Friday, June 29, 2012

My Sister's Banana Cream Pie


Now, that's not the best picture, I'm sorry. But it was amazing and I couldn't wait to eat it so I didn't cut very well and I didn't take many pictures. :)

A number of years ago I was at my sister's house and she made banana cream pie. I loved it. So good!! Twice now I've made this pie and both times I've called her to be sure I got the recipe right. Here's how we give recipes in our family:

"You get the Nilla Wafer crust, the pudding, the Cool Whip, and the bananas. Cut up the bananas and put them in the bottom of the crust then layer thick pudding then some Cool Whip if you want, or just mix it with the pudding and put it on top. Just layer it. Oh, and if you're not gonna eat it right away put the top bananas in lemon juice."

For you, our lovely readers, I will translate. :)

My Sister's Banana Cream Pie
(a recipe just about the same can be found on the label for the pie crust)

2 4-serving boxes of instant vanilla pudding
2.5c cold milk
1 Nilla Wafer pie crust
1.5 bananas (more or less depending on how you layer or arrange)
1/2 a regular sized container of thawed Cool Whip (we use the light one)

Slice up the banana(s) and place a layer of them in the bottom of the crust.
Mix up the pudding and pour 1/3 of it on top of the bananas.
(Add a thin layer of Cool Whip here if you'd like.)
Mix the rest of the pudding with the Cool Whip and pour over top of the existing layers.
Place in refrigerator for a couple hours until it sets or put in the freezer if you're impatient like me. :)
Top with more Cool Whip if you would like and place banana slices on top.

Eat. Enjoy.


Pinned it Made it

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Summer time is here! People are on vacation and the weather is HOT!
We’re going to be taking a break from the linky party for July and August and will re-evaluate come fall. There hasn’t quite been the growth in the number of links that we were hoping for and it takes quite a bit of time to put the party together each week. So, we’re going to take a little summer break, revamp things and start back up at a later date!


Top Viewed:
Cinnamon roll waffles

Canned Cinnamon Roll Waffles from Little Sprinkles of Fun!

Brandi & Meig’s Pick:

We love these Chicken Parmesan Sliders from The Grant Life! They look so yummy! Thanks for sharing. :)
 
Melanna’s Pick:
Shrink Plastic Curly Bead Necklaces by The Silly Pearl


My girls would totally think handmade beads would be a fun project. Thanks Steph for the idea!
 
Jennifer’s Pick:
These sandwiches look divine! Might actually be something my hubby would eat! Thanks so much to Eating in Neverland for sharing!
 
Please Remember to...Follow ALL 3 hosts.
Post our fabulous button on your blog so others can join the fun. (its on my sidebar)
Visit a couple of the other links and spread some love. We all love comments :)
For all projects linked to the “Pin-ed it, Made it” category, please ensure you link ONLY projects you were Pinspired to create and that the original post that inspired your project is properly sourced. We want to play nice :)
For the “Everything Else” category, please do not post giveaways, items you’re selling or other link parties.

Pin-ed it, Made it:


Everything Else:

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Freezer Paper Fun

So I really only wear t-shirts to my job because even though its a desk job I often find myself loading wet 50lb bags of mulch or treated wood into customers cars and I don't want to get my good clothes gross. I bought a couple plain t-shirts at the thrift store a while back and I finally got around to playing around with one.


I loved the elephants on the fabric I printed recently so I wanted to have an elephant for myself  : )


I love working with freezer paper its so fun, if you have never used it for a stencil you should try it out. I'm not posting a tute because there are thousands, here is a good one. I think its so cute and I actually did get a couple compliments at work yesterday.



Saturday, June 23, 2012

Hand Printed Fabric

I have recently been interested in designing my own fabric and so I joined this hand printed fabric swap to jump right in and give it a try.

The way it works is you gets paired in a group of 5 and each person sends out 4 fat quarters of hand printed fabric and each person receives four.

