Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Pinterest Challenge #1

Welcome to the first installment of the August Pinterest Challenge.  I'm super happy you stopped by and can't wait to see all the fun things you have to show off!

Here is what I made this week thanks to Pinterest.
Here's my Pin:
No bake chewy chocolate peanut-butter oatmeal bar. Gonna try this!
Looks yummy right??
Amy at New Nostalgia called them chewy granola bars.  I call them no bake fudge.  They have the flavor of a no bake cookie but have a more fudge like consistency plus cranberries so they are totally healthy :)
This has become my favorite sweet item off Pinterest!!

It's a super simple recipe:
1 Cup peanut butter
2/3 Cup Honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
Melt these together in sauce pan on medium heat. Once melted remove from heat. Then add:
2 cups Oats
1 Cup chocolate chips (her recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup mini choco chips)
1/2-3/4 Cup dried cranberries
Mix and pour into 13x9 glass dish.  Refrigerate and enjoy!
You can see we did enjoy :)

Now it's your turn!


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Twin Tuesday

Do you ever have those moments when you are just standing back watching your children, see them interact with each other and just smile?  I have seen them be incredibly sweet toward each other the last few days and it makes me so happy.  They have been sharing with each other and concerned for each other and acting the way brothers should.  Makes me so proud!

Give me a hug, brother!

Mom, stop taking our pictures!

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Linking Up

This week I'm linking up my Racing Flag Dresser to these great blogs!

Sew Chatty
C.R.A.F.T.
Pinkapotamus
DIY Showoff
Keeping It Simple
Sew Can Do
Mad in Crafts
Making the World Cuter
Skip to My Lou
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Jembellish
The Gunny Sack
New Nostalgia
Hope Studios
Sugar Bee Crafts
Craft-O-Maniac
The Southern Institue
DIY Home Sweet Home
Vintage Gwen

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Monday, July 30, 2012

Fun Girly Gifts

So you know I have little boys.  As much as I love my boys, it is not acceptable that I dress them up like little girls.  I know this because in making fun girly things and trying them on my boys, my husband has scolded me.  When they were little, it wasn't a big deal, but now that they can ask to keep the stuff on, it is an issue.  (issue in the sense I don't want them messing up the things I've made)  When I asked my cousin what her little girl wanted for her birthday, she said something that made me very excited "she likes to play dress up"!!!  No guidelines, no restrictions, just dress up.  I could make all the things I wanted for a little girl. This was going to be fun!

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think dress up?  Tutu!!!  Wait, is that not what you were thinking?  Of course it was.  What's more girly than a tutu?  I had no idea how to make a tutu but I was going to make one.  What else is girly for dressing up?  A purse!  As a kid and definitely as an adult, I love purses.  She was absolutely getting a purse.  Turns out, while at the store I got another idea.  As kids, my sister and I loved playing dress up at my Aunt Lynn's.  We play in her jewelry, shoes and purses.  I needed to make her some jewelry too.  So a little bit each night throughout last week, I got down to business.  I didn't take any during pictures, but can give you a brief description of each.



Love how this purse turned out.  I followed the same basic steps for my Kindle Clutch, I just added two straps. You place the straps between your outer piece and zipper when sewing.  


I'm sure there are more detailed and better looking tutus out there.  For me, I wanted something simple and easy.  If a three year old was going to be handling it, I didn't want something delicate.  I took the zebra print ribbon and measured around my boys to get the length I wanted.  I marked where I wanted the tulle to start and end and still have a tail on each end for tying.  I had 2 yards of tulle that were still folded over from how they were on the bolt at the fabric store.  I just cut strips as close to even as I could.  I held the ends together forming a loop.  I bent my loop over the ribbon and pulled the ends of the tulle through the top loop.  Looked like a slip knot when I was finished.  I just alternated hot pink for soft pink until I reached my end mark.  Simple as that!


I took plastic pearls I got in the kids craft section and some stretchy string to make little bracelets and a necklace.  I measured my boys' wrists for the bracelets and eyeballed the necklace.  Easy peasy!


For the skirts, I took the left over fabric from the purse, folded it over and stitched up the side.  I cut off some of the length then folded the bottom over twice and hemmed it.  I folded the top over twice, but it was a bigger fold.  I stitched around leaving about an 1.5" opening to add elastic.  Once I finished the elastic, I closed up the opening and viola!

Here's the whole collection.  I hope she enjoys playing with it all as much as I loved making them all :)

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Race Results

(Sorry about no Foody Friday.  With having VBS this week, we haven't had a normal dinner time so I didn't make anything recipe worthy.  Until next Friday!)

