My Inspiration Index

Freezer paper stencil t-shirt

2010-06-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

So I have seen TONS of tutorials on using freezer paper, so I had to see what it was all about. With my nephew's birthday coming I decided to use it as an opportunity to try it out.

My nephew, Brady, LOVES Lightning McQueen from "Cars" and has always called him Ka-Chow. So I thought I would use this as inspiration for his t-shirt.

So here is a brief tutorial on how I did it:
(click on pictures and they should get bigger)

Hopefully this tutorial will inspire you to try using FREEZER PAPER. I have already made another t-shirt for myself and have many other ideas brewing on how I can use this technique.

Few other tips:

The fabric paint can be a bit pricey- so if you plan on doing more than just one project I recommend buying a paint pack- that has a small size of every basic color.
It is recommended to pre-wash your fabric
You probably want multiple layers of the paint- especially if the shirt is a darker color.
Here are some other great Tutorials or Ideas using freezer paper: Inspiration 1- from I am Momma...Hear me Roar, Inspiration 2- from How About Orange, Inspiration 3- from Cute as a Fox, and Inspiration 4- from Shannon Makes Stuff.

2010-05-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

My sock Monsters were featured on Tip Junkie with other great Kid Activities!

Fun Fabric Cards and Card Idea Roundup!

2010-05-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

So I had some birthdays and of course Mothers day these past few weeks and I wanted to make some cards. I love this Paisley fabric I have so I wanted to incorporate it somehow. So I came up with the idea to do a cut-away and put the fabric underneath it.

Here are two that I made:

On both of them I just...

found a clip art or font that I liked and printed it out for my template (I used a cupcake and "m" for the ones above)
folded a piece of paper into 4ths to make the card (like a traditional card you would fold).
on the bottom right quadrant I traced my template and then used my cool Fiskars fingertip craft knife (a cooler version of a exacto-knife) to cut out the template area
taped my fabric (or felt- like in the cupcake one) on part that would be underneath the template.
I just glued down the top half to the bottom so the fabric is covered (and you don't see the tape)
embellished the card with some dashes and print!

Here are some other great card ideas I have found on other blogs!

(all pictures from respective links)

1. Stamp With Diane- Money Holding Card
2. Make and Takes- Hand Stitched Card
3. The How-to Gal- Flower Pop-up Card
4. Inchmark- Silhouette Card

Now take these ideas and get INSPIRED and create come cute cards!

Raspberry filled Cupcakes

2010-04-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

So last night I needed to make a birthday treat to share with the young women group at my church that I am in charge of to celebrate one of the girls birthdays.

I have loads of great recipes I have found on blogs that I have been dying to try out! I decided on these delicious ones, Raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes, from Tidymom. They were sooooo wonderful, one of the girls even said they were the best cupcakes she has EVER had (I owe it to the great recipe, not my cooking skills).

Photo from Tidymom

There were no too overly difficult steps, just quite a few steps since you have to make the cupcakes, raspberry filling, and frosting. I guess you could cut back on a few of them if you used store bought frosting or even raspberry jam for the filling. However, I think the frosting and the filling are past of what makes them sooo delicious!

***Also, Tidymom does not follow the store bought cake mixes recipe, but uses the mix with her own recipe and I think this made the cupcakes HEAVENLY! I plan on following this next time I make ANY cupcakes! here is what she did:

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla

3 Large Eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted (use butter not margarine)

1 cup of water

Thanks Tidymom for the WONDERFUL recipe!!!!

WHOA NELLIE!

2010-04-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

So I hve been a total blogging slacker.... would that make me a blacker or have I been slogging?

In between a lot of substitute teaching jobs, spring break, family visits, and so forth I am have not put much time into My Inspiration Index.

There are tons of GREAT ideas I want to post about and try... mean I'm talking like 737 starred items in my google reader that date all the way back to February....whoops!

I am going to try and put a little more effort in soon! For the time being here is one of my husbands favorite recipes that we just made again recently... Chicken South of the Boarder- or Chick Sob- for short.

