Living Archives - Little Becky Homecky

5 Smart Cooking Devices You Should Own

May 23, 2021 Jewells Home, Living

Cooking in the kitchen these days is a matter of simply looking at your smartphone. And as we can see why Wi-Fi connections through the various devices in our kitchen tell you so. Are you ready to get cooking with some smart devices so you can attend to more pressing matters?

Here are 5 incredible cooking devices you need to add to your modern kitchen list in 2021.

Drop Scale

Unlike the old days where you needed to get out that dusty old recipe book, there’s a modern alternative. Taking a look at the Drop Scale might look like an ordinary digital scale, but this is so much more. It connects to your smartphone to a registered app and works through this scale too. One look at your touchscreen and you can search for the exact recipe you want to make. When it comes time to add the ingredients to your mixing bowl, everything is accounted for. Even if you missed an ingredient, it lets you know to add salt or alternative items that’ll go in instead.

Through the app, you can immediately scroll-through meal ideas with an interactive touch. The scale itself is connected directly through Bluetooth and helps you to gather and correctly measure all your food ingredients. It also gives you a great step-by-step visual guide to preparing your food instead of reading recipe text. It works on nearly all iPhone, iOS devices, and of course Android phones too. Even if you’re missing certain ingredients, the program will adjust what you do have to make it right. If you’ve got a tablet, this kitchen fairy program will make cooking a breeze!

Slaouwu Smart Vacuum Sealer

Gone are those days when you needed to store food in a baggie. Now you can seal nearly anything with an airtight vacuum seal instead. This compact device is portable enough to store inside your kitchen cabinet. It also does an excellent job of removing air from special vacuum bags and sealing them. Not until you’re ready to cook and eat your food, the contents stay fresher until you use them. It has a special setting that tells your sealer what is being sealed. Even seal bags that have prepared meats with marinades. Your meat will have never tastes better.

There’s also a manual hose attachment for sealing wine and other bottle drinks to preserve flavors longer. Your favorite chips and snacks can also be saved so they’ll never lose that familiar crunch. Seal fruits, vegetables, and even nuts to keep them from spoiling early. If you’re a fan of Sous Vide cooking, you’ll want to have this handy vacuum sealer on-hand. Anything going into this vacuum will see the air sucked-out in under a minute. For left-over foods, you can also use vacuum seal containers that help preserve salads and sliced fruits. With this kitchen sealer, you’ll work smarter in the kitchen instead of shopping for more food that went to waste.

Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker

This is the new model and improved over their previous Anova discontinued model. This version features 1000 watts of power and is meant for serious Sous Vide cooking. But you don’t have to be a pro to use this smart model since it comes with a special app. Now you can start cooking via the app and monitor the cooking time. It lets you know through the app when your food is cooked to perfection. What is even more exciting is that you don’t need special tubs for your water, this Anova cooker attaches securely to any plastic tub or pot.

All the parts can be machine washable as well, making clean up less of a chore. Once your food is cooked, you simply remove it from the vacuum bag and finish it with a flaming sear. Steaks and meats need just a quick grill in the pan to get the familiar sealed crust you like to enjoy. Thanks to the new and updated app, you now have access to thousands of recipes using Sous Vide. Many of which are from celebrated chefs, who also love cooking with their Sous Vide cooker too! Never look at cooking the same way again with this smart device.

WiFi Smart Wireless Thermometer

One of the very first, ‘true wireless’ meat thermometers that you’ll find on the market today. It’s connected to a smartphone app while being run through a Bluetooth connection. You can program the type of meat and monitor the inner temperature that reaches its’ optimal core cooking level. It lets you know when your meat is done so you don’t overcook the internal meat. You also get the ambient outside temperature. This kit is extra convenient since it contains two thermometers for larger roasts and meat cuts.

