I got my Xmas Planning figured out!

It is definitely better to have things written down before you start making your needed projects. I've made a promised to myself to gift exclusively handmade/homemade items this year and so far, I have all my planning done! I wrote down a list of items (with pictures and links!!!) I want/need to make and have these projects going! There are sew many simple ideas, affordable and quick, I am sure they are all will be done in no time. The countdown starts TODAY! :)

...and what about wrapping? I found a few crafty ways to wrap our handmade/homemade Christmas presents!

Here is one idea: Manilla paper and ribbon, raffia, cord or twill

with fabric!

Unwanted scrapbook paper (I have tons!!!), sewing drawstring bags to bag gifts, you can probably visit the dollar store and get dollar plastic crates and cover them with your favorite leftover fabrics!

You can also re-use those flower baskets that came with your last flower arrangement and make a gift basket for your best friend or boss - fill up with all your handmade items!

The ideas are endless!!!! if you have any more ideas that you will like to share please do so, I can't never have so many :)

Great Holiday Gift

Paper bags scrapbooking albums are always a hit during the Holiday Season! These are so quick and easy to make and the best of all, affordable! Since they don't really require a lot of materials to work with. This book was made for a Holiday gift and my friend loved every piece of it. I will be making probably two for this year's Christmas (I promise to share the pix when they are ready!)

Here is a small list of Bag Scrapbooks tutorials:
Scrapbook-Crazy.com
Scrapmatters.com
ExpertVillage.com (video)

Green Smoothie and guilt free cookies!

Like I promised my green smoothie recipe!!!! I am going to share two of my own favorite recipes, these are great for those who love sweets but can't afford to feel guilty heehee! One of the ingredients I always keep in my pantry is whole wheat flour. I make all kinds of things with it, replacing the yucky super refined bleached unhealthy flour. I make Corn Bread, Carrot Cake, Cinna-buns and so much more it's unreal... There is so many members from our family suffering from Diabetes that we have eliminated refined starches and white sugar out our lives it's been a couple of years now... btw, we use primarily organic brown sugar or evaporated sugar cane and honey to replace white sugar in bakery items or syrup in our pancakes, and WE LOVE IT! Honey has a low glycemic index.

I am going to start with the Green Smoothie:

Tropical Green Smoothie
I Cup of Almond milk (you could use rice milk or soy, find alternatives to cow's milk if you can!)
2 Bananas
2 handfulls of spinach
1/2 watermelon

Mix all ingredients in your blender:

when done, add a cup of ice and blend some more. If you want some protein in your smoothie you can add a spoon of Hemp Hearts! This stuff is like gold: They are full of essential fatty acids, protein, vitamins and amino acids. Trust me, it tastes like nothing!

And here it is... It tastes like heaven. It's so sweet you won't taste the Spinach at all if that is what you are worrying about I know you!!!!!! haha ...but you need some cookies now right?

It is a 'Kid Approved Recipe'

You are going to looooove these! They came out fluffy, chewy and d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s! :)
(C= Cup T= Teaspoon)

Honey-Oat Cookies
1 C whole wheat flour
1/4 T salt
1/4 T cinnamon
1/2 T baking powder
1/4 T baking soda
1/2 C melted light butter (I used Smart Balance made with flax oil)
1 egg
1/2 C honey
1 T brown sugar
3 T milk
1 1/2 C oats
1 T raw cacao (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients, mix well. Then mix in the honey, butter and milk together and place mixture into small portions over a cookie sheet. Bake in 325 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes.

Ta-dah! can't get healthier than that!

You can also add walnuts to the mix if you like... yum!

To make an Asian Green Smoothie, instead of the watermelon, add a Thai Young coconut (water and flesh) and voila! hmmmmmmmmmmm! Buen Provecho!

Lots of things done :)

I spent the weekend all my myself with the baby and I had a lot of things done! wow! (thinking that blogger REALLY needs to put some smiley faces in this editor) okay, there... better!

My hubby took the girls with him to spend the night at his sister's house where the grandmother is staying. She is ill so his sister needed him to watch for her. Anyways, I was able to finish another set of wipes this time they are girly themed. I am very happy with the little coordinating drawstring bag I made. Oh and can't you tell I changed my header? Well, I noticed my previous header was barely visible in some PC's, everything looks nice and sharp in my Mac but I know the majority of the people uses PC so I needed to make the appropriate change.

I started sewing all my Holidays Gifts and for sale items. I have a pretty decent list of the people I need to gift, specially the kids. I thought about crayon rolls, felt toys for sale and for gifting (made out of eco-spun felt only), Christmas theme aprons for sale, probably some fancy looking place mats with coordinating napkins for my friends and family... anyways, the list goes on. Last night I was able to finish a Christmas themed kind of a chic apron :) ...and it's REVERSIBLE!

And here are the other set of wipes w/ drawstring bag:

Soon I'll show pix of some other items I am working on: Two other Xmas aprons and a some baby items for my best friend that just had a beautiful baby boy! Happy Birthing Mari!

oh gosh I almost forgot!!!! I got a new addition:

It's from my husband's grandmother, since she no longer sew anymore this was given to her by her granddaughter (my husband's sister) but she never got to use it. Look at it, it's brand new! Still has the blue sticker thingy on! yay!!!! ...now I need a serger ;)

A bit of progress. Little by little...

First I want to say: Hi Mary thanks for stopping by! How funny but I stumbled across your blog a few days ago and was drooling over your sewing space! heehee! Too much of a coincidence?!? I love all your machines :) My next purchase will be a serger!

Today was very hard... probably the most difficult day of Motherhood! The little Robertico wasn't feeling well and was clingy all day. I was literally in tears, I really want to get my work going so I can add it to my etsy store but can't seem to get it together. How WAHMs do it? It's darn hard and very exhausting! Between my youngest daughter, housework, sicky kiddie and trying to get some work going, I feel like I am running a marathon every day. My back is killing me and I feel so tired throughout the day. Oh well, gotta love my java cups and green smoothies (recipes will be shared later)! < /vent >

Believe it or not I was able to finish a set of wipes, nothing big but at least I can list them on etsy - I seriously need some income! I also made a coordinated clutch for mama pads or even an iPod :)

Wednesday night I was able to wash and iron a ton of fabric and they are ready to work with! woohoo! I can't wait to start creating and I am planning to come up with my own patterns so it should be fun.

Some of you know I just started building up my sewing room, sooooo look what I got? :D

IT'S PINK! Well, I fell in love with the lime green one but I had my youngest daughter decide for me and she chose the pink board of course!!! lol She is such a princess :) At least I know some of the money will go towards a good cause ;)

Changing my set up

I still think I need a cutting table, in the meantime, I've re-arranged my craft/office room for the third time in a lapse of a month *rolling eyes*. Sometimes I wish I had more room, but oh well... I got my own space and that's all it matters :)

This is the view from my computer, I got the SM facing the only window:

And this is the view from my SM:

Sew Craft Blog!

Yay! I am in the second group of a community blog for crafters! I listed the group in the side bar so if you want to get crafty ideas you can go ahead and browse around... there is so much talent around here ;)