The Absolute Best Playdough Recipe

I was given this recipe by the wonderful lady that organizes the crafts at the playgroup we attend. This is the only recipe I've used over the past couple of years. It is terrific, has a smooth soft consistency, and the best part is it lasts forever. Like literally, it lasts forever. We have had a ball of this stuff in the back of our fridge since.......well.....its been there so long that I don't exactly remember when we made it. I do know its been months. Probably too long, thus the reason we made some new stuff today.

What you will need:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
food colouring

Heat your oil in a small saucepan.
Mix your food colouring with the water. I just keep adding until I get the intensity that I want.
Throw everything in the saucepan together and cook over low/medium heat for 3-4 mins stirring constantly.
At first you will think your mixture is too runny, but DO NOT add more flour, it thickens as it cooks and this happens fast! Once it gets to the point it is hard to stir, take off heat and knead dough a few times on the counter before handing it over to the kiddos (be careful you don't burn yourself, but I don't find mine is too hot).

Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag in the fridge.

Now go make some squishy (for some reason this is what playdough is called in our house)!

Twirly T Shirt Dress

Today was Anti Bullying Day at school for my 5yr old. To show their support, all of the children were supposed to come to school wearing pink.

This was cause of much distress to our munchkin, as we came to find out she doesn't really have any pink in her wardrobe. Much to even my surprise all I could find was an old hoodie, and when I offered it to her she shrieked "I can't wear THAT!", and then when I suggested she wear something of her sister's as they are virtually the same size, she cried. It was a fashion crisis of monumental proportions.

I was annoyed in that moment and almost told her, tough. Going shopping in this little town isn't really an option, so last minute outfits can be a challenge. Then, I looked down at my 5yr old yoga pants that I have worn through two pregnancies and realized it hasn't always been this way. I'm not sure what has happened in the almost six years of being a mom. Maybe it has been the fact that I haven't had a continuous night of sleep in six years, or that I live off half eaten grilled cheese sandwiches, but I used to care what I wore too. I think I even had some fashion sense at one time. So, then I felt badly for my daughter's plight and told her we would come up with something.

 

You will need:

- T shirt

- Fabric (1 to 1 1/2 yrds depending on the size of your child)

- Scissors and/or rotary cutter

- Measuring tape

Measurements for 1/4 inch seam allowance

 

Now, the first thing you need to do is ignore that this photo is sideways. When I upload it, it is not sideways!

The second thing you need to do is determine where you are going to cut your T shirt. There is no right or wrong length. I want this dress to have an empire waist, so I have chosen to cut off the bottom of my T shirt 1 1/2 inches below the underarm seam.

The best thing to do is to try the T shirt on your little one and mark where you want the skirt part to start and cut it off there. I have chosen to just cut mine straight across but you can also cut the front so it dips down in a slight curve. Just make sure it is even on both sides!

Put your trimmed T shirt on your kiddo and measure from the bottom of the T shirt to where you would like the bottom of the dress to hit. Pretend I'm showing you a picture of this. From the bottom of the T to where I wanted the dress to fall on my kiddo was 21 inches.

Grab your fabric because you are now going to cut your skirt. You need three tiers. Take your length measurement (remember mine was 21 inches) and follow this formula to get your lengths of each tier:

Tier 1 and 2 = (length measurement divided by 3) +  0.5 inch

Tier 3 = (length measurement divided by 3) + 1.25 inches

So, my top two tiers will be 7.5 inches long and my bottom one will be 8.25 inches long

Don't cut yet because now you need to determine how wide to cut your tiers!

 

 Grab your T shirt and measure the width across the bottom. As you can see, mine is 13 inches. Follow this formula to determine the width of your tiers:

Tier 1 = (Width of T shirt X 1.5) + 0.5 inches

Tier 2 = (Width you determined for Tier 1 X 1.5) + 0.5 inches

Tier 3 = (Width you determined for Tier 2 X 1.5) + 0.5 inches

So, for me my Tier 1 = 20 inches

                       Tier 2 = 30.5 inches

                       Tier 3 =  46.25 inches

Take your length measurement and your width measurements and cut your tiers! You need 2 of each. So here is my cutting list based on my measurements:

Cut 2- 7.5 inches by 20 inches
Cut 2- 7.5 inches by 30.5 inches
Cut 2- 8.25 inches by 46.25 inches

Most fabric only comes in 44 inch widths, so I cheated a little bit and only cut my last tier 44 inches wide, not 46.25 inches. This won't be really noticeable so don't worry about it if you decide to do this too. The main premise is that your next tier should be 1 1/2 times the previous one so try to stick to that.

