After a long absence I’m back on Etsy!
I’ll have more things in the shop soon!
Feb
12
2012
Avin’s Choo Choo Party
So this post is WAY late, in fact this all went down in August! But it’s worth the wait! haha
My son is fairly obsessed with trains, so we decided on a train party for his 2nd birthday!
I designed the invitations and printed them on card stock, as well as sending out a few in emails. I love a hand made invitation, but of course you don’t see everyone often, and you don’t have everyone’s address. Designing the invitation to be both printed and emailed is an easy way to have the best of both worlds. For Avin’s 1st birthday I actually made both hand made paper invitations and an e-invitation.
The highlight of the party was the cardboard train!
Creating a cardboard train was fairly labor intensive… but in my craft nerd opinion quite fun!
I used 4 or 5 boxes to create it, just cardboard I had lying around, using a lot of masking tape, packing tape, blank newsprint, paint and aluminum tape!
We got out all of Avin’s train toys to play with as well! Can’t have too many trains!
I made train shaped sandwiches and crackers using a cookie cutter set! We also served watermelon and popcorn!
Some serious train cake! I’ll have to post a tutorial for this baby! It’s surely the most complicated cake I’ve ever made, but totally worth it!
A train stamp came in handy making bunting and little flags for milk straws!
The kids all went home with a goodie bag, hat and bandana! The goodie bags had sidewalk chalk, a train coloring page, markers and crackers! I also handed out “tickets” to ride the train to the kids as they arrived.
As you can see, Avin had a blast! It was a really fun day for everyone!
Feb
11
2012
Nifty New Year
Okay, I have been completely neglecting my blog! COMPLETELY!
It’s a new year, and in 2012 I vow to actually work on my blog! I will post at least once a week and hopefully get around to redesigning my site! I think I’m done with black… not feeling so serious these days! HA!
Here are a few things that inspired me lately!
Nicole over at Making it Lovely just redesigned her site and it looks great! I’ve really enjoyed watching her blog grow the past two years I’ve been reading, she’s certainly one of my inspirations!
Pinterest is well.. amazing! If you haven’t tried it you should!
This may be the single most awesome thing I’ve learned on the internet… you can use mason jars on most blenders!! Personal size margarita here I come!
I’m really looking forward to making this blog happen, for reals this time!
Nov
03
2011
sippys and bottles
I ran across this blog post today about making sippy cups from mason jars! Super cute!
I made something similar a few months ago. I had been trying to figure out a way to reuse the baby bottles we had used for Avin while I was still pumping. I kept thinking, how silly that there isn’t a sippy top that you can buy and continue to use them instead of buying countless sippy cups! I certainly did not solve this problem, but I did find a way to make use of them as a semi spill proof solution to a smoothie delema. Can’t put smoothies in a sippy cup.. doesnt work! So here is what I came up with.
First I took a plastic lid from a sour cream container (any thin plastic or thin metal would probably work) and traced the bottle opening.
I then cut that little circle out with scissors. And punched a hole in it. Then simply put it under the ring instead of a nipple. Insert
straw and waahh laa! Smoothie goodness without the mess!
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Aug
10
2011
Neglect and Chicken
Oh little blog! How I have been neglecting you!
Here is another delicious easy dinner using my favorite ingredient SOY SAUCE!
PS … I think I need this bottle!
Shoyu Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken Thighs
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Soy Sauce (Shoyu! Low sodium is probably a good idea)
1/2 cup Water
Cooked Rice
1. Start the rice! I have use a rice cooker, but feel free to do it the hard way!
2. In a skillet mix the sugar, soy and water and turn on the heat to medium.
3. Put the chicken in the pan!
4. Cook until no longer pink inside… duh!
5. Serve over rice! I like to nuke some broccoli to go with it!
Aug
05
2011
CRAFT FAIR!
Nicoletta Leonardo Design will be teaming up with Soul Pie Clothing this Saturday for the 3rd Street Maker Fair! Come out and support local crafters, check out Arts Alive and have a seriously awesome Saturday!
Jun
25
2011
ReadyMade
I was so sad to hear today that my super fave magazine is going under!
Readymade Magazine has been inspiring me bimonthly for many years. In fact I have been a subscriber since the first year! I even drove all the way down to Berkeley to interview for a job at the magazine (pretty much my dream workplace).
A sad sad day for crafty diy folks everywhere… ReadyMade I will miss you!
I encourage you to check out their great website before it goes down. They have some wonderful blogs, tutorials etc…
Jun
11
2011
Easy Dinners: The P Pasta
Today boys and girls we’re going to learn about the letter P! This entire dish is made of things that start with letter P ! haha
We served this yummy and super easy pasta salad at our wedding! I adapted my super easy recipe from one I saw on Barefoot Contessa. Here is her version if you want to get fancy!
P Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- Pasta (any shape really!)
- Pesto – make your own, or use a jar!
- Peas – frozen or fresh
- Pine nuts
- Parmesan cheese
Boil some water, cook the pasta.
Add the peas at the very end so they thaw out.
If you’re eating it right away go ahead and rinse with cold water until your pasta and peas are cold.
Throw everything in a big bowl and toss to coat the pasta with pesto.
This dish can really be served hot or cold! Super easy, quick and yummy!
Jun
05
2011
Easy Dinners Lemon Pasta
This is the first in a series of posts on easy dinners!
I’m a busy lady! I work 4 days a week, rangle a almost 2 year old, care for a home, cook the meals, do the laundry, garden, try to fit in some sewing, writing a blog… etc… etc… etc… It’s usually fairly hecktic!
When you don’t get home until 6:30 most nights easy dinners are your friend! Here is one I pulled together recently that is so easy you could make it for lunch.
Lemon Pasta
Ingredients
You can very the amounts depending on how many people you’re feeding
- Pasta – any shape really
- Lemon Juice
- Parmesan Cheese
- Broccali chopped smallish
- Salt
- Put some water on the stove to boil
- While you’re waiting for the water, chop up some broccoli.
- Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is nearly cooked, then add the broccoli to the pot and cook another minute or two until the pasta is done and the broccoli turns a more vibrant green. Drain it and throw it in a bowl.
- Poor a bit of lemon juice on, I use a really good Sicilian lemon juice I bought at Costco, but any will really do. You don’t need a lot, and you should do it to taste.
- Add some parmesan cheese, a hand full or so. I used the cheap kind, but I think it would be even better with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Add a few pinches of salt and stir it all up. Give it a taste… it’s all to taste, you’re the one who has to eat it! Then go eat it! It’s done!
You could also add some chicken to this if you wanted a little more protein.
May
25
2011
Wall to wall fun!
Well isn’t this a neat idea! Thanks yet again Ohdeedoh! I LOVE LEGO! It’s such an amazing toy, so versatile and such a great creative outlet.
Besides just playing with the wall, the LEGO boards would be such a fun wall covering. I love the repetitive pattern and you could change up the pattern by adding bricks as well! I’d love to do the back wall of our office like this. The wall is currently partially covered by some fake wood paneling that needs to come down, I’m sure it wont come down nicely and wouldn’t this be a fun way to cover up the damaged wall! More fun than re-texturing that’s for sure!
