New Year Gifts

So I had a stressful, busy December and I didn't get gifts done for my close friends.  I have just a few I like to do gifts for, but it was still a few too many to fit into the end of the year.   Instead I decided to do "New Year Gifts."   Mostly because I saw an adorable free printable calendar from Skip To My Lou that looked perfect to gift.   At first I just printed out four sets and got them trimmed and cut.  That lovely stack of calendars inspired me to create this:

A stack of calendar hangers!  

You'll need a 1x6 board, small cup hooks, and sawtooth hangers to make your own.

These were really easy to make.  I cut a 1x6 into 12 inch pieces.   I have a miter saw, but it's a narrow board so a circular saw or even a hand saw would work fine.    I sanded, stained, and polyurethaned the boards doing all the proper steps the experts recommend (ok, so I skipped a step or two, but they still came out fine.)  I thought stained wood worked best with this calendar, but paint would be pretty too.

The calendars are hanging from a simple hole I punched with a standard office supply hole punch.  Make sure you don't punch farther than 3/8" from the top edge so they fit in the hook.  It's easiest if you mark and punch the first calendar page and then mark all the others from that one.  Just lay it exactly over the other sheets one at a time and trace the inside of the punched hole.    Punch that pencil circle out on each sheet.  They should all be lined up perfectly.

To place the cup hook, measure down 1" plus the distance the hole is from the top edge of the paper.   Mine was 2.5" over and 1.25" down.   If you have a hard time getting the cup hooks into the wood, you can pre-drill holes with a very fine drill bit.  check your cup hook packaging to find the right size.

To hang them on the wall, I put sawtooth hangers on the back 1" down.

This was a super fun project and it only cost me a few cents for paper and ink because I already had all the supplies for the hanger boards on hand.  Shockingly, I even had the sawtooth hangers.   I would say that cutting, sanding, staining, etc. all together took maybe an hour for all four boards.  It's a super quick project and I can't wait to give them to my friends.

(PS.  I've joined a link party at Remodelaholic to show off my calendars.)

Geeky Christmas T-shirts For All!

Well, all of us except my husband and myself.

This year for the home made gifts for the kids, I did t-shirts.  I've been having a lot of fun cutting heat transfer vinyl on my cutting machine.  It cuts beautifully and I can make those specialty geek Ts that sell for so much in the online stores.    This year we have two Doctor Who t-shirts (the girls on the end who are my biggest Doctor Who fans. Oldest girl's shirt says "Souffle girl" with a Dalek;)  a Batman t-shirt that says "Because I'm Batman and I can say stuff like that."; a Ravenclaw T for my Potterhead; and two Star Trek/Japanese Ts.

The Batman shirt is a phrase that our 12 year old says all the time.   It's his own catch phrase he just made up because he thought it sounded cool.  More than half the time he uses a gruff movie Batman voice.  It cracks me up.

The Japanese Kanji shirts are supposed to be "live long and prosper."  The shirt in red reads correctly from right to left.  The one in black I did first and then remembered that Japanese reads from the other direction.  oops.  Good thing the boy with the right T is the one that is actually learning Japanese.   (He's our oldest girl's boyfriend.  They were friends in high school and both went to the same college.  They started dating this fall.)

I also sewed four of the five pj's pictured here.  I didn't make the Batman fleece ones.  The others are mine.

I kept things easy on myself this year.  I had visions of great projects and super gifts, but halfway through the month I realized that I was working way too much to be able to follow thorough.  I scaled back and I'm so glad I did.  I was stressed, but I only had one bad emotional day.  Letting go of the big dreams and doing less was absolutely the right decision this year.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  We were able to find some great deals and everyone ended up happy.  That's always a good thing.

We Live In a TARDIS

So things have been crazy this fall.  I've been doing crafty stuff, but of course, not posting any of it.  I did want to get this up though:

My kids are crazy Doctor Who fans and none more so than our oldest.  As one of her Christmas presents we decorated it to look like the door of the TARDIS.  To say she was happy with the change is a bit of an understatement.  She was speechless.  :)  

Here's a full on picture of the door:

The blue is paint and the rest is vinyl cut on my Cameo.   I layered the black and white to get the lettering.  It would have been easier to do the smaller white sign if I had printable vinyl, and as you can see we don't have a completely updated TARDIS because we are missing the St. John's sticker.  I couldn't get a good trace on it for a cut.  If you wanted to do one yourself, I would recommend the printable vinyl for that.  

