Snowman from Recycled Creamer Container

Good late afternoon to everyone on this Sunday!  I am just sitting back watching some football hoping the Seahawks win today.  But while I have been doing that I have also been crafting away and did up this little snowman while also recycling at the same time.  I have a video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lTBBGLebxY&list=UUz0UuyBxnGAcxmPlT1rotgw&index=1
or you can just click on my you tube page and get there too!
I have also added some recipes to you tube also and one critic got pretty harsh with my chocolate, chocolate chip cookie recipe I was told that I suck! wow! harsh!
I do have difficult times talking sometimes because, I have a bit of stutter and I am filming, talking, and crafting all at the same time so its always a bit amusing because you tube always needs to fix the shaky video. 
Well I just guess you can't please all the people out there and that's okay because I think its helps do the videos so that I can learn to control my stutter a bit better.  I also feel proud that I am not perfect thank goodness and I am flawed in many ways I love flaw!
Now back to the craft project, I had a coffee creamer container and the shape of it just made me think snowman!  I pulled and cut off the paper and it was white under neath just good enough for a snowman.  I took a little bit of acrylic paint and painted the lid black making a cute hat and a bit of black fleece is tied around the hat and added the facial features.  I had some old but cute floral picks from Joann's and cut and tore them apart for the snowman and yes a hot glue gun was quite handy!  He will make cute decor for a small table don't you all think??

A Very Happy New Year and Wishing that You all had a Blessed Christmas

 A very Happy New Year to all! I am sorry I am so late posting this!  I hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas with friends and family.   Christmas was wonderful I got to play the 12 days of Christmas with JoJo my granddaughter! Santa had so much fun!
Dinner was with family and it was wonderful the drive up there was beautiful because it was a winter wonderland over the coastal pass. 
I hope and wish for all that the new year brings joy and happiness into each of your lives for your families.
Lastly I just had to post this video of JoJo and her toys!

 

Fudge Frenzy Making Time for the Holidays

Today it's a good evening to everyone, yesterday I got into the fudge frenzy mood.  So I made up 2 batches of different fudge I love to make, the  first one is chocolate walnut peppermint fudge which is a small can of consended milk, 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of small marshmallow's.  I add the milk and sugar in a medium sauce pan and stir up and heat to boiling and let boil for about 5-6 minutes, then I add the small marshmallow's and one whole bag of chocolate chips and stir up well.  Next I add the walnuts and  broken up peppermint candy.  I usually get about 2 pounds of fudge.
The second pictures of my favorite! yum I love this fudge even though I can't have it!  I melt 1 and 1/2 bags of white chocolate chips and I add about 3 tablespoons of consended milk, once the chocolate and milk have mixed together I add macadamia nuts and I better say this..you melt the chips and milk on low heat stirring often also stir often and don't forget in the first recipe, to stir, stir, when the milk and sugar are boiling!  I pour both mixtures in slightly greased pans and let cool.  Then I slice up all the fudge and go pass it out in my neighbor hood I don't any has yet guessed who the fudge person as of yet....?
I love doing this for my neighbors, its a way of letting them know we are thinking of them during the holidays and its not that expensive being I buy everything on sale! I also give a bunch to my hubby to give away to other workers, but I think he actually eats it all! This is okay .....

The Winner of the Rag Doll Give Away is.......

Hey to everyone I just completed the contest for the give away! and the WINNER IS.....
"PAMELA SHE IS SO ADORABLE! PLEASE COUNT ME IN FOR A CHANCE TO WIN"
"ashely"
SO CONGRATULATION'S!! to Ashely
Okay the winner will need to send me an email with their mailing address by Monday Dec 3rd send to stockerpam@gmail.com
Once I get your mailing address I will send the doll out to you  Dec 7th which is a Friday, sending priority mail with tracking.  I will email you and send the tracking number and let you know that the doll has been sent.
My son has been gone for the past few days so I had my hubby draw the winner!! If I do not hear from the winner by Monday I pick will another person to receive the rag doll!

 

****If I do not hear from you by late Monday evening, Dec 3 a second drawing will be held and another winner will be picked!

OFG Etsy Team and the Spirit of Chritmas Celebration

Good day to everyone, well the giveaway has ended and tonight my son will draw out the winner from the Army baseball cap!  I will post the wining comment tomorrow, there has been such a good turn out! I thank everyone for that!!
Now turning the attention to the great event happening with OFG Team on Etsy there are lots of wonderful hand made and hand crafted items just click on this link and you will magically get there http://www.etsy.com/search?q=Socofg&view_type=gallery&ship_to=US  I have added a couple items that you can watch for and the pictures are just below.  So come us! and share in the Christmas Spirit Celebration.

