Three G's Crafts

Secret Revealed!

2010-06-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

So I guess you could say that 3Gs is moving. We are heading over to our new digs at Four Ribbons! All of your favorite posts from here will be moving over there as well but before we clutter up the place, we'd love you for you to go take a look around.

In addition to our new website, we also have an Etsy store and facebook page so look us up!

Jessica is at it AGAIN.... you want to WIN???

2010-06-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

Katrina and I have this silly friend who is just plain amazing. Her blogs are out of control. Go check out Jessica and see what she is GIVING AWAY FREE....

I so want to win!

Just call me Cap'n Kooky

2010-06-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

Ya'll I am totally rogue blogging right now. I've been begging Denise to let me let ya'll in on our secret and she hid the freaking goods! I don't think I can wait until June 18th! I did grab one picture before she got it all stashed away.

It fits huh? Like I'm a pirate. I pirate who wants to share secrets! Argh matey!

So as if one big secret isn't enough, go check out this cutie patootie new blog and follow her so that ThreeG's can get a much needed facelift! If left up to me I might make it all pirate all the time around here and I'm pretty sure you'd get tired of me talking piratese (it's a word, a pirate word). OK, so it is a contest and we wouldn't be gauranteed to win, but we most certainly cannot win if she doesn't get 70 followers! So go. Check her out and become a follower. I'm off to try to sniff out the stash and steal more pictures.

Rooster curtains

2010-05-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Remember this fabric?

It now hangs beautifully in Denise's kitchen!

These curtains were so much fun to make! Not only were they for a fabulous friend, but I think they are super cute! Now I just want to find more windows to make curtains for! All my windows are currently treated wtih super heavy custom valences that the owner likes. So no curtains for me. :(

A glimpse of my stash

2010-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ask any crafter and they will tell you that they have a stash. If they don't, then I don't know what is wrong with them. The idea behind the stash is that you don't know what you might want to work on at any given time, or something is just too beautiful not to have to make something with later.

I enjoy multiple crafts, but currently sewing is my go to method of creating and my fabric stash reflects it. Here is a little peak into some of my favorite stash items.

Rooster fabric for kitchen curtains for one Mrs. Denise.

Something yummy for...a purse? a skirt?

This is definitely gonna be a bag of some sort.

Delicious flowers for a shirred sundress for me.

Three fabrics planned for a purse

Socks for baby/toddler legwarmers.

Sundress for Madelyn.

Ruffley something for Madelyn

Some batik napkins I found at a thrift shop that I'm thinking of turning into an apron or Madelyn sized picnic blanket.

I have several more ideas for projects, a few projects that I have to do, and more than I count things I want to do. Plus now I want to start cross stitching again...at least that doesn't take up too much room. :)

Suggestion Saturday. Now with more giveaways!

2010-05-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here at Three G's Crafts we aim to please so this is our third Suggestion Saturday. Denise and I really enjoy the challenge of creating edible and delicious things from our suggestion box. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Denise secretly ~~enjoys~~ tolerates being bossed around the kitchen. This time I think we should go for an appetizer / party food.

If you are up to the challenge to inspire us the rules are as follows:

1. Suggestions for THREE ingredients are to be posted in the comment section by 9pm Monday (Pacific time)

2. The ingredients need to be items that we can find at any local grocery store.

3. The winning suggestion will be drawn randomly Tuesday morning.

4. We will each create an appetizer/party food and prepare it separately without sharing our ideas.

5. We will post our creations Friday.

Plus, because it is Satuday night and I'm ~~grouchy~~ ~~tired~~ feeling sad that my Marine isn't here with me I want comments. Lots of comments. I'm not ashamed to ask. So spread the news to your friends, to your crazy uncle, or just any random person on the street and show us some love.

If we get 30 comments from 30 different people, I will send a prize to a randomly drawn name, and if they were referred to us by one of our regular readers, the regular reader will recieve a duplicate prize. I'm thinking a basket of goodies.

So...if you are here from somebody's recommendation, let us know in the comments!

Comments/suggestions/shameless plugs will end on Monday at 9pm.

Coming up...Suggestion Saturday!

2010-05-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Get your suggestions ready! It's time for another installment of Suggestion Saturday! Not today though, because it's Suggestion SATURDAY and today is Thursday. I might be crazy, but I'm not that crazy. However, I AM crazy enough to take suggestions on what our suggestions should be for.

Appetizers? Desserts? Crafts of the non-food type? Breakfast?

Let us know in the comments!

-K

Dear sewing machine

2010-05-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello love!

I miss you! I miss the gentle hum of your motor as I caress your pedal with my toes, I miss the delicate way you allow me to create beautiful (or sometimes cute) clothes for my sweet pumpkin. I have had dreams about you since we have been apart and every time I see a piece of clothing that isn't quite right or a beautiful fabric, I think of you and the way that you are able to make everything better. I have forgiven you for the bolo-jacket mess, it wasn't your fault, I think the fabric had it out for us that day, it's all behind us now. We can move forward and try new things, new fabric, new loves. I look at my beautiful purses, one made by you and one made by your friend - Bernina, I can't wait for us to create more together.

I promise that once we are reunited that I will make beautiful things with you again. I already have some new fabric for you to work your magic on, together we are unstoppable.

Til we meet again.
All my love.
-K

Madelyn's "Daddy" Skirt

2010-04-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today I read on the calendar at preschool that Friday is "uniform day". It's a military base, and the preschool is on base, so of course, that means CAMIS! Knowing that I have a girly girl and not wanting to shell out the money for her own set of camis right now, I chose to use one of Chris' old blouses and make her a skirt!

This skirt is made using only the front panels of the shirt. The front and back are the front "shirt tails" and the pockets are from the chest and obviously the buttons are...well...buttons. I had to piece it all together because Chris obviously has a larger chest than Madelyns waist. :)

The pockets are on the sides, here is the side with the US Marines nametape. The pink waistband was a last minute decision and as you can see in the pictures it is covered by her shirt, so it's no really a design element. Just a splash of girlyness.

Madelyn did not want to remove her purple pants. She was a very reluctant model. I have better pictures on the camera but not on the card and I don't know where my cord is. So this was take 2 of pictures and she was not interested.

Hop! Hop! Hop!

Finally! A little bit of cooperation. :)

Linking up to:

I am stalking this new site...

2010-04-13T15:43:00.001-07:00

Copy-Kat

2010-04-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I'm pretty much a copy-Kat. I see something I love and I HAVE to have one myself, except I usually make a few changes. This bag that Denise made is no exception. :)

However, in the sewing process, I made several mistakes, learned several things about the tutorial we followed and came this close to running out of thread. This is all that was left and my pink bobbin was empty as well.

Once my pretty was finished, she went outside to sun herself on a rock.

Not wanting to burn her delicate cotton, she moved to the grass for a bit of play.

Then she was hungry for a snack. I think keys, a small wallet, and some lip gloss will fill her nicely!

Then we both took some time to smell the roses. It was a wonderful first meeting! I cannot wait for our first date out of the house!

Photo Friday

2010-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Christine over at From an Igloo I recently made this cute little Scrappy Clutch...

It turned out a little wonky but hey it was my first bag and my machine isn't that great at ruffling, better go find a ruffle foot for it. Katrina and I have been drooling over the Hawthorne Threads site lately dreaming of all kinds of bags, clothes and yummy stuff we can make with all these fabulous fabrics...

Scentsy WINNER announced

2010-03-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

email me your contact information at threegscrafts@gmail.com

CONGRATULATIONS

Scentsy Give Away...

2010-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

A true GIVE A WAY!!!

A super sweet friend Jonnie Mellen is offering up some wonderful Scentsy items for Three G's Crafts to GIVE A WAY!!! She is offering 1 wall plug-in with 2 Scentsy Bars of your choice!

What is Scentsy?

Scentsy began in 2003 with the powerfully simple idea of aromatic candles – decorative warmers with wax melted by the heat of a light bulb instead of a traditional wick and flame. Scentsy also carries hanging fresheners for cars, travel tins, and room sprays.

What's so special about Scentsy?

I am in love with lighting candles but once we started having the girls candles became dangerous and strictly decorative. That is what is great about Scentsy they are plug-ins, no open flames. The bars are scented like waxed candles (there are over 80 fragrances). Scentsy bars are not dangerous for children or pets (great news for moms and dads).