When researching for mine I found a lot of people with interior TARDIS doors.  Most were awesome painted doors and a few did the vinyl like mine.  There are a lot of really creative Doctor Who fans out there.  Love it.  

We have gotten some great comments about it already.   One student at school asked me "what's up with your door?"  He thought it was cool once I showed him pictures of the TARDIS on my tablet.  Most of the comments have been from people who know the show and of course, they like it too.  

The thing the kids love about it is it fits so well with our house.  Our home is 60 years old and was originally only 800 sq ft.   Before we bought the place a 1400 square foot addition was added to the back.  You can't see the addition from the street, so most people who see our house for the first time just see a tiny post war bungalow when they first pull up.  However, when you open the front door you can see all the way to the back of the addition and down the stairs to the basement family room.  We often get comments very similar to "it's bigger on the inside!" 

(Yes, the exterior of my home is rough.  So far our remodeling money had been put into the interior sections where we live every day.  The exterior is on our list and will be done as soon as we can.  I know it's ugly, so try not to comment on that.  There isn't anything I can do about it right now, unless you'd like to finance the $20k siding project.  Thanks.)  

Quick Tip: Apple Slices

Sometimes I do run across an apple that doesn't quite sit flat when sitting on its stem.  In that case, I'll usually do a little trim of the part of the apple that's sticking up and then cut the apple.   It does work.  It's so much easier to line the hole in the center of an apple slicer up with a flat apple than one that's sitting on its side.

Many of you already figured this trick out, but I thought I'd share anyway.  After all, you never know who's going to be one of the lucky 10,000.

Obligatory xkcd comic:

(If you're one of the lucky 10,000 that's never read xkcd, then get ready for some fun . . . and make sure you have time to waste before you open that link.  You're going to need it. )

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Yeah.   I have a thing for a good buttermilk biscuit.   Tender, light, melt in your mouth goodness, especially when it's hot from the oven.  The only thing that can make it better?  garlic and cheese.   I make mine in the food processor.  Heck, the food processor changed my biscuits.  There is nothing better for blending the fat and flour together.  The food processor gives me a perfect, even blend of fat to flour.   It's awesome.  

My basic recipe started with the one from America's Test Kitchen.  They use half cake flour/half all purpose to aproximate the protien content in White Lily flour.  Since most of America can't buy White Lily flour off the shelf of their hometown grocery store, it's a good work around.  (I found it once in the self rising variety.  I almost cried when it was gone.  You Southerners are so lucky.)   ATK also uses butter instead of Crisco as the fat.  I'm good with that because you can't go wrong with butter.  

I did play with the recipe because I wanted to try and make a version of Red Lobster biscuits at home.  That means it had to be a drop biscuit and it had to have garlic and cheese.  Here's what I came up with, and it's a dang near exact if I do say so myself.  

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

1 cup cake flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1 t sugar

1/2 baking soda

1/2 salt

1 1/2 t granulated garlic (not garlic powder.  If that's all you've got you'll have to use more to get the same effect.)

1/2 c butter (you can use Crisco here if you're a biscuit purist, but you're missing out.)

1/2 c cheddar cheese

1 c buttermilk  (may need more depending on the consistency of your buttermilk)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (biscuits like it nice and hot!) 

If you're using the food processor, take your butter straight from the fridge and cut it into 1/4 cubes.   That's pieces, not slices.  It takes a bit longer, but you'll get a better biscuit if you do this right.   Put all the dry ingredients into the food processor work bowl and process for about 30 seconds to blend.   Add in the butter and pulse until the butter and flour are combined evenly, should be about 12 times or so.  Dump the flour mix out into a medium mixing bowl and stir in the cheese.  Sharp cheddar is nice here, medium is fine if that's what you've got.  If all you have is mild cheddar, you should go shopping. 

If you don't have a food processor, you will have to use softened butter.  Make sure it's still cool to the touch and just gives a little when you press on it with a finger.  Over softened butter will just make your biscuits greasy.   Cut up the butter into chunks and blend into the flour with either a pastry blender or a fork.  Some people like to use their fingers, but I think that's a process you have to watch someone do to get right.   The flour/butter mix should look like big pieces of sand with every piece of flour coated with fat.  This is how you get light, fluffy biscuits. 

