Month: February 2013

Scratch Off Paint – Part Deux

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you are celebrating this day of amor with plenty of chocolate and all manners of sweetness.

I am nothing if not persistent, and I finally got the scratch off paint to work (see here for the first attempt gone wrong). They are so so fun. I followed this tutorial again, but the key was to use metallic acrylic paint and very little dish detergent. I added just a couple of drops, three layers of silver acrylic on top of clear packing tape adhered to parchment paper, and presto, scratch-off paint of the highest caliber!

“You are my love” is what we say to each other regularly around here in this household, and my mother would certainly comment — in Japanese parlance –“that it causes her teeth to float”. That means something to the effect of “makes her cringe because of the sheer corniness.” But that’s the way we roll.

I made a bunch. Thought they would make handy bookmarks too – I like functional crafts.

Love! Have a happy day, all!

Three Ps for K

I realize that I’m milking this Valentine’s theme for all it’s worth, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m as sappy as they come. I recently found myself sobbing at the end of the movie Brave and I think K may have been embarrassed of me…

So, I had made a fleeting mention of making a tipi for K back in the, oh, pre-Christmas historic era.  And then time got away from me as it so often does, and I sneakily declared that I would make it for Valentine’s. I have now punted it for her birthday in July, for which such a massive undertaking seems appropriate.

Instead of a tipi, I opted for a much less strenuous route and assembled a little Valentine’s gift pack with a pillow and a pouch, and remembered that I had gotten her some scented pencils. Three lovely items that begin with the letter P. Perfect!

The pillow and pouch lining is this fantastic sturdy cotton. And remember the pleather monogram keychains? I used the same stuff for the pouch’s outer fabric. I still have so much of this material left. Maybe K would like a silver vest? Or a pair of pleather pants?

I didn’t use a pattern for the pillow or the pouch since I’ve made so many of these (though perhaps I should have consulted instructions because the pouch came out a little bit wonky). Once out of their plastic containers, those pencils will definitely fit inside the pouch! They’re powerfully fragrant though…maybe too fragrant to be taken out of the plastic on a regular basis…At any rate, what I love most about these pencils is that they’re made out of recycled newspapers and I was pretty excited about the mint chocolate scent because that’s K’s absolute favorite ice cream flavor.

I stuck everything into one of her toy baskets and have it cleverly disguised in my room under strategically placed (clean) laundry right now. I can’t wait for her to open it tomorrow – she’s going to love them! And hey, she can use that pillow in her tipi one day.

 

Nostalgic Treats: Fruit Roll-Ups

In spite of their humble appearance, these fruit roll-ups have wow factor. We had some friends over the other day, and when I brought these out, there were surprised utterances of “are these homemade?” They are probably the easiest things to make in the world, but look mysteriously difficult.

I have to warn you that these are very addictive…you can use any fruit combo (and add veggies too, if you so desire), but I tried strawberries, raspberries and mango. On top of bringing back fond memories of my own childhood (I used to eat the actual Fruit Roll-Ups brand by the dozens) and being delectable, these are actually healthy too. Guilt-free snacks are the way to go, especially when you’ve been inhaling chocolate-covered marshmallows with abandon like I have.

I was thinking of handing them out as Valentine’s treats — hence the little sparkly gem sticker — but they were eagerly gobbled up and it’s looking doubtful that I’ll have the time to make more before V-day.

There are about a million fruit roll-ups recipe online, but below are the ridiculously easy steps that I followed (plus some illustrations I whipped up) – most of the time is spent largely unattended, but there is a slight inconvenience in that you wouldn’t want to leave your oven on and go off to run errands, no matter how low the temperature. But if you happen to have plans to stick around your house for a few hours, these are effortless to make.

Also, my first batch got a little too crispy so it’s a good idea to check once an hour after the first couple of hours – it should feel tacky and firm, but not hard. The pix shown above are from my second batch, and they were the perfect consistency of chewy and a tiny bit stretchy.

 

yields approximately 10 1-inch x 8inch rolls

Ingredients: about three cups of chopped fruit . I used about 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, 1/2 cup of raspberries and 1 cup of mango pieces.

 

1. Wash and remove any stems/hulls/pits/seeds. I kept the raspberries whole, halved the strawberries and chopped the mango into roughly 2-inch pieces. Then I tossed them into the blender. Blend until completely pureed. You should end up with approximately two cups of puree.

 

2. Using a rubber spatula or spoon, spread fruit puree onto a baking sheet lined with Silpat. If you don’t have a Silpat, parchment paper would also work, but I’ve only tried it with the Silpat (which works like a charm).

 

3. Set your oven to the lowest temperature (mine was at about 150 degrees F) and let the puree dehydrate for 3 to 5 hours. Mine took 3 hours. Wouldn’t it be cute to have an aqua stove? Mine is boring white…

4. Once the mixture feels slightly tacky and firm to the touch, take out of the oven and let cool. If you are using a Silpat, the dehydrated fruit should peel off easily. Place on a sheet of parchment paper. If you used parchment paper, you can keep it as is. Using a pizza cutter, slice into strips and roll-up!

5. Now you can enjoy your tasty (and healthy!) treat!

Monday Outfit: A whole lotta pink

Good morning, friends! Did you have a lovely weekend? I spent the better part of mine cleaning and organizing and have come to the conclusion that I have a serious problem bordering on clinical with fabric and craft supplies. They’re like bunnies, multiplying when I’m not even looking! I also made some unfortunate-looking but delicious homemade chocolate-covered marshmallows, but that’s a story for another time.

Part flapper, part I-wish-Spring-were-here-hopefulness, part Valentine’s Dress and 100% pink (ombre in parts, but still very, very pink), this smashing dress was a doozy.

It’s a very unique and striking fabric, of which I only had one yard, so I had to shorten the dress by two inches. And then realized that I had cut out the wrong front skirt piece and lost a few more inches (I guess it makes a really long dress, because I think the length is fine even with lost inches).


I discovered that miniature tassels on voile make it very hard to undo seams. Because the voile is so sheer, I had to add a lining but I couldn’t, for the life of me, do it correctly and the fabric kept tearing every time I attacked it with a seam ripper (sob). Thank goodness for Rae’s awesome video tutorial that I finally found after three failed attempts.


Because of above errors, what should have been a quick and easy pattern from this book took me a jillion hours and required several extra cups of coffee.

On the upside, I learned how to make french seams, and can now add a full lining to anything with my eyes practically closed. In this particular case, I used plain white muslin.

I almost gave up and resigned myself to creating an awkward midi-length skirt, but I was somehow able to salvage the dress in the end. Look at that beautiful drape – love love love.

(all this posing is exhausting and prompted a lie-down). Now, I know that so much pink is not everyone’s cup of tea, and in fact, K has not been a fan of the color since she decided Disney princesses are uncool last year. But for some reason, I am having a torrid love affair with this hue and can’t get enough. I do suppose it would look rather fetching in blue too, and K would probably be much more excited if it were (the power of Photoshop!):

I leave you with a gem from one of our conversations this weekend:

K: Mommy, you’re the best mommy in the world!
Me: Really??
K: Yeah, I’ve trained you so well!

That you have, my little munchkin, that you have…