Jammie Dodger/ Fruit Creme Knock Off

A long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away.... It feels like I've been gone for months from my little old blog but what really happened was Roger was laid off. That means in my world you get everything that you can possible get done before winter snow flies because you don't know when he'll be called back. It meant for us putting in a wood stove so finally my big old house can be warm and cozy. It also meant piling wood in the basement, going thru Christmas lights and hanging them up on one of our freakish warm days in November which now brings me to September. Isn't time travel great!!

Back in September while watching an episode of Doctor Who, the eleventh Doctor has in his hand a Jammie Dodger for a split second. From my view point it was a Peak Frean, Fruit Creme. Now I do watch these shows fairly fast so you may correct me if I'm wrong and maybe this cookie is one in the same. Either way it got my mind a thinking.

Isaac loves these boughten cookies but I don't buy them all that often. I really don't buy cookies in general so I wondered if I could knock these cookies off. 

Pinterest showed me sugar cookies with jam but not the creme filling I wanted to add like the Fruit Creme. Then I found one cookie that had lemon butter creme and jam and I felt like I was getting closer. What I wanted was a cookie that had icing like an oreo cookie that wouldn't ooze out when I bit into like a butter creme might. It also had to stand up to being made the day before, not make my cookie soggy and had to travel well.

From my Pinterest fail of the Oreo knock off I thought just maybe the icing from that would work and in the end I got exactly what I was looking for. Here's how to make your own.

Pick your favourite sugar cookie recipe (I think everyone has at least one favourite in their recipe box) and cut out your cookies. 

I cut out my cookies with a small biscuit cutter then took a large piping tip and cut out my centers, but pretty stars or hearts would be darn cute.

Here are the bottoms.

I did used the oreo icing using lemon juice as my liquid...

and added a dollop of raspberry jam. You most definitely could use any jam.

And ta-da!! Your own Fruit Creme Cookies.

These are going to make it onto the annual cookie Christmas list. :)

P.S. He's back to work.

Spooky Brazilian Times!

You know what's fun, watching a bunch of kids who've never done Halloween do Halloween. For some it was planned even before they arrived to Canada in August. Others checked out Halloween sections in stores after they got here. They went big I must say and had loads of fun.

The invisible man is Isaac which as a true Canadian kid was put together that morning. He's had the morph suit for a while but as for the rest, he tried it on that afternoon. He was the trick or treater host for the Brazilian kids.  Nathalia on the other hand knew what she was going to be way back when. I think the second day in our home Corpse Bride was mentioned. Luckily on my search I found an old white dress for a $1.50 along with some sheers for another $1.00 and with a bit of a revamp came up with this. 

It's been a while since there was this much hub bub at my house on Halloween and I think this night will long be remembered by them... at least I hope so. I know I will. :)

Pictures where take with just my ipad on this cold dreary night. 

Frankly my Dear...

Since I've been feeling better I've been playing catch up on so many things. Fall cleaning for one. Does anybody do a fall and spring cleaning anymore? Room by room I've been purging away, leaving my most dreaded craft room till last. It's actually my favourite room but it really needs a few days( ok truthfully make that a week) of my full out attention.

We've also welcomed a Brazilian student who will be staying with us till January. We've had some major laugh out loud moments as we try and understand each other. She's is improving in English but we are failing miserably at Portuguese. Ha

Most of my projects have been left on the back burner ( as usual it seems) but this past weekend being Canadian thanksgiving and autumn being in full swing I thought I'd channel my inner Scarlett O'hara. Finding some awesome fall looking drapes at the thrift store they seemed perfect for another easy circle skirt.

I've lost my picture taker to work right now so although I wore this just the other day it went on my dress form for pictures. A tri-pod and remote would be nice right about now!! and some not so rainy cloudy weather. 

Hello little leaf pin.

Do you think it's alright to wear  this outfit two weekends in a row? :)

Sweater- handmade by me

Blouse-handmade by me from a thrifted set of sheers that I've worn many times.

Skirt-handmade from thrifted drapes which I paid $3 for. 

What's my Style?

Over the summer I began thinking more about what type of clothing I really want to add to my wardrobe, what actually is my favourite era then I realized I don't have one. I end up going by what show or movie I'm watching at the time and it becomes my new favourite. Which is making for a fun wardrobe!!
So this past spring/ summer I watched
Land Girls / Agent Carter  for my 40's look.

Granite Flats  geared me to a 60's casual summer style.

Then I headed over to Miss Fisher and made myself a 20's inspired outfit.

( All the fabric for this was once again thrifted so it was an under $10 outfit. The hat was made from a pattern I got from Etsy)

Now I'm onto Doctor Who which has styles all over the place and worlds, hehe and I must say I am more partial when he travels to the past then the future. For the past couple of years my mind has been in and out of Steampunk. Mostly because it's a modern twist on the Victorian era (adore) which to me kind of suits the weird world of Doctor Who. 