It wasn't required that we do special colors I did go ahead and use what colors each person wanted and it was no big deal because 3 out of the 4 people wanted turquoise and grey! It's funny how certain color schemes get popular around here in blogland.

Anyway, here is my first try!

She requested oranges as her colors and so I made a stamp using a potato that looked (kinda I hope!) like orange slices. I cringe seeing the imperfections on this, but I got better as I went.



This next one I hate. I added more pain drops after this picture and still was not pleased. I made the stamps out of craft foam.


This next one was created using a bottle cap as a stamp! I actually like this and am considering using this method again.


I love this one! I think these elephants are just too sweet. This was a craft foam stamp that I bought already made.


A close up :)

I learned a lot and can't wait to see what shows up at my mail box.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Pinned It Made It

Welcome back to another addition of Pin-ed it, Made it!

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Top Viewed:


We ALL love these faux-TOMS by Kelley from The Grant Life!


Melanna’s Pick:

A mason jar soap dispenser has been on my list forever too! Thanks Sam (From The Junk House) for showing us yours.

Meig & Brandi’s Pick:

YUM! Mojitos are one of our favorites. Thanks to The Grant Life for sharing this great drink recipe!

Jennifer’s Pick:
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Love the Father's day hand-stamped washer key-chain from Julie at Crafty Imaginings. I've had a stamp set hanging around the house somewhere... time to get it out and make something clever too!

Please Remember to...Follow ALL 3 hosts.
Post our fabulous button on your blog so others can join the fun. (its on my sidebar)
Visit a couple of the other links and spread some love. We all love comments :)
For all projects linked to the “Pin-ed it, Made it” category, please ensure you link ONLY projects you were Pinspired to create and that the original post that inspired your project is properly sourced. We want to play nice :)
For the “Everything Else” category, please do not post giveaways, items you’re selling or other link parties.

Pin-ed it, Made it:
 
Everything Else:

We Be Jammin'


New adventure: jelly/jam.

Brandi and I are both experimenting with jams and jellies this year. I was at the grocery store the other day and the apricots were so fragrant that I had to snag some. I wanted something to go with them so I grabbed a package of raspberries and went on my way. My, oh my, am I glad I did. This jam has such a great flavor to it! I have to wait for it to set, but I'm really hoping it works out as well as I think it did! *fingers crossed*

Here's what I did:

1.5lb apricots
2pkg raspberries (the little ones)
1/2c water
5.5c sugar
1tbsp lemon juice

Cut up fruits and put into stock pot (minimum size 4qt) and add the water. Cook down on medium-low heat until the fruits are mushy and cooked through stirring occasionally.


Add sugar and cook on low heat (like a 2 or somewhere around there, a little less than you had before) until reduced. Stirring frequently to keep it from burning. (You can also skim off the white stuff that forms on top, but I don't mind it so I leave it.)

Once it starts to gel, you can do the freezer test, the spoon test or any other test you want to use to check and be sure it's the right consistency.


Ladle into clean jars and process (10 minutes should be enough) or place in refrigerator (for up to a year).

Enjoy!! Go ahead and try other combinations. Brandi made a peach/raspberry that's pretty yum, too! Get creative!



Monday, June 18, 2012

Made it Monday


Happy Monday! Here is a little peek at what I've been working on lately:

 I went garage sale-ing with two girls I babysit last weekend and these are the spoils from my trip! I'm so happy with everything I got! That cute fabric was only 50 cents and it's about a yard and a half. Woohoo!

 This weekend I was in Indianapolis to celebrate my friend Cari's birthday. She wanted a strawberry cake, so I made her one. I used the recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride and my, oh my, was it delicious. I also used her recipe for buttercream icing and will never use another one again. This one did not break down like so many do and it was perfect. It might have worked out so well because I got to use their KitchenAid which is now in my kitchen because Cari got a new one! :) Best.Friends.Ever.

