Skinny Strawberry Lemondrop

Continuing on the fresh fruit journey of summer cocktails we have a Skinny Strawberry Lemondrop.  Made only with vodka, strawberries, and a whole lemon.  Tastes like strawberry lemonade, but then when you get to the bottom of the drink there is a strawberry that has been muddled so it soaks up all the vodka and whoo that's a kick at the end :)  I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:

2.5 oz Vodka (I used Grey Goose because it was around, but I think it would be better with Absolut Citron)
1 whole lemon
3 strawberries (diced)

Directions:

1. Slice up the three strawberries, put one inside martini glass and the other two in martini shaker.
   

   

    
2. Slice the lemon into six slices.
3. Put the other two strawberrries into martini shaker and muddle into bottom, also muddle the strawberry in martini glass (if you do not have a muddler, just use a fork that was what I did.)
   

   

   
   
4. Fill martini shaker half way full with ice, add vodka and squeeze in lemon juice.  Go ahead and toss in a few of the lemon rines as well it will help get more lemon flavor into your drink when your shaking. 
5. Strain drink into martini glass and garnish with a sliced strawberry if you'd like to be fancy pants :)



Flower Smashing Fabric

I saw an blog on BurdaStyle that was all about Eco-Dying Fabric.  They showed one about flower smashing to "stain" the fabric and I loved it!  This is my process of going through the Flower Smashing Technique. 

Supplies Needed:

• Flowers/leaves of your choice (make sure they are fresh and still moist)
• Fabric (100% cotton preferably a lighter color, white will work best)
• Duct Tape
• Shears
• Hammer/Mallet

Directions:

1. Prepping Fabric:  If you want to get vibrant colors from the flowers you're going to want to set/fix the fabric.  I did this by mixing 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar.  Bring to a boil in a large pot and put fabric in pot, let simmer for 1 hour.  It will smell so open some windows or you can try this website for other ways to Fix Fabric.  Let hang dry.
2. Once your fabric has dried set on a flat surface (you want this to be a space you don't care about, or have it covered with plastic) and begin to spread out your flowers in the design you would like.

3. Now begin putting duct tape strips over the flowers to hold them in place.

4. Now with flowers facing down put plastic over fabric, you can cut up a trash bag, I didn't do this the first time and when I began to hammer the color of the flowers got onto the hammer and I begin spreading that and made it look spotty, so this will make it cleaner, but if you want a more abstract look you can choose not to  cover the fabric with plastic. Begin smashing your flowers with a hammer or mallet.  You will instantly be able to see the colors seeping through the fabric.
5. Take tape off and remains of flowers.  Let dry for about an hour.
6. Now to set the colors in the fabric with an iron press for about 5 seconds, the areas that were smashed.  Now your fabric is ready to use for your sewing projects.

I made 3 insulated tote bags with a pattern I found here for Christmas gifts.

Grapefruit Martini

  

Continuing on my journey of making fresh fruit incorporated drinks I have concocted up a refreshing Grapefruit Martini.  Made with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, vodka and a dash of pure cane sugar simple syrup.  This reminds of when I was a kid and thought grapefruits were just way too tart and would sprinkle sugar on top and bite right into the grapefruit with that sweet and tart flavor.  I hope you enjoy as much as I did!
Tools Needed:

• Martini Shaker
• Martini Glasses
• Measuring Tool (Could be a jigger, or I used a measuring cup that had ounce measurements on the side)
• Juicer (Optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 Grapefruit (Any type will work, makes two martinis)
• 2.5oz. Absolut Citron
• 1/4-1/2oz. Pure Cane Sugar Simple Syrup
• Cane Sugar

Directions:

1. Put your martini glasses in freezer to get them ice cold while you are making your drinks.  It only takes about 10 minutes for the glasses to get frosty, but you can put them in earlier to get them extra cold.
2. Cut your grapefruit in half or quarters, dependent on what type of juicing tool you have available.  When you have the fruit cut in half cut off a small sliver to be able to use as a garnish if you want.  I used a juicer where where you twist the halves to get your juice.  If you don't have a juicer available to you though you can just cut into quarters and squeeze the juices on out, this is going to be just as good, so long as it's fresh squeezed juice. 

