Movin it Monday {1}

OK, so I know January is almost over... But I'm kind of a procrastinator. It usually takes me the whole month of January to get going on my resolutions for the year. Well, like so many other people, one of my goals is to get into shape. Not just lose weight, but to become healthy again. That's the whole point. Its not the number on the scale, its how I feel and how my clothes fit. Yes its OK to have a goal number in mind, but the point is not to obsess about the number. Just be healthy. And now that I have a son, and we plan on having a second, I want to be a good role model for my family.

So let me share a little about myself. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Kinesiology. Which literally means, the study of movement. When I was in high school, I was an athlete. I played volleyball and softball, both in school and on club teams. Even though I'm a larger framed muscular person (I am 5'10 and weighed 150), I was always fit.

After I graduated high school, I stayed in shape by working out at the gym and by running. I became addicted to running. It was my salvation.

I was fit all through my freshman year of college, and then something happened. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it was like a switch was flipped in my brain. I began eating everything in sight and stopped working out. Needless to say I quickly gained weight. Over the next six years, I packed on 100 pounds. That's right. 100.

Its difficult to see that in print, but its the truth. And I want to tell the truth because I want to do something about it.

So you might be wondering to yourself, "how is it that a person who studied health and training could possibly be overweight?" Well I have wondered the same thing myself, and the truth is I don't have an answer. Like I said, it was like a switch was just flipped. Well now I want to flip it back. And I want to get healthy.

What're the steps Ive taken to do so, you ask? I joined Weight Watchers, and now I plan on sharing my diet and exercise program here with you, every week. So every Monday I will post 'Movin it Monday', in which I will share my workout for the week, and of course, every Sunday I post 'Savory Sunday' in which I share a recipe. Now, the recipe may or may not be a weight watcher or healthy recipe, but thats what those extra points are for, right ;)?

I want to be held accountable for doing these things, and I figure this might be one of the places I can hold myself accountable. And I want to share this journey so that others who may be struggling with getting healthy themselves, can maybe find the motivation they need.

So here is the workout I will be doing for the week. Its from Womens Health Magazine and you dont need ANY equipment for it. I love workouts like that. With my four month old son, I need to be able to do a workout in my house with little or no equipment. And this one is great.

Its a total body workout, and it uses your body weight to get the work done. Each week I will do a different workout, that way your body doesnt get too used to it, and by keeping your muscles guessing, you will reap the max benefits.

I hope this inspires you a little. And here's a little visual inspiration:

Now get off the couch and MOVE IT!

Savory Sunday {3}

I love starting off my mornings with my sweet baby boy. He has started sleeping 12 hours through the night now. We put him to bed at about 7 and then hes up at about 7 the next morning. Its amazing. I had kinda forgotten what sleep was like. But I love to go in his room in the morning while hes just talking away in his crib, and then peek over the side. When he finally sees me I get a huge smile out of him. *Melt*

So once I had him situated this morning, I started getting some breakfast ready. I tried Paula Deans Gorilla Bread Recipe. *Delish*

What You'll Need:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Alrighty. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together. Press out the biscuits with your fingers and then sprinkle the mixture over the biscuits.

Next melt your butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat, stirring often, and then set aside. Next the recipe calls for cutting the cream cheese into 20 cubes, which I did, but after we ate it I felt like it could have used a little less cream cheese in the middle of the biscuits. So I would recommend cutting very small cubes of cream cheese to put into the middle, instead of 20 big equal pieces.

Once you have the desired amount of cream cheese cut and in the middle of the biscuit, pinch up the sides.

Now sprinkle the bottom of the pan with a 1/2 cup of the nuts. I don't care for nuts so I didn't use any in mine. Then place half the biscuits on top of the nuts on the bottom. Sprinkle the biscuits with cinnamon sugar and then pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits.

Repeat the layers.

Once you have it all in there, pop it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Once they're done, place them on a plate and invert.

Doneskies!

It was reaaaaallllyyy good. But, like I said, I would definitely add less cream cheese in the middle next time.

And of course, what Sunday breakfast is complete without......

Mimosas!! Oh yeaaah.

I hope you try this, and let me know how it is! Enjoy the rest of your Savory Sunday!

Crafty Pants Friday {2}

Hi. My name is Katie, and I'm obsessed with towels. Kitchen towels. I must have them. Lots of them. But I don't know how to sew, and don't really have any desire to learn. So whats a girl to do? Well apparently she's to Heat n Bond, that's what. I recently saw a tutorial here where she used this heat n bond, and I was immediately off to the store. My obsession has now become dangerous, because I can do something about it.

I decided to do a few small projects for Valentines Day, just to add a little color around the house. And these kitchen towels are one of them.

Can you say *LOVE*?! Cause I love these.

Here is what I gathered for this project:

Flower sack kitchen towels

1/2 a yard of each fabric of choice

Heat n Bond adhesive

Fabric scissors

Iron

No Stitch Fabric Glue

Q Tips

Alright, first you need to draw a stencil. Or trace one. I just drew a heart on a piece of paper a few times til I came up with one that I liked. Then pin it to your fabric using straight pins and cut it out.

