DIY Bold Striped Curtains

I'm so excited to have my friend Suzy here today filling us in on how to make some very classic rugby striped curtains.  The idea comes from Blooming Homestead.

They look like they're straight out of a Pottery Barn Magazine! Love them!

If you're a new visitor to I Dig Pinterest today-welcome!  I'd love for you to follow me via the social media links on the top right sidebar!

Take it away, Suzy!

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I'm one of those people who feels like if I spent the time I do on Pinterest actually trying the ideas I pin, I'd have one cute place! So I decided to make this pin a reality for my own home.

I knew I wanted bold striped curtains but I couldn't find any that I liked online or in stores. It took some measuring and time (and a little forgiveness from my husband for some choice words that I may have used while working on this) but I'm really happy with the results and would do it again for the impact it made on my front room.

The finished product: not too shabby as long as you don't look close.  :)

{Here is what you'll need:}

• Two curtain panels that you like. I got mine from Lowe's, they are off white and have a velvety feel. Who knew Lowe's sold decent curtain panels?
• 2 1/2 to 3 yards of fabric for the stripes...if you are using 84 inch panels, more if they are longer (you will have some left, but I always go with the safe side so I don't have to go buy more).
• 2 spools of ribbon that match your material. I got grosgrain ribbon, and I like the look.
• Thread to match the color of your fabric stripes
• Cutting board, rotary cutter, sewing machine, pins and glue gun......but that should go without saying ;)

I started by measuring my curtain panel. I decided I wanted my stripes to be 8 inches wide since I liked the way several stripes looked. I drew my panels and noted their measurements (84 inches long) on a piece of paper. I knew I wanted white at the very bottom so I arranged accordingly. I ended up deciding that I could do 8 inches of white on top, then sew my stripe and continue down the panel with each space 8 inches.  This allowed me to end up with white on the bottom.

I measured the length of my curtain panel to make sure the stripes would run all the way across. I cut the material accordingly, allowing a 1/4" seam.

I then pressed and sewed all my stripes.

I measured 8 inches down from the top of my curtain panel on both sides and marked it with a pencil, grabbed a strip and pinned like crazy. Pins are definitely your friends with this project........trust me. It took some major stitch picking before I realized this! 

Continue to measure and mark with a pencil AFTER each stripe is sewn. This way if your stripe didn't get sewn on exactly as planned, you can still space them evenly.

Some of my edges didn't quite end up going the full length of the curtain, or went over too much. I'm never sure how that happens, but this is where your ribbon and glue gun comes in. I cut pieces of ribbon and simply glued them over the material that didn't quite meet the edge of the curtain panel. If my material stripe was too long, I just trimmed it and glued ribbon on top to cover the ugly cutting that tends to happen when cutting at weird angles.

                                        

The edge looks pretty and finished and everyone will think you measured and sewed perfectly. ;)

Good Luck!

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They turned out amazing, Suzy, and contribute so much to the look of the room!

Thanks for sharing your talents with us today!

Linked up at http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/

"Professional" Homemade Pizza

I just have to say that my mom makes the best pizza ever.  So when all of my siblings and I were visiting there for my brother's wedding a few months back, we of course unanimously requested it, and she kindly consented.  But we're large in number and she knows how crazy we are about her pizza, so she was probably afraid to tell us no. :)

I use the same method to make pizza at my house, but there's just something extra special about mom's home cooking.

It looks like we could have ordered it straight from the California Pizza Kitchen!  And its taste is unmatched by any other homemade pizza that I've ever consumed.  The recipe actually comes from a man who my aunt knew, that owned his own restaurant.

My mom's always turns out nicely round and very colorfully adorned with toppings.  She bakes it on a stone so it cooks perfectly even and turns a pretty golden brown color, too.  She's got serious skills.

If pizza-making is a form of art to you, too, I'll explain how to make it look like the picture above, but don't worry if yours is not perfect.  It will still taste every bit as good. :)  The learning curve is very fast for this sort of thing, though, it just takes a little practice.



{PROFESSIONAL HOMEMADE PIZZA}
Yield: Makes 1 large pizza with a little dough leftover

Crust:

Cornmeal (for sprinkling the pizza stones)
1 c. milk (may use powdered milk), warmed
3 T. granulated white sugar
1/3 c. warm water
1 T. yeast
 2 1/2 - 3 c. flour
garlic salt
olive oil
Your favorite pizza sauce (homemade or store-bought).  Most of the time, we just use Ragu from the jar.
Lots of cheese! (we use Mozzarella)


If your stone isn't  "seasoned" or worn in well enough, sprinkle some cornmeal on it to ensure that the dough won't stick.

