Baby Strawberry Slippers

After making my Strawberry Slippers, I realized my sweet Anna deserved a pair as well.  She had a super cute dress with strawberries on it and I knew the slippers would be precious with it.

The slipper pattern I used for these is from Little Birdie Secrets.  The flower pattern is from Sarahndipities.  I stopped after the second row for the small flower.  Both are great patterns.

Here is my sweet Anna in her strawberry dress.  I also made her a pretty flower for her hair as well.  You can see the flower better in the second picture.

I plan to have my flower clips and slippers in my Etsy shop when it opens soon. Be on the lookout!  I am taking the big leap and giving it a try.  Wish me luck!

Shrimp and Grits-A Delicious Recipe

I was a part of my friend Mandy's beautiful wedding last November.  As an appetizer, she had shrimp and grits. Well, I got one bite and was rushed off to have pictures made. The grits were scrumptious. I couldn't wait to get back for my serving.  Unfortunately, everyone else thought they were delicious too. They were all gone by the time we got done with pictures!

Needless to say, I've been craving these shrimp and grits ever since. I've ordered them at restaurants a couple of times and they were just not the delicious ones served at Mandy's wedding.  I've looked and looked at various recipes for them and none sounded just right.  So, I took parts of various recipes, added my own twist, and came up with a fabulous dish.

....and here are my Shrimp and Grits!

Ingredients:

The Creamy Grits:

2 cups of water

1 3/4 cups of chicken broth

3/4 cups 2% milk

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup grits

1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 Teaspoon Hot Sauce

1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper

The Shrimp:

1 large Portobella Mushroom Cap, cut up in small pieces

4 small colored peppers (red, yellow, green, orange) or 1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 links of andoullie sausage cut up in small chunks

2-3 green onions, sliced

1 1b. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

Salt

1/2 cup of chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

The Topping:

6 slices of crispy bacon (reserve bacon grease)

Directions:

First, make the bacon.  Remove bacon from pan and dry on a paper towel.  Leave pan with drippings for later.

Then, begin making creamy grits. Put first four ingredients in a medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Bring to a boil.  Whisk in grits and salt.  Reduce the heat to low.  Let grits cook while preparing the shrimp.

Next, begin making the shrimp. Use the pan with the bacon grease.  You only need about 2 TBSP of grease.  Remove any extra. If you're a little short, no worries. The vegetables will provide additional cooking liquid.  Add the mushrooms to the grease, on medium heat, first. Then add peppers, and sausage. After these have cooked for a few minutes, add the green onions. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the shrimp. Add them to the mixture and sautee them until they are a light pink.  Add the chicken stock and hot sauce. Turn the heat on simmer.

Now it's time to finish the grits.  Add the cheddar and parmesan cheeses, stir well. Stir in the butter and black pepper. Scoop the grits into a bowl.  Add the shrimp mixture on top. Crumble a piece of bacon over the bowl of shrimp and grits.

Voila! You are done.  This is for sure a 30 minute recipe (from start to finish). It will easily serve 6 adults. I hope you find this to be a wonderful addition to your recipes. I know I do.



Zucchini Bread

During the summer months, zucchini is plentiful.  Sweet Zucchini Bread is one of my favorite things to make.  Our church secretary, Kathy, is so kind to send a huge zucchini home with my husband.  It is perfect for making breads.  That is exactly what I used it for this week.  I wanted to share this delicious recipe with you as well.  I hope you enjoy it!

Zucchini Bread

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 teas vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teas soda

1 teas baking powder

1 teas salt

3 teas cinnamon

2 cups peeled shredded zucchini (seeds removed)

Chopped pecans-or another nut (optional)

Cream sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients, and add all to cream mixture and beat.  Add grated zucchini and beat.  Stir in nuts. Pour into two regular loaf pans, greased and floured.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Check with toothpick for doneness. This is a moist bread and can be frozen too.   Enjoy!

Great Things-Inner Hooker Crochet Patterns & Giveaway! (3 winners!)

It has been awhile since we've featured a "Great Thing," but not to worry, we have one for you today!  If you read the title, you might have taken a second look or had to think about the name!  Nonetheless, we are sure it grabbed your attention!

Scotti is the creative genius behind Inner Hooker Crochet Patterns.  We love how Scotti describes herself, "Nose and butt wiper by day...creative business woman by night!" We can completely identify with the by day part, but maybe one day we will have the by night part as well!

