Another Maddy Dress

Remember this dress? I couldn't resist making another one for each of my girls.

Cinnamon Caramel Corn with Pecans & White Chocolate

In the mood for a yummy fall snack? Try this cinnamon caramel corn with pecans and white chocolate. This is soooo good. I'm not usually a crunchy caramel corn fan, I prefer the ooey-gooey kind, but this stuff is delicious! Trust me! Recipe can be found here. Try it...you won't regret it!

Family Clock

I love my new clock that I made today at Super Saturday! It's surprisingly simple. To make this fabulous clock, get a circular piece of wood with a hole in the center for the clock parts to go through, and a notch cut out in the back for the clock battery pack to go in. Paint your base coat with a satin finish. I did a dark brown color. Allow to dry to the touch. Next paint a coat of weathered crackle glaze. Again allow to dry to the touch. Paint your top coat with a flat finish. I chose a cream color. Roman numerals and words are black vinyl. After the clock is completely dry, you can apply the vinyl. I set another clock in the center of my clock so I knew where to place the numbers. I'm not quite sure where we got our clock parts set, but I'm pretty sure you can get them at Robert's or Michael's. Anyway, after the vinyl is on, set up the clock (ours had a diagram to give you the how-to) and voila, you have a super cute clock!

Sugar Cookies

Last night was cooking club. Every month we pick a different theme and get together to swap recipes, sample, and chat. This month was cookies and I was a big loser and forgot my recipe, so I'm just going to post it here instead. I made sugar cookies and in honor of this fabulous time of year, I did footballs. Don't look closely, I know my lines aren't straight, and my frosting job isn't up to par. Oh well. They still taste great!

I'm somewhat of a jock. I teach weight and spin classes at a local gym, am really big into triathlons, and will be running my first half marathon in about 7 weeks. This whole crafty, creative world is new to me. I enjoy the usual greats..March Madness, NBA Finals, World Series, Tennis Grand Slams, and Golf Majors, but my true passion is football. Have I ever mentioned beore how much I LOVE football? Seriously! I hear the Fox NFL Football song and get chills. I love college football as well, but there is nothing quite like the NFL for me. I've been to 3 NFL games in my life, and they were each some of the best days of my life. Kick-off week was this past week and for the next 5 months, my hubby and I are in sports heaven.

So that was probably WAY more than you wanted to know. Here's the recipe:

Sugar Cookies

1 cube butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. almond extract
½ tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Add soda, powder, salt, and flour. Roll and cut into shapes. Bake at 350° 7-10 minutes.

Frosting
1 cup shortening
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
4 ½ cups powdered sugar
3-4 T. milk

Beat shortening, vanilla, and extract with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Slowly add half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Add 2 T. of the milk. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar and enough remaining milk to reach spreading consistency.

Note: To make the brown frosting as pictured above, I added 2 T. of unsweetened cocoa and a little bit more milk.

Shirt Dress

I saw this tutorial a couple of months ago, and immediately thought, "I want to do that for my little girl for her first day of school." So I did! Today she started preschool. Isn't she so cute? Great idea to turn a button shirt into a dress. I let my daughter pick out the fabric. She loves it! I think my favorite part is the appliqued flower with the rhinestone button.

Phoebe Bag

Check out my new purse! I LOVE it!!! It's called the Phoebe Bag by Artsy Crafty Babe. You can get the free pattern here. Fabric is from the Lotus line by Amy Butler. I love the big flowers. Even for a beginner, you could get this done in an afternoon. I did it today during my kids' naps. For those in my neighborhood, or interested in joining...this is going to be our sewing project on September 9th!