Peanut Butter Consistency Fix

When I first started buying organic/all natural peanut butter, I wasn't crazy about the consistency. I've since found a super easy fix to the oil separation that occurs in natural nut butters and wanted to share. When I buy peanut butter and almond butter, I look for brands that have just nuts and salt (I've tried the salt-free ones, and I'm not a fan). I usually buy at Costco (we eat lots of peanut butter!), but Whole Foods 365 and Trader Joe's are also brands that I like.  Here's what works for me:

1. Store the unopened jars upside down in your cupboards or your fridge. The jars have been kept upright on the store shelves and probably during transport as well, so storing them the other way will allow gravity to work some of the oil back into the nut butter. 
2. When your opened jar is running low (but not completely out), take your unopened jar from the cupboard and shake it vigorously.
3. Open the jar and stir as well as you can. Make sure you stir all the way to the bottom of the jar if you can.
4. Store stirred jar in the fridge for at least 24 hours before using it. The cold temperature will help to thicken the nut butter and make a better consistency. 
5. Don't forget to put your next jar in the fridge before your last jar runs out so that it has time to cool and thicken. Also, periodically stirring the jar as you're using it helps to maintain the consistency.

It is easier to get a good consistency in a small jar because it's easier to stir, but you can usually get more bang for your buck if you buy in bulk. It's funny, now that I'm used to all natural peanut butter, I can't stand the kind with sugar and junk in it. It tastes way too sweet and makes my stomach feel icky. Yum, peanut butter!

Upcycling: Mommy & Me Hats

I am so excited to share my latest upcycling project. As I said in a previous post, I made the "mommy" hat two years ago and recently found it in a box in my basement. I was inspired to make Penny a coordinating version. As hot pink happens to be my favorite color, it is fortunate that we both already owned pink coats, making for some super cute color coordination. We are so ready for Valentine's Day!

Penny gets a total kick out of looking at the two of us in the mirror in our matching ensembles. I didn't make them identical. Hers has a longer pink stripe and an extra little flower bud, but they are made from the same three sweaters and coordinate so cutely!

Design Seeds: color inspiration

Do you all know about this website, Design Seeds? Just found it through Pinterest and I am obsessed! You mix up a color and then the website puts that color into several palettes for you. We are working on renovating our family room, and I was in need of some color inspiration. We put in new neutral carpet last summer when we were carpeting a few other rooms and figured the color would easily match with whatever we ended up doing in the family room. Now that we are actually doing the work, I used Design Seeds to "mix" up the neutral tan carpet color, and one of the choices they produced for me is perfect. It jumped out at me, and I knew right away it would be our color palette for the room. Here's the image:

I just love it! The carpet and sofa are the bottom color already (that's the shade I "mixed" to get this palette suggestion, and we happen to have an afghan in the green shade that I knitted a few years back. I am thinking paint in the second color with an accent wall in the dark brown, and maybe some throw pillows that incorporate the blue and green. Love, love, love!

Upcycling

Awhile back, I shared my gluten story/ difficulty getting pregnant story. If any of you have been through an extended period of trying to conceive (or other kind of stressful ordeal), then you might be able to relate to my intense need for distraction during that time. Or maybe you dealt with it in a different way. Anyway, one thing that helped me was to keep busy and find a creative outlet. I found that outlet through upcycling. When we lived in Virginia, we used to visit the Torpedo Factory art galleries where local artists have combined studio space and galleries. If you are ever in Northern Virginia, I highly recommend a trip there! During one visit, I stumbled upon a fiber artist and was completely blown away by her stuff. Her name is Tamara Embrey, and her company is called The Devil Made Me Do It. She creates these gorgeous garments using tired old sweaters in luxury fabrics like cashmere and merino. If you are looking for a beautiful, one-of-a-kind garment, check her out on Etsy. I own a sweater and a hat made by her (thanks to my awesome hubbie and his knack for giving great gifts), and I swear I get compliments every time I wear either item. I was incredibly inspired by her work and got a huge urge to start doing some upcycling and designing of my own. 

I used to design my own clothes all the time in high school, even my prom dress, but back then I just used fabric that I found in my mom's sewing room. Maybe I will dig some things out of storage to share with you all sometime. Anyway, my awesome husband bought me a serger for my birthday in 2010 and helped me make a dress form out of duct tape using this tutorial, and I set to work learning how to use it and experimenting. I had a few sweaters with moth holes in them, and I hit the thrift stores to search for some more. I didn't really know what I was doing at first, but I learned as I went and had lots of fun. 

Now that my child is old enough to entertain herself and play independently more often with her toys, I am starting to get back into upcycling and creating a new and gorgeous wardrobe for myself. Here are a few photos of the first garments I made 2 years ago. We had all kinds of huge snow storms that winter, so I took advantage of the hours and hours trapped inside to sew. (We also watched seasons 1-5 of Lost back-to-back online.) The garments are in order of when I made them, and I think you can really see how I improved and learned as I went.

My first sweater was a little over the top. I think I got carried away on the back. Looking at these pictures makes me think that I really should cover my dress form in muslin or something.

These are the shoulder seams of a sweater. I thought they looked like leaves.

The sewing on this second one is still pretty rough, but there is some improvement.

pocket made from a sleeve cuff

Funny story about these stripes. The back of the sweater got ruined, and I couldn't bear to lose out on all of the hard work I'd done on it, so I cut out the ruined part and improvised.

This one is much simpler–I mostly just used a sweater that I had and added new edges. It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but this is a cropped sweater–like a little shrug/shawl hoodie for warm weather. I was even able to wear this as maternity!

