70's dress

In October I bought these mustard tights at H&M and since then had been looking for a blue dress I could wear with them. Since I couldn't find one, I decided to try and make one. I knew I wanted a simple straight dress with some pleats at the top, so this is what I came up with.

first: I cut out the front and back panels of the dress by using a different dress as a pattern.                                  

Cut the front panel a little wider at the top to make room for the pleats (as seen in the picture below)

 Add the pleats by pining them together.

second: Turn the fabric inside out and sew the front and back panels together on the sides and the shoulders.
third: Cut out the sleeves, mine looked like this. I didn't taper the end because I wanted it to be a little bit of a bubble sleeve.

fourth: Add button closures. I added these on the back panel near the neck and at the bottom of the sleeves. Check out this tutorial to know what I'm talking about. 

fifth: Then I added some biased trim around the collar and the ends of the sleeves. Check out this previous tutorial for that.

sixth: Attach the sleeves. Again, check out this tutorial for how to do that.
seventh: Sew an invisible hem. Check this out to find out how to sew a blind stitch.
eight: Sew on your buttons and then you're done!

{necklace: Target, tights: H&M, shoes: Target, awesome dress: me!}

the park-ster

Parker is growing up so much! He talks so much and you can actually understand it. I think Jackson is partially to blame for Parker's muteness, often this is a conversation that would go on. 

Me: "What do you guys want for lunch?"

Jax: "I want a peanut butter sandwich! Parker do you want a peanut butter sandwich too? Say mmm-huh."

Parker: "mmm-huh."

Jax: "mom we both want peanut butter sandwiches."

But now, Parker will say full sentences about what he wants and doesn't want, which is so helpful! The other day Parker was talking about something and Jackson said, "Mom! Parker is talking like me now!"

{I found Parker walking around in my rain boots and hat}

Parker or "Park-ster" as we sometimes call him, is my little sweet heart... with a touch of stinker, and we love him so much. He is starting to potty train and has been pretty successful lately. He is pretty excited because he gets to wear pull-ups now. One day I went to put a diaper on him and he said, "No mommy I a big boy now! I wan car underwear."

{Don't forget you have until Friday to enter to win a vintage gold and turquoise jewelry box. Go here for the details}

peanut butter brownie torte

I saw this dessert on Pinterest a little while ago and knew I had to make it. And let me tell you this is one of my top three favorite desserts. I love desserts... so that's saying a lot.

I made it the other night when we had some friends over. For dinner I made this Thai meal with some naan bread that was so good and then had this as a palette cleanser from the spicy Thai food. Then we topped it off with this peanut butter brownie torte.

To make it, I changed it up a little from the original recipe. I simplified it a little.

Recipe:

Brownies

2 boxes of your favorite brownie mix (mine is Betty Crocker Triple Chunk)

Prepare two square pans by lining the bottom with parchment paper and coating the whole pan with cooking spray. Make the brownies as directed on the box. Put half of the double batch in one pan and the other half in the other pan. Cook as directed. Let cool. You can put them in the refrigerator to help them cool faster.

Remove the brownies from the pan by sliding a knife along the edge. Cut the brownies in to small squares. Set aside.

Peanut Butter Mousse

1/2 cup whipping cream

5 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/3 cup plus 2 Tbs powdered sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

With the whisk attachment on your mixer or beaters, whisk the whipped cream on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a different bowl, add the cream cheese and peanut butter and whisk on medium speed until combined. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add whipped cream in to the bowl and whisk on medium high until the texture is light and fluffy.

Set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

4 1/2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Put chocolate chips and whipping cream in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 2-3 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes. Then use your whisk attachment and whisk until it is smooth and glossy. Put it back in the microwave for a little bit if it starts to get hard or clumpy. 

*I also cut up some Reese's peanut butter cups to incorporate when assembling the torte.

To assemble the torte:

Put a brownie square on the bottom, layer on the mousse, some cut up Reese's cups, another brownie square, more mousse, more Reese's cups, then the ganache and then more Reese's cups. 

enjoy!

{Don't forget you have until Friday to enter to win a vintage gold and turquoise jewelry box. Go here for the details}

vintage thrifting giveaway

Do you know one of those people who always seems to dress cute for every occasion and you think... man I just wish they could shop for me! Well, my sister Betsy is that person for me. She always seems to find the cutest things and she finds them mostly at thrift/antique stores. Which I would love to do more of... but with three kids, it's hard to justify going to a store where I would possibly walk away empty handed because I couldn't find anything I liked.

So I need people like Betsy to do that for me. And lucky me she has opened an Etsy shop where she is selling some of her favorite finds. And because these are single items, you have to check out her shop regularly because there are always new things being listed. These are some of my favorites.

 

She also has some handmade items for sale.

For a limited time, with any purchase, you get a little surprise gift. I love it when that happens! It's always nice to get a little freebie!

Now to the giveaway:
Betsy is giving away this vintage jewelry box. Sorry the rings aren't included. This gold and turquoise jewelry box is perfect for little rings or earrings.

To enter:

1. Become a follower of my blog via google friend connect (on the sidebar).
2. Go check out her Etsy shop.
3. Leave a comment below telling me your favorite thing to shop for at thrift stores.

The winner will be randomly selected (using random.org) from the comments below and will be announced Friday, February 3rd.

