Apron

I have been wanting to make myself an apron for well over 2 years.  And I finally sat down and did it!

I found a pattern called "Spice it Up Apron" by Pat Bravo.  Click here to get the free pattern.  It's 3 pages of a PDF.  If you know how to sew, it's very easy to follow.

I made the top part of mine 12 inches wide and the waist of the top ended up being 21 inches, I wanted 16 but it stretched out as I sewed it.  My chest area is where I need the coverage, that's where all the grease splatters when I'm cooking.  So I made it bigger.

Also, note they never tell you to fold in your edges of the bias tape you sew at the top.  And also the ends of your ruffle you sew on the skirt, in mine it's green.  I think I would have like to do the sash in the green, but oh well, it's still nice the way it is.

The big reason it took me so long was I always look at a pattern and see things I want to try and do differently, so I have to sit there and figure it out.  I'm a nut about that!  So I just sat down and followed the pattern, except making the top wider to cover more.

And I bought sliders for the strap around the neck, you have to order those online.  They are like 40 cents and shipping is really cheap.  I ordered mine at strapworks.com

I didn't want to tie it behind my neck and I wanted it adjustable but I didn't want D rings with an end hanging down.  The sliders work great!

Another note, if I make this pattern again... you ruffle the whole width for that 12 inches for the top piece... that's a lot fabric up there.  I don't think I think I really like all that fabric up top.  I may not ruffle so much next time, maybe even just put a few pleats in instead of ruffling it... just a thought.

Vanilla Almond Butter

I go through a lot of almond butter!  So tonight when I made some more I decided to try adding some stuff and roasting the almonds... mmmmmmm!!!!  It's so good!!!!!!  I LOVE it!!!!

Here's the recipe...

Vanilla Almond Butter

2 1/2 Cups  Raw Almonds

2 TBL coconut oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 TBL organic Vanilla extract

(if you want you can also add a TBL of cinnamon...yum!)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Spread almonds out on a baking sheet and bake for about 18 minutes, turning halfway through.
2. Let the almonds cool for a few minutes when they are done baking.
3. Then put everything in a food processor for about 20-30 minutes until it's the smooth constancy that you want.  You will have to stop and scrap down the sides during the process.
4. Transfer to a glass jar or Tupperware container.  I store mine in the fridge, but I think it might be okay to store it at room temperature.

Note: make sure your vanilla extract does not have sugar or corn syrup added to it, that is why I use organic.  It cost more, a lot more, but there is NO sugar or corn syrup added to it and I think it has more flavor to it!

Another Note: I actually do 3-4 cups of almonds and keep the rest the same.  Add a Tablespoon of cinnamon if you want a cinnamon flavor... it's wonderful!!!   And sometimes, depending on the almonds, it takes awhile in the food processor.  Just be patient and it will get smooth.  Once your past the point where you have to keep stopping and scrapping down the edges you can let it go and walk away.  As long as the stuff is moving it will get there.  Sometimes a big ball forms and goes around for awhile before it turns into soft smooth almond butter.

Valentine's Heart Butterfly Magnet Craft

Tanner loves making crafts and doing papers.  So today we made some butterflies with hearts.  I printed out the hearts in 3 different sizes and they colored them.  Tanner cut his out but I cut Kolin's and Mackenzie's out.  And I glued them together and put a magnet on the back.  Tanner and Mackenzie really like them.  They will take them off the fridge and play with it, then put it back on.  It's cute to see how proud they are of it!

You can totally just cut out different hearts in construction paper too!  And use pipe cleaners for antenna's as well.

Valentine's Day Plaque

I saw a cute card on Pinterest with a foot print and hand prints in the shape a heart and it said "From the bottom of my heart, to the tips of my toes, I love you!"  So I decided to make a plaque out of it and also do the feet in a heart shape.

Dave cut and spray painted some extra wood for me and I did the rest.  I did the kids feet and hand prints in the shape of hearts on card stock with washable poster ink and I printed the poem on card stock.  I also had Kolin and Tanner sign their names on card stock and I scanned it into the computer and put it at the bottom of their card.  I first had Tanner try to sign the card, but it must have intimated him because it was a small space.  So I just had him write it on the paper like I had Kolin do.  I actually had Kolin trace his name (he's only 3) and then I erased the pencil before scanning.

 Oh and of course I mod podged the pieces to the board and mod podged over the whole thing and the sides 3 times, letting it dry in between layers.

Mackenzie wouldn't let me do her hand prints.  The whole time I was painting her feet she was saying "ouch, ouch, ouch!" It was really funny!  And she did it again when I was washing her feet.  When I asked her if I could do her hands she said "no!" So I just stopped there.  And I turned hers the other direction and put a piece of Scrapbooking paper behind it.

 I didn't get a picture of Tanner's finished because he gave it to his Granny and she stopped by right after it had dried so I just let her take it then, well Tanner gave it to her then.

But I did take this picture of all 3 of them last night, before I mod podged the top and at this point I had only mod podged Kolin's papers down, not Mackenzie or Tanner's (I just placed them there for the picture.)  I had to go and buy more mod podge the following day.

I think they turned out pretty cute!!!  What do you think?

Heart Attack Kids Lunch Box

This year I decided to "heart attack" Jayden's lunch.  I cut out all these hearts and wrote messages on some of them.  Dave folded pieces of paper and taped them to a heart and his sandwich container and some snacks so the would pop out at him when he opened his bag.  After school I asked him how his lunch was and he said "it went poof all over!"  He said he liked it but put them all back so the other kids wouldn't say "no fair."

Lego Coloring Book Party Favors

My son was having a small bowling birthday party with some friends from school.  He's really into Legos these days and I saw a pin on Pinterest with these cute Lego coloring books.  However you had to pay to download them.  I didn't want to do that, so I found some free images that you could download and created my own coloring books.  

I only need 10 but accidentally printed 20, I forgot there were 2 per page!  Oops!  That's what happens when I try to multitask.  So we gave some to cousins and other friends.

 You print the cover page on card stock, I used colored card stock.  And the inside pages I printed double sided.  Then you cut them in half, arrange your book and sew it down the middle!!!  How cool!!!!  You sew it!  So genius!  I love it!  I'm sure you could staple it, but I love that it's sewn!

 Now how easy is that?

We also bought each kid a little Lego figure and put them in a sandwich bag then I made that cute little topper to staple to the top of the bag.  It says "Thank you for building me up on my birthday!"  How cute, cuz you build with Lego's... get it?

Here's what they looked like all put together...

 Here is the jpeg if you want to right click and save this image.  I accidentally printed the first page too small, as you can see in the image above, 3 of them all smaller.  But I think it still looks fine.

Here is a close look at the inside of some of the pages.  I wanted that plain Lego to be last so the kids can create their own figure.

I think they are super cute and so I wanted to share them with everyone.  I don't know how to create them so you go to a website and download them, but you can right click and "save as" them.  Hopefully that works for you.  If anyone wants to tell me how to create them so you can download them in one click that would be great!  Please just leave a comment.

Here are the pages...