Bubble Marble Card Stock

This is a fun, easy craft that even the kids will enjoy. Take a small amount of soap (preferably uncolored; scented doesn't matter) and add a small amount of water into a bowl. Size changes the pattern so it's up to you as to how large of a bowl you would like to use. I used a regular sized disposable bowl.
Add a few drops of food coloring and mix the color in.

With a straw, blow bubbles in the soapy mixture to fill the bowl a little over the rim. I stirred the bubbles to make them smaller so the color and pattern would look differently.

Taking card stock, lightly press the paper face down onto the bubbles not getting the paper in the water and lift up. You can repeat this as many times as you want adding different layers of bubbles.

Don't overdo it though, then it'll just look like a mess. Some bubbles may stay on the paper. You can let them pop on their own or blow them off.

Set aside to dry. Dry time is short and varies as to how many times you dipped it in the bubbles.

Creative Date Night

My roommate and I wanted to go on a fun double date that was inexpensive. On our double date we went to the local thrift store with $10 for each couple. We split up and picked out fun outfits for the other couple keeping in mind our $10 or $5 per person budget. We kept the outfits we chose a secret from the other couple. We then went to the photo lab on our campus (you can make a mock photo lab with a large white sheet or you could go to a park/gardens) and set up for a wonderful modeling session. We then exchanged the outfits. After laughing for a bit, we struck a pose and took pictures first as couples then as a group.  After that we went to Jamba Juice and ordered smoothies we hadn't ever tried from the Jamba Juice secret menu which you can find online. It was a lot of fun and rather inexpensive.

Muy Facil Flowers (Very Easy Flowers)

I'd like you to know, I take requests on occasion. One of our readers, Heather, asked in her comment on my thrifting post for a tutorial on how to make the flowers on my hair accessory. She asked, I am delivering!

My first attempt I made two flowers out of the shoulder pads from my totally tubular '80s top. The best thing about these flowers: they are scrap pile busters! Perfect for just a little bit of pretty fabric you have left. 

Start with some pretty fabric you can't bear to get rid of 

Trace circles onto the fabric. Between 4 and 6 circles seem to be best. 

Cut out the circles. It's ok and almost preferable if they aren't perfect.

Stack the circles and while holding them between your pointer finger and thumb, cut slits around. The more slits, the puffier it will be. Twist the different layers so the slits aren't lined up. 

Fold the flower over and make several stitches, ensuring your needle goes through each layer.



Then fold the flower the opposite way and stitch again.

Voila! 

Here I have two different sizes. The ones in front needed more layers or more slits I think. The back ones I like more. 

These flowers are perfect for hair accessories,  brooches, and jewelry. 

Now go make ya some Muy Facil Flowers!!

The 30-minute, $5 Shrug shrug

(Yes, shrug shrug.)

Next month, I'll have the honor of presenting one of the 2011 Whitney Awards. I have a dress I really like, but it's sleeveless and a little too low in the back (we don't do sleeveless!). In the past, I've worn a beautiful pashmina-style scarf, but it's just a little too big for this event, and I really love the top and waist detail of the dress, which tend to get lost with a big coverup.

So I decided to sew a shrug. I looked for the easiest pattern I could find, and I came across Modest Prom's 30-minute, $5 shrug pattern. It's very easy (easier than it sounds from the description, or at least to me!) to sew, and it really did come together in 30 minutes or less. (Since I used a medium weight fashion knit, I didn't bother with hemming the edge.)

To make the shrug, you get 1/2 yard of 45" fabric, and sew the short ends together, right sides in (of course). Then you move that seam to the middle of the fabric "tube" and sew one long side together, starting and stopping 6" from either end. For added style, fold that last seam open and run a straight perpendicular line of gathering stitches in the middle of the last seam.

See? Sounds complicated, but it's really easy--I only had to sew 4 straight lines to make this! (There are also drawings on the pattern page that might help you.)

So why do I call it the "shrug shrug"? Because I can't really decide if I want to wear it. The sleeves are a little looser than I'd like, and the back covers up the waist detail I love so much. And I like the fabric--but I'm not sure I like it with this dress.

What to do?

What's your favorite way to stay modest?

$5 Irish Flag Apron

Keeping up with the Irish-inspired crafts this week, we have my:

This craft was inspired by a quick Dollar Store craft I pinned last July:

Source: momtastic.com via Jordan on Pinterest

I knew right away I'd adapt this for St. Patrick's Day. So I picked up kitchen towels in the right colors at the Dollar Store, and 3 yards of sparkly shamrock ribbon for $2 at Michael's.

Unfortunately, the only towels in the right shade of green also had stripes, and I wasn't going to just settle. So I "sewed out" the stripes like this:

But you'll have way more luck than I did, right? Once you've got the towels all set, you have two choices. Horizontal half apron:

Or vertical full apron:

The trickiest part of this wasn't sewing out the stripes—it was matching the sizes of the cloths. I wanted them to be about the same width and height--but all three kitchen cloths were different widths, and all three had different motifs on them. Fortunately, other than the stripes, these decorations were near the edge, so I was able to cut them off when I made them the right width (and hemmed them. I hate hemming).

