Riot and Frolic

Homemade Everything

May 5, 2011

A couple months ago, I decided that I would not buy anything that wasn't necessary and I'd try to make anything that could realistically be made. New nail polish (I wear the same four colors all the time and end up buying replicas of the same four colors I already have) was off "the list," a purely mental set of things I always look for at Target, my archenemy in non-spending. Also, gone, cute t-shirts and baby clothes, disposable diapers (we have cloth ones!), more yarn, awesome stationary, blue glasses (I have a collection), anything to decorate with… Sad. Except not really. I learned how to make bread, pizza (duh, it's bread with cheese on it), roast a chicken *drool*, grow plants, and a few other handy recipes and skills.

Only after I stopped spending all my hard-earned money did I realize how much stuff I really had. Holy craft supplies, Batman! I mean, I could crochet, knit, sew, paint, and embellish for years and probably still have scraps left. And books? Between my husband and I, there are at least 50 books I haven't read yet. So, there's my free time. Movies and tv? Not really necessary either, right? I'm not going all Laura Ingalls Wilder or anything, I just wanted to see if I could do it. But I am getting all hippy about natural products and knowing what I'm ingesting and all that.

Plus, it's fun! Maybe I'm a nerd, but I don't work all that much and finding fun things for the ladies to do is always a challenge, so putting together some iced coffee or bread at night with V (she loves measuring and "dumping" ingredients) and playing with fabric yo-yos with Georgia kills two birds with one stone. Plus, I like finding the easiest way to make stuff to get the job done.

So, check this out:

Homemade Vanilla Extract

– 16 oz. jar with lid

– vodka or rum

– 6 premium vanilla beans

Cut your vanilla beans in half the long way. Put them in your jar and pour your liquor over them. Put lid on jar and set in the sun (or not, it just needs to sit, but it'll go faster in the sun) for a couple weeks.

The top two pictures show the extract right after combining, and the one on the right after two weeks.

If you want to give it as gifts (seems so swanky and amazing! really took 10 minutes and is super-cheap!), buy some 2 oz. jars and pour it on in. Add a neat sticker label and voila! Gifted! Or keep it all to yourself to make vanilla syrup or chocolate chip cookies or whatever.

Swagger.
Coffee

May 3, 2011

Yes. Coffee. You are delicious.

Let me tell you some stories about coffee.

– I have a strong memory of the sound of my dad stirring his coffee in the morning. Groggy from sleep, I would shift into consciousness hearing the clicking of his spoon against a mug. Anytime I hear that sound, I think of my dad.

– At Amore Coffee (Cafe Amore?), I was waiting for my Mexican Mocha (with cinnamon and chili powder- yowza!) and watching the barista make shots o' espresso when I noticed his tamper.

Info: a tamper is the doohickey on the right, which smooshes the espresso grounds in the shot maker (a portafilter) to make a delicious shot.

His tamper was pretty. It was made of wood like the one in the picture, but prettier. I felt like I was hitting on him in some weird-coffee-geek kind of way by asking him, "What's with your tamper?" If I was single, and a real coffee geek, I probably would have asked him to marry me right there when I heard his answer. He had it custom-made out of lilac wood to fit his palm. That was one sexy tamper.

– I have been experimenting with making my own iced coffee since baby #1 was kicking around inside my belly. I crave cold and icy things when preggo, and coffee freezing cold (yeah, I know, pregnant ladies aren't supposed to drink coffee… or go running, or move heavy boxes and furniture, or compete in ballroom dance competitions, or have a glass of wine, or do anything fun) is ever so good. So besides trying all my local coffee shops' versions of cold press/iced coffee, I decided to try my own.

Just like the other people who search for the perfect hot cup via every brand of filtered water, trying different coarseness of grind, the best water temperature, and method of brewing, I'm going for the cold version. And everyone has their own version there, too. Two of my lovely co-workers have described to me their happy iced beverage brew. I don't learn well by listening, though, and took to the interwebs.

I like Smitten Kitchen's version. I like her description of the result, also. I toyed around with that version and my adorable co-worker's recipe and came up with this:

Iced Coffee (cold brew)

– 1 & 1/3 cups coarse ground coffee, ideally: regular grinds will work, too, but you might have some sludge in the bottom of the brewing container, therefore you would have to filter it more, or drink it and be really excited for a few extra hours.

