My Sweet Ry-pie and CalJ too

Crinkle Sensory Toy

2012-01-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Our little miss Shelb's has been fascinated with the wrappers that hold baby wipes. I guess it's the sound she likes? Anyways, I figured it would be pretty easy to put together a more "baby-friendly" sensory toy for her. Using the wipe wrapper of course!

The best part is, you can totally use scraps, and make it any size you want! I even added some ribbon detail, kinda like the ones on those little Taggie blankets.

What you need:

2 pieces of material

An empty baby wipes refill

Some ribbon

Sewing machine, and thread

I cut out my scrap pieces to measure 5x10". The ribbon measured anywhere from 3-6". I cut several pieces of ribbon, but in the end, only used four pieces.

Place your fabric pieces right side together. Take your ribbon piece and fold in half. Insert the ribbon, folded edge first, so it's "sandwiched" between your fabric. Pin in place.

Sew all the way around, making sure you leave a two inch opening on one end. Backstitch at the beginning and the end.

Trim around the edges, clipping the angles off the corners, but be careful not to cut through your stitching. Turn right-side out.

This is what it will look like when you turn it. Don't be like me, iron your creation. ;)

Cut your wrapper to fit inside of your fabric. Stuff the wrapper in, through the 2" opening you left un-sewn.

Topstitch around the entire rectangle, making sure that the open part gets sewn shut.

There you have it! A simple little crinkle toy to keep your little one entertained!

A little MT and NM love, t-shirt style...

2012-01-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks before we left for Montana I got a lovely surprise in the mail. It was from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kim. She's an amazing talent, and makes being a nerd, cool. ;)

She sent Ry-pie and Cal J these awesome t-shirts, she made. One for Ry-pie, exclaiming our love and fondness for our dear state of NM, and one for Cal J, expressing the new love we hope to find in MT. I absolutely LOVE these shirts! Check out her shop, and buy one! She

can make them with other states too. She's cool like that.

Have a fabulous week!

A new year....

2012-01-03T21:26:00.004-07:00

Wow. 2012 already? We're finally (semi) settled to our new life in Montana. For a 32 year old whose never lived outside of New Mexico, I like to think that I'm adjusting well, (for the most part anyway). My sewing machine and serger were finally unpacked - man I missed those puppies! I don't seem to have as much time with my "crafting" these days, (but I have been baking quite a bit). I will be sharing some things with you soon. Until then, I'll continue spending lots of time with these guys...

Here's to a great and productive new year!

Chocolate bats and ghosts

2011-10-27T07:09:00.005-06:00

I made some cupcakes for the cake-walk at Cal J's school carnival this week. I used store bought cake mix, and store bought icing. Since I took the easy way out on the baking, I wanted to adorn my box-mix cupcakes with something cute and clever. Chocolate bats and ghosts!

Here's what I did.

I drew several bats on a piece of paper. My artistic skills are lacking, but they looked enough like bats that I went with it.

I just placed a sheet of wax paper over my stenciled bats, which was sitting on an inverted cookie sheet.

I melted chocolate and placed it in a plastic sandwich bag (which I cut a very small hole at the tip) and traced around the stencil. Then I filled in the whole bat with chocolate so the whole stencil was covered.

I placed in the fridge until they had firmed up and placed on my cupcake.

Done.

For the ghosts. I just free-handed a (sort of) apostrophe shape.

Then filled it in.

Added some arms...

..two eyes and a mouth, (using the chocolate from my aforementioned bats). Refrigerate, then decorate.

...and done again.

It's almost Halloween. Are you ready?

Fabric petal headband (for Halloween)

2011-10-17T08:55:00.001-06:00

Halloween is two weeks away. Do you have your costume ready? I'm still debating what the girls are going to go as. Cal J wants to be iron man. Ugh. Instead of stressing out about what to make (and or buy), I made Ry-pie a Halloween headband.

I used a camera lens as my template for the circles that need to be cut out.

I cut out 12 circles total. 4 of the orange, and 8 of the polka-dot fabric.

Take 1 circle and fold in half.

Shape in half, so the corners meet. This will cause the curved edge of your circle to turn upwards a bit. It should resemble a petal shape.

Take a needle and thread and sew through the corners which are touching.

Follow the same steps for your next circle (alternating colors if you wish), and sew, so it's attached to the previous petal.

After your petals are done and attached, it will look something like this. I chose to layer the petals so they cascade down sort of haphazardly. You could easily sew the petals together in a round shape so they resemble a flower instead.

This is how it looked from the underside. After that, I just attached it to a felt piece and then glued it onto the headband. Clearly, this is not limited to Halloween, there are may different color combo's you'd be able work with.

So cute and festive.

If all else fails, she can just wear this for Halloween, right?

Apple Ring Pancakes

2011-10-14T08:00:00.006-06:00

I recently saw a brilliant recipe for apple ring pancakes made by Carla Hall from Top Chef. This idea is simply genius - and simply simple too!

You can find her recipe here. I actually used one of Martha's basic pancake recipe's instead. Then I added a smidgen of cinnamon and nutmeg. You know what a smidgen is right?

Peel and slice your apples.

I love the star shape in the center of apples when you slice them.

I didn't have an apple corer, and I thought it would be cute to use a little heart shape cookie cutter to cut out the core. It didn't matter, you couldn't tell what shape it was after I dipped them in the batter. Anyways, just take your apple slice and dip them in your batter and cook them just like you would a regular pancake.

Top it all off with some delicious maple syrup, and breakfast is served.

So good. So clever. So easy.

Such a great use for using those fall apples you probably have sitting around.

That's it, enjoy your weekend!

a new blog post!?!?!

2011-10-13T07:56:00.001-06:00

Wow! It's been way too long since I've shared anything with you all. To be honest, "crafting" just hasn't been in the cards for me these days. My brain is exploding with a million ideas, but it's in my mind where they sit. That is until I can figure out how to balance some things. :)

Little Shelby is doing great. She'll be 8 weeks on Friday! 8 weeks!?! Where has the time gone? In other why-I'm-not-crafting-much-these-days news. We're moving!!! Next month we'll be leaving New Mexico, the only state I've ever known, for an even bigger one. Montana! I'm getting really excited for the new experience, but nervous of the thought of being away from all our family and friends. I've been a teeny bit preoccupied with organizing/purging all of our crap for the move. Plus getting the house in tip-top shape for sale has been a bit time consuming. I have a few projects that are waiting to be posted. We'll see if I can actually get to them. haha.

Now that I feel (some-what) caught up with things. Here's a simple tutorial for a flower hair-accessory - made from one of Ry-pie's t-shirt's.

I have a weird obsession with crying baby photos. I think they're adorable! hehe

Start by cutting out several circles. I used 8 large circle and 6 small circles.

Stack 2 large circles and 2 small circles like shown.

Place your "stack" on top of 2 large circles like this.

Next, take a needle and thread - and sew through your "stack" making sure you sew through the two bottom circles as well. (Sew a few times through the center of your "stack" to secure).

Fold your just-sewn "stack" in half so it's in a half-moon shape.

Take your next "stack" and place in the center of the 2 main circles.

Sew this "stack" the same way you did the first one.

Fold into a half-moon shape and continue the same steps with your third and final "stack".

Boom! You're done.

Just slap onto a barrette and that's it.

Finish it up by placing it onto a headband like this. I made a single braid headband for Ry-pie's.

