Household Hint

Image found here.


My kids are so excited for fireworks. In Utah it is finally legal to light fireworks that go 150 feet in the air. My husband is excited for this! No more fountain works for us! Our son is most excited for smoke bombs and sparklers, and he can't wait to write his name in the air with the sparkler. Our daughter just wants it all! Typical girl!

Here are two tips to make sparklers a little easier:

First, use a jar candle like this. It's best if the candle is about half used. You can also put a votive type candle in a mason jar. The jar will help protect the flame from small gusts of wind. The kids can come stick the sparkler in the flame and light their own sparklers. This way mom and dad aren't trying to keep a pilot sparkler lit and you don't have to wait forever for a match or lighter to light the sparkler.

The next idea is to have a bucket of water handy. If your kids are like mine they just drop the hot sparkler where ever they are and come get a new one. When we have a designated spot for the hot sticks to go, I don't worry as much about burns. Put water in the bucket so the plastic doesn't melt. I like to cut the top off a milk jug, put water in the bottom, throw the used sticks in and then throw the whole thing away at the end of the night.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Patriotic Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I found these strawberries over at Real Mom Kitchen. Laura is a friend of my mom, and that woman knows how to cook. I love her blog because her recipes really are for a real mom. Nothing too fancy. Just how I like it! When I saw this post I knew I had to make some. I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, but these are just too cute! I did some red, white and blue for the USA and some red and white for the Canada girls!

I used white chocolate apeels, but white chocolate chips would be fine to use as well. Melt them in the microwave on high for one minute, and then at half power stirring well every 30 seconds until melted. Once the you dip the strawberries keep holding them for just a few seconds and then sprinkle away. I tried rolling the tip in a bowl of sprinkles, but it made the chocolate lumpy. I say, just sprinkle them on. Obviously these are so versatile for any color theme you have!

Patriotic Pillows

The 4th of July is my all time favorite holiday.  I love fireworks, barbeque's, summer, and spending time with family and friends.  Even though it is my favorite holiday, I don't have any decorations. I know, pathetic!  Well, this is the year to start!

First I made my own pillow form using this awesome tutorial from Honeybear Lane.  Can you believe how expensive it is to actually buy a pillow form?  I think the price is ridiculous, I always save my batting scraps just for this purpose.  I made my pillow form 15"x15". 

To make the pillow above I pretty much used the same method as I did on my pieced placemats.  The only difference, was that since I was only making one pillow, I didn't need to use strips.  I just cut out my squares (5.5"x5.5"), sewed them into rows, ironed them opposite directions, and joined the rows together.  For the backing I used some leftover white fabric that I cut to 15.5"x15.5".  Stuff it with your pillow form and hand sew the opening with a hidden stitch.

Do you remember my Multi-Use Pillow?  Well here we are again with another use.  I did the exact same thing as before to make the band.  I tied the bow with a scrap piece of fabric.  Since I was being lazy I just hot glued the bow onto the band.  This literally took me 10 minutes, if even that.

Now I have two new pillows using only fabric and supplies I had around the house.  I love seeing them out on the couch looking cute.

Tulle Skirt

We have several 4th of July parties, get-togethers, and activities planned in the next week. What better time to make a fun holiday skirt for an excited little girl.



I got my idea from Gymboree, but they don't have the skirt online any more. This picture gives you the idea.

These measurements are for my 3 year old. Change measurements as needed for your special little gal.

You will need:

1.5 yards of tulle
1 yard of polyester satin for the slip
18 inch of 1.5 inch elastic or whatever waist size your little one is
9  11.5 inches of ribbon or the length of skirt

1. Burn the ends of the ribbon so that they won't fray.

2. Cut 3 strips of tulle that measure to 11.5 inches (The length of the skirt) by 54 inches (1 1/2 yards) (the waist line times 3).

Tip- The most important thing when making tulle skirts is to take your time cutting the tulle. Make sure that it is measured correctly. This will make the rest of the skirt super easy to make.

3. Lay out 1 layer of tulle and place your 9 pieces of ribbon on it spacing them however you want and pin and sew down.

4. Sandwich your piece of tulle with the ribbon on it with the plain piece of tulle on top and the third piece of tulle at the bottom. Line these up and pin them in place.

5. Sew your 3 pieces of tulle together on the top side.

6. Gather the top of your tulle so that it is 22 inches long or 4 inches larger than your waist band measurement.

7. Sew the two tulle ends together giving you your circle skirt.

8. Cut your slip to measures 11.5 inches (length of the skirt) by 36 inches (1 yard) (I used one yard because that was what I had, there was no math involved on this one).

9. There are two ways to put the slip together. If you have a serger, serge the bottom and top of the slip and then tuck them under, giving you a hem. If you don't have a serger, make a double folded hem on both ends.

10. Gather the slip so that it is 22 inches long or four inches larger than your waist band.

11. Sew slip ends together.

12. Combine your tulle and your slip, pin and sew together. Seems facing inside on both the tulle and slip.

13. Take your elastic and sew it together giving you a circle waist band elastic.

14. Pin your slip and tulle skirt to the elastic. Base the two together and then go back and make some pretty stitches to finish it up.

Tip: Pull on your elastic behind your sewing foot, pulling away from you and your other hand pulling towards you while sewing the skirt and elastic together. This will make it so that the elastic is stretchy so that it makes it easier for your little one to put it on.

Your skirt is done and it took less than an hour. So cute!

The ribbon hair bow I made a while back matches just perfectly.

I am not quite done with the matching top but here is just a peek.