Be Brave

Hubby and I both coach high school athletes.  There are times this quote is perfect.  Like this weekend.

Going out to our softball girls:

Coach Whitt

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday AKA: They are going to the 'Ship!!

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but I HAD to share these pictures to honor our girl's softball team! For the first time in school history, they are going to the Div 2 State Championship this weekend! We are so proud of them all!

Hubby on far right with khaki shorts, between the other two coaches.

See you on the field this weekend, vs Coe-Brown!  We BELIEVE in you!!

Coach Whitt

Cross-Posting: Incredible "Buns" recipe!

I just had to share a guest post from my friend Amy for an amazing recipe for artisan buns!  Amy and I "met" via a blogging challenge and have been chatting back and forth ever since.  I'd asked her if she would be the first in a series of guest bloggers with recipes to share and lucky for me, she said YES!

I wanted MORE people to read her recipe, so I'm posting it on here today, as well.  Double-duty, Amy!!

Enjoy the recipe and then give them a try - I can't wait!!

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One of the greatest parts of being a blogger is "meeting" other people - people across the world and in the case of my friend, Amy, across the country.  Back not too long ago we were both participants in a month long blogging adventure that helped hatch this very blog!

After reading many of her wonderful recipes and following along her path, I thought it would be an incredibly cool thing if she would be willing to guest post for me Wonderful Woman that she is, she agreed!  I think you will completely love her style and I know you'll love her recipe - I do!  I can't wait to see if I can make super buns, too!

Please read along and leave Amy comments - she'd be ever so appreciative if you do!

Thanks for sharing, my friend, and enjoy reading everyone!

Happy time in the kitchen and I highly recommend you visit Amy's blog today!
Carrie

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What do you know? I couldn't believe it----I had done it. After weeks, nay, months of procrastination and putting off of the inevitable, i.e., Timothy's graduation party, I somehow had pulled it all together.  I chronicled part of the journey in a blog post here, in which I revealed the root of my procrastination.  Ergo . . .   basically, I am uncomfortable with the fact that my children are growing up and leaving me, one . . .  by . . . one. Our Timothy is number four to fly the proverbial coop, preceded by Matthew, Andrew, and Bethany.

I want to climb into a time machine and travel back to when Timothy was a little sparkling-eyed baby, grinning at me as if I had just hung the moon; a toddler with a saggy diaper and a mischievous grin, toddling around the yard as I worked in my garden.  Perhaps Timothy could build a time machine for me, instead of move away to college . . . . well. . . probably not.

Sigh.  So at the party, as I mingled with our guests, my joy at pulling together a successful party to honor our fourth-born (a computer wizard with a penchant for climbing anything high enough to make his mother nervous, and not wearing shoes, and wearing a red polka-dotted welder's cap, and making listeners gasp with his guitar artistry) was combined with sadness that he was--after all--old enough, at last, to soon spread his wings and fly very far away from me.

Here's Timothy's banner, hanging in the tent we set up out in the yard.

I stood quietly, surrounded by a group of chattering guests, and my gaze landed on my son, just a stone's throw from me, surrounded by his friends, as usual, and my heart clenched.  Ouch. Sometimes it just hurts to love somebody as much as I love that boy.  I started to feel sad all over again, and just then a friend came up behind me and put her arms around my shoulders.

"Amy, you have the best buns!  Really!" she whispered in my ear, with enthusiasm. I turned, blushingly surprised and pleased and a tad embarrassed, ready to tell her about my latest workout (I did two last week, I think--what quick results, really!) and how genetics surely must have a hand . . . . my sadness and introspection gone for the moment . . . as she continued . . ."I mean, really, I couldn't stop eating them! I think I've gained 5 pounds this afternoon! I cleaned up everybody else's plates at our table.  I just love your buns! Can I get the recipe?"

Oh.  Those buns. I laughed and said that sure, I'd share the recipe with her, and snorted at myself for thinking for even an instant that she was referring to something else.