Those are tears of joy by the way. They must have really loved the hair-flair. Ha!

Even cute as a sleep accessory.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day!

Oh baby!!

2011-08-29T17:34:00.007-06:00

I had a baby. She was born over a week ago. I've had good intentions of posting some pictures of our new little bundle but I've been too consumed with getting settled in and loving on this new little one that I haven't had the chance. So without any further ado - may I introduce you to...

Shelby Blake

8/19/11

1:18pm

8 pounds 12.4 ounces 21" long

Brand new

1 week old

Cal J is such a great big brother, he's very protective of his new sister and calls her his "little meatloaf". Ry-pie has done great as well. She covers Shelby in an average of 40-50 kisses a day, and says over and over "baby 'Helby' lub me too". I love seeing the kids together and it feels so good seeing our family complete.

I love this picture that Josh took in the hospital. My heart oozes with love for this little girl. I can't believe she's here, and she's mine, and how much I love her.

Thanks for sharing this special news with me. I hope you all are feeling as great as I am! :)

Braided t-shirt headband

2011-08-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

I'm into braids these days. Remember this braided t-shirt for Ry-pie? I've made a few other braided items that I've yet to share with you all. Sometime soon perhaps?

It's been awhile since I've shared any hair accessory ideas. I was inspired to make this headband from this tutorial for a lace headband. I made it using the same t-shirt I used for this. I really should have thrown this t-shirt out by now, but I'm a sucker for the color grey and I just couldn't seem to part with it...and I'm glad I didn't!

Here you go...

I made double braids, so I cut 6 1" pieces from my t-shirt that were 22" long.

Pin the ends together and anchor (I used my pants), and braid so you have two braided pieces.

Take a piece of elastic and place together with the braided pieces.

Sew across the elastic and the braids like shown.

Trim off the excess from the braids...

and you're done!

I'm thinking I'll make a single braided one for Ry-pie and maybe adorn it with a little pink flower detail for the both of us. It'll be the headband I rock in the hospital when "new baby" comes! I'll keep you posted. ps. She should be here next week!

Frozen Fruit Pops

2011-07-29T10:04:00.000-06:00

I saw this beautiful picture of these delicious popsicles the other day. It didn't have any directions on how to make them but it mentioned using Capri-sun juice pouches and sliced fruit. We usually have both of those things on hand in this house - so I decided to give it a whirl.

What you'll need:

Capri-sun (or any light colored juice)

Assorted sliced fruit (we used kiwis, strawberries, and nectarines)

Popsicle mold

Slice up your assorted fruit

Fill up your popsicle mold about 1/2 way with your juice.

Let (clean) little hands fill up the molds with the sliced fruit

Let freeze. We left ours in the freezer overnight.

That's it! Easy and adaptable. The different fruit and juice choices are seemingly endless.

Eat up and enjoy!

Braided-trim tank

2011-07-25T10:02:00.000-06:00

Here is a cute little tutorial for a tank I made Ry-pie. The braided-trim adds a fun touch.

I started with a little camisole of Ry-pie's. I folded the cami in half and placed the folded cami on top of the material I was cutting. (Be sure that your fabric is also folded along the same side as the folded cami). Cut two pieces.

I used a cotton knit for this tank. If you had an old t-shirt to use that would be great too!

This cami was a touch snug on Ry-pie so I added an inch to the length and the sides. I also made the straps thicker so it would be a tank instead of a cami.

You should have two identical pieces of your cut fabric. One front and one back.

Place the tank pieces right side together and sew or serge along the sides and the top of the shoulder straps.

Turn your tank inside out.

Next, cut out strips of the same fabric for your braided trim. I just measured around the arm-hole and the whole neck-line and added 1 1/2" to the measurement. Each strip was 1" in width.

Take three strips (of the same length) and secure them together with a safety pin. I pinned them to my jeans so I'd be able to braid them up real fast. Braid the pieces together.

Take your braided strip and pin it around whichever opening the braid is for. Pin it so the edge of the braid is flush with the opening of the tank.

Sew your braid to the tank. Try and sew as careful as you can down the center of the braid - making sure you catch the tank with each stitch.

When you're all done it should look like this.

All done!

Paint-chip garland

2011-07-20T10:28:00.000-06:00

I'm adding a few finishing touches to Ry-pie's (and new baby's) room. Here is the simplest little garland that was made out of nothing other then paint-chips! I saw the idea here, and it couldn't be easier!

I picked up some paint-chips during my last spray-paint excursion to the hardware store. I chose an array of colors that would match the room.

I then punched out the paint chip using a flower shaped punch (any shape would be fantastic).

After each chip was punched, I strung each flower together by sewing them through my sewing machine.

The whole strand came out like this.

Then I hung it up on some shelves. That's it! I want to make another one to drape across the opposite corners of the shelves. Luckily, this is the cheapest little project you can do cause it's free - unless you're buying spraypaint of course! ;)

"Washer" Art

2011-07-14T14:56:00.000-06:00

I'm slowly piecing the house together getting ready for baby number 3. Less then 6 weeks to go!

After Cal J and Ry-pies's room switch - Cal J's room has been lacking in the "wall hanging" department. I saw this fantastic idea to use washers (you know, from the hardware store) to create a design on a canvas. I love it!

The supplies:

Canvas

Spray paint (optional)

Washers (various sizes)

Glue (I used E6000)

I've been slightly obsessed with spray paint these days - so anything (and everything) that I can spray paint I will. I spray painted the whole canvas first and let dry.

Josh doesn't think it's a good idea in my "condition" to be spray painting items. But rest assured, I always do it in a well ventilated area and do my best to not inhale . :)

After the paint dries I just placed my washers in their desired place and glued them on. That's it! A "C" for Cal J. His nonchalant response when I showed him: "cool mom". I wanted a little bit more excitement, oh well, either way I LOVE how it turned out.

Have a great day!

Strawberry Ice Cubes

2011-07-08T10:53:00.000-06:00

It's so hot outside. I mean H-O-T!

I made this delicious treat for us to cool down on the 4th of July.

Combine:

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

In a saucepan, bring to boil.

Add:

1 pint strawberries

and continue to boil for 5 minutes.

Mash up sugar and fruit mixture (I left mine kind of chunky, but if you wanted a smoother consistency you could puree it).

Place mixture in a ice tray and let freeze for at least 3 hours.

When ice cubes are frozen just add to glass.

And then pour in your lemonade - or any other drink that grabs your fancy.

I used this recipe for the fresh-squeezed lemonade.

The ice cubes gradually melt down and add more strawberry goodness to your glass.

Enjoy!

Artwork for the Loo

2011-07-06T09:34:00.000-06:00

The kids bathroom needed some artwork and I happened to have some canvases laying around. I thought it would make for a fun little project for the kids to create their own artwork to hang in their bathroom.

I chose the colors that matched with their shower curtain and accessories...

...and I let them get to work

You might be thinking how clever I am to have them paint with no clothes on. Nope! Naked is just how my kids spend most of their day around our house. It is nice when laundry day comes though!

She wasn't too happy about getting her hands dirty!

Ry-pie's work...

...Cal J's work.

Thanks for checking it out.

Chocolate dipped banana bites

2011-07-01T08:42:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've made chocolate covered bananas at least once in your life. I would have never, ever thought about making them into little bites until I saw it done here. Simply brilliant! They topped theirs with coconut, but I preferred the simplicity of just the two ingredients.

