RAWR - Dino Tie

I was quite the crafty one this past weekend.  Partly due to the fact that I could sew an outfit and actually be able to see it on the baby in real time!

Today I will be sharing the Dino tie that I made.  Just wait it is so super cute!

I first started with a brown onesie and my dino fabric.

I traced my pattern onto the fabric with a white fabric pencil.  Jackie wanted the triceratops to be in the knot of the tie and the long neck to be the focus of the tie.

Each piece was cut, pinned to it's opposite with right sides together.  I am funny and like to predetermine where my openings are going to be before I sew.  That way I feel a little better while I am in the process of trying to turn them.

I completed the terrifying job of turning the fabric (the whole time worrying my hole was too small).  They were ironed nice and crisp before I hand sewed the knot to the tie.  I then sewed the tie onto the t-shirt.  I went over the same spot three times to make sure it wouldn't get ripped off by little hands.  It is also important to point out, make sure the back of the shirt doesn't get sewn to the front.... yeah learned from experience the first time I made one.

Washed the shirt and iron the tie pretty again.

Put on the model and oohh and aaahh!!

Isn't he just the CUTEST!!!  I have to say it was much more fun to sew something and almost immediately see it on the person it was made for.

I have more sewing projects to share next week!

Gluten-Free Food Review - Domino's Pizza

I did it!  I tried the Domino's Gluten-Free Pizza.  I am lucky to not have "full blown can't eat gluten at all allergy" so I decided that I wanted to have it.

I ordered it online and fixed it up all how I wanted.  Jon picked up our pizzas on the way home from work.  It was so fun to know that one of those boxes of pizza contained a pizza just for me.  No wheat and no guilty feelings after I ate it.

I open the box and what do I see?????  PIZZA!!!!!

The crust reminded me of the pizza crust from Uno's.  I liked it very much and will definitely get it again.

It was a very exciting and happy feeling to know that I was able to actually order a pizza from a regular pizza joint and know I wouldn't feel terribly gross afterwards.  I hope that more places move towards this, although I would love if they could guarantee zero cross contamination.

Speaking of zero cross contamination Chuck E. Cheese is going to test market some gluten-free pizza and cupcakes at some of their locations.  I am very curious if it catches on (which I hope it does).

That is all for now!

What I'm Reading... Tuesday?

I am finally back from my trip!  I had an absolutely fabulous time visiting with my friends and family.  I had decided to bring my sewing machine on a whim and I am very glad that I did.  I managed to make two shirts, a blanket, and a pillow!  But all of those will be shared later this week and next week.  It is super exciting because I had a model for the clothes!

But back to what I am here for today.  Books!  Thanks to Kellee I had more than enough audiobooks with me for the trip.  I didn't have as much time to listen to them as I though I would because my friend Janet was able to ride most of the way with me!  She has some family about an hour west of my cousin so it was perfect!  But that made for not so much listening time to books.

I managed to finish Cryer's Cross on the way to my cousins.  It was very good and I enjoyed the journey to find out what was happening to the people in the book.  I had a feeling I knew what was behind everything about half way through but I was not exactly sure.  I think I even managed to get Jon interested near the end since he asked me how it ended.

I then started Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.  I immediately enjoyed the readers voice (as that is a big pulling point for me).  It was a little confusing at first as it starts right into the story.  It reminded me a little bit of how Chime started.  It was already into the action when the story started.  So far I have enjoyed it.  The characters are interesting and each unique, I want to know more about each one.  I believe I am on the fourth disk and I am super curious as to what will happen.

And yes, I am still basically in the same spot as I was in Anna and the French Kiss today as I was last week.  I guess this trip didn't have any extra time for late night book reading.  Hopefully I will carve out some time this week to get this one done so that I can start a new one!

Hopefully everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day yesterday!

Memorial Day Monday

I will be on the road when this hopefully auto-posts and heading back home.  I will have to update you all on my reading and my crafting (which I have high hopes I did a bit) tomorrow.

For today I hope that everyone is able to visit and spend some time with family and friends.

Be back tomorrow!

Pinterest Pick - Blog Lovin'

For this weeks Pinterest Pick I have picked out a new blog I have found.  I always feel that I don't dress very cute and that the best clothes I have are hand me downs from friends.  In looking around her website from this pin I think that I could choose looks I liked and mimic them!  You should check it out, there is some really cute stuff on there.... plus it is a great excuse to get new clothes!

I am sure that I am having a blast this weekend as I am visiting a super great friend.  Hope your weekend is being enjoyed as well!

Food Friday - Eggplant Lasagna

For this edition of Food Friday I have a quick and easy recipe for eggplant lasagna.

First I want to mention the meat mix used is from this post.

Next, you will need these ingredients:

We were lucky to have a HUGE eggplant from Jon's parents garden.  I wish he would have waited long enough so I could have gotten a before picture.

Boil, cook, and cool down the pasta noodles.

While the noodles are cooking the eggplant should be browned.  It is super easy.  Just heat a pan and place the eggplant pieces down.  Wait about 30 - 45 seconds until browned and flip!

Once that is all ready it is time to put the lasagna together!

This is the process we used:

Layer some pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Begin laying the noodles in three layers on top of the sauce.

Once the noodles are in place add on the ricotta cheese.  Jon had the fabulous idea to put the ricotta cheese into the ziploc bag to use like a piping bag!  It made it so much easier!!

We decided that the eggplants should be next.  We layered them like so:

Next came the meat mix.

Cheese!!!  We went light as Jon doesn't like too much cheese.

Sauce it up!  Again less than I would have put if I was making it for myself.  I could drink the stuff.

Put on another layer of noodles and repeat the other ingredients.

Keep going until you have used all of your noodles.  We weren't ready to cook it right away so we hid it in the microwave.  Sorry I for some weird reason can't find my after pictures.  I know I must have taken some...

If you have never eaten eggplant before this is the BEST way to do it.  Jon was weary of trying it and ended up LOVING this lasagna the first time we made it.  He has since requested it on several occasions.  Plus it is a good way to add in some veggies to a very unveggie dinner!

Road Trip Play List!

I am on the road to GA with a super great friend of mine to see a super great friend of mine!!

While my friend is traveling with me I won't have to use audiobooks to distract me but once I drop her off the audiobook frenzy is on!

My plan is to finish up Cryer's Cross (if I already have not finished it on Wednesday evening).

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Then start Nightshade which should take me a while to finish since it is 10ish hours long.  I am curious about it as it seems to fall within the werewolf/supernatural theme.  I like those kinds of books.

I have a few others waiting in the wings just in case I manage to listen to the full book.  :)

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Hopefully you all have happy plans for the loooonng weekend too!  Auto posts will hopefully post tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday... it all depends on if I did the scheduling right... :)

Gluten-Free Food Review - Terra Chips

I have a review of a product that I have loved for years!

Terra Chips!!  I had to find images because I couldn't find the pictures that I took.

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Now I visited the website and could not find information regarding if they are gluten-free or not.  I did a google search and found a forum for celiac and the people on there didn't have a reaction.  A second forum I found someone has posted what appears to be a response explaining the chips are gluten-free, but the facility is not.  I would say that if you are super sensitive don't take a chance unless you find they are gluten-free.

I love all of the flavors and would eat a whole bag at once because they are so good!

Enjoy!!