– 6 cups of water: filtered is great, but tap is fine. I'm a cheap non-snob. Cold or room temperature, doesn't matter.

– cheesecloth: about a foot square and about four layers

– a big jar or pitcher

Put your coffee in the middle of the cheesecloth and tie one knot with the upper left to lower right corner and another knot with the other two corners. Your knots don't have to be real tight. Not much will fall out. Put your package in the jar and pour the water in. Let it sit for awhile. I like my coffee strong, so I started it at night and drank it in the morning. It's very, very dark when it's ready. Pour over ice and drink!

I hear you can also dump the grounds and water in the jar and just let it sit, without the whole cheesecloth thing. I like my way because 1) I like making the little package 2) you have to strain it through something anyway when it's done. That straining mechanism is cheesecloth or a coffee filter, or whatever else you can MacGyver, so I win. Winning!

I also made my own vanilla syrup, because I'm cheap and don't want to buy a bottle of Torani for $10.

Vanilla Syrup

– 1 cup of water

– 1 cup of sugar

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Boil water and sugar until "water" is clear- 5 minutes? Take simple syrup (that's what you just made) off the stove and put in the vanilla. Done.

This also works if you want hazelnut or almond, or whatever. Just sub whatever flavored extract you'd like for the vanilla extract.

That $4 that you saved? You can send it to me.

Suit up.
Unpaid Programming

May 2, 2011

Mother's Day is just around the corner of your calendar, and now that I sometimes remember I'm a mom, I will share with you (dads, daughters, sons) the things that moms love (mainly me). And the things you should buy for them (mainly me).

Time. Let's face it. It's great to be alone sometimes, knowing that everything is taken care of on the home-front. Send your mama out for a coffee/movie/massage or to the park/bookstore/beach while you take care of the kids/wash the dishes/walk the dog, so she can be in peace for an hour or two. Or, if you don't see her that often (aka, you don't live in her house), do any of the above with her!

02 Take Your Mama

Duh. Flowers. If you must deliver, it's gonna be $50 or more, but classy as all get-out. Classic choices? Roses (second from left), lilies, orchids, tulips (third from left). Fun choices? Ranunculus (on the right- my fav), peonies, daisies, or whatever floats her boat.

Bath and Body Works, people. I swear, every year at Christmas, my ma puts their lotion/soap/something-delicious-smelling on her list. They have new, pretty packaging and anything from anti-bacterial hand gel to massage oil. Something for everyone! Men, walk in, grab a product or two, and get out. You're safe. They take returns and exchanges.

Yeah, I love Starbucks. I rarely shop at malls, love my local boutiques, avoid Wal-Mart, but LOVE Starbucks. For $4, you can make your mama a customized Starbucks gift card (this includes the custom card, the printing, and standard shipping, plus it comes in an actual greeting card)! Put $15 on it, and BAM! your coffee-loving mama might forget about when you broke her favorite pitcher.

I'm on the look-out for a great purse/bag all the time. I have found two, TWO in the entire universe of interwebs, that I would buy. This nifty bag with tons of pockets and places to stash things is from Lug, a brand I found at Patina. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't have a shoulder strap and is a little too utilitarian-looking. But awesome, still.

This is the other bag in the Milky Way that I found, and it actually meets all my specifications. It's from MZ Wallace, a brand by these two chick (and chic!) designers from NYC. It has tons of pockets, outside and in, places for bottles, diapers, wipes, my beloved iPhone, cosmetics, it's the right size, a great style, is water-resistant,has a little clutch included, a fantastic track record, a shoulder strap, handles, and awesome material… The problem? $395. That's right. My rationalization for my ever buying this (which will never happen) is that I would never have to buy a purse again. So then it's a bargain, right?

*shameless plug alert*

Ballroom dance lessons. What lady hasn't wanted to dance? Let me tell you: none of them. (It's a double negative. I made it sound like no lady wants to dance, but read it slowly and out loud.) That's right: None of them ladies hasn't wanted to dance. It is fun and a great way to A) spend time with your lady if you go with her or B) get an evening alone to watch sports if you let her do it on her own. Check out this place (if you're in the Mpls/St. Paul area). There's a pretty lady all over that website, too.