I made mine different then they did but I'm sure either way would be fine.

Milk chocolate + ripe bananas = yum!

Just cut up your banana into chunks and melt some chocolate. I used milk chocolate because that's what I had on hand, but I think dark or semi-sweet would have been better.

Dip your banana chunk into the melted chocolate. ..

...and make sure to coat that bad boy up.

Place on a waxed sheet of paper and set in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Take them out and enjoy. The banana firms up real nice and has an ice-creamy texture. So good!

Ry-pie didn't like the idea of sharing, but she was kind enough to let Cal J lick her fingers at least. Kids are gross! :)

How to alter a stained t-shirt...

2011-06-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

I was going through some of Ryan's summer clothes the other day and stumbled across this little number. I noticed a little stain towards the bottom of her top (a highlighter maybe?) The rest of the top was in great condition and I really liked it, so I thought how can I remedy this? Elastic to the rescue!

I drew a line with my (eraseable) marker along the bottom of her shirt - where the stain was.

I cut off the portion that I had marked.

Keep in mind the length of your child and the amount you cut off the shirt. If the top is already short on your child it may be WAY too short after doing this. If that's the case go find a dress and use this technique on that instead. Easy!

I serged all the way around the bottom hem. If you don't have a serger just fold and iron 1/4", then fold and iron again 1/4" and sew to create a hem.

Since I serged mine, I just folded over once and sewed to make the hem.

Now measure around your little ones waist, and cut the elastic to that measurement.

Take your elastic and place 1/2" up from your hem. Hold the elastic down by lowering your needle into the elastic and the material. Start sewing the elastic - keeping it fairly tight but with some slack.

You probably won't use all of the elastic that you cut based on your child's measurements - and that's perfect! You don't want it to be too loose. On the other hand you don't want to have pulled the elastic too tight and used too little, otherwise the elastic may dig into your little one's belly.

When you're all done it will look something like this!

And there you have it. A quick and simple solution to fix a little blemish on an otherwise perfectly adorable top.

She loves it! Although after her summer treat, I might have a whole new set of stains to deal with!!

Thanks for checking it out!

"Bacon and Eggs"

2011-06-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

I've been making these for awhile now. I think I first saw them on the Family Fun website (but I'm not quite sure).

Here are the steps to make them

This one's my favorite!

Fun to make, and the kids will love them!

Fabric Headwrap

2011-06-21T09:13:00.000-06:00

Today's the first day of summer!

Here's an easy little tutorial to make your own fabric headwrap. Super easy, and cute!

Start off with two seperate pieces of material (one printed for the outside and one solid piece for the lining). These were 45" long and 5" wide.

Don't be lazy like I was. Please iron your fabric! :)

After I finished this project I realized that 5" wide was too thick for me, so I wore it folded it in half. That worked just fine but you might want to cut down your measurement to about 2.5-3" wide if you didn't want to have to fold it over.

Take your material and place right sides together.

Sew along the outer edges all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a 1-2 inch opening at one end of your wrap.

Trim around the entire "sewn" part of your wrap, making sure not to cut into the seams. Clip an angle at each corner as shown below.

Turn your wrap right side out and use a dowel or the eraser end of a pencil to push the corners out.

Fold the material in from the un-sewn opening at the end of the wrap and press.

Top-stitch around the entire wrap using a 1/4" seam or less.

And there you have it. Perfect for summer!

Re-covered Bar Stool Cushion

2011-06-09T19:15:00.001-06:00

I've been slowly updating things around the house. It must be this pregnancy thing - because I'm in serious nesting mode!

I found this wonderful printed fabric at Jo-Ann's - and it was 50% off. Score! I decided it would be nice to update our bar stool cushions using it.

Can you see why I wanted to update them? Pretty gross right?

I used the existing cushion as a sort of template for the fabric. I folded the fabric in half and laid the cushion on top of the fabric. I added 3 more inches around the existing cushion to allow for the wrap around of the new cushion.

These marks indicate where I decided to cut the fabric.

I cut out two circles since I was making two cushions.

Serge around your entire circles. If you don't have a serger you can use a zig-zag stitch or even cut out the circle using some pinking shears.

Now take some elastic. I used a pretty thin size of elastic (I don't remember what width though, sorry).

Here's how to make your cushion cover so it will hug the actual stool. Take your elastic and line it up on the serged (or zig-zagged) edge. Manually move your needle down so it will keep your elastic in place. Before you begin sewing pull your elastic really tight so you have no slack over the elastic you'll be sewing. Go real slow, and make sure that you are catching the elastic and the fabric together. Go around the entire circle, continuing to pull the elastic so it's always tight while you sew. Don't forget to backstitch at the beginning and end!

When you are done and you let go of the elastic it should end up puckering up like this.

This is what the underside of your new cushion cover should look like.

At this point you could leave it like this and cover your old seat cushion. I wanted to "polish" it up a bit so I added some button details.

Start off with a button cover kit like this one.

I ended up cutting the old seat cover off so I could still use the cushion for the stool. I handstitched each button to the cover and through the cushion so the buttons were nice and secure.

After sewing on all four buttons this is how it turned out. A much better looking bar stool cover that I can live with. I love fabric! It's amazing how much it can beautify your ugly things. :)

I want to sand and paint the bar stools next but that will have to wait!

Thanks for reading!

Easy Smocked Top

2011-06-06T08:38:00.000-06:00

Have you ever seen this smocked material at the fabric store before? I'm sure you have. I've been wanting to try it out and use it for awhile now and finally got around to giving it a whirl. They have all sorts of prints and lengths to choose from. I chose the simple white one in the shortest length to make a little shirt for Ry-pie.

Here's how I put it together :

Measure around your little ones chest. Ry-pies chest measured just shy of 19" so I cut the fabric at 19 1/4" to allow for a little seam allowance.

Place cut sides, right sides together and serge. If you don't have a serger just sew up the side and then zig-zag stitch or cut with pinking shears to prevent fraying.

Take some ribbon. I didn't have any white grosgrain ribbon so I used this skinny little satin ribbon for the straps.

I put the shirt on Ry-pie and measured how long I wanted the straps and decided where to place them. Since these straps are so skinny I cut 4 sets of ribbon, 3 ribbon per set - all 10" long.

I marked the placement of the straps with my straight-pins.

I placed the ribbon on top of the first and second rows of smocking. I then sewed the ribbon across each of the smocking to make sure it was nice and secure.

And there you have it! An easy and nice and breezy little smocked top! :)

I love the tie-straps at the shoulders....

that is if your little one doesn't keep un-tyeing them.

She looks super thrilled doesn't she?

A definite diva with her hand on the hip move.

No-bake berry pie

2011-06-03T08:15:00.000-06:00

Here's a delicious little recipe that we enjoyed on Memorial Day. Perfect for anytime when the weather is nice, especially because you don't have to heat up your oven!

Ingredients:

a pack and a half of Oreos

mixed berries (I used raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries)

one large container of Cool Whip

one package of cream cheese (softened)

1/4 C butter (melted)

In a food processor, grind Oreos into fine crumbs.

Add melted butter and mix together.

Press crumb mixture into pan. I used a spring-form pan but a pie dish would work just fine too.

In a separate bowl mix cream cheese until nice and smooth.

Add entire of container of Cool Whip and fold gently into cream cheese.

Layer cream cheese/Cool Whip mixture onto crumbs. Smooth out so the surface is relatively even.

