Kids craft: flower purse

Here is another quick craft that little girls will enjoy!

What girl doesn't 'need' a cute flower purse?

All you need is"

Small craft purses ($1 for 3 at JoAnn's)

Foam Daisy Stickers

Rhinestones

Use the flowers and rhinestones to embellish the purses!

My girls liked to stuff them with little books, notepads and crayons.

I have to say that they played with them much longer than it took to decorate the purses.

But I love to see how proud they are of their own creations!!

Fresh Strawberry Jam

I always thought making jam was very difficult and time consuming.
Then I learned about freezer jam. It's quick and simple and I love it!

We made a load of freezer jam.
It's so simple. I used Ball instant fruit pectin, strawberries and sugar.

I used my blender to crush the strawberries and followed the directions on the package.

Now we have our favorite jam for the months to come!

Easy Temporary Freezer Labeling

In order to temporarily label the containers I put in the freezer, I just use some clear tape and write on it with a permanent marker. It works great, and once we finish the contents, the tape comes right off.

Why I love my garden...

Flower t-shirt refashion

I made this t-shirt, using 2 t-shirts that I bought for less than $1 at Target.

I didn't take pictures of the process, but it's pretty simple, so I will give a description of the steps I took.

I kept one t-shirt in its original shape, and cut flower shapes out of the other one, using my BigShot. But you could do this easily cutting freehand flowers, since the shape of the flowers doesn't matter too much. I also cut flowers out of burgundy tulle.

I placed different sized flowers on top of one another, some of them layered with the tulle in between.

Then, I used my sewing machine to attach them to the t-shirt.
I am not so good at sewing fine pattern, so I just went back and forth, using a straight stitch. (See picture below.)

I really love the end result, it went from a simple, basic t-shirt to something special!

I linked up to:

Ice cream cake with graham cracker crust

At our house this is a favorite for summer birthdays:

an ice cream cake with graham cracker crust.

I love it too, it is easy, and if you use your favorite ice cream flavors, it's pretty much impossible to mess it up :)

Ingredients:

· 11 whole graham crackers

· 3 tablespoons sugar

· 1 stick butter

· 2 boxes of ice cream, soft

· 1 box whipped topping (defrosted ahead of time)

· Chocolate syrup/caramel syrup/nuts/crushed chocolate chips/etc. for decorating

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Crush the graham crackers in a Ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Melt the stick of butter in the microwave in a medium bowl. Put the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in the bowl and mix.

Put in the bottom of a springform pan, (I use my largest, diameter about 10.5 inches) and press. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Let the crust cool down and let the ice melt (shouldn’t be liquid, just soft). Scoop the 2 layers of ice cream in on the crust, starting at the edges and fill in. Press so make sure it is compacted. Spread whipped topping on top of the cake and decorate. Cover with saran wrap and freeze.

Take the cake out of the freezer just before serving. Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes, and then the springform should come right off.

Enjoy!

Reversible Vinyl Pocket Bib Tutorial

I noticed that the bibs we were using for our youngest had started to look kind of gross.
So I was planning on getting some new ones. But then, this weekend, I happened to run into this really cute vinyl material.
It's probably meant to be used as a tablecloth, but I thought I'd give it a try and use it for a bib.

And I am pretty happy with the result, so I wrote this tutorial.

It's pretty simple, and you don't need a lot of supplies, which is my favorite kind of project.
In fact, you might already have the vinyl on hand. You could just use an old tablecloth. The material that I used had a soft-feeling backing, and the front had a little texture to it.

Supplies

• an old bib to be traced
• paper to trace it on
• clear tape (optional)
  
• thread
• vinyl (enough for front and back of bib plus 2 pockets)
  
• bias tape
• piece of velcro
  

Step by step tutorial
(the numbers refer to the numbers in the picture above.)

1. Take a bib and trace it onto paper. Mark on the sides where the pocket starts.

2. Cut out the bib and the pocket - twice.
(Make sure you do this precisely, it is easier to put the bias tape over the edges if it matches exactly.)

3. Stack the pocket pieces together, with the wrong sides facing each other, so both right sides outside. Put a strip of bias tape around the top edge (the straight edge). I used clear tape to make it stay in place. Then sew the bias tape in place, using a straight stitch, length 3. (For vinyl you don't want the stitch to be too short, since it might rip the vinyl.)

4. Now that the pocket is made, put the bib part together, wrong sides facing again. Put the pocket on top of it and attach with clear tape so that it is in the right place. Then, fold the bias tape around the edge. I like to start somewhere on the top of the bib, where the velcro will be. Sew the bias tape in place with a straight stitch, length 3, working the bias tape around the bib as you go. For me it worked best to go really slow. Try to stay away as far from the edge of the bib as possible while staying on the bias tape, this to prevent ripping later. Keep going till you are getting close to where you started. Cut of the bias tape, and finish off.

5. Attach the velcro pieces to the top ends of the bib.

6. Your bib is done!

The cool thing about this bib is that you can turn the pocket inside out, because the 'back' is made of the same material. If you use it like that, the pocket will stay open, and 'catch' food much better. I always like bibs that have that option!

I linked up to: