Great giveaway & great book find!

AllieBDallie is hosting an awesome giveaway for any of you scrapbookers out there. Lots of goodies, so go check it out -- or don't so I have a better chance of winning! Just kidding. Go look. There's a ton of cute stuff to read about on her blog, including my new obsession, appliqued projects.

My grama and folks came for a short visit earlier this week. Grama brought with her a sewing book (Reader's Digest Complete Guide To Sewing) that she's had on her shelf for years, thinking I'd get more use out of it than her. What a great resource, especially for anyone new to the sewing world. Lots of great info about supplies, techniques, different fabrics, and more. I've already learned a lot of this through trial and error, but would have loved to have had this book years ago. I can't find a current photo of the book and am too lazy to take a photo right now, but Google it online for the latest editions if you're looking for a solid reference book.

Towel Robe

Here's another super cute and inexpensive idea I copied from Obsessively Stitching, the Toddler Dish Towel Bathrobe. If you haven't been to the site, you really must check it out... anyway, onto the version I made for my 19 month old. Cute, right? I think it'll be perfect for when he pops out of the kiddie pool. I bought a matching set of towels in a different colour for my oldest son, but I think I'll need larger ones. He's already asking for a robe of his own. Love it!

And a few model shots of last week's projects. Don't mind the sad expression on my little guy...he got a bite of some sort (spider?) a couple nights ago and had an allergic reaction that swelled his forehead and eye. I swear he's happy under all that swelling!

I also made a little pin cushion to attach to my sewing machine (and celebrated by buying some new pins -- I know, I know, who gets excited about new pins? I DO!). That'll probably be the end of my personal projects for a while as I have more alterations to do as well as a visit from my out-of-town in-laws this week.

'Big kid' walking handle

Shannon over at [loveable] chaos had this BRILLIANT idea for a handle to attach to her strollers so her 'big kids' could walk along beside the stroller without getting their feet caught up in the wheels.



This awesome, practical handle whips up in literally minutes, and that includes the time it took to dig up a ring (there are only three parts: a plastic ring, a scrap of fabric and a piece of elastic)! Shannon used electrical tape to close her ring, but I didn't bother...seems pretty sturdy, even without the tape. Depending on how it holds up, I may go back and do it later.

I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of this with the stroller, but it'll be a definite plus when we go grocery shopping. My oldest son is forever wanting to walk but getting in the way and/or taking off on me. Of course no one was cooperating when I wanted an 'action' shot, but you get the gist of how it works.

Feeling domestic

Today was a productive day. Cleaned up around the house, and decluttered a little more, including in my sewing room. I'm slowly accepting that decluttering will never be something I can check off my to-do list. It's going to have to be done over and over. Ugh.

Anyway, on to the good stuff! The fruits of my weekend labour:



I cut the pieces to make this top for myself out of a cute novelty knit I've had in my fabric stash for ages. I'm making View D, which is the top right version.



A knitted swiffer cloth for my Wet Jet. And some willing child labour (=

He's more interested in pressing the button to make the cleaner (I use water and dishsoap in a recycled bottle) come out than in actual cleaning, but I'll take whatever help I can get!





Some new pajama pants for my little helper. The flames are a nice match for his fiery personality.



And yes, more baking. Cherry cupcakes this time. My three year old helped ice them with a baggie. We counted it as craft time.

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Hooked on applique

Blogland is loaded with all kinds of ridiculously cute applique projects to embellish kids' clothes. I always found it a bit intimidating, but I took the plunge and tried a simple tie t-shirt for my youngest. It took only the smallest sliver of scrap material - chosen in part because it matched the light blue thread already loaded in my machine! -- and was finished in about three minutes flat. And that includes 'help' from my three year old, and the extra time it took me to run a Clorox pen over the white part to fix a little oops I made by using a piece of yellow (and apparently not colour fast) fabric in place of a proper pressing cloth. Excuse the wrinkles...I'll press it after it's dry, but I wanted to snap a quick photo before it gets any gloomier.



I drew a freehand tie design on a scrap of Heat and Bond Lite, pressed it onto my fabric scrap and cut the whole thing out. This particular batch of Heat and Bond doesn't actually bond, but it did make the tie slightly sticky, which was enough to keep it in place while I ran a fast zig zag over the edge. Done. Of course, now I want to make a hundred more...

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Cake & strawberries

As I mentioned before, I can't stop baking lately. Part of the problem is that my grandparents both worked in a bakery and I learned a lot from them, so it's easy to whip up something yummy without even cracking a cookbook. The other part is the lure of fresh berries and fruit this time of year -- the perfect topper or addition to baked treats in my humble opinion.