Place your berry mixture on top of your Cool Whip mixture, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

If using a spring-form pan simply slide out. If using a pie plate just cut and serve from that.

Super delicious!

Ry-pie's First Haircut

2011-05-31T23:29:00.000-06:00

Ry-pie's turning 2 at the end of June. She's yet to have a haircut. I guess with all those curls I just didn't think it was necessary. That is until this tiny tendril kept driving me crazy! It's so weird, this one perfect curl about 2 inches longer then the rest. I finally decided to give her a little trim.

Snip, snip.

She didn't even notice.

And I feel much better.

Now, if I could only get the front under control!

Room Re-do

2011-05-27T22:47:00.000-06:00

We've been making some changes in our household lately. We're expecting baby number 3 in late August so we've been updating our kids rooms. Ry-pie and baby number 3 will be sharing a room and Cal J (of course) will have his own. Cal J's room was a tad bigger then Ry-pie's so we decided to pull a switch-a-roo so Ry-pie and the new baby would have a little bit more wiggle room.

Josh painted Ry-pie's room a lovely shade of Ballet Slippers Pink, I still can't believe we chose pink, I'm not a pink girl at all, but with a second little girl on the way I'm slowly coming around! I basically have to give the re-decorating credit to Josh. He bought this adorable little wall decal from Etsy. He picked it out, set up his own Etsy account and bought it! He tracked it everyday and when it came in he worked hard putting it up. He wanted to surprise me and Ry-pie so he wouldn't let us see it until it was completely done. He's kind of a weirdo like that - and that's why I love him so much!

Here it is... Just one little update to "the girls" new room.

This is my most favorite little detail of all!

I'll show you some more updates of the room soon.

Thanks for stopping in!

Satin Ribbon Flowers

2011-05-19T14:34:00.000-06:00

If you haven't noticed by now I have a slight obsession/addiction to all things hair related. What can I say, I LOVE hair accessories!

Here's another little tutorial for some flowers using satin ribbon. I bought this ribbon from Hobby Lobby right off the spool. I purchased a yard of each color.

For the pink ribbon, I cut the ribbon in half so I had two half yard pieces. I used a basting stitch (only backstitching at one end) to sew all the way up one side of the ribbon, about a 1/4" in or so.

If you wanted to, you could even handstitch (loosely) up the entire side of the ribbon instead of machine stitching.

On the end of the ribbon that you did NOT use your backstitch, gently pull one piece of thread while sliding the ribbon up the other thread piece. Do this until your ribbon starts to ripple and ruffle up.

Your ribbon should end up looking like this.

Now start wrapping your ribbon to make your flower. Just keep coiling your flower from the side that you stitched until you have your flower shape. (You might need to keeping pulling the piece of thread to help it stay puckered).

Now handstitch the ribbon to secure your flower. Or you can use fabric glue - that's what I did. Finally, just attach it to a hairclip and your done!

I used the whole yard of ribbon to make the orange one. It turned out to be a big, gigantic, fluffy flower. I kind of (really) like big hair accessories for Ry-pie! Cutting the pink ribbon in half was good for two smaller flowers. Perfect for pig-tails!

I hope you liked this tutorial and make some yourself!

Fabric Bows (for ties or hair)

2011-05-17T13:17:00.000-06:00

An opera group visited Cal J's school today. His teacher thought it would be cute for his class to dress-up in fancy little opera attire. We don't do suits, or anything remotely close to opera attire in this household. I didn't want to buy anything special so I thought and thought. Bow-ties!!! Of course. He had a button-up shirt and some slacks already so all I had to do was make a super cute (and easy) bow-tie. I found the BEST tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home for her bow-ties.

It came out so incredibly cute. I had to make one for Ry-pie - as a hair accessory of course!! I followed the exact same tutorial for the regular bow-tie and just attached it to an elastic headband. Easy and cute.

I want to make one for myself next.

I try not to ask my kids to say "cheese". This is the kind of face they make if I do. And in all of Cal J's cuteness, he kind of looks like a banquet waiter. ha! Notice the glasses? Those are new too. I think they make him look quite studious. :)

Wow. I've accomplished two back to back posts this week. Can I go for three??

Thanks for stopping in!

Fabric Bows

2011-05-16T08:46:00.000-06:00

I tend to have an outrageous stash of fabric scraps lying around. I'm not really sure why I insist on keeping them all. Here's a simple little project that uses those pesky little scraps of fabric that tend to pile up.

To make two bows I started off with four pieces of scraps. I cut these scraps to measure 2" x 3 1/2".

For one bow, take two pieces of scraps and lay them right sides together.

Draw an oval(ish) shape onto the wrong side of your scrap. I used a fabric marker, but anything will do.

Sew around the outline you just made, but be sure to leave an inch opening on one side. Backstitch at the beginning and the end.

Trim the excess off the entire oval and cut notches into the rounded edges you just sewed.

Turn your oval inside out, using the opening that was left unsewn. Use a pencil (if needed) to make sure your rounded edges come out nice and round.

It should look something like this.

Next, take another scrap piece. This one measuring about 2" x 3".

Fold in half, right sides together and sew all the way along the cut edge.

Turn inside out. From this point I'll be calling this piece the "tube".

Here are your two pieces you should have to make 1 bow.

Now pinch the center of your oval piece together to create your bow shape.

Take your tube and wrap it around the center of your bow.

At this point you can glue or handstitch your tube so it's attached and secured around the bow. I just machine stitched it and cut off the excess scraps. As you can see the tube attachment will be unfinished, but I'm gluing it to a hairclip so it doesn't bother me this way.

Now glue to a hairclip and it's done.

My measurements were for smaller bows. Play around with it and see all the different sizes you can make.

Thanks for visiting today and checking out my post!

F-I-V-E

2011-04-20T07:40:00.000-06:00

Five years ago today something changed me. My purpose in life became clear. I became the mama to the sweetest little boy.

My little Cal J is growing up. He's been growing non-stop for 5 years.

He's kind, funny, friendly, compassionate, and loves taking out the trash.

Thanks for letting me love you as much as I do. And thanks for being such a great big brother and a fun-loving son to me and your daddy. We love you so much Cal J!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Finally, I'm back (with some cookies)

2011-04-15T08:32:00.000-06:00

After months of being camera-less from our aforementioned robbing. I finally made a decision and picked out my new camera. Woo-hoo! My life feels whole again. ;)

Now let's see if I even remember how to post one of these anymore... ah yes, it's coming back to me.

Easter is just around the corner and these little morsels (Cadbury mini-eggs) make me salivate. Thankfully they only come out once a year. Do yourself a favor - buy a bag - and make some cookies!

Here is a wonderful little recipe from Our Best Bites which you can find here. What if you don't like these little chocolate wonders? My heart goes out to you my friend!

They're wonderfully delicious!

A set back...

2011-01-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

This year had been off to a wonderful start. That is until last week when our house was broken into. We're now left feeling totally violated and more then slightly ticked off. Needless to say, the thieves took off with lots and lots of stuff. Luckily, no one was home and most of the stuff can be replaced - it's just costly stuff, and it was our stuff, and it kind of makes me angry.

So for the time being I'm computer-less. And camera-less. And totally out of sorts about it. I'm still crafting, I just won't be documenting it at the moment. (They left my sewing machine at least).

Soon.

Hopefully real soon. Cause I really miss it.

I hope things have been better for you all....