Once that's cut out place it on the Heat n Bond, and follow the package directions. Once the fabric is adhered you can cut it out, and then place it on the kitchen towel. Using your iron on medium heat, press it over the fabric heart for a few seconds at a time until the whole thing is bonded to the towel.

Next up are the ruffles. I fold my towels into the tri fold to hang them on my oven, so I opened it up, but left it folded in half. There's no need to put ruffles across the whole towel unless you really want to.

Cut your strips of fabric, I did two, about three inches wide and just a little less than the 1/2 yard you cut for the fabric length, since we are going to add "ruffles". Lay a thin strip of the no stitch glue along the back side of the fabric, and smear it a tad with a q tip.

Holding the fabric strip, lay it down and pinch together the ruffles, and press the fabric to the towel to adhere.

Once you've got the ruffles on, you're done! The glue needs to dry for 24 hours, and then they're usable.

How fabulous are these? And I'm in love with the fact that they are no sew kitchen towels. Now, if you CAN sew, then maybe you'll want to add a cute stitch in contrasting colors around the hearts. Maybe.

I hope that you enjoyed this project and I hope it inspires you to create something cute for your kitchen! If you try it, send me pics and let me know how it turned out!

Valentine Dry Erase Picture Frames for Your Fridge

So, its hump day. I'm told that its called that because its the "middle" of the week, and not for any other reason... Who really knows.

 So I've been busy with a few things... We had my sons four month pediatric appointment on Monday, and there are lots of changes a bound! Adding some solid foods to his diet, and a new sleep schedule... Moving to 2-3 naps a day and an early bed time where he is supposed to learn how to sleep 12 hours through the night... its gonna be a lot of work but I'm pretty excited for it!

*Anyways*

Ive also covered my dining room table with my crafty mess... A few projects this month for Valentines Day... I'm not usually a decorator for Valentines, but this year I decided I would do a few things...

This week it is Dollar Store picture frames made into dry erase boards and kitchen towels with cute fabric. You'll have to stop by on Friday and check out the kitchen towel project! It has something to do with this fabric:

For the dry erase board I gathered:
Two picture frames
Scrap Book paper
Dry erase marker
Paper Cutter
Magnets
Hot Glue Gun
Glue Sticks

I found these little frames, and was going to spray paint them a different color, but for this project I left them red. Perhaps later they will get a coat of paint...

I cut my scrap paper to fit the size of the frames. I love this paper cutter. I don't even know how I got along without it before, seeing as how I cant cut a straight line. Yep.

Now you're going to glue on your magnets with the hot glue gun. Make sure the glue is dry before you stick them up on your fridge. Just sayin...

Now insert your paper, and write whatever you want! Tehe. It took me like, 5 minutes. Simple, cute, done.

For the month of February, the Hubster and I are going to be exchanging "I love you because..." on these little babies. He doesn't know that yet... But that's what we'll be doing.

Hope you liked this easy peasy little project. Now go create! Do it.

Lemme know how it turns out if you try it!

Savory Sunday!

Its Sunday, which means its time to share a savory recipe again! Well, two actually...

I made these for dessert a couple of nights last week. Don't they look ammmaaaazing? And the best part is that they are both totally easy. The cookies take four ingredients and the deep dish cookies take just one. YUP.

Time to try it.

For the cookies I gathered:
Devils food cake mix
1 package Andes Mints
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs

Mix the cake mix, oil, and eggs together. Drop spoon fulls of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with greased foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-9 minutes. I baked mine for 7 and they came out perfect. Once the cookies come out, place an Andes Mint on top of each cookie while still very hot. That way the mints melt quickly. Once the mints are melted, spread it around with the back of a spoon...

They are fantastic. They taste like a warm and gooey thin mint... Except you don't have to wait for the Girl Scouts to come around to get them! I found this recipe on pinterest. Its pinned on my 

Simply Sweet  board. The recipe is from over at Six Sisters Stuff. Go check them out, its a great blog!

The next one is the deep dish cookies. I made these in my corning ware souffle cups since you will need something that is oven safe.

What I gathered:
Pillsbury break apart refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
Ice cream (optional)

I took about four or so cookie dough rounds and pressed them into the bottom of the dish. About half way full or so.

Now pop them in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown in the middle and slightly brown around the edges... The cookies should be slightly undercooked.

Yuuuummmm....

Now for the last step:

Ice cream!! Now, put on a good movie, curl up on the couch, and enjoy your effortless genius in the kitchen.

Happy Savory Sunday!!



Some Photo Fun

I am learning more and more about this whole blog thing as I go along. Learning about buttons, headers (even though I'm still working on getting mine centered!), and editing photos through various different *free* online editing software.

So I was going through some of my pics and thought I would share a few cute ones that I took of my son...

Here he is just over a month old... Yeah. He is big.

I LOVE this picture, and I know its a pretty popular idea... I've seen it in several places, like here.

