Styled & Sangria Party

by Natasha on June 5, 2012 in Uncategorized

Do you watch Tori & Dean on Oxygen? You know how she’s really good at making babies? (Another one?! Really? You’re making me look bad girlie) Well apparently she’s also really good at making other things…like jewelry. Who knew, right?

Tori is a big crafter on the side & had this great idea of developing a line for people who want to make their own jewelry but aren’t necessarily avid DIYers. The idea is you choose different pieces from her humongous collection & then connect them in different ways to create personalized necklaces, bracelets, earrings…whatever you want. No tools required, no crazy skills…just some creativity. Genius, right?

I have several friends who always ~~whine~~ inquisitively inform me as to how they would love to make my blog projects but they’re just not that ‘crafty’. I decided to have a little Girl’s Night In with them, the Tori Spelling jewelry line “Styled” & multiple bottles of Sangria.

I’m SUCH a good friend.

And the final creations…

We call this one our Fifty Shades of Grey necklace. See the chains, leather & straps? Go to page 98. Yep, I know. That book is dirrrrty.

Seriously though, how easy is this? Just pick a top, bottom & connectors. Wah-lah! A necklace.

I added a few danglers too, just to spice things up…The possibilities truly are endless. And when you keep drinking, that list just gets better & better.

5 bottles of skinnygirl Sangria + 1 gallon of milk = mom-of-the-year

*No time (or desire) to make homemade Sangria? The skinnygirl one is delicious. Also the night before I soaked some chopped peaches, strawberries, raspberries with white wine & left them in a tupperware overnight. They made a fantastically delicious garnish.

For munchies we had brown sugar baked brie with apples, veggie flatbread & a roasted garlic & lemon artichoke. (flatbread recipe coming soon & yeah, that artichoke looks like it was possibly on fire at some point. It was not. I was actually tasty delicious, promise.)

I HIGHLY recommend having a jewelry party with your girlfriends. We had so much fun & yes, by the end of the night our pieces couldn’t even make it past a Forever 21 accessories inspector but that’s ok. We each left with multiple items for our jewelry boxes & more importantly had an amazing time where we were still home & in bed by 11p. My ideal kind of night.

You can find out more about Tori’s Styled Collection here, also look for them on shelves in Michael’s & JoAnn’s or follow their twitter @StyledbyTS

*Full Disclosure: Styled by Tori is a paid sponsor of Little Pink Monster however my review & opinions are strictly my own

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The Graffiti Skirt

by Natasha on June 4, 2012 in tutorials

As you probably already knew it’s been Skirt Week over at Crafterhours & I’m honored that Adrianna & Susan asked me to participate again this year with a skirt tutorial. Now I have to warn you, those Crafterhours chicks are major sewers. I believe they could even be deemed ‘seamstresses’ & I my friend am no seamstress. I’m a self taught sewer who makes it up as she goes along. I break a lot of rules but at the end of the day it works so it’s good for me.

I knew there would already be some majorly talented ladies giving wonderful step-by-steps on sewing skirts so for my tutorial I decided to go the artsy route instead. The shape is just a basic, somewhat a-line, skirt but the fun part is the fabric is entirely designed by Sam. (with a few little details from mom in there too)

To get a rough idea of how much fabric I would need I used one of Sam’s existing skirts as a pattern. I ended up with a 40″ by 14″ rectangle. I chose a medium weight white cotton.

I set Sam up with an assortment of fabric markers & taped down the corners of the fabric so it wouldn’t slip while she colored. I also put a mat underneath the fabric to catch any ink that would bleed through. (which it did) Next step, let ’em loose. Sky’s the limit kiddo.I helped her fill in almost all of the white areas with swirls, dots, squiggles…whatever goes. While the thin Tulip Fabric Markers are great for detail those big fat ones (Tee Juice Fabric Markers) were absolutely perfect for filling in spaces with thick, almost spray paint looking strokes. They were fun.

I also randomly went through & outlined images in black marker or added in little black doodles. The black seemed to help anchor the art. My best tip is if doesn’t feel awesome then keep adding. Just keep filling in & doodling. I was shaking my head that this skirt was going to look like crap until all of sudden, after a ton of doodles something shifted & it actually looked pretty fantastic.

