Helping Hands Towels or Crap My Kids Make

As you may have guessed I have a problem. I see something that someone else does and think "I can totally do that." Well, it happened again.

Each year our daycare has an "art show" fundraiser. Each child makes 3 pieces of art and you buy them for $5 each. Usually there is one really cute thing and two others that make you question why you are paying $5 for the art your child normally brings home for free. Of course the reason is that you don't want to be the parent that doesn't love their children enough to pay $15 each for their beautiful, unique, brilliant, not at all made by their teacher art projects. So this year after $30 I was on my way home with decorated gift bags, painted sock ornaments, and a framed picture of the kids and a poem. What I was not on the way home with was a potholder with my children's hand prints on it. Another class did those, and I wanted them. Bad. But of course I didn't get upset, I just thought, we can make those.

That was such a nice thought. I mean how hard could it be to get a few plain potholders, some fabric paint, and have your 2 year old twins make cute little hand prints on each of them. Not hard at all. HA! So, as it turns out plain potholders aren't that easy to find. I checked Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Wal-Mart (x2), and Target. Now I did find a couple sort of plain light brown ones, but they were super expensive. I wanted these, but I didn't want to spend a lot. So, I bought a package of 4 flour sack towels and thought I would use those. I had also bought some fabric paint the day after Thanksgiving so I was good to go.

Last night (I'm writing this right after the event, but not posting until later as to not ruin the Christmas surprise) was the night. It was just the little people and me and we were going to paint. It was going to be awesome. We were going to make some frameworthy art.

Ok, at this point I should probably mention that sometimes when planning projects I forget (or rather neglect to take into account) that I have 2 toddlers and sometimes there should be a 1 to 1 adult to child ratio. Our first attempt at story time was one of these times. Last night was another. You will notice there aren't any process pictures of this project. That is because to properly document (and yes, probably execute) this project there should have been 2-3 adults. But I am Super Mom! I can do it.

Well, Little Man went first and he wanted geen paint. I took off his shirt (I'm not totally dumb) and laid out the first towel and painted his little hand geen. He was so good, he stamped his hand like a pro. We painted the other hand and down it went. Fabulous...frames, here we come. Then I got the second towel. Down went the hands, stamping away...without more paint or planning. That towel has two geen shadow hands. But that's ok, I learned you have to say "hands way up" when it isn't time to touch the towel. The next two went well. There were a few misprints, but not too bad. there was a lot of washing involved with getting the paint off Little Man, but it all came off. Ok, he had some paint under his nails and his hands had a very pale green tinge, but he was fine.

Now, it was Little Princess's turn. She wanted wed hands. We repeated the process with lots of "Hands up high!" instructions. Again, a few misprints, but not all bad. The problem with Princess is that I had to get her from the table to the sink to wash her hands. Usually not a problem I would just pick her up and tell her not to touch me and over to the chair by the sink we would go. There was a slight hiccup this time. Little Man kept climbing on the chair when I was trying to put his sister down or wash her hands. This is when I think it would be helpful to have an extra pair of arms. It might be difficult to find shirts, but I bet I could make one.

Finally, all the towels were done and hands were washed. The only thing this could mean is that it is time to run around like a crazy person with your shirt off. I decided that this wasn't the activity for me and cleaned up my mess while they ran around...and around...and around.

The towels were cute, but they were missing something...Big Brother's hands. Luckily after he came home from wrestling practice and ate his dinner he was willing to humor me and let me stamp his hands on the towels. He choose yellow. While it was much easier to stamp his hands it sure did take a lot more paint.

I finished the towels off by adding the kids' names and the year.

Here we have the final Helping Hands Towels

Are they super perfect and suitable for framing-no. Are they super cute keepsakes-yep. My kids are often splotchy and smudged so it just makes sense that their art work would be too.

Birthday Shirts

Like any good, working mom I decided on Friday that my kids needed birthday shirts for their party on Saturday. Originally I thought they don't need birthday shirts, they have tons of cute clothes they could wear. Heck, it is a farm theme they could wear their overalls (while I cross my fingers they don't wiggle out of them and/or play with their diaper taps so it falls out their pant leg-not that either of these things has ever happened, I've just read about it). But then at the last minute I wanted something fun, but not expensive. Enter Hobby Lobby.

While lunching at Hobby Lobby with a friend I saw some cute birthday iron-ons which just happened to be right next to the t-shirts. BINGO! For about $5 each I had very special birthday t-shirts.

The Supplies: Note: there are two black t-shirts.

I never really realized how easy iron-ons are. Pretty much, that is what you do-iron them on. I suggest following the package directions just in case the one you pick up is more complicated than mine.

Viola!

I really wanted to get a picture of the kids sitting with each other wearing their shirts. That didn't happen. This is what I got.





























Maybe tonight I'll get a better picture.
And yes, it is possible my daughter was going to hit her brother on the head with a carrot.

Sheep and Pig Cupcakes

In my last post I showed you the invite and cow cake for my twins' farm themed birthday party. Now I'm going to show you the sheep and pig cupcakes. Yes, in my previous post I mentioned some chick cupcakes, however those didn't get made. I really liked the pig cupcakes and wanted to make more of those and I needed to have an even number of each animal so I decided to go with the pigs and sheep (I have a fondness for sheep). Plus, the first animal the little people could talk to was the sheep.

The pigs turned out really great, the sheep were cute but as I said to a friend "Frankinfarmer called, he wants his polar sheep back." So, if you need to make polar bear cupcakes, here you go.

The supplies:Not shown are 24 cupcakes and a handful of M&Ms. Also, because I didn't make the chicks the candy corns weren't used (the orange part was going to be the beak). I also ended up using some of the black decorator gel from the cow cake.

