Repurpose: Rosie the Riveter Headband from Old T-shirt

I love recycling and repurposing!  I love a simple project!  And I LOVE making something old, turn into something new!  Several months ago I had an idea for a Rosie the Riveter style headband for my little Indee.  I knew I wanted to make these headbands out of stretchy knit material because of its forgivability, but didn't have any on hand.  So I went to my storage room and started pulling out old t shirts that showed promise.  I found several and was excited to get started!  From start to finish, 1 headband took me 10 minutes or less!  This is great for me considering I am just a beginner at sewing!  Here is one of the finished headbands on my Indee Lu Lu.  I love how it turned out and with very little effort involved!:)

I apologize for not having step by step pictures for this tutorial.  I'm hoping that because it's so simple, with very few steps, that I can explain it good enough!

1.  Measure your little girls head around where the headband will fit.  Indee's was 19 inches.

2.  Next, cut two strips lengthwise(top to bottom) out of your t-shirt.  For a 19 in head, I cut the strips roughly 25 inches long.  The strips should be 2 1/2-2 3/4 inches wide.

3.  Now, put the right sides of the two strips together facing each other.  Wrong sides facing out.

4.  Start at the middle on one side and sew with a straight stitch along the edge, all the way up rounding as you stitch at the end, back down the edge of the other side and rounding the other end.  Once you get about 1 1/2 inches from where you started, do a quick backstitch to secure it.  Trim the excess corners at each end.

5.  Now, using the 1 1/2 inch opening you've left on one side, turn the head band right side out.  Fold the opening seams inward and sew it closed.  And you're done!  

Project by Kara

Images by Kara     

Brown Rice Pudding w/ a Hint of Coconut

We are big fans of rice pudding at our house!  We love the heartiness that the rice adds and the creamy vanilla flavor!  So several weeks ago I decided to whip up a batch using brown rice for a little healthy boost and a little coconut for a nice flavor switch up!  The results were fantastic!  I've made it several times since when we need something sweet and my kids can't get enough of it!  I'm quite certain that Ace would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I would let him!:)

 

 

Here's the line up:
1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked
4 cups milk, divided
1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
First cook your brown rice according to the instructions on the package.  Just so we are clear, you will be using 3/4 cup uncooked brown rice to make 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice.:)  
Next, pour 3 cups of milk in a saucepan with the 1/2 cup coconut and the sugar.  Allow the milk to simmer over med-low heat for 5-10 minutes.  This is helping to infuse the milk with that amazing natural coconut flavor.  Once the milk has reached the scalding point, strain it through a sieve, into a bowl with a spout to remove the coconut.(if you want the added texture, by all means leave the coconut in.  We just prefer it more smooth)  Now poor the coconut infused milk back into the sauce pan.  Over medium heat, add the cooked brown rice.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of milk into a liquid measuring cup and crack the two eggs into it.  Whisk until combined.  Now, while stirring the milk/rice mixture vigorously with the whisk, VERY SLOWLY pour the milk and egg mixture into it.  You need to make sure you are whisking the entire time, otherwise the egg mixture will begin to scramble.  Whisk constantly over medium heat until the pudding begins to thicken.  This will take roughly 10 minutes.  Once the pudding has thickened, remove from heat and add the vanilla and butter.  Allow the butter to melt and then whisk to mix well.  Store in a clean tupperware with a lid until ready to serve!  Raspberries and fresh whipped cream are always good options on top!  Makes 5 servings approx!


Images from my phone
Recipe by Kara    

First, let me apologize for the lack of recipe or diy in this post.  It's been hectic lately, but I will get on top of it!  Especially since Bri is currently "blowing me out of the water" with her creative ideas/write ups and amazing pictures!  I really need to STEP IT UP!  I hope you're all as glad as I am that the weekend is here.  I have a hot date tonight with my main squeeze, complete with scooter ride and dinner.  A great way to start the weekend if I do say so myself!  So, I shall shamelessly leave you with a few images of my little Q.  Who decided to speed through her first year of life, leaving a completely dumbfounded Mama in her wake!  I know I'm sentimental, but gosh dang, can she just slow down, like a teensy bit????

