little old hat

I've moved

2011-12-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not here anymore, but I will be here sometimes.

Ginger fried rice

2010-04-03T17:06:00.001-06:00

Kicking the weekend off right with this yummy rice. You really must try, can't tell you enough how good it is.

Hope everyone has a good Easter weekend.

2010-03-31T08:48:00.002-06:00

As you can see the weather has been a bit iffy these past few days. Not much venturing into the woods, so we have resorted to inside activities, like egg dyeing. We tried to marbleize our eggs but we were unsuccessful. Probably because we used brown eggs instead of white, but I am happy with the richness the brown eggs provided. I think we will try again with white eggs to see if it works better. Also, if you try this technique use a light colored dye as a base and a darker for the marble affect.

And we've also been having lots of yummy meals to supplement the cruddy weather. Who would've thought that eggless quiche could be so good.

Canisters

2010-03-26T10:18:00.000-06:00

If you haven't been to Target yet to check out the Liberty of London collection, you should go (run) because I'm sure supplies are very limited. I was pleasantly surprised to find these cuties. Love the small one for my coffee grounds.

Sunshine

2010-03-22T08:46:00.002-06:00

My favorite images of this weekend. The weather has been beautiful here lately, it's so nice to get out and hike around. Hopefully it continues to stay that way. And I had to include my kitties, must be rough being them.

Don't forget to wear this color today

2010-03-17T10:04:00.002-06:00

Sleeveless blouse, 1950's green skirt

Wide leather belt

Oatmeal oxford

1950's garden dress

White heels

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-03-16T11:41:00.001-06:00

My husband has a serious sweet tooth, so this results in him making lots of yummy desserts. He made these for us last night, a classic favorite. Makes approximately 14-16 cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients for cinnamon rolls:

put these ingredients in small bowl and let rise (about 10 min.)-

-a smidgen under a 1/2 cup warm water

-1 T. yeast

-2 tsp. sugar

in separate bowl mix-

-1/4 cup oil

-1/4 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-1 tsps. salt

-1/2 cup water

-3 cups flour

Add first bowl (with yeast) to mixture after third cup of flour. Knead in last two cups of flour by hand. Let raise one hour. Separate raised dough into two balls. Roll them out into rectangles, generously cover flattened dough in cinnamon and sugar. Bradin also spread Nutella on part of the dough (which was very tasty). Starting from a corner tightly roll the dough into a log. Then cut evenly sized pieces and place on greased baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 425 and bake for 7 min. or until golden brown. And lastly, top with frosting.

Frosting ingredients:
-2 to 3 T. butter
-1 cup powdered sugar
-splash of vanilla
add milk a couple drops at a time until it's the consistency desired.

It's about that time

2010-03-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Right now I have a slight obsession with clocks. I would hang any of these in my house, or perhaps all....

Colonial wall clock
This store is so great, I also want one of their mirrors and their fancy chandeliers.

Love this bird and branches clock, I like the cuckoo clock as well.

Embroidered woodgrain clock
This one could be cute too.

Mustache clock

Crest wall clock
I also want one of her lampshades.

Feathered Headband Tutorial

2010-03-04T05:54:00.014-07:00

The great thing about this project was, I had all of the materials lying around the house, and from start to finish it only took about an hour.

Material used:
-scrap leather (mine was 15x1 in.)
-thick elastic (at least 7-8 in depending on head size)
-a variety of feathers
-scrap felt (cut them into tear drop shapes)
-glue (I picked this up at my local craft store)

Cut your scrap leather to the size you would like (again, mine was 15x1 inches), then cut two tear-dropped shapes out of felt to sandwich between leather.

Line the two felt pieces up in between the leather and sew them together very close to the edge. (My felt pieces were closer to the bottom of the leather so my feathers would be more off-center.) Then take one end of elastic and sew it to the other edge of leather. Before you sew the other end of elastic measure on your head to see how tight you want the headband to be. After you have the desired length, sew other end to leather.

Before you glue on the feathers lay them out to get a general idea on how you want them placed.

Place glue on spine of feather and fill up the felt until you have desired fullness. The glue does dry very stiff so make sure you are not getting too much glue on the feathers.

To cover the ends of feathers cut out smaller tear-dropped shape, then sew it to the headband.

Here is the finished product, very easy and a fun accessory to add to your wardrobe.

Clever, clever

2010-03-01T08:04:00.003-07:00

Love this neat trick for covering up dings. Who knew that a simple walnut would do this? I have lots of vintage furniture that could use this technique.

via here

Who says pink can't be cute?

2010-02-23T07:29:00.003-07:00

Nubby knit sweater, sailor jeans

Yellow necklace, 1930's rust leather shoes

1950's lace swing dress

Winter wonderland pumps

Hand embroidered blouse, coral vest

1960's wool skirt

1970's slingback

"What's done is done"

2010-02-21T06:41:00.005-07:00

This is my favorite dress so far.

I wore it to a play my brother-in-law was in.

2010-02-19T19:23:00.003-07:00

We were visiting family this past week. And at my grandma's house one of our family traditions is mochi making. Yummy, gooey mochi.

2010-02-13T07:40:00.019-07:00

Celebrating Valentine's Day with company this weekend: film festival today, fancy dinner tonight, cross-country skiing tomorrow (first time) - sounds like a good way to spend a weekend.

Last year I was much more motivated, maybe if the urge strikes we can have these for dessert.