Fleece hat

2011-01-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 2011 everyone!

To start off the new year I made a little something for Cal J. A super easy fleece beanie. Here's how you do it.

Cut out your beanie from two different fabrics. One for the lining and one for the outer hat. You should have a total of 4 pieces. I used one of his beanies and traced it adding an extra 1/4" for seam allowance. And cut it 10" in length.

***Note: I should have actually allowed more width to the beanie. I'd suggest marking it a 1/2" wider all around the beanie your tracing. ***

Fold over the lining like shown...

and cut a slit 2 inches deep straight down. Repeat with outer pieces of hat.

Your slits should look like this.

Fold your fabric so it's in half again and sew your slit closed using a 1/4" inseam, backstitching at the beginning and end. Do this on all 4 pieces.

I got ahead of myself and didn't take pictures of the next step - just pin your fabric together with the seams you just sewed facing out and sew together.

Now you should have two hat pieces. Both with seams facing out.

****Leave a 3 inch opening towards the top of your lining piece like this. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and the end of the opening****

Leave your outer piece inside out and turn your lining piece right side out like shown.

Place your right side out lining piece INTO the outer hat piece.

Stuff all the way into the outer hat piece lining up the seams. Pin in place.

Sew all the way around the hat opening so the outer and the liner are sewn together.

It should look something like this.

Now pull the lining piece outward so you have one big oval shape with the seams facing out.

Now take your un-sewn opening on the lining piece and start to pull the hat right side out.

Keep pulling....

Here is the hat with the right sides out. Hand stitch the opening that you just pulled your hat through shut.

You're almost finished...

Now just fold upward so some of the lining is showing and you're done!

Now, I know I said this was for Cal J. But apparently my measuring was off. It fit Ry-pie's head perfectly. I'll guess she'll be sporting a cool alien hat. Oh well.

I hope your new year has been off to a great start!

Melted snowman cookies

2010-12-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty frigid winter thus far - and it's only the beginning. Yikes!

Here are some melted snowman cookies that I made.

I originally saw them from Smashed Peas and Carrots, go here for the recipe and directions.

I have a feeling that people in certain parts of the country really wish they had some snow melting!

Enjoy! And stay warm out there! :)

Fabric headband

2010-12-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Christmas is over. It went by too fast - as usual. Now maybe I can get back to some non-gift-giving-craftiness, and get back to sharing some easy tutorials with you. That's my plan anyway - but please don't hold me to it. :)

Here's an easy little fabric headband that I made for Ry-pie.

You'll need:

Some fabric. I used a 1/4 yard and could have made a couple. You'd probably be fine with at least an 1/8 yard

Rotary cutter

3/4" elastic (length varies to your size of headband)

Sewing machine and thread

Cut out your fabric. This one was 4" wide and 16" long.

Hem each long side. Fold over each long side 1/4" and iron...

Fold over another 1/4", iron and pin. Do this for both long sides.

Sew up each long side, close to the folded edge.

Take a 2" piece of fabric (mine being 8" long) and fold in half, right sides together. Sew long sides together, backstitching at the beginning and end.

Turn material inside out as shown here to create a tube. Cut elastic piece. (This one being 4").

Place safety pin on one end of elastic and feed it through the tube.

You're fabric should be completely scrunched up onto the elastic like this. Attach you safety pin to one end of the elastic AND the fabric so they are pinned together. **Keep your finger on the other end of elastic and fabric so your elastic doesn't go back into the tube. **

Place the unpinned side of the elastic (making sure the edge of the elastic is lined up with the edge of your tube) seam side up onto the right side of the wider headband fabric.

Fold over the right side of the wider fabric to overlap the elastic and fabric tube piece.

Fold over the left side of the wider fabric just as before so it overlaps the elastic, the tube and the other side of the wide fabric.

Stitch over all layers to secure.

I like to use a zig-zag stitch a few times, backstitching at the beginning and the end just to make sure everything is nice a secure.

This is what your newly sewn side will look like when you flip it over.

Now take your pinned edge of elastic and place it on the un-sewn edge of the wide piece. Line up the edges of the elastic, the tube and the wide piece -right sides together - just like before.

Overlap pieces so wrong sides are facing up again.

Zig-zag stitch one more time across all layers like shown.

Flip your headband so the right side is facing out and you're done.

Thanks for checking it out!

Homemade ornaments

2010-12-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've had every intention of sharing with you, all sorts of Christmas crafts and pretty homemade gifts I've been making. Obviously, that has happened. I blame life - not my laziness! ;)

I wanted to try and hand make a lot of Christmas gifts this year. I've done pretty good, almost finished.

Here are some cute little handmade ornaments we made for Cal J's teachers and the grandparents.

We took some white colored flannel and I had Cal J draw a picture on the front and sign his name on the back using fabric markers. I cut out a star shape, machine stitched around the star shape, stuffed it with some batting, added a ribbon for hanging and sewed shut. I used pinking shears to trim around the stitched edges.

Homemade, featuring my little guy's art. And did I mention it's simple AND easy? That's what I like about it the most!

Snow day!

2010-12-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I woke up to this morning! And granted - I'm sure you all know what snow looks like, I just can't help but sharing.

Needless to say, Cal J is having a snow day. I'm looking forward to a whole lot of nothing today. With the exception of snowball throwing, hot chocolate drinking, some sweet treat making, and maybe some snuggling - if I'm lucky!

Fortune cookie ornaments

2010-12-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

I read this tutorial for making these adorable little fortune cookie ornaments last year. I never got around to making them until now. Super easy!

In her post she talks about how she makes an ornament each year for each of her kids. That way, when they move out/get married they have their own set of ornaments to decorate their tree with. Great idea!!! I'm going to try this idea too - starting.....now....

Candy Cane Cake Pops!

2010-12-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Cake Pops? Oh man, OH MAN! I had never tried them until this past weekend when they gave them out at a birthday party we went to. They are super fantastic. I made them following the recipe from Bakerella shown here.

Mine don't even come close to how cute or perfect hers are, but they still taste good, and that's good enough for me.

Start off with your packaged cake mix (any flavor you choose). Cook according to the package instructions. Let cool completely then crumble into fine crumbs in a large bowl.

Take your frosting. She recommends using the cream cheese flavor so of course I did too.

Use about 3/4 of the container of frosting.

Mix together.

Take a tablespoon or so of your cake mixture and roll into a ball.

Place in freezer for 30 minutes to firm up a bit.

This is where I try to add a Christmasy spin to them.

Meanwhile, take some candy canes...

Place in a bag. And let out all your aggressions by pounding those candy canes into tiny little bits.

There you go. Feel better?

Take your chocolate chips, or melting wafers, or almond bark, or whatever, and melt until smooth.

Dip your cake into the chocolate.

Put on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

While the chocolate is still wet sprinkle on your peppermint pieces.

Or try some dark chocolate with holiday sprinkles.

WARNING: SERVE WITH A GIANT GLASS OF MILK. Trust me on this one!

(more) fabric flowers

2010-11-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

As promised. Here's a little tutorial for the hair clips Ry-pie had in her hair for this post.

Start off with your fabric. I used knit fabric for the turquoise one but I made some out of regular cotton and they came out great too. Trace a circle onto your desired fabric.

Cut out circle.

Dot center of circle with glue. Fold outer edge of circle half way in, and glue onto center of circle.

Put another dot of glue in center (over the part you just folded). Take the "open" side that you just folded and bring to center on top of glue dot.
It should look like this.

