Little Clothespin Cutie

I'm afraid my Bento Lunch creations are at Risk. I've discovered a new obsession that seems to be monopolizing my time lately.



Isn't she adorable (if I do say so myself)? Now can you see why I'm obsessed with making these little cuties. This one was completely "styled" by Little K. She chose the fabric and colors (hair and eye colors are the same as hers)...she even painted the legs/tights and stripes herself.



I love how the stripes on her tights are all wonky.

This one was actually just a trial run. We have a friend who celebrated her 6th Birthday this weekend, and I wanted to make a little Clothespin Doll Scene for her present.



This is what we made for her. The colors are coordinated to her Birthday invitation (shown in the background). The little dolls hair and eye colors match the Birthday Girl.

Her theme was "Birds in the Garden", so we had to add some flowers and a little bluebird singing away.






I've been admiring the work of several Flickr artists that make fantastic clothespin dolls. Some of my faves are Jenny at be cheery, Susan at Sweetimaginations and Carol at Wee Cute Treasures. Their creations inspired me to give this craft a try. They give their dolls such personality and each artist has their own unique style. It's been fun watching their work.

I remember making clothespin dolls as a child. I think it was a kit that had all the pins and sheets of felt with itty bitty pattern pieces that you cut into clothes and then glued to the clothespin. I worked for hours on those little creations. I guess I was a bit obsessive even back then. The thrill has come rushing back, and I still have lots of supplies, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of these cuties to come.

But first - I think I better go pack Little K a bento box for school tomorrow.

Arizona Night Sky

Taking a moment to appreciate the Sunset.

The sky lights up like this nearly every night here in Arizona, but I rarely get to see it. Cleaning Up from dinner, Packing Lunch, Snuggling with Little K, they all keep me occupied inside while the day comes to an beautiful end outside.

Maybe tomorrow we'll sit outside together and watch the sun go down. The dishes can always wait until after dark!

Pasta for Everyone

Little K and I had the great idea to make pasta - from scratch! I'm not quite sure why, since you can buy a box of pasta in any flavor, or shape you want for just around a dollar. I guess it was the thought of playing around in the messy dough that appealed to both of us. Besides, isn't anything home made Better than store bought?

So with that thought in mind - we got started.

The ingredients are simple. Just Eggs, Flour, Olive Oil and Salt. I'm sure a real Italian cook would just mix it all together until it felt right. But we needed to at least start with a recipe.

Homemade Pasta

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mound flour in the center of a large board. Make a well in the flour and break the eggs into the center. Sprinkle on the salt and add the oil. With your fingertips, mix the eggs into the flour gradually incorporating the walls of the well. When all the eggs are mixed with the flour, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. It will be very firm and should be quite smooth, the kneading process will take about 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into long strips. Dry the strips slightly (we use a long handled wooden spoon). After the dough is slightly dry, (don't wait too long or the dough will be too brittle to cut), cut the strips into desired shapes (long thin strips). Dry on a rack until ready to use.

Incorporating the flour into the eggs was a lot of fun. That's Little K doing all the work. Look at that beautiful golden color. I swear it's from the brown eggs I use.



Two huge jars of olives I keep on my kitchen counter worked perfect as a drying station for the pasta. We used a long wooden spoon across the top, and hung the cut pasta strips over the spoon.

As we were cutting the strips, I was really wishing I had bought that pasta machine I wanted for making Skulpy Clay creations. I'm not sure why, but the the shape, and thickness of the pasta effects the taste, and it's pretty difficult to get the pasta thin enough when you are rolling by hand (at least for us it was).

I won't say it was the best tasting pasta we have ever had. I think if we were able to make the strips narrower and thinner, they would have tasted better. But we had loads of fun making our noodles, and I'm sure we'll do it again soon.

While we were waiting for the pasta to dry, we whipped up some home made vanilla ice cream to eat with these delicious white nectarines. The Pasta may not have been perfect...but the ice cream was pretty close, and definitely better than last time....I think we finally have it figured out.

So come on over for dinner. We always have the ingredients on hand for Homemade Pasta and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Fun Find

I got these adorable green Ramekin Dishes some time ago at the Dollar Store. I didn't expect them to hold up very well (you get what you pay for), but there were the best shade of Green and I just couldn't resist.

I've had them for a few months, and used them over and over again. Much to my surprise, there is not a single chip or crack. I've even baked in them. They are great for Dips and Salsas, I grab one when I need to Scramble an Egg, and last night we used them for Taco Toppings.

I could have used a few more (for the Salsa, Sour Cream and Lettuce), but for some reason I only purchased 3?

Now I'm off to the Dollar Store to see if I can find any more. Hope I get there before you do, because I might just buy them All Up.