:) Crafty Mama

Coming out!

2012-02-18T08:51:00.001-05:00

Any of you who check my blog here and there have probably realized that I stopped posting. That's because I started up a new blog! I finally got it up and running and started posting. Come check it out here!

Osker and Owlivia

Also, come like my page on Facebook. I started up a page on there and it's looking a little bare. But that's where I'll update any time I make a new post on my blog so you can come check it out.

Little Guy Tie

2011-08-20T08:48:00.001-04:00

I went searching for a kids tie pattern online last week and this is the one I found over at Very Homemade. Her instructions were great, with fabulous step by step pictures! All together a great tutorial!

I love the way it turned out, Charlie is such a stud muffin in his little guy tie! I can’t wait to make some more for him!

To get the stripes, I just cut out 3 long pieces of the turquoise fabric, ironed the sides under, and sewed them on diagonally before sewing the tie together.

I found it very helpful to iron each of the pieces between steps.

Here’s some more pictures of my little stud!

Hey look, mom, it's a chew toy!

This is my Clark Kent look.

Cold Brewed Coffee

2011-08-19T15:36:00.001-04:00

As promised, here's my post about cold brewed coffee! I am so in love with it! I love the convenience of going to my fridge and pouring a glass of iced coffee, compared to brewing it and chilling it. Head over to my other blog to get the recipe!

https://thenotsoskinnybaker.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/cold-brewed-coffee/

Little wooden jewelry box - DONE!

2011-08-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

I finally finished the little wooden jewelry box! I actually got the painting done a couple weeks ago, but when I taped off the drawers, paint leaked under the tape, and there was a lot of touch up work to be done. So I finally got it done, and I got pictures taken.

First I had to peel out the ugly velvet from the inside of the drawers. It was glued in with some crazy industrial glue, and was horrible to get out. I ended up chiseling away at it with a knife, and then soaking the drawers in water, and scraping the rest off. Once the drawers were dry, I painted the insides a pretty turquoise color.

I roughed up the outside with some sand paper, then wiped it down with a damp cloth. I taped off the drawers so that only the face would get painted. I stuffed the inside with balled up paper so it didn't get sprayed.

The handles came off pretty easily. To paint the handles, I stuck them through a piece of card stock, then gave them 3 coats of spray paint. They had tabs that go through the drawer, so it was easy to remove them and mount them to paint.

I didn't have any scrapbook paper I liked for this project. So I got on Google, found a design I liked, altered it, changed colors, ect, and printed it. Then I cut out pieces to fit the top of the dresser and inside the drawers, and Mod Podged them in place! I love the look of it. I can't believe that I never thought about printing designs to Mod Podge. Duh!

I love the way the jewelry box turned out. Emma seems to be fascinated by it.

Owl Mobile

2011-08-03T11:06:00.001-04:00

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I finally finished my owl mobile for Charlie's room! I got the paint chips to do it over a month ago. I just needed to kick my butt into gear.

I made myself a template, but instead of wasting my time tracing owls onto each paint card, here's what I did. I can fit 4 owls onto each card. So I cut each card in half, and then folded each 1/2 in half. Then I placed my template on the folded half, and cut around it. I cut my time in half by cutting out 2 at a time. I don't suggest doing more than that though, I tried cutting through 4 layers at a time, and the edges turned out really wacky.

Once I had all my owls cut out, I used a hole punch for the eyes. I lined them up how I wanted them, cut out my strings, and then started gluing! I glued 2 owls back to back, with string in the middle.

I absolutely love the colors I chose. The color palate was inspired by this gorgeous blanket my Sister In Law made for Charlie! I've started incorporating these colors into the theme of his room, I love them!

DIY Lightscoop Tutorial

2011-08-02T00:09:00.002-04:00

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In a quest to better my photography skills, I came across a knifty little item on Elizabeth Halford's blog. It’s called a Light Scoop. After reading her posts about it, and seeing the before and after pictures, I knew I had to have one. I experimented with holding something reflective in front of my flash (a piece of cardboard covered in foil) but I couldn’t get it to stay in one spot while focusing on what I was photographing. So I google searched how to make a Light Scoop, and what do ya know, I found a tutorial! This is a great step by step tutorial on how to make a light scoop. To try it out, I just used cardstock (2 layers thick), some tape, and my handy dandy foil covered cardboard. I’m really hoping to make a more sturdy one at some point (you know, with a real mirror), but for now, this works. I can’t believe the difference it makes! Here’s some comparison pictures. My kitchen has HORRIBLE lighting, so I used it as an example. (P.s. I’ll get a tutorial up on how to cold brew coffee soon, it’s brewing right now!).

In my poorly lit kitchen, ISO jacked way up, no flash.

With flash.

With the lightscoop.

Can you believe the difference? It looks as though I just knocked down a wall and let some light into my kitchen! I can’t believe how natural it looks. I think every photographer needs one of these.

With the little bit that I’ve experimented with photography, my number one problem is lighting. My house just doesn’t have enough windows (or else it’s those gosh darned trees that surround all my windows!) and I always have horrible shadows and poor lighting. I can’t wait to see how much of a difference this will make with all the photos I take in the future. Here’s the tutorial I used, with a template for a Canon camera.

Here's some more comparison pictures!

My crazy messy crafting desk, taken at nighttime in low light.

Also taken in low light at nighttime.

Little wooden jewelry box

2011-07-26T13:57:00.000-04:00

I found this gorgeous little wooden jewelry box at Goodwill this past week. Isn't it cute! I'm thinking it would be a perfect addition to Emma's room. Once naptime hits, I think I'm going to break out the spray paint and see what I can do.

Never trust a Skinny Baker

2011-07-24T08:36:00.000-04:00

For those of you who missed it, I started up a new blog specifically for my cooking and baking! You can find it here, Never Trust a Skinny Baker. Since there's no real way to "follow" that blog, be sure to like my facebook page! I post links to all of my recipes as soon as I post it to the blog!

More sparkle toes!

2011-07-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

I was looking through some old pictures of Emma, and I found lots of pictures of our pretty painted toes! I just though I'd share on here what cute possibilities there are for Sparkle Toes.

Such cute pudgy baby toes!

There's no place like home, there's no place like home..

Sparkle Toes!

2011-07-13T21:08:00.000-04:00

I can't remember where I found this tip, but I love doing my toes like this! It's incredibly easy.

Choose your nail polish color and glitter color. They should be close to the same color (I've never tried contrasting colors, but who knows how it could turn out?)

Paint a base coat on your nail and wait for it to dry.

Set up a work station. You'll need either a paper plate or a sheet of paper.

Place your foot on your work station.

One at a time, paint your nail, and sprinkle LOTS of glitter on it. Make sure to get every corner!

Pat down the glitter with your finger so it lays flat and sticks to the nail.

When all your nails are done, brush off excess glitter from your skin.

Pour excess glitter back into the container.

It's a little bit messier than a normal manicure/pedicure, but I love the results! So sparkly for summer!

New blog

2011-07-13T20:55:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the absence! I've been working on setting up a new blog, specifically for my cooking and baking! I finally have it up and running, and already have a few posts up. Come check it out at Never Trust a Skinny Baker. Also, come "like" my Facebook page! I'd really appreciate it if my Crafty Mama fans followed me over here!

Watermelon Daiquiri

2011-07-07T22:09:00.000-04:00

What You'll Need:

3-4 cups of watermelon cubes (frozen)

1 cup sliced strawberries (fresh)

1 cup fruit juice

1-2 shots of alcohol

Cube 3-4 cups of watermelon, place it in a ziplock bag, and lay it flat in the freezer. Freeze for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

In a blender, mix together watermelon cubes, fresh diced strawberries,fruit juice (I used juice from the watermelon), and 1-2 shots of liquor (I used vodka, since it was what we had in the house, but I think rum is what's normally used in a daiquiri.) Blend until smooth. Garnish with a small watermelon slice. Makes 2 daiquiris.

Corn dog muffins

2011-07-06T11:21:00.000-04:00

I came across this idea for corn dog muffins on Pinterest. (I am REALLY loving that site!) It's easy, and MUCH healthier than the fried alternative. I used mini-muffin tins for it instead, I like the crispiness of the mini ones better than the large muffins (I made some of both).

Here's what you need.

Hot dogs

Muffin mix (boxed will work just fine, I like the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.)

If you're using regular sized muffin tins: Put liners in your cupcake tin. Cut each hot dog in half. Put in a little bit of corn bread batter, put the hot dog in, and cover it with more corn bread batter.

If you're using mini muffin tins: Spray your tin really well. Cut your hot dogs into coins (I cut each one into 10 pieces). Fill each spot with some cornbread batter, place the hot dog in it, and spread a little more batter on top.

Bake according to the instructions on the corn bread recipe. Enjoy!

It turns out that Emma likes the hot dog, and not the corn bread, so she picked all of hers apart!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope your holiday weekend was good. We had lots of fun over here! We had the family over for a cook out, and I made a delicious flag cake! I decided to do this one a little simpler. It was my first time making an Italian Meringue Buttercream (outside of class, that is), and it turned out really well! It was such a rich icing though, and maybe not the best choice for such a hot day. The way I decorated it was completely un-original, but still gorgeous!

We made bubbles from this recipe.

Emma watched some fireworks with her big cousin.

Charlie enjoyed being a lady's man.

Watermelon Spritzer

2011-06-28T15:38:00.000-04:00

I made a tasty new discovery earlier this week. Muscato wine goes amazingly well with watermelon. I fixed me this refreshing little spritzer, perfect for a hot summer day!

What you need:

Muscato (I used Jacob's Creek Muscato, a sparkling wine)

Juice from a watermelon

Mix 1 part watermelon juice, and 1 part sparkling white wine. Drink chilled. It makes a refreshing pick me up on a hot day!

New York Time's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-23T20:42:00.001-04:00

This recipe has been going around blog land, and I've seen it a lot especially pinned on Pinterest. You know I had to make it! The first batch I made, I used crisco in place of the butter, and I used dairy-free chocolate chips (Ghirardelli semi-sweet). They were good, but not spectacular. I wanted to know what the real recipe tasted like. I wanted to have just a bite of one of those cookies. So I made a whole batch. Yup, I made an entire batch, just so I could try a bite. I sent most of them to work with my hubby, and pawned the rest off on my family.