 

Rag Cloth Doll GiveAway! Begins now!

Okay I know I am late late.. late starting the giveaway... 2 days late! shame on me the rules are simple just leave a comment on the photo above and every body's comment will get put into a hat and I will blind fold my son and have him pull the winning comment out.  Because I am late starting list the contest will end Nov 25th instead and I will post the winning comment the winning comment the 27th of Nov.  The winner will need to contact me by email stockerpam@gmail.com sending also their mailing address so that I can send out the doll priority mail with tracking.  The doll will get sent out as soon as the winner contacts me! and I will notify the winner when the doll will be sent through email also! So come along and put in your comment, you just may win!

A Easy Chili Recipe for the Contest, The Cheater's Love of Chilli

First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my son MITCHELL who turns a big one nine today!!!

This is my favorite recipe because its so simple and yes you cheat a little for this recipe.  In that I have taken that store bought can of chili and made it homemade to taste.  This recipe is for those that would love to do an old fashioned pot of chili but don't have lots of time to do it.  You take one large can of cheap store chili, one yellow squash, canned black beans, frozen corn, red onion, orange, green bell pepper, and for those who like it really hot a hot pepper and Tabasco sauce, one can of stewed tomatoes, sour cream and finally  grated pepper jack cheese.
In a large pot add the canned chili, one large can of whole stewed tomatoes, one small package of sweet frozen corn, slice the bell peppers and the yellow squash and add them, cut up the hot pepper and add it, add 2 shots of Tabasco sauce, and the can of black beans, remember also to add chopped up red onion, the red works best rather than yellow or white for taste. Stir this all up and let simmer on low for an hour to 2 hours then increase heat until it begins to boil, until peppers and squash are tender, reduce heat and serve with grated pepper Jack cheese and sour cream.  This will be a hot hot chili for those who like it hot! and it just tastes as good as homemade, no one will know you cheated just a tiny bit! Remember you can also enter this contest for your Chili recipe here http://oldfarmhousecooking.blogspot.com/2012/11/chili-cook-off-cooking-contest.html

Old Farm House Cook off Contest!

Good morning to everyone! yes I have been far away from my blog! but first I want to share this grand contest with all of you will be lots of fun! All the information is here just click on the link to find out how to enter http://oldfarmhousecooking.blogspot.com/ the latest you can enter is Nov 18th and the winner will be picked  Nov 19th  I am planning to enter so I will be re posting this is a few days and showing pictures of my entry! I hope you will all give this a whirl the wonderful cook book picture above is what you will win!!
I mention a give away a while back and I will be doing the giveaway! the contest/giveaway will be one of my dolls! Below is a picture of the doll I will be putting in the giveaway contest.  The giveaway/contest will start Nov15th and and end Nov 20th and I will announce the winner Nov 22nd on my blog! 

Some Painted Plates I finished over the Weekend

Happy Haunting October to everyone!
I am busy working on a bunch of new ideas but first I finished 2 painted plates one is a little more serious plate painting in that I created it more for Thanksgiving and its about the harvest with all the veggies and fruits.  This idea came from an old photo I had but in the photo it was just apples nothing else I changed the idea a little by adding different veggies and a few fruits. 
In the second plate I have decided to design some painted plates that deal with the Oregon coast and this one is my first attempt I hoping that it creates new traffic to my stores and for the markets for next year. 
Both plates are done with an acrylic oil based paint and sealed by baking the plate in the oven at 250 degrees.   I should have both plates in my store by next week.  I also want to mention I am have a wonderful sale in both stores, you can use the coupon there in the Etsy stores for 30% off  so come check out my Etsy stores.  I have a give away line up that will be starting on Oct 19th you will be able to win one of my dolls!
I am also working on some cute Halloween dolls and I will be posting about them a little later on. Fall is off to a big boom for me I have lots plans for lots of fun on my blog in the following weeks so I come you will come join me.