Proof your yeast in the water (let it get frothy).  In a microwave-safe bowl, warm milk 45 seconds, then add sugar and stir 'til dissolved.  Add yeast mixture and stir.

Next, add 2 c. flour and stir.  Add another 1/2 c. flour and stir as best as you can, then start kneading by hand.  The finished dough should still be slightly sticky, but if it's too sticky after 2 1/2 c. flour, add a little more (but no more than 3 c. total).

Let dough rest in bowl for about 10 minutes to raise.

Generously flour your counter top.  Roll dough out in a circle.  You don't want the dough to be too thin, but you'll want it to overlap just a little over the edge of the pizza stone.  As you roll it out, grab your stone and hold it above your dough to check sizing.  If the edges are uneven, grab a butter knife and trim them a little so it's more round before folding the edges over.

Carefully transfer it onto your stone.  Fold the dough over onto itself all around the edge of the stone and press to form the outer crust.


Brush olive oil over all the dough, including the edges.  Sprinkle garlic salt over all (not too generously or it will be too salty), even the edges. Then spread 1/2 jar of pizza sauce.  Sprinkle cheese on after spreading sauce.

Add toppings.  We like to add ham, sliced onions, pineapple, chopped olives, green peppers, and sometimes mushrooms.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes,  or until pizza is a nice brown color like above.  If you have two pizzas in one oven, switch them on the racks after about 12 minutes, then set for another 8 minutes, for even baking.

{TIPS:}

*If you want to have a stuffed crust, cut 1/2" (or a little thinner if you prefer) strips of cheese.  Leave a 1/2" overlap on the dough past your stone.  Set cheese on edge of stone, fold dough over and press down.

*Make pretty green pepper slices by first washing the whole pepper, slicing it (without cleaning out the insides first), and then removing the inside parts.  If adding diced tomatoes, de-seed first, so the juices won't make the pizza soggy.

*If making a plain cheese pizza, wait 'til the last 5 minutes of baking time to add the cheese, or it will harden.

***For best results, make dough by hand and don't double the recipe.

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I hope your family enjoys this mouthwatering home made pizza as much as mine does!

Linked up at http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/

DIY Road Trip Pillowcase

The summer traveling season is almost upon us...the time when we get to visit friends and relatives and not worry about the kids having to miss school for it.

My kids always look forward to seeing their grandparents from both sides and getting lots of swimming, swinging, and just general play-time in.

But they do not look forward to the long drive it takes to get to grandma's house.  The amazing portable dvd player makes traveling SO much easier, but I decided after last year's trip that they needed a little something more to keep them occupied.  8+ hours is a very long time (even for adults, but especially for little ones)!

So I made the Road Trip Pillowcase.  I found the cute idea at Amazing Mae.

I took my daughter to the fabric store and let her choose the fabric.  She has great taste. :)  I love how summer-y the colors and patterns are.

Before hitting the road, we stuff the pocket with snacks, coloring and other books, crayons, small stuffed animals, mini games, and the tablet.  And when they're tired, they can lean it up against the window and take a snooze.  What more could a child need?  :)

They are super simple to make!  We all know that my sewing skills are very limited, after all.

{MATERIALS}

1 yard of fabric (42" wide)

22 inches of cotton webbing (this is the stuff used for the strap)

2 - 16x12 pieces of fabric for the pocket

3" piece of Velro

42" of rick rack or ribbon

1 piece of craft felt (for the initial on front)

Wonder Under (you won't need this if you attach the initial my way as stated below)

Template for initial (you can make it in a Word document)

Matching Thread

Find a very thorough set of directions, with illustrations HERE.  I honestly can't explain it any better.  I followed them to a T.

The only part that I did differently was for the initial.  I cut out a big letter on plain paper with my Silhouette.  Then I traced it onto felt and cut it out.  Looking back, I probably could have just cut the felt letter out on my Silhouette and skipped the paper step.  Oh well.

If you don't have a Silhouette, you can just print a big letter from a Word Document and cut it out by hand.  It's not too difficult at all.

Next, I centered the letter on the pocket, pinned it in place, then did a small zig-zag stitch around the very outer edge.

Isn't it so fun?

Now I need to get busy making one for my son before we travel.