Honestly--I had been so pleased by the way my buns turned out earlier that day that I had taken several pictures of them -- are they not picturesque? -- and now, Gentle Reader, I'll share the recipe with you, and the world at large, so to speak.  It is your lucky day, you can be sure of that!  These buns were so good, and chewy, and crusty, and so, so easy to make, to boot.  You are going to love them, I just know it.

Don't you agree that these are the most gorgeous buns ever?

I filled them with shredded barbecued chicken, which was delightful and (I must admit) worthy of many compliments, but you could stuff them with deli meats, or sloppy joe mix, or even a grilled hamburger. They are sturdy buns just right for transporting tasty fillings to your mouth.  They are also just delicious lightly buttered and honeyed or jammed, too.

Perhaps you remember this blog post that I wrote about how to make artisan bread in 5 minutes? Here's the cool part:  this artisan bread dough, or my "bucket dough" as I call it, is the dough I used for these buns.  Now stick with me for a few minutes and I'll tell you exactly how I went from a bucket of dough (well, I made enough for 100 people, so I used a few bucketsful) to these gorgeous buns . . . of mine (hehee).

Aren't these just beautiful?

Beautiful artisan buns

Recipe Type: artisan bread

Author: Herzberg and Francois, adapted by Amy via vomitingchicken.com

Serves: 8

Yes, you too can have gorgeous buns in just a few minutes, by using this recipe!

Ingredients

•      1 1/2 T dry yeast

•      1 1/2 T kosher salt

•      3 cups warm water

•      1 cup whole wheat flour

•      5 1/2 cups unbleached flour

•      assorted seeds for top-dressing (optional): I used a combination of black and white sesame seeds, but you could use whatever you fancy: flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, etc.

Instructions

1.   First, mix the yeast, salt and water together. You can use a mixer or a whisk in a bowl or bucket. Then add the flours until well-mixed. Don't knead. Cover with a loose lid and let rise until the dough reaches the top of the bucket or bowl, about 2 hours. Your dough is ready to use at this point, although it will be easier to shape if you refrigerate it for a couple hours, or overnight. 

2. When you're ready to form your rolls: cover a cookie sheet with parchment, and form balls of dough a bit larger than golf balls, for "slider" size, and place on the sheet. Let rise for 40 minutes, and then brush with milk and add seeds OR dust with flour, and then slash an "x" on each bun. 

3. 20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and put a small pan of water on the bottom rack, and a pizza stone on the middle rack. Slide the parchment sheet straight off the cookie sheet and onto the pizza stone and set the timer for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven when the buns are golden and crusty. Prepare yourself for compliments on your most beautiful buns!

I was so crazy about these buns, I made them pose with flowers for a picture.

There you have it! Now you can do it, Gentle Reader--go and make your own beautiful buns!

Enjoy,

Amy

New Etsy Shop --> filling with fabric!!

Well, if you've been following the blog, you might have seen I had a big sale this weekend THINKING I was going to get out of the fabric business.  I've been away for about a year and thought...hmm... it's time.

I was wrong.  I had SO much fun Saturday and Sunday, playing with fabrics and chatting with old friends that I decided to give it another try!  Here it is:

I will be listing fabric off the bolt and oodles and oodles of pieces.  Yup... I'm back to give it another try!!

Come on over and see what you think!

Back to work, friends!
Feeling crafty- Carrie

Phew... pulled it off!

Okay...the stress was pretty high, but we (hubby, Shauna & I) pulled off the Fabric Bonanza set up!  Time to relax, enjoy an iced coffee and sell some fabric!

Here' the MUCH better images - fabrics all laid out, hung up, ready to head to new homes!

Tent outside - FILLED with header fabric!!

 

Dodge Hill Family Farms Maple Syrup

Fabric by the pound!

Lots of pillowcase kits!

Yardage on the bolt

Fabric cuts - 1/2 - 2 1/2 yards

Fat & Skinny quarters

Flannel

 Bolts of flannel

Thimbleberries yardage

Thimbleberries fabric cuts 1/2 - 2 yards each

If you are anywhere nearby and need want desire to improve your fabric stash - COME ON OVER!  I'm here till 3 pm today (then off to watch the softball team take on Trinity!) and again 10-4 tomorrow (Sunday, June 2).  Hope to see you!

