Thank heaven for little boys!

Published on March 18, 2011 in Daily Rambling. 2 Comments

I love when my friends have babies. Boys. Girls. It doesn’t matter. I have a million great ideas for newborns. Plus everything is small, so you don’t have to buy as much fabric. I like trying new things when the opportunity comes around. So when I found out our friends Jen and Jef were going to have a little boy, the first thing that popped into my head was…

Did you guess peeped teepees? Because all I could picture was the first time the kid pees on Jef. (Sorry buddy.)

I made these sans pattern. I love my little rotary circle cutter. They are flannel and fleece. it look less than a quarter yard of each to make a set of ten. 

Good luck keeping dry my friends!

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Bargain Shopper

Published on March 17, 2011 in Daily Rambling. Closed

I have a confession- I am not a bargain shopper. I mean, sure, if I am going to buy something expensive, I shop around. But grocery shopping? I am a one-store kind of gal. I don’t look at weekly ads. I don’t clip coupons (I do for Costco, but I don’t know if I would count that). I don’t shop in discount grocery stores, though I do shop at Costco… I am so contrary. And I don’t compromise for something less expensive if there is a brand I know I like available. With that being said, when a product I am loyal to is on sale, I go a little overboard.

Take for example, this stock:

It was on sale for $1.99. That is a pretty good deal. And we use stock almost everyday in the kitchen. (Is this normal? How often do you use it?) But did you see that sticker on the front?!? $3.00 off if you buy 3. That means each box of stock would only cost me $0.99! 

I was shopping with my thrifty sister, who actually uses coupons to her advantage, and she pointed out that you needed to also spend a minimum of $10. So I resigned myself to buying some weird number of boxes so that I can use a few coupons, but not end up spending more than $20 on stock. As we were checking out, the woman kept taking the coupons off. I even tried pointing out the $10 minimum (I’m honest- sue me). So even though I wasn’t meeting the minimum purchase, she just kept taking $3 off every time that third box of stock passed over the scanner. I went back and bought more. I couldn’t help myself. 

p.s. Thanks to my sister, another grocery store accepted an expired coupon that she had buried in the bottom of her purse for Almond Milk. Lisa saved me $13 that weekend on my groceries (though I probably would have bargained shopped on the stock anyway).

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Music making this morning

Published on March 16, 2011 in Daily Rambling. Closed

I tend to listen to NPR in the morning. It is the only time I really get exposed to what is going on in the world. Though lately, I have been falling asleep on my drive. So I decided to try something different- I put on music instead.

Today’s album that got me through my morning commute:

Thanks G Love and Special Sauce.

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Progress – or lack thereof.

Published on March 15, 2011 in Crafty and Sewing. Closed

I have made very little headway on the kimono dress. I just haven’t had the time to get into the craft room and spend “quality time” with the dress.

I did however get an iPad, and though the smart cover is super smart… it doesn’t keep the back from getting scratched up. So I needed to make a case for it. Here’s the good news:

It’s pretty!


Here is the bad news:

It is too small by about 3mm. Yes. Very small by a very small amount. It is okay though. Because I didn’t use a pattern and just kind of “winged it”. So I know how to make it a little bit larger… AND I can add a few pockets for my capacitive pen and charger storage. Plus it gives me the opportunity to make the buttonhole completely center. (Though this buttonhole was WAY better than my last one!)

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Embroidery Hoop Jewelry Organizer

Published on March 9, 2011 in Crafty. Closed

Hold on to your hats! This is my first tutorial… and hopefully not my last.

A very very very long time ago, I made jewelry organizers for my bathroom because I realized that I was the type that liked to have my things organized out in the open and not hidden in boxes and drawers.

So this is my best attempt to figure out how to explain what I did. (The thumbnail takes you to a .pdf file)

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to follow this tutorial and make your own awesome set of organizers. And tell me about it! Because I want to know.

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Go-to Salad Dressing

Published on March 8, 2011 in Recipes. Closed

I have a friend, Mandy makes awesome salad dressing. And I am not ashamed to admit that I have whole-heartedly adopted her approach to my everyday salads. (When I say everyday salads I *mean* everyday. Sometimes twice a day.) One of my current favorites is a simple spinach salad with dried dates, blue cheese, and candied pecans with this cherry balsamic vinaigrette.

Even if you have NEVER had ANY success making dressing (like I used to), this is really worth a shot. It is painstakingly easy and delicious.

All you need are three ingredients and a jar to shake them in. Here is your base:

Now for this dressing, since we are adding some jam, you don’t have to use the super expensive olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Don’t use crap, but don’t spend a fortune either. (Think of this like alcohol. If you are going to mix your alcohol with something, you don’t want the highest quality because you are only going to mask it with other flavors. If you are drinking it fairly straight, then by all means, splurge)

And then you need your jam:

In this case, I am using cherry preserves, which is my typical go-to fruit preserve. In a pinch I have made this with homemade apricot jam, blackberry jam – even Smuckers strawberry jam. I haven’t tried it with jelly, though I am sure it would also work.

My typical mix is as follows:

4 fluid ounces of olive oil
4 fluid ounces of balsamic
1-3 tablespoons of jam (more or less, depending on how sweet you like your jam. I like a tart dressing so I tend to err on the side of 1 tablespoon)

Then you shake it like a polaroid picture until well blended and toss it into your salad.

Next week I will share with you my mustard vinaigrette dressing. Very similar, yet a TOTALLY different taste.

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