Mobile, not Alabama

Now that the babe's been around for four months (not to mention the 9 months of incubating), I've decided it's time to decorate his room. The first project? A mobile. I did some searching on pinterest and found a few I liked. My favorite one was found here. I loved the simplicity of it (read: easy to make) and I'm a sucker for polka dots. Let the mobile begin.

Supplies:
-the inside of an embroidery hoop, painted if desired
-fabric
-heat 'n bond-type product
-ribbon
-iron
-ironing board

First Step: Gather fabric. I raided my fabric dresser (yes, I have a dresser completely devoted to fabric) and pulled out a bunch of different blue fabrics.
Second Step: Iron on some Heat 'n Bond-type stuff to the back of the fabric. I used Heat 'n Bond Lite, but some of the circles curl a little now that it's hung up. Next time I'll use a heavier kind.

Third Step: Trace a gazillion circles onto the paper-covered side of the fabric. I found that the top of a mason jar was a perfect size for the big circles and the top of my shaving cream was great for the little ones. Do the math to figure out how many of each you'll need. I'd suggest 8 completed strands, half with 4 big and 5 small, half with 5 big and 4 small. Each completed circle takes two circles so that equals 72 big and 72 little.


Fourth Step: Cut out all of your circle. This is a great time to catch up on some fantastic reality TV. :)

Fifth Step: Arrange all of your circles. I'm a little on the anal side when it comes to things like this - I had to make sure no circles of the same fabric were near each other. This took some work.

sorry I don't have pictures for the next few steps, I was so excited I forgot. :)

Sixth Step: Break out your trusty iron and ironing board. Peel the paper backing off of one set of circles. Cut a piece of ribbon about 4 feet long (or whatever you want). Place the end of the ribbon between the two circles. Iron to glue them together. Repeat this process with the rest of the circles for that strand and then with the rest of the strands.

Seventh Step: Using hot glue or a needle and thread, attach the strands the the embroidery hoop. I made little marks on the hoop of where each strand should go so they'd be evenly spaced. Then use more ribbon to make a hanger.

Eighth Step: Hang your mobile!

And if you're wondering what the babe was doing while I was making bibs, here he is! Just chillin' with some toys in his high chair like the big almost-four-month-old that he is.

Recycled T-Shirt Bibs

Before we moved, I went through all of my clothes and got rid of the stuff that I don't wear anymore. I had a ton of old t-shirts that had holes, or those nasty yellow stains in the pits, or a few spots of paint. The realist in me knew I should get rid of them, but the thrifty crafter in me wanted to save them for some unknown (and, let's be honest, probably to never come to fruition) project. I am happy to announce, I just used three of said t-shirts!

I've recently become addicted to Pinterest. (If you haven't checked it out, you definitely should. Just be warned, you'll likely become addicted.) Anyway, as I was snoopin' around on there the other day, I found this fantastic post for making baby bibs out of old t-shirts and thought I'd give it a whirl. Verdict? Super easy and pretty cute!

Here's how I made them:

1. Take a bib and trace it onto a piece of paper. Then cut it out, leaving about a half-inch margin.

2. Cut the arms and bottoms off of a t-shirt and then position the pattern so it's over the part of the shirt you want on the bib and cut it out. Repeat with flannel, terry cloth, that super soft fleecey stuff, whatever you have on hand. (Note: If I were a smarty pants, I would have put the flannel under the t-shirt, pinned the pattern to both and cut them out at the same time.)

3. Put the right sides together and sew around the edges, leaving an opening to flip the bib right-side-out.

4. Flip the bib right-side-out and iron. (Another note: DO NOT iron on the images on the t-shirt! Learned that one the hard way...)

5. Sew around the edges and sew the hole that you used to flip it right-side-out closed.

6. Sew velcro or snaps onto the ends.

7. Voila! A homemade and eco-friendly drool catcher!

Homemade Granola Bars

I love granola bars. They are such a handy snack! What I don't love about granola bars is the price. They can get spendy! And I'm sure the commercially made ones are chock full of not-so-great stuff.

