Some New Nightgowns

I made a couple nightgowns the other day. Nightgowns are ridiculously hard to find for some stupid reason and we Rowe girls--minus Julia--are big nightgown fans. I used this pattern that we had on hand and just sorta faked it.....

We ended up with these two beauties.

The purple ended up looking more like a maxidress, and it happens to match her glitter flip-flops so....


This one I did like the pattern suggested and made a bias tape for the neckline...nightmare. And I dont like the look of it very much, so next time it will get elastic like the other one.

Homemade Play Clay

We used toake this for the other kids and I just thought of it today. Classic recipe, but I will post it anyway. Of coarse ours is kinda organic-y looking since all I had was whole wheat pastry flour and olive oil...there is room for improvisation, needless to say.

Stove Top Playdough
--from Vicki Lansky's book "Feed me, I'm yours"
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
2 tsp food coloring
1 tbsp oil
(I made 1 1/2 times this recipe, held the food coloring out till the end, split the dough in half and did two colors)
Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat 3-5 minutes. It will look a globby mess, but as soon as it forms a ball in the middle of the pan, it's done. Flip it out onto the countertop and knead it until it is softer and cooled off slightly. ( this would be the point where I divided and kneaded in the food coloring. the paste kind makes darker colors. I also kneaded in some almond extract to make it smell less flour-ish.)
See, easy peasy. If you have the ingredients, it takes like 5 minutes and is much more pliable than store playdough.



-- Post From My iPhone

Ollivander's - Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. (a tutorial)

Caris is on a big Harry Potter kick these past couple weeks. The Sorcerer's Stone is pretty much running on a loop in the living room and she is giving lectures to me about Dumbledore and the "cat that turns into a lady". 

Also, at every opportunity she is casting spells on me that will either open me up (alohamora) or make me float (wingardium leviosa)--all performed with either a stolen wand from her brother or any random stick she comes across.  As anyone who knows me is well aware, I am incredibly proud of my baby. She is awesome.  Not every two year old in the world is capable of mastering "swish and flick" with such panache, put a proper wizard needs a proper wand...

So, now we come to the crafty portion of this post. Admittedly, I overdo things to the nth degree....that is a given at this point.....

These are the supplies. Total cost = $5.  That is just one dowel chopped up.  The little things on top were mini candle holders that I sawed the base off with a miter saw (can you say protective goggles).

Then--again, I overdo--I embellished them with a woodburning tool (and also burned 3 holes into my shirt which is unrelated to this project).


And finally, color and finish. Caris handpicked metallic purple for hers, Jack requested gold and I made the blue for Julia just to be funny. It is her favorite color and I made it tiny so she can carry it in her purse....she will be thrilled, I'm sure. The other is just an extra to use up the dowel.


The older kids already have proper wands from previous birthdays/Christmases, but who can't use an extra?! Am I right?! And they are personalized!
This is Caris's first of her very own, though, and she is loving it up!!


;o)