Move Over Willy Wonka!

Do you ever see something that makes you amazed and inspired and at the same time blows your mind into insanity? Such is this Candyland post at Bakerella. You absolutely must check it out. It would have taken me at least 2 years to put together a party like this! I just can't even get my head around it. And read about how much of it is handmade! Wowzers. She must be the bride of Willy Wonka!Photos from Bakerella.com

Recipe Share: Rasperry Applesauce Jello

By special request, here is my recipe for a yummy jello dish. It's better than it sounds, trust me.

Raspberry Applesauce Jello
1 lrg box or 2 small boxes of Raspberry Jello
1 c applesauce
1 pkg frozen raspberries

Disolve jello in the amount of water called for on the box (2 cups). Don't add cold water. Add frozen raspberries, then applesauce. Chill.

It's that simple, and surprisingly delicious. Try it.

Car Seat Canopy for Heidi

Here is the carseat canopy I made for Heidi several weeks ago. I rounded the corners on this one so they don't drag. Heidi came with me to pick out the cute fabric.

Diaper Clutch: Lauren

Boy is it hard to find time to sew now. I managed to squeak this one in for Lauren's baby shower gift. A diaper clutch (portable changing pad/diaper & wipes holder) and burp cloth. I also included a cute little headband with a bow and a binkie clip (pacifier included). Too bad I didn't get pictures of those too...
This time I made the clutch with soft flannel on the inside, a layer of batting for cushioning, and vinyl exterior to prevent leakage should the baby decide to pee on it during the diaper change. (Speaking from experience here.) There is an inside pocket to secure the wipes and a diaper or two, so they don't slide out the sides. It is washable, of course. It turned out a little wide for portability-- I think next time I will make it narrower.

Well Scripted

Here's a little glimpse into what I do at work. This is a stamp set I created with hand drawn lettering.

DIY: Ruffle Skirt

I want to make this. One for little A and one for me.

You can find the tutorial at So You Think You're Crafty.

Crib Skirt

Finally a picture of {A}'s crib skirt which I finished a while back. I think it is sufficiently gender neutral so if I have a boy next I can just put on a blue or orange fitted sheet.
The pillow under one end of the mattress is to raise it to help with reflux... Shoulda taken it out for the picture, but oh well.

Recipe Share: Sweet Potato Casserole/Pie

With Thanksgiving upon us, I thought I'd share a deliciously appropriate recipe. Although in my family this is always served with dinner, it's practically a dessert. I definitely prefer this over yams and marshmallows. First thing you need to know is that sweet potatoes are not the same as yams (a common misconception). Yams are orange. Sweet potatoes are yellow. There is a difference in flavor and texture, so be sure to get the sweet potatoes for this one.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 c cooked yellow sweet potatoes, mashed
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c butter (1 stick)
1 c canned evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all of the above and put in 9x13* pan and sprinkle with topping.

Topping:
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter
1/2 c self rising flour**

Mix and sprinkle (drop in clumps) on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes until crisp and golden on top.

* I think it looks just a little thin in a 9x13 so maybe try an 8x11 pan and cook it a little longer?
** to substitute self-rising flour, add 3/4 t baking powder and 1/8 t salt to 1/2 c of flour.

DIY idea

I think I'll have to try making this little number myself--for little {A}, I mean. This one is from the Stella McCartney collection at Gap and retails for $58, but I think it's totally make-able.

Nursing Cover & Cloth

Between Ryan's family and mine, we've got 9 pregnancies right now. Correction- 8 pregnancies, since baby Abigail was born this week. So that means a lot of baby showers. This week's gift was a nursing cover and matching burp cloth.

Another Halloween Winner

I know Halloween is over, but I'm still catching up on cool costumes. As a designer, I love this idea! A low-resolution costume, found on Craftzine. So clever!And here's another one from Craftzine. I don't think it's the greatest execution, but the idea is great and could be done in a more 3-D version.And if I had dressed up baby {A} this year, I would have considered something like this:

Another seasonal recipe for you, courtesy of Libby's. I really like this bread, and pumpkin and cranberries are both really good for you. 3 cups of sugar isn't though...Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

One additional insider tip: A grocery store employee told me last week that canned pumpkin is in short supply this year--they didn't grow enough. He said there should be enough for Thankgiving but it will be gone by Christmas. So if you want any Christmas pumpkin, better go buy it now.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and a holiday that is made especially fun at a creative company, where people go all out. Since I'm still on maternity leave I am sadly missing the festivities this year, but Lori took some photos of our department. Quite amazing! The Mad Hatter's tea party (Alice in Wonderland) is the theme, and you can see more pictures on Lori's blog, and Lauren's blog.

From left to right: catipillar, card, mad hatter, cheshire cat, white rabbit, Alice.


Catipillar, Cheshire Cat, Alice.

