Newest Member of the Hookable Designs Family

Meet the newest Hookable Designs member. I have been itching to just sit down and design, and finally found the time to do it. Its a bracelet, which surprised me, because I don't really make bracelets that often. But I love her. I also don't normally genderize (you like my made up word?) jewelry but with this one I'll make an exception because the design is so boldly feminine.   

 

Does it look really long for a bracelet? Well its because you double wrap it.

I haven't found a name for it(uh, I mean her). So I want to know what name you would give this beauty?

 I have more pictures that I'm going to be posting in my Etsy shop after I put Lincoln to bed. So check it out!

Now For Something Random 

Do you see what I see? No thats not two daisies being held together, that two daisies growing out of one stem. Its a Siamese Twin daisy! I randomly found it while walking though hundreds of daisies in attempt  to check out some seeding lupines in my field. I thought it was so rare that I had to take a picture of it and share with you all.

Monday love,

Danielle

Oh so tasty and easy to make French Fries

Hot, made in the kitchen, french fries were calling my name the other day. So I answered the call and challenge myself to try something new! I had never made french fries from scratch before but I figured it couldn't be too hard.Right? Well it wasn't, but I will tell you what mistake I made so you don't have to make the same.

Ingredients

2 medium size potatoes

Ranch seasoning

Candy/Frying thermometer 

 Oil that is for high heat 

Deep sided pan

Metal Spatula  

Salt

Lots of paper towels

Cut your potatoes vertical and in as even as you can get pieces

From your vertical slices cut the potatoes into even "straw" like pieces

(I know rocket science right) 

Ok this is were it gets good, I let you in on a little Mortons Steakhouse potato trick. 

Pour salt over them and cover with cold water. Its called brining and its used to add seasoning to the inside of the potatoes and also keep them moist. Let it sit in the brine for at least a half an hour or more. Drain and pat the potatoes with paper towel to soak up the excess water.

While this is happening heat at least 2-3 inches of oil in your pan ( make sure it is deep ). Place your thermometer in the oil and allow it to heat until it reaches the potato frying temperature, 350F.

Heres the mistake I made. I was impatient with the oil heating up all the way. So I put my french fries in and soon realized I shouldn't have done that. The oil temperature was dropping fast which meant it wasn't frying at the temperature it needed to be at. I now know I should have done two batches and allowed the oil to heat to 350 F. So don't make the same mistake I did!

After you have allowed the excess oil to be drained on paper towels, pour 1 Tbsp of ranch seasoning in a brown paper bag with some salt. Add the french fries and SHAKE. Shake until the fries are evenly coated. 

These were so good! We munched them down without even thinking. In fact, I didn't even know they were gone until I reached down and realized I had eaten the last fry in the previous bite. 

Inspirational Tuesdays- Robins Egg Blue

Welcome to Inspirational Tuesday

Robins Egg Blue

This sign is so sweet from Barn Owl Primitives. Taking a cue from the birdies that build their homes for their little ones. Its perfect for above the table, over a fireplace or hanging on the front door.

 These heart shaped nesting bowls are from D BABCOCK. She has beautiful pottery and a unique eye for producing her items. I love how these fit together, its a heart within a heart, within a heart!

Glory! I love this shirt! It makes me think I would look so cool and sophisticated with a little edge, which I like. Its from the designer Out Of Line and its made from cotton jersey, and in my book that is a double plus. I actually love all of her clothes.

Isn't this clever! Button soap from Hello Crafty. I've never seen anything like this, nor have I thought of anything like this. This would be the perfect gift and so fun for the kids. 

I want to be in a music video

 I have a side to me that lives in music videos. Not just any music video though, but one where I can prance around expressing myself musically despite my lack of talent in the music department...or dance department...or choreograph department. Basically any department that is required to make a music video. It will still be awesome though because I will give my heart and soul into it...and will make my sister take care of the rest.  In case your wondering it would be a music video like this:

See!! It doesn't take much talent to prance around like the brat pack from Breakfast Club does it!

If you've never seen these video's they are fan made and there are a lot of them on youtube. Here's another good one.

Ok so I have a month away until my next birthday, could this be a possibility? Could I pull this off? Would anyone like to see me dance on YouTube? Uh, feel free to just nod your head on the last one.

Stay tuned because this will be a To Be Decided Late answer.

A "what was I thinking" turned into "okay I can sport this" boyfriend shirt

Hmmmm. I am a goodwill fanatic, I don't go as much as I like, but when I do go I can go crazy with all the inspiring idea's that pop into my head while looking at stuff. Sometimes, though, my "bright" ideas at goodwill become "why did I get this" statements at home. Hence the overly large knit shirt.

