New Duds for the 4th

So we’re heading home to visit our families TOMORROW NIGHT! We’re so excited we can hardly stand it.  Especially the three-year-old… holy smokes, it’s a lot of emotion for a little girl to deal with.
So instead of packing and cleaning, like I ought to be doing… I’ve been sewing!

Do you blame me?? I couldn’t resist!

I’ve been saving this blue polka dot fabric I scored at Jo-Anns (for 2.50 a yard!) and planning out peasant tops in my head for weeks now, and finally got down to making one.  I made the pattern myself (sorry, no tutorial- short on time, ha!) after reading through this tutorial and looking at this pattern.

My sister-in-law sent me the red chevron fabric months ago, and I think I finally found the perfect reason to cut into it. I used this pattern from MADE for the diaper cover.  It looked HUGE, so I went a couple sizes smaller (mostly cuz I’m stingy with fabric…).  It fit ok… but was a little too short, so I had to add extra fabric for the elastic casing around the waist.

I’m so in love with this little girl and her patriotic little chevron bum!

And I couldn’t leave out her sister.  I also made up this pattern- but you can find a tutorial for something similar here. Oh how I love ruffles! And the instructions for her bow came from Pinterest.
Again, in LOVE.

Chevron, ruffles, and polka dots make me almost as happy as the two little girls wearing them!

Linking up here:
Chic on a Shoestring
Tatertots & Jello
House of Hepworths
Be Different, Act Normal
Itsy Bitsy Paper

Pinteresting: Banana Ice Cream

"Ice Cream" made only from bananas that tastes and feels just like the real thing? Sounds too good to be true. But I couldn't resist giving it a try.



Come Together Kids: Banana "Ice Cream"



This stuff was super easy. Just cut up some ripe bananas, freeze, then stick them in the food processor until smooth and creamy.


The girls loved this stuff. Mr. Domestic and I were less impressed. It was kinda slimy (like mushed up bananas...) but not a deal-breaker. It also had a bit of a bite to it at the end. If you've ever accidentally taken a bite out of a banana peel or eaten a not-yet-ripe-enough banana, you'll know what I'm talking about. I think if my bananas had been more ripe it might bite so much. I don't think there is anything you can do about the slimy.


The good news is my girls loved it. They didn't notice and slime or bite, so I'm definitely going to make it for them again.


I'd like to try it with really ripe bananas and maybe add some chocolate and or nuts and or brownies :) to see if I can make it a little tastier. It's definitely not ice cream, but if I could get it a little closer, the trade-offs would be totally worth it.

My shop will be CLOSED for the month of JULY.

  Hurry over and place your orders before NOON EST. on JUNE 30th to recieve your bag before I shut-er-down!

Pinteresting: Pan-Roasted Chicken

I tried out this recipe for Father's Day.



Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

 

We didn't have any lemons so I just left those out, and I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of breasts with the skin and bones. And I added a little rosemary.

This dish was super easy. I love that I only dirtied one bowl and one pan. I baked it in my cast iron skillet (which I LOVE).

We loved the taste of this dish. The bad news is: the chicken was pretty dry, and I wasn't crazy about the texture of the green beans. The good news is: the potatoes were sooo good.

I think the chicken would have been more moist if I hadn't used the boneless skinless breasts, but we aren't crazy about the skin and bones around here. So next time I think I'll try covering the pan with foil to see if that helps. I imagine it might improve the beans too.

Overall I really liked this dish. I'm definitely going to try it again.

Pinteresting: Friendship Bracelet Earbuds

Several weeks ago I posted that I was in the process of surrounding my earbud cords in friendship-braceleted-embroidery floss- goodness. And I never followed up on how it went.

Here's a link to a tutorial for the friendship bracelet technique: How to make the Chinese Staircase Bracelet. You'll do it the same way with your cord.  Just make sure you include your cord with the other strands not being used to make knots.

I bought my embroidery floss at Jo-Ann's. I bought 5 different colors and spent around two bucks (it was a while ago so I don't remover exactly how much I spent, but the stuff is pretty cheap).

I used most of the floss, but I did have a little left over, so you could maybe get away with only four skeins (is that what you call a unit of embroidery floss? I have no idea, but it makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about :)

Each color of floss is made up of six strands.  I started out using all six strands of the floss. I tied a knot at the end and made my braid/knots over the tail. I alternated colors at random, pretty much whenever I felt like it.

