Tales of Domestica

Wool Arm Warmers Tutorial

2012-01-25T11:29:00.001-07:00

I showed you how to take a shrunken wool sweater and make it into a sweater vest Here: (Re-Fashioned Sweater Vest). Now we are going to use the arms of the shrunken vest to make trendy arm warmers. Arm Warmers: 1- Cut the sleeves off of a felted wool sweater. If you do not use a felted wool sweater you will risk the tragedy of having your arm warmers unravel. You could always hem the ends

Re-fashioned Wool Sweater to Sweater Vest Tutorial

2012-01-25T10:57:00.001-07:00

Well that day has finally come. I am officially the aunt who gives her niece a crazy Christmas sweater. I had this sweater from my collection of sweaters that I have been wanting to do something with. Since the sweater is felted and has shrunk significantly I wanted to make it into a sweater vest for my niece who is 15. Here are the steps: 1. Cut off the sleeves, leaving a cap sleeve on

DIY Canvas Photos Helpful Hints

2012-01-12T12:24:00.001-07:00

I was introduced to producing your own handcrafted canvas photos through Pinterest. I have done several and they have all been so fun to hang in my home and give as gifts. There are some awesome tutorials out there for doing this, so I am not going to write a complete tutorial, but here are some helpful hints:-If you want the photo to “pop” paint the sides of the canvas. I prefer black for

Grandma's Baby Blocks

2012-01-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

I had a crafty idea up my sleeve for my mom’s Christmas present. I call them baby blocks. I hosted a cousin sleep over party over the Christmas break and had all the local cousins spend the night and do a craft for grandma. Each child brought a newborn picture of themselves and their favorite color of acrylic paint. I cut a 2x4 in to square blocks (or semi-square, with my dinky

Spinach Kiwi Salad

2011-12-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

In the summer I love to make strawberry spinach salad. I wanted to make this salad and checked out the strawberries at the store the other day, the price was sky high and they didn’t even look good. I decided it was time to mix things up. Spinach Kiwi Salad Bag of spinach 2 kiwis sliced 1 orange sliced ¼ cup canola oil ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup fresh lemon juice ¼ cup fresh orange juice Place spinach

Chocolate Lovers Trifle Delight

2011-12-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

My husband is a lover of chocolate. He loves it more than even me, and I am rather fond of the substance (unless I am pregnant, then I loath the stuff and it makes me sicker than a dog). The hubs birthday was last week, Christmas Eve to be exact. We celebrated by going to Chuck E. Cheese and let the cousins run wild, we had a great time. After our pizza lunch we indulged in this beauty! Super

Candy Cane Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-12-29T21:42:00.001-07:00

I found this recipe and I have wanted to try it out: Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. I am swearing off sugar and all goodies of the sweet nature for the month of January so I had to get these made before then. They are as yummy as the reviewers said! I had some left over crushed candy cane on my counter top from the holidays so I decided to dip the dough in the candy cane. Let me tell you it

Ham and Spinach Farfalle

2011-12-29T21:34:00.001-07:00

I found this recipe via pinterest and adapted it from here. As I do with most of my cooking, I made several changes based on what I had in the house. Turned out delicious and all who tasted, approved. I used left over Christmas ham (it was delish!) Ham and Spinach Farfalle (bow tie pasta) 1 box of farfalle pasta (bow tie) Olive oil spray ½ small onion diced 2 cloves diced garlic 1 cup

Grandpa Crafts

2011-12-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

My dad is in town for the holidays from Arizona. He is staying at my sisters house and they are doing a secret Santa gift exchange. The gifts have to be home made. He asked me if I had any craft ideas he could do for his secret santa. Why yes, I do! I got him crafting right away. He was proud of his finished project. I can’t show you what he made, because it is a Christmas secret. I just

Thrifty DIY Christmas Gift: Metal Decorative Chalkboard Tutorial

2011-12-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

Another simple quick gift! Supplies: -metal tray or a plate-chalk board spray paint-painters tape-1” ribbon-hot glue gun and glue sticks-chalk Tape off your edges and cover with newspaper any surface you don’t want dirty. Find a well ventilated area and evenly spray the future writing surface. Allow to dry and then apply a second layer of chalk board paint. Since it is so cold in my garage I

Peppermint Chex Mix

2011-12-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

I made this to deliver to neighbors. All I can say is YUM!!! I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on A Thrifty Mom.com Peppermint Chex Mix 14 cups of Chex (I used Corn Chex and a bit of Crispix) 1 cup raw sunflower seeds 1 cup shredded coconut 1 cup sugar 1 cup light corn syrup ¾ cup butter 1 cup crushed candy cane Sprinkles to add a little festivity In a large bowl combine cereal,

Easy Budget Friendly Christmas Gifts: Magnetic Nativity

2011-12-19T01:06:00.001-07:00

This is a simple project you could do with your kids. Supplies: -Magnetic sheets (I found these at most craft stores) -Modge podge -Nativity stickers (I had a hard time finding them initially. I ended up buying them off of Oriental Trading) This crafty gift is pretty much self explanatory. Take your stickers place them closely together on the magnetic sheet and then before you cut them out,

Christmas Miracles

2011-12-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

A good part of this year, my kitchen was in shambles. Over the summer we lived with out a dishwasher and oven. On the same day, way back in May, my dishwasher started doing funky things and quit working and my oven blew up, literally. I saw it with my own eyes as I as attempting to cook dinner. (Read about my bad day here.) When our fridge quit on us in August, I decided it was time to pull

