Polka Dot Pleated Sundress

A few weeks ago my little sister was getting rid of some old clothing and other random things, so I asked if I could look through her stash before she dropped it off at goodwill. I scored several shirts, a few skirts and a comforter. I have no need for a twin sized comforter, but I loved the fabric so I deconstructed it. I wanted to make either a skirt or a dress for Madie and as soon as I saw this tutorial for a pleated sundress on Crafterhours yesterday I got straight to work!

I did mine a little differently. I didn't do the growth pleat hem, instead I cut my lining fabric about 2 inches longer than the top fabric (since the polka dot fabric was a little bit see through it needed lined). I also added two bows to the middle of the bodice.

This was my first attempt at shirring something and it was WAY easier than I expected!

I LOVE IT! I'm pretty convinced that I need to try and make a matching one for myself.

Ruffle Butt Onesie

I used this tutorial from Crap I've Made to make a onesie for my friend who had her baby in April. I used a  red fabric with white polka dots and think it turned out super cute. Next time, I'll definitely set up the serger though!
Apparently I didn't get a picture of the actual ruffle butt part, but you can kind of see the ruffles peeking out from the side in this picture.

Super Delicious Chocolate Cake

Today is my older sister's birthday (happy birthday, Kristi) and when I asked her on Saturday what kind of cake/treat she wanted at her celebration yesterday she told me to surprise her. I immediately thought of two recipes and after further review of the ingredients I decided that this one sounded more like her. It's called Praline Turtle Cake from Ur Baking Me Crazy! I would post a picture of the one I made, except I just ate the last piece...yum! So here is a picture of Hannie's cake. She left out the pecans but I HIGHLY recommend you put them in.

I didn't exactly follow the recipe...I used a boxed cake mix with a cup of sour cream for added moistness instead of baking the cake from scratch. It was so good and I'm totally bummed that it's all gone now. However, I've been inspired by this recipe and if what I have in mind tastes as good and I think it's going to, I'll post the recipe and pics in the next few days. And even if my experiment doesn't work out, I'll definitely be making this cake again!!!

New Winner!

Since I never heard from Gabby, let's visit random.org again...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:7Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Who is the new winner of the $40 CSN Stores gift certificate?

Lori, who said: "If I were to win, I'd buy some sort of Kitchen goodie :) Probably something fun like a waffle maker, or maybe more practical like bread pans. I've been wanting to make banana bread for some time now. "


Congrats Lori!

Happy 4th of July!!!

And the winner is...

The winner of the $40 CSN Stores gift certificate is...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

18 

Timestamp: 2010-06-29 23:24:10 UTC

Who is lucky number 18?

Gabby who said..."I would put it towards a child size pink baby grand piano for my daughter. We've been looking at it for a while!"

Thank you to everyone else who entered...sorry that you can't all win.

Congrats Gabby! Contact me here by Thursday so I can get you your gift card!

FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!

***GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED***
I had always figured I would do my first giveaway when I reached 100 followers (since that seems to be how everyone else does it), but you guys are awesome! There were enough of you that checked out one of the over 200 online CSN Stores, that I was contacted to host a giveaway of a $40 gift card! Need a new sofa?

How about a grill?

Or maybe some new shoes?


How to enter:
- Leave a comment (with your email address) on this post telling me what you would use your $40 gift card on.
- Only one comment per person please.
- Open to residents of US & Canada only.
- The winner will be chosen through Random.org

Giveaway closes Monday, June 28th at Noon (PST)

Review: CHEF'S CHOICE INTERNATIONAL KRUMKAKES EXPRESS

How yummy does this look?! Can I just say that I'm so glad that I decided to get the KrumKakes Express to review. 

CSN Stores was great to work with. The order was processed quickly and shipping was reasonably fast (it wasn't slow, I was just so anxious that one week felt like FOREVER). 

The iron worked like a charm, once I figured out how much batter and what setting to put it on. The recommended heat setting to start with is a 2, but apparently I like mine crispy because I ended up putting it at 4.5 and I used twice as much batter as the instructions said to use. I guess technically this lovely piece of equipment is supposed to make Norwegian cookies that you fill with whipped cream or ganache but it works great for making waffle cones and bowls (plus I liked the fancy design better than the standard grid of a waffle cone).

I made a few of these to serve at my daughter's birthday party last month...

It has been so much fun to make my own ice cream cones. I've even started experimenting with different flavored cones, so look for those in the future. I love it, I'm so glad that I decided to get it and I think I'll be eating a lot of ice cream this summer!

Vegas Vacation

My family is going to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. It's just my husband, me & our 2 year old daughter. We've never been there (unless you count sitting in a plane at the airport) and this will be our first family vacation with just the three of us. 

