Pretty Lil' Posies

Button Earrings

2011-03-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. I had a baby with double ear infections and a screaming hot fever that wouldn't go away. Once she was better, we went off to play for the week up north to see my family. Don't worry though. Whenever the girls in the family get together you know there is some crafting going on so I'll show you what we were up to.

Jo-Ann's had all there buttons buy one get one free plus 10% off your purchase so I snatched some up to make some button earrings for super cheap. I saw the idea at Trey and Lucy. This has to be the easiest "craft" ever! I think it took less than 2 minutes to do the whole thing so I don't know how much that counts as being "crafty".

I just took my wire/metal cutters (I don't even know what the tool is called but at least I know how to use it!) and snapped off the back of the buttons and glued the button with some E6000 to earring posts. You can also use hot glue I was just being impatient and didn't want to bother waiting for the glue to heat up.

And there you go! Here is my "modeling" pose for you and in case you are wondering, yes my skin is that white all year round! ;0) I also bought some huge buttons to make some rings but haven't put them together yet. I'll have to show you some time.

I'll be linking to some of these places check them out for more fun ideas.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds

2011-02-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is the easiest salad ever! It is also very delicious. My husband even loves it even though he thinks it looks like one of those girlie salads made for girl parties like baby and bridal showers.

You can make this as fancy as you'd like by adding in lots of extras like mandarin oranges, cheese, red onion, etc or keep it simple like I do. Don't get me wrong, I looove all the fancy extras that people have in this type of salad but I don't love taking a half hour just to make a side salad for dinner! If a recipe is simple it's certainly going to be made way more often at my house than one that I have to have lots of different ingredients and time to make it. This recipe makes quite a bit and the leftovers don't save so only make how much you will eat that night.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds

1 bag Baby Spinach

2 lb Strawberries, sliced

1/3-1/2 cup Slivered Almonds, or Pecans

1-2 Tbsp. Sugar

Brianna's Homestyle Blush Wine Vinaigrette (or something similar, this is just what I use)

First you will toast the almonds or pecans.

1-Sprinkle the sugar into a small saucepan.

2-Melt over medium heat while stirring constantly. This happens really quick!

3-Dump in your almonds or pecans and stir until coated and they smell "toasted". I know I have zero scientific explanation of how to tell you when it's done but trust me you will smell the "toasted" smell. It only takes a few seconds.

4-Spread the almonds onto a piece of tinfoil or wax paper to cool for a couple minutes. Once cool, break the pecans/almonds into chunks.

Now all you have to do is toss everything together. Only mix in a little dressing at a time, just enough to coat everything. A little goes a long way. Serve immediately.

I'll be linking to a few of these places. Check them out for more fun ideas.

Bountiful Baskets

2011-02-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most of you have heard of Bountiful Baskets if you live in a state where it's offered (check out their site to see if it's available in your area) but I had to let everyone know about it in case you haven't or in case you forgot that it exists like I did. ;0) It is ran by volunteers where you get a ton of fresh fruit and veggies for just $15. Look what I got this week...

Yummy! That is a ton of fresh produce for not much moo-la people. They claim it saves you $35.00 if you were to buy all that produce at the grocery store which I think is stretching it a bit, but I am also cheap and don't usually buy things unless they're a good price.

This was the first time I've actually ordered. I've been meaning to order for months but I never remember until it's too late. I must say I am really happy with what I got. My only complaint is that the entire bag of clementines I was given were too ripe but I'm sure that must not always be the case otherwise people would stop ordering and the program wouldn't still be around after all this time.

I think this will be a great way for my family to make sure we eat all our fruits and veggies because I hate wasting food and for that matter money too so I know we'll be motivated to get it all eaten! I think I forget just how many fruits and vegetables we should be consuming. For a 2000 calorie diet (according to the USDA), it is 2 1/2 cups vegetables and 2 cups fruit consumed each and every day!

I think this will also be a nice way to plan out meals for the week. You don't get to pick what you get so it's a surprise, but it's always 50% fruit and 50% vegetables. Because of this I will be planning out my meals for the week on Saturday, the day you pick up your food.

I made a salad yesterday with the strawberries and spinach I got. The best part is it was super simple! I'll share the recipe with you tomorrow.

Bountiful Baskets only take orders on Mondays starting at noon until Tuesday at 10:00 pm so you have a few hours left if you want to order this week, so order quick! Okay enough blabbing. Until tomorrow.

New Skirt For The Munchkin

2011-02-06T23:59:00.000-08:00

McKinley has needed new clothes for church for a long time but I haven't ever gotten around to it until now. I made this cute skirt using this tutorial from Sewing In No Man's Land and then I also made a headband to match.

