A Spin on S'mores'

I found this recipe months and months ago and finally got around to making it.

1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk stirred into 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate morsels. Heat this for almost 2 minutes in a microwave until all is melted. Stir until smooth.

Pour chocolate mixture into a 9x13 or smaller dish such as I did.

Then measure out 1/2 up of Marshmallow creme (or Fluff as I'm use to calling it) and drop by spoonfuls onto the chocolate mixture.

Place back in the microwave for 30 seconds, just enough for the marshmallow fluff to melt. Remove from the microwave and cut through the chocolate and marshmallow mixture, creating swirls. I know, I know, it looks great doesn't it?
 

Then slowly present this to your kids with some graham crackers for dipping and watch out. Though the first bite was tentative the 2nd, 3rd and eventually 100th bite later was full force 'get this delicious chocolate concoction into my mouth NOW. (Ok it wasn't a hundred bites later but at one point I thought I was going to have to pull a "Oh my gosh look over there" hoax to get them distracted enough so that I could pull the pan away.

For those that may not want to mess with S'mores and how perfect they are in their natural order may I present to you the S'mores Maker.

How cool is this? Fill the water well to the fill line, close the lid.

Assemble your S'mores just like you've always done. Then lower the little arms onto the top graham cracker.

Pop in the microwave for 30 seconds, remove carefully. Look how great that marshmallow puffed up!!! That's a beautiful thing.

Raise the arms and then smash the S'mores down. Enjoy.

Oh you may want to have some napkins or wet paper towels on hand. No matter how they are cooked S'mores are meant to get everywhere.

Wordless Wednesday.

Roses and Crayons.

Not only was I busy sewing Mommy Bags this weekend, but I was sewing 3 Rose headbands and 3 Crayon Rolls for a friend of mine back in Alabama. She has three beautiful girls and I was very flattered to sew these for her princesses. (The last petal of the red polka dot rose was rolled under for this photo. I didn't catch that until posting this)

1 Tinker Bell, 1 Ariel, and 1 Princess Crayon Roll all rolled up and ready to go.

                                                               Here they are open.

Hmmmm....maybe I should make another polka dotted one for Oscar, he does seem to enjoy earing it as a collar. (Don't tell my sister)

Mommy Bags.

I was gifted this book on my birthday back in January. I not only devoured every page in one sitting but I started bookmarking all the many things I wanted to make from all the lovely pages. The first project I tried from this book is called the Mommy Bag. Somewhat like a diaper bag but for a mom that's on her way out of the house without the kids this time.

Here's mine already full of all the mommy things I always carry with me. This bag is perfec for pens, paper, hairbows, the occasional dragon toy and handy wipes.

The day after I made my first Mommy Bag, I sat down to sew up another one. It's so quick and easy. I think I like the bag better with the handles in the same fabric as the bag, unlike mine that I had to match the lining fabric.

My favorite thing about this bag, is not only how roomy and cute it is but I love the 4 pleats on each side. Here's a close up of the pleats. Kinda hard to see through the print of the fabric's I used. I have more fabric set aside to make more of these great bags. I think they would work well as a grocery bag for a Farmer's Market or Produce store too.

Of you can use it as a toasty bed for your cat.

Name Change.

Did you notice the name change to the blog a few days back? I was thinking of doing this months and months ago but never felt I had the right mind set for a blog name change. I was 'I'm Someone to Watch..." for a few years but now I feel it no longer applied to my blog or really what I wanted for this blog. Of course I want followers and people that watch for what I might post next. But this....Frenzied Mutterings of An Odd Duck...just seems more appropriate. :)    The name change didn't affect the link to my blog but I do think it suits things better around here.  After all...you'll never know what comes out of this Odd Ducks mouth.

Feeding my Addiction.

A $3 long sleeve shirt...that I didn't need. It's warming up here in Virginia so long sleeves are getting ready to go to the back of the closet. This shirt was $3 though, I couldn't pass that up and it was comfy and the fabric was a little stretchy.

So I chopped off the sleeves to make them shorter. I didn't have to bother hemming them because the fabric just rolled a tiny bit and doesn't unravel.

Then I took the sleeves and cut along the length of the seam in each and laid them flat.

Then I laid them flat and cut 2 strips from each sleeve, about 3in in width. I had to even out some of the sides a bit to make them square. The fabric kept rolling so this was a bit of chore to get them to lay flat enough to cut.

Then I cut a 1inch strip from the left over and ironed that to some interfacing for strength. This material wanted to roll in on it's self and I knew I wouldn't be able to work with something that rolled into a tube. :) After I ironed it on to the interfacing I cut it out.

I sewed 2 of the long sleeve pieces together and then sewed a straight line down one side to create a ruffle. I did the same to the remaining two pieces of the sleeve.

Then I pinned the ruffles down the middle of the shirt. Next came the 1'' strip that I ironed onto interfacing. I laid that over where the ruffles touched each other and sewed down each side of the 1'' piece.

Instant ruffles short sleeved shirt. I got this idea from a blog I follow, and she put 6 buttons down the front of her ruffle after sewing in the 1'' strip. I wasn't to hip on the idea of buttons. Against the black material they were either going to just blend right in or pop to much so I skipped that idea. Cute right?

If it wasn't so windy outside the ruffles would have photographed a lot better. :)

 

Wordless Wednesday.

Hanging Earrings.

I wish this were my idea. It's not. I found something very similar to this online and had the light bulb, "I can make that" spring into my head. Then I found this great, classic, white picture frame at TJ Maxx for cheap so I had to make it.

I took the glass and cardboard thing out of the back of the frame.

Then I laid the frame over some lace and cut a piece to fit plus a 1/2 inch all the way around. Next I hot glued the lace to the back of the the frame as tight as possible(I think this will hold up better if you use a staple gun but I don't have the privilege of owning one).

And voila, a wonderful shabby sheik place to hang all my earrings. I love how the lace work comes through almost as art.

Does anyone else notice a theme with my earrings after looking at this picture? I see a lot of beads and earth colors. Who knew? Right now I have this sitting up on my dresser but you could totally hang this on the wall to. If Evan Grace keeps messing with my earrings I may have to try that out.