Monday, April 11, 2011

The Homemade 1st Birthday Bash!

Well hello to all my friends, I am yet again finding myself apologizing to you all for not keeping up with my blog! Life has be chaotic and hectic between work, illnesses, birthday prep and of course the usual family day to day stuff! Phew. But I am here now I hope you enjoy my post tonight.

 So TDMM turned one!!!! It is a bittersweet moment for me, as much as I am loving all the new stages and watching her explore her little world. At the same time, my little baby girl is growing up all to quickly and I'm afraid I will miss something or I will forget these wonderful moments! I digress....
This birthday has been months in the making. I knew my theme would be Ladybugs, I have scoured the web for crafty little ideas, fabric, foods and how-to's. In the end I succeeded!

I started with her little birthday dress. I used a tutorial from 7LayerStudio, it had the perfect amount of ruffles and the challenge of learning how to shirr for the first time, a skill I will forever overuse and adore! I purchased my adorable fabrics from bugfabric.com. Oh, am I talking too much? Where's this dress you ask?? Okay, okay, you twisted my arm, I'll show you!
I heart ruffles!


From the dress I found a tutorial for a fabric party hat that was to die for!!!
Here is my translation:
And because I couldn't leave well enough alone, I made a hair clip! Unfortunately, TDMM never wore it during her party, but it will work for an everyday barrette! (I must apologize that I cannot find the barrette tutorial!!)
with marabou fur!
So my little princess was dressed to the nines! I added a pair of red sequined ballet flats and she was adorable!




 So what was next?? Well she had to have a cake smash shirt, because I'll be damned if she destroys the cute little dress I slaved over with frosting and cake! SOOOOOO.....thanks to a white $1 Garanimals turtle neck and some iron-on letters and rhinestones from a local craft store we have a smash shirt I'm okay with tossing:
Ladybug overload?? =)


 What is a birthday without food? I mean really, no one ever accused this Diva of missing a meal or a slice of cake so I again put finger to keys and found some snacks fit for a Ladybug Picnic!


You wanna see the inside of my hugely tall cake? That was a rhetorical question. Just sayin.
Rainbows & Ladybugs go hand in hand!
Do you want to make your own rainbow cake,  chocolate dipped oreos or pretzels? Well check out those links too! (I had to wing the Oreos, because I didn't have a tutorial, just a picture. I wouldn't be terribly upset if you copied mine!)

The smash cake & cupcakes were also rainbow cake but were more tye-dyed:
My dainty smasher!

I hope I haven't bored you with all my fabulous craftiness! I just have to show off my Mini Diva's big day! I will leave you with a photo montage of some of the highlights of the day as I see them! 
Thanks so much for coming to our Ladybug Picnic post!

Isn't she a beauty!





The End!








Friday, March 25, 2011

Win a Free Breast Milk Baby

Win a Free Breast Milk Baby
I haven't been around much due to illness after illness in my house! So please excuse my absence, yet help me win this amazing doll for "TDMM"!!!
Thank you all and I hope to have a real post for you all very soon!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Becoming an adult and a better mommy?

So I've been missing in action and I apologize, I even slacked off on my "Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon" last week! I feel like a failure of craft....
But alas, I am here and I am taking a moment to share my musings with you for the day.

So, I guess a little back story of the Diva Family is in order.
The Domestic dude is currently the main bread winner in the family and has been for the past year while I was trying my hand as a stay-at-home Diva. Until just recently where I am working part-time and trying to figure out how to juggle family, work and me, with my hobbies and crafts.
Well, let me tell you, it ain't easy!
Up until almost a year ago, we were a family of 3. We swiftly became a family of 6, and by swiftly I mean in 3 months.
"The Divine Miss M" was born on March 2nd '10, "SBD" moved in on Easter '10, and our oldest "The Teen" moved in around the middle of May '10. So "Beanpole" had the brothers he asked for and the sister he never wanted!
So to say the least I have been, at times, struggling to figure out how to be a mom to an infant, a wife to "The dude", mom to "beanpole" and step-diva to the teen and SBD. I will not say it has been easy, and we have had moments where I thought the wheels were falling off completely, somehow we have made it almost 1 whole year and everyone is still alive and mostly intact!

