Guest Posting at My Happy Place

Hey guys!  I'm over at My Happy Place guest posting today.  If you love chocolate and need something to cool you off, I've got the perfect treat for you!  Come on over and say HI!

Blog Makeover

 

A few weeks ago, I saw that Life {Made} Simple was doing a blog design giveaway.  I knew I had to enter.  I was so excited when I won!!  I’ve been a follower of Life {Made} Simple for a while.  Not only is their blog beautiful, but they make the most amazing food.  And you all know I love anything to do with food.   You have to go check out their Thin Mint Ice Cream and their S’mores Bars.  My mouth waters just looking at the photos.

Natalie was a dream to work with through the whole design process.  I’ve never done anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect.  When we first started, she sent me a list of questions about my blog.  Things like what I liked, what I would change on my existing blog, and what kind of look I was going for.  Before I knew it, she had all kinds of samples for me to look at and approve.  I think the hardest part for me was choosing between such great designs!  Natalie completely captured the vision that I had for my blog from the beginning.  I love, love, love how it turned out!!

If you’re getting this in a reader or an email, come on over! I’d love to have you come see the new design. And if you have a minute, pop over to Natalie’s blog: http://stephenandnat.blogspot.com/.  She has some before and after shots up.

And if you’re interested in having  your blog custom designed too,  you can contact Natalie here: http://stephenandnat.blogspot.com/p/contact.html

Thank you again, Natalie, for all your hard work!  I absolutely love my blog design!

Patriotic T-shirt Makeover

Independence day for our family is probably different from most of you.  My husband grew up selling fireworks every year with his family, and we’ve taken on the tradition.  Our family runs 3 different locations.  The 4th of July is one of our busiest selling days.  We usually miss the big fireworks show.  Not that we don’t make up for it later.  We have a big barbecue and invite everyone who helped us sell to light off some of the leftover fireworks.  But, the one thing my kids do love to do every year is go to the little parade we have here.  I always try to have all 3 kids dress patriotic.

After I did the “Love” t-shirt makeover, I’ve been wanting to try more.  The other day, I had a fun idea for a Patriotic t-shirt. Here’s what I came up with:





Here’s what you need:


A white t-shirt
An old red t-shirt
An old pair of jeans
Something to make the stars (I used Silhouette white heat transfer, you could probably also use a white fabric marker to draw the stars.)
Fusible Fabric interfacing (just a small square. I only used it for the jeans)
Freezer Paper

The first thing you need to do is cut the strips of Freezer Paper. You need four. Two that are 4” x 1” and two that are 8 1/2” x 1”. When you have those cut out, then iron them on to the outside of your t-shirt.  Make sure the freezer paper is shiny side down.  It’s hard to photograph white on white.   I didn’t measure or anything, I just eye-balled the placement.  The cool thing about shirts like this is they are meant to look a little shabby, so perfection doesn’t matter as much.




After the freezer paper is ironed on, cut out a slightly larger square of the red t-shirt and pin it on the inside of the shirt.



Turn the shirt right side out and stitch around the freezer paper.  If the freezer paper starts to peel up, just iron it back on. I used red thread, but if you’re worried about mistakes showing up, you can totally use white. When you're done, just peel off the freezer paper.




After you’ve stitched around all four rectangles, turn the shirt inside out again and trim the excess red.



Then turn turn the shirt right side out and cut out the stripes. Just make sure you’re only cutting the white and not the red underneath.



Now for the jeans and stars.  Cut out a square that is 4 1/4” x (slightly over) 2 1/2” . 


If you’re using the silhouette, cut out and iron on the heat transfer stars.  If you’re using fabric markers, draw the stars on.  Iron the fusible fabric interfacing onto the back of the jean square. Then, iron the jean square onto the shirt.  I don’t have pictures from that part. Sorry! I was getting excited to see this finished!

When the square is in place and ironed on, stitch around the square. I’m hoping that after lots of washing, the edges will fray a little bit.



And that’s it! You’re finished and all ready for the 4th of July!! This is a really simple afternoon or naptime project.