The app further allows the settings to include notifications and alerts. If your kitchen oven is connected to Alexa, you can control the oven temperature, so nothing is left to chance. This way, you can monitor your meats while you make a quick run to the store. It works great for long-range on many iOS devices and Android phones. Now you can take your BBQ skills to the next level of geek chic’ with these high tech smart devices. What even better is that the taste of perfection is never compromised by guesswork anymore! You’ll love what these smart and portable thermometers can do for you.

Instant Pot Smart Pressure Cooker

We know how you like getting your hard jobs done easier with Alexa, making cooking more manageable. So why not make your pressure pot make fool-proof meals you won’t need to slave over. This incredible 8-in-1 pressure cooker does more than stews. Thanks to the interactive app that comes with this pot, you can find thousands of recipe ideas to make. This is a 6-quart chamber pot that can feed a whole family or up to 6 people at a time. It can work as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, make rice and porridge, yogurt, an ideal sauté; and searing pan, a cake maker, and even a general food warmer!

It’s a simple as setting it and forgetting it, only this time you can get all the updates and notifications. Find out how your meal is doing via the mobile app. Set-it up on your Android or iPhone and still have time to check out the latest dishes. You can plan for your next meal while this pressure pot does the cooking for you. You can even use to sterilize household items like pacifiers, baby bottles, and canning jars. Even the stainless steel inner pot is machine washable. Say goodbye to hot stoves and hello to smart app pressure cooking.

How to Make a Kitchen Look Bigger

December 28, 2019 Jewells Home, Living

Having a spacious kitchen is truly a luxury; not needing to worry about where things go, how to have items organized, and overall having the kitchen feeling like a clean space, can “make or break” the area. Unfortunately, not every kitchen is designed to have enough space for all your needs to be met.

However small your kitchen may be, there are a number cheap and simple tricks you can utilize to help make a kitchen look bigger and give you plenty of room to work without having to expand the square footage of your home or make expensive renovations! It’s all about the art of illusion and minimalism. By removing visual clutter and allowing light to flow freely through your space, you’ll be creating an optical illusion of sorts.

Let’s start with the basics

Before going out and spending money on having your kitchen space completely remodeled, there’s a couple of things you can do right now to make a kitchen look bigger.

Natural Lighting

Allowing natural light into a kitchen and almost any other room, can have the room feeling more spacious and inviting. By having natural light come into the space, it can give the illusion of being connected with the outdoors and virtually become a limitless space.

Consider using opaque-color or sheer curtains on your windows, to help provide privacy, while still allowing light to flow into the kitchen naturally. If privacy isn’t of concern you can just remove any curtains outright.

Now, I understand, not every kitchen has a desirable view when looking out the window, adding some plants and flowers can easily make the area much more appealing.

lighting in kitchen

De-clutter

Let’s face it, one of the main reasons for any area feeling cramped and confined is having too much stuff. The kitchen is for cooking and dining!

Countertops and other surfaces tend to be attractive areas to put your stuff, whether it be stacks of papers, books, or loads of other things that simply do not belong in the kitchen. Take a few moments and toss the junk away or store it in another location. A simple question to ask is “would this item be in the kitchen of a restaurant?” If not, move it out of the kitchen.

Even having a sink full of dishes, can have your kitchen feeling like a mess and utter chaos. Having an empty sink is almost a mandatory if you care to have your kitchen looking neat and spacious. Make a habit of taking a couple of minutes to wash and put away the dishes… this will help tremendously and give you the peace of mind you deserve. No one likes a messy kitchen.

This is what we don’t want:

De-clutter-kitchen

Open, Airy Shelving

Open Airy Shelving
Adding a form of open shelving can give you additional space to store dishes and give the kitchen more of an open feeling. Now, before going out and start replacing your cabinets with open shelves, a cool, simple trick to emulate open shelving is to remove your cabinet doors. That’s right, consider removing select cabinet doors… having closed cabinet doors can make a space feel even more closed off than it already appears.

Whatever route you choose to take for creating open shelving, just be sure the items you have on display are neatly organized. Remember we’re going for neat, organized and not cluttered!

Bright and Uniformed Color Themes

One of the easiest ways to give more depth and vibrancy to a room is selecting a paint scheme that is easy on the eyes.

