1st Annual Ornament Gift Exchange

Picture by Supergail


I was inspired by this idea from Sewing Dork and my friend Andrea!! Thought it would be great for everyone here to make an ornament and send it off. Tis' the season for giving :). So please join in! There is no skill level required. I REPEAT NO SKILL LEVEL REQUIRED! Who doesn't love getting a little surprise in the mail :)

Here Are The Rules:

1. You have to make one handmade ornament and send it to someone you have never met before.

2. Post a comment below and leave an email address/blog address. You will make a handmade ornament and mail it to the blogger who posts a comment below you. Once a comment has been posted below yours, go ahead and contact that person to get their mailing address. You have until November 25th to post.

3. Please mail your item no later than December 7th.

4. If you are running behind NO WORRIES! Just be kind enough to email the person letting them know their gift is on the way.

5. This is supposed to be fun and stress free.

6. U.S. and Canada participants only please :)

I will post the first comment.

Les:)

Corn Salad Recipe

This is a great appetizer dish. My aunt and cousin have made this and its delicious. This is the best way of making it so far. The secret is the roasted corn from Trader Joes. I recently tried it with regular corn in a can, not so great.

-a bag of roasted corn (Trader Joes)

-one can of black beans (drain it and rinse lightly with cold water)

-red onions ( you decided if you want it chopped in small pieces or in long pieces)

-1/3 red pepper (chopped)

-1/2 a cucumber (chopped)

-celery (chopped, you decide how much)

-lemon juice (you decide how much to your taste)

-olive oil (1 tsp) Optional

-salt and pepper to taste

-Cilantro (chopped)

Mix it all up! You can add chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes if you choose, I normally don't just because if there are left overs the tomatoes freshness does not last to long. You can dress it up with leaf lettuce at the bottom.


Enjoy!

Les

Super Cute DIY Pillows by V & Co.

Vanessa at V & Co did these really cute fall pillows. It looks really easy to make. She was kind enough to do a tutorial for us. Someone is getting these for Christmas :)

Also, check out So You Think Your Crafty. They are having a craft competition. Its awesome.

Les:)

Behind the Scenes

I have to admit I am a blog stalker. I love reading and seeing what other bloggers are doing. It's a little bit of an obsession. But, I always wonder how they do it. They look so together. The kids look happy, dinner looks made every night at the same time, and they craft a million things a week. How do they do it??? How do they make time for family, household, and more importantly CRAFT!

This is definitely a challenge here at Mamma Tortilla's house. Sometimes in the middle of the day, the kids will do something or inspire me and I have to run to the computer and type. Well, 1% of the time it actually happens. Other times, its at night when I do most of my blogging or crafting. When I do blog or craft really quickly while the kids are awake, this is what I turn around to............

HAHA! gotta love kids! So the conclusion is no blogging, internet checking or crafting while kids are awake because family is first! I do have some ideas on how I can get a lot of crafting and blogging done. Do you have any suggestions? Would love to hear from other bloggers out there on how they multitask and get things done.


Leslie

Refashion Friday

We are really excited about today's Refashion Friday. We really did some cute stuff with blah clothes!

Leslie: I took a plain cream scarf and gave it a more modern/textured feel to it. I have seen this type of refashioning in other blogs but wanted to do something different. I was worried how it was going to turn out because of the material the scarf was but I'm thrilled with the results.

plain scarf...booo!!

YEPPIE! final outcome!

Then I got really excited about making another scarf. I got one of my old scarves and .................

Got an amazing green classy scarf!

Melissa:

Okay I started with a large woman's shirt that was quite ugly in my opinion=) I cut the length, shortened the sleeves, took in a lot of material by creating pleated in the front and changed the neckline and added a lovely ruffle. I was thrilled with the results. I wish pictures showed the real results!

WE LOVE REFASHION FRIDAY!!

See you next week!

Les & Melissa

Pincushion

When I started sewing, my mother-in-law for Christmas put together a sewing kit for me. It came with all the essentials needles, thread, patterns, a book, etc. I owe her a huge thank you for teaching me the basics about sewing(trying to win some brownie points by blogging about her!).

Anyways, the sewing kit came with the standard tomato pincushion (i think that's what it is) that everyone gets as a beginner. Well I decided to retire the tomato and upgrade to a more modern pincushion. Let me tell you, I'm in love :)

Check out Creative Kismet for the tutorial :) This would be a great gift for the crafty person in your life!

Les:)

The Count Down Begins

6 Weeks and Five Days until Christmas! WOW! This means that the little elves are starting to get busy. This year I have informed both sides of the family that they are getting handmade gifts from us :) I'm super excited about this and hope that it continues through out the years.

I've been finding some really good blogs that have tons of ideas for gifts and wanted to share. Hope this motivates you guys to make some handmade gifts :)

Skip To My Lou

Sew, Mama, Sew

Tipnut

One Pretty Thing

Happy Sewing!

Les