5
Today is supposed to be the last day of Thing-a-Day and I am about a week behind. I have been working on stuff, though. These are wedding invitation prototypes for Cory & Natalie’s wedding in August. For about a month now we’ve been wishy-washying back and forth from “maybe I’ll do them” to “I guess I’m doin’ ‘em!” to vague ideas about colors and squares vs. rectangles, to proper wording, to scouring etsy.com and finestationery.com for inspiration, to whether it will be more summer-ish or more fall-ish in Berkeley in mid-late-August and what that means for shades of green. . .
And after about 50 or so e-mails later, I finally came up with these two prototypes:
Thing 21 - Prototype 1
and Thing 22 - Prototype 2
We’ve gone back and forth on these a couple of times and there are still some changes to make, but I think we are approaching a final decision soon. soon. soon!
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5
Playing catch up here, but still behind two days. Tonight I made three felt cupcakes for Tricia’s girls. I had a hard time getting a nice photo of these. I’ll have to try again in the daylight.
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8
My hair grows really fast, especially when I am pregnant (which I happen to be right now). I have been wanting a haircut for a long, long time, but have not wanted to spend $60 on something that would grow out in a few weeks and that I would probably hate anyway. And going to a cheap $15 place never, ever looks good. So I figured I would give it a try myself. I’m a creative person, right? I’m visually inclined? And the worst case scenario would be that I’d have to go in and get it professionally cut afterwards. So I took a deep breath and:
Before
During
After
It’s still a little uneven in the back, but I’ll have my husband clean it up when he gets home. Not bad, though!
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8
A strawberry cake with lemon frosting, candy sprinkles & fresh fruit toppings for my husband’s 31st birthday.
12
I am counting this Thing as two Things because it took me so long and I went well over the 20 minute - 1 hour time limit 
This is a maternity wrap top. I have never worked with stretchy knit material or made a shirt before, so I’m very proud of how it turned out. Especially since I did this without a pattern. I, um, borrowed, the idea from Isabella Oliver’s maternity wrap tops, which retail for $130. My version cost me a whopping $3. There are several small issues with this one, like it could use a few more feet of material so I could get a nice tie in there, but for a savings of $127, I’m very pleased!
6
A Valentine card for Daddy. A collaborative project between Huck (age 17-months) and myself.
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8
I have gotten behind by a couple of days.
Thing 11 is a skirt for my sister’s birthday.
Thing 12 is the wrapped gift:
5
Today’s thing is a slightly modified version of a PB & J Cookie recipe I found online.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
jelly or jam
Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Sift together flour, salt & baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl cream together butter, granulated dugar & brown sugar. Beat in egg & vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Shape into 3/4″ balls and place 1-2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Slightly flatten with fork tines in a crisscross pattern. Using the end of a wooden spoon, press a shallow well into the center of cookie. Fill well with jelly. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet until firm enough to transfer to cooling rack.
Addendum: Looks like we have lots of people on a cookie kick today!
13
I am putting together a package for my sister and her family, and I had something handmade for everyone except my brother-in-law. I had no idea what to make him, so I figured you can never fail with a handmade ashtray. I wasn’t sure if he’d get what it was, so I threw in a felt cigarette, too.
8
My 4-year-old nephew really likes shiny gold jewelry and reptiles, so I made him this felt snake bracelet with gold thread stripes.
6
I’m a day late on this. (It was LOST night! Come on!)
This is a french press cozy that I designed. I have been wanting a cozy for my press for a long time, but couldn’t find one online that I liked and that seemed like it would really keep my coffee warm. I wanted a nice thick one (this is two layers of cotton sandwiching a thick piece of woolly material) that would cover the entire coffee press, including the top, but that would easily expose the spout when I wanted to pour more coffee. This was off the cuff, and I think I have a better idea for small modifications for my next one, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!
View from the back:
View when opened to pour coffee:
Flat view for anyone who might like to attempt to make one without a pattern:
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6
This is a recipe I saw on the Martha Stewart show a year or so ago. It’s kind of bread pudding-like with apples and cinnamon and nutmeg. I modified the original recipe to make it a smaller dish, and I use a sweet Belgian Waffle Mix instead of flour. It makes a great, quick breakfast/brunch dish. add more sugar and it becomes a dessert.
Apple Pancake Puff
1/2 stick butter
3-4 apples (I prefer Gala)
2 tbs. raisins (optional)
4 eggs
1 cup Belgian waffle/pancake mix
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
dash nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbs. granulated sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of your waffle/pancake mix)
1 tbs. brown sugar
Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in an 8×4 loaf pan in the oven. Meanwhile, peel, core and quarter apples. Quarter again for 16 pieces per apple. Add apples (and raisins, if using) to melted butter. In a large bowl or blender, combine: eggs, waffle/pancake mix, milk, vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, granulated sugar. Blend or whisk until frothy. Make sure butter is bubbling, then pour batter over apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 20 minutes. Serves 6.
To make into dessert: After adding apples & raisins, and before adding batter, sprinkle apples with 1 tbs. granulated sugar. Also, increase sugar in the batter mix from 1 tbs. to 3 tbs. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream to make this into a dessert.
Martha’s original recipe may be found here: click!
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5
gifts for sara
My philosophy with gift-wrapping is that if you don’t feel guilty about unwrapping it, I never should have even given you a gift.
4
a little drawing of us
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2
A ducky barrette for my niece.
Flannel & felt
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3
cotton fabric (by Anna Griffin purchased from reprodepot.com) with lace embellishments.
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1
These booties were made from free pattern for Bitty Booties by Heather Bailey. Flannel with satin ribbon & rickrack embellishments.
This is my second attempt at making booties from this pattern. My first attempt (a chicken design) can be found here. It was much easier the second time around & took about an hour to complete the pair. These are a gift for a baby due in spring.
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