Scotti is one busy lady! She has over 50 patterns in one of her many shops.  You can catch her on Big cartel, Etsy, Ravelry and Artfire.  If that wasn't enough, she also has a blog, where she shares stories of her family and some free patterns (hint hint)!

Jill wanted to share with you some of her favorite patterns from Inner Hooker Patterns.

Owl Earflap Hat Pattern

Bunny Rabbit Hat Pattern

Honey Bee Hat Pattern

The Vintage Chic Headwrap Earwarmer Pattern

Polka Dot Pom Pom Pattern

Flower Bonnet Photo Prop Pattern

Oh, I must stop or I would just list every pattern she has in her store.  Aren't they all just precious!  I just want to squeeze the little babies in the pictures too.  They further enhance her fabulous designs!  Scotti's patterns are very reasonable and she also offers three "Buy More Save More" options.  You can get 10 patterns for $30, 6 patterns for $20, or 3 patterns for $10.

You will also want to check out the Inner Hooker on Facebook.  Scotti often offers specials or even asks for testers for some of her new patterns.

What is better than saving money on wonderful patterns?  How about FREE PATTERNS?  Scotti has generously offered 3 patterns to 3 different winners!  (Jill is highly envious as that owl pattern has been on her radar for a long time now).

Here is how you can win 3 new patterns!

*Leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Are you an email subscriber to Our Seven Dwarfs? Leave a comment telling us you are or subscribe and leave us a comment telling us you are a new subscriber.

2. Visit Inner Hooker and leave a comment telling us what 3 patterns you would choose.

3. Do you follow Our Seven Dwarfs on blogger? (see sidebar under Follow us) Leave us a comment telling us you do or become a new follower and leave us a comment telling us you follow OSD now.  By the way this is a great way to view all your favorite blogs in one place!

4. Do you like Our Seven Dwarfs on Facebook? Leave us a comment and tell us you do or like us and tell us you did.

5.  Send some love to Scotti on Facebook.  Go like her page and then tell her Our Seven Dwarfs sent you!  Leave a comment here that you did gave some love!  *Make sure to click on the little lock button (choose everyone) when you post on facebook so this shares your post with everyone.  That gives more love to all!

There you have it, 5 possible entries.  You don't have to do all of them, but it sure increases your odds of winning!

Giveaway ends at midnight (EST) on July 16.  Winners will be chosen on Sunday, July 17.  All winners will have 48 hours to claim their prize by emailing us at oursevendwarfs@gmail.com.

Good luck and enjoy this Great Thing!

A Baby Gift-A Please Knock Door Sign

I have 5, very special people, I'm making baby presents for.  I have 5 separate gifts in mind. This is the first of the gifts. I got this idea from HowDoesShe.  Here's the link to their original project. http://www.howdoesshe.com/please-knock-baby-is-sleeping-sign

Here's one of the five signs I made.

I had five pieces of scrap wood cut into 12"x7" boards. I stained the back, the sides, and the edges of the front of each board.

After the stain dried, I applied a coat of Mod Podge to the entire front of the board.

I cut 5 different pieces of scrapbooking paper to 12"x7" and Mod Podged each to the boards.

I used a scraper to smooth the paper down and get all the bubbles and creases out.

I let the Mod Podge dry for about 30 mins. before applying a heavy layer of Mod Podge to the top of the paper (oops no picture!).  I let it dry for a few hours.

After the Mod Podge dried, I used my sander to distress the boards.  I concentrated on blending the edges.

I used the same stain, I used on the board, to further distress the board. I just rubbed the stain in with a cloth.

I cut vinyl on my Silhouette. "Please" and "Baby is" are Pea Bonnie Script.  "Knock" and "Sleeping" are Pea Lacy Chunky.  The font size will depend on the size of the board you're making. I just made the document, on my Silhouette, a 12x7 and adjusted the words to "fit".

After cutting the vinyl, I peeled the negative away leaving only the print, I wanted on my sign, on the page.

Using a piece of transfer paper, I covered the vinyl and brought it over to the signs. I used my scraper and rubbed the words on to the sign.

I peeled the transfer tape off and this is what I had left.

I drilled holes in the top corners of the sign to add the wire for hanging the sign.

I put the wire through the hole and twisted it.

And the signs are finished.

The third sign is a light blue and green background with navy vinyl.

This sign has a great geometric patterned paper.

I like the snazzy stripes of the last sign!

