So, I was telling my Grandma how I hate going to Halloween parties because I HATE dressing up! The costumes at the store always look so cheap and not very cute. Plus I'm 6 ft tall so it's pretty hard finding costumes that even fit right! She suggested since I know how to sew, that I should just make my own costume! I can't believe I've never really considered this before! So we went and looked at patterns and I found something that I thought was SUPER cute! So she bought it for me. Then when we went to the fabric store, with all the extra material I ended up needing, I decided I couldn't afford it! Sewing has gotten expensive! Well Grandma paid for it all! It was almost sixty dollars! That's INSANE. Anyway I was super excited and couldn't wait to get it together so I could see the final product on me! Well I showed the pattern to some of my friends and they totally laughed at me! They said I'm young and single and I can't attend all of our Halloween parties this year in my costume I picked. I'm posting the pattern I picked below. They were like, you need to somehow sex it up! BUT I Don't know HOW!! So I'm making it as the pattern directs me too, because I still think it's super cute as is. 

But I need help. input, ect. . . . How can I incorporate some sexiness into this costume? I can shorten the dress or make a separate outfit entirely but that would be expensive! Ahhh. . . lol. So I'm a little stumped. I found some "sexy" raggedy ann costumes online and they're cute but look nothing like my pattern! So we'll see how this turns out. I'll be sure to post a picture of my finished costume on here.  So now I have the problem of trying to figure out how to make the things I see below if I don't have a pattern for it. I've always used patterns! 

If anyone has any suggestion or ideas as to how to accomplish this, PLEASE let me know!! 

Isn't it cute? Especially the makeup on the model, it's sooo cute! I hope I can do mine like that. But you have to admit, not very sexy. My friends were like, you could do kids birthday parties in that outfit!! 

I love the SKIRT on this one!!! But how do you do it?! And the little apron & cute little sleeves.

this is cute, but doesn't really look anything like raggedy anne!

I like the fullness of this skirt and the shortened sleeves with the red ribbon border.

I also found some really cute pictures of "sailor girl" costumes I would love to attempt for possibly next year. But once again, not sure how to go about it without a pattern for the type of skirts some of them use. I love the big fluffy skirts but I've never attempted something like that before. This costume would be a lot easier because All I'd really have to do is make a pleated skirt. But not quite sure about the top . . . Thank goodness I'll have some time to look into it some more. 

Love the skirt, however this costume is a littttttle tooo sexy for me! I'd have to make my skirt just a little longer! :-) The top is super cute too. 

Sorry this one is so fuzzy. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE this skirt!! But not even sure how to do the whole super full / layered / frilly thing! And I'm not crazy about the top, but I also love the flap in the back!

This one I like because it looks pretty simple. I could probably even buy just a short sleeve button up shirt and make some adjustments too it, like the scarf and blue borders of the sleeve. I really like the buttons on the skirt.

This one I just posted because I like the belt - the rope. And the double buttons on the front of the shirt is cute.

Anyway, that's all for me! Wish me luck, it's been awhile since I've sewn. I've always done so in High School, with my teacher right there to help me when I get stuck! 

So i just wanted to post an update on my cross stitch project. I'm so excited because it is turning out so cute! It was a basic alphabet book so I'm pretty much freehanding all of it. My intention is to somehow incorporate the quote at the end of the movie Hope Floats. This has always been one of my favorite movies and that quote is among my favorite. I've been playing around with different fonts and if I want the whole quote, or just add "floats" with some cherries on the bottom. I want to frame it and put in in my dining room/hallway area and my kitchen theme is cherries. I also thought about a border but I think simple is better. So we''ll see how it turns out. Anyway, I wanted to upload a picture to show what it looks like so far! I'm glad I'm doing so well on it because I was a little rusty. I'm so excited to see how it turns out I'm constantly working on it! 

I also ordered some more Mary Engelbrieit cross stitch books online through ebay and they just got here the other day. I'm already planning out my next projects! Man, I'm such a nerd!! :-)

So we had a food day today at work and I decided to make a new cupcake recipe. I wanted to take caramel apples, but I would have had to make 20 and that seemed like too much work so I made these caramel apple cupcakes! They were super easy and turned out soo cute. I ended up using two different recipe's. One for the cupcakes and one for the caramel frosting. They were so yummy and turned out really good. I did mess up a little bit because after frosting the cupcakes I was supposed to put them in the freezer for a couple minutes to let the caramel set. WELL (lol) I live in an apartment and did not have room. So I figured they would be fine. Nope, I woke up and the caramel had melted all over the place!  The cupcakes were still good but they didn't look as cute as the first did. I was a little disappointed. Here's the recipe. I also included a photo! Great fall treat idea! 

Cupcakes:

1 box Golden Butter Recipe Cake Mix 

2/3 C unsweetened (natural) applesauce

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

24 individually Kraft caramels, unwrapped. 

-Heat oven to 350 degrees

-Line 24 muffin cups with paper or tin foil liners

-spoon into lined cups

-Gently press a caramel on top of each cup (the caramel will sink to the bottom during baking.)  - -- - - - - - NOTE: I didn't do this with mine since I used the caramel frosting. However this would be yummy with no frosting or any kind of frosting too I would imagine. 

-Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean.

-Cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes before removing cupcakes from pan. 

Caramel Glaze / Icing 

Note - This came with a Candy Apple Cupcakes recipe in the most recent Women's Day Magazine. Their cupcake recipe is a little more lengthy with more ingredients. If you want that recipe its on their website, or just let me know! 

1 package (appx 50) caramel candies

2 Tbsp heavy cream

Ice cream (popcycle sticks) - I used short kabob or bbq scewers 

-Heat caramels in medium sauce pan over low heat, stirring frequently until melted.

-Add heavy cream and stir until combined. Cool 2 minutes

-Working quickly, while mixture is still warm, spread top of each cupcake with 2 tsp of glaze. If glaze gets hard to spread, heat on low stirring until more melted.

-Insert an ice cream stick into center and top with jimmies or sprinkles, if using.  

-Place in freezer for 5 minutes to set. 

Anyway, they were a big hit and super yummy, however VERY STICKY!!

So I've decided to try cross stitching again. It's fun and I'm so excited to see the final product I'm trying to work on it as much as possible. I'm a huge Mary Engelbrite fan and I bought a bunch of her pattern books recently off Ebay. So I'm really excited about getting some projects made. I'm trying to practice on a project for me and if it turns out well I'm going to try and craft a project for my friend Andrea who is having her first baby in February. I'd like to make a baby cross stitch project with his name and such on it for his nursery. 

I've also been trying to teach myself how to quilt but it turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Unfortunately, no one I know quilts or anything like it so I've been basically trying to teach myself. Once again, I'm working on a personal project for me, and if it turns out ok, I'd like to make a baby quilt for Brody. (that's the name they picked out for their little boy, isn't that cute?!) Anyway the theme for his nursery is going to be a safari/jungle theme. It should be easy finding materials for that. However, I'm having a really hard time finding a pattern I like. I'm looking for bigger blocks/sections for the quilt rather than the small ones. I was told it would be a lot easier that way. So if anyone has any good patterns or has a good link for patterns, please let me know!

Anyway, that's what I'm working on right now. I'm excited to be a part of this site now and to be able to log all my little projects. I'll be sure to post pictures when I finish my projects.