4-5 chicken breasts pre cooked and hunked (boiled in broth, preserve some for later)
1 doz. Corn Tortillas cut into quarters
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 sm. Can of Salsa Verde
1/2 Red pepper chopped finely
1/2 Green pepper chopped finely
1 c. onion chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
2-3 cloves garlic
2 c. of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese

In a medium saucepan saute peppers, onions, and garlic in butter. Be sure to cook until onions are golden brown and not crunchy. Add soup and salsa verde to vegetables. Simmer for 10 minutes stirring frequently.

In a glass baking dish, layer tortillas, drizzle broth, hunked chicken breasts, sauce, and then cheese. Do these layers twice.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 uncovered.

My Dad's Delicious Buttermilk Cookies

2010-03-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

So my dad used to give my mom "Sunday Dinners for a YEAR" for Christmas, meaning he would cook Sunday dinners for her. Not only did he cook, but he would go all out researching new recipes. His favorite recipes seemed to always come from little old ladies from the Midwest. It was soo cute to watch my dad do this each week and get so excited (i recommend this to all the husbands out there... it will win you bit points).

(picture of my Cute Mom and Dad)

Anyways... one of the recipes that is still repeated to this day at home is the Buttermilk cookies! My dad would always make them for me on special occasions or if I was home to visit. I have eaten my fair share of them... but FINALLY the other day I decided to make a batch.

So here is the yummy, delicious recipes (that I am sure was inspired by some old midwestern woman).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter-softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 buttermilk

Directions:

preheat oven to 375 degrees
in a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light
beat in egg and vanilla
mix in salt and baking soda
mix in flour and buttermilk- alternating between the two to insure better mixing
drop rounded tablespoons full of dough on to a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (these cookies are not meant to look nice and perfect and round...so just slap the dough on there!)
cook for 10-12 minutes-until outside edges are lightly browned
remove and let cool on racks

Frosting

3 TB. butter- softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Just combine all ingredients together, beat until smooth, and then frost cookies.

These cookies are the BEST hot but are GREAT anytime!

FEATURED!

2010-03-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have been FEATURED on Treasures for Tots for my Sock Monster Tutorial!

I feel so flattered... go here to check it out.

Mini Bunting Birthday Card VIDEO Tutorial.

2010-03-16T16:51:00.001-07:00

So after breaking into the tutorial world with my first one... I realized they are pretty simple (as long as you plan ahead and think about it as you make the item). Well I was going to do a regular one but got lazy and didn't want to take a whole bunch of pictures of each step... in BAD lighting... so I pulled out my trusty FLIP camera and decided to give a VIDEO tutorial a whirl!

So first let me tell you where my inspiration came from... I stumbled upon this cute card on How about Orange a while ago... and it is my grandma's birthday tomorrow (yeah, she is a st. patty's girl!), so i had an opportunity to try it out!

So here is my tutorial... please pardon the shaky-ness, bad lighting, and overall AMATUER-ness of it all... but hopefully the things I am teaching come across.

Let me know if you make one of these and if you found the tutorial helpful. Also I gladly welcome any constructive criticism so I can make the tutorials better!

3 of my favorite headband tutorials

2010-03-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

There are HUNDREDS of tutorials and ideas out there in the blogosphere on headbands. I feel little girls of America are going to be the best accessorized on their head than ever before! I wish I had such cute options when I was a little girl! I will just make some for my GROWN-UP self now so I can feel cute too!

But here are three of my favorite tutorials!

Elastic Fabric Headbands from Paige and Brooke
I love this one because of its simplicity... no frills, just a straight headband. There are endless possibilities with all the different fabric you could use...
one for each outfit??...hehe!

Felt Bow Headband from Calico
This is a great way to take old, ugly headbands you have on hand and cover them to make them SNAZZY! I love all the examples of easy things you can do to them!

Felt Peony Flower on Headband from Yoonie-at-Home
I espeically like the flower template on this post... it can be used for SOOOO many things, not just headbands. I actually have used these tutorial A LOT already! I have made multiple Baby headbands from it...just put the peony on a nylon headband versus the plastic one she uses.
(see pictures below)

I hope you love these tutorials too! If you have other great ones... please let me know! Also, if you have used these tutorials I would love to know how they worked for you.