Linking up at: 
Weekend: Cups by Kim, I {heart} Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, It's Overflowing, Nifty Thrifty Things, My 1929 Charmer, Positively Splendid, The Foley Family, Tutus & Tea Parties, Twigg Studios, Homemaker in Heels, Cheerios and Lattes, Serenity You,    Monday: Sweet Ann Designs, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Skip to my Lou, The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife, Craft-O-Maniac, Brassy Apple, C.R.A.F.T., The Gunny Sack, Polly Want a Crafter, Lines Across my Face,  Keeping It Simple, Between Naps on the Porch, Be Colorful, Homemaker on a Dime, Sumos Sweet Stuff, DIY Showoff, Making the World Cuter,  The Delectable Home, DIY Home Sweet Home, Home Saavy A to Z, Mad in Crafts,  Ask Anna, The Girl Creative,  Cherished Bliss, The Southern Institute, Etcetorize, Destination Craft,   Tuesday: The DIY Dreamer, Pincushion Creations, The Winthrop Chronicles, My Favorite Finds, Ladybug Blessings, A Diamond in the Stuff, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee Crafts, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sassy Sites, Coastal Charm, Vintage Wanna Bee, The Thrifty Home, Not Just a Housewife, Homework, Uncommon,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy, Crafty Texas Girls, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Newlyweds on a Budget, How to Nest for Less, Mommy by Day Crafter by Night, Chef in Training, I'm Topsy Turvy,Creatively Living, Tales of a Trophy Wife, Naptime Delights, Claiming Our Space, JAQ Studio, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Dragonfly Designs,   Wednesday: Cheap Crafty Mama,  Handy Man Crafty Woman, Lil Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Creations by Kara, DIY by Design, Southern Lovely, Oopsey Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Sew Much Ado, Let Birds Fly, Junk in their Trunk, White Lights on Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting ,Vintage Gwen, Lil Pink Pocket, Dragonfly Designs, Trendy Treehouse, Family Home and Life,  We Learn As We Go, Fabric Bows and More,  My Merrry Messy Life, Earning My Cape, Simply Done Wright,   Thursday: Quality Cheap Home, Loving this Crazy Life, House of Hepworths, Grits and Giggles, Shabby Creek Cottage, A Creative Princess, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Bear Rabbit Bear, Live Laugh Rowe, Michelle's Tasty Creations, The Taylor House, Snap!, My Girlish Whims,  What's Cooking Love, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Liz Marie Blog,  Seven Alive, Something Swanky,    Friday: Just Us Four, Create. Craft. Love, Two Sasters, Happy Hour Projects,Tatertots and Jello,  Little Inspiration, Craftionary, Little Becky Homecky. Family Ever After,  My Turn for Us, Joy in the Jumble, One Artsy Mama, Happy Go Lucky, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, At the Picket Fence,Young and Crafty, Blissful Bucket List,

Some Updates

I’m sort of amazed by people who blog daily.  Maybe a little envious.  It often feels like life sure gets in the way of blogging.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  This week has been kind of tricky because I’ve felt a little under the weather.  Nothing major, just a summer cold.  But that doesn’t mean things haven’t been busy.  I thought I’d update you on a few of our goings on.


Father’s Day:

A few months ago, my husband bought a new meat smoker, so I told him that had to be his Father’s Day present. {Really, though, it was a present for me. He loves smoking meat so much, I hardly have to cook anymore!}  He didn’t think he was getting anything this year, but I had the kids surprise him with a “DAD” picture:



He’s a pretty amazing guy, so I couldn’t go without giving him anything!

Speaking of the hubby, he’s been busy the last few nights building a horseshoe pit for our yard. It’ll be fun to play when it’s all finished.




In the Craft Room:

I’ve actually been working really hard on the crafting front.  I have so many fun ideas for this blog! I just need to hire someone to do my dishes and fold my clothes. Then I’ll be a crafting ninja!

I decided to join in on the Quilt Along over at Family Ever After.  This is just the sort of thing that gets me motivated to not only start, but finish a project.



Have you seen the inspirational quilt? It’s beautiful!



