From Taylor - Calvin and HOBBES!

Hi internets! I'm finally blogging about the other "this took an eternity" project. Do we have any Bill Watterson fans out there?! My husband LOVES LOVES LOVES Calvin and Hobbes. For his birthday I got him the complete box set. He was over the moon.

In my family we make a competition out of who can buy the best gifts. It is followed by a nice "Winning team, losing team!" chant on Christmas morning. Don't know what I'm talking about? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH0x5tTaKZQ You're welcome. :) I won with this present! Granted, I didn't have much competition since my family doesn't usually do birthday gifts...

It has become a nightly ritual that we read a few of the strips together before bed. It's adorable. I mean, I COULD make fun of him for being a little kid, but isn't it kind of sweet that he still holds on to this part of his boyhood? I say yes. And as Calvin would say to anyone hating on him *THBPBPTHPT!*

Anyhow. Mr. Watterson has always refused to market his images. What does that mean? It means you can't buy a Hobbes doll. Ever. Anywhere. Trust me, I looked. Tristan "really really really really" wanted to be Calvin for Halloween. But you can't very well dress up as Calvin without a Hobbes right?! So I volunteered to be Hobbes. BUT NO! He wanted me to be Susie Derkins. If you don't know who that is, go read the comic. No really, do it. It's worth it. :) So. That left us with no Hobbes. So what did I do? I made him!

As you can see from the strip above, Calvin sees a very animated tiger. But his dad? He just sees a basic stuffed tiger. Since Tristan is the only one who is supposed to be able to see Hobbes in his full glory, everyone else only gets to see what his dad would.

Here is the link to the instructions. Seriously, whoever you are seamster, you're amazing.

This pin was my inspiration! It is also where I found all of the instructions. Whoever wrote this, knew what they were doing. The even give you a pattern to cut out to make it! Thank goodness too! I mean, I can sew, but I can't make patterns. I'm not that talented. Even in my overinflated ego.

Here's Hobbes. Or at least part of him... This is before I sewed the head, legs, and the shoulder stripes on. But at least the arms were done? I also added stuffed animal pellets in his bum to make him sit better. Glad I did too.

I really failed at taking pictures of the process. It's okay. The original article had plenty. This picture was taken on 10/29. As in, two days before Halloween. Like almost half done. At my office. Perks of being a glorified receptionist, I can do things like this at work. Good thing too! Otherwise Tristan would have been a Hobbesless Calvin. Talk about awkward... ;)

Don't even worry. Tristan carried Hobbes around campus like that all day. :D

Ta-da!!! Finished Hobbes on Halloween with Calvin. PS, that shirt was HARD to find. I had to go online and search for hours. I finally found this one that I decided would work from Kmart. Good thing too, my next best option was $50 from the UK. No, thanks, I'd rather not pay that much for a T-shirt he'll wear once...

Here's our "family" photo! Typical Susie attire is overalls and a brightly colored T-shirt. Do you know how hard it is to find adult overalls?! I paid WAY too much for these but they're pretty cute so I guess it's ok. :) I was thinking it was a DI purchase, but I was out of luck on that. I also tried really hard to find a pin to tell me how to feaux bob my hair like that. (In reality my hair is mid-back length.) But alas, I couldn't find one that was helpful. I ended up putting it in a ponytail at the base of my neck and then tucking it up under and pinning it. It looked pretty good I think. I wasn't about to cut bangs though. Sorry. I'm not that committed!

Overall, this project took about 30 hours worth of work. And 90% or more of it was hand sewing. Not for the faint of heart folks! Was it worth it? Absolutely. My husband LOVES him. And he still sits on our dresser in our room. He shows him off more than an adult should show a stuffed animal off. I'm still not sure if he's bragging about my sewing skills or about the fact that he has Hobbes and the other person doesn't... I'm going with my sewing skills! 

From Taylor - Chevron Crochet - The project that took an eternity (Or close to it.)

