Tie Skirt

Every year at work we have a "Wild and Wacky" tie day.  Last year I set out to make this skirt thinking, "shoot, I have a WHOLE year to do this. piece of cake." Well, not that it was hard. I found some helpful tutorials to get me started but it was a bit time consuming...especially since I just kept putting it off until the week before the big day.  I have got to stop doing that. On the final night after a bit of seam ripping and re-doing to get the fitting right I had a bit of extra time so I appliquéd some ties on shirts for the kids. They seemed pleased which pleased me. Did I have to do all this? no. But there is something in my nature that has a continuing need to over achieve.  It's no necessarily a bad thing. And I'm not going to lie, it was fun seeing people faces (especially my student's) light up when they realized what the skirt was made out of.

I should have taken pictures along the way to show you how I did it. If you're interested, here are the basics.
1. Collect a few ties, it doesn't take much, I used 5 or 6.
2. Seem rip the ties and pull out and toss the inner lining.
3. Cut the ties in half
4. Sew a large portion onto a small portion. I'm assuming that doing this helpes the skirt flare a bit more...but It will probably work other ways too. **okay the way I lined them up since they wont be all the same length is by lining them up at the corners of the tip - look at the picture for clarification.
5. Sew enough ties together to get the pannel of fabric to be large enough to go around your waist.
6. Sew it closed so now you have a round tube that is resembling a skirt.
7. Figure out how long you want it and cut off the top so all the extra uneven length at the top is gone.
8. Now for the waist band. I made mine out of a t-shirt. here is a good tutorial for that. I should have used it...I did my own thing which I now need to re-do. When will I ever learn?
9. Now you're done!! Whoo hoo! Go enjoy your skirt...oh and don't forget to wear a slip - the fabric is a bit thin!

Things that I will do better next time:
1. Not take so dang long to get it done! It's a fun project and really not TOO time consuming. All together it probably took me 10 hours.
2. Surge my inside seems before putting the waist band on.
3. Not get cocky and look at a tutorial before doing the waist band. I knew there would be a great tutorial out there...why did I not use it? Now I have to go back. oh well.
4. Make it a bit shorter. I think going a tiny bit shorter may give it a bit more shape.

Okay...If I ever go back and re-do the waist band and length I'll post a picture.

Meatless Monday {Sloppy Joes}

For the past few months, well ever since watching Forks over Knives I've been really trying to limit my families meat and animal protein intake. It was really hard at first. I didn't like the idea of buying meat replacements. So with the help of the internet and a lot of experimentation I've found some keepers.  I make these Sloppy Joes for the the family at least every other week.  

One thing about the way I cook (and the reason I'll never be a successful baker) is that I don't measure much...I guestimate. It's all about what tastes good, right?

So keep that in mind

Ingredients:

1 Zucchini - shredded

1 Red pepper - chopped

1 Med. Onion - chopped

1 15oz can of beans*

Ketchup

Worcester sauce 

Whole wheat hotdog/hamburger bun

EV olive oil

(*I usually use black beans..but only had pinto when I did this one)

Lets do this!

1. saute the veggies in a bit of olive oil...If I have to guess I probably use about a TBS of oil

2. Add the Sauce - ketchup&worcester

The "swirly" method works nice

3. mix in beans

4. add in bun

5. Maybe make bake some potatoes to go with it

6. Enjoy!

And as long as super cheep ketchup is not being used this meal is very healthy! 

{sigh} doesn't it feel good to make something healthy AND delicious? yah. it's pretty great. 

Oh and I always just use whatever veggies are on hand. sometimes I do a zucchini/carrot combo or sometimes it's a green pepper and not a red. I've never had a combo I didn't like. This meal is pretty versatile. 

So this is a trailer of Forks over Knives. Very interesting stuff, no? 

Am I a Vegan? No. Do I want to be? Kind of. 

Mother's Day Gifts

I am a Montessori preschool teacher. I love what I do. Every year the student's make a Mother's day gift for their mom's. This year, after spending a good bit of time on Pinterest, I came up with this. Cute, right?  

It wasn't the most independent thing for them to do - my assistant stamped all the names but the children made the cute bead ornament and then they wrapped it up all awesome.

oh - and it's a super special mother's day today because it's also mine and my husband's anniversary! 

6 years - whoo!

A new flavor of Ellie and Fern

My sister and I love doing boutiques.  We love that it gives us a good excuse to craft and then most importantly gives us a deadline.  This past boutique we debuted our new inventory. 

Cool right? We kind of really love it.

Unfortunately, there wasn't the best turn out - That always seems to happen to us - gah! BUT the good news was that there was a central check out so Ceri (my sister) and I kind of had a party day. We shopped Ikea - and then toured model homes. I dare say it may have been better than Disneyland. A whole day to ourselves...and then on top of it we made a bit of cash. 

win - win.