Let me say, THESE were spectacular. The butter and sugar meld together to make an almost (chocolate covered) toffee-like bliss. They were amazing, still warm from the oven. Ya know what my husband said when I asked him what he thought? "They taste like a chocolate chip cookie". About 5 minutes later, I caught him with his eyes rolling back in his head saying "these are sooooo good" about the Nacho Cheese Doritos he was shoveling in his mouth. Needless to say, he's lucky he woke up with both his testicles in tact. ;)

Anyway, the cookies were amazing. They were especially good straight out of the oven. The people at my husbands work apparently loved them, they've now started a list of things for me to make! (I've already sent in my practice Flag Cake, and some Turtle Cheesecake).

Now it's your turn to go make these cookies! You can find the recipe here. It's a pretty large batch, I suggest cutting it in half (unless you have lots of people to eat them!) I made the entire batch, baked half last night, and refrigerated the other half to bake up this morning. I wrapped it in wax paper in a log, like this. When I was ready to bake them, I just unwrapped and sliced them up with a chef's knife.

Personally, I liked them better when they were baked fresh from the original batter, the refrigerated ones seemed to bake up funky. But that's just me, they were both delicious!

Pizza braid

2011-06-22T20:10:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had this delicious pizza braid for dinner. It was sooo good. It's like pizza and bread sticks all in one.

Prepare you pizza dough. I used this recipe.

Roll it out into a rectangular shape.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the edges into strips.

Put your pizza toppings down the middle.

Braid it by taking a piece from the right and laying it across the middle and then from the left. Repeat this until all of the side strips are folded into the middle.

Put it a warm place to rise, and rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Brush with garlic butter, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. I liked to pick off the top pieces and eat them like little mini delicious bread sticks. The bottom part I ate like a thin crust pizza. YUM!

I can't wait to see what other foods I can make into a braided treat!

Baked onion rings

2011-06-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

I saw this recipe online a couple weeks ago, and after trying it, I decided to make a few changes. Overall it was pretty easy to make, much easier than I expected! Here's the recipe:

1 large onion (I used a Vidalia)

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

4 cups corn flakes (crushed)

Salt and pepper

2-4 tbsp oil

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Slice your onion horizontally and separate the rings. Throw them into a gallon size ziplock with 1/4 cup of milk and shake it up. Pour out the excess milk.

Dump 1/4 cup of flour into the bag, seal it and shake it to coat the rings. Add more if needed.

Beat 2 eggs in a bowl, and set aside.

Using either a food processor or your hands, crush your corn flakes and put them in a bowl. Season them with salt and pepper to taste.

Dunk each ring into the eggs, and then coat it with the crushed corn flakes. Set on a clean plate.

Once all of your onion rings are ready, put 2-4 tbsp of oil onto a baking sheets (one with sides). Place it into your 450 degree oven for 2 minutes.

Place onion rings on the baking sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes, depending on what level of crispiness you want. Turn them once half way through.

These onions rings were just as good as any other recipe I've had! There weren't deep fried, so they were a little lighter and less greasy, but I don't think any of the flavor was sacrificed at all!

Frozen pumpkin mousse pie

2011-06-19T08:03:00.000-04:00

I know this is out of season, but it's my hubby's favorite, and this weekend is Father's Day! So he's getting something tasty.

I was planning on doing my Pumpkin Mousse, but decided to put a summery spin on it, and make it into a frozen pie!

What you'll Need:

1 3/4 cups Gingersnap crumbs

3 tbsp Butter (melted)

15 oz. Can of Plain Pumpkin (if you use pumpkin pie mix, just leave out the sugar and spices from this recipe)

8 oz. Cream Cheese

1/4 cup Sugar OR 4 No Calorie Sweetener Packets

1 pkg Instant Vanilla Pudding mix

1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

8 oz. Tub Cool Whip

Throw your gingersnap crumbs and melted butter in your food processor and pulse until combined.

Press the crumbs into a 10 inch. pie pan and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Add your pumpkin, cream cheese, sugar, pudding mix, and spices into your cleaned food processor.

Mix for about 30 seconds, scrape down the sides, and mix again for another 30 seconds.

Fold in the cool whip, and add the mixture to your cooled pie crust.

Freeze for at least 4 hours, or over night. Garnish however you want, and enjoy!

Cheap, easy and HEALTHY dairy-free ice cream

2011-06-16T19:47:00.001-04:00

I keep seeing this all over Pinterest. Since I'm dairy-free, I finally got around to trying it. Bananas as ice cream? It actually wasn't that bad. The texture was amazing (for an alternative ice cream). Basically it's just cocoa powder and frozen banana blended in a blender. The cocoa powder masks the banana flavor some, but it's still kind of funky.

A better idea:

Throw some whipped cream, a maraschino cherry, and some sprinkles on top, and you'd have an awesome banana split ice cream!

Some tips: peel and slice the banana before freezing.

Add some almond or soy milk for easier blending.

Add 2 tbsp cocoa powder, your frozen banana, and a splash of milk to your blender. Blended until smooth and enjoy!

I love that it's cheap, easy, and HEALTHY! And I don't feel bad letting Emma eat all she wants.

Flag cake

2011-06-16T11:28:00.002-04:00

I got the idea for this flag cake a few weeks ago. My inspiration came from here and here. I figured I would take the individually baked layer effect from Whisk Kid and the Vertical layers from I Am Baker, and combine it to make a flag! And of course, this morning I found out that I Am Baker already did it! I had no idea before I got the idea for this cake, I kind of thought it was unique! I just saw it online this morning. It was featured at I heart Naptime. Lol, figures. But I decided to make it anyway!

I used the white cake recipe from Epicurious, and made a 1 1/2 times the recipe. Here's the adjusted recipe:

3 cups of AP flour

3 tsp. Baking Powder

3/8 tsp. Salt

18 Tbsp. butter (2 1/4 sticks)

2 1/4 cups Sugar

3 tsp. Vanilla

9 egg whites

1 1/8 cups Milk

Make your cake according to the instructions (if you're using box mix, I would make 2 full boxes).

Take about 2 cups of cake mix and put it in a separate bowl. Dye it blue. This takes quite a bit of food coloring.

Dye the rest of the batter red. This takes a TON of food coloring. I used an entire tube of red gel color for this, and it still wasn't as red as I wanted it.

Mix white sprinkles into the blue batter. I used some of these.

Since I didn't have that many of the snow flakes, I mixed in some of these little white sprinkles, too. (Note: the sprinkles didn't seem to show like I wanted them to, but it's still worth a try, if you can find some you think might show through!)

Trace your cake pan onto parchment or wax paper 8 times, and cut out the circles.

Take one of the circles and lay it in the bottom of your pan. Butter or spray your pan with pan spray. Put all of your blue batter into one cake pan.

Bake your blue batter for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

To flip the cake out of the pan:

While the cake is still hot, spray a piece of wax or parchment paper and stick it on top of the cake.

Flop the cake upside down and place it on a flat surface to cool. Don't forget to peel off the parchment paper that was on the bottom!

Now take your red batter and divide it between 7 bowls that are all the same size. By doing this, you're ensuring that each red layer will be the same thickness.

Spoon the batter into your cake pans. I only had 2 round cake pans (8 inch), so I had to bake in 4 cycles.

Once your layers are cool, start frosting. For the frosting, I used this recipe. I used a double batch.
Put one of your red layers down first, and spread a thick layer of frosting on it. Do this with 5-6 of your red layers.

Make a stencil with a scrap piece of paper. You want to make a blue ring of cake to go on the outside of the cake for the blue part of the flag. You want a decent sized rectangle of blue to be showing. Cut out your circle and place it on the blue cake to measure. If it's a good size, trace around the paper with a knife. Do the same with the remaining red layers.

Making sure that your cake has a thick layer of frosting on top, lay one of your smaller red layers on top, and top it with more frosting. Do this with the remaining red layers.

Cut the blue ring in half so you can easily move it. Place it so that it fits snugly around the red layers.

Do a crumb coat on the entire cake, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Frost it however you want! I decided to leave mine pretty plain since the inside was so crazy. I didn't want too much going on with it.

If any of you try this cake, I'd LOVE to see it!

My little helper was all tuckered out!

Aaaw, shucks.

2011-06-15T08:43:00.000-04:00

I had this great idea for a 4th of July cake. I was SO excited to make it! I thought it was a 100% original idea. And then my mom sent me a link to a super cute cake, which was very similar to what I was going to make! And I was just planning on making mine today! But on the bright side, mine is going to be a little different. I hope to get some pics up tonight on the Facebook page once I'm done baking and frosting!

Minky Diaper Cover tutorial

2011-06-13T13:13:00.001-04:00

More diapers! I've finally got this diaper sewing thing down well enough to give them out as gifts. I made this one for a friend who is due in July! I also made a few others for her.

I chose to do a Minky outside and PUL inside.

Step 1: Cut out your pattern.

Step 2: Apply your snaps and velcro. I highly suggest using hook and loop for these diapers, other velcro doesn't hold up in the wash. And better yet, snaps never wear out! I used hook and loop to fasten the diaper, and snaps for the adjustable rise.

Step 3: Pin your layers together. You'll want to pin it so that the layers don't slide while you're sewing. Make it so that the shiny side of the PUL and the fuzzy side of the Minky are facing in.

Step 4: Sew the layers together. Leave the front of the diaper open so you can get it turned right side out.

Step 5: Add the elastic in the legs and in the back. Measure your elastic by stretching it from the front to the back of the leg opening. Make sure both pieces of elastic are the same size! Do the same for the back.

To sew the elastic in, fix it to both the front and the back of the leg opening. I like to sew back and forth a few times to make sure it's good. Be careful not to sew too close to the end of the elastic. It can unravel a bit in the washer and come undone.

Once you've got both legs and the back elastic done, turn the diaper right side out.

Step 6: Do a top stitch, closing the front opening, and encasing the elastic as you go.

Step 7: Pin on your velcro tabs, and sew them in place.

You're done! This was one of the easier diaper covers I've done. And I like the look a lot more than the FOE. I hope you found it helpful!
This diaper cover can be used with prefolds and pins, inserts (or a prefold folded in thirds), flats, or a fitted diaper. I love that it grows with the baby!

Small

Medium.

