A tale of two loaves

I've been on a cinnamon bread kick lately. I've been working with this super amazingly tasty recipe from Money Saving Mom.

I've got this idea in my head that I want to make a super awesome cinnamon swirl bread that I can use to make french toast with.

So far, while I have made some serioiusly tasty bread, I haven't quite gotten to french toast bread yet.

Stuff I'm Loving this Week

This Genius DIY zebra rug from Vintage Revivals

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I want to make a table runner in the same style as this pebble mat from After I Finish This Row

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The idea behind these DIY floor candle sticks is genius (and a huge money saver) from Impatiently Praying for Patience

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This awesome springy wreath from Never Boring

Recipe Review: Mango Sticky Rice

A few weeks ago, a crafter I follow on twitter, Reese Dixon (whose name is actually Tresa), tweeted about this Mango Sticky Rice recipe that she absolutely adores.  Normally I am not a coconut mango sticky rice kind of gal (for starters, I'm not a huge coconut fan) but I had a thai food night coming up with hubster so decided to try it.  At the very least, I know that hubster likes coconut.

It was A. Mazing.

I didn't make the sauce to pour on top because I felt the rice was already a bit on the saucy side after pouring the coconut milk mixture over the top.

This rice, though, is the stuff. The recipe is super easy to make and it can kind of do it its thing in the background while you work on the rest of dinner.

Check out the recipe on the Reese Dixon blog  here.

Pardon my Dust

I'm undergoing a bit of a renovation over here. I'm trying to tidy up and make my blog a more user friendly resource.

People who are not new to my blog will notice I have a new template now. I also have some tabbed pages up at the top that are new...About me, my Knitting Patterns and my Recipes.  These are still a smidge clunky. For now you can see all my knitting patterns on Ravelry (the page linked to above is also a work in progress).  I need to figure out a useful way to categorize my recipes, too.  For now the link will go to my Bake Space recipes page. You might also notice shiny new features like a search box, RSS feed link and Twitter link.

V-Day Cards

I am so not a Valentine's Day card person. I see all these advertisements for personalized valentines cards online and I yawn and think judgmental thoughts about commercialism and how companies just try to suck you in and steal your money.

Until I saw this blog post, which featured this family's V-day cards (which I thought were the most clever, adorable idea ever) and I knew I needed to make some with our kiddo wearing a fake mustachio (it also doesn't hurt that Shutterfly sent out an e-mail special today for 50 free prints if you just pay shipping...plus you get cashback if you head there via ebates).

So I cut out a mustache from some scrap fabric and headed outside with my muchkie. I'm pretty amused by some of these pictures:

Oven Mitt Cuteness

I know I said in my last blog post that I almost made this really awesome double oven mitt from Smashed Peas and Carrots. But then I did:

The only thing I did differently was that I added a layer of insulbrite between the 2 top mitt layers of fabric.

As usual (this is becoming a trend), it took a few hours longer than originally anticipated to make. BUT it was also the first time I used bias tape properly (when I made this project I had no idea what I was doing and just kind of folded it over the edge and tried to hold it all together and sew it down all at once.

I'm happy with it. I think it turned out super cute. I ended up giving it away as a birthday present but I think I need to make another one for me.

Dollar Store Christmas: More Awesome Ideas

I had so many other ideas for cool stuff for Dollar Store Christmas that I didn't get a chance to make yet. check out these awesome crafts:

    

Dollar Store Christmas: Birdhouse

Frugal Gift 4: Birdhouse

Dollar Store Christmas: Manly Chapstick

Frugal Gift 3: "Manly" Chapstick

For the husband of Ms. Footwarmer: "Manly chapstick." This guy loves nice chapstick. And who can blame him? Especially when you are about to be deployed to a desert? Sadly, most nice chapsticks are kind of girly looking. What's a soldier to do? Use respectable looking second class chapstick? Use nice but foofy looking "lip butter" and listen to the taunts of your peers? Neither! Just get a crafty friend to man up some nice chapsticks using duct tape (seriously, what's more manly than duct tape?).