Internets! My scarce blogging has been due to being really busy, but also to taking on two HUGE projects. Here's the first one. (Hopefully I will be able to post the second one soon. Be ready guys. It's freaking awesome.) I learned to crochet a long time ago. I think probably about 15 years ago, I dunno. I was pretty young. Mostly I think the adults in my life just wanted to give me something to keep my adorable, albeit hyperactive, self busy. It sometimes worked. Ha. Anywho... A few years ago, I decided that a great birthday present for a guy I was dating would be to crochet him a blanket. Well. We broke up before it was an issue... But! I still had all this yarn. In very manly colors might I add. So I went looking for a cool pattern that I would like. I really liked the idea of a chevron pattern, 'cause that's definitely "in" right now. And when I say this project took an eternity, I mean it! This project took me about 6 months to finish. I realize that I am super busy and probably could have gotten it done a little faster if I had more time on my hands but I'm not sure that's true because I was crocheting for about an hour a day in that time. That's a long time to crochet people! I'm pretty sure I still have a misaligned back from sitting that way! Don't tell my chiropractor? Thanks.

 

Here's the original pin.

The pattern uses double crochets and says 6 inches per color. I used single crochets and I did 10 rows of a color before I switched, except for in the middle. The gray is 10 rows and the green around that is 6 and the blue around that is 9. Really it was just what looked good to me. Also, I used the single crochet because the double looks kinda sloppy to me... To each their own I guess! I also added a ruffled edge around it to make it look more finished.

Here's the finished product! I think it was a success. In fact, not to brag, but I think mine turned out better than the picture! Oh wait. Definitely bragging! Now I just have to find some use for a baby boy blanket. Ummm... I don't have kids. Nor am I planning on having kids anytime soon. Is it weird to just hold on to these things? I dunno. Hopefully not. Worth 6 months of my life? Maybe not. But pretty none the less! Happy pinning internets.

Sandpaper Transfer T-Shirts

Hello Internets! Here is a pin that I have been excited to try ever since I first saw it...

(Link)

Who indeed figures this stuff out? I love that person. Anyhoo...so I saw this pin and it looked like something that would be super fun for my kids to do! We had a day off of school so I decided we'd take a stab at it. I'm not posting a materials shot, because Blogger hates me and it will be a sideways picture and I'll give away the secret that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here. Don't tell. The materials I used were sandpaper (the grit doesn't REALLY matter unless you care about the potential texture. A coarser grit will have more texture than a finer grit. I used super coarse because its' what I had), Crayola crayons (according to the nice friend(s) at alphamom.com you have to use high quality crayons. I didn't ask questions), white tshirts (which I got from the Dollar Store) and freezer paper (or a couple of brown paper sacks or a few paper towels. I used freezer paper) So I gave the piece of sandpaper to the kids and told them they could draw whatever they wanted to on it, keeping in mind that the image would be reversed so if they wanted their names or something on it to let me help them write it backwards. Mademoiselle wanted her name on her's and I wrote it upside down because I had no clue that she'd drawn a rainbow. Mother of the Year, right here, folks.

Once their masterpieces (upside down and otherwise) were finished, I put the shirt on the ironing board and put a piece of freezer paper inside it so the image wouldn't bleed through. Then I put the sandpaper upside down on the shirt and put a piece of freezer paper--shiny side down--on top of that to protect my iron and ironed that sucker on. (The iron was on the "cotton" setting.) 

I ironed it for a bit until I was super that the image was good and on there. Then I pulled the paper off. What I DIDN'T know was that the sandpaper would stick to the freezer paper. So for the love of your irons, make sure you put a layer of something between the sandpaper and your iron. I carefully lifted the sandpaper and saw the image!

 Okay, this excited my kids to no end. Now, if you'll look closely, you'll notice that some of the sandpaper came off onto the tshirt. Do you see that there? No worries..just use your finger to rub it off like this:

I put a paper towel down on top of the image and gave it a couple of more passes with the iron to set the color then put it in the dryer for 20 minutes. But then...voila!

Don Diego and his finished product. I will

give 1 million Peggy Points to someone who

can tell me what the heck a "Creeper Egg" is!

P.S. He really does have arms.

Apparently you're supposed to wash this by itself the first time you wash it. I need to remember that! Anyway, this pin is another win! We loved doing it, the kids had a GREAT time, I only spent a few bucks on tshirts and everything else we had onhand. Tuck this idea away for a "rainy day project" when you're trapped inside this winter. I'd LOVE to see pictures of your creations! Until next time!!

