Sunday, November 27, 2011

Doodle Bug Boots


I have been drooling over cowboy boots lately.  
Not the stomp-in-the-pasture-through-the-muck cowboy boots, 
no thank you, 
I am drooling over the girly-girl kind.  

Like these




Ahhhh, yes.
These lovely Lucchese boots (zappos.com) can be mine for the bargain price of $499.
No, I did not forget to put the decimal point in the right place.  
Four. Hundred. And. Ninety. Nine. 
DOLLARS.

I guess they were made from the hide of a sacred cow
tanned with the gums of identical twin toothless infants
and stitched with threads made from 
albino unicorn hide.
Why else the price?




Yes indeedie, 
these Old Gringo babies can be purchased for for a mere $514.50
You just gotta love that they added in that 50 cents on the end.  
Every penny counts right?

I've been scouring the thrift stores and Goodwill
hoping that some cowgirl wanna-be purchased a pair
to impress some guy
then lost interest
and is shucking the boots 
along with Mr. Uh-uhhh.

So far, 
no such shucking 
going on 'round here.

I did, however, find these.

$3 at the thrift store.
What a deal.


Remembering my 
I grabbed my trusty-rusty black sharpie marker 
and set to work.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that 
all that doodling
won't pay off.
It just might.


 I thought it needed a liiiiiittle bit more.
After all,
more is better.
Always.


And a few whiles later
taaa-daaaaaa



So if you have been a'hankering 
(that is red-neck for smitten with desire)
Grab your little self a sharpie
and get to work.

OR....
if you have some lovely, unwanted cowboy boots
give me a holler and I'll
take those puppies off your hands.

Mr. Uh-uhhhh
you'll have to shuck yourself.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Mama Rachel's Fat & Sassy Velvety Vanilla Liquid Love Hot Chocolate Mix


Mama Rachel's 
Fat & Sassy Velvety Vanilla 
Hot Chocolate Mix
aka
Liquid Love


WARNING ~ you may get fat just reading this recipe.


If you stumbled here looking for a healthy, 
slim, or otherwise lite version, 
you are in the WRONG place.

There are things that you should/can skimp calories on.  
Hot chocolate is not one of them.  
Living where it is bone freezing cold many days of the year, 
hot chocolate, 
 is one of our winter necessities.


My version of an old favorite recipe
(or Liquid Love as I like to call it)
is guaranteed to slap a smile on the most
winter weary of faces,
warm up the most frozen of fingers
and ease cranky children into bed 
with a gentle nudge.


I'm not one for doing things fifty-million times, 
so big batches are better, 
for me.
I have experimented with this recipe, 
and YES I do realize it calls for 
waaaaay more goodies
than it absolutely has to have
but then again, 
when it comes to cream, flavor and all around yumminess,
more
 is
 better.

Ok, so enough of my yammering.  
Here is the how-to.
~~~~

A Jar


Mason Jars, Spaghetti Sauce jars, 
Miracle whip jars,
any 'ol jar/container with a lid will do.

If you decide to share
simply 
wrap your jar with a ribbon
and spread the love.

Warning, this is as addictive as liquid crack
and sharing is SURE to have someone 
knocking on your door in the middle of the night
wanting more.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

~~~~~


The Goodies

Dry milk (25 oz)
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1.5 cups Vanilla powdered coffee creamer
2 cups powdered coffee creamer (unflavored)
2 boxes chocolate pudding mix
1 box vanilla pudding mix
1.5 cups coco powder 
~~~~~

The Mess


It is going to be messy.
You WILL have powdered sugar and coco
in your nose.


Sift your sugar and coco.
Otherwise there will be lumps




OR





pour it all together and then run it 
2 cups at a time through the 
blender. 



It should look like this when it is properly
unlumped.


~~~~~~

Nestle in a spoon and
VIOLA
you are ready for some
Liquid Love


To Make

We warm our milk (whole please) in the microwave 
until piping hot
add a generous, 
piled up as high as you can get it, 
running over
honking big scoop full.

Stir.

Sip.

Moan with delight.