To start I cut the round part of the cupcakes off so the tops were more flat.

Pigs:

First, I prepared the eyes, ears and noses. I cut 3 squares from 4 of the strawberry wafer cookies. There was a little bit of an end left, you can eat those or use them to bribe, I mean occupy your toddlers and husband. Each of these squares should be cut in half to make two triangles. Set these aside for the ears. I used a very sharp knife and didn't have any problems with the cookies crumbling. For the noses cut 6 regular size marshmallows in half to form two smaller cylinders. The eyes were mini-chocolate chips. I just put a handful in bowl so they would be easier to get to.

Each of the cupcakes was frosted pink. I used pink Funfetti frosting but you could make your own if you wanted. I promise, I won't call you an overachiever. Each cupcake is topped with a marshmallow nose, two cookie ears, and two chocolate chip eyes. I added nostrils to each nose using a dot of the black gel. The nostrils helped the marshmallows look more like noses.

These pig cupcakes were super awesome and totally cute if I do say so myself (and I do).Sheep:

The sheep were even easier than the pigs to make. Each cupcake was frosted with white frosting and rolled in sweetened coconut. The to make the "face" I mixed some of my pink frosting with my white frosting to make a very light pink. I piped a circle on and added a red M&M for a nose. The eyes were M&Ms attached with a dot of frosting. And that was it. I actually think these would make really cute reindeer by coloring your frosting brown and adding pretzel antlers. Maybe next Christmas.

I had some problems with this picture so I had to edit it. What you don't see is that I didn't have enough brown M&Ms for the eyes so some have blue and some have green eyes. The ones with blue eyes really look like polar bears.

The cow cake and pig and sheep cupcakes were my first attempt at cake decorating. I make lots of cupcakes but always focus on the flavors and not so much on the decorations. I feel much more confident now of my ability to make cute cakes and cupcakes.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the plan for the chicks was to frost the cupcakes yellow and roll them in coconut that had been dyed yellow. I was going to use chocolate chips for the eyes and somehow fashion a beak out of the orange part of the candy corn.

Barnyard Birthday

My little people turn 2 today on what they could call "Our Worst Birthday EVER!" Granted, they have only had 2 birthdays so there isn't much to compare to, but this one is pretty crummy. Little Princess couldn't go to school because she got tummy sick (a polite way to say she threw up) yesterday at school, on the way in the door a home, and once again before bed. She is also dealing with an ear infection. Little Man got to go to school but he was very confused as to why his sister wasn't going with him. He was so upset he had to take his chicken into school with him rather than giving it a hug and kiss, telling it to have a good day, and leaving it in the car seat. So, they aren't able to have their party at school (their teacher said she would put up their sign tomorrow when they are both there) and the status of their birthday dinner is on hold being as Dad and Big Brother also aren't feeling well. Mom doesn't feel real great either, but at least I just have a cold.



Luckily, we had their birthday party this past weekend, so not all is lost.




Being the amazing super mom I am I couldn't host just any birthday party, we needed a theme. I thought about what they liked and while a Wiggles party would probably have been their first choice, I didn't know how to decorate that cake. So, I went to the second best option, a farm party. Now, I chose a farm theme not because of their love of visiting farms, but because they know what the cow, sheep, chicken, and horse say. And, I could decorate a cake for a farm party.


It all started with an invite. I put one together and sent it via e-mail.I think it turned out really cute. I used Publisher to create the original document. The picture takes up the background and the text is created in text boxes. I grouped the text boxes and pictures together and saved as a jpeg, which I was then able to import into my e-mail. It sounds a lot more complicated than it was. Just mess around a bit and you can figure it out. If you can't let me know and I'll see if I can help.




The next step was to determine just how far I wanted to take this theme. I decided to go simple with farm themed cakes and cake plates. It just didn't make too much sense to spend a ton of money on decorations. But don't think for one minute the thought of hay bales and cows didn't cross my mind.



I spent A LOT of time on the Internet/Pinterest trying to decide how to decorate my cake and cupcakes and finally decided on a cow cake and sheep, pig, and chick cupcakes.




First, the cow cake.


The supplies: I decided for this party I was focusing on the decorations for the cake and cupcakes so I just used box cake mix and frosting. Now, I'm not going to lie, I usually buy Pillsbury because it is the cheapest cake mix, but it is also my favorite. The cake is always moist and yummy.


I think I used about 1/4-1/2 can chocolate frosting, 1/4 pink frosting, and I can't remember how much white, I think 1-1 1/4 can.


Pan spray with the flour. I did a lot of research on how to keep the cake from sticking and this seemed to be the most popular option. I used a lot of spray.



Black decorating gel (not shown, it was probably still in the grocery bag when I took the picture)


Mix the cake according to package directions and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 30-40 minutes. My cake took longer because my oven is off. Take out when a toothpick in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Crumbs are ok, goo is not. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Using a serrated bread knife trim the cake so the bottom (what is showing in the pan) is flat. Invert the pan on a cooling rack, hold your breath, and gently take the pan off the cake. Luckily my cake came right out. Let the cake cool completely.


While the cake cools, let me tell you a bit about the pan I used. I used the Wilton Animal Crackers pan. This pan allows you to make bunches of animals with just one pan by altering how you decorate the cake. What a great idea, one pan, many animals. Unfortunately, this pan has been discontinued. Probably because you can make many animals from one pan rather than buying a pan for each animal. It took me awhile but I finally found the pan on a discount party supply website. I can't wait to make different animals.




Now that the cake is cool you want to transfer it to whatever you are going to serve it on. I watch a lot of cooking tv so I know that if you are going to decorate a cake on your serving platter you should tear 4 (I think I used 5) strips of wax paper to put under your cake edges to keep the plate from getting frosting on it. Basically you make a ring of wax paper.