Large

Giveaway at Two Little Monkies!

2011-06-10T23:51:00.000-04:00

Go check out the Giveaway at Two Little Monkies! And while you're at it, explore her adorable products! She makes infant and toddler neck pillows (great for travel!), diaper pods, crayon rolls, bibs, and LOTS more! Such adorable, high quality items! So go enter to win the cute ladybug clips and bow holder she's giving away!

Little Monkey Designs

Aaaahhh, the chaos!

2011-06-10T09:23:00.000-04:00

Today I'm working on making 95% of the food for my niece's open house tomorrow. I've got a sleeping baby strapped to my chest, wish me luck! I hope to have some new recipes to share on here.

Making Ruffled elastic lace

2011-06-05T21:51:00.002-04:00

A little while ago I saw a tutorial on making a petti-romper. I priced out the elastic lace in the store, but it was quite a bit more expensive than I expected. But that's okay, because I was reunited with my old friend, elastic thread.

Have you met elastic thread? We were introduced about a year ago by a mutual friend. It was fireworks from the start.

Unfortunately, I eventually ran out of elastic thread, and couldn't find it in any stores. I checked Walmart, they were out of stock. Every. Week. There was a place on the shelf for it, they just didn't stock it. I checked Hobby Lobby. The ladies there didn't even know what I was talking about! After months of off and on searching, we were re-united in one of the larger Joann's over an hour away. I bought 2 packages, just to be safe.

There's so many fun things you can do with elastic thread. I probably don't even know half of them. But I do know that you can shirr (I've got a shirred dress on my list of tutorials to do!), ruffle fabric, ribbon, lace, ect., and make ruffled sleeves. And it's all just as easy as SEWING A STRAIGHT LINE. Yup. Alright, here we go.

To make elastic lace:

Thread your bobbin with the elastic thread. You can do this on your machine, the same way as any other bobbin.

On a spare piece of fabric, lace, or ribbon, experiment with different tensions to see which one will work the best. I turned my tension all the way up for the lace. It seemed to work best with my machine.

Position your lace so that your needle is lined up with the straight side of the lace.

Sew a straight line. No need to back stitch.

Easy, right?

You can also do this to ruffle ribbon or fabric.

Isn't that so much easier than the normal way to make a ruffle? And I love how stretchy it is. With a normal ruffle (done by pulling one of the threads and gather the fabric), there's a huge risk of the thread snapping if you put too much pressure on it. This is nice and flexible. I can't wait to find out how else I can use elastic thread. What have you made with it?

P.s. I love the view from my sewing machine! ;)

Keep your brown sugar velvety soft!

2011-06-05T21:23:00.000-04:00

I recently learned a good trick about keeping brown sugar soft. Most people have probably learned the bread trick, but bread gets moldy and you have to replace it. Ya know what really works well? Marshmallows. I saw this tip somewhere on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and I tried it. My brown sugar has stayed so soft and clump-free ever since. So go throw a few in your sugar canister!

Earring holder

2011-06-01T23:09:00.001-04:00

I originally found this idea over at Trey and Lucy a while ago. It's so cute! I made an earring holder for both me and my daughter, I love the way hers turned out!

What you need:

An old picture frame

Lace

Rhinestones, ribbon, bows, ect.

Hot glue gun

Take the glass out of your picture frame.

Cut your lace to be slightly larger than the frame.

Hot glue the lace to the back, stretching it tight.

Decorate as you see fit!

For the back, I took a piece of cardboard and folded it into an "L" shape. I hot glued the top of the "L" to the back of my frame to make a support leg.

Isn't it adorable! Perfect for my little girl's pink and turquoise room!

Ruffle Top Rainbow Cake

2011-05-28T22:03:00.001-04:00

I’m sure plenty of you have seen the rainbow cake before. I mean, the Super EPIC Rainbow Cake from Whisk Kid. I decided to make it for Emma’s second birthday this year. Of course, right now I’m not allowed to have dairy (because of Charlie’s milk allergy), so I didn’t get the chance to use her recipe, but I loved the concept of the cake. I wasn’t sure how it would work replacing the butter in the cake with Crisco (and this wasn’t the time to experiment), so I used boxed cake mix (Meijer brand white cake mix was the only kind I could find that didn't contain dairy). It made a smaller total amount of batter, so my layers were a bit thinner and the cake didn’t stand as high. For the frosting I used a Crisco/powdered sugar recipe. Now, this cake calls for a LOT of frosting, so I was REALLY sad that I had to use some crappy alternative rather than the delicious Swiss Meringue Buttercream. But I’ve made a promise to myself, I WILL make this cake again, and it WILL have the proper ingredients. Sometime.

Now, I don’t suggest using a Crisco based frosting. Ever. For anything. It’s just plain gross. It doesn’t frost well. Crisco doesn’t melt in your mouth. It doesn’t even melt in super hot dish water (is that good for my drain?) I ended up scraping a lot of the frosting off in an attempt to not make myself sick, lol. So to the people who consumed this cake, I’m sorry for your future artery troubles. At least I learned from this project, never use a Crisco based frosting. It doesn’t frost well, and it tastes like poo. Next time I will use butter, even if I have to cut a slice of cake, stick it in the freezer, and wait to eat it until Charlie is weaned.

Oh, and did I mention that the SUPER awesome Whisk kid (Kaitlin) is only TWENTY years old? And she’s already been on the Martha Stewart Show! I’m not a huge fan of Martha, but she IS legendary. Also, Kaitlin happens to go to college at MSU, which is only an hour from where I live. It’s such a small world! Kaitlin, if you’re reading this, your blog ROCKS!

So on to the cake!

Since I didn’t use the same recipe as Whisk kid, I suggest heading over there to get her recipe. It looks like a kick-ass recipe (and that frosting is to DIE for, I promise). But I’ll post the general instructions here (and tips that I learned from my experience).

Start by making your batter. If you have a scale, you can figure up the weight of the batter and divide by 6 to figure out how much batter to put in each bowl.

If you don’t have a scale, just eyeball it (mine turned out pretty okay that way). Divide the batter between the 6 bowls. Color each bowl of batter: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Whatever color the batter is, that’s the color it will turn out once it’s baked.

Dirty dishes have never looked so pretty!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

I HIGHLY suggest layering parchment or wax paper on the bottom of your cake pan. To do this, trace the bottom of the cake pan 6 times onto parchment paper, and cut out all 6 circles. Lay the paper into the bottom of your pan and then grease the pan or spray it with pan spray (I used spray, turned out great). Now, if you have 6 cake pans, that’s great. But most people don’t. So you need to bake them in batches. I only own 2 8 inch cake pans, so I baked 3 batches.

My assistant, Charlie; he loves helping mama bake!

Pour your batter into the pans and bake it for 15 minutes. When the cake it done, flip it out of the pan. In order to get the cake to not fall apart, I suggest taking a layer of wax paper and laying it on the cake (while it’s still in the pan). Place your hand on the paper, and flip the cake upside down. It should come out easily, and the paper will help it to not fall apart. Having the paper will also keep the layers from sticking to each other when you stack them (that is, if you're storing them for a while like I did, I waited until the next day to frost them). I did this step while the cakes were still hot, and they stayed in one piece. Lay them out on a sheet pan and let them cool (I threw mine in the fridge so they were chilled through before I stacked them).

Wash your pans, and repeat.

Once you have your cake layers baked, it’s time to start stacking! Start with purple on the bottom. Don’t forget to peel the circle of wax paper off each later; no one wants to cut into that! (and surprisingly, it happened often enough at school in my bakeshop class). In order to keep each layer of cake intact, don’t try to peel the cake from the wax paper, peel the paper from the cake. Don’t ask me WHY I was trying to peel my cake from the paper, but after a few seconds of trying, I realized I just needed to flip it onto the cake stack and then peel the paper off. It worked much better this way (I blame the sleep deprivation). Smother each layer with a good amount of frosting before stacking the next layer. If you want it to look really clean and perfect, use a lot of frosting. My frosting was about as thick as my cake layers (although my layers were a little thinner than the recipe called for, remember that).

Once you have your cake stacked, do a crumb coat. A crumb coat is basically just a thin layer of frosting on the cake to seal in the crumbs. If you’ve ever tried frosting a cake without a crumb coat, you probably know why it’s recommended. Put the cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set. You want the crumb coat to hold in place when you do the final frosting.

Now, how you frost this cake is up to you. Whisk kid left hers plain white, which makes it look plain, but that’s TOTALLY cool, since the inside is so awesome; it just adds to the effect. Since this is for my daughter’s birthday, I wanted something fun and colorful. I thought about just caking (hehe, cake) on sprinkles to the sides and the top, but I was thinking it might be a little too crunchy, not to mention I REALLY wanted to do something new. I didn’t want to just throw sprinkles at it and call it good. That’s not why I went to school to learn how to make cakes! So I went with plan B. I got my inspiration from this cake here. (p.s. I also really want to make a cake like this, I was thinking maybe purple ruffles though? I LOVE the fade effect. Anyone need a tiered caked?) The ruffle is actually very easy to do. I used a size 103 rose tip to make mine. I flubbed a little at the beginning, if you look closely you can tell that I used the fat end as the edge for the red layers, but the thin end for the rest. It looks much more crisp with the thin end for the edge. I highly suggest fooling around with this on some parchment paper. I actually took one of my cake pans, covered it with parchment paper (or saran wrap works, too), and doing the entire top in white. I just wanted to see how many circles I would need to fill the entire top. Once I was done, I just scraped my frosting off and colored it to use on the cake (which I might add again, Crisco based frosting SUCKS! I had to wash my bags between each color because I don’t have disposable bags. It took forever.) So anyway, this ended up working out perfectly so I could have 2 rows of each color. I was a little nervous to try something so bold, something that I’ve never tried before, but I think it turned out AWESOME! Here's the final product.

My chef would totally be cringing at the frosting job I did for the sides. Like I said, Crisco based frosting SUCKS. I gave up on that quickly.

The birthday girl, blowing out her candles

Fantastic new sites!