 YUM.
 While I was in Indy I stopped by Crimson Tate :: Modern Quilter and checked out their selection. Uh, can I just say how much I want to live there? Heather and Shelley were SUPER sweet and I want to be their best friends. I can't wait to take Brandi there! I snagged a couple fabrics for two projects and then two fat quarters. One for me and one for B.
 This fabric is going to be a skirt for Cari. Can't wait to get working on it!
Can you guess which fat quarter I got for Brandi? :)

Me and Heather in Crimson Tate. AHHHH I LOVE HER! She helped me plan out my Lorax quilt!

Anyway, back to finished projects... (you can see more pictures from my Indy weekend on my blog verrrry soon or check out my instagram feed meigheyburn)
 Elmo valance for one of the kids I babysit. He LOVES Elmo and I spotted the fabric in Wal-Mart (of all places) and stitched this up for him. :)
 My high school best friend had her first mother's day this year. I did the photography for their wedding so I wanted to incorporate that along with a picture of the baby for her gift. Their wedding song was 'All for Love' by Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart so I used some of those lyrics, too. I printed the pictures on tissue paper and then mod podged them onto the canvas. I used black paint on the edges to 'antique' it a bit.
Finally, here's the sneak peek I sent to Brandi of the secret project I made for her. She says it's not a good sneak peek because she can't tell what it is. I think that's ok. :)

Hope you are all well!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Pinned It Made It


Hey Everyone! Melanna here (just so you know which of the three of us is talking this week...)

I'm thoroughly addicted to Pinterest. When I first started pinning I had a board called something like "projects to make." Ha! I had no idea that I was essentially creating an impossible to do list.

So I went the normal route and organized my pins by categories. Then when I'm in the mood to make something, whether it's baking, dinner, a craft or activity with the kids or a sewing project, I have inspiration right in front of me.

That doesn't mean I don't have a "list" of things I want to finish!

Here are some pins I'm dying to try:
strawberry lemonade bar recipe
(pinned here the ingredients to this one are actually in my kitchen waiting for me. Hopefully today!)


(pinned here We only ever have 2 hot weeks in July. But wouldn't it be wonderful to lie on a giant bag of water? Yes. Yes it would!)
(of course I have a sewing project waiting in the wings! Or 50... Pinned here. I've only made my girls skirts and dresses. I really need to venture into shirts (especially since Mady's torso is SO long). How cute is this shirt? So darling!)
But of course it's not enough to just have things on the to do list. Which is why we party here each week showing off the stuff we've actually done! Success or failure! So let's get to it, show us all that stuff that you Pinned and actually made!

Here are our top picks from last week:

Top viewed:

Soap Cloud from Moore Babies. Looks Like Fun!
Jennifer's Pick:


There is so much inspiration in this post and I am LOVING the DIY art created by Covered in Grace!
Meig and Brandi's Pick:

We love these washi tape cards from Crafting and Creativity. So simple and cute! Thanks for the great idea, Sarah!


Melanna's Pick:
I'm Canadian, so I have to show some love to my fellow citizens! Sarah at Crafting and Creativity has a whole post of ideas of fun ways to celebrate Canada Day.


Please Remember to...Follow ALL 3 hosts.
Post our fabulous button on your blog so others can join the fun. (its on my sidebar)
Visit a couple of the other links and spread some love. We all love comments :)
For all projects linked to the “Pin-ed it, Made it” category, please ensure you link ONLY projects you were Pinspired to create and that the original post that inspired your project is properly sourced. We want to play nice :)
For the “Everything Else” category, please do not post giveaways, items you’re selling or other link parties.


Pin-ed it, Made it: Everything Else:


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Made it Monday

Hey everyone, just popping in to show you what I have been up to lately.


First I made a Batman ruffle headband. I haven't been brave enough to wear this to work yet but soon I will.


I turned this too short t-shirt into a dress with some bandannas.


I have also been hand printing fabric but since they are for a swap I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone yet but here is Julie giving it a try. :)

Well that's all I have for you today I hope the week gets off to a good start!