Happy Hair!

Felt Monogrammed Key Chain Tutorial

2010-03-13T15:32:00.000-08:00

The other day I was in Forever 21 shopping and near the register was this odd looking key chain.

Now I was in NO way intending to buy this bizarre item...but it got me thinking. I thought that I could use my felt and embroidery thread at home to make a similar thing. I do not want a alien bunny on my key chain, but I have always been drawn to monogrammed ones... so I came up with this idea!

All you need are some Felt (can just be scraps), embroidery thread, and sewing supplies (needle, pins, scissors, etc). After that you just need a plan for you key chain!

These are super simple... just:

Cut out felt pieces. Make sure to have a front and back piece so you can be able to stuff it with batting for more volume.
Stitch on monogram. I used a back stitch to create a straight line of thread, however you could just do a basic stitch (like I used on the outside of key chain- in white). I also at this point cut out a small strip of felt and created a loop with it and just discreetly sewed it on to one of the background pieces.
Stitch two pieces of background felt together. Before finishing up outline, stuff with just a small amount of batting. (If you don't have batting, just use a cotton ball that you pull apart). With the end of the thread I just use a pen or scissors to tuck it inside the two pieces to hide it.

And TA-DA.... you have a new personalized key chain... no more silly rubber GIECO one!

You can continue to be creative with just small scraps of felt. I decided to make a LETTER one to go on our mail key. Let you CREATIVITY flow and have fun!

Ahh... Real Monsters!- A Tutorial

2010-03-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would venture out there and try my first tutorial. I have recently begun making Sock Monsters from the inspiration on this blog, A Cookie in Each Hand. I have just been making them for fun, as something to try. However my hubby, Chris, refuses to let them go! He wants me to make TONS to put in our future kids' rooms. It is quite cute... he is very attached to them.

But when it comes to tutorials I like the really detailed, visual ones because that is they way I learn best. So hopefully this will make sense to you all. But if you feel pretty confident the tutorial from the link above may be better suited for your "super" skills.

Supplies:
Basics--

1 pair of socks (must be mid calf to knee length)
batting (or some sort of stuffing)
Needle
Thread (I used embroidery floss that I had already)
Sharpie
Pins

Embellishments--

felt- various colors for eyes and tummy
buttons- for eyes and tummy embellishments
embroidery floss- to sew on embellishments

Directions
*** I do not have a sewing machine (not yet!) so I hand stitched these... however they would be super easy to use the machine.

1. Flip the sock inside out. Grab the Heel section and fold it together like in the picture below. Should have three little "humps" from the heel to sew together in a straight line. Try to think about how it will look right-side out, you are trying to form two lips.

2. Sew up the Mouth (you can see it finished in the picture above). Then outline the top of your monster, like it's "ears" or "antennas". For this one I made them lopsided, or different heights, and more of a square shape, but you can do what ever you want (see other monsters at end for more ideas).

3. Sew along the outline you drew. Make sure to stitch small and close together so when you turn the sock right-side out it will not have big gaps. Also make sure to have good, strong knows at the ends.

4. Draw your outline for the legs too. It is Important to not draw a line connecting both legs (like in the groin area) because this is where you will stuff your monster.

5. Sew up the legs (with the same tight stitch) and make sure NOT to sew across the groin area to connect the legs! {I made that mistake once and it turned out...well... disastrous}

6. Cut just outside your outline (make sure not to snip any of your sewing). Also, although you did not sew in the groin area (sorry for using this word so much...haha) you need to cut across here.

7. Turn your sock Right side out and make sure the ears and legs are pushed out completely to their whole shape. A pen (with the cap on) can be helpful for doing this.

8. Take handfuls of the batting and stuff it into the monster, starting at the top. Work out the bumps as you go along. You can decide how much stuffing you want... maybe you want to have a cute chubby monster---so stuff it more!

9. Once the monster is all stuffed, take a matching thread and fold over raw edges of sock. Just do a simple loop stitch to close the monster all up. It's okay if it doesn't look perfect (my first ones were a bit rough) because its a MONSTER!