Because I am not confident in my ability to decorate a cow I used a small knife to outline the different shapes I was going to make. This worked out ok, but not great because the cake was chocolate so it was dark and the lines didn't show up. I think if you used a lighter cake you could probably use a food pen to draw out your lines. The pan does provide some guidelines, but the cow doesn't use all the features.




The frosting is applied using a small star tip and a pastry bag. I know it sounds hard, but it really isn't. It just takes some practice-which you can do on wax paper and then scoop back up when you are ready to start. The nice thing about this type of cake is that any small imperfections aren't really going to show up (not that I made any, so don't even bother looking).




One thing to watch for is your frosting getting too runny. This probably happens because the heat from your hands warms up the frosting. Ways to get around this would be to have more than one pastry bag to work with or take a break when the frosting gets too soft. Or, it if is 11 o'clock at night you could just keep working.




The first thing I did was fill in the eyes and the mouth with the black gel. I then did the pink, followed by the black, and finished with the white.



Once the cow is decorated you can carefully pull out the strips of wax paper. I really thought this was going to end up pulling the frosting off the side of the cake, but it didn't. This technique acutally worked really well. Those tv cake makers must really know their stuff.


This cake took a couple hours to do, but it was well worth it. The kids really liked their cow cake. Which in case you are wondering, says "Mooo".

Pineapple Salsa

When I decided to bring a treat to work last week I couldn't decide on sweet or savory, so of course instead of making a decision, I just made both. Along with the Christmas Crack I made my favorite pineapple salsa. And when I say I made it I mean I put the ingredients together and presented it as something I made.

This salsa is so good and actually pretty impressive. It is also very versatile. You can add black beans, but I'm not a fan so I never do. You can use corn and black bean salsa to make things even easier (see last sentence). You can even use fresh (homemade or grocery store) salsa if you like more the just chopped up veggie type of salsa. It really doesn't matter, it will be good. Honest, it will.

Supplies:

1 jar of salsa (I like a chunkier salsa)

1 can of corn, drained

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

1 adult beverage of your choice (optional)

Mix everything (except the adult beverage) together. Chill. Enjoy with chips.

S'More Popcorn

The other night I made Christmas Crack. Seriously, it was highly addictive. Now, I know there are many types of Christmas Crack including: ranch crackers, any type of Chex mix, caramel puff corn, those Nilla Wafer sandwiches with peanut butter in the middle and covered in chocolate that my husband's coworker brought over the other night, but this batch was new to me.

I started with Hot Chocolate Popcorn (http://cookiesandcups.com/hot-chocolate-popcorn/)from cookiesandcups as my inspiration. I mean it is popcorn and hot chocolate, how could you go wrong?

While this recipe is super easy and probably really great, I had to make a few substitutions because, well I'm lazy. I really didn't want to have to make popcorn (I don't know why I didn't think of microwave) so I was going to buy a bag of popped popcorn at the store. Well, then I saw a bag of puffcorn and thought "hmmm". So, after a quick call to a trusted friend, I bought the the puffcorn instead of the popcorn.

I also spent a lot of time looking at hot cocoa powder and trying to decide if I should buy the canister or the packets. The packets were way less expensive, so that I went with.

The original recipe also calls for the addition of a milk chocolate drizzle once it is all mixed up. Again, I didn't do that because I'm lazy.

But here is what I did...

Supplies

1 bag puffcorn

1 packet hot chocolate mix (next time I might use 1 1/2)

1 package vanilla almond bark

About 1/3 bag of mini-marshmallows

And to answer your question, yes I did forget to take the picture before I started so that is why there is only 1/2 a bag of puffcorn and 1/2 a package of almond bark shown.

I had to divide the batch in 2 because I don't have a bowl big enough to mix a whole bag of puffcorn. But if you have a big bowl or a large foil pan, do it all in one batch.

Mix the puffcorn and marshmallows together. Melt the almond bark in the microwave. It took me about 2 minutes, stopping after every 30 seconds to stir to melt 1/2 a package. Pour the almond bark over the puffcorn and mix to coat. Spread on wax paper and sprinkle with hot chocolate powder. You could stir and add more hot chocolate powder.

This was a great treat. I really liked it. Next time I might add M&Ms to get that milk chocolate effect.

I tried saving a little in a baggie and it got stale and kind of gross. I'm not sure how well this would keep. It would probably do ok in an airtight container or in the refrigerator. I took mine to work so I didn't have to worry about any leftovers.

The blog picture I took inspiration from was beautiful. My finished product, not so much.

Crochet Coffee Sleeve and Coaster

Hello Friends-

Ok, so today's post doesn't have any fun before or supply pictures. The reason for the lack of pictures is because I made this project in the car on the way to my hometown because of a family emergency. Needless to say my mind was on other things. But that should tell you how easy this project is.

Supplies-

Crochet hook-I think I used an I-but it doesn't really matter

Yarn-I used Peaches and Cream cotton yarn, but again it doesn't really matter.

A coffee sleeve to use as a template

I started a project and then found that it was much too large to fit any normal coffee cup so I took it all out and reduced the size. I would suggest making a couple rows and then testing the fit to see if it will work. I didn't have a coffee in the car so I just tested it against the coffee sleeve I keep in my purse. Yes, I keep a reusable coffee sleeve in my purse, sometimes two. The only time I don't have them with me is when I take them off my cup in my office and forget to put it back in my purse. Then I have to get a paper sleeve which I tend to save for next time. Last time I cleaned out my desk drawer I found like 10 sleeves. I probably don't need to save the paper ones. And yes, I could just use a reusable cup, that would be greener. But, cups don't smoosh up to fit in your purse/pocket, and they get messy when you leave it sitting on your desk and forget to wash it for a couple weeks. Well, that is what I've heard, I don't know for sure because I would never do something like that.

