Happy 4th & How to Make Sparkler Pretzel Rods

Happy 4th of July Everyone!
Do you have any special plans today?  BBQ-ing?  Camping?  Spending time with Family or Friends?  Do you do your own fireworks or go to a large fireworks display?
We love Independence Day here.  I grew up looking forward to this wonderful holiday.  As a kid, just the idea of setting off fireworks (which then were much crazier than they are now) was enough to make the holiday fun, but you add in all the yummy food, staying up late and hanging out with friends and you have a recipe for a kids paradise.  Of course, once I got older, I learned about the Reason that we celebrate.  This just made it better.  To celebrate why we are a country and how we got our independence.  I love my country and the freedoms that we have. 
So, our plans this year - pretty laid back for us.  We supported some of our favorite non-profits by purchasing fireworks from them.  We only wish that we could help more great charities this way.  We will be BBQing beef ribs, plus eating artichokes, watermelon, strawberries and my Sparkler Pretzel Rods (see below).  I kids will probably do some swim time and run around with their friends.  Come evening, I am sure that the "kids" will not wait for dark to start setting off snacks, eyeballs, crack the whips, sparklers and more, and then when it gets dark, we will do our big fountains.  Around 9:30, our local park does a big fireworks display that we can see in the sky from our street (yes, we get the best of both worlds).

So, I mentioned Sparkler Pretzel Rods.  Even though we weren't doing anything special, I couldn't help but make something cool.  I found this idea on the Martha Stewart website and I wanted to try it out.  It was super easy.

 Ingredients:
Pretzel Rods
Chocolate Chips
Various red, white and blue sprinkles (I had 6 different kinds that I tried, light blue sugar crystals, bright blue sugar crystals, white non-pareils, white sugar crystals, red, white & blue non-pareils, and red, white and blue mix)
Directions:
Place chocolate in either a double boiler if you have one or like I did - a glass measuring cup inside of a pan of water on the stove.  Melt the chocolate until smooth. 
Dip one end of the pretzel rod in the chocolate.  If it is not deep to come up high enough on your rod, use a pastry brush or even a spatula to get the chocolate up higher. 
As soon as it is covered to your liking, cover in one kind of sprinkle.  I found that some of these sprinkle, I could roll the chocolate in and others I had to use my hand to sprinkle the topping down over the rod.  Lay out on parchment paper to harden.  Continue dipping and adding different sprinkles. 
Enjoy!  Yummy!

I am off to enjoy my celebration.  Have a happy (and safe) holiday!

Meagan

Book Review - Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In this 1st book in the Mercy Thompson series, shape-changer mechanic, Mercy seems to be prone to entangle with creatures that most would steer clear of.  She seems to have the perfect mix of bravery and "should-know-better-and-does-it-anyway" to make the story interesting.  It helps that since she was born coyote, she has senses that humans do not, but it also gets her into trouble when she can't stop herself from helping out others and getting herself into trouble just as often.  She seems to draw strong male suitors to her like fireflies to a lamp.

In this story, she ends up helping out a lone new werewolf, which sheds light on a plot to upend the werewolf community and she finds herself saving the hot alpha.

It was a great read and I plan on continuing the series to find out what else happens to her.



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Book Review - Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had picked up this book thinking that it was the first in the series by Patricia Briggs about a shapechanger named Mercy who was a car mechanic that could change into a coyote and was mixed up with werewolves, vampires, fae and all sorts of trouble.  Once I got into the book, I realized that it was later in the series.  It turned out to be book 2.  I still really enjoyed it and wanted to start the series at the beginning as soon as I was done. 

In this book she seems to have all sorts of creatures chasing her (both romantically and violently).  Her vampire friend asks for help and it embroils her in a lot of trouble with a demon, vampires and of course the werewolves.  Not to mention trying to balance the multiple romantic advances that she has to fend off. 

