Holiday Fabric

It's here! My etsy shop is sporting a few yards of Bobble Garland, my new holiday-themed fabric. I should probably wait until after Halloween to announce it but I simply couldn't wait!

Carving Collaboration

Yesterday's ohdeedoh post ... Spud and Hubs make a mean carving team.

Hedwig Halloween Treat Bag

Our little Harry Potter will have his messenger owl in tow. We were having troubles figuring out how he was going to carry a wand, a treat bag, an owl ... it was getting out of hand. Until I came up with the idea of combining the owl with the treat bag. Here she is!

1. I sewed the felt eyes and beak onto the faux fur. You can see in the photo that I sewed across the two biggest eye shapes in several directions. I finished off the eye with a dark grey pupil by sewing around the perimeter. This hid all sorts of sins at the centre of the eye. (Did I mention that I'm not a sewer, at all!)

2. Sewed on the check lining to the back of the faux fur. I sewed the good sides together, leaving a 5" gap along the bottom to be sewn up later with the tallons. Then turned right side out.

3. Sewed the black back to the check lining in the same manner at step two, so that the seams were hidden.

4. Next, I pinned the two panels together carefully folding in and pinning the bottom open parts and slipping in the tallons. I sewed from the outside of the left ear, down and around to the outside of the right ear.

5. Made handle by sewing a black strip and check strip together and then attached to the top of the bag.

There are two downloadable templates for all of Hedwig's bits and bobs, if you are interested.

Check out Made by You Mondays over at Skip to my Lou for loads more handmade goodies.

Halloween Lollies

We decorated some spooky, creepy lollipops on the weekend. Hairy-legged spiders, just-off-the-vine jack o' lanterns plus a classic — the ghost. Hop over to ohdeedoh to see how.

Project in the Making

HEDWIG THE OWL HALLOWEEN TREAT BAG

The little guy is pretty excited about being Harry Potter this Halloween. Although his natural red locks would make Weasley the obvious choice, he understandably chose Potter. In the interest of time, we decided to buy most of the costume, all but two items — the treat bag, which will be Harry's white owl, Hedwig, and Harry's wand, that Hubs is working on.

Last night, after a trip to our favourite notions and fabric store, Dressew, I started sketching out the idea of the bag. And this morning I stole some time to print out a paper prototype to size it on the boy. Picture it in white faux fur (leftover from this penguin project) and felt. Wish me luck. I'll post progress as I go ...

Not Just Ordinary Granola Bars

My dear friend [shout out to KR!] found this recipe and modified it to include more nutritious ingredients (she punted the corn syrup, for example). We always look forward to camping with her, for a number of reasons, one of which is that she tends to bust out a large tray of these. They never last very long. Finally, I've decided to give it a try ... and surprise ... they are easy to make too!

INGREDIENTS
3/4 C. honey
3/4 C. peanut butter (we used almond butter), natural and organic
3 C. granola, whole-grain and naturally-sweetened
1/2 C. dates, chopped
1/2 C. apricots, dried and chopped
1/4 C. sunflower seeds, toasted
1/4 C. sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 t. sea salt, unrefined

METHOD
1. Place honey in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Add nut butter, cook for one minute. Remove from heat.

2. In a large bowl, add together remaining ingredients. Add honey/peanut butter mix to bowl and mix well. Press into a greased 9- x 13-inch pan. Cover, refrigerate and serve.

NOTE

We were a bit short on the granola, so I added some pecans I had the cupboard. And I think a few pumpkin seeds made their way in there too. Just shows this recipe is easy to modify according to taste. Another reason to love it.

Pumpkin Grilled Cheddar Sandwiches

Hee hee. The orange is on the inside.

Photo Friday #29

TRAVELS WITH KID | WHISTLER, BC

It's been almost 8 months since the Olympics came and went in my hometown. It was a project that I, among many others, worked tirelessly to make happen. I think I've finally recovered from the 4.5 year experience. And I enjoy spotting the remnants of our work here and there. Up in Whistler, the host Mountain Resort for the Vancouver 2010 Games, last weekend we were all pretty smitten with the giant shiny rings that remain. A couple of us thought it warranted a little lie down though.

And just as good, is the re-purposing of what was the Celebration Plaza into a playground. Phase one boasts a beautiful tree house. Phase two, which is currently being constructed, will be a playground for all types of kids with varying abilities. It warms my heart.

Needless to say, we spent a fair amount of time here. Well, here and the pool; that pretty much sums up our Whistler weekend.

Share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.

New 2-tiered Tiffin

I love the tiffin. It's such a nice way to separate foods in a cool stackable container. It's also great to get away from plastic.

Well, look what prezzy came in the mail earlier this week? That's right, a new stainless steel tiffin! And best of all is the cozy carrying bag. I can add extra containers of goodies in there and it keeps it all together nicely.

Spud's favourite feature? The pocket with the napkin. I wonder if that means he'll actually use a napkin now!? Heh.

Here are two simple lunches I sent him off to school with last week.

Strawberries, apples, carrots, grapes, mortadella sandwich.

Buttered bun with star cut, wieners, strawberry, tomato, banana

blueberry muffin with fruit leather star, cheese and popcorn.