Friday!

 I really need to come up with catchier post titles. Maybe I'll have a contest someday for that.
Today I got up and bundled my kids and headed out for groceries. I am proud of myself, last night I made a menu plan to last for 14 days and a grocery list (that includes the extra items I needed to make dishes to take to Thanksgiving gatherings) and I managed to stay within my budget! This rarely happens... So of course I went to the craft store and bought stuff ha ha ha. I had a heck of a time finding sew on snaps. I picked up a "grab bag" at Michael's for only $2 and ended up with well over $60 worth of items (including a billion branches for decor, some with cranberry sprigs, a paperweight, and about 10 dry erase activity mats). I finally made my coffee filter wreath. I've had the foam wreath form for months that I picked up at Dollar Tree. Since I got some extra filters from someone I decided that there was no time like the present. I think for my first one (and considering how impatient I am when it comes to crafting) it turned out pretty cute and it's more dimensional than I really intended, also the middle needs help. I am sure I'll futz with it more soon, but for now it's time to do the dishes and get ready for our overnight house guest. My "little" brother (who is only eleven months younger so we're more like twins) is staying over to babysit in the morning for my way to early very important meeting with the deacons and their wives from another church we are in talks about merging with. I'm nervous as all get out and I have a list of questions. Thanks for hanging around long enough to read this and for visiting today!

Tuesdays Post

(This post is from Tuesday the 16th)
Today I cleaned the kids room and made cookies for the MOPS potluck tomorrow. I found this recipe online and they turned out better than perfect!! This is the best recipe I have found. I made very small cookies (because at the potluck we do small servings) so I reduced my bake time to 8 mins. I will NEVER use another base again, this one was perfect. I used a bag Heath pieces (from the baking section) instead of the nuts/raisins/choc chips because that is what I had on hand, but I want to try this with a mix of chocolate and butterscotch chips too


1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons)
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet morsels

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs.

Mix the flour and remaining dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.

Stir in vanilla, and add ins.

Drop the cookie batter by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. (I used a regular cookie sheet)

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and firm and only lightly colored. Do not allow cookies to brown.
Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container. Cookies may be wrapped well and frozen.

I also did my nails Monday evening and had a lot of fun with that as you can see! I've been putting my fingernail 'stache up to my lips a lot this week to make my husband laugh.

Jewelry "art"

A while back I made some pieces to display, rather than hide, my jewelry. I thought I'd share. I spent very little out of pocket. The bracelet hanger and the necklace hanger were thrift store finds that I spray painted black. The earring hanger is just an empty picture frame w/ a lace trim inside and a piece of plastic canvas is the backing that the earrings hang on.

Meow!

MOPS this morning was great! We saw in person something that I wanted to try (which I saw on Pintrest, my internet crack) and got some good home/family ideas from the guest speaker. We've been just low key today trying to get some chores done, but I had to stop and play with my kitten my daughters kitten, Sega Genesis (the white/gray cat) and our cat who is still fat, K'mpec (our chubby all gray cat). My friend sent home some shoes for my daughter and our cats were enjoying the paper sack. So, at risk of being one of "those" people, here are some pictures of our kitten playing in a paper sack and our fat boy.

Cookies!!!

Today I cleaned the kids room and made cookies for the MOPS potluck tomorrow. I found this recipe online and they turned out better than perfect!! This is the best recipe I have found. I made very small cookies (because at the potluck we do small servings) so I reduced my bake time to 8 mins. I will NEVER use another base again, this one was perfect. I used a bag Heath pieces (from the baking section) instead of the nuts/raisins/choc chips because that is what I had on hand, but I want to try this with a mix of chocolate and butterscotch chips too 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons) 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 cup nuts, chopped 1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water (optional) 1 cup semi-sweet morsels Preheat oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs. Mix the flour and remaining dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Stir in vanilla, and add ins. Drop the cookie batter by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. (I used a regular cookie sheet) Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and firm and only lightly colored. Do not allow cookies to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container. Cookies may be wrapped well and frozen. After the kids were tucked in I settled in to watch some Samantha Who? and listen to the best podcast ever where my two kids were mentioned (their uncle is one of the hosts of the show) and also paint my nails. Pictures are below!

Weekend stand-still

Over the weekend I didn't get much crafting done. I did paint some foam turkeys with the kids yesterday. Thanksgiving is coming up fast and I've been working hard to think of one thing each day that I am thankful for. I have been posting them on my personal Facebook account. Since Facebook is silly, I can't find all the past posts so next year I will post them here each day. Other than that, not much to report. I hope everyone is having a beautiful November. Fall is my favorite season!

	I'm testing a feature. Enjoy this cat in clothes if it works.

Groundhogs!!

Yesterday I made my sister a groundhog cel phone (or whatever she stuffs in it) holder/cozy thing. The back flap thing is his "shadow". I love how simple and cute he is. I think I want to get some of that sparkly felt and make a couple pretty ones for myself in different themes. You could really do anything with this idea because the design is so simple and free. It was really windy yesterday too so the kids and I had fun walking in the wind to the mailboxes and I had another excuse to wear my favorite jacket. Today I didn't craft, I baked instead. Now we have milk chocolate chip pumpkin cookies that I am trying really hard not to devour!

Tuesday

On most Tuesdays I drag my homeschooler to my MOPS meetings with me. This week was no different. I didn't accomplish much in the way of crafts with my meeting, but I did make up a couple cute simple felt bows for sassy pants. Tomorrow I hope I have some time to put together some more 'no sew flowers' for my new cute short hair (see my "artsy edited' phone pic LOL). I want to find a good place to get a lot of plastic headbands for cheap. I have some cute ideas for embellishing them. Thanks for stopping by today!

Crafty Platypus

I just want to welcome you, and say thanks for taking the time to visit my new blog. I hope to update daily with crafts, inspiration, photos or just life in general. Today we made one of my favorite types of projects, one that took only a few items available at the dollar store. I chose a fall theme. Scrooge hubby is very opposed to decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I'd also like to introduce you to Chuck the Cluck (the little chicken on the left) and Chazz The Chicken.Chicken Hater hubby hates tolerates my weird desire to bring home random Goodwill finds poor lost chickens, even when I send him photos of them at work with threatening messages. If you've never read about the giant metal chicken over at thebloggess.com I highly recommend you do. In fact, read all her posts because she's one of my blogging inspirations and definitely a kindred spirit. Someday I will figure out how to make the pictures show up in the order I want. For now, they are swapped.