Pinspired Project #13 - Part 2

How many days ago did I do the very simple beginning steps of these pumpkin shirts? I have lost track, honestly. After my last post, I did sit down at my sewing machine to work on a satin stitch to outline the pumpkins. I spent an hour or so testing stitches and none worked correctly. I watched Youtube videos. I googled different sewing machine feet. I actually bought a new foot, but it didn't fit my sewing machine. Why can't anything just work right the first time? Is it just me?

I did finally find a good stitch length, tension combination and decided to give it a try. Below was  my result! You can see the right side looks great, or good enough for me. Getting around the curve at the bottom of the pumpkin proved a little tricky for this novice. Then the fabric just wasn't really moving as the machine stitched and you can see how jumbled up the left side got. Side note: When I sew, I am bad about pulling the fabric too tightly so I was trying not to pull and just let it flow on its own. I am sure my technique didn't help this fabric not moving issue.

After what I considered a total failure, I set this aside and let life happen. I spent time pondering whether or not I would try more satin stitching or just use a straight or zig zag stitch. So this afternoon, determined to wash my hands of this and let the girls wear these shirts before Halloween, which is in 4 days, I ripped out some seams and checked out my zig zag settings and went to work. 15 minutes or so later, these were 'complete.'

 

Definitely not perfect and I won't be going into the appliqued shirt selling business any time soon, but wearable for my sweet little girls for a few weeks until their mother is last minute throwing together something Christmas-y. 

 

See my Sources of Pinspiration on Part 1 of this Project.

I had big plans to 'paint' some pumpkins before Halloween. The clock is ticking on that one, too.

Follow my madness on Pinterest!

Pinspired Project #13 - Part 1

Surprise, surprise - - Another 2 part series!

Actually, today's portion of this project was the easy part. It may have taken me a total of 20 minutes to cut, iron, cut and iron again these pumpkins onto 2 shirts.  Of course, that was after I did the memory searching for how I had done this process on the 2 shirts I did for the girls last year at Christmas. I don't know if I did it the same or not, but it worked.

Here's what I used:
Shirts
Coordinating Fabrics
Scissors
Heat and Bond
An Iron

Here's what I did:
First, I searched for a pumpkin shaped pattern that I liked. I was just going to print out a Microsoft pumpkin clip art and use it, but didn't really like the shape of any of those options. Also, sizing it was going to take some trial and error. So I went with this pattern from Holly's Home. I printed it out in two different sizes because the girls are, go figure, two different sizes!

I cut out the two different sized patterns. Then I sat and tried to figure out what was the best way to trace, cut, iron, all that, these patterns onto the fabric. Not rocket science and for this project not that big of a deal. However, for letters or shapes that need to face a certain direction, the process requires a little more accuracy.

Trace the pumpkin pattern onto the paper side of your Heat and Bond. Cut out around the edges, not on the shape itself. Cut a piece of fabric about the same size as your Heat and Bond. Lay the Heat and Bond on the wrong side of your fabric. Flip it over so that the right side of the fabric is facing up and the Heat and Bond is on the bottom. Iron on the right side of the fabric until the fabric is well attached to the Heat and Bond, about 10-15 seconds.

Cut out the shape on the lines. For me, I had to do this process for the pumpkin and the stem. This is my pumpkin cut out. I chose this fabric because it is almost the end of October and I didn't want the shirts to be too Halloweenish. I need them to be able to wear these until Thanksgiving. I figured a this variety of fall colors could last an extra month!

Remove the paper part of the Heat and Bond from the pumpkin and stem. Decide where on the shirt the pumpkin and stem need to be. If you are like me, you eyeball it. If you are more OCD, you pull out a ruler and make sure there is the exact amount of space between each edge of the pumpkin and the side seams of the shirt. That's too much work for me!

Iron the stem onto the shirt. Again, about 10-15 seconds and make sure all the edges are well adhered to the shirt. Repeat the iron step for the pumpkin.

Voila! Two pumpkin shirts in no time at all!

The next and final part of this project is  machine stitching a border around the edges of the stem and pumpkin. This is the part I am most terrified of! We shall all see how this turns out.

