Citrus Detox Smoothie

After my surgery I was feeling really sluggish.  After a week and half of recovery I was feeling extra sluggish and foggy.  This smoothy will give you a kick and help your body feel like a well oiled machine.

Citrus Detox Smoothie:

1 grapefruit

2 oranges

2 cuties

1 inch chunk of fresh ginger root

1 cup of Almond milk
1-2 cups of cold water **depending on how watery you like it**
(I like mine with a little more pulp)

Throw it all in your blender and blend until smooth.  This smoothie is so delish!  I have been having this for breakfast all week.  I feel detoxified and more energetic.  Enjoy!

 

 

-Julia

Valentine's and a Shout out to Pinterest

Amy and I have been off the grid for a couple of weeks.  New jobs, waiting for babies to arrive (Amy is also doula), surgeries, and illnesses have kept us away from feeding our creative inner beasts.  

I could easily say that the past month has been monumentally hard on me.  It will be one of those that my husband and I will look back on and say: "Remember the winter of 2012?" Amidst all of the sickness and recovery we have also been tremendously blessed.

So, when the official day of love came around we were overcome with gratitude for all of the love we have in our lives.

 So thanks to a good friend I like to call , I was able to find last minute ideas for some cute Valentines.

I found the idea here.

  My oldest opted for a non sweet treat this year.

Idea found here.

I attached a little conversation bubble to the back with her little Valentine's Day message.

 Here is the candy bouquet I made for my hubby.  He is a self proclaimed sugar-chocaholic.  So, I thought that would be perfect for the man I love.  To go with the bouquet I created a candy bar letter that went a little like this:  "I have Good & Plenty Riesen's why I love you.  It's not just because you are one Hot Tamale.  We have 4 little Runts together...."  You get the idea. It was really fun creating and my husband loved it!  Now he has a year supply of candy just sitting on his desk.

 My husband sensing my stress over the past couple of weeks got me a massage and facial at our local spa.  He is quite a catch I tell ya--he knew just what I needed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day full of love! 

-Julia

Spicy Hot Chocolate Saves the Day!!!

Since the first of the year, my husband and I have totally changed everything about how we eat.  It is a vegan-style eating plan, that also cuts out wheat and sugar.  We eat lots of vegetables, fruits and beans, and only about a cup of rice or quinoa a day.  Mike, of course, has already lost 20 pounds, and has no plans to ever eat another way.  In fact he wants me to make him a lentil cake for his birthday next week!  For me, though, the hardest part has been not having my daily chocolate fix.  Chocolate is medicine for me, and I realized, after a month without it, that I don't think I can manage my life, and still be happy, unless I can find a way to eat it in moderation. 

Well, yesterday, after browsing the aisles at our local discount grocery store, I spied a can of Dagoba sipping chocolate.  Although I had never tried it, I knew it had to be good, because Dagoba makes the yummiest of chocolate bars.  Even better, this sipping chocolate was flavored with chili and cinnamon -- my favorite!  I snatched up a container, and came home and made a cup.  I don't know if it is because I had been abstaining for a month, but this stuff is AMAZING!!!  I don't think I can afford to spend the $12 retail price on a regular basis, so I figured I better come up with a copycat recipe.

If you don't like a little spice in your life, this recipe is not for you.  Don't even bother!  But if you, like me, think sriracha is the condiment of the Gods, get disappointed when the salsa is too mild, or have ever added red pepper flakes to your slice of pizza, I promise you will be very, very happy with this recipe.

The cast of characters:  Unsweetened cocoa powder -- go for the nice stuff, it is the base flavor of this drink, semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, honey or brown sugar, cinnamon and cayenne pepper.  A word on cayenne...every packet of dried spice is going to rate differently on the spicy scale -- you never know until you try it -- so start with less, because you can always add more.

The addition of the chocolate chips is what turns this cocoa into something amazing.  Along with the kick of the cayenne, it has a very silky-smooth, luxurious texture.

