Camping on the beach = Cajun Shrimp Soup..

Vaughn helping saute' .

This weekend our family went camping on the southern tip of Guam at a private beach...it's nice having friends who's husbands are Navy cops and have connections. We set up camp and snorkeled, swam, the kids played and we ate..A LOT! One of my favorite camping recipes is for Cajun Shrimp Soup, its so easy to throw together if you dice and chop ahead of time. Just get to the beach and throw it all in the pot and in 30 minutes you have a delicious seaside meal... don't forget the crusty bread.

Cajun Shrimp Soup

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped green onions

4 cloves minced garlic

28 ounce can diced tomatoes

8 ounce bottle clam juice

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice

3/4 pound fresh uncooked shrimp, cleaned and tails removed

dash of hot pepper sauce

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute' green pepper, green onion and garlic until tender. Stir in diced tomatoes and clam juice and water. Season with thyme, basil, red pepper and bay leaf and salt. bring to a boil. Stir in rice, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes until rice is tender. Add shrimp and cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Remove bay leaf and season with hot sauce. Enjoy!

How to make a french seam...Ohh La la..

This is a great tip for those of you who don't own a serger. You may not even know what a serger is, in that case its a sewing machine that sews and finishes seams off simultaneously , so you have a nice hem with a neat finished edge. For those of us who don't have access to a serger gone are the days when our seams look like a frayed mess after we wash our new creation once. That is unless you are going for the frayed, unkempt look. For some projects a little fraying adds texture and visual interest but in all the other projects where a clean seam is preferred you can follow this quick tip..the "french seam"....

Step 1. With fabric WRONG sides together, sew a seam with a 1/4 inch allowance down the right sides of your fabric. Again this is with the WRONG sides together!!

Step 2. Now turn your fabric RIGHT sides together. You will have a nice clean seam. Press this seam. ( I am a compulsive presser, I press everything.) This just helps it lie nice and flat.
Step 3. Go back to your machine and sew along that neatly pressed seam, with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. What you are doing is sewing in that raw edge and essentially hiding it.
Step 4. Press the finished seam to one side.
Step 5. Voila! Admire your french seam and congratulate yourself on a nice clean seam!

Très Magnifique!!

Sew Liberated - Book Give Away! Here are the rules..

In celebration of my new Etsy shop and blog I am hosting a give away! Yeah! This item to be won is this GREAT book by Meg McElwee called Sew Liberated - 20 stylish projects for the modern sewist. This book is hot off the press, just released! There are several ways to win this book! Here are the rules:

1. Follow my blog (1 entry) Leave a comment (remember to leave me a way to contact you if you are the winner!

2. Friend me on Facebook Leave another comment

3. Fan me on Facebook (1 entry) Leave another comment

4. Visit my Etsy shop and tell me what your favorite item is! (1 entry)

5. Heart my shop on Etsy (1 entry) Leave another comment

6. BLOG about my giveaway and leave the link (to your blog) here in a comment (1 entry).

7. Purchase from my Etsy shop! (5 entrys)

This giveaway will end on April 1st, 2010. The winner will be notified as soon as all of the entries are tallied up!

Fringed Cotton and Vintage Lace - A Sweet Pairing

Recalling the scarves worn by Russian grandmothers, this sweet babushka scarf is made of fringed cotton in a petite flower print and trimmed with fine vintage lace. All of these features favored by little girls are sewn together with tiny stitches.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41275381

Jane of all Trades Etsy Shop up and running!

Please take a moment to check out my etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/janeofalltradesshop

Trial run on a new pattern

My friend Liz in Maryland sent me her new eBook pattern and instructions for her scrappy organizer for me to test out! What a great little pattern Liz! These adorable organizers whip up in under an hour and are great to use those random pieces of fabric that you have left over from your bigger projects. You can purchase Liz's eBook in her etsy shop or a finished organizer in either her or my shop. Either way you will love it!

Bag finished...What shall I do with it??

Here is the finished bag. I'd say overall the instructions were clear and if you have basic machine sewing skills this project was fairly easy. I do love that the pattern pieces in the back of the book are ready to cut out and use instead of needing to be enlarged and copied straight from the book.