Dark color schemes are known to make a room look smaller, gloomy, and almost “cave-like.” By utilizing whites or bright colors, light is able to travel freely and reflect naturally in the room… giving it an airy and clean appearance. You’ll want to keep the colors uniformed and avoid transitioning from dark to light colors.

In general, the lighter and brighter colors used, the brighter and more inviting a room appears.

Creating Illusions with Mirrors

Well-placed mirrors in a room can create an illusion and make a room appear larger.

Since mirrors naturally reflect light, both natural and artificial, a room will be brighter and more vibrant at any point of the day. Ideally, placing a mirror near the window, will optimize the amount of light coming in naturally. You can also maximize the light in the room by placing the mirror in an area of the room that doesn’t receive much natural light. Additionally, angling a mirror towards a focal point or creates an illusion of depth within the room.

Furnishings

Now that we’ve covered the basics tricks, that are basically free to implement, here are some fairly inexpensive options to help make a kitchen look bigger and more suited for your comfort.

Lighting & Lamps

Lighting & Lamps in kitchen
Lighting is one of the main elements in making a room appear bigger. Much like allowing natural light to come into a room, using a lamp will also brighten the room, making it appear a bit larger. Ideally, you’ll want to use yellow or white colored lights, creating the sense of warmth, peace, and inviting ambience to the kitchen.

Another easy and cheap implementation is the use of cabinetry lighting. By placing light under or above your cabinets and cupboards, you’ll get rid of any dark shadows that can make the room feel small. It doesn’t take much to install LED strips, and many come with additional features allowing you to choose the brightness of the light.

If the kitchen space allows for it, a unique and interesting light fixture hanging from the ceiling can work wonders. By directing attention upwards, a sort-of height illusion is created, further adding to the illusion of a larger kitchen.

Slim, Clear, and Space Efficient Furniture

One that should be fairly obvious, using space efficient furniture will minimize the amount of space being used. There are a plethora of furniture options ranging from kitchen stools and chairs to breakfast tables, that are slim, compact and extremely space efficient. Simply avoid using thick, clunky furniture and that alone will help expand the space you have available.

The goal here is to get rid of “visual clutter,” much like removing cabinet doors… another option is to get clear furniture. Clear furniture, like shelves, tables, and chairs, will get rid of visual clutter with ease, almost as if the object isn’t even there!

When we’re talking about space efficiency furniture, having multi-functional pieces can make a huge difference in giving you more room to work. Furniture as simple as stacking or folding chairs can help you maximize your space when they are not being used. There are a number other unique pieces like rolling kitchen islands or kitchen carts that serve as not only another surface but, can also provide extra storage space!

https://zazoulounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/awesome-counter-chairs-in-tractor-stool-design-within-reach-inspirations-7.jpg

Decor Appealing to the Eyes

Lighting & Lamps in kitchen
Adding a sense of comfort to your kitchen will make it seem much more inviting and larger all at the same time. Feel free to add decor to your kitchen, once it starts looking comfortable, you’ll soon forget that the room is actually pretty small. You don’t want to go overboard with the decorations, keep it in moderation.

Simple additions like plants, flowers and pictures can make the space feel like a place you’d care to stay in for awhile. Again, we’re talking about optimizing your space usage. When it comes to pictures or hanging art for example, it may be wise to use a large picture to cover a portion of a single wall than multiple pictures all over the room.

Kitchen Appliances

Appliances that are left out in the open like microwaves and toasters, can also serve in adding to the illusion of space we’re creating. Much like the mirror effect, stainless steel and kitchen appliances that have a “shine,” allow light to reflect freely… remember the more light we have in the room, the better.

Farmhouse Sinks

Many modern homes are built with a double basin sink. If you’re really looking to have as much countertop space as possible and budget allows for it, you may want to consider replacing your double basin sink with a “farmhouse sink.” These single basin farmhouse sinks can give back to you, a hefty amount of countertop space that would have otherwise been used as an additional sink.