Here's how you can enter to win....

**Please note: You must write a separate comment for each entry.

#1. Leave us a comment, go to Jonnie's site and tell us what your favorite burner and scent are (if you have never tried Scentsy tell us which burner you are drooling over and scent you want to SMELL for the first time). This is the mandatory enrty. Make sure we can contact you through your blog or email (so we can notify you if you win).

Want a second chance to win?

#2. Sign up to "Follow" our blog. Add yourself as a follower on the left sidebar. If you are already a follower, just leave us a commet and let us know. You'll be entered again.

Want a third chance to win?

#3. Post about this giveaway on your own blog or on Facebook with a link to this blog post giveaway (make sure we can find you or you find us) .

This giveaway will run until

Friday, March 26th 9pm pacific time.

The winner will be announced on Saturday, March 27th.

Good Luck...

Instant Gratification

2010-03-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

There is nothing better to get me out of a crafting funk than a little instant gratification on a beautiful Saturday!

I started with some old coasters my mother in law purchased for us some 7 years ago. I've never been a fan of their design, but they are really functional. You can see on the bottom one that Madelyn had already begun to pretty them up a little.

I started out by painting one coat of stone colored paint so that the darker colors wouldn't show through my pretty papers. While I was painting I noticed something pretty neat about the paint that was already on the coasters. See it?

Here is the finished set of 4 coasters. I have another set to do, but Chris likes the tractors so I may only do the other two cat coasters (once I find them???). I really like the subtle tones and pretty patterns.

I originally bought these pretty papers for a project re-doing my tv tables from their shabby wood to something glamorous but after a simple coat of stone-colored spray paint I was happy with them. I'm excited to still have these pretties in my daily living space as a little splash of yumminess!

Linking up to:

Monkey skirt!

2010-03-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

One really fun thing about having a toddler to sew for is that you can make really fun print skirts! Here is a super easy twirly skirt that I made for my little monkey!

The fabric:

Madelyn contimplating the fabrics for two skirts (the other one is almost done)

Finished skirt!

Vanilla Ice Cream FAILURE

2010-03-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

When my Mom came for a recent visit we enjoyed one of our favorite past times, THRIFTING. We like to plan it so we can visit the thrift store on base which has very limiting hours. I was very excited on the trip to find a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for $2.50. I got it home and seemed to work. So finally the girls and I sat down last night to attempt to make some vanilla ice cream.

Well it was a FAILURE... I am not sure if it was my recipe, probably because I switched out the cream and tried to use half and half. I really don't think it was the machine it self because it runs and I did everything by the online insturctions. So we will try again soon.

Chocolate Layer Cake

2010-03-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

I came across this recipe for a decadent Chocolate Layer Cake recipe in the current Rachel Ray magazine and I had to try it.

Here are the ingredients

(I really enjoy setting up ingredient shots)

making the cake....

these cakes smell so chocolaty and look like bownies.

I forgot to take pictures of the frosting making process and mine didn't turn out looking like the one in the magazine, it might be because the recipe called for heavy cream and I only had half and half on hand. It still turned out so rich and yummy.

My family has a very top secret Chocolate Cream Pie recipe that I am forbidden to share and it is so rich and so good, this cake... is the cake version of that pie.

you really need a glass of milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to go with this cake.

Fellow bloggers Give A Way....

2010-03-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

Lesley over at Homemade Grits is having a Marc Jacobs themed give a way this week....

go HERE to check it out...

You might win one of these

Good LUCK!!!

Suggestion Saturday - DENISE'S "Loaded Mac & Cheese"

2010-03-07T08:38:00.000-08:00

Suggestion Saturday reveal:

The winning suggestion from Jen - bacon, onion and macaroni noodles

( I forgot to take the ingredient shot before cooking the bacon up, whoops.

I had such a problem snacking on the little bacon niblets... tastey!

Next time I will have to fry up two pounds to compensate for such snacking)

My added ingredients to make the dish MINE, butter, half and half, bread crumbs, spinach, nutmeg, gruyere cheese, extra sharp white cheddar, parmesan cheese

I cooked up the bacon unitl crispy, removed it from the pan to drain on paper towels. In about 2 Tbs of the rest of the bacon fat I melted butter to satue the onion until translucent. I then added the half and half until bubbly seasoned it well with salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg. Next, I added the shredded cheddar and gruyere cheeses until melted (smelled so yummy). Meanwhile, I boiled my noodles til aldente, strained them and put them back into the stock pot for mixing purposes. To the noodles, I added the bacon and two handfuls of fresh spinach. Once my cheese sauce was complete I poured it over my noodle, bacon, spinach mix. I stirred until combined and then poured it into my greased baking dish.

Then sprinkled the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese over top. (pictures below on left)

Here is a HUGE hit in my family, including my Mom and brother whom are visiting for the weekend.

Denise's Loaded Mac & Cheese

Oh, next time I make this, which I will, I will add atleast another handful of the spinach, just wasn't enough for me. :)

ENJOY, now go start cooking...

Don't forget to check out KATRINA's take, you know it will be good.

Suggestion Saturday - Katrina's Chicken alfredo w/ carmelized onions and bacon.

2010-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Warning! I cannot be held responsible for any damage caused by drool on your keyboard after looking at all of these scrumptious pictures! When you are done here, go look at Denise's and then head to the kitchen to whip up one of our creations on your own!

With the required ingredients, I made a chicken alfredo with carmelized onions and bacon over cellentani pasta.

Here is our cast of characters: Cellentani pasta, alfredo sauce, thick sliced bacon, chicken tenderloins, and an onion. Not shown is the pat of butter I started it all off with.

I like to work on building flavors so I wanted to start with a base in a skillet that would handle everything. So in goes the butter!

and the thick sliced bacon that I cut into smaller pieces.

Then the chopped onion. I only added half of the onion at this point and in hindsight would have waited on the bacon to crisp a little more before adding it

mmm...bacony, oniony yumminess

After the onions carmelized and the bacon crisped up enough I set them aside and threw the chicken tenders in to cook. I sliced them into slightly larger than bite size pieces.

I added in the other half of the onion at this point and let it sweat a bit. Again, layering up the yumminess!

I added in the jar of alfredo sauce. I would have tried to make my own sauce, but I have not had any luck with cream based sauces in the past and I wasn't going to try my luck tonight. I just wasn't feeling like losing a meal to scorched cream.

I kind of took artistic license with the "macaroni" portion and used a heavier, heartier macaroni pasta rather than the traditional elbow. I wanted something that could hold it's own with this heavy sauce.

Served all up in a bowl, with a grind of black pepper and yum yum!

I will be making this dish again. Next time I will add bell peppers and mushrooms to the sauce. The heartiness can handle a few more flavors and definitely more veggies. Any suggestions on others to add?

Welcoming Bonnie to the wonderful world of sewing.

2010-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

**edited to add picture**

Today we welcomed our good friend, Bonnie into the wonderful world of sewing. We started out our adventure at our local drug, I mean fabric, supplier, JoAnne's. We started our innocently enough, looking for old lady fabric for Bonnie's girls, and Denise going on her own mission for applique something or other. Bonnie found some super cute fabric, one of which she stole from Denise, and we got our numbers for the cutting table. That's when I realized that we were no where near ready to be cut! So we laid our numbers down and headed to the ribbon, ruffle, and button aisles. So much fun! Bonnie kept asking me what kind of ribbon to use and I was absolutely no help because I had no flipping clue how to make what she was planning to make, so I kept running between Bonnie and Denise asking questions. I felt like a translator, I'm sure I drove them nuts. Then we found a cute ruffle and some cute buttons and headed over to the notions. This is where Bonnie said the words she never should have said. She said "get me whatever I will need" and I think I went a little crazy just throwing things in her cart, but we found out that she used everything we bought, so it was all good.

Pins, scissors, measuring tape, pin cushion tomato, bobbins, and 4 spools of thread later we moved to the patterns and looked at the rotary cutters. This is where I got jealous. Bonnie bought the self healing mat, rotary cutter and straight edge pack that I'm drooling for. I have the self healing mat though so it's just a little drool. We had fun looking at cute little girly things because if we ever get our full clans together (does my one child count as a clan?) there are 9 girls in all. I think that warrants lots of ruffles, glitter, and pretties.

