THE GREAT STATE FAIR OF TEXAS 2012

It's come and gone for another year ..... how I love our annual visit to the fair !!! My hubby hates the crowds so never comes with us. We normally grab some friends, and make a day of it. There's just something about the smell, and the atmosphere, that makes it a special place. It's the only time I ever eat a corndog ....... A Fleishman's Corny Dog, with lashings of mustard and ketchup ....... Oh so yummy !!!!

I entered some goodies into the Creative Arts Division of the Fair this year - I was very chuffed with the results:-) Let me share with you .....

 First up, the apron I entered ...... I won 1st Place.

 Next up, the little girls dress (actually, it's going to double as my nieces Christmas gift .... just need to make the matching bag) ..... I won 3rd Place.

 I also entered a knitted monster, into the knitted toy from a pattern category ..... I won 2nd Place.

I entered 4 jams/jelly's into the food section this year. The peach and plum jam didn't place, but my mango jam and mint jelly both won an Honorable Mention.
It's so much fun seeing your items on display among all of the lovely items ............... there really are many, many talented people around !!!

So, who is this chap you may ask ...... Well, he is Big Tex. He has welcomed fair goers to the fair for the past 60 years. He is HUGE !!! I took this photo when I was there last Wednesday, and I'm glad I did, because on Friday, he burned down !!! An electrical fault inside him caused it. It was quite sad really - the icon he was. However, he will be back next year .............. looking a whole lot younger I'd imagine, as they will be rebuilding him before The Great State Fair Of Texas, opens it's gates once again for the 2013 Fair.

ZOMBIES AND WITCHES .....

In my last post, I mentioned two swaps that I recently took part in. Well the packages have been received, so I can share with you what I made.

The one swap, was hosted by my lovely blogging friend Val - it was a Storybook Zombie Doll Swap. The title itself, just makes the creative wheels in my mind turn !!!! The task at hand - to create a zombie doll, that incorporated a storybook element from one of the stories our partners listed as their favorites. The doll had to be at least 8" big, and had to be handmade (not altered). It was not a secret swap, we got to communicate with our partners through email. I was partnered with Aniko from Finland - what a lovely lady, and someone I'm sure I would be friends with if we lived closer. One of her story choices was Snow White - what's not to love:-)

Her head I made using a styrofoam ball, that I covered in paper clay, and added a "neck peg" to. Once it was dry I modge podged tissue paper over it, to give her skin a wrinkled appearance. I then gave it a few coats of grey/white paint. Her body was sewed using calico (you'll have to believe me - it's not polite to take pictures up ladies dresses, even if they are zombies!!!). Her arms and legs are knitted - it was the method I could best achieve the look I was after. Aniko likes all things recycled - especially felted sweaters. Just last winter, I scoured the thrift shops, and felted a few sweaters ...... I used some of this felted wool to make Snow White's (aka Zombelina) dress. I gave her a black lace overlay - just because it looks spooky. Her necklace is made up of some chain and charms I found ..... a mini Snow White book charm, a mirror and an apple. When I found the red apple with a bite out of it charm, I had to put it in her hand. She has a few spiders on her too ..... It is Halloween after all !!!! I loved making her, and she was hard to part with, but the zombie doll I got in return from Aniko, is quite spectacular - once I download the photo's I'll show you all.

The next swap was hosted by Vivian  - A Witches Hat Swap. For this one, we had to create a witches hat ... we could choose to use whatever materials we liked. I chose to sew mine. I used a Halloween costume pattern - now let me just say, to find a pattern for a witches hat was a challenge, it seems most people just go and buy a ready made one. I did find one though, so it saved me having to draft my own.
My partner for this swap was the very sweet Yvonne ...... swap friends are really lovely people.

Again, this was really fun to make. I used a regular, sturdy black cotton for the entire hat, but gave the pointy part (I don't know the technical term for it), a lace overlay. I found the orange, shiny stuff at Joann's. It was similar to lame. I pleated it, and sewed it round the base of the hat. A length of Halloween ribbon finished that off. I found the big, blingy spider in the clearance basket at Michaels - it was perfect. I embroidered the spiderweb and silk onto the hat, and added some baby rhinestones. Because this will be used for decoration, I went ahead and covered a 12" round wooden disc with the black fabric. After stuffing the hat with Polyfil, I glued the wooden base to the bottom of the hat - this made sure that it was sturdy, and sat flat. The hat I received from Yvonne is gorgeous, and will be shared with you as soon as the photo's are downloaded. It has pride of place in my entrance hall.

