Super Duper Cool & Easy Tie Up Scarf Purse for a Picky Tween (or Teen)

So when I was in Cape Breton, an Ardene's store was closing out and had EVERYTHING on sale for $1.00 the last 2 hours.   I was fortunate enough to be there at that time.  I had a super hard time not stocking up on hundreds of items, that I could later find use for, but I had to remember that whatever I bought, I had to bring back, and seeing as how I already had to buy another duffle bag to bring stuff back (yes, I bought another back to bring things home), I figured that maybe I would only grab a couple things.  So that's what I did, I picked up some super cute fingerless gloves (my addiction), and a cute pink beaded necklace for YaYa, however, no pic, because it broke the next day.  I didn't feel too bad, cause it was only $1.00. And I also picked up 5 super cute square scarves.

Now I really like the look of wearing scarves, but I can't do it for very long, it bothers me and gives me an icky feeling on my neck (ICKY).  So I did actually buy them to make stuff with.  Before Christmas, I stumbled upon a Knotted Bag tutorial on the Martha Stewart website.  (I love Martha)  I made a couple for my nieces, and they were a huge hit.  I took it a step further and sewed the handles together instead of tying them so it was permanent (both girls have little sisters who like to play with their stuff).

So here goes, like I said, easy and cheap.

Grab yourself a square scarf, or big silk handkerchief, you can find lots of cool ones everywhere, including the $ store or second hand stores.

Step 1: Tie a knot in all for corners (about a quarter of the way down, I would give exact measurements but it depends on the size of your scarf) You can eyeball it an decide how much room you want in your bag and how big you want your handles.

Step 2:  Sew 2 straps together at the top, you will lose your triangle.  Repeat with the other side.  (you could hand sew or machine sew)

VOILA!!!!! Easy peasy lemon squeezie!

Makes a great quick for tweens, teens and everyone else.

Until tomorrow,  Enjoy your day, enjoy your family and happy crafting!

As Promised, The BEST RECIPE EVER!!!!!!!

So my mother in law gave me this recipe about 5 years ago, and I make it religiously at Christmas, ok and I had it for my birthday too.  This square type cake whips up in a 9x13 pan, but I would strongly recommend  making at least 2, 1 to share with visitors, and one for you. Is your curiosity peaked yet?  My friends here in town have heard tell of this recipe being made, but none have seen it.  For the first time ever, I am going to share it with all my friends and family.  Be prepared for the compliments to start rolling in!

(And the marching band is playing softly in the back ground, drums getting louder, fireworks ready to go)

Banana Split Cake:

• First Layer:
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick melted butter
• Second Layer:
• 2 stick softened butter
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 2 egg whites
• Third Layer:
• 3-4 sliced bananas, dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning

• 1 (20 oz) can WELL DRAINED crushed pineapple
• Fourth Layer
• Dream Whip, milk
• sliced Marashino (Drained) cherries
  
• Preheat oven to 325.

Layer 1, combine all ingredients, and press into 9x13 pan, bake 10-12 minutes.  LET COOL COMPLETELY!

Layer 2, combine all ingredients and mix for a FULL 15 MINUTES (if you don't you base layer will be soft and the cake will be gloopy).  Spread over COOLED crust

Layer 3, peel and slice bananas lengthwise.  After the bananas have been dipped in lemon juice, layer side by side over layer 2.  Drain crushed pineapple completely, spread in between bananas. Use the full can.

Layer 4, mix dream whip according to directions, fold in cherries gently, and spread on top of cake.  

Refrigerate at least 4-6 hours to set.

Enjoy, believe me, you will!  Please send me feedback after you have had a chance to try this and let me know what you thought of it.

So I am leaving you with this final post for the holiday season, I will periodically check in just to see how everyone is doing and update you with out happy holidays. 

Enjoy your day, enjoy your family and have a HAPPY AND FESTIVE HOLIDAY!!

See you all back here in January.