Repeat tomorrow.
Add in's
*
I add a pinch of cayenne pepper to mine
it warms you right up
inside and out.
*
At Thanksgiving I add in a tablespoon of 
pureed pumpkin per cup and a dash of McCormick pumpkin pie seasoning.
*
At Christmas time I add a teaspoon of crushed up peppermints per cup.
*
Honey Pie likes his w a spoon of Vanilla.
*
Lincoln Log likes his with floating clouds,
you may know them as
marshmallows. 
*
On special days
we make it 
(I can't even type this with a straight face) 
with 
half & half.
And when reeeeeally skinny people
come over
they get  
theirs made with
heavy 
cream.



~~~~
Last but not least
here is a snapshot of 
Liquid Love
and
her sister
Oatmeal Bliss.
Think liquid oatmeal cookies in a bowl
for breakfast.
Or a before bed snack.
Yum!





Monday, August 1, 2011

Boutique Cake Domes

As previously mentioned, I suffer from HE.

 Heirloom Envy.

You know... 
the longing for old fashioned things
lovingly used and passed on.

***


I soothe my inner ache for handed downs 
both to use 
and to pass down 
to 
Baby Girl 
and 
my 3 
someday daughters.

***

Since there are going to be 
4 girls 
to pass on goodies to, 
I have AMPLE reason to 
make a lot of them!

Who will may love them too.

***

Here is the newest one in our collection.

One Goodwill Cake Dome with flat top
$1.99

Possible tops from the button collection,
cut from vintage clothing from Garage Sales.

The Winner


Several generous dollops of waterproof glue
(E-6000)




Wait 24 hours 
and 
TA-DAAA
instant heirloom


See my tutorial to make the cake stands here






Monday, July 4, 2011

Miniskirt Madness

I looooove the Anthropologie/Boutique/ art-to-wear-style.
 Excuse me, 
I have to pause to wipe the drool off my keyboard 
as I type those words....
wipe wipe wipe.

I can't explain why, but it just speaks to me.
Like this top, 
which I'm guessing was stitched together 
with solid gold thread and a bone needle, 
handcarved from the skeleton of some extinct animal.
 No doubt it's fabric is spun by the lilly white hands of a
100 year old temple priestess of some tribe 
sequestered high on a mountain, 
reachable only once a year.
By donkey. 
 That is the ONLY reason I can imagine it 
being worth the $428 price tag.

However, since I am NOT a world wide best selling author,
 my clothing budget behooves me to keep my 
greedy little paws OFF these type of little jewels.  
It's a touch-with-your-eyes-not-your-hands kind of relationship 
I have going on with Anthropologie & art-to-wear.

Thankfully, there IS a store that provides me with these type of goodies.  
Think Horchow meets Ikea.  
You know, faaaaaaabulous things + some assembly required.  
My personal favorite is St. Vincent DePaul on Farnsworth Ave. 
On .89 days 
I might near hurt myself 
so delirious with delight am I. 

Awhile back I lost some weight, 
no wait, 
lost 
is hardly the term to describe it. 
 I with great determination and intentional food choices 
rid my body of over 30 lbs of lumpy lard. 
Yuck, I know, but painfully true. 
I have plenty to go yet, but one bite at a time, I'll get there.  

So I have a CLOSET FULL of too big's.  
Yippie.  

What to do with them?  

Artiste my self right into happyland of course.
***

Here is my first project.  


One too big shirt
(from the closet)



Plus 
one miniskirt (from the thrift store) 
which I'm SURE had some employee eyeballs a'rollin

EQUALS



Stripes Gone Wild
or 
Rachel's miniskirt madness.

***

Here is how

***




Place a shirt that fits well on top of a shirt that is too big

***

 Lay a shirt that fits on top and chalk mark the new seams.

***

Cut along your chalk lines and trim.

***

Fold shirt in half to make sure the sides are even. Trim if needed.

***

Lay the shirt out and pin your ruffles, new fabric, miniskirt etc on top and sew.



I opened one of the side seams on the miniskirt and trimmed off part of the top.  
Since I did not want ruffles around the back, and it was a child sized miniskirt,
 I used the whole thing on the front.  I tapered its sides into the side seams of the shirt.

***

For the sleeve addition I cut strips of black tshirt from a black scrap one and zigzagged the sleeves to give it a ruffled edge and sewed to the sleeve hem.

***

I also sliced up the back of the shirt 
and inserted a triangle of black tshirt fabric to give it some flair. 
 I forgot to photograph that process though.  
Will do a tutorial on that another time.

