my rolodex

Schultüte

2011-09-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

So after a long long hiatus, I have returned to blogging. The kids have started school, so I actually have a few minutes to myself these days! My oldest daughter started Kindergarten this year, so I decided to continue on with the German tradition that my Mom did for us. Schultüten! These are large cardboard cones decorated and filled with sweets and toy, anything you like. I put candy, a few school supplies and mini Play-Doh in ours. Mine turned out a little larger than planned, don't be deceived, they are not totally filled. Basically I filled up the empty space with tissue paper.
Children in Germany traditionally receive these when they start Kindergarten. The other kids in the family get a small version when it's not their turn to start Kindergarten. The kids usually get these in the morning and get to take them to school and open them there. SInce that is not the way it's done here, we had the kids open them at family home evening the night before school started. They loved it! My mom also sent pictures of my first day, and hers as well. That was really fun for everyone to see. Well, here are the pics of how the Schultüten turned out, and a sketch of how to make one yourself.

Teacher Appreciation

2010-06-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Looking for a gift for my daughter's teacher, I came across this really cute idea from blog eighteen25. You can find complete instructions and even print out her design here. Instead of a hand-held punch, I used my Cricut for the shapes, and also slipped a Michael's gift card in the back. I think it turned out pretty well, next time I think I'll get some of that stamping stuff to make the edges look all awesome and worn.

Printable Chore Chart

2010-05-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been trying to get my 3 1/2 year old daughter to start putting away her toys, and in general just getting a sense of helping around the house. I've been giving her a nickel and a dime here and there for little jobs, but that idea is quickly getting old, as she wanted to save for something big (a night at Jumping Jack's!) and isn't seeing the results quickly.

I thought about buying a chore chart, but was so excited to stumble on this free printable one from ModEcoKIDS. You can customize it and then print it out. I just printed mine, and am going to try it this week. I think I'll give her some allowance at the end of the week as long as she works on something every day. Wish me luck!

The Felt Playhouse

2010-02-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

As we've been living in a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 kids, our space is at a premium. We needed to squeeze a twin bed and a crib into the same room and found the perfect bed so that we could still have some space for storage: the Ikea Kura Bunkbed. My daughter sleeps on top, and the toys go underneath. Since the toys being stored are none too pretty, I thought changing it into a felt house would hide the mess as well as create another fun space to play in.

So here's what I ended up with:

The girls love to go in and out the door, and pick the flowers which have velcro on the back. I think the project turned out pretty well, but I think I would change the shingles a bit as they didn't turn out quite as planned (my daughter also disapproved as they didn't have pink). Also, I like having the door open so they can play easily, but it doesn't look so great to have them just hanging there. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Sweet No Candy Valentine

2010-02-06T10:43:00.001-08:00

As my daughter always comes home from her school parties carrying more cookies and candy than she can hold, I thought it would be fun to try something different. I started with some inspiration from Family Fun and created some of their Crayon Hearts. They used a metal heart-shaped pan which I didn't have, so I thought I would experiment with my plastic heart-shaped ice cube mold from Ikea that I did have. It worked! And my mold didn't even melt :). I think that's probably because I kept the oven temp. to about 200. Here's a shot of my somewhat tedious process of breaking down crayons into little nibs.

After the hearts were finished, I had a great find at Target. In their Valentine's Day section they had a little bag of heart-shaped pads of paper, only $2.50 for 16! Then to tie it all together, I made a simple card in Word and placed it all together in a clear cellophane bag. If you're interested in my template, leave me a note and I'll be happy to send it out to you as I haven't figured out how to post it quite yet.

Modern Quilt Pattern

2010-02-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

My latest quilting project was a baby blanket for a friend. Since she's having a boy I needed something that wasn't too cutesy, so I opted for a more modern looking arrangement of rectangles. I had a hard time finding inspiration for it, so I thought I'd post the pattern I came up with in case someone else out there can use it.

After sewing the blocks together, I simply laid it on a piece of soft and cozy fabric (the super fluffy kind) with right sides together, and stitched around it leaving a small opening to turn it inside out. After it was right sides out I stitched a small border around the whole thing in order to close the opening.

Since I didn't think traditional ties would really go with it, I decided to machine stitch through the whole quilt on either side of each seam.

