The Curtains Are Done!!!

The nursery is really starting to come together and I'm very pleased.  I'm waiting on some white floating shelves and this green lamp shade from Pottery Barn Kids to arrive:

I finished the curtains yesterday thanks to my Mother-in-Law coming to play with Gabriel.  :)  The paintings should be ready to pick up from the framer on August 2nd.  Now I have a few gifts to make for friends' babies and I need to finish cross-stitching my daughter's Christmas stocking.

Here is a glimpse of the curtains:

Paintings: Why God Made Little Girls

Well, after realizing I disliked my original idea for the paintings I'm doing my for daughter's room I stumbled on the poem "Why God Made Little Girls."  I took the first half of the poem and created 3 paintings to go along with it.  I'm pleased with the results and think it will look great in her room when they're framed.

God made the world with its towering trees,

majestic mountains and restless seas,

then paused and said, "It needs one more thing."

Someone to laugh and dance and sing,

to walk in the woods and gather flowers,

to commune with nature in quiet hours.

So God made little girls

with laughing eyes and bouncing curls,

with joyful hearts, and beautiful smiles,

enchanting ways and feminine wiles.

And when He'd completed the task He'd begun,

he was pleased and proud of the job He'd done.

For the world when seen through a little girl's eyes

greatly resembles paradise.

Recipe: Marbled Pound Cake

After a couple of baking failures I wanted to make something that I knew would turn out amazing.  :)  Enter the marbled pound cake.  So easy and delicious!  You can make a chocolate glaze for it, but I enjoy it with powdered sugar.  (Although admittedly, last night when the cake came out of the oven at 9 p.m. I just enjoyed it as is.)  The texture is perfect and the taste out of this world.

Recipe adapted from The Cake Book, by: Tish Boyle

Rich Marble Pound Cake 

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup natural cocoa powder
6 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 Large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
* 1 tsp. instant coffee (or espresso) - this was my addition
* Powdered sugar for dusting.


1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 F.  Grease the inside of a 10 in. bundt pan.  Dust the pan with flour.
2  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.  Set aside.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sugar, the cocoa powder, coffee, and water until smooth; set aside.
4.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until very creamy (2 minutes).  Gradually beat in the remaining 2 cups of sugar.  Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is well blended and light (4 minutes).  At medium speed, beat in the vanilla, then beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  At low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions and mixing just until blended.
5.  Add 3 cups of batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended.  Spoon one-third of the remaining batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer.  Spoon one-third of the chocolate batter over the plain batter and smooth it into an even layer.  Repeat with remaining layers, ending with the chocolate batter.
6.  Bake the cake for 60-70 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
7.  Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely.

In progress...

I know I haven't blogged in a bit, but that's because I have projects in progress.  Currently I am in the middle of assembling curtains for my daughter's room (pictured below) and have 2 out of 3 water color paintings for her room completed.  Although I still need to use my Cricut to cut out the wording for the paintings.  I could be doing that right now, but I don't think I can get the Cricut out without waking my son from his nap.

I have also had a couple of food posts I was going to put up, but both were less than stellar.  So, I will save you from those.  :)  Hopefully I will have something more blog worthy in a few days time.

With Fitted Sheet

Here's the photo of the crib/skirt and fitted sheet as promised.  :)  I think the deep green polka dot fabric really ties it all together now.

Recipe: Tomato-and-Corn Pizza

I made this yummy pizza tonight and just had to share.  It's from the July 2010 issue of Southern Living Magazine.  I highly recommend you make it.  It's a great summery pizza flavor.

Hands-on Time: 10 min.; Total Time: 44 min.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3  small plum tomatoes, sliced (I used 2 Roma tomatoes)
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground pepper
• 1  (14-oz.) package prebaked Italian pizza crust
• Parchment paper
• 1/3  cup  refrigerated pesto
• 1/2  cup  fresh corn kernels (I used frozen and didn't even thaw them.)
• 1/4  cup  grated Parmesan cheese
• 1  teaspoon  sugar
• 8  ounces  fresh mozzarella, sliced (I used the pre-shredded 8 oz. bag.)
• 3  tablespoons  fresh whole or torn basil leaves (I left this out as my pesto was basil based.  My husband agreed that more basil would have been overkill.)
• I also added some pre-cooked seasoned Italian chicken strips on after about 10 minutes in the oven.  Returned to the oven for the remaining 4 minutes.  It makes the pizza a little healthier to have the added protein on it.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Place tomato slices on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; let stand 20 minutes.

2. Place pizza crust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet; spread with pesto. Stir together corn, Parmesan, and sugar. Top pizza with corn mixture, tomatoes, and mozzarella slices.

3. Bake at 450° for 14 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden. Remove from oven, and top with basil leaves.

Note: We tested with Boboli Original Pizza Crust.

Finished Crib Skirt and Fitted Sheet

I finally completed the crib skirt for my daughter's room.  I used the instructions from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones with a few small modifications.  I think it turned out nicely.  I also had enough left over of the green polka dot fabric (You see it peaking out from it's little opening at the bottom.) to make a fitted sheet.  It's not pictured here but I will remedy that tomorrow.  I used this tutorial from luvinthemommyhood.

I will say though that 80 in. of elastic was probably about 8 inches more than I needed.  I'd go with just 2 yards.  Also...don't enclose your casing with only an edge stitch.  Add a zig zag once you have your elastic in by stretching the fabric taught.  This will keep your fabric from fraying.  Trust me.  You'll thank me later.  ;)

(I promise...fitted sheet pictures to come tomorrow.)

Tutorial: Changing Pad Cover

I'm trying make as much of the items for my daughters nursery as possible.  So this weekend I delved into the world of Changing Pad Covers.  There's something so nice about a warm and soft minky against the skin rather than a cold plastic-y changing pad isn't there?  (At least I would guess there was.  Not being a baby I couldn't tell you for sure.)

What you need:  Approximately 1 yard of minky (or similarly soft) fabric.  I actually got 1 1/8 yard so I have a little extra to make a tag blanket for her later.  Coordinating thread (or something plain like white or cream...the minky hides it pretty well).  1/4" wide elastic.  Dresser top changing pad.

For the record I do not wash my minky first.  I think washing and drying it distorts it somewhat and makes it more difficult to cut.  I also used one of the selvages for eyeballing my straight edge.

Step 1:
Stand your changing pad up on one short end and trace the end onto paper (I used construction paper).  Then you are going to add 1/2" to each of the sides and top for the seam allowance.  Also add 3" to the bottom.  This portion will wrap under the changing pad and hold the elastic.  (I used a 1/2" seam allowance because minky is slippery and that way if anything moved slightly I wouldn't have any issues with it pulling apart.  It is for a child after all.)

Step 2:
Now you're going to measure for the main piece of the cover.  This is going to be one giant rectangle that goes from end to end and wraps under on the long sides of the cover.  (Remember...your side pieces had 3 inches added to them already.

So, measure from left to right and then add 1" to that measurement.  My pad was 31" wide so I made that measurement 32" (1/2" for the seam allowance on each side.)

Then measure from the back bottom of the pad, up the side, down the back contour, across the middle, up the front contour, and down the front side.  (Back being the farthest side from you, front being the closest side to you.)  Make sure to follow this very closely, and use some little pieces of tape to hold everything in place if you need to.

Once you've taken that measurement and 6 inches to it.  3" for each long side just like we added 3" to the bottom of the end pieces.

Step 4:  Measure your rectangle out on the wrong side of your fabric and cut 1 rectangle.  Then use your "pattern" for the short ends, trace it twice on the wrong side of the fabric, and cut out both end pieces.

Step 5:  Now you need to line up your short pieces with the rectangular piece.  Line the short side of an end piece to the side of your rectangle that will be on the short end.  (Mine was square so it didn't matter.)  Make sure that the points of your end piece are facing to the center and that you have right sides of the fabric facing each other.  Pin this short edge in place.

Step 6:  Begin sewing the short end onto your rectangle with a 1/2" seam allowance.  Sew along where you pinned (making sure to back tack when you start) and when you get to a half inch away from the edge of the sloped side of your end piece stop.  Lift your presser foot (make sure your needle remains down) and manipulate the end piece only (this is important) so that the slope lines up with the edge of your rectangular piece.  You will have to stretch and pull at the end piece a little bit to maneuver it.  That's okay.  Continue doing this all along the dip of the end piece and back up the other slope.  Always keeping the edges lined up with the rectangle's edge.  When you get to a 1/2" from the other side of the short end stop again, lift your presser foot with the needle down, pull the end piece so that it is even with the edge of the rectangle again, lower your presser foot and continue sewing until the end (making sure to back tack at the end again).

Step 7:  Do the same process with the other short end on the opposite side of the rectangle (1/2" seam allowance).  Once both of these end pieces are sewn on you may need to trim things up to be a little more even.  Do that if necessary.

Step 8:  You now have the basic shape of your cover.  Flip your cover right side out and take it to your changing pad to make sure it fits on nicely.  (This is the best time to make adjustments if you need to, but remember it will fit more snuggly once the elastic is in.)  If it fits you now need to make the casing for the elastic to go in.  Begin folding the edges of your cover in towards the center by 1" and pin in place the whole way around.  Sew this in place, remembering to back tack at the beginning and end, but also leave an opening about 1" wide so you can thread your elastic through the casing you've made.

Step 9:  Cut your 1/4" wide elastic to be about 2.5 - 3 feet long.  (***I must have had very stretchy elastic as I've received a few notes from people that they needed a bit more length than the original 2 feet I had posted.  So I altered the suggested length for you. :) )  Attach a safety pin to each end.  Secure one end of the elastic with the safety pin to the opening of the casing you made.  Take the other end of the elastic with the other safety pin and push it through the casing until you have gone all of the way through your casing to the other side of your opening.  You can now use the safety pins to help you find the correct tightness you would like on your cover by placing the cover on the changing pad and adjusting the elastic until it is to your liking.

Step 10:  Once your elastic is to the length you would like it to be sew about an inch of it together and clip off any excess.  Then sew shut your opening.  (You can do that by hand, but I just placed mine back on the machine and started back where I had sewn previously a little back tacked and continued into where I had sewn on the other end of the opening and back tacked again.  Your casing should look like this:

And VOILA!  You have a Easy Contoured Changing Pad Cover!!!  :)

Recipe: Low Fat Banana Bread

For whatever reason I'm really into the breakfast foods as of late I guess.  Not sure why as I'm usually not that way.  This morning I noticed my bananas were starting to a look a little sad so I decided to make this tried and true banana bread recipe.  I love that it doesn't have the butter in it but uses applesauce instead.  I use natural applesauce, but you can use any kind.

A tip for all of you bakers out there:  When making breads always use bread flour.  You won't have that collapsed gooey center that many "fruit" breads are known for.

Low Fat Banana Bread:

1/2 cup apple sauce
2 cups bread flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift dry ingredients together.  Add eggs and applesauce, mix.  Add bananas (I use a potato masher/pastry dough cutter to mush the bananas in).  Fold in the nuts (optional).

Bake in a greased loaf pan for 40-50 minutes.