More sources of my pinspiration:

Holly's Home

Uncommon Designs (I love the little bow detail on this!)

Come follow me!

Pinspired Project #12

My kids are bottomless pits! There isn't much they won't eat, which is a blessing, but also expensive. I think one of their favorite eats is their evening 'treat.' Their expectation of what this 'treat' is going to entail is quite lofty. When I tell them they can have a yogurt or something simple, their disappointment is palpable. I suppose I should own up to the fact that I created their 'treat' entitlement. Every night. Like clockwork. Often, I am not prepared to answer the dreaded question. "What can we have for our treat?"

Here's where Pinterest has been my friend or maybe my downfall! I experimented with a Cookie in a Cup recipe and these have become one of their favorites. The smiles and nods of approval when the mugs come out at 'treat' time make the trouble worthwhile. I had no other options Saturday night so I pulled up this recipe. I seem to always have these basic ingredients in my cabinets.

For the sake of time (and so I can try to follow the storyline of The Blacklist), instead of posting a play by play, you can find the oh so simple recipe to the Sugar Cookie in a Cup at Follow Foodie.
They like the Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Cup from The Comfort of Cooking, but I tend to eat all the chocolate chips before they make it into the cup!

When you need a little something sweet, these are great to whip up. I would venture to guess that most of you have the ingredients on hand at all times.

Enjoy!

See what other deliciousness I have pinned.

Pinspired Project #11 - Complete!

Project #11 is complete!

I have wanted to tackle a sign for quite a while, but have been intimidated by the whole painting letters process. Intricately detailed things aren't my strong point. My best vision of what my sign would look like was equal to my 5 year old's attempts at writing 5 words that rhyme with pat!

Gathering materials for this wasn't that difficult. I had made a stained wood backdrop for my Christmas mantle last  year so there were a few pieces of already stained, cut wood in the garage collecting dust. The one piece that isn't being used to level a basketball goal or bales of hay isn't stained on one long side and has wood glue residue on the other. It also has a nick in one corner. Since this was a project that could be a total failure, I wasn't all that concerned with this flawed piece of wood!

My children need lots of motivation when it comes to homework. Can I get a witness? I have wanted to put some sort of motivational words on the wall in the homework area, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Two birds could be killed with this one stone - a sign attempt and a motivational quote IF the attempt was successful! The words on my sign would read "Always do your best."

Here's what I did:

I printed out the words I wanted to use on my sign using Microsoft Publisher. I formatted the fonts so that they would print just as an outline. It took me a while to choose a font that I liked and to get the words to fit on the piece of wood.

To transfer the words to the wood, I used a ball point pin and traced around the outline of my letters, pressing as firmly as I could so that the wood would be indented with the outline of the letters. I had to go around some of the letters two or three times to make sure the outlines were visible.

Because I was still nervous about my ability to paint the letters, I took a pencil and traced inside of the indented letter outlines on the wood. I wanted to make sure I could really see the boundaries of my letters!

I debated whether or not I would use acrylic paint and a paint brush or a paint pen to fill in the letters on the wood. I made a trip to Walmart to buy the supplies to use either.  I ended up using a fine point white paint pen. This part was much easier than I had anticipated it to be. I went over the letters again with the paint pen to make the letters stand out better.

Here's my finished project! I love how it turned out and can't wait to hang it up. I am already thinking about my next one. There are obviously a ton of great sign ideas on Pinterest.

Since this was the continuation of my previous post, you can find my pinspiration sources there.

Stay tuned for the finished product of my applique project. Fabric and shirts have been purchased!

Follow my craziness on Pinterest.

Pinspired Project #11 - To Be Continued

Couldn't resist snapping pictures of this little bundle of cuteness today! She was the show stealer at our local mail box place today - One man introduced her to his sweet puppy before I even got her out of the car. A little Asian lady couldn't keep her eyes off of her 'beautiful curls'. The shop owner just thought she was  funny as could be as she spun around a display over and over. She wasn't so cute when I had to pry a greeting card with dogs out of her hands so we could leave. She kept saying "dog" and just cackling in the store. A policeman flashed his lights at her in the parking lot. She definitely made her mark on that little shop in the 10 minutes we were there!

Back to the point of this post...