Stencils

2010-02-07T18:48:00.003-07:00

These cute spray painted plates would make great gifts, or a nice addition to your wall.

from {here}

-sidenote- Just saw this movie and it's definitely worth a watch.

Date night

2010-02-06T06:52:00.005-07:00

Perhaps a Valentine's dinner date......

Cashmere sweater, floral applique skirt, red cutout pumps

Nordic men's sweater, black jeans, mens's ankle boots

Black cardigan, 1950's red dress, dotted bow pumps

Lacoste men's sweater vest, men's long sleeved dress shirt, plaid men's pants, foreste shoes

Pencil Skirt

2010-02-02T16:28:00.004-07:00

Just finished this simple skirt made from Liberty of London fabric.

You can find a similar pattern here.

Thistle Leaf

2010-01-27T09:52:00.004-07:00

Our poor bed suffered from needing a serious makeover. The quilt that was on there I made a few years back and it had been patched up so many times; it was finally ready for retirement. Right now I just don't have the energy to make another quilt so I just opted for the easy way out, a duvet cover.

The design is a giant pinwheel pattern, and for one of the contrasting fabrics I used Denise Schmidt's latest fabric, thistle leaf. I got the idea from one of my favorite craft books, Last-Minute Patchwork, a book I go back to often for inspiration.

Sunday love

2010-01-24T13:52:00.004-07:00

I look forward to Sunday every week. Since most Saturday's I'm working, Sunday is my weekend.

This morning we enjoyed these very fluffy flapjacks, and later we will finally see this movie (um...it just barely made it to our theater).

If only....

2010-01-17T07:34:00.002-07:00

this coat came in my size, and I could afford it.

This makes me want to try my hand at coat making. I found this pattern awhile back and keep coming back to it. This one would be cute in a light weight wool.

Anyone have any tips on coat making?

Seeing Dots

2010-01-12T12:25:00.002-07:00

1940's belted dress

Suede oxfords

1960's empire waist dress

Oxblood boots

1960's blouse, sweater vest

1940's cigarette pants

Leather loafers

1910 tiered gown

Palest pink pumps

Waterslide Decal Tutorial

2010-01-05T07:04:00.003-07:00

For Christmas this year we decided to give everyone custom made mugs. The inspiration for the monograms came from here, and the bird is a print I made, scanned then photo shopped. We are so happy with the way they turned out and hope everyone uses/loves them.

Also, one more thing, these mugs are NOT dishwasher safe. So keep this in mind when making them, trust me we tried and the decal melted right off.

Now for the tutorial...enjoy!

Supplies you will need for this project:

-Shallow dish of some sorts for warm water
-Soft sponges (fixative came with these)
-Inkjet water decals and Fixative
-Sharp scissors
-Printer
-Mugs

Step One:
Print off decals on waterslide paper, and let ink dry for 30 minuets. I got the monogram fonts from here.

Step Two:
Use fixative to "set" ink on water slide paper. The fixative smells very strong so make sure you are in a well ventilated area. Pour fixative on image in puddle, then very, very gently spread fixative around until the image is completely covered (try not to use any pressure when spreading the fixative). Pick up paper and check in light to make sure the image is thoroughly covered. You do want a fairly thick coat of fixative so don't be shy. Once all of your images have fixative on them, let it dry for 8 hrs., yes I know this is a long time so it does take some planning.

Step Three:
After the decals dry for 8 hrs. use sharp scissors to cut close to the image.

Step Four:

Immerse decal in warm water, making sure it is completely submerged. Let it sit in water until the decal starts to separate from the paper (about 1 min.). You can check by sliding the decal and paper between your fingers to see if it is moving away from the paper. But be sure to keep image on paper until you are ready to put it on your mug.

Step Five:

Before you put the image on the mug choose where you want to place the image and slightly wet mug with fingers. This enables you to move the image around once it's on the mug.

To place decal on mug, hold one end of decal and slowly pull paper from decal. The paper and decal will separate leaving you with only the decal. Once the decal is on the mug you can slide it around until it's where you would like it. Smooth out air bubbles with finger. A good trick is to wait a few minutes (not any longer) until some of the water is evaporated then smooth the rest of the air bubbles out.

I then repeated steps 3-5 for monogram.

After the decals have dried (I waited 24 hrs.) you can drink from and enjoy your new customized mug. Hope you enjoy this little project and once you get the hang of the waterslide decals it's very easy.

Welcome 2010, and hello cowl neck dress

2010-01-01T10:31:00.002-07:00

I'm in love with my new serger. Now that I finally have one I feel like I can make better clothes.

With that said this dress is from my new favorite sewing book Twinkle Sews, it comes with a CD full of patterns that can be printed out from your computer. It does take time, paper and tape to piece together but it is well worth it. All the patterns look fairly simple and the book is a real inspiration. I couldn't believe how easy this dress was to make. It only took a few hours once I got it all cut out. And the fit is really cute and drapey. I will be making many more clothes from this book.

Impala

2009-12-30T07:51:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas to me! One of my dad's hobbies is restoring old bicycles, so this is his latest venture. A 1964 Impala, all original parts except the seat (and basket of course). He even made it into a 3-speed so I can keep up with my husband. Even more reason to want warm weather.

2009-12-23T08:17:00.005-07:00

Soon we will be able to enjoy the company of our families.

Happy Holidays!

And welcome to the world baby Olive!