Dog Bed Tutorial

Hey guys!
     Wow, it's been entirely too long since I've posted something! Eeeeek! Well, I'm about to have all kinds of things to post because I've already gotten started on my Christmas presents! I have over 20 of them to make too. Fortunately for y'all, most of my family isn't internet savvy, so I can post tutorials for you :).
     Alright, what I have for you guys today is something I've been wanting to make for a good while. I made a dog bed for my 2 dachshunds to fit in their pen. We had 2 old couch cushions shoved in there and it looked super comfy but as you can imagine, things that stay in a dog pen will eventually start to smell... well, not so pleasant. I decided to say goodbye to the cushions and opt to have something much easier to clean. So here's how to do it!

      Yep, that's really it. The blankets are even optional, my guys just get cold very easy. All it is is two towels and some batting in the middle. Can't get much easier than that!

      Spread out one of your towels and batting. Leave a little bit of space on the sides so that you can fold them up and make them look nice.

     Trim the batting and then fold up all your sides. I used a whole mess of pins to keep everything in place. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to my sewing machine, so I need to know that everything's where it's supposed to be!

     Once you have your batting towel all pinned up, place it on top of your other towel. Fold the sides of towel #2 and then pin both of the towels together. Be careful to not move the batting while doing this. It tends to stay in place though, so it moving really isn't a problem, I just tend over think things. Have all of your pins on one side of your project for easy removal while sewing.

     Sew baby, sew! This was almost too thick for my sewing machine. I was worried I was going to have to do it by hand, which you totally can, it'll just take longer. You're going to make 2 laps around your entire project to ensure stability, your first round being all along the outside. The corners were too thick for my machine so I did end up having to hand stitch them which wasn't a big deal. Don't forget to pull out your pins! It's never fun to get stuck by one.

     Round number 2 is about two to three inches into your project. This is to make sure that your batting is secured in place, and it makes the project look more like a dog bed in the end.

     Ta da! Yep, it really was that simple. My husband kept asking me why I only used one layer of batting. You have to remember, yes, it's only one layer of batting, but it's between two towels. This sucker is much heavier than you'd think it would be.

     Now you just throw it in the dog pen, add the blankets and the dogs, and voila! My mat was a little longer than it needed to be, but I'm not worried about it. I'm still very pleased with how it turned out.

     I think Oscar and Sophie like it too. Thanks for reading guys! If you have something you want me to make, be it crafty or cooking, feel free to leave a comment. I'm going to blow your minds here very soon with all the presents I'm making so stay tuned! 

     Until next time,

              Cori

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!

Hey guys!
       A couple years ago, my husband and I tried using one of the topsy turvy tomato hangers with high hopes, only to be shot down. It grew a single, cherry-sized tomato. I was very disappointed. This year, despite our teeny tiny backyard, we planted a tomato plant into the ground. I honestly can't believe how many dang tomatoes that thing has popped out! The kind of plant we purchased is called a Heinz tomato plant, the kind of tomatoes the ketchup is made out of. They've all been about the size of roma tomatoes, which is fine by me. The only "problem" I've had with the plant is just how many tomatoes it has pumped out. Hubs doesn't like tomatoes, so it's all on me to eat them. I've given at least 2 dozen to my parents, and 8 or 10 to my sister, and I'm still eating about 3 a day just to keep up with them.

      My aunt and mother-in-law kept telling me to blanch and freeze them but, even though it sounded very easy, I didn't want to have tomatoes in my freezer. My favorite way to eat them is just cut up with some salt and pepper on them and I just can't imagine them being frozen and then still being able to eat them like I enjoy to. I finally thought the plant was slowing down a couple weeks ago, then I walked to the backside of it to see this..

     A million more tomatoes have sprouted. Cheese and crackers, I was blown away! You can only see about half of them in this picture, there are even more under the vines. Well, after seeing how many tomatoes I was about to have to deal with, I decided I was gonna try to make my own spaghetti sauce. Today was the day I went outside and they were all red and beautiful and ready to go! So after I picked them, the fun began.

     So many! Like I said earlier though, they aren't too terribly big. Alright, first thing I did was put a big pot of water on the stove. I figured since it's a large pot that it'll take a while for the water to start boiling so while that's heating up, I cleaned up the tomatoes and pulled off all the stems. 

     Once your tomatoes are clean and your water is boiling, gently put your tomatoes into the pot. I used tongs and put them in one at a time since I tend to hurt myself in the kitchen quite easily and didn't feel like dealing with a burn. Once all your tomatoes are in the boiling water, set your timer for a minute. Seems like quite a hassle for just a minute of boiling, but trust me, it's all you need.

     Once your minute is up, pour the whole pot into a colander then transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of ice water. Again, I used tongs and did it one at a time, just to be on the safe side.

     The skins had already split on most of the tomatoes, but the ice water will help any that have had a problem.

  

     You can see all the split skin. At this point, I'm nervous because if this didn't turn out right, look at all my delicious tomatoes that I've wasted. But I digress. After about a minute or so in the ice bath, pour them back into your colander and start peeling the skin off.