When I was looking for a jacket pattern this one kept popping up in the Steampunk category on Pinterest. I just thought it would look great as a 50's style too so I'm seeing this pattern resurrect itself as Steampunk.  

I'm seeing a lot of plaids and ruffled skirts in my future but not the full blown corsets that is often associated with Steampunk. If I can get what I want in my head transfered to the sewing table I'm liking the results. Although my head and my hands sometimes disagree so we shall see!  I already have a chair though.  :)

On the Hunt for Lola

Meet Lola (or her look-a-like). This is Director Coulson's flying car in Agents of Shield. Yes I've said it before and I'll say it again I'm a Marvel geek.

                                           

                                                                                            (  source )

         This past weekend was our annual Beanfest and Car show so this year I was on the hunt for Lola.

We came close.(Sorry these were phone pictures)

Then there is my soft spot for the pick-up truck. It stems from growing up on a farm and never being without one.

I could take either one of these babies home.

This car show never disappoints with over the 1000 cars that show up throughout the day and I'm pretty sure we've never picked the same car twice as the "one". :)

How could I Forget??

Last weekend we went to visit the boys in their new digs. We've known for a while what home they finally decided upon and I could hardly wait to take pictures. Then I forgot my camera and had to rely on a few pictures that I took with my ipad. It's incredible hard to take pictures of 55 acres with just an ipad but here are a few. Sorry any indoor pictures didn't really turn out.

It was really hard to say good-bye to this. From walking literally miles of trails cut through the bush to hanging out in the hot tub it was for me a little slice of paradise complete with no bugs.  Next time I promise I won't forget my camera. :)

It's such a Peachy Day!

This past weekend I had just finished telling my daughter that I wasn't going to can any peaches. Just maybe make some jam and freeze a few. Then a friend of ours was offering peaches for sale so I order a bushel.
Feeling as I have been, I've been trying everything including changing my diet and one of those things is cutting out white sugar. I'd have to say after a couple of weeks I'm feeling a little better. It wasn't like I was eating a lot of sugary things but like I said I'm giving anything a whirl. Maple Syrup or honey has become my choice of sweetener for most things all ready but now the ban on white sugar has become hard core.
Canned fruit is usual laced with lots of sugar but ever since I started canning I've never followed the recommended sugar for the recipe. I've always cut way back but this time I wanted to cut it out all together.
So while checking out some wartime recipes for fun I noticed canning fruit in their own syrup. Then I surfed around the world wide web some more and found this holy grail of recipes.  Maple Vanilla Canned Peaches.

I've cut back on the maple syrup using only one cup to 5 cups of water and found it plenty sweet. I also used some really good pure vanilla instead of the bean. I gave this nectar around to all who entered my home for a taste and it passed the taste test with flying colours.

If you are looking to can up a couple of jars I highly recommend giving this recipe a try, I'm pretty sure I'm never going back to plain old sugary peaches again.:)

What Happen???

Remember how I said that I was going to tell you why I don't wear lipstick and what the details of my 1940's suit was? Remember last year I was making a crochet rag rug and never showed you the finished product? Remember I wanted to make a crochet hat pattern to share a looonnnng time ago?

So what happen?? Between life happening and losing interest in some projects along the way everything just got put into a pile, forgotten or neglected like my blog recently.
This month has been about a health check because I've hit a wall of exhaustion. Looking back it's been coming on since last summer but I kept putting what I was feeling as  "it's all in my head" because  that's what I do. (It's probably why I was sick every other week this winter)  Finally this past June I gave up thinking it was all in my head when things started getting worse and went to the doctors. So now we test for this and that and I've gotten a few answers but still can't seem to shake the need to have a two hour nap in the afternoon and 12 hours of sleep at night. The rest of the time I just drag myself around waiting for those magical good days to pop up when I can get something done.

In order for me to feel like I accomplished something I got out my rag rug a month ago and finished it.  Now you know why I never showed you because I didn't finish it.

It has been so nice to wake up in the morning while we are camping and step onto this cozy rug and it felt great to finish something that had gone onto a pile of forgotteness. 

I also cut my hair. All these cute short cuts where showing up online and so I took a cue from Miss Fisher and went slightly longer then her but I sure do like it. 

And now for the burning question as to why I don't wear lipstick.

No matter what kind of lipstick inexpensive or expensive it dries my lips something fierce and if I don't take care of the dryness right away it can develop into a cold sore. So when my beets are ready I'll be drying a few to make beet root powder and make my own lip colour from beeswax and coconut oil. 