I must say I love it! Sorry, there will be no cute posed pictures. I had to give Kin bribes just to get her to hold still for half a second and I certainly wasn't going to go outside in this freezing weather, so just imagine you see a beautiful field behind her or something. :0)

The bribes only kind of worked! Do you see her cheeks are full of goldfish crackers in each picture!

I don't know how people get in focus pictures of toddlers. This girl is wild. This is as still as I could get her and it's only because she would drop a cracker and pause to look for it.

The skirt has a high waist, although it doesn't look like it in my pictures because the waist was folded over. Kelly also gives the pattern for an adult size and I'm tempted to make one for myself. Go check it out! I'll be linking to some of these places.

Pretty Pleated Pillow

2011-01-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

I kind of have an obsession with pillows. Ironically, the pillows on my couch are p-i-t-i-f-u-l! I think they are about an inch thick because they've lost all their stuffing! I am determined to change that, so to start I made this pleated pillow. I want to have a mixture of both patterned and solid pillows but I didn't want the solid pillows to be boring so I have been on the look out for some pillow inspiration. I found some from Cottage Instincts when I saw this pillow hanging out in the background on this couch...


Image Source, Cottage Instincts

I attempted to copy hers which I'm sure you'd think is simple because there is not much to them but I am definitely what you would call a beginner sewer. As in, this is the first pleat I've ever sewn. If I knew what I was doing I would've done a tutorial, but I didn't. The things I will change the next time is add extra length to the pleated panel of fabric. I only added an extra 6 inches for three pleats which was not near enough, but you live and learn right?

The sad news for this pillow is that it probably won't even be used. I am trying to use more bold colors in my living room and I don't think this fits into that category, but well see. I bought the fabric at Home Fabrics in Salt Lake, which in my opinion is the best place to get cheap but quality home decor weight fabric, they also have one in Las Vegas. I have to go every time I visit my family. The fabric was on clearance for only a $1.00 a yard and was wide enough to get 2 pillows out of so you can't beat 50 cents!

I am linking this to a few of these places and also to the bloggers pillow party over at Stiched in Color.

Go check it out for some great inspiration. I especially loved this one. Definitely want to put that on my to-do list.

Kitchen Cabinets and Faux Granite Q and A

2011-01-25T01:08:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am blown away by all your nice comments on my parent's kitchen makeover. I've received quite a few emails and questions about it so I thought I'd putt all the answers all in one post for everyone to find in case other people had the same questions. I'm warning you though, this is a loooong post.

I have to tell you up front I, nor my parents are experts on doing this stuff so please before you try any of this do some research. This is just how SHE did it. Not necessarily the perfect way to do it! ;0) You can find a ton of information on both painting your cabinets and faux granite painting by googling, googling, and more googling! I know there are also helpful youtube videos as well.

Now let me tell you how she did her cabinets. The biggest pain of the whole process was waiting for the oil-based stain to dry but she's glad she used oil-based because a lot of neighbors used a regular wall paint on theirs and they are chipping much easier and not holding up as well. Remember oil-based smells very strong. It's nice to do it during the summer when windows can be opened and the sun can help things dry faster!!

The first thing she did was remove all the doors and drawer faces and took off all the hardware. Next she washed all the cabinetry with a TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) solution. You can find it at Home Improvement stores. This removes all the grease which is really what you are trying to do...especially around the stove.

Next she taped off all the cabinets with painters tape and filled in all the holes from the drawer pulls with a wood filler and allowed it to dry a little.

Next she lightly sanded everything and used a liquid sander deglosser like this one. She applied it with a sponge. Than she washed and dried them off. By the time she got to the last few cabinets, she was very lazy with the glossing and the sanding and they probably didn't get much if anything! The beauty of gel stain is that it will stick to a shiny surface. She doesn't know if the cabinets that got less attention will hold up as well but the stain seemed to apply the same way and they look the same and so far don't seem any different from the ones she suffered more over with all the extra prepping.

Next she rolled on a mixture of oil based gel stains like this one. She thinks it was Min-Wax brand she used and it was a mixture of the two darkest brown colors she could get, one had a red tint to it. She used an ice cream bucket with a lid to combine the two cans of gel stain in. She used the foam rollers you can find at the dollar store (sometimes) to roll on so that way she didn't feel bad about tossing it. I know it's not the "green" thing to do but have you had to clean up oil based paint? It's a pain!

