Posting Mobile from my S4

I'm really addicted to my cell phone. That's no big surprise, who isn't these days? Now that I own a Samsung Galaxy S4,  I realize this is the lazy person's dream phone.

I just installed android app for a blogger, and except for the fact that  nearly every other word I speak is misunderstood and has to be deleted and respoken, I can speak my blog posts using the microphone tool from the keyboard.

Once the novelty has worn off (by tomorrow) I'll be back to typing it.

The are so many other features I love about this phone that I'm sure I'll be compelled to share.  Be looking for a review shortly.

I waited until I've had it for two months so I could get really comfortable with it and know what my personal pros and cons list would look like. I think I'm ready to share.

Feast on This Friday: Taco Seasoning

Welcome to the first edition of what I hope will be a weekly blog post that speaks to making a healthier table.

I am guilty of eating sub standard, prepared, boxed crap. Mainly because it's easy and when you have a chronic disease like I do (MS), you tend to take the easy way out. But, because I have MS, I need to think healthy thoughts and translate them into healthy habits. Eating healthy should be a no brainer.

When you are a terrible cook and have relied on Kraft and friends to determine what's for dinner, it's hard to think outside of the box. (heh)

I was really proud of myself the other day when I was grocery shopping. The family demanded burritos and I was growing weary of all that salt that comes with seasoning packs. So what did I do?? I stood right in the middle of Publix and hopped on their free wifi to go in search of homemade taco seasoning mix. Am I genius or what?!

I was drawn to one from allrecipes.com that had a LOT of ratings and 5 gold stars overall.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/

I use this Taco Seasoning recipe to cook meat for burritos, too, because I don't know any better and I'm not Hispanic. If you are used to cooking authentic Mexican cuisine, please correct me so I don't embarrass myself like this again. :)

This recipe makes approx. 3Tbsp mix and depending on how spicy you like it, will season either 1 or 2 lbs. of ground beef. We are wimps here and I used 1.5T to season 1 lb.

Also, as per the top positive comment on the recipe, I left out the red pepper flakes altogether and didn't miss them one bit. I mixed it with 1.5T flour, just like she said and it made a nice thick sauce after simmering for a while.

The ingredients are as follows:

TACO SEASONING

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

I'll be making this up in large batches. Not only did I cut the salt way back and omit the red pepper flakes, I think we're eating much healthier for it.

Besides, I feel so damn CRAFTY that I did that myself.

NO MORE PACKETS! NO MORE PACKETS!

For the Love of Handbags

Some loves are timeless, knowing no beginning, foreseeing no end.

Sing it, Whitney:

If I should stay,
I would only be in your way.
So I'll go, but I know
I'll think of you every step of the way.
And I will always love you.
I will always love you. 

There I go getting all sentimental... or at least mental.

Today I'm sharing with you my timeless love for a good handbag. 

Starting back in the late.... um....80s yeah, that'll work...(heh) when I was just a little kid, I really loved handbags and dress up. I can't imagine my mom ever wore this sheer number but if she did I'm sure she had on a slip as was customary back in the sixt- oops, er. I mean eighties...

Playing dress up with one of my many purses. <3

Easter Sunday with our bonnets and purses.

Possibly my first ever "squee!" face and I'm sure it was due to handbag joy.

Pretty sure this was the first time I ever saw a purse up close.

So there you have it, my friends. While the ability to make them is a new found joy; the obsession goes back a long ways. However, there was a dry spell of about 20 years where I just carried my money and ID in my back pocket. I was always forgetting a bag if I carried one, so I opted to travel light.

Then something happened one day and I met the most amazing purse and I wondered how I could ever have turned my back on something I'd love so long.

Now I make them and sell them and am literally being overrun by them.

Oh, did I mention I have some for sale? Check them out on http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovemetwiceboutique

Or, get it a little cheaper by shopping right from my facebook page. Just comment on something you see in the photo album and tell me you want it. Everything is roughly $2 cheaper that way since we don't have any fees to worry about.

 

How-to: Plaster Hand Model...Why didn't I think of that?

I know a lot of people who make jewelry, who sell jewelry, who collect it and who wear it. That covers just about everyone, doesn't it?

So how cool is this simple idea? I found it on a site that wasn't in English, but using Google Translate, you can get the gist of it.

By doing this with plaster of Paris, 

You can make one of these:

From the translated instructions it appears that you need to cut a hole in a piece of wood, from which to suspend the glove upside down for filling and curing.

I'd make sure to smooth the top really well since your hand will be sitting flat on the wrist area.

Then you cut the glove off the form after it's cured.

Head over to the original post and if you can speak that language, you'll get the instructions straight from the horse's mouth.


http://bepunt.blogspot.com.es/search?updated-max=2012-07-16T16:14:00%2B02:00&max-results=7

Even if you can't there's still a lot more pictures to see. You know what they say about pictures... don't make me type all those words to tell you. :)

The Boxy Zippered Pouch

I have recently become addicted to making these cute – and incredibly useful – pouches. Fully lined with no raw seams inside, this is a great makeup bag, or jewelry bag. Also great for toiletries when traveling.

I have another 3 boxy zipped pouches cut out and ready to sew. I'll be adding them to my http://www.Etsy.com/shop/lovemetwiceboutique store and asking $10 for them. Quite the bargain as even a tube of lipstick to put inside it costs more than that nowadays, am I right?

So keep your eyes open peeled (ew, that's not a nice saying, is it?!)...

These pouches measure 7"x4" by 3" tall. If you want to special order a fabric/zipper combo of your very own, comment and let's get talking. I'm always up for a challenge. :)

Blowing The Dust Off

This poor little neglected blog. Tsk tsk! Shame on me for spreading myself so thin that I haven't given 100% to anything. Like a juggler keeping the balls in the air. Like one of those ladies spinning the plates on the tall skinny poles...

But this is the year I vow to be organized (did that make your coffee come out your nose? Oh sorry.) Yeah, here we are, 7 months into 2013 and I'm just now willing to make that commitment.

I WILL blog my creations and I WILL do tutorials and I WILL figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Ok, well, maybe 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

I have decided that I am not going to die a hoarder and be buried under a pile of my own craft projects, only to be discovered after each piece is lifted off the pile one by one and inspected carefully by snitty women in white gloves and matching hats who add little comments for spice...

"Oh, what was she trying to make here? No wonder it's only half done. It stinks." <toss>

And then on to another abandoned project to be critiqued. Maybe some on them will be swiped in the process (because those snitty women are just like that sometimes, all critical but secretly envious), but eventually they will get to the bottom of the stack to find me still clutching a glue gun and some pinking shears.

No, I don't want to die that way. Nor do I want to have a heart attack at the checkout counter at Hobby Lobby when I whip out the cell phone to see if a second mortgage on the house is possible when I only went in there for thread.

So, I've opened an Etsy.com shop at www.etsy.com/shop/lovemetwiceboutique where hopefully I can sell some of my creations and accomplish two things:

1. reclaim my house for things other than finished craft projects, unfinished craft projects, and of course the crafting supplies.

2. finance my craft supply addiction. If you are reading a craft blog, then you need to come to the CA meetings as well (crafters annon, not anything related to California, sorry). You know you are an addict.

I'm going to be Facebooking it here:
www.facebook.com/lovemetwiceboutique

and I've got a pinterest board for it too:
http://pinterest.com/signsintime/lovemetwiceboutique/

So, now that I have gone and committed myself to this....

I feel like a bad friend who says they'll call and then you run into them at the mall three years later and she's like "I was just thinking of you!" Ha! But I promise... I'll be back... posting something I've made and showing you how I did it.

<3