2011-05-26T22:45:00.001-04:00

Well, new to me, anyway. I just recently got hooked on Pinterest and Food Gawker. A lot of you are probably familiar with one or both of those sites, but within the last couple weeks, I've gotten totally hooked! Pinterest is a place to catalog all of your favorite things. Instead of adding a page to your favorites or bookmarks, you "pin it" to your Pinterest page. You can make all these different categories, and it lays it out so you can easily browse through it. It even has each site pinned as a photo so you can easily find what you're looking for. You can even make notes! This website is majorly ideal for crafters, bakers, photographers, designers, you name it. Not only can you "pin" your favorite things, you can browse through what everyone else is pinning. And guess what. I pin things that I see at the Link Parties all the time, so you might even see some of YOUR ideas pinned up there! I've gone a little over board (as in, I spend most of my evenings now either browsing Pinterest or pinning things to Pinterest, heh). Feel free to come follow me on Pinterest! And if you'd like an invite, leave your e-mail address in the comments (or e-mail me at craftymamablog@yahoo.com).
And then there's Food Gawker. I can't even put into words how AWESOME this site is. It's not just a site with recipes. It's an AWESOME site with recipes. Most other websites are set up kind of so-so, it just doesn't draw you in. Food Gawker takes in submissions for recipes, and they pick the best ones to post to their site every day. Each recipe is posted as a picture with a short description of what it is. This wouldn't be so extraordinary if all of the recipes weren't so awesome. There's such a huge selection, anything you could ever want to make. I think my days of Googling recipes are over. No more allrecipes.com for me! (that site kind of blows anyhow). Anyway, most submissions to FG are made by bloggers, like me! So of course, I took it upon myself to submit some of my recipes, I'm hoping to see them on there! And of course, if you check out my Pinterest page, you'll see TONS of fun food ideas that I've pinned! So GO NOW! Enjoy. :)
P.S. Go "like" Crafty Mama on Facebook! My fan page is looking a little scant since I started it up. It needs some life blown into it! And what's a fan page without fans?

Strawberry Kiwi popcicles

2011-05-21T22:25:00.001-04:00

What you'll Need:A combination of fruits
Juice or 7 up (or a mix) I prefer the white grape or apple

Cut up your fruit and drop it into your popcicle molds. Fill the molds with your chosen liquid, put the tops (or sticks) in place, and freeze.
You can also pack ice cream into your molds to make fudge cicles, or use yogurt and fruit. The combinations are endless!

Makeover

2011-05-13T14:28:00.001-04:00

I decided to change things up a bit, and gave my blog a little mini-makeover! I thought it needed a lighter look, so here it is.

Also, I made new buttons, be sure to grab one in the right side-bar!

Ribbon Chandelier

2011-05-10T14:14:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to making that Ribbon Mobile that I saw over at Between U & Me. What do you think?

Diaper Cover

2011-05-05T21:52:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to making Charlie another diaper cover! I need to get this style perfected, I'm making a few for a friend and my sister who are both due this summer! Hopefully I'll get a tutorial up within the next couple months.

Homemade Baby K'Tan

2011-05-05T11:30:00.002-04:00

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If you're not familiar with the Baby K'Tan, it's similar to the wrap, but without all the wrapping. Once I saw them, I knew I wanted to add one to my baby wearing collection! The only problem is the PRICE! They're quite a bit more than I'd like to spend on a baby carrier, especially when I already have more than one.Once I priced out the fabric, though, I figured I could make one for MUCH cheaper.

What you'll need:

2 yards of stretchy knit fabric

1 fat quarter

My knit fabric came in a loop, instead of being folded in half like most other fabrics are. I had to cut it lengthwise so I could lay it out flat.

Cut your fabric into 3 strips. My fabric was about 44-45 inches wide, so the strips were about 15 inches wide and 2 yards long. Now, the fabric will be a little narrower than a wrap that you'd buy, those are probably closer to 18 inches wide. I found that this is just as supportive though. (And it doesn't matter if your lines aren't exactly straight. You can't tell the difference with mine.)

Set one of the strips aside for later use.

Take one of the other strips, and measure it by wrapping it across your chest and over your shoulder. I started out with my strip being 57 inches long. I made sure to keep it longer in case I wanted to bring it in (which I did, twice). Cut two of the strips to be the same length.

Fold each strip in half, and sew the ends together with a good tight stitch. Do this with both strips, to make two loops.

To test the sizing, put both of the slings on to make an "x" across your chest (check out the baby K'tan photo gallery to get an idea of how to wear it). Put your baby in the carrier, with the two loops crossing between his/her legs. Spread the material out over his/her bottom and back. You want the baby to sit high enough up that your shoulders won't droop forward. I found that being chest to chest felt most secure. Once I tried it on, I realized mine was a little too loose, so I brought it in about 2 inches, making it roughly 55 inches. (After wearing it off and on for a day, the fabric stretched out a bit, and started sagging. I brought it in another inch to compensate for the fabric sagging). Once you're sure about the sizing, cut your fabric close to the seam, and seal it with a zig zag stitch, to look something like this. You don't NEED the zig zag, but I think it gives it a better final look.

The last piece of fabric is the sash that will be wrapped around you and your baby. This helps give extra support, not to mention a fashionable flair!

Take your fat quarter and lay it over the middle of the strip of fabric. Fold the edges under, and over the back, pin it in place, and sew it on.

Depending on the fabric you use, you shouldn't need to do any hemming to the edges. The knit fabric I bought doesn't fray, so I decided to skip that.
Once I was done, I ended with with 2 loops, the same size, and one sash.

Note: All of these pictures were taken before my final adjustment. Now that I've brought the seem of the loops in another inch, when I wear Charlie, he sits up higher, closer to my chest. That is the proper fit. When I took the pictures, the fabric was already beginning to sag.

I took some more pictures since bringing it in an inch. He sits higher up, closer to my chest.

Facing out

This is how it should look without the sash.

Sunburst Mirror

2011-04-14T21:46:00.001-04:00

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I've been seeing these sunburst mirrors everywhere! I realized that I had everything I needed right here, so I whipped one up today.

I had an old mirror sitting around. It was a little chipped around the edges, but nothing a border couldn't cover up. I also had some bamboo skewers in a drawer in my kitchen. Alright, let's get to it!

Most people would probably paint their skewers first. I was too impatient to wait for paint to dry (not to mention, I had napping kiddos), so I did that step last.. lol If you want to do it in the proper order though, go ahead and paint them first.

Start off by tracing your mirror onto a piece of card stock, and cut it out.

Make a dot in the middle. I wanted 3 different lengths for my spokes, so I made 2 circles around the dot using a protractor.

Using a ruler, draw lines of where your spokes will go. I figured I would have 16 (I changed this in the end, I'll explain later). The first 4 meet in the middle at the dot, the next 4 meet on the inner circle, and the last 8 meet at the outer circle.

Hot glue your skewers to the card stock.

Once you have all your spokes on, hot glue your mirror onto the card stock/skewers. This part was tricky because you want to have a lot of hot glue on there, but it cools rather quickly. I did it the quickest I could, slapped the mirror on, and then held a hair dryer to it. Once it was heated, I pressed it firmly together to make sure it was sealed.

I got it this far, and then decided that there wasn't enough spokes. So I snapped a few more skewers in half and made a shorter layer of spokes (16 more half-skewers). These would have sat on the outer circle.

Now that the mirror is put together, you can add a border. I added one because my mirror was chipped along the edges. I think otherwise it would have looked pretty good without one. I used 2 different sizes of rhinestones that I hot glued to the mirror.

On the back of the mirror, I hot glued a bent bobby pin to hang it onto the wall.

Doesn't it look FABULOUS! I smile every time I pass the hallway now!

Framed Wreath

2011-04-14T21:09:00.005-04:00

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I made this adorable wreath for Emma's bedroom, my inspiration came from House of Smiths.

I had this white frame sitting around. I had used it in a previous project, but decided it was better fitted for this. I gave it a rough, rustic look by scuffing it up with sand paper.

I didn't have anything I could use for a wreath, so I made my own. Yeah, yeah, I know you'll laugh when you see what I made it out of! I cut a hoop out of card board, and wrapped it with plastic bags, lol! Then I wrapped it with crepe paper so the "wreath" didn't show through.

My rosettes I made from crepe paper. I did them the same way I did the rosettes on my Burlap Purse.

I hot glued them all onto the wreath, added ribbon, and viola!

I love the way it turned out. :) I'm loving the colors I chose for Emma's new room, teal, pink, and white. I can't wait to get started on the rest of the things I have planned!

Weekend Highlights

2011-04-11T14:26:00.000-04:00

I saw some adorable things this past week in the link parties!

Like this Sunburst Mirror at Ashley White Interior Design. I have all the stuff to make one, I think it might be going on my craft to-do list!

And these Easter Eggs at Emmmy Lizzzy. She used things like grape juice and tea to dye them, and got her designs by strapping leaves and flowers to the eggs! Talk about creative!

And now that I've seen this Ruffle Dress at Utah County Mom, I don't think I can resist making it for Emma! It looks so simple!

This Sunflower Peeps cake at Simply Sweet Home is perfect for a spring or Easter get together!

I keep telling myself that I'm going to make Emma some bibs. Maybe these bibs at Paws and Re-thread will give me the inspiration!

And I never realized a petti-romper could be so easy to make! I've got a new niece arriving this summer, hmm... Go check it out at Women Who Do It All!

Easter Eggs

2011-04-11T09:38:00.001-04:00

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What You'll Need:

Eggs

Vinegar

Food coloring

Rubber cement

Vegetable oil

Start out by hard boiling your eggs. It's best to NOT use new eggs. Most times when you buy eggs from the store, they haven't been sitting on the shelf long. So make sure they sit in your fridge for about a week or so. If they're too new and you hard boil them, they won't peel very nicely.

Put your eggs in a pot and cover them with 1-2 inches of cool water. Put them on the stove on high.

Once your eggs have come to a boil, turn them off and let them sit for 15-20 minutes (it really doesn't matter too much, I accidentally left mine for about 40 minutes while I showered, and they turned out fine).

Fish your eggs out of the hot water and place them in a bath of cold water. You might need to switch it out once for more cold water.

Once your eggs have cooled, you need to prep them for dying.

Take your rubber cement and a paintbrush.

This is the fun part! Make all sorts of designs on your eggs with the rubber cement. I zig zagged it across the eggs, swirled it, did polka dots, ect. You could even write names! Get your designs done, and give them at least 30 minutes to dry.

