I had a very productive weekend, I created several new hats, some for orders and some inspired by the upcoming holidays....Valentine's Day, Easter & coming soon....St. Patrick's Day...We also received a picture from Brandi Michelle Coleman of Sweet Smiles Photography and her model Jayson wearing our sponge dude hat we created for him.....she says he doesn't want to take it off....that is a sure sign that the creation is a success ;)

But, first we will create a fast/easy all American favorite....

Club Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread (3 slices for each)
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Mayonnaise
Bacon
Turkey
Ham
American Cheese

Toast bread lightly spread mayonnaise liberally add a few lettuce leaves, tomato slices, onion slices, cooked bacon, sliced ham & turkey.....simple but scrumptious

Toast bread lightly spread mayonnaise liberally add a few lettuce leaves, tomato slices, onion slices, cooked bacon, sliced ham & turkey.....simple but scrumptious

 

Good morning, I have been trying to give you simple recipe's however, we go out to eat on Fridays and I won't be preparing anything....so I will give you helpful hints on cooking on the days that I don't cook.....

Here is a little secret I learned some 20 years ago, I worked at a restaurant where I was the youngest lady there and I was 30-ish.....I learned a lot from these ladies....

How to boil the perfect egg and fool proof peeling....

place eggs in lukewarm water, add a dash of salt....bring to a roaring boil....place a lid on and turn the burner off....set timer for 10 minutes....drain excess water and cover with ice for 5 minutes....voila perfect boiled eggs.

I finished the king size granny ripple, dolly and me set, the yoda look alike, a chef hat, a fedora and a mini top hat....I am also uploading the pictures of the slouch hats that I couldn't get to upload a couple days ago....

That's all for today ladies.....Have a great day and God bless,

Good morning,
Want to let you know that for the past couple of days I have in fact blogged and it has not posted.....so, somewhere out there are my recipes, suggestions and photos lol.....we will try this again....I might also add that I live in the woods and have the worst internet....I keep having flashes of the Flintstones little monkey that drew all their pics and wrote things for them ;)

Let's start with a quick/easy recipe...I can't claim this one my fiance' David has made this for years. Also a quick note....I cook for 2 people so, if you have more people to cook for revise accordingly.

Hamburger-Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 # Hamburger
5-6 potatoes
1 onion
1 can of cream
2 tbsp. butter

brown hamburger w/ chopped onion
peel potatoes cut in 1" squares cover with water and boil til done (do not over cook)
drain hamburger/onions add to cooked potatoes add cream and butter let simmer for 30 minutes and voila it's ready to serve

Now, on to business, I am working on the poncho set, and have just made 3 slouch hats ....just got an order for a yoda hat for a one year old.....Tammy has an order for a royal blue knit beanie/cap/hat...still having problems with the internet hopefully this will post...

Have a great day and God bless
 

Sorry no recipe today....I guess you'll have to dine out ;) It was a lazy day for me, just worked on some crocheting.....I do however have some more great pics from Sweet Smiles Photography with Brandi Michelle Coleman...I will have to update the blog from yesterday so you will see all of the images I mentioned.....but for today I will show you the first double shots we have of the merman set and merman set....our models are Jaxen and Alyssa and, I am told they were not very cooperative....they were more interested in each other than the camera ;)...wouldn't this be great for someone with twins? A memory to last a lifetime....so sweet!!!!!!
Have a great evening and God Bless

Be sure to check in tomorrow for the updates to yesterdays blog and a new recipe....

A meal from pork rib leftovers and what works for us...

Good morning ;)

Today's meal will be made with the left over rib meat.....so, if you made ribs 3 days ago

Ingredients:

Left over pork ribs
1/4 onion (finely chopped)
1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
1 cup bbq sauce (you can use bottled and add whatever you like for taste)
buns

Simply pull all the pork off the ribs, throw everything in crock pot on warm/low   serve on buns.


Now on to business.....

On Wednesday I listed a couple items on Photo Prop Auction Shop on Facebook...This has been a great source of advertisement for us. We list the item @ approximately 1/2 price for a starting bid, we usually make a sale and at least 1/2 of the buyers become customers buying other items from our shop....so, we lose a little profit to make more.....

For instance, about a month ago I listed our original mermaid @ $22.50 start bid....Since winning the bid, the purchaser has also ordered...a merman set, a tuxedo set, a honey bear set, an elephant set, a donkey set, a sponge dude set and a sponge dude hat. ;0)   So, it works.

