Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Tie Pattern

Hubby and I are both in my brother in law's wedding on Saturday.
Because of this, we will both match in pictures!
The boys aren't in the wedding, but as they are family and will be in pictures it was oddly important to me for them to match my mister and I.
The rental place the guys used for the wedding had little man bow ties, but no actual ties. I really wanted the boys in actual ties as this is what my mister is wearing, so I went on an internet hunt for a pattern and found one here. It's super easy and makes a quality looking tie.
I can't wait to see them in their suits!! I think they're going to look so dashing.
Hopefully Eli will wear the tie...

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Sugar Cookies

I am currently up to my eyeballs in wedding baking.
My brother in law is getting married this weekend and, being the crazy nice person that I am, I am making their wedding cake and favors. The favors are doubling as place cards so I am piping all the guests names onto sugar cookie "plaques" along with a heart cookie with the happy couple's initials piped on it.
Like I said, I'm crazy nice!

I'm using a wonderful sugar cookie recipe that you can find here, I use it all the time because it's just sooo tasty!

A great way to use up the scraps from "cut out" cookies like these is to roll the dough together into a log and chill again for a couple of hours (or even overnight), cut it into slices and then proceed per the recipe's baking instructions. Once they've cooled top with jam or sandwich two together with jam.
The buttery cookie with the sweet jam is deeee-lish!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Musical Monday: Meaghan Smith - Summertime

I just love Meaghan Smith. I could listen to her all day everyday!
The video's a little shaky but I was so excited to hear her singing this song, I just had to share!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut butter and chocolate are probably my most favourite combinations on the planet.
Pie is a close second (I'm choosing to consider pastry crust and pie filling as a combination).
Peanut Butter Pie with a Chocolate crust? umm, yes... yes please.
I made this up a couple of weeks ago for a BBQ with friends and have been dreaming of it ever since. I'm considering making up another for myself but the fear of an ever tightening bridesmaid dress keeps holding me back...

I made the filling as per Ms Joy the Baker's instructions found here, for the crust you'll need:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or oreo crumbs to make it extra chocolate-y)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
In a bowl stir everything together and press evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate (or spring form pan) Bake at 350 roughly 10 minutes until it feels firm. Let cool & fill with the filling.


...darn bridesmaid dress...

Monday, June 20, 2011

Father's Day & Musical Monday: Jason Aldean - The Truth

We are currently traveling to Ontario!!
It's been a year since our last visit and let me tell you, hubby and I are both ready to feel the comforts of "home" again.
That said, over the next little while it may get quiet around here. I still intend to stop in and share what we've been doing, but I doubt I will be as regular with my postings as I have been. I'll still be around though, so keep on checkin' in!

Because we started our travels yesterday and my head was in a bit of a different spot, with packing and all, we celebrated Father's Day a little early this year.
My mister and I are horrible at celebrating Mother's and Father's Days. We usually don't do too much, if anything, for each other but try to at least get a card with the boys.
This year I printed off one of the free printables from Ucreate (mentioned here) and made cookies (using this recipe). I wrapped the cookie jar with an adorable tie print off from Martha Stewart (here) and was pretty pleased with how everything looked once we were finished.
The boys cards say "top 3 reasons my daddy's the best..." it was a bit of a challenge getting some answers (especially from Eli) but I managed and I thought they were so sweet.

Zac's reasons:
1. He plays freeze tag, hide & seek, pirates and puzzles
2. He shares his dessert with me
3. He cleans up my toys

Eli's reasons:
1. He's nice
2. He plays train tracks
3. He helps with my Thomas (the train) Puzzle

and they colored some pictures on the back of "Daddy & Me".
It was too cute (Eli insisted on also coloring "Mommy & Me").

So in honor of Father's Day I decided this weeks Musical Monday should be my misters favorite song. You Tube wont let me put it on here but you can click here to see it!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Father's Day

Father's Day is coming up, did you remember??
If not check out this post over on Ucreate. Even if you did remember, there are some really fun and cute free printable links to remember for next year!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Boys First Fondant Cake

I'm making my brother in law's wedding cake in a couple of weeks and am beginning to panic a little.
There was a time when covering a cake with fondant was relatively effortless and I was fairly confident with my ability to do so. Those times are long gone now though.
I'm pretty out of practice with fondant cakes and have taken the opportunity to practice as much as possible over the past few months, but am still slightly intimidated by the wedding cake I have promised to prepare.

Given my nerves I made a cake the other day and covered it with some marshmallow fondant (easy stuff and way better tasting then the "real" stuff!). I could have used some false/dummy cakes but I find they always work out way better then a real cake and I was looking for practice on the real thing.

It worked out pretty decently, but looked incredibly boring once I covered it...
have you ever heard of these?
They are food coloring markers and they are awesome!!
I unleashed the boys on the cake and let them decorate it until their hearts were content and we sent it in to the hub's work.
Not too shabby for their first decorating job!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Scarves

My mister's job causes us to move... a lot.
It's similar to the military I suppose... it's expected that we'll stay in one city/town for 3-5 years and then we'll be moved somewhere else.
It's one of my least favorite things about his job.

