#GirlScouts Cookies... Knee Deep

Raise your hand if you are knee deep in Girl Scouts.... Yep, apparently I am.

Below is my project from last weekend. Cookie costumes for the girls to wear at cookie booths. Four costumes for $15.00  YEP!

I started by searching Pinterest. Surprisingly, I didn't like anything I saw. Either too ugly, too complicated, too simple... Nothing I went, yeah, that's it. So, I took components of some and came up with the other ideas myself. 

I started with some sketches. I knew if I was making one, I was making a bunch as they would be easiest doing all at one time instead of over the course of time. So, I planned for three. A thin mint, thanks-a-lot, and caramel delites!

Supplies needed:

two rolls of 9 feet green satin ribbon

white puffy paint

1.5 yard fusible two sided interfacing- heavy duty

20 inches cream felt (from a bolt)*

20 inches tan felt (from a bolt)*

36 inches of dark brown felt (from a bolt)*

8 inches red felt (from a bolt)*

8 inches of black felt (from a bolt)*

8 inches of white felt (from a bolt)*

brown thread

JoAnn coupons!

*felt was on sale for $2.99/yard

Items not at the store:

pins

sewing machine

iron

towel

scissors- good fabric scissors

hot glue

rando piece of cardboard

My cart. I was dropping bolts everywhere!

One of the things I dislike most on the costumes on Pinterest were the size or structure. They were either too big- who the hell wants to store that. Or too flimsy- oh look, that little girl is wearing a poop costume. Yuck. I decided that 16 inch diameter circles with a backing and ribbons to hang around necks (like a giant necklace) would be easy, not too big to store, and hold their structure while the girls wear them and still sling cookie boxes.

My patterns below. Patterns needed:

16 inch diameter circle

18 inch diameter circle

eyes

pupils/thanks-a-lot circles

lips

Nothing special. Just hand drawn pieces. Eyelashes* were a must.

*Note if using fusible webbing. Make sure you fuse right sides of eyelashes. They are the only pieces not symmetrical so it matters which side you use the fusible on. You need a pair of lashes not all the same way.

Once the patterns were made I started cutting felt. The 16 inch circles are for the backs and the interfacing. The 18 inch circles are for the fronts. The faces are self explanatory. I cut an extra 16 inch dark circle for the front of the caramel delites to made the squiggles. Also, I used 14 pupil circles for the circles for the Thanks-a-Lot. I cut everything I needed. I ended up having enough felt for a fourth cookie. Welcome, Mrs. Peanut Butter Patties!

*specific parts for each cookie listed at bottom of post.

Here's where I took a left turn. I had so much interfacing left that I decided to abort my original plan to sew on all the felt pieces and used the interfacing instead. Had this been my original plan, I would have bought the applique type of interfacing for this. All I had was the heavy-duty. It worked fine but it is thick. Seeing a bit of the white under the face pieces wasn't enough for me to make another run to the store! 

 So, I used the interfacing to get all the faces onto the 18 inch circles. I ironed the pieces onto the fusible then cut them out. 

Next, I moved onto the ribbons. Everything I saw on Pinterest had cut out felt letters. Who has time for that? #threekidproblems I opted for puffy paint. I cut the ribbons with two inches on each side when I like where they were placed. I like uniformity, so all the ribbons went in the same place on each cookie. That's how I roll! Then I wrote the cookies' names on each ribbon in the puffy paint. I free handed it with different fonts for each cookie type.  Then I let the ribbons dry over night.

As they dried, I put the cookies together. I made sandwiches. The 18 inch circle was the face, interfacing centered inside face and then 16 inch felt on back. The finishing is coming. I promise.

Day Two- After the puffy paint is dry!

I used hot glue to adhere the ribbons onto the fronts. I glued in a zig zag hoping it be harder for the girls to pick at. I scrounged up a piece of cardboard for the fourth unplanned Peanut Butter Patty. It would totally work with just cardboard on the inside and not the fusible webbing but I doubt they would last many years...

Next came sewing them together. Using a technique for sewing a circles including notching every twoish inches out a triangle of fabric, I sewed the two inch lip that is left from the 18 inch circle around to the back. Felt doesn't fray so you don't have to worry about hemming. I did hem the ribbon ends and then tuck up under the felt on the back side. I like using the dark brown thread. Even on the lighter cookies. The accent color didn't bother me and I HATE replacing the bobbin thread! (The cardboard cookie got hot glued.. it won't last long but looks good for now!)

