quilted princess

i don't actually know what this is called.   it looks quilted though.  i've seen it before a long time ago, but here it is again.   i did it once for church, with the back loose-  then for school, i had to braid the back.   i used a 4 strand braid because i liked the look of it better.   

super simple.   3 sections 1 - 2 inches wide across the head from ear to ear.   i just did one section a t a time.   first section, divide into 4.   tiny ponies and then split the pony and flip.   loving my topsy tail for these.   next section, into 3.   split the sections so they stack on the first row.   take half of the pony in front of it into the pony behind it.   on the ends, leave half of the pony hanging loose.   last section gets split into 2.

you can keep going if you split the sections into 4, 3, 4, 3 . . .all the way back.   i think it gets to be a bit much.   

with the braiding, i started with the hair behind the 2 ponies.   split into 4 pieces and twist the right 2 together, then the left 2 together and cross the center 2.   if your twisting them the same direction they should cross correctly in the center.   it always throws me off though because i want to twist out on both or in on both but that makes the center wrong.  braiding 4 looks really neat though.   it twists the whole braid naturally.

two more versions of this turned pony.   just the quilting which is nice for church.   really the only place my tomboy princess can wear her hair down like this

 a row of turned ponies to the side instead of back.   it just held her little whispys back.   cute option to braiding.

this one ended up a request at her friend's princess birthday party.   i went over a little early and did her friend's hair this way too.   she was thrilled!   nice when you can do something so simple and make a little girl feel like a princess

evil brownies

BROWNIES!   Whooo-hooo!    come on, they are brownies!

seriously, i had a hard time finding a recipe i liked.   i have a great one i always used in idaho.   it was a cocoa recipe.   i got my cocoa in a bulk buying co-op thing we did every year so it wasn't expensive at all.   i bought at least 5lbs every year for about $12.   can't beat that!   no such thing here, (at least that i've found).   thus, we haven't made brownies since we moved to germany.   i miss them!   by the way, germans love brownies!   which is kind of funny since they aren't much for really sweet stuff.   most american cakes and cookies are too sweet.   weird.   back to brownies - i tried several recipes and eventually, i just tweaked one.   this one actually.    i love that it has nutella and peanut butter.   nuts are healthy, right?   this is actually really chocolaty, not the sweet  chocolate but brownie chocolate.   they are so dang good that they are evil.   the first batch i made, i burned.   common at our house.   they were still delicious!   after that, we made 3 more batches for the kids to take to school.   didn't burn any of those.

melt together on a medium low heat-

1 c butter 

2 c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

mix up your dry stuff and let those melt -

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c chocolate milk mix

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

back to the melting pot 

add and melt and mix in - 

1/2 c nutella (i use the cheaper generic hazelnut cocoa spread)

1/2 c peanut butter

1 bar of dark chocolate (mine was 100grams so about 3.5 oz) i don't think the entire bar made it in once.   someone snitched a couple pieces every batch.   gotta pay the help i guess.

after everything is all melted in, take it off the heat and let it cool for a minute and add -

4 eggs

the recipe i used said to add one and stir then add the next etc.   i guess that's to keep it from cooking in the hot mix.   i had a helper so he whisked and i added eggs.

the original recipe says greased 9x13 for 30-40 min at 350*.   all i have is a 11' round and a 8 1/2x12, they worked fine.   the brownies ended up thicker and probably more dense than if they had been in  aslightly larger pan.   and i had to bake closer to 45 minutes.

i greased and put bake paper in the bottom of the last 3 batches.   the first one stuck pretty bad, i miss my stoneware).   on the upside, i am now a bake paper convert!  i think i'm a genius for using something hundreds of thousands of people have used for who knows how long.   (really, i looked and could not find out when vegetable parchment began being used for baking.   i did find when it was invented though, 1846.   it was probably way too expensive for people to use as a throw away under cake at that time though.   if your into weird useless history/science information like i am, you can read about it  here.   cupcake paper started in the 50's though, so i'm thinking bake paper before that.

my brownies cooling by the window in my pantry.   safely away from little blonde curls and chocolate loving cats.

 this is the coolest invention ever!   ok, there are a lot more useful things, but this is still awesome!   i use it to cut pizza, cookies, brownies obviously.   i'm just showing it off

yum!   evil brownies!

BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!

needle gratitude

it's time again for thankful thursday!   today, i am grateful for needles.

being thankful for anything sharp may be a little strange for someone who is as klutzy as i am.   i can hardly look at something sharp and i draw blood.   honestly though, think of all the things that we use needles for.   they deserve some careful gratitude.

we'll start where i generally end up with sharp stuff, blood.   needles draw blood or other fluids for testing so we know what to treat.   then they insert things to numb so we don't feel the treatment.    and then insert medicines to keep us from getting sick or heal us when we are sick.   those are not fun, but glad we have them anyway.   needles make iv's possible so that we can be kept under for long operations, push fluids to keep us from drying out, nutrients to keep us alive, and deliver more blood when we lose too much of our own.   not to mention we wouldn't be able to extract blood and plasma to save those lives in the first place without needles.

after we have these fun things done, we often have needles sew us up.  sewing is much more fun to talk about when it doesn't involve flesh.   well. . . i quite like the stuffing sewn into the turkey, so people flesh.

i love sewing!   needles are handy for little rips in shirts, pants, and socks.   i don't darn socks anymore, but i have.   needles are literally life savers when your child comes to you with a hurt stuffed toy.   doctors wish they could replace eyes, arms, and heads as easily as mommy does.   my grandmother once sewed a rubber alligator back together.   what else are you going to do when your son comes to you in tears, "sew it, mama", with unfaltering faith in their eyes?   you figure it out somehow.

i have a couple of friends that are quilt queens.   they put together gorgeous quilts!   they are really artists.   my grandmother can sew anything.   she made a wedding dress from a dozen different patterns all smushed together.   the sleeve from this, the bodice of this with the neckline. . . crazy!   this woman is amazing.    she makes dolls and sews on curly yarn hair.   she makes stuffed animals with hinged arms, needs a really long needle to do that by the way.   the woman makes quilts, clothes, hems, fixes, and creates with her sewing needles.   i can't do that.  i can't really follow a pattern.   but i can look at a bag of scraps and make some clothes for the favorite stuffed puppy with no pattern.   that works for me.  

recently, my kids decided that they wanted to do something for their teachers this last few days of school.   ok, cheap and fast.   we are sewing!    i love sewing needles.

i love the blunt needles for little kids to bead with, great exercise for there motor skills and pattern making skills.    let's not forget beading, felting, weaving, cross stitch, embroidery, tatting needles and using needles for making decorations in clay and all other poking or threading needs.   we crafters have a thousand ways to use needles.

needles are one of the oldest if not the oldest tool in the world!   how amazing is that?   26,000b.c! really!  annie's has a great history of needles.   go learn something today, then your done and the brain can relax the rest of the day.   but first, go check out the history of the syringe, also cool.

there are also knitting needles.   i don't know how to follow a pattern with those either but i sure love using them.  


tattoo needles are a little like monster teeth to me close up, yikes!    at least a piercing needle i s just one.

acupuncture needles are pretty awesome.  i almost want to have it done just to try it out.  

a compass has a needle.   those are pretty handy.    how many years have people found their way around the world with a small magnetized piece of metal?  

gauges have needles.   how else would we know that something is about to blow up in a movie?

needles have inspired a lot of things as well.   i don't want to find a needle in a haystack, or try to fit a camel through the eye of one.  i don't know why needles inspire this guy, but it's really awesome!

there's a thing called a derma-roller that is supposed to help with wrinkles, fat and scars.   it has hundreds of needles on a little roller.   they roll it across your face or where ever the offending part of the body is.   it's a torture treatment designed to punish the bad parts of your body into behaving.   kidding, it's seriously like aerating a lawn, no, really, that's the theory.   of course, some people swear by it.   ok then, i'll try acupuncture thanks.

record players have a needle.   they may be out dated, but we have to start somewhere.

pine trees have needles.   wow!   that's a whole other day of gratitude.

there are also, needle bearings, just like ball bearings but with cylinders instead.   who knew?

use a needle to poke holes in both ends of an egg and blow the insides out.  

considering my history and fairy tale curses, i'll stay away from a spinning needle though, thanks.

