Baby Gifts: Carseat Canopy

Another baby gift, also on my list for the upcoming babe is a carseat cover!  

Double duty: hopefully will be enough to keep away wind and chill for winter babes as mine will be, and light enough to throw over and avoid all the touchy strangers with germy hands wanting to pinch your baby's cheeks!

It has a handy little peek-a-boo window! No waking up the baby to check on him!

And you can just throw it back when you're in the car or wherever you are going.

Those handy loops keep it attached to your carseat so it doesn't slip. I'm excited to try one when my new baby boy arrives, I've always just thrown a blanket over the top, but love that this one style should stay where its supposed to! Crossing my fingers that the recipient ends up with her baby girl or I might have a girly carseat cover (and chenille blanket) to get rid of...

Almost forgot to give credit to the author!  I used this tutorial from Wannabe Crafty (though the tutorial was guest posted on Sew Dang Cute). Great tutorial and fairly simple project for any level sewist! You could buy one at a store for about $20-25 or buy one from another crafster on etsy for anywhere from $25-45 (most tend toward that upper end..). Or just buy 2 yards or so of fabric (depending on width) and make your own!  you could easily do this for $10-15 dollars, or even cheaper if you get super sale fabric!

Baby Gifts: Faux Chenille blankets

I've been sewing up some baby gifts recently... I used this tutorial to make 2 baby blankets, including this one.

Soft flannel on the outside, yummy satin binding (don't look at my iffy binding job though) and three layers of fabric on the back that will fluff up to be nice and soft!

They are definitely a labor of love, with lots of sewing (best to think of it as quilting as the tutorial author says!) and cutting (definitely an eek!!!! moment when you cut into your newly sewn, brand new blanket!). But soft and yummy and not too heavy! 

These pictures were taken after just one wash and dry; the more they are washed and dried, the softer and fluffier they should get!

I've got two more of these on my list for my boys (my girlie already has a really super soft minky one that the recipient of the above blanket actually gifted her at her birth!), and plan to try the next one with layers of flannel on the back.

This tutorial is great, though I actually ignored the part about using the adhesive spray, I just pinned a bit and it worked alright! There's also another tutorial here where the author uses flannel.

Yummy Drinks!

Need a really refreshing and super easy summer drink? (well, I’ll be making this year round but…). I found this recipe for Brazilian Lemonade on this site, though it was originally posted on here on allrecipes.com.  It is so easy- no tedious squeezing of limes to get out every last drop of the precious juice. You just toss it all in the blender and then strain out the large chunks of lime. I may actually try straining them out and then pressing out a bit more of the juice, but it worked perfectly well as written. Also, several people on both sites mentioned liking their limeade a bit more sour so changed the amounts of water/sugar/sweetened condensed milk (Yes, that’s all you need!) but for me it was perfect as written, but you can change to your liking.  I used fat free condensed milk, and probably will skip adding ice to the blender (not sure what the point of that was as it strains out anyway!).  I very much recommend this recipe though, super easy and refreshing!

I also was anxious to try the recipe for Cold Brewed iced Coffee from this site.  So easy to do, just grinding beans, adding cold water and putting in the fridge overnight. See her blog though for tips. It was good, but I had not so much patience for figuring out what I like mixed with it... I went back to my cousin's awesome recipe: (hopefully she doesn't mind me sharing here...) 

Brew a pot of coffee using 1 cup coffee, 3-4 tablespoons of cocoa and a dash of cinnamon and 8 cups of water. mix in 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk and then add it to a pitcher with ice, milk, water, whatever your preference!  its just as written, but if you want to experiment by adding a bit of coffee syrup or flavored creamer, all the better! I mixed in the condensed milk and then kept that in the fridge as concentrate, adding it to milk and ice in my cup.  Delicious... Love that I can easily use decaf so the baby's not bouncing off the walls of my womb...

Don't forget about my watermelon lime licuados and slushies from The Idea Attic!

Casserole Carrier and Potholders!

I’d been wanting a reason to try out this tutorial for a casserole carrier, and have plans to replace my mess of hand-me-down potholders with pretty new ones, so when my cousin recently was married, I took the chance to make both! Both were fairly simple.

The simplicity of the casserole carrier makes it flexible for various types of pans, and so easy to take your dish to a potluck or anywhere it needs to travel!

 I used batting instead of insulbright (just using what’s available locally), so it won’t keep heat or cold in quite as well, but should definitely do the trick! I can’t wait to do one for myself (unfortunately my list of things to sew is a little too long…).

The potholders were kind of meshed together from various tutorials in blogland. This one mainly. There’s a nice little pocket to tuck your hand into when grabbing things.

Also fairly simple (I winged the bias tape rather than taking the time to look for this tutorial which gives great directions on mitering the corners). Definitely on my list for myself so I can get my potholders out of my drawer space and up on the wall as décor!

Book review The Alarmists

Alarmists, The by Don Hoesel

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I loved the premise of this book, and really enjoy this type of book in general.  Basically, a wealthy business man is trying to realize a childhood goal of surpassing the wealth of Solomon and goes about it by planning a world disaster that will cause his business to make loads of money.  I really enjoyed most of the book and the characters, but felt like the end was a bit of a let down, rather anti-climactic.  It seemed to me that there was no real peak to the action, it just all tied up very (too?) neatly and really was not very satisfying.  It's an ok read if you can get it at your library or borrow it but i wouldn't bother buying it, unfortunately, unless you want just a quick easy action read.

I recieved a copy of this book for review by Bethany House Publishers.



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Ted Dekker's Green

Green by Ted Dekker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Finally finished this one! (Not that it's boring, I read it in spanish and that takes a little longer...). Love this series, but I have to say i was confused really by the end of this book. I was hoping for a final that left you satisfied, but this wasn't it. I guess that's what you get when it says the "beginning and the end". I don't know if I missed something due to the spanish (i am a fairly fluent spanish speaker) but I just don't  understand the ending at all (I don't want to spoil it for you so that's all I'll say). I also was a little confused at the lack of emotion/discussion of the daughter of one of the main character's turning out to be the a priestess of the devil. Good story line, and more of the good and evil personified of the series, but the ending really ruined it for me... This book in the series (I believe it's said by the author that you can read it either at the beginning or end of the series- I read it as the 4th book) eventually gives the explanation of how Thomas ends up in the situation he ends up in, but really is the story of the apocolypse and the end days. I love Ted Dekker's books but... hmmm. Maybe I'll have to re-read in English and see if it makes more sense. Definitely would still recommend this one, just be prepared that it might be unsettling at the end!

I would definitely love to hear any comments you have if you've read the book. should i re-read in english or is this just the way this book is?

Also, Another reviewer on goodreads.com suggested reading the circle trilogy, then the one with showdown, and sinner before reading Green as he was very confused. I had read them so wasn't as much, and would recommend the same if you've not read any of the series.  Good luck and happy reading!

The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®.
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book review: Sweet little children's book of prayer

I recieved the book This Little Prayer of Mine  by Anthony DeStefano and illustrated by Mark Elliot (the same team, that did Little Star.This was a sweet little book for children that shows an example of a child's prayer.  The "narrator" prays when scared, when unsure of what to do, when she has done something wrong, and of giving thanks instead of only asking for things.  Beautiful pictures and rhymes keep children's attention. My three year old daughter loved this and wanted to read it again! Beautiful book for night time (or anytime!).

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.