North Shore Turtle Bay

Here are a few pics I took on our little trip up to North Shore a few weeks ago. Even though it's only an hour's drive from the North coast to the South coast, it felt nice to get out of the city for the day. It was a much calmer atmosphere up there than in Waikiki and the drive alone was totally worth the trip. So beautiful. And, we found three more place we'd like to visit soon :)

We had lunch at a really yummy place, but I couldn't convince the fam that we needed to try the Octopus appetizer! Party poopers. Next time, we are doing it!

Perfect Pattern Parcel: Jorna Dress

This is the first time I've bought one of these pattern parcels. It's a name your own price thing, but I really wanted the bonus pattern so I went ahead and paid the $28.50 to get all six patterns, of which there's only one that I probably won't use. Still not a bad price for five patterns! After waiting a week to actually print one (because the printer I've been hoping would die finally did and I ordered a new one), I got started on the Jorna Dress first.

I had a knit that I picked up a huge chunk of in the remnant section of my fabric store here that was perfect for this.

 I was very leery of this pattern while cutting, I'm not gonna lie. The pattern piece is the same for the front and back and I don't know about you, but I don't have a bust on my back, ha! So I was pleasantly surprised at how this funny looking pattern piece came together into a super cute and really comfortable dress!!

I love how the hem comes up on the sides creating a shirt tail effect. I made the "jumper" length. The dress length would have been too long for me, but I do think next time I'll add a little length to this version.

I lowered the neckline and I skipped the facings and did a regular bound neckline and arm holes with strips of my fabric. I also added the tie belt. I think if I make this again and do not intend to include a tie belt, I'll add a center back seam so I can contour it to the curve of my back.

Can't wait to make some more of these patterns!

doll hair makeovers

I got Natalie's 18" doll a couple years ago for her birthday. She LOVES this doll. It matters not that she's not an American Girl Doll. She is the Target brand, but I got her at Tuesday Morning, a discount/overstock kind of store, for $15.

I really love all the great doll stuff at Target! The brand is awesome, they have cheap shoes and accessories and even the big stuff for the dolls is affordable. Except ... the hair. Such a bummer because the dolls are so pretty and it's really unfortunate that they have the worst hair out there. It was time to remedy that. We had tried the fabric softener, we tried a trim, nothing helped. So I finally got online (right before we moved) and ordered her a new wig. I knew when I bought the doll that if her hair went to pot, I could replace the wig. I read up before buying anything. The wig came the day before we moved so I had in my suitcase for two months!

I ordered this wig from Ruby Red Galleria for $30. That included shipping, so I still only have $45 into this doll, which is still less the HALF the cost of an American Girl doll!

We went to work. Here's Victoria's before hair: (Natalie got her all ready on her salon chair with the beauty apron I'm made her for Christmas :)

 Here are the before and after hairs, side by side:

And here she is with her new wig!

 She looks AMAZING! I couldn't stop looking at her, haha! The difference in how this wig feels compared to her original hair is profound. Even new, her hair never felt or looked this pretty and I can tell this is the quality hair that will stay pretty. Natalie's already played with it tons and it still looks perfect.

If you're wondering about the process, it was pretty simple. The original doll hair was plugged, so I just cut the hair off as close as possible. Natalie couldn't look, lol. For glue, I just bought permanent fabric glue. People suggest anywhere from Elmer's to Super glue. I took the middle road and bought the fabric glue (Tacky glue brand, I think) and it's holding beautifully. I knew that super glue would be really hard to get off if we need to ever do this again or if I made a mistake so I started with something less *super*, knowing I could always go up to that if this didn't hold.

I know there are other places to buy the wigs too, but I know for sure that I can recommend this site!

For the record, I bought Layla's doll at the thrift store in perfect condition. She's the Toy's R Us brand and after I gave her a fabric softener/curlers makeover when I first got her, her hair was super soft and pretty and still is.
Here are some pics I took of that process:

Before:

 I soaked her hair in a bowl with 1 part fabric softener and 2 parts water. Then rinsed and combed each section with a little brush with thin plastic bristles.

 Then I used foam curlers and left her to dry overnight.

