Delightfully Domestic

Have you Ever?

2009-08-26T14:06:00.003-06:00

Have you ever had a fried egg on a hamburger? If you haven't you should try it. My husband served an L.D.S. mission in South Africa and he ate these there all the time. So every once in a while when I make hamburgers for supper I fry a few eggs to go on top.

How about jam or jelly on top of a grilled cheese sandwich? It might sound weird, but I won't eat a grilled cheese sandwich any other way. Raspberry jam is my favorite.

What weird food combinations do you enjoy? One of my roommates in college liked peanut butter and pickle sandwiches...I never mustered up enough courage to try it but she spoke very highly of the combination.

Distressed Wood Coat Hanger

2009-07-31T12:22:00.006-06:00

I have a weakness. It shows itself in the form of rustic home decor. I just simply love it! So when my husband said we needed a coat hanger by one of the doors I saw it as an opportunity to distress wood and do something crafty.

I went to the craft store in search of some decorative hooks. I had a particular kind in mind...

But apparently they don't sell these any more. As I was wiping the tears away I noticed this little guy poking its pointy head out of a basket.

I quickly snatched three before they went extinct as well.

When I got home I found a scrap 1x6 in the shed. I clamped it down and took a reciprocating saw to it. I sawed out little notches along all the edges and sanded it nice and smooth.

Then I took it out to the woodshed--figuratively speaking now, since the woodshed is literally where it was. Well, we were on the lawn in front of the woodshed.

Please don't think I'm crazy for referring to myself and a board as "we."

With a chain in hand I beat the daylights out of that board. Twenty lashes later I called it sufficient. Actually, I would have kept going but my neighbors were looking at me whip a 1x6 with a chain like I was some psycho lady. Since we're new in town I'm still a little worried about first impressions and all. So I smiled, picked it up, and brushed it off.

I spread a little stain on it. It filled all of its wounds with warm beautiful color and it no longer hurt from it's beating.

Then it met these decorative hooks and they lived happily ever after on my wall.

Freezer Paper Stencils and a Homemade Shower Curtain

2009-07-31T08:33:00.004-06:00

We just moved into a new home. Well, it's not a new home, it's actually rather old. But it's new to us and it's been remodeled, so it looks new. I couldn't find a shower curtain to match the guest bathroom (and the rest of our western decor). Actually I found a few, but they were all over $100 and I'm too cheap to pay that kind of money for a shower curtain. So, what does a girl like me do in this situation?

Make one. And that's exactly what I did.

I made it exactly how I wanted and I only paid $8 for all of the material.

I bought 2 yards of white muslin that was 84 inches wide. A standard shower curtain measures 70 inches wide by 72 inches long, so I finished my piece of muslin to match those measurements.

I first folded over the raw edges half an inch, then half an inch again so that the raw edge was hidden inside. Then I sewed down the length. Since I had cut two yards (72") it now measured 70 inches with the finished edges. Then for the top and bottom of the curtain I folded the selvage three inches down and then over itself and sewed down that length as well.

Are you lost yet? Sorry there aren't any pictures to follow along.

Then I took a regular vinyl shower liner and laid it on top of my shower curtain. I marked where the holes needed to be. Then I proceeded to stitch buttonholes along the top edge of the curtain.

And then it was done.

Hold on!

Done?

I couldn't leave it just plain white could I? Of course not!

Now for the fun part :)

First I sewed a few decorative eyelets in a random pattern all over the top 2/3 of the curtain. Then I found a design I liked of a cowboy and traced it onto freezer paper. Then I cut it out and ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper down onto the curtain. The plastic on the freezer paper melts to the fabric to create a perfect stencil. Paint will only penetrate the open areas, but will not soak into anywhere that there is freezer paper. When the paint dries, the freezer paper simple peels right off with no damage to the material. It leaves an image that almost looks silk screened. So that's exactly what I did with my cowboy and his noble horse. And the decorative eyelets look like stars don't you think?

Sorry About the Lack of Posts

2009-06-09T15:18:00.004-06:00

Wow, it's been a long time. For some reason I just don't have the time to post to this blog like I used to. Maybe a crawling eight month old can explain it. So here's a quickie, and hopefully it won't be three months before I post again.