Do you ever try to do too much? I'm not sure that I ever intentionally set out to feel overwhelmed, but somehow it happens frequently in my life. Why is it that everything has to happen NOW? or Everything is due on the SAME day? Have you noticed that my Project #s and the actual date are getting further apart? Well, if you haven't - - there's your newsflash!

I am in the middle of tagging items for a consignment sale that I have known about for a month! My drop off time is this afternoon and I am frantically tagging. My name should just be Jen P (Procrastination) Wade.

While I have the beginnings of two projects in motion, 4 kids and a consignment sale have me falling further and further behind with my Pinspired Projects.

So to keep from going days and days without posting, I will at least let you know where my pinspiration for the 2 projects I have in the works is coming from.

I am working on a simple wooden sign to go over the window in our homework/dining room that says Always Do Your Best. And I have started searching for pumpkin shape patterns to make the girls an Appliqued Pumpkin shirt. The last applique shirts I made them I hand stitched around the applique. I want to use my sewing machine this time so I've had to watch a few tutorials to figure out the best stitch settings for a good blanket stitch look.

So here are the sources for my pinspiration for these two projects:

Wooden Sign Project:

Come Together Kids

Homespun Happenings

Burlap and Blue 
 

Pumpkin Applique Project:

Ellison Lane

Little Pumpkin Grace

Angel Lea Desings

Follow me!

 

Pinspired Project #10

More organizing bliss! Well, eventually I may be able to say it's bliss. Finding these particular jars was a fun little scavenger hunt through every TJ Maxx and Marshall's in our city! Fortunately there are several to choose from.

When we moved (are you tired of me talking about moving?) here, I gave up my red craft room with fun, fabulous storage that could be hidden by a closed door if anyone ever visited our house. In this house, all of my craft supplies are in what should be a dining room that is wide open to the living room and kitchen. Now my storage solutions have to be practical and aesthetically pleasing.I also lost some storage shelves that were perfect for large plastic storage boxes that could be stuffed full of supplies like ribbons, fabric, and papers.

My craft room now doubles as our homework room and could be an extra eating area when we need extra seats. side note: We went from having 6 seats at a table to having 14 different seated places someone sit to devour a plate of delicious take out. We have our old table, a new round table and 4 bar stools at a large bar. Since the kids use this particular table for homework, I wanted them to have easy access to pencils, markers, crayons, etc. In theory, this is a fabulous idea. In reality, we have a 20 month old who has learned to climb on the chairs to get her grubby hands on markers and pencils! As a result she has personally autographed several walls and closet doors in this rental house.

In my attempt to consolidate some of my bigger bins, I began looking for craft room organization on Pinterest. I had seen many different uses for jars and I love the chalkboard detail! However, chalkboard labels are pricey, especially when you know you are only going to use 3 or 4. Painting little chalkboards seemed like more work than I wanted to put into this.

I found 2 of these chalkboard jars at Marshall's. After I decided I wanted 2 more, I went out on a mission to find them. If you shop at TJ Maxx or Marshall's, you know that every store may or may not have the same products and even if they do, they may not have very many. It took me going to 4 different stores before I found the extra 2! Pier1 had some that were similar, but not exact matches. I like that these add a decorative touch, but are very functional.

I don't do much with ribbon, but I seem to have amassed quite a collection! Remember, I can only make one decent bow! Keeping them rolled up is a pain, to me, so when I saw this BHG idea of taking ribbon off the rolls and putting it in a jar sounded like a great idea to me. And it looks kind of cute sitting on a shelf!

My neighbor in TX gave me this little 31 tote when we moved as a gift with some Chick Fil A coupons and some Scentsy bricks. It turned out to be the perfect place to put pens, pencils and scissors. 4 empty and cleaned fruit or vegetable cans fit perfectly down in it! Cans have so many great uses!

I confess. It is so easy for me to get overwhelmed, almost to the point of paralysis, when it comes to making decisions like deciding which method I'm going to use to organize crayons! Totally insane, I know! There are just so many great ideas floating around and so many make sense and are doable for average Jen's like me. Do you have this issue, too?