Ack, I can't find an after picture! But this was taken last Christmas in her new coat I'd made her :)

Still pretty! Still easy to brush through too, which was not the case with Victoria's hair.

So there ya go, if you're still deciding which brand to buy! I think the new prices for either brand are similar, around $40.

yes, deer

I was able to sweep aside the Lego Mixels and snag a few minutes on the computer. Maybe I should have a computer time schedule posted or something. And everyone would have to sign up for time slots. As if I'm good at sticking to schedules, haaahahahaha!

I was also able to snag some sewing time yesterday!  I ordered two fabrics from GirlCharlee.com and they arrived in just a few days! To Hawaii! I've used a Girl Charlee exclusive knit before and that top is showing zero signs of wear, even though I wear it pretty often. When I spotted this deer print knit, I just couldn't resist. I could use a little whimsy in my closet ;) I bought three yards and I only used about half for this dress:

 This is a mash-up of The Lady Skater pattern and New Look 6210, which I made just recently. I just like the top of that pattern a lot (you know how I love a racerback!) and this time I really perfected the fit by adding darts at the arm holes, which you can see in the next pic, along with a close up of the cute deer print :)

 Now that I've perfected this pattern on me, I will be making this over and over, I think! I could mix it up and use a gathered skirt or embellish the bodice, maybe. These kind of dresses are my thing in the Summer!

Yes, my views are this pretty from all three of my lanais, one of my favorite reasons we took this house! and no, my legs are not quite as abnormally tan as this picture portrays, ha!

I think I'll make a cute sleep set (I have this Gertie pattern I'm wanting to try) with the rest of the fabric and I'll probably still have enough to make Layla something cute. Although, this is more Natalie's color. But, that's okay because Girl Charlee also has this cute horse print and Layla loves horses.

Maybe it's time to place another order.

I've linked this post up at Simple Simon and Company. Pretty fun seeing others' creations, so I decided to share my own this time :) Welcome, if that's how you found me!

making progress

I mentioned that we got a new couch and that I am now known as "The Couch Nazi" and some of you asked to see it, so here she is!

 Isn't is PRETTY!!?? In the past, we've had some vintage sofas. One was $10 and one was $20. They worked in our 1969 Colorado home. They weren't working anymore. They both were badly in need of repairs and reupholstery and I didn't have the time or desire to take on the skill set. And professional reupholstery is super pricey (for a reason!) so we decided to say goodbye to those sofas and buy one we loved.

This room is not quite done, but it's lookin' pretty good! I'm going to hang the yellow curtains from our Colorado house and paint that TV stand (thrift store find in Virginia) a deep teal color. The rolling cart makes a perfect coffee table. It's more orange than it looks in the photo. We found that at Target, along with the awesome basket underneath, which holds quilts and was on clearance for $12! I would also like to recover the throw pillows that came with the couch, I just haven't found a fabric that sings to me yet.

 That rolling cart was so awesome, that we went back and grabbed the teal one (I dunno why it's so Crayola blue in the pic) to help with the Lego situation. Casey (who's a genius, obviously) put the top on upside down so their Legos don't fall off the side. Smart!! We have three huge bins of Legos (the under-bed size), plus several small bins to hold bigger sets that they want to keep separate. We don't allow Legos in the bedrooms (huge mess) and they really like to build in the main rooms anyway, where the rest of the fam is. In our Virginia house, we started calling the living room, "the Lego room" because they were just eeeeeverywhere! This cart is really helping a lot. It can roll behind the couch by the window or even into the hall closet, which we call the Harry Potter closet because it goes all the way under the stairs. That closet is where the big Lego bins live also. and I still have a living room and coffee table, hooray!

What are your creative Lego solutions??

I sewed!

A few evenings ago, I ditched all the other move-in work to be done and determined to get my sewing room in order. Because Casey was playing Super Mario with the kids (quality time, don't tell me it isn't!) and I knew I could have some time up there alone. Casey was insistent when we accepted this house and got the floor plan that the girls would share a room so that I could have a sewing room. I'm so glad we went that route! The girls have a huge bedroom, more than enough space to share and I have a place to spread out and sew, hooray!