 Through this growing and learning period, I have become a very different parent to TDMM than I was with Beanpole. When I had him I was a very young and inexperienced 19, I relied primarily on my parents to raise him and he was a sad, confused little boy. There are days when I wish I could have been the mom to him I am to TDMM. I just hope that he still loves me when he is grown and I didn't completely mess him up!
Now, I am a mature seasoned mom and I have found a parenting style I never knew existed. Its called Attachment Parenting.
Essentially its parenting by instinct. I follow her cues and do what my heart and body tell me is right. I don't follow the "rules" or someones Pediatrician.
I wear my little girl.
Our "Faux-by"
I breastfeed.

I feed her table foods and have since she was 6 months, following somewhat of the baby-led weaning style of feeding.
I cloth diaper, for what I feel is best for her, our family finances and for the environment. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat of an addiction.....
Is that not the cutest damn diaper you've ever seen?

I have nursed her to sleep and we have co-slept. I feel that if she needs it then it's what is right, for us.
I give much thanks to the Babycenter community for many of my parenting choices and changes.
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
I feel like TDMM is and will be a more confident and independent baby/child/adult than she would have been otherwise. She loves new things, she likes to be "scared", she knows I will always be there for her, and she knows I will always come back if I leave her.
Does she tend to be "clingy"? Sure, but what baby doesn't. Do I mind? Not really, some days when I'm trying to get things done it makes it a bit harder, but I do let her fuss for me a bit, I don't just pick her up with every whimper and whine. Sometimes she has to work things out for herself, don't we all?

Anyway, I just felt like telling you a bit about us, hopefully it gives you something mildly interesting to read while i try to figure out when and what I'll be making next!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

OAMC At its best!

I know what your thinking, "She's been gone for a week or more and now we get two posts in one day?? What the heck is going on??"
Well my friends I finally got a minute to breathe today and did some fun things!! And you get to read all about it.....

In case your not in the know there is a whole underworld society on the web of Once A Month Cooking, I admire anyone who can plan ahead enough to do this! Well I decided, since rejoining the world of the working, I needed to attempt to make "TDMM" something I can quickly reheat and feed her for breakfast.
I am proud to say, it was a success! And on our limited, no time for grocery shopping, pantry!
I thought pancakes were a great idea for an easily frozen/reheated meal, but also sounded wonderful for this lazy Sunday morning. Sadly, though, my usual recipe called for eggs! Whats a diva to do? Well this diva went on the search for an alternative! 
I clicked on over to my favorite recipe website, and typed in "egg-less pancakes". The Domestic Dude was skeptical, at best, but this Domestic Diva KNEW her website wouldn't let her family down! Well I was right! The first recipe to come up sounded perfect. Also, because of the awesome features on food.com I was able to change the servings on the recipe and double it without thinking about it! Oh how I love mindless cooking!



The beautiful result? Stacks and stacks of delicious, fluffy pancakes, and a dozen or more in the freezer for later!

So you want the magical recipe?
I will share!


Eggless Pancakes

Serves 4-6

2 1/2 c Flour
3 tbs Sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 c Milk
2 tbs Milk (As egg substitute)
1 tsp Lemon juice (or vinegar)
4 tbs Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla

1. Add lemon juice to the 2 cups of milk and set aside.

2. Mix together all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add wet ingredients to the dry, and mix well.

If the batter is too thick/dry you can add more milk or water. I added some unsweetened apple sauce to mine just for some added yum.

I also add a good dose of cinnamon and nutmeg to my batter because we like things spiced up here! Feel free to add your own twist to this recipe, its a great blank slate and is a super hearty way to start your day. I won't tell you that we added chocolate chips to the big kids pancakes....YUMMO!


