Freezer Paper Fun!

I bought freezer paper awhile ago. I bought fabric (screen printing) ink/paint even longer ago. A few weeks ago, 2 unflattering, shapeless t-shirts were purchased in shades of purple and pink (surprise, surprise.)

This morning after art class, I decided it was time to actually do something with these items. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to doing more (flattering) shirts. Maybe even some for myself!
Abby just wanted to make a square so I used a tile. I made a stencil of one of those cheap wooden cut outs. It turned out really cool, but of course, since I can never leave anything alone, I had to exercise my 1980s puff-paint techniques. Why do I have puff paint? Well, I don't know. I just do. Accept it. I went a little too far with the puff paint, but it's good enough for a child's sleep shirt, no?

Father's Day!

First off, I have to apologize for the mish-mash organization of the photos...it's just not working out today, but I have faith that you'll be able to figure out what pics go with what. ;)

My husband is an amazing Daddy. He's patient, fun, tolerant, and loving. We had a wonderful day at a zoo preceded by breakfast and presents. (Abby decorated his chair with crepe paper.)
For breakfast, I adapted Paula Deen's french toast casserole. I made this once before, but followed the recipe. I like my version much better. Sorry, Paula! I decreased the fat a lot, and really, it could be decreased much more and still be delicious.

For dessert I made a simple, but much loved Fruit Pizza. Seriously, this is the easier recipe ever. It's not even really a recipe! A roll of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, a small container of cool-whip (use fat-free for less guilt), 8 oz. cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat) and mixed fruit of choice. I just used strawberries. Let the cookie dough and cream cheese come to room temperature, let the cool whip sit in the fridge so it's no longer frozen.
Shape the cookie dough into one big cookie and bake. Blend cream cheese & cool whip (oh, I add a bit of confectioner's sugar and vanilla). Once cookie cools, spread cream cheese/cool whip combo on cookie. Layer the fruit. The end.

Father's Day Gift:
I made a pillow with some a little swatch I purchased from Spoonflower. It's a drawing Abby did of "Daddy."







French Toast Casserole (adapted from Paula Deen)
1 loaf of Italian bread
4 large eggs
2 cups of fat-free half and half
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
dash of salt
Praline topping (recipe follows)

Slice bread into 1-inch each. Arrange slices in 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish sprayed with Baker's Joy (or something similar). In a large bowl, combine the eggs, FF half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.(I skip the maple syrup b/c it's sweet enough, IMO.)

Praline Topping
1 stick of butter (probably could use 1/2 stick)
1/2c packed brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Combine all ingredients & blend well.

Pink.

If you know me, you know that pink is not my color of choice. Actually, it's probably my least favorite color. That being said, and not surprisingly, my daughter loves the color.
She picked out the color of her room. She helped me select the fabric for the valances. She is all girl. Here is her room in all of its pepto-bismol glory.
I also made her a quilt from remnants from the knot dress. It was coming along beautifully until it was actually time to quilt it. It's kind of a a mish-mash of lines, Xs, and Ys. I should take a quilting class.

It's 5 o'clock Somewhere.

For the record, I strongly dislike Jimmy Buffet and the fact that you can't mention a margarita without his name coming up. But, I just did it, so I guess I'm part of the problem.

Anyhow, one of my sisters recently had a BBQ. I made the margarita cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World," only, they weren't vegan. Go figure. I used real butter and real milk. I got some tequila from my sister. I was not spending money on tequila that I will never drink just to get a few tablespoons for a recipe. I have some tequila leftover and will probably make these cupcakes again. Soon.

I did had some sea salt to the frosting, which really helped cut the sweetness and added to the whole margarita experience. Very, very delicious. Those vegans know their margaritas.

Kitchen Curtains.

Found the beautiful fabric from this etsy shop. Used "Bend the Rules Sewing" to make the curtains.

I didn't use twill tape as the book suggests, instead, I just cut up some pieces of the fabric so the tabs would match. I used about 4 yards of fabric, with maybe an almost-fat-quarter left over. Once my kitchen is totally complete, there will be more photos.

Update.

It's been about a month since my last blog.
A lot has been going on in my personal life, and honestly, I've had little to no motivation to blog, to flickr, to anything, really.

I've sewn some things, I've baked some things, I've photographed some things. Of course, due to my lack of motivation, I have no photos to share.

Some one took one of my flickr photos and posted it on facebook under a group they created. That annoyed me. I haven't uploaded to flickr in about as along as I last blogged. FYI, the facebook is resolved, so that's good news.

I haven't even been reading the craft blogs that I usually do.

Hopefully I'll get into the swing of things soon. Until then, I'll be following Ben Folds on Twitter.