Last step is the shoulder straps (ribbon). I simply took the ribbon I had left and cut into 8 same size pieces. I used a lighter to quickly melt the ends to help stop them from fraying. If any piece of the costume is going to fail, it will be these ribbons. They may fall off if a girl snags the cookie or is rough on it. Or the ends may fray or get dirty looking. Knowing this, I purposely put them on last as they would be really easy to seam rip off and replace. I just put them at about 10:00 and 2:00 on the back of the cookie facing straight up (parallel). I sewed through them following the seam I just used to close the cookie but I left about 3 inches out in the direction towards the center of the cookies. I hot glued these pieces down to give a bit more support. 

That was it. The girls will just tie them around their necks and be done!

My favorite Girl Scout!

*Specific parts for each cookie listed below:

Caramel Delites:

1 tan 18 inch diameter felt circle

1 tan 16 inch diameter felt circle

1 dark brown 16 inch diameter felt circle

1 16 inch circle double sided fusible stabilizer

5 feet green ribbon

1 mouth

two eyes

two eyelashes

two pupils

fusible webbing for all felt parts

Thin Mint:

1 dark brown 18 inch diameter felt circle

1 dark brown 16 inch diameter felt circle

1 16 inch circle double sided fusible stabilizer

5 feet green ribbon

1 mouth

two eyes

two eyelashes

two pupils

fusible webbing for all felt parts

Thank-a-Lot:

1 cream 18 inch diameter felt circle

1 cream 16 inch diameter felt circle

1 16 inch circle double sided fusible stabilizer

5 feet green ribbon

1 mouth

two eyes

two eyelashes

two pupils

14 tan pupil size circles

fusible webbing for all felt parts

Peanut Butter Patties:

1 dark brown 18 inch diameter felt circle

1 tan 16 inch diameter felt circle (I ran out of dark brown. It's only for the back. No one will notice!)

1 10x10 inch piece of tan for bite of peanutbutter

1 16 inch circle double sided fusible stabilizer 

(or 16 inch cardboard circle!)

5 feet green ribbon

1 mouth

two eyes

two eyelashes

two pupils

fusible webbing for all felt parts

Happy cookie slinging!

See more mommy sewing projects:

Thanks Santa- Baby Alive Diapers here!

Homemade Moby Wraps

As I am sure most moms figure out, you do things much differently with the second baby than the first. One of those things I did differently was baby-wearing. Mostly because I had to have my hands free to help the toddler and when the second one comes around, you can't hold the baby for 23 hours a day (daddy usually wants a little time) and just nap and nurse on the couch. Between Coletyn's size (hurt to hold) and reflux, baby-wearing helped greatly. One thing I do regret however was buying a wrap at full price. I purchased a SleepyWrap (now called Boba). Some may have heard of the Moby wrap. These are all the same wrap with the same concept. One really long piece of fabric that you wrap in a specific pattern around your body and then plunk the baby in.

I miss those baby days. I wish I remembered more!

At the zoo, again. Cole, 3 months old.

I wish I would have had this for Cecelia. I bet I would have saved my back a bit. I still feel lopsided from only being able to hold her in my left arm!! So, this is one of those things that I think my new mommy friends need- even if they don't know they need it. But they are outrageously expensive. In walks Pinterest. Via Pinterest, I found this DIY Moby Wrap pattern. My fabric choices were not plentiful but I found some appropriate fabric with the 5% spandex recommended. This is important to give a bit of stretch but not too much! The great part of the pattern is it makes two wraps automatically. Thankfully, I have two friends expecting. I sewed a little ribbon to the centers (you need a center mark to know how to wrap it!). Side note, the ribbon is from my ribbon box which I used to make all of the garters for our high school dances and my wedding garter. I hoard all art supplies. You never know!

I skipped the hem the sides part because I didn't have the time and the fabric won't fray. I didn't have perfect cutting lines but it will be fine. I then had to figure out what to put them in since my wrap had a nice little bag I could keep it stowed in. Then it dawned on me.. those little sheet bags that Cecelia's sheet sets came in that just take up room in the linen closet, bam!!

In the end, I like this one better than mine. I think the fabric is cooler and won't be so bulky. We will have to wait for winter for those babies to come and test them out. So, are you baby-wearing? 

Mason Jar, Oh Mason Jar

So today, August 17, 2013 is National Can it Forward Day. I won't be canning today (I will be drying 12 cups of diced green onions though. So don't worry. I am not slacking!) but I thought I would blog about a similar topic. My beloved Mason Jars!!!