Enter the homemade granola bar.

I did some google-ing and found this recipe.

I gathered my supplies, made a few tweaks, and had homemade granola bars! I made mine with peanuts, dried cranberries and flax seeds. Delish! (The husband says they're a little on the sweet side, so I think I'll cut down on the brown sugar next time...) I'm excited to try other varieties - coconut, chocolate and dried pineapple; almond and dark chocolate; maybe I'll even try adding some peanut butter and pretzel pieces to a batch if I get real crazy. :) Yum!

Natural Cleaning....

I was struck by the inspiration to clean our house using homemade, natural cleaners. So I did my research (thank you, Google) and bought the necessary supplies. A lot of the sites said the four things you really need are baking soda, vinegar, dish soap and a spray bottle. (Some "recipes" called for Borax and washing soda, but I didn't get them. Mostly because I didn't feel like figuring out what washing soda is and where I could find it in the store.)


I made an all-purpose cleaner of 1 part vinegar to 1 part water and used it to clean the bathroom counter. It seems like it did a good job, but who really knows. I did like the vinegar smell, though. That smells like it's clean.



Next on the list was to clean the toilet. My sources said to sprinkle baking soda in the bowl, drizzle with vinegar and let sit for a few minutes. So I did. Verdict? Doesn't work. Well, that might actually say more about how gross the toilet was.... Anyway, I think I'll stick with the good ol', chemical-filled toilet cleaner.

Popularity Cookies

I made Popularity Cookies the other day and thought I'd share the recipe. They are easy and sooooo good! You only need 4 (maybe 5) indredients!
Ingredients:
- Saltine crackers (or club crackers)
- 1 C butter
- 1 C brown sugar
- 1 bag chocolate chips
- Chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Heat oven to 400. Cover a jelly roll pan with foil and arrange saltines on it. Break some in half to fill in empty spots if you need to.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. (Nothing smells better than melted butter and brown sugar. It took some serious self-control to not eat spoonfuls out of the pan.)

Then pour the butter and sugar mixture over the saltines and bake for 5-6 minutes, watching closely.

Put the pan on the open oven door or pull the rack out. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on and let melt.

When they are melted, use the back of a spoon to spread them over the crackers. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top if you so desire.

Put the pan in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Then peel the cookies off the foil and break into cookie-size pieces. Supposedly this recipe freezes well, but they've never lasted that long in our house. :)

I was so excited to eat the cookies that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!

Coconut Milk

I bought a can of coconut milk last summer with the intentions of making some delicious-sounding Thai dish. Never happened. Now every time I open the pantry, I see this can of coconut milk staring at me. Daring me to use it. Today I decided to not let a fear of unusual ingredients rule my life. (Ok, so that's a little dramatic....). So I checked the expiration date (June 30, 2011) and allrecipes.com and was on my way.

On allrecipes.com I found a recipe for Pineapple Scones that uses coconut milk. Go here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pineapple-Scones/Detail.aspx for the recipe. I tweaked it a little bit for what I had on hand. My recipe is below.

ingredients all ready to go

cutting in the butter

into the oven they go

Finished product!

Ingredients:

- 2 C flour

- 1 T baking powder

- 1/4 t salt

- 1/4 C butter, chilled

- 3/4 C coconut milk

- 1/4 C honey

- 1 egg, beaten

- 8 oz. crushed pineapple
I didn't have crushed pineapple, so I cut up pineapple tidbits. Next time I think I'll add flaked coconut to amp up the coconut flavor....

1. Heat oven to 375

2. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until it resembles course crumbs.

3. In a small bowl, mix the coconut milk, honey and egg. Stir into the flour mixture. Fold in pineapple. Batter will be pretty goopy - not your normal scone batter.

4. Divide batter into 12 and drop onto ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

I made a glaze out of powdered sugar and some of the leftover coconut milk and put it on the scones when they were cool.

The flavors aren't super vivid, but they're still yummy! And I learned that I like coconut milk. I mean, I REALLY like coconut milk. Be watching for more coconut milk experimentation in the future....