Lace Hair Bow

I am in LOVE with lace right now! Aren't you?! I've seen lace headbands, lace appliques, lace necklaces and lace flowers. But never have I seen a lace bow?! Huh? I started to wonder why not? It isn't really that difficult to sew lace, is it? NO! I think it could work! I went over plans in my head as I do and finally came up with an action plan!

Materials:

Scraps of lace
random button
alligator clip
scrap of felt
hot glue gun
needle and thread

First cut two rectangles of your lace. Just ignore those white squares for the next couple pictures. I originally planned on putting them behind the lace to give it more dimension but later decided it didn't need it. If you like the look of it go for it! I just thought it was a bit bulky. I cut mine 5" x 6 3/4". I really just eyeballed this my lace was only 6 3/4" wide so that made my decision for me and I thought 5 was a good height.

Just picture this in lace!

Sew them together leaving about an inch opening so you can turn it inside out. 

After you have it sewed together pink (or just trim them if you don't have pinking shears) the edges and clip the corners being sure not to snip into the seams. 

Turn them right side out and use your scissors to make nice pointy corners. Don't push too hard or you'll make your corner kind of wonky. And press flat.

Fold it in half and press a crease.

Now use the crease as a guide and stitch your longest stitch length. Pull your top (or bottom whatever you prefer) string and gather the middle up tight. Giving you a bow shape. Then I switched my machine back to a shorter stitch length (a bit shorter than a normal stitch length). My normal length is 2.5 and I backed it up to 2.0. Then stitch the gathered middle in place so that it doesn't randomly come undone.

Now for the clip! We need to cover it some how so that the metal doesn't show through the front of the sheer lace. So cut a length of felt slightly larger than the width and a bit more than double of the length. Then cut a slit in it where the clip hinges.

Then put the clip in so that it would sit flat on the table. Angled side of the hinge up. You'll see why in a minute just trust me!

Fold the felt back and add a dab of hot glue to where you would grasp the clip. Then on the the insides of the clip as well. Making sure not to get it on the actual spring.

Finally on the other side of where you would grasp the clip. Fold the felt into the crease of the clip and over the top of it.

Covering one prong of the clip completely.

Find the center of the clip. Mine came out to about 2 inches so I marked it at 1 inch.

Then put hot glue on the felt side and glue it onto the back of the bow. This is where the angled end comes in. Make sure the angled end is up against the bow. It will be fine if it pops the bow forward a bit. Not cute when it pops off of your head.

Finally glue your button onto the front middle of your bow.

My grandmother gave me this HUGE tin of random vintage buttons that she has been saving forever! Unfortunately she is not in any shape to be sewing and I was the only one even remotely interested in it! Seriously this huge tin was like a pot of gold! I don't think I'll ever need to buy buttons again!

While I made this bow for myself I took a picture of it on my beautiful little model! And I think it works! She really liked it as well....looks like I'll be making a few more! Not a big deal because I had everything on hand and it literally took half an hour!

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If you haven't noticed...

If you haven't noticed my daughters look nothing like me.

Well, maybe a little bit when you get down to the shape of our eyes, nose, face, ears, etc. But at first glance we don't look anything alike! They both have dark hair, dark eyes, and get really tan in the summer. Me?! I have fair skin, light hair, and totally burn in the summer. That is because my hubby is 1/2 Korean and his Korean genes kind of took over! His Mom is from Incheon, Korea! I adore this wonderful tiny lady that is sometimes hard to understand. She helps me with my kids, my house (seriously she could get any stain off of any surface!), helps me learn to make Korean foods, and gives me sound advice on difficult situations.

She taught me how to make Korean Bulgogi (bull-go-gee), but there was one slight problem, in Korea they don't believe in measuring anything. So it was a pinch of this and palm full of that. I thought ok not my typical way of measuring but I'll give it a try...my bulgogi came out horribly! SO I scoured the internet and finally came upon one that I liked. After making a couple changes to it this is what I came up with. It was too salty so I cut down the soy sauce and this recipe called for MSG which I totally am not putting in my food!

Korean Bulgogi Recipe

1 cup water
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp minced garlic (or 4 whole cloves minced)
6 tbsp sugar (this may equate to something else but I haven't figured it out so I just do 6 tbsp)
3 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp sesame seeds (you can add more if you like)
6 scallions cut at a slant into 1/2 pieces

4 lbs london broil or top round

For whatever reason I left the scallions and the beef out of the pic...trust me you need them!

Start by mincing the garlic. I just buy the little jar of pre-minced garlic because mincing garlic is probably my least favorite thing to do! Add it to the bowl, add the sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, scallions, soy sauce, and water. Mix thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

It should look something like this:

When choosing your london broil or top round (really they are the same cut of meat one is just cut thicker). Choose a piece that has very little fat and marbling in it. The fat and marbling makes it more difficult to cut.

Cut the meat super thin. I mean paper thin! To do this don't let your meat get completely defrosted. It is easier to cut it when it is still a bit frozen and a SUPER sharp knife. I always hone mine before cutting just to be sure it is nice and sharp! Hold your knife at an angle, this will give you ultra thin slices that are big enough to grill. If thats how you decide to cook it but we'll talk about that later. Cutting the meat really is the most time consuming part of this recipe. If you happen to have a Lee Lee's Asian Market (we had one in Chandler and they said they were building one here in Tucson but construction has slowed to a halt, due to the economy I guess) you can go there and they will have pre-cut meat you can buy by the pound. You can also check any of the local asian markets or even ask your butcher. My butcher I swear has it out for me and has always refused to cut my meat for me. Oh well! I've gotten pretty good at it.

Add all of your meat to your marinade that you made earlier. Let it set for a minimum of 4 hours. I make mine at lunchtime and we can eat it for dinner. But you can make it the night before or up to 3 days in advance!

