American Girl crochet outfit

So this past week,I have been crocheting after so many months.I tried a pattern for an 18" doll clothing and used it to make this cute outfit for my daughter's American Girl doll. The hat was pretty simple to make.The vest turned out into a coat.The purse needs a bit tweaking.I just played around for a slip on shoe for her. My proudest moment is when my little one said, "You are the BEST mommy ever!" Awwwwwwwwww...

Easy Peasy Shredded Chicken

If you want to make chicken soup, chicken and dumplings or chicken salad and like your chicken shredded finely, then this is a neat idea for you. I found this tip on Pinterest a few months ago- shredding cooked chicken in a blender!

First of all, I washed and seasoned the boneless chicken breasts accordingly. The breasts were cut into chunks. I let this marinade for about half hour.Then,I added some water to the seasoned chicken to steam it down. That liquid which is now a chicken broth was used for my chicken and dumplings which I made today.

After the chicken had cooled down, I added a couple chunks and shredded them in the blender. All it took was 5 seconds in the blender for it to be finely shredded. After shredding, I used some in my chicken and dumplings supper. The rest I divided into two parts. One part,I added mayonaise for a chicken salad which the kids can use as a sandwich to take for lunch to school. Then, the other part, I put in a Ziploc baggie to go into the freezer for future use.

As you can see, the chicken is already seasoned prior to cooking.

Just 2 chunks and 5 seconds in the blender.

All shredded and ready to go

Upcycled can-yarn wrapped

 I have so many inspirations from Pinterest and took some time off my routine to get into some crafting. One of the inspirations was a rope covered can. Well,I did not have rope but I did have yarn.I took some plastic canvas yarn, a tin can and hot glue gun and made my upcycled craft.

I just hot glued the beginning of the wrapping and then wound tightly around the can.I would put a dab of hot glue every now and then.Note that you have to keep pushing your yarn up so that there would not be too many spaces between each round of wrapping.

After finishing,I thought it was a bit too messy looking so I got some white grosgrain ribbon scrap and hot glued it to the rim. And since I was practising crochet hearts, I made a couple and hot glued it also onto the can and put a pearl bead on each heart.No rocket science.Now, that is the kind of craft I like!

I threw some colored Sharpie markers in the can.It can also make for a neat vase.

Crocheted hearts

I spend a lot of my relaxing time just surfing Pinterest and found a neat crochet pattern for mini hearts Click here for the pattern
It went pretty fast to create a heart (considering how long I have crocheted anything!). I then used that same pattern and when I ended, I just made 4 more chains and put an earring hook halfway in between and then slip knotted to form a loop at the end.

My little daughter loved them as soon as she saw them and wanted to try them on.They are too big for her but I could not resist taking out the pic to show her.She loved them!

 

How do you get pilling out from a sweater

I have been cleaning out my closet and putting away Summer clothes and hanging Fall weather ones up. I came across my favorite sweater.I only wore it twice and it is so comfortable but unfortunately,it got pilling from washing with other clothes. I tried to use a strong lint remover but to no use.Then,I finally took my disposable shaver and here is what I got. It still had some remaining.I had to be careful with the shaver though becase it could pull the fibers and snag some threads. I also had to go a particular direction with the shaver to get it and press lightly.If you have any ideas on how to get rid of pilled clothing,I would love to know.I am too attached to this to throw it out,especially when it is still particularly like new.

Dollar Tree finds

I always get those plastic containers at the local Dollar Tree where everything is only $1.00. I was amazed to see that there were some pretty big ones this past week.I grabbed me only three and put them in my closet.I got a lot of tops in them.I think I am going to buy me a bunch more because I really do not know how long they are going to be in stock for.A lot of times we do not get the same items again.

Another great find I discovered was those vacuum bags.I have always wanted to try them out but they are a pretty expensive pack, so at the Dollar Tree, I found them being sold individually.I got me a large one and today, I used it for my Queen sized comforter and it did work! That is another thing I must get the next time I am back there.