*sorry for the fuzzy picture, funny face and hair that doesn't look like I combed it.*

I remember when I saw this at goodwill I was thinking I was going to make this into something awesome! I can't remember what the original idea was now, but I will point out several reasons why I shouldn't have bought it

Horizontal stripes!!!!! (Seriously Danielle)

Pockets that were accidentally sewn in the back

The label that was sewn in the front

Not enough buttons

obviously this shirt did not meet quality control and thus was given to Goodwill, and I naively adopted it.  

Okay, enough with the back story, I decided to finally make this shirt wearable. 

I laid one of my shirts over it to know where I needed to pin. I gave myself about a 2 inch seam allowance ( in case I needed to change it later) and pin each side together, gradually moving toward the sleeves.

The Result  

*again sorry for the fuzzy picture and everything else as mentioned above*

I still don't like the stripes but I think its manageable. And I'm betting it looks better in real life then in pictures ( or maybe thats my wishful thinking).

Enjoy! 

Boba Milk Tea- Refreshing and Delicious

Also known as Bubble Milk Tea, but whichever way you say it the drink is always delicious!

My husband first introduced me to this drink 6 years ago. I remember slurping up huge tapioca balls through an equally huge straw thinking this was the best thing ever. When I was pregnant with Lincoln I would crave the Avocado Boba Milk Smoothie!! Does avocado in a smoothie sound gross to you. Yes probably, but it tastes SOOOO good, rich and creamy. I also might add that Lincoln does love avocados now, I drank so many of them he had no other choice but to like them.

The Recipe

* This is the recipe I use, its not necessarily like other boba recipes*

Single cup recipe 0f tea

1/4 cup of cream

2-3 black tea bags (depending on how strong you want it*

1 1/2 cup of hot water

1 tablespoon of honey 

(you can also use sugar or a sugar/brown sugar mix)

*put it in the fridge to cool before pouring the boba in*

Boba Pearls

1/4 cup of boba pearls

2 cups of water

Bring water to boil, slowly stir in the pearls, keep stirring on and off so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. You know when to take them out when they have doubled in size and are soft on the outside and slightly chewing on the inside.

Scoop boba into the bottom of a cup pour the cold milk tea over it, pop in a huge straw and drink willingly. 

Also, did you know that you save half of what you would spend if you made boba yourself? I spent 2.29  on the supplies which was boba pearls and straws.

Enjoy!

P.S. I will also share the Avocado Boba Smoothie with you at a later date, for those brave souls who really want to try it.

More Sparkle Headbands

I've been making some more sparkle headbands and I was able to take some pictures of a friends daughter in them (Thanks Steffany!)

The Heart Headband

The Super Star Headband

The Lightning Strikes Headband

The Rain Cloud Headband 

* this one is my new favorite besides the lightning one*

Mac is beautiful, check out those blue eyes!!

I want to know what you think on whether you like the headbands with the stitching *like the first pic* or whether you like the headbands without the stitching (below). Or does it not matter.

I have more little models lined up for the next few days to be taking gobs of pictures of. I'm so glad I have so many mommy friends with beautiful daughters.  

Its my first I Made It Party!

Inspirational Tuesdays

I'm dedicating tuesdays to show off something that inspires me. This one surprised me though because I didn't think I would love the Lauren Conrad Collection at Kohls.

I just happened to notice it while spending my "fathers day" gift card I got in the mail.

Most of her tops are airy and flowy and since I'm still a t-shirt girl at heart its right up my alley. Danielle's Fashion Alley that it, its right around the corner and to the left.....oh you'll find it if you keep on looking.

Yeah, thats how I feel sometimes about my fashion sense and my actual wardrobe, they just don't match. Maybe its the fact that I run around with a two year old, or more likely stay at home with a two year old....anyways whatever it is  I've decided its got to change!

I will have:

More well put together outfits!

awesomely cute cardigans!

Pin striped seer suckered boat pants and pretty floral shorts! 

Shirts that are t-shirts yet look to good to be "t-shirts"!

Wow, this kinda became Rant Tuesday. 

Question: Is there something you would like to change about your wardrobe yet haven't done it for whatever reason?

Danielle

Where We Live Page

Want to know where we live? I just made a page called Where We Live. Its right under the banner, so take a look. Want to leave a comment? Do so on this post about the Where We Live page.

Easy Peasy Homemade Pesto Tutorial

Have you ever tried making homemade pesto, or even tasted fresh pesto? I had my first opportunity to taste pesto from the garden 6 years ago from a co-worker where we both worked at a garden center. She had a abundance of basil that year and decided to can it. When I first saw it I actually didn't know what it was ( silly huh!), but when I tasted it it was like a pesto party in my mouth. I soon began to dip anything I could find into the dip just so I  could continue to eat it.  I received the recipe after asking and have been enjoying it since. 