3. Fill your martini shaker full of ice, measure out 2.5oz. of Absolut Citron Vodka, 2oz. Grapefruit Juice, and 1/4-1/2oz. simple syrup (dependant on how sweet you would like it to taste). 
4. Shake vigorously for about 10 seconds, I like to see very small ice flakes in my martinis, it's sort of your way of knowing that someone put some extra time and care to make sure your martini is going to be ice cold and enjoyable.  No one likes a warm martini...ewww.
5. Dip top of martini glass into grapefruit juice and then dip into cane sugar.  Strain your martini into the glass and top with your garnish.  Ready to sit back and enjoy :)

DIY - Convert Pants to Skinny Tutorial

So I have these pair of white pants that I loved the fit of when I first bought them, they were nice and long and made the butt look good ;-)  However once I washed them it was shrinks-ville.  I am about 5'7" and have run into this problem quite a few times after a few washes.  For bell bottoms or bootleg pants it especially becomes an awkward length.  However, for skinny pants right at the ankle is a perfect length to show off your cute shoes.  Here is a tutorial for converting those old pants into some cute upcycled skinny pants.  Hope you enjoy :-)

Supplies Needed:

• Sewing Machine
• Shears
• Washable Fabric Pencil/Pen
• Matching Thread
• Old/Used Pants
• Pair of Skinny Jeans/Pants that you like the fit of

Directions:

1. First iron the Pants that you will be altering and the Skinny Jeans that you already like.
2. With both pants inside out fold the pants in half like so, the back of the pants facing eachother.

   

3.  Place the Skinny Jeans on top of the pants you want to alter, making sure to align the crotch and seam that goes down.  You can already see where you will be sewing off.

4.  With a washable pencil/pen begin to draw a strait line down the pants you are altering.  Now it was a little difficult to keep the pants underneath flat, but try your best it doesn't have to be perfect, so long as the width is correct. While you are drawing the line press the Jeans down flat so your sure to get the whole width, it tends to bubble with a little air.

5. Now get to your sewing machine and sew up the line you just drew for your new seam.  If you would feel more comfortable you may pin right outside the line you just drew to make sure the pants stay put and don't move, but I don't think it's necessary.  I just tried to make sure there were no folds where I was sewing the new seam. I recommend using a zig zag or overlock stitch since they are skinny style they will most likely be under some stretching pressure. I started at the top so I could start with the old seam and then worked my way down.  By starting where the old seam is your preventing any air bubbles from forming and making your pants look amature.  This will make your seam look clean.  Since you are starting at top and going down, the hem may end up uneven but we can fix this at step 11.

6. After sewing up the seam, I went ahead and turned them right side out and tried it on to make sure I liked the new fit.

7. Now that I know I like the new width I took them off and went back to inside out and folded them back to the way we started and lined up the crotch seam to the other leg.  This way both of the legs are the same width.  Rather than if I used the Skinny Jeans again I could end up drawing a new width for the other leg.  Draw up new line, I did trim the leg that I already sewed so it would be easier and then lifted up access fabric to align the seam and not the extra fabric too.

8. Go ahead and sew up the other leg using the zig zag/overlock stitch again.

9.  Try on the pants again to make sure both legs look even, before we cut off the excess fabric.  Then there's no going back...

10. Now trim off your excess fabric about 1/4" away from the new seam. Add a finishing seam to the edge, I just went ahead and did another zig zag stitch along the edge.  This is important because it will take care of fraying fabric and like I said earlier since they are Skinny we will be putting some pressure on the seam a lot so just in case anything rips or tears you got a back up...there will be no bare leg flashing :)

11. Now this last step is optional, but I think it gave off a better finished look.  And since your aligning the crotch seam you may end up making the bottom hem uneven.  So fold over the hem halfway up, press, repeat.  Sew up new hem, I used just a strait stitch for bottom, an overlock double needle stitch would be prime though just seemed like too much work..hah.