Bonnie got her fabric, elastic, and ruffles and we headed to the checkout after 2 hours of shopping! I would like to interject here that the kids were wonderful! Madelyn was at school and Emmalyn just rode around so sweetly in the shopping cart, Paige stayed with us and Claire was as sweet as sugar in the stroller! I'm beginning to wonder if it's my daughter that's the heathen?

Anyway, at the checkout we made Bonnie sign up for the mailing list, laughing about how we had bossed her around the whole store.

Bonnie headed over to my house to get started and after winding a bobbin and figuring out her machine, she made a dress for Emmalyn! It is so beautiful and I can't wait to see her two girlys being so sweet and matching! For a beginner, Bonnie is an awesome sewer! Even if she does that crazy measure and cut straight lines thing. ;)

SO sorry... very late! The WINNING Suggestion is.....

2010-03-04T08:29:00.001-08:00

Since I am late posting this to be fair to Katrina we will now do our

Creation Reveal by Sunday night at 9pm. THANK you followers.

SUGGESTION SATURDAY - 2nd Take

2010-02-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Here at Three G's Crafts we aim to please so this is our second Suggestion Saturday. Katrina and I really enjoyed our first "cooking" suggestions we recieved two weeks ago and our creations were so yummy. I have to say I actually like being bossed around my own kitchen. We decided to go for another main dish SUGGESTION.

If you are up to the challenge to inspire us the rules are as follows:

1. Suggestions for THREE ingredients are to be posted in the comment section by 9pm Sunday (Pacific time)

2. The ingredients need to be items that we can find at any local grocery store.

3. The winning suggestion will be drawn randomly Monday morning.

4. Katrina and I will each create a main dish and prepare it separately without sharing our ideas.

5. We will post our creations Thursday.

We had 9 suggestions last time, FOLLOWERS I challenge you to submit 20 individual suggestions (1 suggestion of three ingredients each) and I will offer my own GIVE AWAY.....

CAN YOU DO IT?????

Labor of love....

2010-02-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Because I enjoy fixing things and making them pretty, I enjoy doing things that may seem "chore like" to others.

Chris returned from the field and his trust field pillow had split a seam (it's just two pieces of fabric serged together with some batting stuffed in) and he asked if I could fix it. I took great pride in ironing some nice seams to reinforce the entire pillow (don't want another blowout).

I had to remove the batting...it was pretty packed, after all this pillow has been around since 2003 and has been to Iraq and tons of training exercises.

I was so happy to show Chris his new improved pillow when he got home! I'll be making him a removeable cover for it and possibly a whole new pillow that I can send when he is deployed.

-Katrina

PS - posting and crafting from me is probably going to be slow for a bit. We are gearing up for a a deployment and something about saying goodbye to my husband makes me fell less than inspired.

Katrina's Buttered Fennel Chicken

2010-02-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight I got funky in the kitchen and created a meal using the ingredients from our Suggestion Saturday. I'm not gonna lie. Finding the fennel proved to be a little more difficult than I thought and by difficult I mean that I had to go to a grocery store 2 miles from my house instead of the one 20 miles away that I started at. For a minute I thought I might have to prepare this for you:

What? It's chicken, onion, and fennel (it's right there in the italian seasoning).

But fortunately for you (and my family) I found the fennel, except good ol Albertson's tried to trick me by labling it anise.

My ingredients: fennel, white wine, butter, chicken, onion.

I cut my onion in half and then sliced it. I sliced the bulb of my fennel and added to a hot pan of butter!

Fennel bulbs are really interesting...

After the fennel and onions were translucent I set them aside, added a little more butter and threw in my chicken to brown.

After the chicken browned, I had this yumminess...I added the white wine and scraped the yummy buttery bits off the bottom and added the chicken and veggies back to the pan to simmer for a bit longer.

My finished plate with cheesy mashed potatoes and the lovely salad Andrea made with avocado, carrots, garlic, onion, and greens.

This was super yummy and something I will definitely make again! (sorry for the crappy picture, I ran out of natural light)

Check out Denise's creation HERE.

Suggestion Saturday results - Denise's Creation

2010-02-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

I was BOSSED around my own kitchen tonight all in the name of Three G's Crafts. I was told to make a main dish with chicken, fennel and onion by GEORGE. This was going to be a challenge for me. I do not like fennel, anise or licorice at all. YUCK. Last Saturday Katrina and I held our first Suggestion Saturday, asking our followers to suggest ingredients to create a main dish. The name was drawn on Sunday and we had until today to create our own take on the suggestions. Here is mine.

Lemon Fennel Chicken over Spinach with Mushroom Risotto

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 lg. onion, cut in half then sliced
1 fennel bulb, sliced and rinsed, greens for garnish
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 lemons juiced
8 oz of baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1/2 C of white wine
olive oil
salt and pepper

fresh spinach

mushroom risotto (save for later date)

Reese helping me juice my lemons

the chicken sauted in olive oil and butter, its simply seasoned with salt and pepper

the fennel, onion, galic and mushrooms in the white white

Oh my goodness... beautiful and YUMMY.

This was my plate, it was half a breast butterflied. I just placed the vegetables over the spinach which just naturally wilted the spinach, garnished the chicken with fennel sprigs and lemon. Served it with the risotto. I loved it. Craig kept eating the veggies out of the pan while I was plating it so I think he liked it a lot too.

I was really surprised at how hard it was to find the fresh fennel here in CA. I found it at my third store. I have to say this was a blast to do. I found out that I like COOKED fennel a lot. What do you think, especially you George. This was your Suggestion.

KATRINA what is your creation???

And the winner is...

2010-02-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

Just keeping it real with a spaghetti covered dress and weird sounding mommy.

Winner, email me with your info so I can get your blocks in the mail.

Jessica is GOOD to Three G's

2010-02-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Jessica has been very good to Three G's Crafts, she is a FAMOUS blogger and now has an out of CONTROL Vlog... I would love to win this Give Uh Way, go check her out HERE...

SUGGESTION selected....

2010-02-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to our awesome followers.

And the Suggestion Saturday selected is:

GEORGE - his wonderful suggestions for our main dish are chicken, fennel and onion.

Check back on Thursday to see what Katrina and I each create. Can't wait. I hope its YUMMY!

Suggestion Saturday is HERE..

2010-02-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Are you ready to take control of Three G's? We are putting ourselves at the mercy of you, our wonderful followers and readers!

Suggestion Saturday is all about you telling Katrina and I what to do. We are hoping to do two a month and each time we will have a different theme. Our first Suggestion Saturday is going to be a "cooking" craft. We are in need of some ideas in the kitchen. We are asking you to “suggest” three ingredients to inspire us each to create a main dish.

The rules are as follows:

1. Suggestions for ingredients are to be posted in the comment section by noon Sunday (Pacific time)

2. The ingredients need to be items that we can find at any local grocery store.

3. The winning suggestion will be drawn randomly Sunday evening.

4. Katrina and I will each create a main dish and prepare it separately without sharing our ideas.

5. We will post our creations Thursday.

Your suggested ingredients can be anything, spices, protein, and vegetable. Please keep in mind that they do need to be edible so please don't make us create a main dish using sardines, cinnamon, and m&ms.

**We reserve the right to disqualify any ridiculous suggestions that will not be edible by our families.

As promised...

2010-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

I guess we promised a give away when we hit 30 followers huh? You guys blow me away! I can't believe we're at 31 (as of rightthisminute)! I didn't even have time to put the finishing touches on the prize! I promise it will be done before the winner is even chosen.

So...if you are already a follower (rightthisminute) you get an extra entry in this drawing. Just my way of saying THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU!

The prize is hand painted/papered blocks that spell Easter on one side and Spring on the other! These are my new favorite thing to make and are so pretty and fun to display on my mantle or in an entry way, or as part of a centerpiece! I am honestly in love with these blocks and so excited to share! Without any more talk, here they are:

Spring

Easter (there is a blank block in this set in which I will add a decoration of your choice - cross, Easter egg, bunny, etc - whatever fits your decor)

Just showing a little bit of both sides:

To enter:

Mandantory one entry: Comment on this blog post and tell me your favorite thing about spring.

Extra entries:

1. Blog it

2. Put a link to this blog post on Facebook

3. Become a follower

**If you are one of our first 31 followers you still need to comment to enter and we will make sure you get your extra entry. I have the list of our current followers so you will not be missed. :)

It's that easy! Leave a separate comment for each entry. Entries close on Monday at midnight and the winner will be drawn on Tuesday!

