Red Shirt - Children's Place
Skinny Jeans - Children's Place
Thursday
She didn't actually go out anywhere in her boots today, she just wanted Daddy to put them on her.
Striped T - Old Navy
Brown Pants - Old Navy
Yeti Boots - Old Navy
Saturday
This had got to be one of her best outfits yet. I was out of town on Friday so I missed her before bed, these were the only clean PJ's Daddy could find.
White Onesie - Carter's
Flowered Pants - Walmart
Red Sequin Shoes - Target (I went shopping with my Mom on Friday and found these shoes for $3.50, I showed them to Catie Saturday morning and she was quite excited to wear them.)
Sunday
Red Dress - Walmart (altered by Me)
Tights - Sears
Red Sequin Shoes - Target
Pearl Necklace and Bracelet - Made by Me
She wore this cute black coat over top that's much to big for her but adorable anyway. It's from my Sister-in-Law's second hand store and it has a cute leopard liner.
Monday
Long Sleeve White Onesie - H&M
Blue Polka Dot T - H*M
Jeans - Espirit
Tuesday
Red Ruffle T- Gap
Skinny Jeans - Children's Place
Yeti Boots - Old Navy
There are lots of pregnant ladies around me right now and most of them are family. With pregnant ladies come fun baby gifts and since there are lots I figured I'd get a head start on some baby gifts. The best gift I was given with Catie was a bouncy chair so that's a gift I really like to give to others, they're really ugly though so I like to re-cover them first. Over the Christmas season I bought 3, second hand bouncy chairs so now the re-covering starts. I've finished one of the three so take a look and stay tuned for two more (I don't know the gender of any of these babies so they'll all be gender neutral).
This chair is the exact same style as the other two chairs I've done here, and here. Since I've done it twice already it was a pretty quick project with no problems.
Here's how it started.
And a photo with the toy bar removed.
This chair vibrates and plays music and I think the Mommy will be very happy with it, hopefully she loves it as much as I loved mine.
I realize it's the middle of January but I still haven't posted any resolutions and I enjoyed reading this from last year so I thought I'd update it.
1. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't keep any of my resolutions, shame on me. I wanted to watch the news daily (which I actually did for probably 6 months). I also wanted to organize my day better, (I did sort of revise this by not being allowed to craft unless the kitchen was clean, that helped a lot) finish sending out thank you cards from Catie's baby shower (sorry, they're not coming) and become a Photoshop pro. I didn't do one thing that make that happen.
I have set a few goals for this year, I'm going to roll-over the news one and do that again because I think it's important to be informed. I also am setting a goal to sew in a zipper this year. It's something that intimidates me but I feel ready to tackle it. I also want to have less to apologize for this year. You know those small situations where you look back and think how much better you could have handled things? I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to snap at my husband for no reason or treat people less than they deserve so I'm going to work on that.
2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Surprisingly, I don't think anyone did. I do have a pregnant sister, cousin and 3 sister-in-laws though so this year will be a busy one.
3. Did anyone close to you die?
Two of my cousins husbands died and my Aunts husband. I wasn't terribly close to any of them but all of them were sad.
4. What countries did you visit?
I went to the USA and that's it. Not very exciting especially since I only went to Cutbank, Montana.
5. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
An income! Brad finishes school and will hopefully get a job that pays him money.
6. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I'm terrible with dates so probably none, but it was nice when we found out the amount of the student loan given to us.
7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
All of the sewing I've done. I've done some projects I'm really proud of and I love the way I've been able to improve a talent.
8. What was your biggest failure?
I tried making this skirt for Catie... it was really bad. I know a skirt isn't a very large failure over the whole year but it's the only thing I could think of.
9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No illness, no injury.
10. What was the best thing someone bought you?
I got a palm sander for Christmas, I'm pretty excited about that one.
11. Where did most of your money go?
Housing and groceries. And possibly fabric.
12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
3 really's is a lot of excitement, I just can't think of anything that major happening. I was excited with how my car seat turned out or the great finds I got when Mom and I went to Great Falls but I'm not sure any of those deserve three really's.
13. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Brooklyn, by Wakey!Wakey!
14. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? I think I'm happier. Catie is a fun age, Brad did well in school and I developed a new talent.
b) fatter or skinner? I think I'm slighly fatter. The Christmas season was a delicious one this year.
c) richer or poorer? Richer (if you count the big student loan, poorer if you don't).
15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Letting Catie play with other kids her age
16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Watch TV
17. Did you fall in love in 2010?
I suppose I've fallen deeper in love with Brad and Catie.
18. What was your favourite TV program?
Lost. 6 seasons in 6 weeks, good show. We also really like to watch Love It or List It.
19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Thankfully, no
20. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Mindy Gledhill
21. What was your favourite film of this year? Lost and Found (short)
It's a 28 minutes kids movie that is perhaps the cutest thing I've ever seen. I've seen it three times and wish everyone could watch it.
22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I can't actually remember what I did on my birthday... I think Brad made me dinner though and we hung out which sounds perfect. I was 29.
23. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I feel like I had everything I could have wanted. Having to drive less would have been nice though, being even closer to family would have added a lot to the year.
24. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Comfortable. This year included lots of pajamas.
25. What kept you sane?
Sewing
26. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I can't say I follow any celebrity's.
27. Who do you miss?
Calgary family. We're really ready to be back there.
28. Who was the best new person you met?
Kylie
29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010?
Just be nice to everyone, all the time.
Okay, you've had your week to choose and make a new recipe, here's hoping I'm not the only one interested in the challenge.
This week I made a chicken pot pie. I'm a little surprised that I haven't ever made one before and now I think it's a shame that it took me so long. This recipe was delicious, one of those classics that I won't ever need a recipe for again. The only change I made was leaving out the mushrooms since I hate them. This was a real keeper that I'll make again and again, we felt so satisfied after the meal and the leftovers were just as delicious. I think it would be super yummy with mashed potatoes on top instead of pastry some time.
I hate mushy peas and I was really worried these ones would be overcooked but they were yummy. The recipe says you may have to cover your pastry with foil to prevent over browning, I pulled my pie out 15 minutes early, covered it and put it back in because it was starting to brown too quickly. I really appreciated that tip.
My version certainly didn't look as pretty as the one in the picture and for some reason my pastry did not turn out well but it was still tasty, just ignore the goo seeping on top (it was such delicious goo).
Chicken Pot Pie
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
3 cups chicken brother (I made my own from a store bought cooked chicken)
2 carrots, chopped in small pieces
2 celery stalks, chopped in small pieces
2 potatoes, cubed in small pieces
3 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup peas
3 cups cooked & diced chicken (I used the meat from the store bought chicken)
Pastry to cover 3-qt (3L) casserole or frozen puff pastry dough (I made my own even though it was not great)
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. blend in flour, salt, pepper and onion. Gradually stir in chicken brother. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Add carrots, celery and potatoes. Cook until fork tender. In a small frying pan, cook the mushrooms in butter. Add mushrooms, peas and chicken to vegetable mixture. Mix well and pour into large casserole. Cover with rolled pastry and slash to allow steam to escape. Bake in preheated 400F oven for about 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden. If pastry becomes too brown, cover loosely with foil.
Now it's your turn, what new recipe did you cook? Would you make it again? What changes would you make and I'd love to see a picture.
Some time ago I put out a call for projects because I didn't have anything to work on. One of the responses was from a friend Carla who has a high chair she wanted re-covered. A high chair is something I've thought about doing many times but we use one of those little clip-ons that doesn't have a cover so I didn't have a chair to work on, Carla's was the perfect opportunity. I picked up a sample of vinyl from Fabricland to test sew and made some passport covers, confident that I could work with the new fabric I gathered supplies, Carla brought over her chair and went on vacation. She'll come home to this beauty.
Here is the before. I don't understand why all baby items must be so cutesy.
I was surprised at just how nervous I was to work on this project, I've done a ton of re-covering but when it came time to cut I was really hesitant. Most of that came from this project having very unique challenges, mostly being I couldn't use any pins (I'd make holes in the vinyl) and I couldn't iron anything (melting!). I solved the pins by using binder clips and tape and just did without the iron.