Although we've only moved once so far. I'm not exactly a lover of change so moving houses... towns... provinces, you know - at all, is pretty unappealing to me. I like to settle down and get comfortable for a good, long, time.

Close friends of ours are preparing to leave for their next post and it's hitting me pretty hard.
We've had friends leave, but we're pretty close with this couple and their little girl and it's hard to see them go.

They are moving to Northern Labrador which, as I'm sure you can tell by the "northern" description, is a colder place. I'm told there isn't snow on the ground year round, but I do know they recently had a big snow fall, so I made them scarves.
I knitted them scarves actually (!!) as a good bye gift from the 4 of us.
I was pretty excited about them as they were my first knitting project for someone other then myself.
They were super fun to make as I got to experiment with different patterns and what not and now I'm feeling good and confident to move on from scarves to bigger and better knitting projects!
I just have no idea what kind of project to concur now... any suggestions?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

More Granola

Ok, so I'm a bit obsessed with granola at the moment...
I made chocolate & roasted peanut granola and it's dangerous!!
I used this recipe omitting all the nuts/seeds and raisins and adding 1/3 cup of cocoa powder and 1 cup of peanuts. Add the cocoa powder to the wet ingredients before pouring it on the oats so that it doesn't clump.
Yum. Yum. Yum!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Musical Monday: Elmo Slide

Don't ask questions, just doooo ittt!!!


Good times folks, good times!

Fabric Covered Binder

Fancy making a super cute fabric covered binder?

I thought you might!

What you'll need:
Sewing machine (not pictured... incase you didn't notice)
Scissors
Pins
Fabric
Flimsy Binder

Cut fabric roughly 1/2" around your binder. You could measure your binder, adding the 1/2", and draw your very own rectangle on the fabric and then cut that out, but I chose to put my binder on the fabric and just cut around it... (creating your exterior piece)
Measure one of the binder covers, to the metal clips in the middle, adding 1/2" on 3 sides and cut out 2 of these pieces (the interior pieces).
Lay these pieces flat, lining up one of the edges to the metal clips and marking where the bends for the binder covers are.
Fold the fabric over and iron along your marking indicating the bend in the binder. Pin and sew along this line (creating a finished edge for your interior) do this on both interior pieces. 
Lay your interior pieces on top of your exterior piece, right sides of the fabric facing each other, and pin. 
In the middle of the exterior fabric (where the spine of the binder will be located) cut 1/4" slits and fold the small fabric tabs under, top and bottom (this will finish the middle spine area of the cover while you attach the exterior to the interior).
Once you have sewn all the way around, snip the corners to decrease bulk, turn right side out and iron so it's all nice and flat like. 
Since you have a flimsy binder you should have no problems just slipping it into your new fabric slip cover!
Now just fill your binder up with some lovely papers and let your life become more organized!

Want to put a pocket into your cover?? Easy-peasy my friend!
Decide how large you would like your pocket to be and cut out a piece of fabric twice the size of your desired finished pocket. Fold the fabric in half, right sides together, and sew up the sides, leaving the bottom open. Flip the fabric right side out and press flat (ta-da! a double sided pocket!) pin the pocket into place on your interior panel and sew up the sides of the pocket again, securing it in place. Now continue on per usual. When you sew the interior to the exterior the bottom of your pocket will be closed with the stitches attaching the interior and exterior.

And then Beautify!

I made a flower and leaves with felt and hot glued them on the front.

Enjoy!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Lawn Mowers

The boys Great Nana and Great Grandad bought them lawn mowers.
We've been saving them for a nice day and a bit of a surprise but it's become apparent that the rainy season has hit Newfoundland and I'm not too convinced we are going to see the sun for another couple of weeks!

Our lawn was beginning to look like an unkept meadow though so we had to cut it. Hubby pulled out the boys little mowers and they went crazy!! I still can't believe how long they pushed and pulled those little things and they haven't stopped asking to do it again since we put them away!
Hubby and I did a bit of role reversal for the lawn mowing and I did most of it this time. I figure it's good for a marriage to switch things up a bit with household responsibilities. My only complaint is that most "mens work" (taking out the garbage, cutting the grass etc) always leave you stinky while most "womens work" (laundry, cooking etc) creates such wonderful smells... just a little factoid I discovered...

While I was mowing the lawn I discovered that about 75% of the grass has turned into moss. I think the only place still grass covered is the area the boys play, but the rest of the lawn is littered with moss patches. Any suggestions out there on why this happened or how to fix it? We're at a complete loss with this!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Zac's First Dentist Visit

Zac had his first visit to the dentist this week.
I was super nervous he was going to loose his mind once the tools came out.
Thankfully the tray had a few less instruments I have come to expect from my trips.
Have you ever noticed how some of the tools look like medieval torture devices? I do... every time I go I notice that little fact...
He was super good though and let them clean all his teeth without fussing at all!!!
He made his mama so proud!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Clipboard Hardware Template

I had a really fun time beautifying some clipboards using scrapbook paper and fabric. 
That said I'm huge on making the final project look finished or at least tidy and I wasn't sure how I would do that while working around the clipboard hardware. 
I made a pretty simple template that I've used multiple times and am so pleased I took the 10 seconds to make it!
Wondering how I did it? 
I would be so happy to show you!!
(hopefully with as little confusion as possible!)