The results are in....
Last Friday I ran the second leg of a four 5K series.  The Oldham County Grand Slam consists of four 1 mile and 5K races that support different organizations within our local community.  My hubs runs as part of a group his employer organizes.  He runs for speed.  This is the first year I've done any 5K's so I'm just running for completion.  For Friday's race, I had a lot of chest congestion.  I keep coughing during the run and it was miserable.  I couldn't get a deep breath after the first mile.  I honestly didn't think I was going to finish.  I started off strong with 10 minute miles but by the time I hit mile 2, I had to walk.  I HATED to walk, but I had to.  It was either walk or pass out.  I opted to walk.  I walked three separate times between mile 2 and mile 3.  I don't know how long I walked, but there were two other people that were walk/running right with me so it was motivating to stay right with them.  My mother in law ran it with me.  We started out together, I separated from her about a half mile in and then she caught up to me around 2.5 miles.  She pushed me at the very end to kick it in to gear and give it everything I had.  I didn't think I had anything left but at the very very end, I ran my heart out.  It worked too because I finished this race, even with walking, faster than the first race!  I was super proud and even a little disappointed that I had to walk.  But, I did it, finished strong and have until August 11 to train for the next one.

Here are my results:

Race 1:   124th Place  34:58 time
Race 2:   124th Place 33:05 time

Yeah Baby!!  I shaved off that much time even walking 3 times.  I was super psyched :)  My goal is by the 4th one to be able to do 10 minute miles so for 3.1 miles about 31-32 minutes.  We will see.  I'm just proud of myself at this point!  If you're local and interested, the next one is August 11.  Check out www.ocgrandslam.com for details.

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

SYTYCD

Another great night of dancing!

The opening number I thought was kind of weird.  It might have been because we were watching our Alma Mater, EKU, on the SyFy channel about haunted schools.  It was so CREEPY that I had to turn to prevent nightmares.  A black and white routine following ghosts, no thanks!

Tiffany & George: LOVED!!

Amber & Brandon: Sexy!!  They both shined.

Janelle & Dareian:  Ok.

Lindsay & Cole: Loved!

Amelia & Will: Just ok.  Definitely not the same kind of Mandy Moore as Lindsay & Cole

Audrey & Matthew: Was cute.  You could see that they were trying, just wasn't fabulous. They are still my favorite couple.

Witney & Chehon: So pretty!  Got a standing O.  That says it all on this show!

Eliana & Cyrus: Another standing O! Great Nappy Tabs!  Eliana is beyond flexible!

Sorry to see Amber go.  Wish we could've seen more from here, different routines, but someone has to go.   I hate that Brandon is leaving too. Until next week!


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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Take the Pinterest Challenge

I love Pinterest. It's an addiction, really.  I can access it from my phone which means any free moment I have, I'm pinning.  Go see!  The problem is that I pin great ideas but I don't always go back and try them out.  Isn't the whole point of having a craft board to make the crafts myself?  Well, I think so.  So I decided I'm going to do just that.  Instead of waiting around to find the time, which will never happen, I'm going to make the time.

Starting Wednesday August 1, I'm going to make a project and recipe from Pinterest each week and feature it.  Here's the fun part.  I want YOU to join me too!  Wednesdays in August come link up your blog showing off your cool projects, recipes or whatever you tried from Pinterest.  If you don't have a blog, that's just fine. Email me your projects with a bit of info and the pin and I'll take care of the rest.  I want this to be fun and  for us to learn a lot of cool ideas so be sure to tell your friends!!  If it's successful, we'll do it again with Halloween/Fall crafts!  Grab the button, add it to your blog, share the word and let's craft!!

                                                   
                                                       
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Jewelry

I have mentioned before my favorite creative outlet is jewelry making.  I'm really in to sewing right now, but that's something I can't do 100% on my own.  I have to have someone else's pattern to follow or idea to use.  When I create a piece of jewelry, it's just me.  Whatever idea I get in my head, I make it.  Some times I see other things that give me inspiration, but the end product is always something from me.  Each piece of jewelry that I've sold carries a piece of me with it!  I've been making jewelry since 2006 and with each new fashion trend, it renews my excitement for designing.  These are some of my latest pieces.  I needed a few statement pieces and I think I got them.
This is my favorite necklace right now.  I wear it with everything.  

This is my turquoise piece.  It can be noisy as they kind of clunk into each other but it looks cool so I deal. 

My yellow cluster necklace.  Different shapes and shades of yellow. 

I wanted to try my hand at the ribbon necklaces I'm seeing all over Pinterest.  I liked how it turned out.  I liked it so much that I'm donating it to Pinkapotamus for her huge giveaway to celebrate her blogiversary and hitting 700 followers.  

This was my second ribbon necklace.  This one I'm keeping.  

****Exciting announcement.  As the blog continues to grow I want to show my appreciation.  Once we hit 25 followers, I'll be giving away an original piece of jewelry.  Spread the word and help us grow! 