 

 

Have a great weekend!:)    

Cousin Day + Hand Mixed Ice Cream

Lily invited her cousin Grace up for a cousin day today. So far they've had a picnic, gone swimming, taken a bath, had a snack, watched a movie and eaten ice cream! When I told Randy all that they had been doing, he said: "I want to be four again." Haha. Being a kid is pretty great. And being a kid at the beginning of summer? Well, that is just about the best thing in the whole wide world.

I mentioned in another post that I hand mixed some ice cream Cold Stone style for dessert one night. It's right smack dab between hard pack ice cream and a shake. It's totally yummy. I made raspberries 'n' cream for the girls. I scooped vanilla ice cream out onto my cutting board and placed a few fresh raspberries on top, then just scooped and smashed the ice cream until it was mixed. 

Cute cuzzies.

And for me, I mixed in some lemon cookies. It was pretty naughty. 

I'm looking forward to trying some more kinds of hand mixed ice creams this summer. Here are some topping ideas dancing around my brain:

marshmallow creme

 caramel sauce

roasted/salted nuts

shredded coconut

any fresh or frozen fruit

peanut butter

oreos- mint, golden and regular (no brainer)

candy bars

lemon and lime zest (WORD TO YOUR MOM!)

Cookies

And the list goes on...

Hope your Wednesday is going swell, dudes. Thanks for popping in!

images by Briana

Mini Me Maxi Skirt DIY

I am a huge fan of the comfort and ease of the maxi skirt.  Not to mention the fact that I love the laid back style.  I had this idea to attempt to make a "mini" sized maxi for my 2-year-old Indee, but I needed some guidance.  So I called on my good friend Sarah over at Made It Mine to help me bring this idea to fruition.  With Sarah's help I completed what would be the first of many maxi skirts for Indee.  Once I got the hang of it, I pulled out an old t shirt I figured would look sooooo much more cute as a skirt on Indee, than it ever did as a shirt on me!  And let me preface folks, that if I can make this skirt, anybody can!  So here we go!
Things needed:
Sewing machine;)
An old t-shirt(preferably in decent shape)
Measuring tape
Good fabric scissors
Matching thread
Elastic thread

Lay your shirt out flat.

Next, take your measuring tape and measure around your little girls' waist.  Then measure from her waist down to a point on her leg where you would like the hem of the skirt to hit.  

Next you need to divide her waist size in half for the front piece and back piece to the skirt.  Example:  Indee's waist is 18 1/2 inches.  So I measured what would be the top(not the waistband) of the skirt width at roughly 9 1/2 inches.(front and back)  Then I measured the length, wanting it to hit Indee just above her ankles.  Example:  16 inches.

Here is the cutout.  I used the already sewn side of the shirt as my guide for following the same slant in cutting the other side.  So again, the measurement for Indee at the top is 9 1/2 inches front and back.  And the new measurement at the bottom is 14 inches front and back.  The nice thing about repurposing a shirt is the fact you already have a hem at the bottom and only one side to sew up!

Now turn the cutout inside out and match up the open sides.

Here I am sewing up the open side.  Make sure you backstitch at both ends.

Now turn it back to right side out.  Here is the side a just sewed closed.

Next, cut your waist band.  The thickness will just depend on how much shirt you have leftover.  The length of the band should be slightly bigger than your little girls' waist.  Example:  I cut a 20 inch length for an 18 1/2 inch waist.

Now, lay it out flat, seam in the middle.

Fold it in half, inside facing out.

Next, sew up the open side like I've done above.  Sorry, you can't see it very well.

Just another picture of the waistband.  I hope this isn't confusing.:)

Now, fold the waistband in half, open edges facing up.  Put the top of the skirt inside the waistband, lining up all the raw edges.

Wind a bobbin loosely with elastic thread and put in sewing machine.

Sew the lined up raw edges of the top of the skirt and waistband together.

Here is what it should look like after sewing the skirt and waistband together.  Waistband up.

And with the waistband folded down.

Here's the finished skirt on my sweet Indee Girl!  

 

 

I hope I've been clear enough.  If you have questions, let's chat in the comments!


Images by Kara

    

    

Crafty Yarn Wrapped Letters

Our Spring Break isn't feeling very Springy. The temperatures have dropped and the rain has come. We even got a little snow last night! We are still making the most of it though. Yesterday we stayed inside and spent the morning making yarn wrapped letters. I was inspired by a recent The Land of Nod catalog where they had a whole alphabet of craft paper letters decorated with baubles and wrapped with yarn. I thought it was a really great spread. Did you happen to see it?

