Cookies!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Little Man got to wear his costume THREE times this year. Ahhh, the perks of preschool :) The school had it's Fourth Annual Fall Festival and they had all sorts of games and fun things for the kids to do. We went for a bit and hopefully it's something we get to do every year that Little Man attends this school.

The friday before Halloween they had their class room party and we were responsible for cookies. I wanted to do something fun and different, and had come across this how to at HowDoesShe.com well, I just had to try it!

So first off, I had to pop off one side of the cookie, and LUCKILY, most came off easily. Those that broke, well, Little Man was more than willing to gobble those up. :)

I used white almond bark, for the mummies, which you can find at any grocery store and candy melts for the orange sprinkly ones. Originally I was going to draw spiders on them and sprinkle the bodies but the edible markers I found wouldn't mark on them. I suppose it works better on cookie icings, who knows, the label didn't say. ANYWAY, you dip your lollipop stick (I bought mine at Michaels) into the melted bark and gently press it into the creme and then GENTLY press the cookie top back on. You sort of have to do this quickly because the bark cools quickly or then you'll have to do it again because then the top won't stay on.

I popped those in the fridge for a few minutes to speed things along.

Checked my facebook....farm is okay....okay, time to dip!

I know that I won't be using the candy melts again. I knew better too, I had tried them on some cake pops once and one, they are way sweet, and two, hard to manipulate. But since I fail horribly at tinting the white bark, I decided to go with it. I had to smear, then spread, then smooth, then spread again blah blah blah. You get the idea. :) But they sure do look pretty don't they?

The mummies were much easier and smoother. The bark was so silky the cookies were covered in no time. I did worry that the cookies would leave bits in the bark, but nah, once they were dipped they were covered. I didn't find the black candy melts the site suggests, so I used chocolate chip. I squished them between my fingers a bit to flatten them, then dipped the pointed (now squished side) into some melted bark, and then place them on my mummies. So then I scooped my bark into a little ziploc, pushed all of the air out and then slid it all to one end so that I could snip off a corner to make my lines. Holding the snipped end with your thumb or up in the air, you twist your bag so that you have is nice little cone shape. (Sorry, no pics)

Warning! Depending on how hot you have it this could burn you. I've used bark so many times, it doesn't phase me, but I would suggest baking gloves. It'll be bulky, but you'll protect those fingers!

I did my zig zag lines quick and dirty, as you can see :)

Pop those in the fridge, but DON'T leave over night or for an extended time. They will start to sweat and that's not good. I did it for only a few minutes.

Wrap it up! Tie with a fun ribbon and share!

I see you.

Enjoy!


-Becky

Tree Time

We finally got around to planting a tree in our backyard! It's been bare for quite sometime and we really needed the shade it will provide. We made the trek to both Lowe's and Home Depot looking for Root Stimulator, Soil Conditioner, buckets, shovels, tree food, and a bunch of other stuff I don't know the names to. I'll leave the gardening to my husband and his green thumb.

Who knew planting a tree required more than a hole, dirt and water? :)

The husband arranged his supplies and got to work while I entertained the Little Man. Our older kids weren't home and that tree was going to call it quits if we didn't get it in the ground so were on our own. I was itching to get my hands on a shovel, but I wasn't allowed to since I had on sandals.

How very convenient huh?

I can sew, green just ain't my thing.

Anyway, so I was untangling the darn water hose when I hear my husband calling out for me to turn around, but quiet enough for me to know Little Man was doing something I shouldn't miss OR interrupt!

Awww....my baby, he's so freaking smart. And STRONG! I love that he wanted to help and didn't give up even though it was heavy for him. We thought he deserved a dip in his kiddie pool as a reward* for being such a sweetheart for helping daddy.

Life is good. :)

*Yeah, about that. Mom here was having a panic attack at her kid holding that dirty, rusty, possibly very sharp shovel in his little baby hands that I bribed him with the pool to get him the heck out of there. Hello, my name is Paranoid. :)

Finally, some finished projects!

Well now, that was a break I didn't plan on happening. Funny how time passes so quickly. I kept telling myself tomorrow, I'll update tomorrow. That's almost a whole month of tomorrows YIKES!

