I want this...

bad.

I found it here but I'm sure there is a more direct route straight to the person responsible for this awsomeness.

It would be so hard to choose the combination.

How cute are the birds and bunny?

Swagger Wagon

I don't drive a swagger wagon but dang this is funny.

Smories

Smories are stories for kids read by kids. The kids are so cute and have great accents! My daughter is enamoured by the "big girls." I would love for her to do a Smory herself one day.

Hairbands and boxers

Here are a few things I've done for Pepper lately. The first is a hairband organizer via craftstylish. I put the hard ones on the outside and the fabric/soft ones inside. I chucked the lid as I feel it just one more thing to deal with. Better to keep it simple.

She often wants to be just like big brother and that includes pajamas. B wears boxer briefs to bed and so then does Pepper. I bought a big pack of Hanes. Of course they are in boy colors and she won't have that. Pink is way more exciting! She also complained of them being too long. So, I cut and hemmed them and added a pinkish heart patch on the butt using fabric from my scrap basket. The possibilities are endless with these but I wanted fast and easy. She loves them which means I am thrilled. Plus there is the added bonus of her running around saying "look at my butt!!"

On a side note, check out the blog my mom the style icon. It's tons of fun to browse around.

Lastly and most important, never, and I mean NEVER, use a plastic liner in your crockpot while trying to make plum butter.

Isabel Samaras

How amazing is this artist? A new take on Goldielocks and the 3 bears. This woman is incredibly talented. And to have such an incredible imagination!

And here she is explaining it all.

Rip-off

I just love Garnethill. I just don't love the prices. I like to drink coffee and take a virtual window shopping trip. I always see a lot of Anthropologie rip-offs and even Mini Boden. I think Garnethill is being jipped! We need to rip them off too!!! So here are a few pictures to inspire. My first go is going to be the corsage dress. It seems like a version of the pillowcase dress.

Anyone up for the challenge?

Ties, ties, and more ties

Last week I went thrifting with a friend and her mom. We all found some amazing treasures and among mine was a box of ties. I'm not sure why really but I had to have them. I was so excited to find 8 vintage Hermes in there! The funny thing is that no one in this house wears a tie. My son has never worn a tie and hubbie hasn't worn one since... I have no idea! I don't even like ties on kids. I just find it silly. So I thought I would make a tshirt with a tie. Just because.

Here's the tie I picked out. I had no idea how silk ties wash (and it has to be washable on the smalls) so I washed it. It got a bit crinkly but not in a bad way.

I laid it on the shirt, folded in a "knot", and cut off the excess underneath. I then topstitched around the whole thing twice and done. Easy peasy lemon squeazy. I love fast projects. B thought it was funny. He was so excited when I was finished and was more than happy to try it on for the photo-op but then quickly removed it. For now I'll attribute that to it being hot here. 95 and no a/c.

I think it would be a cute first-day-back-to-school shirt. But it will probably be an off-to-the-playground-and-this-shirt-is-on-the-top-of-the-pile shirt.

Scribbles

So, it's been too long. Way too long. No excuses. I'm sure no one is checking here anymore even.

I am so inspired by blogs and as my husband can attest, I spend way too much time being inspired. I would like to be inspiring. Possible? Maybe.

Here is something I do quite a bit for the smalls (and something I've seen quite a bit on craft blogs). They are incredibly inspiring to me. I just love the drawings they think up. This is one from B. It's an alien-monster. I think the explanations are often better than the actual pictures.

I used lightweight fusible under the shirt and copied the drawing directly onto the shirt with a water soluble pen. I used freemotion stitching on my machine. B loves it.

I have also discovered something. I am much more likely to share a picture from my phone than my camera. This means that you will be seeing phone pictures here quite a bit. Sorry.

Bright Star

I am by no means a movie critic but I saw a movie that was just beautiful and had to share. Bright Star. It's about Keats the poet. The story made me cry even though it was no surprise that he was to die. The acting was wonderful and touching. But... what was really so beautiful were the costumes. The opening of the movie is a super close up of Fanny, Keats love interest, sewing. She makes all her own clothes. I found the movie incredibly inspiring - the detail of the work. There was a crocheted sweater in the beginning of the movie that I would love to make. The color and pattern are amazing. And a wonderful shawl that kept popping up. It looked like granny squares in these super rich colors.