I thought that the author did a good job of mixing it with lots of fantasy creatures in our real world.  I recommend it for those that like fantasy



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Book Review - City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed the previous 3 books in this series, plus another stand alone book that Cassandra Clare has written, so it was a no-brainer to pick this one up.  I did enjoy it, although, I think that the previous books were a tad better.  In some ways, this book seemed more like a piece of a story instead of a whole story unto itself.  I prefer series books to each speak for themselves,  while continuing the characters.  I would still recommend it for someone who likes the series, but it should not be read on it's own.



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Party Planning & blog giveaway

As you probably have figured out, I LOVE to plan parties!  To find some cool theme and create all the details to make an amazing party is just a thrill to me.  For this reason, I am always on the look out for resources and ideas for parties.
When planning my son's first birthday party, I went on the hunt for ideas on how to create a fun Sporty Mickey party.  Some of my normal websites that I check did not hold anything for me (Oriental Trading, Birthday Express and Birthday Party Ideas).  So, I started "googling" things.  Well, I found the coolest website.  It is called Celebrations At Home.  They had the best party page with pictures for a Baseball party:
http://celebrationsathomeblog.com/2011/03/batter-up-baseball-party.html
I already shared pictures on how I made my banner from this party and I plan on sharing some of the other ideas that I got from this website,too.
I was just floored by their ideas.  I wanted to copy them all.  Now, I follow their blog daily just to see all the new cool ideas.  They have ideas for just about anything and they are always beautiful and wonderfully photographed.
Well, right now, they are having a HUGE giveaway from some of their vendors, valued at over $270!  I was excited that I wanted to share it with you.
http://celebrationsathomeblog.com/2011/06/party-package-giveaway-valued-at-over-270.html#comment-8485
Make sure to check them out to help give you inspiration on your next party, too! 

How to Make Your Own Banner

I celebrated my little one's birthday recently and we decided to go with a sport theme - well, a sporty Mickey theme to be exact.  Well, as many things that I want to do, there wasn't anything out there that was both sports and Mickey.  All the ideas were one or the other, so I took ideas from both and merged them together.

One thing that I really loved was the sport flag banners.  Since I wanted both themes, I went ahead and found fabrics that worked for both.  I searched yard sales, thrift stores and my own storage.  I got 2 sheets on clearance at a thrift store for $2 in navy and dusty blue (that's a ton of fabric for that amount).  I found a red & white stripe at a yard sale for $3 for 4 yards.  I already had a Mickey print and a red and a light blue/white stripe.  Then I found a multi-sport print at JoAnn's.  It was the most expensive at $4.19/yard on sale, but it tied everything together.
I made my own triangle template.  I folded each of the fabrics in half, making sure that if there were stripes, they were lined up the correct direction.

For this project, it really doesn't matter if your fabric is "right" or "wrong" sides together.  I would then lay my template on top of the fabric.  I found it easiest to cut all the way across the fabric of the height of the triangle

After that, it is easy to cut each set of triangles.  I found that if I had the fold to the left, I would get 3 to 5 and 1/2 triangles out of each strip.

 

You will need to cut out triangles in each of the fabrics.  De[ending on how long you want your banner to be, will decide how many triangles total you need.

Now onto the sewing!

Place your 2 matching triangles (or mismatching if that is the look you want) right sides together.  Sew the 2 sides together, leaving the top open.  I did mine in batches - sew 5 or 6 and then do the next steps, since I was trying the process out.  It would make more sense to do all the sewing at once.

Next, you need to turn them right side out.  It is best to use a pointed tool like the one pictured to the left to push the corner all the way out.  This tool is specifically designer to help push corners out and things like stuffing into small areas, but you could use anything.  If you do not have anything, it will still work, it just will not be as crisp of a triangle.  I used the tool on the triangle on the left and did not on the triangle on the right.

For the next step, I ironed the seams and corners.  Again, this could be skipped, but it would not look as crisp.
You will need to fold in about 1/4 inch of the top edges and iron down flat.  There should be no raw edges showing.  You could pin it down if you want to keep it closed, but I found that if I ironed it well, I did not need to.
I top-sewed down the top edge to keep it from getting messed up.