I am extremely picky about chocolate frosting. It seems like any recipe I use tastes too bitter if I add the full amount of cocoa. If I don't add the full amount of cocoa though it doesn't taste chocolaty enough. Does any one else have this problem?

I think I found a solution though. The other night when I made frosting I only used about half of the cocoa and then I mixed in some Hershey's Syrup until it tasted right. It was the silkiest chocolate frosting I have ever tasted! It was the perfect combination of chocolate and sweet so I figured it was worth passing along. I will definitely use this method again!

A Free Handmade Gift for you...If you Hurry

2009-02-10T08:49:00.002-07:00

This was on my friend's blog and I decided to join in the fun. Plus I was curious to see if it was even possible to get three comments on this blog :-)

Craft It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay it forward". I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the CIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and sent out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return, is craft it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'CRAFT IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL CRAFT IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Craft It Forward recipients. Come and join me who doesn't love a gift or giving gifts???

Runza

2009-02-09T11:10:00.006-07:00

My husband and his brother were traveling through Nebraska recently. They were trying to decide where to stop for supper when they passed a billboard for a restaurant called Runza. They didn't know anything about the restaurant, and frankly the name scared them away--they decided on Subway instead. When he got home we looked Runza up on the Internet and the actual runza sandwich sounded very interesting. I guess it originates from Germany. It's browned ground beef that's been cooked with cabbage or sauerkraut, then stuffed in bread dough and cooked. It sounded kind of gross, but I guess they are very popular in the Midwest. I wanted to try one, but I didn't want to go through the work of making them unless I knew they were going to be good. Needless to say, I am a very curious person so the curiosity overruled my fear of wasting my time making something I didn't like...plus I needed to make homemade bread anyway so I killed two birds with one stone.

The other reason I wanted to try it out was because it's similar to a food my husband ate on his LDS mission to South Africa. They called it "bunny-chow." It's curried ground beef stuffed into bread dough and cooked. It's of Dutch descent, so I guess meat stuffed into bread dough is popular in that part of Europe :-)

I must admit I was afraid they'd taste way too much like cabbage, but they didn't at all. The cabbage added a nice moisture to the meat. They tasted like they could use something else, so I added ketchup to mine when they were done. Since I'm kind of a western girl and I like good old fashioned western cooking, I think one day I might try my own variation and turn it into a sloppy joe runza. Anyway, I'll quit yackin' now...here's how to make runza:

You'll need to prepare one batch of bread dough. While it's raising for the first time, shred half a head of cabbage. Then saute some onion in a little bit of oil. I didn't use very much onion because my husband hates onions, but use as much as you want. Then add a pound of ground beef to the onion and brown it. Season it generously with salt and pepper. When the meat is browned, sprinkle the cabbage over the top of meat. Stir occasionally until the cabbage is cooked and soft.

Roll out pieces of your bread dough into rectangles. Mine were about 5" x 7". Place 1/2 cup of the cabbage meat mixture on a rectangle. Fold the long edges over top of the meat and seal all the edges. Flip it over so it's seam side down and place on some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the bread dough is lightly browned and cooked. Enjoy :)

Scrapbook Page

2009-01-29T09:00:00.004-07:00

So I've taken about a five year hiatus from scapbooking. I was the senior class historian in high school and one of my responsibilities was creating a scrapbook of the events during the school year. Since scrapbooking then became an obligation I started to enjoy it less...as does most things once they are an obligation instead of a hobby. Anyway, now that I have about 200 pictures of our 4 month old, I decided I probably better get back in the game before it's too overwhelming :-) So here's the first page for Maggie's scrapbook. It feels good to be back.

Yum!

2009-01-23T11:42:00.003-07:00

I have been scouring the Internet in search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. At last I have found one that met all of my criteria: easy to make, requires no fancy ingredients, turns out gooey, stays soft for days, and makes my husband exclaim, "this is the best cookie I've ever had!"

