breakfast feast

For the lovely K's birthday we had a breakfast feast and movie watching pajama party. It was possibly the best Sunday morning ever!

My breakfast board on Pinterest was our food-spiration:
http://pinterest.com/monika_tabor/breakfast-recipes/

One of the best parts of this birthday celebration was that it was a three course breakfast!

Breakfast appetizer = Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/05/15/lemon-blueberry-yogurt-loaf/

Verdict: Amazing. I am a huge fan of citrus flavors so I loved this bread! (I would really call it a cake...it's all sugar and lemon and not bread-y at all.) If you are less of a fan of citrus it may be overpoweringly lemony. The recipe had a lot of steps but they were worth it in the end.

(***EDIT - I made this bread again for my grandmother's birthday brunch but made it in a 9" x 13" pan instead. big mistake! It got too gooey and spongy. I will always make it in the bread loaf from now on!!!)

Breakfast main dish = Bacon, Egg & Cheese Wreath from Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo's blog.
http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/2011/02/beautiful-bacon-egg-cheese-wreath.html

Verdict: YUMMM but I will bake it longer next time since the crescent roll parts that were under all the fillings were not 100% done to flaky goodness. Also, I used turkey bacon and it tasted just fine, but next time I'll try it with regular bacon to see if there's a significant difference.

Breakfast dessert = Reese's Peanut Butter Bread from Cookies and Cups' blog. http://cookiesandcups.com/reeses-peanut-butter-banana-bread/

Verdict: not peanut butter-y enough but still delicious. Next time I would put more than the 1/2 cup of peanut butter that the recipe called for.

I would definitely say that this feast was a huge success and I look forward to K's birthday next year so we can do it again!

V's carry-along doll house

Many of the things I pin on Pinterest are things I want to make for my 1-year-old cousin, V. As one of her Christmas presents this year, I wanted to make her a doll house she could carry with her wherever she went.

The idea came from uklassinus' tutorial which can be found here:http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html

I also found a pin that linked to a flickr album overflowing with photos of many different versions of these doll houses:http://www.flickr.com/photos/cub_libre/4233037877/in/pool-603430@N20/

I worked my butt off on this one!

I followed uklassinus' tutorial steps, but since I had more types of fabric than she did I stepped off the path a bit and then found myself in a terrible place! I fixed my mistakes by using bias tape to line the exterior sides of the panels, and then sewed the house together like that. I think it turned out fine, but I was very frustrated for a little while!

Here are some shots of the outside of the finished house:

(The front door and a side window)

(The other side window and the backyard with a tree and fence)

The felt embelishments on the inside were all done free-hand and then hand-sewn to the correct panel with embroidery thread before the house was put together. I decided to make a living room with a couch, side table, rug, and fire place. The part of the house that folds out becomes the front yard which has a wood path and a duck pond.

The little dolls are also made of felt and I cut their pieces free-hand, based on the finger puppets pinned from here:http://www.etsy.com/listing/60111943/5-puppets-for-jessica-delivery-after

V was really excited about her house so all the hard work was worth it! In the future I might consider attaching the dolls to the house with a length of ribbon because they were "lost" a few times in the hour or so we played with them, but they always turned up again after a few minutes of searching.I'm really happy with how this Pinterest-inspired project turned out, and I will be attempting it again in the near future!

Circles and Dots magnet sets

Scrapbooking is one of my crafty hobbies, which means that I have lots of scrap paper lying around. After seeing lots of different magnet crafting ideas on Pinterest I decided to make these:

Here's the link from Pinterest:
http://www.our-everyday-art.com/2010/12/alphabet-magnets.html

Supplies needed:
- Scrapbooking paper
- scissors
- flat bottom, clear floral marbles
- modge-podge (homemade or store bought)
- paint brush
- E-6000 glue
- magnets

I started by cutting tons of circles from a sheet of scrapbook paper that already had a circle design on it. There were six different types of patterns so I made sets of six magnets.

As an elementary school teacher I am very familiar with making my own modge-podge, but I never thought about making a lot and having it ready to go, as suggested on this pin:
http://doityourselfdivas.blogspot.com/2011/09/diy-mod-podge.html

Genius! So, I made my own jar of modge-podge out of Elmer's glue and water, and then used it to stick one scrapbook paper circle onto the back of each flat bottomed floral marble. I put the glue mixture on both the marble and the paper, sandwiched the two together, and then put more over the back to seal it.

I let these dry and then used E-6000 glue (industrial strength adhesive) to adhere magnets to the back of the marbles. This glue is really strong, but I hate using it because I always make a big mess!!
The magnets I used are called Magnetic Buttons and they came in a pack of 50. They're really strong and also very attracted to each other so I made sure that the drying magnets were spaced far enough apart that they didn't stick to each other (after learning the hard way that this was an important step!).

** I bought the glue and the magnets at Pat Catan's, a local craft store that has EVERYTHING.

Here is a (slightly blurry) close up of a completed magnet:

This is the set of six, decorating my refrigerator :o)

I also made a set of these in pink and orange but I forgot to take a picture of them before sending them to a friend in the mail. (FYI - if you are planning to mail magnets, make sure you check with your local postal service about restrictions and guidelines!)

I've posted a few sets of six magnets on my etsy page. If you are interested, check them out here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85645794/circles-and-dots-set-of-6-magnets

purse with felt flowers

The first thing Pinterest inspired me to make was a new purse! I followed a pin to a great tutorial of exactly what I wanted.



Here is the link to thecraftymamma's blog and tutorial:


http://thecraftymamablog.blogspot.com/2010/10/chocolate-burlap-purse.html




I found some sturdy, jean-like fabric in my mother's fabric closet that was leftover from another sewing project. I liked that it had the pinstripe detail but it was neutral enough to use every day. The plan was to follow craftymama's steps exactly, but I ended up leaving the ruffles off because I liked the way the purse looked without them.




This is what my finished product looks like:

I made the felt flowers based on another pin I found on pinterest. The link is here:

http://www.marthastewart.com/273124/floral-pillows-with-ultrasuede-petals?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/sewing-projects

(it's the second picture if you don't see the flower photo)

Here's a closer shot of the flowers:

My original plan was to wear this purse with the strap across my chest but I never wore it like that and the strap was too long to carry on one shoulder so I knotted it and now it's perfect. It holds everything I need it to, including a 9" x 12" plastic envelope full of paperwork. I love it!

The whole project took me less than 2 hours from start to finish and I have received a crazy amount of compliments! I've even had a few friends ask me to make them purses too!

inspired by pinterest

I've been a member of Pinterest for quite some time now and have more than 50 boards with over 2,000 pins! I can waste a rediculous amount of time browsing and I always feel inspired to do something (or many things!) as I see what others have created. I've decided to share my "pinspirations" as I attempt to create the things I find on Pinterest.

Here's a link to my Pinterest page, so you can see all of the things that inspire me :o)

http://pinterest.com/monika_tabor/