Does your ma bake or cook? Yes. She needs one of these. I have heard great things about these little buggers from Amazon, This Old House magazine, Real Simple magazine, Heather Bailey's blog, Martha Stewart, you name it! It's like this indestrucible, steel-barred, bowl-scraping machine! It's from Chef'n and you can find them locally at Cooks of Crocus Hill or on Amazon for 10 dolla. Woop!

I almost forgot this! Lest your mama likes nothing but crafts, the amazing Alicia P. over at Posie Gets Cozy is selling the kit to make this awesome alphabet sampler. Killer!

If you really need some more ideas, you can post a comment, but come on! Anywhere from $9.95 to $395 will get you some extra points with ma. Not that you need any. You only had a three month gestation period until you were born healthy, wealthy and wise AND you slept for eight hours from day one. Right.

Come on? George Clooney holding a puppy? And a PUG? Gah. Melt me in a pan and call me butter!

That's more like it.
List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

May 1, 2011

– Oatmeal Bread

– Beginnings of Vanilla Extract

– Seven Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies

– One Bedroom Primed for Painting (the Gopher is no more!)

– One Nifty Blog (see here)

– One Etsy Store (nothing listed, yet)

– Four Loads of Laundry (including cloth diapers)

– Seven Trips to the Gym

– Eight Hours of Awesome Ballroom Instruction Imparted

– Three Happy Ladies (even with no daddy for the week)

– Two Flower Girls-in-Training

– One Tired Mama

For next week:

Mother's Day suggestions (purely selfish), tutorial on vanilla extract (nothing bad in that jar!), my teaching/yelling philosophy (1700 words or less), my first Etsy listings (you've been asking), and the lemon tree!

Yesh.
The Return of the Yo-Yo

April 29, 2011

This lovely post might seem short and it will involve lots of links for minimum work by your's truly. That's because my darling husband has run off to LA (it's for work, relax), leaving me home alone with my two ladies. It has been great fun so far, but not what you'd call relaxing. I don't sleep much these days because of the spring-time (there are things to do!) and large belly (what am I? six and a half months preggo? something like that), and naptime for them is SUPER-productive time for me. So I'm in high gear.

As promised, some projects involving yo-yos…

Sew them on a t-shirt.

I love using contrasting colors, but black-on-black is always good! The shirts above are mine, but this link has a nice tutorial on yo-yo making, if you haven't had enough already, plus the projects at the bottom of the page are just my style.

Newspaper yo-yo? Awesome. I don't make cards, but how cool would this be on a card, or as a bow on a gift? Here's the link: newspaper yo-yo.

Tea towels are fun. Who can't use them? Why not make them pretty? My 20-something cousin got one from my mom for Christmas and was genuinely excited. I always call them dishrags, but tea towel sounds so great, especially with all the British hubbub this week. Linkage here: tea towel yo-yo.

I've seen necklaces like this on Etsy for a long time. I looooove the monochrome. It just looks swanky. Like English Wedding Day swanky. I'm just saying, English Wedding will still be cool for at least another day. Learn how to make it: yo-yo necklace.

I love garlands or banners or whatever you call them (there's a word I'm looking for that I'm not finding…). I made one for Georgia's birthday and it makes the whole dining room festive. A yo-yo one? Easy. Great for kid's room. Here: yo-yo garland.

Love hair doodads. This site doesn't have the most explicative how-to, so here's my short instructions: make yo-yo, add cute button to center, slide a small piece of fabric or felt into the bobby pin and make a bobby pin and glue sandwich with your yo-yo and the piece of fabric.

There's a lot of other projects out there. Just google "fabric yoyo projects" and you'll get about 764,000 results. Some of them are neat, and some of them are… special.

Okay. One baby is awake. And this babe looks sleepy.

Nice.
The Yo-Yo Strikes Back

April 28, 2011

I was just getting started yesterday with letting you in on my yo-yo obsession. I started making fabric flowers to jazz up (in my mom's parlance) a cardigan that was boring me to death, but was in good shape. Searching the interwebs for fabric flowers, I stumbled upon the all-too-easy yo-yo. Seriously, five minutes to make one! That was about two weeks ago. Now, I have a nice stockpile for t-shirt embellishments or taking over the world. Whatever.

If you missed yesterday's post, you can check that out to find a nice photo of my spread, plus a very nice tutorial on how to make a yo-yo. But since I wanted to try to my tutorial-writing/picture-taking skills, I'll give you one right here!