Ok, so moving on. I uploaded some photos of projects I had finished up, but unfortunately they are cell phone pics. The good news is that all other projects I'm working on have been photographed with my Nikon. Yay! Cuz these cell phones pics are just so BLAH.

First up! I made a floor cushion for little man using this tutorial from Living With Punks. Go on, go check her out.......aha! You're hooked now aren't you? Did you get to peek at her recipes too? YUMMY! I used this dinosaur print I had been eyeballing for days at Hancock Fabrics (yes days, I'm there every chance I get haha). The floor cushion tutorial gave me an excuse to snatch it up and voila! Dino Seat for little man:

I definitely need to work on my piping skills. Overall it was really easy to follow and little man loves it, so it's a winner!

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Let's see, I also got to work on a couple of diaper covers using this tutorial from Dana at Made. I love her stuff, I have more than a few tutorials of hers I plan to tackle. I can't help how easy she makes it to follow her patterns.

Isn't she a beauty? I made her as soon as Dana posted her tutorial to go with a dress I had made using the Itty Bitty Dress pattern from Made By Rae.

CUTE! I sent this to my newest niece and I can't wait to see her in it!

Gosh, these pics really are horrible. The good news is that this is (hmmm, I just saw my foot in the pic above, glad my toes were painted!) most likely THE LAST post with cell phone pics. I won't lie, it's a bit embarassing, pic after pic, so grainy and the colors come out awful.

OK, back to our regular posting. I made another diaper cover, but this time with RUFFLES! Who doesn't love ruffles???

I made the ruffles using this tute from Char at Crap I've Made (funny, funny name) I used bias tape on the legs to hid the edges of the ruffles. I have plans to do this many more times, I didn't think cute could get any cuter!

The dress on the other hand, was a disaster. It was supposed to be another Itty Bitty Dress, but I cut wrong, then I was going to make it into a gathered skirt, but it was way too long. So I tried covering the waist with bias tape to make into a mini pillow case dress (?) BUT it didn't go over the little girls head. SO, I chopped off the top and made her an elastic waisted skirt. And it's adorable! Sorry, no pic. But trust me, it's a keeper.

And now, to end the torture, the last cell phone pic! hahaha! The Snappy Toddler Top from Prudent Baby is heaven. I picked up this fabric on a whim and it works great for this top.

This was my first attempt at buttonhole making, it was much easier than I thought.

I've got a GREAT little project in the works that I am really excited to show you the outcome. There are a few more things to finish up and then I'll let you in on the secret. ;)

-BECKY

Project Ponderings

There are so many things that I want to do, and not nearly enough time to do them.

I'm working on a dress for a friends daughter and I'm pretty much winging it! It started as a skirt, but once I realized it was way too long, I made some adjustments, and well, maybe it'll work out??

Let's see, I need to take better pictures of things I have finished. I am not happy with my cell phone pics. And after all that hard work, taking the time to take a decent picture is only the right thing to do. :)

I noticed my to do list has mostly girly things, I need to change that up! My daughter is past the age to use or want (or be excited about, lol) any of the things I want to make, and I ridiculously end up feeling guilty making for others and not my little man. The list needs more "BOY". Any suggestions? Anything goes folks!

-Becky

Superhero Cape TADA!

This is the tutorial that started all of the sewing madness. Now that little man is a toddler I am anxious to make things for him that are unique and not store bought, because let's face it, that stuff is ridiculously overpriced!

When I came across the Toddler Superhero Cape, I couldn't resist. :) Isn't it so precious?

I got all of my supplies:

1 yard of red cotton fabric

1 yard of black cotton fabric

1 felt sheet of each black & red

2 felt sheets of yellow

velcro

Heat n Bond

and got to work. Not bad eh? Here is the little man himself modeling his newest toy

Batman Superman

Sorry for the fuzzy cell phone photos, I didn't think to use a regular camera.

I also made 3 more. One a wee bit shorter for an 18 mth old cousin, and two that would fit my 4 year old twin nephews as gifts. I made the necks wider and the length much longer for those two.

For my first sewing endeavor I think they turned out pretty good.

Toddler Superhero Cape - Puking Pastilles

-Becky