Pretty in Pink

I have followers. 4 of them to be exact and I am so giddy. I wish I could just squeeze you. To think that 4 people actually read my rambling brings a smile to my face on a day when I just might have shed a tear or two.

Now on to the good stuff.

I love the Goodwill store. I might have mentioned that before and I am sure I will again. There are just so many surprises. You never know what you might find.

Well on this particular day my lovely daughter would not nap and was rather..shall we say...difficult. So we all piled in the car for a drive and a snooze. Once she was asleep I made my husband sit in the car and I went shopping at my local Goodwill. He was thrilled. That is a lie but the babe was asleep and there is only so much damage to the checkbook you can do at a thrift store, so he obliged.

Here is my haul:

A super sweet pink Tupperware for $1.50. I have already filled it with oatmeal. 2 pairs of pink shoes for the babe for $3 each. A strainer for $1.50, which we needed badly, since the day before I strained a whole pot of tiny stelline pasta, one tablespoon at a time in a strainer the size of a thimble. And this hand crocheted baby sheet for $1 with butterflies on the edge. I am not sure what I will do with that one but those pink butterflies we begging me to take them home. So for $10 I think I made a pretty in pink kind of deal.
I had to include this outtake. My little Lilly dog loves a photo opportunity. Actually that is her window bench and my photo shoot was disturbing her sunbathing.

So what have you been thrifting these days?

Nutcrackers and Snowflakes

My MIL requested a Christmas apron this year. I followed through on that request, albeit a little late. I figure if you hand make the gift as long as you send it by the end of January that should be good enough. I used more fabric from the incredible stash my husbands aunt gifted me and one of my favorite Butterick patterns B5474.
This apron is really pretty easy to sew. Its just one large main piece and 4 long straps. You bind all the edges in bias tape and you are done. My personal trick to working with bias tape and the really long seams for the straps is to use a walking foot on your sewing machine. I don't know what I did before someone informed me of the awesomeness that is the walking foot. It idiot proofs your sewing.
Excuse the wood paneling. I had really grand plans to drag this dress form outside to take pictures but 1) it was really cold and 2) I got lazy. So now you get to enjoy a special treat that is my lovely yellow/orangeish wood paneled basement sewing room.
I added my super sweet sewing label to the back and sent this baby off to my MIL in AZ.

Teacher Gifts

When someone watches your child 40 hours a week the least you can do is make then a Christmas gift. I made each of the teachers at my daughters daycare one of the Amy Butler, Stash and Dash bags. This is the medium size and just perfect for makeup or any other little things you want to stop from disappearing in your ginormous handbag. This pattern is great because you can use up some of the smaller pieces of fabric in your stash or scrap bin. I love how the bag is two pieces so you can mix and match multiple fabrics. The lining on some of these is also a different fabric.

I followed the pattern and used a sew in interfacing for the first bag which I found a little too stiff for my tastes. On the other 3 I used a heavier weight iron on interfacing. I also like how using the iron on interfacing saves you the step of basting all the pieces.

This is one of those gifts that was really hard to give. I wanted to keep all these lovelies for myself. I guess now I have another project to add to the never ending list of things I want to sew.

Christmas Cooking

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. I think its because I finally began to focus on the things that felt good to me and not the things I felt I had to do because of other peoples expectations. I really enjoyed taking a few days to spend time in the kitchen whipping up some Christmas goodies for gifts.

I made Rolo Turtles. So easy and so delicious. If you can turn on the oven you can make these. The real trick is to buy the Rolos at Sams Club and not in the bag at the grocery store. If you buy them in the bag you have to unwrap each individual candy, which in MHO is a PITA. If you buy them at a bulk store you only have to unwrap each roll. Recipe is here if you want to give it a go.
I also made Peppermint Bark. I found the recipe here, as directed by Soulemama. BEWARE: this stuff is highly addictive. I ate 2 bags of it for dinner one night. I even tried taking the leftovers to work so I wouldn't eat it, but I ended up hoarding it at my desk and polishing off another bag. Dark chocolate is normally too bitter and white chocolate too sweet. When you put them together with the peppermints, its the perfect combination of Christmas goodness. This treat is on my list to make every year.

I told myself this year I was going to do a 100% handmade Christmas next year and only give gifts that I made myself. Guess I better start now and not wait until the last minute. What did you make this year?

Christmas Crafting

First things first. Something ate my birdseed ornaments. I think it was a Yeti because it didn't just nibble the seeds like a good bird should, it chewed through the yarn and took off with the entire ornament, then the 2nd and third that I freed from the freezer. I actually think it was the squirrels that hide in the tree and cackle at my dog. Whose laughing now? I bet they have a bout of coconut oil induced diarrhea.

This post is really about the best lip balm ever. I made a bunch of it for Christmas gifts. Recipe is from SouleMama.

This stuff is AWESOME. It's softer than your store bought lip balm but it smells divine and tastes delicious. I could eat the whole pot if I was having a sugar attack.

The recipe is super simple and you can find all the ingredients at your local natural grocery store. The tins I ordered on etsy, otherwise known as that hole in the internet where all my money goes.

The finished product. I left mine natural with no coloring, so the men folk would not be put off.

Try it, you know you want to.