DIY Flirty Apron

I haven't blogged anything in a while, I have been sooo busy with home improvement, my cake business, and 3 kids I really have no free time these days.  But I really wanted to share this project.

Ok, I no I should have taken a pic of some one wearing it, and I had a pic of myself in it but I don't like pictures of myself lol But take my word for it, it's super cute when you wear it!  The best part is that it only cost $8 to make! But it is pretty time consuming, especially if you have men and children to attend to, but it's not difficult to make.

Here's the materials you will need:

Materials
1 cheapo plasticy canvas type apron (I got mine from the 99 Cent Only Store)
1 fat quarter bundle (Wal Mart has a pretty cool selection for $7.47, which is where I got mine)
Neutral thread to match your material
Needle (Yes, there is some hand sewing in my instructions, but will get to that later)
Scissors
Ruler

And here are the pretty simple instructions, I wish I had taken pictures, but hopefully I can thoroughly explain.  The cool thing about this easy apron is that you don't really have to perfect. In most patterns, if you don't measure just right, it will throw the whole thing off, but you can't really mess up this one, just make sure you get the width of the ruffles right so they will overhang each other correctly.

Instructions

1. Start by measuring your apron. From the waist down, you want the apron to be 12 inches long, mine was a little longer so I cut it and hem it.  The cool thing is, you don't have to hem it perfectly because you can't see the bottom of the apron, so just do a rough cut, fold, and stitch it up.
2.  The next thing you want to do it make the fabric strips that will turn into ruffles.  Now, don't worry about exact measurements here.  The fat quarters that I got were about 23 inches wide and about 18 inches long.  So you want to to cut 6 inch strips lengthwise from your quarters. This is a diagram of what I mean, the red lines are the cuts you are going to make.  So from each piece of fabric, you will have (2) 23 inch long and 6 inch wide fabric strips.  Sew the 2 strips together so that you have one 46"x 6" piece of material. Do this for each pattern so that you end up with 4 fabric strips to make ruffles.

 

3. Now, hem the sides and bottom of each strip, leaving the top unfinished. 
4. Here's the hand sewing part.  It's the only way I know how to do ruffles.  Fold the top of one of the fabric strips over a quarter inch, thread your needle with a about 2 feet of thread. Start a running stitch along the fold at the top of a fabric stitch and go for about 5 mm and then pull the sting tight, do a back stitch to lock and continue for the rest of the length of fabric.  I was told that you can loosen the bobbin tension on your machine and stitch to parallell lines for the length of the fabric, don't lock them with a back stitch, and then pull the bottom (bobbin) strings of each stitch so that the fabric scrunches then tie the two strings together to lock the stitches.  This technique didn't work out too well for me, but that's no reason you shouldn't try it.
5. Repeat step 4 for each fabric strip so that you have 5 scrunched fabric strips.
6. Next, figure out where to attach your ruffles to your apron.  The first will go at the waist line (I like to draw dotted lines to help keep everything straight.)  The next ruffle will go 4 inches down from the first ruffle and so forth so that the last ruffle should lay pretty much on the hem line (It's ok to put it a little higher, you won't see it.  So when you attach the ruffles, each should over lap the next by about 1 inch.  Then you just straight stitch your ruffles in place.
7. Now, for the waist band and ties.  I didn't have enough of any one material to make the ties as long as I wanted them ( you can make them as long as you want, just be sure you'll be able to tie them so I made a patchwork waistband.  I cut 3 inch wide strips our of the the remaining fabric and then cut them down to 2"x3" rectangles. Here's another lovely diagram.  The top 2 rows are the strips already cut out for the ruffles, the bottom 2 are the rectangles for the patchwork waistband.

8. Place 2 rectangles, right sides facing each other and sew the 3" inch sides together, repeat so that you have a strip that is however long you want it and 3 inches wide. Then fold the entire length in half long ways so that the right sides are facing each other again and sew the entire length.  Then flip right side out, (This was a little tricky, I tied about 2 feet of thread to a safety pin and then ran the safety pin through the inside of the strip then attached it to the other end while holding the loose end of the thread [in my teeth lol]. then started pulling the safety pin back through the middle so it was right side out). Then iron flat your strip of material so that the seem is in the middle of the back side and hem the two ends. Then just straight stitch it on your apron, just barely overlapping the top of the first ruffle.

And there you have it, it may look like a lot but I know there are people out there like me who need very particular instructions.  So good luck!

Pallet Table

This is the pallet I saw on pinterest.