That being said, I'm posting to ask for your help. Have you been to Vegas? Is there anything that you recommend we do while there (we'll be driving up on a Monday and coming home on Thursday)? Is there anything you've done that was totally NOT worth the time/money? I'd love to know what you all think!

Thanks!

Hehehe, I'm so excited!

I finally decided what item I'm going review for CSN Stores! Check out this beauty!!!

Chef's Choice International KrumKakes Express - 8390000

I'm going to be making me some waffle cones! Please feel free to let me know if you have any recipes that I should try. :)

CSN Stores Product Review, Coming Soon

A tv stand & fireplace all in one? How awesome is this?! I found this while browsing for tv stands on one of over 200 CSN Stores. Have you heard of this place? If not you should definitely go check it out!

They seriously have everything you can think of! They've got a store for hammocks, kids toys, mirrors (and just about every other home decor item), and my personal favorite...cookware!
I'm on a mission to find the perfect addition to my collection of kitchen tools. Once I do I'll be sure to let you all know what I'm getting and what I think of it. I can't wait!
I'm not generally an indecisive person...but too many awesome choices!


*Full Disclosure: CSN Stores contacted me with this promotional opportunity. I am being compensated for my review concerning my personal experience with CSN Stores.

Birthday Ideas

My little girl is turning two in May. I have no idea what to do for her birthday party. Last year was Elmo themed. Here are the cake & cupcakes I made.



These ones looked better when I first made them. The frosting got too soft and so the eyes started to move around. At least now I know to keep things like this in the fridge!

My problem is that she isn't in to any one thing/character for more than a couple of weeks at a time. Right now she is on a Lion King kick, but that will probably be over before May gets here. She does like the Disney princesses, Ariel in particular, but she also likes Curious George. And she is really into colors right now. She loves to point out the colors she sees!

So basically I'm lacking direction and would love some input on where you all think I should go with this. Thanks!

Oh, and to get the fur look on the cupcakes I used what is called a "grass tip" and I think it is Wilton number 233. Super time consuming but way cool looking!

Soda Can Picture Frame

I bought a cheapy cheap unfinished wood frame for $1 at Michaels and after seeing this mirror decided my picture frame could do the trick. And in the spirit of Tab-ing, I of course used a can of Tab.I just cut the top and bottom off of a soda can and the cut a slit up the side so that I had a rectangle of aluminum. Then I cut that into *roughly* 3/4 inch squares. I felt no need for perfection in this area of the project. Hot pink acrylic paint & a little (or a lot) of hot glue later and I had a masterpiece.

But it didn't seem right to give an empty picture frame to my cousin who just so happens to be a new dad. So after the suggestion by my little sister, we printed a picture of his son to go in it...

After we photoshopped him snuggling a can of Tab, of course!

Everyone loved it!

Thanks sister for the photo idea. Thanks husband for your awesome photoshop skills!

Half Apron - Tab Style :)

My SIL asked me recently if I wanted a bag full of old jeans. She had purchased the jeans at Goodwill, or wherever, with the intention of making a quilt but was no longer going to be doing that. I happily took the bag of jeans and knew that even if I didn't make a quilt I would come up with some good use for them. And I did! I made this half apron for my grandma for her birthday last month.

For my "stencil" I cut the "I" & the heart out of cardstock, laid it on the denim and painted with acrylic paint. I didn't do any fancy mixing with fabric medium or any of that (mostly because I'm cheap and this was a gag gift anyway). In my googling of the matter, the only downside to using straight acrylic paint on fabric is that it makes it stiff. Which it did, but not enough for me to do anything about it! For the "Tab" stencil I printed two pictures of the can of soda onto cardstock. From one I cut out where the pink went and painted that on then for the other I cut out where the silver (top & bottom of the can) & wording went. Add a Tab colored ruffle to the bottom and some ribbon to tie it and in the words of my almost 2 year old, DATAA!!! (she says tadaa backwords...it's pretty cute)

Please forgive the unedited, late at night, taken by the husband picture (yes, this was the better of the two).

I Need Baby Shower Ideas

I'm throwing a baby shower for a friend of mine at the beginning of May. I've never hosted a baby shower before so my list of ideas is quite small. I would love your input on fun games, delicious desserts and/or cheap decorations. Other than the invitations and a few of the food items I don't have anything!!! Oh, and not sure that it makes much of a difference but she is having a girl.

Thanks!

Soda Can Bow Holder

For my aunt's birthday I made her some bows that she had asked me for. Given our tradition of Tab-ing people I decided at the last minute that I needed to some how *creatively* include a can of Tab in with her gift. So I turned a Tab into a bow holder! All I did was hot glue some ribbon around the outside of the soda can...

and clipped the bows to it. It doesn't hold very many bows, so it's not very practical, but I wasn't going for practicality. It made her laugh and that was the point!

