Fashion DIYRainbow Accent Hat

Back in May, I did a segment on Better Kansas City regarding a fashion DIY that included rainbows! I was inspired by Orly Shani's Home and Family segment, totally created my own denim jacket rainbow, but thought about other ways to incorporate a rainbow on other articles of clothing. One of my favorite accessories is a hat! I wear them year round, but a large straw hat for summer is a must! I found this darling hat at Target and decided it needed a little sprucing up and a rainbow is just wanted it needed!

Here's what you need to complete the project. A hat, fabric glue, scissors, and rainbow ribbon. I went with a small pompom trim, but you can use whatever material you feel fits your fancy.

I started at the bottom with purple and worked my way up the hat with the rest of the rainbow colors. Start in the front with a small string of fabric glue and then apply your trim from the middle. You want your ends to meet at the back of the hat. Continue this process all the way around the hat. I finished up half of the hat before moving onto the other side. Again, my ends met at the back and overlapped just a tad.

The glue dries clear, so don't worry about any excess that may peek over the edges. Just smooth down the trim to ensure the glue grabs hold. And remember, the other colors will be layered on top as well.

Isn't it the cutest!!!

I am pool, zoo, farmstead, and any other outdoor activity ready with this darling hat! And I love that it's specific to me! No one else in town will have one, until you make yours! 

What do you think? Will you be making your own rainbow chapaue? What would you apply a rainbow trim to?

XO,

Andrea

Easy Weeknight Dinner

Raise your hand if you find yourself asking every morning what to make for dinner? Keep your hand up if you've just come back from a week long vacation, where every meal was made for you, and you didn't miss making dinner every night? Well, I've raised my hand high and this is exactly where I found myself Monday night! I had created a weekly menu, made my grocery list, purchased all the groceries over the weekend, but when it came to making dinner Monday night, I just didn't really want to. And I think that's because I didn't really know what to have. Yes, I just said I created a weekly menu, but sometimes even then it doesn't sound good. So, I provided a couple of ideas to my husband, and he picked one. (He too didn't really care what we had either. No help!) 

When I'm shopping, I usually pick up a few things along the way that could be made into something down the road, and one of my go-to's these days is smoked sausage. I use them in foil packets on the grill or browned alone and then tossed in pasta. But on Monday, I decided to just wing it and make something of my own creation. I don't normally do that. Like ever! I am a recipe follower kind of cook. But, I had a few ingredients on hand, from one of the items on my menu for the week, and just started cooking!

Here's what you'll need! 

I started by heating some olive oil in a skillet and then added half of a diced white onion.

And then I decided it might need a little garlic, so I finely diced one glove. Add more if you're a fan!

I roughly chopped two large tomatoes and added them to the onion and garlic. If your tomatoes are as juicy as mine, that's going to create your sauce. You can always add a splash of chicken or vegetable stock.

I seasoned along the way, with the addition of each ingredient, with salt and pepper. All that Food Network watching pays off!

The main ingredient for this meal was chili lime smoked sausage. Man, was it full of flavor!! Not super spicy either. Just enough to add a punch of flavor.

Add the sausage to the tomato mixture. What's great about any smoked sausage is that it's already cooked! All your really doing is warming it through. I love having one less step!

While shopping from my food pantry, I found a can of Mexican corn. With the sausage having a chili lime base, I thought that the Mexican corn would be a great addition. It already has a spice base with jalapenos and red peppers. And again, you're just warming the corn through. 

While picking up the corn from the pantry, I found a box of corn bread mix and a box of rice. Dinner came together with all of these extras.

This meal came together in less than 30 minutes! I'm like Rachel Ray over here! Honestly, the things that took the longest were the corn bread muffins and rice, each taking 20 minutes. The main dish took 15 at the most! 

To serve it up, add a base of rice and then spoon over the sausage mixture. Place a couple of muffins on the plate and grab yourself your favorite beer! I just happened to have a Corona available and kept with my Mexican theme. 

And there you have it! A week night meal, that took roughly 30 minutes too make, with ingredients that you probably have on hand! (Seriously, I sound like any Food Network host!) It was enough for two night, I love leftovers, and Joel took it for lunch today! When you can get roughly three days out of one meal, and in essence five meals, that's a recipe to keep on hand! Even if you made it up!

XO,

Andrea

Kids Craft: Baked Clay

I have been all consumed with our trip to Disney World that I haven't had a moment to sit down and try to blog about anything! But before we left, McKinley and I were hard at work on our second kids craft segment for Better Kansas City and this time, we worked with baked clay. I've been wanting to do something fun with this craft clay and I came up with the cutest idea. Even though we are in the throws of summer, the new school year will be here before we know it, and why not spruce up your child's backpack with the cutest backpack charms! And because you're making them, you can tailor them to your personality! That's exactly what we did!

I had so much fun creating charms that I took it to the next level and made lapel pins too! Oh, and with the extras, I decided to make bookmarks. I mean, why not! Seriously though, I had way more fun than McKinley, however he's been sporting his lapel pins on his denim jacket and they are darling!! Want to know more? Keep reading!

Here is what you're going to need. We used polymer clay specifically for baking and I got mine on Amazon. For the charms, we used larger cookie and clay cutters and for the lapel pins and bookmarks, we used mini cookie cutters. You need large key rings, backpack hooks, flat backed pins, an assortment of headpins, E6000 glue, and a Silpat mat. 

Now it's time to get started. Make sure you follow the directions on the clay box. You need to preheat your oven while working with the clay.

You are going to wash your hands before working with the clay, and after each use, so you don't mix colors. Knead the clay until it's malleable.

We originally used a rolling pin to try and roll out the clay, but it picked up all the particles it touched and left it in the clay, so we used our fingers for the rest of the project.

To add the head pin, making sure that your pin has a small loop at the top, measure the length of the item and then snip the pin just a tad shorter than the cutout. 

Place the pin inside the cutout making sure not to go through the sides. The pin will bake inside the charm allowing it to stay in place.

Here's another look at the process. 

 Here is a look at the cutout process. Make sure you don't go all the way through the clay, like you would a cookie, because it sticks to the cutter and doesn't come out easily. You want to go through just enough to leave a deep impression and then use the tools provided with your clay to cut away the excess.

 After you've cut out all the charms or pins you wish to make, you bake them. Again, refer to your clay baking directions because you will need to increase the temp on your oven. Bake accordingly.

Now that your charms and pins are cool, you can put the finishing touches on them. For the charms, add the large key rings to the loop of the headpin and attach the ring to your backpack clip. You can layer them as well! I love the M for McKinley and his favorite dinosaur together!

Finally, hang from any zipper on your backpack!

I added a fish and whale to my DIY rainbow bag!

Now, if you want to make a lapel pin, it's super easy. No need for the headpin for this. All you need is your cutout, pin backing, E6000 glue, and a piece of cardboard to stick your pin in for the drying process.

McKinley is sporting a frog and dino on his denim jacket! 

 Lastly, it's the bookmark! You will need to add your headpin for this one. Follow the process above. I had some left over ribbon that I cut in half down the center to make a thinner piece. I then strung the ribbon through the headpin, tied a small knot, and then added it to my book! It's darling!!!

 There are so many things you can do with baked clay! Homemade ornaments would be so cute for any holiday tree for every season! These would be super cute as key chain charms too! And they all would be fun gifts for family! 

What would you make with your baked clay?

XO,

Andrea