Christmas Gifts Updated

2010-01-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

So I know this update is super super late, but I thought I 'd post it anyway cause I'll probably forget by next year. Since my last post gave ideas I wanted to try, I thought I'd show you what I actually tried. I ended up making a few sets of countdown blocks and they turned out really cute. I definitely like this idea, and still need to make one for our own house. Since my husband gave me an awesome Cricut for Christmas this project will be much easier next time. No more little tiny scissors to do the cutting!

My next idea for neighbor gifts worked really well, and was easy to keep on hand. I made a chocolate cake roll and filled it with store bought mint-chip ice cream. Then I wrapped it nicely with tin foil and added some cute ribbon and Christmas picks from Michaels. Then I stored it in the freezer until I needed it. This was really tasty and actually pretty quick to do.

Countdown to Christmas

2009-12-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

It's December 1st and time to start the Christmas Countdown. In keeping with the German tradition I grew up with, we have an Advent Calendar each year to help the time go by. Every day until Christmas the kids get to open a small present consisting of a toy or treat. My mom was so inventive and always had a different idea for the calendar each year. This year, I decided to get some more use out of my cupcake stand by using empty applesauce cups that I collected (thanks to my husband's applesauce kick a few months ago). I put a small gift in each cup, then wrapped it in bright green tissue paper and wrapped it up with a glittery branch and red ball. Then I finished it off with a number easily printed off on the computer. The whole thing looks like a unique version of a Christmas tree.

Gifts for Neighbors and Friends

2009-11-19T10:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's already that time of year! Since I needed a little inspiration to get me in the Christmas mood, I went searching for some fun gifts that are always good to have on hand. I thought these were great ideas, and will definitely try some of them.
I'll let you know how it goes!

I love the look of this DIY S'mores Kit

Hot Chocolate on a Stick is something I've never heard of. It looks delicious!

These embossed candles look pretty easy to do, and would be a great way to personalize a gift. Check out The Idea Room for directions.

These Countdown Blocks are also great. Although these were made for Halloween, it would be fun to make them with Christmas paper.
And finally, an idea my friend Leah gave me is Candy Cane Bread. This bread has impressive presentation and is easy on the budget. You can find the recipe here. Instead of the cherries and dried apricots, try using canned pie filling.

A Green Colored Birthday

2009-10-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Our big girl turned 3 this week and since she loves green, we threw her a green-themed birthday party. Of course we had to accent with pink as well since she is a true girl. Unfortunately we don't have the best lighting in our little place, so this isn't the greatest picture of what things looked like. For the decor, I made a bunch of tissue pom-poms, courtesy of Martha's instructions. I just used string to hold them poms together since I didn't have any floral wire, and it worked just fine. The table cloth came from a super discounted bedding set at Ikea. It's a flat sheet that was a bit too scratchy to sleep with anyway. Then, I put a few lengths of ribbon in orange and pink in the center of the table and got them to stay put with some double sided tape.

As for the cake, I decided to venture out and try to make something fun out of fondant. I discovered a great recipe for fondant at What's Cooking America. It's made from Marshmallows and powdered sugar, and is actually pretty easy to make. It is much easier than traditional fondant, and tastes pretty good too. It was really fun to do, and wast kind of like playing with play dough. Here are my colored batches of fondant....

....and here is the final result. I was really happy with how it turned out, it's definitely my best fondant experiment yet.

For the games, I covered plastic soda bottles with tissue paper and a simple white
band with the #3 on them. The kids had fun trying to knock them down.
It's pretty fun to see a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds bowling.

As a prize after their turn bowling, everyone got a little felt wristband.
Roses for the girls, and little star cuffs for the boys. I forgot to take a picture of them all before they were handed out, so this is just what we had left at the end.
Next we did a little craft. I cut each child's initial out of clear contact paper and
then taped them to the wall with the sticky side out. Then everyone got to decorate their
letter with simple paper shapes and pictures. To finish it off, we put another contact paper
cut-out of the initial on the top and all the kids got to take them home.
I think the kids enjoyed it, and it was super easy to clean up.

This was such an easy theme and was a lot of fun to put together. It was also great to see everyone wearing green (as was requested on the invitations). Even the moms and babies who came were sporting the day's color. Thanks to everyone who made it such a special day!

Green Pots

2009-10-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of environmentally friendly cooking pots? If not, check out Green Cooking Pots. They are a small company started by twins who love cooking and have a holistic approach to preparing food. The pots looks great (kind of like Le Creuset) and aren't all that expensive (for nice pots:). I'm thinking a big pot like this would be a great addition to my kitchen.