How do you keep your kids occupied for long road trips?

Linked up at http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/

Neiman Marcus Brownies

I can't believe school's almost out!

With the kids home all day beginning next week, I'm just waiting to see how long it takes them to say, "I'm bored!"

One of my kids' favorite things to do is to help me bake, so I've got these Chess Squares or Neiman Marcus Brownies on the list of "things to do when all else fails."  :)  It never takes long, when the kids see me sorting through recipes and pulling out the flour, before they're up on the counter ready to measure and stir.  It's usually a fun experience, but if the recipe has more than a few ingredients, suddenly I start hearing, "It's my turn to pour!", or "She scooped the last one"!

So, with only 5 ingredients, these bars are a perfect kid-helping (and kid-eating) kind of dessert.

 They're flaky, buttery, gooey, and divinely sweet, but not lemony.  With a cream cheese top layer and a yellow cake layer for the crust, these bars are simply irresistible!

Their fabulous yellow color gives them the look of a bright, happy summer's day.  Serve them with a few scoops of cool, refreshing icecream, or pack a plateful and go have some fun in the sun!

{CHESS SQUARES/
NEIMAN MARCUS BROWNIES}

Originally from Kevin and Amanda

1 box yellow cake mix

3 eggs

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

4 cups (1 lb.) powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray.  Mix cake mix, butter, and one egg to form a soft dough.  Press into the bottom of the pan.   Mix powdered sugar, softened cream cheese and remaining two eggs until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  Pour on top of crust.  Bake at 300 for 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown. 

What are your summer plans?

Linked up at http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/

Simple Family Photo Displays

I absolutely love to decorate my house with family photos.  I  want my home to be a reflection of what I stand for and love, and that is definitely my family. :)

Photos of loved ones always add a personal, sweet touch to the home too.  

So today I want to show some very simple ways that we display ours around the house.

 This is our mantel in our living area where I always hang our large family picture, that we get printed and mounted at Nations Photo Lab, front and center.   We've had comments from guests that the photo looks back-lit because the colors are so vibrant and bright!  It almost glows, lol.

I found the "Families are Forever" piece at Deseret Book quite a while ago.  I like symmetry and simplicity in decor, so I placed one dried greenery-filled vase on each side of the framed photo.  I bought the vases and the greenery at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off and put them together.

We have a big wall right in our entry way where I get to display/show off oodles of cute pictures of my kiddos.  The 8x8 square frames are from Hobby Lobby.  I found them in a clearance section, though, so they may not still be available.  Square frames are really hard to find!  But I learned this week that Nations Photo Lab will print, frame and ship photos to you, and they are available in square!

The focal point is the gorgeous gallery-wrapped canvas of my sweet kids, that I made through Nations Photo Lab.  It's so eye-catching and brings a huge pop of color to the area.  I love it!  Eventually I want to fill the entire wall space with canvases, because I'm hooked now!

For our family name sign, I bought an unpainted wood plaque at Hobby Lobby, sanded and painted it, then cut out the lettering on my Silhouette.

What do you think?

Do you love to display family photos around your home?

Nations Photo Lab $200 Giveaway and $50 Coupon Code for New Customers!!

Sorry!  This giveaway is closed.

Technically, this is a sponsored post, but truthfully, I contacted Nations Photo Lab because my family has been their happy customers for five years and I wanted to share their awesomeness with you, my valued readers!

We discovered Nations Photo Lab about 5 years back while searching online for a company that would print and mount large photos.  We had previously made the mistake of printing our family pictures at a store photo center and then mod-podging them onto cardboard before framing them.  You can guess how that turned out...a bubbly, ugly mess!  So we were ecstatic when we happened upon this gem of a company.

Take a look at this beauty!  It turned out perfect, as always.

It helps that we had a great photographer, Mark Bastian, but Nations Photo Lab came through again for us.

We like to print our 16x20 family photo on lustre paper with no color correction (since it's professional quality and has already been corrected), and then have it mounted on white foamcore.  This time we upgraded a little and mounted it on black gatorboard as shown below.  

                                    

Often, if you go through your photographer, they will charge you at least a hundred dollars for large mounted prints, but with Nations Photo Lab, a mounted 16x20 print (the size we order) starts at just $30.  And, if you spend $50 or more, you get free shipping (on most orders)!

They print photos in pretty much any size you could possibly want from your basic wallet to squares, all the way up to a rectangular 30x45.  They also offer gallery-wrapped canvases, frames, photo books, design-your-own calendars, and more!