Although this option takes a tiny bit of kitchen renovation and redesign, it may be worth while and give your kitchen the ideal space for which you’ve been looking to obtain.

Compact Dishwasher & Slimline Refrigerator

Compact Dishwasher & Slimline Refrigerator
Many modern refrigerators and dishwashers are perhaps the largest items in your kitchen and can take up a large amount of space. Luckily, there are space-efficient dishwashers and refrigerators that can be purchased to help maximize the amount of space you have in the kitchen.

Creating a comfortable and spacious kitchen can be done without needing to knockdown walls and engage in heavy renovations for extra square footage. The goal is to make a kitchen look bigger, by removing visual clutter and taking a minimalist approach to interior design you can have your kitchen as a space to love working in.

Enjoying the Season – Preparing for Holidays

November 2, 2018 Jewells Living

I’m a big fan of making lists. It helps me be productive and prioritize what I’d like to do. Being out of school for a few years now, having goals and check lists helps me feel like I’m accomplishing something and growing.

But sometimes, I need to put aside the to do lists. I’ve been reminded of that this fall when I’ve been pretty worn out most nights when I get home and just can’t seem to check off all the things I want to do.

I’ve been trying to shift my focus from quantity to quality, and I received some inspiration from ‘Peach and Humble’s Autumn on Purpose’ at just the right time. This week’s newsletter included this:

For the last several years, I have been creating seasonal bucket lists packed with things I wanted to do before the season ended. They were always fun things like “bake an apple pie” or “go the pumpkin patch” but they were a checklist of tasks, nonetheless. More things-to-do stacked on top of my already long list of things-to-do. And even though I wanted to do all of these bucket list items, I noticed I was starting to check off fewer and fewer tasks as the years went on. Then, without fail, I would feel guilty and as though we had somehow missed the season because we didn’t finish our list.

I read that and had an immediate “aha” moment. I do the same thing every season and inevitably feel the same mixture of guilt and disappointment as each new season approached. The solution?? Focus on a few simple traditions that you absolutely love to keep around as your seasonal rituals.

I love taking the focus away from trying to accomplish every single thing you associate with a holiday or time of year and shifting it instead to a few simple traditions that bring you a lot of joy. This means finding ways to avoid the typical holiday shopping, and “hustle & bustle”. I usually off-set some of this chaos by doing most of my shopping online on my laptop laying in bed; a little each night and over the period of a week I’m done. As for decking the halls, this year I am going to likely get some ideas online to change things up a bit and go with some decor styles that my husband will find impressive.

I started making a mental list of my favorite fall traditions, and I almost immediately had about ten things. And I thought — no — that’s the opposite of what I’m supposed to be doing with this exercise! Remember — less is more!!

After some deliberation, I narrowed my special fall traditions list to the following:

Watch the Great Pumpkin (preferably while snuggling with beagles)
Bake something delicious
Enjoy the changing colors (snap pictures as desired)
Go apple/pumpkin picking

Everything else is icing on the cake.

In summary, goals and check lists have their place, but if I really want to enjoy a season, I need to allow myself to be fully present in it. And that means not having a list of goals and expectations. Wish me luck as I try this out the rest of autumn.

P.S. It’s not too late to check out Peach and Humble’s Autumn on Purpose series. Sign up to receive a weekly inspirational newsletter in your inbox.

What are your favorite fall traditions?

How Clutter Affects Us

March 26, 2018 Jewells Living

Clutter Can Be Bringing You Down, And You May Not Even Know It

Clutter is more than having a little too much “stuff” in your home. It is not about having too little space or not enough time to keep your belongings organized.

Being surrounded by clutter usually originates from an inability to throw things away. Over time, if left unchecked, what started as “a few too many things” can grow into compulsive hoarding.

Living surrounded by clutter is very different to being a collector of something. Scientific evidence shows that clutter or hoarding can be a symptom of a specific internal mental disorganization. It is a subtle form of procrastination and usually comes at the expense of a functional living space.