To make the fabric washable ‘heat set’ according to your fabric marker instructions. For me that was 2-3 minutes under a hot iron…I’m not going to get into terrible detail as to how I stitched the skirt because it really is just a simple shape…

Basically, using the skirt below as a guide I stitched the down the two side seams (right sides together), hemmed the bottom & gave the skirt an elastic casing waistband (My sewing pants 101 tutorial has a lot more waistband details & tips)

After it was assembled it still seemed like it needed a little something extra.

Hmm…AHA! A pocket!

I knew the PERFECT pocket material too. Susan had just dropped these little lovelies at my house last week, she sells them in her Crafterhours shop & does that pink & orange Union Jack print not make the cutest darn pocket ever?? I love the look of print-on-print.

(here are more details on how to sew a pocket)

I love when things come together. (:

If you have a minute go check out the other great guest posts for Skirt Week & tell those crazy Crafterhours girls I said hi.

Want More?

Check out my Skirt Week tutorial from last year, The American Apparel Inspired Circle Skirt

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Where am I? And better yet, where am I going?

by Natasha on June 4, 2012 in Uncategorized

Hm. That’s a good question.

Here’s where I’m at…

You know when you have a nagging feeling about something but you don’t want to admit it so you write it off & keep truckin’ along?

It keeps popping up however & you think about it for a minute but still don’t listen?

That’s how I’ve been feeling for several weeks about my blogging setup. It’s become increasingly clear that it’s just not the right path for me to keep doing the radio station blog in addition to LPM. I was doing 8-10 posts a week in my ‘free time’, which if you have kids you know what that consists of, & for weeks I’ve been wondering, is this the right path? Am I trying to do too much & the content is suffering? Maybe I’d be better off just doing one blog & be able to really dedicate myself to it?

Well, I kept ignoring that nagging feeling & thought if I could just persist through…but still, something didn’t feel right. It started to feel like I wasn’t doing any of my blogs justice & worst of all, I was getting so overwhelmed it was affecting my #1 job as Sam & Sophie’s mom.

At the same time, just like any blogger who’s honest with herself, I’ve always thought it’d be great to actually make some money blogging but until now I hadn’t found a way that didn’t feel like selling out. At least not for me. Until about a month ago when I was approached by a fantastic publishing group that focuses on crafters. But more about that in a minute…

Combine that paid opportunity with some other doors closing & that nagging little voice inside & it became crystal clear what was best for me & my family was to stick with solely blogging at Little Pink Monster. (not to say I won’t still do some freelance writing here & there but this will be my blog home)

I am I absolutely in love with blogging here. It’s why I’ve done it unpaid for the past 4 years. I do hope however that I can eventually grow my blogging into a career. My girls will be in school full time before I know it & I’d really like this to be how I ‘go back to work’. While we’re being completely honest I’ll put it out there & say it would make my dreams come true if I could do some TV work as the go-to-‘mommy/diy blogger’ in the DC area. That’s the dream. For now however I need to listen to what God has made very clear & be ok with taking a different path to get there. Faith, patience & trust. Not my most natural qualities but perhaps that’s the whole purpose of this life lesson I seem to be in the middle of learning.

“Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed so you could open one that leads you to your perfect road” -Katy Perry, Fireworks

It’s so hokey to quote song lyrics, much less a pop song, but I’m sorry, I belt that in my van AND IT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER. Screw you Russell!

So about those sponsored posts…

I can see you rolling your eyes now, “Oh no, another good blog bites the dust” but I promise you my friend, it won’t be like that. I’ll be different, I swear! I’m not like those other guys!

Seriously though, I’ve turned down many previous sponsorship offers because they just didn’t fit. I’m quite certain you have no interest in an entire post on the hot new sink faucet of 2012. To make $75 off of it but lose you as a reader isn’t worth it. They would be worthless commercials that just water down the good stuff. That’s however exactly what I think is so fantastic about this new publishing network…it’s all crafting companies! For example, in the next month you’re going to see a post about a tie-dye project I’m working on. That company is going to pay me a fee to review their product & come up with a project for them. It’s a sponsor that makes sense for LPM & the post I write for them isn’t just for the sake of making a buck, it’s actually good content. Something I would’ve written about anyway.

Makes a dent in my blogging costs while still being an entertaining post for you. Win, win.

Does that sound ok? I want you to be honest with me. I can’t begin to stress how valuable your readership is to me & I need you to know that I respect you & your time with the utmost sincerity. I hate when bloggers are obviously being paid but aren’t up front about it. I will always disclose when I’m being paid by a product, no shadiness. Promise.

