I am...

I was inspired by Cortney at www.themommyhoodproject.com blog to write an "I am.." list.
I will inject it with pictures of Gaston to spice it up a little, hehehe!

First and foremost,
I am ...momma to little Gaston. OoO look at that little tongue peeking out! {yes, I am cooing over all his sweet pictures right now, like any good momma would}

 I am ...wearing a pair of size 00/0 jeans that I found for $.99 at the thrift store this morning and I still can hardly believe that I fit into!!! This is very exciting!

I am ...definitely silly and cheerful.

I am ..a lover of all things vintage especially 1920s-1960s

I am ..restoring an old dress from the 1950s-60s era that you will be seeing pictures of soon!
and
I am... currently embroidering a pair of old jeans, which you will also be seeing but I don't know about the soon part cuz it's definitely time consuming. lol

I am ...strong and healthy.

I am...creative and frugal, which, when combined, can turn out some wicked cool stuff!

I am.. enjoying the summer!

I am..looking for my next good read but not sure what it will be yet. Just finished reading a bio on George Jaques Danton-Giant of the French Revolution. Any suggestions?

SO...What are you?

If you post an "I am.." list, post the link in a comment or link back to mine so I can check it out!

Incredible Stuffed Blueberry French Toast

You won't believe how easy it is to make this fancy breakfast piece!
First, make french toast.
Most of you know how to do that already but for the beginners:
Beat 2 eggs with a dash of cinnamon until it looks like the picture above.

Dip bread slices (2 eggs is just enough for 4 slices) in the egg mixture. Be sure the egg covers both sides.

Then, coat a frying pan with spray and cook both sides of the bread (until they don't look soggy anymore).

See my new PINK frying pan up there??
We went to Virginia for a weekend and the man insisted on buying it for me to keep at his place- as long as I ALWAYS put it away in the far back corner of the cupboard! lol.

Kitty break!

ok, so here's what your french toast should look like. I made four slices.

Mike forgot to stop and get cream cheese so I had to send him out for it while I was making the toast...

...and he came back with these! and cream cheese.

So now we just need to make the filling.

Wash your blueberries!
Warm up the cream cheese (half a block/4oz) in the microwave. 30 seconds was perfect for mine.

Stir in about 1/4cp confectioner's sugar (more or less depending how sweet you want it) and cinnamon to taste.

Put a bunch of berries on one slice of french toast.

Then spread the cream cheese mixture on the other slice and put them together. mmmmm!

oh! I almost forgot, I sprinkled more of the sugar on top

We took our dads to a car show on the lake for Father's Day where we saw this contraption!

It's a Ranger pickup with among other things, a fish tank in the trunk!!
There are real freakin fish in there!!!!
What?!?!?!

and a dragonfly landed on my arm and hung out there while I walked! Good luck for me, I hope!

The Making of a Parade

Last weekend I helped organize a parade in smalltown USA. How many people get to say they've done that?!?

We even were able to watch it go by!

...and see a Who! Oh my goodness,

This was probably my favorite float- live music ( yes,I wanted to dance) They were really fun.

after a hard days work..

We've been slowly introducing our cats to each other. Slowly because the black one is a bit territorial but here they are sitting quietly (look how close they are!)for a few moments enjoying nature.

oh my gosh, whatcha lookin at little guy?

Sweet Mustang for sale I spotted on my way home. WANT!!

Father's Day ideas anyone?
Seriously, I need to come up with something.
Maybe a cruise night..

DIY Sewing: Convertible dress from skirt

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet! Yesterday I was thinking about what to post today and saw that I still had these pics on my computer. lol.

Above is basically how I did it in a quick little diagram.
Please excuse the rough illustration..

I started with this long, straight skirt that I was going to send off to the thrift store until I realized it was missing buttons..

Well, if I have to do some work on it anyways, why not turn it into something I will use?

and besides, it's such a pretty fabric..
So I cut a strip off the bottom (approx.4 inches?)
and hemmed the raw edge of the new bottom of the skirt.

Already the skirt had a lot more swing and movement to it- I almost just quit there!

Then, I cut the 4inch wide strip in half but at an angle so they would be longer. At this point, I hemmed all raw edges I had cut.

I only had to cut the strip once because my skirt had buttons down the front so I just had to open it up on the other end to get 2 strips of the same length.

If you're using a skirt without a button down front, you would need to cut twice- once angled like this and the other a cut straight up and down.

Next step is to sew each strip onto the waist band of the skirt.

Take the straight edge of one strip and pin it in place on the front of the waist band.
Repeat with the other strip then try it on to make sure you get the coverage you want before sewing it in place.

Now it's time to sew the top on! I stitched mine in place behind the waistband.

This is my favorite way to wear it.

I bring the strips up the front and cross them in the back then bring the ends around to the front and tie them in the middle!

Side view!

but it can also be worn as a halter or just as a skirt with the strips wrapped around the waist, or whichever way you can make it work!

Little Gaston is not much help to mommy with the sewing. If anything he's a pest and you just don't get between me and my sewing machine!

So he was put out and the door shut behind him but not to be deterred..
Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in the Jacob's Ladder posters!LOL

So? Whatcha doin'?

The Pancake experiment: orange chocolate chip pancakes

I used plain pancake mix and threw in some orange extract and chocolate chips to make these tasty pancakes.

Add the chocolate chips after you pour the batter onto the pan, wait for the bubbles, then flip...

Lovin' how golden brown this one came out!



Little Gaston is getting bigger. We think he is having a growth spurt- he's hungry all the time lately! He's still so cute and cuddly, though.

Happy Thanksgiving! now onto Christmas!

This was Gaston's first ever Thanksgiving! Here he is feasting away..I think he likes this holiday!

As for us human folk, we went for something a little more upscale. I made this delicious 4 layer pumpkin cake and some two bite pumpkin pies. YUM! It was so pretty, I had to take a picture !

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, it's time to start getting ready for Christmas- my other favorite holiday! I painted these whimsical ornaments for the tree at work. The shop colors are lime green and purple so these fit right in!

There they are nestled into our fun little tree. Who doesn't love decorating the tree, I want to know? With some sweet Duke Ellington Christmas tunes in the background, pretty garlands and well, I , might have been dancing around while I was decorating...guilty.

After all that turkey, Gaston needed a bath to get all the gross turkey grease off his little precious face. He did not approve of this idea to say the least..haha, too bad Gaston!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, friends, laughter, and love.

DIY T-Shirt Refashion

I started with a too big T-shirt that had a collar right up to my neck! Wait til you see what I did with it..

To start, take off the collar and cut the neckline in the shape you want (but about a half inch above where you want it to lay). Then, fold the fabric over 1/4 inch all around the neckline. Fold over again 1/4 inch and sew.

Gaston LeChat wants to help..
Be sure to do the same thing to the back side of the neckline that you did with the front. Fold over twice and sew. I just sewed the back straight across.

Next step is to take out the stitches in the sides all the way up to the sleeves. Turn the shirt inside out and restitch the sides so it fits you. I put the shirt on and pinned it where I wanted to sew.

I used the fabric that I cut out of the collar to make a ruffle. Ruffles are easy to make and dress everything up a little!
To make one, run a row of stitches through one long end of the fabric then hold one end of the thread and push the fabric down so it bunches up. Easy right?

 

After making the ruffle, I pinned it where I wanted it on the shirt and sewed it on.

And here it is! So pretty. I might even put some ruffles around the edges of the sleeves too..