Is that a Vinyl Letter Sign?...... Nope!

So I love Vinyl Letter signs. I think they look so nice. But being in the UK it is hard to find the letters to make your own Vinyl Letter signs. And it is impossible to find the signs already made. So I decided to do a bit of research and have a go at making my own a in a little bit of a different way. Anyway I thought I would do a quick tutorial on what I did and how I did it! I hope you enjoy!!



First thing I needed to do was find a piece of wood that would work for this project. Lucky for me I have a fence panel in the back garden which needs to replaced and so I broke a piece off of it. Which is perfect because it is very old and looks rustic!



Next I needed to decide what I wanted my sign to say and what lettering I wanted to use for the sign. I decided on something very simple for my first task. The words I decided were "Live, Laugh, Love" A phrase I am sure we are all familiar with. I then went onto Open office on my computer and chose a font. I typed the letters in size 200 of the font of my choosing. I then printed the words off and but them into pieces



Next I laminated the words. I thought in case it does turn out ok I want to be able to use the stencil that I was making again. Yep you read correctly Stencil. See the next thing I did was take an Stanley knife and cute around each letter.



Next I taped the stencil that I had just made onto my piece of wood. Next I got an old sponge and dipped it into some black paint and then dabbed it onto the board over the top of the stencil. I then painted some little flowers in between each word just for an added effect. And now this is hanging above the door in my kitchen. See wasn't that so easy? I am so going to do it again with different sayings.





I think it turned out really cute. What do you think? The best thing about it is that by making my own lettering the sky is the limit.

I cant wait to read your comments!

Cherry Pie

I have been on a quest to find the perfect Cherry Pie recipe and I think I may have found it. This one is so delish!! I hope you enjoy it!



Ingredients:

You will need a double crust. Either use your favorite Recipe or you can cheat and buy a ready made one but just remember you will need a DOUBLE CRUST!

1 scant cup granulated sugar (a little less than 7 oz)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 pounds dark sweet cherries, pitted (about 5 cups)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small bits
1 tablespoon milk
Sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Stir sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a mixing bowl to blend. Stir in cherries.

Stir lemon juice, almond extract an vanilla extract together. Pour over cherry mixture and stir to mix.

Roll out half the dough and press into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate (I use glass). Put cherry filling inside. Roll out second half of dough and cut out strips. Arrange a lattice of strips across top of pie.

Brush strips (not edges) lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake pie until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, covering edges with foil collar if browning too quickly, about 1 hour longer.

Make sure to cool completely!!

Enjoy!!!!

Shopping Bag Holder Tutorial

So I have a secret. You know how everyone has one place in the house where there is just loads of mess that really needs to be sorted out? Well I have a few places like that. But one of them in under my kitchen sink. See I have this problem with grocery bags. First and probably the most serious problem is the fact that I keep forgetting to take my reusable bags to the store with me. I know I am evil my 5 year old keeps reminding me how I am DESTROYING the environment. But the second problem is that I keep all the silly bags I get from the grocery store. I fold them up into a tidy little ball and throw them under the kitchen sink if a box which is designated for them. Ok so it isnt a tiny box either it takes up half the under the sink cupboard. So this week I decided I have had enough of them all falling out on me everytime I open the door. So I made a Shopping bag holder. All other bags which wont fit in the shopping bag holder for now on are going in the recycling box to be taken back to the store. Well I am going to try and take them back. I have a hard enough time remembering to take the bags I am supposed to let alone the bags I am not supposed to :) Anyway I thought I would share an easy way to make a simple fabric bag holder.

Here is what I used:



A Dish Towel (I love using them because they are the perfect size)
Elastic
Ribbon
Sewing machine and various bits to sew it

Step 1: As Always wash and iron the Dish Towel. You dont want it to shrink when you wash it.



Step 2: I had a lot of spare ribbon and wanted to decorate mine a little so I sewed on Ribbon to the top and bottom of my dish towel. The same way I had done with the previous Apron.



Step 3: I then sewed elastic to the top and bottom of the dish towel just under the ribbon. It is important to NOT sew the elastic too close to the top or else it will show when it is done and look a little silly!



Step 4: Take an 8" piece of ribbon and fold it in half. Sew this to the top of your Dish Towel on one of the sides. It will need to be sewn on the back of the dish towel so that when it is finished you dont have the seam showing on the outside of the Bag holder.



Step 5: With the right sides facing each other sew a straight line down the long edge of the tea towel.



