Domino's gluten free pizza

One of the toughest things about having a child who's allergic to wheat (among other things), is that hubby and I very rarely eat wheat too.  Sure, we sneak in the random cookies or pasta when we're out on date nights or late at night when Chuck's asleep (oh boy, do I feel naughty then).  I usually don't mind the sacrifice, but there is one wheat-filled goodie that I sorely miss:  pizza.  It's one of my favorite foods.  And as a longtime lover of that holy trinity of cheese, tomato sauce, and crust, it's been really really tough not eating  pizza and not passing on my love to my son.

By now you're probably thinking, "Boo hoo.  Cry me a wheat-filled river.  Leslie, haven't you heard of gluten-free pizzas?"  Well, sure, there are gluten-free options out there... and trust me... we've tried a whole bunch.  But the resulting pie is always the same.  The pizza looks like a re-heated frozen disk and the crust tastes like dirty cardboard.  Sacrilege!  Poor Chuck usually just pulls off the cheese and eats that.

So when we found out that Domino's made a gluten free pizza crust, hubby and I were.... well... skeptical.  

But, we really didn't need to be.  Chuck loved it.  He ate two whole slices- crust, cheese, sauce, mushrooms and all.  Hubby and I even snuck in a couple of bites (while Chuck wasn't looking) and we were quite surprised by how good it was.

Now, Domino's does note that the pizza shouldn't be eaten by people with Celiac's disease.  Although the crust is certified to be gluten free, they just can't guarantee that any cross-contamination didn't occur at the restaurant.  So maybe this wouldn't be a solution for everyone.  But, since Chuck didn't break out in any hives or develop a rash after eating the pizza, hubby and I are deeming it a win..

In case you're curious, here's what the gluten free pizza looked like in the box:  (minus the 2 slices that Chuck devoured)

 And here's what the pizza looked like up-close:

Oh yeah, and here's Chuck.  Now he's a bona fide pizza lover too, just like his mama.

Have a great weekend!  See you next week!

Homemade watercolor card and upcycled strawberry container gift box

Ok, so this post's title is rather long and not too creative... but I couldn't think of a better way to describe this:

To end this week's series of wedding themed posts, I wanted to show how I wrapped and presented our "Good Night, Bonne Nuit" pillow cases to the bride and groom   In the spirit of DIY, we made both the card and the gift box.

Chuck helped me to make the wedding card and envelope.  Say what?  Yup, you read right.  My little guy and I made these:

Remember those homemade watercolors I made a couple of weeks back?  Well, we pulled them out of the fridge, re-hydrated the paint with several drops of water, and then went to town using them as finger paints.  Their pale colors were perfect for the wedding.  (On the down side- The paint left a bit of powdery residue on the watercolor paper when it dried.  Fortunately I was able to wipe most of it off with a napkin.)

Chuck's finger painting became the envelope and mine became the card.  (The white swirls were made by first drawing on the watercolor paper with an old Easter egg wax crayon.  After covering the paper with paint, the portions that were scribbled on with the wax crayon remained white.)   Oh yeah, and in case you're wondering, the card reads something along these lines: "life is better when you're walking hand in hand with the person you love"

We then upcycled an old strawberry container into the gift box:  

Cute right?  Wish I could take credit  for this idea, but I can't.  I first spotted it at the amazing Aunt Peaches.

To do this, I simply:
- Washed and dried the strawberry container, making sure to remove any gooey sticker parts (I used Goo gone )
- Used a Sharpie marker and doodled some flowers on the inside of the box
- Used craft paint and dabbed paint on the inside of the box
- Used Mod Podge to seal my craft paint once I was finished

Then, I placed a piece of pink tissue paper inside just to make sure that my pillowcases stayed nice and clean.  And there you have it.  Tada! A handmade wedding card and gift box that's pretty to look at and  so simple to make.  (A child could do it...really.).

Hooray for creatively used crap!

Good Night, Bonne Nuit freezer paper stenciled pillowcases

Knowing that our cousin was a big fan of beautiful, handmade things (as clearly evidenced by her lovely wedding), I thought I'd continue the pillowcase decorating tradition and make her a set of "Good Night, Bonne Nuit" pillowcases:

These pillowcases were inspired by the ones that I saw on Skunkboy Blog.  The originals looked so airy and whimsical that I had to try making similar looking ones using the freezer paper stencil technique.  Here's a photo of me stenciling the "good night" pillow:

These were my most difficult stenciling project yet because the branches and leaves were so narrow and took a lot of time to carefully cut out.  Although my pillows don't have quite as much quirky detail as the originals, they still look pretty darn cute.

Here are some closeup shots:  (Sorry for the wrinkles.  I hate ironing and didn't even think to iron them first.)