Sources of my pinspiration:

BHG

Aunt Peaches 

Aunt Peaches (again) 

Be Book Bound

Come be paralyzed with me by all the great ideas I have pinned on Pinterest!

Pinspired Project #9

Are you beginning to think that I am totally lame and just do easy stuff? You aren't far from wrong!

Fall Break has worn me out and totally was a bad time to even imagine starting anything new. New stuff is coming, I promise! I'm scouting out some simple sewing projects for the girls that I am going to give a whirl in the next couple of days. I have a few more headbands that I want to try and some felt and fabric flowers. I have a couple of walls that need some attention, too.

At some point, I need to wake up and admit that it is FALL and those fall decorations that didn't get taken down last year need to come out of their boxes this year! We pumpkin patched yesterday so I have a stash of pumpkins that I have to keep reminding 2 little people in particular that they are not toys or pillows. Mr. MC, my 7 year old, insisted on laying on the living room floor with his head propped up on a pumpkin so he could finish an episode of Sophia the First. Anyone else's boys like Sophia? Mine have from the very first few episodes. I digress...

Some of my very favorite things that I have stumbled across on Pinterest are printables! I have printed stationary, signs, and my most printed printable is monthly calendar pages. Instead of just sucking it up and buying a calendar for the past few years, I have resorted to just printing a new calendar page out for every month. Not sure this is saving me money in the long run, but it's what I do!

This is our current calendar. I have printed pages until December. For now it just hangs on the side of the refrigerator. I personally don't have too much going on at this point so it really looks bare compared to 6 months or so ago.

I have plans to make a Home Management Binder at some point. That may end up being a New Year's Resoluation for 2015. There are lots of great free printables to make that happen. It's just a matter of sitting down one day with enough ink in the printer and enough paper and just doing it! 

There's a perfect wall in my house to hang a bigger calendar, cork board, and chalkboard. I own 2 of those 3 components. Just a matter of making a decision on the 3rd and attaching them to the wall. Maybe I'll get a little mojo going and get it done before the end of the month...No promises!

Do you have favorite printables? I would love to know what they are! 

Sources of my pinspiration:

30 Handmade Days

The TomKat Studio

Come see some of my  favorite printables!

Pinspired Project #8

I love organized spaces! I love opening a cabinet, closet, or drawer and knowing exactly where the item I am looking for is. I am constantly looking for ways to help our large family function more smoothly. Sadly, I have many closets and drawers that need some attention right now!

Today's pinspired projects are simply two different places I have organized in our house based on ideas I came across on Pinterest.

The first is our medicine shelf. We have lots of medicine bottles, hotel toiletries, first aid stuff, etc., that at one point was a jumbled mess! When we moved into our last house, I invested in these boxes with good lids and handles to get all of these little items under control. Today, JB, MC and I went through these boxes and cleaned them out. We also labeled them for the first time! I love that these particular boxes stack so well and come in various sizes.  These were purchased at Walmart. They were a little pricey of an investment for my frugal taste, but well worth the money I spent.

The boys started playing flag football this fall. The day they were given their flag belt and mouth pieces, I knew there was great potential for many frantic searches for one of these items as minutes ticked on the clock and we were going to be late for practice or a game! To thwart that, I decided I would put them in a basket in the laundry room so we could grab them on the way out the door, a good use for these little Dollar Tree baskets that have been stacked in our garage since we moved. Since I have a huge bucket on my dryer that holds dirty cloth diapers, I needed these baskets to hang! I had some S hooks that we had bought at Ikea a while back for a different project. This is the perfect solution for our flag football stuff! Thankfully we have yet to  spend any time frantically searching for flag belts. The other basket is our socks looking for mates! This has been a good solution for those, as well.

Sources of my pinspiration:

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Diyenergy (I thought I had another pin for this tip, but can't seem to locate it.)

Come see my disorganized array of pins on Pinterest!

Pinspired Project #7

I have had this coffee recipe pinned for a long time, but never made it until recently.  It has been life changing! What was I waiting for? 

