Home Made Popsicles

My three boys LOVE Popsicles, and ever since we have moved down here to Arizona, it's a staple. The only thing I don't like about Popsicles is the fact they are what 90% or more sugar. So We started to make our own. They taste better. And there is NO SUGAR involved. My three rambunctious boys have enough energy as it is.

They are super easy. First off you will need Popsicle molds. Any kind will do! Or you can pour into a cup and put a spoon inside as the handle!

Start off by filling your blender with fruit. Strawberries, Raspberries, Peaches, Bananas, and Blackberries all work great. Then fill the blender about half way full of water to start out. Blend. Then add more water if necessary. You want it the consistency of lotion. So it's runny but not like water, but it's thick, not like a milk shake. Then if you want to make your boys a little happier you can add some Stevia Packets. I don't, and really, they don't even notice. Then add about 1/4 tsp vanilla flavoring. It ties all the flavors together just perfect. Pour into your molds and freeze.

My boys approve.

I think your kids will too!

Delicate Flower

First Head On Over To Pick Up Some Creativity and make a skinny tube with me. Then grab your tube and lace and a string of beads. Sew them together as close to the edge as you can. While you sew weave the string of beads in and out of the sewn line.

Then run a gather or baste stitch along the same edge of the tube and gather slightly.

Fold one of the ends in about 1 inch. Hand stitch it together.

Then start wrapping the ruffled tube around in a circle. Hand sew as you go.

Do this until you have no more left.

And there you have it.

A back view.

You can now hot glue your flower to a head band, or an elastic, or a hair clip, or a necklace, a v-neck shirt...the options go on and on and on.

It's delicate,

Vintage Looking,

Feminine,

Ruffly,

And Oh So Pretty.

Where Am I At?

Well I am thrilled to be over at Pick Up Some Creativity and sharing with you my Beginner Sewing Tip! There are some great craft bloggers that have already shared their tips as well. Head on over there, you won't regret it!

What is my tip you ask?

It has to do with this. One really long gold tube. And yes, a tutorial is in the works using just that.

Craft Shop

I have in the working a million things (well not quite a million) to go in my craft shop. But until I get them finished and listed I want to clearance all my current items out.

So head over there and check out what is there. I have not only LOWERED all the prices, everything is buy 2 get one free! (the free one being the lesser value)

And all of the proceeds are going to the Sullenger Family! Can't beat that!

In Case You Missed It...

For those of you that missed out on my Feature last week...here it is...

Hey Y'all, It's Shannon from Shannon Makes Stuff and I'm honored to be here today with Chris sharing my tip for beginner sewers. First off I want to say good for you for starting to sew! You won't regret it. And don't give up! If you are anything like me you'll make a lot of redo's. But that's okay, you learn as you go!

There really is a million and a half things I could share with you. But the one thing that used to drive me crazy while sewing until I figured this little trick out on my own was turning long skinny tubes inside out. Ugh. I used to do the place the safety pin in one end and shimmy it down the tube until it comes out the other end. But really, who has the time? Or the patience? This is so much easier. I guarantee it.

To start out with you will need the piece of fabric you are going to be turning into a tube. This piece is 1 inch across by 25 inches long. Set this right sides down on your work surface.

Take a roll of ribbon. I use the same roll every time. It stays with me with my sewing supplies. Use a 1/4 inch ribbon, that way it will fit in any size tube you make! Lay it out on top of your fabric piece until it comes off the farthest end.

Sew the end of the ribbon to the end of your fabric piece in the middle. Back stitch a few times to secure it in place. You don't want it in your seam allowance space. (I should have sewn mine a little closer to the middle to show you better. I was cutting it close.)

Then head over to your sewing machine. While you sew your sides together to create your tube you need to hold the ribbon to the side with the fold to make sure it doesn't get caught in your sewn line. Sew all the way to the end of your tube.

You now have an inside out tube with a ribbon running through it and still connected to your ribbon spool.

Start to roll up the ribbon on the spool. As you do this scrunch up the fabric tube.

Keep scrunching and sliding.

Once the ribbon is all rolled up you will see the end and the right side of the fabric tube will start to pull through.

Keep pulling the fabric piece to the end.

Completely pull the the fabric until it is right sides out.

Then cut off the ribbon as close as you can to the sewn line without cutting the tube. You could also unpick the stitch if you prefer.

And there you have it. See wasn't that easy?

And if you are curious what I am going to do with this long gold tube, come visit me at Shannon Makes Stuff, and in a few days, you will know!

Plunging Neckline Cover-up!

Did You miss me last weekends over at Scraps N' Strings? Just in case...

Hey It's Shannon over from ShannonMakesStuff and I am so excited to be here at Scraps N' Strings with all you fabulous followers! This is my first blog swap and I am excited to be sharing the experience with all of you!

For those of you who haven't seen me around blog world yet, I thought I would share a little of me with you! I am a mother of three young boys. I am married to a man in the middle of Nurse Anesthesia school which leaves me to run the show, you can follow my story here. I stay up way too late creating. I love any medium and any art or craft project. I try every day to hold on to being a little girly although as every night passes it seams to be slipping further and further away and the boy traits are creaping in. So I started a blog to share what I love, and keep me a little more me until my little girl comes into my home! A girl can dream right? Well, enough about me...on with the show...

I have created something for you that is a must have in every women's wardrobe. Have you ever had that perfect shirt but the neckline plunges a little too low? And it's WAY to hot to wear multiple layers, or you simply don't want to add the bulk? This is the solution.

