Ridiculous Recipes

I love sharing recipes. Back in Utah, a group of us would get together once a month for what we called Kitchen Club. Everyone would take turns teaching a favorite recipe and we would each take home a recipe card at the end of the night. I loved this.

I am currently on the hunt for new recipes and Pinterest has helped a lot. The only issue is not knowing whether they are going to be a family favorite or a bust. This one was definitely NOT a bust.

Red Velvet Pancakes

Oh my, they were amazing. And if you know me, then you know that I loathe pancakes. Like deeply loathe. This was like eating dessert for breakfast. A must try!

Manly iPad Case

My brother-in-law has been asking about an iPad case for a while now, and since we are heading to Washington soon, I figured I better get going on it.

I originally made a couple cases a few months back and loved how quick they were. Although they were pretty girly looking, so I needed something more manly! I have mentioned before that my husband has been pestering lovingly reminding me to use his old ACUs.

So I came up with this:

I used this same tutorial as before. Only making sure to follow the measurements and the overall construction. I opted for Velcro instead of the ties, because it is definitely more sturdy. If you want to skip all the piecing together that she did, just cut four main pieces at 10x12.

I even cut a piece for the back that already had a pretty heavy duty pocket on it so he can store a few accessories. I made the entire case using one ACU top and only about an hour of time. Not too bad for a Friday afternoon!

Rodeo Ready

Cheyenne hosts the biggest outdoor rodeo in the world. Or so they say. My parents flew out and we experienced four days at the rodeo. Between concerts, the carnival, Indian village, and slack time we saw a lot. And no rodeo would be complete without a cowgirl! 

My mom and I picked out this fabric at a local quilting shop. I completely fell in love with the print the moment I saw it. Something about cowboys and little girl boots! Normally quilt shops can run a little pricey, but when making kids' clothing, you thankfully don't need much. This skirt cost about $5.50 to make.

The most amazing part? My mom made this entire skirt using only my serger. She figured out that my serger could ruffle fabric! It's a good thing I didn't spend $60 on a ruffler foot like I intended. We ruffled, added a casing, and finished the edge with my Brother 1034D. So if you have a serger bust out your books or goggle some tutorials because it is well worth it.

Tana was by far the cutest cowgirl there!

Gutter Shelves

I have wanted to try these book shelves out for a while but never really found the time. A couple months ago I even made an attempt to get the supplies from Lowe's, but I struggled to find what I needed. Attempt never two went a lot better. I started with doing only two shelves and can add more later if I decide.

There are a million tutorials for how to accomplish this, but this is the one I used.

I had quite the difficult time putting this together today. It seemed like one thing after another. I even have a few wounds from "shrapnel" while cutting the gutter.

Advice: mount your corner piece first making sure that the screws are no where near the part the gutter attaches to. Also, drill slowly! I learned this the hard way.

Happy Birthday Baby!

My husband turns the BIG 3-0 today! I still have a hard time believing that he is thirty and that in about a year and a half I will be, too. Eeek!!

We invited our good friends over for a barbeque and had a mini party. My husband isn't one for big gatherings so I think this was perfect for him. I found this really cute idea on pinterest. I skipped the gum balls and did packages of gum instead. I figured they would get more use. I decided to also do the "30 sucks". I found the cute canisters a HL for super cheap and just decorated them with things I had at home.

Lighting all those candles was quite a beast! At one point Savanah almost blew them all out before I was done lighting them.

 

Unfortunately he couldn't get all the candles on the first try. There were just too many!

Happy birthday to an awesome daddy and an amazing husband. We love you!

(Curse the cupboard for being open! And Tana struggles with pictures!)

**Apparently this didn't post on his birthday. Oops!

These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

After moving to Wyoming it is customary to buy your child a pair of cowboy boots. I was schooled on this when I called them "cowgirl" boots. Oops!

I searched for a pair for Savanah for a while and then luck of all luck found them for $8 at Sears. Once the boots were in play I had to find her a jean skirt. All the skirts in the stores had pleats, or ruffles, or crap all over them. Definitely not my taste or what I was looking for. 

Enter this tutorial.

The only change I made was that I did not add elastic to the front of the skirt. I wanted it to lay flat and look less homemade.

Next project? Figuring out how to get my three year old to look at the camera and smile.

Flip Flops

I love flip flops in the summer. Or any time of year. It is totally the California girl in me! It also helps that they are ridiculously cheap. 

The only issue is that Landon struggles to walk in them. It looks like he is suffering from a case of hemorrhoids when he walks around. And it takes him forever to get anywhere. Not working!

I tried this tutorial last year, but they only lasted one day before the snaps popped off. My next idea was to sew elastic onto to back. The only problem was that I couldn't for the life of me get the elastic and shoe under the machine. I finally decided to just try gluing them. I simply busted out the E-6000, glued the elastic around, and held it into place with cloth pins.

So far they have held up nicely. Keep your fingers (and toes) crossed that they last!