L Adelle: 2012

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Cheap and Easy DIY Stocking Stuffers (for Girls)

I've seen tons of "cheap" stocking stuffer ideas on Pinterest lately and... let's face it... some of them are just bad. I won't name blogs but I read one today that was so bad that I thought... I could/should definitely make a post better than that. So here are what I think are some of the best cheap and easy stocking stuffer ideas for older girls that you can make yourself.

1. T-Shirt Memory Scarf
Great use for all their old t-shirts that don't fit anymore but are still saved for the memories.
Very sentimental and no cost!

2. Leg Warmers/Boot Socks From Sweaters
Either cost of a sweater from the thrift store or $0 if you use an old one.
A great, stylish gift for this time of year!

3. Vintage Tin Candles
So sweet and so many options. I always see all kinds of tins at thrift stores for 99 cents each and you could make them in her favorite scent or color.

4. Thread-wrapped Earbuds
She'll love these because they keep earbuds from getting so annoyingly tangled up - not to mention they're adorable. And you'll love them because it costs next to nothing to do!

5. Yoga Mat Bag
All it takes to make this yoga bag is some leftover stylish fabric and the ability to sew by hand or with a machine. Takes no time at all :)

6. Jersey Infinity Scarf
A couple of yards of jersey fabric and the slightest bit of stitching makes one of these adorable infinity scarves that are seen all over lately.

7. Mittens Sewn From Sweaters
Can't knit or don't have the time during the busy holiday season? That's ok. These cute mittens look like you knitted them by hand but really are sewn from two pieces of a sweater. So fast and reminds me of the Grinch's tailoring skills! lol.

8. Fabric Covered Votive Jars
These pretty little facbric votive jars can be made to match her decor and are great either as candle holders or for holding things like makeup brushes, pencils, art supplies, etc.

9. Sugar Hand Scrub
This is called a Gardener's Hand Scrub but it's really great for dry winter hands and is made from sugar and dish soap that has Olay in it. I'm going to make these for mother's day but it would be a great cheap stocking stuffer too!

10. Kindle Cover From Hardcover Book
This awesome tutorial shows you how to turn a hardcover book into an adorable Kindle or iPad holder.

11. Photo Journal/Notebook
Turn some special photos and some nice paper into one of these adorable photo-covered journals!

12. Rhinestone Monogrammed Christmas Ornaments
With some dollar store ornaments and rhinestone stick on initials, you can make some really sweet monogrammed ornaments for about 2$ that will be cherished for years to come.

13. Hot Chocolate Spoons
Wrap these in cellophane and a gold twist tie.
Great for stirring cocoa on Christmas morning while opening gifts.

14. Snowmen Photo-holders from Giant Clothespins
It's really easy to make a couple of these photo-holders from giant clothespins. They're great for holding cards, pictures, or recipes around the holiday season.

15. CD Wallet Scrapbook
A lovely sentimental gift in miniature version! You could do a theme for it, like previous Christmas's or pictures from the past year, and then do one every year.

16. Lotion Bars
These lotion bars are like the ones you'll find at Lush, but only take three ingredients. They are great for winter hands and for keeping in places you need a little moisturizer like on the night stand.

17. Braided Leather, Rope and Chain Headband
Very cute headband with just a few materials. Make in Christmas colours or in black and gold for her to wear to upcoming New Year's Eve parties.

18. Button Bracelet
These are really cute and who doesn't have a ton of buttons lying around to make this?

19. Ombre Seed Bead Bracelet
I used this tutorial this summer to make one of these bracelets for myself and it turned out really cute!

20. Glittered Metal Bracelets/Bangles
Get some old metal bangles you don't wear anymore or some from the thrift store and spruce them up with glue and glitter. Nothing says Christmas spirit like sparkles! :)

21. Knob Pulls Necklace Holder
This adorable necklace holder is made from a piece of wood, paint, and cute mismatched knob bulls you can find cheap at thrift stores. So cute to hang on the wall to display jewelry.

22. Pretty Shoe Clips
She will love wearing these handmade shoe clips on her shoes to holiday parties. I used the flower clips tutorial and made some to wear to a wedding this year and everyone loved them. The bows are really sweet too. You can buy the clips on Etsy cheap and then you just need a little fabric, thread and hot glue.