Happy crafting!
Carrie

Fabric Bonanza!

I decided I need to MOVE some of the fabric out of the house: hubby is looking to do some work on a couple of rooms but CAN'T due to fabric constraints.  So.... it's time!

If you live nearby, come on over this weekend!  I'm marking most fabric 50% off!  Here's what it looks like at this moment:

I'll post more pix once it's all beautiful and organized!  If you don't live near and see something you just HAVE to add to your stash, let me know and we'll see what we can do!  I can fit about 5 yards or so in a flat rate envelop and LOTS in a flat rate box to save you money, so let me know!

Did I mention I am cooking, too?  I'll have lots of treats available (things from my OTHER blog!!)

Till later,
Carrie

Scrapbooking eBook

I have way too many pictures that NEED to get into a scrapbook.  I have the materials.  I just need the motivation.  I may have found it.

While searching the Internet the other day, I came across an eBook filled with titles and quotes that should put a fire under me to get started!  Then I looked at what else came WITH it... yikes:

• Friendly Gifts Craft Sayings e-book 
• Friendly Gifts Scrapbooking for Beginners e-book 
• Be a Scrapbooking Pro e-book
• Digital Scrapbooking Made Easy e-book 
• Scrapbooking Fonts Collection 
• Scrapbooking Kits Collection 
• Scrapbook 3D Title Maker 
• The Ultimate Scrapbooking Guide 
• Scrapbook Software 
• Create-A-Face 
• Scrapbook Generator

At this point I realized two things:
1.  I wasn't going to have any excuses: I am going to have to get back to scrapbooking, print those photos off the computer and haul out the boxes to get this done.  Well... maybe not DONE... but at least a dent made?

2.  I would make sure that my crafting friends also knew about this collection!  I signed up to be an "affiliate" with Terri Burrit, the author, and parked a little link over on the side for folks to see.  Being an "affiliate" means I receive a small compensation when my readers purchase the e-book.  I am so appreciative of any of you that do - it helps support the blogging I do and love.  Hugs and thanks so much!

One of the nifty things is that as an affiliate, I am able to offer a sample to you!  Whooo hooo!  Isn't that cool?  As one of my readers, all you'll need to do is click HERE and viola!  You pop in your email and a link to the sample zip into your inbox!  Wow... the wonders of modern science!  To check out the complete offer for the book, just click Click Here!. 

I am pretty excited to check out the craft sayings eBook, too.  I like playing around with creating posters in PicMonkey - might be a nice source of sayings to work with.

When I went through the sample items,  I found the titles just what I was looking for.  I do want to say that the "resource" page and links ALL seem to take you to more books to purchase - guess that's how this works, but I felt this one was more than enough for me for now.

You do also get a pair of craft eBooks, but in my opinion, they are for beginners.  If you have experimented with crafts and such, these might be a bit basic for you.  Then again, maybe these would be some great ideas for those of you with young children/grandchildren!  The illustrations are very simple sketches - I prefer photographs myself, for a better idea of what I am trying to do.  That's just me.

Take a peek and see what you think.  I think this may just be the kick in the pants I need!

Back a few years ago I was really into scrapbooking and went through quite a few photos, designed lots of pages and created several books.  Here's one page I really liked.  Very simple but tied together both the images (with color and theme) and where we were at at that time in our lives:

That little boy?  He's now almost 30 and STILL works with his dad see yesterday's post about Dodge Hill Family Farms!

So, it looks like I am going to be hauling out the paper & photos, guys!  Guess what YOU'LL be seeing here at Whitt's Kits?  Oh yah... scrapbooking ideas!  Let's get that flashdrive filled and head to Walmart!  :)

Happy crafting,
Carrie

PS.  As mentioned, this is a product you can purchase.  I do receive some compensation from the author, but the opinions of the product are all mine.  The good and the not so.  :)

Dodge Hill Family Farms --> Now on Facebook!!

