Mother's Day Bouquet

What mom doesn't like getting flowers for Mother's Day? I know I do.....so I thought I'd share my bouquet with you all....

.....don't worry though, I didn't pull a single stem.....no vase for these beauties!


First of all, it was a glorious morning for a few morning glories!







and for the nasturtium too...


pretty oxalis poked their heads up...

and up...

and up!...

last year's lantana came back in full force...



a pretty visitor stopped by for a lunch...

before moving on to the bottle brushes for dessert...

Fairy roses...


Ballerina roses...

Red knock out...

and pink knock out too...

not to be outdone, the gardenias joined in....and they smell wonderful!

I hope your bouquet is as lovely as mine!

Happy Mother's Day!

Smokey

Today I'm taking a station break from Mushroom Mayhem to introduce you to Smokey!

He is Curly Girl's latest. Smokey was created with colored pencil and marker!





Here is a close up of his eye and forelock.....his eye is so expressive!


I know I'm biased but I think she did a lovely job.

Marvelous mini mushroom stamp

Check out this cute wrap I made.......and then make some yourself!

I needed a mushroom stamp awhile back for a swap I was in.
Just a little one, something cute and simple. I went to the 2 stores in this town where you can find stamps and guess what? I didn't find one. No surprise there.

So, I made one ...using a pencil eraser.
Long before Martha made it 'a good thing' I was making stamps from pencil erasers. Yes, I am THAT old.

If you would like to make your own itty bitty stamp, read on.

Supplies:

1. pencils with new erasers. Go cheap pencils here guys, it won't matter. Just make sure the erasers aren't those super stiff ones. Give them a feel. Can't you just see a sales girl asking you why you are fondling the erasers on ISLE 1? HA!
2. straight blade or exacto knife or....if you are like me and can't find what you need when you want it, go to the kitchen drawer and grab a paring knife.
3. pen to draw your design on the eraser
4. paper, ribbon, etc to stamp on
5. variety of stamp pads or magic marker

So, you have your pencil and knife.

Now, take your pen and draw the lines of what you need to cut away. In this case, you are only drawing 4 teeny lines...simple, huh!


Then, cut in simple strokes. Be careful here because you are holding the pencil and don't want the knife to slip and cut your hand. I go all the way through the eraser because I like the way it looks but you don't really have to.


After you've made all 4 cuts, put some ink on it and check it out, so cute!

Then, double check your design by stamping a piece of scrap paper with it. If you need to, adjust the cut.


If you are happy with it, start stamping! Here is some ribbon I made.

Think of the cute stamps you could create if you used those gigantic kids pencils...fun!

For those of you who are REALLY into this, here is a link to Martha's.

Cinco De Mayo!

We take a break from our mushroomy goodness for CINCO de MAYO!

Today I'll be wearing my new FIESTA apron while cooking my famous *chicken enchiladas!
Oh...and of course, I'll be whipping up at least one cheater margariter!

What about you?

*Here is my chicken enchilada recipe for anyone interested! It makes 12 chicken enchiladas.

3 chicken breasts
1 diced onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 stick margarine
1 large can crushed tomatos
1 small can tomato sauce
1 small can diced green chilis
Sour cream (1-1/2 cups)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
(start off with 1/2 tsp of each seasoning and taste it first!)
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheeses...packaged works fine in a pinch.

Boil 3 chicken breasts with an onion and a bit of red wine.
Cool. Shred meat. Set aside.

For the sauce:
In a large skillet, melt margarine and saute onion and garlic until transparent.
Add all other ingredients EXCEPT SOUR CREAM and bring to a boil for just a moment. Then turn to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. (The longer, the better, just stir every now and then so it doesn't stick.)
Right before pouring over the enchiladas, add the sour cream. Taste it, you want it tangy. I start with 1/2 cup and add more as needed until I get it just where I want it.

Take a flour tortilla and put about 2 tablespoons of chicken on it. Then top with the same amount of shredded cheese. Roll on itself and secure with a toothpick. Put in a large baking dish sprayed with PAM, toothpick side down.
Continue with all the tortillas until all the chicken is gone.

Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and top with more shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

These freeze REALLY WELL. The trick is to freeze the enchiladas separately from the sauce so they don't get soggy. Then, take them out of the pan and thaw on a paper towel. Put them back in the pan and then finish the last couple of steps!
I make these for dinner parties and they are always a hit.

OLE!

Monday Mushroom Movie Quote........

Wanna win a lil sumphin? Try this one....first right answer gets a goodie!

Who said.....

"Whooooooo Arrrrrrrrre Youuuuuuuuuu.....?"

come on.......think toadstools.....think...............

Sew easy Toadstool pincushion

I have a habit of collecting tp and paper towel cardboard tubes.
Our dogs love to shred them so they are cheap toys. I also give them to teachers up at school. One day, I needed something quick to add to a swap I was in and decided to use the tp tube as a base for a pincushion.
This is what I created that day:



It turned out pretty cute so I thought I would make a tutorial to share.

Supplies:
empty tp tube
polyfil
needle and thread
scissors
tape
fabric
thin batting or white felt
beans, gravel or pebbles to weigh the tp roll down
decorative button for cap of toadstool

Make the stem:

First of all, cut the tp tube to the desired length for the stem.


Next, lay the tp tube down onto the felt and cut out the felt to fit around the tube with about a 1/4 inch extra to fold into a seam. Leave about 1 inch of fabric on EACH open end of the tube. You'll tuck this in later.


Secure 1 end of felt and fabric to the long side of the tp tube with tape. Sorry for the blurry photo!


Roll up to the edge, fold over other side to create a nice edge

and pin to secure it


Sew up the side with a blanket stitch using either thread or embroidery floss.


Tuck the 2 open edges inside the tube.



If you left an inch of fabric, it should stay nicely...if not, secure the fabric to the INSIDE of the tube with a small piece of tape.

It should look like this when done.


Using a large spool of thread as a template, draw a circle onto stiff paper stock and cut it out. Again, cover with felt and fabric. This time, just tape the edges to the inside.
The bottom doesn't have to be perfect.

It should fit snuggly INSIDE the lip of the tp tube. You want it just to the edge of the tube, matching up the edges before sewing.

Sew on using a blanket stitch.

Fill the tube 3/4 of the way with beans or pebbles.

Top with either some polyfil or felt and press it down into the top of the tube. When you shake the tube, nothing should rattle. It is important that the stuffing isn't falling out, it should sit snuggly on the tube. I've used felt AND polyfil and both work fine.

Make the cap:

Cut out a circle from coordinating fabric...about a 9 inch circle or larger depending on what you like.

Baste around the edge of the circle.

Draw up the edges and stuff with polyfil. Sew closed tightly, using several knots.
The bottom will have 'gathers' of fabric, this is normal.


Do NOT cut thread off.

Taking your needle, poke it up from the bottom to the top of the cap and slide on your button. Push needle back down and pull thread tightly while smushing the cap of the mushroom. Don't pull the thread too hard or it will break. Then knot several times.
This gives your cap a smushed look and tightens everything up.



Do NOT cut thread off.

This part is tricky because you don't want the beans falling out. Place cap onto stem and then flip updside down to sew the cap on. I used whip stitch to secure the cap tightly onto the stem.
You'll be working at an angle. While pressing the cap down to secure, be sure not to crush the tp roll!
Secure all the way around, finish with a double knot.


Flip it over and you are ready to use your new pincushion!


Here are the three I made in about an hour and a half:

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial!

Mushroom Mayhem

Today is the first day of Mushroom Mayhem! YEAH! Okay...so you all have figured out I'm a bit fungi obsessed, right?
No?
Well...if not, you WILL know after this month is over.
Why?
Because I am dedicating the month of May to Mushrooms and Toadstools.......they are tooooo cute!
I'll have recipes, giveaways, stuffies, tutorials, crocheting and in general just go on and on about the wondi of fungi!

Here is today's cuteness...some cute little mushrooms and toadstools for sale through the shop at Spiralling...
check out this cute lil pen...

or these bookends.......love em!

or how about these cute canisters?

or these cuties?


How can you resist such wondi fungi!?