     Man, talk about a weird feeling! Little did I know, it was about to get much worse. 

     Start cutting up your tomatoes. I cut them into fourths since they weren't very big. Once you get them cut, you have to remove the seeds and any excess water. I had initially tried just cutting out the area that had most of the seeds, but then I realized that it'll be much easier to just use my hands. Ughhh, I did not like the feeling of having tomato juice running through my fingers. Anyway, after I cut up about half of them, I put them in my blender and blended them for about 2 minutes and poured the sauce into my pot. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes.

     I was a bit discouraged when, after all the work I've put into this already, this was all I had to show for it. A tiny amount of what smelled and looked like tomato soup. But I wasn't about to let that stop me. Here's where the time-consuming part comes in. I put a stick (yes, a whole stick. Don't judge me.) of butter into the sauce and turned on the burner. Once they butter was melted and the sauce was boiling, I turned the heat down to a simmer, slapped a lid on that puppy and let it sit for 45 minutes.

    I know, I know, 45 minutes seems like forever when all that's in the pot is tomato sauce and butter, but trust me when I say this is necessary. It's also imperative that you stir this often. With how little sauce I had, I certainly wasn't going to let it burn. While waiting impatiently, I decided to chop up an onion so that I didn't have to do it later. Wanna know a trick to cutting up an onion and not getting all teary eyed? Chew a piece of gum while cutting it! Tried and true my friends, I wouldn't lie to you. Anyway, after 45 minutes is up, it's time to add the goodies! 

     I added about half the onion I cut up (the rest went into the freezer, it's ways nice to have extra on hand!), 2 tsp of minced garlic, 2 bay leafs, 1 tsp oregano and not quite a half tbsp of both salt and pepper. Pretty simple sauce if you ask me. I wanted a more savory sauce instead of a sweet one, but feel free to change up the spices so that sugar can be added too! Alright, simmer this baby for another 30 minutes and then you're ready to go! It smelled sooo good, I couldn't wait to try it! 

      I was very, very sad when I saw that this was all I managed to make. But at least I can say that I made it! It's very tasty and will make a convenient dinner for me on a night the hubs is at school ;). If you have something you want me to make, be it crafty or cooking, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

    Until next time,
             Cori

Family Picture Clock

Hey guys!
      A couple weekends ago, my aunt and uncle celebrated their anniversary and ventured out to Chi-town for a few days. My cousin Bonnie was house-sitting for them and wanted to make them something special. She had found a clock on some website (probably pinterest) and asked me if I'd help her make it.

 Here's the original picture we were looking at 

Lovely, isn't it? Alright. Clock hands, decal, pictures... seemed easy enough. Well, we had like 3 days to put this together. While Bonnie was perusing through pictures, I called the a few stores in my area to try to find this particular decal. Wanna know how to irritate a retail employee? Ask them for a very specific item. Man, it was like pulling teeth just to get someone to go look. After they played hot potato with the phone (I talked to like 4 different people) I finally got the answer I was dreading: They didn't have it. Since my relatives were only going to be gone a short time, we didn't have enough time to order it off of amazon or etsy. Well, crap. Alright, plan B! We make it. How hard could it be? 

Turned out, it wasn't hard at all.  

Acrylic paint and clear contact paper is all you need to make your own decals. It adds a nice homemade feel to it, not to mention it is significantly cheaper to do it this way ($4 at walmart.) Since the paper is clear, we just printed off the words and traced them in paint. Easy peasy.

Okay, so we've got the decals drying, pictures in their frames, time to start hanging. We wanted it to go in the stairway, they had a blank wall that was just screaming for a giant clock. Turns out this ended up being more complicated than we previously thought.

Reaching the spots where the pictures needed to go was quite terrifying. (That nail is PERFECTLY in the center!) Luckily, Bonnie handled the scary part ;). We did have a problem reaching the 11 though. It was just out of reach from the ladder and standing on tippy toes on the stairs. I ended up hoisting her son Ethan up onto my shoulders and he nailed it in. 

He was so nervous, but he did it. Alright! We've got all the nails in the wall and pictures ready to go. 

The clock is so huge! It was perfect! Now to add the clock and the decals.

The project took us all day, but it was so worth it. I didn't get to see my aunt's reaction when she got home, but Bonnie told me that she cried. It was definitely worth the hassle.

Now I've got a whole roll of clear contact paper to play with. How exciting! Thanks for reading :)

Until next time,

      Cori

I finally caved in

Ahh, the blog world. Never thought I’d actually join and yet, here I am. Well, my loyal readers, you are in for a treat. Here at Puddin’ Pie, I plan on sharing much with you. Crafts, cookies, you name it. Most of my ideas come from pinterest (go figure, right?) and I’ll always be sure to include the original link. As for today, I’m just trying to figure out how to get this whole blog thing set up so unfortunately, I have nothing interesting for you. But don’t despair! I’ll have a crafty post up and ready tomorrow.

Until then,
Cori