I never thought I would find so many uses for my Mason jars. Most avid readers know I've been canning since we owned a home. I inherited my dad's canning pot and family has hand-me-downed many jars. I've had to purchase cases of jars as well to keep up with my canning volume. I love doing it and feel great about knowing what is in my food. There is a downside however. We have jars coming out of our yin yang year round. If I only had a completely empty cabinet in my kitchen to store empty jars! Yeah, right. So, for years we've been tripping over jars. Occasionally, as a dozen jars piled up next to the drying rack, I'd coerce Jason to finally take them to the basement canning shelves. Then there were the rings and plastic lids, oy! Those resided in a messed up pile that fell out of a cabinet every time I opened it. I knew I had to use/look at jars differently. So, I began using them for more than just canning. Makes sense, right?

Here's a list of uses, up-to-date:

1. Canning/preserving, of course
2. Storing salads to take to work- thank you pinterest!! You put the dressing on the bottom of jar, veggies that won't get gross sitting in dressing next, toppings, cheese, then lettuce on top. Then when you are ready to eat lunch, you dump out jar onto a plate. So, what happens? Now, your dressing is on the top! This would allow me to make 5 salads on Sundays! Nice!!
3. Drinkware
4. Storage- have you ever stored left over food in a mason jar? They fit so nicely in the refrigerator. I recommend only using the wide mouth jars for this as it is easier to get food into the jar (and out again!) For food storage that isn't preserved, I use the plastic screw top lids!
5. Giving made food away. I make lots of yummy dishes here and there and give it away, mostly to my mom but sometimes friends and such. The jars make transportation much easier and I only have about a million of them so why not. I wouldn't want to be missing my favorite pyrex storage container for months until the borrower finally remembered to return it. Also, how many people actually have mason jars in their house? Not as many as you would think. If you are one of those people and you keep seeing this jar in your kitchen, you are probably going to remember to get it back to me!! I have a rule of thumb... if you return my jar, you will get tasty treats again!! No jar return, "no food for you!"- pun on Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, did you catch it?!!
6. Mixing bowls- anytime I need to mix a bunch of liquids for a marinade, vinaigrette, etc, I use a Mason jar. Why? Two primary reasons. 1. I have the plastic screw lids, so I can shake to mix instead of trying to mix with fork/wisk. 2. Have you ever looked at the side of a Mason jar? There are measurement markings for cups and pints. By nature, I am a chef who always estimates. This helps with accuracy of my estimates!
7. Bubble jar for the kids. Their wands fit perfectly.
8. Baking- a few Thanksgivings ago... they were delicious!
9. Gifts- a few Christmases ago, I made those "cookie mix in a jar" gifts. You know the holiday gesture gifts for colleagues and friends, etc. It was great. $9 for a dozen jars ( I think I did 12?) and $10 for flour, sugar, choc. chips, brown sugar and I had 12 gifts. Of course, there was a cute label (wish I had a picture) that said, "Cookies for Santa, All our love, The Eitings." You're welcome, if you received one!!
10. Shaking homemade lemonade- don't forget the measurement on the side of the jar. No one will know if you are measuring lemon juice or cherry vodka... wait, what? Vodka in cherry Pepsi!! Said who? Shhhh!
Please leave a comment if you've seen me use them in a way I forgot to list!

After looking at how I use the jars differently I realized that they kind of define who I am. My mascot, if you will! They don't define me in my entirety but if you know me I am sure canning, freezing, jamming, saucing, comes to mind. Since we now use jars on a daily basis I put out an APB on anyone in the family with blue jars that they weren't using and I found 4 down the road at a yard sale with the original style lids for $10. My canisters on my counter were getting very old and the seals weren't working any more. Not to mention, I hated looking at them. So, I replaced my old silver canister set with some blue Ball jars. I think they fit very nicely in MY kitchen!

My jars! What's in my jars... dried cherries, coconut, raw sugar, corn starch, quinoa.

This year is also the 100 year anniversary of Ball so they have put out anniversary pint size blue jars. I treated myself to a 6 pack to use as drinkware!

I wonder how I'll use them tomorrow!!

A few Ball/Mason links I like!! Happy National Can it Forward Day 2013!

Ball's Pinterest
Ball Recipe Facebook
My Canning Bible- I think my dad bought it for me! I have the edition with the blue cover though!
My "Canning" Pinterest Board
Our Family Almanac of Preserving/Growing/Storing!- this won't fully be up-to-date until I do an inventory of the freezer after the garden is complete!!

Second row.. sliced almonds, wheat germ, pine nuts, dried parsley and whole almonds.