Skirt Redo: Making it Pop

 

I got this plain white skirt from a garage sale, but I decided I wanted to do something to it to make it not just plain 'ol white.  I was thinking of some bright fun fabric or something to make it pop, in a ruffle at the bottom.  I looked for some fabric in the stash and when I saw this, I was immediately in love with it!  I just really liked the colors and the stripes:)  They make me happy!  That's good, right?!?

I still have to add a pocket to the skirt before I can wear it - I was looking for white fabric before and I couldn't find it but I just found some today when looking for some other fabric.  Like I need more stuff to put on my "to do list" though,  right!!  hahaha

I also have a couple other skirts I need to add pockets to and fix up a little.  Hopefully I'll get those done soon . . .

Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far!  I'm so excited that tomorrow's my last day of school for a while, because next week is Spring Break!  I'm so ready for a break from school:)

Baker's Review Wednesday 35: No-Bake Granola Bars

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1/8 cup butter

1/8 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup crispy rice cereal

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

milk chocolate chips

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together.  Set aside.  In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium heat until it comes to a bubble.  Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes.  Pour in vanilla and stir.  Pour over dry ingredient and mix well to moisten all ingredients.  Pour into greased bread pan pan and press down so it all sticks together.  Sprinkle with desired amount of chocolate chips (I just did enough to kind of cover the top - see photo) and press down.  Cool on a counter top to room temperature for two hours or until chocolate chips are set.  Wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Coconut Variation:

Substitute 1/4 - 1/3 of the oatmeal for toasted coconut.  Make as directed.  Substitute toasted coconut for chocolate chips.

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I also tried a couple other variations of these granola bars (I made up all variations), but they didn't turn out so well.

First of all, last night I made only 1/2 a batch of the original recipe, but I used the whole amount of the brown sugar without realizing it (fortunately!).  Today when I made a whole batch then, I used the correct amount of brown sugar.  The bars turned out to crumbly.  They still tasted okay, but I don't think they were as good.  I had put m'n'm's on the top of one set of the bars, but it didn't really work - I figured they would be "kid-friendly" bars.  (They all liked the chocolate chip ones though, anyway).  It might've worked if I had mini m'n'm's or if I had did more brown sugar; I'm not sure.  I just ended up crumbling that up and having a granola mix instead of a granola bar:)  I think the kids will still like it!!

I also tried a peanut butter chocolate chip variation.  I tried using peanut butter instead of the butter, which was apparently not a good idea.  The mixture was all thick, so I tried adding regular butter, but it didn't help at all!  So I dumped it into the oats mixture and the peanut butter mixture was this hard 'ol ball of stuff and it was hard to get it all mixed in, so there are some areas that are super crumbly because the peanut butter stuff didn't get to that spot.  I sprinkled chocolate chips on top once they were in the pan.  They taste okay, but I wouldn't make them this way again.  I'm thinking maybe I could just make them regular, but then add peanut butter to the oats mixture when I add the honey mixture, without cooking the peanut butter.  It might work, but I don't know!

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So I do think these are DELICIOUS granola bars.  As in better than from the store!!  And for all you gluten free people, you can have them too!  There are so many ways you could try to variate these bars.  If you do raisins or craisins, add those.  White chocolate chips, semi sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, etc.  Make them your own!  Or just do plain 'ol chocolate chip, because they're SUPER good!!  You really should try them . . .

Have a wonderful day!

If you baked for Baker's Review Wednesday, link up below:)

Crafter's Weekly - week 11: Alter a Frame

So last week we were supposed to alter a frame.  I decided to make a burlap rolled flower frame.  I think it turned out pretty cute!!  It was interesting doing the rolled flowers since burlap has such a large weave, so it frays easily, but it worked out!

This will be at the April 28th sale . . . yeah, I'm trying to have most of my stuff for now be for the sale; I have so many different ideas of stuff to make, but I just need to get them made!!

Did you Alter a Frame last week?  Link up below; I would love to see what you made!

This week we have to make something using lace.  I have a few ideas; I'll see what I end up with:)

Have a wonderful week!

Baker's Review Wednesday 34: Grasshopper Mint Chocolate Cookies

Grasshopper Mint Chocolate Cookies

Cookie bottom:
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs

Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together (do not follow the directions on the back of the cake mix- disregard them completely). Roll balls of dough and place on baking sheet.  Press down slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes . Let cookies cool completely.

Peppermint Frosting:

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 Tablespoons milk

2 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Green food coloring (optional)

Mix together all the ingredients.  Spread on top of each cooled cookie.

Chocolate Topping:

1 c. milk chocolate chips

3/8 c. butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter together in a microwave. Spread melted chocolate on each cookie (or in my case, put in a Ziploc bag, cut off the corner, and do a little swirl on top like frosting.  I cooked this for 30, then 15 seconds, and it was like to much - crazy!  But it still tasted okay and I thought it was kind of cute!)

{Recipe adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff}

"The frosting's really good.  I like the cookies because the frosting's really good."

Forrest, 7

"They were simply delicious!"