"When we're together, even the coldest day feels warm."  Kind of romantic, huh?  For some reason spicy hot chocolate seems a lot sexier than the regular stuff!

Spicy Hot Chocolate

1 cup milk, or milk alternative

1 T. brown sugar or 2 tsp. honey

2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 T. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/16-1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper 

Heat milk on the stove, along with one tablespoon of brown sugar or two teaspoons of honey, until it start to steam and is very, very hot.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, assemble your dry ingredients.  When the milk is barely simmering, dump in the cocoa mix, and whisk until all is incorporated and the chocolate is melted, at least one minute.

-Amy

Twisty "Lollipop" Flower

 I have made many many many headbands.  This is one of my girls favorites.  They call them lollipop flowers. They add such a fun pop of color to any outfit.  I thought I would show you how to make them today.

 Supplies:  Strip of fabric-mine was 1/2 an inch, felt, glue, and scissors.

   

First you want to make a knot at the end of your strip of fabric.  You can make it as thick or thin as you want.  The thicker the strip of fabric the fuller your flower will look.  Next hot glue the know to the center of your felt circle.  Next you will want to twist your fabric like shown above.  Twist around the center knot adding a drop of glue to secure the fabric.

 Continue twisting and winding the strip of fabric until you reach the desired size for your your flower.  Make sure the end is glued securely to the felt.  Then trim off any excess felt so that there isn't any felt exposed.

Then hot glue it to a headband, clip, elastic like demonstrated on Amy's previous post.  You could even use these on a broach or pin. 

Aren't these cute?

I made this one out of tulle to match my daughter's Sunday dress.  I would recommend experimenting with different textures and types of fabric.   You might be surprised how beautiful they turn out.

 -Julia

Friday Flower

There are a million and one flower tutorials out there, but I want to share this one with you, because I have never seen it anywhere.  It is one that will stand out in the crowd.  I came up with it one night, after I cut off all my hair. I wanted a flower that would lay flat against my head if I wore it on a headband.  I love that there is no sewing involved.  

All you need is some felt (wool felt is my favorite, but I've said that before), scissors and a glue gun.

 Cut out one circle, about three or four inches wide (depending on how big you want your flower), and a strip of fabric that is about 2 feet long and two to three inches wide.

Using your glue gun, fold the strip in half, gluing along the entire end.

Use your scissors and cut a fringe on the strip, cutting every 1/4 inch or so.  Be careful not to cut all the way through (seems like I always end up doing that).

Glue the fringe all the way around the edge of the circle, trimming the fringe when it meets the other end.

Glue another section of fringe on the inside of the circle.

Glue another section inside that circle.  You can do one more row, or add your center at this point.

Cut a spiral out of the a smaller circle (about 2 inches across), and use the tutorial found in this post to make a rosette.

Glue the rosette into the center of the flower.

Cut another circle from the felt, roughly the same size as the circle on the back of the flower.  Cut two small slits in it, about 3/4 inch apart.

Glue it onto the back of the flower, only putting glue around the edge of the circle.  This will allow you to attach your flower to a clip, headband or pin.  You can slip whatever you want through the notches.

My favorite is a headband.  With my hair so short, a clip doesn't really stay in place.

Have I mentioned that mustard yellow is my favorite color right now?  I'd wear it every day if I could.

-Amy

Fun Scrappy Dress

 I have to start off by saying this was one of the 

funnest projects I have done in a while.  

I wish that I came up with this clever idea but, 

alas I am short of original ideas as I spend too many hours up at night with a sick kids.  

I was searching online to find projects to re-purpose and up-cycle clothes and I stumbled upon this awesome dress from :

Cheri at I am Momma Hear me Roar.

 She was recently featured on Martha Stewart demonstrating how to contruct this dress.

Cheri shares quite a few re-purposing projects that you should go check out. 