Good luck!

Leg warmers in honor of our VA friends

2010-02-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

Even though we now live in sunny Southern California, the bare floors still stay very cool and my baby's knees need some extra lovin as she crawls all over, did I stress ALL enough, no? Ok, ALL over.

Here are the latest leg warmers that are snuggling up on her chunky thighs.

We just need 1 more follower.....

before the give aways begin.

Denise :)

Sneak peak Sunday..

2010-02-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

Just a sneak peak at some upcoming fun! 6 more followers and we get to have a give away! Spread the word!

FINALLY back in action....

2010-02-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

I am so happy that one of us over here at Three G's Crafts has been crafting. Thank you KATRINA for holding down the fort. I have been super busy with the girls, appointments, a sick husband, a visit from my parents and preparing my house and shopping for our 10th Annual Super Bowl Party. Which is where this next trio of shirts was inspired for. Go COLTS.... We aren't even Colts fans but you have to pick a team and go with it. So, I decided very last minute to make the three girls shirts to show their temporary team spirit.

My fabric choices.

My three girls

The oldest, Reese. I hand made her ruffle, my first ever. Thanks to the tutorial over at MADE. The adorable Market skirts are theme idea for Reese's 6th birthday party in September. I need to "kidnap" Katrina and go for another trip to JoAnnes for searsucker. I want to work on more ruffles because this one didn't come out ruffly (did I just make up a word?) enough.

Here is my ever silly Paige. I love her eyelet lace trim.

And my baby doll, Claire. I love her little shirt. I love the dark blue ruffle on the bottom. I attempted a pair of bloomers for her but the didn't quite get them right. Oh well, next time.

I can not wait to get started on their little shirts for

Saint Patrick's Day.

Oooh and what are we doing for GIVE AWAYS?

We need 30 FOLLOWERS first.

So start following..

DENISE :)

Another ruffle shirt - completed!

2010-02-04T20:47:00.001-08:00

I finsished this tonight and couldn't even wait to post it until tomorrow when I could do a proper photo shoot with natural light!

This is my favorite part of the fabric, it looks like a little wave of flowers and hearts!

After I finished sewing the straps I needed to attach them to the shirt but I couldn't find it. I looked on the floor, under everything I had on the table, in the family room and just couldn't find it, so I stood up to get a better look and found it right behind me on Madelyn! I had put it on to check strap length and forgotten to take it off. She was just playing happily, not questioning why mommy had put some weird shirt over her nightgown.

One strap on, checking for placement...and apparently it's good for running. Like how my family room looks after I spend time at the sewing machine?

Finished product! This one is a shirt so it's supposed to be short and since we weren't doing a proper photo shoot I saw no need for pants. :)

I promise fun pictures tomorrow that include something on the bottom. :)

-Katrina

A very forgiving bread...

2010-02-02T20:27:00.001-08:00

10 days ago I was the proud recipient of a bag full of fermenting batter. It was lovely and yeasty and outgrowing the sandwich bag it was in. Unfortunately I kept forgetting to purchase gallon sized bags and had to add 3 cups of ingredients to said little bag. Luckily Denise eventually came to my rescue and sent me home with one after I whined about my woes. I still didn't move the batter until the next morning when I walked in the kitchen and the bag was close to splitting. Oops. So I dumped the sandwich bag contents into the gallon bag and turned around to throw the little bag away and the batter decided that the floor looked more fun so it morphed and wiggled and glided it's way down my counter top. Only about 1/2 cup got away so I continued with the process of mushing and burping the batter.

Tonight was day 10 and time to bake. I followed the directions knowing that I had lost some batter, I figured I would just make it work.

OK, I followed all of the directions except for one ingredient and I just have a problem with putting instant pudding in a recipe that claims to be from the Amish. Seriously people? The Amish use instant pudding? I don't think so. Oh, and I didn't follow how much cinnamon or vanilla you should use either. I used more...lots more. Then I misread and forgot to add baking powder even though I know that if you have baking soda you need baking powder. Oh well.

Oh and maybe I didn't have loaf pans so I just used some small baking dishes.

I'm maybe not so good at the directions, huh?

And guess what? My bread is still yummy! Just goes to show that directions are made to be broke or maybe I am brilliant but most likely this is just a really forgiving bread.

-Katrina

Jessica's AMAZING Give Uh Ways continue....

2010-02-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

Jessica keeps cranking out all these amazing give a ways over on her blog... She is just down right FAMOUS.... I think she is hilarious and her family just beautiful. Go check her blog out HERE to try to win a beautiful goodie from Once Upon a Costume

Stay tuned, next week we will be featured as a Giv Uh Way vendor. So FOLLOW Jessica...

Knitting, Pearling, What am I doing...OH MY!!

2010-01-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

My name is Kim but most know me around Denise's house as Aunt MaeMae! Yes, craig's sister here...ready to show my secrets (or mishaps) of my fun knitting experience! I was feeling alittle empty and needing some craft time (missing being around mom and Denise, there are always crafty ideas looming near them)...so I go to Michael's, buy size 15 knitting needles, and a ball of yarn.

I start off with a regular knot. Many suggest using a slipknot but I was in such a hurry to start my craft, I just did what I thought would work. You'll see later that this

may not always be the best way to go about things. I knit about five or six rows and I'm told by a friend of mine (a gentlemen officer in the Navy) that I'M DOING IT ALL WRONG, I'M NOT

EVEN KNITTING, I'M PEARLING! Oh whoops. What's pearling and why does this guy know more than me? Haha. Now I'm really determined to keep doing my "pearling" knot and somehow prove that THIS knot will still work.

So I press on, no matter where I'm at...on the way to dinner, watching a movie, or on a road trip...I'm knitting, oh excuse, pearling away. I have my trusty needles and my faithful pearling knot.

I start to see about 20 rows now and I'm wondering how long this scarf/blanket/whatever the heck this is, is going to be! One day, I feel it's time...time to learn to end this and see what I created. I

go to youtube.com and search "Ending knitting a scarf". I see the term 'casting off' so I run with it and search "Casting off". So for once, I actually listen to directions and learn how to cast off. It took a few tries and a couple of really ugly knots, but I started to cast off. I was actually seeing results! I love it! I finally cast off the last knot, place the needles on the table, and starting jumping up and down!

I HAD MADE MY OWN SCARF! YAY ME! There are a few random holes, knots in my scarf that I'm not sure how they got there, but it is very warm and I know my mom will love it! No matter what craft I'm doing, I like to use alittle, 'just jump in the mud and start swimming' attitude.

Once you come up for breath and realize you've jumped in the wrong 'knitting pool', go back and read the directions, to see if you like them. If you don't, then try it on your own! You will still produce a masterpiece because it will be YOUR masterpiece! Happy crafting!

I Heart this wreath...

2010-01-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

In my journey around this here interweb I have been seeing really cute burlap hearts like this one on Craftaholics Anonymous:

So my partner in craft Denise called me up the other day and told me that she had some raw muslin that was in the stuff that her mom brought down and offered it to me to make my heart.

It is actually pretty nice muslin, very natural. So I set to work on trying to make my own wreath with what I had around the house. I had read somewhere (I can't remember where, please forgive me) that one person had used a coat hanger, so I tried that.
Um yeah, it was a little too stiff and not bendy enough for my liking. Remember, this is one of my "on a whim" crafts and therefore I wasn't willing to put in sweat or blood. As I was rooting around for a wire cutter it hit me that I hadn't taken down my greenery wreath from the holidays. Score! All those little pine branches were held on by thin wire. So I scavanged that wire. After playing with the fabric some I discovered that it was too flimsy to do the nifty little folds. Sure, I could have starched it or used fabric stiffener, but I was in instant gratification mode so I improvised and I tucked the wire inside one long fabric strip and braided it in with two other strips. Then I got real professional like and held it all together with a twist of the wire and safety pin.

As you can tell, it's a fairly small heart and my walls are cream. So I tried hanging it different places and just wasn't digging it the way it faded into the walls. At this point I called Denise and told her that she was going to be the recipient of said heart because I thought it would look cute hanging in her kitchen with her new valance. In the process of talking to Denise my mind started going, and I starting thinking and I ran to the office and grabbed a frame and got off the phone with Denise because she doesn't need to be privvy to the craziness that is my train of thought (well, not tonight she didn't), grabbed some of the pretty pretty scrapbooking paper I have stashed and now there is no way she is getting my heart!
The glass in this particular frame had cracked and the black is the cardboard that came with the frame with some pretty paper taped on using double sided tape! This is hanging above my fireplace and it looks kind of lonely so I guess I better get to work on his friends!