denim diaper pocket

my kids think i'm a friggin' genius!   which is great except they come home and say, "mom, my teacher is pregnant and not coming back next year, can you make something for her?"   hmmmm. . . of course!   i am a genius, and i have pinterest to spark my imagination.   i decided on a diaper pocket, cuz i need one too, ya know, why not?

 i don't have money to spend on teachers gifts but i did just acquire some old clothes.   score!   i found these cute little snap leg jeans that my blonde curls are way past using and i don't know anyone else that needs them.   i tried the little diaper wipes packet in them and they fit quite nicely.   oh yeah, i so have this covered now.

 super simple.   lay out the jeans flat.   mark a line that's straight and fairly level as close to the crotch as you can while keeping the top even.   i used my blonde curls big building blocks to measure and mark.   they were handy as he was sitting there helping.   yes, i sew on the floor, i'm a freak, just go with it.    back to business. . . .

after i cut them off, they looked a little flaired at the bottom so i tucked the seam in between the front and back before i sewed it.   that gave it a straighter look and gave it a wider bottom.   whoo-hoo, double win.

sew it straight across.  i did it a couple of times so it would be more sturdy.   aaaaaand. . . .done!    wow, that was really hard!   and it took so loooong to do!   it took me about half an hour with the wonderful helper i had.   i had to play cars and discuss the animals, ya know, the important stuff.

quick, easy, fits a pack of wipes and three diapers with a lot of room to spare.   it keeps them in without flaps or anything to fuss with.   and has cute pockets for binkie, toys, teething stuff, stray shoes and socks, chocolate for mommy, the basics.

cloudy day gratitude

today's gratitude moment is brought to you by . . . CLOUDS!   clouds, the original sun shade!  

providing a large range of precipitation since the creation.   we bring you rain in drizzle, sprinkle, down pour, buckets, cats and dogs, freezing, shower, deluge, sheet, torrent, spit, monsoon, and the ever popular "just washed the car" forms.   snow has always been a winter favorite.   we provide snow to the northern and southern regions in fall, flurry, blizzard, white out, gentle, ball, and the ever popular powder for our skiing customers.   other precipitaion services include but are not limited to mist, sleet, hail, and cloudbursts.

haven't looked at us in a while?    check out our new and improved shapes and colors!    
our ever changing shapes are sure to be a crowd pleaser.     just sit back and let your imagination run wild.   you'll see every animal on earth and myth, including some that have never before been seen and may never be seen again.    we also include, every form of plant life, animate and inanimate objects, all things imagined or dreamed.   we may even inspire you to create the next big thing!  

enjoy our daytime and before and after hours color arrangements.   our color range during daylight hours range from white, to a lovely dove gray, the ever telling charcol and every shade in between.   enjoy our twilight and dusk specials when we feature a wide range of pink, oranges, purples, mauve, reds, blues and indigo.  

enjoy our entertaining and weather predicting shapes and colors any time!   

what?!   weather predicting you say?   of course.   just look up for the latest forcast.   
thin wispy clouds, a sheet of thin cloud cover, expect a change of weather in the next 24 hours.
lots of little puff balls clouds, cooler and fair in the winter, rain storm and /or thunder storm approaching in the summer, and could be a hurricane in the tropics.
clouds covering the sky with a gray blue blanket, expect anything from a light drizzle to a really great rain storm
large puffy clouds that are white, great shape watching weather, gray or dark blue, maybe watching from inside is best.   you'll probably have some breezes or winds to make cloud watching even better.

don't forget, those little puffs can turn into a the wonderful large fluffy stuff the we package our fabulous thunder and lightning storms in.

we provide a variety of backdrops for all your picture taking needs. everyone loves a lovely cloud filled sky for a beautiful background.   our light cloud cover is perfect for a day of portraits outside.   we shade the sun so there are no sharp shadows or squinting eyes.   landscapes are made complete with a beautiful cloudy blue behind it.   

other services include but are not limited to the following.    star, moon and sun peek-a-boo.   a place for your daydreaming head.   there's always room for you on cloud nine.   a dark storm cloud is available for all of your pouting, anger, and saddest days.   we do weddings!  a lucky rain shower is available for your wedding on special days.    inspiration for your dreams, poetry, limits, reaching, flying and diving through.
of course, all of our clouds come with a guaranteed silver lining.