I had never made a gallery-wrapped canvas before, and Nations Photo Lab kindly allowed me to try it.  Our canvas is 1 3/4" thick.  Look how perfectly the image continues around the sides!  The bench the kids are sitting on looks 3D!  The colors are so bold and gorgeous too!  There will definitely be more of these to come.

To print your own photos, simply upload pictures to their site, select a paper type (lustre or metallic, color-corrected or not) and a size.  Then, after adding them to your cart, you can choose to mount them, give them a border, crop them and/or change them to black and white, sepia, or cyanotype.  So many options!

They make our family pictures look like a million bucks, but for a very low price!  We love Nations Photo Lab, and I know you will too!

So here's the goods...

TWO lucky entrants will receive a $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE to Nations Photo Lab online!!

AND...

 Everyone (all new customers) will receive a $50 credit to Nations Photo Lab by entering code "DIGNPL" at checkout.  Code expires 7.1.13 and can be used in their downloadable ROES ordering software only - It is a super easy system, and the one I prefer to order from!

**HELPFUL ROES TIPS: Create a new, temporary desktop folder with only those photos that you will be ordering.  The system will automatically upload all the photos in whatever folder you click on.  Use a wired internet connection.

Aren't they amazing?!?  It seems too good to be true, but it's not.

Follow Nations Photo Lab's Facebook Page if you'd like to be among the first to hear about promotions and deals!

Here's what you need to do to enter:

**You must leave a separate comment below for each in order for the entry to count. 

1.  "Like" I Dig Pinterest on Facebook via the link here or the social media button on the top right sidebar of this blog.  If you've already done it, please say so in a comment below.

2.  Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or both!

3.  Become a follower of this blog via the "Join this Site" blue button at the top of the right sidebar.  If you've already done it, please say so in a comment below.

4.  Follow me on Pinterest via the link here or the social media button on the top right sidebar of this blog.  If you've already done it, please say so in a comment below.

5.  Visit Nations Photo Lab and leave a comment below telling me what you're going to do with your FREE $50 there!

This contest is sponsored by Nations Photo Lab, but all opinions are 100% my own.  This giveaway is in no way affiliated, administered or endorsed by Pinterest.  The contest will end Friday, May 17th at 11:59 pm, MST.  Winners will be announced on this blog and on Facebook Saturday morning (May 18th ). Winners will have 24 hours to email me at idigpinterest@gmail.com with their mailing info or I will have to choose another winner.  This giveaway is open to entrants, 18 years or older, in the U.S. only.

Good luck!

Monster Magic Cookie Bars

You know those times when a sweet tooth craving  creeps up on you hits you hard and you just need something fast?

If you're like me when this happens, you raid the cupboards, inhaling marshmallows, chocolate chips, basically anything with a high sugar content that you can grab and stuff in your mouth as quickly as possible.  I'm embarrassed to admit this, but hey, everyone has their guilty pleasures.

Well raid no more, because there's something much better in store for you and me, and you can snack on the ingredients while you make them.  :)

Meet the Monster Magic Cookie Bar.

Sweet, sweet sugary goodness....just what the Dr. ordered.

These fabulous bars won first place in a dessert contest that I entered a few months back.  Their flavor really is award-winning.  They're so versatile, too!  I always add in some white chocolate chips and increase the amounts of the other chips, because one can never have enough chocolate.  Heck, you can even add in coconut and nuts, if you like.

You'll be fulfilling that sugar craving in about half an hour if you hurry!

{MONSTER MAGIC COOKIE BARS}

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup salted butter plus 2 T.

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup mini (or regular) M&M's

{INSTRUCTIONS}

(Note:) You can use unsalted butter here, but with all the sweetness in the recipe, it really is good to have salt to counteract it.  So if you use unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the graham cracker crumbs or sprinkle salt on top after the bars have baked.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in short increments until melted.  

Combine butter and graham cracker crumbs in a medium bowl and then press into a parchment-lined 9x13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Evenly pour the sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker layer.  Sprinkle the oats, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and a little less than half of the M&M's evenly over the sweetened condensed milk and gently press in a little.  Remember that all of the toppings are approximate, so add more or less, depending on what you like. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Pull out of the oven and immediately sprinkle the rest of the M&M's on top and gently press in.  Cool and slice into squares to serve.

Enjoy!

Linked up at Super Saturday Show and Tell