Continue and repeat all the way around. Alternating glue dot, and folded fabric.

Until you get something that looks like this. You should end up with a total of 5 folds (depending on your size of fabric).

Glue a button or any other kind of embellishment your heart desires. ;)

Snap it onto a hair clip and you're done!

Easy right? Now go on, make a whole slew of them.

Thanks for visiting!

Ry-pie's Thanksgiving dress

2010-11-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make Ry-pie a dress to wear on Thanksgiving. I had some cute brown with pink polka-dotted corduroy that I was going to use. I started her dress by just winging it. No pattern. No instructions. Just me, my scissors (rotary cutter) and imagination. Well my imagination went a little haywire. I think I got a little too "cutter" happy, and cut too much. I needed more fabric!

So what do I do? I head out - the night before Thanksgiving, to the fabric store to get more of that brown with pink polka-dotted corduroy. Guess what? They didn't have anymore of that corduroy! CRAP!

What to do now? I didn't really like any of the other corduroy they had, that is until I saw this adorable little owl printed corduroy!!! Jackpot!

I wasn't feeling as adventurous after getting home, so I decided to try and find a cute pattern online. The gals at Prudent Baby to the rescue! I used their snappy toddler top pattern, just adding length to make it a dress and using buttons in the place of snaps.

A little flower and some pom-pom trimming. A super cute dress for Thanksgiving....or any other time.

Come back tomorrow for the tutorial on the fabric hair flare!

Cal J's Thanks

2010-11-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

This Thanksgiving I really wanted to make sure CalJ could express all the things he was thankful for. I had initially planned on starting November 1st and have him decorate one leaf or acorn everyday until Thanksgiving.

Did that happen?

Of course not! But he still was able to draw/write a lot of things he's thankful for.

I was happy that he took the time to really concentrate on things he was thankful for....

...even this...

Cake. I guess I'm thankful for cake too!

Turkey Dinner cupcakes

2010-11-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Taste of Home

recipe found here

I will not be making these.

I repeat. I WILL NOT be making these.

They're just so cute though, I had to share...

4 days until Thanksgiving. Are you ready?

Pumpkin (pie) wontons

2010-11-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found a recipe that just sounds so good and so interesting you can't wait to try it? I have. Actually I've been wanting to try this one out since mid October, and just barely got around to making it now.

The worst thing about it - after all my excitement and waiting, I DIDN'T love it! I'm sharing it anyways, because after a few little tweaks, it came out great.

Adapted from the Taste of Home Magazine

Original recipe found here

Here is how I made it, plus my changes.

1 cup pumpkin pie puree

1/4 cup ricotta cheese (or cream cheese would be great)

3-4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon pie spice

wonton wrappers (I used about 20)

***just an after-thought, a little dash of vanilla would have been really good to add***

Start off with a cup of pumpkin puree (canned or homemade), 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, and one teaspoon salt, (this is the beginning from the original recipe). I think the goal for the original recipe was to be a sweet and savory sort of snack. The savory from the filling, and the sweet from the sauce. It didn't quite cut it for me, so here I added 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. My goal being - pumpkin pie, in a wonton.

Mix together.

Take out one of your wonton wrappers. Keep the other wrappers covered with a damp paper towel so they don't dry out.

Place a spoonful of your mixture onto your wonton wrapper as shown.

Take a brush (or your finger, cleaned please) and wet all around the outer edges of your wrapper.

Take one corner and fold into center, followed by the opposite corner.

Do the same thing with the other two corners so you have a nice little package. Make sure you press down on the seams so it's sealed tightly.

Place in some hot vegetable oil to quickly fry up. About a minute on each side until they get golden, but not real browned.

Set on a paper towel lined plate to cool.

Now onto the dipping sauce. THIS WAS AMAZING.

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup apricot preserves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 tablespoons water (for thinning)

The original recipe called for sour cream which I didn't have, nor did I think sounded appetizing, so I omitted it. This was SO GOOD. It would be fantastic drizzled over a spice cake. And I'm putting that on the top of my what-to-bake-next list.

This whole pumpkin-pie wonton thing came out of no where. I would have loved to have had it with a little bit of whipped cream. But of course, this being an unexpected turn of events I didn't have any on and. Next time perhaps...

Tulle hair-clip

2010-11-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

I've come to acquire a quite extensive fabric collection. Part of that collection is tulle. After making all the tu-tu's from Ry-pies Birthday party this past summer, I have a plethora of that pink fluffy stuff left over. What to do, what to do?

Make some hair accessories of course! That's what I do best! ;)

Start off with a pile of tulle.

Cut your tulle into 2" wide strips. I left mine about 6" long (I ended up trimming quite a bit off at the end so you'd be fine using a 3" long strip if you like).

Cut a small piece of felt, in a similar color. I used a square shape but it gets cut down later on anyway.

Take your tulle strip and twist the center.

Glue onto your felt piece.

Continue to twist and glue your tulle strips onto the felt piece. I'm not a fan of glue on my fingers, so I used a wooden dowel to stick the tulle into place. This of course, is totally optional.

Continue gluing all of your strips. In total, I used around 8 strips for the bottom layer.

Now for the next layer. Take another strip of tulle and fold in half lengthwise and twist at the folded part.

Glue on top of existing tulle layer.

Like a said before. I cut my strips WAY TOO LONG, so I went to town with my scissors and gave it a little haircut.

Here is the tulle with one side cut and the other side at the regular length. It's starting to take shape...

Nice and trimmed up. I felt a little like Edward Scissorhands during this process. Do I see self-cut-bangs in my future? I sure hope not.

Trim your felt so any unglued excess is trimmed off, attach to a hair clip or barrette. Glue a little jewel in the center and your finished.

I didn't love the pink color of tulle at first because I didn't think it was right for the season. But now that I look at it, it's sort of sugar-plum-fairy-ish. Totally Holiday-ish. Right?

Thanks for checking it out. I hope you make some too!

Ear warmer

2010-11-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

Winter weather is right around the corner. I can't actually feel it yet, but that's what the weather man is claiming anyways!

I had some leftover fleece fabric from a lining of a coat I'm "attempting" to make for Ry-pie, so I decided to use that to make a cute little ear warmer for her.

Trace pattern onto your fabric. I used an ear warmer of CalJ's that I got at Wal-mart last year for a $1 as my template.

Cut out two pieces of your fabric. Even though Ry-pies head is obviously smaller then her big brother, I didn't make my pattern smaller so I could allow for the seam allowance. And if you need to shorten it up you can just cut it shorter before it's complete.

Lay pieces of fleece on top of one another, right sides facing. I actually used two slightly different shades of fleece but since these are not printed there actually isn't a right or wrong side. Just go with me on this. ;) Sew each side using a 1/4" seam, or so. Leave each end open and on one end stop sewing about 1 1/2" short of the end.

Pin a safety pin to the bottom end that you DIDN'T stop sewing short on. Turn right side out, pushing the safety pin all the way through until it looks like the picture shown above. The reason you need to stop sewing all the way on one side end is because this makes it A LOT easier to turn inside out. The ends will be too small if you don't, making it almost impossible to turn it right side out. Trust me. I know. ;)

Now, stitch around the entire ear warmer leaving a 1/4" seam like shown here.