It's so cute, I HAD to make one for my daughter. But, if you know me at all, you know that I don’t do anything very easy.  My daughter has a queen size bed.  This quilt (or maybe duvet cover, I haven’t decided yet) is going to take 132 squares. ONE. HUNDRED. THIRTY. TWO.  I can get 8 squares out of a yard of fabric.  If you’re doing the math, yes that is a lot of yardage.  I got a pretty good deal on all of it, otherwise I probably couldn’t afford to do this. I’m in the ruffling stage now:



It’s going to be purple, pink and orange.  I’m pretty excited for the finished product!

Is it just me, or do these ruffles look like Anne Shirley’s puffed sleeves?



I can’t help but think Marilla would be appalled at all of the wasted fabric!

I have a fun patriotic t-shirt makeover idea that I want to share with you, but it has to wait until all 132 of the squares get ruffled. I’m afraid to take off the ruffler foot until it’s all done!


In the Garden:

I think many of you became followers when I posted about our DIY Greenhouse.  It’s been almost a month, so here’s a quick update.

We’ve had some pretty difficult gardening weather this year (multiple freeze warnings, giant hail falling from the sky, and 50 mph winds to name a few) but my garden seems to be coming along nicely.

I’ve got some tomatoes growing!



And there seems to be some rogue cilantro and dill growing in my acorn squash. I think they went to seed last year and apparently germinated this year.



We’re no where near harvesting anything yet, but that's normal for our part of the country.


The Chickens:

We’ve had a lot of fun with our chickens, Sonic and Sparkles, who I introduced you to before.  Considering that I knew nothing about chickens, they’ve been easier to take care of than I thought. Plus, the kids are having a great time!

We found a super cute chicken coup on craigslist for a steal.



The only problem is….we’re pretty sure Sparkles is a rooster.  We were questioning it when she (he) started getting a big red comb and pretty bluish feathers in her tail.  But, it was pretty much confirmed the last several mornings while we've listened to crowing for hours straight.  Needless to say, we need to find Sparkles a new home very soon.



Meanwhile, we picked up a couple more baby chicks. These are Leghorns. They’re supposed to lay big white eggs for us.  The hardware store said there is only a 2% chance that either one is a rooster, thank goodness. The kids named each of these chicks too, but they look so similar to me, I can’t tell them apart.






Last but not least… I got an iPhone! I’m pretty excited to have this for our road trips this summer. It’ll be nice to be connected while on the road. Any good app suggestions? I’m thinking about getting on Instagram, but I’m not sure I would keep up with it very well. I kind of stink at Twitter as it is! Any opinions?



If you stuck with me through this whole post, then you deserve an award!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!!

Patriotic/Military Tribute Photo Frame {Tutorial}

I’ve been wanting to post this tutorial for a while. I actually first did this for Father’s Day last year.  I was trying really hard to think of something for Father’s Day for my father-in-law and step-dad.  In all of that thinking, it dawned on me that they both served in the Military.  My father-in-law served in the National Guard and my awesome step-dad served in the Army.  I think it’s a cool thing for our kids to have such a rich military heritage.  When I made the gifts last year, I knew that I wanted to make a duplicate of each for our family as a reminder of this rich heritage.

I’m so glad that I didn’t make these for our family last year, because now I can share with you how I did it!

Here’s what you need:



An 8x10 floating picture frame. I got mine from Wal-mart for around $10.
An 8x10 photo. If you want a copy of the background I used, email me {shatziweb(at)gmail(dot)com} and I’ll send you the .png file.
Vinyl quotes. I used the quote “Land of the Free; Because of the Brave”
Vinyl star stencil. For the quote and the star stencils, I used my Silhouette to cut out the vinyl.
Glass Etching Cream. It’s kind of expensive to buy, but it lasts forever. I think this bottle was $18ish dollars. I’ve used it for many crafts and have only used less than 1/4 of the bottle.


Once you have all of the supplies, these come together really quickly.  To start, take the two glass pieces out of the picture frame.




Set the top glass piece aside. We’ll use that in a little bit.

