superhero mask - tutorial & pdf

It is a superhero love fest in our house at the moment. "The guys" have to go everywhere with him, even to bed. I decided to have a go at making a simple superhero mask and all of sudden, best mum ever! I even had to make a second one for myself or Daddy to wear. As soon as he put it one he was out zooming around the garden and showing me examples of "incredible strength" as he puts it. 

Tutorial:

Materials:
8 - 10 inches of 1/4 inch soft elastic depending on your little one's noggin.
10" x 6" of felt or other material - 2 pieces.
PDF template
Note - if you use another material other than felt you might want to add fusible interfacing for support.

Print out PDF and cut out template.
Place PDF on both pieces of material with wrong sides facing. Pin and cut. 
Measure the elastic by putting it around your little person's head and pulling it slightly so that it will stay put. Cut. Hint - use a small scissors to cut the eyes out.

Place elastic between the front and back, like a sandwich with right sides facing each other. Pin.

I found it helpful to pull the elastic through one eye hole to be sure I wouldn't sew over it.
Sew all around the mask with a 1/4 inch seam leaving a small hole to turn it right-side out. 

Cut notches for turning or use a pinking shears as I have done below. 

Turn right side out and hand sew the small opening shut.
Zig zag stitch around the eye holes. This is tricky. I used the smallest zig zag stitch on my machine. Don't worry too much about perfection - kids don't notice :)

That's it, the mask is ready! 

And your superhero is ready to zoom! 

The "green lantern ring"on his finger is literally a strip of felt tied with a knot. I love imagination. 


I am sharing this post at some fun link parties - check them out. 

superhero mask - tutorial & pdf

lilac and butterflies

My lilac bush is at peak at the moment and I have cuttings all over my house - the smell is fantastic. These beautiful flowers have attracted a lot of butterflies to our garden so it's a double treat. This post is a little tribute to my Dad who gave me the camera I used and who, apart from everything else that is wonderful about him, is an amazing and inspiring photographer. Happy Birthday Dad. 

easter recap

We had a great day yesterday and I just wanted to share some of the photos I took and some links to a few fun crafts and recipes. 

 First off, how cute is he? I made the bow-tie from this awesome tutorial. It really was simple to make so I will definitely be adding a few of these to his wardrobe. 

I made Martha's vanilla bean cookies with raspberry white chocolate cream. Did you know vanilla bean is so expensive? The original price in Jewel for one bean was $14. Thankfully it was on sale for 50% off but still the price tag on these cookies including the premium white chocolate and raspberries was probably over $20. They were good but next time I will make do with just vanilla extract. 

I used lemons in the vase with pretty lilac from my garden. Usually we wouldn't have much at this time of year but the kooky weather brought them on earlier than usual. I thought the lemon water would kill the flowers quickly but they are still perky today. 

I made these deviled eggs. The adults looked a bit suspiciously at them but the kids loved them and this plate was empty in no time. 

I set up the kids for some crafting with some $1 mask kits that I got at Michael's and some Easter coloring book pages.
Great day. 

embroidered onesies - tutorial

Embroidery is an easy way to personalize and beautify simple items. It is especially nice for anything baby related. For this project I picked up a couple of white onesies for about $5 and turned them into something a little more special. 

To start out find the center of your garment so you know where to place the wording. Then using your embroidery hoop to stabilize the garment lightly write out the word you want to embroider in pencil. I write so lightly that you can barely see it but it's enough to guide you and then it will come out easily in the wash. You could also find some word art online to help you design your embroidery but I just free hand it. 

I used a simple back stitch for this. It is the most basic of stitches but it is nice and neat and for a lightweight garment like this it seems to work best. Just remember that when you are starting your first letter that you go one stitch length in from the bottom so you can back up to where you actually want the first stitch to be. 

The felt flowers are simple to make and you can find good tutorials for them here and here.

This kind of project makes for a great baby gift and of course you could personalize the garment with a name. 

I'm sharing this project at some super cool link parties - check them out. 

Pintrest Recipes

I am sure we are all the same, surfing pintrest, choosing recipes that we think sound and look really great, pinning them and then....nothing.

This week I decided to actually have a go at some of the recipes I found and let you know how it went. I'm going to use an extremely simple rating system I've devised - Make it or Skip it. Of course these are only my opinions and I'm a long way from the "Oprah Effect".

                                                                     Source: tablefortwoblog.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Honey Bourbon Chicken 

We all really enjoyed this and I would recommend it. I used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts although the recipe calls for chicken thighs. The breasts stayed moist and melted in your mouth so you can use either. I also like this because the cooking time is 3-4 hours on low in a slow cooker. This works well for me because I usually only think about dinner after lunch so sometimes I just don't have the time to make other slow cooker recipes. This is a Make it!

Source: doctoroz.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest 

Hungry Girl EZ Cheesy Lasagna

I needed to adapt a lot of this recipe. It says that you only need 2 sheets of lasagna. I have to say this seems impossible to me. It's a make for 2 recipe but the thing I like about Lasagna is it's freezability (new word?). It's a good idea using the eggplant as a layer but there are better low fat lasagna recipes out there. Skip it. 

Source: dashingdish.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Low Carb Chicken Enchilada Bake

This is really excellent. The genius part of this recipe is the fact that instead of cream or sour cream you use blended cottage cheese. I have never even thought of that before but it is a perfect cream substitute. It's just the right amount of spicy and you can add or remove the amount of cheese on top. I had seconds - Make it!

Cucumber Feta Rolls 

Hope you enjoyed this post. If nothing else it has helped me learn how to spell recepie, reciepe, recipe.

I'm sharing this post at some cool link parties - check them out.  

I was going to a girlfriend's house for dinner so I thought I would bring these along as a healthy appetizer. It's hard to slice the cucumber to look this pretty and in the time it took to drive there (30mins) the filling and the water from the cucumbers created a soupy mix in the bottom of the dish. This made them look just a little less appetizing than this photo. Skip it.

Source: goodlifeeats.com via Marie Claire on Pinterest

Wallpaper Tips

Warning - this is a long but informative post!

Okay, so I began my very daunting project of wallpapering one wall of my son's room today and I have some tips already. Let me start by saying that both my parents and husband said I should just not do it. It's too hard, messy and prone to problems. But the thought of this awesome paper on one wall of his room was too much to resist. So, caution to the wind, I set about the project!

I measured the wall and ordered two rolls of paper. I have already discovered that I will need to order another. A couple of things happened. First, I unrolled the paper - just to look - and it tore about 6ft in (tears). Second I didn't think about matching the pattern and the amount of wastage that occurs by having to do this. So TIP #1 - Get more paper than you think you need. 

Wallpaper patterns repeat at various intervals. It is not something that I saw on the website or even considered but mine repeats about every 1.5 feet. That means that in order to match it up sometimes I lose almost a foot in excess. Darn. So if you are buying paper check that part and then order enough. Actually, rule of thumb is buy one more role than you even think you might need. I now have to order another role and pay the shipping so it is costing me more :(

Okay, so once you have purchased the paper you need to stick it up on the wall. All wallpapers are different and the instructions for how to adhere it are written on the role (at least mine were). Some papers have the adhesive already on the paper and you just have to imerse the paper in water (messy if you ask me) and some are the type you can paste the wall and then stick the paper on the pastey wall. And the third is the old fashioned kind where you paste the paper and then stick it up. TIP #2 Wait until you get the paper in hand before you buy any supplies. 

Did you know that Home Depot has not carried wallpaper paste and supplies for 2 years? You can get it online but I found what I needed in person at an ACE Hardware.