law. It worked great. Later that year I was reading a Family Fun magazine in the dr.s office and saw this cute idea of putting your kids hand prints on the christmas tree skirt every year. I was so excited because usually I see these great ideas and my kids are too old or it would not work. I gave birth to Thing #1 later that year and guess what I did at Christmas? Yep, we put his handprint on the christmas tree skirt. And we have been doing this for nine years now, and the kids love it and look forward to it every year. They love to put their hands on past years and see how much they have grown. And in 20 years when all my kids are grown it will be something that I have to remember them when they were little.

But the reason I am posting now, when I made it 10 years ago, is because over at Ucreate for her monthly create with me she is doing a ruffled christmas tree skirt. I had been wanted to add an edge of some sort to my skirt and this was perfect. So I took my coupon to JoAnn's and found some fabric that matched the colors of paint that I had used for the kids handprints and made my ruffle.

Now, I am not that good at ruffles. I used to sew frilly little girl dresses for a living and they had a ruffler machine that did it for you. What I would give to have that for this project, it would have cut the time down dramatically. But I learned a few things and I think that 'if' I do ruffles again it will go much smoother. I am contemplating tea dying the actual skirt part so that it matches the cream of the ruffle, but Conan says to just leave it and it 5 years it will be that color anyway from the kids touching it and playing with it each year.


Linking up to:
Somedaycrafts - whatevergoes Wednesday