Remove the sample paper so you can place your 8x10 photo. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist, but it’s pretty important that you get the photo centered. I used a measuring tape to double check. The frame comes with a couple of adhesive squares to mount your photo on the glass.




After the photo is in place, apply the vinyl directly to the glass.




When I put the vinyl on, I just freehanded the centering. But, the most important thing is placing the words closer to the photo than the edge. If you put it too high up, there is a chance the frame will cut off some of the letters. Basically…center it left to right. Vertically, you want it to be off centered and closer to the photo.
When the vinyl is in place, grab the top glass piece and set it on top of the photo.




I like to use the photo as a guide for placing the star stencils.  I didn’t double check to make sure they were exactly even, but I tried really hard to get them as even as I could. It would make the frame look strange to have the stars not aligned.




Once the vinyl star stencil is in place, set aside the bottom photo/glass piece. Get out the glass etching cream.  Before you apply the etching cream, make sure that the vinyl is completely smoothed out. You don’t want any cream seeping under a rogue wrinkle.



Follow the directions on your etching cream bottle.  For mine, it had to sit for 5 minutes before being rinsed off.  In my experience, the more consistent etch you want, the heavier you need to apply the cream.  If you’re going for an un-even, rustic look, don’t apply the cream as heavy. It probably goes without saying, but only put the etching cream where you want the glass to be etched.  If you accidentally drop a blob in the middle, even if you wipe it quickly, it may still slightly etch the glass.  Definitely something to be careful about.  

When it’s finished, I just rinsed the cream off in the sink. The vinyl just comes off with the cream.
Now, clean the glass,  put your glass pieces back together and place them back in the frame.  And that’s it!



With the 4th of July right around the corner, these would be perfect for decorations.  Or, as a very last minute Father’s Day present. Or, maybe both!


P.S. Did you know that I’m on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest?  I’d love to have you follow me there, too!

Linking up at: 
Weekend: Cups by Kim, I {heart} Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, It's Overflowing, Nifty Thrifty Things, My 1929 Charmer, Positively Splendid, The Foley Family, Tutus & Tea Parties, Twigg Studios, Homemaker in Heels, Cheerios and Lattes, Serenity You,    Monday: Sweet Ann Designs, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Skip to my Lou, The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife, Craft-O-Maniac, Brassy Apple, C.R.A.F.T., The Gunny Sack, Polly Want a Crafter, Lines Across my Face,  Keeping It Simple, Between Naps on the Porch, Be Colorful, Homemaker on a Dime, Sumos Sweet Stuff, DIY Showoff, Making the World Cuter,  The Delectable Home, DIY Home Sweet Home, Home Saavy A to Z, Mad in Crafts,  Ask Anna, The Girl Creative,  Cherished Bliss, The Southern Institute, Etcetorize, Destination Craft,   Tuesday: The DIY Dreamer, Pincushion Creations, The Winthrop Chronicles, My Favorite Finds, Ladybug Blessings, A Diamond in the Stuff, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee Crafts, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sassy Sites, Coastal Charm, Vintage Wanna Bee, The Thrifty Home, Not Just a Housewife, Homework, Uncommon,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy, Crafty Texas Girls, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Newlyweds on a Budget, How to Nest for Less, Mommy by Day Crafter by Night, Chef in Training, I'm Topsy Turvy,Creatively Living, Tales of a Trophy Wife, Naptime Delights, Claiming Our Space, JAQ Studio, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Dragonfly Designs,   Wednesday: Cheap Crafty Mama,  Handy Man Crafty Woman, Lil Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Creations by Kara, DIY by Design, Southern Lovely, Oopsey Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Sew Much Ado, Let Birds Fly, Junk in their Trunk, White Lights on Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting ,Vintage Gwen, Lil Pink Pocket, Dragonfly Designs, Trendy Treehouse, Family Home and Life,  We Learn As We Go, Fabric Bows and More,  My Merrry Messy Life, Earning My Cape,   Thursday: Quality Cheap Home, Loving this Crazy Life, House of Hepworths, Grits and Giggles, Shabby Creek Cottage, A Creative Princess, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Bear Rabbit Bear, Live Laugh Rowe, Michelle's Tasty Creations, The Taylor House, Snap!, My Girlish Whims,  What's Cooking Love, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Liz Marie Blog,  Seven Alive,    Friday: Just Us Four, Create. Craft. Love, Two Sasters, Happy Hour Projects,Tatertots and Jello,  Little Inspiration, Craftionary, Little Becky Homecky. Family Ever After,  My Turn for Us, Joy in the Jumble, One Artsy Mama, Happy Go Lucky, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, At the Picket Fence,Young and Crafty, Blissful Bucket List,

