Beauty Tip - Toner

I don't know what took me so long to do this...I now transfer my toner into a little spray bottle and apply by misting my face and pat. I used to use cotton balls and it was driving me crazy that I was letting the excess left on the cotton ball to waste in the trash. That and the fact that I was creating trash from my daily routine. Initially I made re-usable cotton pads out of flannel scraps I had in my stash. Then one day, ah ha! I thought of the spray bottle. I love that I'm using every drop of the product and reducing trash : )

Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

Trying to get my kids to eat more veggies, I recalled reading about other mothers smuggling cauliflower into mac & cheese. I gave it a go last night. Turned out pretty tasty.

I modified the Real Simple's Cauliflower Mac & Cheese bake recipe with the following:
3 slices of wheat bread
seasoning - a couple dashes of Tabasco, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, 1/4 tsp truffle sea salt
I made the cheese sauce with:
4Tsp butter
4c 2% milk
1/4c flour
4oz cheddar, 2 oz Gruyere cheese

Caring for Your Engagement and Wedding Rings

source

This was the topic of a recent email I got from Martha Stewart - I'm still on the wedding daily email subscription since my sister got married earlier this year.  I was particularly interested in the cleaning of your jewelry section:

Clean Your Ring

To keep your ring sparkling, clean it often to remove lotions, skin oil, and everyday dirt, which cloud it. (1) You can soak the ring in warm water and mild dishwashing liquid, and scrub with a soft toothbrush, says Tracy Lantz, associate director of public relations at the Diamond Information Center. Or (2) soak it in equal parts ammonia and cold water for half an hour, and let it air dry. Any brand-name jewelry cleaner is another good option.

I tried both options on my stud earrings.  They were in dire need of a cleaning.  I found that the ammonia concoction was far more effective than diswashing liquid.  All the yucky grime simply melted off into the solution.  Awesome!

Doll Stroller Revamp

This was my daughter's play stroller at Grandma's house. It's seen better days. She got another one Christmas in pink I re-covered it with some fabric lying around the house so that my little guy will have one to push around too. The problem with the original was that it's make of cheap nylon with ugly teddy bear print. It tore at the bottom, so what ever stuffed animal or dolly riding in it, always fell out!

I spent the afternoon cutting and sewing and this is how it turned out.

I simply took apart the original and used it as pattern to cut the replacement.

Tech Sleeve

I made this sleeve for my sister using this tutorial from Dog Named Banjo Blog. Since the original tute is for an iPod Touch, I made some modifications to fit a Kindle Touch. In the event you need one, here are the measurements:

14 3/4" x 6 - one of each for lining and exterior. I happened to use the same fabric.
14 1/4 x 5 1/2 - batting (i used instead of fusible fleece) to back the lining fabric.
14 3/4 x 6 - pellon fusible webbing for exterior to stiffen it up.
2 x 3 - one of each for lining and exterior flap (which I fused 1 piece with webbing)
sew on Velcro

Measurements for an iPad 2 are as follows:
20 3/8 x 8 1/2 - one of each for lining and exterior
20 3/8 x 8 1/2 - 1 to line the interior fabric
19 7/8 x 8 - pellon fusible webbing for exterior fabric
3 x 3 - one of each for lining and exterior flap (this time I sandwiched batting)
sew on Velcro

PJ Pants

I made some lounge pants from my hubby's old PJs that was torn for my little guy. I simply laid a pair of pants that fit him now on the bottom of Mr's old pants, cut and sew! Since the fabric is worn nice and soft, these are super comfy. I did reinforce the seams with the serger, if you don't have one, just zig zag along the seam to prevent it from coming apart.