Baking with me - Chocolate Chip Blondies

Hey everyone,

So it has been a while, I have been in a real baking mood lately. Ever since school started back up for the kids, well a few weeks before, I seem to be baking something new every day or every other day.

On the weekend I tried out a new method of making brownies. I made one batch then Phil asked me to make a second batch for when dinner was done to have warm brownies with ice cream. Little did I know he really just wanted another batch so he could eat a bunch and the kids still have some for their lunches. I found this out the following morning when I spotted the container half empty. When I said to him, "You must really like those brownies I made eh!" He said he, "heck yah they taste like 2 bite brownies. Question can you make cookie version like this?"

So there you have the following up to me making these. I thought I would turn the camera on and record myself making them. So check out the video and follow along. https://youtu.be/VQPFWiezvdQ

Recipe

Ingredients
   1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
   1/2 cup butter, melted
   2 eggs, lightly beaten
   1 tsp vanilla
   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
   1/2 tsp baking powder
   1/2 tsp salt
   1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
   - In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Add remaining ingredients until blended.
   - Spray pan with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
   - Let cool before removing from pan

Hope you enjoyed and enjoy eatting these if you make them yourself, I know I will never loose my baby weight if I keep baking like this!

MsKayeLle

23 weeks Pregnant and Trip to the Zoo

So we had a busy week it feels. I was working on orders almost every day and resting when ever I could. I have found I am feeling the baby move a lot more and kick me. Although I am still not sleeping, it is more of a discomfort instead of a just cant sleep. Hard to explain but things are looking better, still have some pain now and then, over all I can tolerate it. I think now cause I feel the baby I am getting excited. I have been trying to keep up with my YouTube channel and enjoying it so far. I find it is helping me stay focused and reminding me we are not all perfect.

This weeks videos will be a highlight of our trip to the Zoo this past weekend and then a pregnancy update. I will be filming some videos this week of DIY and scheduling when they will be posted. I think I have decided I will be posting a new video every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. So if you have subscribed yet, go hit that subscribe button on my YouTube Channel.

The zoo was a blast. I absolutely love going to anything with my brother and sister in law. My brother has the place mapped out and a plan of action for us. My sister in law has food planned out and it just makes me focus on what the kids need and being prepared for them. I should add they don't get overwhelmed with my big family, and all the differences there is within my family. They understand and are very calming and soft spoken the whole time. It is a really great to have family that doesn't judge or force their opinions at me. I decided after that trip that we will need to visit more often, its hard as they work very demanding jobs, but in the end I have missed them, being that they live father away and we only see them maybe 3 times a year.

Overall this week has been full of lots of highs and very few lows. I hope the rest of the weeks will continue like this.

Thats all for now!

YouTube Channel hit 3000 SUBSCRIBERS

Hey everyone, I am going to jump right into it. I woke up this morning and decided I was going to back up my passport harddrive to my my book drive, speaking of someone who lost over 7 years of memories this is something you should do often. I have a feeling loosing all the data is another reason I stopped taking family photos and videos.

While I have been waiting for that to happen I decided to check my website, my Facebook, my Instagram and then finally my YouTube channel and low and behold I see my channel hit 3000 subscribers. I know this isn't a lot but to me it is amazing. I am so thankful for the supports I have and the fact that they want to see more of my video that they do hit that subscribe button. If you don't know what I am talking about, I have a channel where I post videos of either highlights of family time, or DIY of crafting and just pretty much whatever I am inspired to do. I enjoy being creative and want to help others too. I have always said the joy I get from crafting is knowing it made someone else happy.

So a little update on what I have been up to the past couple weeks. It has been a super busy month so far, my daughter did her first two road races, which I am working on a highlight video on, and then my son had a few specialist appointments and my youngest daughter a dentist appointment. Over all I have felt like I am running around and just busy busy. I do find having the time home I am able to get things accomplished with less stress of coordinating work schedules with my other half. We are a one vehicle home with me as the sole driver, so a lot of these tasks do fall on my shoulders. Luckily we live close to the school our children attend and a few of the doctors offices are close as well, so he does help with those appointments.