I had this post ready last night and woke up to find this morning that Linda of Craftaholics Anonymous was having a fun mclinky party! How awesome is that?

-Katrina

Busy baking week..

2010-01-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

This week I had two potlucks to attend and on a serious mission not to go to the store until Friday I needed to make things with what I had left in my pantry and refrigerator. Luckily I almost always have the basic baking needs, flour, sugar, butter and most of the time eggs, some weeks we go through a lot and some we don't, it just depends on what the girls want for breakfast and how dedicated my husband is at preparing all his meals before work. So, for last nights meeting I made Amish Friendship Bread. It was my first split on this 'starter' and next week I am going to experiment with it, more to come on that. For this mornings meeting I made homemade brownies. Nothing fancy! I did substitute Andies mints for the the nuts. They turned out YUMMY.

the yummy ingredients

the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla

everything but the mints mixed together... I could eat this just like this.

roughly chopped Andies mints

layering them in

I realized I totally forgot to take a picture after I put more batter on top of the mints. Oh well.

The pan is half gone, I hated bringing ANY home.

Guess this means I will have to eat the brownies myself.

Denise :)

From like to LOVE

2010-01-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, I claimed to have finished a dress for Madelyn as modeled by Pooh Booh. After thinking about it and looking at it more and feeling like it resembled a ruffley pillowcase, I made a few changes and now I am in love! A little pleated ruffle at the bottom and some cutie patootie flower buttons and be still my heart. Now this really is a Valentine dress because I love it so much.

Sunday afternoon quick sew....

2010-01-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

My Mom brought this cute red rooster fabric to me when she came down last week. I knew I would eventually want to use it to make something for my kitchen, I wasn't sure when I would, just too busy with all the other projects. This morning I really looked at the fabric and my kitchen and it seemed like the fabric was the EXACT size to make a great simple valance for my kitchen sink window. I debated over it for awhile. Thinking that if we move over the summer I might be using the fabric needlessly. I decided that the other housing on base that we might get moved to are very similar to the ones we are in now and a valance should fit any standard window.

Denise :)

Bailed on the weekend but for good reason....

2010-01-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

I had to bail on Katrina and our crafting weekend. Craig graced us with his presence, he has been in and out of the field for the last two weeks and we jumped at the chance to spend the evening together as a family. I don't have much to share about my crafting day, I jumped back and forth on a few projects not able to stay focused. I did finish one big one, almost. I can't even blog about it because it is a gift for my SIL. Her birthday is the 28th so as soon as she gets the present and opens it I will BLOG CRAZY about it because I am making three more. One, which I will give away the first week in February. More to come on that. Katrina has something fun to give away too. Oh, FOLLOWERS of Three G's Crafts will get more chances to win.... SHARE us. Thanks. Denise

Finished!

2010-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

Our crafting weekend together has been cut short, but I plan to move ahead with as many crafts as I can. I had a list going on and I still want to come as close to finishing that list as I can. And given the fact that my daughter is passed out at 6:30 on a Saturday, I might be able to do so! Of course, I might also be up all night trying to get her back to sleep.

Enough about that though, you don't want to hear me ramble on about Madelyn's sleeping patterns, that's what you go to Frog E. Mama for. :)

While Denise and I were in the back of the house distracted, Madelyn and Paige had fun with the camera and apparently Madelyn wanted to try her hand at sewing. Photographic evidence!

Tulle from 6 half way completed tutus. It's so pretty and so much fun! I think the girls are going to have one in every color!

A ruffle sleeve dress, using the pattern Denise used for her ruffle sleeve shirts. Madelyn is already asleep so you get my stand-in model, Pooh Booh. (Madelyn has named him Pooh Booh and if I say Pooh Bear I am corrected). Isn't he darling?

Pooh Booh hanging with his dress and new tote bag.

I had forgotten how much I love to create with fabric and thread! Thank you Denise for inspiring me to sew again!

-Katrina

Dueling blog posts... Craft Day 1 Denise's version

2010-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

We have completed crafting day one... I really should have posted this last night but I had a revolt from the three year old, waking up with leg pains and wanting to "nug" (snuggle). So as Katrina said in her post we hit the ground running with our crafting adventure.

The day started off in my house with loading up all the girls stuff, two suit cases, pillows, Leo, Lemonade and Bear, and the bouncy seat for Claire. I made sure I gathered up one of my sewing baskets with all of my supplies, plus another bag full of fabrics and patterns. I didn't forget my hefty sewing machine, what a weekend that would have been. We all loaded up into the suburban, which was hard to do because Katrina left her big stroller in the back when I "kidnapped" her last Saturday to go to Joannes. Seriously?

With a trip to the mall and another trip to Joannes completed the adventure started on the way home with Claire (8 months old) choking and a crazy drive across I15 to get to the median to assist Katrina who was half way in the front of my suburban and half in the back with her finger down Claire's throat.... SCARY. Claire was fine, well a little shook up but ok, Katrina drove the rest of the way back to pick up Reese from school. After that we had to stop back by the house to let Ender out and get gas. Well, I was more empty than I thought and after telling Katrina I wasn't going to park in my steep drive to save gas I literally ran out of gas on my street 6 houses down.... LUCKILY I was able to coast to right in front of my driveway. HOW CRAZY. Well I hoped and prayed we had some gas in the garage and we did. I passed it off to Katrina to start putting in to the tank while I let Ender out, when I came back out I noticed the yellow gas can read DIESEL. I about passed out. Katrina and I became detectives, sniffing the evidence in hopes that it truly wasn't diesel and that we could prevent a murder from happening. You know, mine when my husband found out. We stopped putting the fuel into the suburban and tried to start it and it started right up. THANK YOU LORD. I later found out that Craig does plan on putting Diesel in there for his truck.

Claire cried all the way to Kat's house. Once there we all got into our comfy closed set up the dueling sewing machines and laptops and got to work. The tu tu's will be absolutly adorable when done. I guess we will be back at Joannes this week to buy the much needed tulle... I can't wait to finish today's projects...

Serious business...

2010-01-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

Some people might think of crafting as a hobby, something to do in your spare time (whatever that is), a passing fancy, silly girls making stuff with glitter. Well, I am here to tell you that Denise and I take our craft very seriously. No monkey business here. As a matter of fact we are hunkered down in my house now cranking out pretty things. Our kids are fending for themselves and falling to sleep in a sugar coma to the whir of sewing machines. This crafting is serious business.

Our crafting weekend is going wonderful! Except for the gross underestimation of the size of our butts for tutus. In defense of my own butt (Denise will have to defend her's) we also didn't have enough tulle for the little girls tutus either. Our total projects so far are 6 half done tutus and I've made a tote bag that just needs some handles. We are lucky to be that far seeing as how I forgot how to use my sewing machine, Denise ran out of gas, we ordered pizza, and have 4 girls under the age of 5.

-Katrina

Craft for a quarter!

2010-01-20T16:55:00.000-08:00

Madelyn recieved a play kitchen for Christmas and with that came an entire flipping grocery store of plastic food. After picking it up, seeing it piled in the "fridge" and on the floor I decided that we needed to do something with it.

Thus was born the $0.25 basket! I took a shoe box from some sandals I got for Christmas, covered it with one piece of scrapbook paper that was on sale 4/$1, and a coat of modpodge and voila! I'll be making a few more and one for the freezer to help keep things a little more organized and a little less all over the floor.

Missing my Grandmother terribly today....

2010-01-18T16:16:00.000-08:00

WOW, it is super wet here in SoCal. My parents made it down for their quick stop on their way to San Diego. This crazy weather caused their visit to be a bit shorter than I had hoped. People here just don't know how to drive in the rain like they do on the East Coast.

Lunch was yummy and the cupcakes still need some improvements, Mom liked them. I am not ready to share them yet because they just aren't blog worthy to me. Oh well.

So, in all the goodies that my parents brought down were these two little rubbermaid containers of some crafting items that belonged to my Grandmother. As my Mom showed me what kind of goodies where in there we came across these two crochet butterflies that my Grandmother must have crocheted over 14 years ago. So beautiful and precise.