Anyway, the pattern I used can be found at http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-pattern-absolutely-easy-coffee-cup-sleeve/

I did a chain of 30 to start and 9-10 rows. It fits a standard 16 ounce cup pretty well and a 20 ounce really well. I think it might be too big for anything smaller, but why are you drinking anything smaller?

To make the coordinating coaster I just made a square about the size of a coaster. This one isn't rocket science, just make sure you don't loose stitches at the end.

This just in...I really need to learn how to fasten off better. The sleeve started coming apart while I was counting the stitches. But I fixed it, no worries.

I like this sleeve but I'm going to try another pattern sometime. This one doesn't reduce the number of stitches as you go down (or add as you build-depending on the way you look at it) so it doesn't fit the same as a commercial one. But it works and it actually insulates better than I expected. I would totally make these as gifts for friends, book club members, coworkers, daycare providers, or really anyone that drinks coffee from paper cups.

I think my favorite part of this project was the fact that I was able to get a large Fa La La Latte from Caribou for $2. Two of my favorite things together at last-eggnog latte and a coupon. :)

Journal Calendar

I have to be very careful right now about what I blog about. It is Christmas, the season of giving...people crap you make. This week's blog entry is a Christmas gift for someone. I don't think this person reads my blog, but you never know. Person who this is for, sorry if I ruined the surprise.

I found the inspiration for this gift on Pinterest (duh!). This is what I saw (the source is http://www.designsponge.com/)

It is a journal calendar. Each day has a card and on the card you write the year and something that happened/you did/special about that day. What a great, easy way to keep a journal. You don't even have to use sentences, how awesome is that?! And each day you get to look back and see what happened in the years past.

Now, I love the idea but the example just isn't my style. I needed something a bit more refined. And while this isn't for me, it is made by me so I had to adapt the design. Plus, I don't know where to find those little basket things and I don't have any old, sorry vintage, postcards.

Let me walk you though what I did.

Supplies

I used 4 packages of 4x6 lined index cards. You will need 366 cards (some years February has 29 days, don't forget that day). For some reason they don't make packages of 366, so you will need to round up. You don't have to use lined cards, but I think the lines will keep things neater as the years go on.

1 sheet of 12x12 card stock to use for the box. This card stock could be plain or decorative.

3 sheets 12x12 card stock to use for the dividers

Something to add the dates to the cards. I used scrapbook stickers for the dates and the months. If you have nice handwriting or a stamp you could use these. I don't have either so I let Hobby Lobby do the work for me.

Not pictured but used: double sided tape, a quilting ruler, a rotary cutter, a cutting mat, a butter knife

Let's start with the box. Because I had no idea how to make a paper box I needed a tutorial. I used this one http://www.stampendous.com/Projects/Recipe+Box+by+Debi+Hammons/1815 While the original pattern would work well for a recipe box, it didn't work for what I needed so I made some adjustments.

I scored two sides 2 3/4" from the edge. Then I trimmed 3/4" from the other two sides and scored 3" in. I use my quilting ruler and rotary cutter for this. If you have a good paper cutter you could use that. And don't judge, my blade was already dull so I need to change it before my next fabric project anyway.

(Ok, time for a true confession. I forgot the sheet of paper that has the actual measurements on it so I'll have to double check later. If you really need to make this tonight, just give me a call or leave me a note. Sorry.)

This is where the butter knife comes in handy. I don't scrapbook and I don't make cards so I don't have one of those really cool scoreboards that I see in some tutorials. However, I do quilt and I do make toast so I have a cutting mat, ruler, and butter knife. Use the ruler as your guide where you need your score marks and then use the dull side of the butter knife to run a score mark. It works really well and makes things really easy to fold.

Then you just clip the short side of the corners to the fold. There should be four cuts, two on one side and two directly across. I don't think it matters which score you actually cut. The directions say to cut the small side but I think I changed the pattern enough that there really isn't a small side.

Fold the box up and use double sided tape to keep it all together. Use your judgement if you want the tabs on the inside or the outside.

That is your box. It is actually really easy and fast. I just didn't take notes when I did it. Ok, I did take notes but I forgot them at home.

Now for the calendar. I decided to make dividers for each month and only put the date on the card. I cut the dividers so they were 5"x6". This size is enough taller than the cards that the month can be seen above the card but not too high to look goofy. I used scrapbook stickers for each month.

Each index card got a date in the corner. I also put the number of the month on the back corner of each card. That way if you ever drop it or my kids come to visit it can be put back in order.

That is it. It is a very simple project, it just takes time to put all 366 (don't forget February 29) stickers on the cards.

I think this would be a great baby shower gift. I wish I would have done something like this when the little people were born. I'm not a journaler or a scrapbooker so it would have been an easy way to remember special visitors, landmark events, firsts, and some of those ordinary things you forget about. Yesterday could have been "Little Man and Little Princess had to take their naps in their snow boots. Their feet got sweaty."

In Case of Emergency Mocha

Ok, so I just made this treat really quick so I'm afraid their are no pictures. But it turned out pretty good so I thought I would share.

Here is the deal, I am dragging this morning. Like put my head on my desk and take a nap dragging. I needed a pick me up. But I didn't want to go buy coffee, that involves lots of effort and money, neither of which I wanted to spend this morning. I don't like plain coffee without creamer and sugar and I'm out of both at work so I had to make something work.

Here is what I did.