Peggy and Poquito Tito Make Nuffins

One of the things you see frequently on Pinterest are "Life Hacks." Resourceful ways to get results by thinking outside the bun. (I've really been craving a Double Decker Taco lately..obvious much?) This particular suggestion caught my eye:

I loved this idea for a couple of reasons. 1. I'm a "make breakfast every morning" kind of mom, although I confess it is often done begrudgingly since I'm also a "sleep is my best friend" kind of mom. Don Diego's favorite breakfast is muffins and "super fun fruit." (This is something I first ate as an LDS missionary in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. It's basically sliced apples, bananas and grapes mixed with yogurt. Yum!) So I have long felt that if I made a whole ton of muffins, I could freeze them and get a little more sleep in the morning! This way I'm not limited to making 12 muffins at a time. Everyone wins! 2. The second reason I was excited about this pin is because it seemed to eliminate some dish washing. I am a messy muffin-maker--this way I could put some parchment paper down and throw all evidence of drips in the garbage can. Hooray for something that enables my laziness! So this morning when I made breakfast, I tried this ring idea with just a few muffins so I wasn't commited in case it didn't work. I was out of parchment paper (did you know you can buy this at the Dollar Store? Just a helpful hint--it's not always super cheap!) so I lined my baking sheet with foil and put the rings on. Um, you're supposed to put them down the other way, BTDubs, but having them upside down worked just fine. 

Then I put the muffin cups in the rings

I filled them with batter

Huh. I shot that pic at a weird angle! Anyhoo..tossed them in the oven and baked them. Poquito Tito was most interested in this process. He kept asking when the "nuffins" would be ready. Oh how I love this kid!

When I took them out, they looked perfect!

And voila! Don Diego's favorite breakfast! Now I need to make a bunch of muffins to freeze. Wish me luck!

And Poquito Tito got the nuffins he was waiting for! 

This pin is a WIN!!!!

Wax Paper Transfers: Fail? Success? You decide!

Not unlike the garbage disposal bombs I blogged about last week, this is another pin I've pinned multiple times! 

(link)

I had some wood from Christmas Crafts Past in the closet in my craft room that I knew would be perfect for this project. Unfortunately what I didn't remember is that they're like 12 inches long which was NOT going to work out. So I did what any responsible mother would do in this scenario: I sent it outside with my 9 year old to use the hacksaw to cut it in half. He did a GREAT job! 

A few months ago, I subscribed to Brave Girls' Club Soul School. That's a story for another day but seriously, check it out. I am LOVING it! As part of the curriculum a couple of months ago, we got this beautiful artwork to print and it seemed perfect for the project. 

I don't have a materials shot for you (please forgive me!) but it really just involves wood and wax paper. I pasted the picture into Word (can you see this very well?)

If you're going to try this at home, make sure you mirror the image before you print it. Ask me how I know. I cut my wax paper to 8.5x11 using my paper trimmer because I'm a neurotic freak

I fed the wax paper into the printer; here's where I learned a few things: my printer has different settings like "fast draft" and "photo printing" and "maximum DPI." At first I used the "maximum DPI" setting because I wanted the quality to be really great but it smudged all over the wax paper. Boo. So I changed it to "fast draft" and it went much smoother. My wax paper DID get stuck in the printer a few times because it's super thin, and I can't tell you what I did to finally get it to work. Um, do a dance to the printer gods? It seriously seemed that arbitrary. I DID cut the final strip that went through a little smaller than 8.5. Like, 8.25? Maybe that was the secret. I like to think it was the dancing. 

Now, I thought it would look cool to just put the image on the nekkid wood. The print is kind of vintage-y and I thought a more natural look would be better. I pressed the wet side of the image onto the wood

....lifted it off and voila! 

Okay, pardon the upside-down shot. Seriously, I've uploaded this picture like 5 times every way possible and yet Blogger insists that it's supposed to be this way. Sigh. It's like a metaphor for my life. Anyway, that's what it looked like on the wood. I wasn't super impressed with this, which is sad. I loved this pin! I was so looking forward to this pin! So I decided to try painting the wood and then transferring it over the top of the painted block. Here is the painting...(right side up! Imagine that!)