On that note, here's the 'recipe' for my absolute most favourite strawberry sauce. The measurements are approximate, because I don't usually measure them. It's a really simple recipe, and I just tweak it according to taste. One of the older ladies at my grandmother's church used to make strawberry sauce for the youth group to serve as an alternative to maple syrup during our annual Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. I only tasted it once back then, and never forgot.



Strawberry Sauce

2-3 cups of fresh or frozen strawberries
1/4 cup of strawberry jam (I use homemade freezer jam, which is quite sweet)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
a little water to loosen it up if you find it too thick

Puree really well in the blender and you're done! This sauce is amazing over ice cream, pancakes, angel food cake (pictured with sauce and whipped cream above), or even pound cake (like the one I have on my counter right now!).

I can't remember where I first saw the pound cake recipe below, but it's a fairly common recipe if you search online. What makes this version slightly different is the addition of almond extract. Makes it yummier. The woman who posted the recipe that I saw noted her southern grandmother used to make it with almond extract. Far be it from me to argue with that kind of experience.



Oh-So-Delish Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch tube pan.

Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light. Stir in the vanilla and the almond extracts. Add the flour and the eggs alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My oven is convection, so it usually takes less time. This pound cake is dense and almost creamy tasting. In theory, it keeps well, but never gets a chance around our house. Go ahead and try it!



Okay, enough of the calorie-laden goodness! I was bouncing around some other blogs this morning and came across this neat Christmas in July linky party. I love love love giving and receiving homemade gifts, so linked up a couple projects and surfed for new ideas. Check it out!



I have more altering to do for others for the next few nights, so not sure when I'll get a chance to work on something fun again. Maybe the weekend. Or sooner if I'm able to convince my oldest son that colouring quietly while sitting on the floor of mommy's craft room is a fun thing to do while his little brother naps. I believe in miracles (=

Girly butterfly mobile

As a mom of boys, I don't often get the chance to take on girly/pretty/ruffly crafts. My guys are all about trucks and dinosaurs and stuff you can jump off of, and I love that. BUT, this was so much fun, and when I saw a version of it a post of Pottery Barn inspired decor on Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, I knew it would be a perfect as a 'room warming' gift to a little girl who will be moving part-time into a new bedroom in a new apartment soon. Hope she likes it.



My version is a little different than my inspiration, but I used what I had for materials, only having to purchase a small spool of ribbon for 50 cents to complete the project. The original uses an embroidery hoop as the circular frame. I didn't have a spare large hoop, so I rescued a dollar-store metal web trash can that was crumpled and heading into the trash and cut off the top rim and the entire bottom to form my frame.



I used some of the cheap ribbon to attach the two pieces, and then added more strings. The photo below reminds me of some weird sea creature.



Then I cut out 36 butterflies, 12 of each of three colours. I traced the form from a webpage and then simplified the shape a little to keep the lines fairly clean. I ended up with a few left over, but I made sure to have enough because I didn't want to go back to cutting!



After the butterflies were cut, I added two little slits to the body of each one, so I could slide the ribbons through. Slide may be an understatement...it was a bit of a chore (I recommend hanging it to adjust the placement). Once all the butterflies were in place, I strung beads on the ends of the ribbons. Was going to glue gun the ends for a nice finish, but got tired and had boys pulling at me, so went with quick knots instead.



I think the end result is pretty cute, especially for a 50-cent project...my husband wasn't so impressed until he learned it wasn't staying in our house. Men.

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Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up -- my favourite project from 2010

Simple & practical project for the kitchen

As some of you know, I have two young, rambunctious boys. They are amazing and fun and lovable, but boy, do they take a toll on my house. My youngest loves dragging around furniture, including the kitchen table and chairs, so today we put together a quick (less than 30-seconds kind of quick!) project to cut down on the noise if not the chaos.

We picked up a couple packs of dollar store tennis balls, slit an X into each of them, and voila! Easy, kid-friendly and practical.




I've been busy with projects for pay lately, and more to come tomorrow...good news for my mad-money crafting fund, but not terribly inspiring. The exception was some cushion covers for a woman whose husband brought back fabric from the Congo while he was posted there...I thought it was A) awesome of him to choose fabric as a souvenir; B) clever of her to actually put the fabric to good use; and C) the fabric was a dream to sew. Will post photos another time.

I've linked up to Somewhat Simple's Strut-Your-Stuff Thursday and Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts.