Holiday 11 Ideas House

 {this is not my house}

Are you ready for another tour of the Bachman's Ideas House?  If you'd like, you can visit some from the past: spring 10, summer 10, holiday 10, spring 11, & summer 11.

This house was built in the early 1920's & for the Holidays 11 it was decorated with an Elegance of Winter theme, with creamy whites, cool blues, celadon, soft greens and shimmering metallic accents mixed in with botanical elements and natural textures ~ it's definitely not your traditional red and green Christmas !  Many of the one-of-a-kind items are for sale (it is highly recommended that you visit the first day if you'd like to purchase any of the one-of-a-kind items, as once they're sold, they're sold)... enjoy the tour...

 Front porch

 In the sunroom, birdcages filled with a miniature garden & clip-on bird ornaments

 Ball ornaments & wreath made into a larger wreath

 Living room

 Vintage child-size metal bed frame, bedspring, glass, & doilies used as a coffee table

 Dining room

 Oversized silver wreath made from vintage silver trays & chargers

 In the kitchen, wallpaper made from placemats, vintage metal lawyer's cabinet turned into storage shelves

 Top shelve decorated with vintage milk glass vases & ornaments

 Towel & soap holder made from a vintage basket

 Step risers spell out "Twas the night before Christmas..." using stencils, laminated paper & ribbon

 Bohemian Woodland theme in the girls bedroom

 Bed canopy made from a garden trellis with wood shelves added

 Christmas tree in a vintage child's sleigh

 Jump rope & clothes pins used to hang magazine clippings

 Decorative wall tree made from wood scraps, wood picnic table repurposed as a desk

 Ceiling light fixture created from a vintage garden basket & tassel key chains

 Craft room

 Salvaged ladders turned into shelves, wall covered in fabric & buttons

 Wire baskets become ribbon holders

 Locker doors turned into storage & magnet boards

 Bandanas used as curtain valence

 Christmas tree made from paper towels & fabric using chicken wire as a frame

 Planes, Trains & Automobiles theme in the boys bedroom

 In the master bedroom, curtain rods decorated with Christmas ornaments

Vintage dress form used to display jewelry, Christmas tree decorated with salvaged spindles, scarves, necklaces, picture frames & photos

 In the bathroom, wall-mounted vintage basket with ribbon used as towel storage

Vintage & salvaged letters in picture frames used to spell out Joy, Noel & Peace

I hope you get a chance to visit this Holiday Ideas House, it's open until Dec 18th, 2011

PS Spring 12 Ideas House will be Thursday, March 22 - Sunday, April 15, 2012

Cake Mix Dr Bakes GF

 {this is my gluten-free life}

I was so excited to bake these semi-homemade baked goodies, with 3 young active children I need shortcuts...

 have you seen this book yet? it's The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free (by Anne Byrn)
where you will find 77 recipes for gluten-free: layer cakes, bundts, sheet cakes, bars, brownies, cookies, cupcakes, & muffins
(most of the recipes call for a yellow gluten-free cake mix, some others call for a chocolate gluten-free cake mix or a gluten-free brownie mix)

although made-from-scratch GF baked items can be very delicious, they have expensive ingredients, more ingredients, & therefore take more time to make

I know what you're thinking... mixes are not healthy, but your mind will be put at ease because GF mixes are ALL NATURAL, no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives (that's a huge difference from regular mixes)

when I'm baking GF I don't only have myself to think about, but my oldest son, as well, so GF baking needs to be at times teen-friendly & easy enough for him to prepare as he needs to learn how to bake GF for himself

a huge bonus in this book is that most of the recipes can be made dairy free, too (I'm also reduced dairy, so this is very helpful to me)

 what I really want in a recipe book is a photo of each recipe & at the beginning of this book there are color photos of every single one

so far, I've used 14 different recipes from this book:

 Kathy's Cinnamon Breakfast Cake

 Holy Cow Cake

 Peanut Butter Brownies

 Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies

 Cookies and Cream Cake

 Fresh Orange Bundt Cake

 Toasted Coconut Pound Cake

 Easy Fruit Crisp

 Darn Good Chocolate Cake

 Susan's Lemon Cake

 Pumpkin Party Cake

 Hot Lemon Poke Cake

Honey Bun Cake

& Chocolate Chip Cake (sorry no photo)

our absolute favorite is the toasted coconut pound cake, after that it would have to be the lemon cakes, darn good chocolate cake, honey bun cake...

there are so many ideas & tips, I sure hope you can get your hands on this book, so you can doctor up some cake mixes soon

from my gluten-free kitchen to yours...

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free

 {this is my gluten-free life}

orange dark chocolate scones

 lemon cranberry scones

 blackberry white chocolate scones

all of these scones are gluten-free & were baked following the cranberry-pear scones recipe found in the Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free book by Karen Morgan.

75 recipes for gluten-free baked goods, these are Julia Child style, hard to find gluten-free recipes... this book has gorgeous photography, as you will see...

 icebox cookies

 madeleines

 ladyfingers

 meyer lemon bars

 tarte tatin

 cream puffs

 eclairs

profiteroles

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free, read it & eat.

freeze ahead smoothies

{this is my gluten-free life}

it's been awhile since I blogged about all things gluten-free, so the next few days I'll be doing exactly that...

you've seen freeze ahead meals & freeze ahead crock pot meals, what about freeze ahead smoothies ?  they're handy to have in the freezer for a quick & easy breakfast & practical because they use up fresh fruit before it goes bad

this is one of my favorite smoothie recipes:
1 frozen banana
1.5 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup soy milk

I cut up the fresh fruit & spread it out in a gallon size Ziploc bag. I don't want the fruit to freeze in a clump, so I lay the bag flat in the freezer. then when I want a smoothie I dump the frozen fruit in the blender & add 1 cup soy milk & voila breakfast is served :)

btw, I prefer to write the whole recipe & directions right on the Ziploc bag...

see you tomorrow for more gluten-free living...

hemming jeans

 see the problem in the above photo ?  the pant legs on this pair of jeans are way too long...

 so I folded them up to where I wanted them to be...

 a lot needed to be taken up.  I came across this fabulous tutorial on how to hem jeans which keeps the preexisting hem intact. can you believe it's a blog post from 6 years ago !?!  in blog land that's ancient history, but don't worry, it's an oldie, but goodie :)

 so it said to measure how much length you'd like to have taken off & divide it by 2.  take that new measurement, pin around, & sew right next to the preexisting hem using a zipper foot (btw, right after I took the above photo the sewing needle broke ~ ugh!)

 good advice was given to only do one leg at a time, the first pant leg turned out perfect, so then I did the second one...

 next I added some peel n stick fabric fuse because I didn't want the excess fabric hanging out.

 I ironed it to adhere the excess material to the inside of the jeans.

 amazing results !  AND now I will never hesitate in the future to buy jeans that are too long.

Altered Couture magazine

I was delightfully surprised when I looked into my mailbox this afternoon (something arrived earlier than I had expected).

Many thanks to Altered Couture magazine for publishing the ruffled peasant dress that I sewed for my daughter, it's found on pages 80-81of the NOV/DEC/JAN 2012 issue. In my write-up I shared how I turned a men's dress shirt into a cute little dress embellished with ruffles, including all the tools & materials needed, step-by-step instructions, as well as some helpful tips. I'm thrilled to be included among many wonderful artists with fabulous projects !

Thanks so much for joining me this week @ nest full of eggs !

PS Altered Couture magazine is available for purchase at JoAnn, Michaels, Barnes & Nobles stores... it's also available through subscription.

flannel pajama pants

{kids clothes week}

:: flannel pajama pants, they will be very useful during the fall, winter, & spring

:: McCall's 3906, size Xsm

:: super easy to sew

:: next on the list for kids clothes week: school photo dress

:: happy sewing everyone !