Well I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon!! Week 2


So here I am! Have you all missed me? I have completely slacked off on my blog this week. I started working outside of the home again, and I am slowly trying to catch up and figure out how to continue doing what I love, care for my home and family and work! Whoooo am I tired.
Any way, here is week two of the Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon, we decided to do something for Valentine's day or pajama's. My sewing project started out as pajama's but I think that I have created a shirt for "TDMM"
to wear tomorrow for Valentine's day!
I chose the fabric because I LOVE it! So Valentine's day is about love, right? Its not hearts and flowers but it's pink and adorable!
You wanna see?


Here ya go!


Its an adorable little 3/4 length tunic with a Yo-Yo flower on top. The fabric is paper dolls!!!! I used to play with them as a child and had to buy this so "TDMM" could sport a little nostalgia for her momma!
I can't wait to get her into it tomorrow!


Friday, February 4, 2011

Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon!!

So I'm a member of the Babycenter online community and through one of my favorite groups a bunch of us, thanks to Angie, have decided to start a Sew-a-long and then blog about it, primarily so we all stay motivated to sew and so we don't neglect our blogs!
Anyway, the first project was a choice between a crochet hook roll-up or a sewing machine cover. Since the wonderful Domestic dude purchased me a rolling sewing machine case, I didn't need the cover! I do however have a sister who crochets, does this mean I can finally call her a "hooker"? Hmmm, I'm not sure she would like that so much!
It is my pleasure to share with you, without further ado, my crochet hook clutch:

And there it is. In all its wonky glory!
She didn't know I was making this for her, but if she is reading this then she knows now that I've stitched her a little something.
Fortunately this will also double as a submission for another motivational blog project I'm involved it! The 12 Month Sewing Challenge! So head on over there and take a look, I'll be submitting this for the February "Make something for someone you love" challenge! Don't forget to vote for me!!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Under Construction......

This is most definitely a blog in progress....you will have to excuse the ever changing state of it for a few days. I believe I have blog style ADD, and cannot leave the damn thing alone!
That being said, I'd love your feedback!
What do you think of the current look?? Is everything easy to read/see?

Thanks a bunch!
Now back to our previously scheduled programming.......

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sorry to leave you without posts!!!

 So I apparently left you all without reading material....what was I thinking!?!?

 I am proud to say Mr. Domestic Dude and I had our first date night last night since before "TDMM" was born! Its been almost 11 long months or no out on our own time! We even celebrated our first wedding anniversary with baby in tow. She did a fantastic job with Mimi and Biba, she even went to sleep without me! I was SHOCKED!!

 I didn't get a whole lot done this weekend, but I have a beautiful little clutch that I made up as I went along to share with you!
 Its made from a bit of the black stretch dress pants fabric that I made my dress (not pictured yet) and a vintage scrap of what I think is a poly-satin. 
I absolutely love it and I can't wait to use it!! 
I have a request from a friend to make one, so hopefully I can make a tutorial for those of you who are interested in it!!

On a cooking note, I made a home run meal tonight! I saw a commercial for the French's French Fried Onions, its called onion chicken or something equally creative. 
Essentially, you crush up the onions, dip your raw chicken breast in beaten egg, then roll in the onions. Place chicken in a baking pan, and cook in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 25 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken). 
It is YUMMO! And we really don't like onions here, so that's saying a lot!
I don't have pictures, sorry! Just try it out, you won't regret it!

 Well, I guess that's all from the peanut gallery tonight, I'm currently fighting with making ruffles for a purse that I'm trying to make. Hopefully with in the next 10 years I'll have that to share with you!


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Balls o' meat??

If there is one thing I hate most in the world, its putting my hands in raw meat! Never mind smashing breadcrumbs and milk and seasonings in said meat, and then forming it into small balls and frying them in a pan. ICK!!! I just HATE it. However, there is nothing yummier than saucy hot meatballs with melted cheese on a wheat sub roll!!! So I muck through the....well, muck and roll those slimy meat balls and make them into delicious balls of yum. (This is starting to sound dirty....tee hee!)
Anyway I'll add my meatball recipe for those of you who would love to make your family happy!

I get the majority of my recipes from an AWESOME and creatively named website called.....


....wait for it.....