I found a great write up with beautiful screen shots of different outfits. It makes me want to sew! The textures... the colors. I am not a good enough writer to do it justice. All I know is that I would love to dress like that and I hope you find this as interesting as I did.

What happened to February?

Seriously. What the heck happened to it? It started with some stress with B's birthday but really it just flew. I have spent the majority of January and February in a not so healthy state so I'll just blame it on that. And by the way, why do they make Nyquil wrappers so that the people who really need them can't open them? Have you ever tried to open those things while feverish - when you most need it? I had to use a fingernail clipper to crack it open because I was too weak to get it. Pathetic.

So here is B's cake. Char and I make a go of it the night before with some drinks. It's become quite the tradition and we have a great time. It's funny though as we usually only do this for B's cake and not Pepper's. Her birthday is March so maybe we're over cakes by then with my birthday in between. She usually gets cupcakes. I'll have to make more effort this year...

This was my first go at fondant. I've never been interested before but he wanted a trasformer cake. I have been missing out! I used marshmallow fondant and it was easy and tasted good. I will definitely use it again. It was so smooth I just wanted to keep petting the cake as I was putting it together! Sick. I used boxed cake (which I was sorry for but needed the extra time that day) and homemade buttercream icing tinted orange. I searched transformer cakes and used this one as inspiration.

It was a huge success. B actually kissed it when he opened the fridge in the morning and saw it. What can I say... he loves me. Or is just transformers he loves?

It traveled well as the party was at an indoor play place. The kids liked the cake and we ate it all. Even the parents ate some. What was interesting was that the kids seem to either eat all of the fondant and left the cake or they ate the cake and left the fondant.

Acorn Box

These are amazing! I just love how intricate they are. I'm thinking that they would be fun to try to make but I don't think I want to go there. It would be better to get one as a gift I think...

Vintage sheets

I went secondhand shopping before the holidays and found a bunch of vintage sheets. Score! I was really excited to find this many in one place. I don't love the yellow stripy one but then again I don't really care for yellow. My favorite is the orange and pink one but then again I love orange. It even had a pillowcase. Hmmm... Maybe I could make this. The only problem I have is that it's a european sized pillowcase which is square. I'll have to keep looking for great projects.

On a side note, why can't I get my font all the same?!? How frustrating. Just when I think I have the basics figured out about this blog thing something so simple comes along that I can't make work. Sounds like parenting. Ha.

Homemade Marshmallows

I like to make these marshmallows during the holiday season. I think this was my 4th year with this recipe. They are easy and fun to make. Pepper helped me this year along with a friend of hers. We had a good time! Everyone who tastes these says 2 things. The first is always "I didn't know you could make marshmallows" and the other is always "these are good" like it's shocking that they are good. Really they are way better than store bought.

The all important licking of the beaters.

Little hands helping to cut the block o' mallow.

The bowl full and ready to go into mason jars for giving.

I use the recipe from King Arthur Flour and like them best plain.

3 packages (1/4-ounce each) unflavored gelatin

1 cup (8 ounces) cool water, divided
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup (11 ounces) light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) vanilla extract
crushed peppermint candies, peppermint oil, or espresso powder, all optional
confectioners' sugar, to sprinkle on top

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup cool water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup cool water in a small, deep saucepan. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 240°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.

With mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase the speed to high, and whip until the mixture is very thick and fluffy, and has cooled to lukewarm, 8 to 10 minutes. (It should be cool enough that you can spread it into the pan without burning your fingers.)

Add vanilla towards the end of the mixing time. This is also the time to add a few drops of peppermint oil, if desired, instead of vanilla extract. Or try 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder for a coffee-flavored treat. To use the crushed peppermint candies, which will tint the marshmallow pink and add flavor, stir the candies into the marshmallow mixture, leaving some swirls of plain white.

Spread the marshmallow mixture into a greased 9" x 13" pan (glass or ceramic is best). Use your wet hands to smooth and flatten the marshmallows. Sprinkle confectioners' sugar over the top, and let sit for several hours (or overnight) before cutting. Use a greased knife or cookie cutters to make squares or other shapes. Yield: about 100 1" squares.

Things I've learned:

If in a bit of a rush (or just plain impatient), I'll cool them in the fridge. This works fine and doesn't seem to alter them in any way.