23. Tinted Lip Balm in a Vintage Tin
All you need for this tinted lip balm is Vaseline, Koolaid and an adorable little tin! I'm going to be making all kinds of this.

24. Embroidery Thread Wrapped Friendship Necklaces
These friendship necklaces are made from different colors of embroidery thread and thin cotton rope. I think these are so awesome, I'd love to get some in my stocking!

25. Leather Bow Bracelet
All you need is a little scrap of leather and a snap to make this sweet bow bracelet she is sure to love.

Happy HoliDIYs!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

June 24th

Chris and I had a sushi night tonight. We bought all the ingredients and made a ton of sushi ourselves. And my god was it ever good.

We made all this for about $18... so I have no idea why sushi costs so much to buy at grocery stores pre-made...

It turned out really well. The rice worked perfectly even though I messed up the cooking process lol.

And rolling it went really well once we got the hang of it. This was like... legit sushi. I will have to try and make some more. A customer suggested I make smoked salmon with cream cheese and I can't wait to try it.

I got all the recipes and tips I used from my Sushi with Style book by Ellen Brown. I am so happy to have it. The tips are seriously great and I feel like a pro. I learned what types of tools you need, what ingredients work best, how to make, season and cool the rice, how to put the rice on the seaweed properly, how to roll, how to cut, just everything you could ever need to know.

June 23rd

Chris and I had birthday cake ice cream today.... who ever came up with that flavor is a genius...

Chris is boring but I made mine into a delicious sundae... yeah that's picture of the day worthy

June 22nd

The sky was pretty interesting on my way to work today. There were no clouds in the sky, except at the verrry edge of the horizon. It look pretty neat.

June 21st

I saw this adorable mini cooper 1000 at work today. It was cute all over, it took up like none of the parking space and it has the steering wheel on the right side and everything. Look at the little gas cap on the back corner. Man I want one of these.

June 20th

My garden is growing by the second... the plants have all gotten so much bigger I'm going to have to move them all. Here are some of my tomato plants that we just tiny not so long ago...

And here is the tomato plant that Chris' mom gave me, it was started earlier and now its like ... 50 times the size of my other ones!

Chris' grape plant has grown so much that it has nowhere left to grow, it was trying to grow up the flower pots on the railing for a while and now its growing across instead.

June 19th

All the pretty flower bouquets we have at my store :) I actually took this picture to show Chris and coax him into buying me some but it might as well be my photo for the day

Pina Colada Fruit Dip

I made this Pina Colada fruit dip for a friend's surprise party and it was so good I decided to blog the recipe. It was kind of hard to find a complete recipe with measurements that made sense online, so hopefully this will clear it up for me when I want to make it in the future - which I definitely will want to.

Ingredients:
-one 8oz pkg (brick or tub) of cream cheese (softened slightly)

-one container of Jet Puffed (or other) marshmallow fluff

-1/2 cup shredded coconut

-half of a 19 fl oz can of crushed pineapple

First, stir the cream cheese and marshmallow fluff until combined. Then fold in the pineapple and coconut until the mixture is even. This dip tastes best after it's been chilled in the fridge, I left it over night but a few hours would be good enough. It definitely tasted better than when it did when I had just made it, so chill it. Enjoy!

June 18th

Today I helped Tasha set up a surprise party for Will. We had a lot to do, including picking up balloons from the party store... Yeah I felt really safe driving with these in my rear view mirror...

Skip ahead several hours. Here is some of what we made. That's my rainbow fruit tray at the bottom. With pina colada dip, I'll post a recipe after. Then Tasha made a layered dip for nachos, a veggie tray, two yummy punches, and Will's mother made skewered bocconcini, cherry tomatoes, and basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and a black bean dip with diced tomatoes and cilantro - both were amazingly good.

Here's the cake we ordered... I few jokes about his computer gaming... and in the corner - "NO BASKETBALL" - which, of course, was not actually supposed to be written on the cake lol, they had written that on their sheet when they decided they didn't want a basketball on there.

Tasha, Will and his brother Travis. The surprise went pretty well considering that they came back early, before all of his friends had arrived...

June 17th

And here is one of Chris' "projects"... it's a really nice old banker's desk, but it's become a bit of a hassle because we have to get new veneers for it and all this stuff so it's sort of just sitting around lol.