Army Soap

I made some melt and pour soap that I thought the man at my house might like. Is there any man out there that doesn't appreciate camoflauge?  If there are, they don't live at my house.

 I used Cedarwood essential oil to scent it to make it smell like he might actually be in the woods.  Plus, I really love it!  After melting and adding the essential oil to the soap, I split it into containers and put a different color in each one.  I squirted a bit of each color in the bottom of round molds, spritzing with isopropyl alcohol between each color, until the bottom was fully covered.  Then I took turns pouring the remaining soap to fill the molds, again spritzing between colors.  I let them harden for a few hours and popped them out.  For measurements and step by step photos, go to this tutorial.

What are your suggestions for masculine scented soap?

Crochet Spiral Coaster

I needed a coaster so I made one.

The pattern came from here. 
Changes I made to the original pattern:
I used a size G crochet hook and sport weight yarn for the main color and something (?) thicker from my yarn on hand for the spiral.  I only did rounds 1,2, 3 and 5.   I did 3 chains for the loop and 2 for each of the scallops on the edge.

Herb Garden

 I am trying an herb garden this year.

I ended up with not enough soil so I had to get more and replant.  They are looking good so far.  I need to do some reading up on the herbs.

 

Just Listed

Olive Dot Flower Cloth Napkins

They are fresh in the shop.  Get them while they are hot.

Robots

How did you spend your day?

Americana Pinafore Sundress

Introducing:  The Americana Pinafore Sundress

It comes in two colors:  Red with Blue
                                    Blue with Red

Choose from sizes 2T, 3T or 4T

It's 100% cotton and machine washable.

Click over to the Simple Blue to purchase this wonderfully patriotic summer dress!

Make it Last a Little Longer #3

This shirt was too short on the tummy and the arms.  I ruched the sleeves and added a skirt to make it a three tiered maxi dress.

Easter Bunnies

James, Oreo, Shadow, Cookies and Cream, and Lily

 

These little guys were born Easter Morning.  The picture below was taken a week or so ago.  The others were taken yesterday. They sure are cute and soft little things.

Chickens

 So we got a few chicks.  When I say a few I mean 31.  In a small way they inspired the following deviled eggs, but the main inspiration came from something I saw on Pinterest. 

 I got tired and the kids were hungry before I got done so the eyes have a small problem.

And this one ended up with no eyes at all.

When I was cutting open the eggs I came across a white yolk! This is caused by a really rare mutation in the digestive system of the chicken.  Now that I know that this is a possibility, I am hoping we end up with a mutant chicken that provides us with all white eggs.

St. Patrick's Day

 We started our day off with a stack of rainbow pancakes.  Bananas were added for clouds and we counted the pure maple syrup as our pot of liquid gold.  To make the rainbow I added food coloring into my favorite pancake batter and cooked as usual.  For next time I might find a way to flavor the pancakes different flavors.  That way we can have a rainbow of flavors too! We had our traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage. This year I tried roasting the cabbage instead of steaming it.  I used this recipe of Martha Stewart's, except I used fresh rosemary instead of the caraway or fennel seeds. I will definitely cook cabbage this way again. We ended the day with a drink of lemon lime soda with a scoop of lime sherbet floating in it.

Paprika Floral Napkins

New napkins in the shop! These Paprika Floral napkins come in  7", 10" and 15" sizes.

Make it Last a Little Longer #2

Most of the children's clothes that get outgrown at our house get passed on to someone else that can use them. These jammies could just not be passed on with the bottoms looking like this.

The other knee looked slightly better.  They seem doomed for the landfill don't they?  Not so! They are salevagable! I've been using this tutorial to turn the shirt and pants into little boy boxer briefs.  I love them!

As you can see, I didn't pay quite enough attention to the tutorial.  I cut out one of the legs on the wrong side of the fabric.  Luckily I had another pair of ripped jammie bottoms in blue so that will be the other leg.  I will aslo use the elastic from the original jammie bottoms for the elastic in the undies.  I had to put this project on hold because I had pressing projects for a birthday and Christmas but there it is.

Salad Dressing Snob

Oh, for a salad.

Oh yeah! Now that's a salad!

I love a garden salad.  It is one of my very favorite foods.  Ranch is my favorite kind of dressing but I have a problem with store bought varieties.  I think it's the preservitives I can taste but I don't know.  I know I don't like it though so I make my own.  This is what I have been putting in most recently:

Ranch Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup Greek yogurt

oregano

onion powder

dried parsley

minced garlic

paprika

ground red pepper

salt

pepper

I just start putting spices in the mayo and yogurt blend until it tastes good.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I used the rest of the pumpkin patch pumpkin to make divine Pumpkin Pancakes. They were really unbelievably good - and I don't always care for pancakes.

The recipe came from ALL NEW Square Foot Gardening Cookbook by Mel Bartholomew.

Garden Inspiration #1

I really like this stone path.

We spent a bit enjoying Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah about a week ago.
I found this interesting:

And upon closer inspection of a few of the trees:

Already?  I love planning ahead!