Un-decorating The Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Christmas is on its way and it has been fun to get things ready with the kids. Today I learned that Lil’Bean is able to climb up on to the chair in the living room. I have attempted to keep him out of the living room. I have two gates and both have failed to keeps the kids away from the tree. One broke, the other won’t stay up. This is what I found this morning. My climbing one year old and

Easy, Budget Friendly Christmas Gifts: DIY Lip Gloss

2011-12-09T16:40:00.001-07:00

Mandrine Orange Lip Gloss Pinterest, Pinterest, oh my love. I have had so much fun browsing Pinterest. It actually has got me motivated to try more and more things. I cook new things more often, I craft and sew more and I am pretty sure I can give Pinterest the credit for my re-found love of crafting. Here is a link to my Pinterest page. Through Pinterest I stumbled across this awesome

Peanut Clusters

2011-12-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

The holiday season is in full swing. My tree is up and the Nativity is out. It also means time to make goodies for goodie plates. I have had a package of Hershey Bars around for far too long and it I decided to put them to good use. Here is a simple, simple way to make peanut clusters! Two ingredients, that is it! Peanut Clusters (Correction 1 1/2 C. Roasted Peanuts) ½ C.

If I Were to Catch Up: November Edition....

2011-11-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

Again, here we go, if I were to catch up on blogging, here is Novembers list! Please keep reading to get October, September and August!! November: -Lil’Bean the Climber -Lil’Bean the Composer -Mirror Transformation -It is a Monkey Circus Birthday (Prep) Bunting, poms, Monkey Cake, Monkey Cupcakes, Candy Jars, and 1 shirt -Happy 1st Birthday Lil’Bean!! My Sweet Little Monkey Boy! From Preemie to

If I Were to Catch Up: October Edition....

2011-11-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

If I were to continue to catch up on my blog here are October’s highlights! A wonderful busy, crazy month!! October: -Cute Little Bronco Boy -Drunk by Suckers -Chalkboard Message Tutorial -Canning BBQ Sauce -Canning Lime Salsa -Canning Apple Pie Filling -Magnetic Nativity -Super Saturday Fun!! -Fine Motor Fun -Fun With Brudder! -Yummy Apple Cake -Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Icing -The

If I Were to Catch Up: September Edition....

2011-11-12T23:07:00.001-07:00

If I were to catch up on my blog this is what I might post about for September!! September: -Freezing Corn Tutorial -Canning Peaches -Appliances on the Fritz, Repaired! -Lentil Burgers -FHE at the Splash Pad -Apples and Pears and Popsicles Oh My! -Bulgogi (Korean Beef) Yumm!! -Musical Seating -The New Minivan Mom On the Block! -Lil’Miss, The Explorer -Benzuki For Sale! -Lil’Miss The Sorter,

If I Were to Catch Up: August Edition....

2011-11-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been in a blogging slump. I have had dozens of awesome things happen over the past couple of months that I would love to documents here on this blog. I just have so many things; I don’t know where to begin. So if I don’t ever get to posting about all this goodness here is my list…. If I were to blog and catch up on things, here are the titles of my catch up list starting with August:

Salsa Fresca.... yummm!!

2011-09-27T12:18:00.000-06:00

My garden didn’t turn out, but I have generous friends from church who have shared their bounty. Last week I made the most delicious fresh salsa. Salsa is fun because you can use what ever you have on hand. I didn’t have enough to bother canning a batch so I shared some and ate the rest on pretty much everything we made last week. Here is the low down… Gather These Roast These

The Not So Fruitful Garden

2011-09-20T12:20:00.000-06:00

I planted a garden twice this year. Round one with seeds was a complete fail. I had some peas sprout, but they were quickly eaten away by bugs. I am guessing the culprit was earwigs, those nasty bugs are such a pest. It actually could have been ants or pill bugs too, they have given me garden problems in the past. I had some other plants sprout: lettuce, carrots and broccoli but no more than a

Developmental Update: Lil'Miss 29 Months Lil'Bean 10 Months

2011-09-20T11:49:00.000-06:00

This month has gotten away from me. I am usually pretty good about posting a developmental update of my kiddos. It completely slipped my mind, needless to say life has been busy and time is flying faster than I can count. Lil’Bean is 10 months old, he is a busy little guy who likes to be on the move. He is cruising around the furniture proficiently. His favorite mode of getting around is army

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

2011-08-25T09:20:00.000-06:00

It is not too late to make strawberry jam. I saw strawberries on sale just last week! I made this batch earlier this summer. I made two different recipes. The first batch was a simple, simple recipe: Fresh from the garden! Rhubarb Strawberry Jam: adapted from Allrecipies.com 5 cups chopped fresh rhubarb 3 cups white sugar 1 (3 ounce) package of strawberry flavored gelatin 2 cups

Is It Bad....

2011-08-25T09:11:00.000-06:00

Is it bad… That I purposely killed my spider plants so I can use the pot for something else?? Let me tell you, spider plants are really hard to kill. I have had these plants for 6+ years and I haven’t taken the best care of them. They were doing great until I quit watering them a couple of months ago. Actually I was tired to Lil’Miss pulling at the plants and having them crashing down. Lil’