crochet crochet crochet all day

Wow! I haven't been on here in a long time!! So, what have I been up to you ask? Well, a lot of crocheting. I made a facebook business page for my crochet items that are for sale. If you want to check it out, search Maggie's Creative Crochet. I wish my phone would let me post pictures. Some of this stuff is just adorable! It really is, I'm not just bragging. I'll try to post more but I'm just not very good at keeping up on things :( sorry for that.

beat the burn

I have a sunburn :( it hurts. really bad. I didn't get out of bed for over an hour after I woke up because it hurt to move my arms. So what do i do about it? scour the Internet for home remedies for sunburn pain. well, the most popular is to make a paste of apple cider vinegar and baking soda, spread it on the burned area and let dry, then wash off with really cold water. Since I use these to wash my hair with I already have an abundance on hand so I will be giving it a try once hubby gets home from fishing(again) so he can help me reach my burned back. Maybe next day in the sun I should use some sun block?? Yeah, definitely! Also, Robbie said he and Mikey have caught enough fish to have them for supper so I am going to try this recipe:

Spicey Fried Fish

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry potato flakes
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 4 (6 ounce) fillets cod
• 2 cups butter flavored shortening, for frying

Directions

1. In medium bowl, combine the potato flakes, flour, garlic powder, seasoning salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
2. Soak fish fillets in bowl of cold water.
3. In a deep skillet or deep fryer, melt and heat the shortening to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Dredge fish fillets in dry mixture and fry in the hot oil for 5 minutes or until fish flakes apart easily. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

dandelion paintings

A few months ago I came across a painting that I thought was pretty neat. It cost 189$. wow. I cannot afford that. Not for a painting, not even close. So, I decided that I would attempt my own version of this.

I started with 3 plain stretched canvases. One 24x118 and 2 11x14. I got these from big lots for a total of 13$ One can of flat black spray paint(96 cents). White acrylic paint and a paint brush(less then a dollar). Spray painted them with the black paint. Then arranged them how I wanted on the kitchen table and sketched a rough idea of what the dandelion should look like.

Then I got to painting. Hang and enjoy. Pretty simple. It's not perfect but I like it!

Linked up to:

pinkapotamus

making the world cuter

type A decorating

craftomaniac

all things fee

singing three little birds

sugarbee crafts

reasons to skip the housework

ladybug blessings

funky polkadot giraffe

todays creative blog

running with glitter

my girlish whims

someday crafts

crayon freckles

yucky tummy

After a day off and a day called in I did.... well almost nothing. I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday sick :(. I made another tutu last night and now have a couple to make for coworkers. because they are just too cute. Its supposed to rain for the next 3 days so I don't know if much of anything will get done. Actually.... I have some sewing to do. It will be awesome. I am convinced of it. I plan to recover the kid's booster seats. I bought some absolutely adorable fabric to do it. yay! I do have something to do even if it is yucky rainy weather all weekend :) I tried to find a tutorial for recovering child seats and it was a no go so maybe, just maybe, you folks will get a tutorial outta me :). I'll update tomorrow on what I have come up with.

one of a kind tutu

Tutu's are cute. And expensive. and actually really easy to make for a fraction of the price.

 how did i do it?  First I found a couple of tutorials on line : suburbs mama, feels like home

I kinda mixed how the 2 different blogs said to make it. I started with 4 1 yard sections of tulle in different colors. Black, hot pink, shiny light pink and shiny light purple. and 1 yard of 1/2 inch width of elastic. This is all from Joanns crafts. They didn't have rolls of tulle so I had to have it cut to what i wanted off the bolt. I measure Layla's waist (21") and cut my elastic to 19" (2 inches smaller then her waist) and sewed it into a circle at the ends. Now the problem i had when reading the tutorials was 'how wide do I make the strips?' one of them said 3-6 inches(or something like that). I made my strips approximately 4" wide by 24 inches long. I used 2 different color strips placed on each other at a time. use more or less at once to make it smaller or fuller.

Next, fold in half,

tie in a knot over the elastic,

repeat with the rest of your strips. Mine has a total of 38 knots. I used all 4 yards of tulle on it, rotating black and another color with 2 other colors. I didn't make any specific pattern with the colors.  ribbon and bows and stuff can be added to this but overall I am proud of my homemade tutu :) 

All together this cost about 7$ in supplies ( I probably could have gotten the tulle cheaper) and 3 hours of time,  instead of 30-40$ to buy one.

LINKED TO:

making the world cuter

skip to my lou

craft-o-maniac

pinkapotamus

sunburnt cow handmadeshop

sun scholars

borax anyone?

I went to Walmart this morning. My lovely MIL bought me a couple cute outfits on clearance a few days ago and sadly, nothing fit right. Nothing ever fits me right :( but, after about an hour of looking through racks and trying stuff on I finally found a pair of shorts and 2 tops that I like. whoopee. and I got 2 big purses on clearance for $2 a piece, awesome! especially since the purse that I have been carrying for 2 1/2 years is literally falling apart. I also bought the ingredients for homemade laundry soap. That cost $10 and should make enough laundry soap to last about 6 months! How awesome is that! and it is supposed to work better then store bought stuff! double awesome! The most expensive part was the ivory soap, which is what we normally use so I bought a big package of 12 bars instead of just what I needed for the laundry soap. I'm also going to try my hand at homemade dishwasher detergent, since it is almost the same ingredients as the laundry soap, so  I already have it all :). I'll let you know what I think when all is said and done.

Laundry Soap Recipe:

1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

• Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.
• Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.
• Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.
• Cover pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (will gel).

Dishwasher Degergent Recipe:

Powder Recipe #1
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
Powder Recipe #2
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Borax
For the above two recipes:

• Mix thoroughly and store in a plastic container, use approximately 2 TBS per load.
• Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse agent to help prevent residue

don't drop the soap

It has been beautiful out today! started out at 70 degrees! so we have spent most of the day playing outside :) always a favorite activity of mine! I got the window all prepped to hang on the wall and all the butterflies are ready, just need the kids to clean their room so I can get in there to hang it. Made 3 adorable bows today :) with some help from 3 adorable kids. I'm getting better at it but I am still not completely happy with the way they turn out. after some more practice i'll be better at it :) I found some recipes for homemade laundry and dish washer soap. gonna give those a try, they are supposed to clean better, be better for you and the environment and are WAY WAY cheaper then store bought ones. and there is only 4 ingredients! score! Also want to make some homemade shampoo and soap bars. they have a ton of ingredients and I'm not really sure where to find them all so it might be a few days before I get that accomplished. I'm still looking for extra sunday papers if anyone has any :) and 5 gallon buckets for my movable "garden".