You may think that the messy piles of papers gathering dust on your desk, and your kitchen filled with unused knick-knacks, are worlds apart from hoarders who cannot access rooms in their house due to stacks of newspapers going back to 1972. However, studies indicate that all of these traits derive from the same place.

Because de-cluttering is a cognitive process, hoarders are usually good at justifying why something should be kept. Perhaps it’s by putting additional nostalgic or emotional value upon items, making them harder to part with. Or maybe it’s due to the practical reasons why something may come in useful someday. From mementos, to clothing, to gadgets, hoarders are very good at not throwing anything away.

Many times it’s unintentional. The classic example of this is when you use your garage for a storage area. After a while, you can end up with a hoarders paradise: two old fridges, that old sectional, mattress and kitchen table you didn’t want to put on the curb. It’s time to let go!

What’s the Big Deal Anyways?

So, it may be messy, but is there really any harm? Well, yes. Clutter can be very bad for both your physical and mental health.

Firstly, clutter can be a real safety concern. Excessive amounts of clutter can harbor mold, mildew, and accumulate dust, causing respiratory issues. A home filled with flammable stacks of magazines, or cardboard boxes of documents, or old electrical devices, is more of a fire hazard. Narrowing passageways become more difficult to traverse and can cause injury. All of this leads to an unhealthy living space.

An uncluttered environment is not only very important for your physical wellbeing, it can have a drastic impact on your mental state too. Living with clutter has been found to raise levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, leading to heightened anxiety, fatigue, and depression.

Living in a home filled with clutter with inevitably lead to disorganization. Time will be wasted looking for lost things. Frantic searches for keys can become a daily occurrence. In addition, costs can mount up as lost items need to be replaced. If bills are mislaid, late fees on overdue payments can arise. All of this causes more stress unnecessarily.

Clutter can also be distracting. You may not realize it, but constantly being surrounded by excessive clutter can get in the way of your ability to focus. Piles of laundry, stacks of papers, junk drawers crammed to excess, all of this may be over-stimulating your visual cortex causing you to be more distracted.

Donate to a charity shop. Throw out old newspapers. Go through those storage boxes. Call up a hauling company who can haul away all your stuff. Buy a Bagster from your local Home Depot. Or contact a company like AZ Junk who will do both: haul away unwanted items, or pickup your Bagster. Not only will your home be a more pleasant place to spend time, your physical and mental health with greatly benefit from removing the clutter from your life.

Slight setback in the training

March 6, 2018 Jewells Living

I think I may have done too much. Running on a broken toe may not have been such a grand idea, but I was too stubborn to stop right after I started. I am still running, but doing the AdvoCare Can You 24 Level 2 videos was killing my toe because of the pushups and lunges.

When running, you can easily manipulate your stride and the placement of your foot when it hits the ground…when doing a pushup, the only way to not “hit the ground” is to have your toes just right…and it wasn’t working.

So, back to the drawing board. I am still running…in fact, doing the C25k program with the ladies in town has made me realize just how ready I am to start running again. I even had a wedding to set up for on Saturday morning and still went and ran beforehand which definitely proved to me that I was serious. If I can squeeze it in, I am going to. It feels so good.

I will register this week for the half in Vegas. So excited to see my long lost friends out there that I have missed so much since we moved. It is going to be amazing to see them all again as well as achieve this goal.

I will say, I am super blessed that my daughter is active and enjoys being active. Each time we go to run, she goes with. She doesn’t always last the whole time, but it is just nice that she is out there with me and keeping me motivated.

This coming holiday weekend is a busy one. A ton of graduation parties to go to, one to decorate for, and then a cake to bake for another. Cant wait to show those off. Meanwhile, I have a few hats to make for newborn twin girls, and of course, a few shirts.

It doesn’t get much better than that:) A busy week yet again. A small setback, but not the end. Having to slow down only makes me want it more. I am definitely going to fulfill this dream and going to tackle it one mile at a time.

Where have I been?

