Recipe: Chicken Texas (3KCBWDAY5)

(prounounced Tay-hoss, like a Spanish "X")

This is one of our favorite summer time recipes for the whole family! After we take the chicken off the grill, we set aside one piece of chicken for our kids to share. Need more reasons on why to try it? You get to use all of your favorites! Grab your favorite barbecue sauce, your favorite salsa and your favorite cheese! Try the recipe with different combinations and you'll get different flavor explosions. Let's say, he likes spicy and she likes it sweet and mild. This is a meal where you can, "have it your way."

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• BBQ Sauce
• Salsa
• Cheese

Directions:

1. Beat chicken with a clever
2. Preheat oven to 375
3. Cook Chicken on Grill
4. When the chicken is almost done, add BBQ sauce to both sides (do not cook longer than a few minutes or the sauce will burn)
5. Transfer chicken to oven-safe dish.  Top with Salsa and shredded cheese
6. Bake for about 7-10 minutes to melt the cheese.

It just happens that I was on Pinterest this morning and saw "50 Easy & Delicious Chicken Recipes". I glanced at all of them and didn't find anything similar to Chicken Texas.

Source: Six Sister's Stuff via Pinterest

3KCBWDAY3 - Inspirational Heroes

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger.

Calleigh's Clips & Crochet Creations by Elisabeth Spivey

The idea of having a cape that lays on the back of a newborn during a photo session is genius! I hope some day lightning will strike and I can come up with an idea as revolutionary as this one. Most of her designs are critter capes, but she has other cool designs, too, some of which are free.

She conducts her business with integrity and handles sticky situations quite well. It seems there is a fair amount of theft in the crochet world (pattern theft, photo theft, etc.) and Elisabeth has not been exempt. Each situation I witnessed was handled gracefully and politely. Most of them being resolved without heartache. Now, there was this one that was a direct attack on her. Even with that one, she came through with dignity.  I could only hope that if I were in the same situation, my actions would be similar.

Inspiration from Elisabeth Spivey: Do not react! Stay calm, clear-headed and in control. Plus, the gorgeous designs!

Photos used with Permission from Massa Photography

She has many, many more clever items that I have yet to make.

Photo used with permission from Elisabeth Spivey.

Here is a short list of other designers that inspire me:

1. Crochet My Love Designs by Dusty Geest
2. Heidi Yates from Snappy-Tots
3. Tina Sanders  from Peacefully Knitting in Arizona

3KCBWDAY2: Creatively Capturing Items

The challenge has but put to the crochet/knit community to capture creative photos of our work.  Challenge accepted!

First of all, here are a few tips for capturing good photos of your items:

1. Photograph in natural light (no flash) to capture the best and truest color possible
2. Backdrops matter...try to capture in a clutter-free environment (I have some pictures with TV remotes in the background, my husband's foot appears in a few and my messy desk, which you will see below).
3. Decide the purpose for taking the photo and let it shine through.
4. Have some fun and attempt to capture images that tell a story.

Here are a few failed attempts, plus a few pictures that tell a story and always make me smile when I look at them.

Mistake #1:  Staging Photos with the Wrong Props

My co-workers made fun of me for this photo!  Apparently, not everyone wants to know that I like oatmeal and bagels.  Instead of seeing two really cute hats, you see bagels, pens and the mess on my desk.

Success #1:  Proper Staging with the Right Prop

After the fun with my oatmeal container, I got to thinking...I'm a crafty person.  When this oatmeal runs out, I'm going to cover it in fabric, then it will look better.  But, it never would have looked as gorgeous and stylish as this polystyrene head that I found for $6.00 at the beauty supply store.  This picture is a success!  The hat is chic and stylish and that's exactly what is portrayed through this picture. The perspective, lighting and everything is exactly what I wanted for this displaying this hat.

Mistake #2:  The Wrong Backdrop and Long Shadows

This photo was taken on my living room floor. There is no personality, the shadows are obvious and the colors don't shine through.  And, should you ever have to ask the viewer to "please ignore the dirty carpet"?

Success #2: The Right Backdrop and Proper Lighting

After I reviewed the picture above, I decided that I needed to get creative with these guys.  They took many, many hours to complete and I was determined to get good pictures of them!  This session took place by a window (natural daylight) and there was a consistent, subtle background that looked fresh and didn't overpower the main subjects. My backdrop?  It is a clean sheet covered with my Solomon's Knot Maternity wrap.

Georgina the Bluebird

Georgina is a stately, curious bird.

Cliveton the Pig

How many kids do you know that have a school picture like this?

The Whole Amigurumi Rainbow

Isn't this how family portraits usually end up?
With someone trying to hide (Wal the Fish),
half the family looking at camera #1
while one person (Ro) is looking at camera #2?

Capturing WIP's (Work in Progress)

Don't drop the ball when you capturing WIP's.  Obviously, you are taking the picture for a purpose. Decide what is your purpose in taking the picture and then try to capture that when the picture is snapped.  If your goal is to say, "Hey! Look what I'm working on!"  Then, make the picture interesting.  Take a look at this picture of a monkey knitting a sweater.

Success #3: The photo portrays it's purpose

The goal was to show how much work goes into creating each little amigurumi critter.  Having each piece laid out on a piece of paper helps. When I originally posted the picture of the pig, I counted the pieces and named them one by one.

NOTE: The artwork in the background is something my son painted for me with a gift he received. I love using his artwork in my photos.