My Easy Mac Will Never Boil Over Again!!!

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I'm not proud of it but my 7 year old is a Carb-O-Vore.  It's terrible.  She actually calls herself a vegetarian however, getting her to eat a vegetable is worse than pouring salt into a wound and there is absolutely no way on earth she would ever put any form of meat into her mouth.  That being said, there are some nights that I simply can not cater to the craziness. Those nights call for something quick and it's usually Easy Mac (don't even judge me...or do...whatever) 

I actually hate easy mac. I hate it for many reasons but, one of my top reasons is because whoever designed it had clearly never actually cooked it and/or doesn't have to clean the microwave at their house because it never fails that the tiny little 5oz. pot of easy mac somehow boils 10 gallons of sticky, starchy, sludge all over the inside of the microwave as it cooks.  Soooooo annoying!!!  Those of you who do not believe in modern day revelation, I hate to burst your bubble because, today I had a revelation.   Have you ever seen the trick where you put a wooden spoon on top of your pot to keep it from boiling over onto the stove top? WELL...I thought to myself, "I bet that would work in the microwave".  I don't own a wooden spoon, nor do I think they make one small enough to balance on top of my easy mac so I grabbed a skewer and broke it in half.  (I bet a Popsicle stick or craft stick would work too).  Sure enough, it worked like a champ!  Absolutely no slimy sludge spilled over into my microwave. In fact, I made 6 packages (don't ask) and it worked every time.  Yay, for being a genius!  lol

Happy Sunday Everyone!

~DeLynne

Wicked Witch Loopy Legs Wreath: the TUTORIAL

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Are you loving the Wicked Witch Loopy Legs design?   It is such a fun design and I am always dreaming up new ways to use those witch legs!  Here is the much awaited tutorial for the Wicked Witch Loopy Legs Wreath~~a design I tried to create using as much as I could find around my house and craft room.  It is super easy, the hardest part is waiting until Halloween to display it. Cheesy, but true.


To make this wreath you will need:

• A canvas, cut piece of wood, or cardboard.  The size just depends on how large you want the center (or base) of your wreath to be.  For this wreath, I used a canvas that was 12"x12".
• Fabric, enough to cover and wrap around your base.
• A design of your choice to stitch on your base fabric.  For this wreath, we used this WITCHES WELCOME design.
• Wicked Witch Loopy Legs.  You can get the design and tutorial to make them  HERE.
• Piece of cardboard that is about the same size as your base piece. 
• Two 6 inch wide rolls of tulle.  I used almost 2 complete 10 yard rolls of tulle, mostly black, with some purple and green mixed in.  You can use more or less, depending on how poofy you want your tulle to be.
• 2 yards of 1.5" ribbon to attach to the back for hanging.
• Glue gun and glue sticks.
• OPTIONAL:  Staple gun with staples

Here's what you do:



MAKE THE BASE.

Cut a piece of fabric to cover your base.  It will need to be about 3 inches larger on each side so that you can secure it to the back later on. You can use a piece of stiff cardboard, plywood, or a blank canvas as your base piece.

Stitch the design of your choice onto your fabric and embellish as much as you can dream up.  I ironed on some rhinestones (because the witches at my house like some bling). Center the completed fabric on to your base.

Now you will attach the fabric to the base.  You can glue the fabric onto the base, or use a staple gun to attach the fabric.  I stapled my fabric because using a staple gun makes me feel powerful :)  Make sure that you keep your corners neat and crisp and the fabric is taut over the base, but not stretching.   The base is now completed. 

MAKE THE TULLE "SKIRT".

In this step, you will be gluing tulle onto a piece of cardboard to create the "skirt" behind the base. I found an empty box in my craft room and used that. I cut the cardboard into a circle (using a plate as a makeshift template, because if I try to freehand a circle it will look like an amoeba).  It doesn't need to be a perfect circle, just a guideline for the gluing the tulle.



I used rolls of 6" wide tulle and cut it into 8" strips.  To cut my strips, I used another piece of the box I cut the circle out of and cut a piece that was 7" wide and. 8" long.

Now take your roll of tulle and wrap the entire roll around this piece of cardboard.

Cut through the top and the bottom of the tulle.

YOU JUST CUT 45 STRIPS OF TULLE IN ABOUT 30 SECONDS. 

(This is a great tip to have in your back pocket if you make tutus, by the way.)

Glue the tulle around the circle of cardboard you cut. Try to keep the tulle even, but you can go back and trim up anything you need to later. 



Once you have glued all the tull around your circle, center the base on top of the tulle circle.  Carefully glue the base onto this "skirt".  