March 6, 2013 Jewells Living

Where have I been? I feel super guilty that I have been so busy and not been able to blog much at all lately. I know that the reasons are good, but I also miss it. Like….a lot! I miss the relationships that I was building. I miss the excitement of finding out something I created was featured. I miss getting excited about all the new people I was interacting with. I miss it all. But… I have been so busy.

Let me back up a bit. Last September, (yeah, that long ago), I was back in Illinois for a friend’s wedding. While helping her with all the planning, I had to go to this little place called Kreative Rentals to meet with her decorators. I walked into the showroom and literally said “Oh my…this is my heaven!” There are vases, floral, linens, and more…it’s a crafty girls’ dream! Well, the owners at the time were apparently looking to sell and mentioned it to me. So of course, I told the hubs! I was giddy, I was pumped, and I was freaking out! If I bought this business, that would mean that the hubs would go back to Germany, and I would stay here in my little hometown in Illinois with Miss M….alone. Lots of decisions to think about. I already wanted to stay here because Germany and I didn’t get along very well. It was either rainy or thinking about being rainy the entire time I was living there…and well…that wears on a person. I was going to miss my hubs like crazy. I already knew that. But it is temporary.

So the planning (and panicking) began. I was getting things ready to own the business, already meeting with new clients, and getting very excited about this new adventure. All the while, I was still crocheting for friends, family and others, making wedding gifts with and for friends, and of course, spending time with the little one as she ventured into her new school.

I ended up buying the business on December 14, 2012 and it has been great. Doing Bridal Fairs in the local area, and meeting with some amazing clients has been a dream!

There are times where I get really scared that I messed up and made the wrong decision and that maybe it will hurt our marriage…but then I remember that the majority of our relationship has been apart. Either him working crazy stupid hours, or deployed…so it’s not much different…except now I have my family around to help out when needed. Which thankfully they are here because I have needed them a lot.

Back to the blogging. I continued doing the Fantabulous Friday’s so that I could still see what everyone was doing. But, then I ran out of time. I didn’t want my blog to ever just be a linky party blog and so I stopped because that was all I had time for. I currently have 33 brides/events that I am decorating for 2013 and a few for 2014 already lined up. It is very exciting, but also very time-consuming. No two weddings are the same so it’s not like you can just pick a package and walk away from it. You have to plan and re-plan and organize each individual one. I FREAKING LOVE IT THOUGH!

I just got done making hair pieces for a bride and her bridal party and I love the way they turned out. I am hoping to share them with you soon after I get them to her.

The hubs is going to be looking soon (I hope) for a job back here and then we can all be together again…including the cat. I can’t believe I actually miss that little cat.:) But I definitely do.

I hope you all will still check back in from time to time and see what I have been up to and hopefully there will be lots to share with you once wedding season starts! I miss you all and thank you for the continued support.

Knock Off Striped Hat

December 6, 2012 Jewells Living

I have been in hiding lately…not for any other reason other than the fact that I have been super busy! I made this about a month ago but still wanted to share it with you all! I am kind of in love with it!

A friend showed me this picture from the Kate Spade website and asked me if I could make it. I hadn’t ever done a striped hat before to this level, but was definitely up for the challenge. I headed out to the store, picture in hand, and picked out the yarn colors. I told her that I wasn’t going to knit it because I don’t have the patience for that right now, but I would crochet it.

The first time I was doing it, I was cutting off some of the tails and I clipped right through the hat….MAJOR FAIL! I was so upset! But, back at it I went! The final product is exactly what she wanted and she loved it so I was super happy.

The one major thing I learned after many tries (and I mean MANY) was how to fix the bottom rim of the hat so that when it is folded up it doesn’t look like a different stitch. Instead of crocheting in the round (meaning switching the colors and continuing working counter-clockwise), I would switch colors and turn. This made it so that the stitches looked the same both on the outside and inside of the hat. It worked perfectly!!

Let me know what you think!:) I would love to hear your thoughts.