Sunshine Blog Award

Early last week, the awesome Apples and Peanut Butter nominated me for the Sunshine Award. I’ve been such a slacker chasing the two-year old around and trying to get our family on a summer schedule that I haven’t even posted about it yet! Apples and Peanut Butter is such an awesome blog! You guys should really go check it out! See this cool Nightgown Upcycle project? Pretty much amazing in my book!  I love, love the cupcake liner flower.  So creative!!



The Sunshine Award is given from bloggers to bloggers.  It’s for someone “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere."  I’m so honored to be noticed for such an amazing award! I’ve only been blogging for a short time, and I’ve been truly humbled by the amazing community that I’ve found.  Before I blogged, I really thought that it was a person behind a computer.  I didn’t ever imagine that I would feel so connected and become friends with some of those people.  It’s been an incredible journey so far and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead!

Okay, so here's how the award works.  First, you should thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.  Next, answer the following questions about yourself.  Then, choose 10 of your favorite bloggers and link their blogs to your post.  Be sure to let them know that you are nominating them for the award.  Last, be sure to copy and paste the award to your blog! 

Now for the questions:
1.  Favorite color-  My favorite color has always been blue.  I’m not really sure why.  I’m just drawn to all shades of blue.  Sometimes my husband will surprise me with a new shirt that isn’t blue because I own so many that are.  He keeps me balanced, I guess.
2.  Favorite animal-  Hmmm…I guess I would have to consider myself a cat person.  Although right now I feel like a chicken person because of our new pets.  Speaking of which, I should really post an update about how that’s going.  It’s been a lot more fun and interesting than I thought.
3.  Favorite number-  I’ll say 3 because I have 3 kids.  My brain seems to always think in 3s.
4.  Favorite Drink-  Pepsi.  For sure.  I’ve been trying to switch to Diet Coke.  Diet Pepsi just seems like a cheap knock off.  I really should try to switch to water.  Maybe one day.
5.  Facebook or Twitter-  Facebook.  I feel like I’m pretty technologically savvy, but Twitter just has me thrown for a loop.  Maybe I should spend more time trying to figure it out.
6.  Good book or good movie-  Both.  It more often seems to be a good movie, but I do love a good book.  I didn’t read The Hunger Games for a really long time because I knew that once I started, everything else in life would stop, so I avoided it.
7.  My passion-  My passion is my family.  Most definitely.  Everything I do is for my family.
8.  Giving or getting gifts-  Giving.  I love Christmastime and I spend months (literally) plotting out the perfect gifts.
9.  Favorite day-  I don’t know if I have a favorite day.  When I worked I loved the end of the week. Now I often feel like my days blend together.  My favorite type of days are when everyone stays home in pjs all day and we watch movies.  Those days don’t happen very often, so I love them the most.
10.  Favorite flower-  I love our Columbines that are in bloom right now. They’ve grown so full and healthy this year.  We must have planted them in the perfect spot because we really don’t do anything at all to take care of them.
 
 
Now, the 10 blogs that I would like to give the Sunshine Award to. I thought it would be fun to do a little spotlight on why I love all of these blogs. So, here's my 10 (in no particular order):
 

1. The Thriftiness Miss – Jessica awarded me the Liebster Award  a few weeks ago and is such a sweet and awesome person. You have to see her Patriotic Toilet Paper Roll Garland.  I love, love, love it!