Out of all the recipes I tried, this one was my favorite. (I don't mean to plagiarize, but I don't remember where I finally found this recipe) Follow the directions to a T and they come out very soft and gooey, and stay that way after they've set-up and cooled...even days after you've made them (if by some miracle they last that long).

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. In the mixing bowl, cream the sugars, butter, shortening, and vanilla together. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. The dough will be sticky, but just thick enough to roll by hand. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake until just after they take the cookie form, just as they are starting to darken on the edges. The original recipe said 8-10 minutes, but I cooked mine for 6:45. It's more important to watch them than the clock. They may not look cooked enough, but they'll finish and set up after you take them out. You can also make them into bars by spreading the dough into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Don't double the recipe or they won't turn out as soft.

Mod Podge Plate

2008-12-19T11:07:00.004-07:00

Sorry about the glare on the picture. All you need for this is some cute paper, Mod Podge (Kind of like white Elmer's glue, you'll find it in the craft section. I prefer matte finish), and a clear glass plate. I bought my plate at Wal-mart for about $1.50.

Apply pieces of your paper to the backside of the plate with the Mod Podge. To do this, brush some Mod Podge onto the backside of the plate, then place the paper over on top of the Mod Podge, then brush Mod Podge over the paper. It looks ugly at first and it's kind of messy, but it all dries clear. Make sure to do the right side of the paper facing through the plate, so you can see it from the front side :-)

Obviously the plate's not dishwasher safe after this, but it makes a cute kitchen decoration when propped up on a little stand :-)

Snowmen Cookies

2008-12-09T15:31:00.002-07:00

These are a little tradition of mine. They are really easy to make and they turn out really cute. You just need Nutter Butter cookies, white melting chocolate or almond bark, and black and orange sprinkles.

Melt the chocolate, cover the cookie, and decorate with the sprinkles. Tada!

Christmas Advent Calendar

2008-11-26T10:41:00.002-07:00

Kristal, don't read this post unless you want to see one of your Christmas gifts :-)

This is a mini-muffin tin disguised as an advent calendar. It is probably one of my favorite projects ever. I love Christmas time because there are so many cute craft ideas. My sister-in-law gave these as gifts last year and I got the idea from her. You simply decorate a card for each day leading up to Christmas and apply magnetic tape to the backside of it. Then fill each cup with a Hershy's Kiss or other treat and cover each cup with the decorated cards. It's exciting to see what treat each new day brings. The best part of it is that it doesn't take up very much room. After Christmas simply pull each card off, store them away and use the muffin tin for its intended purpose the rest of the year :-) If you give it as a gift you can give it with some muffin mix and a card that says "you're gettin' muffin for Christmas." Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow and Merry Christmas after that.

Antique Window with Vinyl Lettering

2008-11-17T16:18:00.004-07:00

Supplies:

Window with wooden frame
Vinyl Lettering in phrase of your choice

Make sure to wash the window well (and get rid of any spiders like I had to). On the side of the window opposite of where you want your text, mark the window with a dry erase where you want your text to be. This will allow you to line your words up properly. Flip the window over so it's right side up now. Peel the backing from the vinyl lettering and place it over your marks from the opposite side. Rub over each letter with a popsicle stick. Unpeel and erase the dry erase marker. Tada!

A new post is in the plans...

2008-11-12T14:08:00.001-07:00

So, crafting with a newborn can be kind of tricky. I just wanted to let you know that I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth and hopefully I can post something fun soon.