Hopefully they'll bring sweet dreams and rest  to the bride and groom.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

A + C's wedding

This past weekend we attended a cousin's wedding in Brooklyn.  It was a wonderfully intimate and elegant affair.  The bride and her mother's touches were everywhere.  The lovely bride altered her own dress and both ladies worked together to bake and decorate the cake and put together all the floral arrangements.

Here's what we wore to the wedding:  (We took these photos beforehand because it would be nearly impossible to take photos while entertaining an active almost-two-year old during the event.)

 And here are photos taken before the event:

Something blue

Wedding cake made by the bride's mom

Can you believe these flowers aren't real?  They're edible and made by hand.

My small DIY contribution- Handwritten escort cards

Wall decorations at the reception

Bride's bouquet

Here are photos taken from the ceremony:

Here's how we entertained Chuck during the ceremony

 Here are photos taken during the reception:

Beautiful lace back

Dinner time!

Cake cutting

Congratulations A and C!   Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day.

DIY Scalloped Jean shorts

DIY Scalloped Jean Shorts

It's Memorial Day Weekend.  How are you going to celebrate?  We're going to eat burgers, attend a wedding, and nap.... a lot.  (<--If Chuck lets us... that is...)  Inspired by all the lovely lazing about that I hope to be doing next week, I made myself a pair of comfy scalloped jean shorts from a pair of old jeans:

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Hand holding and kisses

Hubby always reminds me that the "best camera is the one that's on you."  Well, I don't often have a camera on me (hence the rare shots of Chuck nowadays), so I'm thankful that other people do.  Here's a little video that a friend made during a recent park outing.  It was a super sunny and warm day, just perfect for splashing in the fountain with a good friend.  

I'm so thankful that I get to witness special moments like these.


Hand holding babies from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

E-reader cover

Hubby and I are two different types of crafters.

- I'm a planner.  I'll research ideas online, draw out plans and then re-draw out plans for days and days and days.  Then, after rehearsing the steps in my head, I'll finally go into the store knowing exactly what and how much needs to be purchased.

- Hubby's a doer.  He'll research online and then run into the store grabbing bits and bobs that appeal to him.  His process usually happens in one day(!).  He doesn't use specific measurements.  He doesn't write down lists.  He's a "do now, think later" kind of crafter.

And although his method perplexes me, I'm always impressed by what he turns out.  (I also feeling more inspired to do more and think less... which is a good thing, I think.)  Here's an e-reader cover that hubby quickly threw together this past weekend.  

Photo bombing feet!

Happy Wednesday!

Painted twig and pipe cleaner wall art

Hi everyone!

Today's craft was inspired by my love for sunny weather, typography, and pipe cleaners.  Lately, Chuck and I have been going to the park a lot.  We live in an urban environment, so he's always tickled pink to see living, green things.  Two weeks ago the dandelions were in their full fluffy white splendor, so he spent the afternoon crying "bubbles, bubbles," as he ripped them out of the ground and blew their seeds everywhere. (Sorry city gardeners.  He knows not what he does.)

Anyway, while he blew his "bubbles," I found myself hoardinig scavenging for sticks.  After seeing Ginette Lapalme's bright and colorful painted sticks, I kept wanting to make my own version.  Here's my super easy, kid-friendly painted stick craft:

Materials:
- Sticks
- Pipe cleaners
- Yarn
- Scissors
- Glue
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Mod Podge and foam brush (optional)

Directions:
1.  Collect some sticks.

2.  Play around with your sticks and see which ones best make a frame shape.  Then, practice bending your pipe cleaner letters.

Notes:
-  You could always write out the words on paper first and use your handwriting to guide you. I ended up just going for it and practicing with a bunch of pipe cleaners first to see what looked best.

-  Make sure to leave extra pipe cleaner bits in the beginning and end of each word.  You'll use those bits to attach your words to your frame.

I needed more pipe cleaner in the front and back of each word to attach the words to the frame

3.  Paint your sticks.  After painting them, coat them with a layer of Mod Podge to protect your paint job.

4.  Use pipe cleaners to connect all four twigs together in a frame shape.  Then, attach your pipe cleaner letters to the frame.  Tie a bit of yarn to the top of your frame so that it can be hung.  Use glue to secure any knots.

Tada!  Now you have your very own piece of colorful artwork.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this craft.  If you try to make your own painted stick wall art, I'd love to see your handiwork.

Babies

Two weekends ago we attended a niece's birthday party.  I was too busy enjoying the party to get any photos, but luckily hubby snapped a couple of shots of Chuck and his super cute baby cousin.  

These two kids are just too cute.

I love seeing Chuck kiss other babies.

Chuck saying "cheese"

Ack.  Such tiny hands.  She is just too cute.  I could just eat her up.  