If you want a REALLY twirly skirt you could decide to have each tier double the one before. Keep in mind you will have to cut extra widths of fabric and sew them together so they will be long enough. This is also A LOT of gathering later. Girls love them though!

 

Now sew each "pair" of tiers right sides together down the short ends. Do this for all three.

 

Zig zag stitch your raw edge to prevent fraying.

Pretend here I am showing you how to gather. You will want to do this the very same way that we did the ruffle on the ruffle jeans. See THIS post. The only difference will be, you will do this on ONE edge of your fabric (do not fold the fabric like you do the ruffle on the jeans). While making this dress I had a two yr old on my knee while sewing which was making it challenging!

 

Attach tier 1, pull out your gathering stitches, and zig zag the raw edge of your seam. Press your seam up towards your T shirt and turn over and topstitch approx 1/8 inch in.

This is what you will have so far. Looks like a cute babydoll top!

Do what you did with tier 1, but with tier 2 and attach in the same way.

 

Now, you will have this!

Remember 2 yr old little dude has attached himself to me. Forgive me! Imagine you are seeing this with tier 3.

The last step you need to do it to press up the bottom of your dress 1/2 inch, and then 1/2 inch again and sew your hem.

Quick and easy and now your girly has something pink to wear for Anti Bullying Day if you are short on time too!

 

I would LOVE to see your T shirt dresses! fromanigloo (at) gmail.com

Let me know if you don't want me to share your photos!

Toddler Farmhouse Bed

This is what I was up to this past weekend. Nope, I wasn't making that quilt, or sewing the pillowcase, and no I didn't make that little teddy. If you can believe it, I made this little toddler bed. Mom of three, who can operate a hammer when it comes to hanging a picture, or has no problems using a screwdriver to replace batteries in a Leapster (oh wait, you don't even need a screwdriver for that), actually built a bed. From scratch! Like, I went to the hardware store, bought the wood, cut it, nailed and screwed it together, sanded and stained. I can't even believe it! Sure, it isn't absolutely perfect (Ana's plans were perfect), but I did it and I think it looks pretty good! Do you want to know the best part? The wood for this bed cost me $21.78.

I would never have been able to do it though without Ana from Knock Off Wood. If you haven't heard of this blog I think you should go on over right now and take a look. Ana creates plans for woodworking projects inspired from furniture pieces sold in stores such as Pottery Barn and Land of Nod. She has everything on her blog, from beds and tables, to entertainment units and play kitchens. All including plans on how you can build it too. Material lists, cutting lists and step by step instructions. Her blog is really amazing and from the first night I read it I've been hooked. I can't decide what I'm going to try next.

The hardest part of this project will be getting the little dude sleeping in his own bed and not with me. Dad hasn't been too happy sleeping in the spare room. I, on the other hand, like sleeping with the little guy. He doesn't snore.

Lollipop Cookies

 

These were a really fun treat for the kids to make on a lazy afternoon.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• food colouring
• 24 lollipop sticks

Directions

1. Beat together butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth
2. In another bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.We decided to only do 3 colours this time.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Working with each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls. For each cookie take one of each colour and put together. Shape into a 12 inch long roll starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie. Place cookies 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Insert lollipop sticks into bottoms of cookie at least 3/4 of the way up through the middle.
4. Bake cookies for 8 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container.If you make bigger cookies cook them longer. Just keep an eye on them.

