Tutu skirts for Christmas

My 3 year old granddaughter loves to wear tutus, or what we call princess skirts. She would wear them every day to school is she could. Now, after Christmas this year, she just may be able to.

My Granddaughter's idea of the perfect outfit for school.
You really have to pick your battles, lol.

Originally, I was going to make the skirts, but found them at Hobby Lobby on sale and could not have made them for less. I bought a white, teal, and red skirt (that was all they had) and then went to look for bows.

Hobby Lobby had large bows, with a pony tail holder attached on sale, so I bought a few in the colors I wanted. I also found some on clearance at JoAnn and bought a few there. Now I have a large selection for my granddaughter to choose from.

Next, I bought sew on snaps in the fabric department of Hobby Lobby. I bought the largest one I could that would not show from behind the bow's knot.

On the front Center of the waist band of each skirt I sewed the female side of a snap using the same color thread as the skirt .

I cut the pony tail holder off the back of the bows, and using the same color of thread as the bow. I sewed the male side of a snap to the back of the bow.

Now all of the skirts and bows have snaps and my Granddaughter can decorate each skirt with whatever color bow she wants. She also can wear the bow in the front or the back.

I am so excited for her to open this present on Christmas!

Children's Christmas Tree Ornament Craft

My Grandson made a cute Christmas tree ornament in school made from Craft sticks (tongue depressors) and craft jewels. I thought it was a great craft for my Grandkids to make as gifts for their Aunts and Uncles. I, of course, changed it a bit to jazz it up. Shocking I know, lol!

The original tree ornament that was the inspiration for our project.

I hot glued the the sticks in the shape of a tree/triangle. When the glue was dry I had the kids paint the sticks green. Next, Meemaw wrote there name and year on the back of the tree they painted. When the paint was dry I sprayed them with a clear coat to make them shine.

Craft sticks aka tongue depressors.

Sticks were hot glued, painted and sprayed.

Next, our trees needed lights and a star. We used a star paper punch with yellow paper to make the star for the tree tops. I bought some Christmas lights ribbon from JoAnn and cut some sections to glue across the middle of our tree ornaments.

Paper punched star and lights ribbon added with hot glue.

Now it is time to dress the tees up. I bought a bag of craft jewels and the kids placed them just where they wanted them on their trees, and Meemaw hot glued them in place. The kids had a choice of green, or twisted red and white cord for their hangers. They picked the cords they wanted and we cut them and hot glued them to the top of the back of the tree.

Bag of craft jewels.

My Grandson told me we needed a trunk for the trees, so I cut the craft sticks into small sections and the kids used a brown marker to color them before we glued them to the bottom of the tree. My grandson also added black marks on his tree trunks to make them look like bark. He is a very detail oriented 5 year old.

All of the finished products! Both kids made 3 each.

The finished product was so cute, and I can't wait for their Aunts and Uncles to see their creations.

Christmas Tree Skirt

My son, Ellis, and his girlfriend, Alison, bought their first Christmas tree this year. They had very few ornaments and didn't have a topper, so it was time to go shopping! Yippee!

Alison and I went to JoAnn Fabric, because they had a great sale with 70% off ornaments. After looking at all the single and packaged ornaments, Alison decided on blue, silver and white ornaments and a big snowflake for the topper. We went to look at tree skirts and came to the conclusion that they were too expensive, even on sale, and many were more than the price of the tree.

Beautiful Snowflake Tree topper 

White, blue and silver ornaments with a blue ribbon running through their tree.

So, I told Alison that I would make her a skirt going with the blue, white and snowflake theme. I have a skinny tree I use in my upstairs for all of the homemade ornaments from my kids, grandkids, and family. It came with a simple red felt skirt that I used for a pattern for the new white snowflake skirt.

I had some white fleece that I used for the new skirt. I put the fleece on my island in the kitchen, pinned the red felt skirt on top of the fleece, and cut around the outside of the skirt, cut a circle in the middle and then a slit from the bottom up to the center circle.

My skinny tree skirt pattern on the white fleece ready to cut.

I had some white ribbon with blue snowflakes that I decided to use for the ties on the slit.  I pinned a piece of ribbon on each side of the top, middle and bottom of the slit. I sewed it in two spots across the ribbon to keep it from raveling, or ripping off.

Skirt ties shown from the front and back.

I purchased a fabric glue pen from JoAnn Fabric and ordered two sizes of felt cutout snowflakes in white, dark and light blue from Amazon. I placed the snowflakes all over the skirt in a scattered pattern mixing the colors and sizes. When it looked just the way I wanted it, I glued each snowflake in place with the fabric glue. It took a few hours to dry completely.

Glue pen and a felt snowflake.

