Ghost Clippies

Someone was selling some very elaborate and fancy hair bows at a craft show I went to. I am so impressed that others have the patience to make hair bows. I do not. I like to once in a while, and certain ones are much more fun to make than others, and I would make a million for my friends if they asked me too.

There was this one being sold that I fell in love with. Maybe it is my love for Halloween that I was so drawn to it, I don't know. But I knew I had to make a couple of them for my girls to wear this October!

Don't you love them?

Halloween

It's no secret around here... 

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

I saw this on Pinterest a while back and thought it was time.

I absolutely can not WAIT till my kids come home from school and hear their shrieks of laughter or shrills of terror!  {I'm such a mean mom!}

This little beauty is up for sale in my Etsy shop.  

Now all of you can terrify your children too! Oh.. I mean decorate for Halloween. ;-)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I while ago (March) I found a recipe to make your own laundry detergent.  It sounded pretty neat and I'm constantly on the lookout to save some cash, so I gave it a try.  

I bought all the ingredients and mixed up a batch.  I have to say I rather like it!  It's now 5 months later and I think I still have at least half of it left.  Nice!  When it runs out I will definitely be making some more.  

Here is where I found the recipe: Being Creative to Keep My Sanity Blog

This is everything you need to make it.  I found it all at my local Walmart for just under $20.

Click on over to her blog for the full directions on how to make your own.  

I use it in my HE front loader just as I would regular powder detergent and it works great!

Some Yummy Goodness

I think I just found my new favorite treat. Pretzels, peanut butter, chocolate.... mmmmm.

I followed this recipe except I had to add more powdered sugar to make it easier to handle. It was still pretty sticky. I think the next time I make this I will use this recipe for the peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

Stir peanut butter and butter together. Add powder sugar and mix till combined. Shape into balls using about a teaspoon of the mixture per ball.

Sandwich peanut butter ball between two pretzels.  Then dip pretzels into melted chocolate. Allow to cool on waxed paper.

So yummy!!!

Rock-a-bye!

Apparently more and more people are acquainting themselves with some of my talents.  This is a good thing!  I love to share what I can do with others.  It makes me happy!

My latest project was a cake and cupcakes for a friend's baby shower.  The theme was Rock-a-bye baby/Rock and roll.  So I made an electric guitar cake and a ton of somewhat matching cupcakes.  They were all really cute!

The cupcakes have chocolate guitars and chocolate duckies on top of them.  They were really cool, but they kept breaking.  Which was kinda frustrating.  But the ones that held up were awesome!

Garden Harvest

Here in Texas we can garden pretty much year round. Among my winter crop is green onions, lettuce, kale, and cauliflower.

The green onions were ready, so I harvested ALL of them. I think I planted way more than my family will ever eat. You could say I now have a "year supply" of green onions!

So... I cleaned them up...

Chopped them up...

And put them in the freezer.

I'll never buy green onions again!

I also cut some kale and lettuce to have for dinner.

There is something immensely satisfying about growing and eating your own produce.

This post would not be complete without pictures of my very cute, golf ball sized cauliflower. I think I may have a year supply of these too. I'd say there are about 20 + plants.

Aren't they adorable?

And finally some signs of spring...

I love roses.

Baby Shower Gifts

I recently went to a friend's baby shower. I think my talent as a cake decorator is becoming more well known. I love the opportunity to make something! The theme of the shower was rubber duckies. This is what I came up with.

Everyone loved it! I think it turned out really great too! Yay!

As my gift for my friend I made her some burp cloths. I found this tutorial from Petit Lemon Blog and got to work. They were easy to put together and turned out so nice! Why didn't I make myself some of these with my babies?

Wrapped Bracelet

I found this tutorial on Pinterest and fell in love with it. I'm not really a bracelet person, but this one is really cool!

DIY Wrapped Bracelet

So you have leather cording, a ball chain, waxed linen cord, and a large bead of some kind. They used a hex nut. I just used a large wooden bead. And then you wrap them around each other and voila! You have a neat wrap bracelet.

Here is mine. I like it a lot! Now I have something to do with all those ball chains I have laying around!

Here is another wrap bracelet I found on Pinterest that I want to try next. They just look so neat to me!

This one can be found here. And I really love that elephant!

Mini Pies

A while ago my mom bought me these mini pie molds. I think she likes getting me new kitchen gadgets to see what I'll come up with! We finally gave them a try. I bought already made pie crust from the store for those that can eat gluten and then had to make some gluten free pie crust for those who can't. {I am now a believer in store bought pie crust! So much easier! Too bad they don't make a gluten free one!}

So we first rolled out the dough. And cut out the shape with the mold. This is the wheat one, gluten free pie crust has to be rolled out between two sheets of plastic wrap.