CLOUDS . . .keep looking up, we'll be there for you!

braid around the pony

braid around the pony
it's not a fish boney
hair up
hair up
on a hot day



kidding and singing aside, this was just an experiment but it turned out ok.   i was originally attempting a waterfall braid but gave it up.    my tomboy can't hold a hairstyle that isn't tight.    i don't know if it's her being too active or just her hair being so straight.   either way, waterfall braid doesn't seem to hold.

instead i just french braided across the front taking only small sections from the top into it.   then back across the same way.   next time i'll just continue around the bottom.

i have a heck of a time braiding under her hair without her tipping over, which she isn't thrilled about.   so i just left the french braiding underneath her hair.  i just braided it and brought it under to the other side, then continued french braiding from there.   each time i just added small pieces from the outside.    it curved around itself pretty easily.   then i just braided the ends together.

she decided it was too hot, so i twisted it up into a bun.   twist, let it curve in on itself and wrap it around.   keep wrapping.   tuck the ends through the center so the first round is next to the head.    you can put a band around the base and over the first round to keep it up.   if you have curly hair, like mine, you don't need a band unless your doing aerobics or something.


there ya go!   now go braid around the pony, (and maybe sing the song while you do.)

book box

my kids still think i can do anything.   usually, that's fine.   sometimes, it gets me volunteered for things.   

today, my daughter's class is going to the library for the last time this school year.   one of the ladies at the library reads to them quite a bit, so they are bringing  her thank you cards.   my daughter pipes up, "can i bring her cookies?".   we still need to work on the whole, "ask mom before you volunteer her" thing.   of course, i still volunteer my mom and grandmother for things and they volunteer me, so i don't think it's going to end any time soon.   

 i also come from a family of crafty, over achievers so i can't just send a plain old bag of cookies.  giving cookies requires presentation.   cookies need a great cookies box!   the book lady gets a book box.  

 i thought about gluing a book together and cutting the center of the pages out.   i don't think i have the time, stuff,  or patience.   there's also this little problem i have with cutting up books.   i'm trying to resolve these conflicting issues within my troubled soul, my love of books and my love of crafts.   can i destroy one thing to make something else?!   will it have more value the way it is or the way it will become?!   what kind of person destroys something so wonderful as a book?!   what kind of person keeps a book that no one wants just because she can't throw it away?!    yes, it's a really dark tormented world i live in.   i decided to go with a box instead.

simple design, nothing new.  might want to start with gluing the box back together, unless your lucky enough to have a box that opens like a book, which i didn't.   yeah for hot glue!   after you get it all glued back together, cut it open.   isn't that the way life goes?   fix it, take it apart, close it, open it, yada, yada, yada. . . 

now that you have your box all primed and ready to take on new life, lay it on a piece of cardboard and mark it a little bigger than the box.   it needs to be long enough to go around 3 sides and hang over a bit all the way around.   i cut it so that the corrugations went with the corners i need to fold.

cutting out a piece of cardboard can be tricky so i suggest you get some awesome help like i had.   this is roka holding my cardboard still while i cut.   yes, i'm a lucky woman to have so much help, persistent, jump right into the middle of things, self-starting, self directing, volunteer help.       after i got the help moved off of the cardboard so i could finish cutting it without removing a tail, i broke the middle of the cardboard down a bit so it would wrap around the back for the spine of the book. 

fortunately, the help didn't like the smell of the glue.   this part i had to manage on my own.   use regular school glue to glue white paper on the outside of the box for the pages of the book.   i brought it up the side and in so i could cover the inside of the box as well.   that can in the background is actually there to hold the box and paper together while the glue sets.   i am such a genius!   that's as close as i'm going to get so i'm celebrating it.   

next, i covered the cardboard with paper.   i started the outside back of the book, and brought the paper up and around the edges.    the paper came up and around the spine of the book as well.   that worked out nicely.   i love it when things cooperate.   

before i covered the front of the book i hot glued the cardboard to the box.   this way i could just fold the paper on the inside of the front cover, wrap around the edges and then glue the front on and wrap around the edges.   it turned out with a really nice look that way.   i was impressed with myself, especially at 11 o'clock at night.