I also don't grease my knife to cut them and I keep a bowl of powdered sugar nearby. The cut shapes go into the bowl a row at a time to get coated then I bash them a bit in a sieve to get rid of the extra sugar. This works great to keep them from sticking together.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Music on my mind

Another one I could listen to over and over. I was surprised that this voice came from this guy. Not expected.

Christmas Market

We went to the Oppenheim Christmas Market last weekend and had a great time! I find that the bigger markets throughout Germany tend to repeat themselves a bit. The same wares sold over and over. Honestly, we tend to go for the food and drink and not so much to buy things. If we find something we love it's a nice extra. Anyway, Oppenheim market is only one weekend a year and is much smaller and more unique. Tons of handmade items and people dressed in period garb. It was advertised as a fairytale market and I agree. We even got snowed on! It was beautiful and magical.

Pepper fell for a felt flower hairband. It had to have pink in it and she had to wear it as a bracelet. I know I can make one but she loved it and we're suckers.

These felt slippers were amazing. They would have been mine if they weren't so darn expensive ($65!!). Everything this vendor had was beautiful felt.

B loved the helmets and had to try them all on.

This booth was amazing. I have seem these ladies before at other fairs and can never get enough. One woman sat knitting and the other was spinning - both in full period garb. The colors are beautiful and so vibrant. They sell hand spun, wool roving, and some finished items.

A cute handmade hen. There was a ladder full of them in different sizes and colors.

There were murals of fairytales along one street. The kids loved them and this one was my favorite.

Tea towel bag

I found this cool tutorial and loved the way it looked. I had jumped on the Orla Kiely/Target bandwagon and had bought a couple of dishtowel sets determined to figure out a bag. Well, I wanted something fast so I thought I would do an unlined version. I loved the end result. It was pretty fast to sew up too!

I did no cutting on the main body (brown) opting to use the exsisting seams to make the unlined inside look more finished. I boxed up the bottom - also no cutting but I sewed the triangle flap up for a bit of detailing. I left the hanging loop intact so it could be used to hang keys or whatever on a loop or small caribiner. I cut up the orange matching towel for the handle and base. The handles were each one strip. I think mine were 3.5" but don't quote me! Then folded in half, seamed, turned inside out, and stitched 1/4" down both long sides to finish. The placement on the bag was pretty random on the first one - just what I thought would feel comfortable and look OK - then I matched the second strap alignment to the first. The bottom was made using the measurements of the bottom that I had created sewing a casing with the rest of the fabric and a strip of cardboard for support.

I am just do happy with it! I made one for my sister for her birthday and gave her a matching mug. This one's for mom for Christmas. Sorry to spoil the surprise! Next up are some made out of vintage dishtowels. I'm happy to not have to cut them up with this method.

Things I learned

:: Don't sweat the measurements. The bag will turn out whether the bottom is 2" or 3" wide. Do what you prefer to suit the use.

Toadstools and hoops

This was done some time ago but I had such fun with it I wanted to share. The background is an old corkboard I covered in muslin and the pins are flat head pins with shrinky-dink toadstools. This was made to showcase sets of earrings and now resides at a friends house.

The earrings were inspired by ravelry. I was looking for a way to jazz the hoops up a bit as they were looking worn. Perfect solution!

Things I learned

:: Make more shrinky-dink pins than you think you'll need as they might not all come out the way you want them.

:: Crocheting with sewing thread is not the easiest thing I've ever done.

:: Use more base chain stitches than you think you'll need as they squish down quite a bit as you do more rows of the lace.

Growing skirt

The smalls are getting big so fast and it's hard to watch them grow out of clothes with lightning speed. With a boy first and a girl second we go through lots of clothes. Pepper doesn't like boy clothes so the hand-me-downs usually have to be reworked in some way. This was a skirt that was basic and cute but getting way too short. I took an outgrown t-shirt and added another layer to lengthen it. Then I made a simple flower to coordinate with three rounds of the same t-shirt tacked down on the hip. The t-shirt I used was too small to ruffle and so it hung a bit straight and obvious. I thought some kind of pattern would help take away how flat it was so I stamped onto it with fabric paint and little owl stamps.





Things I learned
:: A bigger t-shirt to cut up would have been better to keep the ruffle going.
:: Stamping jersey is tricky. Less is more.

Music on my mind

There are some songs that I go to over and over again and this is one of them. I love the song and the video.