The items I listed are:
 hand crocheted sailor suit  & little chef hat....both of which sold the sailor for starting bid of $15 (lists $25) & the little chef for $7 (starting bd was $5 and list is $10)...Hopefully, these will generate more business. I'm attaching pics.  The images with the baby were brought to life by Brandi Michelle Coleman of Sweet Smiles Photography except the mermaid that is compliments of Jessica Weltner of Reflections by Jess Photography... We have found that the "in use" pictures are also a great resource....

That's all for today....Have a GREAT day & God Bless

I am having a problem loading pictures right now, the internet is not allowing me to open the files so.....I don't want to lose today's entry so I will post and attach the images later

Good morning ;)

Did anyone try to make a pizza? Mine turned out fantastic....I love "home made-simple" meals....today we are having breakfast....ham steak, fried potatoes & over easy eggs...

Ingredients:

Ham steak
eggs
potatoes(3)
onions.....(1/2)
butter (2 tbsp.)
Start the potatoes first, peel and slice thin approximately 1" , chop onion, now place butter, potatoes and onions in frying pan over medium heat...spread into thin layer.....stir occasionally so it won't stick.....now in another frying pan place ham steak over medium heat....brown slightly then flip
prepare eggs....EZ

Now on to projects in progress.....

Light green and white poncho...still need to add fringe, trim around neck and tie....

And, a super PROJECT I am working on it's a turtle blanket custom ordered....I am using a graph from a pattern for a baby blanket the customer sent.....of course I am actually not following the instructions...it is for a baby blanket and wouldn't be big enough for an adult....and I am using "turtle" colors....the pattern calls for all kinds of bright colors....the turtle is being made from the bottom up....these are the legs .....note I am not a photographer lol


I have been trying to give helpful hints re: making the business run smoothly, here is another one......

I smoke and so does my fiancé....We DO NOT smoke in the house but, we do smoke in the vehicles....I say this because.....

we learned the hard way....through a customer complaint :( !!!!!!!!!!!!!! noted on ebay for everyone to see....."beautiful work but did smell of smoke"......when you package your items for shipment....place them in a plastic bag before placing in envelope/box...this keeps the smoke smell from being absorbed into your product....;)

That's all for today....Have a great day & God bless

    

Good morning ;)
My ribs turned out fantastic....did anyone try it? We would love to get feedback on the simple gourmet.. meals that we invite you to try out.
Today we are making "home made" pizza

Ingredients needed:

Ready made pizza crust (sold in the pasta/sauce aisle)
Can of spaghetti sauce ( you won't use much so save it add a can of stewed tomatoes to use in spaghetti sauce)
1 onion (you will only use about 1/2)
pepperoni
sausage (cooked)
mushrooms
shredded mozzarella cheese

very simple just spread a thin layer of sauce sprinkle seasoning on, add all ingredients in layers spreading it out and place in the oven to cook....the temp/time are on the crust pkg.

Last year around this time a customer bought an afghan from us (ebay) it was a granny/ripple in shades of blue with black as the main color....Happy to announce she bought another one the same pattern and colors except this one is king size....this is truly a compliment to us as, a repeat customer is a happy customer.
I have listed a little chef hat that I created after seeing a picture of one on the cover of Parenting magazine (you will be amazed at the ideas you can get from many different sources)...some time back on facebooks Photo Prop Auction Shop ....we list items on their at a discount and at least 50% of the time we get more business from the buyer....so, taking a loss, lowering the price is a form of advertisement....I am also working on a Dolly & Me poncho/hat set for a lady that bought off ebay...the original (pictured) is one of the first creations I made to list when Tammy first started our etsy shop....it amazes me how much we have grown since then. God has truly blessed us with all of this...but, I will tell you this is another lesson learned...I had listed this set (2 each hat/poncho) for $15....at the time we just wanted to sell...we didn't know how to price and/or add a note in the post that larger sizes would be slightly higher....so, she ordered a set for $15 for a size 8 (little girls) so for $15 I am making 2 ponchos and 2 hats....so make sure if you are working on building a business you keep checking back on pricing etc....

That's all for today.....I have attached images so you can see the items I have mentioned....the yellow and black are the original hat/poncho set(s),

Have a great day & God bless......