Musings of a creative mind....

So the other day I started making these cute felt letters for each of the kids names....

The creative devil inside of my mind decided they were just too plain, so I decided to add some flowers...

I was unhappy with the end result of the flower, so I started making more and more flowers, different shapes sizes, sewing, stitching, mostly giving them to my little girls to play with....

Then today I decided to make a "quick" trip to the fabric store (this took me over a hour because I knew more about fabrics than the employees, so I spent my usual hour + helping customers find what they were looking for because it annoys me that the fabric store can't employ people that don't know squat about anything but quilting.... I still can't figure out why the store won't hire me?)  Anyhow, I saw this on clearance and decided to pick it up...

 I decided I will try to needle felt some designs on the felt letters I started the other day, the little package included this...

2 felting needles, some wool roving, embroidery floss, instructions, a Styrofoam block, and a felt butterfly patch pattern

Of course my creative devil just wasn't satisfied with such a small and limited amount of stuff in the little kit, so I also had to buy this....

A few more packages of wool roving

Upon arriving home, and settling the kids down and feeding the animals... um, I mean kids.... I got about this much of the butterfly done...

before I realized I needed a better piece of foam to needle felt on, I tore apart the house and then tabi went to the garage and quickly came back with this for me...

hmph, how does she manage to find things so quickly???

This Styrofoam worked much better, I am sure a nice piece of foam would be better, but for now this is great.

I turned back to my little butterfly and looked at the wool roving, caught site of the fiberfill I was using to fill the letters, and that little creative devil asked the question, "I wonder what else can be felted????  I wonder if that fiberfill that looks just like wool roving can be felted????"  

That poor butterfly has now been locked in the "forgotten vault" by the creative devil.

And so I begin to felt a little fiberfill ball...

(maybe I should have taken this picture before I saw the yarn?)

The ball came out very nice, then caught eye of come nice bulky yarn I got at a thrift store a few years ago that I haven't bee able to figure out a project for. 

"I wonder if that can be felted, oh, how about felting it to the ball" said that little creative devil...

I'm starting to think the creative devil has ADD?

My plan was to cover the ball with the yarn, but it kind of looks like a little head with a helmet..

NOW, I'm going to have to add some eyes, maybe a nose, possible body..

Now what was I originally doing?

Oh I know, I went to the fabric store to buy some elastic thread so I could do some shirring for some cute sun dresses for the little girls and me...

Right????

Biscuit Doughnut Bites

I thought I would post another of the kids (and husband's) favorite recipe, biscuit doughnuts!  These are very similar to the fried doughnuts that we get from our favorite Chinese food restaurant and this recipe has been around as long as refrigerated biscuits have been.  If you pick up any old cook book I'm sure you will find a variation of this recipe of some sort.

These may not be the healthiest things, but they sure are yummy for a occasional treat. All you need is a roll of refrigerated biscuits (I prefer the Grands! flaky butter tastin' kind), some oil, sugar, and cinnamon.

First, you will want cut each biscuit into quarters and set them out on the counter, this is the most important step, the dough must start to rise a little and almost come to room temperature.  If you don't do this the doughnuts will not cook on the inside, I set mine out then usually do some dishes and get everything else ready, so about 30-45 minutes.

Next, heat your oil in a frying pan, you only need maybe a inch of oil  at the most.  You will want medium, or just below medium heat.  On my stove I start out on 5, and usually end up turning it down some.  You want these to fry slowly!

Now start frying the biscuits, I do about 6 at a time, they will brown a little and rise up, when the bottom has started to tan up it is time to flip them.....

(these are laying on their side so you can see how one side will brown, then when you flip them the other side will, leaving a lighter line in the middle, and you can see how lightly they are frying)

when they are done take them out and drain them on some paper towels them roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

A tip for those with younger kids: when my younger kids are helping me with this I will put the cinnamon sugar mixture in baggies and drop a few doughnuts in, then they simply shake the bag to coat them (and usually eat them warm right out of the baggies).

And another tip: if you need something to take with you on the road, put some cinnamon sugar in brown lunch bags, toss in some fried biscuits then close, shake, and take them with you.  You can even label the bags with your kids names.

If there are any left over I line a bowl with a paper towel, place them in, and covered with a towel.  For my family I will use about 2 to 3 rolls of biscuits, and we never have any leftovers that last past lunch.

ENJOY!!!