Look at those little rolls and cute smile he's giving me! Yep. Still a big boy... He's wearing 6 and 9 month onesies, and he's only three months (well he'll be 4 months on Monday!)... We see his pediatrician on Monday and then we will be starting some solid foods... I can hardly wait! He already opens his mouth and leans toward anything that gets near his mouth. Tehe.

Hope you enjoyed these!

Changing Names

The name of this blog will soon change! It will go from My Love Afair with Crafts and Cooking to Mrs. Crafty Pants. Still the same me... Still the same great recipes and crafts... But a new name.

Why you ask? I really like the other title... Its just too long... Too difficult to fit on buttons and what not... And a little more difficult for people to remember. Mrs. Crafty Pants is short and to the point.

Lovely.

Come see the new changes that will be up soon!

Blog Hop Party!

Join the party fun! Its a blog hop party from Its so very Cheri. Visit her site and repin her button onto a board on your pinterest account. Then repin three things from different boards.

 Have fun sharing the comment and pin love!

Until next time...

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas...Mmmmm

So I am a pizza fanatic. And I see lots of pizza pins on Pinterest all the time. Pizza rolls, pizza dips, pizza crust, mini pizzas, pizzas made into shapes (still want to try that!). And I pin it all. Because like I said, I love pizza. So when I came across this Pin I was immediately off to the store to get what I needed to make these. It doesn't take much and I already had most of it in my fridge.

What I gathered:
Pizza blend of cheeses
1 can of Pillsbury refrigerated thin crust pizza dough
Garlic Powder
1 jar of pizza sauce
Mini Pepperonis
Muffin tin

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I basically just follow the package directions on baking it. Except for these I don't precook the dough for 5 minutes. I just pop them in raw.

Roll out your dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle the rolled out dough with garlic powder and then use a cup with a mouth a little wider than the muffin tin to cut out your circles.

Spray your muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and then place the little dough rounds into the tin. At first I was worried that if the dough didn't stay up around the edges of the muffin cup that it wouldn't rise correctly and it they would be a bust. Not the case. I just press them a little around the bottom edge, and that's it.

Next put about a small spoonful of sauce into the cups and spread it out a tad. I added pepperonis in about half of them, and the other half I just did cheese.

Aren't those little mini pepperonis cute? I put some in the sauce, then added cheese, and then put a few more on top of the cheese.

Once you've added all the cheese and toppings, bake! I bake them for about 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the edges are golden brown.

Don't they look cute and delicious?! Well... they are. I get requests from family all the time to make these. They are super fast and easy to make and bake. Pair it with some salad or just have these as the meal.... Which I may be guilty of doing...

Fast, easy, yummy. But of course.

Hope you enjoyed this and have fun making these for your family! If you try it, send me pics to let me know how they turned out!

Until next time...

Turn any Tray into a Picture Frame

The baby is asleep in his swing, the Hubs is asleep on the couch, and I'm falling asleep at the computer... But, I finished a little project today that I was SUPER excited about, and I wanted to share it!

So I was at Hobby Lobby the other day (whats new?), and I was perusing the clearance aisle when I found all these tray thingies. Not really sure what they were actually meant for...

When I saw them I knew that I would turn them into something else, and a picture frame immediately came to mind because of the fun shape. And they were $4. Just how I like it... Cheap.

I have all these great pictures from when I did a photo session with the studio who shot my wedding, Lightly Photography, and I was dying to put them up around the house. So I printed out some pics at WalMart and got started.

What I gathered:

Picture

Mod Podge

e6000 glue

Foam Brush

Hanging Bracket

Paper Cutter

 

I measured the tray and then cut the photo accordingly. After I did that I put down a generous layer of mod podge using my foam brush.

 

Then I laid the photo down and smoothed out any bubbles with my fingers. Then I put more mod podge on top of the picture.

 

It's milky looking when wet, but it dries clear. And I also got a lot up on the edges of the tray but it still dried clear, so don't worry about that. Now its time to let that dry. Once its all clear and no longer tacky, you can add another coat if you like (which I did).

Once everything is dry, the last step is to glue on the bracket hanger.

 

Squeeze some e6000 glue onto the back of the tray and then push the bracket onto the glue and hold for about 30 seconds. Let it dry for 24 hours before hanging it.

How easy was that?! And I adore how it turned out.

 

 

And maybe just a few more pics....

 

 

 

 

I know I'm his momma, but what a sweet face is that?! Hes a pretty good lookin kiddo.

 

 

 

I really like how it comes off the wall. My plan is to hang it above my love seat once I get the shelf for that wall completed.... That will be a whole other post!!! But I wanted to show how it looked on the wall... Which its fabulous. Very different, and its going to give a good balance and texture among the other frames that I will have hung/propped against the wall on the shelf.

So now that's all through and my mind is already swirling with ideas about my next project and post that will be coming later in the week. I hope you enjoyed this one!

If your try this, or something similar, send me pics so I can see what you came up with! You can also check out what else I did with these trays here.

Until next time...