Earth Hour 2009

Just a reminder that today, March 28, 2009, is Earth Hour day. Which means at 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm on all timezones, the world is turning off their lights. I just saw some pictures from flickr and it's amazing how many people are making this campaign a success. Great job everyone, let's keep it up!!!

Their official website: http://www.earthhour.org/home/
To follow them on twitter: http://twitter.com/earthhour
Earth Hour 2009 Flickr Pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/earthhour2009global/pool/

Get your candles ready... Lights out everyone! :-)

DIY Screen Printing Attempt

I finally got a chance to try an attempt to do diy screenprinting. I attempted to do this project with stuff I had at home, so maybe it could have gone better. Whatever, here are my results and they weren't half bad. I found this idea here...

Materials:
- sheer curtain fabric
- embroidery ring
- glue I used fabric glue that was washable so that the fabric with the pattern could be washed and reused.
- fabric paint
- small cardboard (to move the paint thru the design)

Here's the basic technique:

1. First, cut a small piece of the curtain fabric and fit it into the embroidery ring

2. Place the embroidery ring and fabric flat on the pattern that you want to screen print. Then draw the design onto the curtain fabric with a pen. I used a fine point sharpie.

3. Put the glue on all the reverse areas (whereever you don't want the ink to go). This can take a long time if you have a good amount of detail. I'm surprised how long it took me to do the small design I did have. Also, don't put it on cardboard when you're going to glue it. As you noticed, I made this mistake. It stuck to the cardboard, grrr. I found that it was easy enough to just hold it up while I used the paint brush to paint the glue on.

4. Let the glue dry. This can take a while. The one I used said to let dry for 24 hours. I let it dry for 48 because after 24 it still felt a little sticky. (it actually still felt a little sticky after the 48 hours, but I was anxious.)

5. Place the embroidery ring on top of the fabric or whatever you want to screenprint. The design should be against the fabric or paper.

6. Place some fabric paint on one side of the design. Use the cardboard to squeegie the paint thru the design.



7. Slowly peel the embroidery ring from the fabric or paper, and it's done.



It's pretty simple, but the edges didn't work out too well. Next time I'm going to use the Mod Podge glue and the screenprinting ink that craftgrrl suggested.

Easy to Sew Tote Bag

I found/bought this cute fabric at the store with the intention of making a tote bag for groceries. Well, I finally decided to make the bag and share it with you all. It's simple, fast to make, and mighty handy to have.

What you need:

- 1 piece of fabric 1 yard by 22 inches (tho, this depends on the size of bag you want to make)
- 2 pieces of fabric 1 yard by 3 inches (for handles, you can also buy belt like fabric for the same purpose).

How to:

1. Once you've cut all the fabric, we'll make the handles first. Take one of the 3 inch pieces, fold and iron each side down about 1/4 inch, then fold and iron in half width-wise. Sew close lengthwise, and fold down and sew in ends and repeat to the other 3 inch piece of fabric.


2. Fold the 22 inch piece in half lengthwise and inside out. I ironed it folded just to make sure it was straight and it makes it easier to work with.

3. Sew each side down.

4. Make a mark 2.5 inches from the fold and 2.5 inches from the sewing line on the bottom of the bag, both left and right side and both front and back.

5. Fold open the corner, so that the fold lines hit both front/back marks on the left side of the bag (you'll repeat the same technique on the right side. Draw a line using a pencil to connect the marks together. Sew down the line. This makes the bottom of the bag rectangular in shape.


6. Fold the top part of the bag down twice. I ironed it down to make it easier to work with. Sew down both the top part and the bottom part of that folded band. (See picture)

7. Pin down the handles. (I placed them 6 inches away from the side seam). Once pinned, sew them down, and sew on an x for a stronger bond.


That's it. Easy, simple, and quick. Now, time to go to the market. :-)

Teaser

This is just a teaser... another adventure. More to come in a few weeks.

Dulce De Leche Candy

Dulce De Leche is a type of caramel, popular in South America. The name translates to Milk Candy in Spanish.

A few weeks ago, I ran into the recipe of this from one of my favorite food blogs, Cooking For Engineers. Michael Chu has listed a super easy way to make this dulce de leche for easy dessert toppings or candy or however else you're going to enjoy it. All you need is a can of condensed milk, a big bowl, a microwave (power = medium) and a whisk. When I say big bowl, I mean it. The condensed milk expands quite a bit while in the microwave... here are some pictures.



The directions are simple.

1. Empty the contents of the condense milk into the big bowl.

2. Put it in the microwave for 2 minute intervals. After each 2 minute interval take it out and whisk. At this point it may turn from globby to smooth and creamy. After about 10 - 12 minutes (5-6 intervals)... (or more, mine took about 7 or 8 intervals), you'll have a dark globby substance which when whisked will turn back to smooth. By this time you should be able to place it somewhere to cool a bit before cutting or making into small candies.

Be warned, the temps can be quite high even if it doesn't look it, do not touch it right away. I think after my 12 minutes our infrared thermometer was giving a reading of over 230 degrees. If you touch it before it cools down, you will burn yourself. You can also decide to stop it sooner for a much creamier texture for perhaps dessert toppings or the likes.

I tried to spoon them separately onto a cookie sheet. 2 reasons not to do this: 1, it's extremely time consuming, and 2, it's not easy to make a nice candy shape this way.

What I should have done, and will try next time is to let it cool flat in a sheet, and once it's cooled down to room temp, use a knife to cut it into little candy pieces. Next time!

Anyway, pictures always help me.
Here are some of the pictures of how it looks when it's taken out (the intervals), as well as what happens when you whisk it.



Alas, here's the finished product. Small dulce de leche candy. They are quite tasty, when you get past the appearance. ;-)




Next time, I'm going to only do a few intervals and drizzle it into the next ice cream I make. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Enjoy!

Reaper Season Two Premieres Tonight

Quick note: Just found out that the second season of Reaper premieres tonight. I must have misread the info before because I thought it was supposed to start March 17th.
Anyway, YAY!

Reaper plays tonight on CW 8/7c.

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/reaper