We made our own version of them at home using materials we already had. My initial thought was to cut the letters out of a diaper box, but that got thrown away and then I remembered I had a piece of foam core that was banged up and no longer pristine to photograph food on, so I used that. This is a fun project and there are so many different ways to wrap your letters and be creative. Here are some pictures and details on this project, if you'd like to take a look:

Materials needed:

-kraft knife or scissors (depending on the type of material you use)

-foam core or cardboard

-yarn (colors of your choice)

-tape

-template {{HERE}} is the template I used and printed off. I cut the letters about 1/4 inch larger on all sides because I wanted a bigger letter. There are plenty of templates on the web to choose from- different fonts and sizes, etc. My google search was 'alphabet letters template'.

Trace and cut out your letters. Don't be worried if your cuts aren't perfect.

Wrap your letters, making sure to wrap thoroughly for good coverage. Secure each sections of yarn on the backside with tape. Before you wrap, think about how to wrap your letter since every letter of the alphabet is different and will require a different strategy.

For Lily's L (above), I wrapped it more uniform and went for a ombre/watercolor graduated vibe. Hadden's H (below) is wrapped more willy-nilly. I adore how both turned out. Just have fun and do what feels good to you.

When you've finished wrapping and securing your yarn, hang your letter. Use plasti-tac or something that won't damage paint underneath (I used removable glue dots from my stash). I hung the letters on the girls' doors, but you could hang these anywhere, really!

If you decide to make some letters of your own, I'd love to hear how it goes! Have a lovely weekend! See you next week!

images and project by Briana

Flower Crowns for Easter

Flowers worn in the hair is so lovely and perfectly feminine. When I was little, I'd daydream of getting to wear a crown of flowers in my hair for a special occasion. Now that I'm older, I don't think I could pull off the flower crown, but by golly I've got two little girls who can! I thought it would be sweet to make them some flower crowns to wear with their Easter dresses.  I wasn't going for fussy or grand here, just sweet, simple and pretty. I think we accomplished that and the look on the girls' faces when I presented them with their crowns?! Gasps and excitement aplenty. 

I envisioned this post to have pictures of Lily and Hadden, holding hands and being all sisterly and photogenic. Ya know, real high hopes! But, it was not to be, Hadden wanted to stay in her pj's and insisted that the enchilada sauce remain smeared on her adorable cheeks. ;)

Notes on the crowns: It took me twenty minutes to make two crowns. I would recommend making these the night before or the day of wear. For the purpose of this post, I made crowns for the girls today. I will make fresh ones for Easter Sunday. Here is how I made them, if you'd like to take a look:

Materials needed:

-floral tape

-flowers *Use any variety you prefer, Lily's crown is made up of small daisy like white flowers. These can be found at any flower shop, even at grocery stores. 

-string

-scissors 

Take string and measure it around the head of the person you are making the crown for (measure the string the way it is intended to be worn). Tie a knot.

Clip flowers and place around the string. This will give you an idea of how many flowers you'll need, what directions look best.

Take floral tape and wrap (with good tension) bundles of flowers around the string until you've made up your flower crown. See above. Try your best to wrap the tape so it's concealed behind flowers. Store flower crown in fridge before use.

Thanks for letting me share this today and for popping in! 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead of you. I am looking forward to spending time with family and celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

images and project by Briana

Williams-Sonoma Monkey Milk

The last smoothie I made, Lily, my four year old told me it tasted like leaves. HA! Kids have such honest observations, don't they? After that I asked myself, do all my smoothies need to have kale and spinach in them?! Does every smoothie we blend under this roof need to have leaves greens in it? Certainly not! So today we gave the greens a rest and went for something different (for us) and a little more dessert-like, but still healthy in its own way. This is Williams-Sonoma's recipe and I'd like to give whoever came up with the name "monkey milk" a high five because that is pretty gosh darn adorable and clever. I mean, what kid wouldn't be stoked about drinking monkey milk? Enjoy!

Recipe (serves 4):

2 ripe bananas, broke into pieces

1 cup vanilla yogurt (I highly recommend The Greek Gods greek yogurt in the honey or honey-vanilla flavor)

1 cup milk

1 cup ice cubes

Combine bananas, yogurt, milk and ice cubes in a blender. Blend on high speed until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve with a straw!

