Maisonnette Fabric

I found this cute fabric shop through a blog!It's called Maisonnette, in Oceanside CA. Here's their super cute blog. MADE mentioned some of her favorite fabric stores and this was really close to me! I've been wanting to stop by for months and was finally in the area and got a chance to stop in. They have ADORABLE fabrics! I picked up this adorable knit fabrics and this adorable oilcloth fabric. It will be my first time sewing on oilcloth! I can't wait to figure out what I'm doing with some new fabric stash :-)

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

This is an awesome dessert. This is great for summer or winter. I needed a dessert to bring to the beach that wouldn't melt and would be a big hit. I brought this and it worked! Enjoy!

1 C. light corn syrup
1 C. sugar
1 C. creamy peanut butter
6 C. Rice Krispie Cereal

Directions:
1- On low, dissolve sugar into corn syrup in a large pot
2- Once dissolved, almost to a boil, take off the heat
3- Stir in peanut butter and then rice krispies
4- Pour into greased 13x9 pan
5- Cut when cooled

Summer Lemonade Stand

My daughter has been dieing to have a lemonade stand this summer! We finally found the perfect day, and along with her cousin and brother, they had an amazing little lemonade stand. They made $20 together and were so happy!
My mom had the vision for our impromptu stand. We used a big box, covered it in white construction paper (attached with duct tape), then decorated. They added 2 long sticks to attach their sign. It was so cute, and best of all free!
Here's the link to the best recipe for homemade lemonade! The girls actually went to their Great Grandma's house and picked a huge bucket of lemons to make their fresh lemonade! It was so much fun! And I LOVE the recipe!

Changeable Activity/Quiet Book- Tutorial

I'll show you how to make this adorable activity/quiet book from a simple place mat from Target in less than an hour. They are so easy!

I originally made this for our summer vacation. We were going to be on planes and in the car for a long time with no movies, so I needed some good distractions and activities. My kids went crazy for their new Activity Books. Not bad for a place mat, right?!

After our trip, they are being used as our new Sunday Quiet books. I am super bored of the same quiet books every week, and I'm not even the one using them! My kids have been using their own Sunday bag. I don't know about you but I have a million bags on Sunday! And I hate carrying around my kids 2 extra bags for the last 2 hours of church. These great little activity books solve both my problems. I can fill them with different activities each week and they are small and compact enough to fit into my bag after our first meeting is over. Awesome!

Let's get started on making it....

Supplies:
-A Cute Place Mat (I found mine at Target. You want it pretty thick since it's the cover of your book. I went with a linen type of fabric.
-Some plastic vinyl (I got mine at Walmart for very cheap)
- Some heavy duty ziplock bags (I used 10 but you can do whatever you want)
- Some fabric for handles (less than 1/4 yard)

Step 1: Cut 2 separate rectangle pieces of plastic. They should be about 1 1/2 inches smaller than your height of the place mat and about 1/4 the width. Mark the center of your place mat (I used a disappearing ink pen). Then pin into place your 2 plastic pieces. These will make the inside pockets of your book.
Step 2: Cut 6 small pieces of sew in Velcro. I pinned these in to the place mat as well. See picture above. I put them on the corners and middle of the sides of the mat.

Step 3: Sew the plastic and the velcro to the placemat. I also added some extra seams along the plastic to make 3 separate compartments in the front pocket, and a small pencil pocket on the back.
Step 4: Lay down your plastic bags along the center of the mat. I used 10 baggies. I had 5 going 1 way and the other 5 facing the other way. They need to overlap by about 1/2 an inch in the middle. Pin these down so they don't move when you sew. Now you will sew down the middle of the baggies, attaching them to the mat. I sewed 3 seams down the baggies, all pretty close together along the center of the mat. See picture.
Step 5: Now you just have to make some handles. You can do anything for this. I decided to find some coordinating fabric and braid it into 2 handles. To braid it, simply take your 3 pieces of fabric (I did 1 inch wide), and pin them together and then pin to your pants. (Make sure you don't pin yourself!)
then start braiding...
Now just figure out how long you want your handles to be, finished off the 2 ends with a zig-zag or overlock, and sew them into place on the 2 sides of your bag. I tuck the overlocked edge under so it doesn't show. Make sure the handles are super secure since it's a guarantee that kids will swing these things around :-)

Step 6: Now the fun part, filling your book!

