Friday, September 28, 2012

Green Bay Packers Petal Dress

My niece Audrina has a birthday in about a week and my sister is the biggest Green Bay Packers fan I know so I thought that I would make her a gift that would make them both happy.  Enter the Green Bay Packers Petal Dress. I used the Annie Petal Dress from Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop.  I think that this is the best way to make sports wear super girls and fun.


The awesome dress is complete with coordinating green and yellow Korker bow. The petals were a little more difficult that I thought they would be to get them to line up just right and keep the correct shape. Definitely not the easiest dress pattern I have ever made, but sometimes sewing outside your comfort zone helps you learn new techniques.

I'm excited to see what this little diva and I come up with for her Packers gear for next year. :)


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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Crock Pot Applesauce

Last weekend I took my girls apple picking at a local you-pick farm. The have a blast running around an orchard. We picked about 10 pounds of apples and I'm glad that I decided to make the applesauce when I did because the apples were almost gone. It took about 5 lbs to make the applesauce.


To make the applesauce you will need:

Enough apples to fill the crockpot 3/4 the way up
1/2 cup water or cider (I used all-natural applesauce because that's what I had on hand)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar (I chose to omit the sugar)

Here's how it goes. Peel, core and cut the apple pieces into chunks. I used both golden delicious and red delicious apples. Add the additional ingredients and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low. I went with high so it would be ready by dinner. Once it is done take a potato masher and mush it into applesauce. Once it cools them store it in the fridge for up to an hour (if it lasts that long).