Mmmm...smells good!

If I have a ton of time on my hands, which is rarely ever I will grill it. Which is how bulgogi is traditionally made. Literally translated bulgogi means "fire beef". But it takes a LONG time because you have to lay each strip on the grill and try not to loose half of it to the fire! Some strips will be bigger than others and inevitably fall between the grates.

Most times I just cook it in a pan on the stove. I start on high heat and let the meat get grey. When the meat is grey I drain the juice off into the serving bowl.

The juice is really tasty over rice and since it has now been cooked it is no longer dangerous to eat. Then I let the meat get really nice and brown, even a little charred in some spots. Mimicking the flavor of the grill! Well, kinda...there really is nothing like real barbecued bulgogi!

Serve with rice, egg rolls, or whatever other "asian" side you have laying around. Sometimes we just do rice and broccoli. This particular occasion was my sister in laws birthday so my mother in law went all out and made egg rolls and hot ribs! I still haven't been able to duplicate her hot ribs (bbq sauce and hot bean paste mostly, her own recipe I've never seen them at any Korean restaurant) or egg rolls but if I get close I will let you know!

You could easily halve this recipe and it would serve a family of four. This amount is what I make to feed our extended family of 10! My mother in law has now passed to bulgogi making torch on to me, she says that it is even better than hers. My husband and brother in law agree! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Girly Girls Tea Party

My friend Monica and I took the girls up to Madera Canyon for a tea party last Monday. The girls had a great time so I thought I'd share some fun pictures with you all! As you all know we had been planning this for awhile. I needed to make the cupcake tower and the table cloth. We really wanted to go all out and give the girls a really great experience!

Madera Canyon is about 5500 ft and only about 40 minutes southwest of Tucson. So it is the perfect spot for a daytime getaway from the summer heat. Here in Tucson we are almost always over 100 degrees and it is monsoon season which means we get these crazy storms in that late afternoon/ early evening almost everyday! On this particular day it looked like it was going to rain first thing in the morning and it did actually sprinkle on us a couple times but not even long enough to mess up our hair! This cloudy, overcast kind of day made it perfect to get some really awesome pictures!

The menu consisted of peanut butter and jelly flower shaped tea sandwiches, mini cranberry orange scones (or "stones" as Hailey likes to call them), mini birthday cake doughnuts from Starbucks, and fresh strawberry lemonade for "tea".

Monica and I decided the birthday cake doughnuts weren't worth the calories! They were just ok...

The day before I gathered some things for the little girls so they'd have a little party favor and something to play with after they had their tea and snacks. I found a bunch of stuff at Michael's in their dollar section. The hit of the party was this little crown shaped palette of lip gloss. ALL the girls love it and seriously it keeps them busy for hours! They use it as lipgloss, eyeshadow, and even nail polish. They also got a bling bling ring, some stick on earrings, a princess ribbon dancer, and of course some princess barrettes.

They embellished straw tea party hats with some pretty flowers.

And just had a good time being care free little girls. If you haven't thrown your daughter or son for that matter a real tea party you totally should! To see the look on their face while we were setting it all up, opening their presents, and decorating their hats was the best gift a mom could ever ask for. It made all the late nights SOOO worth it! We are building memories, what more could I ask for?!

All Ruffled Up!

Hailey's little Ikea table needed some serious dressing up. Her room is "shabby chic" meets "vintage barbie". I got her an unfinished wood table and chairs from Ikea when I first did her room and painted it a light pink color. This was back in the dark ages when I was afraid of bright fun colors and hadn't figured out how much easier it is to paint with spray paint! The table seriously took a week (9 months pregnant w/Belle) to paint and it still didn't look all that great. By that time I was totally over it and just shoved it in her room and put some stuff on top of it.

I thought it was time to redo it! I didn't actually repaint the table I just scrubbed it down with a magic eraser and repainted the chairs. Then made the table a little ruffled up table cloth that can be removed and washed or bleached if need be.

Materials:
1 queen size flat sheet or around 4 yards of fabric
matching thread

I had a sheet on hand from a random sheets set I purchased at Home Goods when it had been marked down to like $5!

First start by measuring your table. I have the Svala from Ikea. If you have something different be sure to check your measurements. Mine measured 23 1/4 by 19 5/8. I added an inch to each dimension (for the seam allowances) so I cut a rectangle 24 1/4 and 20 5/8. I wanted 4 tiers but later in the project decided to only use 3 tiers so that the girls would be able to push their chairs in completely.

So I cut 6, 5" strips by however long my sheet was and luckily it turned out to be just enough. Then I cut 3, 4 1/2" by 88" (2x length + 2x width) strips for the dividers.

Take your 5" strips and ruffle them up. I left my edges un hemmed if you want to hem your edges do it now before your ruffle them up. I thought the un hemmed edges after being washed would look cute and shabby! I didn't actually join the pieces strips together with a seam I just butted them right up to each other as I ran them through the ruffler. I did all the ruffling at once so I wouldn't have to change my foot each tier. Sometimes I like to pretend I work on an assembly line and try to do things efficiently. Totally the planner in me! :)

Lay out your rectangle that you cut earlier flat on a table or the floor, pin the ruffles down and baste them on (just use the longest stitch length we'll go over it again).

After you have that tacked down put your 4 1/2" strip on top of it and make a little ruffle sandwich (just like the skirt) and stitch that down using your normal stitch length.

Fold down the 4 1/2" divider strip and pin another layer of ruffles on it right sides together. Then stitch it down. Lay another divider strip down and stitch that down. Finally repeat for another tier. And another if you want 4.

Turn everything out and iron the ruffles flat. They just look prettier when they are all pressed. And put it on your table!

Then take it out and have a tea party (more to come on that later)!

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