Bow Ties for Easter

It's not too late to make a bow tie or two (or more as in my case) for the boys and man in your life. 

 

Instead of reinventing the wheel (so to speak), here's a link to a bow tie tutorial over at One Dog Woof. The only difference is I changed the size of the pattern so the bows aren't quite as big.   For the bow tie I cut a 5" x 8" piece of fabric on the bias.  For the center knot I cut a 2" x 3" piece of fabric.  I chose to cut it on the bias.  You could, or not.  For the neck band, I cut a 2" x 16" piece.  For the knot and neckband I fold the edges to the center and iron it flat, then I fold it in half and iron it.  I sew along the edge of the neck band and zig zag the edges to prevent fraying.  

The tie at the bottom  of the picture is a bow-tie that you tie.  My husband said he wanted one he could tie.  The only thing is, even after watching multiple tutorials online, it was a bit tricky to tie a real bow tie.  I also included a little handkerchief for the breast pocket of his suit or vest.  You can find the pattern for his bow-tie here.  Instructions can be found here.

In case you are wondering how to attach the boy bow ties pictured above, I use my favorite tie attaching mechanism-a simple safety pin.  Works great, completely adjustable, and can still be reused when the tie is no longer usable.  Win, win if you ask me.  Sorry I didn't include the safety pins in the picture.  I figure you know what one looks like.  ;) If you have any questions please comment below.  We would love to hear from you!

Happy Easter!

~Lena

Bunny Buns

Here is a fun recipe to make for Family Home Evening or Easter Sunday.  This recipe was first published in The Friend magazine in 1980, and reprinted in 2011.  You can find the original recipe here.

Bunny Buns
adapted from The Friend, April 2011 issue
1 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk (warm cold milk for 1 minute in the microwave)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbs grated orange peel
5 1/2 cups flour

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter

In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water.  Blend milk, sugar, oil, salt, eggs, and orange juice in another bowl.  Add to yeast mixture.  With mixer on low, mix in flour a cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Knead for 5 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.  Place dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise covered for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.  Punch down dough and let rest for 10 minutes.  To shape the bunnies, look at the original directions here.  Let rise until doubled (20-30 minutes).  Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Mix the glaze together.  Drizzle on bunnies while still warm.  Make cute bunny faces with sprinkles or dried fruit, or let the kids sprinkle them as desired. 

Variations: For the following variations omit orange juice and orange peel
Vanilla bunnies--Increase milk by 1/4 cup, add 1 tsp. vanilla to dough.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla to glaze.
Cinnamon bunnies--Before baking, mix together 1 tsp cinnamon with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle bunnies with 1 tsp. of cinnamon mixture.  Bake as directed.  Add 1 tsp vanilla to the glaze.
Lemon bunnies--Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1 Tbs lemon zest to dough.  Add 1 tsp lemon extract to glaze. 

For other fun Easter activities to enjoy with your kids, The Friend has compiled a list of activities and stories from past issues.  Happy Easter!
~Lena

Freezer Clean Out

So, for my Thursday (March 21st) project I defrosted my freezer.  Sorry I didn't take a before picture, but here are the after ones.  It was 20 degrees out, so it was a nice cold day so my frozen stuff would stay frozen.  Defrosting the freezer is not a favorite thing to do.  Not so much because of how difficult it is, just that it takes some time.  My freezer has a tube out of the bottom so the water can drain out.  I also put a board underneath the front so it would be tilted back and drain through the hole, and not out the front.  I also turned on a space heater and cracked the door.  It took about 6 hours to totally defrost, about 20 minutes to wipe out and about 1/2 hour to move food out and back in.

I love how clean it looks now.  I also brought in a couple of wire shelves--it really doubles the space on those shelves

Here is the door.

Another view of the whole freezer.

Top shelf--prepared meals and my frozen diced peppers.

Shelf 2- Ice cream, ice pops, frozen fruit and several meatloaves.

Shelf 3 - My bin of cheese, beef sticks, bread, cookies, frozen raw rolls, frozen raw cinnamon rolls and below is my meat drawer.

Happy cleaning!  ~Deborah

New Year's Resolutions

Every year I come up with a list of things that I would like to work on during the year--I'm sure that most of you do the same.  This year, Lena and I have been doing what Becky Beck, from "Dirty Little Secrets" http://dirtylittlesecrets2010.blogspot.com/ did in 2010.  Reading her blog was very inspiring.  Every day, except Sunday and Holidays, she would tackle a big project, outside of her normal chores.  I know that we haven't posted a lot recently, but hopefully we can start posting our daily projects and inspire you as well.

Best New Year wishes from all the way in March!!!
Deborah

Easter Rolls

 Special Rolls for Easter

Check out Deborah's post on special rolls you can make with your kids for Easter.

Sorry our posts have been infrequent.  Hopefully we can get back on track soon. ~Lena