Make a cup of hot chocolate with powdered mix (I used Swiss Miss sugar free, so it is healthy). Then instead of using all hot water use 1/2 coffee and half water. You could adjust this to your tastes. You could use all coffee, and I have, but for me that is a lot of caffeine.

The next time you need a pick me up and have coffee and hot chocolate, put them together!

Christmas Scarf v 2.0 and 2.5

Ok, so all I want is a stupid Christmas scarf. Is that really so much to ask? Now, I know what you are thinking, "just go out and buy a scarf already". Well friends, I can't do that. It would be just too easy and totally not blog worthy. So, I thought I would try again. Good news, this time it worked. I think I can totally pull off the scarves I made. Yep, I made two. I am such a freaking overachiever it is crazy.

I based my scarves on a couple tutorials I saw on Pinterest. The first is the basic scarf http://thepinkpeonyoflejardin.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-make-frilly-scarf-from-t-shirt.html Watch the video, it is totally helpful.

Then I took the basic scarf and used the braiding technique found here http://www.putapuredukes.com/2011/09/braided-scarf-tutorial.html

I think the results were pretty good. I'm writing a quasi-tutorial for what I did because some tutorials I found for the basic scarf were a bit confusing. However, the two I posted above did a great job.

The supplies.

I used two size XL t-shirts I got from Hobby Lobby. If you used an XXL the scarf would be longer, but as I didn't know how this would turn out I didn't want to spend the extra money. These shirts were about $3.50 but I used my 40% off coupon on them (ok, I bought one and a friend "bought" one) so they were really cheap.

I also used my rotary cutter and quilting ruler to cut the strips. Now, as I understand it the great thing about these scarves is that you don't have to be exact or neat in your cutting. I think that is great, but that isn't how I roll. I need presision in my life.

Step 1: Lay out your t-shirt and cut the bottom hem off the t-shirt just above the stitching.

Step 2: Cut the t-shirt into strips about 2 inches wide. Use all of the t-shirt up to the armpits. Basically, you are just using the body of the t-shirt.

Step 3. Holding the rings of t-shirt stretch them like big rubber bands until they just won't stretch anymore. You will be amazed at how much they will stretch. This stretching rolls the edges so you don't have to worry about anything fraying. Step 4: Combine as many loops and colors as you want to create a standard infinity type scarf OR go on to step 5.

Step 5: Follow the instructions in the second link above for braiding the scarf.

Step 6: Wear and enjoy! I hope to have pictures of this step soon. I know just the outfit I want to wear my scarf with, but I have to do laundry first.

I do think I will end up stitching the braids together in the braided scarf because they are a bit heavy and gap a bit when it is worn. Other than that I think it turned out pretty good.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you how to keep them together. Just use a scrap of your t-shirt to tie them together. I tied the end loops together for the braided one so it would lay right, but just tied the regular one together. Does this make sense?

I am actually really excited to wear this scarf. I will totally look fashionable(ish).

And yes I know I'm not really an overachiever, I just had more loops then I knew what to do with, but go with me on this one.

For those that are interested, here are some future blog topics to look forward to...

Thoughts on my first trip to Vegas (the reason there was a lapse between posts)

Pinterest Project Party (or Crap My Friends Make)

What I really think of Hobby Lobby

Coffee sleeve and coaster

A possible challenge from you, my readers!

Have a crafty day!

Turkey Shirts-Updated

Aren't they too stinking cute?

Oh, and the t-shirts turned out cute too.

Recovered Mouse Pad

I cleaned my office today. And I really cleaned it. (Ok, by office I mean desk. I haven't hit the shelves or files yet, I have to save something for Christmas, I mean Winter Break.) Not only did I put everything away but I also wiped down all the surfaces and made it pretty clean. In the process I noticed just how disgusting my mouse pad was. I mean there was dirt, coffee stains, and just general nastiness that comes from a mouse pad being about 4 years old. I realized I needed a new one but I really didn't want to buy one and was too lazy to go look through the closet to see if I could fine one. I looked online for tutorials on making one, but they all involved sewing which was just too much work for a mouse pad. I thought, hmmm I wonder if I could Mod Podge scrapbook paper on mine to make it like new. Well, I just happened to have a very important lunch meeting with some very important people at the HyVee which just happens to be next to Hobby Lobby. It didn't take much convincing to make a quick stop on our way back to work.

Here are the supplies.

This was a super easy project. But even so, I'll write a tutorial.

1. Trace your existing mouse pad onto the back of the scrapbook paper and cut it out. When I cut the paper out I cut on the outside of the line. I'm glad I did this as I didn't line the paper up perfectly but the extra paper covered it all up. Note: My mouse pad was fabric covered, I'm not sure how well it would work with a slippery one.

2. Use the Mod Podge to glue the paper to the mouse pad. Use something heavy to hold it down while it dries.I knew The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration would come in handy someday.

3. Use the Mod Podge to seal the paper after it has dried. I think I did about 3 coats waiting 15-20 minutes in between each coat. This was the perfect amount of time as that was about how long it took me to get frustrated with my grading. I mean really, you are in college do you work and use a pen!

That is it. Really super easy and impressive. I was concerned about if it would work or not and as it turns out it probably works better than the original mouse pad. The Mod Podge gave it a nice finish so it is pretty smooth and easy to move over. There were no problems with the Mod Podge making it too reflective so the optical mouse worked just fine.

Before After

Triple-Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie

We had a potluck at work today. I was going to make a cow cake to practice for the little people's birthday next month. I woke up yesterday and thought, I am not making a cow cake today. You really have to be in the mood for that kind of baking, not everyday is a cow cake day. In my defense I also had to make cupcakes to take the Big Brother's football potluck. When looking for cake mix I found I had a couple boxes of pumpkin spice pudding left over from my stockpile last year. Eureka! Pie.


This recipe comes from one of those tear off sheets on the display in the grocery store. As is often the case, it is very good. And do you remember Jell-O 1-2-3? If so you will totally get this pie. And if you don't. I'm sorry, you seriously missed out. I have no idea how it worked but Jell-O 1-2-3 was amazing.


The ingredients It was only after I made the pie that I realized that it would qualify as Crap I Make so I had to get stuff out of the garbage for the picture. Hence only one box of pudding and a slightly crumpled label from the pie crust.

Here are the ingredients

2 cups milk

2 small boxes pumpkin spice pudding

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 8 oz tub Cool Whip

1 graham cracker pie crust

Mix pudding, cinnamon and milk together. Pour 1 1/2 cups pudding into bottom of crust. Mix 1/2 the tub of Cool Whip with the rest of the pudding and gently put on top of the pudding. Top the pie with the remaining Cool Whip.

Chill and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Now, let me answer your questions.

1. Why no, I'm not a food stylist. :)

2. You could totally use any other kind of pudding. I want to make this with chocolate and see how it turns out.

3. Sure, you can lie and say it is just as difficult to make as it looks.

4. Seriously, you don't know what Jell-O 1-2-3 was? Google it.

5. Don't bother using Cool-Whip, use the cheap store bought stuff. I only used the real stuff because that is what my husband picked up at Walgreens. And I totally used the $1 crust from Wal-Mart.

With the holidays coming I wanted to share this recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Thread Scarf

So, recently I have had a couple comments that what I make isn't crap. I mean there was the super cute football hat and most recently turkey shirts that are so stinking adorable that they would make Martha Stewart cry. And I would like to say that everything I make turns out that way. That I never look at something and laugh so hard I snort because it is just so freaking ugly. But that would make me a liar and I don't want to be a liar liar with my pants on fire. So, that is why I am writing this blog entry. This entry is dedicated to one super crappy scarf.

Saturday my dear friend and I went to a crap, I mean craft show with the little people. There was some cute stuff there and we each bought something. But let's be honest, what we bought was purchased to be a sample for stuff we could totally make. There was also a little covert picture taking so we didn't forget some ideas. Yes, I know it might be rude, but get over it. I don't need embellished dishtowels but they would make cute gifts with a nylon scrubber (which I did buy.) Ok, SuSu bought it and I owe her $1.50. I have no idea why I would go to a crap show and not take any cash. Oh, yeah, because I wasn't going to buy anything.

Well, after soaking up all the inspiration there is only one logical next stop...Hobby Lobby. I had an idea in my head that had nothing to do with what we saw at the show but had been percolating for awhile. Have you seen those super cute thread scarves? They look something like this...

(From the KiltedWoman Etsy store)

And the women who wear them look so together and stylish. I thought that could totally be me. I'm hip, I'm together, I'm stylish. Why are you laughing? Just because you don't see it doesn't mean that I'm not those things on the inside. Someday, when I don't have toddlers or teenagers in the house, you'll see.

I decided I wanted a Christmas string scarf. It would be way cool and slightly gaudy and tacky in that way that only hip Christmas apparel can be.

I bought my supplies at Hobby Lobby and made my scarf.

Here is what I bought.And here is what I made

Words and pictures cannot describe just how ugly this scarf is. It looks like something a reindeer might cough up, and then be embarrassed they coughed something so ugly up. No, really you have to see this thing. I laughed so hard if I had milk it would have come out my nose. And there is no saving this thing. I'll take it apart and make something out of the parts, but no counselor can save this relationship.

So, here it is. The first really crappy crap project I made. And yes, I still want to make a string scarf because when I see them I think, I can totally make that. But friends, I think this scarf reminds us all that sometimes you just need to say no I can't, and buy the freaking scarf.

Please do me a favor. If you see a super trendy, hip Christmas string scarf point me in the direction so I can be hip, cool, and put together for the holidays with a nice black sweater, an awesome string scarf, and snot on my shoulder.

Turkey Shirts

One of this weekends projects (there were a few) are tukey shirts for my little turkeys to wear on Thanksgiving. Now, I don't have photos of the turkeys wearing the turkeys yet becuase I'm not letting them wear the shirts until the actual holiday. Seriously, it would be nice for them to have nice, stain free shirts just once in a while.

The inspiration (pinspirsation?) for these shirts came from http://thecottagehome.blogspot.com/2010/11/gobble-gobble-turkey-shirt-tutorial.html This blog provides a great easy to follow tutorial for making turkey shirts.

I did have a problem getting the template for the body and feathers to print. I ended up sizing the image on the computer screen to be the same size as a sheet of paper and then lightly traced it using a pencil. What did I think of this process? Brilliant! Why didn't I think of this before? You could use your computer monitor as a "light box" and make templates of everything. This is totally going to come in handy when I make the little people their quiet books.

Here are the supplies


There just wasn't a good way to take a picture of all the crap, I mean stuff i needed to make these shirts so you'll just need to pretend this picture is amazing. And yes, to answer your question, that is a glass of wine in the background. It was Friday and the kids were sleeping, don't judge.
Becuase the tutorial did such a great job of explaining the process I don't really think I need to tell you everything again. I mean after all, you got here so you can probably read and follow a link. If not, ask your toddler, they'll help. Instead I'm just going to share my lessons/things I learned from this project.

1. I totally need to organize my scrap fabric. What a mess!

2. Everyone has different ideas about what colors turkey feathers should be. I had some help picking these colors out. All I knew is that they were not going to be brown. I had lots of pinks, but there wasn't enough contrast to do all pink feathers for Little Princess. Little Man's was supposed to have some blue in it but I honestly don't know what happened to that fabric-it is in the picture but didn't make it to the shirt.