  I'm almost positive that I found this on Allrecipes however I can't find it there now. The other day I was surfing for a dinner recipe and saw a moving picture on their homepage which reminded me of this recipe. It may be called something else as I just made the name up now and my ingredients were written on a butter stained piece of paper without a title shoved inside my Betty Crocker binder. On my paper I have the sugar as 1 cup and then another 1/2 cup written on the end, so I may have added it! If you don't like a sweet cookie you should probably omit that 1/2 cup.

Here are a few photos of the process!

 

The colours we have chosen!

 

A pinch of all three colours molded together. Keep in mind that a 4 and 5 yr old are creating these cookies in these photos.  It was the only thing that convinced them to unpack.

 

Roll out your dough just using your hands. We have made these a couple of times and I suggest rolling them out thinner and using less dough for each one. We only got 12 cookies, instead of 24.

I mentioned this was the only thing that convinced my girls to unpack. While this dough was chilling they were being very quiet in their room. Every mom knows that is usually a bad sign so I went to check on them. I walked into the room and they had pulled a suitcase out of the closet and were sitting around it. They matter of factly told me that they were packing and moving out. They refused to tell me why they were angry with me. I swear at 4 and 5 they are already showing me glimpses of what the teenage years might be like. Inside the suitcase was a toy guitar, stuffed cat, 2 pairs of underwear and my 5yr olds school library book. 

 

Your dough all rolled up! Now put a stick in them and bake. Make sure to put the stick in about 3/4's of the way through or your cookie may fall off. Also do not eat them until they have hardened and cooled for that same reason.

Ok...so like any good mother I offered to help them pack. I did tell them though, that if they did decide to move out, they couldn't help finish the cookies and certainly couldn't eat one. They decided in that moment to unpack, put away the suitcase, and join me in the kitchen.

 

I didn't have any lollipop sticks on hand but did find some popsicle sticks in the craft supplies so we used those.

Now remember, make 24 with the recipe, not 12 or they will be huge like this batch. 

Wouldn't these be cute to take to school, maybe even baby showers, birthdays...

Happy Baking!

 

One Hour Sundress

 

Yesterday it "warmed" up to minus 6 Celcius. It felt so good to be able to go outside and enjoy some winter fun without freezing our butts off. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, and while I watched my girls ice skate at the outdoor rink, I daydreamed about summer. Winter feels long up here. With snow at least six months out of the year with freak snowstorms sometimes until the end of May it sometimes feels like winter will never end.

When we got home I wanted to sew! I envisioned my little girls running barefoot through green grass blowing dandelion seeds, or running along the beach (which sadly is no longer our neighbor). I wanted to make something easy, comfortable, and adorable and thus the One Hour Sundress was born. It is really really easy and I think once you have your measurements and pieces cut it will take you less than an hour to sew up.

 

You will need:

- fabric (for my 4 yr old I used about 1/2 yrd of main, and 3/4 yrd contrasting)

- Elastic (1/2 inch and 3/4 inch)

- Scissors and/or rotary cutter, measuring tape and/or ruler

- Sewing machine/thread of course

USE 1/4 INCH SEAM ALLOWANCE UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

First you need to take your measurements. I warn you in advance these photos are horrible. Trying to hold the camera with one hand and hold a measuring tape on a squirmy 4 yr old is tough business! Hopefully you will get the idea. Get a pen/paper to write this down and I will share my measurements as well.

You need Three measurements.

1. Around the widest part of the chest. It is best to do this with a thin shirt on or no shirt unlike what I am doing. That said I'm going with 23 inches. Call this measurement A.
2. Strap measurement. Measure from where you want the front of the dress to hit on the front of the chest to the same spot on the back (see next picture). You don't want your measuring tape loose like mine (I only have one hand remember)! Mine is 9.5 inches- I'm measuring larger thaan I would if she was going to wear this today. It may be 4 months before she wears this! Call this measurement B.
3. Length- measure from top part of the chest (right below armpit- where you want the top of the dress to sit) down to where you want the dress to fall on their body (I'm going with calf length). Sorry no picture of this but I'm sure you get the idea. For me this measure is 23 inches as well. Call this measurement C.