Grab an old t-shirt and flip it upside down. In this case, I used one of my sons. Place the bottom hem of the shirt across your chest and hold it tight underneath your arms.

I place a bra on over my clothes so you can see what I am referring too. With the shirt in place make two snips on the side of the bra strap.

Take the shirt and lay it flat on the ground. Cut straight down from the snip marks about 7-10 inches. Then cut across the bottom to make a square piece.

You can now take this piece and pin it back in place across your chest.

Measure the width of your bra strap starting at the front inner going to the edge and then underneath to the other side and then add 1/2 inch. My measurement was 2 1/4 inches. Cut a piece of ribbon double this length. Fold the ribbon in half and pin the center of it to the edge of the shirt piece.

Here is a side view. The raw edges of the ribbon are underneath the shirt. (Make sure you fray checked the ends.)

Take the pin out of the shirt and put it back through the ribbon right where it was when it was attached to the shirt piece. Take a piece of velcro and attach it to the loop side of the ribbon piece ending at the pin.

Then on the raw edge side sew on the other side of the velcro piece.

Turn your shirt piece right side down and place the ribbon piece back in place. The center of the two velcro pieces should be placed on the edge of the shirt piece.

Sew a small rectangle to keep the ribbon piece in place.

Take your shirt piece and you can now tuck the ribbon underneath your bra strap and velcro it in place.

Put your plunging neckline shirt on, and there you have it!

A simple way to create that layered look without adding too much bulk.

You can also adjust the shirt piece by lowering it or raising it on your bra strap to get the perfect height of cover up for your needs.

And it's perfect for those of you who need to play it safe at the work place with it in place and then take it out for an instant change to head out for a night on the town.

I hope you will LOVE this piece in your wardrobe as much as I am loving it in mine! I would LOVE for you to come stop by at ShannonMakesStuff and see all my other tutorials from The Perfect Swimming Bag to Screen Printing! I guarantee I'll keep your creation jar full if you stop by and become a follower!

Baby Shower Invite

I am HONORED and so EXCITED to be throwing a baby shower for not only a friend, but my husbands classmates wife (GOT THAT? phew.). It's not for a few months, but we had to get out the word with our Country Traveling Students. (We claim them as ours and they aren't here with us right now.) We are holding it during a short break they have between destinations, and plans for those three, yes they only get three days, fill up super duper fast. We are doing an after the baby arrives couples shower where we can all snuggle that darling girl and just relax with her just as darling parents. And I am even more lucky because I have another gal who claims a student helping out. I haven't met her yet, just over the phone, but rumor has it she's quite the creative gal herself, so I can't wait. And I am so honored to be helping her do this!

That being said I needed an e-vite to send out to everyone that will be coming. So I knew right where to head for inspiration. My relief society presidents blog... dunna dunn...BECKY HIGGINS. Yeah the one and only. She has a million things on her plate. She's like super woman. And she really is as nice and awesome in person! Aren't I lucky?

Look around you'll see alot of tips and tricks. She has a recent post right here for 4 tips to make an invitation. But when I searched Baby Shower Invites in her search box this one pulled up:

(Please see her post containing it here)

She also posted a slew of photo's containing baby feet and hands for our personal use. You can find that here.

So using her invite as inspiration and her baby feet this is what I came up with.

Yes. I realize hers is much more lovely. She has an eye for white spacing, mixing fonts, etc. She is the scrapbook Queen after all. But I am quite pleased.

So once the shower is over you'll be seeing alot of baby shower items on here. Can't post them now, don't want to spoil the surprise! (Which is so hard for me, I have such a hard time not sharing the second I create!) In the mean time, Jump Over to Becky's site. You won't regret it!

Just because I am SO EXCITED!

I decided to let you know here as well as on my vinyl blog. My vinyl cutter is fixed (it fixed iteslf in the mail:)) And is on it's way back home! I am hoping it gets delivered by Next Wednesday, or sooner! And then my shop will be back up and running! Hurray for that!

In the mean time. There is another giveaway over there to tide you over. This time it's for a bunch of cut decals. Head on over and enter.

Coffee Table turned Foot Rest

I have a coffee table that I hate. And I've abused it. And I have wanted to do something with it forever. So today, I tackled it. It's gorgeous isn't it?

Okay so it's not. I took it apart. Set the pieces aside, except for the top piece.

Set the table top upside down onto a 3 inch thick piece of foam. Trace the table top.

Using an electric bread knife cut out the piece of foam.

Cover the top of the coffee table with craft glue and stick the foam to it.

Now take thin batting and lay it flat on the surface you are working on. Then place the coffee table top upside down onto the foam. Staple the batting to the bottom of the table.

Cut off the excess batting in the corner.

Then lay your fabric right sides down and place the coffee table top on top of it. Starting with one of the short sides staple the fabric to the bottom.

Pull the fabric tight and staple to the other end.

Then do the same to the two long sides. The corners will be left undone. Grab them and pull them straight out.

Fold them down and over the sides and staple to the bottom of the table.

Flip it over and make sure it looks great.

I then put the coffee table parts back on, all of them but the legs that is.

Cut off the legs to your desired height. I needed to cut off 3 inches from each one. Then put the legs back on.

Well, he loves it.

And it's stunning.

And the pop of color it adds ties in my pillows perfectly to my living space.

And it's fabulous for laying back and throwing up my feet while blogging and watching Jillian Michaels.

So that's it! I love it, what do you think?

As always I am linking up to these parties!