3. When using fusible interfacing don't use your good iron.

4. You can't iron felt, it will melt on your iron.

5. You can use dryer sheets to get a bunch of guck off your iron. It worked really well for the melted fusible interfacing. Just rub the dryer sheet on the hot iron and it actually comes right off. Just be careful you don't burn your fingers. Most of the melted felt came off the iron, it just took several dryer sheets. I still have some residue but I'm going to try Goo Gone to get that off. I love that stuff-Goo Gone, not melted felt.

6. My smoke detector goes off when I bake something but not when my iron, which is much closer to the detector, gets all smokey becuase of melted felt and dryer sheets. That worries me.

7. This project is pretty quick. Unless...

• You have to make two. God bless those mom's with more than two babies. I mean I can handle twins but if you were to add a third, I just don't think I could do it. And what if I had 8? That would be a lot of turkey shirts.



• There is a very exciting football game on TV. Now really, I don't much care about football and I really only thought I would turn it on, see we were getting our butts handed to us, and then move on to something on the Food Network. Nope, had to watch the whole game. And there were points when using a hot iron or a sharp scissors was not a good idea. So, once again I learned that crafting in front of the tv takes much longer than crafting in a quiet space. Quiet space in my house? Ha! That made me laugh.



• You have two helpers who want to help you with the hand sewing.

8. There are some great tutorials on YouTube on how to make french knots. I used french knots for the eyes and simple embrodery for the beak and legs. I did have to tie off between the face and the legs or the tension got all goofy and the legs didn't work.

9. Sitting in the van in the driveway is a great place to get the hand sewing done. The little people were not having a nap on Saturday so I tricked them by taking them for a ride. Well, if I tried to get them out of the van they were going to wake up, so I just sat with them in the driveway. It was actually pretty nice. I got Little Princesses shirt finished and got to read my Food Network magazine.

10. I could totally sell these shirts. They are way stinking cute. Unfortunatly those sales would involve a lot more work than I am willing to put into things. Plus, making turkey shirts is fun. If it became a job it would be work. But if you need a turkey shirt, just let me know, we can work something out.

But here if the final product. The shirts I used were just plain white turtlenecks from Wal-Mart. I will post pictures of the turkeys in the turkey shirts later in the week.

This Just In!

Thank you friend for sending me the information on what I can take on the plane.

To answer your most burning questions...

Yes, I can take a crochet hook on the plane.
Yes, I can take a scissors on the plane. However, I cannot take on a circular thread cutter or any cutter with a blade contained inside which cannot go through the checkpoint. Luckily, I don't know what those things are.
No, I cannot take my meal cleaver, ice pick, saber, sword, spear gun, hatchet, blasting caps, or realistic replica of a firearm with me. Lucky for me, I just wanted to make hats for my friends, so my plans shouldn't have to change too much.

For more information visit http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1252.shtm and wonder, did that put that on the list because someone tried or because they were trying to think of everything?

More Hats!

Ok, maybe not more hats, but at least another hat. I'm really liking this whole crocheting hats thing. They are easy and way super dooper cute.

As was discussed in my last post while I love the football hat I made it turned out a bit small for my Little Man. I got the suggestion from the pattern creator at Posh Patterns to try using a hook a size up from what I used (so that woudl be an I) but after reading my blog she suggested that it might be the yarn I used becuase that yarn is a bit smaller. So, trying to cover all my bases I both went up a hook size and used heavier yarn. The yarn I used was some Red Heat Super Saver that I had in my basement stash of yarn from my grandma. It is not soft. Not soft at all. But I didn't want to go buy more yarn for a sample, so I just used it. The good news is the hat turned out way cute. The bad news is that it is scratchy. The other good news is that I love the way the verrigated yarn looked. I imagine I'll be making verrigated hats in pink and blue for Little Man and Little Princess very soon. Now, if I could just find some red and gold verrigated yarn we could have some crazy fun family hats. I would settle for purple and gold if I had to, but would much rather red and gold. Hmmm, I wonder if we would then be known as that family with the crazy matching hats. And I wonder if that would be a bad thing. At least we could find each other in a crowd. And really, I would be fine with being that family. I'm fine with being that mom that opens the animal crackers in the store to get her kids to stop whining, and never thought I would be ok with that.

But anyway, back to the hat. Last night we had to drive to an awards dinner so we were going to be in the car for about 45 minutes and I thought my time would be better used crafting than taking a nap. Being as I can't plug in my sewing machine in the Toyota I thought crocheting would be a good project. I grabbed what I needed and we hit the road. I was able to crochet for about 30 minutes until it got too dark and I couldn't go on. I finished up when I got home so all told this hat probably took me about 1/5-2 hours, not long at all. I did leave off the ear flaps (because I didn't want to do them last night) and added a pom-pom so it would be extra special. And cute. This was my first attempt at a pom-pom. Next time I will add more loops. They weren't kidding when they said add way more than you think you need.

The hat turned out much larger than the other one I made so the use of thicker yarn and a bigger hook really helped.

I wasn't able to get Little Man or Little Princess to model because they were sleeping and I don't think they would have taken well to being woke up to have their picture taken in a hat. So, I had to go with the next best thing.

My only question now is can you take a crochet hook on an airplane. We are going to Vegas in a couple weeks and I thought I could totally get some hats made on the plane. Watch out friends-you are all getting hats!