*the original recipe calls for 2 tbs honey, but I have never added it in because the smoothie is plenty sweet with out it. Don't be afraid to add it in your smoothie if needs be.

image by Briana

Lily's Girly-Girl Party

When I asked Lily what kind of birthday party she wanted to have, she was all over the place like a four year old should be. Here's a sampling of what she would say exclaim when I would ask her what she'd like to do: Princess! Fairies! Whales! Radishes! (dead serious, you guys) Dance! Nail Polish! Fancy Nancy! Phew. I tried to prod her in certain directions, but we weren't getting anywhere. Then it hit me one night as I was laying in bed bouncing ideas around my brain. Why not throw a girly-girl party?! Bingo. A girly-girl party would surley fit most of Lily's desires under its umbrella.....all except maybe the whales. I pitched the idea to Lily and she loved it, so we ran with it! The party came together with ease and Lily and I had fun making it all happen. 

On a completely unrelated note (but somewhat related), I've decided that we're going to throw a friend party for our kids every other year, starting when they turn four. I know lots of other families do this and I think it's so smart. Gives us moms a nice break to let the creative juices fill back up and your bank account gets a break too! Here are some pictures from Lily's first official friend party, if you'd like to take a look.

This giant balloon (36 in diameter) greeted the guests when they arrived. Lily and I fell hard for this balloon when we walked in the party supply store. We had to have it!

I dug through my craft supplies to make these banners and they came together in about an hour. Lily helped me punch out the circles with our round punch for the happy birthday banner. I used a black sharpie to do the all caps lettering and then I strung it up with some pink ribbon. For the Lily banner I used black cardstock that I cut into the flag like shape, strung them on some hemp twine, then I used a piece of white chalk to do the girly cursive lettering. The Lily banner ended up being one of my favorite elements of the party. Black, when used right can have a cool impact.

We flanked the banners with some balloons from Zurchers (party supply store in Orem, UT if you're local). Nice and simple.

Randy grabbed a mediocre grocery store bouquet of flowers the morning of the party and it totally pulled the food table together. Flowers are the icing on the cake, so to speak....even if they are mediocre.

For the food I made some simple ham and cheese roll sandwiches (with a fancy toothpick, our subtle nod to the Fancy Nancy books), raspberry lemonade, and some kid friendly fruit and veg.

White cupcakes w/ strawberry buttercream frosting per Lily's request. I piped that icing on the cupcakes half-hazardly and that is just the way I like it. It took me all of 10 minutes.

I pulled out all my pink bowls and cake stands for the table. I rolled out a piece of black and white wrapping paper for a little interest and a foundation. Want to hear something weird? Pink is my least favorite color, but I LOVE and am always drawn to it on dishes and serving pieces.

The girls ate their food on a blanket picnic style. They all LOVED this. Scouts honor, not one of those glasses of raspberry lemonade got tipped over.

I adore this picture of Lily. So happy. So excited. 

The girls painted wooden jewelry box purses that you can find at Michael's. You don't see it, but I made each of the little girls wear a white garbage sack to protect their clothes. We let the boxes dry while we opened presents. After presents we came back and "bedazzled" (this was a stretch for me) the boxes with some sticky gems and some glitter.

In true Lily fashion, she chose sunglasses and lip gloss for the party favors. We got the lip gloss in a pack at Michael's and the sunglasses in a pack at Zurcher's. Both the lip gloss and the sunglass pack were super inexpensive. I think the lip gloss pack was around four dollars and the pack of 12 sunglasses was around 10 bucks. The striped bag is from Zurcher's as well. We sealed the bag with some pink washi tape from my own stash.

The end!

Thanks for letting me share this really long post about Lily's fourth birthday. It was a pleasure to put together and Lily had so much fun, which makes me the happiest mom in the world. However, I did learn a few things that I will do for parties to come, like being aware of where the products I'm buying are made. This is a hard feat since it seems as though everything is made in China. Next time I'll put more effort in to finding favors and supplies that are made in the states or local. I also loved having a helper at the party and I will definitely do this again. It was especially helpful when we painted the girls nails! Thanks to my girl, Abby, for helping me out the day of the party and making it that much more fun. If you have any questions about the party, leave a comment and I'll respond in the comments. Thanks for stopping by today!

all images by Briana, last image from my instagram, follow me at breezy_may