I was rather excited to watch the Martha daytime talk show when she mentioned that the author of Generation T : 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt was going to be a guest. Surely I would learn some new life-altering tshirt transformation techniques.
So, I tune in, fast forwarding 3/4 of the show (Who cares about a lion-shaped cake? I don’t). Thank goodness for DVR. Anyway, I got to the right segment, and what does the author demonstrate? A Lace-up tshirt!!
If you don’t remember, this was a Queen motifas project: the Queen motifa t-shirt makeover. Hellow! Soooo 2003.
Can I wake Queen Motifas up from dormancy? Here’s the tres inspired project I attempted lately: The dog coat.
Dog boutiques severely overcharge for these small dog necessities. Some fleece, velcro and seam binding and Lucy is warm for the winter. All for only $7. Plus, the dog doesn’t care if you don’t sew everything completely straight…
Time to post this year’s Christmas craft! OF course, we NEVER make a christmas themed craft, because after all, what fun would it be to look at after Christmas?
This year UT and AL came up with the challenge: a blank decorative bowl to be painted with glass paints (transparent OR opaque) and to eventually be filled with water and a floating candle. Ding! Let the challenge begin!
UT actually surprised us this year with a beautiful project. Usually he screws up the Christmas craft to be funny, but this year he really went all out! Check out the detailed flowers! Leafy foliage!
This year, AL says, “My heart wasn’t in it!” But still, it is really quite lovely and matches with all her thinga-ma-bobs hanging about the house!
Mom made me drag out my new pajama bottoms to copy the 50′s style motif for her bowl. Quel Inspiration!
Dave worked the hardest of us all. After an orange, blue, and brown menagery that was about to win the “Retarded craft of the year,” he peeled that stuff off and started over! I’m sure this candle holder will cast a romantic light in his office!
Oak took the definition of “fish bowl” literally. Or it could be that we had watched Finding Nemo before craft time. Either way.
I took inspiration from the Iron Chef-style challenge of the craft and went for SUSHI (if you can even tell… haha). MM, I could eat a spider roll right now!
I just realized, between Oak and I you’ve got the entire life cycle of aquatic life. Oh yeah, we planned that. 
We also have a blank bowl that Timm-ay was supposed to decorate. Shame on you Timm-ay – you get the retarded Christmas Craft of the year award! UT, I expect you to win this trophy back next year… or I just won’t feel the holidays are complete!
Oh my gosh, microbeading is so hot (scroll to the bottom of the page!).
I’m definitely beading up something cool in the near future.
My personal favorite American-Chinese dish is General Tso’s chicken. But who is General Tso, and why is this chicken specialty named after him? A cute article
Our favorite tissue paper flowers transformed to upscale christmas light hangers. Can we say hot?
When taking pictures of food, we have some lessons to learn. Ceramic animals defintely add a lot to a picture of a tasty meal, as well as other random props.
That site is hilarious, worth a laugh if not some food photography tips
Altered books look like a good thing for creative release: what is an altered book?
Just imagine all the creations we could have made with discarded library books!
This is a great and easy recipe from Cooking Light that I make over and over again and never get sick of!! If you don’t have wine or ginger, just leave them out and add a little extra chicken broth.
Ingredients
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (or substitute 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1 cup chicken broth)
2 Tbsp orange Juice
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp ground fresh ginger (optional)
1Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup dry white wine (optional–or substitute 1/3 cup chicken broth)
4 pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
Directions
1. Combine cranberries, soy sauce, orange juice, honey and ginger ginger in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Sprinkle chops with salt, rosemary and pepper.
3. Cook pork chops 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan.
4. Add wine (or 1/3 cup chicken broth) to deglaze pan. Stir in cranberry mixture.
5. Return pork to pan. Bring to simmer, cook 2 minutes until pork is done.
Nutritional Information
Serving size 1 chop with 2 tablespoons sauce
250 calories
7.6 grams fat
Chef’s Tips
Deglazing is a term that means to add liquid to a pan (usually that you’ve been cooking meat in) to release the browned drippings (called fond). This not only cleans up all that stuff on the bottom of the pan, but also gives your sauce a deep and customized flavor. You can use pretty much any liquid to deglaze–water, cognac, wine, chicken stock–choose one that compliments the food you’re cooking.
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This weekend, the Motifas made over t-shirts bought with just pennies (well, about $2) from their favorite store, S&A Boutique. Hot! A taco bell dog shirt for Carrie, and a big boys toys shirt for Shira. Want to make your own? Read on!
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