I used rubber band to hold together the colors I wasn't working with at the time. I used a safety pin to hold it to the floor or my jeans or the couch. The safety pin is crucial; you can't tie the knots without one end tethered.

When I got to the fork in the cord, I separated each color in half so there were three strands of each color for both cords.  I wound the floss around these handy little spools I printed from Wild Olive.

I continued to the ends, tied a knot at each end and sealed each knot with some clear fingernail polish.

The whole project took me a few days. I worked on it while watching tv in the evenings and on a longish car ride.

Overall I'm pleased with the results.

The Pros:

They're obviously much cuter now :) and it was very effective in keeping the cords tangle-free.


The Cons:

The cords are a bit bulky now. They take up a lot more space than before and they're a bit heavier. I haven't actually used them much, but I imagine the weight might be inconvenient while on a run or if you're moving around a lot.

I'd call it a success.  Hopefully this is helpful.  I'd love to hear how it goes if you try it out!

Isn’t That Pinteresting?

 
I love Pinterest. Especially now that I have an iPod. I can hang out on Pinterest (almost) guilt free because I don't have to spend lots of time glued to the computer paying zero attention to anything else. Now it counts as multitasking :).

The problem with Pinterest is that sometimes you see things that just seem too good to be true. And sometimes they really are too good to be true.

So I thought I'd do a bit of a blog series.... Whenever I try something I found on Pinterest, I'll blog about it and let you know how it goes: What went well and what didn't go so great, how long it took, how much money I spent, what I changed, that sort of thing.

If you'd like, you can follow me on Pinterest by clicking this handy little button: 


 
And you can follow all my Pinterest Adventures here:

Strawberry Jam

 
So this one time, when we were younger, my little brother made some brownies. From scratch. He was like ten-years-old. We were all pretty impressed that he was baking, and eagerly anticipating a sweet treat.

I cut myself a brownie and took a bite. It was sweet and chocolaty.

And then I noticed something strange....

They seemed a lot chewier than normal. But not the brownie kind of chewy. It was like there were tiny little sugary worms living inside those brownies. We quickly deduced that he had use powdered sugar instead of flour. Hence the sweetness. But who knew all that sugar would take on such a strange texture. They tasted fine, they were actually really sweet (duh!), but the texture was just too much to handle.
 

You may be wondering why in the world this has to do with strawberry jam.... Don't worry, I'll circle back:)  
 

I bought two pounds of strawberries for two bucks at Sam's club the other day. That’s a steal. So I figured it was time to make some strawberry jam.

I love strawberry jam. But only freezer jam. That cooked stuff is ga-ross. Growing up, there was ALWAYS strawberry jam in the freezer. I love to eat it with butter, not peanut butter, just butter and jam. I like it on toast, rolls, pancakes, french toast, bagels, you name it. It's delicious.

So yesterday, after waiting a few days to gather the courage, I decided to tackle the jam project.

I started cutting and mashing strawberries, feeling nostalgic, writing my lovely little blog post in my head. "How domestic am I?" I thought to myself. I took a minute to take a picture and brag on facebook:


I even started contemplating making a batch of bread and putting some jam in baby food jars to take to some friends. I don't bake bread. So that's a big deal.

The only tricky part of this whole endeavor is the timing. The mashed strawberries and sugar are supposed to sit for 10 minutes. When that 10 minutes is over, you're supposed to add the pectin and water that has been boiling "hard" for one minute.

I got a little anxious and started the pectin and water too early. I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take to come to a "hard boil" so I started it about 3 minutes in to the berry and sugar's 10 minutes. 

So... it boiled much, much faster than I anticipated. Worried that my berries and sugar weren't ready, I took the pectin off the stove just as it was starting to boil. I waited a few minutes and put it back on and finished making the jam. 



As I was filling jars, I snuck a little taste. It tasted delicious. 

And then I noticed something strange....

A gross, slimy, chewy little worm, so much like the ones in my brother's brownies.
 
Bah. 

I was so looking forward to some butter and jam on a piece of toast. But my jam is gross. It almost makes me gag. I've tasted it several times, just to make sure it really is gross. It really is gross. I'm so bummed. I still haven't thrown it out.


So all that time and and effort and daydreaming about delicious strawberry jam... and all I got was a big mess in my kitchen (I swear it looked much worse in person, I don't think the picture does it justice!). 

It's a good thing those strawberries were cheap!

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