If you've never taken part in a swap, I can highly recommend them. It is a great way to make friends, with like minded crafty ladies, and, as a bonus, you receive a lovely package in the mail full of treasures and surprises ..... what could be more fun than that !!!

HELLO HALLOWEEN ...

The end of September is almost upon us ...... Wow where has this year gone!!!!
I do love this time of the year though - the oppressive Texas heat is a thing of the past (well at least it should be ..... 94 Deg today!!!), and I can start concentrating on preparing our home for the many hours that will be spent tucked up indoors, as Fall arrives and then gives way to Winter.
Halloween marks the beginning of all of this for us ..... a holiday still relatively new to our family, but one we really enjoy, just because it's FUN !!!!

It wouldn't be complete without some Halloween crafting ..... just a few little odds and ends. Both my Halloween Swap Packages are on their way (Zombie Doll all the way to Finland ...... how exciting is that. And my Witches hat, a little nearer to home). I'll be able to share their contents just as soon as their recipients get them. But in the meantime I've got some bits and bobs to share with you .....

If you've visited my blog before, you'll know that I love pincushions, in any shape and size. Everyone should have a pincushion for every holiday !!! Here is a Halloween one. They're quick and easy to make, and a great scrapbusting project. The Jack O Lantern started life as a place card holder. I whipped out the metal "thinggie" and there he was. I decided to have some sculpey fun too. The result these little pins to keep "Jack" company. They were really easy to make, and I forsee a host of different characters in the future.

Next up, a Halloween dishtowel. Another quick and easy project.

I keep a stock of plain dishtowels on hand all the time - you just never know when you may need a quick gift. I gathered a length of Halloween fabric and stitched it to the bottom of the dishtowel. I finished it off with a length of ric rac.

At our front door, Trick 'n Treater's get to choose from homemade items - some crafty, some edible, it all just depends what takes their fancy. What better way to get into the Halloween spirit, than by popping on a Halloween apron. I love this Simplicity pattern (the number escapes me right now), but it could well be my new "go to" apron pattern. REALLY quick and easy, but I love the little flounce in the skirt ...... very girly!!!

So we've cooked and baked up a storm ......... yikes, there's dishes to be done!!!! Fear not, for I have a fun solution for that too ....

Some hand knitted, 100% cotton dishcloths. I will have to go back and search for these again, so that I can give you the blog of the lady who designed them, and offers the patterns for free. Quick and fun to knit up. I prefer using these over those disposable cloths you can buy - and so much more eco friendly. A great gift idea too. I used Sugar n Cream yarn to make these (the big balls), and I could get another dishcloth of this size out of what I have left over in each color. Think of the lovely Christmas sets you could knit up and give as hostess gifts ...... Hmmm, time to stock up on those Christmas colors I think:-)

So there you have it friends ..... a few little Halloween crafting ideas.
Until next time ...... Keep Crafting.

LET'S TALK FRENCH TOAST ....

Pecan Praline French Toast to be precise ............... a truly Southern breakfast dish I've been told.

Super easy to make .... laden with calories ...... and just simply delicious !!!!
So would you like to know how I made this ...... well here we go.

1 (16oz) French bread loaf
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3/4 cup chopped pecans
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup 2% reduced fat milk (OK, so there's something about that "reduced fat" that makes me chuckle)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cut 10 (1 inch thick) slices of bread.
Stir together brown sugar and next 2 ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients. Arrange bread slices over pecans.
Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and chill for 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 Deg F. Bake bread for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

I took this to a get together with some friends a little while ago - not a crumb was left !!!

I've also been busy with some crafty stuff too - mainly for 2 Halloween Swaps I'm taking part in. One is a Zombie Doll Swap, and the other a Witches Hat Swap. I have almost finished up both, and will post pictures once my partners have received their packages ....... Don't want to go spoiling their surprises now do we :-)

The smell of Fall is in the air (can you hear my chuckles of delight !!!!) ...... that means scarves and shawls will be needed in the not to distant future. I've never knitted a shawl before, I've always found them a little intimidating. However I found Stephen West's pattern for The Boneyard Shawl and decided to give it a go. I am so glad I did ..... it's simple to make and I love it.

I've had to stop for the moment though - my circular needle wasn't long enough. The longer one I've ordered should be in the mail and arriving soon ........... Oh, I can't wait to carry on with this beauty !!!!

I'm really glad I've been able to post ...... I'm having to take my memory card to Walgreens, and I'm having the pictures downloaded onto a CD. I then bring my CD home and get the pictures onto hubby's computer that way ...... a bit of a round about way to do it, but hey, it works for me:-)

Until next time ..... Happy Crafting !!!