Wrap the ear warmer around your little munchkins head and mark with a water soluble marker where it's secure. This picture shows the open ends on top of her head but they will actually fasten at the base of the head. Ry-pie's not much for co-operating these days, so I have to take what I can get. It will still cover her ears when I flip it around.

Take your sew-in Velcro and cut a large enough piece to start at the end of the warmer to the mark you just made.

Cut another piece (the same length as you just used) of the opposite side of the Velcro and sew to the other end of your warmer. Make sure that your ends will line up and attach when placed around the head.
Here's what your Velcro ends should look like when they're sewn and fastened into place. You could tuck the ends of the warmer before you add your Velcro so your ends look nice and tidy. I skipped this step so my ends are unfinished. Which is fine with me.

You still with me?

Good, I'd hoped so!

You can stop there, which is fine. But let's keep going, shall we?

Now onto the decorative part.

Draw circles onto your fleece material.

And cut out shapes.

Sew a straight line - just a little off-centered -starting with one circle and adding an additional circle when your stitch reaches the center of the circle. I pulled on the fabric a little bit while I stitched it in place - creating a slight oval shape. Be real careful as you feed each circle through. The fleece tends to wiggle a bit, so make sure it's lying flat and doesn't fold over onto itself.

Your first stitch of circles should look like this.

Then stitch another line, just like the first, about 1/4" parallel to the first stitched row.

Place onto a piece of felt (in a similar color).

Glue onto felt.

Cut out felt so no felt will actually be showing. Adding the felt will give your circles a little more stability.
Lie it next to the warmer and mark where you would like them placed.

Glue onto warmer.

Thanks for hanging in there!! Lots of pictures and lots of instructions - but all in all it's not that difficult a project.

I hope you enjoy!

Bias-tape

2010-11-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a very quick and easy way to make bias-tape.

Bias-tape, is actually fabric cut against the grain, that provides some stretch to go around necklines, armholes, and other items that have curves. In addition, it can also finish off raw edges of fabrics and adds a nice decorative touch.

The "quick and easy" way isn't actually cut on the bias, so I guess I shouldn't call it BIAS-tape. But I've used it for everything mentioned above - and more! It works just the same as bias-tape with the perfect amount of stretch for all sorts of projects.

Here is a 1/4 yard of fabric.

I cut off a 2" strip of fabric, perpendicular to the selvedge edge of the fabric. (To make sure you're cutting your strip correctly, just pull your strip lengthwise - it should stretch when it's pulled).

Next, fold that strip in half and iron.

Unfold strip. Fold each side of strip to meet in center, touching the ironed crease you just made.

Fold, and iron again. You should end up with a 1/2" strip of "bias"-tape.

Now here's how to finish the ends when you're done using your bias-tape. Just open bias-tape like shown, fold corners to touch.

Fold down.

Close bias tape again.

That's it. Easy right!?

Now look at all the cute stuff you can make...

Washcloths

Shirts

Even headbands!

Roller Derby Girl

2010-10-31T23:04:00.000-06:00

My little Roller Derby girl. I think it came out super cute. I wasn't going to do a helmet, but at the last minute Josh suggested using one of CalJ's plastic cereal bowls. We spray painted it this morning, let it dry and attached some elastic straps to the inside using tape. It didn't hold up AT ALL by the end of the night - but I can't imagine her costume without it. Good Job Josh! (Notice her mouth full of marshmallows? I bribed her with them to keep her "helmet" on. Now, that's just good parenting! lol).

It would have been even better with roller-skates. But c'mon, she's 1. I think that would have been some kind of safety hazard or something. ;)

Pleated Skirt pattern: Heidi and Finn

Procrastination

2010-10-28T20:09:00.000-06:00

We've been trying to get CalJ to decide what he wanted to be for Halloween for the past month. His suggestions have ranged from a ketchup bottle, a steam roller, a Backyardigan, a banana, a policeman, and finally - between Iron man or a trash truck. I had really wanted to make him a costume but was slightly terrified of having to construct a garbage truck. I really was trying to talk him into being a young Mermaid Man from Spongebob. He wouldn't budge.

I figured I had a week (this being about a week ago) to get him to finally make his decision and get his costume together. He tells me Sunday night he wants to be a spider. "I promise mama, a spider. That's all I wannna be. A spider"! Monday morning rolled around and I had completely forgotten that he had to dress up for school - the very next day!!! I went to the fabric store Monday afternoon and stayed up 'til almost 1am making his costume. Nothing fancy, by any means. But I was super thrilled that it was something he let me make. :)

And just in case he was going to change his mind - again. I made him a freezer paper spider t-shirt (two hours before he went to school)! This way, if he hated his spider leg jacket he'd still have a little spider shirt to tie everything together.

I still have a few things that I'd like to add but this is it for now.

CalJ, as a spider.

I hate spiders - well - except for this one! ;)

Candy corn jello

2010-10-27T22:00:00.000-06:00

I like jello. But it also kinda creeps me out. Do you really know what gelatin is? Gag. So if I do eat/make jello, I have to block it out otherwise I get grossed out. Putting my love/fear of gelatin aside I had to make this. It was just too dang cute not too!

Granted, it doesn't actually taste like candy corn but it does kinda look like it. And that was good enough for me.

So here you go, a cute recipe for candy corn jello that I picked up at Kitchen Daily. I tweaked it a little bit. Partly because I wasn't going to use a "mold" to make it, but mainly because I'm lazy!

So here is my version of their candy corn Jello.

Ingredients:

1 packet unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 box Orange Jello

1 box Lemon Jello

water

Preparation:

In a medium bowl or larger Pyrex measuring cup, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water and let gelatin absorb water for about 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water for another two minutes until gelatin is dissolved.

Add 1/2 cup condensed milk and stir until smooth and milk has totally dissolved.

Divide between 9 cups. I used these triangular shaped ones from Chinet. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Follow the quick-step instructions for the orange Jello. Once the "white" layer is set, divide the orange Jello between cups. Refrigerate until set. Do the same with the yellow Jello. Divide between cups and let set in fridge for a couple hours.

There you have it. Just in time for Halloween.

Go on. Try it. They did!

Thanks for stopping by!

ghosts and jack-o-lanterns

2010-10-18T20:33:00.000-06:00

Start off with washed and dried pears and apples. Any type you choose.

Melt a bag of white chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

Dip pear and coat using a spoon or spatula if needed until completely covered.

Place on wax paper and put in fridge to harden.

Take remaining melted white chocolate and mix in a couple drops of yellow and a couple drops of red food coloring.

Yellow + Red = Orange. ;)

Take apple and dip into orange chocolate.

**I should have re-melted my chocolate a little bit before dipping my apple because the chocolate had started to solidify and didn't give me that smooth look. My bad. Luckily, these are for CalJ - and I assure you, he won't/didn't mind one bit. Ha!

Place about a half cup of milk or semi-sweet chocolate in bowl and melt.

Place in bag and snip off a tiny bit off of one corner of the bag.

Slowly and gently squeeze out chocolate to make your ghost and jack-o-lantern faces.

OOOOoooooOOoooooo. I made these while CalJ was in school and he was quite pleased with his little treat when he got home.

I can't remember when, but I originally got this idea from a Martha Stewart Living mag a few years back. Oh how I love her.

Bleached initial tee

2010-10-14T20:40:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to try this idea out for a while now, I just hadn't had the chance. One of my friends' son had a birthday party this past weekend. I thought it would be cool to make it for him. (And one for CalJ too).

Ch-ch-check it out...

