A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living - Page 15 of 54

Weekend Project: Restyle Shorts with Lace and Fabric

This post should be titled “I Love Heirlooms and Heather Ross” but that would only make sense to me and that’s of no help to you guys. It is a true statement though and the beginning of the story to these shorts.

I have a box of lace that was collected by my Grandma and passed on to me. Sometimes with heirlooms, I tend to hold on to them without putting them to use because often making use of them involves altering them drastically. I always question whether the person would have wanted their items the same or if they even would even care at all. I also treat my Heather Ross fabric the same way. Her fabric is my favorite and some pieces I had to hunt and barter for so they are like gold to me. Having these items sit in my closet isn’t any good either so I knew I needed to stop hoarding and just MAKE! I’m such an over-analyzer which is why I had to quit scrap-booking…too many choices.

So, I saw these kids shorts at Target which were a lovely shade of turquoise-y/teal, but they were too short for my comfort on a little girl. Call me old-fashioned but I don’t dig the cheek hanging out of the shorts look. Ok, these weren’t that short but still…what’s up with those teenagers? I decided to add some fabric to the ends and lo and behold, the Heather Ross wildflower fabric from her first Far Far and Away line was PERFECTION. I’ve had this fabric since the day it came out and I’m so glad I cut into it. Next, I added lace to the front and back pockets, hoping that this will encourage my dress-wearing girl to adopt some shorts into her wardrobe!

For the fabric cuff:

1. Undo the current cuff with your seam ripper and unroll the shorts completely. Turn the shorts inside-out.

2. Cut a piece of fabric that is 1/2 inch longer on each side than your un-cuffed short bottoms and 4 inches high. You will need 4 total, 2 for each front and 2 for each back cuff.

3. Iron the WRONG sides of each fabric piece together, matching the salvaged edges. Iron the un-cuffed short bottoms.

4. Match the edges of one front piece to the top and one back piece to the bottom of the shorts. Pin.

5. Sew along the sides of each fabric panel, just outside where it meets the shorts with a 3/8 in seam allowance.

6. Sew the fabric to the bottom of the shorts all the way around leaving a 3/8 in. seam allowance. Go over the thicker parts twice.

7. Repeat with the other cuff and turn the shorts right-side out again. Bring the newly sewn fabric cuff around to the front.

8. You can sew the inside and outside edges of the cuff to the main body of the shorts or simply sew the cuff to the shorts all the way around 1/4 in from the top, so it doesn’t flip up and down all the time. I prefer the latter because I do NOT want to iron kids shorts!!

You’re done with the cuffs and you can totally stop there if you want!

or you can add lace to the pockets…

For the lace pockets:

Simply cut a piece of lace 1/2 in. longer than each side of the back pockets. A lace piece that is long and finished along its edges works perfectly. Line the lace up with the top of the pocket and tuck each 1/2 in. under on each side. Pin and sew around each side of the lace, going over it a second time because lace has many holes.

For the front pockets, find a piece of lace that can tuck inside the pocket. Tuck under and pin any of the salvaged sides of lace that are sticking out. You might have to wrangle this pocket a bit, but you only need to get in there and get that sewing done. It doesn’t need to be fancy because the lace is very forgiving and doesn’t show mistakes like normal fabric.

Now, you’re REALLY done!! If you restyle some shorts be sure to link up below!!

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How to Throw a Tea Party with Minted

When I have a party, I want everything to be beautiful but simple. I was so excited to team up with Minted for Faith’s birthday this year because they totally fulfill both of those requirements in their party decorations. I love seeing new companies make party-planning easier, true, but making the decorating the way I would make it myself…AMAZING!

I started using Minted products back when I bought my business cards in December. I fell in love with their triple-ply cards and I’ve had nothing but an amazing response to them from the people I hand them to. SO, I was definitely excited to play with their party product line that came out recently.

I ordered the Perfect Party Package, which provided everything you see in the photos. The name of the design I chose is “Retro Floral Garden Party”. So many wonderful things and I didn’t have to do anything more than arrange everything.

Now, the food…you know, the best part. I’d love to share some of my new favorite food finds with you. Sound good?

For most parties, I tend to do too much. No, I don’t go so far as to build the gardens of Babylon out of fruit, but I do tend to try to make, create, and cook so many things from scratch. I love making all of it and THAT is the problem.

This time, I found a few great pastries which I would be happy to serve day or night to my guests. The first one is from Trader Joes. Have you guys had their macaroons from the freezer section for $5?! Amazing, let me tell you. I’ve eaten sooo many. They have the right flavors and colors for serving purposes, as well. You can see them a few pictures above. The second food item would be petit fours. Man, what a time I had locating a bakery that would make me a tray at all or for under $150. After a crazy amount of searching, I finally just decided to make them. I had told my family I was buying them and they were all so impressed that I was attempting changes in my life, I couldn’t let them down and “fully” make them. So, I pulled a semi-homemade. I used a Trader Joes pound cake, filled them with some of our homemade strawberry jam, and bathed them in a white chocolate ganache. They worked out pretty well, methinks! I’ll share more details soon.