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Monday, July 23, 2012

High Waist Skirt

While the boys were at the grandparents house, I got some alone time with my sewing machine. I bought some red and white polka dot fabric a while back and have been anxious to sit down and make something with it.  Saturday, I got that chance.  I wanted to make something fun so I went to my Sewing board on Pinterest to shop.  I came across this High Waisted Skirt tutorial on This Big Oak Tree and knew I had to try it.  Here is her version.
                                               
I've done some fuller skirts (that I'll have to show you) so I didn't want as many ruffles on mine, but this was the shape I definitely wanted to try out.
Here's what you'll need:
Fabric 1-1 1/4 yard
Zipper 7-9 in long
Your usual sewing basics: pins, scissors, yard stick, matching thread

Following her pattern, I cut my fabric 22"h x 42"w  
I probably should've gone just a smidge bigger to have a little more wiggle room since the fabric doesn't stretch, but you'll just need to measure your width to get a number that works best for your body. 
Belt: I measured around just under my rib cage and got 30 so I cut my belt 7 x 31.


So you have your 22"x42" main piece and 7x31 belt piece.  Let's get started!




1. Cut your main piece.
2. Cut your belt
3. Fold in the long edges a half inch and iron down
4. Fold in the short edges a half inch and iron down.  Fold the whole belt piece in half, iron down, set aside.

1.  Fold the bottom edge up 1/2 in and iron.  Fold up again 1/2in and iron.  This is going to be your bottom hem.
2. Stitch your hem in place
3. Take your belt piece and open it to put some of the skirt inside.  Lay your zipper next to it.  Where the zipper ends, pin it.  This is where you're going to stop sewing before we add the zipper.
4.  Put the edges of your main panel together, rights sides together.  Sew your edge up to where you pinned. This creates the inside hem that goes the length of your leg.

1.  Next is creating the ruffle.  Set your machine to the longest stitch and loose tension.  Stitch the top of the skirt but do NOT backstitch.  Leave a long tail on both ends.  Then pull on each end creating a ruffle.
2.  Get your belt piece and take the ruffle and put it inside the belt.  Pin in place.  Stitch around the bottom of the belt to hold the ruffle in place.
3.  Take the open end where the zipper goes and slip it in.
4.  Stitch down each side of the zipper to secure it.

That's it.  I wish the pictures had been more detailed, but sometimes I get so excited, I forget to take them!  Here's how mine turned out.  I love it!  It sits higher than my natural waist but isn't too high.  Here's what made me super proud of it.  We went to dinner that night and I wore my skirt.  As the hostess was seating us, she complimented me on my outift (which never happens) and when I told her I made the skirt, she was shocked.  Then she even said she'd pay me to make her one!  If I was more confident, I would've taken her up on it.





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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Fabric.com

I ordered fabric from Fabric.com last week.  I had come across the website before but never really found anything I liked quick enough for the website to keep my attention.  Unfortunately, Louisville has very few fabric stores so the selection locally isn't adequate.  I was looking for chevron fabric but of course couldn't get my hands on any here in town.  After complaining on Facebook, my friend told me to search on Fabric.com.  Man, I couldn't believe the selection and the prices were affordable!  Even better, if you spend $35 you get free shipping.  How easy would that be?  I spent a few days narrowing down my selection and then Thursday, my fabric arrived.  I couldn't be happier.  I got 5 fabrics, just a yard a piece.  The fabrics were gorgeous.  I won't have to worry about collecting Joann's coupons any more!  Let me share with you what I got!  You'll be seeing them again in a few fall projects!


  

  






I can't wait to get my hands on these babies and turn them into something cool!

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Linking Up

This week I'm linking the Kindle Clutch up to these fabulous blogs!

Positively Splendid
Homemaker in Heels
C.R.A.F.T.
Pinkapotamus
DIY Showoff Project Parade
Keeping It Simple
Mad In Crafts
Making the World Cuter
Skip To My Lou
The Girl Creative
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Get Outta My Head Please
Jimbellish
The Gunny Sack
DIY Home Sweet Home
New Nostalgia
Hope Studios
Creative Itch
Sugar Bee Crafts
Serenity You
Sew Much Ado
Vintage Gwen
Trendy Treehouse
Seven Thirty Three
Somewhat Simple
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Young and Crafty
Lines Across


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Friday, July 20, 2012

Foody Friday

We are going with a super simple food today.  I have a 5K tonight that I'm psyching up for.
Colored Pancakes!
This is how we do pancakes in our house.  I know, I know, but that's just how it is.  We got out the food coloring and let the boys drop in the color.  You can see the dark blue, someone got a little squeeze happy!



Then we serve them on color coordinating plates.  They loved them!  I'm sure this will become a regular thing around our house!  Not quite a recipe, but a fun idea :)

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