The forgotten hat pattern wasn't really forgotten, I just found this one by Hopeful Honey for free and it turned out lovely. I wanted to line it for winter but winter was slipping away already when I made it so it went back onto a pile of things to have ready for winter. 

I still want to give you the details of the suit because there is another story that goes with it that I want to share. So in between naps I'll hopefully get that done but if I'm absent for awhile you'll now know why. 

:)

Cherries Baby!

The last two weeks have been super duper busy and I'm not done yet with all this busyness. But I thought I'd sneak in a few photos of my 1940's cherry suit and my fabulous new shoes from Modcloth.

(Another rainy day, another photo shoot on the porch.)

Next week I'll give you all the dirt on the pattern the fabric... you know all that fun stuff and why I don't wear lipstick. :)

Pinterest #10

Up until a few days ago we were living the high life. We could go for walks and jump on the trampoline well into the evening. It was all good but then THEY showed up. Those blood sucking little vampires that make going outside anytime of day a nightmare.

Before we went camping I had made us a mosquito bar but we didn't need it. No bugs and that's the way it's been until now. 

Since this to me is a "does it really work" Pinterest review I have been passing this bar around and getting people's opinion. So far it fallen in the "yes" category and it's been working against some major battles too. Ive been able to water my plants in the evening with literally swarms circling me, bouncing off me and no bites. I've tried another deet free bug spray with not as much luck. 

 Sustain Create and Flow is where this pin originally came from and I found it to be a quick and easy recipe to follow. 

In the recipe she took out the coconut oil but I put it back in. I also didn't exactly follow the amount of essential oils either. Some of the oils we can't get here as written so I had to improvise. My "bugless" oil was mostly citronella oil but I did add a bit of lavender too. 

In the end I went by smell, so mine has a very strong citronella/ lemongrass to it. I'd say I put in at least 20 drops of citronella and anywhere from 10-15 of the rest. 

After application of the bar the smell eventually will dissipate and you need to reapply maybe every hour if you were going to be continuously outside. I'm ok with that because everytime I'm using it I'm mostuizing my arms and legs and my skin is loving that. 

You may ask why didn't I make a spray? I still might but I think this is easier to apply where I want it and easier to put on little ones arms and legs.

Ok here's what mine looks like. Not pretty like the ones you see on Pinterest  but I'm ok with that as long as it works.:)

A Camping we will Go!

It was our first camping trip of the year with the the old girl back to my paradise. The interesting thing about going to the same spot year after year is how much it's changed from the year before.

The very first time we went 5 years ago it looked like this.

Now it looks like this.

Where we used to walk out on that flat rock area... the water now greets us at the edge of the brush.

It's amazing to see how high the lake has gotten!

Before we left for our trip I found a recipe from Dash of Nostalgia. Caramelized onion, tomato and goat cheese Tart. ( really... go check out her creation)

I've been wanted to try my hand at cooking on an open fire for awhile now and this seemed like a recipe that could work. If it didn't I could always throw it on the bbq to finish it since I knew the heat of the fire was going to be a tricky thing. For us virgin campfire cookers we thought less of a fire/heat then more for our first attempt at this.

 First Roger built the fire up to get a good bunch of coals on the bottom while I prepared the tart.

I had to change a few things from the originally recipe for someone who shall remain nameless who's not a fan of rosemary or goat cheese. Since it was just the two of us I also cut the recipe slightly in half.

Here's what I used.

One pkg of puff pastry 

250 grams of cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 onion

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup broccoli 

2 small tomatoes 

and 1 cup of cheese to top it with.

I generously greased my cast iron pan with butter for this experiment and would probably do it the same way again because it gave such a lovely crispy crust. But I'm jumping ahead.

So everything now put together like the original recipe...

(minus the broccoli and cheese, they were an afterthought)

and covered with foil, off to the fire we went.

We knocked down the fire and slowly added wood one piece at a time as needed to keep what we thought would be an even heat.

We timed it at about 20 mins. We moved it around quite a bit too sometimes over direct heat, then off to the side, back over the heat. I think this gave us the gave us the best result.

I served it with a caesar salad and we were both impressed with ourselves at how great it turned out.

I will one day make it as Lindsay intended it to be but either way I make this recipe, this one is a keeper. Thanks Miss Lane!! :)

The Cigarette Pant

Long before leggings or jeggings or super slim fitting jeans or pants, came the cigarette pant. Heck if you goggle it now you can find they've made a comeback of epic proportions but I'd have to say in my opinion it was the most beautiful Audrey Hepburn who made the women of the 60's covet these pants.

Pinterest

Here's the pattern that I used to get my own version of these pants.