Football Hat

First things first, and second things second. First-I need to make a little bit of a clarification. My blog is called "52 Weeks of Crap I Make" but that doesn't mean that what I make is really crap, nor should it be taken as a disparaging comment to anyone that I steal inspiration from. Actually, I think I make a lot of fun stuff and usually it turns out pretty good. Ok, if not usually, sometimes. So, really you should just take the title of my blog as my attempt at humor. And just like is the case for my projects, sometimes I'm successful, and sometimes I'm not. But really if you can't see the humor in the title or relate to refering to your projects as crap in someway (either by yourself or someone who loves you) this is probably not the blog for you.

Second-As I write this blog I realize it is probably also not the blog for you if things like grammar and punctuation are important. I try, I really do, but I was never an English major. Also, I tend to ramble and have a pretty stream of consiousness style of writing. So, beware. But stick with me becuase I always get back to the point.

Now on to the fun part. The inagural project. My little man loves football. I mean LOVES football. He loves watching football on tv and cheering for Big Brother (all football players are Big Brother) and when Big Brother isn't at home he is at football. Little Man loves to wear his football shirts. Now, this one is funny because he really only has one shirt with a football on it but he has several football shirts. I don't know, I gave up trying to figure him out a long time ago. And we have about 348 footballs around my living room. Ok, maybe not 348 but at least 5, which at times seems like 348. Little Man (and his sister Little Princess) also love hats, or "hots" as they like to call them. Yeah, that is fun when they are sitting in the backseat yelling "Hot! Hot!" and you think they are hot and are turning up the air conditioning and starting to shivver but really they just can't reach their hat. Anyway, their birthday is coming up so I thought I would make Little Man a football hat for his birthday. Here is how it went.

The Supplies:

My football hat pattern which was purchased from Posh Patterns at http://www.poshpatterns.etsy.com/ Let me just tell you I have had the most amazing experience with Posh Patterns. Not only was delivery of my patterns incrediblly quick the coustomer service has been awesome. I had a question about the pattern and got an almost immediate response. So, if you need any hat patterns, check this site out.

A skein of brown and white yarn.

A crochet hook (I can't remember the size)

A glass of wine (this particular wine was the Sutter Home Pink Moscato)

Not pictured-a yarn needle. I didn't think I would need this...I did.

This project was actually pretty easy. It took me two evenings to complete but I think I'll be able to make the next one in about 4 hours if I don't get distracted by things like Grey's Anatomy. Also, I needed to refresh my memory on a couple crochet techniques (slip stich, joining colors) so I had to watch a couple YouTube videos. Seriously, what did we do before YouTube?

The pattern was really simple to follow and repetitive so it didn't require a whole lot of thought once you got going. I did have a few problems. I totally forgot how to get started using a ciricle so I had to redo that a few times so I could get the right number of stitches. I also needed a reveiw on how to join colors. Once I got past that I was good to go. As I was doing the white boarder I did enter the land of "Oh crap! Are you serious." When I found I didn't tie off correctly on the ear flaps and they started to unravel. But I got them fixed. It happened again when I got to the very end so I think I'm going to have to watch a YouTube video on signing off.

The only issue I had is that my hat turned out very small. I made the largest size (2T-4T) and it just fits on Little Man's head, and he doesn't have a big head. I e-mailed Posh Patterns and got some tips on increasing my size. Next time I will use a larger crochet hook and try not to be so tight with my stitches. I will also follow the suggestion to use double crochets instead of single for the ear flaps to make sure they cover the ears. We do not need more ear infections.

I do plan on making a couple more of these hats. I want to see if I can make a bigger one for Little Man and based on her reaction to the hat I'll need one for Little Princess as well. Hubby and Big Brother want one too, but I'm not sure how to make adult ones so I'll have to find a pattern for that.

Here is the final product...

Welcome!!

Hello and welcome to 52 Weeks of Crap I Make. My name is Emily and I will be your guide on this thrilling adventure into the land of "I Can Totally Make That". Yep, I'm that person. I have boards and boards of projects pinned on Pinterest that I just have to make. I see items in stores or at craft shows and think, I can't buy that-I can make that! Never mind the the time and supplies will likely cost 3 times as much as the pre-made one and the end result will likely look like one of my toddler twins made it. It still has to be attempted.

I was inspired to create this blog by one of my friends who created her own daily blog...that I LOVE. However, a daily blog is just too much of a committment for me. Did I mention the twins...and an 11 year old? Weekly, I think I can handle. The question then became, but what do I blog about. I tried a recipe blog once. Yeah, I didn't maintain that one very well. So I thought about what can I do that will also help me do more for me. And that is when I was hit over the head with the Pinterest board. I can make stuff! The initial name for my blog was "52 Weeks of Creativity" but I think "52 Weeks of Crap I Make" is probably more accurate. My intention is that some weeks there will be crafts, some weeks there will be recipes, and some weeks there will be something I haven't even considered yet. Perhaps I'll take a little side trip to the land of accessorizing beyond your wedding ring. Who knows?!

I can't promise you a lot, but I can promise I will bring you the good, the bad, the ugly, and even the UFPs. Yes, let's just admit it right now there will be UFPs. For those of you who are super on top of things and finish everything you start, you might want to stop reading now. UFPs are UnFinished Projects. I have a lot of them. One hope of this blog is to motivate me to pull those things out of their hiding places and finish them up. And while sometimes I will bring you UFPs on their way to completion, I'm guessing I'll also be showing you new projects whose fate may be an eternity as an UFP. Sometimes, life sucks like that.

Whenever I can I will try to provide you with the link to the original source of my inspiration and any appropriate tutorials. Additionally I'm going to try to take pictures of this whole adventure. At least pictures at the start and end. I'm not a photographer and I can't imagine the photos will be the best, but I'll try.

Anyway, I have my first project in mind and just have to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby after work to pick up my supplies.

Happy Projecting :) Emily