Good luck!

the pleated peasant shirt

I made this shirt for Elly a few weeks ago. I wanted to use this stripped fabric and wanted a cute shirt to go with some black leggings I bought her. So this is what I came up with.

1. I used one of Elly's other shirts to get a basic pattern. 

{front}
*Important step in measuring the front side, make the top about 1-2 inches wider than you want it to be to leave room for pleats. I also cut the front panel longer at the bottom than the back panel.

{back}

{sleeve}

2. Fold over the bottom of the front and back panels twice and do a top stitch over it to hold the hem. (If you have a serger, you can finish the edge and just fold it over once then do the top stitch). Notice I cut the front bottom a little curved, just make sure that the sides are the length of the back panel so that it looks right when you sew the two panels together. (sorry for the blurry picture)

3. Add pleats to the front of the shirt. I just added one pleat in the middle, but you can add as many as you want. Just fold the fabric over then pin it to hold the pleat. You can keep it pinned until step number 12.
4. For the sleeve:

Fold over the end (at the wrist) of the sleeve twice and do a top stitch to finish the edge.

I added some elastic at the bottom of the sleeve to make a little ruffle. Simply use a single stitch and sew the elastic on. Pin the elastic to the inside of the sleeve. Pull the elastic very tight as you are sewing so that when you let go, there is an automatic ruffle.

Fold the sleeve in half, right side of the fabric in. Sew along the side, obviously leave the ends open.

5. For the back of the shirt:
Create a ruffle. Cut a rectangular piece of fabric, fold one of the long sides over twice and then do a top stitch so that you have a finished edge. About 1/4 inch in from the finished edge, sew a single line the length of the fabric. Then very carefully, pull one piece of the thread to create the ruffle.

Sew the ruffle to a piece of fabric that measures about 2 inches x 4 inches. Do this by putting the right side of the fabric to the right side of the ruffle and sewing. As you can see in the picture, below, you only take the ruffle half way around the rectangle of fabric.

6. Cut about a 4 inch slit in the back of the shirt at the top. Cut it about two thirds over to one side. You have to do this so that the buttons end up in the middle of the back.

7. To attach the ruffled fabric to the back of the shirt, place the white fabric inside the slit that you cut and fold the white fabric back on to itself. So as you can see in the picture below, the other half of the white fabric is folded behind it. I just did a top stitch over the white fabric near the ruffle seam. You can kind of see how I did that in the picture below.

8. For the button holes: I actually ended up cutting a separate piece of fabric for this. Just cut a piece that is about 2 inches x 4 1/2 inches. Fold over the edges and do a top stich over it to attach it to the shirt. You can see the top stichting in the picture below.

9. To do the actual button holes, this was my first attempt and they weren't perfect, but it worked. I would recommend just looking up in your sewing machine users manual to find out how your particular machine does it. I think it is different for all machines. Yeah I'm a bit of a nerd, I refer to my sewing machine users manual quite regularly.
10. Sew the front and back panels together, place the right side of the fabric to the right side of the other panel then sew along the top and the sides, leaving the sleeve arms open.

11. Make some biased trim. I do this by cutting a strip of fabric the length I needed to go around the collar and just about an inch wide. Fold one side over on to itself going up half of the length.

 Then fold the other side down.

Then fold it over again, ironing as you go, so that it looks like a v.

12. Attach the biased trim to the collar by sliding it right over the edge of the fabric. The fabric goes right inside the upside down "v." Make sure not to loose your pleat as you are pinning the trim around. Do a top stitch over the biased trim. For the back of the shirt and the edge of the trim, just fold it over on to itself and do a top stitch over it.

13. Then sew on the sleeves. The easiest way I have found to do that is just to have the shirt inside out, then slide the sleeve in to the arm hole, the sleeve itself being right side out. Then pin and sew, maneuvering it so that you don't sew the arm hole shut.

14. Don't forget to sew on your buttons. I hand sewed mine on right on the white fabric.
15. I made a little felt circle flower and hand sewed it right on the shirt.

dutch apple pie

For Danny's birthday a few weeks ago, I made an apple pie. He always prefers a pie over a cake. This one was pretty good. I got the recipe from my neighbor (whenever she cleans out her recipes, I always end up with some of her old ones).

Recipe:
1 prepared pie crust
3 lbs apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 Tbls lemon juice

For the streusel topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbls flour
1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, chilled
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t allspice
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Peel, core and dice the apples. In a large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Mix well and set aside.

In a food processor, combine all of the streusel ingredients except for the walnuts. Process to form coarse crumbs. Add the walnuts and pulse several times to just combine.

Transfer the apple mixture to the pie crust. Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the apples in an even layer. Cover the pie with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 25-30 more minutes or until the top is golden. Let cool a bit before serving.

I topped it with some homemade whipped cream. I always just beat (with your whisk attachment) the pint of heavy cream on high until soft peaks form, then add about 3 Tbls of sugar and about 1-2 t of vanilla then beat until stiff peaks form.

I had a helper with me. It's always a little bit more difficult when I have "helpers" but since I wanted Jackson to help with Danny's pie, I decided I would be extra patient so that I wouldn't get stressed at how long it took to make the normally quick pie.

My added patience helped when he dropped a big spoonful of whipped cream and got it all over his sweater and the chair. We just laughed and laughed at how funny it was. It was a fun little afternoon with Jackson.