Make-up Bags

On our girls weekend my sister-in-law had one of these she made out of a placemat. We got all the stuff together and Kellie and Chris left before we could make them together. I sat down to make them today while I was waiting for some work emails to come in. Both of them took about a hour to make. They turned out cute too.

This one is for make-up brushes, mascara, lip gloss and an extra big pocket for my eyebrow fixer.
Then, I thought I'd make one for my make-up. I use bare minerals and they get so dirty when they are together. This keeps them all nice and clean. Also, I know what order I put them on instead of looking for the next one I have to use. If you use bare minerals you know what I'm talking about.
I wasn't expecting this one to look so cute when it's all tied up. I love it!

The placemats were at Wal-mart for about $1.89 each and the ribbon was probably a few dollars a yard.

New Cards

These are some more cards I made for the January card group. We were suppose to make 12 birthday cards, 6 girls and 6 boys. I always make my boy cards a bit more plain than the girls. Usually because I have Ryan in mind when I make them and I can just see his face if it was all glittery and flowery:)

As I continue my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie I came across this one. They also turn out just like the picture.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

If you want to see the reviews click here.

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is from Allrecipes. Here is the link to read the reviews. They are really good and I love the twist with the vanilla pudding.

INGREDIENTS
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Asian Pork

1 pork loin or 6 pork chops

1/4 C Brow Sugar
1 t Ground Ginger
1/2C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Ketchuo
2 Garlic Cloves Crushed
salt and pepper to taste
2 T Sweet Chili Sauce

Place pork loin or pork chops in the slow cooker and top with all ingredients. Low for 6-8 hours.

This was really good. We had it over some noodles. It's also good over rice. My friend trippled all the ingredients except the pork for more of the juice and it was awesome. Also, watch the chili sauce. I only did 1 tablespoon.

The Best Meatloaf I've Ever Made

I made this for dinner tonight. I doubled the recipe because I had two sets of missionaries and another couple come over. We only had a little left for leftovers tomorrow. Everyone loved it and I really liked it too. This is probably the recipe for meatloaf that I' going to stick with for now on.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds extra-lean ground beef
• 3 slices bread, toasted and crumbled
• 7 buttery round crackers, crushed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons ketchup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large bowl, mix the onion and garlic, beef, crumbled bread, crushed crackers, egg, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Gradually stir in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture is moist, but not soggy. Transfer the mixture to a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and continue baking 15 minutes, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
5. In a small bowl, mix the remaining tomato sauce and ketchup. Pour over the top of the meatloaf, and continue baking 10 minutes.

New Cards

So I joined a card making group. There are 8 people in the group. What this group does is we make 8 cards and then meet together and just talk and swap cards. Here are the ones I made today in a mad rush because it's tomorrow and I hadn't even started until 1:00 today.


Mckenzie helped by painting.