Then place the cut out on one side of the mold and fill. We used blueberry pie filling. Love it! Then you have to brush an egg wash around the edges to help seal the pie filling in.

Place the other cut out on top and squish the mold together to get that nice crimped edge.

Place on a cookie sheet, brush with more egg wash, and bake. I think I sprinkled them with a little sugar too.

Oh my! They were delicious! I hadn't had blueberry pie in a long time!

This is one of the GF ones. They turned out so nice!

Absent Minded Reason #3

I've recently learned not to garden while wearing flip flops.

I was fixing the broccoli I planted. It was way to close together and I FINALLY got around to doing something about it.

Things were going pretty well when one of the bricks came loose.

This is what happens when a 25 pound landscaping brick falls on your foot. Ouch!

It looked way worse a few weeks ago when it happened. That alone should says loads about how it looked a few weeks ago! I can barely wear shoes some days it still hurts a lot!

So here is my very nicely spaced broccoli (I think it's broccoli, nothing got marked!). It actually survived my replanting. I hope the broccoli starts to grow soon!

After telling my husband what happened and showing him my foot, he very politely says,

"Now what did you learn from this experience?"

{sigh}

Yes dear... do not wear flip flops while gardening.

Some radishes I harvested. They are so pretty!

My 3 Pinkalicious Girls

For Christmas I made my girls dolls that look like Pinkalicious. They were wrapped with a ticket to see "Pinkalicious: The Musical" this spring. They were SO excited! I mostly can't believe I finished all three dolls in time. I love them all! They do such a good job portraying each of my girls perfectly!

They each had their own little sewing challenges, but turned out so beautiful! I must admit though, I am really digging those braids!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since it is Valentine's day soon I thought I would make some cool Valentine's for all those special people in my life! It was super easy to make. All I did was wrap a regular size Hershey bar with pretty paper and embellish. So easy...and who doesn't like chocolate?

Minnie Mouse Clippies

A friend of mine asked if I would make her a pair of these mouse clippies. I can't believe how cute they turned out. I got the instructions to make them from the Girly Things website. All their instructions are free, and they have some cute stuff!

Tutu Tutorial

With these instructions you will be able to make a very lovely tutu for anyone of any age. Even the beginner can make something to be proud of. No sewing machine required!

Supplies

about 4 yards of tulle in color of choice

{get a few different colors for a real cool effect!}
1 inch wide elastic (enough to go around the waist of the person the tutu is for)
Scissors
Ruler
Sewing Machine (optional)

Step 1

Measure around the waist of the person the tutu is for. Add 1 inch and cut the elastic to that size. Over lap the two ends together (about 1/2 inch) and sew them in place either by hand or with a sewing machine. Make sure the elastic is not twisted. Sew over it several times to ensure that it will not come apart.

Step 2

Cut the tulle into strips. I recommend cutting them 5 inches wide by 24 inches long. The finished tutu will be a little less than 12 inches long. Adjust the length as desired. Just remember to double it when cutting. Example: If you want your tutu to be about 10 inches long, then cut the strips 20 inches long by 5 inches wide.

Tip: Tulle is much easier to cut when it is folded into a strip.

Step 3

a. Fold one piece of the tulle in half. Hold one end in each hand. Put it through the middle of the elastic and hold it with your first two fingers like the picture.





b. Grab the two long ends of the tulle with your two fingers and pull it through the loop. Tighten it around the elastic.


c. When tightening the tulle the elastic will be squished together. This is okay. It creates the look of a round waistband when the tutu is finished. The elastic will twist as you keep adding strips of tulle. This is okay as well. It does not matter which side, top or bottom, the tulle is put on...just be consistent.

The right side of the tutu will look like this picture....


The underside of the tutu will look like this picture....


d. Continue adding the strips of tulle until you have gone all the way around the elastic, making sure the tulle is close together. Adjust the strips as necessary and fill in any gaps with more strips of tulle.

Your finished tutu will look like this...


Add some style!

Want a more unique Tutu? Alternate two or more different colors of tulle as you put the strips on.

To add a little flair to your tutu, tie a bow with a piece of matching satin ribbon and sew it onto the tutu. Or tie long pieces of satin ribbon around the waistband.


That’s all.
Congratulations! You did it!

These are my instructions on how to make tutus. You may do as you wish with the tutus you make but please do not copy these instructions or pictures for any reason.

Copyright November 2011 by Jen Smith, All Rights Reserved.