Mom

"They were very delicious and I enjoy eating them."

Tara, 13

"They're really good."

Christopher, 12

Yes, they were very good.  Have you ever had grasshopper brownies?  They're similar to those, but in cookie form.  I thought they were yummy-licious!  I would definitely recommend that you try them:)

Did you bake something good (or maybe not so good) this week?  Link up below with Baker's Review Wednesday!

 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!

Heart Tie-Dye Shirt

 In my textiles and apparel class at school, we did tie-dying last week.  Last year I just made a swirly thing, but this year I decided to make something more exciting - I decided on a heart:)  It actually wasn't very hard to make.

1.  Fold the t-shirt in half.

2.  Lightly sketch a half of a heart on the fold.

3.  With needle and thread, knotted at the end, sew large stitches along the pencil drawing.

4.  When you get to the end, pull the threads up as tight as you can and tie a knot.

5.  Place a rubber band on that spot.  Continue with rubber bands on the other parts.

6.  {The shirts were then treated with a solution to keep the colors nice and bright.}

7.  Die the shirt; you would normally do each section you rubber band a different color.  You can do it randomly or in a pattern, or whatever!

The colors I used are fuchsia, turquoise, green, and yellow.  I got all those colors, plus some purple and orange in my shirt.  It was lots of fun and I really like them!!

Have you guys ever done tie-dying before?

Have a wonderful happy day!

Crafter's Weekly - week 10: Make a card w/ something stamped

Last week we had to make a card with something stamped on it.  I took part of a flourish stamp and stamped it onto a dictionary page.  The words are also stamped.  It was fun to do this challenge, as I don't usually stamp things, so it got me more creative!!  Stamping can be a lot of fun and it also adds a lot to scrapbooking:)

Did you make a card with something stamped on it?  Join in with Crafter's Weekly: simply place the button on your post or blog (code on the sidebar) and link up below.  I would love to see how you did this challenge!

I also made several other cards this week, since I got into it.  They're all for the April sale!  {More details about that later:)}

This week we get to ALTER A FRAME.  Get creative!  Paint, stamp, scrapbook, mod-podge, etc.  There's so many choices!  The linky party is on March 26th and I  would love if you did this challenge and linked up.

The Most Perfect Guacamole

Guacamole is not something we have all the time.  It's a treat to have it and it don't get "old"!  I learned from my aunt how to make this, and it is soooo delicious.  We pretty much always have guacamole with these quesadillas, which we had today for lunch.

 

The Most Perfect Guacamole

1. Scoop out avocados into bowl and chop up.

2. Chop up some tomatoes and add them to the mashed avocado.

3. I like to use this tool from Pampered Chef to chop/mash the avocados and mix the guacamole up.  It's the Mix 'N Chop tool.

4. Pour in a bit of lemon juice.

5. Add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt.

6. Ready to be mixed up - mix the guacamole up!!!  Taste, and if needed, add more of any of the seasonings.

7.  Eat it all up with chips (and salsa and sour cream, if desired) because it's nummy-licious!!!

Have a wonderful day!  And maybe eat some of the most perfect guacamole!!

Card Technique 1: Graph Paper

It all started when we got some new scrapbooking idea books in the house.  As I looked through each book, I noticed not only the whole card or page layout, but the different techniques and ideas that were used in the scrapbooking.  One of those ideas was using graph paper - I saw this in both a scrapbook page and card.

So I wanted to try it out.

It was something that's just kind of around; like some of us have needed it for school, so we have it.  It's not something fancy for scrapbooking, but it works!!  It's exciting to see that you can just take every day things and make them into something pretty when you're scrapbooking!

In the card above, I simply tore on one edge, and then inked the graph paper so it would go with the card.

Some other ideas are using the graph paper as a mat for a photo or stamping a flourish or words or something directly onto the graph paper.

What do you think of using graph paper when scrapbooking?

{this card, along with others I'm making, will be sold at a sale later this spring}

Crafter's Weekly - week 9: Make knock-off

Last week I decided to make a bag for my knock-off.  I didn't have the color of fabric I would've wanted (the color in the real one), so I used this pink that I had a ton of:)

I had saved this picture of this bag from Mod Cloth to my computer a long time ago, liking it and I thought I would try to make it.  This bag I made does not look near the same as the one from Mod Cloth, but I still think it turned out pretty cute.

This bag is made of pink cotton pleated layers, 2 handles, a lining of a cream with black design, an interior pocket, and so on:)  I decided it would be cute to make some flowers from the lining fabric and put them on a pin to clip to the bag; it adds a little extra cuteness!!

This bag will be for sale at a sale I'm doing this spring!

If you did a knock-off, please link it up below!!  And sorry guys, for all the delays with Crafter's Weekly:(

This week we get to make a card that has something stamped on it . . .so get those scrapbooking and stamping supplies out and see what you can come up with!!  I'm looking forward to this challenge:)


Hope everyone has had a wonderful Monday! 

I'm really excited to start doing some more crafts for the Spring sale I'm doing, so hopefully I'll be posting some of that stuff on here!