The orange cloth was the largest, so after I cut off the colorful stripes, I ended up turning it sideways and folding it in half, making it into pockets for my apron. The biggest pieces of the left over cloths I hemmed to make into rags to keep in those pockets.

A couple more apron tips:

• Remember that the top of an apron is narrower than the waist and bottom or it gapes when you tie it behind your neck. I fixed this with some vertical darts from the top to the bust points.
• Sew on the neck strap(s) first and try it on to determine the best place for the waist ties. (It's also a good idea to try it on when pinning the darts in place, too.)
• And be careful when sewing over the hems:

But there was more waywardness for this craft. It came in a . . . well, a stupid way. I keep my sewing stash in two big drawers that are within my kids' reach--two locking drawers. This works great . . . until you lose the key. So also for this craft, I picked a real lock for the first time. Hairpins--not just for hair.

How will you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

DIY Bows

I'm back at school and I definitely don't have wrapping paper or bows. I realized this after I got invited to a 2 year old's birthday party tomorrow. But what I did have was ads, lots and lots of ads! I didn't think a 2 year old boy would want his totally awesome robot shirt wrapped in Mary Kay so I went with a good ol' K-Mart ad. I wrapped the shirt up just like I would with wrapping paper. But I wanted it to look better than just that so I decided to make a bow. Now, I've never done this before so I just had to wing it.

 I cut strips off from the ad, keeping the center fold. I didn't cut too many since this is a small present. (I also cut some length from the ends to make it shorter.) This also cuts several strips at one time and the same width if you cut the ad booklet closed.

Using double sided tape, tape down the ends to the outside of the fold. It should look like a heart after you tape down both ends.

 

I also put tape inside the fold just to add stability. Do this until you have enough hearts. Using tape, attach the hearts to each other at the bottoms. You can also staple them altogether (I don't have a stapler...but yes, I have double sided tape.) I folded the ends in opposite directions splitting at the middle so I could tape both sides down to the present making it more uniform but you can see how your bow looks and decide how you want to tape it down. And there's a free way to wrap a present!

Pasties

I'm not big on sharing recipes. I don't know I guess because I'm more of a visual learner but I made something last night that was made from leftovers, was simple, easy, and delicious I just felt I needed to share.

Chicken/Beef/Turkey/Pork/Veggie 

Pasties

These are basically hot pockets plus tons of tasty and healthy points. The crust of these is amazing! It was so flaky. So basically you need to make the crust and then you need a filling. You can make any filling. I made mine with leftover chicken from a different recipe.

source

Crust: source
4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups shortening
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. cold water.

Mix flour and salt in bowl and cut in shortening. Add water and mix. Divide into 7-9 portions and roll each into 6 inch circles. Fill with filling and fold in half. Moisten edges and press with  fork. Prick middle to alleviate steam. Back for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees.

Filling:
Cream of chicken/mushroom or gravy
1/4 cup milk
1 cup onions (I used french fried because they were leftover)
Mixed vegetables
Meat (I used leftover chicken)

Mix together in a bowl.

I just want to add one thing about flour. I was reading this article about chocolate chip cookies and she was talking about the difference in measuring flour. (See The Problem with Flour) Because of this my husband got me a scale for Christmas. I found that I was putting an ounce (6 ounces instead of 5 ounces per cup) extra per cup into the mix! That means I had almost a whole extra cup! Just be careful with your flour. 

Mod Podge Pumpkins

This is a really easy and inexpensive project to do. I went to the dollar store (great store of course) and found 2 small glass vases (for lack of a better word) and some tissue paper to make a mod podge/decoupage vase. But here's the deal, I'm keeping what I made under wraps (AKA not done yet so why not add suspense to my post?) Next week I'll be giving away what I mod podged (if that's a verb) so you'll have to stay tuned next week to see some pictures and enter to win it!


It's super easy to make some fun mod podge anything. Cut or tear the tissue paper (it can be different colors or shades of one color, it's totally up to you) into pieces. It's just easier that way. Paint a thin layer of the mod podge on the outside of the vase in a small area. Apply piece(s) to the painted area. Then apply another layer of mod podge over the tissue paper. Make sure the tissue paper is saturated from the glue but not over saturated so the paper rips. Continue until the the glass is covered. It it probably better to add a couple of layers as well but that's totally up to you. You can also cover the bottom if you want but be careful not to glue the vase to the table or anything! Now set aside to dry. It depends on how humid it is as to how long it can take to dry. If you want to speed up the results, set a fan on your vase or use a hair dryer. It could still take a while to dry. It could take up to 24 hours to dry but I don't typically have that kind of patience!

Here's some fun tips: Now, colors of the tissue paper may bleed so be careful in your color choice. Also, if you layer different colors (colors that go with one another) it can help add dimension. If you want to make your own mod podge/decoupage just water down some white glue. Simply mix equal parts white glue and equal parts water in a jar or bottle. If it's too thick just add more water.