You need to use HOT water for your food coloring, so it's best to boil it. Once your water has boiled, mix your water and vinegar. You need 1 tsp of vinegar for every cup. I poured myself 2 cups of hot water, added 2 tsp of vinegar, and then distributed it evenly into my 3 cups. You don't want to fill your cups too full, because they may over flow when you put your eggs in them.

If you don't have the cool little color tablets that come with Easter egg kits, you can use plain food coloring. I used some leftover gel food coloring from Emma's birthday cake, electric pink, green, and purple.

Add enough food coloring to each cup to get a nice rich color.

Dip your eggs in your colors, checking on them every 10-15 seconds to see what color they are. When they're the color you want, pull them out with a spoon.

Lay them on your drying rack or paper towel. I used a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top.

Once your eggs are mostly dry, wipe off the bottoms with a paper towel, and rub off the rubber cement. To get a shiny look to your eggs, rub them with vegetable oil.

To get the marble effect on your eggs, add about a tsp of vegetable oil to your colored water. When you dip your egg in, the vegetable oil will coat parts of the egg, and keep the color off them. The key here is to dip the egg in, and leave it there, don't check on it! I made that mistake with a couple of my first eggs, and they came out barely marbled. Let dry, and wipe clean with a paper towel.

This was such a fun project to do! I loved the effects on the eggs, and they turned out so CUTE! I actually think I'm going to do some more before Easter, maybe trying out some more effects.

MIA

2011-04-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be MIA for a little while. We're moving this weekend, and won't have internet until Tuesday. I'll most likely be having too much fun unpacking, cleaning, and organizing to do any crafting and posting. So don't expect to see me for about 1-2 weeks. I do have an Easter Egg project I did that I haven't posted though, so I might get around to putting that one up between here and there. Happy crafting!

Kindle Case

2011-03-24T00:36:00.001-04:00

First of all, I finally made myself a Facebook page for my blog! Go ahead and check it out, I'd love it if you "liked" my page! I'll be posting links to my blog whenever I update it. I'm also likely to post anything creative that I come across that I want to share. So get on over there!

Facebook: Crafty Mama

Now, on to my most recent project!

I saw this great Kindle Case over at Sohl Design. I gota admit though, I didn't even look at her tutorial, I just winged it. But I saw it, and I had to make it! She gave me all the inspiration I needed!

Choose two coordinating fabrics.

From each fabric, cut out a long rectangular piece measuring 7 by 20 inches. You can leave your ends squared, round them off, or taper them. I chose to taper mine.

Place your fabrics pattern side in, and sew around the edges. Leave one end open.

Flip it right side out.

Fold the edges of your open side in, and sew a top stitch. Sew a top stitch along the other end also. This would be a good time to iron it.

Choose which side you want showing on the outside. I chose to have my black fabric on the outside. Fold it so your outer fabric is on the inside. Sew your side edges.

Turn your case right side out.

Sew on a button and make a button hole. If you're like me, and too lazy to learn how to use the button hole setting on your machine, then just use a really tight zig zag stitch for your button hole. It worked pretty well for me.

Silhouette giveaway!

2011-03-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

Decor Chick is giving away a Silhouette machine! Head on over there before it's too late and get your entries in!

100 Posts!

2011-03-17T21:49:00.000-04:00

Wow, I was just looking at the "dashboard" of my blog, and it says I've got just over 100 blog posts! I can't believe I've gotten so far already. I just thought I'd take a minute to reminisce and post some of my favorite projects that I did!

Tufted Tray

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ruffle Butt

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Trendy Clothes Pins

Zebra Mod Podge Hanging Wall Letter

Zebra Mod Podge Night Stand

DIY Sequin Headband

Chocolate Burlap Purse

Bow Board

Knock Off Owl Hat

Glass Etching

Caramel Apple Pie with Fool Proof Crust

Turtle Cheesecake

Mosaic Jell-O

Mosaic Jello

2011-03-15T14:30:00.001-04:00

I saw this recipe on Our Best Bites a while ago and have been looking for an occasion to make it. The opportunity finally came up! I love how you can customize the colors for any holiday (Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, football season, ect). My mom suggested I make it for Easter with pastel colors. I'm thinking about making it for Independence Day with red and blue jello. It was a little sweet, though, so I'm thinking about 1: using sugar free jello next time (although there's less color and flavor options) and 2: maybe substituting the sweetened condensed milk for something else (like coconut milk?).

What You'll Need:

4-5 boxes of Jell-O

2 pkgs Unflavored Gelatin (2 Tbps)

14 oz. can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Before you start: leave yourself enough time to make this dish. The Jell-O takes 4+ hours to set, and it needs to set twice. I started the first step in the morning, and did step 2 later that night. The following day it was ready to cut into squares.

Step 1:

Boil a pot of water on the stove. You'll need 4-5 cups (depending on how many packages of Jell-O you prepare), and a little extra to compensate for evaporation while it's boiling. I just boiled a large pot of water; it was easier to dip my measuring cup into it to get what I needed, rather than pouring it out of the pot.

Prepare your tupperware. Once the Jell-O is mixed, it will be roughly 1 1/3 cups of liquid, so you don't need anything too large. I used random sizes of tupperware that I had sitting around. Spray the tupperware lightly with pan spray.

Once your water has come to a boil, measure out 1 cup. Mix in a packet of Jell-O and stir to dissolve. Once it has completely dissolved (I gave it a good 5 minutes, stirring randomly), pour it into one of your lightly sprayed tupperware containers. Repeat this step for all of your packages of Jell-O.

Place in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, preferably over night.

Step 2:

Sprinkle your gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water.

Let it sit for 5 or more minutes to bloom.

While that's sitting, boil 1 1/2 cups of water. When the water comes to a boil, mix it with the bloomed gelatin. Let it dissolve, roughly 5 minutes.

Add in the sweetened condensed milk and stir to combine. Set aside to cool.

Take your set Jell-O from the fridge. Cut each color into cubes.

Prepare a 9x13 pan by lightly spraying it with pan spray. Dump each color of Jell-O into the prepared pan. Mix the colors by lightly tossing with your hands.

Once the milk mixture has cooled, pour it on top of your cubed Jell-O. Let it set in the fridge for 4+ hours.

Once it's set, cut into cubes and serve.

Buttercream Frosting

2011-03-11T21:24:00.000-05:00

Buttercream Frosting

What You'll Need:

3 cups Powdered Sugar

1 cup Salted Butter (2 sticks)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Dash of Heavy Whipping Cream (or milk, or half and half)

Start by softening your butter. A tip I learned from school: to soften butter, put it in the microwave for 5 seconds, flip it, and repeat 2-3 times until it is the desired softness. If you don't flip it in between, it will all melt in the center, and you don't want melted butter!

Throw your butter in the mixer with a whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer for this if you have one. Set your mixer on low for 30 seconds or so, just to break up the butter. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, turn your mixer on a high setting and whip the mixture for about 3 minutes. It should now be light and fluffy.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, and add the vanilla. Whip it for another minute. Taste test it for smoothness and flavor, and add a small dash of cream at this point. Whip it another minute and taste it again.

This is the tastiest, simplest butter cream I've tried so far. It's light and fluffy and oh-so good. It's also great for decorating cakes (which is what I made it for!) I love passing along a good recipe when I find one because there's so many bad ones out there, it's hard to weed them out if you haven't tried them before.

Unfortunately, all I was able to do was taste test the frosting. We just discovered that Charlie has a milk protein allergy, and if I eat dairy, he screams. All day. Every day. It's amazing how much time can be used up holding a crying baby! I'm happy we figured out what was going on though, and he's much happier now. I'm only on day 5 of my dairy free diet, but he's already doing so much better.

Charlie was a trooper while I made my frosting.

Snoozing in the Sleepy Wrap.

And Emma? She was good, too. And yes, she was rewarded for her good behavior, she got to lick the spoon! :)

Free Valspar Paint Sample!

2011-03-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

Valspar is doing a promotion where they give out a free paint sample to the first 1000 people every day. I missed it on my first try, but got it on the second! I ordered mine on Saturday and got it on Thursday, and they don't even charge shipping! And the sample is a cute little tub of paint, which comes with a mini roller and 2 plastic paint pans. So stinkin' cute! So head on over there to get your free sample! The store re-opens at 9 am every day, so don't be late!

Check out how cute that mini roller is!

I got a color called "Rushing Stream". They send along a few examples of complementary colors to go with it.

My newest love affair.

2011-03-09T12:55:00.000-05:00

My Kindle! Ben got it for me for my birthday (a little early, but I don't mind). I spend so much time nursing my little one, so this is a great gift! I just love it. It's the perfect gift for a book worm like me! I wasn't getting in much reading time (can you say "toddler who keeps stealing my bookmark and losing my page"), but with this I find it so much easier! I can hold it with one hand while nursing, AND turn the page without any difficulty. It holds books I've downloaded from Amazon, and pdfs that I've downloaded with different programs and websites I've found. There's also lots of websites out there where you can download free e-books (totally legal, and some illegal, heh), and blogs that direct you towards free e-books posted on Amazon. So far I haven't had to buy a single book, but I've got over 80 in my library. She still doesn't have a name, any suggestions?

Best. Breadsticks. Ever.

2011-03-06T16:09:00.001-05:00

I tried out this recipe for bread sticks on the Food Network website a few weeks ago, they are to DIE for! I never knew homemade could be so good. :)

What You'll Need:

Dough:

1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp of yeast)

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp of water (divided)

4 1/4 cups flour (I used bread flour)

2 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt (you can skip this if you used salted butter)

Topping:

4 tbsp butter (give or take)

Salt and garlic powder to taste

Pinch of oregano (I just did fresh chopped parsley, just for color)

Grated Parmesan cheese

Add 1/4 cup of water and 2 1/2 tsp of yeast to your mixing bowl. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to dissolve.

To that, add the remaining 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tbsp of water, flour, butter, sugar, and salt.

With your dough hook, mix until it creates a dough, about 3 minutes. Place your dough on a floured surface and knead it by hand for another 3-5 minutes.

Using a knife or plastic board scraper, divide your dough into equal parts. If you're only making bread sticks, divide it into 16 equal parts. I'm making pizza and bread sticks, so I divided it in half, and then divided the one half into 8 pieces.

Melt about 2 tbsp butter.