Paint Chip Wall Art

After our relatives left, I really noticed how empty our place seemed.  Although we moved here almost a year ago, I haven't put much effort into making our place more personal.  Chuck's room is the only one that's sort of decorated.

So, I'm going to do my best to add some decorations to the walls.  I'm not too picky, but I do have three requirements for wall art:

1.  It must be bright and happy.
Chuck and I spend quite a bit of time at home.  We need to be surrounded by lovely, happy things.  

2.  It must be removable.
We live in an apartment.  We're not going to live here forever.  I really really don't want to re-paint rooms or fill holes when we leave.

3.  It must be relatively inexpensive.
I'm uber cheap.  One day we'd like to own our own house, so we're slowly saving up.  (Plus, we had a rather traumatic experience with movers breaking stuff, so I worry about expensive art being destroyed.)

Making wall art with paint chips fits all three requirements.  Inspired by A Beautiful Mess's modern paint chip wall art and How About Orange's triangle paint chip art, I thought I'd give paint chips a try.  Here's my result:

Three Mini projects

Hi everyone!  It's been a couple of days since my last post and I thought I'd just say a quick "hi" to let you know that we haven't dropped off the planet.  We've just been enjoying the good weather and spending lots of time playing outside (boo shoe tans) and stuffing our faces  eating Girl Scout cookies (yurmmy).

Here are three small projects that we recently worked on,.  They didn't seem big enough to get their own posts, so I figured I'd just group them together in one post:

1.  Last week I freezer paper stenciled a flying pig tote bag for a niece 

2.  Inspired by Dave Laferriere's sandwich bag art, I hid some inspirational (and humorous) notes in hubby's lunch box:

3.    What was that third project again?  Oh yeah, Hubby gave Chuck a mohawk.  Shnazzy.

Good-bye

Today our family of six returned back to a group of three.  Now the apartment feels a bit too large and quiet.
We miss everyone already.  Now who's going to sing "Dingle Dangle scarecrow" with Chuck?


P5124812 from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Make a stained glass house using cellophane

A while ago, a cousin sent me a beautiful faux stained glass panel that her friend made using colored cellophane and a picture frame.  I've since lost the photo, but every so often I keep thinking back to that image and wanting to make my own faux stained glass using cellophane.

Here's a fun kids' craft that I came up with:  a 3D stained glass house constructed out of cellophane and plastic containers:

Materials:
- paper
- pencil
- scissors
- clean and dry plastic lids (sturdier plastic works better than flimsier plastic)
- Mod Podge
- foam brush
- different colored cellophane (you could probably substitute colored tissue paper too)
- clear tape

Directions:
1.  Cut out your six house pieces. (I cut them out of paper first to make sure everything fit and then traced my paper shapes onto plastic lids.)  You'll need two same-sized "house" shaped pieces for the front and back, two rectangles for the roof,  and two rectangles for the side of your house.  (I ended up making the two side and two roof pieces four identical squares so that I wouldn't have to worry too much about measuring.)

2.  Cut out random small pieces of cellophane.  I chose to cut out hearts and rectangles.

3.  Cover your work area.  Use your foam brush and Mod Podge the cellophane onto your house pieces.  Don't worry if the cellophane dangles off the edges.

 4. After the Mod Podge dries, trim any excess hanging cellophane pieces.  Your cellophane will dry crinkled, but that's ok.

 5.  Tape your pieces together to create a house.  (I first taped the pieces into the flat arrangement below.  Then, I bent and taped the pieces into their final 3D house shape.  I also made sure that the Mod Podged cellophane pieces were facing inside my stained glass house.  I figured this way the cellophane wouldn't rub off as easily.)

 Voila!  Done.  I think this would be a really fun craft to do with kids.  It's a different take on the traditional stained glass or sun catcher craft.    Let me know if you try it out!

Two days in New York

This past week I got a chance to tour Manhattan for two whole days.  (!!!!)  Hubby took me around town to celebrate my birthday (yay!) and then I showed our aunt around town another day.  It was such a nice treat to wear my "nice" clothes (aka non-mommy-stained-t-shirts) and see the city I love.

Here are some photos from my New York adventures:

Delicious breakfast at Cafe Lalo (famous from the movie "You've got mail.")

Sneakily taking a photo during a wedding photo shoot at Central Park's Bethesda Terrace

One of my travel companions

Fresh flowers at Union Square Farmers Market

Ethiopian food served at Massawa Ethiopian Restaurant

No idea where I shot these flowers, but I love them because they remind me of an old painting

Best. Popsicle. Ever.  (People's Pops on the High Line)  I left feeling inspired to re-try popsicle-making this summer

Beautiful mural seen on the High Line

Three Pie Face meat pies. Yurrrmmy.

Tiny New York City from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.