My Grandmother passed away 10 years ago next month. I loved her so much. She was a second Mom to me. My Mom is the youngest of 4, and I was the first Grandchild. I am not trying to be high and might here or boastful in the least, but I was the favorite Grandchild. Nothing against all my wonderful cousins and siblings, it is just for years we lived with my Grandparents and then once we moved from TN to WA, I would spend whole summers with them, as did my brothers but at the time I was already 12 and they were just 4 and 2. My Grandmother and Grandfather were both amazingly talented. My Grandmother could play the piano, and my Grandfather could play the guitar and banjo beautifully, they even recorded a song together. Eventually my Grandfather became a beautiful woodworker, building furniture and making items for my Grandmother to display her crocheting on. I don't think I have any memories of my Grandmother where she wasn't crocheting something, or her crochet work was right there in her lap or next to where she was sitting or her bag yarn and rainbow colorful hooks right there begging to be dug through, always fun to play with.

I think my Grandmother is the one who brought crafting to my life at a very young age. Not that my Mom didn't, she did. Her talents at making ANYTHING look gorgeous, well, I am still trying to achieve. She can do it all, the best of both of her parents. I just really remember visiting my Grandparents house and going to Michael's or Hobby Lobby and picking up little craft kits for me to entertain myself with. That I did, and still do. I miss my Grandmother so much at times. Seeing these little butterflies just brings tears to my eyes. I can see her crocheting them so clearly, she had beautiful hands and her nails were always long and painted a modest shade of pink. Over the years she made me many afghans, baby doll blankets, baby dolls that were blankets, GORGEOUS barbie doll clothes that my Mom has safely stored for me, when the girls get older I will let them play with them. She made me one of these butterflies in pink to match my room when I was young, framed and matted. I still have it in a box. She made me Christmas decorations and in the pictures below are wooden round disks (cut by my Grandfather) marked to hold coasters that I am guessing she was planning on crocheting for someone, I remember these in her house and I know that my Mom has several sets. I know that she made many many beautiful things through out her lifetime, I really wish I could have had the chance to have her teach me half of what she knew.

I love and miss you so much.

such delicate work...

I only wish I had three for my three little girlies...

the wooden coaster discs cut out by my Grandfather for my Grandmothers coasters

and the size 8 Boye hook

Friend Making Monday!

2010-01-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Amber over at .{aefilkins} is hosting a really fun event called Friend Making Monday! I like making friends so I'm joining in, plus her question today ties in with something that I've been thinking a whole lot about lately given my recent escapade to JoAnnes and the realization that I really need a whole lot more money to feed my habit. :)

The Question:
With the new year here, and resolutions & organizational goals in full force, what are some of the projects on your list? Are you working on any specific projects around the house, such as purging, organizing, craft projects, home improvement projects?

In my new notebook, I have a list of projects that I want to complete for 2010, plus several pages of fun ideas for holiday and seasonal fun with Madelyn.

So, here's a quick peak at my list:
1. Redo cushions for my Grandaddy's chair. I started this project 9 years ago, my sewing machine crapped out on me and I've just be laying the fabric on the cushions. It's quite sad actually.

2. Create a backboard for the headboard on Chris' childhood bed that is in the guest room. The thin pressboard one it had was damaged 3 moves ago.

3. Make a quilt top with Madelyn's baby clothes. I'm a beginning sewer and never quilter, so I'm just pushing for the quilt top which I may or may not send out to be quilted.

4. Prettify our tv tables that are used for everything in our family room and are showing the wear and tear.

5. Knit, sew, and create at least 4 Christmas gifts for family. I have one planned already but these have to be secret until December 25, 2010.

There is what I would consider my top five, but obviously my true list is much much longer! :)

Jessica's Give Uh Ways....

2010-01-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Go visit Jessica's blog and read her funny stories and the best part is she has this 12 weeks of Giv Uh Ways going on.... yup she is giving stuff away..... coming in Feb. you can win a pair of booties made by ME.

Lemon curd tonight, yummy lemon cupcakes tomorrow...

2010-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

My Mom and Dad are coming down tomorrow on their way to San Diego. My Dad has to work there for the next two weeks and my Mom is doing a bit of traveling with him. I am super excited because they are bringing some loot from my Mom's shop, an old book case for the girls room, and little rocking chair to re-do, some vintage buttons, some fun fabric, and a rubbermaid container of crafting supplies that was my Grandmothers... I can't wait. I promised them a yummy lunch and a visit with the girls in return. I am planning on making a big sandwich on some delicious focaccia bread, pasta salad and these great lemon cupcakes that I made at Reese's lemon themed 5th birthday party back in September. These cupcakes are my creation and I am slowly perfecting them. Here is a simple lemon curd recipe that I could just eat out of the jar.

you need:

3-4 lemons (zest & juice 1/2C.)

1 1/2 C. sugar

1/4 C. unsalted butter

4 eggs

1/8 tsp of kosher salt

zest three lemons pulse with sugar until the zest is ground up

meanwhile, cream butter then add lemon/sugar mixture until blended, add eggs one at a time add 1/2 C. of lemon juice and salt

place into 2 qt. saucepan

simmer on low until thickened, about 10 mins

remove from heat and cool

I love to store mine in mason jars... too cute and so GOOD!

Crafting extravaganza.

2010-01-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, less than 48 hours after arriving back in CA, Denise kidnapped Madelyn and I for a craft shopping trip. This is not a good thing. Denise and I craft shopping is kind of like two drunks in a bar, there's a lot of laughing, some fun times, somebody falls down, and the next morning we wonder what we were thinking.

Don't believe me? Let me play it out for you. We arrive at JoAnnes and being the awesome mom that I am, I leave Madelyn in the capable care of Paige and Reese while I go to get a buggy from the other side of the buggy catcher thingy (what, your store doesn't have a buggy catcher thingy?) and Madelyn fails to keep up with the train and ends up with a bump on the head. I bribe her with M&Ms to stop crying so that I can get my craft fix. Mom of the year award right here!

Denise drags me through the fabric aisles and I start thinking about all the things I could sew, if I were capable of sewing a straight line. Finally we wind up on the aisle with the tulle, something I can work with to make tutus and I just start putting tulle in my buggy for all the girls and then determine that maybe I need a tutu too...and so does Denise. I'm not sure there was much of a color selection left of the "shiny tulle" when we left the aisle. We find the elastic and I go drool over upolstry fabric for a chair I need to redo for my projects of 2010 list (more details to come).
The girls are playing and being bribed with M&Ms, Madelyn and Paige are filthy from playing on the floor and now it is time for us to venture to the other 2/3 of the store. I've got a lot of crafts running through my head and just kind of wanted to browse. Denise is behind me complaining about the cost of her addiction, like I had anything to do with the purchase of $100 worth of tulle for tutus (OK, not that much, but you should have heard her).

Then we hit the pretty papers where they were on sale 4/$1. Yeah, that is NO good for crafters who love modpodge as much as I do. It's like $1 beer night. I was trying to edit myself and only get papers for specific projects and was very proud that even with that price I only walked out with 10 pieces of paper and only 2 are for a project that is still very conceptual.

By this point Madelyn had gotten in trouble for running off and was sequestered in the buggy across the aisle smelling fake flowers that Paige and Reese were bringing to her. We checked out and ended our journey with chicken from chick fil a. Where Madelyn didn't eat because she fell asleep and slept the whole ride home.

After some visiting and some play time, Madelyn and I headed home and this sunset greeted us. It was a very nice day, productive, and fun. Of course Denise is a brat and didn't bother to show me those super cute shirts until AFTER our trip so now I have to go buy fabric so I can make one in each color.

Valentine ruffle tunic top

2010-01-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, Craig is out in the field, Paige had three speech therapy appointments this past week, then ended up sick Thursday night. Reese had basketball practice's, game and team pictures. Claire is crawling and pulling up on furniture, so there really hasn't been the time or the energy to sneak off into my little sewing hole to finish up projects. Plus, I was waiting for my partner in crime, Katrina to get her butt back from NC to make a trip to Joanne's with me to buy some much needed supplies. One, the elastic to finish off these adorable little shirts. I came across this tutorial on how to make a simple ruffle sleeved tunic top and just had to do it. I have a pair of booties cut out for Claire and I plan to embellish a simple onesie to match the big girls shirts. Should be super cute. What do you think? Make sure you leave us comments.