Food.com! Yup you read right, super creative right? I know, I wish I'd come up with it, but alas, I missed the boat on that one. Though I am proud to be a member, because the website rocks. Its majority is from member submissions, and the members rate the recipes, etc. I have rarely found a recipe I didn't like. I almost always use higher starred recipes and the great part is most members add comments so if the recipe needs extra salt, well someone mentioned that! LOVE IT!

Ok, without further ado;


Meatballs

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs Ground Beef
2/3c milk
1c bread crumbs
1 sm diced onion (I use about a 1/8c minced dried onion)
S&P to taste
Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix meatball ingredients together by hand, (clean please) leaving the flour out in a small bowl, or like me, in a large ziplock bag. Once mixed, roll meat mixture into bite sized balls, then roll in flour. Once floured, brown in a olive oil coated pan, then transfer into a baking pan. Place meatballs in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.


Remove cooked meatballs and place in your simmering sauce.
I won't tell you this is doctored up jarred sauce.....

Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Serve & ENJOY!


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

An uneventful day....

 Well, today didn't garner very much sewing or much of anything fun to share. I managed to re-arrange my living room to accommodate the new (to TDMM) kitchen set into the "sea of toys" that is my life now.
I put together my dress for this weekend yesterday, and managed to hem it today, and that was it.....I really need to line the top of it and do a rolled hem on the raw edges of the top as well. MAYBE I can do that tomorrow and get a few pictures of it! From trying it on to have help pinning up the hem, I'm getting some some good feedback! That makes me very happy.

 Aside from sewing, I did make a 14.5 lb turkey for dinner tonight, that actually turned out delicious! My gravy on the other hand was a bit "gloppy", yes, that is a real word. It describes my gravy to a "T". Thats what I get for trying to rush and get it on the table. Lesson learned.

On a happier note, Sunday night I made home made pizza dough from a blog I found called Home Ec 101. I would love to get my rear in gear and make menu plans and a daily chore schedule and all that good stuff, but alas, I'm too busy with kids, cooking, sewing and soon will be working to worry about a clean house...I mean really? Who needs a clean house! 
So, back to the pizza dough. It was DELICIOUS! I made Mr. Domestic Diva, who has cautiously asked if he could become Mr. Domestic Dude, so I think I shall oblige him, and myself calzones and the 3 older boys have pizzas, TDMM had everything she could get her hands on! The pizzas were a hit! After making 2 batches of dough I had about 2 balls left, which make a 8 inch pizza each, so I bagged them up and froze them.
In my planning ahead mode, I pulled a ball out yesterday and made myself a pizza for lunch. I have to say, it was equally yummy thawed as it was the night I made it!!! I think I shall make dough and freeze it for those nights when no one wants to cook. I'm so in love!
It isn't beautiful, but it was yummy!
So for those of you that don't want to search the Home Ec 101 site, I will offer you the recipe here!


Ingredients:
  • 1 TBSP active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 3 1/2 cups bread flour + a little more for dusting
  • 1 1/2 TBSP olive oil + extra to grease the bowl for rising
  • 2 TBSP molasses
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning – OPTIONAL
  • cornmeal for sprinkling

Directions:
Add the yeast to the warm water and set it aside.  Place the flour in a large bowl and whisk it to fluff it up.  With your hands, clean please, create a well in the flour.  Remember when you used to make a volcano with mashed potatoes and gravy? Yes, just like that.
To make clean up easier, measure the olive oil and then the molasses.  There is no chemical reason for doing this, other than the oil lubricates the spoon so you don’t have to struggle with the sticky molasses.  Add the salt and Italian seasoning.
Does the yeast and water look foamy?  Wonderful, add that to the well.  If you are using a stand mixer, use your dough hook to stir and knead.  Use the lowest setting and only knead it for about a minute after the dough comes together.
If you are kneading by hand, stir the ingredients until they are moist and well mixed.  Flour your work surface and knead the dough for around three minutes.  Estimate, this is pretty forgiving.
After kneading shape the dough into a ball. (Just like playdough folks, just like playdough).  Set aside.  Grease a large bowl with olive oil.  Place the dough in the bowl, turning it several times to coat with oil.  Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise for at least thirty minutes.
Divide the dough into equal portions.  We make 4 thin crust 12″ pizzas, if you prefer thicker crust you will have fewer pizzas.  If you have multiple pans allow the dough to sit for ten or fifteen additional minutes, before shaping.  If, like me, you only have one pizza stone, immediately begin shaping the dough (with a rolling pin or by tossing)for baking, the other three can rise and your first really won’t suffer.
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
If you use a pizza stone, allow the stone to heat for 10 minutes in a 450F oven.  If you are using a metal baking sheet, preheating is unnecessary.
Sprinkle the  stone or cookie sheet with cornmeal; set the shaped pizza crust on the surface and top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings.  Bake for 10 – 15 minutes (watch it carefully, this depends on your toppings).
Enjoy.