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Lil’ Mrs. Tori

Monday, September 24, 2012

~~~~Spiders~~~~

I love decorating for Fall, but I try to throw a few easy Halloween decorations in for October. When I saw this pin I knew I wanted to try it. I did mine with different supplies but I basically got the same results.


 I found a bag of 75 spiders in the Halloween section at Target for $3 and a roll of magnet tape with the adhesive tape on the back at Joann for $3 (with 50% off coupon). Since the magnets had an adhesive back all I had to do is cut it up and stick the spiders on.


Here is a close up on my little creatures. When I opened the door to let the dog out this morning Maddie saw them and started screaming so I'd say they worked.


Here is a closeup of the back. It depends on how strong your magnet is for whether ir not it will show from the front. I think it is a fun little addition to our decorations.

I even set aside a few to have fun at work. Working with all guys I'm usually the one getting picked on so maybe this will be a little payback. :)



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momnivores dilemma

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Veggie Tales Live!!!!

I probably love Veggie Tales as much as my girls do. When I got an email that they were in town I jumped at the chance to take the girls to see them live. It didn't hurt that tickets were only $12 and my Abby was free. YAY!! Wednesday was the big show and we had a blast. They went through most of their silly songs. There were kids dancing in the isle  anndsinging along. It was  great. If they come to your  area I highly recommend you get tickets.

 
Sorry the picture is a little blurry. I took it with my phone. I let them each pick out one stuffed toy before the show. Maddie chose Petunia and Abby chose Alfred. We already owned Bob and Larry.
 
 My youngest and I. She's my mini me. Maddie didn't want to stop playing with her new toy long enough for a picture.
 The beginning of the show.
 
 The part my girls were the most excited for was Bob and Larry.
 "I Love My Lips" is my favorite Veggie Tale song.
 Don't remember what song this is but it has Junior Asparagus so or course it was awesome
 
Abby was loving the show. She was dancing in the isle and having a ball!
 
 


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Jello Painting

A few years ago I tought preschool to 2-3 year olds. It was so much fun. I loved coming up with sensory art for them and Jello Art was always a favorite. I decided to try it with my girls at home as well. It's super easy (and a little sticky). All you need is a package of jello - any size or flavor - paper and paint brushes and water.


 We made pumpkins to decorate the art closet, but because you can't find pumpkin scented Jello, we used orange. To paint with jello you need to make it into a paste. The trick is cold water. If you mix the Jello powder with hot water it will dissolve and just be liquid.


I would suggest either using new paint brushes or running your paint brushed through the dishwasher.

The "paint" will most likely be tested by your little artists.

The room smells so good while you are painting and the smell lasts for days/weeks after it is dry.

Once it's dry it is a little shimmery and has a sand paper like texture. The sticky is mostly gone when it's dry but the awesome smell is still there.


Add the leaf and the stem and you have a cute little pumpkin.


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Monday, September 17, 2012

Decorating For Fall - Our Table

Have you started decorating for Fall yet or are you still in Summer mode? I love everything about Fall and the colors are so fun to decorate with. I started my Fall decorating with out table. We don't have a mantel at our house so this is the next best thing.


Yes, the beautiful apples in the center are real. We just picked them at the fruit farm this weekend. Most of then will end up as applesauce very soon, but in the mean time they are my beautiful and colorful centerpiece.


How are you decorating for Fall?


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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Apple Picking

I took my girls apple picking today at Lynds Fruit Farm. It's about 5 miles from our house and we are able to pick different fruits and pumpkins throughout the year. We all had a great time. I think that the girls' favorite part was the sample as you go policy that the farm has. We picked Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Jonagold apples. Our first goal is crock pot applesauce. If it turns out I'll post the recipe later this week.
 
Now for all the awesome orchard pictures!
 




 




Thursday, September 13, 2012

Weekend Wonders #7 - Guest Hosting

If you missed this week's features, you can see them here and here.


One of my *favorite* parts about blogging is all of the amazing creativity out there in blogland! I'm so excited to see what everyone shares! Plus, since I'm co-hosting this link party, everything you share here will also be shared over at The Thriftiness Miss

This party has been so fun and has grown so fast, that we wanted to share the party every week with a guest host! This week's guest host is Crafty Biggers where you can find some really fun craft tutorials, sewing projects and yummy food!

Crafty Biggers



Now...on to the party. The party will be open until Tuesday at midnight and we'll both be sharing our features on Wednesdays. Be sure and come back then to find out if you were featured. Plus, we'll both be sharing other favorites throughout the week on our facebook pages, so if you're not already a fan, you can find me here. We'll also be pinning the features to our Weekend Wonders Pinterest Board


Weekend Wonders Guidelines...
  1. Follow your hosts,  Crafty Biggers, Love and Laundry and The Thriftiness Miss via GFC, bloglovin, RSS or Linky Followers. If you are a new follower, leave a comment and let us know how you follow and we will return the favor.
  2. Link to a specific post, not your homepage. 

  3. Show us your crafts, recipes, shopping hauls, photos, stories, really whatever you're proud of!
  4. Please do not link up Etsy shops, parties, and/or giveaways.
  5. Visit some other links and let them know how wonderful they are! We all love some positive feedback. 
Love and Laundry

Now lets party! 


Pumpkin Brownies

I love fall. I love sweaters and corduroy and everything pumpkin. I was googling a couple days ago for new pumpkin desserts when I ran accross a recipe on the Dr Oz Show website for pumpkin brownies. It sounded delicious and interesting so I thought I would give it a try. The best part is it only has 4 ingredients.



Here's all you need:
1 (15 oz) can prepared pumpkin
2 tsp lemon zest
1 box of brownie mix
3 tbsp peanut butter, softened in microwave
What to do with these ingredients:
 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees
 - Grease an 8x8 baking pan
 - In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin puree and lemon zest
 - Mix in the brownie mix - just the box mix, no eggs or oil - and combine well. It will be a thick batter. Spread the batter evenly into the baking pan. Put the peanut butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften it. Top the batter in the pan with dollops of peanut butter. You can draw a knife through the dough and peanut butter to create a design. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Whimsy Couture Ruffled Circle Skirt - Pattern Review

I love sewing for my girls. There are so many awesome pattern companies out there. Lately I have become a huge fan of PDF Patterns. I used to find them intimidating but lately I realized how easy to follow they are. A huge upside is that you can almost always email the pattern maker with any questions and that can be really dificult with one of the big name pattern companies.
 
One of my favorite pattern makers is Whimsy Couture. When they post for pattern reviewers I jump at the chance. The latest pattern I was able to test was the ruffled circle skirt. I love that the body of the skirt is one piece with an elastic wasteband and an adorable ruffle.



We went with a Halloween fabric pattern because it's that time of year and I thought it would be fun. If you have a girly girl like me you know that real value of the true circle skirt is the Twirl Factor! I love that this pattern goes all the way up to a size 8 so I will get a few years use out of it.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tornado in a Bottle

My girls love science experiments and I love watching them figure things out. You can almost see the gears turning as they watch. A few days ago I ordered a Tornado Tube because I thought that the girls would get a kick out of it. We had tornado warnings and tornado sirens in the middle of the night last night so I thought that today was the perfect time to test it out.

It was a lot of fun and really easy to put together. Here's what you need:

 - 2  empty 2 liter bottles
 - Tornado tube (or 1 inch washer and tape)
 - dish soap (optional)
 - food coloring (optional)

glitter was also an option but I didn't feel like looking for any.



















 

Start by filling one of the bottles about 2/3 the way full. You can stop here and start the experiment but we wanted to make it more visible and a little fun so we added a drop of dish soap and some it was supposed to be pink purple food coloring.
Once you have the first bottle filled with whatever you want screw on the Tornado Tube then the second bottle.
Here's how it works. Tip it over so that the water is in the top bottle the swirl the water in a circular motion then watch the action.










 

 Here's Maddie watching the Tornado in awe. I love that this experiment was easy enough for them to help with the setup and with making the 'Tornados'.
Here's Abby taking her turn making it happen. I put a little too much dish soap in so after a few shakes I had to unscrew the top bottle and dump out the extra bubbles.



This kept the girls entertained for about an hour and everything is reusable. Next time I may hunt down that glitter so the cyclone is easier to see.  This is the best I could get as a close up of the action.
Hope you get a chance to try this out with your little ones as well. It was a fun little experiment for a raining Saturday afternoon.



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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Whimsy Couture Ruffled Bolero - Pattern Review

I recently had the opportunity  to review a pattern for a Ruffled Bolero. If you're not sure what that is, it's a super cute half jacket with tons of ruffles. I decided to pair it with another pattern that I had tested from the same company, Whimsy Couture Pattern Shop. You can see the Strappy dress here.

The motorcycle was out while we were taking pics so we thought it would be a fun prop for the pics. I think the outfit turned out very Jackie O. What do you think?

Now for the super cute picture overload.






I even made a matching flower bow with the left over ruffle. I plan on doing a tutorial about it soon. If you love these patterns too you should stop over at the Whimsy Couture pattern shop.

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