Next stir in the buttermilk.  Do not over mix. Just stir enough for the flour to be moistened.  If your buttermilk is older and has thickened you may need to add a few extra tablespoons one tablespoon at a time to get the right consistency.  The batter should be completely wet and quite sticky but not runny.   Drop biscuits are much softer than standard cut out biscuits.  You should not be able to touch it without getting it all over your fingers much less form it into a ball. 

Drop by 1/4 cup dollops onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake in the oven until the biscuits are golden and fully baked inside, about 10-12 minutes.  I like mine just barely done, but feel free to leave yours in an extra minute or so if you want yours more brown.    This recipe makes about a dozen biscuits. 

If you want that shiny, crispy finish like on the Red Lobster biscuits, you need to do an egg wash before you bake.  Whisk one egg white with a couple teaspoons of water.  Brush lightly over the biscuits with a pastry brush (this will also smooth out the dough.)   Bake as usual.   

I like to eat mine with a salad or soup so I can have more biscuits.   More is better.  Trust me.  

Dulce de Leche Swirled Brownies

 Remember my fudge brownie recipe?  Yeah, they're awesome.  You know what makes them even more awesome?  Caramel.   Specifically dulce de leche, a Mexican caramel that is pretty awesome.   You may also remember that "caramel in a can" fad that swept the internet a couple of Christmases ago.  Caramel in a can is basically dulce de leche.   It tastes lovely and it reacts well in other recipes, which makes it perfect for caramel swirled brownies.

Dulce de leche brownies:

1 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
3/4 c cocoa
2 t vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 can dulce de leche 

Combine melted butter, sugar, and cocoa powder.   Stir in the eggs and vanilla making sure the eggs are thoroughly mixed in.  Fold in flour, salt and baking powder.  If you are picky you can sift your flour, salt and baking powder together before you add them to the batter, but I never do and my brownies always come out perfect.  Just dump in the flour first; then put the salt and baking powder on top of the flour.  They'll all stir in just fine.   When the flour is mixed in, pour the batter out into a greased 9x13 pan.  Warm the can of caramel.  I like to put it in a microwave safe dish and heat it for a minute or so.   Then drop large globs of  caramel all over the batter.    You can either leave it like that or drag a knife through the caramel to swirl it around.   Sort of like the picture below.  The top row was swirled and the rest was left alone (I ended up swirling the whole pan.) 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let them cool completely.  I'm not kidding here.  I know it's rough but these taste so much better at room temperature.   You have to leave them alone for at least an hour.  Sorry.  I'm sure you'll be ok with it after you've had your first brownie.  

You're welcome.  

By the way, if you're looking for other ideas for how to use your caramel in a can (other than just eating it straight from the can) I'll be posting more recipes over the next month or so.  I'd rather do it faster, but my pants have reminded me that I'm not supposed to eat 3000 calories a day.  

Stupid pants.  

It's the details that count

I may have mentioned before that I tend to be lazy.  If there is an easy way to do something, that's the way I'm going to do it.  This means that I do shortcuts. In my sewing this translates into me skipping the details all too often.   I have learned over the last couple of years, though, that those extra steps make a huge difference in the finished project.

For example, can you imagine how boring the peplum top would have been without the piping, bound sleeve, and Peter Pan collar?  

That white contrast makes the polka dots look even better.   The three things added more than an hour to the construction time of the top.  The old me would not have taken the time and I would have hated the final product.  

And how about the pink dress redo?  Remember that ruffle?

It's the ruffle that really makes the shaped hem stand out.  It also pops the contrast stitching.   The ruffle is made up of about 3 yards of muslin that all had to be hemmed and gathered.   Yeah, time consuming but worth it.  (And yes, I've got a thing for contrast bound sleeves. Talk about details that really count.) 

There was also the Burda Jumpsuit with the contrast fabric for the pocket facing and the piping.  Those details took the jumpsuit from cute to fabulous.   The red ric rac and deep contrast band on the yoked skirt I made for my oldest toned down a very busy fabric and made it perfect for a teen girl.   I had to redo the stitching on the pockets on my middle girl's python jeans because I started out with white thread.  It matched too well.  Bright pink top stitching thread made all the difference.  

For your next project, take time to look at the design details.  Is there a place where you can add a trim?  Would contrast fabric make a design detail stand out in a great way?  How about something so simple as contrast buttons?  Piping?   Contrast stitching?  What can you do to make your next project unique and fabulous?