Step 6: Turn it right side out and fill with shopping bags. The picture above is rubbish I should take another one showing the bottom which looks exactly the same as the top..

Happy Sewing!!

Look what I made

Any ideas what you can make from this?:



I made a rag quilt handbag. Ahhhh purty!!

I am sorry that I am not doing a Tutorial on this bag but honestly there were so many steps and it took so long for me to do (Mostly because of having to frey all the edges) that I decided I would not do a Tutorial even though I started taking pictures all the way through. But I did want to share the idea with anyone who wants to have a go at making it themselves. Here is the picture:



See a dear friend of mine (Hello JO!!) Has been telling me about a Charity Craft store. So on Friday we finally went. I bought a bunch of stuff for SO CHEAP!! So then I had loads of scrap bits and wanted to do something with them. So At first I thought I would make a patchwork bag... But then I thought oh how cute would it be if it was not only a patchwork bag but if I used the technique of the Rag blankets and did a rag purse. So this is obviously my first attempt but I thought it turned out really cute. It is of course so much cuter in person.

Want to know what my projects are for this week???? I have 3 on the go! check back in the next few days to see whaat they are. Plus I am on the brink of another giveaway which I think I will start near to the weekend! Check back soon!!

Awe-summm Blog Award

Fawnda over at Fireflies and Jellybeans honored our blog with the Awe-summm Blog Award. It is an honor to receive this award. I am over joyed with her kindness for giving this to us. You must check out her blog it really is Awe-summm!!! Go Quick dont read anymore of this click click click!!! (But remember to come back and read the rest I mean come on she didnt give us the Awe-summm Blog Award for nothing!! :)



Now I have to name 7 things which make us awe-summm. I would like to do this but I am a very humble girl from little ol Utah who is now living in the UK (Hopefully not for too much longer) and I hate to talk about little ol me and my AMAZING (Yep that is right) Blog. So I was thinking you could help me out. Please comment and let me know what makes this blog so Awe-summmm. I cant wait to hear what you have to say. It doesnt mean to much coming from me what I think is Awe-summm about this blog. I am the creator of course I think it is Awe-summm. I want to know why you think it is Awe-summ!!

THe Part I will do is give 8 other blogs this Awe-Summm Award! So lets see... (this is where the fun begins... Why might you ask. Well I will tell you. Now I get to go Blog Stalking for MORE AWE-SUMMMM BLOGS!!)

1. The Clarks Are Cooking
2. Film in The Fridge
3. A Year of Slow Cooking
4. 911 Recipes
5. Someday Crafts
6."Deal"icious Mom
7. A Little Tipsy
8. My Mama Made It

Make sure to check out these sites!! They are really Awe-Summmm!!!

Lemon Squares

There is something about lemon in the summertime that is refreshing to me. I am not sure if it is the bright yellow color of the lemons or just the yummy citrus taste. I do truly love it. Anyway I was looking at Bakerella yesterday and saw her recipe for Lemon Squares. Straight away I thought I have to make these. I havent had Lemon Squares in FOREVER! Probably since I was a little girl. And I was certain my husband had never had them before being in the UK, which I was right about. So I whipped some up yesterday and thought I would share the recipe with you all!! Anyway ENJOY!

Lemon Squares

Crust:
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar (plus more for dusting)

Topping:
1 1/2 cup plain sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan



To make crust:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and confectioner's sugar
   
2. Cut in butter until combined and crumbly.
   
3. Press mixture into bottom of pan.
   
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
   

1. While crust is baking, prepare topping.
   
2. In a larger bowl, add sugar, flour, and baking powder.
   
3. Then add slightly beaten eggs and lemon juice.
   
4. Mix well and pour on top of warm baked crust.
   
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
   
6. When cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and refrigerate.
   
7. Cut into bars and enjoy them cold!

Dish Towel Apron Tutorial

I have made these to give to my daughters teachers for the end of the school year, yes I know what you are thinking.... weren't the tissue holders for them. Yes they were but these are too. This is the last thing I am making to give them. Anyway I thought I would post how I did it on here. I seriously think they turned out so cute. In fact I am off to the grocery store to get some more dish towels to make myself one. They are so cheap too. I bought a 3 pack of dish towels for £5.00 and I bought 5 yards of ribbon for only £1.00 I used a little more than half of the ribbon to to these. so I would say in total 1 apron has cost me about £2.16. I am sure that in the states you can get the supplies for just as cheap. Let me know what you think!

You will need:

1 Dish towel
3 yards of ribbon
sewing machine
thread and needles.

(Yep that is it! So simple huh?!?!)

