Pinning it Down Tuesday

 Pinning it Down Tuesdays, this week at Everyday Snapshots!

Last week I finally made a rainbow bunting/flag banner which I'd been planning to do for a long while!  I've had several on my Pinterest Boards, like this one, and I've also enjoyed the Giggleberry Creations blog; she sells them here on Etsy.

I have had all those kid clothes ready to donate/resale, and grabbed a few items from those baskets to use for the banner!

I made a triangle template and started cutting!  Each flag is two triangles of fabric sewed together.  I sewed both sides, actually some fabric I just folded and sewed one side (see below).  I waited to sew the top closed until it was sewed onto the ribbon.

You can see my quick job here, there's a stray thread sticking out!  Like most of my sewing projects, I just kind of figure things out as I go and don't ever make things even or perfect!  This was an adorable Gap t-shirt that SJ used to wear but got a hole in it.  He pointed up to this on the wall the other night saying, "I liked that shirt!!!"

I sewed each of the flags to some pink ribbon we already had, leaving about 3 inches between each flag.  These are 3 clothing items of MC's...a clearance Walmart shirt, a hand-me-down orange shirt with sparkles, and some adorable Gymboree floral biker shorts (found resale) that needed to be retired.  Grand total on this sewing project= $0!

Red, green, and wide stripes were all SJ's t-shirts; the pinstripe were some old sheets, the pink you can't see was from PJ shorts of Ellie's, and the floral is my current bedskirt alteration fabric Laura Ashley pattern.  Gotta know your fabric history, of course :)

And here's our colorful living room!  I'm considering painting some of the frames different colors.  What do you think?

Pinning it Down Tuesday

Pinning it Down Tuesdays at Amongst Lovely Things!

A few weeks ago, I posted this Christmas wreath I had pinned on my Pinterest boards.  I've kept it up on the door and was trying to think of a way to make it more Valentine-y.  Mary Clare actually colored a heart with an arrow through and taped it to the wreath, which was cute.  

But this weekend I remembered this plaque that my mom bought me many years ago, and I figured out how to hang it on top of the wreath.  Then I realized that I could bend the wreath into a heart shape, since it's just made of a wire coat hanger!  I think it's pretty cute, don't you?

Pinning it Down Tuesday

 

I tried two recipes off Pinterest this week.  They aren't the healthiest, but they are crowd pleasers!

The first was Crispy Cheddar Chicken.  It was one of those baked "fried" chicken recipes where you dip the chicken in milk and cracker crumbs.  But the difference here was that you dipped them in shredded cheddar before the cracker crumbs.  Made for a very tasty and moist crust!   My hard-core chicken finger lovers turned their noses up a bit, but I think it might grow on them!  (As usual, excuse the horrible phone photos!  I'm hoping to find a new little camera very soon, like on my birthday this weekend!)

The next dish...I just wasted a half hour of my life trying to find it again!  It was based on this recipe which I had pinned.  But somehow I did some searches and came up with this recipe, which is what I used, but can't be pinned since there's no photo!  I halved it since I wasn't sure how well everyone would like it.

As you can see below, it was very well received and I shouldn't have halved it!  The sauce was great and reminded me of the alfredo dish at the Cheesecake Factory.  I liked that it uses chicken broth and regular milk, since many of these creamy pasta dishes use heavy cream.  It also uses mozzarella, which I usually have on-hand.  I'll post the recipe below with some adjustments so I can have it for safe-keeping, because my family will want it again!  I'll write it for a full recipe in a rectangular baking dish, not the square one like pictured here.  We ate it with salad, but I think it would be great with broccoli in the dish, or on the side, too!

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
based on this recipe on food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 t minced garlic (I used 2 cloves for our half recipe)
20oz chicken broth (I used about 1/3 of a garlic-flavored box, for our half recipe)
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 T basil
1c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 grilled chicken breasts, cubed
1 c sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 box/bag penne pasta

Directions:
1. Set oven to 375 and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Melt butter, then stir in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic.
3. Stir in chicken broth, milk and basil.
4. Bring to a boil. Boil for one minute.
5. Stir in mozzarella until melted.  Add sun-dried tomatoes.
6. Place cooked and drained pasta at the bottom of a greased 9x13 glass baking dish.
7. Top with chicken, then pour cream sauce over chicken.
8. Add a bit more shredded mozzarella if you like, and bake until bubbly (about 25 mins).

Pinning it Down Tuesday, 2 Christmas Crafts!

 Tonight I'm slipping in at the last minute to the Pinning it Down Tuesday blog hop at 

Amongst Lovely Things.

Since these are a bit old, I'll go ahead and post two Christmas project ideas I had on my Pinterest boards.  (And I must also warn any new readers that my dSLR camera is broken so my blog photos right now are horrible, so sorry!)

The first is a wreath for the front door I found here!  I used a few old sheer curtains and cut them into strips about 3-4 inches wide.  I took a wire coat hanger and bent it into a circle.

Then I took the strips of sheer fabric and pushed them onto the hanger.  The first time I just went back and forth, but it was too symmetrical.  So I took all the strips off and twisted them back and forth as I was poking them onto the hanger.  Hard to explain!

Here's the finished project.  Cost = $0!  I did put some red ribbons on it (that I already had), but took those off when I took down the Christmas decorations last weekend.

My next project was one I'd been planning to do for years.  When we found out on Christmas Eve that we'd have to stay home for Christmas, I quickly got busy cutting and sewing!  These were the links I used for inspiration, but I ended up figuring out the whole quilting part on my own.  Now I'd really love to sew a quilt!  I cut them out of lightweight denim I already had from an old jumper.

I used an old fleece blanket inside for stuffing, and some fabric for the inner lining that came from an old prayer blanket from when Mary Clare was little.

I did make a quick run to the fabric store to buy some coordinating fabric for the tops.  Aren't they cute?  Next project will be adding some fabric to embroider their names at the top!

Here's how they looked all filled up on Christmas morning, with little cardstock circles with their initials taped on for now!

Thanks for hosting, Sarah!  I hope this will inspire me to try some more creative things this year!