Within all the appointments we had a few birthday celebrations as well and Mother's Day. We had a nice family gathering for the kids birthdays. My birthday actually fell on Mother's Day this year. My spouse and kids had a few fun things planned and unfortunately I had a bad night. I was unable to sleep, which put me in an exhausted mood, and I just went back to how I felt 2 months ago. I didn't want to go outside, I didn't want to talk to anyone and I couldn't control my emotions. I felt this coming on in the morning and I pushed myself to go out to the park with the kids and just hang with them. My spouse knew I was struggling that day and tried his best in every way he could think of. By the end of the day I was emotionally drained and upset with myself for feeling the way I did all day. I know this is normal for some women but days like that are not me, and have thrown us for a loop. I talk with many other moms who say they go through it and that is comforting to me to know I am not alone. I did have an appointment with my doctor as well along with an another appointment at the hospital and things are looking better, my blood pressure is good and I will find out soon if anything showed in the scans. All aside I overall have been feeling better and am trying to keep it that way. My off days are fewer and fewer, which makes me feel more myself.

There are still a few factors I will share at a later point but that's all for now.
As always thanks for your support.
MsKayeLle

Update on Me

If this is your first time reading my blog, welcome. If you've been a long time follower, I am sorry I haven't been the best blogger these past few years. Lets catch everyone upto speed. I am a mom of 4 children three girls 9, 8 and almost 7 and a little boy who just turned 2. The past year has probably been one of the hardest for me, but in the end what we go through only makes us stronger. From returning to work after maternity leave, to a serious injury to a family member, to have to switch jobs, and the list goes on.

Anyways, after an appointment with my doctor, I was told that I needed to take it easy and relax, there are other things I will share at a later time. I have been off work now for just 2 months, no income coming in, and just adjusting to life. The first month was extremely hard, I didn't want to go outside, wanted to sleep a lot, didn't talk with anyone really and I had a really hard time with not saying "frig it I am going back to work". I have always been one to work and provide for myself. With the support of my spouse, who kept telling me to "relax, do what makes you happy. Doctor didn't put you off work for no reason.". I got through the first month.

During the second month I started opening up, I started taking the time to look at what really makes me happy. My family was all I could think of, and that is what I have been focusing on. I have got into a routine and have been feeling a lot better. You probably wonder why I am sharing this in my blog. Well I want this blog to be real, We all get lost sometimes but can find our way if we take the time.

Some of the things I am hoping to do in the next little while, is get back to taking pictures of my family and doing videos for my YouTube Channel. I already have been working on my Etsy shop and we just got over 200 sales today. I know it may not seem like a lot of sales, but its a start. I still mainly make items for people locally but I do not track them. I am so thankful to have supporters who like my creations and buy them.

Well that's all for now,
I haven't decided if I will become a daily or weekly blogger.
We will see,
MsKayeLle

How to make a Bobbin Thread Cover

Do you ever go to your sewing machine and find your bobbin threads have wrapped together somehow? Well because I now no longer have a sewing space I am constantly moving my machine around to where I am sewing. When I am doing this my bobbins are unwinding and getting all tangled with each other. Then I end up spending a while cutting thread and untangling, it really just makes my relax time for sewing a 'ugh i have to do this again'.

Before (waiting to get tangled)

After (with clear bobbin covers)

plastic tubing and some cut rings

Well while cleaning out our basement I found some plastic tubing. I am not sure what we got it for but I got an idea. I am sure I am not the first to think of this but I wanted to try it out. I took a pair of kitchen scissors, I'd probably recommend you use sharper scissors, and went at the tube. I cut small rings, then split the rings, wrapped around the bobbin and I was done.

Split ring

For this project I would recommend 1/4" to 3/4". It was a very simple project and if you go to a local hardware store I am sure you can buy it by the inch in some, making it a very inexpensive project to. That way, if your like me, and loose them (fall off table or go into scrap fabric bag) sometimes it wasn't that expensive.

Give it a try yourself and tell me how it worked for you. I also posted a video on how to, check it out.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and getting ready for spring, which still hasn't come here yet, I am hopeful.

Upcycle a Mens Shirt to a Harem Jumpsuit

Original one I made

So with summer approaching I wanted to make my son something light and breathable. I was asked a few weeks back to make one and I did. After making that one I wanted one for my son too, just more of a boyish look. I couldn't find any colours I liked for it in my fabric stash or my local fabric store, so I thought why not try to make it from a big shirt. Unfortunately we didn't have any that were what I was looking for, so I went to our local WalMart and grabbed the largest $5 t shirt they had. I loved the thought of orange when I was pregnant and still want more orange in his clothing so I grabbed that colour obviously.