We need to now figure out what size pieces to cut. Once we do this it is smooth sailing onward, so stay with me!
STRAPS:
- Measurement B + 0.5 X 1.5
- For me, this is 9.5 + 0.5 X 1.5 = 15 inches (this will be the length of your fabric for the strap)
- Your width will be 2.5 inches (for all sizes)
- So I need to cut TWO pieces 15 inches by 2.5 inches
- Also cut TWO pieces of 3/4 inch elastic that are Measurement B + 0.5 inches  For me this is 10 inches.

 MAIN BODY OF DRESS:
Width
- Take Measurement A (for me this is 23 inches) X 1.5 = 34.5
- Divide this by 2 as you will cut two panels (front and back). For me this is 17.25, add 0.5 inches seam
   allowance. So the width of my panels will be 17.5 inches
Length
- Take measurement C (for me this is also 23 inches) + 1.5 inches (seam allow and hem) = 24.5
- Now I want the main fabric of my dress to be about 2/3 the dress and my ruffle to be 1/3
- So 2/3 of 24.5 is approx 16.5 inches
- I am cutting TWO panels 17.5 inches (my calculated width) by 16.5 inches (my calculated length)

BOTTOM RUFFLE
Width
- Take your calculated width measurement from above (for me this is 17.5) X 1.5 = 26.25
- Now I am going to add 0.5 inches for seam allowance. 26.25 + 0.5 = 26.75
Length
- Measurement C + 1.5 inches minus calculated length measurement from above
  For me this is 23 inches + 1.5 - 16.5 = 8 inches
- I am cutting TWO panels 26.75 inches by 8 inches

TOP RUFFLE
- You will want to cut TWO panels the same width as the main fabric of your dress (for me this was 17.5
   inches) by 3.75 inches
- Keep in mind the ruffle you see in my picture is on a dress made for a 4.5yr old. If you are making this for
   an older or younger child you may choose to cut your fabric longer or shorter than 3.75 inches. My ruffle is
   3 inches with 1/4 inch for top seam allowance and 1/2 inch for hem.


Cut ONE piece of 1/2 inch elastic the length of measurement A.

 

This is what you should have:

- 2 straps

- 2 panels for bottom ruffle

- 2 panels for top ruffle

- 2 panels for main body

- elastic- two 3/4 inch pieces and one 1/2 inch piece (not shown)

I hope you have made it this far. This measuring business is actually really easy. Take a deep breath and read through a couple of times if need be. Once you do it once it will click and the numbers won't freak you out!

Take one of your strap pieces and sew it lengthwise right sides together. My computer ate this photo- if you are confused about what this would look like see my purse tutorial and see the photo of the strap. Do this with the other strap as well.

Turn your straps right side out and press them with the seam going down the middle. While you have your iron out, grab your two panels for the top ruffle and press the bottom edge up 1/4 inch, and then fold up and press another 1/4 inch so raw edges are encased. You can set these things aside for now.

 

Grab your two panel pieces for the main body of your dress. Sew the side seams right sides together.

 

Run a zig zag stitch down the raw edges next to your stitching to prevent fraying. You can set this aside.

 

Take your top ruffle pieces (the ones you pressed a few mins ago). Unfold your pretty creases and right sides together sew the two panels together along the short ends. Zig zag your edges.

Fold your creases back up and hem the bottom of your ruffle. Set aside.

 

Take a safety pin and insert it into the end of one of your 3/4 inch elastic pieces. Insert this into one of your strap pieces (put another pin on the other end of the elastic to prevent it from going up into the strap).

 

Sew the elastic to the end of the strap piece about 1/8 inch in. Go back and forth a couple of times to make sure it is secured well. Do this on both ends and with both straps. Gather your fabric evenly along the elastic.

 

For this step you need all of the things you have just been working on. Your straps, your top ruffle, and your main body.

You will want to flip your main body piece, and ruffle pieces right side out.

Put your top ruffle piece inside the main body piece. The right side of the ruffle piece will be touching the wrong side of the main body piece.

Sandwiched between you need to pin your strap pieces. A good ratio to go by is to pin the straps to the front and back 1/4 of the way in. So, the width of my front is about 17 inches. I made marks 4 inches in from either side and pinned my straps there. Pin your straps so that the seam is facing DOWN. Notice the photo, you CAN'T see the seam of the straps.