I love the way Paige is looking at Reese in this picture, Reese just kept making faces and Paige was like, can we get this done so I can get back to my jelly beans.

the fabric

Paige eating a very unhealthy morning snack...

They are so darn cute.

My older adorable little girls, the both love PINK... so I am sure these shirts will get worn out.

Thank you Candace over at Sparkle Power for a great Tutorial...

Chicken Parmesan

2010-01-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Like Denise, I love to cook. I love food, just ask my butt, it will tell and SHOW you just how much I love food. I cook the way I craft and live, I just go with it. I will read a recipe and then adapt it and make it my own. There are a few exceptions, anything baking related (cookies, cakes, breads...those are a science), japanese white sauce, asian noodles, and anything else that is perfect as is wtithout my tweaking. I invite you to try my "recipes" and experiment on your own to tweak things to your liking.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, I kind of forgot about taking them once I started cooking.

The ingredients: (not pictured - egg, parmesan cheese, mozzerella cheese - they were still at the store during the photo shoot)

That's 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, olive oil, pasta, spaghetti sauce, and Italian bread crumbs.

Cut the chicken into smaller pieces, I find that I can get three pieces per breast half. Dip the pieces in egg and then in bread crumbs.

Fry in olive oil. (Tip, if you add canola oil to your olive oil, you use less of the expensive stuff without losing flavor. I use roughly 2 canola to 1 olive .)

Once the chicken is done, place in a glass baking dish that has a thin smear of spaghetti sauce on the bottom, top with a spoonful of sauce. Use as much or as little as you want. I like the chicken to be covered but not swimming. Top that with as much or as little mozzerella as you want and a sprinkling of fresh parmesan. You could also add some fresh basil, thyme, or other Italiany spices and it'd be delicious!

Bake on 350 until the cheese is melted.

Serve with pasta and extra sauce.

So easy, so yummy and there are so many different things you could do with it. Eggplant parmesan, more spices, different veggies like mushrooms, bell peppers and onions baked w/ sauce and cheese.

Get in the kitchen and have fun and enjoy the yumminess!

BOYS.... well booties for one for Jessica's Give Uh Way...

2010-01-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Finally! I got back into my little hole and was able to sew one pair of BOY booties... the other 4 pairs planned are all cut out, assembled from 6 pinned pieces per shoe into their three finished pieces per shoe they just now all need to be sewn together. No biggie, right? Well, I am behind on my packing up Christmas, Paige is not starting an intense speech therapy program. Claire is really crawling now. Craig is due to go to the field and Reese started basketball back up. Late night sewing for me. This first pair of BOYISH booties is for Jessica's "Give Uh Way". I will be featured in her 12 weeks of "Give Uh Ways" in February. Until then check her site out weekly for the other amazing vendors along with her great sense of humor. Katrina and I are planning to do some sort of Give Away soon too.

I honestly think the is my best pair yet.

My little Claire modeling

These are so cozy. I really need to try to make adult sizes.

12 Weeks of Give Uh Ways by Jessica

2010-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Go check out Jessica's Blog. She has some amazing hook-ups for her 12 weeks of Give Uh Ways... including one from me in a few weeks...

Another FOODIE blog, bread bowls..

2010-01-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

FIRST, Welcome Katrina to Three G's Crafts. I am so excited that you will be making guest posts, hopefully, frequent posts. Katrina is a lot of fun, I love the way she thinks. Like she says in her first post below, she really is a fly by the seat of her pants kind of gal but she is great friend and fellow crafter. She is wonderful Mommy to a beautiful little girl. I think our husbands might put us on allowances while they are deployed, or we will be banned from Joanne's, Michael's or any other crafting store we might stumble upon.

I really picked the wrong day to make home made bread bowls for soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight. It got to 80 degrees here in CA. CRAZY. Katrina bring some winter back with you when you come home from NC ok?? So as far as crafting goes for today I did manage to go to Joannes up in Temecula and I fell in love. The fabric section was so pretty and all colorful. I didn't get too out of control but I will most definitely have to make sure I have a detailed list next time because I get easily distracted with thoughts of future projects. So tonight i am blogging another FOODIE blog on my homemade bread bowls.

the ingredients shot

Paige thought it was cake batter and really wanted to lick the wisk, she changed her mind when she got one of the big chunks of dough.

My kitchen aid going full blast working the dough. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

The dough divided up ready to made into the bread bowls.

they turned out so pretty

yummy tomato soup in a tasty home made bread bowl... just needed COLD weather to truly enjoy it.

2/3 of a hat and fingerless mitten set...DONE!

2010-01-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

I am just too excited to not blog about this right now! I finished my first ever fingerless mitten and a full mitten wouldn't have been much harder. I am so proud of myself! I had avoided these because of having to knit the thumb all separate and stuff. It was so much easier than I ever thought it would be!

Anyway, I used my basic hat recipe of casting on 70 stitches (I vary it based on yarn weight and needles) and doing a knit 2, purl 2 ribbing. I wasn't that happy with my decreases and next time will play aroud with it more for a smoother less condom head decrease.

For the mitts, I used this pattern written by Wendy. It was so wonderfully easy to follow and do that I can't wait to do the second one! I used Malabrigo Chunky in the "Little Lovely" colorway.

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the completed project (OK, 2/3 complete, but the other glove will be done by this time tomorrow).

A little 2x2 ribbing.

A reluctant model.

The fnished set. Please ignore the poor quality of the photo. 20 degrees and snowy doesn't allow for much natural light.

Completely coincidental that I'm in pink.

Katrina's plan to take over the blog...

2010-01-04T07:41:00.001-08:00

OK, not really. I'm honestly very honored to be allowed to contribute to this awesome blog. I know that a lot of thought and love went into creating and choosing to start it, just like the crafts and food featured here.

I have my own blog Frog E. Mama that I try to write on regularly about the day to day goings on of my life as a mom and Marine wife. I'm very excited to have this space to blog about my crafting ventures...both good and bad.

A little about my crafting self. I fly by the seat of my pants, halfway reading instructions until I have to go back and fix something, and no, I never learn my lesson. I find inspiration in the silliest of things and then it fills my brain until I try to make it work and I get about 1/2 way through until something else fills my brain. I'm hoping that this blog will help me cure my project startitis. If it doesn't, then the crafting weekends should! I love knitting, mod podging, painting, and anything else that makes things pretty. I would love to know how to sew better. I know the basics but I don't think hemming toddler pants counts as crafting. I don't believe in age appropriateness when it comes to crafting (with parental supervision of course) so look forward to a lot of fun kid crafts and painted toddlers.

My current craft is knitting. I am out of town and knitting is transportable, fun, and easy! Especially when it doesn't get above 25 degrees outside. My current love afair is with Malabrigo yarn. It is so yummy and soft and an absolute dream to knit. I have completed a hat and am halfway through the first fingerless mitten of which I will post pictures soon.

Here are some links to crafts I have posted on Frog E. Mama
Fall Leaves
Mickey Mouse gift boxes (scroll down a bit for a pic, they were plain white boxes that I mod podged with scrapbook paper)
Pegs for purses/jackets and pumpkins

I hope you enjoy what I have to offer as much as I enjoy crafting!

Crafting sometimes means COOKING to me...

2010-01-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, food and cooking is one of my main passions in life. So, tonight I tried a new recipe. For peppercorn chicken and lemon spinach. I found the recipe over at www.foodtv.com. Craig really loved the chicken, I was surprised it didn't come out dry. I really liked it too, the girls even asked for seconds. I had made a 4th breast for Craig to take to work tomorrow (normally the girls split one), the girls ate it. I did forget about the shallot sauce in the picture. We sat down and started to eat when half way through my chicken I remembered. Luckily, Craig had only eaten one bite of his.

my ingredients all set out and ready.

the chicken browned up so nicely, smelled so good too.

we decided to drink the wine tonight that I made the shallot sauce with, sorry that didn't get pictured.

YUMMY...

Booties to "Give Uh Way"

2010-01-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

My sewing machine was running tonight after a days rest, hopefully I can keep it going for the next few days, I have some catching up to do. You might recognize the polka dot fabric from the girls runner I made for their dresser the other night, well I had actually cut these booties out a few weeks ago but they have just been sitting on my table neglected. I cut two pairs out, one for Claire of course and one for an option

for a fellow blogger's "Give Uh Ways". Go see Jessica at http://www.thelowefamilynews.blogspot.com/

she has been giving away some amazing things. Plus she is pretty darn funny and her family is super cute. I plan on making a boy option for her winner to choose from.

the fabric beginnings into the 12 pieces per pair that will be all sewn together to make the following...