     I've been super busy for the last couple days. I was inspired to make my own patio table. We have lots of those old metal fold up chairs and we have some pretty nice wooden furniture we bought for pretty cheap off this lady driving around our neighborhood selling her homemade furniture, but we just didn't have a table.  I've been wanting to buy a patio table, but they can be pretty expensive, so when I saw a cute little table made out of recycled pallets I knew I HAD to make one.

     So my sister-in-law, Colleen, and I went on a covert mission to find pallets to use.

the pallets we "found"

And then we got busy with construction

  

This is my table before being sanded and painted, and that's my brother-in-lawm Colleen's husband, in the back ground

And this one is Colleen's unfinished table.

Here are my finished tables on my patio with my old metal chairs that got a fresh coat of blue paint.

And these are the wooden chairs that I painted and made cushions and pillows for.

This is what my boo (left) and his brother, Jon Jon, were doing instead of helping me with any of this lol

And here is Colleen's finished table

     The tables were really easy to make, just got 4 pallets, a 4x4x8, "L" brackets and nails.  Cut the 4x4 into 8 one foot long sections for the legs of the 2 tables and use the "L" brackets to attach.  But they were a pain in the you know what because of all the spaces and hard to get to places that had to be painted.  But I'm happy with how they turned out and I'm ready for cooler weather to enjoy our new tables (:

Reese's Pieces Cookies

     Hey y'all I promised a cookie recipe with my left over candy from my owl cupcakes and I'm keeping my promise.  These are peanut butter cookies with a touch of chocolate and Reese's pieces candies mixed in.

     I'm not a great photographer.  But these cookies are soft and delicious and really easy to make.  This recipe makes a little over 2 dozen cookies.

Reese's Pieces Cookies

-Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups Reese's Pieces candy

-Directions
1. Preheat oven 340 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream sugar, brown sugar, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla and egg and mix until incorporated.  Then mix in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix in candy with a wooden spoon.
4. Drop cookie onto baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes.

**Tips
-The recipe calls for cocoa powder, but I didn't have any so I used chocolate milk drink mix, which is basically sweetened cocoa powder and they turned out great.
-When "dropping" the cookies on a baking sheet, use about a teaspoon of cookie dough and roll into a one inch ball and then put it on the cookie sheet.

Owl Cupcakes

     I've been staying up late for the last couple of nights making last minute birthday cake orders for some family members.  I've found that I actually really like working late at night.  It's only me and Bobby (my honey) up most of the time so it's quiet and peaceful and I can really loose myself in decorating a cake without thinking about what I'm gonna cook for dinner or the laundry that needs to get done.  I might start making every cake in the middle of the night from now on.  Only problem is that I had to get up early because I guy was coming to buy our bulldog, Turtle.  This is Turtle --->  I know it's a silly name, but she was our oldest, Dolores's, dog so she named it.  She actually wanted to call the dog Boobies and then Tom and nobody wanted to call her that so everyone just kind of called her whatever they wanted to (I called her Pudgy) until all the kids sort of decided to call her Turtle.  She was a good dog, but Dolores didn't take care of her and we have 3 dogs and decided to cut back to just 1 and she's not the one we picked.  So I got up early to meet this guy and he ended up getting lost several times trying to make it to our house and ended up having to go to work and wait until he gets off to get her.  So I made the mistake of going back to bed at 7:30 this morning, so here it is noon and I had to drag myself out of bed.

^^ This is Rocky, the dog that we kept.  He's my sweet furry baby and I would never get rid of him. (:

   But back to the cakes.

     So this is the cake that I made for my, sister-in-law, Priscilla's 5 year old sister.  All they told me was that she liked princess stuff, so I went to wal-mart and got 4 little tiaras for $0.97 and 8 little rings for the same prices and threw together this last minute cake.  You know bakeries charge extra for a border of roses?  It takes FOREVER! But, I got it done and a princess was happy and that's what matters
    Last night, another sister-in-law, my bff Colleen, asked me to make owl cupcakes for her coworker's birthday.

    I googled owl cupcakes because I only had a few hours to get this done. The original was on flickr.

This is the one I found on the net.  This one was mad with chocolate fondant, white candy melts, and m&ms for the eyes, almond chips for the wings, purple piping gel for the feathers, and and orange sprinkle for the nose.
    I love cupcakes and cakes that are easy for anyone to make and don't require any special decorating skills.  These are pretty easy to figure out, so I'm not gonna layout step by step directions but here are some pics to illustrate the process.  You'll need a dozen cupcakes, one batch of buttercream, a bag of reeses pieces candy (I bought a big bag and used the left overs to make cookies which I'll share soon as well), almond slices, oreos (I used both chocolate and vanilla ones), black or brown food color and a toothpick to draw on the wings.