  i added some details with a lighter color paper and drew a few lines on the white for pages.    it turned out pretty well.   i think i'll do one with fabric next.

yeah, the best part is probably the cookies.

stay out of the mud

gratitude is key

i am grateful for everything!   but i have decided that every thursday, i will expound on why i'm grateful for something in particular.   so today, i am grateful for keys.   i'm a little tired of keys lately so i thought maybe it would be good for me to be grateful for them.

here in germany, everything has a key.   some doors don't even have knobs, just keys.   the door is either locked or not latched, which is totally weird to me.   there are no closets but the portable closets they do have, open and close with keys as well.   it's a bit annoying to have to use a key to open everything every time.   but here we are and it's better than the alternatives.  

i have an escape artist for a toddler.   he's fast, persistent, and most dangerous when he's quiet so i am grateful for locking doors and keys hung high.   fire hazard?    yes.   toddler running amok in an unfenced yard?    worse.  

i love the key to my car because i like not walking to the store in the rain or snow, or just when i have a lot to get.   i like being able to lock the car to deter people from taking things out of my car as well.

i am grateful for keys to post office boxes, storage lockers, bike locks, gun locks, safety deposit boxes, strong boxes, public tp roll dispensers, bank vaults, diaries, trunks.   all add a layer of protection to something while still allowing access.

key holes aren't as fun as they used to be.   our house is pretty old so all the inside doors use the old skeleton keys.   i love the old key holes that i can peek through.   it's kind of a game sometimes at our house now.   so i like those old keys.

if your a super hero type, you might just get the key to the city.   i don't know that it unlocks anything but it sounds important.   at the ceremony, there might be a key speaker as well.   the keynote of their speech will probaly how wonderful you are.    ooooh, impressive!

some electronics have keys to get into them.   we discovered that when the battery to the game boy game needed changed.   there's a key for that!   i didn't know that.

i'm old, so i had a pair of skates with a key.   i was pretty young at the time so i don't even remember what it was for.   without rollerskte keys we wouldn't have the song about it though.   yes, i'm old.

several tools are called keys.   hex keys are kind of like screw drivers, but not.    still, they are handy keys to have.   drills use a chuck key to open and close the chuck so you can change the bit.   also handy.

pin codes, passwords, key words and key phrases.   all serve the same purpose as a regular little piece of metal key.   still handy.    

arches have keys.   key stones are what make so much of the beautiful architecture of the world possible.    not only do they hold up arches but they provide a wonderful analogy for a great many important things.

the key to someone's heart is pretty important.     the key to understanding, key ingredients, key elements, key points, key players, key resources are all key. . .to something. . . have to be, right?

pianos have keys.   i'm not great. . .or even good at hitting the right ones at the right time.  piano keys are definitely important though.   my keyboard has keys.   i'm pretty slow with those keys.    singing in key is always nice.   that's another thing i'm no good at but i can't have all of the keys.  

you can key up, get keyed in, and keyed on.   but keying a car isn't nice, (just to be clear).

whatever your up to, gratitude is key!

tangled

 i wander through the reaches

of my twisted tangled mind

unaware of where i'm going

or what i've left behind

just a meander through the jungle

of vines and roots and trees

such bizarre, unwonted animals

the world has never seen

the process not quite sensible

it all makes sense to me

reliving aged memories

 then emerging something new












all eternal flowing





















i sit back

enjoy the view

days and weeks are but a moment

lifetimes all within a blink

stop . . . . .rewind

all enjoyed while standing here













washing dishes in the sink

side braids

 braid the sides, bring in hair from the bottom and not the center.   then fish bone the end. ta-da!

braided buns

it has been so hot and humid here!   braids are great but when it's so humid, anything touching your neck is just HOT!   so, how many ways can we get the hair off of the neck?   braid it, weave it, bind it up tight! 

it makes life a lot easier to have a topsy tail to do these woven braids.   i made one and it works better than none, which is what i had for a long time.  i'm so excited, i just ordered a set from ebay for under 3€.  

not hard, i'm a simple kinda gal.   under braid, then bring the end up through a loop at the bottom of the braid and then again.   it depends on how long the hair is.   i then went through the bun a few times to hold the end.   there ya go!   braid your buns or bun your braids, but in the heat, buns of steel sound hot so avoid those.   enjoy!