Here are a few photos of my steps in re-creating the dress: 

 

 All of the girls were fighting over who got the dress.  So, it looks like I will be making more.  

 

 First gather all of your old t-shirts.  

 Pick a decent shirt for the top.  This works great with ones that have holes, snags, or stains on the bottom.

 Start stacking up the layers.  Play around with different colors and patterns.  This was the fun part.  I am pretty conservative with color and pattern mixing.  This was my chance to mix and match.:)  

 After you decide what shirts you are going to use, cut the top piece to fit under the breast. 

For a size 5T-6 dress I cut all of the additional strips 4" wide.  Keep the width the size of the t-shirts.  You will trim those up later.  Cheri gives a great tip: make your bottom piece the hem of one of your t-shirts so you don't have to hem it up later.  I love short cuts!

Here comes the fun part.  I have never painted fabric before.  I had some fabric paint collecting dust so a great chance to pull it out.  I used some foam stamps for stamping.  They worked great!  I have always been afraid that painting fabric had to look perfect but, I realized that if it looks faded it actually looks really cool and vintage.  I wanted that look for this project.  So, it worked great.

 I would recommend putting a piece of cardboard between the layers so it doesn't bleed through.

 Hanging to dry.  It took a couple of hours for it all to dry.

 Sew all of your strips together and trim off the excess.  

Line up the sewn dress strips to the top piece and trim down the sides.  Angle the cut out so they have room to walk and stretch the bottom.  Since I don't have a photo of this step check out 

Cheri's tutorial for more photos.

Sew the front and the back pieces together.  Then attach the bottom skirt to the top shirt piece.  

Then sew it together.  That is it!

I love how it turned out.  So fun and cute.  I love the freedom of painting your fabric.  It adds a unique look and my girls loved it! Ava all ready for school.  She couldn't wait to put it on this morning.

Such a fun and funky dress.  I am so glad for the great ideas that come from blog land to save me from my recent creative block.

I would encourage all of you to try this project. 
You could make a shorter version for a boy that would make a cool funky t-shirt. 
I had a lot of fun with this one--I hope you do too!

 -Julia

Art Therapy

My family received some very sad news on Friday, and after spending a lot of time crying and talking it out, I had this fire in me that talking and crying weren't really going to solve any problems, and that I needed to DO something.  When someone is in crisis, it feels good to feel like you're helping in a small way.  Somehow it makes you feel just a little less helpless.  But it took me a while to figure out what exactly I was going to do.  Most times, I make a meal for a family in need, but I knew that wouldn't be a good fit in this situation, and that there was plenty of times to make meals later on.  It wasn't until Mike reminded me that we all just have to take things one day at a time, one step at a time, that I knew what I wanted to do.  I sewed this up last night, and there so much love, so much hope, in every stitch.  I hope it lifts the recipient's heart just the tiniest bit and she will know how much I love her.

-Amy

Circle Scarf

I love circle scarves!  I have been wanting to make my own for a while.  I saw that 

American Apparel has some really cool ones but, for $37--no way.   I knew I could make it for much cheaper.  A few months ago I found yellow knit fabric at Walmart of all places for $1.50 a yard on clearance.  Yep this was my chance.  I bought the whole bolt.  

 

 

You can wrap it up.  Amy this smile is for you!

 Or wear it long.  (My husband was trying to make me laugh.)

Do you want to make your own?  It's easy!  I followed this awesome and easy tutorial over on Come on Ilene.  All you need is 2 yards of fabric cut into individual yards.  Like Ilene, I agree knit is ideal because it usually comes with a wider width than other materials.  This gives your scarf lots of body.  You only have to sew 2 seams!  There is no need to finish the edges because knit doesn't fray.  

I know what you are thinking and no it doesn't get much easier than that!

I even made one for my mini that wanted one to match her favorite shirt.

 

While I was at it I sewed a green one to match my new green earrings.  I have a few others in the works just because they are too easy not to make more.

 -Julia