YO-YO NOW

Materials needed:

-Fabric (scrap is fine)

-Needle

-Thread (does not have to match fabric, unless you're picky… Or not lazy)

-Something round (it's not a riddle- I used a CD for a larger yo-yo and a votive holder for a smaller one)

Get ready:

I like to cut a circle template out of cardstock. Your template should be twice as big as your finished yo-yo. I draw the finished size on my template, so I don't have to guess which size is which.

Next, cut out some fabric circles using your circle template.

Thread your needle with the color of your choice. I said in the "materials needed" section that you don't need matching thread since you can't see the thread once you've finished. I've been using the same method of tying a knot for sewing since I was doing cross-stitch with my ma. It goes like this:

Wrap your thread around your finger.

Roll the thread between your thumb and wrapped finger, then push that mess towards the end of the thread until it makes a knot. It's like a super-surgeon's knot!

Now the sewing!

Fold a little bit of your circle over and insert your needle. Make little or big stitches around the outside of your circle (more on this later). As alluded to above, I'm kind of lazy when it comes to sewing, so I don't really sew, I make gathers on my needle until I eventually have to pull the needle all the way through.

You'll have a yo-yo or two of trial and error to find out how big or small your stitches will be to get around the circle. If you start the way I did (going from the inside to the outside), you'll want the last stitch you make to go from outside to inside a full stitch-length back from where you started. Then, I make a wee stitch (on the fold only), next to where I started to complete the circle. (Huh? I know, the picture might not help much, but you don't want what looks like a straight stitch on the outside OR inside 'cause then your gathers will be funky [technical term].)

Whew! If you pull your thread a little tighter, you get a hat, as V would say.

Turn your hat right side out and smoosh it a bit. Then tighten (Knocked Up, anyone?) your thread while arranging your gathers in an aesthetically pleasing way.

You're almost done. What's it been? Four minutes? (Probably not. My first took me about a half an hour. Don't feel bad.)

I just jab the needle through the back of my yo-yo and… secure it… someway. I JUST started using this method, although I have always made small stitches and looped my needle through the stitch to secure it. And voila!

As promised, a note about stitch size:

Larger stitches result in less gathers (duh), which makes the middle close up more. Small stitches mean more gathers and a bigger opening in the center. I like the look of smaller stitches, but to each your own, right?

From left to right: the one I used in the tutorial, one I made with longer stitches, and one I made with smaller stitches. (About 1/8" difference in each.)

Tomorrow: fun projects with your yo-yos.

Interesting fact: I type the word "scholarship" A LOT and always type it "scholarhsip." "Stitches?" It's like saying "syn-the-sizer!" There might more than one "stich." Dumb.

Go forth and conquer.

Okay.
Welcome to the jungle

April 27, 2011

Hello, everybody!

If you can name the two references I just used, I will give you a free mint. Shipping not included.

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for awhile now. I was a hard-core journaler (?) back in the day and have felt a black hole in my existence since ending my daily musings. The kick-in-the-pants was when I started reading all these amazing blogs by these cool, put-together ladies that were so inspiring, I had to jump on their hand-painted bandwagon. See: SouleMama, Posie Gets Cozy, and Centsational Girl– *sigh*. So, I'm not the most organized, crafty, or creative, lovely mama out there, but I give it a go pretty much every day.

As an example, yesterday, I decided I was going to try to make one thing every day. Like a finished, actualized project. Even if it's just a yo-yo. What's a yo-yo? Not the toy you need timing and hand-eye coordination for, mind you. These are yo-yos, my friends.

They are fantastically easy to make little peanuts and will go a long way in my "make something every day" scheme. Do you have five minutes, some scrap fabric, a needle and thread? Check out this handy tutorial: how to make a yo-yo with Heather Bailey. It's pretty much the best description out there.

Did I mention I have two cute kids and a nice husband? Yeah, they're all right. We have #3 on the way in July, and I'm taking name suggestions. We have a Violet (two and a half) and a Georgia (one!), so think Southern Belle-ish, 1940s-esque. The ladies are playing peek-a-boo with each other around a doorway right now, but I'm sensing the need for supervision soon.

As my sign-off treat, here is a little something to dream about…

Nice.

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