My mom had this cashmere sweater that she loved, but it had a couple holes in one of the sleeves, so she gave it to me to use for my upcycling. I turned it into a surprise for her! It was perfect because I knew it already fit her. Here she is modeling it.

I gave this hat away as a gift, but I got some pictures first so I could remember it. It is definitely my cleanest work of those shared here.

I made another hat that I kept, but I completely forgot about it until I was getting my upcycling bins out of the basement the other day. I don't know why it was in my sewing bins, but I decided to make a coordinating version for Penny. Stay tuned, as I will share them both as soon as I can get a few good photos. Let me just say they are freakin' adorable, so don't miss it!

And, for laughs, here are a few photos of the dressform-making process:

After this point, Josh cut up the back so that I could get out of it. Then, we taped the slit back together, put the mold on a hanger attached to a PVC pipe, sprayed the inside with spray foam insulation to keep its shape, and then put it in a Christmas tree stand to make it stand upright. Not the most beautiful dress form, but it makes sewing/designing a million times easier!

Being a working mom

I know I owe you all an update on the professional front after this post back in December. Shortly after that, I accepted a position at a pediatric clinic for Saturday PRN work, which I started earlier this month. I had a few offers to consider, but I chose this one for a few reasons. I really liked the vibe of the clinic–lots of young women therapists and a really nice, new facility. I also thought it was sort of perfect to start with just Saturdays. I could ease my way back into working and not have to worry about child care, as the hubs could be home with Penny. As soon as I accepted it, it felt right. I feel like I hardly even qualify as a working mom since I'm only working a handful of hours a month, but I guess technically it counts. Hmm, what to do with my first paycheck. Any suggestions?!

In just the few times I've worked so far, I can already tell that being a pediatric speech pathologist as a mom is going to be so different than doing this job before I had my baby. There were always kids who would pull on my heartstrings, but now that I'm a mom, the emotional level is, like, exponential. It's not appropriate to get into it too much here, but I'm going to need a serious lesson in checking my stuff at the door. Lord help me. But, other than the emotional junk, I do really like the job so far. My coworkers are super nice, and the place is run very well! There is so much less paperwork than the schools. It's pretty amazing.

On a lighter note, I signed up Penny and Josh for "adult & tot" swim classes on Saturday mornings while I'm at work. I thought they needed an activity, and I think this is perfect for them. Penny loves water, and I think it's great to get babies in swim classes as young as possible to learn some basic safety stuff and to have fun. At the same time, I was happy to pass this class over to dad and avoid the pool myself. I don't have to work every Saturday, so I will get to go watch sometimes.

Kindle Cover

I received a Kindle for Christmas, which I am loving! I hardly ever buy books, so I didn't really rush out to get an e-reader when they first became popular, but now that Amazon Prime members are allowed access to the Amazon library and local libraries are getting more and more kindle books to loan, I have access to lots of free e-books. Anyway, I used it as an opportunity to make a cute Kindle cover. I just wanted a simple sleeve that would protect it in my purse. I didn't need a cover that would stay on while I'm reading. After scouring the internet and Pinterest for tips, I ended up finding this tutorial to be the most helpful. I changed up the patchwork pattern and used my signature bright color palate. I was able to use lots of small scraps from my scrap bin. The tree patterns are popular from my Etsy shop, and you may recognize the pink plaid and houndstooth lining from my Christmas critters post. The plaid used to be a skirt, and the houndstooth was a pair of pants.

Do you have an e-reader? Do you love it? What kind of cover do you have?

Penelope's Very Hungry Caterpillar First Birthday Party

Penny's party was a complete success! And thank goodness for Pinterest. Oh my, it made party-planning so easy! I'm super excited to share photos of the party.

First, the table/decor

I printed out illustrations from the book of various foods in the story and mounted them on cardstock and skewers. I'm not sure where exactly this caterpillar was hatched, but these foods are definitely not all in season at once in any place I know of! I substituted grapes for plums and tried not to feel too guilty about buying imported fruit. 80/20 rule, right? ;)

 

The party colors were pink & green

And here is the cake! I made the caterpillar's head to be Penny's smash cake and cupcakes for the other kiddoes. I didn't want to abandon our efforts to keep Penny sugar-free, so I tested a few different recipes and finally decided on this molasses-based applesauce spice cake. The frosting was whipped cream cheese with crushed pineapple. I used India Tree natural food dyes, and I wasn't really all that impressed, especially considering how pricey they are. It took a LOT of coloring to get these colors, which are still pretty muted, especially the green. Next time, I might experiment with berry purees or something else. Regardless, I think the cake turned out really cute!

super easy decoration from cardboard and yarn

 Party activities consisted of a craft...

We made fingerprint caterpillar bookmarks. This is the sample I made.

Josh helping Penny make her bookmark.

A dramatic reading of the book...

Can't you tell that Penny was just captivated by the story?

A game that had nothing to do with the theme, but was just fun.

We have these blocks with different careers on them, and each child pulled a block out of the bag to see what his/her future career will be!

 

Apparently, Penny will be a writer. I guess we'll see! We had lots of movie stars and rock stars at the party, as well as an astronaut, bus driver, zoo keeper...

Kids were greeted with caterpillar antennae headbands. Very few of them were worn for too long, but they were super cute! (and doubled as party favors, along with the bookmarks)

 

 

Invitations were inspired by the book

And, no first birthday party post would be complete without a thorough cake smashing montage.

Coordinating headbands! For more on Penny's dress, see this post.

                                                                  Getting into stuff!

Penny wouldn't wear her headband, so we used it as an anklet.

 

Overall, it was a great party and a great day! Happy birthday, Penelope!