My Awesome Blossom Trail Mix

This is probably the simplest recipe in the world, but I have been eating it every day for the last few months. And I mean everyday.  I love the trail mix from Target, but you just don't get a whole lotta bang for your buck, and I LOOOVE having almonds in mine.  Here's how I make it:

-1 bag of peanut butter chips
-1 bag of special dark chocolate chips
-1 bag of dried cranberries (I usually just buy the 20oz. bag)
-1 can of raisins
-1 can of almonds
-1 can of peanuts

Now put them in a bowl and mix them together (as if you hadn't already guess this was the next step).
And TADA! Best trail mix EVA!

Happy trails to you :)


Speaking of simple recipes, have you seen this recipe of how to make ice cubes?
OMG.  Read the reviews on it.  I was laughing for a half hour!

DIY: Knock-off Anthro Scallop Pillow

So you know those times when you walk into a store and see that one certain thing that no matter how much you try, you just can't get it out of your head?

Well that's what happened to me when I saw this pillow at Anthro:

        

The beading, the scallops, the color, the velvet on the back! So amazing!
The price....not so amazing.  $130.  It's Anthro, what was I expecting?

So I turned away with sad puppy dog eyes.  This pillow would unfortunately never know the love of my home.  Then it hit me, "What am I? Chopped liver? I could totally make this!"

So finally, after what seems like forever, I can share this tutorial with you!

Materials:
-20"x20" muslin fabric
-20"x20" navy blue velvet fabric
-navy blue thread
-gold thread
- gold ric-rac (I used almost 3 packages)
-embroidery floss ( I used Sullivan's colors 45224,45225, 45226,  45049- 4 of each color)
-poly-fil or a pillow form
-washable fabric pen

*A note about the materials:
I chose the ric-rac because there was no way I was going to sew all of the beading on.
Using the embroidery floss definitely took a lot longer, but that's how I got the exact colors I wanted.  If you wanted to go a faster route, I would suggesting finding yarn in your desired colors and using that instead.

1. Once you have your fabric cut, you will need to make a template for the scallop pattern.  Luckily on my cutting board, I found this:

This is what you will need to make the scallop.  Trace this pattern on a piece of paper.  I enlarged mine a bit.

2.  The original pillow had 6 lines per scallop.  Just approximate 6 evenly spaced lines and trace these on here.  You will want to cut where these lines are so you can use it to trace onto the fabric (but don't cut all the way to the ends so it doesn't fall apart).

3. Use your template and washable fabric pen to transfer this pattern onto the fabric.  Trace the pattern in alternating rows (like you're stacking bricks).  Start the first one on the top middle of your fabric.  This will line up the whole pattern for you.

The fabric will look like this when you're done.

4. You can now start sewing on the ric-rac.  Pin it on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th line of each scallop (with the smallest line being the 1st).

 Machine sew these onto the fabric using your gold thread.
Now keep doing this for each scallop pattern.

And eventually it will look like this:

5. Now to add the blue!
Take your embroidery thread and cut 6 long strands (same size) out of your colors.  I just chose a random assortment for each of these (at least one orange strand in each bunch).  Tie them together and tape them to a hard surface.
  

Time to start braiding.  Take your strands and separate them into 3 different sections.  Try not to group same colors together.  Now start braiding.  Keep your braid loose.  It will look better when you put it on the pillow this way.

Be patient.  This takes a while.  Pretty soon you will have a long strand that looks like this.

You will need to use all of your thread to make multiple strands like this.  Vary the colors in each braid.

You can either do all of your braiding first, or do some braiding and then sew a few on the fabric.  I chose to braid some and sew some.

6. Take your braid and plenty of pins and get ready to pin it on the fabric.  Pin your braids on the remaining lines of your scallops in a up and down/zig-zag pattern like so.

When you get to the end of one of your lines, you will still have lots of braid left over.  Knot the braid twice and cut between the knots so your braid doesn't unravel.

7.  Now hand stitch these braids onto the fabric using navy blue thread so it doesn't show.  

Keep braiding, pinning, and stitching.

P.S. I don't recommend sewing them on in a random order.  If you go top to bottom, the ends will be hidden better.

And after a long, long, long time it will look like this:

It's all coasting from here.

*** Don't let these last few steps intimidate you.  There are a million easier ways to do this. You could machine sew the embroidery thread on (I just chose not to because I didn't want the thread to show).  You could not use the zig-zag pattern and just use straight lines.  Try finding multicolored yarn or ribbon in a color you like and use this instead of braiding it. (I decided to go with the embroidery thread because it was cheap and I could get the exact colors I wanted.)

8.  Time to put your pillow together.  You you are still able to see any of your marker lines on the fabric, make sure to wash this out with water.
Get your velvet fabric and pin the muslin and velvet fabric, right sides together.  Machine stitch these together, leaving an opening  big enough for your hand to fit through.  (If you wanted to sew tasselss onto the corners, this is where you would add them.)

9.  Turn your pillow inside out and push the corners out.

10.  Use the polyfil to stuff your pillow and full as you'd like.

11. Tuck the open edges in and stitch your pillow closed.
Congrats! You did it!

The velvet back is one of the best parts!!

And it looks great upside down too!!

If you try to make this, I would love to see your results!
Thanks for reading :)

I'm surviving my first week of fieldwork....and liking it!

That's right.  My second biggest fear of OT school is finally here (the first would be boards).  Although I was so nervous when I started Monday, and probably still will be for a while, this fieldwork is turning out to be AWESOME!

I could go on and on and on about all of the cool things I have seen this week (and to think that this is only the first week!), but I wanted to share my favorite part.

One of the main things OTs focus one with kids are their play skills.  All of those toys you played with as a kid were actually really important in developing all of your motor, cognitive, visual perceptual, and a million other skills. 

Toys for kiddos with special needs are crazy expensive.  Some of the therapists at my site went to a class to learn how to adapt normal off-the-Target-shelf toys.  This week we worked on adapting a power wheels cars so one of our kids who doesn't have the motor control to work the foot pedals or steer the car can drive it.  Dream job? I know.

The therapists went to a program called Go Baby Go to learn how to adapt these cars. This is such an awesome resource for families that don't want to spend tons of money (and they shouldn't have to either) on a toy that their child is going to outgrow in a few years anyway.  They give a detailed tutorials on their website to adapt these cars.  I just thought this was so awesome I couldn't help but share.

And yes, the car we adapted was actually the Mater car like this :)

Scallops and Tassels

I haven't done a DIY post in a while.  I'm currently working on a tutorial now, but in the mean time I thought I would share some of my Christmas projects this year.

I have recently been OBSESSED with scallops and tassels. I couldn't resist when I found the tutorial for this bag.

I made these bags for some of my classmates.  You can find the tutorial I used here.  The tutorial was really well laid out and it showed me an easier way to put in a zipper.

I decided to only put the scallops on one side so I could embroider their names on the other side.  I recommend doing the embroidering before cutting the fabric.

In the tutorial, she uses leather for the scallops, but I used vinyl fabric I found at JoAnn's.  If you're going to try this, make sure to put tape on the bottom of your sewing foot or the vinyl will not feed through evenly.

I decided to add the tassels for a little extra something.  I used my rotary cutter to cut the fringe on the vinyl, rolled the fabric, and used hot glue to secure.  Super easy.

Lastly, I highly recommend spraying the bags with Scotch-Guard fabric and upholstery protector.  It really helps to keep them clean longer.

I don't have pictures of the insides of the bags, but I picked out different fabric for each bag that I thought each of my classmates would really like.  It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for stopping by!