Merry Christmas

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How to Procrastinate Until The Last Minute

People, I have been SUPER DUPER BUSY for the last 2 weeks and here's why.  We are driving across the country in 1 week, keep in mind that I live in Alberta and it is a 5000 + km (3200 mile) drive.  I have been so busy sewing that I have barely had time for my friends.  I'm sorry friends.  The problem with that today is..... everything I have sewn is for gifts, so I can't show you.

So here is my trade off, seeing as how in a week, my posts are going to become sparse (hard to post while driving), I am going to fill your tummies with all of my favorite Christmas recipes (sorry, they are mostly desserts, cause I really like desserts).  In other words, for the next week and a half, you will get at least 5 FABULOUS recipes that you can try this holiday season.  Share with guests or keep it to yourself (mmmmmmmmm banana split cake {imagine me looking like Homer Simpson at the moment}).  Sorry for the lack of pics with the recipes.  Starting in the new year, I am going to take pics while I cook, for now though you will just have to use your imagination.

Enjoy todays recipe.

My Mom's Ice Cream Bomb

(by the way, this is how she gave me the recipe)

Chopped walnuts
Sugar
Cocoa
Butter (a little)
the above ingredients have no measurements, just enough to make a ball about the size of a tennis ball)

3 different kinds of ice cream, softened (as follows)
 -strawberry, inside
 -chocolate, middle
 -vanilla, outside

(also if there are nut allergies, omit the walnuts and use broken up cookies instead)

In a large glass dish, place vanilla ice cream and move up the sides, about 2-3 inches thick, leaving the middle open, make a well.
Next layer, chocolate, do the same, make a well.
Next layer, strawberry , do the same, make a well.
You should have room left for the ball 'o chocolate nuts, shove it in.

Freeze at least 3 hours or overnight.
Turn upside down on a decorative plate. (you may need to submerge the BOTTOM of the dish to loosen the ice cream for a second).
Drizzle with your favorite sauce, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate, whatever strikes your fancy.
Here you have a choice, you can cut then drizzle or drizzle then cut.

Hope you enjoy this recipe, it is a favorite of mine growing up and one thing I will always remember about Christmas.

On thursday, I will give you a recipe that I have been using for 20 years.  It's soooooo goooood.

Enjoy your day, enjoy your family and happy baking!

Toques and Mitts for the Giving Tree

I had everything finished by this morning.  I finished sewing way before I was supposed to post this, however, as always, my morning did not go as planned.  Surprised? I'm not. But never the less, it's here.  I made 2 ear warmers, 2 toques and 2 pairs of mitts for the Giving Tree at YaYa and Supernan's school.

It was really easy to do..... Recognize the material?  I used the scraps of fleece that I had in my stash and was able to come up with a few things.  I will probably go get some more and make some more, as the kids like that I was able to do this and would rather that I sew than buy it.

But first, a pic of half of my on the go projects, all due in 2 weeks.

And now on to the actual tutorial:
Mitts
Step 1:
Cut a mitt pattern around your hand, (I am not a giant fan of actual patterns, as I have said in the past) and cut 3 more in the same material, then cut 4 in a coordinating material.  This will give you a lined pair of mitts.  Make sure to leave a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Step 2:
Sew around mitt liner, leaving the bottom open.  Measure and cut a 1/4 inch elastic to fit around your wrist snugly. Attach it to the bottom of the mitt liner about 1 inch up, with a loose stitch to allow for pulling.  Place the right sides of the outer material together, and sew around the edge, 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Turn right side out and repeat with the other set of mitts.

Step 3:
Tuck liner into outer shell and tuck edges under, sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, taking care not to sew the mitt together.  (I did this already)

Ear warmer
Step 1:
Cut material about 8 inches wide and measured to fit around your head in length, adding about 1 inch for finishing.

Step 2:
Fold in half lengthwise with right sides together.  Sew a seam along the length of the ear warmer. Turn right side out.

Step 3:
Fold in open edge about 1/4 inch, and slip other open edge in and pin.

Step 4:
Sew a 1/4 inch seam across, taking care again not to sew it together from the backside.