All the snowflakes are glued in place and drying.

Ellis and Alison came over to join us on a trip to see the "12 Days of Christmas" at the Arboretum in Dallas and they took the new skirt home with a promise to send me a picture of their tree with the new skirt.  It looks great!!

The picture came as promised. Beautiful!!!

Dip, Dip, Dip. Yum!

Every Thanksgiving, and other holidays or celebrations, I make a few favorite dips for my guests to feast on before the gorge. This year for Thanksgiving I made three of my favorites.

The first is the old standard Spinach Dip. This is served with Hawaiian bread or crackers .

Spinach Dip
1 pkg of Knorrs Veg Soup
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup Sour Cream
2 Tbsp of grated Parmesan Cheese
1 10oz pkg of frozen chopped Spinach

Thaw and squeeze spinach to get rid of excess water. Mix all ingredients together and chill. If using the round Hawaiian bread, hollow the loaf out and cut the removed bread into chunks. Place the chilled dip in the hollowed loaf to serve.

The second dip I served this year was also an old standard that I just call Beef Dip. Many people make it into a cheese ball by adding another cheese and rolling it in chopped nuts. I just like it plain with one cheese and served in a dish to spread on crackers.

Beef Dip
8 oz package of Cream cheese softened
1 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp chopped Onion
1 Pkg Buddig Beef chopped

Put your Cream cheese in a bowl and add the water. Using the back of a spoon to soften cheese and mix the water into it. Once the cheese is smooth, add the onions and mix.  Next add the beef a little at a time until your happy with the amount. Chill until ready to serve with crackers.

The last Dip I serve is my favorite. I found this recipe on an old Market Day holiday flyer over 10 years ago in Indiana. I changed it a bit to of course make it better. I serve this dip with Honey Graham cracker sticks or Scooby snacks. It is like eating pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Dip
1 8oz pkg Cream cheese softened
1/4 cup Powder sugar
1/2 cup canned Pumpkin
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
dash Cloves
1 8oz whipped topping (Cool Whip)

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until well blended with an electric mixer. Stir in all the remaining ingredients, except the whipped topping, until all are completely blended. Now fold in the whipped topping. Chill until ready to serve with graham cracker sticks.

Happy Dipping!





 

Pickle's in Seaside, Florida

Pickle's in Seaside at sunset!

When my Husband and I go to Florida a couple times a year to stay at our condo on the Panhandle, we always take a drive to Seaside to eat at Pickle's. Seaside is a small beach community that is about halfway between Panama City and Destin on the Florida Panhandle. It is full of expensive rentals and has a small area of shopping and restaurants, including permanent food trucks, on both sides of 30A. On the Beach side of 30A sits a hamburger joint named Pickle's.

You can dine inside Pickle's.

You can sit along the front of the building with the windows open and watch the Seaside square. On busy days you see more of 30A traffic than anything else.

There is also an outside dining area that is nice when the weather is pleasant, which is most of the time.

The drive from our condo to Seaside is about 40 minutes, and we make that drive every Florida visit just to go to Pickle's. The hamburgers are made from grass fed beef, and I have never had a bad burger from Pickle's. You can special order your burger with your choice of toppings including 7 types of cheese. In addition to lettuce and tomatoes you can add chili, bacon, hilly dilly sauce, grilled onions, jalapenos, dill pickle relish, bread and butter pickles, and barbecue sauce.

You can see the menu has a great variety of items which also includes adult beverages. 

I had a burger with Swiss, tomato, lettuce and mayo. Perfect!

Now, lets talk about their fries. Yum! They are hand cut and double fried. I have no idea what double fried means, but they are delicious. We always get the Walk Away XL fries that come in a large cup that we share. They are seasoned and cooked expertly. The only thing that could improve the fries would be dipping them in one of Pickles's vanilla shakes. So, so good!

My husband and I shared this XL cup of delicious fries.

I saved the best for last. The "Famous" fried pickle spears! Dill pickle spears that are breaded, deep fried and served with ranch dressing. Oh My Stars, they are Spectacular. The spear's breading is spiced perfectly and, like their French fries, they are fried to perfection. They are by far my favorite item on the menu. We have fried pickles in Texas that are really good, but non compare to Pickle's pickles.

I can't even look at these pickles without my mouth watering. They are truly the BEST!!

Debate?

What a great match up! Both are fierce competitors, and I am sure they will drop the gloves at least once during the night. Both will talk smack, poke and prod each other to get them to make a mistake. They will insult each other, and may even insult each others families. Both will cross the red line, and interfere with the other. Both want to win! That's right, I am going to a hockey game. Sad isn't it that this is a perfect description of a Political Debate! At least hockey has a penalty box for bad behavior.

