DIY Removable Friendship Bracelets

A few months ago, I bought some friendship bracelets at Paper Source in DC to share with my sister. We’ve been wearing them ever since, so the ends started to look a little tattered. And being a (semi-)adult, sometimes I just don’t want to wear an embroidery floss bracelet with fraying ends. After gathering some inspiration from this post on How About Orange, I decided to change our friendship bracelets into something that could be taken on and off. I figured this would extend the length of their lives (and my friendship with my sister — that’s how these bracelets work, right?) and allow me to sometimes appear to be an adult. Read on to see how I did this simple DIY.

DIY Disney Vacation Mini Scrapbook

A few weeks ago, my family and I went down to Orlando for a long weekend at Disney. There’s a part of me that really likes scrapbooking and another part that really likes taking pictures and a whole other part that was just really excited about Disney. So I took all of that and decided to make this mini scrapbook project. It started from a desire to have a small notebook to carry around for character autographs, and it evolved into what I think is a really great way to save memories from any vacation.

Cinnamon Butter Puffs: Lazy Saturday Breakfast

Saturday morning I woke up wanting to make breakfast. But I didn’t want to sit around and wait for bread to rise, and I didn’t want to go to the grocery store. I dug out my favorite cookbook of all time — The Breakfast Book — and I found this perfect recipe. They were done less than an hour after I woke up, and they’re delicious. These puffs are a little more dense than normal muffins, but they’re sweet without being too sweet and have a subtle nutmeg flavor. I’m in love.

Knitting Project: Braided Headwrap

This is one of my favorite knitting patterns I’ve found. The headwrap above is the third I’ve made so far, and it was a perfect pattern to use with this yarn. And bonus: It’s really simple to make. Even a beginner could do this project easily. It’s knit in the round —  the most difficult skill involved — which makes it quite thick and really warm. If you know how to knit a little or a lot and you’re looking for a pattern to try, make it this one.

In Praise of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

I don’t think I can praise the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook enough. Obviously I have an unhealthy obsession with food blogs, but Smitten Kitchen has been one of my very favorites for a long time. When I saw she had a cookbook coming out, I bought it as soon as I could. I’ve tried a few recipes from it already — the Ratatouille Sub earning some high praise — and the recipes are everything I want from a cookbook. They’re relatively easy, fun to make, and the cookbook is full of beautiful pictures. If you don’t own this cookbook already, I suggest you buy it. Last week I decided to try a couple more recipes from her book, and they were both absolutely delicious. I made Gnocchi in Tomato Broth (with slight adjustments) and her Blue Cheese Iceberg Salad.

Tiny Knitted Things

My latest knitting obsession is these tiny little guys that I can crank out in about an hour each. Seriously, how cute are they? You use size 1 needles for these babies, and it’s actually like knitting with toothpicks. I made the chicken and elephant for myself, but I’ve been giving them to friends as tiny gifts when I visit lately. All of the patterns are from this book, and I highly recommend it if you’re an intermediate knitter.

Chai Spice Pumpkin Kiss Cookies

So I’ve been a little negligent of the blogosphere. One reason is because I’ve been chowing down on fun-size candy bars instead of baking. Whoops. Another reason is that I learned to knit, and it’s become one of those things that consumes every spare moment in my life. Kind of like when I started watching Glee on Netflix. However, I did (finally) find some time and motivation to bake, and I made these chai spice pumpkin kiss cookies. They’re fairly simple (like any kiss cookie), and I like how festive they are. They’d make a great complement to any Thanksgiving get-together — especially for those who are afraid of making pies.