Welcome Home With the Boys Fans! Giveaway.

What fun! Hello "Home With The Boys" fan's! I am so glad you can join us. I see that you are curious about the scarf I made for my old friend from high school Erin!

It has been so fun reconnecting with her! Turns out even though we have not seen each other since high school we have followed some of the same paths. For one we both have a music degree, and we both are MOPS moms! I have served on MOPS steering as... you guessed it Crafts Coordinator. Yep a no brain-er for me. :)

It has been fun reconnecting with Erin. She is so sweet! It is fun to see what God has done in the lives of friends you have not seen in a while. She has been greatly blessed.

Well .... Blah blah blah onto the scarf. If you want to know how I made this scarf... Click here.


While you are here... If you are into making your own fall fashion accessories here is another cute idea for you here.



And if you are a mom that loves craft projects with your kids I usually have a bit to offer in that area too. Here are my two fall favorites at this point!


Click here to learn how to make chunky fall crayons for use with leaf etching.


Click here for this crayon paper tree tutorial.

I am glad you could join me, feel free to see my other fun projects to see if there is anything you like, and I hope you can stick around! I am always busy making something!

Brownie Pops... the frustrating way.

I had to post these under the catagory Food Fun because they are fun food, but... They were not FUN to make. Here is the story.

I needed to bring a snack to my daughters school because she was "Star of the Week" for her class. I know I wanted to make something special but didn't have time to plan exactly what that week. I found myself at home the afternoon of the day before trying to come up with something.

I had a brownie mix, but didn't want to make boring brownies, plus whatever I brought when I came to read to her class in the afternoon she would have to haul home with her so a brownie pan was not a good idea.

Then I remembered brownie pops. These gorgeous little brownie bites on sucker sticks that can be decorated so beautifully.


Are they not gorgeous?? They are not mine, this is a photo from Fresh Pink Style's blog.

So I looked through the cabinet and took stock of what I had. I didn't want to run to the store that night.

Brownie mix... Check.
White Almond Bark Check.
Sucker sticks... (who has sucker sticks??)Think outside the box Kara... Aha!
Bamboo skewers cut in half. Check. Sure they are not quite as large, what difference will that make????



Now, I had read a tutorial or two before about making brownie pops, not recently, but I figured enough to know what I was doing. And those who said it was hard? Ha, they just didn't have my creative skills. In fact, I would probably invent an all new easier way or so I thought....

First people say to cook brownies in a pan, freeze them, cut them into bites, stick the stick in them, Then freeze them again. Then dip and decorate.

I had also seen those nice little silicon brownie pop pans that pop out perfect little brownie bite shapes like this one.



"Well" I thought to myself. "That must save time but I don't have one, but a mini muffin tin is close enough to that size so I will use that."

Drawback.. I only have one pan, it makes 12 mini muffins. I would have to do three batches and bake them one at a time. Not a problem or so I thought.


YUM!

I was confident in my plan. I pictured me taking out the pan and turning it to see precious little brownie bites popping out of the pan onto the counter below. But... even though I sprayed the mini muffin tin generously those precious little brownie bites would not budge. Frustration began to set in. I had to dig each one out of the pan using a butter knife. This took forever by the way. Then I got to wash the thick brownie residue off the mini muffin tin and begin all over again. Not just once but two more times so that I would have enough for the class of 25, plus two teachers, because of course I know teachers like snacks too.

So I took the first group down to the freezer. I realized I wanted to try the double boiler method for dipping the brownie pops, instead of a cup in the microwave. This way I would be able to keep it warm instead of having to pop the almond bark in the microwave all the time to keep it from hardening. Yet I found I had to use a lot of almond bark to get it deep enough in the pan in order to dip the whole brownie pop. I wanted to go all the way to the stick.



I took the first batch of bites out of the freezer 20 minutes was surely enough time for them to freeze. Who were these people suggesting hours of freeze time. They must be crazy. I didn't have that amount of time, it was already after dinner before I began this project.

