Homemade Barbie Mermaid Tail

The Bean and The Belly have been on a bit of a mermaid kick lately.  After playing at a friend's house, The 

Bean had to have a Mermaid Barbie just like her friend.  In an effort to please, we now have 6 Barbies in our house (4 mermaids and 2 ballerinas).

The mermaids don't bother me too much as they don't seem to have a massive amount of accessories.  And The Belly has a kind of cool one with a tail that turns into a surfboard.  Of course, The Bean wanted a mermaid with a removeable tail, and, importantly, it has to be able to go into the water. I knew I could sew a tail no problem, but I didn't feel like packing us all up to go the fabric store. 

Inspiration struck! I found a bathing suit the girls don't wear anymore somewhere in their closet. A few snips here, some sewing there, an elastic waist, and violá: free, removable mermaid tail.

The bathing suit was a 2-piece tankini with boy shorts.  I wanted to add a bit of style, so I made the waist and fins frommthe polka-dot shorts and the main tail from the plain pink top.  I put the doll down on the fabric, drew a rough pattern, cut and sewed.

She loves it.  I definitely got some major mom points for that crafty sleight of hand.

Green Apple Pie and Cake

One of the many things I love about my new(ish) house is the apple tree in our backyard.  We weren't sure for a while what kind of apples were on it, but one day, we took the plunge and bit into one.  It's kind of a cross between a Granny Smith and a Golden Delicious--crisp, but not too sweet or tart.  Just very apple-y.

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It's fun to go up to the tree and pick some fruit for munching, but I knew I had to find recipes quick.  Apple pie, naturally, and some kind of apple cake.

The Green Apple Pie was pretty easy to make.  I made the crust in my food processor, since I was in a bit of a hurry.  The only difficult thing was peeling and slicing the apples.  They're a bit smaller than the store-bought kind, so I had to use 12 to get the amount I needed.

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It was a hit.  The crust was nice and flaky and it the filling wasn't overly sweet.  I may add a touch more spice next time, but it was a great first attempt.

The Green Apple Cake is soft, spicy with nice chunks of apple spread through it.  The topping is a caramel-coconut mixture that's browned a bit with the broiler.  The Boy really liked it. And he said it tasted even better because the apples came from our own tree.

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Vogue 1050 Pants

I saw the pattern for these pants on a banner ad on a website and was intrigued. Could I make them? Could I actually get away with wearing them? Will they be flattering?  A massive sale at JoAnn's let me buy the fabric cheap enough so I wouldn't minds to much if the answers to those questions was "No".  I got peachskin in black and cream and found some cream frog closures at MJTrim.com.

I was worried the peachskin would be a pain to work with, but, honestly, it wasn't too bad. I don't have a serger, so I just did a zig-zag stitch over the edge to keep the fraying to a minimum.

Back zippers don't really work for me, so I altered the pattern a bit.  I made the waistband all elastic and cut the back waistband piece to match the front.  To make sure I would have enough room to get them over my hips, I cut the waist one size larger than the hips.  The frog closures I got were a little larger than the ones in the pattern, and as I'm a little shorter than the model, I only used two.

I think these would look so cute with black Converse and a t-shirt. Might just be my new uniform for the fall.

More Fabric-Button Rings

I love my two fabric button rings so much, I had to make more.  I got some larger ring blanks and button-covering kits and went through my fabric stash.  Three rings, under $10 and in 30 minutes can't be beat.

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Matching Quilt Pillowcases

I finally figured out what kind of pillowcases I wanted to make to match my Bunch of Squares Quilt.  I thought through a bunch of different designs and filtered out the ones that were more labor intensive.  After spending over a year on the quilt itself, I wanted to finish the cases quickly.

I went with a stripes of varying width design because I didn't want to be too match-matchy and I wanted to highlight the flower print.  I winged the pattern, and was happy it all worked out.

I measured a standard pillow, which was 26" x 19.5".  I wanted a little extra room in case I upgraded to a king-size pillow and needed a bit of room for seam allowances, so I wanted my finished dimensions to be 28" x 21".  For the envelope back, I cut two pieces of 17" x 21".

I'm really pleased with the way it all turned out.  I don't know if I'm ready to do another project this big right away, but definitely sometime in the future.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

This is the best PMS food, ever.  It's salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy and insanely easy to make.  Don't be afraid of the word "caramel" in the title. The sugar and butter is cooked for a few minutes on the stovetop, then the rest of the cooking happens in the oven.

I made my batch on a 11x17 sheet pan and I had *just* enough caramel and chocolate.  It would probably work better on a 10x15 pan, or you could always make a bit more caramel and use more chocolate for the larger amount.

Go and make this now.nyou won't be sorry.

Stripe Play Maxi Skirt

I've finally succumbed to the siren call of maxi skirts.  However, I can't buy them off the rack, as I have to cut off a bunch of fabric from the hem so I'm not tripping constantly.

The easiest maxi skirt is just a tube of fabric with an elastic waist and narrow hem.  I decided to get a little more fancy and make this Stripe Play Maxi Skirt.  I traced a skirt I already had and cut the panels, per the diagram in the tutorial, adding 1/2" seam allowances.   It was very easy.

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I got my fabric from Fabric.com.  It is a touch more light and sheer than I was expecting, but that's not a bad thing for a summer skirt.  My stripes go a differrent way than the fabric in the tutorial, but that doesn't make that much of a difference to me.  

I've received a lot of compliments already.  I love wearing it because it's so comfy yet stylish.  And it goes perfectly with flip-flops!