Thoughts About My Blog & Other Stuff

I feel as though my blog is a boring place to come and visit.  That it has just become a blog where I post a post that I HAVE  to post.  And some of those have not even got posted.  I made excuses . . . I was to busy, so I just kind of skipped them.  The time has come for a change to my blog.  It needs some more craftiness, because you know why, the craftiness has left it.  Slowly over time it just left.  This blog became another chore, rather than the fun joy it should be.  

So CHANGE needs to come.

I read to much.  Reading is good.  But not when that's all you do.  When it makes all your craftiness leave you.  That was all I did.  I read Love Inspired and Love Finds You.  Christian Romance.  Reading pulls me into a book.  I feel like I know the characters.  I need to finish the book before I can stop and do something else.  I don't spend all my time reading on purpose.  I have plans to do other things: crafty things.  But then I don't have "time".  But I really do.

My blog seems to have become stiff and formal; impersonal.  And that's not what I have in mind for my blog.  I want to interact with others.  I want people to comment.  I want to get to know my fellow bloggers.  I feel I need to share of myself on this blog.  My feelings and thoughts about things.  Not every little detail of my life, no.  But when reading a blog, don't you want to know about the person who wrote it?  Feel like you know them?  Understand them and want them to succeed?  I feel like blogging should be interactive with others.  I know I do not do a good job of that.  I don't comment very often.  I've stopped linking up my posts to linky parties.  But I should spend more time with comments.  Let them know you like what they made.  What they wrote.  Does your blog have PERSONALITY?  Or is it just there, droning on about this or that.  {No, I'm not criticizing anyone's blog!}  But it feels like my blog is just like that.  It has no real interest.  I share a recipe.  You might want to try that recipe.  But what's the story behind it?  What happened when I was making it?  There's a story behind everything!  I should share that story.  Be more personal.  Make people actually want to read my blog and find it interesting.

I feel like I am sharing myself with you.  That you can know me a little more now.  You know, in public - say,  school or church, I do not just go and talk to someone that I don't know really.  In church, I'm with my cousins.  Everyone has their own little group.  I don't want to invade on someones group.  I would feel out of place.  I may know say one person in the group, but know one else.  In church, I'm with my cousins.  That's it.  If they're not there, I wander around with nothing to do.  I'll try to get my baby sister to hold so I have something to do, so I don't feel so stupid wandering around by myself.  Now if people from church are reading this, I'll feel like an idiot, but oh well, I guess.  And at school.  I'll talk to people sitting near me.  Or if we're in a group project or something, you're forced to talk to them, and then sometimes you will talk to them more, say "hi" in the hall, smile at them, or something.  And then there's the people that you get to know.  People that you're super excited that you have a class with them.  Like I got to know this one girl my Freshman year in high school.  And I didn't have any classes with her first semester my Sophomore year.  But 2nd semester, I have P.E. with her.  It makes me excited to go to that class.  To have some one to talk with, to have someone to run with and be partner's with.  Makes me feel less the "loner" and more like "someone".  Because she was the only one I knew in the class.  But that's not the only reason I'm glad she's in there.  I truly appreciate her as a person, not just because she's the only one in the class.

Anyways . . . I'll probably leave you there.  And something is probably going to be confusing, because I didn't proofread this post all perfectly or anything.  But you can probably still get the jist of things:)

And I just want to share with you a couple series of posts I just read because I appreciated them.  And I want you to be able to appreciate them too!!

The first is a How to Grow your Blog Series

several bloggers got together, each one doing a post about different parts of growing your blog. 

And then on one of these blogs I found this other series that was really interesting

How I Write a Blog Post

Check them out if you wish!!

Baker's Review Wednesday 33: Boiled Baked Potatoes

Boiled Baked Potatoes

potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper

Scrub desired number of potatoes clean.  Put in pot of hot water and boil until soft.  Place on a baking pan and lightly mash each potato.  Generously brush olive oil over each potato, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in oven at 450 degrees until potatoes are crispy (20-30 minutes).

I thought these were delicious!  Slather them in butter and eat them just like that or do the butter and also drizzle with ranch.  I thought it was SO delicious!!  I would definitely recommend these to you guys!!  I'm not sure what everyone thought about these, but I do know that at least some people liked them:)

(and no, the pic is not the best ever of them!  I was sitting down to eat and realized I needed to take a picture so I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple pics:)

If you baked something this week, link up below!  I would love to see what you made!

Crafter's Weekly Delay

So I feel like super bad to say this, especially for those of you who link up with me . . . I thought long and hard about this, but it's just going to be this way . . . Crafter's Weekly: make a knock-off is being delayed a week.  Everything else in line will also be pushed back a week.

This week was so crazy and busy, and I loved it!!!  but I didn't get any crafting done, and tomorrow is being busy also . . . so Crafter's Weekly is being delayed.  The new date for the linky is on March 12th.

So yeah, I just wanted to let you know about that!  Hope everyone else has had a wonderful week!