You should end up with a pile of multi-patterned triangles

In order to figure out the pattern that I wanted, I first laid them out on the floor to play around with color combinations.  I found that some triangles looked better next to others.  For instance, my light blue and the light blue stripe were 2 different light blues, so they did not look good next to each other.  The same could be said of the navy and Mickey on navy.
Once you have your pattern figured out, this also gives you an idea of how long your finished banner will be.

I made a stack of my triangles in the right order so that as I sewed them, I could just easily grab each one in order.

I used an inexpensive white 1/4" ribbon.  Measure how much ribbon you want to hang off the end.  I left about 2' and then started the first triangle.  Using a zigzag pattern to give it a little more strength, I sewed the ribbon to the triangle.  I left about 1 1/2" between each triangle.  Continue sewing triangle and repeating your pattern if needed until your banner is the right size.  Make sure to leave the same amount of ribbon on the end that you left on the beginning.
And WALLAH!  You are done!

Now, you can make a banner for any event and in any color!
I hope feel comfortable trying out this fun and easy sewing project.

Digital Scrapbooking Challenges

Hello all,
I have recently been dabbling more than a little bit in the digital world of scrapbooking.  Of course, it all started with my own scrapbook pages.  I started scrapbooking digitally a few years ago.  At that time, I was still a Creative Memories Consultant and used their software and kits exclusively.  They had a ton of stuff that I loved They had pre-designed pages that made completely pages super easy.  They had "Power Palettes" that combined lots of papers and embellishments in the same color group to change things up and additions that coordinated as well.  They even had a contract with Disney, so I got official Disney pages and embellishments, too!
Then . . . I ran into a friend of mine one day who mentioned how many websites she visited daily downloading free kits.  She joked about how it was like an obsession.  I laughed.  I thought that was silly.  She mentioned how she ran out of space on her computer since she downloaded so many kits (most of them free).
She started sending me the links to these digital freebies, so I would check them out.  WOW!  My world has been turned around.  Now, I can see what she meant by it is an obsession.  When you are faced with all these cool freebies that designers have put out there, it is really hard to NOT download them ALL!  Sometimes, over 100 come out in a day!  I have downloaded so many kits, I am not sure what to do with them all.  I am getting better at deciding what I will use and what I will not.  I find that I download almost any kit that is Zoo, or Disney and I have designers that I love.

There is a website that every other month does a huge "Blog Train" where over 100 designers put together mini kits of the same theme and colors.  You then jump from one blog to the next collecting all these bits that coordinate together.  June will be their next train.  To collect the freebies, visit the websites and make sure to leave a comment from each designer that you download from to thank them for their work:
http://www.blogtrainblog.blogspot.com/

A website that I have mentioned before is Design House Digital.  They have weekly freebies, discounted kits, challenges, forums and more.  If you participate in the challenges, you could win gift certificates to their store.  I try to do at least a few of their challenges each month.
http://www.designhousedigital.com/

One of my favorite designers is Britt of Britt-ish Designs.  She is a big Disney fan and many of her kits are reminiscent of Disney.  Of course, it would illegal for her to actually make Disney stuff to sell, which is why what she put together is so cool.  If there is something in Disneyland, or a character that you love, you probably has a kit for it.  I am currently eying her Space Ranger kit, Galactic Alliance kit, and Never Grow Up. 
http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com/

One thing that is important before downloading all these kits is to make sure that you have something that will open them.  Many digi-scrappers use Adobe Photoshop, but I use Creative Memories Storybook Creator 3 Plus.  Both of these programs will set you back a few bones, but they are great at what they are for, and when you can download the content for free, it makes digital scrapbooking more affordable than it's traditional cousin.  The best part about digital versus traditional - once I have the kit, I can re-use the items over and over and when I want to print, I can print multiple copies of the same thing with no extra work.  I can also share them with friends and family easily.

It's a new world out there to preserve your memories - now how are you going to do it?