The affordable (cheap) Walmart beach bag

I bought a cute affordable beach bag at Walmart this week.  It cost under $5 so I just had to have it.  I don't own a beach bag and it is summertime.  You never know when you'll have a pool party to go to or a spontaneous trip to the beach.  I went and bought this beach bag after seeing it on the Walmart website. I read the reviews and knew the handles were a weak point.  Here is what the bag looked like when I bought it........

The handles are thin plastic strips that are slid through a clear plastic tube and then woven into the body of the bag.  It does not go very far down the side and is not glued or knotted, they definitely look like they will unravel. 

So I bought some bright green ribbon at Micheal's (by now you probably realize that I spend allot of time at Micheal's)  I love the way that the black and white stripes look but really wanted a color to make the bag 'pop".  My favorite color is green and they had the prefect grassy green 3/8" ribbon.  

I started by taking apart one side of the handle, then stapled the ribbon to the plastic strips that were going through the clear tube. Then pulled the ribbon all the way through the tube.  Next I wove the ribbon down the side of the bag and up the other side using a paper clip that I tied the ribbon to (it made it much easier then trying to use my fingers).  When I got to the handle on the other side I took apart the plastic that was holding the handle on, just like I did to start.  Repeating the stapling of the ribbon to the plastic strips and pulling it though the clear tube.  I wanted to use only one piece of ribbon so there is only one place that the ribbon will be knotted.     
 

Here is the weaving with the paper clip

A close up of the ribbon and the clear plastic tube handle thingy

All finished?

No way! I made a removable flower for it too. 

Total project cost = $5 for the bag + $3.50 for the ribbon and flower = $8.50

Here's the link to the bag on Walmart's website

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Womens-Striped-Woven-Beach-Tote/15935884



Anniversary Memories Scrapbook

My Husband and I have been married for 2 years.  For our first anniversary I started a memory scrapbook.  It has a page for each year with memories from the last year, where we lived, where we worked, our trips and adventures and what we are looking forward to in the future.  Then it has a page or a few pages for how we celebrated our anniversary.  I am very excited about this special memory book.  This year when I was making the #2 pages it was fun to look back on year one.  I can't wait for our 10th anniversary.  To see how much we have changed, to look back and see what we were doing when we were newly weds.  Here's some pictures (sorry about the quality I took them with my phone).

This is the cover.  I bought a scrapbook kit from Micheal's that came with the book, a bunch of paper and decorations. Plus a great storage box!  It had everything I'll need to make the book except letter stickers.  I plan on putting something on the cover I just haven't found the right thing yet. 

This is the cover page :)

This is from our first year.  Memories, where we lived, jobs, things we are looking forward to and trips.

Here is the celebration page

Here's our 2nd year. 

The first year I did 4 pages since we had a bunch of pictures and "stuff" to put in from our anniversary trip.  This year I only had a little bit of stuff so I made just 1 page for the celebration.  I decided that each year I will make the pages so I have extra room if I need it or can use just one or two pages if I don't. 

jello poke cake cupcakes

Since I started the day thinking about food, i had to share this recipe too.  My Husband's birthday is coming up and he isn't really a "cake" guy.  He always told me he didn't like cake until the day I made Jello Poke Cake.  My mom used to make this for me when I was a kid and it's one of my very favorite ways to eat cake. 

          I found this picture on http://www.howdoesshe.com/red-white-and-blue-cupcakes 

What you need:

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin (or any other flavor you love) 

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

 

 

Make It

Prepare batter and bake as directed on package for cupcakes. Cool in pans 10 min. Pierce tops with meat fork.

STIR boiling water into gelatin mix until dissolved; spoon over cupcakes. Refrigerate 30 min. Remove from pans.

Spread cool whip on top of cupcakes.  Decorate as desired. Store in refrigerator


I love to make these with more than one flavor of Jello.  My favorite is orange and raspberry jello in one cupcake.  Just Pour Jello liquid into a squeeze bottle and squeeze different flavor into different holes. 

Whats for dinner........

Well my small garden is starting to explode with zucchini and I had a craving for some kind of Chicken, zucchini and lemon dish.  I searched around the fridge and found some asparagus.  I always cook asparagus the same way with this recipe.  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-asparagus-with-shallots/detail.aspx  but i really wanted to do something different with it for once.  If I haven't ever told you I LOVE allrecipes.com!!!!! The search by ingredient feature is amazing!!! So nice when you want to use what you have in the pantry.  OK back to the point......

I whipped up this dish last week.  Since it's just my husband and me at home this recipe serves 2. 


Chicken, Asparagus, and Zucchini Skillet

Ingredients


3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced  (I love Garlic so I used 4 cloves ;)

Juice from 1 lemon

1/4 cup white wine (or more if you want, i just kept adding it when the liquid cooked down)

1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, diced

1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into thirds

1 cup sliced fresh zucchini
 
Salt and Pepper to taste
 
Red pepper flakes to taste
 
 
Directions


1.Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high; Cook diced chicken till no longer pink and juice runs clear. Then stir in the basil, oregano, garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth and wine. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally about 10 more minutes.

2.Add the asparagus; cook and stir until the asparagus is bright green and just starting to become tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the Zucchini and cook an additional 3 minutes. Serve hot over brown rice or noodles.
 
 
You could add any veggies, even mushrooms.  We are a mushroom free house (the husband won't touch them) so I never cook with them but am sure they would be great in this.  Also bell peppers, or onions........

Stamping on fabric- A last minute baby shower gift

So I had been planning on making these custom onesies for a baby shower the last few months and then SURPRISE!!! it's this weekend.  So I went out and bought some plain white onesies and a few stamp pads.  I saw allot of blogs recommending the VersaCraft pad but I needed to find something local and ended up with the ColorBox CRAFTER'S inks.  I was going for a motocross/ dirt bike theme and had bought the perfect rubber stamp.  I also bought a diecast dirt bike to use the wheels as a stamp (I am putting the dirt bike into the gift basket). 

I started by practicing on an old t-shirt to see how much ink and pressure I needed to get the results I wanted.  You don't want to press your stamp into the ink, instead tap your stamp lightly and repeatedly onto the ink pad.  I had no trouble while working on the onesies, just pressed the stamp firmly down and held for a few seconds.  It was so much easier than i thought. 

I also tried to stamp using fabric paint and had no luck.  I could not get crisp edges with the paint.  I am sure there is a trick but I haven't tried very much yet. 

YOU MUST HEAT SET fabric ink to make it permanent.  When the ink is completely dry, use a hot dry iron and iron each stamped area for 2 minute's.  I used a piece of parchment paper on top of the onesies between the iron and the fabric.  It is also important to wait a week or two before washing. 

Here they are.....