Indulge a little...

Does your mouth begin to salivate every time those cheesy threads stretch between a piece of pizza and the rest of the pie.....on the tv commerical? What about the pictures on the direct mail "coupons"? Yeah, mine does too.

Ever since I've been married it seems the one (well one of the many) calorie weaknesses I have is pizza. Every time I open the mail box it seems there's another pizzeria in town, and my desire to cook the healthy meal I planned 2 weeks ago is gone. (I'm exaggerating how far out I plan the meals by a long shot)

Well, I have found the recipe that will change your life! (and your waist size, sorry!)

**Warning, this is NOT low calorie, or healthy in any sense of the word. It will however save you about $15 for every $20 you would spend at a neighborhood pizzeria!**

Now we've made pizza a lot, but I just couldn't seem to get the crust right. It was always decent, but never the kind of crust you'd hear people say "oh my gosh, this crust is amazing!" I'm a bread lover, so this is important to me. 

Here it is. I can't take credit for it. Someone else is the mastermind behind the deliciousness!!

Here is the Crust recipe (the tips help a lot!).

And here's what I added on top:

added my own tomato sauce

6 cheese Italian blend (grated)

Mozzerella (grated)

Asiago (grated)

Chedder (grated)

Pepperoni

Sausage

Green Peppers

Absolutely mouth watering, stomach stuffing, AMAZING, bread-y, cheesy goodness! (These photos have not been enchanced in any way)

Also, we made these scrumptios pumpkin waffles (from a mix made by the fresh market) for dessert!

We added butterscotch and white chocolate morsels, caramel syrup, and powdered sugar!

Okay, tomorrow we'll go back to making calorie counting taste good! But o was this break worth it!

New Items on Etsy!

I posted a few new items to my shop this morning, here's a sneak peak!

 

Two-sided Crocheted Infinity Scarf

{click to see in the shop}

3 Color T-shirt Necklace

(Teal, Plum, & Rust)

{click to see in the shop}

Mint Green T-shirt necklace

{click to see in the shop}

Georgia Tech (White & Gold) T-Shirt Necklace

{click to see in the shop}

Beaded necklace/earring set

{click to see in the shop}

Mint green set

Mint Green braided t-shirt necklace

{click to see in the shop}

Working a Latte

Lately I've been slacking.

I realized the other day, when we had my husband's grandparents over for dinner, that on a normal day, I can accomplish a basic clean of our home in 3 hours. (That's putting stuff away, sweeping, dusting, vaccuuming, cleaning counters after cooking, doing a couple loads of dishes, making up our bedroom for people to see, cleaning toilets, wiping down the tub/shower, cleaning the bathroom counters and mirrors and a couple loads of laundry). 

So why then, on a normal day, does it take me 8 hrs.? Because at the very core of it, I procrastinate. I take breaks. Nothing is rushed, because I have all day. 

Life at home didn't start this way. It really did use to take me 8 hours to do all of that, and cook dinner. But now, by the power of God, I've seen real progress! Which is great! But I don't think God would have me grow in this area just to sit around once I'm done with that part of my job.

So after talking to my husband, we decided I should put 3 hours a day towards my Etsy shop goals. This shop is something I started just for fun, and we aren't using it for income, but I have a long term goal of growing it as well. 

Creating this shop will, hopefully, help me learn to be proud of my work, and not shy away from saying "yes, I DID make that" when people ask. I started this blog as a part of this long term goal. It helps me think about marketing my shop, and myself. It helps me stand up for the lifestyle I believe in as well.

So today began my first day! :)

(I made myself a caramel macchiato -- ya know just to get the creative juices flowing)

Caramel Macchiato:

10 oz. of your fav. coffee, brewed
4 oz. of your fav. milk, steamed
A dash of caramel creamer (in the milk before steaming)
Caramel sauce to taste

Steamed Milk:
I don't know if this is the correct way to do this, but it seems to get the job done taste/texture wise.

• Put milk in a saucepan on high heat. 
• Whisk until a nice thick foam forms on top.
• Pour milk into coffee (will be liquid not foam)
• Spoon the foam off the top of leftover milk (in pan) to on top of the coffee. 

I did the cleaning before 11am today, so then by the time my "3 hrs." of design work were up, I felt like continuing! So I probably spent 6 hrs. working on stuff today.

I gave my online shop a makeover, and made business cards:

Then my dear friend, who is newly-engaged, called about ideas for wedding crafts, so I spent the rest of the time grabbing inspiration for that, and then of course writing this blog post.

Today feels way more productive than my recent days. I didn't watch any TV at all! :)


Praise GOD!

DIY Farmhouse Vase...

This is a cute vase you can make very easily from left over beer/glass soda bottles and yarn. They would make really awesome (& cheap) centerpieces at a wedding or shower! The wildflowers help it look even better! (c/o my mother-in-law).

I used rolled-up tissue paper as a spacer to keep the bottles the same distance from each other. This is only needed if you're going to wrap multiple bottles together, and you may be able to get away without any kind of spacer, it just helped me.

Start with the bottles sitting on a table in the configuration you want them to be in. 

Tightly twist the tissue paper until it is a dense shape that will fit the space between the bottles. You may want to use scotch tape to hold the tissue together.

Make a loop around one bottle with the yarn, and make a knot to hold it in place.

Begin wrapping the yarn around each bottle in a way that creates a triangle around the tissue in the middle (this creates the cool weave-like pattern on the sides of each bottle.)

If you want, you can do the same to the neck of the bottle.

I apologize for the short, non-detailed instructions! I hurt my thumb this week, so typing has been a little troublesome, but if you want more detailed instructions, leave a comment below, and I'll put them up once my thumb is better.

Tis the season...

...for weddings!

With wedding season right around the corner, I've had the opportunity to design a few "Save the Date" postcards.

The people I've worked with all loved this one design, and the guests that have received them rave about how good they look!

Check it out for yourself! I've listed some below here:

(Personal information, of course, has been changed)