I printed the image on wax paper again and pressed it on the wood

Removed it....

(Not upside down again. What the heck?!) But I liked THAT even less. Now I was super bummed because I had my heart set on having this beautiful image on this piece of wood that Don Diego risked life and limb cutting. So in an attempt to salvage this project, I printed this same beautiful image onto a piece of vellum

Sorry, this is a blurry picture. Apparently I can only take blurry upside down pictures. (Who me? Overly emotional about the Great Upside Down Picture Incident of 2014?) I cut that to size and got out some pretty upholstery nails I had in the ole Craft Closet. I lined the vellum print up with the transferred image on the wood and hammered them nails! 

Lovely!

Beautiful but it still needed..something..

BAAA! Blurry! Dang it! Sorry. I have failed you with my crappy photography skills, dear Internets! Anyway, I love it. I like the twine--I super loved mixed media and it makes me happy to use paper, metal AND twine. 

So, Internets..blurry and upside down pictures aside, I'll let YOU decide if this pin was a success or a fail. Personally, I'm calling fail. I think if, like our friends over at Picklee, I just needed the outline that I was going to fill in this would be a win. But the vellum thing looks WAY better (you'll just have to trust me on that!) than the transfer in my opinion. I'd love to hear what you think!

Another Split-Decision Pin! Crock Pot Orange Chicken

Okay, I pinned this one twice. (Tangent ahead. Feel free to skim. Here's where I feel like I should let you in on a secret, Internets. I sleep horribly. According to The Boy, I sleep once every other Thursday. This is a problem because I love sleep, I get grumpy when I don't sleep and I turn into a wild-eyed snarling version of their mother who frightens the children. For this reason, I am super great pals with the makers of Ambien. So I take my Ambien and then go to bed and scroll through Pinterest until the ole Velvet Hammer kicks in and I fall asleep with my phone on my face. Yep. It happens. This is how I manage to pin things a thousand times--I'm usually completely Ambienified and have no real clue what I'm doing even though it makes sense in my muddled brain. I have the random text messages and Facebook status updates to prove it! Tangent over)

http://thefrugalgirls.com/2013/04/crockpot-orange-chicken-recipe.html

So to start this adventure, I cut up some chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts and I cut them into bite sized pieces..this fed 2 grown ups and 3 kids) and tossed it in the crockpot. I added a teeny bit of water and also sprinkled a little ginger, garlic, salt and pepper on the chicken. I cooked it on high for 3 hours then added the marmalade, barbecue sauce and soy sauce. I used the exact brands suggested--the Sweet Baby Rays sauce has a teeny tiny hint of spice to it, I think, which helps control the sweetness of the marmalade. 

I mixed it all up and cooked it on high for about 30 minutes while I cooked the rice. The instructions say to cover it for these 30 minutes but I wanted the sauce to thicken so I kept it uncovered. 

I don't have a photo of the final meal. Sorry. I had a Youth Council meeting so my family ate without me and when I got home I was so hungry I forgot to take the picture! Whoops! 

Final decision? The kids hated it. I don't think The Boy liked it much but I've not seen him since he ate it (nights like these remind me that we are DANG involved in our community!!) so I can't tell you for sure. I was excited to make it because orange chicken is Don Diego's favorite meal of all time but he was not impressed and only choked it down in hopes of getting dessert. (Denied. Bummer.) Now, I on the other hand, really liked it! I loved tartness of the marmalade and the flavor of the barbecue sauce..yum! So I say win. Everyone else around here says, "only if we get dessert for eating it." I'm a SUPER picky eater so I think it's worth a shot. It's fast, inexpensive..you may like it. Just plan on having dessert afterwards in case you hate it as much as my kids did!!

Clean and white and... armpit stains? Eww.

I'm airing out all of my dirty laundry! (Literally?) This is embarrassing guys. I'm showing you my pit stains today! Awkward... ;) I'm sure you guys have seen this pin because I still see it about a gazillion times scrolling through my Pinterest feed. But I did promise another episode on the cleaning power of dawn dish soap. (What? That was like 4 months ago? Now where did the time go... Oops! Check out that promise here.) So here it is! My gross armpit stain removal post.