I started like usual by taking the old cover apart. I wasn't willing to unpick all the button holes (where the straps go) so I cut around them. Even though the old cover looks like it's three different pieces it was really just one that was painted. Since I wanted to use solid black with the damask I had to do some careful piecing and that part worked even better than I'd hoped. I also hadn't bought a long enough piece of the damask vinyl (I thought it was two) so I pieced it together lining up the pattern, I'm pretty pleased with how well it lined up and unless you look really close you can't even see where my seam is.
I added thick piping to the top (I had to make my own because both fabric stores I went to were out) and I put bias tape all the way around. I hadn't planned on replacing the straps so I put them back on and it looked like this (except I'd already taken one back off in this picture).
I figured since there was navy blue on the frame I'd leave the navy blue straps to tie the two together but they looked awful! The cover was classy and sleek and then you had these ugly blue straps. I zipped off the Fabricland, bought new black strapping and replaced them. If I'd had a larger selection of vinyl I would have chosen something to co-ordinate with the blue but with very limited options the plastic on the frame will just have to be ignored.
Here's what the back of the cover looked before
and after
I managed to hit some good sales so this entire project ended up costing $11. Not too shabby for a piece of furniture that can now be displayed in her kitchen with pride. Doesn't hurt that the high chair was second hand to begin with (I think it was even free).
One more before and after
It seems this is just like the strollers I cover, looking at the finished project I think, "well that wasn't too tough" but I distinctly remember hating lots of parts of this process. The end justifies the means though and I'd do another in a heartbeat.
Sorry there isn't a real tutorial for this but being my first time I certainly wasn't ready to teach others. I am more than happy to answer questions if you have them though.
Don't forget to check out my New Food Friday linky where we try out new recipes together.
Well the last What I Wore Wednesday was pitiful and the next was going to be just as bad so I skipped a week. This week I finally got myself out of vacation mode got my schedule a little more under control so I did much better taking photos.
Tuesday (this was the only picture I took last week)
Polka Dot P-J's - Sears
Wednesday
Pink Hoodie - Roots (this will be it's last wear, the sleeves are a little short)
Green Rainbow T - Superstore
Brown Cords - Walmart
Thursday
White Long Sleeve Onesie - Carters
Fleece Pants - Carters
(cute baby stroller hey? You can see how it looked before I re-recovered it in this post)
Friday
Long Sleeve Striped Onesie - Old Navy
Denim Mini - Children's Place (I have such a weakness for denim mini skirts on girls, I love them so it's surprising to me that this is the only one she owns. I'm usually too cheap to buy them but I found this one for $10)
Polka Dot Tights -These are from my sister-in-law's consignment store so I'm not sure where they're from. They say size 2T but they're really short, sadly she may not wear them again.
Brown Shoes - Walmart
Saturday
Beige Sweater - H&M
Navy Corduroy Skirt - Gap
Cream Tights - Sears
Brown Shoes - Walmart
Today we went to a funeral and it made me realize how bright Catie's Sunday wardrobe is, I had a tough time picking out something somber and appropriate.
Sunday
Alphabet Pajamas - Walmart
Socks - Gagou Tagou
Snow Day! Church was canceled so we stayed home in our pajamas all day.
You know it's laundry time when she's wearing these pajamas, they're so ill fitting.
Monday
(sometimes she just won't stop moving long enough to be photographed)
Brown T - Annabanana
Jeans - Old Navy, they have cute pockets on the back, see? (too bad they don't stay up very well)
Tuesday
This cute outfit was a Chirstmas present from Grandma Wiebe and both the shirt and leggings are from Children's Place. The shirt has cute bows around the neck and the black leggings have ruching at the ankles.
My Mom is a crafting genius. She went to Value Village and bought a Grey wool sweater, then she took it home and washed and dried it until it looked like it could fit Catie. Out of that tiny sweater we made these cute pins. It was a lot of Grey so she pulled out some red fleece and it was a perfect compliment.
Here's a close up of the individual pins (except the lone red one, I must have forgotten a close up).
My friend Teddi called me up and asked if I was interested in working on a project for her, and was I ever. This little baby stroller is adorable. Not a little umbrella stroller like we're used to seeing, this stroller was very similar in design to the full size navy stroller I covered here.