Step 5:
Get daughter to model and make her model face!

Toque
Step 1:
Cut a half circle, measured about 11 inches from side to side and about 7 inches up to the meet in the middle. Cut 2.

(pardon the sideways picture)

Step 2:

Run a 1/4 inch seam around the toque and cut away any excess material.

Step 3:

At the bottom, fold up at least 2 inches (for added ear warmth) and sew a zigzag stitch to keep it up.

Step 4:

Get son to make a ridiculous face as he is modeling the toque.

Yes my children love the camera.

See you here tomorrow as you all are excited to hear a classic phrase from gouliana.

Enjoy your day, enjoy your family and happy crafting.

Procrastination Part Deux

Ok, so I finally finished 1 blanket, and half finished another and half finished the car bag.  A little slow going today, as I am trying to finish before the really cold weather hits us and we actually have to leave the house.  Unfortunately I ran out of fleece for the car bag, so I do have to leave my hovel eventually.

But here's a start:

Blanket with attached pillow for the car.

Materials: 2 meters coordinating fleece, 13"x24" coordinating fleece, matching thread, polyfill (1 small bag will make at least 4 pillows)

Step 1: Try to get baby off the material, good luck with it.

Step 2: Sew right sides together leaving a 1/4"seam allowance. Also leave a 20" gap on the corner or side you plan to put the pillow on.

Step 3:
Sew a 1/2" top seam all the way around (except where the gap is)

Step 4:
Place right sides of the 13x24 fabric together, folded in half, and sew a 1/4" seam around, leaving the bottom end open for stuffing.

Step 5:
Stuff pillow with about 1/4 to 1/5th of the polyfill bag.  Push it as far back as you can sew you can sew the pillow into the blanket later.

Step 6:
Pin open side of pillow into open side of blanket, taking care to place it in straight and evenly on both sides. Sew across pillow and remaining open blanket seam with the 1/2"top seam.

Step 7:
Get husband to make funny faces while modeling the blanket, because the children are nowhere to be seen.  He's pretty handsome.

As for the other blanket, it will be finished this afternoon, I will post pics.  And the car bag will be finished tomorrow, I will post that on Thursday along with the tutorial.  And I will be sure to have something else ready for you too.

Thank you for bearing with me, and I promise to do better in the future.  Until tomorrow, I am still waiting for some christmas decoration upcycles.  Enjoy your day, enjoy your kids and happy crafting.

Part 1 and My Excuse; And Christmas Challenge #1

It's a snow day!!! Thats means that anything I had planned has officially been thwarted by 3 rugrats and a husband, who also will not go out in -35 (Celsius) weather.  So that means that I am going to do todays post in 2.  Ok and the worlds biggest procrastinator, aka me, has also come to a conclusion.  DO NOT LEAVE MY TUTORIAL POSTS UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE, ie tuesday morning as I'm rushing to finish something so that I can get it up for everyone.

So here's what I am going to do first, give you a sneak peek into what's coming up and then the challenge, like I promised yesterday.

I am going to turn this

Into 2 car blankets with attached pillows, because we live in the land of the frozen north; and also into a car bag for Chaos, who despite my best efforts refuses to keep shoes, socks, blankets, toques, mitts, etc on at any point in time, and again I am doing this because we live in the land of the frozen north.

And now for the challenge:

I know some, most of you parents out there have scads of artwork built up from your children, I know I do.  It gets displayed for some time, then out into a pile, separated by name, for them to decide what they want to hang onto in the future.  We have already done this with YaYa, as she is old enough to decide what was important, and also because she is a future art teacher and does not stop creating.
The problem, I have decided is that at christmas, all the teachers get together, and plan FABULOUS crafts and presents for my children to create (ok, ok I do it too), and as I was going through my christmas decorations I found and entire bucket of homemade stuff to display. Bare in mind that YaYa is in grade 6, but Supernan just started kindergarten and Chaos can barely have a functioning conversation.  I love everything equally, but there comes a time when you just don't have room to store or display everything for the holidays.  I do not want to get rid of this stuff either.
My challenge is this:
I would like the kids to repurpose, recycle, reuse the christmas decorations and make new ones.  I would love to see what you can come up with also.