Roll your bread sticks out into approximately 7 inch long sticks.

Brush your bread sticks with the melted butter. I added this step because I noticed that this dough tends to get a crust on it pretty fast. The butter keeps that from happening. It also creates a nice golden crisp crust on the bottom of the bread sticks once they're baked.

Place your bread sticks in a warm spot. I like to preheat my oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Once the temp comes down to about 90-100 degrees, I put the dough in to rise, this seems to speed the process.

Once the dough has risen to about double, take it out of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

While the bread sticks are baking, make your butter topping. Melt the butter, and add to it the chopped herbs, salt, and garlic powder.

Once they're done baking, brush on the butter mix, and sprinkle with parm cheese.

Camera strap cover

2011-02-28T00:19:00.000-05:00

I meant to do a tutorial for this. I took all the pictures as I made it, but somehow lost track of the time and never ended up posting it! Now I have no idea where my measurements are, or what steps I did to get the final product. So you'll just have to settle with some pictures, sorry!

I was inspired by the gorgeous camera strap covers over at the Polkadot Bungalow.

Turtle Cheesecake

2011-02-28T00:08:00.000-05:00

What You'll Need:

Crust:

2 pkgs of Chocolate graham crackers

1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, melted

Filling:

4- 8 oz. pkgs of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

6 oz. heavy whipping cream

Topping:

Caramel ice cream topping (I used Smuckers brand)

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate (I used Hershey's chocolate chips)

2 oz. heavy whipping cream

Pecans (however many you like)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Start by making your crust. Break apart your graham crackers and throw them in the food processor for about a minute. Once all the chunks are gone, add your melted butter and pulse until combined.

Grab your pan. I used a 10 inch cake pan for this. (If you have a spring form pan, make sure to wrap it really well in foil to avoid leaks.) Trace the bottom of your cake pan onto a piece of wax paper. Cut out your circle and place it in the bottom of the pan, trimming if needed.This will keep the crust from sticking to the pan when we flip it out.

Press your graham cracker mixture into your pan. Pack it lightly. Brush off any extra crumbs from the insides of your pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Throw all 4 bricks of cream cheese into your cleaned food processor, running it until the cream cheese is smooth. Scrape down the sides. Add in the sugar, vanilla, sour cream, and eggs, mixing well between ingredients. Make sure to mix well between addition of each egg. While the processor is still running, add your heavy whipping cream. Scrape down the sides of the processor, and run it again until the mixture is smooth.

Place your pan with the crust in a larger pan. (This is for the water bath.) Pour your cheesecake batter into the crust.

Get a pan of hot water ready

Place the pans in the preheated oven and pour enough water in the outer pan to come half way up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Slide towards the back of the oven and bake for 1- 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. When the cheesecake is golden brown and no longer sunken in the middle, remove it from the oven.

Take the cheesecake out of the water bath. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cheesecake.

Chill overnight. Once it's completely chilled, cover a flat plate or cutting board with saran wrap or wax paper and place the plate on top of the cheesecake to flip it over. Remove the wax paper from the bottom of the crust. Choose a serving plate and place it on top of the crust. Flip the cheesecake onto the serving plate.

Heat your cream in the microwave in 15 second increments until it is hot. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and stir until melted.

Pour your caramel onto the center of the cheesecake and spread it evenly.

Drizzle your chocolate ganache around the edges of the cheesecake. Top with pecans.

A tip for cutting: Fill a pitcher with hot water. Dip your knife into it to heat the blade and dry the blade on a towel or paper towel. Do this before each new cut.

Introducing..

2011-02-02T19:30:00.000-05:00

Charlie!

Charlie was born on January 28th, weighing 8 lb. 6 oz. and 20 inches long. So far he's taking up tons of my time and energy, and mama and baby are just enjoying hanging out for a while. I'll be back to the blogging world in a few weeks!

Knifty Knitter Baby Cocoon

2011-01-02T01:32:00.000-05:00

I finally got my hands on a Knifty Knitter! It's a pretty cool invention. I have NO idea how to knit, I didn't even know the basic theory behind it, lol. But this, it's so easy! Even kids can do it. I'm hoping to get away from the basics, and maybe try something different. I guess we'll see what kind of time I have on my hands in the next few weeks to fiddle with it. I only bought one thing of yarn, and I don't get out of the house often, so that may halt my progress some, lol. I mainly bought the Knifty Knitter so I could make a baby cocoon for the new baby's infant portraits. It ended up taking about 2-3 hours, and was really simple. I might make another one if I get my hands on another color yarn. My next project I have in mind is an infant hat, maybe with some cute bear ears on it! We'll see if I can figure out how to make the ears. I'm so excited to see the possibilities! Like I needed ANOTHER hobby, lol. I see a yarn obsession in my future.

Christmas Goodies

2011-01-02T01:15:00.001-05:00

I tried out a couple of the recipes I featured a few weeks back. I'm glad I did a test run, I ended up fiddling with the recipes just a bit. I didn't use as high quality of a chocolate as I should have for the hot chocolate on a stick, and that probably contributed to it a little, but they ended up turning out pretty good once I figured out what worked! I made the hot chocolate on a stick, some Ande's Mints, and homemade marshmallows (I didn't get pictures of the marshmallows). For the hot chocolate on a stick, I ended up just melting chocolate, letting it set part way, and sticking the candy canes in. I had a hard time getting them out of the molds (the original recipe came out fine, my final recipe, not so much), so I melted them back down a little to get them out, and rolled them in cocoa powder. They looked pretty cute in the end. Everything turned out great, and my family seemed to love their little goodie bags!

Pillow ensemble

2011-01-02T01:07:00.001-05:00

I posted the pillows I made a while back. My parents have finally finished their bedroom remodel (for the most part), and I wanted to share the pictures! We're still thinking about making a bolster pillow, we'll see where that goes. My mom and dad made the headboard, and re-covered the chest at the end of the bed to match. My mom also made the pillows in the back (with the stripes). I think everything came together great! Here are the pillows I made, and a couple extras of the remodel.

Woohoo!

2010-12-30T10:52:00.000-05:00

This morning I hit 200 followers! How exciting!

The next few weeks are probably going to be pretty slow around here. I've got roughly 3 weeks until this baby comes, and my energy and motivation are dwindling. I've still got a few boring sewing projects I need to work on, but nothing to post about. If I do anything interesting, I'll make sure to share it though! Hopefully a few weeks after the baby's here, I can get back into the crafting mood. Keep checking back for updates!

P.s. I got a Canon Rebel for Christmas! Can't wait to start posting pictures with it!

Pacifier/toy clip

2010-12-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

With a new baby coming (just around the corner!) and a toddler too, I was thinking I'd be needing some toy clips. We don't normally use pacifiers, but they can be used for that, too. All you'll need is ribbon, a clip, and velcro or snap pliers. Metal or plastic snaps would work fine. I made 2 different toy clips. One has snaps on both ends, so I can snap it around a toy, and the other end can be snapped around the handle of a carseat or stroller. I made it with 2 different snap adjustments on each end. The other one I made with snaps on one end, and a clip on the other. That way I can clip it to the baby's shirt and snap the other end around the toy's handle or pacifier. Here's some pictures, they're pretty self explanatory.

Upcycled Cowl Neck Scarf

2010-12-19T09:32:00.001-05:00

I saw this post at Diary of a Crafty Lady last week, and thought that I HAD to make it. It's so simple! Last night I finally got around to digging out an old sweater, and went to work. It barely look any time at all. And isn't it cute?

I started out by finding the best place take the fabric from. It worked out perfectly (buttons and all) to take it from around the waist.

I cut a slit up to where the buttons were, so I had one long piece of sweater material. Then I folded it in half lengthwise. Turning it button side in, I sewed the cut edge together, so I had a long tube. Then I turned it button side out.

Once I figured out how the buttons were going to connect, I had to snip them off and sew them on the other side, and cut new button holes.

Here's the finished product!

You gota love how the pea coat makes way for my gigantically 35 week pregnant tummy! (I'm not normally this wide).

Elegant Centerpiece

2010-12-18T20:38:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to show off some pictures of our super simple centerpiece for Christmas! Some fresh cranberries and floating candles in water, and evergreen branches. Doesn't get any simpler than that, but it's so elegant and festive!

Caramel Apple Pie and fool proof crust

2010-12-17T18:15:00.001-05:00

The original recipe I started out with came from Food Network. I deviated from the recipe the first time, and wasn't very happy with the results, so I tweeked it a bit this time, and it was SO tasty. I had to make TWO! (One to eat, one to give, of course). Unfortunately, I don't have an exact recipe, because I hate measuring! I basically just added a little of this and a little of that, but I'll try my best to duplicate it!

What You'll Need:

Pie Crust:

2 cups flour

1 cup Crisco

1/2 cup cold water

Pinch of salt

Pie filling:

2 lbs. apples (I used a mix of Gala and Granny Smith)

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2-1 tbsp cinnamon (depending on how strong you like it)

1/4-1/2 cup of caramel (I used Hershey's caramel)

Egg wash:

1 egg, beaten

Splash of milk

Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and slice your apples. Throw them in a bowl with cold water and a splash of lemon juice to keep them from browning. (If you don't have lemon juice, you can use 7 Up).

The crust recipe is my mom's "fool proof" crust recipe that she had given to her from a relative. I actually butchered it horribly the first time I made it. Like i said, I hate measuring! With this recipe, it will ALWAYS turn out as long as you measure precisely! I haven't had a problem with it since I gave in to my measuring cups.

Level off your scoops of flour with the back of a knife, and pack down your Crisco into the measuring cup.

Combine the flour, salt and Crisco using a pastry cutter or a fork.

When it’s well combined (a kind of mealy consistency), add the water.

Mix together until it forms a dough; try not to over mix. I used my hands for the last little bit of mixing.

Split your dough into 2 pieces to roll out. Flour your table, and start rolling out your dough. When it’s about 8 inches wide, pick it up, throw some more flour under it, and flip it over to finish rolling out. I never have it get stuck to the counter when I do this.

Roll out your first half of the dough and put it in your pie dish. It helps to throw it over your rolling pin to keep it from tearing.

Trim off the edges with a knife.

Drain your apples. Add the remaining ingredients to the apples and mix. Throw your pie filling into your pie shell, and roll out the other half of the dough.