Sew along this upper edge being careful not to sew over your pins- go back and forth where the straps attach to make sure they are well secured.

Flip your ruffle over to the righ side of the dress and press. This is what you will have at this point.

 

Starting at one of the side seams, sew a line of stitching 3/4 inch from the top edge. Leave an inch or so opening to insert elastic.

 

Using a safety pin just like you did the straps, insert your 1/2 inch elastic into the casing you just made. Overlap the elastic about 1/2 inch and sew the ends of the elastic together. Sew the last inch of the casing together.

 

Adjust your fabric so it is gathered evenly all the way around. This is what you have now. Almost done!

 

Press the bottom of your ruffle pieces up 1/2 inch and then up again another 1/2 inch enclosing raw edges. You could do this step last but I find it easier to press my fabric flat as opposed to it already being in a tube.

 

Unfold your creases and sew your panels right sides together. Zig zag the raw edges.

 

Refold your creases and hem.

 

 On the raw edge of your panel sew two rows of gathering stitches 1/8 inch and 1/2 inch in. Set your stitch length to the longest possible and do not backstitch at the start or end of your stitching. You will want to pull these threads to gather. Before the next step mark the halfway points between your side seams with a fabric pen or washable marker.

 

Taking your two top threads pull with one hand and use your other hand to gather the fabric.

Ignore my ugly bandaide from where I cut myself with the rotary cutter and pin your ruffle right sides together with the bottom of your dress. Pin the side seams of the ruffle with the side seams of the dress. Mark the midpoints of your main dress as well (between the side seams) and match and pin those with the markings you made with your pen on the ruffle.

Adjust your gathers so that the ruffle is the exact same size as the bottom of your dress piece.

Mine does not look perfect here as I like to adjust while I'm sewing.

Sew your bottom ruffle and main body together (make sure you change your stitch length back).Pull out your gathering stitches! Zig zag the raw edge.

 

Press your seam up towards the main body of the dress and turn to the right side. Topstitch about 1/8 inch in (I use the inside of my presser foot as a guide).

 

Adorable and carefree. Perfect for summer! Now lets hope it gets here sooner than later!
I would absolutely LOVE to see your variations of this dress! If you make one please email me a picture at fromanigloo@gmail.com
I would love to post them on my blog at some point so if you would not want me to share your picture, please let me know in your email!

 

 

-

Covered Button Hair Clips

Cute as a button, easy to make, and like I promised no sewing involved!

 

You will need: 

- Fabric scraps

- Glue gun/glue

- Hair clips

- Button blanks/covering tool (in most cases these will come together)

-Scissors

 

The first thing you need to do is cut your fabric aprox twice the diameter of the front of your button (I could have cut mine a little larger but this is fine).

 

Turn your fabric over making sure the front of your button is in the middle face down. If there is a picture on your fabric that you want on your button you will need to be careful that you have it centered in the middle of your button.

 

Again, being careful that your picture is centered, place your button in the button covering tool and push your fabric towards the center.. If you buy your blanks at Walmart, or at a fabric chain the tool will most likely come in the package. You may find though that they don't have great selection (my Walmart only carries really small ones). A great place to buy blanks more economically is Etsy and you will be able to find any size. You may have to buy the tool seperately.

 

Put the back of your button on top.

 

Take the other part of your button tool (the push), taking care to ignore my unmanicured nails and Crayola marker stained thumb, and push down on the back of your button. Do this until you can feel/hear the click of your button securing together.

 

Pop your button out. Your fabric should be nice and tight.

 

Now you can do one of two things. Go and find some plyers and pry the shank of your button off, or if you are too lazy to go digging in your husband's tools like me, then use all of your might and push the shank to the side. If you want to attach to a pony-o instead of a clip leave the shank and wrap thread around the shank and through the pony-o multiple times to secure.

 

Put a generous amount of glue on the end of your clip.

 

Glue your clip to the back of your button. I like to use enough glue so that it comes through the opening in the clip a little bit. Less likely to come apart later.

 

Pretty clippies!