10. If you have really long socks (like these knee highs) you should have enough sock left over (from below the legs) to make the arms. If you don't just use your other sock. Repeat like ears and legs above by outlining your arms and then stitching along the outline.

11. Just like before, cut out the arms and flip them right side out.

12. Stuff the Arms with batting. Leave a little bit of the raw edge without stuffing so you can fold it over.

13. Fold over the raw edge of the arms. Thread needle through (with thread already knotted at end) from the inside of the arm to out, through both parts of the folded over hem. This way the end of the thread will be hidden inside the arm.

14. Place the arms where you want them. You can even pin them in place. Then just start with a loop stitch, grabbing a small part of the monsters body and you then go through arm too. (this gets easier with practice, you learn the tricks as you do it more)

15. Pick out the colors and buttons you want for your monsters eyes. Be creative here and add your own flare!

1. sew button onto first layer of felt
2. trim around button to form a circle
3. sew first layer of felt on to the second layer. I used a contrasting color thread so it would show!
4. (add the other buttons for other eye onto second layer). Trim around the eyes on second layer of felt.

16. Sew on the eye "patch" with a contrasting thread to make it stand out. I would just go down through the felt and into the body and back out both with the needle before pulling the thread through (like pictured above). When you get to end I would knot of your thread and then I used a pen to push the end of the thread underneath the eye "patch" to hide it.

17. Cut out a piece of felt for tummy (or you can just add buttons on chest for embellishments (like on my green and blue monster below). Pin the felt onto the monster and sew it on with contrasting thread, like with eye "patch".

18. YOU'RE DONE!! Congrats you have created your own sock monster.

19. Love and snuggle your monster...This step comes highly recommended from my Husband!

20. Make more monsters and introduce them to each other!

Hopefully this tutorial make sense... it is my first... so it may not be my best. If you have any tips to add, watch to share your creations or need any help, please feel free to email me: amandajones85(at)gmail(dot)com!

I hope you enjoy these monsters as much as my Husband and I have. It is fun to pick out the socks and embellishments and get creative. These also make pretty inexpensive gifts and are soooo lovable!

Baked instead of Fried Please!

2010-03-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love Fried foods, right? But if you want to watch that girlish figure...watch out! Also, I had cooking with a huge pot of oil and it splattering everywhere, just to messy and complicated for me...so if the recipe can be baked... I do it!

Here is a great tip that I will defiantly use next time I bake (instead of fry) from Cafe Zupas. Side note: I really miss living close to Zupas!

image from Cafe Zupas

Here is a recipe from All Recipes that looks like a good one to try this tip on! It makes me want some burgers, corn on the cob, and pink lemonade with these fries!

Homework HELP

2010-03-09T16:16:00.001-08:00

Being a teacher I know how important it is for kids to have a homework routine and a quiet place to do it. That is why I think this idea from Amanda at Raising Tomorrow's Men is so great.

I will defiantly have to remember this for when I have kids. Oh wait.. maybe I should make one now for my husband who is in Med School... maybe it will help him stay "focused"

Image from Raising Tomorrow's Men

The proof is in the pudding

2010-03-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

What's better than a combination of a cool treat and creamy pudding?
These recipes from Our Best Bites would be a great way to cool off in the summer and seem soooo easy to make. Gotta try these...
Blend pudding mix, half and half, and almond extract in blender until smooth. Add in cherries and pulse 2-3 times. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Place in molds and freeze.

images from Our Best Bites

"Kisses" for Rice Krispies

2010-03-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

My husband has simple tastes when it comes to desserts... his favorites are brownies and RICE KRISPIES. I thought this idea I saw on Homemaking Fun would be a fun way to spice up (at least the appearance) of the usually mundane Rice Krispies. This would also be a great idea for Valentine's Day.

Images from Homemaking Fun

Handy Hemming Instructions

2010-03-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

I hate finding a great pair of pants that fit "just right" but then you glance down and see the bottoms in a POOL around your ankles!

I am too cheap to go to a tailor to get all my pants hemmed, so when I saw this post from Hannah at Wouldn't it Be Nice I was ecstatic! She got her idea from Stephanie's tutorial at Barefoot in the Kitchen originally. Thank you to BOTH of these girls!!!