Cuddly Buddy

2008-09-29T19:32:00.008-06:00

This is a combination of a stuffed animal and a blanket. It is nice to have when your child is in the security object stage because then you don't have to haul a blanket and stuffed animal every where you go, you can just bring this along. You can make the blanket part any size you want...I have made them from burp rag size to crib blanket size...it kind of depends on what size of stuffed animal you use. The bigger the animal the bigger the blanket part will need to be in order to coordinate and look right. First you need to gather your supplies. You will need a stuffed animal. Thrift shops are a great place to look. They usually have a large selection, the price is low, and a washer and dryer does wonders! You will also need enough material for the size of blanket you want. I like to use flannel. You can use the same fabric for the front and back of the blanket, or you can use two coordinating fabrics. You will also need thread to match and batting if you want the blanket to have any loft to it...it's up to you. I've done it both ways. If the blanket is crib size I would recommend using batting, but if the blanket is smaller then the two layers of flannel will work fine. Next you will perform surgery to the stuffed animal. It is kind of morbid in a toy sort of way...you might not want your children to watch. Cut the animal in half, making sure there is enough room below the arms and above the legs for a seam allowance. If it is stuffed very full you'll have to remove some stuffing. Pin the openings shut and baste down the opening so that it is closed and stuffing can no longer escape. Lay the batting down and put your backside material on top of it. Then find the middle on each side and pin your animal to it. Make sure that the animal's head and bottom will be facing the same direction when you turn the blanket right side out after sewing it. (You don't want its head looking up and its bottom facing down).

Then with right sides together, pin your front side material to the edges of the other material and batting. Pin the edges of the animal good to make sure you catch it when you sew around the edge. After you pin it all, sew around the edge leaving an opening to turn it right side out. Make sure you catch the all of the animal's raw edge. I usually back stitch on each side of the animal to make sure it's good and secure. I use a 1/2" seam allowance. I zig-zag the edges and then clip the corners as well. Turn right side out. Next you want to pin the layers together to avoid any puckering later on. Make sure the lay of the top layer matches that of the bottom layer. Don't get lazy with this part. After it is pinned together well you can machine quilt it. Start in the middle and work your way out to the edges. Doing this helps prevent puckers. Slip-stitch the opening closed. You are now finished! Congratulations :o)

I'm Back

2008-09-29T18:46:00.003-06:00

I had the amazing inspiration recently to see if the local college was selling any of their sewing machines in the campus wide surplus sale that happens every few weeks. It just so happened that they were upgrading one of their sewing labs, so they were selling about 30 machines. They were all only three years old and in really good condition...not to mention a good price. Needless to say, my sweet husband let my buy one and now I'm back to sewing. I feel really lucky that I thought to check the surplus sale. The machines sold really fast and my timing was perfect! Not to mention that all of the accessories to my old machine work with this new one, so I don't even have to buy anything for it. I am in love with my new machine!

2008-09-17T17:24:00.002-06:00

I'm still without a sewing machine. I'm pretty sure the circuit board in the pedal is blown because when we tested it with Jonathan's multimeter it doesn't register any volts or amps. This would explain why the rest of the sewing machine gets power except the motor. A new pedal for my machine costs $50-$65. That seems a little steep to me. The salesman I asked told me that it might not be worth it because whatever made the first one short out could cause problems with a new one. He could have just been trying to get me to buy a new machine though.

I borrowed my friend's machine and I've never had so much fun in my life! She has a really nice Janome that's computerized. It had two different alphabets on it and a huge variety of stitch patterns that you could program however you wanted. It is worth nearly 3 times as much as I paid for my first car (granted my car was only $500, but still!). Unfortunately I don't have that kind of money to spend on a sewing machine...even though that thing was a dream! I still wasn't able to finish the baby shower gift though because she couldn't find her embroidery foot.

I decided that a new machine is out of the question for now with a new baby coming soon and everything. So I'm scouring the classifieds and Craigslist to see if I can find a good used one. Any suggestions? If that doesn't work I'll probably end up getting a new pedal for mine. Hopefully I'm back to sewing (and posting) again soon.

HELP!

2008-09-10T19:57:00.003-06:00

I was in the middle of sewing something for my friend's baby shower and my sewing machine died on me. I am afraid the motor is burnt out. It has been having a few problems like it had a short in the wiring, but I could always get it to start again. Now it won't do anything. I'm not much of an electrician, but I took it apart and I did find a faulty connection with one of the wires. I fixed that and crossed my fingers, but sill nothing. I might not survive...plus now I can't update this blog like I planned on because I can't show the finished product. Hopefully I will get it running again soon. I not only need to finish my gift, but I still have a blessing dress to sew while I have free time. ARGH!