It started out like this and it was in pretty rough shape. The fabric was torn in a bunch of places and it was really dirty and just plain boring.
I took the old cover apart and used those pieces as my pattern. I then cut pieces out of my new fabric and put them back together. The solid pink is broadcloth that I doubled up and I finished all the edges with narrow pink bias tape, it's secured to the frame with heavy duty snaps. The original had a seat belt for dolls but it closed with D-rings. I can't really imagine a child being able to use D-rings so I replaced them with the kind of clip you'd use on a high chair. I know all my nieces love clipping and un-clipping those so I think it's a nice improvements. I think this stroller is adorable so I'm going to show you a bunch of after photos.
I put a doll in this one so you can see the size and how the belt clips.
Love how the handle changes position.
Now all I need to do is find another one of these for Catie because she loves it. She won't stop pushing it around and she keeps putting random things in it.
I like food. Really good food. I like to cook and eat yummy food but sometimes (and I hope I'm not alone here) I get stuck in food ruts. I cook the same things each week or month and the really yummy food starts to seem ordinary and mundane. In an effort to get out of this food rut I thought I'd try out a linky party. Since this is the first week I don't expect a whole lot of participation but here's your warning for next week.
Here's how it works, this linky is all about new recipes. I'm challenging you to try a brand new recipe every week. Blog about it and then on Friday's you can come here and link up. Tell us if you liked the recipe, what you liked about it, what you would change about it and if you would make it again. Give us the recipe and a picture would be nice but not mandatory.
I've personally been doing this for a couple weeks, I've made some really good meals, some really blah meals and one really un-edible meal but I've loved the challenge. It's made me go back through my recipe books and choose something I've been passing over for years.
Lettuce Wraps
This week's recipe was technically made for the first time last week but I made it again this week because we enjoyed it so much. The only change I would make had nothing to do with the recipe, this is technically an appetizer. We ate it for dinner and while it was lots of food we ended up not feeling satisfied. The first time we ate this it was New Year's Eve and we had tons of appetizers so it was perfect, make it for an appetizer, not for dinner.
1 tsp cooking oil
1 Boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1/2 " pieces (I used some shredded chicken I had in the freezer)
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup slivered onion
1 Tbsp slivered green pepper
1 Tbsp slivered orange pepper
1 Tbsp slivered red pepper
1/4 cup water
1 pkg Ichiban noodles (chicken) broken into 6 pieces
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
1/2 Ichiban seasoning packet
1 Tbsp Hoisen Sauce
1 tsp liquid honey
1/8 tsp pepper
1/16 tsp chili powder
1/16 tsp garlic powder (I used a clove of garlic)
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 head Butter Lettuce
Heat oil on medium. Add chicken, scramble fry until no longer pink. Add carrots, onion and peppers. Stir fry until veggies are tender-crisp. Add water and noodles, stir. Cover. Simmer for 2 minutes until noodles are softened.
Add next 8 ingredients, stir until heated through. Transfer to a small bowl, set bowl on platter and surround with lettuce leaves. Have person spoon about 1/8 of chicken mixture into lettuce leaf. Roll.
Makes about 8 wraps.
This recipe starts off so lovely and bright.
Here are my peppers all cut up. Confession... I didn't notice how little of each colour pepper this recipe called for before I bought all three. Had I noticed I probably would have stuck with one but I'm glad I didn't notice. The three colours were so pretty and tasty.
My carrot and garlic grated together.
So for my chicken, like I said I used some shredded, cooked stuff I had in the freezer so I skipped the fry step. Instead I started by frying my veggies.
Once they were tender-crisp I added my Ichiban. Now the recipe says to break into 6 pieces but I really wanted it broken up a bit more, I'd do that next time (sorry the photo is sideways, I couldn't bear to fix it).
Once that was done I threw in my chicken and everything else and it looked yummy like this.
This looked much prettier on New Year's Eve when I put it on my Mother-in-law's platter but I had to make do with a cereal bowl and dinner plate this time.
To eat you take a lettuce leaf and fill it with the yummy stuff.
Wrap it up and eat.
This recipe was a huge hit and everybody was wowed by it. I'm sure it would be the hit of whatever event you took it too.