I took the design I had drafted a few weeks back and just altered the top part of it, shoulders. I really didn't know how it was going to turn out in the end. I was just going with what I had imagine in my head. As it was coming along I was getting pretty excited it was going so smooth. Then when it was done I couldn't believe it. It worked out perfectly. You may ask why I was shocked about that, well whenever I design something there is always some bumps along the way, but this time there was none, it took me less then 45 minutes to make this outfit. There are some things I may change when I make it again, but for the basic part it was what I wanted.

Thankfully my son was still awake when I had finished so we threw it on him right away and let him try it out. He liked it so much he started walking. I made it a bit big for him, since its for summer, so we did end up rolling the legs up a bit.

Close up of a happy boy and the neck and arm seams

I love making things for my kids and now that I have a boy to make for its even better. I did post a video of myself making it over on my YouTube channel if you want to check it out. If you haven't noticed I have linked up a few areas in this blog already leading you to it. I have photos of my son wearing it and him walking at the end.

As I draft the pattern a bit more I will be sure to share on my blog. I am still learning how to make pdf patterns so I can share them with all of you.

Are you ready for spring? It is snowing as I write this, hopefully we will have some nice warm days soon. What are you excited about for spring and summer?

Custimized Embroidering Birthday Shirts

I know its been a long time since I have been active on here. I want to become more active and share the newest items I have been creating. As some of you know I love to sew, I have had an embroidery machine for a long time but was very hesitant to use it. I am one of those research research people, that I read up as much as I can about something before I attempt it. So when I was pregnant last year I made it my goal to attempt to embroidery a few onesies I was making for the baby. I learned a lot within the first 3 stitch outs. Then when baby came I got busy with my baby boy that I couldn't get to doing any embroidery again. I had dabbled a few times here and there to teach my mom how to use her new, what I call, 'Elite' machine. (Yes I was teaching my mom, she wanted to do some crest for her charity caterings)

Well just before the holiday season I got a request for an order, I figured I had learned enough I would jump in and commit to the order and make these shirts, but I had packed my machine away so I went out to my moms and did it. Then one order turned into 3 and so on so on. I was hooked! I love the endless possibilities. I did learn a few more things as I went on and adjust to accommodate that.

It's now been a few months of making these shirts and I am still loving it. They are customized for you!

I recently had to make a shirt for my daughters 7th birthday. She couldn't decide on just one theme and I got her down to 3. I knew it was going to be a challenge but I felt confident I could do it for her. Cinderella, Hello Kitty and Elsa were what she wanted on her shirt with her name and age. When doing custom like that it takes me a bit of time to design something in my head as to what I want and then a day or two to design on my machine. I love how it turned out and had a very happy girl.

I can't wait to do more orders and keep going with embroidering.

Make you own Dino Tail

I saw a post long ago and said if I had a boy. Well now that I do I can revisit a lot of those things. I have a friend who's son loves Barney, so I made him a Dino tail. I can't wait to make more of these, maybe change up colours ect.
This is a super easy project to make. You do not need a pattern at all. A few sewing tools make it a lot easier but not necessary.
What you will need:
   Fabric for main tail and spikes
   Velcro (or snaps if you want, but velcro is easier for kids)
   Sewing machine
   Thread
   Polyfil (or if for personal use, you can use up some scrap fabric pieces)
   Fabric marker or non bleeding pen/marker
   Pins
   Scissors and/or mat and rotary cover

Once you have that all ready cut you main tail fabric 2 @ 22" by 11". Now mark top edge in 4" and side edge down 4.5". Using you ruler and rotary cutter line up the marks and cut. Fold in half lengthwise and cut other side (Save those pieces)

With those scraps cut 2 @ 2" by 22". If you can get 22" get as close as you can.

Then cut a 7" diameter circle.

For the spikes start with 2 @ 4" by 22" strip of fabric.

On that draw out your spikes. I use my mat and ruler here. Using the angle section on the mat I make my measurements. Making each spike slightly smaller as I go.

Once drawn out I go right to sewing machine and sew on my drawing.

Then I cut 1/4" from edges,  clip corners and turn right side out.

Now to assemble the tail.

I sandwich my spikes between my tail pieces.  Sew down that side. On other side sew together leaving 4" gap for turning and stuffing.