I opened my machine and realized it was broken :-/ But, don't worry! It was only the thread holder bracket that broke and I promptly found one online and ordered it, paying a little extra for faster shipping, because this is Hawaii and mail can be super slow.

But, I couldn't wait. I needed some sewing therapy and I had some beautiful knits my friend Jenn had iPhone shopped with me for before we moved. I rigged my machine with some elastic headbands to hold the thread holder on. I cut this dress out and sewed it up in short spurts over the next few days. It felt so good to make something!!!!

It's New Look 6210 and I will definitely be using it again.

 Just for grins, here's a photo of my rigged machine. So glad the damage wasn't worse, despite the movers using no packing materials inside it's case!!! Grrrrr. And this is why it got a front seat spot in our last move ;) Oh, it's also funny enough to tell you that all the sewing boxes in this move were labeled, "kniting materials". Not knitting. Kniting. Ha!

I'm baaaaack

Ah, sweet normalcy. We moved into our house on Wednesday and things are slowly returning to real life. We have a lot of stuff, though, goodness! Nothing shows you how much of your stuff you'd never miss like going without it all for a couple months. We have purged SO much over the last two moves and I really felt like we'd kept so little, so I find myself surprised at how much we are still putting into the Goodwill pile!

We bought a new couch! It's super pretty. My family might start calling me the Couch Nazi soon because I might be a little over protective of it. It's so new! And I've never had a grownup couch before!

Anyway, I'll blog more about house stuff as the days and weeks go by. I have some good ideas to share about renting/living in military housing! Ideas to make it your own :)

For now, I have a recipe to share! My kids were very excited when I suggested pancakes for dinner last night. When we went Paleo/gluten free about a year ago, I tried soooo many Paleo pancake recipes and most of them flopped. They just weren't tasty, unless you think sawdust is tasty, hahahaha! But, then I stumbled on this one and it is goooood. It uses coconut flour, which is cheaper than almond flour and is filling and healthy. Avoid that blood sugar crash you get from the other stuff ;) Casey is always sruprised when I tell him these are not "regular" pancakes, even though I've made them tons of times by now. It's too good not to share. FYI, I triple the recipe to feed our family of five and have leftovers for breakfast the next day. It takes a lot of eggs, but they do not have that eggy texture that some other recipes do.

Here ya go, in case you missed it, Coconut Flour Pancakes, from Divalicious Recipes in the City.

Here in Hawaii, fruit and pancakes go together like white on rice, so we had our pancakes with fruit toppings last night. Next time, I'll have a can of coconut milk in the fridge to make cream!

 We are thoroughly enjoying our return to home cooked meals, let me tell ya. This is a site for sore eyes!

 I'm looking forward to trying this Paleo Macademia Nut Waffle recipe soon! You can't go wrong with one of Danielle's recipes, seriously. I don't have a waffle iron so mine will be in pancake form, hopefully that works. It includes a fruit syrup recipe too, so that will be amazing!

Speaking of amazing, while staying in Waikiki, we walked to dinner every night and one of our favorite places to get breakfast for dinner was Eggs 'N Things. When you have a gluten free kid, breakfast menus are full of options! Natalie tried some really yummy omelet combos. It was nice to have at least one place where she felt she had lots of choices, even if she couldn't have pancakes, ya know? Anyway, Eggs 'N Things has some specialty syrups--guava and coconut and ooooohhhhhh my, the coconut syrup is amaaaaaaazing. Not healthy, at all, ha! But, seriously, amazing. I begged Casey to choose that one for his pancakes every time so I could steal a bite or two ;) You can order that online through that link, btw.

In other news, when we moved in, my Mother's Day flowers got upgraded from their plastic water bottle to a real vase :) Still so pretty!

Cheers!

Flora

We took a walk today and I brought my camera to use my macro lens for what it was actually made for, for a change ;)  We have a little booklet on Hawaiian flowers, so I thought it would be fun for the kids to find these flowers and identify them in there. Also, I think I'll get some of these enlarged and frame them for artwork in our house!

Enjoy!