The gel paint is a bit tricky to use. if you roll it too much, you pick up the coat of paint you already rolled on. She used a foam brush to dab on little spots that were bare. Even though it is a stain she didn't wipe it off like you usually do with stains. She left it on exactly as it rolled on. She wanted to see some of the wood grain but not enough to look like she had used a stain. She wanted it somewhere in between the look of a stain versus the look of painted wood. Because she left it on thick it took 24 hours at least to dry. She applied an average of two coats just to get the color even. After everything was dry, she took a small can of ebony or black regular oil stain. She scooped out some of her mixture of gel stains into another small plastic throw-away container with a lid (maybe a cup or two???) She added a little bit of black oil liquid stain at a time to darken it to almost black. With piece of old T-shirt she wiped this mixture on, mostly in the recessed areas like antiquing to give it a little more depth and shadow there. Also along the edges. She found that if she got too much black, she could wipe it off or if it was still too black, she would go back to the original gel mixture and add more of that. She did this repeatedly until she got just the right depth of color and shading.

After everything was dry, she wiped thin coats of oil based Polyurethane mixed with some thinner (about 4:1 mixture maybe). She didn't like using the full strength Polyurethane because it was too shiny, even though she got the satin sheen. She found that wiping it off eliminated stroke marks as well. She had to do 3 to 4 coats or more but it went really fast. Some probably had more coats in an attempt to equal out the shine. Next, my Dad rehung all the cabinetry and added all the hardware.

A warning though, she has found little dings here and there on her cabinets but you can just do a little touch up. That's why she keeps small containers of both the original gel mixture and the blackened mixture in a kitchen drawer. Every few weeks she does touch-ups here and there. She now has found an even easier way to do touch-ups. Because her cabinets are a mixture of colors including the black she can get away with using a black sharpie for touch ups! Yes, that's right, a sharpie! She just dabs it on the nicked spot and then blends it with her finger. If it were a large area than she'd use the original paint but usually it's just tiny nicks. She probably doesn't have as many dings as someone with small children who'd be driving trucks and swinging toys into the cabinetry.

Next up The Faux Granite

The box store paint employees told my mom that faux painting counters could not be done, especially with acrylic craft paint and not to bother trying it. There are even some kits you can purchase with "special" paint but it's really all the same technique. She decided it was risky to try, but if it didn't work out she was willing to replace her counter tops and cabinet doors anyway so nothing would be lost but time and the cost of supplies if it didn't work out. It's been a few months now and so far no regrets at all!!!

See this post to get all the steps for painting faux granite. I would suggest practicing on something. My mom practiced everything on her laundry room cabinets and counter and that is how she discovered she didn't like using the oil-based polyurethane because they went very yellow. If you don't have a laundry room to practice in, maybe you have a small bathroom counter and cabinets. She used wipe on water-based polyacrylic and as I said before she did about 10 coats to protect it. It was a definite pain, trying to get the foam "brush" strokes out and she finally had to give up and live with it in a few areas. Another thing I forgot to mention is, don't ever put anything hot directly on your counters. It will leave marks. She always makes sure to use a hot pad or trivet. She had to do that with the old counter to avoid marks so it's nothing new. She did end up with one "ring" where someone put a hot pan directly onto the counter. She still hasn't had any regrets and is enjoying a completely different look for not a lot of money.

There. Did you make it? I think I've answered all the questions I received but if I missed any then you can leave them in the comments below and if you have any helpful links you can also share those as well. Hopefully this helps someone. Good luck!

Hutch Makeover

2011-01-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the other part of my mom's kitchen redo that I showed you yesterday. This wall is on the other side of the kitchen that you didn't see.

Here is the BEFORE... and here is the AFTER...

The power of paint amazes me every time! I think it looks so much more modern. She painted the wall a rusty red with a satin finish and gave the hutch a makeover as well.

She used tintable primer instead of paint like what she used on her counter tops. Then she used some brown antiquing gel over the whole thing (It was Delta brand and it's just the cheap stuff found at craft stores in the little bottles). To apply the antiquing gel she wiped some on with a sponge and then wiped it off until you have the coverage you want.

She replaced the hardware with some of the same drawer pulls as her cabinets. Like before, they used to be brass. She spray painted them a flat black color and then added some of the same brown antiquing gel on top that she used for the hutch. This gave it the look of oil rubbed bronze. She decided to leave off one of the doors to give the hutch a different look and then she put in some wicker baskets that she found and spray painted brown. I don't think I have ever have thought about spray painting baskets but why couldn't you? They look great!

There you have it. Didn't she do a great job? I will be linking to some of these places.

$250 Kitchen Makeover with $20 Granite Countertops...Faux Real!

2011-01-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

I'm finally showing you guys... Here is my mom's $250.00 kitchen makeover! It was actually more like $200 but I'm sure there are some expenses in there we forgot so we'll say $250. Once again I couldn't find a good before picture so you'll just get to see my cute nephews again for the before shot. They are obviously dying Easter eggs in the picture...so forgive the mess and the semi crossed eyes.