Recipe Share: Stew in a Pumpkin

In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd share a pumpkin stew recipe. If your front porch pumpkin is still fresh enough, here's a good way to use it after Halloween.

photo from Taste of Home.com

Pumpkin Stew
10-12 lb pumpkin
2 lb stew meat, cut into 1" cubes
3 Tbsp cooking oil, divided
1 c water
5 medium red potatoes, cut into 1" cubes
4 medium carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp beef bullion granules
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes, undrained and cut up
(maybe add another 1/2 can too?)

Brown meat in 2 Tbsp of oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt & pepper. Cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in bullion & tomatoes; Taste test and make adjustments as desired. Wash pumpkin and cute a 6-8" circle around top stem; remove seeds and fibers. Place pumpkin in a sturdy shallow baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with oil. Bake at 325 for 2 or more hours, until pumpkin is tender inside. Do not over cook or undercook.
Serve stew in pumpkin shell, scooping out some of the sides of the pumpkin with each serving.
Serves 8-10.

Be forewarned I've only made this once, and I don't remember if it was great or mediocre. But it's a fun idea to play with.

The Latest Addition...

...to the nursery. I needed a back pillow for my glider-recliner (which I love). I've never made a pillow with cording before, and I don't know if I did it the most correct way, but it worked out fine. The corners are a tad bunchy, but you can't tell unless you really look close. I'm sure there's some trick to avoid that, but oh well. The fabric is by Paula Prass for Michael Miller (I ordered it through Etsy).

Nursing Cover (AKA Hooter Hider)

I *finally* finished my nursing cover. It was pretty easy to make. You should try it (if you are in the market for one). If enough people tell me they want instructions, I will post a tutorial in the future.
My hands look really big in that first picture. I never realized... maybe that is where Ava gets her long hands from (yes, I know I just ended I sentence with a preposition but I don't care).

Angel Onesie

I made this a while ago and unfortunately the pics aren't so great. It's a brown onesie with angel wings on the back.

Pendant Banner

Who doesn't love a pendant banner these days? Paula made this darling banner for Ava's baby shower, and it was so cute so I put it over her crib.
Her crib was in our bedroom at this time. I did NOT paint my baby girl's walls blue-grey. Let that be understood.

Baby Food?

So I have a question for you all, as a new mother. I'm interested in getting this Beaba Babycook food steamer/processor for making my own healthy, natural babyfood in the future. It is a steamer and food processor all in one.
My question is, how much baby food did you actually feed your baby? I mean, I see mom's just giving their little ones bits and pieces off their own plates. I don't seem to see a lot of baby food being served up these days. Is that a false perception? If I bought this Babycook gadget, would I use it? Ultimately I guess that is up to me, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on babyfood.

Update and New Blog

Oh dear, sorry I've left you in the dark. Baby Ava came home Sept. 2 and this week celebrated 1 month outside of the womb (though she still has not reached her due date yet). At last week's check-up she weighed a whopping 4 lbs 12 ounces! I'll try to get some pictures up soon. Speaking of which, I've created a separate "family" blog to post all the personal family stuff, so I can keep this blog a little more creative. That is, if I have any time to be creative anymore... We shall see. So here's the link to the new Cook Family Blog. And there is already a video on there of Ava.

http://ryanchristyfamily.blogspot.com/

Baby Burp Cloths

So I made these before baby Ava came, just now getting to posting them. Pretty basic stuff. The green ribbon is really cute, it's from Stampin' Up.

Ava's Road Test

So Ava passed her carseat test. She is excelling already. For NICU babies, before they send them home, they have you bring in your carseat and they sit the baby in it (with all the monitors on) for an hour and a half to make sure they can handle the trip home without suffocating or anything. Fortunately our carseat is approved for 4lbs and up (most are 5 and up). She's been gaining a lot of weight in the last couple of days too, and today she moved over the 4 lb mark! Looks like she could come home as early as Wednesday.

Here she is looking like a binkie loving elf child.

Somebody is already trying to claim every new thing as his territory. We put a stop to that real quick. This fatty better not sit on my baby!And here is our teeny little gal being swallowed up by her carseat.

Ava at One Week

Here's baby Ava at one week old:

Smiling for the camera:

Her arms are the size of Ryan's finger:Big open eyes:

Ryan and Ava:

Ava and me:

In case you are wondering, the tube in her nose is a feeding tube that goes to her stomach. They have to measure how much she eats because if she were to overeat too soon, it could cause her digestive system to decay. She got her IV out a couple days ago, which is awesome. After having one myself for almost a week, I can tell you they get old fast. She still has monitors for her heart rate, her oxygen, her body temperature, and I think there's one more...

She is doing very well, and hopefully it's just a matter of time, growing, and feeding before she comes home.

Thanks everyone for your calls and messages. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family. I can't wait for you all to meet Ava in person!