Been Awhile again

Hey everyone sorry it has been a while again. Life of a mom things you want to do get pushed back. With that said, thanks to my other half I now have a laptop I can use to do blog post, edit videos for my youtube channel and work on my etsy shop. I have a lot on my plate, I have set my goals and fingers crossed for once I stick to them.

I only have 2 and a bit months left of my maternity leave. I am excited and nervous to go back to work, who else feels like this after being off for a year? You'd think 4th kid I would be a pro at it, but I think I am most nervous this time. I love being home and getting things done as well as spending the time with my kids. My spouse wants me to stay home, but he and I know we can not afford that, so I will be going back. I am looking forward to some social time with co workers ect, but not being away from my baby. He is my absolute last one, we think, and I just want to enjoy every bit of it. He is growing so fast and is super smart. I can not remember any of my girls doing what he can do already.

Anyways just thought I'd say Hi, yet again, and that I will be getting back in the swing of things very shortly.

School Lunch Box Day 5

Today is a start to another week. Basic lunch today

In everyone's bag:

   Water

   Juice

   Strawberries

   Grapes

   Jelly Roll Sandwiches

   Dried fruit

   Gold fish crackers

   Bear paw

School Lunch Box Day 4

Well it's Friday! Made it to the end of the week. Honestly I was pretty tired making these lunches. It took me twice as long, and there was no real 'effort' to make them fun. But they got food in their lunch so that is the good thing. :P

My Youngest:

   Water

   Juice

   Grapes

   Swiss Cheese Crackers

   Fish Pretzels

   Lasagna

   Jello

   Cereal Bar

My Middle:

   Water

   Juice

   Banana

   Swiss Cheese Crackers

   Fish Pretzels

   Ravioli

   Jello

   Cereal Bar

My Eldest:

   Water

   Juice

   Strawberries

   Swiss Cheese Crackers

   Fish Pretzels

   Ravioli

   Jello

   Cereal Bar

See told you there was not a lot of effort in these ones. 'Mommy Fail'

I will say they all are everything in their lunches though.

School Lunch Box Day 2

First day lunches were a success. They came home with empty lunch pales... I am doing two hot lunch days and 2 cold and one they choose day.

In the box today for older two:  

   Water

   Juice

   Cottage Cheese

   Colours Fish Crackers

   Peaches

   Beefaroni

   Dried Fruit

   Cereal Bar

   Half a Banana

For my Young one:

   Water

   Juice

   Cottage Cheese

   Grapes

   Strawberries

   Coloured Fish Crackers

   Spaghetti

   Dried Fruit

   Cereal Bar

   (no Peaches I forgot to take out for picture)

Nothing really exciting about this lunch today, but still having fun making them. I bet I will not be saying this for long. How do you all feel about school?

School Lunch Box Day 1

So with my girls in school and me off I am taking over lunch meals for them. Daddy did an amazing job last year while I was pregnant and giving me extra sleep in the morning since I didn't sleep well at night but, well he's daddy and these are his girls, and they got WHATEVER they wanted in their lunches. Boy oh boy were they spoiled.

My goal this year is to introduce new foods, mix things up, and to make it fun.

Today for my older two they got:

   Half a bagel with cream cheese and jelly
   Yogurt
   Fish pretzels
   Strawberries
   Carrots
   Cucumber sticks
   Raisins
   Juice box
   Water bottle
   and of course a bear paw for dessert

My young one got:
   Ham
   Cheese cubes
   Swiss crackers
   Fish pretzels
   Yogurt
   Apple chunks
   Grapes
   Juice
   Water bottle
   and a bear paw for dessert too

Over all I think they are a good size lunch. Maybe a little more then some would pack, but I'd rather them come home with food then come home starving. Starving belly equals less concentration in the classroom.

School Lunch Box Day 3

Had a little more fun with today's lunch.

For my youngest I did a Dr. Seuss inspired lunch (sorta):

   Water

   Juice

   Yogurt

   Cottage Cheese

   Grapes

   Apples

   Gold Fish

   Dried Cranberries

   Bear Paw

   Eggs (died)

   Ham

My eldest (some requested):

   Water

   Juice

   Gold Fish

   Dried Cranberries

   Carrots

   Cucumber Slices

   Yogurt

   Bear Paw

   Bagel with Cream Cheese and Jam

My middle one:

   Water

   Juice

   Gold Fish

   Dried Cranberries

   Carrots

   Grapes

   Apples

   Yogurt

   Bear Paw

   Dino Shaped Cheese Sandwich

Room Redos!