The before. Notice the yellow oak cabinets, brass drawer pulls and stark white counters.

The after...

Ta da! Love it! It was hard to get a good straight on picture at this time of the day with all of those windows. I can't believe what a difference $250 and some elbow grease can make.

Here's a few more angles...

And some more (this picture was taken on a different day and won't enlarge for some reason)...

and another...

Nice huh? Wanna know how she did it?

First up were the cabinets. She hated the yellow oak that she had and wanted something dark which her kitchen certainly can handle with how much natural light there is. All of the main living area is entirely surrounded by stacks of windows. I love it!

She used a blackish/redish/brown mixture of oil based, gel stain on the cabinets. Sorry, I don't know what color specifically because she mixed them herself and doesn't have the original containers but any oil based gel stain should do. I think she got it perfect. She didn't want them to look painted she wanted to still be able to see the wood grain running through. Which she definitely achieved. Next she changed out all the hardware which that alone can cost more than $250.00 for a kitchen this size, but she hit the jack pot. The chunky drawer pulls were found at Lowe's for 50 cents each. They were originally an ugly brass color and she just spray painted over them with a hammered nickel color by Rustoleum and the round knobs were found on KSL classifieds for cheap. Another good place to look for inexpensive drawer pulls is ebay.

I'm sure you figured out that the countertops are faux granite. I didn't even know such a thing existed until my mom told me she was going to paint her countertops and I thought she was crazy! They look really good and they are a whole lot cheaper than the real thing. She said she had nothing to lose by painting the counter tops because that's how much she didn't like them before. You would be shocked by how easy and quick they were to do.

Here's a before of the countertop. Just plain white...

and the after...

$20.00 Granite....Faux Real people ( haha, I am so clever...just kidding ;0)

I helped for about 5 minutes on this project so I'll give you my observations of how to do it if you'd like.

What you need...

water based, tintable primer

acrylic paint in a variety of shades (I think she actually used 6 different colors)

polyacrilic

a sea sponge

a cheap paintbrush (you know the kind that has like 10 bristles and comes in kids paint by number books)

Painters tape

Paint roller (the ones you find at the dollar store work great, the kind without all the fur)

Lightly sand the counter top. Wash and dry. Tape off the countertop. Roll on your tintable primer. This is your base coat. Let it dry.

Get your sea sponge wet and start dabbing into your first acrylic paint and start going at it....

There is no rhyme or reason...really. Just dab the sea sponge all over. I was nervous to mess up her counter and to prove that I couldn't mess it up my mom continued to paint when the power went out! Luckily, it was only out for a couple minutes. Every now and again she'd grab the cheap paint brush (the bristles were all bent and it was dry) and she'd dab some paint on with that, just to give it some straight edge looking blobs.

She didn't really let the paint dry much between coats. She would work from one end to the other and once she worked her way to one side, she would start on with another color immediately and repeated that with all the colors. After she did a layer of each color she would go back and add more of whatever color she wanted to emphasize. She then let it all dry and the last step was to apply lots and lots of Polyacrylic to protect it. You don't want to use Polyurethane because it will turn yellow. I think she applied like 10 coats of polyacrylic. I know that sounds like it would take forever, but it goes on very fast and drys really fast I don't think she spent more than a few hours combined on all the coutertops (not including drying time of course). Those cabinets however are another story. I went to visit for the weekend so we could paint her cabinets and get it all done in a weekend...that was a joke! Do you see how many cabinets there are? That was definitely not a weekend project unless you have a small army to help you.

You do need to let the paint cure. She didn't use the counters for a while. It has now been about 2 months and they have held up perfect! No chips or scratching. Not a bad transformation for the money? Next up she wants to find a new chair for the desk to redo. She's been on the hunt but hasn't found the perfect one yet. She also found a nice huge faucet she still needs to install and eventually she'd like a stainless steel fridge, anyone want to donate? Just kidding. I'll be linking to some of these places. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you a hutch she transformed as well!

More Sassy Pants and Headbands

2011-01-16T01:21:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things I 've been making lately...when McKinley let's me ;0)! I don't know how so many bloggers out there both make something everyday and blog about it everyday, that certainly isn't me! I don't think I'd ever get to sleep if I did that.

These aren't anything new, just different fabric combinations. I hope you like them because I loooove them! They are all available in my shop.

And more headbands or they can be clips or whatever you want, in all sorts of colors.

Ok, enough of that. I know those of you who are following my blog are most likely people like me who like to make stuff yourself instead of buying it, but I just thought I would share what I made because I love how they turned out! Those pants with the pink cuffs are my favorite!