Then I started putting my sticks into the brownie bites. I tried to dip a few. Well... they didn't stay on the stick. If I did try to dip the whole thing it would fall off the stick into the almond bark obis. Trying to fish it out with the stick also met with disaster. The brownie was a bit crumbly and parts would fall into the batter. I finally dipped one successfully only to find it dripping an almond bark ocean onto the waxed paper I set it on. I had it pictured that I would dip them and put them directly into the holder I created.


I took this box.


Wrapped the top, yep we only have holiday paper in the house this was the most neutral I could find.


and used this sharp object to poke holes in it to hold the sticks.

I did try that. I ended up with almond bark all over the decorated box. Bad idea! Bad!

So I decided to hold the brownie bite in my hand and only dip the top. Then put it on the stick.

Nope, no good either. The standing stick would poke though the top of the brownie pop. So the bite was down at the bottom of the stick sitting on the pretty penguin paper.

UGH!!!! This was not fun, and I had already spent more than an hour and a half working on these Precious little Brownie POPS!!! Couldn't stop now, had to make them work. I wasn't running to the store to buy treats for her class and I am not going to toss this stuff... Had to make it work.

So this is what I ended up doing.
Take the brownie bite. I even skipped all freezing at this point. GRRR.. I held onto the bottom. Dipped only the top and set it on it's bottom onto waxed paper. I Put sprinkles onto the top while almond bark is still wet.



Then waited until the almond bark is COMPLETELY set. It has to be totally hard otherwise the weight of the brownie pop made the stick pop thought the top of the pop.

See hole in brownie pop?

This is after I fixed it of course.

Put all the sticks into the box first!!! Wiggling these things around trying to get them into the holes is not a good idea. You want the sticks to be snug so that they are not bobbing around while you move them, in my case anyway, so I had to put the sticks in first. Then put your hardened pops onto the sticks. The almond bark shell keeps the stick from poking though.


(no I did not use the Crazy Glue you see in the background. I know my brother will ask, if I don't have a disclaimer in here.)

They stayed and worked. They turned out cute but I must say they took about 3 or so hours start to finish and lots of frustration, and revamping.



I did not enjoy this project. I do not recommend it, and If you think these beautiful little brownie pops you see in stores are not worth the money.








You my friend would be wrong. Those people should be paid millions to make these things.

I figured I could do it! And... I am sure I could do an awesome job if I had the right pan, the right brownie consistancy, the right dipping chocolate a nice double boiler, some real sucker sticks, Jupeiter lined up with Mars, and was had a whole day to waste. But none of that is going to happen anytime soon so I am putting this project in my FLOP catagory. I've met my match.

Girls Black Ruffle Vest.

I had picked up a gray tutu at the mall yesterday since it was on clearance. I figured I had enough things at home to complete an outfit. I had black leggings and a white shirt that I thought would be cute, but I thought the look was missing something.

I have noticed that there are lots of knit vests out there these days. Knit? I can do that! Grab a T-shirt! I just happen to have a black T-shirt ready to use from the dollar store. Our dollar store has shirts with imperfections there. So this shirt was sewn a bit crooked. Not a big deal for me since I am using it for fabric. This shirt was actually a Nike shirt, so good quality cotton as well.

The current style for girls vests seems to be long in the front, and short in the back. Well I needed it to be short in the back so that the skirt wouldn't be covered or pushed down.



I used one of My daughter's black long sleeved cardigan sweaters as a pattern. A vest is simply the cardigan with no sleeves. I traced around the back with the sleeves pulled inside. I made sure I used the bottom hem of the T-shirt as the bottom hem for the back of the vest. Why sew extra, make use of what you have.

Then around one front panel but instead of tracing the bottom on the front I traced down to a long point a the bottom of the T-shirt. It kind of reminded me like a tuxedo tail.

Next I turned and sewed around the arm holes and neck on the back so it was finished. I did part of the front but stopped about half way down. No need to finish the bottom of the front, knit does not fray and it will curl and hang like the fancy vests in the stores.

I decided I wanted some kind of detail on the front of the vest. So I took the leftovers of the T-shirt and cut inch and a half wide strips, as long as I could get them.



I took these strips and using elastic thread on the bottom, I pushed the fabric under the machine causing this ruffle. I was so excited, it turned out even cooler than I was picturing.



