Lengthy Post ~ Eventful 2014 Start!

LONG Post Alert! 

Happy 2014!  I've been VERY busy!  In this post you will see a BUNCH of things that I have been working on!  Starting with this Quinoa Dish from a few days ago!  Unfortunately, I have misplaced the recipe!  DRAT!  But it does have various Spices, Quinoa, and Diced Tomatoes in it!  I hope to post the recipe as soon as I locate it tho!  Sorry about that! 

Eeeeek!

Another Mini Project that I have been working on is this Mixed Media Artsy-Crafty Piece.  I have but using various mediums and doing many layers over time.  It's so thick right now it's much like a canvas texture-wise!  I'm happy with the colors and texture and weight of it.  I will be revisiting this again soon, I'm not sure if I will use it in Art Journaling or Wall Art - perhaps do a collage over top or maybe just add a phrase and Frame.  I will keep you posted, tho!

As some of you know...I'm soooooo NOT a baker!  But I'm TRYING to at least TRY!  This was my FIRST attempt at Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies. 

Yes...they are a little flat...but they tasted YUMMY and kept well.

Recipe:

1 1/2 C Bob's Red Mills Flour
1 tea Baking Soda
1 tea Soaked Chia Seeds
1 tea Vanilla Extract
1/2 C Earth Balance
1/2 C Peanut Butter
1/4 C Chocolate Peanut Butter
1/4 C Applesauce
1/2 C Brown Palm Sugar (Wholesome Sweeteners)

My Craft Room is a MESS!

And...I mean...a MESS!  Beyond a MESS, actually!  One of my many MINI Goals is to fix that.  I start in on this a little bit yesterday!

You certainly can't tell from this photo!

What I will show you is HOW I started in on this MESS...

 I started in with the PENS - Markers, Pencils, Water Colors, etc...

You name the utensil...it's HERE...

I like the way it turned out!  I thought I would share it with you here...step by step!

There are 24 compartments - empty - for now...

We made these out of 10 feet of PVC Pipe.

We cut them into 5 inch "rings" for lack of better word, I suppose!

I really wanted a BACK on each one so it would STOP the items I put in there...and they wouldn't fall thru or fall out the back.

Decorative Duck Tape worked nicely.  We covered about 75 to 80 percent of the back because I knew we wouldn't fill them with pens all the way to the top!  I had two colors/patterns of Tye-Dye so I thought it would be cool to use 'em.  It worked pretty well!

We had 4 compartments left over.  As you can see here we could fit 5 across on each shelf for a total of 20 compartments.  With the 4 left over ones we covered completely with the Tye-Dye Duck Tape and set them right-side-up on the top shelf for 4 more containers.

Yes...I already filled all 24 of them.

I love the way it turned out tho...but...I do have a LONG way to go on this Craft Room OVER HAUL.

Here's a closer look at this project.

I have more photos, too, but I think you get the picture!

I also love that this was reusing something and multipurposing.

Cost-Wise it made me smile, too!  We figured it cost roughly 80 cents per compartment by doing it this way!  YAY!

One of the main reasons my Craft Room is TRASHED is because I am a Pack Rat and have too much stuff! LOL

One of the items...

I've been saving and have been given LOTS of tins!  This is just a small amount of the overall picture and problem.  I want to make a mini goal to do a few a week...I will keep you posted on that.

Another item is this...

Yes...those are empty Plastic Soda/Pop Bottles.

I have in the past and I want to get back into working with them again.

I make Plastic Beads out of them...stay tuned for that in the near future, too!  I posted about it a while back on my old Crafting Blog, too!

This is a photo of my 2 cats on New Years Eve.

Gabby on the left and Charlie on the right.

They stayed this close for about a half hour or so.

While I drank my smoothie that I posted about the other night!

And...finally...

Vegan Garlic Ranch Dressing!  Woot!

2 Small Zukes
1/3 C Soaked Cashews
4 Small Dates
4 T Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Shallot
1 T Parsley
Sprinkle to Taste Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
1/2 C Almond Milk (or to texture/consistency)
1/4 C Nutritional Yeast

This is WONDERFUL!  I'm so happy with this flavor!  What have you been working on in 2014 so far!?