DIY Alligator and Butterfly Costumes

My grandkids went on a shopping trip to Target to get their Halloween costumes for this year. Instead of purchasing complete costumes, my grandson left with an alligator head, and my granddaughter with butterfly wings and antennas. Meemaw was tasked with making the rest of the costume.

For the butterfly costume, the task was easy. I bought a pair of black leggings, a black long sleeved   t-shirt and a black cloth hat. Target had the leggings and t-shirt, and Hobby Lobby had the hat. Unfortunately the hat only came in baby sizes, so I had to improvise. I bought wide black elastic and a bottle of white puffy fabric paint.

I laid the leggings and shirt out on my kitchen island, and with the fabric paint I put white dots of various sizes all over the items. Then after letting them dry for 5 or so hours, I flipped them and did the dotting on the opposite sides. That was all that I needed to do for the clothing.

The hat needed to be expanded, so I cut the stitching of the seam on one side of the hat, the outer layer and the lining layer. Then I cut strips of the wide elastic, tucked them in between the layers and sewed them into place. I could have made a hat with black fabric, or found a hat in the right size, but I was in a time crunch and this was the easiest solution for me.

The alligator costume was much more difficult. The first thing I attempted to purchase for the alligator costume was a pair of sweat pants, and a sweat shirt in the same olive green color found in the alligator head. After 5 or 6 stores and online shopping I could not find them anywhere. My last stop was Walmart. I found an olive green pair of pants in the Toddler Department, but no shirt. I went to the Boys Department and found an olive green t-shirt, but they were all short sleeves. I bought one small shirt, and two extra large shirts to use for the fabric.

 With one of the extra large shirts I made long sleeves for the small shirt and attached them under the short sleeves. Next, I cut the second extra large shirt along one side and around the sleeves to make a long piece of fabric. I folded it up from the bottom hem, inside out, about 7 inches. With a Sharpie I drew spikes for the tail. I sewed along the marks, cut off the excess fabric, turned the spikes right side out, stuffed the spikes and sewed them shut. Then I split the seam on the butt of the pants, inserted the end of the tail and sewed the tail in place.

Now for the hard part. I had to paint the green costume to look like the head mask. I took a paper plate and filled one spot with brown paint and added black paint to make it a very dark brown. Then I filled a spot on the plate with an olive yellow paint, and lastly a spot on the plate with black paint. Then using a very small pored sponge I first dabbed the yellow paint in spots all over the front of the pants and shirt. Next, I added the brown paint, going over some of the yellow spots, and out side of the yellow. Lastly, I added the black to parts of the yellow and brown spots and beyond. I also rubbed the black sponge all over the non-painted green sections to darken them up. Once the fronts of the shirt and pants were dry, I painted the backs and the tail.

Last step was a special delivery and fashion show with the grandkids!

My sweet butterfly!

My sweet, I mean scary alligator. 

Did you miss me?

Sorry for the absence. Can you believe it has been over a month, almost two, since my last post. What have I been up to? Hmm, let me think. LIFE!!!

You know how that happens, right? I went from empty nester living in a state where no relatives lived within a 900 mile radius, to moving to the same state/city as my Daughter, Son in-law and Grandson. Then came a new Granddaughter, then my Mother and Father In-law moved here from Ohio, and now my Son and his Girlfriend moved here from Indiana. We are rocking the family get-togethers! It has been so awesome having two of my three kids in the same city as us that now we have to start working on getting our older son to move here. A girl can dream!

Adding into my distraction was family illnesses, surgeries, weddings, new schools, and crazy weather (including hurricanes) to name of few, and it has been a pretty busy couple of months. I now have to make a conscious effort of make time to blog. If not to share and enlighten, than to relieve stress. Blogging is truly a great stress relief for me, and boy am I glad to be back at the computer. I feel calmer already.

I may not have been blogging lately, but it is not because I don't have many stories to share. There is never a shortage of crazy stories, or fun adventures happening in my life. So, stay tuned for some travel blogs, recipes, crafts, a new series on work quotes, and some of my crazy life events.

Who needs therapy when you can blog?







 

Funny Sign, 5th edition!

This is the 5th edition of the "Funny Signs"! These are signs from places I have visited, social media, friends, and family. Thanks again to my Brother Dale for his contributions.

For all you coffee drinkers!

I cannot even imagine what this ride is. I sure hope it isn't what my first thought was.

I would bet that there is snow on the road when it snows too.

I was searching on Amazon for games to play in the car for my grandkids. The second and fifth down had me a bit concerned about Amazons search parameters. 

This sign is a visual of the slope.

Really? Try Me on a potty?

King of the Road!

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Funny Signs.