Add the top of the crust, and pinch off the edges to seal in the pie filling. Poke some decorative holes in it to let the steam vent out.

Put your pie in a 350 degree oven, and set the timer for 30 minutes.

To make your egg wash, beat your egg and add a splash of milk. Take your pie out of the oven when the timer goes off. Paint the top of your pie with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Put the pie back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take your pie out and test the apples. Stick a knife or tooth pick into the apples in various places to see if they're tender. If they don't give way to the knife, put the pie in for another 10 minutes or so. If the top is already pretty brown, cover the top of the pie with foil to keep it from browning too much.

I was seriously impressed with this pie. It must be the BEST pie I have made so far. The crust turned out so flaky and perfectly browned! With the egg wash and sugar, it makes a crisp crust on top, almost like it's caramelized. It was DELISH!

Egg Nog Milk Shake

2010-12-08T15:41:00.000-05:00

What You'll Need:

Egg nog

French vanilla ice cream

Whipped cream

Nutmeg

Gingersnap

Put equal parts egg nog and ice cream in the blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and top with whipped cream. Dust with nutmeg, and garnish with a gingersnap.

Introducing.. Fudge Ripple!

2010-12-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

I was browsing through the Tatertots and Jello link party on Thursday night.. and this particular blog caught my eye. As I looked though this blog, I found so many projects that I was bookmarking, so I figured I might as well feature her!

Christy's blog, Fudge Ripple, shares all sorts of delicious and creative recipes. She's a formally trained pastry cook, and it's clear she has a passion for it! These are not your every day recipes, but having gone to school for baking/pastry myself, I know that the expensive ingredients and extra work are SO worth it. I hope you find some recipes to try out! Here are some of my favorites that caught my eye. (You may be seeing some on my blog in the future, I can't wait to try them!)

Hot Cocoa on a Stick

These are ADORABLE! All you have to do it melt it in a cup of hot milk, and you've got a tasty cup of hot chocolate. I am most definitely trying these out soon, and making them for family and friends for Christmas!

Peppermint Wreath

Words can't even explain how cool I think this is! I'd make it, but I'm afraid I'd have most of the candy eaten before it made it's way to the glue gun. Sadly, the project would never get finished. It did give me a horrible peppermint candy craving though, so chances are, I'll be buying some of these next time I'm at the store.

Gingerbread Marshmallows

These look HEAVENLY! I've been wanting to try out a recipe for homemade marshmallows now that it's cocoa season, and I think I've found the one!

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parm has been rumored to send pregnant women into labor if they're near their due date. The day before my due date with Emma, I was online searching for recipes for Eggplant parm, but it looked like more than I wanted to take on. My mom made me a dish of Chicken Parm instead, and I went into labor the next day. True story! So in about 6 weeks, I'll be making this one. ;) It looks delicious!

Caramel Ice Cream

I remember making ice cream in my baking classes, it was SO good. Homemade is always better than boughten. One of these days I'll go buy myself an ice cream maker.

Christy also hosts the Tuesday Night Supper Club, which is a place for you to share your recipes and find lots of other delicious things to make! I hope you head over there right away and check out her blog!

Gingerbread houses

2010-12-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

I was just sitting here, reminiscing about the years I spent going to school to be a pastry chef. We made so many tasty things! Last year we made gingerbread houses around Christmas. Of course, with it being a professional kitchen, we had a larger variety of tools and foods available to us. We made some amazing things!

I think this year I'm going to make another gingerbread house, and use all the cool ideas I got from last year! Do you have any suggestions? I'd love to hear them!

Here are some pictures of the gingerbread bakery that my group made.

The roof was made from sliced marshmallows.

I made these cute little marshmallow wedding cakes for in the window!

The window was made from gelatin sheets.

The tree was a paper cone. I used a star tip and royal icing to make the branches.

And here are some pictures of the other gingerbread houses that were made in the class. We were making a gingerbread village.

The church. I absolutely LOVE the design they made for it!

The jail. Aren't those windows so cute!

This was probably my favorite one, the school house. I love how they used the Wheaties for the roof! They also used little candy rocks to make the chimney.

The train station.

Mustache on a stick

2010-12-01T10:27:00.000-05:00

I thought this would be a cute idea as a stocking stuffer for my nephew and nieces (and maybe my sister who has a funny sense of humor) for Christmas!

What You'll Need:

A picture of a mustache

Black card stock and various colors and patterns of scrapbook paper

Scissors

Hot glue and glue gun

Elmers glue or Mod Podge

Bamboo Skewer

Find a picture of a mustache, or just free hand it. I Googled "cartoon mustache" and "clip art mustache" and found one I liked. Maybe choose a few different ones for variety!

Print off your mustache in the proper size, and cut it out for your stencil.

Cut two pieces of scrapbook paper, large enough to fit the stencil. I did one side black, the other side was a cute pattern.

Trace your mustache onto your scrapbook paper. Holding the two pieces together, cut them out.

Spread your Mod Podge or glue on all but one corner of your mustache, and glue the two pieces together.

Add a dab of hot glue between your layers, and stick the end of your skewer in it, then squeeze it together to seal it.

My favorite is the pin striped mustache!

Wet Bag

2010-11-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

Wet bags are great for people who have kids. They hold wet or poopy clothes (what baby doesn't have blow outs?), dirty cloth diapers, or any other messes that kids leave in their wake! The also make great snack bags (although you may want a much smaller size!) We cloth diaper 95% of the time, but still use disposables while we're out. I'd like to start using cloth when we're out and about more often, especially once I have TWO kids in diapers, so I made myself a wet bag! It turned out to be pretty simple and quick to make. Most small wet bags I see have zippers, but I figured snaps would work just as well. If you don't have either, you can also use velcro. (Please excuse the blurry pictures!)

Start off with 2 pieces of fabric that are the same size. You'll need one later of PUL, and one layer of a cotton fabric. Our small Joanns carries plain white PUL (in the utility fabric section), but some of the larger stores have colored and patterned PUL. The cotton fabric actually isn't necessary, but I didn't want a plain white bag, so I used it. If I had some patterned PUL though, I'd only be using one layer.

The size of the layers will depend on how large you want your bag. Mine is meant to accommodate wet cloth diapers, so I made it large enough to hold 3-4 diapers. The measurements were roughly 12 x 25 inches.

If you're using a zipper, I can't help you! I've never sewed a zipper on an item before, since I'm still relatively new to the sewing world. For velcro or snaps, you'll need a fold over flap. I cut the corners of my flap, but that's a matter of preference.

Lay your pieces of fabric so the pattern side of the cotton is facing the shiny side of the PUL. Sew a seam along the top and bottom.

Flip the fabric pattern side out and sew a top stitch.

If you're adding velcro, sew it on now. You'll want the sticky side of the velcro on the inside of your flap, and the soft side on the opposite end on the patterned side of the fabric.

Fold your fabric in half, so the pattern side is on the inside. My flap ended up being about 2 inches longer than the body of the bag. Sew a seam along the two sides. PUL can be tricky to sew with, because it tries to stick to the foot of your sewing machine! To avoid this, guide the PUL through your machine by pulling from the back, and guiding it through with your other hand.

Flip the wet bag right side out. If you're using snaps, add them now.

Run your wet bag through the dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to seal the holes you made with your sewing machine and thread. Your wet bag is now water proof and ready for use. These materials hold up great in the washer, so don't be afraid to wash it after every use.

Weekend Highlights: Mini Christmas Tree edition

2010-11-29T22:30:00.001-05:00

I've been seeing so many of these cute mini Christmas Tree topiary's! Here are some projects that caught my eye this past week!

This gorgeous Pearl Christmas Tree from Blooming Homestead.

These sparkling Glitter Christmas Trees at Military Martha.

How great are these eye popping Beaded Christmas Trees at All Things Heart and Home.

And this knock off Pier One Glittery Christmas Tree at Joy Is At Home. I like it better than the Pier One version!

And last but not least, these adorable Tissue Paper Christmas Trees at Spunky Junky.

Feel free to grab a button from the right hand side of my page if you were featured!

Glass etching

2010-11-27T18:13:00.000-05:00

I found this great tutorial over at Gluesticks a couple weeks ago, and I finally got the chance to try it out!

Glass etching is such a great way to make unique gifts for Christmas! In Brandy's tutorial, she made personalized glass jars to fill with candy. You could also fill them with hot cocoa mix, all the ingredients for cookies in a jar, ect. I'm currently on the look out for some plain glass bulbs to make Christmas ornaments! The ideas are endless.

What You'll Need:

A glass surface

Armour Etch

Paint brush

Vinyl or contact paper

Scissors or Cricket (or a Silhouette machine)

If you've got a Cricket or Silhouette machine, print out your stencil. If not, do it the old fashioned way! I printed off my words and pictures.

Trace your design onto your contact paper and cut it out. I'm doing a reverse stencil (just cutting out the words, and etching around them).

Pull off the backing to your vinyl or contact paper, and carefully place it onto your glass. Make sure to squeeze out any bubbles.

If you're doing a reverse stencil, make sure you make boundaries. I cut out strips of the contact paper, and put them around the top and bottom of the jar to make neat lines.

Put a nice thick layer of Armour Etch onto your glass. The thicker the coat, the better the outcome. I ended up having a couple spots that were missed, so I went back and touched them up.

After the designated amount of time (about 5 minutes) wash off the acid (I scraped some of the acid etching cream back into the jar before rinsing). It'll look kinda funky while it's still wet, but once it dries you can see where the the foggy glass is.

I love how it puts designs on the wall!

Here are some other GREAT ideas for glass etching!

Personalized cook wear (great for wedding showers!)

Wine glasses (would make a GREAT wedding gift!)

Super divine, homemade hot chocolate

2010-11-26T14:28:00.002-05:00

I've been looking for a good hot chocolate recipe lately, and was so unimpressed by what I saw. If I use cocoa, I need to add a ton of sugar. I wanted some REAL hot chocolate. So of course I had to use REAL chocolate. I fiddled with it a little, and here's what I came up with.

What You'll Need:
8 oz. hot milk (I used whole milk, it was SO rich and creamy)
1/4 cup of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (a mix of semi sweet and milk chocolate is the best!)
Peppermint mocha creamer (Coffeemate brand)
OR
A shot of peppermint Schnapps
Whipped cream
Candy Cane
Peeps Christmas marshmallows!