This was written back in January but I guess I never published it and its been in draft format for this long. (We are about to re do the rooms again lol)

So for the holidays, since we had some time off work and this project had been on our to do list for quite some time we got to it.

Our girls being so close in age always shared the biggest room in the house. We do not have a big house so we organized it to work the best for us. The girls had the biggest room, my business was in the medium room and since all we did in our room was sleep, we took the smallest room.

Now you might be thinking, What how can you fit in a small room, well honestly we got out queens bed in and a night stand and a small little nightstand dresser. We lived in that room for 3 years. We asked the girls numerous times which rooms they wanted and who they wanted to be in a room with. My eldest wanted my room and my middle one wanted my office.

First we took apart their bunk beds and gave them to nanny and poppy for their house. Then got to moving our room into the master and boxing up my office. You wouldn't think it would take that much time, but wow did it ever. My office had so much it took a whole week on its own to pack and disassemble the desk.

All the time we were doing this, we made the living room into a a little temporary sleep area. We blocked off the upstairs so the girls couldn't get it. They honestly had no idea we were doing anything for them. They thought we were just cleaning our rooms.

Now when we bought this place we didn't know what colours to choose, so we just painted every room an off shade of whites that we thought looked good. Well our youngest is very sneaky when it comes to makers and got hold of one, one evening a few weeks prior to these rooms being started and colours on two walls, her furniture and the door to our room. We tried washing the walls but these markers wouldn't come off. We were trying to do these rooms on as low budget as we could since it was the holidays and we had just bought Christmas gifts. So I went and checked a storage room where we kept paint cans and found a little bit of purple in a can. I was just enough to do 2/3 of 2 walls. So we go creative and did what we could.

My old office room

Our old room

 So overall we did not spend a lot of money in these rooms. We were very lucky to have gotten things how we did and used things around the house for other ideas.

First Day Back to School

Well after an amazing summer, it's that time again. I sent all my girls to school. Since I am on maternity leave I am hoping to get some blogging time in. Already since they've been gone I've weeded the garden and picked the vegetables. Where I then made homemade salsa.

After cleaning up that mess I got to some laundry and tidy work. Relaxed and watched Sundays Big Brother episode while I stuffed diapers. When the babes finally woke up we got to do some play that can't be done when others are home. (they forget he is on the floor and trample him)

Overall I feel my day has gone by, but it's only half way through. I wonder how many others find they can get more done when the kids are at school? I feel I might get to get some sewing ideas completed this year that I have wanted to do for so long.

DIY Baby Neck Pillow (Strollers, Carseats)

I was tired of my babies head drooping down so I decided to make him a neck pillow.



I enlarged the pattern to make one for video purposes. Enjoy!

Welcoming William (Our Newest Addition to our Family)

My previous post was about his birth, here is the after!



Once my little man came, it felt like everything changed. Since he's been born I have been told I am different with him then I was with the girls. I don't see this! I am doing things different with him then I did the girls I know. We are doing cloth diapers, I am trying to breast feed (still trying here were at 5 weeks) and a lot of his stuff is made by me.



I said with this baby I didn't want to do the 'new parent' thing where you go crazy and spend a lot of money. As you have seen in my prior posts 'baby on a budget' is my attempt this time. So far so good.



Question for you, did you find yourself treating one sex different as an infant then the other?

DIY - How to make a pocket burp cloth

This is more for a gift then on a budget, but an easy way to make this on a budge is to take a towel you already own and a receiving blanket you like and if you want some ribbon, ribbon isn't needed. Follow these instructions and you have an awesome pockey burp cloth.



We have been using ours for amonth now and love them. We still use the good old receiving blanket, but our baby tends to throw up quite a bit, he is still getting used to the let down and the fast flow, so these are great for him. They are super absorbant!!

DIY - How to make your own Baby Wash Cloths

These are not the wipes I made for bum changes but the cloths I made for bath time and clean up faces ect. I choose this one sided terry cloth for this project. It was super cheap, mainly cause I had the fabric already, and easy to make. You can choose to make them any size you prefer, but I went with the standard size. If you want to buy this fabric check your local fabric store, I normally find it in the ends bin for pretty cheap.