I'M STILL HERE .....

Hello..... Hello

I thought I'd just pop in to say that I'm still around. We're having a number of technical disasters at the moment. My computer has died ..... finished, broken, can't be fixed!!!! It's not possible for us to replace it, so I pop onto hubby's when I can ...... in the little time slots that exist between the demands made on the poor thing by Middle Schoolers, who need to print off reams of homework daily.
Perhaps my biggest disaster though, is our inability to download photo's from my camera onto the computer. My mom kindly left me her old camera when she visited in June, so that I had one after my camera packed up ...... despite hours of trying numerous different things, we can't get the pictures to download onto the computer ............. and it's frustrating me SOOOOO much, because I have tons to share with y'all!!!!
We'll continue to search out downloading solutions, or wait for a great camera deal to present itself.

I'm still visiting all of your blogs regularly, and hope that I can be back to my spot in Blogville soon ......... I miss it so much!!!!

Have a lovely day:-)

FABRIC RIBBON ....

While browsing the pages of Etsy the other day, I came across a picture - it made my heart do a little flip flop !!! It was a picture of spools of ribbon. Not just any ordinary ribbon, but handmade, hand dyed, hand stamped fabric ribbon - I HAD to give it a try !!!!
I'm going to share with you, how I made mine. It is not my original idea, just how I went about creating my own little spools of happiness.

- I dug some 100% cotton calico out of my stash - I had about a yard of it. I gathered 4 bottles of Ritz Liquid Dyes - I went for Halloween themed colors (orange, blue, green and red), but the world is your oyster when it comes to colors, and set about dying my fabric ............ follow the instructions on the back of the Ritz bottle.
- I then cut the fabric into 11/2 " wide strips of fabric - they were as wide as the fabric was - 44" in my case.

- I then sewed a seam all the way down the length of the ribbon. I wanted the edges to look frayed.

- I had a few little Halloween stamps that I wanted to use on my ribbon. I used StazOn Ink to stamp the images onto the fabric - black in this case.

- I stamped the image along the length of my ribbon - no exact measuring, I just eyeballed it !!!!
- Once the ink was dry ( it dries very quickly), I ironed the lengths of ribbon - it seems to heat set the ink.

Now those of you who have read my blog for a while now, know how important packaging is to me. I chose wooden spools (the ones you buy at the craft store).

- I didn't like how shiny and new they looked, so I stained them with wood stain. A word of advice here .... make sure you're spools are completely dry, before winding your ribbon onto them. I even rubbed mine down with a clean rag, once they were dry.

- Another packaging suggestion ...... large, sturdy, decorated tags. Just wind the ribbon around them.

 - The spools needed a bit of jazzing up, so I cut circles from cardstock, and glued a brad (prongs removed) onto the top of them.

 Time to wind the ribbon onto the spools ... easily done !!! I used little gold safety pins to keep the ribbon nice and neatly in place.

I see this ribbon being used in so many different ways ......
- Halloween Scrapbook Pages
- Halloween Cards
- Sewn into Halloween costumes
- As ribbon around gifts

The themes you can make are endless .....Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Summer, Spring ......... and so the list goes on.
This was a fun project to do, and I'd encourage eveyone to give it a try - you won't be disappointed!!!!

A TASTE OF HOME ...

There's nothing like heading to the kitchen and creating something "traditional" to ease that homesick feeling when it creeps in !!!!
That's precisely what I did this morning ........ I made a great traditional South African treat - Koeksisters !!!!
They're fiddly and quite time consuming to make, but oh so worth it. The process started yesterday, when I made the syrup needed for dipping them - it needs to be ice cold when you dip the cooked dough into it. That's why you make it 24 hours ahead of time.
So let me walk you through the steps .....
Syrup is made ..... so is the dough ....

Next the dough is rolled out, and rectangles are cut from it. The rectangles then have 3 legs cut into them, and are gently and loosly plaited, to form the little plaited things you see above. 

Into the hot (and I mean very hot) oil they go. They only spend about a minute in there before they're removed and ....

Drained on paper towel.

Next they head over to the syrup pot .......

Where they spend some time soaking up all of that lemony, gingery, sweet syrup ....... yum, yum, yum !!!

Once that's all done, this is what you have .... a plate of delicious, crispy, sweet/tart yumminess .....
Oh I can't wait to sit back and enjoy one, while I think of Africa ..... the place that holds my heart.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.