Knitted Bookmark

Here is a little project I quickly made last night.

I ordered some very nice lace weight yarn(still no project for it yet) and I got a sample of this yarn, wool/bamboo blend. It was easy to knit with and gave me some practice knitting with lace weight. I used 2.5US size needles and did a K1,P1, K 5, P1,K1. till it was as long as I wanted it to be. Then I added a little fringe to one end.

Super cute and very practical!

Lazy Day Beanie

ETA: I knitted this hat lastnight after the kids were in bed. I used a chunky yarn and followed the below pattern exactly and it fits my very small 4 year old little girl. The pattern really needs to be revised to say "kids" hat. I knitted a matching scarf a while back and now she has a set. My next project is to try and make matching mittens, I just might have enough yarn left.

This is my first attempt at making a hat. I have to say I love the yarn and the end result. The pattern on the other hand said it was "one size". I added 4 more rows and it just fits my 6 year old son. If you make the pattern I suggest adding 8-10 rows for an adult hat.
want the pattern? it was a Lion Brand pattern.

Dragon Party

Wow, this is seriously long over due. I have neglected my blog long enough!

I think when September hit and the lazy days of summer were over I found my free time was limited.

My son had a party in August, yes that was many moons ago. But he wanted a dragon theme and I wanted to finally share some of the fun things we did for his party.

We melted some crayons in a dragon mold to give away as party favours. we made some neat colour combinations and the kids loved to see the crayons melt and what colours it would create. We peeled a lot of crayons!

I made dragon wings for all the guests. This is my son trying to fly like a dragon. I got the instructions from Dabbled.

I did make some changes since mine were a no-sew project. I used that iron tape instead(I can`t sew)

My husband drew this dragon for a fun game of pin the flame on the dragon.

oh and the cake. My first attempt at making a shaped cake. It turned out OK. The kids loved it so that is all that counts. I made the wings and spikes out of chocolate and free formed them on some wax paper.

At the end of the party we set the kids out on a hunt to find the dragon hiding in the cave. My husband had fun making the clues and the kids had a blast following them to find the dragon.

Vegan "Chicken" Balls

I am very excited about this recipe. My son asked me one day to make "chicken" balls without the chicken. I searched the Internet for some recipes and came up with nothing made specifically vegetarian. So I put a few ideas together and this is what I came up with.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. My husband who still enjoys eating meat really likes these "chicken" balls. He said he was very impressed and had nothing bad to say. Yahoo!

Ingredients for Tofu marinade

• 2 vegan chicken flavoured stock cubes(or powder to taste)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• salt to taste
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/2-1 block of organic tofu cut into 1 inch cubes

Prepare Broth
Dissolve vegetarian chicken-flavored cubes in boiling water. Add spices, and tofu to marinade and let sit in fridge for at least 4 hours. I marinaded mine for 8 hours. You can do it over night as well to save time the next day.
I also made my broth very strong tasting. The instructions for my broth cubes was 1 cube per 2 cups of water. I used 2 cubes with only 2 cups of water.

Ingredients for batter

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose white flour plus 1/4 cup for coating the Tofu
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 eggs substitute or 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1 to 2 tbsps cooking oil

Mix together 1 1/4 cup of white flour with the baking powder, salt, pepper (reserve 1/4 cup for coating tofu pieces before dipping into this mixture).
Add the 2 eggs and the milk. Mix all together well.

Take the tofu pieces and dip them in the 1/4 cup of flour, then dip into this batter to coat the tofu. Fry the tofu pieces in hot cooking oil until browned on all sides.
Server with your favotire Sweet and Sour sauce.

Party Pom Pom's

I kept the decorations simple, but these Pom Pom's are super cute and very easy to make. I found the instructions at Martha Stewart's website

The Birthday banner was also very simple and even comes with a printable template. I printed the letters out onto coloured card stock and weaved them through some ribbon.

I bought some purple flowers and out a cute cupcake ribbon on the vase, and used my fancy 3 leveled tray for the sandwiches that we served for lunch, along with(not in picture) some fancy white tea cups and saucers that were lent to use by some great friends.

Cupcake Purse and Cupcake Soaps

Are these not the cutest things you have ever seen!
My great friend made these for all the girls that came to the party.
We used them as the gift loot/party favour bags and all the kids collected the pinata goodies and put them inside.

We also tucked in a little cupcake soap into the cupcake bags, which smelled so yummy you could eat it.

I bought the cupcake purse pattern from Amy Gaines on etsy, and I bought the cupcake soaps from LulliLiscious at esty as well. Check them out, both shops have fantastic stuff. The soaps were also all chemical free!

Cupcake Pinata

I don't know if it is where I live or if the cupcake theme isn't that popular. But trying to find a cupcake pinata was nearly impossible.

So I made one! and you can too. I was inspired by this website, all-about-cupcakes.com, click on the link for the isntructions.

Mine doesn't look quite the same, but you get the idea, and it was fun to make and I saved myseld $20 by not having to buy one.