Memory Quilt

2009-09-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, my friend Heidi asked me to help her create a "Memory Quilt." She has a daughter who sadly passed away at the age of three. In her short life she had the opportunity to be a flower girl at several weddings, so the plan was to create a blanket out of her dresses that Heidi could keep to remember her daughter and the occasions by. This was a really neat project to work on, and it turned out pretty well. I was excited that the squares actually lined up pretty nicely. In case you ever decide to try one yourself, make sure to cut the squares first and see how many of each kind you have as the big challenge is finding a pattern that works.
Here is another shot up close showing some of the detail. If you look in the top yellow square, you can see we added part of the collar, and the big purple square is the part of the dress where the skirt attaches.
Heidi is going to have the quilt professionally quilted to finish it up (thankfully-because I wouldn't know where to start with that part!). Hopefully she'll send a picture when it's all finished. Thanks Heidi for letting me be a part of such a special project!

Kimono Top

2009-09-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

I recently found a blog with some fun tutorials and I decided to try the Kimono. It was a fun project, but I definitely still need some practice when it comes to sewing clothes. Here's what mine looks like. As you can see, my daughter does not enjoy wearing it (it's turned out a bit large), and my husband said it reminded him of scrubs. I guess the green color doesn't really help. It was still a fun project though, and I'm sure it will turn out better next time! I still have a baby who doesn't give me opinions on her clothes :). Check out this link if you want to see some better examples.

Fabric Covered Mat

2009-09-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to cover my bland, cream covered walls with some photos lately and bought these great frames from IKEA. The mats of course came in pretty much the same cream color as my walls. So in order to brighten up the room a bit I decided to cover the mats with colorful fabric.
Here's how you do it:
1. Get a piece of fabric that's as big as your mat plus at least an inch on each side. I just laid my mat on the fabric and cut it to the right size-no measuring needed.
2. Fold the fabric over the outside edges of your mat and if you're me, secure with pieces of tape (I change my mind pretty frequently). If you want to do it more permanently or professionally, spray your mat with adhesive spray and then proceed to cover it.
3. For the middle edges, take scissors and cut into the middle of the fabric (also the middle of the frame). You're basically going to cut a long "X" shape into the fabric, the middle of the X is the middle of the fabric, the points going out to all of the corners.
4. After you cut your X, trim the 4 points so that you only have about an inch or so to wrap around the rest of the mat. Again secure with tape or glue, and you're finished! Replace your picture in the mat and frame.

Applique

2009-09-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

So I get really excited when I learn a new skill to use on my sewing machine since I've never taken a class or anything. Chris's cousin asked me to help her with her baby quilt so I've been working on it and started sewing her baby's name on it and had taken a break when I stumbled on some instructions for appliqueing things. I guess I could have figured this out on my own, but basically you can use the setting for stitching button-holes to secure the edges of whatever you're sewing. Here is a picture of my appliqueing in progress, I think it's turning out pretty well, hopefully Chels does too! Here is a link to the complete instructions in case you're interested: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=518

Bedtime Story Baby Shower

2009-08-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best baby shower ideas I've ever seen. You decorate the tables like beds, serve milk and cookies, etc. For more details see:
http://www.hostesswiththemostess.com/themes/baby_showers/bedtime_story_baby_shower/

My Baby Shower Ideas

2009-08-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

I gave a baby shower earlier this summer, and came up with this idea for a decoration. I googled a template for a onesie, then made a white onesie out of cardstock for every letter of the baby's name. I then found three coordinating pieces of cardstock and used them to make the letters of the name. Finally, I attached them to a piece of ribbon with little clothespins from the party store. As an added touch, I took a marker and made little stitch-marks at the top and bottom. I'm not the best photographer, but it turned out pretty cute. I think it would look great to try a pattern for the background and white for the letters too.

Since I don't know too many people who enjoy shower games, I decided it would be fun for everyone to fill their own sugar scrub. To make the sugar scrub you need:

1. Olive Oil

2. Sugar (brown or white-I tried some of both)

3. Your favorite scent of essential oils

I initially found a recipe for the scrub, but ended up adjusting it to what I thought was a good consistency. For an estimate, you will need a 2:1 ration of sugar to oil (so twice as much sugar as oil). Mix all three ingredients together and add as much essential oil as you like.

For the cups, I used Jello Shooter cups from the party store. That way I only had to buy 40, instead of 300 condiment cups, and they were the perfect size. As an added touch, I put a personalized sticker from Etsy.com on the lid of every cup.