Well I will leave you to drool, and for me to catch some zzzzz's!

Signing off
   The Domestic Diva

Monday, January 24, 2011

Fabric shopping, quick dinner recipe, changes on the horizon!!!

So I managed to get out today in the arctic cold and my car started after laughing at me for a minute! I bundled up The Divine Miss M, strapped her in the car and off we went for our trek into the big city! We left the woods and ocean behind us and headed in to Mimis house!
With my impending "going back to work" date quickly creeping up, we have to get this little baby ready to behave for someone else and become accustomed to something other than a boob as nutrition. Although if you look at all 24 lbs of her you would never know she prefers the boob juice over just about anything else!
Anyway, I dropped "TDMM" off at Mimi's and I went to find some fabric.
I have a boat load of ideas flooding my brain and very little time or money to complete them. The only place in this one-horse town to get affordable fabric is a, hmmm....how to describe it?....a wholesale, liquidation, department store? I'm not sure it deserves any of those labels, but it really is an awesome place once you get used to it. Marden's its my home away from home, my cheap shopping adventure!

So, first on the sewing agenda:
A dress for me. I just recently made a convertible Infinity dress that I found on Rostitchery's blog. Its an amazing concept and is SUPER expensive if purchased from a regular retailer

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Here goes the neighborhood!

Well here I go.....on a journey into blog-dom!

I thought it would be fitting to introduce myself and explain to you what exactly brought me to this point. That way maybe, just maybe you will understand what makes me, well, me!

 I am self-proclaimed  "The Domestic Diva", I'm a penny pinching, granola-wannabe, stylish, crafty momma! I am 30 and I have 4 children at home, 5 if you include my video-gaming husband, "Mr. Domestic Diva". We have a combined 5 children, 4 living at home.
 "The Teen" who just turned 13 yesterday!
 "Beanpole" who will be 11 in April,
 "SBD" (yup, that's right "Silent But Deadly", you can imagine why....) he turned 10 in December
and last but certainly not least, our only little "diva" in training "The Divine Miss M" who will be 1 in March!
The oldest is also a girl, she lives in Central Florida, attends college and we call her "The Textinator", shes got the fastest fingers on the east coast!

 So in order for me to be a stay-at-home mom I had to find ways to make our family run on a shoestring. Fortunately I'm a resourceful gal, so I started cloth diapering and cooking every meal at home. I also love to bake so I make all kinds of yummy goodness to keep my family sugar'd up!
I was given a sewing machine and I soon started figuring out how to sew. I think my first few projects were baby leggings made from woman's knee socks.
Halloween Baby Legs!
I quickly moved on to making wool longies from sweaters I found at Goodwill, then it was pillowcase dresses. I love it so much that I have decided that I would like to hone my sewing skills by helping others learn to sew.
I will be posting tutorials and tips that I learn over weeks and months of practice with all of you!
I will also share recipes and menu ideas. Hopefully I will get motivated to try new things and hopefully learn some things from all of you as well!
If there is something you would like to see, let me know, I'd love to hear what you have in mind too!!!

 I hope that you enjoy this as much as I do!
Welcome to my world.....

Signing off ~
 The Domestic Diva