One of my issues was fridge space. Our old fridge was maxed out so adding an extra gallon pitcher just wasn't going to happen. We adopted a spare refrigerator when we moved and it has come in handy, except those moments when we realize that it has tripped the GCFI switch and isn't working! Thankfully now we are aware and check it often to make sure it is still humming. I also didn't have a strainer with small holes. I have lived with 2 strainers our whole marriage and every time I cook pasta, well anything that requires straining, I lose a little down the drain! So I had to buy a new strainer just for this. I found this one at Ikea! 

I love coffee, but often wait so long for a cup of hot coffee to cool off enough that it doesn't burn my tongue that I waste more cups than I want to admit. My husband has found my coffee cup in the microwave at night after I have microwaved it several times and forgotten about it! Just like my grandma - we always know when she can't find her tea cup she probably left it in the microwave. Iced coffee, though, is always the right temperature! No losing these cups in the microwave.

Without further adieu, I introduce you to the life changing serum that is the Pioneer Woman's (PW) Iced Coffee Concentrate.

Necessary Materials:

2 cups of ground coffee/espresso (the stronger the better)

2 large pitchers or containers

Strainer with small holes

Cheesecloth

Water

Ice

Half and Half, Creamer, etc. - your coffee milk add in of choice

A sweetener

Here's what you do:

I add a little sweet n low and do mostly half and half with a little bit of flavored creamer. Delicious!!! I love this so much that I started making a decaf pitcher, too. Sometimes I need a little something creamy and coffee flavored after 5pm.

**Update** - The measurements I share make about a half batch of PW's original recipe.

The PW has all sorts of add in suggestions. None of which are low carb or low cal, but all make my mouth water!

If you like iced coffee like I do, give this a try! 

Sources of my pinspiration:

Pioneer Woman

Pioneer Woman (Frozen version)

Grab of iced coffee and follow me on Pinterest!

Pinspired Project #6

 

A couple of years ago when I found out that we were expecting baby #4 - - after the shock and denial wore off - - I got all pumped about making headbands and bows for our new baby girl! When JB was born, headbands weren't all the rave yet. And honestly, I thought they looked like moms were wrapping bandages around their sweet baby girls' heads. Just me. I am no trendsetter or fashionista!

I have a whole board on Pinterest called Hair Accessories devoted to these fab headbands and such that I was going to make for Miss H. I actually made a little hat and 2 headbands for her in the first few months of her life. They were trial and error and none were really all that cute, if I'm being honest. I got aggravated with my old sewing machine because it didn't have a good stitch for sewing jerseys or knits so I sweet talked my mom into buying  me a new sewing machine for Christmas or my birthday or something. It was a bargain on Amazon and is a great machine, I think. I haven't used it near as much as I would like. The last project I attempted I kept having issues with the bobbin and just gave up on it.

In honor of this 31 days series and because Saturday was college game day (War Eagle), I got all inspired and have decided to go back to attempting my hand at headbands and such. On Sunday,  I finally got my great sewing machine out of the box and couldn't find the bobbin cover! Moments of panic. Straight to Amazon searching for a new cover. I searched all the places I could possibly have slipped this little clear plastic piece before we moved. Relief -- I had dropped it in a container of paper clips that had been on the desk. I was really worried that I may have thrown it away! It is one of those parts that without the sewing machine staring at me I might pick up and have no idea what it belonged to and tossed it.

Does this kind of drama happen when you decide to actually work on a project? It's never quite as easy as it should be, is it? Oh wait, that just happens at my house!

Onto this headband that was really simple to make. I am just going to post a series of pictures and then give you my post-headband making observations and things I will do differently next time.

Necessary Materials:
Knit fabric (you can use an old tshirt. If buying fabric, 1/4 of a yard would be plenty.)
Glue Gun or Sewing Machine
Scissors/Rotary Cutter

Here's what you do:

You can get a great tutorial for this at Domesstic Ingenuity.

My tips:
*For my girls who have full heads of hair, wavy crazy hair, I will make my next ones with just one strand, not the doubled thickness. (Miss H wouldn't even try this one on. She was terrified of it!)
*You can use as many layers as you want to make these as thick as you want.
*Instead of sewing it with a machine, you could do the last steps with a glue gun.
*I am going to try this using an old pair of nylon tights, too.

Sources of my pinspiration:

Domestic Ingenuity 
Sugar Bee Crafts
Love Stitched

Come follow me on Pinterest!