Also these posts for now look they’ll be no more than 1 or 2 a month…

So that’s it. Whew. Glad I got it off my chest. I’ve been really stressing about it. I don’t know why though.

Oh well, regardless, I feel better.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my hot dog phone is ringing.

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Hello Rose.

by Natasha on May 31, 2012 in Uncategorized

There’s something new that’s moved into our house…

The girls & I were walking through Petsmart & she had literally just arrived off the truck. Yes, the cat truck.

Apparently shelter kitties get dispersed around the country to Petsmart adoption centers. This little girl came straight from the streets of Miami. A homeless girl from Florida. (sigh) Then she let Sam AND Sophie Monster hold her, several times, and she even purred for them! (oh no, she’s a sadomasochistic homeless kitty!) We quickly fell in love & fast forward a week & Rose is now officially a member of our family. Sam was insistent on naming her ‘Sleeping Beauty’. I wanted to name her ‘Katniss’ because I love the Hunger Games & hellooo, naming a CAT KATNISS is funny people. Sam said that was a terrible name. So then I suggested ‘Primrose’ hoping to still get my ode to Hunger Games but knowing Sam might go for the flowery aspect. She said “Fine. Her full name can be Primrose but we’ll call her ‘Rose’ since that’s Sleeping Beauty’s name anyway.” Argh! Foiled by my 3 year old again! ::Shakes fist::

As many of you warned me, even months later, there is still an empty spot in my heart for Parker. I’m sure there always will be. While Rose certainly can’t replace him she did seem to warm that spot up a little. P used to always tease Parker that he must have fallen in a paint bucket because of all of his different spots & colors. The other night while playing with Rose he said that with her white chin, gray stripes & white socks she might just be a new little paintbucket pet that Parker sent our way. I like that.

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Sneaky Veggie Smoothie

by Natasha on May 31, 2012 in dinner 101

When Plum Organics baby food contacted me & asked if I’d be interested in contributing to their Facebook collection of recipes my answer was an automatic “YES!” I’ve been sneaking purees in my cooking for awhile now (remember this sneaky chef cookbook review?) & Sophie Monster loves their baby food pouches so I was more than happy to participate in this challenge.

I originally wanted to do a ‘Pink Monster Macaroni’ that snuck beet puree into mac ‘n cheese but it needed a bit more tweaking. In the meantime I put together a smoothie ‘recipe’ (I’m not even sure if this constitutes as a recipe considering it’s as easy as hitting ‘blend’) that sneaks in fresh avocado, a serving of banana, strawberry & beet puree & almond milk into a yummy afternoon snack.

You can find my smoothie recipe & other blogger’s sneaky baby food recipes here in the Plum Organics ‘Little Foodies Cookbox’ Facebook group. Go check it out, there’s some really good recipes in there!

*Full disclosure…Plum Organics paid me for my recipe contribution however my opinions & reviews are completely my own!

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Blinged Out Chucks

by Natasha on May 31, 2012 in tutorials

Thanks for being patient while I took a little vacay. I’m downloading pics & will fill you in tomorrow…a few things changed over the past week & I have to fill you in.

On another note however…

I love Sophia Grace & Rosie, as does every other American who possesses a soul. If you don’t know who they are then a big hello to you, welcome from under your rock. Get yourself a glass of water, I’m sure you’re parched & go watch this. You’re in love, right?

There is one video (which for the life of me I cannot find it) where Rosie (aka Sophia’s flygirl) is sporting the most adorable hot pink converse. The laces have been replaced with satin ribbon & the toes were covered in crystals. They were some pretty sick little kicks & I knew a certain someone in my house who’d go bananas for them…

I spent about an hour or so making these in front of the tv one night. It might be a little tedious to some but I actually like mindless repetitive crafting sometimes, it’s oddly relaxing.

I found the best technique to be dabbing a glob of superglue gel onto a piece of cardboard & then using a piece of playdoh shaped into a point to pick up the crystals. I then dabbed them lightly in the superglue & placed them one by one on the shoes. The glue sets up pretty quickly but you have a quick second or two to adjust the placement. Just hop to it. Working in horizontal lines I kept dabbing & placing, dabbing & placing until my bling was complete. When they were 100% dry I wiped off the crystals with a baby wipe to remove any playdoh residue which might hold back the sparkle. The hightops also come in a beautiful aqua that I think would look AH-MAZING, aqua ribbons with sparkly toes…that might just be in Sophie Monster’s future.