***

Fare thee well, I hope this gives you some ideas for 
upcycling some lifeless garments in your closet.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Flower Power Wedding Shower


Marvelous Mel 
is getting married.  


Her 
Flower Power Wedding Shower 
was as bright and cheery 
as she is. 








  

Tissue Paper Flowers


We used large pointy ones on the fireplace/gift station. 



And small round edged ones on the food table.


The big ones are about $1 each to make, the small ones .40

Or if you are not the make it yourself type 
you can order them from BHLDN here

~Felt Flower~
Mel's corsage is a felted wool flower

I'll make a tutorial for it... someday soon.

Decorations

Black tablecloths with scrunched hot pink muslin
1950's white glass vases w yellow/pink/orange flowers and glitter butterflies


~ Favors ~
scented pillow sachets with ribbon hangers

Food






 Cakes




The flower cakes (pink & orange) are sooo easy to make.  
If you can make a circle, you can do this cake!!  Tutorial here
The orange one was the same circles, just a different piping tip.



Serving Plates

The tall serving pieces (cakes, cheese ball, crackers) 

were made from flower shaped 
vintage plates & candlesticks. 


BHLDN sells similar ones see them here at $78 each
You can make them for less than $3 tutorial here


 Party Pictures




Oops...


thankfully it was down to the last layer 
before it tumbled

Monday, March 21, 2011

Flower tutorials - 7 different flowers


Here is a list of a few of my favorite flower tutorials.  
With just a few scraps of fabric, needle & thread 
or glue gun you can whip up some petaled pretties.



Since practice makes perfect DONT give up if your first few 
flowers are less than photo worthy.
Do try try again!

Circle Flowers (pinched)
These pinched circle flowers are so easy your little ones can do it.  

Easy tutorial from Katie Did found here


*******
Folded Fabric Roses

Folded fabric square roses are drool-worthy.  
Find instructions here
click on the wee small photos in this tutorial 
to make them larger

I suggest silk as it makes up the prettiest in this form.  

****************

Ribbon Petaled Flowers

Ribbon flowers (with individual petals) can be made from 
several complimenting shades.
Find detailed instruction here
you will need to click on the photos to make them large enough to see

*****************

Rolled Flowers 
Rolled, slightly gathered flowers are some of my favorite.
My prayer flowers (see them here) are made using a folded piece of silk.

Here is the same technique but done in ribbon.
rolled, slightly gathered flower 
tutorial found here


**************

Lolly pop circle flowers 
These can have a folk art look (done in cotton or burlap) 
or a very elegant look (satin & chiffon)

Layer as many circles as you like, from 3 to 15 to get the desired look.
watch video instructions here
or get photo instructions here
****************************************



Another FAST way to make these lovelies here

*********************************
Multi petaled chiffon/fabric flowers
Made from circles with slices in them, these have the appearance of individual petals 
but WITHOUT all the time consuming work of cutting out each petal

This one I made from gray/silver poly chiffon.
I used about an 8 inch freehand circle.  No need to be perfect in cutting them out, 
they are going to come out different sizes due to the singing of the edges anyway.
For the second layer I used a 5 inch circle, 
here is an oatmeal lid to give you an idea of a 5 inch circle.


This one I made from a mix of 3 fabrics. 
Dark charcoal woven rayon, grey poly silk, grey poly chiffon.



I was going to do a tutorial for these when (OH JOY) I found this sweetie pie, Bethany Kartchner,
has already gone to all the work/effort of doing it.  
Going to shamelessly save myself some time and pass along HER tutorial.
Find the 3 part video tutorial here

********************

As you know I'm a more is more kind of girl, 
but for those of you who are NOT... 
don't be thrown off by the big ol honkin flowers I've shown.  
You can make them smaller, to fit your style.  

Use them on gifts in place of a bow, 
on curtain tiebacks, pillows, purses, blets, clothing, hats, notebooks, 
or any where you want a bit of beauty.

Here are a few images (found online) to get your ideas a'rolling.
or go to www.etsy.com and search "silk flower" 
for a bazillion ideas & vendors selling these kinds of lovelies.







Happy flower making!
RC