     This is 2 different oreos split in half.

This is buttercream, you can get the easy recipe here.  Dip the larger end of the almond in the buttercream.

 A dot of buttercream to attach the Reese's pieces eyeballs.

Add your eyeballs and a nose.

Chai Shortbread Cookies

     My two youngest kids went with their real mother a couple days ago, and our oldest Dolores went to her grandfather's house for a couple of days, so it's been really boring around here.  Your kids drive you crazy and bug you nonstop and you can't get anything done with them around, but as soon as they're gone you're ready to have them back.
     So since I didn't have anything to do today, I decided to try out some new cookies.  I didn't want to get dressed (you know those days) so I had to make due with the ingredients that I have on hand. (I like to think of it as preparing for "Chopped" someday, only without lamb brains or anything else too weird [although there are some questionable ingredients in the back of my freezer])  Of course, I could have gone with peanut butter or oatmeal, but I didn't just want to make cookies, I wanted to have some fun.  So I ended up with Chai Shortbread cookies.

     They're actually really easy to make, you just throw some ingredients in your food processor, chill for a while, and then roll them out, cut and bake.  If you don't know, shortbread cookies aren't really sweet, they're buttery and crisp, I think of them as a more savory dessert (which I prefer anyway). You can get my recipe here.
Enjoy friends!
-Ashley

Happy 4th of July!

     I am so exhausted! I spent all day yesterday and today cooking and cleaning. But out was worth it, we had a fantastic 4th of July! I cooked pigs in a blanket, shrimp bruschet, fried pickles and jalapenos, fried chicken, sliders, and cute little semi-homemade apple pies that I'll share with y'all right now. We went and swam in colleen's pool and lit fireworks.
     These cute little apple pies were so quick and easy. You can make your own pie crust and cook down your own apples, or you can do it the semi-homemade way with prepared pie crust and canned apple pie filling. You cook your mini pies in your cupcake pan, I made 24. I used 4 prepared pie crusts, and cut circles out of then with a cookie cutter. I put the apple pie filling in my food processor and pulsed it just a couple times to break down the apple slices into smaller pieces. Fill each mini pie crust with a table spoon of filling (by the way, I used (2) 15 oz cans). Use a star cookie cutter (or any shape you want) and place one into of each pie. Brush with melted butter and bake at 350° for 25 minutes.
Happy 4th of July friends!
-Ashley
"Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness"
-Jane Austen

Buttermilk fried chicken

Tomorrow we declare our Independence as Americans for the 236th time.  In honor of that, I'm going to share my recipe for crispy, buttermilk fried chicken. For this chicken, you're going to brine your chicken in buttermilk for 2-4 hours before you actually fry it so plan accordingly.  The buttermilk brine keeps the chicken most and juicy and gives it great flavor. Don't scared, it may seem like a lot of salt in the brine, but that's normal.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Ingredients
-3 cups buttermilk
-1/2 cup coarse salt
-about 3 lbs chicken pieces
(I like to use drumsticks and/or thighs to save money)
-2 cups flour
-3/4 cup buttermilk
-1 cup plain bread crumbs
-salt
-pepper
-red pepper (optional)
Instructions
1. Combine buttermilk and salt  in a large bowl, add chicken and keep in fridge for 2-4 horse.
2. Heat vegetable oil for frying to 350°.
3. Combine flour, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and red pepper us medium bowl. Put  3/4 cup buttermilk in medium bowl.
4. Coat a piece of chicken in flour mixture, dunk in buttermilk and coat in flour a second time. Cook chicken in oil for about 8 minutes, our until golden. Repeat for rest of chicken pieces.
*Tips
-to check if drumsticks and thighs are done, insert instant read thermometer in thickest part of meat (not touching the bone). Thermometer should read 160°.
-If chicken isn't completely cooked, you can finish cooking in 350° oven for 20-30 minutes.
-Don't cook more than 2 pieces of chicken at a time if frying in a sauce pan. Too much food will reduce the temperature of the oil and you won't end up with really crispy chicken.
-Coat the chicken with breading immediately before cooking, don't coat it all at once and leave it on the counter.
Happy 4th of July friends!
-Ashley
"Fried chicken just tend to make  you feel better about your life"
-'Minni Jackson'
The Help