*I bought my high-tops from Zappos, keep in mind that kid’s converse almost always run a full size larger than expected. The crystals were on sale at Michael’s which is also where I picked up the glue. (my favorite day to day superglue by the way)

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“Gone to beach”

by Natasha on May 26, 2012 in Uncategorized

Sorry for the lack of posts, we decided to make a last minute sprint to the beach for my birthday…this family MAJORLY needed some non-working one on one time.

I’m getting ready to walk down to the pool but I had to ask…does my hair look dumb like this? Be my honest friend.

I was inspired by this pic on my Pinterest ‘Beautiful Girl’ board…

I’m going to give myself Memorial Day off since it’s my bday & P will be off of work but meet me back here on Tuesday. (:

Have a great holiday weekend my friend, virtual margarita cheers to you!

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PINBUSTERS! Microwaved popcorn in brown paper bag

by Natasha on May 22, 2012 in pinbusters

Thanks for dealing with my Debbie Downer post yesterday. It was a hard weekend & I’m sure I’ll elaborate at some point (because I can never keep my darn mouth shut) but for now it wouldn’t be appropriate since you know, it’s the internet and all. Bah.

So in the meantime let’s just pull a total 180 and do something ridiculously chipper like a video of making popcorn with an insanely cute 3 year old.

*Pinbusters is a new series where I take those favorite, popular pins & see if they really work as great as they look…check out the rest of my Pinbusters videos here

I love microwave popcorn but I’ve found that 1- the portions are too big for a late night snack alone, 2- they’re filled with either scary saturated fat laden chemicals or taste like cardboard. Not to mention it’s kind of expensive when you think about how many servings you get verses if you buy a big bottle of kernels. All that to say when I saw this pin that suggested you could make amazing microwave popcorn with just a brown paper bag & some kernels I wondered…could it really be true??

In all honesty, we make this in the evenings at least 3 times a week. Best. Pin. EVER.

I put around a 1/4 cu (if that) of kernels in the bag and then I season the entire thing with extra virgin olive oil (you’ll be amazed at how much you don’t even miss the butter) & coarse salt. I give Sam her bowl & then I give the remainder a drizzle of truffle oil & a handful of parmesan cheese. OHMYGOSH IT IS SO CRAZY GOOD! You know I wouldn’t lie to you, buy some truffle oil (it’s by the olive oil). It’s like $10 for a small bottle & you’re going to stand there looking at it in the grocery store saying, “what the heck Natasha, I’m so not paying for that. I don’t even know what it is.” but then you’ll buy it anyway because you’re a little curious & I’m literally raving about it. You’ll bring it home, drizzle it on your popcorn & then sit down to write me a 3 page email thanking me for bringing it into your life. Well, you’ll intend to write it but you actually won’t get around to it & that’s totally ok because, I know my friend, I know.

You can view the rest of our Pinbuster’s videos here. Also if you have an idea for Pinbuster’s please leave it in the comments below!

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Chasing Pavement

by Natasha on May 21, 2012 in mommy blog

On Friday we were leaving school & Sam & all of her friends went running down the sidewalk. Sophie, fully believing she’s at least 3, took off after them. I knew those fat little toddler thighs couldn’t keep up with the pace of her upper half & before there was anything I could do she was sprawled out on the concrete. Her first true scrapped knees. Boy she screamed but being the tough little nugget she is she threw a few punches in the air, got out her frustration & moved on.

We were home not even 5 minutes later & as I talking with a neighbor in our driveway Sam started running around in circles showing off. The words “Don’t run on the pavement, if you fall…” were cut off with a ::SMACK:: “WAHHHH!!!”

As I had them both sitting on my bed & was cleaning off their knees I told them that I know it burns but they’re going to get lots of scrapped knees in their life, it’s just part of being a kid. Sam gave me a look like, “You crazy? I’m never running anywhere again!”

I got to thinking later that I’m just like a little girl who keeps scrapping her knees. I put myself out there trusting & hoping for life to be better & sometimes it is, but life will also inevitably let you down. You fall flat on your face & it burns like hell. Often it’s the exact same scrape, over & over & over again.

I wonder if people who are closed off have just scrapped their knee too many times & finally learned to stop getting hurt. I would see someone like that & feel bad for them, how hopeless. Now I’m starting to wonder if I’m just a fool & they’ve finally wised up.

Whether it’s a relationship with a lover, a family member or a career endeavor when does persistence make you a fool?

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