Pumpkin Quilt Block Tutorial

2008-09-03T11:00:00.007-06:00

Step 1:

Cut one 6" x 5.25" rectangle from orange material

Cut one 1.25" x 1.5" brown rectangle

Cut two 2.75" x 1.25" rectangles from background material

Cut four 1.5" squares

Step 2: With right sides together, sew a background square to each corner of the orange rectangle. Sew each diagonally from corner to corner, beginning and ending at the raw edges of the orange material. Set aside.

Step 3: With right sides together, line a background rectangle up with the brown rectangle. Sew down the short side where they are lined up. The seam allowance is one quarter of an inch, or the edge of your presser foot. Open it up, match the other rectangle to the brown rectangle and sew again. Step 4: Iron all seams open. So far your two pieces should look like this.

Step 5: With right sides together, line up the raw edges of the pumpkin body and trunk piece. The lengths will only match on two edges, since the pumpkin isn't square. Either of the two edges will work, just make sure the two lengths line up right.

Step 6: Sew down the length of the edge where the trunk and pumpkin pieces are lined up. Iron it open. Your pumpkin block is now complete. It should make a 6 inch square. You can now finish it how you want. I machine quilted mine with metalic thread and made a hot pad out of it. Now that you've made one you can experiment with other sizes. You can make short round pumpkins or tall skinny pumpkins. Make pillows, quilts, table runners, what ever you want. Sorry I made this one a weird size, since most quilt blocks end up being 6.5" to account for seam allowance. Oh well, you get the drift of how to make it.

Leaf Garland

2008-09-03T10:41:00.005-06:00

Fall is by far one of my favorite times of year. Except for Christmas, autumn is the only time of year that I really decorate for. Here is a fast and simple idea. Buy a bag of fabric leaves in fall colors. I have seen these at Wal-mart, dollar stores, and craft stores. Usually they are about $1 for 100 leaves or so. I really love to decorate with these during fall. I put them on window ledges, attach magnets to the back and hang them on the fridge, etc. This time I sewed a continuous stream of leaves by attaching corners of the leaves at different angles. Just keep sewing until your garland is as long as you want it to be. I strung it across a wall to make a nice accent. I really don't like the leaves I used, but they were all I could find when I did it. I'd prefer solid colors of dark red and brown instead of firey orange and bright red. Oh well, you get the point.

Dryer Hose Pumpkins

2008-08-18T22:58:00.006-06:00

Since fall is approaching and since every other item on here is baby related, I decided I should include this post. I can't remember where I saw this idea, but it was a long time ago. I finally got around to making them last fall. You'll need some craft wire, orange spray paint, 1" diameter driftwood for the stems, some silk flower leaves, and flexible dryer hose. If I remember correctly, 12 feet of hose made three pumpkins, but I might be wrong. I prefer the vinyl kind. I think the foil looking type tends to be more wrinkly.

The instructions: Stretch the dryer hose on one side so that it makes a tight circle. I'm not sure how else to explain it, but you should understand what I mean by looking at the picture and playing with the hose yourself. Cut it slightly longer than where it meets to make a tight circle. Fasten the ends together with some craft wire. You'll have to poke some holes for the wire to go through, then wrap the wire around the wires inside the hose. Then spray paint the circle orange. When the paint is dry use hot glue to attach your stem and leaves. The stem should fit snugly in the hole created, but I still glue it, then glue leaves around it. It's pretty simple and cheap.

Family Tree

2008-08-18T22:35:00.006-06:00

After making a genealogy chart using Martha Stewart's pattern, I decided I wanted it to look more like a tree. So, I made a pattern of my own. The trunk is the baby's name, followed by the parents on the first branches, and so on. I did the paternal side on the left and the maternal side on the right. Trace the pattern to the desired size in pencil. Then write in the names of each relative on their respective branch--I would do this is pencil first just to make sure everything fits how it should. Feel free to use my pattern below.

Onesie Card

2008-08-18T22:17:00.004-06:00

This card is quick and easy. It could be used for a baby shower invitation, thank you card, baby announcement, or whatever you want. I prefer to use eyelets for the snaps, but I ran out of pink eyelets so the card in the picture has buttons (that don't quite match--oh well). The pattern and instructions are below. Enjoy:o)