Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe!

1. Carve pumpkin, save seeds. If I'm carving mine in the kitchen, I put a strainer in the sink and just throw the seeds in it as I go.
2. Once I have all the seed removed, rinse them well, removing all the orange bits. (One way I found to do this is to put the seeds in a bowl of water, the seeds will float and the pumpkin - as long as it's not attached will sink. Just scoop out the seed and into the strainer)
3. Try to shake out as much water as possible.
4. Place in bowl and add seasoning. I typically use salt and garlic powder. Try those and black pepper or cayenne pepper, seasoning salt or what ever seasoning you prefer. I put in what feels like a lot and that is usually about right.
5. Add about a teaspoon of oil per cookie sheet batch.
6. You'll want to place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Depending on how many seeds you have it may just be one batch (I just made 5) or more!
7. Bake at 350.
8. Stir every 8-10 minutes, should take about a 1/2 hour.
9. Roast until golden brown. Enjoy!

Picture 1: All my pretty little pumpkin seeds!
Picture 2: Baking seeds on cookie sheet.

Craft Night It's Finally Here!!

I want to touch on 2 main things in this blog today, first what I've all been up to, and second, CRAFT NIGHT (can you tell I'm excited?!?!)!

What I've been up to, craft-wise, anyway! After 2, yes, 2 years, I finally finished a quilt for my most beloved niece, Bianca. Sept. 29th was her 6th birthday. She has always loved horses, so of course I made here a horse quilt. I was my very first quilt, so even though I've finished others, this one holds a special place in my heart! Awww

I also made the cutest tote bag. I found some festive and colorful material. It's Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos themed fabric. I like this bag so much I don't know if I can even put it up on etsy to sell it... We'll see! I also bought fabric to make another tote, this one with trees and leaves. The liner will be plaid, I seem to really be into plaids lately.

I have two more projects in line for family members, okay, wait that's a lie, I have all these Christmas projects swimming around in my head, but actual projects, I have 2. One for a cousin, it's a long decorative pillow to sit on her bead. It's aqua and lime green fabrics and I'm appliqueing all these flowers on it. It's mostly done, and I hope to finish it up this weekend! The other project is a Packers quilt for my brother. I have the fabric and the pattern for my blocks I just need to get started, which I am super pumped to do. But first, there is one thing I NEED to finish first.

What could that be? My Halloween costume, of course. I've been putting it off like it's got the plague. I'm actually very excited to have my costume, but the making of it, yuck... I'm going to be an Ol West Saloon Girl. I can even wear the costume again for Steamcon. I need to JUST DO IT!!

On to Craft Night!

What is craft night? Let me tell you, craft night is when I get together with 5 friends and we do crafts.

We select someone to host craft night, they then find a day and time that will work for everyone else (typically via email, so everyone is in on the planning thread). We show up at their house and we are greeted with 'snacks or light refreshments' aka a ton of super yummy food. Even if my friends were shitty people, I would possibly keep them around for what amazing cooks they are! (But they are all super amazing outside the kitchen, too!) There is normally a wine or a select cocktail. We get some munchies, pick a movie to watch, and get to work. We tend to talk the whole time, so we usually pick a 'chick-flick' we've all seen before. Some favorites are: Never Been Kissed, Mean Girls, Bridget Jone's Diary, 2 Week's Notice, etc. Or we pick funny movies, like Wayne's World or Dodgeball, a True Underdog Story!

It's so nice to connect after a couple of weeks at our busy lives and just relax. There are 6 of us, and none of us do the same thing, we have a knitter, a crocheter, scrapbooker, jewelry maker, and 2 of us that do all sorts of things. When I host, I'll sew, otherwise I bring a more portable craft with me. I'm just learning to knit, so it's nice to have an expert right there to ask questiong and give guidence. I think the jewelry makers can borrow tools and teach each other techniques.

I finally broke down while hosting this time and made craft night a pot luck. I tried my darnedest to come up with a clever theme, but it never came. So our theme is DIP. I asked my friends to each bring a dip and the dippers to go along with it. We have a bottle of sparkling wine and a rose. My roommate will pick up 2 six-packs, one PBR or Coors Lite like beers, and one a mirco brew.

We've even set up a 'play-date' for the boys. All the spouses, are gathering at a different house for Scotch and Cigars???? Our goal is a craft night about every 6 weeks or so. Over the summer it was impossible, but now we're back on track to craft away!