Final Mop Up & Plans for April

I didn't do a Mop-Up round up last Friday because I had planned on doing it yesterday. Well I'm a day late. But I'm happy to say that I got through 10 of the 11 projects that I had wanted to finish in March. And somehow, I don't feel relieved. Maybe it has something to do with the handful of projects I started in March and have yet to finish...haha. I guess I can't help but have at least half a dozen projects going at once!

So what was the final Mop-Up project for me? Finishing my mom's Christmas present. For Christmas I decided to put all of her old pictures in albums (that my little sister bought). So I sneakily took stacks of photos out of the box under her dresser and organized them before placing them in albums...20+ years of photos in a box this size.

I underestimated how much could fit into a box that size and ran out of albums. Ten photo albums, each with a capacity to hold 100 photos, and I needed at least three of four more. I gave her what I had finished on Christmas and told her I would finish the rest at a later date. So I spent the last few days putting away the rest of the photos. And while I realize that the pictures probably won't be viewed very often (if ever) it is nice to know that they are organized and easily accessible instead of shoved into a box in a giant mess.

Have you checked out Dollar Store Crafts lately? You should check out the April Stash Bust. I'm way excited for this. I really need to work on using supplies I already have, since my craft corner is kind of bustin' at the seams! And to go along with it there is a Stash Swap! You send something out of your stash that you have an overabundance of to another swap member and someone else will do that same to you. I've been wanting to do something like this for months, so I'm very excited!!!

So what's on my stash-busting list? Aprons using a bag of old jeans I got from my SIL and hopefully I can put a dent in my pile of things that need to be scrapbooked.

Bunny Bags

How cute are these little bags?! I made these to give to the kids in my primary class. I saw something similar in a book that I borrowed from my MIL and decided to give it my own twist. I love how they turned out.

Inside I put a few plastic eggs filled with bunny marshmallows and a little flower pot with a packet of seeds (since our lesson is on being thankful for trees, plants & flowers I thought this would be fun for them to take home).

TMOC Part 3: Cookbook

My husband and I started dating when I was 17 (he was 22...and given the whole situation, it's a miracle my parents agreed to let us go out, but that's another story all together). He is the oldest of 6 and happens to have a sister just my age (really, our birthdays are just one month apart). In my family growing up, once you turned 10 you had to learn how to do grown-up chores, like mow the lawn and cook and clean. So I had a good 7 years of cooking under my belt when I met his family. Needless to say, I was a little shocked that his sister didn't really know how to cook much. So for Christmas two years ago, since she was no longer living at home, I made her a cookbook. It was compiled of recipes that were all either fast, easy or super cheap (or all of the above). To top it all off, I tried each recipe out first to make sure it wasn't disgusting and took pictures of each one to put in the cookbook. One of the things I hate about cookbooks is that they get professional food stagers and photographers to make the food look perfect. Mine rarely looks like the pictures!

Anyway, she liked it so much that this past October she asked if I was going to be making her another cookbook for Christmas. Hmm...I hadn't really thought of that and it was WAY too late in the year to be taking on something like that (at least for the way I like to do it). After that comment I decided I would make her another cookbook for this Christmas. And I already have an idea (or two) for next year's installment in her series of cookbooks.

So this month I have been compiling and testing and photographing recipes for a cookbook. Since I haven't done any of the computer work on this yet, I don't have anything to show for it. So here are a few pictures of things I included in the last cookbook I made for her.

Grilled Cheese BLT

BBQ Chicken Potatoes

Baked Steak Burritos 

This will probably take up two or three months in my TMOC. Maybe next time I'll share a few of the new recipes.
p.s. Sorry for all the background info...sometimes I ramble.

McKlinky is now up

Sorry guys. I totally spaced it yesterday and forgot to add the McKlinky to week 3 of the Round-Up. It is up and running now...so get to showing off! :)

The Mop-Up Round-Up: Week 3

Three weeks down, one to go! I am doing great getting things accomplished. But before I show off the fruits of my labor, I thought I would show off some of yours. There haven't been very many projects linked up...and by that I mean 4. Yep, only 4 so I'll show them all to you! Ready? Here we go!
Shannon over at Quarry Orchard recycled an old *kind of creepy* piece of art from this:

To this:


She also made some lovely sisal covered styrofoam balls.


Next up is Summer from Sumo's Sweet Stuff and she shared a tutorial for an easy baby book:

as well as an ingenious storage solution. Yep, those are gift boxes covered in fabric.


Now for what I've been working on this week.
Projects #1 & 2 - Red Corduroy Skirts
I actually made the skirts before Christmas but just got around to adding the super cute flowers (as well as the hook & eye on mine).

Project #3 - Paper Holder
Remember this post? Of course you don't (that was FOREVER ago!). Anyway, I finally got around to finishing the one I started...also before Christmas. Notice a theme for this week? :)