Soap dispenser Makeover!!!

So, I bought this soap dispenser at Target a few months ago. In the store with all the other ones it looked great, but when I put it on the edge of my kitchen sink, it just looked like a ketchup bottle.

I wasn't sure what to do, since it worked fine, it just looked weird. I eventually got another soap dispenser, and put this one away to think about it.

The other day I was getting some vinyl cut for some Christmas Decorations, that had cute little snow flakes on it, when it hit me--I could get some extra snowflakes cut and turn my ketchup bottle thing into something that would be cute in my kitchen throughout the winter.

Here is how it turned out!

Not bad for a $3 ketchup bottle!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Deborah

Fall Wreath Redo

My fall wreath needed to be redone.  So here is a step by step of what I did.  I wish that I had a total before picture, so you could see the sorry state that this was in.  It looked a ton better with everything off.  I kept the ribbon since it was in good shape, and I still liked it.

I added some shiny pumpkin ribbon as well.  I wove it over and under the existing ribbon and hot-glued it in place.  Next I made some loops of the shiny ribbon, twisted on some stiff wire, and then hot-glued them in between the loops of the bow on the top.

Next I wove in a garland of leaves in and out of the ribbon.  I then hot glued  in some shiny pumpkins that I bought at Hobby Lobby on sale for about $1/each.  I also glued back in the small pumpkins and berries that were on it before, in and around the big bow on top.

I had this spray of these small yellow berry things.  I pulled off the individual sprays and then strategically glued them around the pumpkins and in the bow.

I also glued these weird purple berries that I had left over from another project as well as some reddish purple mums that I had.

Here is a close-up of the bow on top.

And here is the finished wreath--BEAUTIFUL!!!!  I love how it turned out!  Not bad for a $3 investment.

Travel ideas for Kids

iheartorganizing has some fun ideas for traveling with kids.  I especially like the "kid clips for trips" and the activity booklet with games for the kids to play.  You can download the booklet for free for a limited time.  So check it out.  Our family has a big road trip coming up later this fall.  It will be fun to incorporate some of these ideas.

~Lena 

All Dressed Up

Sorry to be slow with posting.  With traveling, getting ready for school and seminary to start and trying to get my home in order things have been a little hectic around these parts, to say the least.

 

My sister-in-law got married at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan, Utah.

All of our hard work paid off.  Everyone is so cute!  

 

My adorable family all dressed up and ready to party.

 The flower girls loved helping their aunt with her train.

 My other sister-in-law made this gorgeous wedding cake.

 The decorations were hired.  Great choice.

 Doesn't he look so spiffy!  I had to make a bow tie the night before to go with the vest and pants that I made.  We tried to find a regular dress shirt for our little guy to go with the tie I already had made to match the big boys, but we were fortunate enough to borrow a little tuxedo shirt before we left town.  Everyone loved the little bow tie.

And we sent them off right to live happily, ever after. . .

~Lena

Dresses fit for Cinderella

The boys are getting all fancy with their vests.  We need three fancy dresses for the girls to match.

 I used Simplicity pattern 9497.  Deborah helped me with the first dress.  She cut it out and sewed the bodice.  It was so fun having her here for a few days to help me out!   I finished the 1st dress and got the 2nd dress cut out and sewed and the third dress is all cut out.  I can't wait to sit down and sew it.

Tools:  Same as for any sewing project.  Pattern, fabric, pins, scissors, sewing machine etc., no extra bit of blue required for this project.

Procedure:  Follow pattern directions.
Here is the beautiful bodice.  When I saw it I instantly thought "Cinderella."

 Use a sewing gauge to measure the hem, then pin it and iron it before sewing, it helps make the hem line nice and even.

Medium dress.

Small dress.   I need to make the small dress longer, but I think I will add some tulle or something to it.  Plus I need to add white ribbon sashes to all the dresses.

Large dress, all cut out and ready to sew.  A project for another day.

~Lena

Poke Cake

Here's fun summer treat to make with your kids or to take to your next get-together or barbecue.
 
Poke Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sour milk or buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Turn on oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add wet ingredients.  Mix until batter is smooth.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely.

6 oz Flavored Gelatin (also known as Jell-o) {1 lg box or 2 small boxes 3 oz each}
2 cups boiling water

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  Any flavor will do.  Poke cooled cake with a skewer, fork, chopstick, whatever you have on hand.  Be sure to poke the cake all over.  Pour gelatin over the cake.  Put into the refrigerator until gelatin is set.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.  A fun cool treat for a hot summer's day. ~Lena

Vacation Home

We decided to take separate vacations this year.  Princess Sally visited our royal friends and we headed to the big city for lots of sight-seeing. To make our separation easier to bear,  and since princesses can be, well princessy, we thought Sally would like to stay in a new vacation home.

For inspiration my right hand man looked at these plans here and here.

Tools: Circular saw with Rip Cut, Kreg Jig, pocket screws, drill, jig saw, hammer and nails, wood, and shingles

 Be sure to have extra builders ready to lend a helping hand or 6.

 Procedure:
Measure and cut wood, drill holes, screw and nail pieces together.  Using the Kreg Rip Cut and Kreg Jig made this project a lot easier.  And we were able to use up extra wood that we had in our stash.  So cool!

 The kids had lots of fun helping with this project.

 And playing in the house.  Kind of irresistible isn't it.

