Friday, September 30, 2011

Site Change

Hello Everyone!!
I have some super exciting news that has been in the works for a while now...
I have updated this here blog and changed the name.
So from now on to get my current updates, DIY's and recipes please hop on over to 
and bookmark http://ourhomemadehappiness.blogspot.com/ as a place to visit everyday!
Thanks so much everyone for reading and following It's Sew Lisa and I hope you continue to check in even though I've moved.
Hop on over now and check out the new site and be sure to tell me what you think!

Maple Glazed, Brown Sugar Scones

My mister is a man of few words.

Our conversations are often quite one sided as I could blab for hours while he waits to say something he feels has actual value to the conversation.
I do not have that restraint.
I'm afraid if the thought comes into my head, it will also come out of my mouth.

The compliments I get whenever I bake something are often a shrug accompanied with some sort of line like "yah, it's good", or "I like it".
So the day I made scones and he told me they were the best scones he'd ever had I was blown away. I was even speechless for a couple of seconds while I processed the magnitude of this compliment!
I love these scones a dangerous amount. The maple flavouring in the icing with the tender yumminess of the brown sugar scones makes all your worries of the day just melt away. They are super-duper with coffee too.
I can't think of a better way to welcome October then to make these babies.

Maple Glazed, Brown Sugar Scones

For the Scones:
3 cups four
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, until the butter has been broken into pea sized pieces.
Mix the egg and buttermilk together and pour into the flour/butter and mix using a fork until just combined.
Pour the loose dough onto a work surface and push together into a disk. Cut the dough into 12 triangular pieces (like a pizza), or 8 large triangular pieces.
Bake at 350 for 22 minutes until the tops are just starting to show some colour.

Maple Glaze
(This is Pioneer Woman's fantastic recipe... make it, drink it, looooove it!!)
1 pound icing sugar
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) melted butter
splash of coffee
pinch of salt
2 tsp maple flavouring/extract

In a medium bowl stir everything together until smooth.

Pour or drizzle the icing over the scones once they are completely cooled.

And then eat... eat them all!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Will Power

It is often a battle of will power in our house, and I have one little boy that has some amazing will power let me tell you!
We try to inforce the "one bite rule", insisting that they have to try everything on their plate or have at least "one bite" before they get down to play again. Eli is currently going through a phase that he doesn't like any food, and therefore the one bite... well, he just wont do it. He'll sit at the table, with a pout on refusing to eat, pushing his plate away forever!
It's really quite amazing how long he'll sit there just to get his way... he gets that from his mama!
I know this is something they all go through so I try not to worry crazy amounts that he eats pretty much nothing all day, but I do find it super frustrating, making him lunch for him to refuse eating it.
What are some constant battles in your house?

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Heirloom Cut Chenille Blanket

I found the instructions for making this blanket a while ago and have been itching to try one ever since.
It wasn't at all difficult, but it took forever!
I do love how it turned out though, it's super soft and cozy like, and it was really pretty cool to see how the flannel went into the washing machine looking one way and came out looking completely different.

You should totally make one.

I can't wait to make another. It's a great "make busy" project as it's only sewing straight lines so it's really easy to stop and start or just go to town and make in one sitting.
The thing that took the longest was cutting the flannel. I don't have one of those fancy cutters mentioned in the instructions so I did it all by hand with my trusty scissors... that was unpleasant!

I think I'll tuck this one away (I had some troubles with the binding...) and get out the fabric to make another for the next little baby in our group of friends!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Why Blog?

Why do I blog... it's a question I've been asked a couple of times.
My reason is a pretty simple one.
I blog to remember and find the positives in everyday.

My mister's job has moved us far from family into a community that is about 94% smaller (yah, I totally did the math!) then where we are from. We moved from a place that is incredibly busy and full of malls and box stores to a place with fewer then 20 stores.
The first year after our big move I was pregnant with my second baby, had a little guy who just turned 1, and was living in an area much smaller then I was used to with little support. I was feeling emotional, bored, lonely and straight up negative. I would see the down side to a beautiful day and would dwell on the one thing that went wrong in the last 24 hours. I was not a nice person to be around. I was not happy with myself, as a wife and a mother; and I was horrified to think of all that I was missing in my boys lives as I was on a personal quest to be miserable.

I decided things needed to change.
I bought a journal and I wrote one thing everyday that made me smile. This worked well for the first couple of days however I was very stuck in my spiral of negativity and being accountable to only myself was not enough to keep me motivated. That's when I decided to start a blog.

Something about writing something and publishing it for the world to see made me feel obligated to push to be the person I wanted to be. I also loved that I could journal with pictures this way.
My blog has since become a place I share things that happen in my life and my boys lives, crafting projects I'm excited about and baked goodies I simply can't get enough of. It's a bit of a hodge-podge of everything but all in all can be summarized as things I love and things that make me smile.

Since starting this blog and becoming accountable to my invisible audience I have become more of myself again. I laugh more then I did, I play more then I was and I love in a way that I am proud of.

So... that's why I blog!

Thanks for reading along my invisible buddy!
I hope I make you smile every now and then too.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Musical Monday: JJ Heller - Control

If you know me personally, you will know I'm a control freak.
If you don't know me personally... I'm a control freak.
I have my life planned out for the next 10 years or so and I find it SO hard when life throws me a bit of a curve ball that messes up my plans... like I loose sleep until I have a new plan figured out!
I heard this song a couple of days ago and it spoke to me so much!
It's about realizing that we're not in control and our lives are in God's hands no matter what our plans are.
So I'm trying to let go... or at least loosen my grip.
Hope you like it (because I do so love Ms. JJ Heller!) & Happy Monday!


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Scrapbook Inspiration Video

what fun!! It's a long video but I took a bunch away from it so I had to share for all those out there looking for scrapbook inspiration...