Of course I love the patchwork look and I also love the braided straps , they give a little different texture and look to the bag.

I will definitely make this again. What a cute gift! Not sure what I will do with this one; use it, give it or stick it on etsy.

New book! New bag!

I finally received a book today that I have been waiting awhile for. Its called Seams to Me 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing by Anna Marie Horner. I was browsing on amazon looking at books to get ideas and I came across this book. I love on Amazon how you can check out portions of the books before you buy them, well upon doing this it showed one of the projects included in the book called the I'll Have One of Everything Bag on page 88. I fell in love with this bag and had to make it. Its got that patchwork look that I LOVE and I love the style of it, sort of urban/bohemian chic. now the fun part of deciding which fabrics to use! I will keep you updated on the progress!

Mini Recipe Book - A gift for my sis

I decided to make one of my sisters a gift, because for the last 32 years she has done a great job being an older sister and I felt it was the least I could do. Plus I like to make things and she likes gifts, so it all works out.

This little recipe book is still in progress, this is just a sneak preview! It is 100% made from scratch with love, the pages are actually paper bags, the cover is plain cardboard, its all repurposed materials used in a new, pretty way.

The pages have pockets to stick recipe cards into, and if she is lucky I may just throw in a few of my favorites.

I'll repost more pictures when the book is complete. I hope she likes!

PS- I have two other sisters who will also get gifts, I can't leave them out.

Elizabeth Gwen Originals - Inspiring!

Please check out my friends Liz's blog! I met Liz about 8 years ago when we were both living on Beale Air Force Base in California. We were both pregnant with our third babies at the time, we had a lot in common and became fast friends. Now we keep in touch from afar (the way most friends in military do.) I miss our trips to JoAnn Fabrics with screaming toddlers! Liz makes the most amazing things! Bags, sweet little girls clothing, coats, everything! I love seeing all of the creations she comes up with! Check out her blog and etsy shop! You will be glad you did!

an apple a day...

I may not have an apple a day but I do read everyday. When I am not reading my school textbooks you will catch me reading mostly non fiction and true crime. I'm a true crime junkie. For christmas my husband bought me the Kindle which I LOVE, and has no need for these sweet bookmarks so I may give these away as a gift. They are super cute, made from thick card stock and Martha Stewart printed papers. The bookmarks and apples were cut using the Cricut Planitin Schoolbook cartridge.

Whoooooo am I?

Sorry, the owl theme again, I couldn't resist. Just a quick post about me, most people who follow this already know me but for those of you who don't, my name is not Jane, its Jamie. You know the saying "Jack of all trades" one of those people who can and does a little bit of everything?? Well, thats me in a nutshell, however Jane of all trades has a better ring to it than Jamie of all trades. You get the idea. You can call me Jamie or Jane, I'll answer to both.

I am foremost a wife to my husband of almost 13 years. We are a military family and are stationed here on Guam, a little dot of an island in he middle of the south Pacific. There is no Hobby Lobby or Michaels here.

We have 4 children ranging in age from almost 13 to 5. I'll elaborate more on them later, I'll even add some pictures.

I do freelance photography here on Guam, but have slowed that down a lot and pretty much only take photos of my friends kids when they ask. Not because I don't love doing it, I just lack the time. I am a full time student so between school and kids and life I don't have a lot of time. Ok, here is where I start to get a little weird, I am working on my degree in Mortuary Science. Not the typical career choice for your crafty sewing mother of 4, but again thats a whole other blog post!

I love anything craft, I love to sew, scrapbook, paper crafts, photography, cooking.. you name it. If it means I am making something than I am happy.

New year, new blog.

Happy 2010, its a new year and I thought that creating a new blog would help me keep one of my resolutions which is to finish (at least) a project a week whether it be sewing, a new recipe, a new goal, a craft or anything that I intend to finish! I have a stack of new sewing books that have so many projects I want to make so I will let you follow those projects and give you the book information so that you can try it as well, hopefully in the process of giving you some inspiration I will give some to myself as well. Well, this is my goal. Happy new year.