Oh and sorry about all the random "published for a second" posts yesterday that those of you following me may have seen. I didn't mean to press publish, let alone press publish multiple times! I will show you that kitchen makeover tomorrow or Tuesday, so as Jimmy Fallon says, "Come on back!"

Mmmm...Chililicious

2011-01-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

Before everyone breaks their New Year's Resolution to eat healthier (or have you already?) I thought I'd supply you with a good and healthy recipe. Jason's Chililicious by Cathy Zieskle should do the trick. I used to not like beans but now I do and they're so good for you, so you better learn to like them too! Just kidding. Get the recipe here.

The only thing I do different is use more chicken broth and I haven't tried adding the Coriander it calls for because when I went to the store to get some it was like $6.00 for a tiny, little bottle so I couldn't bring myself to buying it (yes, I'm cheap in case you didn't know) and I still liked it, so I kind of forgot about it. Make sure you have some fresh limes to squeeze on top. That's my favorite!

Doll Cradle Blanket

2011-01-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

Here is yet another thing made by my crafty mother. She made it for my niece. She found this little cradle on KSL. Isn't it cute? She made the blanket inside. It is made from scraps from a quilt that my sister-in-law is making for her girls so the cradle will match their room. I'll have to show that to you too. I love all the vibrant colors.

My mom makes the quilt a "cheater" way so you don't have to cut all those tiny squares. I'll have to share with you how she does it sometime.

One of these days you'll see something made by me. I've made some stuff but haven't gotten around to taking pictures. Kinley has started only taking one nap a day and it's a short one, so there isn't as much time for crafting as I had before. Instead I've been chasing a toddler around. She can get into trouble quick! Last week I was drying my hair while she played and when I came out of the bathroom I found her with my makeup and she had put it all over her entire face! She was very proud of herself. It was too cute! If only I thought to take a picture!

Jean Quilt

2011-01-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

My sister made this quilt for my brother and his family for Christmas. I love these quilts! They're made up of everybody's old jeans and nice comfy flanel. Our family had one growing up that my Aunt had made. It was the most fought over quilt when we would go camping or sleep out on the trampoline. They are nice and heavy and warm. I love them. My sister filled all the pockets with toys and surprises for their girls. Another fun thing she did was give them the twelve days of Christmas books. The kids get to unwrap a new Christmas book each night to read. In our family we rotate which sibling we get gifts for and next year my sister has my family so I'm sending out a big fat hint to my sister right now and saying that I love that gift! Was that a big enough hint?

McKinley's Rockin Rocking Chair & Other Cute Stuff

2011-01-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

My parents gave this to McKinley for Christmas. I love it! My mom got a plain wood rocking chair at Michael's for 60% off and painted it white to match the rest of her nursery and made that adorable flower petal cushion to go along with her garden room.

I love it. McKinley also got this cute pillow made by my Grandma...

It says,"Like star dust glistening on fairies wings little girls are made of magical things". The back has this fun, shimmery fabric. The pillow fits perfectly on her chair.

Another fun touch my mom added to the chair is one of those tiny musical button things (I don't know what they're called), you know the kind that is put in stuffed animals. She glued it under the arm rest so Kin has herself a secret music button. She hasn't quite figured it out yet because the button is so small and kind of hidden but whenever she hears the music she does a little dance too it.

Here she is modeling the Christmas pajamas I made her while she reads some sort of fascinating story. I think she loves the new seat. I wish you all could hear her jabber like crazy while she's "reading". If only I knew what she was saying.

Matt's mom made Kin an adorable, squishable, bunny blanket.

McKinley loves to hug it. She thinks it's a baby and packs it around.

Thanks for all the adorable gifts! I'll be back tomorrow to show you some other good stuff!

I'm Back...and My Favorite Projects of 2010

2011-01-03T01:40:00.000-08:00

I'm back! I love when blogs do a favorite's post at the end of the year because I don't see every post that everyone does and I get to find a lot of fun projects that I didn't see before so I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

I love how McKinley's nursery turned out, it was technically done in 2009 but oh well! I'm afraid I can't claim most of the work. My little stinker, McKinley, was born super early so I didn't have a chance to do much before she surprised us with her unexpected early appearance, luckily my mom and sister came to the rescue (because you know I couldn't possibly live without having a cute nursery!) ;0)

I loved this ruffly skirt made from an old t-shirt...too bad kids grow so fast, this has been too small for a long time!

These necklaces were quick, easy and cheap. Just my kind of crafting!

What little girl doesn't love a doll to squeeze?

You can't have too many accessories...right?