Now your all finished and have a cute and stylish new pair of pants :-)

Skinny Pineapple Mojito

This is one of my new favorite drinks, and I don't even like rums.  I've been trying to create drinks that incorporate fresh fruit for the Spring/Summer season; and this is no exception.  With fresh pineapple, mint and limes you get amazing natural flavors without all the calories that normally come with a Mojito.  Cheers to summer!

Tools Needed:

• Martini Shaker
• Muddler

Ingredients

• 6 Pineapple Cubes
• 10 Mint Leaves, mint sprig for garnish (optional)
• 3 Lime Wedges
• .5 oz Pineapple Juice
• 2 oz. Bacardi Limon
• Splash of Soda Water

Directions

1. Chop up your pineapple cubes, they should be pretty small about 1cm each.
2. Put the pineapple cubes, mint leaves and lime wedges into bottom of pint glass.
3. Pour in your pineapple juice, muddle vigorously to get the juices out of pineapples and limes.
4. Scoop in ice to fill up glass.
5. Add in the Bacardi Limon and shake in martini shaker for about 10 seconds.
6. Pour back into your original glass and top with soda water.
7. Add mint sprig to top of glass for garnish.  Enjoy :)

 You can see the chunks of pineapple floating in the drink and they as you drink you will get those yummy chunks of pineapple coming up and they are absolutely fantastic...mMmmM

Raspberry Mochatini

This is my new favorite drink!  I was inspired by a recipe I saw for a martini that had Absolut Raspberry and Baileys Irish Cream; and a martini we make at my work, the Espresso Martini.  Plus I have an obsession with chocolate :)  It tastes similar to a mocha with the espresso and chocolate, but then the raspberry flavors take away from being overly sweet and with the fresh raspberries shaken into the drink you taste the seeds which I love to get that texture at the end of the drink.  Hope you enjoy as well.


Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Absolut Raspberry
• .75 oz Baileys Irish Cream
• .75 oz Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
• dash of cream
• 1 shot espresso
• 2-3 fresh raspberries
• Chocolate Syrup

Directions

1. Get your espresso shot ready.
2. Fill pint glass 3/4 full of ice.
3. Toss in ingredients and shake vigorously for 10 seconds, getting the raspberries nice and mashed up.
4. Swill chocolate syrup on your martini glass and strain drink into glass

5. Enjoy :)

Long Sleeve Shirt Into Mini Skirt

Supplies Needed:

* Old long sleeve shirt (short sleeve could work, but I used the sleeves for the waist band so you  would have to improvise).  It needs to be a knit fabric though so it can fit over our womanly curves :)
* Thread
* Rotary Cutter or Shears
* Clear ruler


Directions:


1.  Cut off the sleeves.  Don't mind the deoderant streaks, I was trying to see if this shirt would even fit over my hips and got deoderant everywhere, I can wash it out later :)

2. Cut strait line at the armpits, this is where the clear ruler came in handy.

3. Next measure the width of the top of your skirt.  Mine ended up being 18.5", this will help determine how long you need to make the waistband.  So I used the sleeves to create a waistband, but if you have a short sleeve shirt you want to use you could always use any excess fabric you have laying around or an elastic band (get creative with it).

4. So I added a 1/2" to my 18.5", so I would have a little room for the seams making the front of the waistband 19".  Line up the sleeve to the length you desire and cut a strait line.

5. Next I got the clear ruler and saw where I could cut off the excess sleeve and get a strait line.  Make sure the fold from the sleeve is on top.

6. Now pin your cut waist band to the other sleeve you have.  Cut around so that they are both the same size.

7.  Now pin both ends together so create your waistband and sew together.  I used a zig zag stitch, just make sure you use a stitch that will stretch out for the knit fabrics.

8.  Now with the skirt inside out, pin the waistband to the inside (so the right sides will be facing). Make sure you match up the seams on the sides. Then sew.

9.  Press seam.  Now we have a cute little mini skirt!