Since this was for a trip, I filled mine with 1 pack of their favorite candy, playing cards, coloring pencils, workbooks, blank paper, and some small games.

I added some little cars and little "men" to my sons, along with some small books. The dollar bin at Target is great for this. I'm going to swap some stuff out to some church related items when we get back from our trip.

I'll be making several more of these as Christmas Gifts for some of my nieces and nephews who have everything :-) Hope you had fun making them!

Linking Up to:
Tater Tots & Jello
House of Heppworth
30 Days
A to Z
Sugar Bee Crafts

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I'm calling these Back to School muffins, even thought we enjoy them year round. These will be the perfect thing to give my kids for an after school snack or a little extra thing in the morning. I don't know why but my banana's seem to be going bad faster this summer so we have been making these muffins almost every week. My kids LOVE them and I love getting to use my wheat grinder :-)

Combine in your mixer:
6 Ripe Bananas
1 1/3 C. Canola Oil
2/3 C. Sour Cream
4 Eggs
3 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla

Mix until completely combined.

In separate bowl mix: 4 C. Whole Wheat Flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Add your flour mixture to the mixer and mix until combined.

Pour into greased/cup muffin tins or a loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 18-20 min. for muffins and 45 min -1 hour for a loaf. For me this makes about 3 1/2 dozen muffins. Enjoy!!

Sewing Lessons

I had so much fun this past month teaching some sewing classes to some adorable little girls. I had 5 little girls come to my house for a "Sewing Camp". They learned some basics of quilting and completed an American Girl quilt. They also learned some basics of clothing design and completed a basic skirt for themselves and a matching one for their American Girls. I also had some younger girls who completed their first ever sewing project, a pillowcase. I had so much fun teaching them and being there as they sat down to a machine for the first time. I'd love to continue teaching sewing classes through the year.

Rice Krispie Swords

My kids LOVE the new Jake and the Neverland Pirate's cartoon on Disney. So when I came across this project for Rice Krispie swords....I couldn't resist. They are super easy and also VERY tasty.

Step 1: Make your Rice Krispie's like you normally would. (2 T. butter, 1 bag marshmallow's, 6 cups of Rice Krispies in a buttered pan).
Step 2: Let them cool. Then cut them into rectangles. Insert a craft stick (tongue depressor stick) into the rectangle.
Step 3: Now melt some chocolate in a glass measuring cup. If you're melting chocolate chips, then you need a little bit of vegetable oil to get a good consistency. Once it's melted. Let your kids dip their Rice Krispie's into the chocolate and add sprinkles.

They are surprisingly delicious. And my pirates loved making and eating them.

ps- Let them totally cool again before eating or you get a big chocolate mess of a face. But that was pretty fun too.

July....? and a project

Wow, where did July go? I was busy playing with my kiddo's and having one of our best summers ever! We're only half way done. I'm not quite sure why/how I thought I was going to be able to get so many crafts done when I have all 3 kids home all day everyday for the summer. I think I'm going to be getting a lot more done when school starts and I get at least a few little breaks :-)

So I apologize for slacking. I will continue posting Christmas ideas and projects and keep them organized on the side bar for easy finding. Here's one of my Christmas projects I've started in July and I'm praying I finish by December 1! Check back for some fun present ideas I'm working on!

It's difficult to see. But it's going to be an awesome embroidered Christmas Advent Calendar. The pattern is from Bareroots. I'm a sucker for their patterns. This one has a pocket for December 1-25. And a cute heading and border. This will be an awesome decoration and I really hope I get it done.

Here's what it's going to look like when I'm done. So cute!

We don't start school for another 4 weeks or so. I'll be in and out, enjoying this time with my little's. But I promise some awesome projects are in the works. Keep checking in :-)