I love my dollar store painted frame holding a flower from my wedding bouquet.

I loved learning how to shir on this little dress. It made me shirrr crazy!

Easy and cute hair accessory organizer.

I had to throw in a recipe here. This is a good one. I don't think I ever cared what my syrup tasted like until I had Buttermilk Syrup...yummy! Believe me. You are going to be sorely disappointed with your bottled stuff from this point forward.

Sweet little, I scream for Ice cream onesie and matching hair clips.

This project was one of the most fun. I loved planning McKinley's first birthday party. So fun!

Thank you to everyone who visits my crazy little blog! My camera is fixed and I should be back in business again. I ran out of time and only got around to making one handmade gift this year and didn't even get a picture of it since I didn't have a camera. My family however, made some incredibly cute things that I'll have to share with you tomorrow. I also have all the pictures I needed to show you of my mom's kitchen redo so you should see that soon. I have a crafty to-do list a mile long and a garage full of junky furniture to redo so hopefully you'll stick around for the ride and maybe I'll actually get some stuff done!

A Question, Broken Camera, and Almond Roca Cookie Bars

2010-12-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

I have a quick question. Whenever I check my blog, 99.9% of the time I am on my laptop and the blog layout looks fine to me but last week I was on someone else's computer checking my blog and the layout was all over the place. Everything on my sidebar was at the bottom of the page. Is that how it looks to you? If so what web browser do you use? I use Mozilla and I noticed the two other computers I was on use Internet Explorer. I'm just curious if the type of web browser had anything to do with it.

Another thing...I kind of feel like throwing a fit (is that allowed at 25?). McKinley broke my camera! I just bought it this summer. It was my own fault for letting her play with it. It was just a point and shoot camera, but it was a relatively nice point and shoot. Oh well, what's done is done. I just don't feel like buying a third camera this year!

Onto the good stuff (with the terrible cell phone picture)....Almond Roca Cookie Bars!

My mom would make these around Christmas time and they were my favorite holiday treat. The best part is they are easy to make! I hope you like them.

Almond Roca Cookie Bars

1 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 beaten egg yolk

2 c. flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

chocolate chips

crushed almonds or walnuts

Cream together butter and sugars, mix everything else in but chocolate chips and nuts. Press onto a greased cookie sheet (it will be a very thin layer and the dough consistency will be similar to play dough). Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until golden. Pull out of the oven and while it's still semi hot sprinkle on chocolate chips, it doesn't take that much (maybe 1/2 a bag). As the chips melt spread them with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle on nuts. Let cool and cut into bars. Enjoy!

Since I am busy and camera-less I think I am going to have to say Merry Christmas already! I hope it's a good one for you. See you after the holiday!

Christmas Braided Rosette Tutorial

2010-12-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

I actually made this a few months ago but I decided it screamed Christmas to me and so I saved it for now. So in case you were wondering...no, I didn't make McKinley sit outside in capris and a t-shirt in the middle of December! ;0)

Supplies:

-knit fabric

-felt scraps

-3/8" ribbon

-alligator clip

-pearls or other embellishments (optional)

-hot glue gun

1-Take 3 strips of knit fabric about 1/2" wide and however long you'd like the longer it is the bigger the rosette (I guess that's obvious). For my fabric I used an XXXL shirt I got at Walmart on clearance for $1.00....score! It's a great way to get fabric for cheap!

2-Stretch the fabric so the ends curl up. Tie it in a knot at the end.

3-Braid it together and tie a knot on the end.

4-Cut off the unbraided ends close to the knot. Take a small square of felt put a large dot of hot glue. Quickly, coil up the braid and stick it right onto the hot glue.

5-Keep winding the fabric around, gluing as you go.

6-When you near the end of your braid, trim the felt to right up against the rosette.

7-Hot glue the last bit of braid.

8-Glue the end to the back of your rosette.

9-This pictures just shows that I obviously just took to many unessecary pictures for such a simple project!
10-If you want a "leaf" glue together the ends of a small piece of ribbon.
11-Glue to the back of your rosette. Glue a small circle of felt on top of that to cover up your mess.
12-Attach to to a covered alligator clip (see my other tutorial HERE for tips) and you can be done if you'd like or...

add some pearls!

Now all you need to do is attach it to a cute little lady!

If you want one but don't want to make one yourself, you can purchase one in my shop, just look to your right. I will be linking to a few of these places. Check them out for more fun ideas.

Did you notice?