Microwave your milk for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, or until it's nice and hot. Chop your chocolate into small pieces (smaller than chocolate chips if you can, but it'll melt eventually if they're bigger too). Stir your chocolate into your hot milk until it's melted and combined. Add a dash (about 1 Tbsp) of peppermint creamer. Top with whipped cream, marshmallow, and candy cane. Enjoy!

Tonight we're headed to a candle light walk in town. Candles, Christmas music, lights, gingerbread houses, horse drawn carriage rides, so much fun! I'm taking along some hot chocolate in a thermos, and some Little Debbie cakes! The perfect way to kick off the Christmas season. Happy Holidays!

Weekend Highlights

2010-11-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some things that caught my eye at the link parties this weekend!

The adorable Pilgrim hat cookies at Craftily Ever After.

Check out these so simple to make Recycled Magazine Bows at See Kate Sew!

And how about this adorable Cornacopia full of candy! At A Girl and a Glue Gun.

Last but not least, this beautiful Pinecone Wreath at Crafty Sisters. I hope to be making this one soon!

Nursing Cover

2010-11-22T12:34:00.000-05:00

This ended up being such a simple project, and a pretty cheap one too! It helped that I won a giveaway at Somewhat Simple, and got $50 worth of free fabric from Ribbon Retreat! I had an old nursing cover laying around that was pretty beaten up, so I just took the boning and D rings out of that. This project didn't cost me a dime!

What You'll Need:

3/4 yard of fabric

Boning (about 12 inches)

2 "D" rings

Sewing machine and thread

Cut your fabric into 3 pieces:

23 x 31 inches

3 x 25 inches

3 x 4 inches

Take your largest piece of fabric and hem 3 sides of it (the bottom and sides of the nursing cover). I double folded all my edges to keep it from fraying.

For the fourth side, make a pocket for your boning. Take the top edge of your fabric and fold it down about an inch (again, I double folded it). Sew along the edge.

Insert your boning into the pocket, and make sure it's centered. Sew on both sides of the boning to keep it from moving around.

Take your 3 x 4 inch strip of fabric and hem the two sides in like this. No need to double fold here.

Insert the fabric through the "D" rings and fold it over, like this.

Fold down the bottom edges, and sew onto the cover. If you're right handed, you'll probably want it on your right side (left if you're looking at the cover). I sewed 2 lines to make sure it's secure.

Take your last strip of fabric (3 x 25) and fold it in half, pattern side in. Sew along the edge, and then flip it right side out.

Sew a top stitch, and close in one end.

Take the other end, fold it over, and sew it on the left side of the cover (right side, if you're looking at the cover). I did two lines of stitching here, too, to make sure it's secure.

That's it! How simple was that. And so much cheaper than buying a nursing cover! Add ribbon or embellishments to make it cute and stylish.

Fancy Pillow: part 2

2010-11-21T14:08:00.001-05:00

I made this gorgeous pillow using the tutorial over at Thrifty and Chic.

I made my pinches every 2 inches instead of every 3, and I love the way it turned out!

Car Seat Canopy

2010-11-19T22:09:00.001-05:00

What You'll Need:

1 yard each of 2 coordinating fabrics.(If you only want it to be one sided, you only need the one fabric)

Velcro

Thread and sewing machine

Cut your fabric pieces to be 33 inches by 45 inches. For mine, I kept the edges squared, but if you want rounded edges, you can use a plate to trace.

Lay the pieces of fabric pattern side together. Pin the edges together. Sew around 3 1/2 sides, leaving at least 8 inches un-sewed to flip the fabric right side out.

Flip the fabric right side out, and sew the last 8 inches. Add the top stitch.

With your fabric scraps, cut out 4 pieces that are about 10 inches long, and 3 inches wide. The length will depend on how you sew your velcro. I planned to make my straps longer so the velcro overlaps more. You want 2 pieces of each fabric.

Sew them pattern side together, leaving one end open to flip it right side out. Add the top stitch.

Sew your velcro on, making the soft velcro on one side, and the hook velcro on the other.

When you have your straps made, pin them on the canopy. I positioned mine to be exactly in the middle (lengthwise), and with about 5 inches between them (width wise).

Place your pins about an inch apart, and sew across the straps where you pinned.

Make sure you try it on your car seat before sewing! Each car seat (and their handles) are made differently, and yours may fit a bit different than mine.

White Bean Chili

2010-11-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

What You'll Need:

3-4 large chicken breasts

3-4 cans of white beans, undrained (I used Bush's Great Northern beans)

32 oz. of chicken stock or broth (less if you like your chili thick)

16 oz. salsa (I used corn and black bean)

8 oz. Pepperjack cheese (or just Montery jack if you don't like spicy)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Orange, red, yellow, and green peppers

1/2 of a 15 oz. jar of canned corn (or frozen)

Cheddar cheese for topping

Tortilla chips or strips for topping

Sour cream for topping

Cut your chicken into bite size pieces and brown in a pan with olive oil.

While that's browning, throw your beans, chicken stock, salsa, garlic, peppers, and corn into a large stock pot and turn on high. Add the browned chicken and cheese to the mix once it starts boiling. Turn on low and let simmer for 1 or more hours. Stir every 10-15 minutes to keep the cheese from sticking to the bottom.

Top with shredded cheddar cheese, crushed chips, and sour cream.

Weekend Highlights

2010-11-15T23:19:00.001-05:00

Here's some projects that caught my eye this past week at the link parties I participated in! Take a minute to check out these talented lady's blogs!

Homemade Ande's Mints at Topsy Turvy.

Check out these adorable Headbands at Vintage Wanna Bee! She makes headbands inspired by Disney Princesses, how cute!

And I love this Yarn Wreath at Recaptured Charm.

And this adorable scarf at Living With Punks!

I definitely need to find someone to make these pine cone fire starters for! Check them out at An Apple and a Tree!

Feel free to grab a "Featured" button on the side bar of my page!

Egg Nog Cappuccino

2010-11-14T13:58:00.001-05:00

What You'll Need:

Espresso

Milk

Egg Nog

No Calorie Sweetener

Fill your mug with equal parts egg nog and milk. Leave enough room for about 2 oz. of espresso. I like to pop mine in the microwave to get it hot before steaming it (or else it takes forever to steam).

Once your milk/egg nog is hot, brew your espresso and steam your milk/egg nog mixture. Add a pack of no calorie sweetener and the espresso, and enjoy! I added a little nutmeg on top, too. YUM!

Fancy pillow: part 1

2010-11-11T14:36:00.001-05:00

I'm helping my mom make some new pillows to go with their new bedroom that they're remodeling. So far I've got one completely done, and another one half way done (it just needs to be stuffed). I've got another 1 or 2 to do after this, I can't wait to see how all of them look when it's all said and done! I'm mixing a few different styles, I think they'll look great.

I got the idea for the first pillow at Atelier Caroline. Instead of doing my tucks every 2 inches, I spaced them every 3 inches, which gave the pillow a much different look. I finished it off with a singed flower made from the same material. And the material? And old curtain that my mom had laying around. This project cost me NOTHING, and only took about a half hour to finish. I did find that the pen I was using showed through the material, so instead of drawing lines on the fabric, I just drew dots at every 3 inch intersection, and did my tucks on every other intersection. She explains it great in the tutorial! So head on over there to find out how to make one of your own!

Weekend Highlights

2010-11-08T21:23:00.002-05:00

I'm hoping to start doing a post each week about all the great projects I've been seeing in the link parties! I get so much inspiration from these other blogs, and I'd love to have a way to archive these ideas for later. At the moment, I've been bookmarking all these pages, it's not a very organized method! So here goes!

Check out this adorable burlap wreath at Scatter Sunshine.

These Milky Way Cupcakes look SOOO delicious at Everybody Loves Raymond.. and Kat!

I LOVE this ribbon mobile at Between U and Me! I have so many ideas of what I could do with this for Emma's room!

How great are these yarn wrapped letters at Let Birds Fly? I've never seen anything like them, they're so unique!

I'm definitely thinking I need to make some of these owl tag toys for the new baby! Go check them out at LoveLove!

And last but not least.. I NEED to make this for Emma! I can just imagine how cute she'd look in this up-cycled Sweater Dress from Naptime Crafters!

If you were featured, feel free to grab a "Feature" button from the right side of my page!

Super Simple English Toffee

2010-11-08T20:54:00.003-05:00

This is the simplest toffee recipe I could find, and it's so delicious! It came from Paula Deen, you can find the original recipe here.

What You'll Need:

14 Tbsp salted butter
1 cup Sugar

2 Tbsp cold water

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 tsp vanilla

Dash of salt

6 oz chocolate (optional)

Start by getting your butter and sugar on the stove. Put your cold water in the pan first, so you don't get dry spots on the bottom. Turn it on medium to high heat. While that's melting, get your pan ready.

I used aluminum foil instead of a pan, this way it hardens on a flat surface (most of the pans in this house are warped and bent). I turned up the edges to get neat corners (I made my area too big though, so the toffee didn't entirely reach the corners, but that's okay). Spray your pan or foil with Pam.

It should only take a minute or two for your butter to melt. Use a wooden spoon to stir your mixture, do NOT use plastic! The sugar gets very hot, and can melt the spoon. Continue stirring to keep the mixture heated evenly.

After about 7-10 minutes, your sugar should be a nice caramel color, and reach roughly 310 degrees. I don't have a candy thermometer, so I went by the color. You should be able to SMELL it by now too!

Once it's ready, take it off the heat and add your vanilla, salt, and nuts (if you chose to use nuts). Poor it in your prepared pan.

Before it hardens, score it with a knife. Spray the knife with Pam or butter, and run it along the toffee to make squares. It will harden around the edges much faster than the center. I scored mine once (the sides were already almost hard), and then went back and scored the center parts again a few minutes later. It hardens quickly, so make sure it do it within a couple minutes of pouring!

When it's completely hardened (20-30ish minutes), snap apart the pieces. You can drizzle them with chocolate, or dip them in melted chocolate to coat. I chose to leave mine plain this time.

This is such a simple candy to make for the holidays! It only takes a few minutes to whip up, and has such simple ingredients. People are sure to love it!