I don’t tend to love games at birthday parties, so Faith and I opted for having the girls piece together flower crowns from rosemary pieces and flowers around floral wire. I love the touch that the sign added to my display. Simple and beautiful.

Here was our full menu:

Goat Cheese and cucumber sandwiches

Petit Fours

Blueberry Scones

Macaroons

Strawberry Lemonade

Raspberry Tea (Cafe Moto)

It was fun to play around with my friend Rachel’s new line of stencils. They worked out perfectly for our favor bags! Cute patterns, right? Check out more ideas and options for these adorable stencils on her blog, Handmade Charlotte. You can find the stencils at Jo-ann’s Stores or online at Plaid Crafts. I just bought some new ones to play with!

As a parting gift to her friends, Faith wanted to share her favorite raspberry tea from Cafe Moto. She filled the bags with loose leaf tea. You can find the empty tea bags on amazon here. We sealed the bags with the cutest scalloped stickers that are included in the Minted party package.

Tea Parties are the sweetest, aren’t they?

(I truly LOVE Minted products. The words above are my own opinion about Minted products. I did receive free products in exchange for my opinion and this post, but who are we kidding? Their products are amazing!!)

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How to Decorate a Cake with Kids

(Instagram iphone photo. Follow our Modern Buttercream fun on Instagram here: @agoldenafternoon)

Faith is loving everything about cooking and baking. I’ve spent years training and teaching kitchen skills and I’m so excited to see the results!! We have a lot of fun together and I can ask her to do most things we do every day in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a LOT of work, but like most skills and character traits we are trying to nurture in our kiddos, I know it’s worth it.

Sometimes with our kids, I think we WAY underestimate their abilities. Faith has been in the kitchen for years, but it took me a while to realize I could take her learning to a new level. This year, I’ve been trying to take the time to teach a specific skill, like making pie dough or how to use a knife. This week, we are attacking cake decorating. Awesome.

Craftsy approached me about trying their FREE (say wha?) cake decorating classes, specifically Modern Buttercream, and sharing our experience. People, nothing seems to be FREE anymore so this opportunity is one to jump all over. I immediately thought Faith would LOVE to try this. I don’t necessarily think the classes are designed for kids, but part of taking a kid’s kitchen skills to a new level is teaching them to follow recipes and instructions, just as an adult would. Video Instruction is very kids friendly and that is what the cake decorating classes at Craftsy offer.

If you want to take this Modern Buttercream class with us, sign up below:

Decorate Cakes with A Golden Afternoon

I think you’ll love it. You can go at your own pace, material lists are provided, and you can watch or re-watch as many times as you need to. Perfect for your older kiddos and really…all of us. Plus, it’s FREE, people!

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Hiking Tips for Kids

I’m so excited to share 6 tips for hiking with your little ones over on The Happy Family Movement. Also, if you haven’t signed up yet, please join myself and hundreds of others in The Happy Family Movement’s Summer Bucket list. We are so excited around here to get crackin’ on the list we’ve made as soon as Summer starts! I’ll be sharing our list soon.

Pop on over to check out my post and…

Go Hiking!

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Buy Local: Chicken Salad with Fennel and Apricot

Around here, we are always looking for something yummy to make at lunchtime. My husband works from home (although we are in a season of him working with some clients away from his home office right now) so I often have to be creative with lunches so that we aren’t eating the same things all the time. It’s not that it’s NECESSARY to have a constantly changing menu, but in doing so, I feel like we always find new recipes we enjoy more than the last ones.

This chicken salad was the product of leftover roasted chicken, a bulb of fennel, fresh herbs, and some dried apricots we had lying around. It was AMAZING. There is something about the unexpectedly good that really makes my day. Plus, this dish is perfect for springtime since fennel is still found at the farmers markets! The sweet dried apricots and fennel work together so nicely with the chicken in this dish. Chicken isn’t boring unless you make it boring.

Bonus: the kids loved it too.

Fennel & Apricot Chicken Salad

4 cups chicken, roasted and cubed

1/2 cups fennel, finely chopped

1/2 cups dried apricots, chopped

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

2 Tablespoons chopped chives (or rosemary!)

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo

salt and pepper, to taste

fennel frond for garnish

Combine all chicken salad ingredients in a bowl and season to your liking. Garnish with a piece of the fennel frond you saved from the fennel bulb.

Hint: I keep the fennel fronds in a jar of water in my fridge for future uses like roasting salmon.