 

2. Dishing with Leslie – You’ve met Leslie before. She was my swap partner with the Grow. Swap. Share. blog swap.  I was pretty blessed to be partnered up with someone so amazing!  Her Cheesecake Burritos are to die for.  And I know because I made them last week.  Plus, you have to try her Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken. It’s a new favorite in our house!


 

3.  Life with the Hawleys – I have a friend that’s about to have a baby in a few weeks.  I really wanted to make her a quilt, but the problem is, I’ve never quilted before.  I can find my way around a sewing machine okay, but I needed to find an easy quilt idea for my first time.  That’s where I found Life with the Hawleys.  Darby is one of my favorite bloggers.  Plus, she can really plan a party.  We’re party kind of people at our house. Look at this cool ABC Baby Shower she put together. Her blog is one I always read.


 

4. My Favorite Finds – Carrie is one of my favorite finds! I am in love with her blog and am totally jealous of her recent Disney vacation.  But this girl has talent, too. Check out this Monogram Wall Plaque she made for her sister!


 

5. Tiffany & Co.  – This is a brand spankin new blog.  Like so new, it’ll be fun to see where it goes.  Tiffany is obviously very talented.  You can tell by this Chunky Bead Board Frame she posted today. She also does furniture refinishes. I’m jealous. I have a piano that my husband bought from his school for $50 that I would love to paint. But I’m pretty nervous about ruining it. I wish someone like Tiffany would come to my rescue so I could have an amazing piano! Let’s give this awesome new blogger some love!


 
 
6. Yummy – Healthy – Easy – I actually just barely found this blog. Jen found me and I found her back.  And I’m glad I did. I love food blogs.  Like really love them.  And I think my family would be happy if I cooked more food that I found on these wonderful food blogs I keep finding.  Like this delicious looking Crock Pot Beef Stew. Yummy, healthy and easy. Who could ask for more?


 
 

7.  What’s Cooking, Love? –  Another cooking blog. I told you I love cooking blogs. Alyssa makes some really yummy and amazing looking food. I’m thinking this Strawberries and Cream Cinnamon French Toast Bake might be our Christmas Morning breakfast (I’m already planning ahead!)


 

8. Grow Creative – I think I found Elise at Grow Creative through a blog hop.  She’s an artist. One of my best friends is an artist. I’m really drawn to and inspired by artistic people.  I’ve never been able to express myself artistically through drawing or paint and I love people who can.  Elise even has an Etsy shop.  You won’t just find art at Grow Creative, there are plenty of crafty and organizational things too!


 

9. Color Me Domestic – The first time I found Color Me Domestic was when I saw these awesome Flower Balls linked up at parties all over the blogosphere a couple of months ago.  They were so beautiful and intricate that I knew Geni was my kind of blogger!


 

10. White Lights on Wednesday – I met Julie through the Grow. Swap. Share blog swap and she is wonderful!  Her and Carrie @ My Favorite Finds were total rock stars in hosting that swap.  If they do another, I strongly recommend signing up!  In the meantime, check out her delicious Chocolate Oatmeal Cream Pies .

 

Thank you again Apples and Peanut Butter for the nomination!!

Easy Stromboli

Oh, man, you guys. I’ve been the worst blogger ever! We’ve been super busy since school got out.  It seems like every summer it takes a little while for us to get some sort of routine down. How do you handle the school to summer transition?  Luckily, swimming lessons will be over tomorrow (no more lost mornings). Plus, I have quite a few fun projects going that I am so excited to share with you!! But in the meantime, in case you missed it, here’s the yummy Stromboli recipe I shared on Cups by Kim a couple of weeks ago.
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Today I’m sharing one of my very favorite recipes.  It’s called Stromboli.  Stromboli is kind of like a rolled up sandwich. There are tons of different ways to make it and this is my favorite way.





Here’s what you’ll need to get started:




This comes together really fast. For the dough, you can use any bread dough you want. If you want something super fast, just use store bought bread dough. I like to make mine homemade. If you need a good recipe, here’s the one I always use. You only need enough bread dough for a single loaf.

Before I assemble the Stromboli, I like to get all of the ingredients ready.


First, chop the onion. You really only need about 1/3 cup of onion. 