Cooking up some Easy Goodies to Eat just Anytime

 Today thought I would share a few of my recipes of goodies with you all.  I love baking, and baking all kinds of things.  Most of all I love to experiment  with old recipes and make them new again.  This is what I have done in the first picture of the the rice crispy bars.  You can also do this it is quite easy!  Just follow the regular recipe for making the bars but when you are melting the marshmallows and butter add 3 broken up 4.25 oz Hershey's Symphony almonds and Toffee chips candy bars.  Add the candy bars to the melted butter and marshmallows and add the rice crispies pour, spread into pan and let cool, did this ever turn out yummy!
In the Second picture I made a tasty drink by using up some watermelon slices, strawberries and ginger ale.  I added 2 cups of slice watermelon, 2 cups of cut up strawberries and 6 cups of ginger ale and blended in my mixer and yum! it was a great drink to have while I am crafting and working on some painted plates and one bear I am trying hard to finish up.  I love experimenting in the kitchen finding and trying things that I have in my home, as I have never been a precise cook, I prefer to add a little this and a little of that and come up with something tasty!  It's fun trying to create a new recipe or just add a new twist on an old recipe.  I have enjoyed sharing this with you and I am thinking up a contest because I have just about written 300 blogs if you can believe it!  So be on the watch for the contest give away .

Been Away too Long as Usual but have Video of Jojo and Recipes

It's been been quite a while again since my last post, just seems life loves to give me some of the best trials. But its all okay and I know to see trials as a blessing even the bad ones. Jojo spent about 3 weeks at the burn center but she came through the operation just fine! yea. Yesterday Mitchell was driving the green 1998 Saturn and the clutch fell out, luck for me I have road side assistance! got the car towed home. But now I don't have the money for the new clutch! dang it! I have not been doing much crafting as I have been with my grand daughter and daughter helping them at home also trying to get them help with their rent, both Keeley and her boyfriend were at the hospital for 3 weeks so there is no money for rent and trying to find help for them has been not too much fun!

I have done some baking and I did a little film of Jojo but I was moving the camera around way too much. I still uploaded it because she is just too cute in it , can you tell the proud gram ma is showing? The film is at the bottom of this page! and don't I sound goofy!

The picture above is corn muffins and country gravy! I love buying corn bread mix and adding dried bacon bits, frozen corn and a bit of onion to the mix and making up some country gravy for a Sunday breakfast. I have also made home made Carmel fudge and this recipe is really easy and very sweet. In a small sauce pan add one can of sweet milk and 4 cups of brown sugar add to small sauce pan and heat on medium to medium low heat stir constantly until it begins bubbling, then lower the heat and keep stirring until it starts getting thick, the sauce will begin to get thick and it should still be bubbly as you stir, then remove add nuts, coconut or what ever you would like in your Carmel fudge.

Come Join and find at the Fall into Thanksgiving Celebration

Hey everyone come see all the wonderful hand crafted items just for fall and the upcoming holidays! here is the link http://www.etsy.com/search?q=fitofg&view_type=gallery&ship_to=ZZ&min=0&max=0

Time to Add Some Fall Items to both Etsy Stores

I was working on some projects today, I finished another painted plate for Halloween and I am adding a few products to the Etsy stores.  The picture below is a silly scarecrow and a black goofy crow, both dolls were designed by me and the letter B I kind of sound like Sesame Street for stating it that way but that's okay I love Sesame Street still my favorite has always been the Count.  Back to the dolls, the crow is made from black broad cloth and the scarecrow is muslin, both dolls are actually make with making a pattern out the letter B.  I will be adding these two also because the OFG is putting on an event call Fall to Thanksgiving and these sets of dolls will be in it and tonight I will be busy adding them to the store.

 The picture below is a cute small rag cloth doll that I designed on my own and I am thinking about making some more dolls.  This cute little doll has the body of a pumpkin which I made from some nice cotton Halloween fabric, the head, arms and legs are muslin filled with fiber fill.

I also have a few more projects going on I am working on the 20 inch doll still and another Halloween Painting done on a large chalkboard, it will make a very cute wall hanging for the up coming holiday.   Next week I should have the 20 inch doll completed and I will share that with you all, so be sure to peek in next week and see how she has come out.

Prayers and Hope for JoJo

I was really not going to blog about JoJo but today is when doctors will decide about operating on her and I decided to ask you all for prayers.  It has been 7 days since the accident.  My daughter accidentally spilled a 16oz cup of boiling soup onto JoJo.  She is very badly burned and the burns cover most of her little body, she is now at the Portland burn center.  This has been one of the toughest things to go through, I love her so much so I am asking you all to pray for her.  The stay at the hospital will be a long one up to 3 weeks.  I am so thankful to the LDS Missionaries for going and giving her a blessing.  It's so hard seeing someone so little in so much pain I want to take the pain away and put it on me, she is like a little mummy with all the bandages, she is now 3 months old and I am worried about the operation, but I need to stay truly believing she will be just fine.
I know it all will be alright I have to faith in my heavenly father and I do.