2010-12-08T02:10:00.000-08:00

Did you notice to my right? I finally did it. I finally opened a shop! I need to support my crazy crafting habit somehow. I thought I better hurry up and do it because I made Christmas pajamas to sell and I don't think anyone will want them if I had waited until after Christmas to do it! ;o)

So as a big thank you to everyone who visits my silly blog and leaves nice comments and everything I wanted to offer you a 15% discount on anything in the shop until December 15th, just enter the promo code POSIES. Here's some of the things you will find...

and there will be lots more of these little things as well...

some candy cane striped ones...

and of course lots of flat out girly ones...

they're not your average pants...they have ruffles! Everything is better with ruffles!

I have a lot more to add to the shop that is already made but I still need to take pictures and upload them. I decided all those Etsy sellers earn every penny they get. By the time you go pick out fabric, make the thing, take pictures, load it to Etsy and once it sells box it up and mail it off, I think I will have made more money per hour back in my babysitting days! Ha ha! Just kidding...kind of. :o) Even with all that said I am super excited!

Thanks for all your support!

Don't forget your 15% off code. Go take a peek at the shop HERE.

Ok, it's wayyyyy past my bedtime! Until next time.

Homemade Doughnuts

2010-12-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from our family cookbook from my Aunt Carol. It's their family tradition to make doughnuts on the first snowfall every year. I have been wanting to create some family traditions of my own, so I thought I would adopt theirs and try it out. My sister tried them and loved them and I am so glad I did too, because they are delicious!

These have a wonderful texture and I am guessing it comes from the potato flakes they have in them. I know... potato flakes in doughnuts? Strange, but good.

Homemade Doughnuts

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup instant potato flakes

2/3 cup instant powdered milk

2 1/2 cups hot water

1 Tbsp. Yeast

2 eggs, beaten

5 1/2-6 cups flour

cooking oil

In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, salt, potato flakes and powdered milk. Pour in hot water. Sprinkle in yeast over top and allow to get foamy. Mix in beaten eggs. Mix in flour (just enough to make a stiff dough). Cover bowl with clean towel and let rise until doubled in size. When it's double in size punch it down. Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Roll out dough onto a well floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out with doughnut cutter or do like I did and find things to use as a doughnut cutter like these....

an ice cream sundae cup and a baby bottle for the hole! It worked perfect!

Let dough rise again uncovered.

Heat cooking oil to about 375 degrees. I happen to have an electric deep skillet and it tells me exactly what temperature it is, but you can just use a pan on the stove. You can test to see if the oil is hot enough by dropping in a small amount of dough. It should float if it's ready and should brown in about 60 seconds.

Only fry 2 doughnuts at a time. Fry in hot oil until golden on both sides, turning once.

I would suggest doing a test run with your first doughnut to make sure you are cooking them how you like them. I didn't really do this at first and so the first few doughnuts weren't cooked to my liking as you can see below some of them were kind of burned! If the oil is too hot they will be doughy on the inside, if the oil temperature is too low than they can be really greasy.

When the doughnut is golden on both sides, take it out with some tongs and allow the excess oil to drain back into the skillet. Place on a plate with several layers of paper towels underneath to help soak up the extra oil.

Now for the fun part...icing the doughnuts. You can frost them however you would like. We made a vanilla glaze, chocolate frosting, and also added some toasted coconut on some and sprinkles on the others...yummy! The vanilla glaze recipe came from my Aunt and the chocolate frosting I think I found from allrecipes.com. Both recipes couldn't be more simple.

Chocolate Satin Frosting

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

6 tbsp. buttter

1/2 tsp. vanilla.

I just put everything in a pyrex bowl (big enough to dunk the doughnuts in) and microwaved it in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until it was smooth...easy, easy, easy!

Vanilla Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and pour over doughnuts. Easy, easy, easy!

I'm all about making food look pretty if I can. I know, I'm crazy and if you are crazy like me then make sure you just dunk your doughnuts into the chocolate frosting rather than using a knife to spread it on so you have that pretty smooth finish! :)

Once the chocolate cooled a bit I then dunked them into a pile of toasted coconut. If you want sprinkles then add it while it's still warm so they'll stick.

ooooh doughnuts....

The vanilla glaze I just poured over top. I am usually a chocolate girl but I think these were actually my favorite! So simple but so good!

Aren't they pretty? These would be fun to make them for the neighbors and take them over while they're still warm. It's a good thing the first snowfall only happens once a year otherwise these things could be lethal. I believe in all things in moderation....including doughnuts!

I'll be linking to some of these places. Check them out for more fun ideas.

Wordle Subway Art

2010-12-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

Have you discovered Wordle? It's a website where you can make subway art for free and you don't have to be all tech savvy or anything to use it? I made this one in a couple minutes. I'm not actually going to use this one for anything, but I just wanted to try it out.

This website would be perfect if you're into Subway art for seasonal decorating. Wouldn't it be fun to make a Christmas themed one and put it in a frame?