                                          

The Ingredients 

2 cups of fresh basil

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

 ( get a good kind, you will taste the difference )

1/2 of pine nuts

4 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

                                                   

Make sure you pack your basil to 2 cups

USE PINE NUTS!!!!

These are not pine nuts in case your wondering. I forgot to buy them at the store and had to use walnuts instead. Pine nuts are better.

Put it all together and BLEND!

Check out the think consistency of the pesto. Its probably best to let it sit a couple of hours in the fridge  to let the flavors marry before using. If your not going to use it right away, can it for up to 2 days. I actually can it longer, 2 days is just what the recipe says.

Heres an idea, mix 2 tbsp's of pesto with 2 tbsp's of cream to make creamy pesto salad dressing. Serve on  tea cup saucer plates for a cute presentation of a side salad. 

Make it, its easy and people will say oh la la when you bring it to a party.  

Every girl wants to SPARKLE

True confession. I love fabric. I have so much inspiration sometimes just looking at fabric.

So when I found out Lincoln was invited to a little girls b-day I knew my day had come to get this oh so wonderful sparkly vinyl fabric. 

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure

I've had the idea for these headbands for a while, I was just waiting for it to become a reality. I'm calling it the I Am Wonderful Headband, cause lets face it what little girl wouldn't feel wonderful in something SO SPARKLY. 

This is what happens when I don't have a model. I have to use Miss Monkey. I think I will make more, and in different varieties, and put them in my Etsy shop to test drive them.

What do you think? 

Love,

Danielle

P.S. What do you think of my banner? I made it in Photoshop....its a love hate relationship.

under construction

Just to let everyone know my blog is going through a makeover and is slightly under construction.  Hopefully not for long though.


Thanks,
Danielle

Yummy Flowers

MMMMM. I love flowers. I first noticed this about six years ago when I was going through a trying time in life and really wanted to look at something beautiful in such an un-beautiful season. This brought forth a desire to have a flower budget, but have never been able to justify it in some way or another. So I have said to myself that I will just grow flowers and have a overflowing abundance of them all the time. 

Well that hasn't happened yet, but thats ok because I noticed these flowers, yesterday, along the border of our property. I also noticed some growing in the middle of our field while I was walking our extremely long driveway (700 ft people). Flowers that I haven't sown. Flowers just for me to pick and look at their beauty.

  

Here's a closer look, it was hard to get the full beauty of them because they are huge. Some are 12 inches tall, and that just the actual flower head. I actually don't know their name so if any of you do, please let me know.

Kombucha Revenge

 Last night at 11pm I decided I needed some kombucha. 11 pm is late I know, but I stay up sometimes waiting for Gunnar to get home from work. A lot of times I will regret staying up so late because my son will wake up at who know's what time, like this morning (4:45 am). But it seems to become a cycle for me. 

So anyways, I took a bottle out that we've had in the back for awhile. Granted not a long while, but awhile. Ok, I did not shake it, bonk it or disturb it in any matter and yet when I opened it it started to bubble up so intensely that I couldn't slurp it down fast enough. At one point I decided to stop trying to save it and just let it have its moment. I'm sure it was taking its revenge for being left in back of the fridge for so long.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Danielle  

Cute cloud and craft failure

I have been having fun with polymer clay lately. I made this little rain cloud hair clip the other day. It's fun just as a cloud but I decided to add three little "rain drop" beads. I think it makes it extra cute with them dangling from the rain cloud. This is going out to someone sweet with a couple other goodies.

Now presenting my CRAFT FAILURE

Ugh! One of my goals on this blog is to have fun crafty tutorials, and I was getting ready to present my first one. I was all excited to make Sidewalk Chalk using eggshells. I got everything ready, took lots of pictures and came out with this.  

Crunchy, crumbly, can't even draw with it sidewalk chalk.

I was having growing suspicions that this would happen after I had molded them together and let them sit to dry. I even tried to write with them and....Nothing happened at all, just crumble, crumble, crumble. So in the words of my two year old "oh problem"( he tries to quote "oh bother" from Winnie the Pooh)

Oh well back to the drawing board.

Crafty Love,

Danielle

My First Published Design!!

See this scarf? I designed this scarf for the magazine Crochet! Magazine. It was published in the March's edition. It was my first time designing and submitting to a magazine. It was a wonderful experience and I hope to do it again. I have it wrapped around my neck several times because its huge!

I wrapped it around our lamp post to show how long it is. Its over 6 feet long I think.

If you want to take a look at it on the model go here.

Here's Little Man modeling on his bike. No I didn't make him pose like that, he did it on his own.

Happy Mondays everyone!