Take a scrap of paper that is the same width from the top of the clip board to the bottom of the hardware. Fold the paper on an angle along the sloped side of the hardware and put a little mark where the hardware turns straight downward.
Cut along your folded line (for the slope) and when you get to the mark cut straight down. This should create a piece of paper that fits nicely around your hardware.
Using a separate piece of paper slide it up under the clip until it meets the hardware. Mark where the edge of the hardware is (I found it helpful to draw my marking line quite long).
Using the first template you created set it on top of the second paper you marked and line up your markings for the straight areas of the hardware (remember your first template is made from the side of the clipboard going towards the middle... don't stick your first template in the middle of your second). Trace your first template onto your second template.
I found it helpful to color in the area I was planning on cutting away.
And there you have it! a template for around your clipboard hardware!
If you are going to cover your clipboard with scrapbook paper or fabric, just place this template onto your paper/fabric, trace, cut and voila! it should slide over your hardware with no problems and no noticeable seams in your finished product!

Fabric Blocks Pt 2

Last week I showed you how to cover a canvas with fabric to form a lovely fabric block.
While I love them just plain and fabric covered as a splash of color anywhere I did want to jazz mine up just a bit more.
I used a disappearing ink pen to draw out a couple of "craft" related pictures and then painted over the pen marks. I think they are too cute placed around my craft room!
I'm also working on changing Zac's room up a bit into a more "boy-ish" (less baby-ish) area, so I made up some dinosaur themed blocks to place over his bed (as the fabric was darker for these blocks I drew the outline in chalk before painting).
He was super pumped about them!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Homemade Granola

I made granola.
It was delicious.
I could eat it all the time!!
I used this recipe, but with whatever dried fruits I could find. Mine has apricots, mangos, cranberries, blueberries and raisins.
The recipe makes SO much though! I would half it unless you plan on eating granola 3 meals a day for a week... which wouldn't be so bad...

Monday, June 6, 2011

Musical Monday: Serena Ryder - Sing! Sing!

The first time I heard this song was on CBC Kids with Mama Yama and I don't think it's ever fully left my head since.
It's crazy catchy and I'm always catching myself humming it at random times.
Enjoy!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Knitting

I've had a few people ask me within the last couple of weeks about knitting.
If I'm finding it difficult... what books I would recommend... yada yada...
so I thought I'd share a bit more on here just incase you, my dear friend, were wondering the same thing!!

Honestly, I have been turing to YouTube an awful lot to help me with things I don't understand or need further clarification with. In my YouTube searches I have come across a few videos that have been so much help and they're all mostly from the same person.
She has her own YouTube channel that you can find all her videos, which I just watch over and over.

Some that I find most helpful are:

Casting on using your needles (I still find the method shown in the video I posted here to be the easiest way to cast on though)

Basic Knit Stitch

Basic Purl Stitch


Although I primarily use YouTube as my reference/teacher I do have a couple books I often turn to as well.
Stitch 'N Bitch by Debbie Stoller is an awesome book!

File:Stitch 'n Bitch Book Cover.jpg

The instructions are very easy to follow and she's got some great beginner projects as well as some harder ones that you can grow with.

I also refer to Knitting by Ros Badger a fair amount.

The pictures in this book are also very clear but my most favourite thing is that it has a "Stitch Library" section. This section shows many different squares of patterns along with the knitting instructions to complete the same pattern on your own. It's an awesome reference tool if you're super confused why something isn't turning out the way you want. Or if you know what you want but just aren't sure how to get it.

I do hope these help you as much as they have helped me. I'm still barely scratching the surface of being a "beginner" knitter but I'm feeling fairly confident that I can find what I need to improve with the resources I shared above.

Happy Knitting!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Fabric Blocks Pt 1

This week the creative part of my brain is in over drive. I'm coming up with so many ideas of things I would like to make I simply can't keep up.
This also means that I have a million projects on the go at various stages of completion, as when I get in a creative grove I rarely accomplish anything, except making a colossal mess!
This week's craft is an overly basic one and the start of something else... I just feel so strange not sharing something crafty in a whole week.
Sheesh! Could you imagine??
Would you still come and visit me tomorrow if I didn't give you a crafty idea today??
I knew you would, cuz you're awesome like that and that's why I love you!

Fabric blocks!
I think they're great anywhere, not gunna lie!
I would put these up in my living room, craft room, toy room maybe even the bathroom! And they're crazy simple.
You need:
painters canvas (you can get these at the dollar store)
fabric
scissors (or a rotary wheel)
staple gun
ruler (optional)
Cut your fabric large enough to wrap around the canvas, covering the sides completely.
Staple your fabric in place!
Lovely!
Stay tuned to see what I do with this... you know, once I actually finish it!