Just what I needed: one more social network to manage, right?  Well, what's a mom/wife to do when your first born asks for help?  Create.

If you've followed my blog or know us, you'll know that for the past several years hubby and son have been doing maple sugaring.  They love it and we love the sweet stuff!  "We're going to the sap house" is one of my grandson's favorite sayings!

Realizing that social media is king, I told the two of them they needed a presence.  "Great!"  was the reply.  "When are you going to do it?"  So, I sat down yesterday and played around till I got what would be our first shot at it.  Here's the images I came up with.

First, is the profile:

Here's the cover shot, done "collage":

I created both in PicMonkey.  I'm getting better all the time with that one.  :)

Well... come on over, if you haven't yet, and "Like" the new page.  We'd love it and hey, I have to do my job, right?

Enjoy the day,
Carrie

Fun with my grandsons!

On Friday I posted some ideas for fun with my grandsons this past weekend on Friday Favs. There was some food fun and crafty thoughts.  We had a chance to do several of them and I thought I'd share the results.

I didn't get a chance to do the fruit plate - they ate the fruit BEFORE I could make it look all cute!  Oh well, it was yummy anyway.

We didn't need to make our own instruments (didn't get a chance to, really) but the boys found a couple recorders and regaled us with screeching noise music for awhile. It improved greatly when we popped on a Youtube video of The Lumineers - "Ho Hey" and one sang along while the other kept the beat with the recorder - seriously funny!

I would highly recommend the terrariums.  As I thought, it was a nice chunk of time spent outside collecting goodies. Myster was all about the plants - younger brother just wanted rocks!!  They filled the containers, toted them to the porch in their wheelbarrow and set to work creating once they were inside.

Youngest enjoyed pouring the rocks and sand in - he FILLED it with plants.  The above photo is Memere's "thinning" result.  Their terrariums came out pretty good for a 2 and a 3-year-old! You should definitely zip over to Parent Pretty so see how to make these.  Shauna looked at the site, made a list of what they needed and took that out with them because Myster loves to check things off!

The other huge hit was the pretzels!  As expected, the dough rolling was way too much fun!!  I'll be posting the recipe we used, our adaptations and some photos of the results on What's to Eat?  soon.  Till then... here's some process:

It was fantastic fun and the resulting pretzels were delicious!  Way to go, boys!

Have a great day and happy creating,
Carrie

Monday Mining: National Sunscreen Day - Let's Protect!

Good morning, friends!

Today is National Sunscreen Day.  As a field hockey coach I am VERY aware of the damage of sun - I often have to remind my athletes at the beginning of our season to be sure to protect themselves.  To that end, I thought I'd share some ideas I found that would help in this vein - how can we protect ourselves from the sun?

How about some DIY sunscreen?  Homemade Mommy has a recipe for what sounds like a lovely bar you rub on.  I tend to use a higher SPF than she says this has, but I like the lack of nasty chemicals.  Anyone else have an idea for this?

Image from www.homemademommy.net

Love this DIY straw hat from PS I Made This!  What a cute idea - bet you could find one to work with at Goodwill or some such place. 

Image from www.psimadethis.com/

Have some fabric handy?  Dulce Taylor will walk you through exactly how to make this project!  I want one made of the fabric she used - it's lovely. 

Image from www.dulcetaylor.blogspot.com/

This easy-peasy tutorial is perfect for a beach cover-up.  It's one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" sort of things!  See how she made this over at Make & Takes.

Image from www.makeandtakes.com

How about a DIY beach tent?  A few sticks, some fabric and Apartment Therapy says we can all pitch a tent!

Image via www.apartmenttherapy.com - by Alysha Findley

Your skin isn't the only thing that needs protecting!  Anyone else carry their Kindle or iPad around?  Daisies and Dominoes has a great project for protecting this valuable gadget!

Image from www.daisiesanddominos.blogspot.com

Do you have any other ideas for great ways to protect yourself and those you love from the summer sun?  Let' us know!

Have a creative day,
Carrie