Stay.See.Make.Do.

Friday's Featured Website

Today I thought I'd share with you a website that I haven't been following very long, but like very much.  It is called One Pretty Thing and it's just keen.  The interwebs are such time sucking rabbit trails sometimes, and One Pretty Thing is a helpful way to get a nice overview of some of the fresh and lovely projects people are putting out there to share.  For holidays there are themed roundups, but my favorites are the Daily DIY posts which are always a nice photo montage with links to a wide variety of patterns and tutorials for many different kinds of handiwork.   It's like a crafty micro version of Google Reader or Bloglines.  If you want to see the latest offerings of lovely craftiness from the blogging world, check it out!

Banana Pop Secret

Ok, ok.  It's not exactly a secret, but more of a hint:  Don't peel them until AFTER you put the stick in. Most recipes for banana pops say to peel all the bananas and then put in the sticks.  I don't know where I learned this trick, but if you leave the peels on, the bananas are much less likely to fall apart.  And it keeps your hands clean. This is important because to make the best tasting pops you need to use bananas that have no green on them anymore, and they can be softish.  Once they are on the stick and peeled, the stick makes a great handle while you cut out any little bruises.

Some recipes call for whole bananas, but in our house with the small children, half of a banana at a time is plenty to handle.  So I cut them in half, put in the sticks and then peel them and freeze them for about 3 hours on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet.

This last batch I made I went looking for chocolate chips but couldn't find the ones I wanted in my cupboard.  Besides, have you seen the price of my favorite semi-sweet Ghirardellis?  What happened there?  I did come across a bag of Reese's peanut butter chips that I have had for ages.  Can't even remember why I bought them, but they did wonderfully for the banana pops.  Does that make them "Elvis style"?

Melt the chips and coat the frozen bananas.  Because the bananas are so cold, the coating hardens almost immediately.  It stays soft just long enough to touch them to a plate with sprinkles or nuts.

YUM.

My Big Belly and More

It isn't that I haven't been making and doing around here, it's just that I haven't sat down to post about it.

In case you haven't heard our news, we are expecting a new baby!  So most of my energy has been sapped rather quickly each day - I sure can tell I am an older and out-of-shape mother.  I pretty much spent the first three months of 2009 sleeping (in between swimming lessons, soccer games and practices).  Now that I am into the second trimester, and I have managed to keep some of my vitamins down, I have much more energy.  The warmer weather helps a lot, too.  We had a cool and rainy week last week and it was obvious that I do better on sunny days.  I feel bad for not getting any pictures of our spring yard to share; the rain ended the splendor of the crab apple blossoms and the lilac blooms, but they were lovely while they lasted.

This past weekend we finally finished (almost) planting our garden.  We were starting nearly from scratch at this new house so we're starting small this year with three beds.  Little by little things are coming together.  It has been some real work to take out the odd chain-link fencing (old dog run), dig up some sod, supplement the soil, build deer/rabbit fence panels, etc. almost all labor done by my husband and eldest son.  I was the one with the Square Foot Gardening book and my boxes of garden seeds, and the computer for research. 

This Sunday it was finally warm and dry enough to plant the final two beds.  Late, I know, but hopefully not too late.  We have peas and beans coming up, and beets and radishes and spinach.  And I did manage to start lots of my own tomato plants which are finally looking happy.

I do have some craft and kitchen doings to share, but at the moment this computer is promised to a little girl anxiously waiting for a turn with her Webkinz.  Please check back tomorrow!

Printing Tips

Save money when you print:

Use your printer options!  Set your printer to use black only if you don't need your picture to be in color.  Generally black ink costs less.

If you don't need the entire page to print, highlight the part of the page you need and choose "print selection" from your options.

If it doesn't matter what the back of your page looks like, reuse/recycle by using the blank backs of junk mail and newspaper inserts.  Make sure it is a size and type of paper your printer will accept.

I submitted these tips to MoneySavingMom by email to share with her readers for printing coupons*, but I thought I'd also share them here since they apply to all kinds of printing.  Hope you find them helpful!

*She just put up a post about this and there are lots of hints in the comments here.  Guess I was just a little too late!

Rocking my sewing world

My two little girls have birthdays this month.  I entered the Vintage Pattern Sewing Contest at Pattern Review. Connection?  Uh, yes.

In other news, I have been shopping for a ruffling foot, which is a special attachment for my sewing machine.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $50 or so to actually buy the thing.  But now, I may not have to thanks to this short article.  I can't wait to try it - I'll report back and let you know how it goes.*

*I haven't tried the ruffle technique yet, but did get the nightgown made doing the ruffles and gathering the old-fashioned way.  My daughter loves it and wants to wear it all the time, which means success to me.  Here it is:

Hexagonal stacking box

I'm not sure why I keep this blog (it costs money!) but I'm not ready to give it up yet.
Some of you know I am keen on making boxes.  Here's a link I found today to a cool project:
Hexagonal stacking boxes from recycled materials.

If I try it, I'll post a photo.  Let me know if you make one!

Christmas gifts

When my husband said he was getting my sister a subscription to Rush Limbaugh's newsletter (he had her name for our Christmas gift exchange) I knew I had to step in.  But naturally I fell behind during the holidays because, well, I almost always do.  I managed to mail these things just a couple of weeks ago.  Since she hopefully has received them by now I thought I'd share here.  Hopefully sis will like her handmade portion of her gift, and forgive the lateness.  I also sent her some money to go toward a bamboo wind chime, since I couldn't find a nice one, and that is what she actually asked for.  All in all, I think it's better than Rush.

The pattern for the bag came from here.  I left out the interfacing because I thought the heavy fabric would be stiff enough.  Next time I'll use the interfacing. And make a smaller loop handle.  It's made to hang from a doorknob.

The pattern for the square fabric pincushion came from here.  I don't think I'll use that one again.  It was fine, but since then I've seen some I liked better linked here.

The idea for the small felt pincushion came from here , a nice step-by-step photo tutorial.  It's made from a plastic bottle cap - how cool is that?  Very quick and easy to make, and fun!

No More Soggy Mittens

"Mommm!  My mittens are still wet!" used to be a common refrain around here.  The kids would come in from playing in the snow and pile their outdoor gear wherever it fell when they took it off.  The next day everything would still be cold and clammy. 

This wire rack was on the wall when we moved to this house and had inadvertently become a catch-all for odd items as they were being unpacked.  I think the previous owners used it for dog items, but we don't have a dog.  When I emptied it I had to find new homes for 5 shot-glasses, a Bic grill lighter, and a couple of flower frogs, among various other goodies.  Now it is a dandy place to use clothes pins to hang the wet mittens;  damp hats and headbands etc. can also sit on the shelves.  I even found a good use for Wallace, who used to hold bubble bath but has now been repurposed, wrong trousers and all.  And those things that look like socks in the top rack?  Well, they are.  Partial socks, that is - they are now used to keep snow off little wrists, minding the gap between mitten and coat cuff.

Make your own poster.

Here's mine:

Courtesy of AutoMotivator.

Planning my next Freezer Paper stencil

Over Christmas I did a little shopping and bought a couple of boys' t-shirts.  I think it's time to bust out the iron and the freezer paper and paint and get creative again.  Here's an old favorite we made a few years ago.  This shirt has seen a lot of wear, already earning the status of hand-me-down. 

The image came from Windows clip art.  Other favorites included three Pokemon silhouettes.