 I think a playhouse needs to be put into our cue of projects. 

Princess Sally seems to like it, as long as she takes her own bed with her.  Princesses and their ways!  Good thing we can accommodate her demands and whims.   I'll have to post the "after" pictures later.  Princess Sally's new abode is now purple with black shingles.  Thanks hon for the new vacation home. ~Lena

Large Vest

For today's project I had to make a pattern and vest for my big boy.  He's too big for the boys' pattern, but too small for the men's  pattern.

Tools:

Large roll of paper, pencil, scissors, pins, fabric, sewing machine etc.

Procedure:

Using big boy's measurements and boys' pattern, trace a larger pattern, then cut out pieces for vest. 

 Once all that was done, simply sew together all the pieces same as done previously.

 

I'm glad that is done.  I was not looking forward to making the pattern, but it was easier than I mentally set it up to be. It's vacation time so no projects.  Yea!  I'll post some other projects that have gone on concurrently  with these.  I'm glad to say I've been doing good with my projects thus far.  School starts in a few weeks.  Let's just say that this summer is not nearly long enough.

~Lena

Strawberry Fig Jam

 I was so lucky to get figs from a friend and since figs wait for no man, I made jam right away.

 Love this recipe.  It's our family's favorite jam recipe.  We love to serve it with fresh bread when the missionaries come over to dinner.  Also great on pb&j's.
Tools:

 Wash and remove stems from figs.  Mash them up.  I use a hand blender.
Strawberry Fig Jam
6 cups mashed figs
1 box pectin
1/2 tsp margarine
6 cups sugar
2 (6 oz) boxes gelatin (strawberry, raspberry or black raspberry flavor)
{or 4 (3 oz) boxes gelatin}

Mix together mashed figs with pectin and margarine (prevents foam).  Bring to a boil.  Add all at once the sugar and gelatin.  Stirring constantly bring back to a boil and boil 1 minute.  Ladle into hot, sterile jars.  Wipe rims clean with a clean, damp cloth.  Place new lids and ring on jars.  Hand tighten.  Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.  If the lids pop down and stay down, they are sealed and can be stored in your cupboard.  If the lids pop back up, then they are not sealed and the jars should be reprocessed or put in the refrigerator for immediate use.

~Lena

Small Vest

Monday's Project:

For my youngest, I had to make a pattern for his vest.  This was fairly simple to do since he has this cute blue vest that fits him now.

 Tools: Pencil, paper, tape, fabric, scissors, thread, sewing machine, iron 

My blue tape in the picture doesn't look very blue.

I

Procedure: I  traced the vest onto paper and gave myself a half inch seam allowance.  Then I cut out the fabric pieces and sewed them together following the same basic steps as last week's vest.

 

 Finished except for the buttons.  That's a project for another day.

~Lena

Be Gone Bugs!

My project on Friday consisted of the Terminix guy coming by again.  This time we showed him what the bugs were that were bothering us.  German cockroaches.  You can't get rid of them by spraying.  You can't get rid of them with fogging.  They simply move to a new location.  So our very helpful bug guy put out traps with bait that is irresistible to this variety of bug.  He also sprayed some of the bait in some of the cracks in the cupboards.   The traps seem to be working.  We are very impressed.  ~Lena 

Blueberry Buckle Muffins

Yesterday my project of the day was taking a box of items to the local thrift store/donation center.  Maybe not a big deal to a lot of you, but it always takes me forever to get rid of stuff, and then have the stuff sit in my van for a couple weeks before I actually get around to dropping it off.  So I did it!  Yea!

I have today off from projects, being a holiday and all, but we had a ward breakfast this morning to celebrate Independence Day, and we brought Blueberry Buckle Muffins.  So I thought I would share this yummy recipe.  Sometimes the blueberry muffins I make are good, and sometimes they aren't so good, but this recipe, which I adapted/modified from a Blueberry Buckle recipe, is awesome.  Everyone in my family, except my non-blueberry eating child, likes these muffins.  7 out of 8 is an outstanding rating at my house. 

  

 For those of you who have never had Blueberry Buckle, it's a not too sweet cake topped with a generous layer of blueberries followed by a cinnamon sugar crumb topping.  It's good, but we like the muffin version even better.  It has fewer calories because we substitute canola oil for the shortening, and I distribute the blueberries throughout, instead of having a layer on top.

Blueberry Buckle Muffins
fivesistersfivefamilies.blogspot.com
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
 
4 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Crumb Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Turn on oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray muffin pans (for 2 dozen muffins) with non-stick cooking spray.  In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, oil, and sugar.  Add oil, eggs, and milk.  Stir until batter is just moistened.  Gently stir in the blueberries.  Scoop into muffin pans.

For crumb topping combine flour, sugar and cinnamon, then with a fork (or fingers) cut in the butter or margarine to form crumbs.  Sprinkle over muffins.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Cooking temps and times may vary.  Bake until golden brown.

I use a convection oven, and bake 2 pans at the same time, so I set my timer for 12 minutes, then I switch the top pan to the bottom rack and the bottom pan to the top rack, and finish baking for 3 more minutes. This helps the muffins bake more uniformly    You can bake them at a lower temperature, like 350 for 20-25 minutes if you want.  Just play around with temps and times and see what works best with your oven.

Happy 4th of July!  ~Lena