Pinspiring Project #5

Fall Break. Whose brilliant idea was this? Who thought it was a fab idea to give the kids a week off of school the first week of October?

I love these children with all my heart, but I'm telling you, this week may be my death! To keep them from focusing on some electronic device for the next 5 days,  I printed out a checklist for each of them and informed them that if all their blocks weren't checked at the end of the day there would be no bedtime snack. Cruel! One of them laid on the floor under the dining room table in protest. He shed tears. He pouted. At the end of the day, though, he made sure he had all his boxes checked.

Even though I was highly aggravated most of the day, the good mom in me let them choose between spaghetti and pumpkin pancakes for dinner. They unanimously chose pumpkin pancakes!

The recipe for these pancakes is from Annie's Eats and is one of the first things I ever pinned. The kids prefer these to regular pancakes so I make them year round. They like them with chocolate chips in them, too, but I wasn't feeling that "good mom" tonight.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Necessary Materials:
1 1/4 c All Purpose Flour
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
Dash of Ginger
Dash of Cloves
1 c Milk
1 Egg
2 tbsp Canola/Vegetable Oil
1/2 c Pumpkin Puree


Here's what you do:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Then pour  the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix them together until well blended.

Cook over medium heat on a greased pan or griddle. I used a 1/3c measuring cup to pour each pancake on the griddle. These pancakes are sort of dense so make sure the pancakes are cooked all the way through. It will take a couple of minutes for each side.

I was able to get 10 pancakes out of this recipe. I will be doubling it from now on since Miss H ate 2.5 by herself!

Annie shares a good tip on her recipe! She recommends heating the oven to about 200° so that as each batch of pancakes is cooked, you can place them in the oven on an oven safe plate or pan. This helps to keep them warm until it's time to serve. I do this quite a bit now when I cook.


Pumpkin Pancakes with bacon dipped in pancake syrup. In the words of the Pioneer Woman - Decadent! (We have a running joke at my house because apparently the Pioneer Woman describes everything she makes as decadent - - at least according to my husband.)

Speaking of the Pioneer Woman...I have one of her recipes to share with you soon! It's my current addiction. Well, one of them!

Source of my pinspiration:

Annie's Eats

Come follow me on Pinterest!

Pinspired Project #4

Confession: I actually pinned the directions to these after the 31 days started!

My mom always sends the kids a box at Halloween of random Halloween themed stuff. It's mostly cheap little trinkets, coloring books, stamps, etc. They love getting mail as much as their mother does, apparently! The day she mailed the box, she sent me a text to let me know she was sending supplies to make these Vampire Donuts. She obviously knows that  - - - Saturdays are donut days!

Every Saturday we take the kids to a local donut shop and let them choose 2 of their favorite donuts. This task requires a very patient donut shop employee!  We have been doing  this for at least 3 years or now. Saturday morning flag football games have thrown off our schedule a little. Now they have donuts for brunch - - which totally messes up all other meal times on Saturdays. Oh well. It's just a season. Occasionally a child will get their donut privilege revoked for bad behavior. This happens less often than it did at one point because these kids are serious about their donuts!

This week on our donut stop I bought an extra few regular glazed and chocolate glazed donuts for our little project. Since they are fans of cream filled donuts these days, we couldn't just use their typical Saturday morning choice.

On to our little glaze sucking Vampires.....

Necessary Materials:
Donuts
Plastic Vampire Teeth
Candy Eyes or Large Chocolate Chips
Optional: Icing to hold eyes in place

Here's what you do:

Gently press your Plastic Vampire Teeth around the hole of the donut.
Place eyes on the top side of the donut. Put a little bit of icing on the bottom of Candy Eyes so they will stay in place. (Since the donut will be eaten immediately, this isn't really all that necessary.) If using Chocolate Chips, you can just press them into the donut.
 
These are our creations. Notice the fallen eyeball on B-Bops? See my comment above out icing! Miss H was just glad to be eating a donut!

 

I'd say this was a fun little project for the kids that we can do over and over now that we have supplies, thanks to Grammy!

Source of my pinspiration:

A Thrifty Mom

Come follow me on Pinterest!