My Choco-gasm Chip Cookies Recipe

These are the best cookies on the planet. You'll say "Mmmm" with every bite. Cinnamon adds an unexpected touch to what would normally be a plain cookie recipe.

Yield: Around 2.5 dozen +/-

• 1 cup butter, softened(1c. = 2 sticks, not margarine)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed down
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract(use the real stuff, imitation doesn't cut it with this recipe)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp hot water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips(2 cups = 1 bag, use any variety of chip you like. I used Hershey's Special Dark because I loooove dark chocolate.)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional...however, pecans work really well in this recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Cream together the butter, white sugar, cinnamon and brown sugar until smooth. (think runny peanut butter consistency)
Beat in the eggs one at a time and drop in the vanilla.
Dissolve the baking soda and salt in the 2 teaspoons of hot water. Stir and add to batter.
Stir in flour, one cup at a time, until combined. Pour in your chocolate chips and nuts if you choose to include them. Drop golfball sized spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
Bake between 9 and 15 minutes, or until sides of cookies are golden brown.

Make things exciting by changing up your "chip" ingredients. Try crushed candy bar pieces like Butterfinger, Skor, Whoppers, etc., OR Substitute 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs for 1/2 cup of the flour and change the chip ratio to 1 cup marshmallows and 1 cup chips for out of this world s'mores cookies.If you try this recipe, lemme know what you think about it.

Kellibeans Featured on Cuteable

Lynsey (SwirlyArts @ Etsy) spotted me in the Virtual Labs over at Etsy and decided to feature my Ruby Kate Pirate fabric ACEO on Cuteable.com today. Woot!

Woot!

Wooo hooo! Etsy picked my Aunt Bee doll in my shop to be in a handpicked treasury for the front page!

Click here to see it archived on craftcult.com

Matroyshka!

Meet Myra Matryoshka, my newest fabric ACEO. She is the standard size for an ACEO (which stands for Art Cards, Editions, & Originals), which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches, the same size as most any other trading card, and they're meant to be traded and displayed by artists, art lovers and fans of the ATC/ACEO movement alike (just like any other trading card!)

Myra is number one in a set of 10 Matryoshka cards in this style. I will design each card using different fabrics, with each one's face and hairstyle being unique. Though she may resemble her sisters in this little Matryoshka family, Myra truly IS one of a kind! See her in all her original, undistorted glory in my Etsy shop!

She is available for $6.00 (US) plus shipping, details in my Shop.
Buy small artwork with a big heart!

My Etsy shop is now open!

Kellibeans is now an Etsy shop!
I'll be updating it with new items every few days so keep checking back for updates!

http://www.kellibeans.etsy.com/




I've also gotten sucked into Twitter. You can follow me and see what I'm up to.
http://www.twitter.com/kellibeans

Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot

Here's a set themed for little boys that includes a bib, burp cloth, and set of 3 weenie beanies. It can be altered for a girl by substituting a headband in lieu of the beanies.

Fresh from the sewing table

It's a summer garden themed set for baby girls! I'm seriously considering making a little skirt out of the red polka dot fabric (and maybe a set of booties...?)

If I make those up, conceivably, all a parent would need is a onesie in a solid color and they'd have a ready-made ensemble!

University of Kentucky Gift Set (Boys)

I made this University of Kentucky gift set this weekend. It is for an infant boy and includes one bib, one Burpy Beans burp cloth, and one set of (2) Weenie Beanies. (This set can be altered for a girl by exchanging the beanies for a stretchy headband with bow made of the bib fabric).

Here are some pictures of each item:

Bib Front(100% cotton)

Bib Reverse (Cotton Flannel)

Bib folded to show both sides

Burp Cloth folded to show both sides

Set of 2 Weenie Beanies (Cotton Flannel)

Custom Order: Megan's John Deere Gift Set

Here are the first two items in a gift set (split into two orders) ordered by a young woman named Megan for her nephew. (My apologies in advance for the low-quality indoor pictures with flash, but we haven't had any good sunny days here to allow me to work in natural light for a week or so).

The first, a crib sized blanket in the John Deere theme. The blanket is backed with a solid cotton flannel in a coordinating green. I sewed along the squares in the fabric with my machine to quilt the two sides together. Detail shot below.

The second item is a set of John Deere-themed weenie beanies, a diapering accessory for little boys.

The Original Kellibeans Baby: Chloe Bella Cecilia

Albeit a week late (fashionably so!) and after a heck of a hard time for her (ruptured blood vessels in her eyes and a broken collar bone during delivery) and her poor mother(post-delivery complications), little Chloe has made her appearance as the first grandbaby/diva in my family, and we couldn't be happier. Ten fingers, ten toes, healthy & happy!


Here she is at one week old in one of her Kellibeans bibs and diva-esque bows. From the look on her face and the way she's holding her hand, I believe she is just about ready to tell us she is in dire need of a manicure that is about 9 months overdue. Watch out for this one, she is going to be S-P-I-C-Y!

Custom Order: Kylee's Strawberry Shortcake Bib

Kylee's mother sent me a swatch of the fabric being used to make another boutique-style outfit for her. I feel this bib was a great example of coordinating a bib to an outfit that allows the clothing to stand out with a bib that has a personality of its own instead of simply being "matchy-matchy".

Instead of going out and buying an identical measure of yardage of the same fabric, I pulled colors from the fabric and based my bib design on elements in the swatch.

Here is the front side of the bib. If you notice, I chose a green gingham print for the main background that would mimic the square elements in the swatch, and pulled the strawberry design from the fabric and replicated it in applique, as shown in the detail shot below.

I then embroidered around the strawberry top with a darker shade of green to add texture and make the image stand out from the gingham background.

The reverse is raspberry dots on a bubble gum pink background, which matches the dark pink on pink elements in the swatch. I am able to enhance the look of the ensemble and make it more visually appealing by harmonizing the bib with the fabric instead of making a carbon copy (which in a lot of cases with children's clothing, a carbon copy is perfectly fine, but with a very busy fabric like that found in this swatch, it is my opinion that the bib can actually take away from the outfit's look if it matches because it will camouflage the outfit's design).

Custom Order: Kylee's Ladybugs

This is another bib from Kylee's custom order, made to match an outfit with ladybugs on it.

Here is the picture of the outfit her mother sent me:

And here are both sides of the finished bib:

Quite a nice match, don't you agree?

Custom Bib Order: Kylee's Bee-utiful Bib

This bib were ordered for an adorable little 1 year old named Kylee to match or coordinate with existing boutique outfits she owned. More posts to come!







Bumble (front)













Bumble (Reverse)












Detail of the hand stitching over an existing design in the fabric.