Make sure you check out the FAQ section before you do it. It explains how to make one word larger than the other and how to save it. It's super simple....SWEET!

Christmas Card

2010-12-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a Christmas card I made last year. It's almost embarrassing to post cards on here because I am not into scrapbooking at all, so mine are never anything too fancy compared to some of the one's you see out there. I did however break down and buy a stamp and some glitter stuff (what's that stuff called, embossing?) for this one because I couldn't resist the thought of a sparkly snowflake!

I just can't get into scrapbooking. If I scrapbooked, I think it would take me all day to make one page and I would spend a small fortune on each page so I just don't do it!

I'm hoping to make a few more cards this year to make up for my lack of handmade gifts. I know, can you believe it? I have a craft blog and I am not going wild with making everybody something handmade. Hopefully a few things will get done at least...we'll see.

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

2010-11-30T23:23:00.000-08:00

I love these things! I think they are surprisingly delicious. I make them to take to parties and things around this time of year and I think everyone passes by them thinking they are plain old almonds but once they taste them they are always surprised and love them! Without fail someone asks for the recipe. They remind me of the nuts they sell in the mall around Christmas time. I buy my almonds in bulk at Costco because I know we will be making lots of these at this time of the year. The best part about them is they are quick to make. My oven takes ten minutes to preheat and in that amount of time I can have these ready for the oven from start to finish! The original recipe came from allrecipes.com but I made changes to just about everything it calls for and added more ingredients as well. I hope you love them like I do!

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

1 egg white

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups whole almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly beat egg white, add vanilla and beat until soft peaks form. Add nuts and stir until well coated. In a gallon size zip-lock bag shake together (you may want to seal the bag first :o) the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well mixed. Add almonds and seal bag again and shake up until the almonds are all coated. Spread almonds evenly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I cover my pan in tin foil first and then grease it so there is no clean up!) . Bake for one hour stirring every fifteen minutes or so.

These make great neighbor gifts because they're something a little different. I used plastic icing bags and filled them up and tied them off with a ribbon and they're the perfect size. Not too much and not so little that you look cheap! Ha ha. Tell me if you try them because I know you will love them!

I will be linking up to some of these places. Check them out for more fun ideas!

Origami Gift Box

2010-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is a little gift box I made last year. It just takes two, 12x12 sheets of paper and a little cardstock and some ribbon to finish it off! It's the perfect size to to store homemade caramels or something yummy. Go here for the tutorial!

I will be linking up to some of these places check them out for more fun ideas.

Christmas Elf Stockings

2010-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Image Source

McKinley doesn't have a Christmas stocking and I want to make her one this year. I found this tutorial for these elf stockings from Sew 4 Home and I think it would be perfect! I want to make it shorter and fatter and add a jingle bell to the toe. Sew 4 Home also just posted a tutorial for these stockings...

Image Source

I love the pom poms! You can find the tutorial here. Which do you like better? Why is it that I feel like I have already ran out of time to start projects like this when we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet?

Now, all I need is a mantle to hang them! Maybe I will just have to build one like Mandi did (umm yeah, that's not going to happen, but it would be nice ;0). Check it out here and while you are there check out her other amazing projects! I love the wall of mirrors.

Buttermilk Syrup

2010-11-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from my sister, who I believe got it from our cousin, who got it from her piano teacher, Did you follow that? This was once one of those "secret" recipes that the teacher wouldn't give out but she would make it for you if you wanted some. The secret's out now! This syrup is very rich and has a caramel taste to it, so much so, that I think it should be called caramel syrup instead of buttermilk syrup.

I will warn you though, I would save this recipe for special occasions, otherwise you are going to be making it every weekend and end up packing on some major pounds! I made them to go with these pancakes and it was good, almost too good. I could have licked my plate clean!

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk (see substitute below)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium sized saucepan (make sure it's not too small, the syrup expands when you add the baking soda) combine butter, sugar and buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, you can use a substitute by filling a measuring cup with a 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and fill to the 1/2 cup mark with regular milk). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla, baking soda and salt. For a thicker more caramel like syrup, before removing from heat, continue to boil until you get the desired consistency. Serve and enjoy!

I will be linking to some of these places, go check them out!

Meet Sally

2010-11-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

She arrived on my doorstep a couple days ago and I can't wait to make her part of the family! I had been borrowing my mom's serger to make all those pants, but I don't need to steal hers anymore! I am super excited. It's nothing fancy. It's the Brother 1034D and they are really quite inexpensive as far as sergers go, but I'm still in love!

P.S. I will show you that kitchen makeover I promised, I just need to get some pictures first!