Stay tuned to see what the other gifts will be.  I have a feeling you may have already seen two of them.  Shhh.... I want to keep them a secret until the gifts are revealed to the new mothers.

Baby Sling Tutorial

When I had Evan, I found it increasingly hard to carry him, tend to Ryan and do anything else.  A friend of mine (who also showed me the nursing cover) was carrying her son in a sling.  I loved the idea of the sling as it was much easier to get your child in and out of versus one of those fancier contraptions.

 The only thing I didn't like about the sling was the cost.  When I looked on the internet, most slings were at least $30-50.  That was way out of my price range.  After examining her sling, I knew I could figure out how to make one especially with a bit of google research.

Now that I've had another child, the sling is an essential and I have perfected how I make them.  This is a very simple tutorial and will get you a sling for the cost of 2 yards of fabric and some matching thread!

I made this one for my friend, Henri and her precious baby girl, McCall.  Here she is modeling it for me. Thanks for the picture, Henri!

Baby Sling Tutorial

Supplies Needed:

• 2 yards of fabric of choice (width should be at least 44 inches)
• Matching thread
• Sewing machine
• Measuring tape and/or measurement gauge
• Fabric Marking pen (or light pen to mark small measurements)
• Iron
• Scissors

1.  Prior to making your sling, you will need to get some measurements from the person you are making it for.  Measure from the right shoulder to the left hip bone (where the baby will sit).  Here is an example of how to measure yourself or a friend from a sling company.

2.  Unfold your fabric and cut it lengthwise.  It will measure 2 yards by 22 inches.  Put one piece aside for future use or another sling.

3.  Fold your fabric lengthwise once.  Then fold it in half widthwise.  Make sure the open sides are facing up and to the right. See picture below.

4.  On the top, open side, measure from the fold to your hip to shoulder measurement.  Henri is a petite little lady so her measurement 22 inches.  You want to add a 1/2 inch to this measurement.  Therefore, this top measurement is 22.5 inches.  Mark this with a pen.

Now measure along the bottom from the fold to the next measurement (keep reading) and mark.  Take the original measurement and adding three inches to it.  In Henri's case that is 25 inches (22 plus 3).  See picture below.

5.  After marking both measurements, you will want to cut from the bottom to the top with a curve.  See picture below.

6.  Unfold your fabric and heat up your iron.  It time to use that dreaded iron and do some finishing details.  Measure a 1/4 of an inch fold using your measuring gauge on the length of your fabric.  Iron this fold down on both sides.

7.  Fold this over again and iron down an additional 1/4 of an inch on both sides.

8.  Sew down the fold on top and bottom.

9.  With the sides sewn and finished, fold the fabric in half widthwise with the right side of the fabric facing up.  Make sure your adjust your stitch width to a tight stitch.  This will increase the strength of the seam. Sew along the curve a 1/4 of inch in.

10.  Turn the sling inside out.  You are going to sew along the curve above the seam you just made.  This will encase the previous seam.  Make sure you sew above the previous raw fabric or it will stick out the bottom of the sling (learn from my oops).  This is double protection from the seams opening up.

11.  Open up the sling and sew down this encased seam to the front or back of the fabric.  This makes a nice finish and you don't have the encased seam sticking out.

That's it.  A simple sew for an awesome sling!  Here is my finished sling.

I hope this tutorial helped you.  If you are new to baby-wearing and need help utilizing a sling.  Here is an excellent guide to the different wearing positions.

This is also an excellent gift to make for a little girl.  It is equally as fun to carry your baby dolls around in a sling.  I am sure I will be making one for my sweet Anna one day.

I hope you or a friend enjoys a new sling!

Happy Crafting!

A Delicious Carrot Recipe

Are you looking for a new side dish? Here's a fabulous one.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.

First, peel and wash a bunch of carrots. Then cut them up and steam them. Don't over cook them. Just steam them until they're tender. Then mash the carrots. You can do this with a potato masher, a blender, a food processor, or a mixer. You need at least 2 cups of mashed carrots but can easily have more!  Add the following ingredients to the carrots and mix well.

1/2 stick butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons flour

a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(Do you want to make this healthier?  Substitute apple sauce for all but 1 tablespoon of the butter.  Use agave nectar in place of the sugar or use half the amount of sugar.  I never use the full 3/4 cup.  The carrots are sweet on their own. Use skim milk... just some ideas)

Here are the carrots ready to be cooked. Put them in the preheated oven for an hour.

This carrot souffle is delicious.  I hope you enjoy it!