Tutorial Tuesday: Swing Coat Sew Along

Have you noticed the cute little Swing Coat button on the right side of my blog?

I decided to join the From an Igloo Swing Coat Sew A Long. I purchased the Peter Pan Collar Swing Coat pattern from Dear My Kids on Etsy.

chose a orange boucle for the outside of the coat, a muted color cotton print for the inside, and a brown corduroy for the collar.

While I am happy with the end results, I did have some frustrations before I reached the end.

It is always hard to know whether it is the pattern or user error,

but it is always frustrating to think you are doing everything right and find out that things don't quite match up.

This photo shoot went a little better than the last one.

It is helpful to head to the park and have the fall colors as a backdrop.

I am linking this post to Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog.

Done and Done!

The deck is done, pending it passes the city inspection!

I love it. It looks great and provides easy access to our back yard.

(Peachy has already tested out it snackability and gives it her stamp of approval!)

 Mr. Cherry deserves all of the credit for this project. He single handedly planned and executed his own design.

 It sure will be nice having him around the house on the weekends and in the evenings again!

Little Peachy was helping him this weekend while I participated in a group garage sale.

She would hold on to the screw boxes and hand him one when he asked.

What a good little helper!

Foodie Friday: Caramel Halloween Mix

What happens when you mix candy corn, caramel, popcorn, Chex cereal and peanuts? A bowl of gooey goodness!!

Ingredients:
-1 c popcorn unpopped
-2 c brown sugar
-1 c butter
-1/2 c corn syrup
-1 t salt
-1 t vanilla
-1 t baking soda
-16 oz. Chex Corn Cereal
-2 c candy corn
-2 c roasted peanuts

Directions:
1. Pop popcorn in air popper.
2. Put brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3 minutes. Stir and microwave for an additional 1 1/2 minutes.
3. Stir in the baking soda.
4. Divide popcorn between two paper grocery bags. Divide remaining ingredients between the bags. Pour half of the caramel mixture into one bag. Fold the top of the bag down several times and shake. Microwave bag for 1 min. and 10 sec. Shake bag and microwave for an additional 1 min. and 10 sec.
5. Once you have shaken the bag again, pour contents out onto wax paper and allow to cool. Repeat with remaining bag.

Enjoy! (If this seems like way too much goodness in a single snack, you may want to try my classic microwave caramel corn recipe.)

F-F-F-all Camping

We have been planning one last camping trip of the summer for a few weeks now. After loading up we headed out Saturday morning. Destination? Unknown. That is the beauty of camping a little later in the year. Reservations are usually not necessary.

On the road . . . please ignore the antenna.

A little way into our trip we had our state park chosen and van headed accordingly. After a stop for lunch and drive through the campground we settled in at our site and set up camp. Next up was a hike around the lake a mere stone's throw from our site. That night we enjoyed a dinner of hamburgers cooked over the fire in addition to the left over pizza we had from lunch. As soon as night fell, we jumped into our sleeping bags and hunkered down for the night. (According to a woman I spoke with in the restrooms, it was already 46 degrees out.) 

Peachy settled down on her sleeping mat in her very own sleeping bag fairly well. Then, it was time for us to settle in as well. Only, I couldn't seem to get warm. Peachy must have been having a tough time of it as well, as she kept scooting around on her mat. Soon, I had her in the sleeping bag with me. After smashing my nose in with her head several times she fell back to sleep. Me? Not so much. Then Mr. Cherry and I heard the distinct sound of critters outside the tent. Mr. Cherry, being the man, went to investigate. The raccoons were getting into the garbage we had tied to the tree. (We know better than leaving garbage out overnight and learned our lesson yet again.) 

Peachy blissfully slept through Mr. Cherry getting out of the tent and securing the garbage in the van only to awaken when Mr. Cherry opened his sleeping bag. She was ready to call it a night although the night was still young. She did eventually settle down and we all slept until we heard the pitter-patter of rain on our tent in the morning. Thankfully it was only a quick shower and Mr. Cherry was able to go out and start a rip-roaring fire to warm us all up. After a hearty breakfast from the cast iron dutch oven, it was off for a long hike. Peachy settled right in to Mr. Cherry's shoulders and napped for close to the first hour. (Good for Peachy, not so comfy for Mr. Cherry.) 

Upon returning to the site, we decided to pack up and head home to enjoy the luxury of our own beds and the modern convenience of gas heat. We finished out the day with one more hike around yet another lake and started the trek home. While it may not seem like it, we really did have fun and enjoyed the trip. It is always good to get out in nature and play around and always good to get back home and enjoy the blessings we have in our everyday lives.

Tutorial Tuesday: Stuffed Pumpkins

Have you ever seen the blog Ucreate? Kari loves to create and loves to see what others create. She has an awesome feature on Ucreate called Create with Me.

Every month Kari picks a craft that we can all create together and share through her blog. How fun! This month's tutorial is for stuffed pumpkins from  Holly at Sunshine in my Soul.

The pumpkins are so cute and so easy to make, I just had to give it a try. I found some fun fabrics in my stash and went to work. Here is the finished result.

I went with a little more rustic feel using corduroy and a few other suiting materials that I had. I also decided to appliqué the word fall to the front of my pumpkins.

While I took these pictures on the deck, the pumpkins now adorn the ledge in our living room that looks down to the foyer. (This way you also get a sneak peak of the deck progress.)

I can't wait to see everyone else's creations!