 



Take a deep breath, you are almost finished!

Attach the your loopy legs to the base of the wreath.  I just glued mine on.  Double check that your legs are even.

Now you just need to attach some ribbon to the top to use to hang your wreath.  I use 2 pieces of  1.5"ribbon that are each a yard long  (you can trim any excess if needed after you hang your wreath).  Position the ribbon on the back of the wreath so that they are slanting slightly towards each other (making sure that the front of the ribbon is facing the front of the wreath).  I stapled mine to the back of my wreath, but you can glue the ribbon also.  If you glue the ribbon, make sure the glue is dry before you hang your wreath.  Once the glue is dry, tie the 2 ribbons in a big, beautiful bow and you are ready to hang your Wicked Witch Loopy Legs Wreath wherever your heart desires.

YAY!!!!!!  You made an awesome wreath and you are ready to welcome any witches that come your way!

If you have any questions regarding the wreath, please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help you!  You can email me at:

amber@embroitique.com 

AND......I would just be tickled to see your creations, so send me pics of your fabulous wreaths.

Trick or Treat,

~~*Amber*~~

Did you know....? aluminum foil tip

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Have you ever accidentally yanked the whole roll of aluminum foil or saran wrap right out of the box?

I have.  

On more than on occasion and let me tell you, 

 it is either a mess or a waste.

You can choose to try and get it back on the roll 

(which never works out the way you want it to) or just throw away the crinkled aluminum foil or saran wrap that is all stuck together.  

Neither of which is fun.  

I usually just cut my losses and throw out the mess.

UNTIL I FOUND THESE LITTLE TABS!

They lock the roll in place!

They are on all the boxes... Brand name and generic...

AND THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE!

Who the heck knew?

Not me...but now I do.

and so do you :)

Happy Wednesday!

Jacki

Wicked Witch Loopy Legs Tutu Wreath Tutorial

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you can find the step by step tutorial on how to make this wreath
HERE

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We will update this post with

all the steps involved to make this fabulous wreath and the design board in the center in a couple days... check back!

The Wicked Witch Loop Legs can be found

HERE

Witches Welcome Design can be found

HERE

Tips for stitching out the Princess Masks (Great for Halloween/ Dress Up/ Mardi Gras too!)

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I thought I would just do a quick blog post on how I stitched these out and share some tips with you.  There really is no right or wrong way to do these...do whatever works for you.

It really isn't any harder than a regular applique!

I just love these masks.  Sure, I have a biased opinion..but seriously...what is not to love!

You can purchase the digital files here:

Princess Mask Set

You will receive all three of these masks.

Each mask comes in 4x4, 5x7 & 6x10 sizes.

The 5x7 size fits children (as pictured below on our adorable model) but also fits my face.  But the 6x10 size might be a little better if you are planning on using these for adults.  I think the 4x4 would be adorable as party decor, a matching mask for a doll...or even stitched out on a garment.

So..here are the tips that I came up with along the way.

First mask - I hooped 2 layers of tear away stabilizer, ran the applique portion and trimmed my fabric.

when I finished the mask and pulled the stabilizer away it left little fuzzies all around the mask (pictured below).

There is nothing wrong with this...it probably looks fine to most people.

You could take a marker and color in the fuzzies.

I have issues...and didn't like the fuzz.  I also thought that it needed to be a little more sturdy since I know my daughter will put these on and take them off a million times in the next week alone.

So, for the next 2 masks..I did it this way.

I hooped 2 layers of heavy weight water soluble stabilizer.

First I ran the placement stitch for the design.

I then floated a piece of heavier cut away stabilizer  (You can use hard felt too) with my fabric on top of that.

I didn't take a picture of this part - but I trimmed the fabric only until I had the main pieces of the mask fabrics done..and then went through and trimmed the thicker stabilizer.  Trim as close as possible to the stitches so the final satin stitch covers the edge of your felt or stabilizer.

then I just ran the rest of the design.

I left a little more edge on the inside of the eyes to make sure that the pattered fill stitch had something to grab on to...but the parts with the satin stitch didn't need it.

As you can see from the picture above...they are stunning without any embellishments.

BUT

everything is a little more fun with sparkle and feathers!

Special thanks to "Bee" and her Mommy from Bee's Bowtique for the awesome 

"action" shots.  Here are some examples of what these masks look like

with the perfect amount of "Bee-dazzling"

You can skip the step of the holes to run the elastic through and attach them to a stick for a Mardi Gras look...

any way you choose to make them, they are so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Jacki

Lasagna Nachos = heaven

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Have you ever made something new that you though would be good..but then blew you away with yumminess? 

