Tomato Basil Soup with Raviolis

I DO NOT like canned tomato soup.  I'm not sure what it is about it that I don't like, but frankly I think it's kinda gross.  With that said, I do love homemade tomato soup. There is a resturant in town that occassoinaly serves a homemade Tomato Basil with Ravioli and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! Ofcourse I always get a craving for it when they aren't serving it. So the other day I made my own.

Tomato Basil Soup with Raviolis

2 cups chopped onion

6 cloves of minced garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cans fire roasted tomatoes (14.5 oz)

1 can diced tomatoes (28oz)

2 cups fresh basil leaves (torn)

1 tsp thyme

6 cups chicken stock

1 box of ravioli (I like the kind you find in the past aisle)

Heat oil in a large stock pot.  Add onion and garilc, cook 7-10 minutes until soft. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, basil, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 mins. Meanwhile cook you box of ravioli, drain, and set aside.  When soup is done and cool run it through a blender until smooth.  You can do it while the soup is hot if you are impatient like me but make sure you are able to vent the steam, otherwise you will have a huge mess. Once the soup has been blended add your ravolis and enjoy!

adapted from: Annie's Eats

 

 

 

A Pretty Apron

I ordered some fabric to make an apron over a month ago.  I don't know if it was the weather or bad postal workers, but this was my second package in less than a month to get lost in the mail (and people wonder why the post office is loosing money??).  Luckily the seller was extremely pleasant to work with and they re-shipped as soon as it looked like the first package was never going to make it.  Anyways, I finally received it yesterday and it's gorgeous!!! 

This is from Amy Butler's new Soul Blossom Collection.  I'm inlove! I wish I could order all of it, but for now I will have to be satisfied with this small sample.

As soon as I got it home I washed and dried it and got to work on my fun new apron. I did not use a patter for this one.  I have an old plain apron that I used for measurements.

I did not use the standard tie in the back.  Instead the sash wraps around and fastens using a button.

I really love how it turned out.  The only sad thing about super cute aprons is they are made to get messy.

 

 

Snow Day

I fully intended to post something crafty today; however, mother nature had different plans for me.  We haven't had much snow here in the interior of Alaska this winter, little bits here and there but nothing to get excited about.  This morning we figured out where it's been all winter...Mother Nature was hording it and she decided to dump it on us last night. We woke up to about 12-14inches of snow on top of the 2 or so feet we've accumulated over the winter.  So instead of working on fun craft projects we were outside dealing with the it.  The nice part was it was about 20 degrees which was great change from the minus temps we've had.  The poor dogs have been so couped up it was good to get them out. The not so nice part was the ridiculous wind! We rarely have windy days here, but when we do boy is it ever windy!

 

Thank goodness for the 4-wheeler and the plow!

Looking for their stick in the very deep snow in our front yard.....

She found it:~)

Shutter Love - Valentine's Day

This week's theme is Valentine's Day.

I took this shot of my hubby and I while we were in CO. 

Hop on over to The Trendy Treehouse to check out more entries.

 

Diaper Cakes

On top of all the onesies I've been making lately I also managed to squeeze in a diaper cake for the baby shower I went too over the weekend. Not only do they make great gifts, but the double as decor too.  Plus they are alot of fun!

There are tons and tons of tutorials out there on how to make these.  Everyone has their own technique.  I have made several over the years and have used a few different ways of doing it.  This was the very first one I ever did.  I made this for a good friend who's sweet little girl is now 2!! Boy time flies. For this one I rolled all of the diapers.  I like this method, but you don't get that smooth outer layer.

This was the second one I made.  For this one I didn't roll the diapers, instead I layered them.  This gives you that smooth outer finish, but it uses quite a few more diapers.  I think I ended up using about 1 1/2 packs, instead of just one.

 

For my latest diaper cake I combined both techniques. I rolled the inner diapers and layered the outer ones. Here is a picture of the bottom layer.

This allowed me to use less diapers per layer and make it four tiers for more decorating room. Also I like to use large rubber bands to hold each layer together.  They make the whole project 10x easier.

Like I said, these are really fun to make and allow for lots of creativity.  You can go super "baby" or super fancy. I've done some of both.  Here are a few of the others I've made.

 

And Another Baby Gift

Babies, babies, everywhere!

I spent my little bit of free time last week making another baby gift for my friend's new baby girl.  It was nice to make girly things for a change since my last few baby projects have been for boys.  Don't get me wrong baby boys are super cute and lots of fun, but I do enjoy playing with florals and girly colors:~)

I used my silhouette to make the heat transfer with the bird.  Have I mentioned how much I love that machine?

For the faux necklace onesie I cut out 9 little felt cirlces, pinned them to the onesie, and stitched one big line with my sewing machine to form the "chain".  I've seen this done several different ways, many of them start and end way out on the shoulder seems of the onesie which I'm not a huge fan of.  I placed my felt circles where they would hang if it were a real necklace. For the ribbon, I stitched it on first and then tied a knot.  I finished it off with fray check to keep the edged looking clean.

The ruffle onesie is by far my favorite! It was also the most difficult.  Stitching those ruffles in place took some finagling to get them through the sewing machine.  I cut four 2 1/2" strips, sewed them in half, and turned them right side out.  I didn't want raw edges and it was quicker than ironing and sewing eight 1/4" seams.

I really had a lot of fun with these!

New Etsy Shop!!

I've been talking about starting an Etsy shop for about two years now and I've finally done it! My mom and I have opened The little things Shop over at Etsy. So far we have a few of my Alaska photographs listed and some of my Mother's handmade jewelry. I will be adding some handmade accessories here shortly.  Here is a small preview of what's there now...

 

 

So feel free to head on over and take a peak!

 

Burlap Rose Wreath

A couple of days ago I saw this...

 

...over at Choose to Thrive via Ucreate and I fell in LOVE. I just so happen to have tons of burlap left over from another project so I got to work. I've been looking for something to adorn my front door with, something that would be appropriate all year long. So I decided to make mine a simple rectangle instead of a heart. 

Another Baby Gift

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. Life has been busy, busy, busy for me these days especially with school.  I have been able to squeeze in a few projects. Here is one of my most recent ones...

I did this project for a friend's new baby.  Her hubby flies kiowa helicopters for the Army hence the helicopter theme. I made a self binding receiving blanket (my new facorite way to make blankets...so easy!) and lucked out with the flannel print I found. Then I used my silhouette cutting machine to make the heat transfer of the kiowa for the onesie. 

I really love how they turned out and so did my friend:~) Can't wait to see the new little one rockin' them both.