DoolittleDesign: DIY Projects

January 13th 2012

Pear Pizza

This pizza is a new spin on the classic pie. It's light, fresh and best of all easy to make!

Ingredients:

For pears

non stick cooking spray
1 medium pear
fresh ground black pepper

Spray the cookie sheet evenly with nonstick cooking spray

slice pears to make rounds and remove any seeds or tough spots from the middle

Grind pepper on top of each slice and then lightly spray the pears

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Cook the pears for 10 min until the edges are crispy

for the pizza

I used a Boboli pre-made pizza crust.

1 tbsp EVOO

1/2 c monterey jack cheese

2 tbsp goat cheese

1/2 c chopped hazelnuts

Spread olive oil evenly in center of dough going outward and leave a 1" border on the outside.

Spread monterey jack cheese evenly over the crust

Then place the pears on the pizza making sure to cover the pizza.

Next place chunks of goat cheese on the pizza. I used a little extra because it is yummy. Then cover the pizza with chopped hazelnuts.

cook on pizza tray at 425 degrees for 15 min.

If you would like to make the pizza crust on your own then here is a site where you can do that:

http://milkeggschocolate.blogspot.com/2008/05/better-than-deschutes.html

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 9th 2012

DIY wrapping paper, with birthday girl's pic and an extra touch!!!!!

Materials:
Brown wrapping paper
tape
pic of the person
earrings

Take a nice pic of the person and enlarge it to fit the top of a present. Then cut it to size. I made a color pic transform to sepia. I use the Picnik software because its easy and free to use. I wanted to change it to sepia so I could put earrings on the packaging that would add a pop of color against it. It's easy peasy!!!!!!

January 1st ~~2011~~ I mean 2012 ( What?)

DIY Dinosaur Themed Birthday Wrap

This is literally the easiest way to make a little boys wrapping paper fun and exciting!!!! I was tipped by this little boy's mama that he LOVES dinosaurs. So I got him an animal planet dinosaur set that includes mountain ranges and and other landscape for them to roam on as his main gift. I wanted the wrapping to match the theme of the gift. I have seen other people use old maps as gift wrap before and have been wanting to try it for awhile now. Then thought I could get some more dinosaurs to affix to the outside and make them appear as if they are roaming the earth

All you need is:

Brown wrapping paper
tape
Set of dinosaurs ( I got mine at Toy's R us) they came in a big container
old maps ( I used an image of Northern California)

You wrap your gift with the brown wrapping paper

then cut out a piece of map or however you want to place the map on the paper and secure it to the brown wrap.

Then you arrange your dinosaurs on the box and tape their feet down with some good tape as they will fall over if you use regular scotch tape. I used heavy duty packaging tape,

Then instead of using an ordinary tag for the gift I used old paint chips that I had laying around after a home project we completed. The birthday boy loved the gift and his reaction totally payed off for just putting in a minimal amount of effort. I can't wait to go to another kid's party because this was way too much fun!! Thanks for letting us celebrate your special day with you Parker

Happy 2nd Birthday Parker

I am totally impressed by how much cake little D was trying to shove in her mouth

Awkward, when your kids wants to ride other kids gifts

December 17th 2010

DIY, Easy No Sew Fleece blanket

I am making a baby blanket for my nephew for Christmas. I have been wanting to make him one for awhile and finally got up to it while Deedles was taking her late nap today. I don't know how to use a sewing machine, so this is easy and fun for me. These blankets are AMAZING! I have made several as gifts before and have a few lying around my house as well. They are very cozy and warm.

what this requires:

A good pair of scissors for cutting fabric
fleece
ruler/ tape measure
open floor space
about 30-40 min of time, unless someone is helping you then maybe 20 min.

Step One:

Pick out 2 fleece patterns ( I go to Joanne's) that compliment each other. I chose monkeys for the front and polka dots for the back. For a baby blanket get 1 yard of each pattern. I made mine a little on the larger side so he can use it when he is bigger ( 1 1/2 yrds of each).

Step Two:

Find a large area on the floor to work on. Before you lay the two pieces of fleece directly on top of each other, make sure you put the side of the fleece that is softer and more vibrant in color facing out. So the more vibrant side on top will face the ceiling and the piece underneath will face floor ( get it)

Step Three:

On one corner cut a 4 in x 4 in square out. Then use this cut out square as a template to cut the other three corners.

Step Four: Figure out which two sides of the blanket are more stretchy. You can tell by just giving them a little tug

Step Five: Start cutting, the stretchy sides you can cut up 4 inches. You can use the edge of where you cut out the square as a guide, but don't worry about being too precise.There is room for error.

Step Six: Next cut the two opposite sides that are not as stretchy. These sides may need to be cut about 4 1/2 inches or a little above where the line for the cut out square was. This is because you will eventually have to tie these in knots and it is difficult if they are not long enough.

Step 7: Start tying the top and bottom pieces in knots all the way around the blanket. This goes way faster if someone is helping you tie.

This blanket is Quincy approved

Ta, da!!! Easy Peasy

After you are done tying, you may need to do some back and hand stretches, but then you are DONE!

ENJOY!

December 2nd 2010

Decorate Branches for Christmas

I wanted to do a simple craft this year due to time and money constraints. I found this cute project on a blog by: Atypical Type A. All you need is a nice strong branch and something to put in a clear vase. I used small ornaments. THen you can get ornaments to decorate the branches. I actually found the little drums and acorns at the Dollar Tree as well as the colored bulbs to fill the vase with. The small photo frames I found at Michael's on sale for around two something a piece. The steps are way simple
1. Cut the branch to size to fit the vase. Make sure you pick a good branch that branches out just enough to hang things on.
2. Next spray paint it white and let it dry.
Then place in vase, fill the vase with something to secure the branch
3. Decorate to your liking.
Whala, then you have a super cute decoration to show off and really cheap too!

Here is Atypical Type A's branch