Stocking Stuffers Treasury

I can hardly believe this year has gone as fast as it has. It seems like just a couple of months ago I was posting about our possible fertility woes, and now in just a couple of weeks we'll be holding our little baby girl!

This is my most favorite time of year, fall is an absolutely gorgeous season and the excitement and tradition of the upcoming holidays is something I've always enjoyed and cherished.

In honor of the upcoming holidays (and Black Friday! YAY!) I have created an Etsy Treasury full of awesome, handmade stocking stuffers. Stockings are one of my favorite things to buy for during the holidays... but they can also be the most challenging! Hopefully this list will help you in your stocking stuffer search!

NEW Boot Cuff design

I had mentioned last week that I was working on a new pattern for boot cuffs. I have finally completed the pattern, and the cuffs. Check them out below and let me know what you think!

I wanted to try a more traditional looking cuff. A lot of the cuffs I've been making and that I offer in my Etsy Shop are a little more dressy and girly. I wanted a good old pair of boot cuffs for those cold nights in the mountains (daydreaming about the Poconos!). I used a combination of stitches for the body of the cuff and ended up with a ridge-like pattern. Hence the name Crochet Ridge Boot Cuffs.

Ah... traditional and cozy!

I love the detail of the stitches you can see in the above picture, as well as below. I've used a combination of double crochet and half double crochet stitches as well as some different techniques in stitches to get the ridge/line look of the body of the cuff.

These boot cuffs are available HERE, in just about any color you would like!

 

Eggplant Panini

This past week I decided to try a different sandwich for dinner, other than our normal staples. I found this recipe on foodgawker and had it saved in my favorites. Recently, we've been eating a lot more eggplant. These were delicious! I even had the leftovers cold for lunch and it was still delicious!

Eggplant Panini

Ingredients: 

• 1 large eggplant, about 12-14 oz
• Olive Oil
• French Baguette, cut into 1/4" pieces
• Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
• Pesto 
• 1 Tomato, sliced thinly

Directions:
Slice the eggplant into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the slices on a paper towel and season with salt; set aside about 15 minutes. This will help draw some of the moisture out of the eggplant. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels.

Preheat the panini grill. Lightly drizzle olive oil over eggplant,  season with salt and pepper. When the grill is hot, grill eggplant about 7-8 minutes, turning once half way through. Set aside.

Slice the bread, diagonally, into 1/4" slices and place 1 slice of grilled eggplant, 1 slice of mozzarella, 1 teaspoon of pesto, and 1 slice of tomato on each sandwich. (I used a french baguette for my panini's which made them more of an appetizer size. We just had a few sandwiches each.)

Lightly spray the top of the bread with oil. Place on a panini press and close until the cheese melts and the bread is toasted. 

Enjoy!

New Ideas...

I'm working on a new boot cuff pattern this evening. It's a little more casual than the boot cuffs currently at Elizabeth and Lou, I can't wait to debut it later this week! I love coming up with my own designs, it's just as much fun as coming up with my clip designs!

This will be my last full week of work before maternity leave, my last day will be the 15th. I plan on spending my time off stocking up on inventory for the quickly upcoming Black Friday, since I will likely have a one month old a that point!!

Stay tuned in the next few weeks for some giveaways and promos for the holiday season including Elizabeth Lou and Company gift cards and gift wrap!

Hope everyone has a lovely week!

 

Tuxedo Pudding Cookies

For these little delectable delights, I used my most favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. For those of you who follow my blog, or know me, you know I have a bit of an obsession with Jell-O pudding in baked goods. I think it makes everything taste better- and I love the dense texture!

I decided to branch out of my normal chocolate chip pudding cookie recipe and try the chocolate Jell-O pudding. I have been in the mood for the sweetness of white chocolate, so I decided for this recipe I would use the chocolate Jell-O pudding as the base for the cookie and add white chocolate chips for some sweetness, and mini semi-sweet chips for a subtle hint of semi sweet.

Check out the recipe below!

Bump Update- So ready to be done!

Welcome to 35 weeks and 5 days. I so called it when, at the beginning of this pregnancy, I said I would probably end up being miserable at the end... I am! Just kidding (sort of). It's still been a fairly easy and uneventful pregnancy, and I really probably have no right to be complaining.

Bolognese Sauce

I am generally not at ALL a fan of meat sauce. I don't even like spaghetti sauce with meat. However, my Father-in-Law makes the BEST bolognese sauce. I had a craving for it a few weeks ago and my darling husband made it for me while I was away. I came home to a fully prepared, delicious dinner. It fed us for a few meals and we still have a container in the freezer. (I'm saving that baby for when we need quick, simple meals come a month from now!). 

This is the perfect meal for a fall Sunday!

Check out the recipe below:

Gender Reveal Party

So, I know this is like wayyy late, but I figured better late than never to share! Back in June we had our Gender Reveal party for little Everleigh Kate.

The plan was this... we had an ultrasound appointment scheduled for Thursday, June 7th. The party was planned for Saturday, June 9th. I was under the assumption, that the way in which these parties worked, was that everyone found out the gender together. However, I think perhaps I was wrong. When I told everyone that we were waiting to find out on Saturday, they were all surprised.... (Isn't that the way it was supposed to work... I didn't know!). Anyway, my mother-in-law, the morning of, planted in my head that we could still find out and just not tell anyone... hm. My husband already wanted to find out, so I thought... OK, sure... let's do it!

So, not quite the original plan, but it was still a great little shindig. The color theme was grey and yellow... I'm not a huge fan of pink and blue. Check out some of the photos below!

The Voting Station: We had a list of names which we displayed for everyone to vote on. We already had a few of our favorites picked out... but we wanted to see what everyone else's votes were too! 

For the board I simply used a piece of foam board that I covered in fabric and then printed up the names and cut them out, then taped them to the board. For the titles I used a coordinating scrapbook paper with letter stickers.

These cute little envelopes I purchased at A.C. Moore. I got enough so that everyone could vote for their favorite girl name, and boy name. I used clear acrylic stamps to spell out "girl" and "boy" and then stamped the front of each envelope. 

This is an old cookie jar that was my grandmothers. I keep it around for random uses... such as this! These cute little chalkboard labels I found on Etsy.