Wedding Purses

August 6, 2012 admin Living

Hi there!! You may remember that I made some purses for the bridesmaids of my friends upcoming wedding. Well… since those turned out so well, the mothers decided that they would like to have some as well. When I got back to the states, we went and picked out the fabric for each of the mothers/step-mothers. I am so happy with the way they look. Each one goes with the ladies’ dresses so well and it is perfect!

This first one is just brown fabric with a sheer brown/gold overlay with two peacock feathers under the sheer fabric. Love it!!

Loving this one!! Silver fabric to go with the mother’s dress and a simple brooch on a fabric yo-yo flower:) Super easy!

This one is the same concept as the first but with different feathers and different fabric. It matches the dress perfectly and I love it!!

This last one is adorable! I love the ribbon lace on it that makes it look old fashioned!

I would love to hear what you think! The mother’s were very happy so that makes it all worth it!

Crochet Hook Organizer

July 6, 2012 admin Living

As part of the Hookin’…the legal way series!! that I had in June (which you can find on the sidebar over there ——->) I got the opportunity to work with Living in Amethyst on Etsy. Her shop has such amazing patterns! I love them all. I purchased this Lily Crochet Hook Organizer from her and I am so happy! I have made two so far! One for myself, and one as part of the Hookin’…the legal way!! Part 5, a giveaway and link party!!** Now closed**

The first one I made was in grey and mustard colored yarn and I love it!! I made this one with the 18 slots for the crochet hooks. I am always losing my crochet hooks, but now they are all in one place and I don’t have to worry about it. Plus, what’s better than having something made using crochet, to hold all your crochet hooks! I am so happy I got this pattern!

The pattern was really easy to follow. Just basic stitches and each pattern I have purchased from her has been amazing. Very detailed and thorough. I like that. It’s hard when you find a pattern that is hard to follow after you spent money on it;). This one was well worth the money!

This is the second one I made. It holds 12 crochet hooks. I love these colors because they are very summer-y. Yes, that’s totally a word! This one is made from Lion Brand yarns in Lullaby Pink and Peachy. They are super soft and very easy to work with!

You also have a chance to win this one that I made if you stop by the giveaway ~~here~~!

Let me know what you think? How do you keep your crochet hooks organized?

Pretty Pink Pettiskirt

July 6, 2012 admin Living

Miss M’s birthday is just around the corner and she will be turning 6. This year, we are having a princess themed party as you may already know if you saw the invitations. I have already looked on Pinterest for some inspiration for her party and I almost have everything done that can be done;). It is taking up a lot of time!! But, that’s okay…because she’s a princess:) Or so she seems to think.

I knew that I wanted her to have a full skirt like a pettiskirt, but I really didn’t want to have to make one:). I went online and ordered a dress for her to wear at her party that had a pettiskirt like bottom to it. I was so excited about it, but then when it got here, it was too small. Story of my life. Luckily, the same day I ordered the dress, I ordered some fabric to make a pettiskirt as a backup incase it didn’t work out. I am so glad I did!!

I have been wanting to make a pettiskirt ever since I saw the tutorial at Make It Love It. Her tutorial is absolutely amazing and so easy to follow. I do not have a ruffling foot on my sewing machine, so I did the tension/stitch length technique and it worked perfectly! While there is a lot of fabric that has to be ruffled, it really did go fast for that part. Keeping the ruffles untwisted was where I wanted to pull my hair out, so if anyone has any tips that would be AMAZING! I am not going to lie and say it was a quick project because it literally took forever and was a mess with all the fabric that was used, but the end result is totally worth it. I also love that the waistband is adjustable with the tie ribbon so that as long as her duddies are not showing, she will be wearing this for a while:) It took all I had not to try it on because it is so soft and cute! Maybe another day;)

I could not be happier. She got to see it yesterday and was so pumped that it was so full and pretty! I will still have to make a shirt for her to wear, and probably a headband, but that’s easy stuff.

I cannot wait to see it all together with the headband and shirt on the day of her party! She is so excited to be dressed for the part of the princess!!

Do you have any tips for making a pettiskirt or things that worked for you while making one.