I just did it. Lasagna nachos. 

I saw something similar at some point somewhere on the web..but I don't remember where...I tried looking this afternoon, but couldn't find it.  So I winged it.

That's pretty much how I roll in the kitchen anyway.

I just wing it or make do with whatever I have.

I will likely be five pounds heavier in the morning, but I don't even care. 

I didn't take pictures of the steps -  but these were so easy to make.

first i took some bulk sausage and browned it with a couple tablespoons of minced garlic and about half of a chopped onion.

I made some sauce the night before and had some left over...about 2-3 cups I think.  I mixed that in with the sausage.  You don't want it soupy...just enough to coat the sausage plus a little more 

(you can use ground turkey or beef - whatever you choose - i just happen to think sausage adds more flavor to sauce)

I took the lasangna noodles and broke each one into thirds and boiled them for about 8 minutes.  You want them to be not quite done..a little chewy.

Heat a skillet with oil.  I used canola oil because it is what I had..maybe you like to fry stuff in another type of oil.  I don't try stuff very often..but this tasted great.

I kept the heat on medium and tossed a little noodle in there to see if it was ready...little sizzle and I knew I could get started.

I took the noodles and friend them until they were golden brown - and then put them on paper towel to cool and soak up some grease.  i sprinkled them with a little salt while they were still wet with the oil so it would stick.

Once they were done, I put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and preheated my oven to 350.

I did a layer of noodles, some meat sauce, lots of mozzarella cheese, more noodles, meat sauce and cheese.  I stuck them in the oven for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese..took them out and topped them with chopped tomatoes and tore up some fresh basil.

These are seriously sinful...but worth every bite.

YUM.

Let me know if you try them!

~Jacki~

Quick and Easy Photography Tip for Pictures of Clothing

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Don't you love it when you hit the point of the evening where you get enough done to justify going to sleep (in this case 1am for me) and then remember that there is a luau the next day at your daughters preschool?  I do.

Maybe you are the type of person that can just say "Ugh...missed the boat on that one.  I'll do something for the next fun day."  I am not that person.  So...what's another night with 3.5 hours of sleep?  I am sure the day will come all to fast where my kids will be older and I will be wishing to have these crazy days back.

So - I figured I would take the opportunity to snap some pictures for a quick blog post at 2:30am.  That's normal, right?

First I stitched out my 

Tahiti Sweetie Embroidery Design

onto a shirt and bedazzled it with hotfix rhinestones.

One of the things that I have done for a long time is help people out and give pointers with shooting pictures of their products.  I am BY NO MEANS a professional..and I have never claimed to be.  I just like things to look good, and lets face it...a picture is what sells your product.  

It drives me nutty when someone has an amazingly beautiful outfit that they have made, use their cell phone to take a picture of it... laying on their carpet... with a shadow of themselves over it... and THEN use that as their listing picture.

Nutty!

SO - I am finally going to get to the point.  

First option - take it outside.  Natural light will give you the best pictures - and nature is your best backdrop.

That is not always an option.  Weather can be stinky and uncooperative..or it is freezing cold..or is is 2:30am, lol.

First - get a big piece of something.  Open up a cardboard box, use a piece of foam board - maybe a big picture frame..anything really...and drape a piece of fabric over the back.

I KNOW YOU HAVE FABRIC.

(but if you don't - use a sheet)

then just prop it or lean it against something.  

You can put it on a tabletop or desktop - or on the floor...it doesn't matter.

lay your garment on the fabric and smooth out the wrinkles.  

See how the shirt kind of sticks to the fabric?

pretty cool, huh?

I had a skirt to go with this..it didn't stick, it was too heavy.

I just used a couple straight pins and pinned it to the fabric.

Now, it is time to take your picture.  I had all the lights on the the room..and I have a floor lamp in my office with the shade off to give me extra light.  

My MIL gave me a set of OTT lights for my birthday..haven't set them up yet (p.s. how dorky am I to have been so excited about lamps as a present..hahaha).

The lights are expensive, but you can also buy the bulbs.  I didn't do it here, but I have plans to get one for this lamp so I can have natural light for 2am photoshoots.

but this looks pretty good, right?

Now all you need to do is crop your picture, rotate it a little if needed, and add a watermark with your company name!

You can download Picasa as a free photo editing tool.

It is really easy to figure out...and did I mention FREE?

Hope this helped a few people out!

Have a great day...

~Jacki~