Dying Old Jeans

I have two pair of jeans I love that had gotten very faded, so I decided to experiment with them. The pair on the right were even lighter than the pair on the left. I used one bottle of black Rit dye and dyed them this afternoon. It worked pretty well, but there are a few spots of slightly uneven color. I think next time I'll use a bigger bucket with a bit more water so the fabric can move around more freely. I have a front loading washer, so a bucket is really my only option. The only hard part was rinsing the dye after it was done soaking. It took about 20 minutes of rinsing and squeezing until the water was almost clear. I used rubber gloves for the first 15 minutes of the rinsing, but then they filled with water and I gave up on them. After rinsing I ran them through the washer with an extra rinse cycle to try to get all the dye out. On the other pair I'm going to try Rit Denim Blue. I'm really looking forward to wearing them now that they're not pale blue!

Cupcake Bites

I saw Bakerella make cupcake pops on Martha Stewart last year and thought they were cute, but too much work. (And check out what she did for Easter! The picture at the end of this post is just crazy. This woman must make pops 24/7.)
Then I saw her make Cupcake Bites over at Pioneer Woman. I realize that they're almost the same, but somehow these seemed easier to handle.
After our week of birthdays in March we had half of a single layer frosted cake just sitting on the counter calling to me. So I smushed it up and formed the balls.

I melted some white chocolate bark and added a little bit of purple food coloring gel. I think I would add more purple next time for a brighter color. I put a dollop of the purple chocolate into the plastic mold. I think this mold was originally intended for peanut butter cups. Then I put a cake ball into each spot.
I was impatient to get to the next step, so I put the mold into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up the purple chocolate. It worked.

Then I dipped each one in melted chocolate. You kind of have to work quickly because the purple chocolate will start to melt a little bit if you hold on too long.

After dipping I added an M&M and some sprinkles. I think they turned out really cute, but I'm not sure I'd need to make a whole batch (40+ cupcake bites??) Next time I have half of a single layer cake sitting around not getting eaten I'll definitely make these again, though. The kids loved them!

Fantastic idea!!!

http://craftgawker.com/

Salt & Pepper Potato Crisps

So I recently found out I had an ulcer and have been experimenting with different foods to find things that aren't irritating. Potatoes work, but they get boring after awhile. I found this recipe on Foodgawker.com this morning and gave it a shot.


Potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 400. Slice potatoes very thin. A mandolin would work best so they are even! Spread on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes, turn and sprinkle with salt & pepper (I added a little seasoned salt too). Bake for another 5 minutes or until crisp.


The finished product....they were actually really good! Very crispy and crunchy. I would cut down the initial baking time to 10 minutes, then flip and bake another 10 minutes, just to even the browning a little bit.

April Fool's Day

Our April Fool's Day started with Daddy finding a snake in his sock drawer. At lunch, this was our centerpiece. The kids knew something was up, but couldn't quite figure it out. They kept asking why there were gummy worms in the dirt of the plant. The pot is filled with chocolate pudding and topped with crushed Oreos. They pronounced it their favorite lunch EVER.