Marmalade Rasin Biscuit Rolls

One day I was playing around in my kitchen wondering what I could make up for a quick breakfast.  I had some Bisquick mix and there was a recipe for biscuits on it so started to make up the mix thinking I was going to have biscuits and gravy.  But I saw I have some marmalade, brown sugar and raisins.  So I decided to mix up the raisins, a cup of brown sugar and marmalade in a sauce pan and heated it until the sugar and marmalade got bubbly.  I also decided to add one cup of sugar to my dough mixture and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.  I greased my muffin pan well and added the marmalade mixture first then the dough mixture on top and baked it all in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and this is what I got!  They were quite yum with a hot cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk and they lasted about 1 whole day!  I was fun just creating something yummy while using just a little of this and a little of that.

Working on Holiday Painted Plates for this Week

This week I got busy painting plates for the holidays.  I ended up getting at 4 plates painted! yea!
All the plates are my very own design and I drew what I wanted on the plates by using a light colored acrylic oil based pen.  Once I draw the picture free hand then I began painting and filling in all the wonderful colors.  You can see I have Halloween and Autumn on the mind. Each plate is painted then baked to be sealed the I love using most is oil based acrylic paints and these now come in maker with various sizes.  I have also added some cute sayings on each plate to go along with the season.
I really love doing up the plates its another to express my ideas and keep up on my drawing ability.  Soon I plan on doing some serious plates like actually painting some pretty roses on a plate.  I think my favorite plates are the green plain ones because seems like the colors jump out more than on the white plates.  Even though I seal the plates by heating them I still say they are only for decor and not to eat off of them.  I am finishing up one more plate for Halloween and then it will be time to work on some for Thanksgiving and Christmas, there are some really great ideas racing around in my head for those holiday plates.  Tomorrow I think I will start working on a 20 inch doll that will be a witch and one for everyday after the dolls it will be on to some whacked out quilts.
These plates will all go into my other Esty store http://www.etsy.com/shop/pamelastocker1?ref=si_shop.

Oh My! Butter Finger Cookies

Here they are! those Butter Finger Cookies! I found the recipe here.... http://www.recipegirl.com/2008/07/31/butterfinger-chunk-cookies/
What a great recipe this was to do up these cookies, these will not last long in any home and if you have boys... my husband and son.  When I think about it I would say... look out they may be gone in seconds! I did these up a few weeks ago and went to do an errand for a minute or two, when I got back the cookies were gone.  This is actually what was left of the second batch I made.. phew! it was close even saving these few for a picture.  I did change the recipe a little by adding some coconut and they were just wonderful with about a cup of coconut added, I might try adding chopped nuts next time, anyway that's what my boys are asking for in the cookies next time I make them.

Sewing New Rag Cloth dolls While the Computer was Reparied

Howdy to all! You might be wondering why I have not posted a blog lately, well the computer had to go in and be repaired I downloaded what is know as zero virus! Good heavens the computer had to be totally programmed because a zero virus is nasty! Well one good thing came out of it, I got a lot of sewing done in that week and half. I have finished some dolls! hooray!

The first rag cloth doll animal is a bear. Actually I call these my Pud Bears and there is a whole lot you can do with them. They are 14 inches tall and the middles are round and fluffy. I can make this bear out of many different kinds of fabrics. In this case I am using muslin and have stained it heavily with my sauce, making the bear quite grubby. Next I filled the bear with fiber fill and painted the facial features. The dress is quite simple, a strip of torn cotton Halloween fabric gathered by hand and placed onto the bear.

This is the second rag cloth doll I finished and this is Polly and loopy, Polly is 18 inches and hold her pet bunny loopy. Both are made from muslin and stained. I created their facial features with my acrylic paints, both are filled with fiber fill. The dress and bloomers are a rayon cotton blend and the hair is a wool yard that I have hand sewn into the head of the doll. As you might have guessed I used that heavy quilting thread to help sew the yarn into her head. The pattern is from 1978 and I just designed loopy from my husband's thumb, I had him put his thumb on a piece of paper and traced around it. Next I transferred the thumb pattern onto fabric and Ta Da I got loopy! I get my pattern ideas from those wild but fun thoughts I have for creating, basically what I am saying you can create a pattern from most anything if you let your imagination run wild

