Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans

Mix all ingredients in sequence, adding dried cranberries and pecans last.  Pour in greased 9 inch pans.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Frosting:
1 stick of room temperature butter
1 box of cream cheese
Add desired amount of powdered sugar (3-5 cups) and milk (a few splashes) to make it the consistency you're excited about.  I almost always cut the amount of powered sugar with flour by 1 cup...just to make it a little less sweet.

Ogunquit Beach

Ogunquit beach. All to ourselves.  This is the benefit of being a local Mainer.  We get to go to the beaches when everyone else has gone home.  Or when it's a surprise spring day.  And there's nothing like watching your child explore the sand for the first time.

 

Blue Jean Roads for Cars

Do you have a pair of college jeans or pre baby jeans that are hanging out in your closet collecting dust?  Surely you'll fit into them again someday?  Right?  Sigh.

Well in my spring cleaning mode, I decided to part with my dream jeans. They'd actually be useful if I cut them into strips, sewed a yellow dotted line and then used them for roads.  Brilliant, so I thought.  But the thought of taking the scissors to them made me procrastinate.  At goodwilll a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a different pair.  Since I had no emotional attachment to this denim, I cut it right up.  My too small jeans have been saved!  For what, I'm not sure.

I made these to go with some Wonderworld wooden cars.  I cut strips double the width of the cars, plus one inch.  I used a serger to finish the edges.  I hand marked and sewed 1 inch dashes with yellow embroidery floss.  I love that they're movable and you can combine them to make intersections. And they're reversible.  And they roll up for easy storage.  While my little guy is too young for them now, I picture him excited when he'll get the cars and the roads in the future.

Cost:  Would have been free if I parted with my too small jeans.  Instead it was $1.99.

Note:  I'm running another drawing!  Share my blog with someone, let me know, and you'll be put into a drawing to win something homemade by me.

Refinishing a dresser

Have a wooden dresser with good bones, but looks worn?  Try refinishing it as an easy do it yourself project.  Before:

 After:

All it took was a little sandpaper and a palm sander.  First coarse, then fine.  Sanded the whole thing in 2 evenings.  Took the third evening to seal with polyurethane. Add some new knobs and it looks new.  I've also used citrus paint stripper on other projects.  This worked well for a dresser that had many nooks and crannies that a palm sander didn't get to very well. 

Cost:  about $20 for sandpaper and knobs.

Wet bags

An awesome re-use of giftbag ribbon straps?  Re-use them to make a wet bag.  A little matching PUL and you can whip up a wetbag in no time! Wetbags are perfect for soiled cloth or disposable. Or for wet clothes and bathing suits (I'm dreaming about beach days).  They're handy to have in any diaper bag.

Cost: $1.50 for the PUL.  Couldn't resist those monkeys.

Oragami Mobile

I had a wooden quilt hoop that I just couldn't throw away.  It's lived at a few addresses and served it's purpose, but was no longer needed, as I upgraded.  When I was brainstorming how I wanted to make a mobile for my new baby, that quilt hoop came to mind.  And it worked perfect!

1) Cut the inner hoop in half. 

2)  Drill a small hole in all four corners.

3) Drill a hole in the center to insert a screw eye and nut.

4) Cut four longish equal sized pieces of fishing line and tie them to the four corners.

5) Attach whatever you wish to the fishing line.  I did origami boats and crabs.  I found the pattern for boats in a book I had.  I couldn't find an easy crab pattern in the books I had or online,  so I created my own.  I did the basic crane pattern.  For the crane's would be wings, I tucked them inside.  For the crane's would be tail and head, I folded to resemble claws.  And then with little eyes, it's a crab.  I used a needle and thread to loop the pieces on and then secured them with a knot. 

6) Loop some string through the screw eye and hang from the ceiling.

Cost:  $ 0.15  for the screw eye I had to buy.

A Little Spring

It's Spring.  Outside without a snowsuit.  Ahh.