I always imagined putting my dirty laundry on the internet as being figurative...

You see that disgusting armpit stain? Full disclosure. That's not an old shirt. I bought it at the beginning of the summer. That's how gross it got in 5ish months. I was so frustrated because I feel like I only get one good use out of my white shirts and then they need to be thrown away. So depressing. I can't afford to only wear a shirt once! I'm poor, remember?! Geez universe. Throw me a bone here. (Get it? 'Cause bones are white?! Ha. Oh. Not funny? My bad.) So I finally got around to trying to do something about this little problem of mine.

This was the pin I saw first, but I actually used the instructions from the video found here.

So, by now I hope you all have these things on hand. Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and some dawn dish soap.  You'll need a scrubber of some kind too, I just used an old tooth brush. One of the shirts I did I really could have used a bigger scrubber though.

Then I got to scrubbing. This takes a lot of time. Fair warning. Then again, maybe if I didn't do it on every shirt I own all at once... Right. So you dump the peroxide, then some dish soap, then some baking soda and scrub it all in. And then just let it sit. I let mine sit for more than an hour because I went and ran a bunch of errands.

Scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub... I used a little too much dawn on this one, and not enough baking soda. It should be pretty pasty. But liquid enough to really get in there.

Ta-da! Perfectly good white shirt renewed. YEA!!! Pinterest for the WIN! :D




 

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz...

Alright, this is one if those pins I've pinned like 3 times so clearly on some perhaps subconscious level I have a deep-rooted fear that my garbage disposal stinks. I drink enough Dirty Diet Coke that I usually just toss the limes down and turn that sucker on but alas! Belt tightening. One million Peggy Points to the person who shows up at my door with a beverage for me. Unless I don't know you. Then those points may or may not he converted into a restraining order..all depending of course on how large the beverage is and whether it not you sprang for extra coconut. But I digress!! So here's the pin

(Link: http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Homemade-Garbage-Disposal-Refreshers-27889472)

So it seemed really easy with products I have on hand--a good thing since I'm living a cash-only life and spent my extra money on frites and a gaufre (fries and a waffle from the most AMAZING little Belgian establishment in Salt Lake) and feel zero remorse. Oy with the digressing already! Sorry. These were my supplies:

Baking soda, salt, dish soap (any kind) and a lemon. Easy peasy!

First I mixed 3/4c baking soda and 1/2 c salt in a bowl. I added 1/2 tsp dish soap as per the directions but ended up adding more later. You'll see. 

Then I used a zester to get all of the lemon peel all the way around the lemon (photo cred to Don Diego since I couldn't  zest and photograph at the same time!)

So glad you can see the heap o crap on my counter top!

Then I squoze (squeezed? Had squozen?) the juice from the lemon. This was the dangerous part. The lemon half slipped right out of my hand causing me to cut one of my fingers with my fingernail and since my hands were covered in lemon juice...does anyone else have these sorts of problems? I swear! Anyway..the juicing..

The pin says to use about 3 Tbsp of juice. I used all of it. Then I started mixing it with a spoon. Then the instructions say to mix it until it's the consistency of coarse sand. I was worried it wouldn't hold up so I added more dish soap until I could just form it into a ball

The instructions suggest using a rounded measuring spoon to form them but I was worried about them popping out easily so I used one of these silicone cookie scooper things where you push the bottom and out plops the dough (or in this case, heavenly scented concoction)

I kept going until I was out of stuff. I put some parchment paper down on a pan and put the little blobs on that so they can sit overnight. I got 13 little blobs (the Boy felt it best to err on the side of caution and not call them "bombs" on the blog.) Whatever you want to call them, here they are. Sooo pretty and they smell fantastic. I love that you can see the lemon rind..

Tomorrow I'll update you. I'm not optimistic they won't crumble when I put them in a glass jar..we shall see. ´A demain, cher Internets!

***Good morning! So I took the blobs off the parchment and put them in a jar. They held their shape just fine but ARE a little crumbly. I'm still worried the ones on the bottom if the jar are going to get crushed and crumble. Time will tell. I put one in my garbage disposal, added a little vinegar (to react with the baking soda) and it was awesome! This pin (with a few tweaks) wins!!!