Then chop the olives (unless you were smart and bought chopped olives – I didn’t have any on hand).





And slice your tomatoes.




When your ingredients are prepped, it’s time to assemble this bad boy.  Start by rolling your dough into a huge rectangle. Mine was about 17-inches by 15-inches.  It really does not have to be perfect.  It’ll look pretty no matter how uneven your dough rectangle looks, I promise.





Then, layer your ingredients.  I always start with the cheese:





Then add ham:





More cheese:





And a layer of olives and onions:





And finally slices tomatoes:





It’s really easy to roll up your Stromboli.  Just start at one end, and fold it half way in:





Then, fold the other side on top:





Pinch your edges closed. Especially the two short ends, otherwise you’ll have cheese leaking out.





Transfer the Stromboli to a baking sheet.  Meanwhile, beat the egg with a little bit of water.  Then, brush the egg wash all over the outside of the dough.



If you’re having problems with any of the edges staying shut, you can use the egg wash as a glue to hold the edges together.


Finally, sprinkle the basil and oregano all over the top of the Stromboli





Bake the Stromboli at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Then, enjoy!!  This is a great recipe for a crowd. It’s really filling and feeds a lot.

 

P.S. Did you know that I’m on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest?  I’d love to have you follow me there, too!


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Weekend: Cups by Kim, I {heart} Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, It's Overflowing, Nifty Thrifty Things, My 1929 Charmer, Positively Splendid, The Foley Family, Tutus & Tea Parties, Twigg Studios, Homemaker in Heels, Cheerios and Lattes,  Serenity You,   Monday: Sweet Ann Designs, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Skip to my Lou, The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife, Craft-O-Maniac, Brassy Apple, C.R.A.F.T., The Gunny Sack, Polly Want a Crafter, Lines Across my Face,  Keeping It Simple, Between Naps on the Porch, Be Colorful, Homemaker on a Dime, Sumos Sweet Stuff, DIY Showoff, Making the World Cuter,  The Delectable Home, DIY Home Sweet Home, Home Saavy A to Z, Mad in Crafts,  Ask Anna, The Girl Creative,  Cherished Bliss, The Southern Institute, Etcetorize,   Tuesday: The DIY Dreamer, Pincushion Creations, The Winthrop Chronicles, My Favorite Finds, Ladybug Blessings, A Diamond in the Stuff, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee Crafts, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sassy Sites, Coastal Charm, Vintage Wanna Bee, The Thrifty Home, Not Just a Housewife, Homework, Uncommon,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy, Crafty Texas Girls, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Newlyweds on a Budget, How to Nest for Less, Mommy by Day Crafter by Night, Chef in Training, I'm Topsy Turvy,Creatively Living, Tales of a Trophy Wife, Naptime Delights, Claiming Our Space, JAQ Studio, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Dragonfly Designs,   Wednesday: Cheap Crafty Mama,  Handy Man Crafty Woman, Lil Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Creations by Kara, DIY by Design, Southern Lovely, Oopsey Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Sew Much Ado, Let Birds Fly, Junk in their Trunk, White Lights on Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting ,Vintage Gwen, Lil Pink Pocket, Dragonfly Designs, Trendy Treehouse, Family Home and Life,  We Learn As We Go, Fabric Bows and More,  My Merrry Messy Life, Earning My Cape,   Thursday: Quality Cheap Home, Loving this Crazy Life, House of Hepworths, Grits and Giggles, Shabby Creek Cottage, A Creative Princess, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Bear Rabbit Bear, Live Laugh Rowe, Michelle's Tasty Creations, The Taylor House, Snap!, My Girlish Whims,  What's Cooking Love, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Liz Marie Blog,  Seven Alive,    Friday: Just Us Four, Create. Craft. Love, Two Sasters, Happy Hour Projects,Tatertots and Jello,  Little Inspiration, Craftionary, Little Becky Homecky. Family Ever After,  My Turn for Us, Joy in the Jumble, One Artsy Mama, Happy Go Lucky, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, At the Picket Fence,Young and Crafty, Simply Living with Diane Balch, Blissful Bucket List,