Then I took and pinned them down the front of each of the front vest pieces and with regular thread sewed down the middle where my stitching was. I was careful not to stretch the ruffle because then the vest would bunch up when the elastic pulled. I just wanted it to lay flat.



Then all that was left was to stitch my vest pieces together.



I put the outfit together and still thought it was missing something so I made her a little butterfly necklace to wear with it as well.




I had so much fun sewing last night. This is the second night I have made something for her and she woke up to find it. She is liking the morning surprises.

Ruffled Fall Scarf

So it just so happens that I was planning on trying my skills at making a scarf for fall when my friend Erin over at Home with the Boys did a post entry for a fall fashion contest. In the entry post she stated she absolutely love this scarf, from the new fall line, at DownEast Basics.



Others in the comment section stated how they were also crazy about the scarf as well and one even suggested she have a giveaway for such an item if the time came.

I looked at the scarf and couldn't' believe that it was close to the same style I was planning on making that day. I was inspired by this summer scarf over at MADE.


Yet wanted to make it larger for a fall look. This meant tweaking the directions a bit, to compensate for the weight of more fabric.


For those just joining us, I am a thrift shopper, and I love to "Upcycle" or use old things to make new things. It saves on the landfill, and thus very green. I like finding new life for things. This doesn't always meant the things are "old". For example, take a look at the fabric I used for this project.



I got this sheer curtain, Martha Stewart 100% polyester,still in the package at a thrift store sale. I paid $3 for this, as you can see it still has the fold marks on it. There is no way I could buy this length of fabric in a fabric store for this price. Plus there are other benefits to having a piece of fabric that already has some finished edges. It means you don't have to spend the time finishing them as you will soon read.



I cut this curtain into four Strips that measured (the length of the curtain) and each strip was 12 inches wide. Just happened to be right near the fold marks that were on the curtain so that made my measuring and cutting very quick and easy.

Then I turned the cut edge 1/4 of an inch and sewed a straight line down the side. Then I turned it once again like this photo below and sewed down the length again.
This covered up all cut edges. The top and bottom do not need this since they are already finished edges.



Next I used elastic thread just on my bobbin. (you could try it without but this helps to gather it)
Then as I sewed I pushed the fabric so that it gathered even more under the presser foot.



Don't do it with one hand like I show in the photo, you may sew you hand. I only did this to show you since I had to take my own photo, my other hand was busy holding the camera. If your fabric bunches and folds a bit under the presser foot, that is actually good!



Once I had done this first line of gathering you can take out the elastic thread. I repeated this step two more times with regular thread. Pushing and gathering the fabric under the presser foot as I sewed down the center of the length. I did two passes with the regular thread. One I found that the fabric was heavy enough that if I didn't do the regular thread that it weighted down the elastic thread causing my ruffles to disappear. The first pass with the regular thread in the bobbin holds the gathering in place. The second is a back up in case that one of the threads happen to break. Yet each time I pushed and gathered the fabric a bit more.

Then that is it. You are done!




I finished three scarves. The one on the right is my first, It has bigger side seams and was a bit too heavy, so didn't ruffle like the other two, I can go back and fix it later so I will keep that one.



Here is the cool part. I am sending the other two ruffly ones to Erin at "Home with the Boys" One is a gift for for her to keep, and one she will be using as a give away on her blog, Home with the Boys for the others who LOVED the vineyard scarf to have a chance to win! The contest started September 17th and you have all weekend to enter! Click here for details. Good luck!







Linked up here:

Stuffed Crescent Bake

Hooray for cooler weather! This means I can cook things in the oven again!
I have been wanting to share this one since it has been a favorite of my boys. I remember my aunt taught me how to make this one.



Ingredients:

One tube of refrigerator cressants
4 or 5 cooked scrambled eggs
Shredded Cheese
...Diced Ham or Cooked sauage
(optional: onions, greenpepper etc)



How:
Open your tube and unroll enire roll so that it is a rectangle shape. Do not separate into triangles.
Push separations together so that it is one piece.
Down the center of the length put your eggs, cheese and other toppings.



Cut strips from the edges to where your topings are in the middle. Criss cross the strips up an over the toppings in the middle and bake according to the cressant package instructions.



Slice and enjoy!








Yum Yum!