I'm new to this link party thing, so any tips would be helpful, but please link up your ideas and pictures so that we can all see the wonderful things our kids can come up with.

I'll be back in a couple hours with the actual tutorial.

Turn a Sleeping Bag Cover Into a$5.00 Booster Seat (aka, 2nd degree burns from a glue gun)

It's that time again folks, you remember.  When I try to show something clever that I have come up with, and then show you how to do it.  Well, this time, I think I may have done just that, aside from the atrocious photography at work (I swear I am usually a little better), we are transforming the sleeping bag cover from the boys Spiderman fold out couch. This is a piece of material that usually has a special spot rolled up in a corner or tossed under a bed.  So when Chaos decided that he was a big boy and did not want to sit in his actual booster seat at the dinner table, I came up with this gem.  (seriously, it was making him and everyone miserable, and not worth the fight)

Materials:
Soft foam cushioning, $5.00, Walmart
Scrap fabric, on hand
Vinyl shower curtain (or table cloth), on hand or $2.00, Dollarama
Hot glue sticks, on hand

Step 1:
Pick your fabric, or beloved blanket, etc. Take a chunk of store bought foam (craft section at Walmart, $5.00) and cut to your desired size, I cut mine in half, and then hot glue the 2 pieces together, making the seat double tall.

Step 2:

Measure and cut your fabric to fit snugly around the foam, leaving about 1 inch for your makeshift glue seam.

Step 3:
Place bottom side fabric on top of your foam work space, and wrap top fabric around to reach the other piece, glue your edges to the bottom piece of fabric.

Step 4:
Cut a piece of your vinyl table shower curtain (from last weeks, cover your chairs tutorial) to fit around your new booster seat (believe me, this is an important step, making for easy clean and sanity saving), and hot glue edges, the easiest way is to wrap it like a present and glue the edges, taking care to not have too much excess.

The end result is a happy toddler, who can still reach the table, and I have less mess to clean up.  Now if only I could get him to actually use it, he liked it for about 5 seconds.

Until tomorrow, enjoy your day, and happy crafting.

How to Recover Kitchen Chairs (And Save your Sanity)

So apparently I had a brain malfunction when, already a mama to 2 children with chaos on the way, I decided that it would be a fabulous idea to get a new table and chairs set.  Beautiful! The problem, that for some strange reason I failed to see at the time was that the seat cushions are (were) a beautiful creamy white color.  After deliberation, steam cleaning, and hand cleaning the chairs numerous times, I decided to buy plastic covers that tie on for easy clean up.  Unfortunately, they turned out to be little more than glorified shopping bags, only not as thick.  Plan B; purchase a dollar store vinyl shower curtain, and make my own chair covers.  Enter Plan C; take the chair seat off and staple the vinyl to the cover, a little more permanent under the seats of 3 messy children.

Step 1:
Make sure that the dinner from last night is actually cleaned off the chairs. (no pics, because I actually managed to do this without having 5 meals eaten on the chair in between dinner and my project)

Step 2:
Unscrew  the chair seat from the chair

Step 3:
Open the shower curtain and spread it out. WATCH OUT FOR THE HELP FROM CHAOS, HE TRIED TO WEAR IT AS A HAT.

Step 4:
Measure and cut your vinyl around your seat, making sure to leave extra to fold over

Step 5:
Find the staple gun and staple the curtain to the UNDERSIDE of the seat, carefully pulling tight as you do

 (it's not pretty, but its effective)

Step 6:

Replace seat to chair and screw back in, sorry, no pics again, help from chaos is not necessarily conducive to many projects.

Step 7:

Step back and enjoy your work

I have officially turned into my grandmother, covering my furniture in plastic.  On a brighter note, I will be able to enjoy my furniture for years to come.

Only 7 more to do.

mama cash