Red White (sort of) and Blue Push-up Popsicles

The kids and I have been trying to keep busy this summer which has left little to no time for crafting by me but we are going to try and make something in the kitchen each week this summer and the first thing we made were these red, white (more of a yellow but who cares) and blue push-up Popsicles. We used these pretty cool push-up molds that have been popular for making push-cakes but we use them for Popsicles more than push-cakes. If you are interested, you can buy some molds from me by checking out my ETSY shop.

Here is what you need to make these Red, White and Blue Push-up Popsicles.

Red Layer:
1 1/2 cups of cut up strawberries
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp. sugar

White Layer:
1 package of vanilla pudding mix
2 cups of milk

Blue Layer:
3/4 cups of blueberries
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp. sugar

To make the red layer, wash and cut up your strawberries. Combine strawberries, water and sugar in a sauce pan and cook until strawberries release their juices and become mushy and break up easily. Let cool slightly and pour this mixture into your Popsicle molds about 1/3 of the way up. Freeze

Once the red layer is frozen, make the white layer by mixing the pudding mix and milk and pour into you Popsicle molds that have the frozen strawberry layer. Put back into the freezer and freeze until white layer is frozen.

While the white layer is freezing, make the blue layer by combining blueberries, water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat until the berries soften and become mushy. Using the back of a fork or a blender if you prefer a smoother texture, smash the berries until they form a sort of puree. Let the blue layer cool while the white layer freezes and then pour the blue layer on top of the white and red layer. Put the molds back into the freezer until the blue layer freezes and then they are ready to serve.

These little babies would be very fun and festive to serve for the upcoming holiday.

Spring Moss Wreath

My name is Emily and I love wreaths, I admit it. Some people have shoe addictions, I think I have a wreath addiction. I love changing the wreaths on my front doors. Have you priced wreaths, they can be spendy but not this baby, this baby was made with things found at the dollar tree which means I made this wreath for about $5.00, not to bad huh.

For this wreath, I used a foam wreath form (say that three times fast) and covered it using some Spanish moss securing it to the wreath form using some floral pins.

I then added a little bit of reindeer moss to add some color. The wreath at this stage is very pretty and could easily be left as is but I couldn't leave well enough alone.

I decided I wanted to spruce it up some so I added a tiny nest with robin's eggs and some tiny blue bobbles. A perfect little spring wreath on a perfectly red door!

Baby Hat with a Giant Flower (oh yeah)

To go with the itty bitty baby dress I decided that a hat was needed, not just any hat but a hat with a giant flower...they are all the rage right now and oh so cute. I used this little tutorial from Make it and Love it to make this hat but instead of the flower shown in the tutorial I made what I call a ruffle flower.

                                  

 This flower is really easy to make. Start by cutting a long rectangle of fabric, for this flower I cut a 2" by 18" strip of fabric but you can make it any size really, cut your rectangle longer if you want a fuller flower, cut it shorter if you want a less full flower.

Then sew three sides of the rectangle, the 2 short sides and one 18" side with a zig-zag stitch or a serger if you have one (stitch shown in red), this will help to keep the fabric from fraying.

On the side you haven't sewn you are going to sew a large basting/ruffle stitch to do this, set your machine's stitch length as high as it will go, my machine goes up to a 5 or five stitches per inch. You then are going to turn your tension up as high as it will go, my machine goes up to a 9. When you begin to sew your stitch, do not lock your stitch or reverse your stitch because you want to be able to pull on your thread ends when you are done to tighten your ruffles (again shown in red).

With the machine tension set to its highest setting and the stitches being so long, the fabric will being to automatically ruffle your fabric some. However to make the flower you want the ruffles to be very tight causing the fabric to begin to curl around itself in a sort of spiral.

When your ruffle is starting to spiral you will naturally see how if you lay the spirals on top of each other a flower will form, you can adjust how the layers lay to get a perfect flower.

Now using a needle and thread, tack all the layers together to prevent the flower from coming apart and attach to anything you wish, a hat, a pin, a headband, a belt, a scarf. Try layering several colors together for a multicolored flower or adding a jewel to the center for added flare, you are only limited by your "Em-agination."

Baby Needs a Dress

I don't know about you but I love to give and receive handmade gifts. It is true, they do take more time than going to a store and picking something out but I think they just show how much you care about someone when you take the time to make them something. It doesn't hurt either that I can usually make something for cheaper than I can buy it and it gives me an excuse to be creative. This weekend was one of those times when I needed a gift for a baby shower and I had been wanting an excuse to make this dress so off to Jo-ann's I went to find the perfect fabric for an Itty Bitty Baby dress and this is what I came up with.

As you can see I modified the pattern just a bit, I thought that the bows on the shoulders may be a bit uncomfortable for a little baby so I opted to cut off one of the flaps from the front of the dress and add buttons and button holes to the back flaps. This dress is quite easy to sew and only took about an hour from start to finish. I will definitely be making this dress again, maybe for my own little girl who isn't so little anymore. Stay tuned because this little number also has a cute little hat to go with it, more on that in the next post.