Make a freezer paper stencil with the initial of your choice and iron onto shirt.

Spray bleach onto shirt around initial using the "fine mist" setting on your water bottle. Then use the (for the lack of a better word, I'll call it the) "squirting" setting to spray finer lines in random places all over the shirt.

Rinse immediately. After rinsing, wash and dry as normal.

Done. I want to whip up some more using different colored t-shirts and see what color combos I can get. Cool.

Halloween candles

2010-10-08T22:34:00.000-06:00

I saw these candles in the latest Pottery Barn Kids Catalogue. I love Pottery Barn, but not always the price tag. These were sold out anyways, so I thought I might be able to re-create something like it myself.

Here's what I did.

Supplies:

Candles (i used white, unscented)

Sharpie

That's it! Nice!

I took my sharpie and drew a design onto the side of the candle.

Easy! I'm no artist so I stuck to a VERY simple eyes and mouth shape - a la - ghost!

I could have used a stencil which would have made them look a lot crisper, but I was lazy and just hand drew my picture. Not too bad I think.

The ones from PB were battery operated so they already had that cool "glow" to them. I had to light my candle and let it burn down quite a bit before it got that look. Worth the wait though, worth the wait.

This was possibly the EASIEST project ever. It didn't even take 5 minutes. Then just light it and let it burn. Enjoy!

Halloween table runner

2010-10-04T21:25:00.000-06:00

It's October. You know what that means. Orange, black, spiders, and pumpkins. I love Halloween. This month I hope to be sharing lots of cute Halloween-ish decorating, cooking, and baking ideas.

I've never, ever had any desire whatsover to make a quilt. None. That is, until I saw this post from Char at Crap I've Made. I thought I'd change it up and try it out using some Halloween fabrics. Okay - I know it's not an actual full-blown quilt, but it's about as "quilty" as I can see myself being. Plus, I like the way it came out. :)

Green Chile Stew

2010-09-27T20:41:00.000-06:00

September to most people means apple picking, leaves changing, cooler weather, and pumpkins. To New Mexicans it means all that, plus GREEN CHILE! To describe the smell of Green Chile roasting is just something that cannot be done. It's simply wonderful.

My friend Kim (New Mexican in heart, Californian in body) wanted to know how I made green chile stew. (And since she's one of maybe five people that actually read my blog, her wish was my command. lol). There are hundreds of recipes out there for green chile stew. This is my version.

Ingredients:

1lb. pork butt or beef sirloin (you could even use chicken or ground beef too)

1 onion, diced (i use red)

1 clove garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth

4 average size russet potatoes

6 green chiles, roasted, peeled, and chopped (or more or less if desired)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 can tomatoes and green chile combo

salt to taste

Start by cutting your desired meat. I like to cut small pieces like so.

Take the meat and place in a bag with a Tablespoon or so of flour. Shake bag around until all the meat is coated.

Heat olive oil in a pot and add meat. Cook until browned, and remove from pot.

Chop onion and garlic and add to pot.

Cook onion for a few minutes until translucent and just starting to brown.

Wash, peel, and cut potatoes.

Add potatoes to the pot with onion and garlic. Add meat (including any juices).

Add all of the broth, cumin, and salt. I added a good amount of salt because of all the potatoes. But season to your taste and liking.

Add green chile and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low for 1 hour, or until potatoes are tender.

Add canned tomatoes to mixture during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Grab a tortilla and stuff your face. So good. So very, very good.

Now, I've had green chile stew with tomatoes and without. With cumin and without. They're all good in their own way. This is how I make mine. It's a good overall base on how to make it. But play around with what works for you. As long as you have some kind of meat, potatoes, broth, and GREEN CHILE. You're gonna have a delicious meal that's perfect for fall and all winter long.

Chiffon flower

2010-09-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

Here is an easy little tutorial on how I made a little chiffon flower hair clip.

Start off with chiffon fabric. I used an 1/8 of a yard. I layered 4 sheets together.

Then I cut the large strip into 3 stacks of squares. Each square "stack" measured 5 x 5".

Next, just fold each "stack" in half.

I free-handed this petal template (on notebook paper, no less), and cut it out.

Trace onto folded "stack" of material.

Pin in place and cut out flower shape. (The material really shifts and moves while you're cutting, even when pinned. But don't worry, it just adds to the texture and fullness of the flower). Unfold.

Fold in half, and then in half again so you have somewhat of a triangle shape. Overlap the "tip" of each chiffon sheet like shown. Overlap as much or as little as you want, continuing around and around on top of each other until it is as full as you would like it. I used a total of 12 sheets for my flower. 3 "stacks" + 4 "sheets" per stack = 12 individual layers.

Hand-stitch together to secure and glue onto a barrette and you're done!

And because I'm cheap and relish in any bargain that I come across. I must let you know that the material was .62 cents. CENTS!!!! The lady at Hobby Lobby didn't shy away either by letting me know exactly how cheap I was. THANKS LADY! HA!

Mini caramel apples

2010-09-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

It's almost fall time. I can't wait! Pumpkins, Halloween, chilly weather, and apples! Here's a fun and easy treat to utilize some of those delicious apples you might be going out and picking. Actually, it's a delicious treat you can do any time of year - but I find it appropriate for fall time especially.

Here's all you need.

Apples (I used granny smith)

Caramel

lolli-pop sticks

melon baller

bowl (to melt caramel)

sprinkles (optional)

not pictured

1 T. water

granulated sugar

sheet pan

wax paper

lemon juice

Use your melon baller to cut balls out of your (clean) apple. I tossed the apple balls with a little bit of lemon juice to prevent browning. You should be able to get between 7-9 balls per apple.

Take your apple balls and stick onto your lollipop stick through the "skinned" end of your ball.

Dip apple ball into your melted caramel. (Place caramels in a microwave safe bowl with 1T. of water and microwave in 1 minute intervals until smooth and melted).

Place on a wax paper lined baking sheet that has been sprinkled with a little bit of sugar.

Or swap out the sugar for some candy bits or sprinkles.

Enjoy within one day - but i'm sure they won't last that long.

Note - Not intended for children under the age of two. Reason number 1) because raw apples and gooey caramel can be choking hazards....

...reason number 2) because this is what happens when you take it away!

design your own stuffed animal

2010-09-13T21:28:00.000-06:00

I am extremely proud to be a first time aunt to the sweetest little boy Connor, who is 2 1/2 months old. I hate to admit it, but I haven't actually MADE anything for him yet. I know, I know, crazy! I've had a couple things in mind just nothing that has come to fruition......yet. Here's a little sumthin', sumthin' that this sweet angel can wrap his pudgy little fingers around...

I had Caleb draw a picture for Connor on some blank paper.

Caleb: "this is an alien mama, Connor loooooovvvves aliens!"

One alien stuffed animal - coming up!

After he was done drawing his "alien" I cut out the picture.
Place the fabric of your choice (right sides together), and trace the drawing.

Cut out fabric.

I used a zig-zag stitch to add the extra details that were in CalJ's drawing.

Sew the two pieces together using a 1/4"- 1/2" seam allowance, (leaving a 3" opening on one side).

Turn inside out and stuff your animal - [ahem] "alien", and sew closed. Add any embellishments that you like. Here we added felt strips for arms and used a freezer paper stencil for the eyes and nose.

Not the cutest creature, I admit. But a pretty special keepsake none the less because it was designed completely by his cousin.