Step 1: Wash and Dry your dish towel and then iron it. Dish towels are normally 100% cotton and if you dont wash it first than it will shrink and look funny when you go to wash it the first time!! :)



Step 2: I wanted to tie in the towel and the actual straps so I cut off part of the Ribbon and sewed it to the top and bottom of the dish towel. So for Step 2 you will need to measure the correct amount of Ribbon for the top and bottom of the dish towel, pin in place and then using your sewing machine sew it into place.





Step 3. I thought it would look really cute if the top was gathered a little. So I did a simple hand stitch across the top pulling the thread tight to give the gathered look effect. Remember at the end to do a backstitch.



Here is a picture of the top of the apron / dish towel after it is gathered together.



Step 4: Now you need to measure the Ribbon for around your neck. I put the ribbon around my neck and decided how long I wanted it. I did mine 30" long. Cut the ribbon and pin it in place just below the gathered ribbon one on the right side and one on the left. Be sure that the ribbon is not twisted.



Step 5: Sew the ribbon in place for the neck strap.

Step 6: Measure the amount of ribbon you want for the ties around the waist. I did this by tying the ribbon in a bow around my waist and then cutting it off. Then fold the ribbon in half and cut, you need half for the right side and half for the left.

Step 7: Hanging the apron / dish towel from your neck measure how far down you want your waist straps. Pin in place and them on. I sewed them on the seem which was already there.



Step 8: Cut off all loose stings and any excess ribbon that you may have. When cutting off the ribbon leave 1/4" below the stitching. Then using a match melt the edges of the ribbon to keep it from fraying. You do not need to keep the ribbon in the flame but for a second as any longer will burn the edges of the ribbon and you dont want the, I accidentally caught my apron in the flame look! :)



Thats it Now you have a lovely homemade Apron and possibly two matching dish towels if you bought them in a set. ADORABLE!!

Pocket Tissue Holder

I have been looking for something to give my my daughters teachers at the end of the school year (here in the UK they dont finish until the end of July). I have decided to make them each an Apron and a tissue holder. I thought I would post the tissue holder on here to start with it was so simple to make and only took about 10 minutes. Plus it turned out really cute.I found this simple pattern on Skiptpmylou. Anyway here is the simple tutorial!! Enjoy!

you will need two pieces of fabric 6 1/2" x 7"


With right sides together stitch 1/4 inch from the edge all around the outside of the fabric. Leave about 1-2″ opening on the LONG side for turning.


Turn and iron. Make sure that you iron the opening to the inside.

Bring short edges to the middle. Place the fabric you want on the outside in the inside. At this point you can choose whether you want the opening to over lap a little or to leave a little slit for the tissue. On mine I have over lapped it. Only because I dont really want to see the tissue on the inside.

Stitch 1/4 inch from the edge along each end.


Turn your tissue holder right side out and fill with your little pack of pocket tissue. On Skip to my lou she says to put a slit in the pack of tissues so that it is easier to get the tissues out. I in fact took the tissues out of the packaging and placed them in the holder.



I sewed some buttons across the slit of mine but only for decoration on the top slit. I thought it added a little to mine. Obviously you be creative and if you have a really cool idea please tell us about it in our comments I would love to know what you do!!

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts..
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Homemade Jam

I love to make jam. I also think the less ingredients the better. I make loads of different jams in the summer when all the nice berries are fruit is in season and store it to have through the winter. Last week we broke into our last jar of jam so it was definitely time to make some more. So Saturday morning I made some Strawberries. I was able to get the Strawberries for really cheap which is fantastic too. I thought I would share with you my simple and delicious Strawberry Jam Recipe. If you are looking for more jam Recipes leave comments and I will add some more. I have loads! In the meantime I hope you enjoy this one. It is so easy it shouldnt even be allowed!!

Ingredients

6 cups of pureed Strawberries ( I put them in the blender)
5 cups Sugar
1Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice


In a large heavy sauce pan, mix sugar, berries and lemon juice. Stir on low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (105 degrees C)
Transfer to hot sterile jars. Process any unsealed jars in a water bath. If jam is going to be eaten right away, don't bother processing, and just refrigerate.



To test for jelling
Place 2 plates in the freezer. After about 10 minutes of boiling, place a teaspoon of the liquid of the jam onto a cold plate and return to freezer for a minute. Run your finger through the jam on the plate...if it doesn't run back together then its ready to be canned!

This recipe count be any easier. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!!