Claire is modeling her pair, for what ever reason I made a minor mistake on hers though you can't see it. I think I was just sewing and not thinking, I do that with a lot of things.

Don't you just love her yummy chubby thighs??

The "Give Uh Way" pair for Jessica.

What do you think???

Joint Venture??

2010-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I didn't manage to do any more crafting last night. Craig and I were passed out at 11:20ish.. terrible. Oh well.

So I have this "friend" lets call her Kristina, well she is wanting to come in here and take over? She has the nerve to ask me to do a joint crafting blog with her, I mean seriously??? Its not like I don't already spend hours talking about crafts with her, shopping for crafts with her, making crafts with her, cooking up something crafty with her, why would I want to blog about crafts with her? *shaking my head as I type*

Ok, let's see. How many followers do I have? ONE. How much does "Kat.. I mean KRISTINA" know about crafting? She can knit, I can't. She mod podges, I don't. She seems to know a lot of other crafting blogs, I don't. She can really BLOG, I can, just sometimes DON'T...

Hmmmm

Ok, but do I abandon Three G's, I just got it going and its out there.... for my ONE follower, it took me months to come up with the name, what ever shall I do???

Quiet New Years Eve only beginning...

2009-12-31T21:29:00.000-08:00

New Years here at the Wiggins house has been a nice quiet one, store bought pizzas, s'mores out by the fire, baths, early bedtime for the three girls. Then Craig and I sit down when I realize that we have 4 hours til Midnight. I decide I should be crafting. So, tonight's first project was super simple. I have been redoing the big girls room slowly. Before we left VA I bought the girls new bedding from IKEA. My mom had this great antique dresser that is painted white. I plan to leave it shabby chic white. I just need to get rid of the strawberry decals, does any one have any suggestions? I really wanted to make some sort of runner for it and with some remnant fabrics I sewed up this very simple coordinating runner.

Here are the pictures

The girls IKEA linens

The finished (for now) project. My mom had these great vintage classic children's books in her shop and we thought they would look great in their room.

My Christmas gift turns into more leg warmers for Claire

2009-12-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

My sweet husband bought me 6 pairs of socks for Christmas. Don't pick up on any sarcasms there, I LOVE socks and was in need of more dress socks (regular length ones). I have plenty of thin socks, atheletic socks, TONS of warm and fuzzy socks so just plain trousers socks is what I wanted. I am 5 foot tall and most knee highs are too long for my short little legs. My husband knowing I have been on the hunt for some cute knee highs bought me some by mistake. They were six GREAT pairs, and I actually asked him, "did you buy these for me or for me to make into more leg warmers for Claire?" his response was "You, you asked for more dress socks", not wanting to hurt his feelings, I responded "yes, and these are wonderful", but he saw my brain working and told me to do what ever I wanted with them. I looked at them all day and decided only to sacrifice one pair, these purple and green striped ones because Claire has a set of onesies that would look adorable with them.

the beginnings

the cute end result

she is getting much stronger and on the verge of MOVING....

Sister, Paige stealing some shots.

Christmas day and Miss Claire and her chubby thighs.

2009-12-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show Miss Claire in her second pair of cuff leg warmers..

she loves her new stacking toy

These leg warmers are great now that she is rolling and about to crawl. I wish I had attempted to make them for the big girls when they were little, would have saved some red and raw little knees.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lovely leg warmers part 2

2009-12-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

I picked up three pairs of knee high socks today at Target for 6.99 and I immediately snuck into my sewing room (laundry room) to get started.

I love these socks. The pink striped one I have cut up to make the cuff.

getting ready to pin the cuff inside the sock to sew

the finished projects and the only remains of the knee highs

my chubba lub wearing the first pair

sleeping, on Christmas eve waiting for Grandma and Papa to arrive.

Warming up those baby thighs...

2009-12-19T21:41:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to try to make some leg warmers for my darling daughter, she has such yummy chunky thighs that I can't wait to warm up them up some cute leg warmers. I have seen these on many different sites and a friend back in NC also makes them. I am going to give it a try.

I wanted to start off with some super cheap, plain socks. These plain brown knee highs from Walmart cost $2.oo and well, they turned out too darn cute. It didn't take any time at all, more time to thread a new bobbin than to actually sew them. I love them and so does she. I can't wait to find some great socks to make more. With this pair I just ruffled the raw cut edge of the sock.

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

2009-12-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

For the last 4 years I have hosted a Christmas cookie swap - book exchange. It is so much fun to get together and bring dozens of cookies to enjoy over the Christmas Holiday, cookies are one of my most favorite things to bake. The kids make out in the deal too with the books. I have accumulated some beautiful books over the few years. This year my good friend, fellow foodie and my crafter in arms, Katrina share this idea www.giverslog.com/?p=3290 to make for our get together so we set the date to get together to make them.

some our supplies

grand embellishing ideas

the chocolate mess

the clean up mess

more clean up mess

waiting....

still waiting

finished project.

YUMMY!!!!

Baby booties - 2nd go round

2009-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

I am in love with this pair of booties, I made these for my darling daughter to wear to my husbands Christmas party and they turned out even better than expected. They turned out so well, my two older daughters want me to make some for them. GOODNESS.

Baby Booties...

2009-12-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is my second attempt at making baby booties. When we lived in VA last year I tried to make some and I just didn't like the way they turned out, so I modified the pattern a bit and now they are working out just great. I feel more inspired to make more because I have baby that will need them so here is my first pair.

Three G's Crafts

Secret Revealed!

Jessica is at it AGAIN.... you want to WIN???

Just call me Cap'n Kooky

Rooster curtains

A glimpse of my stash

Suggestion Saturday. Now with more giveaways!

Coming up...Suggestion Saturday!

Dear sewing machine

Madelyn's "Daddy" Skirt

I am stalking this new site...

Copy-Kat

Photo Friday

Scentsy WINNER announced

Scentsy Give Away...

Instant Gratification

Monkey skirt!

Vanilla Ice Cream *FAILURE*

Chocolate Layer Cake

Fellow bloggers Give A Way....

Suggestion Saturday - DENISE'S "Loaded Mac & Cheese"

Suggestion Saturday - Katrina's Chicken alfredo w/ carmelized onions and bacon.

Welcoming Bonnie to the wonderful world of sewing.

SO sorry... very late! The WINNING Suggestion is.....

SUGGESTION SATURDAY - 2nd Take

Labor of love....

Katrina's Buttered Fennel Chicken

Suggestion Saturday results - Denise's Creation

And the winner is...

Jessica is GOOD to Three G's

SUGGESTION selected....

Suggestion Saturday is HERE..

As promised...

Leg warmers in honor of our VA friends

Sneak peak Sunday..

FINALLY back in action....

Another ruffle shirt - completed!

A very forgiving bread...

Jessica's AMAZING Give Uh Ways continue....

Knitting, Pearling, What am I doing...OH MY!!

I Heart this wreath...

Busy baking week..

From like to LOVE

Sunday afternoon quick sew....

Bailed on the weekend but for good reason....

Finished!

Dueling blog posts... Craft Day 1 Denise's version

Serious business...

Craft for a quarter!

Missing my Grandmother terribly today....

Friend Making Monday!

Jessica's Give Uh Ways....

Lemon curd tonight, yummy lemon cupcakes tomorrow...

Crafting extravaganza.

Valentine ruffle tunic top

Chicken Parmesan

BOYS.... well booties for one for Jessica's Give Uh Way...

12 Weeks of Give Uh Ways by Jessica

Another FOODIE blog, bread bowls..

2/3 of a hat and fingerless mitten set...DONE!

Katrina's plan to take over the blog...

Crafting sometimes means COOKING to me...

Booties to "Give Uh Way"

Joint Venture??

Quiet New Years Eve only beginning...

My Christmas gift turns into more leg warmers for Claire

Christmas day and Miss Claire and her chubby thighs.

Lovely leg warmers part 2

Warming up those baby thighs...

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Baby booties - 2nd go round

Baby Booties...

Vanilla Ice Cream FAILURE