Now these great little dolls are from a pattern I bought at http://www.chestnutjunction.com/ There are some great patterns there and I hope you will go check out the web site. I design the doll way different than the instructions call for; so they are done up different. I created the facial features my self one little doll is happy and the other is grumpy! I used acrylic paints to do the work. I have also made the dolls very grubby. I made 2 sets from the same pattern but I added ears or werewolf ears on the second set. Both sets are made from muslin and stained to be grubby. The dress fabrics are cotton fabrics and the dolls are filled with fiber fill. I know I mentioned last time talking about the Butter Finger cookies and I meant to post about them but I got so excited over the dolls and the finished 18 inch doll I just had to share this post first! So a little later on I will share the recipe for the Butter Finger cookies with you. Today I will be adding all the new dolls to Maplea's Rag Cloth Dolls and Animals.

What's being Worked on for Friday July 20th 2012

It's Friday!  I will be spending the weekend crafting away as my hubby has to take the log truck in for a oil change and small amounts of work need to be done on it.  So I will be at home finishing up these 2 projects I started.  The first one is a small bear that need some revamping.  I am staining the bear and messing him up to look some what older or aged. The bear is made from some old dark red fake fur and I have filled with bear with fiber fill.  The nose and eyes are black safety eyes I found in fabric depot (my favorite place to shop) I did Cranberry bear up a while back and he has been just sitting around doing nothing so it was time for a revamp on him.  I am staining him with my coffee solution and rubbing cinnamon in him giving him a rustic look maybe?

The second project is of course a 18 inch rag doll, made from muslin and stained with my favorite coffee stain.  I will fill her with fiber fill and paint the facial features, she also has a buddy which is a cute rabbit for her.  The dress is a cotton blend/ rayon being the blend.  It is wrinkling nicely and staining pretty easily.  I actually started these yesterday but thought I would talk about them today being the house is so quiet even my little dogs are napping away.  I post again showing you all what they look like all finished.  I think in the next blog I will tell you all about the Butterfinger cookies I made!

Love being a Grandma, Pictures of JoJo at 21/2 Months

Hello everyone! I just had to share some baby pictures of my sweetie grand daughter! boy is she growing and developing a personality!   My daughter brought her to the house a few days back and I took pictures and video taped her.  I wanted to share the video with you also but for some reason it would not upload to blogger.  Oh well...  JoJo is 2 1/2 months old in these pictures and 10 pounds 23 inches is she growing like a little weed.  I have so much fun when she comes to the house, I am so busy playing with her nothing gets done!  I love what mommy dressed her in that day pink and cute!  These are only a few pictures that day I took about 60-70 pictures! and 4 videos, I love spoiling her but her doctor says you can never spoil them when they are this young.  Today I am at home blogging this but also sewing some new things that I will post later on, be sure still enter in the contest to win some great items http://www.oldfarmhousegathering.blogspot.com/

Come Join in the fun at the Fall's Splendor

Come join the fun you might just win the great give away just hop over to http://oldfarmhousegathering.blogspot.com/2012/07/falls-splendor-etsy-shop-hop-giveaway.html

and sign up! so that you can win, win win!!

Entirely Late Posting My Son's Graduation!

Howdy to everyone today! its finally a nice warm day on the Oregon coast and I have been busy with lots of chores this day.  Today I sat down because I have these photos from my sister, who I say big thanks too! phew! we almost did not have anything of my son's graduation which was June 18th 20012.  Yes I am late posting this....

I have learned that my husband needs lessons in electrons!  we wanted to record the graduation, I was going to do the filming,  well... you know those males at times like to take charge and my hubby did; except when he took charge he did not realize you had to turn the camera on!!  So I had no pictures, video of our son's graduation, my sister even said her camera was acting up but luck be on her side she did get some shots that came out! and yesterday I found them in my email! phew!

The first picture is my son and he is in the other photos as well.   I am so proud well... we both are so proud of of him!!  He did well in school, lettered in football, track and wrestling with a 3.2 grade average! yea!  He even broke some records! with other track members!  I love him so much he has a strong faith in the LDS Church, to choose the right and to stand out in a crowd and not follow others!  He has decided to serve his country and will be joining the Air Force and thinks he will leave in Oct.  I remember yesterday bringing home a 9 pound 11 oz. baby boy who all the nurses loved because of that dimple in his chin, I sorry about posting this so late but I just had to share it today,  Love you so much Mitchell!