I wanted a pair of pants that I could wear year round more or less so I wanted a comfy stretch denim. I had no idea that denim( I haven't bought denim in years and years) had gotten so pricey at $20 a meter and then I had to do a quick pro/con list. 

Pro- I'll get the pant that I want and it would be the vintage high waisted loveliness I'm becoming accustomed to.

Con- I can probably find something similar in a low rise much cheaper then 40 plus dollars 

The latter was winning out in my mind but I had one more chance at obtaining my goal. The remnant pile!!

Searching through the remnant pile like I was searching for the Holy Grail I found approximately 2 meters of stretch denim at $8 meter. Now we were in business, pants for under $20. 

But wait...when I took my fabric to be measured she asked me if I'd be willing to give my email address to get an additional 50% off. Uhh YES.

My new jeans were going to cost me $8 in fabric plus a zipper and thread. Now this cheap  thrifty little dutch girl was dancing in her wooden shoes.

Fitting and sewing pants is not for the faint hearted I'm learning. It took me a trial run in another stretch fabric and one in cotton to get major fitting issues out of the way. (I'm thinking I might want a cotton capri from this pattern as well) 

With my new jeans I still had to tweak some fitting issues and with the help of YouTube I'm now happy with the fit and have worn them a few times and I find them super comfortable. I've rolled the pant leg up and down, so I'm checking the box that allows me to wear them all year as long as it's not too hot out.

One day people I will own a serger but for now my seams are old school.

 Sew, trim and a zig zag stitch to finish them off.

I can see why women adored these fun, casual pants so much because...

Oh look you can pretend to water the plants when its' pouring outside in them.:)

This entire outfit cost was $15.

Sweater -thrifted

Shirt -thrifted and modified

Pants- made by me

Earrings-thrifted

scarf- I already owned 

A Musical in Orange

It's been "hot then it's cold"  and I've been "busy as a bzzzz bee" throughout it all. ( hehe a little musical humour for you)
But seriously folks, we've had hot spring days already and as usual it's caught me off guard in the clothing department. Want I want is clothing that can be worn that gets me through the chilly spring days but also the dog days of summer.

" Welcome to the Sixties" Ok, ok .. I know I've said before that I wasn't a fan of the sixties style of clothing and now I appear to be a liar. What I've come to like is what I like to call sixties casual.

By the way, I'm still not thrilled about taking pictures of myself. Those Sear Catalogue poses, what to do with your hands, the far off looks you give... so I find myself looking through the pictures and coming up with captions for them. 

This one says " oh look, it's raining and I'm pretending I'm not freezing because it's only 8 degrees outside"

This one says " Oh no!! My sweater is falling off. Now I know I'm bound to freeze because it's only 8 degrees outside. Who will save me!!!!!" No worries, I saved myself.

I originally thrifted the sweater because of it's brand new just knitted condition. Some may have passed on this sweater because of its electric orange colour but I saw it at least as something to wear around Halloween. The earrings were also a fun find. 

But what this picture was really saying is this shirt started out it's life looking like this.

I bought this shirt the other day at Goodwill because it was gingham annnddd it was a peachy orange gingham. I knew I wanted to tear it apart and put it back together and if it didn't work, no biggy I'd cut it up even further to become something else.

Here's what I did do. I took the sleeves and collar off and opened the sides. 

From the sleeves I fashioned a new 60's wider collar from a pattern I had. I added darts in the sides and made the shirt a little more fitted at my waist. I trimmed the top of sleeve back a bit so it hit better on my shoulder and made a facing from bias tape.

I'd say success for me!!

The question you may be asking yourself is why not just buy an already made shirt. 

1. It likely won't have that vintage feel I want.

2. It was a super cheap shirt that I didn't have to pay a lot of money for and since the fabric feels high end..bonus!

3. No muslin making!!!

4. Although not the answer to the real problem it was one less shirt made in a probable sweat shop. 

( it says made in Malaysia so I am just assuming, feel free to correct me)

As for the cigarette pants, that story is for another day.

I leave you now with my best KISS impression. :)

House Tour!

If you follow my blog you can always tell when the warm sunshine has arrived because posts get infrequent. The outside starts calling my name and I can't resist. We spent the majority of our long weekend doing just that, outside playing in the garden, having fires with roasted hotdogs and s'mores.  When our bodies needed a break from yard work we drank Springtime Lemonade.

Last week on our hunt for the perfect home for the boys this church conversion was on the list.

The Basement was a cozy spot.

I'm pretty sure your guests would never want to leave the guest house.

 It was complete with kitchen bath and living area not to mention this sweet little bedroom.

There where also trails through a small cedar grove and a pool to lounge by.

I think I've gotten quite a few ideas from the houses that we toured for my own home. Unfortunately for Roger it might require some weekend building. :)

Want to see more?

Look here!