Made By Lex

Organization Help

I love organizing. In fact, when I was growing up one of my “hobbies” was organizing. I used to get my parents video camera and tape myself organizing. I thought it was that interesting. But then you know how you get in ruts in certain spaces and you just can’t see things any other way? Well, that’s where I am with my girl’s closet.

It needs to serve these purposes:

1. Hang their dresses and coats.

2. Store all their dolls and doll accessories.

3. Have some storage on the top.

4. Have a container for their dirty laundry.

Right now, it looks like this.

Please )

Vintage Caldecott Prints

In my sewing room/office/girls playroom I hung up some of my favorite prints. My Nana got these for us growing up. They’re original prints of R. Caldecott picture books. I have 8 and my sister has some more of the collection, too. I love the way they frame this big window.

I love seeing them while I work.

I hope you’re having a lovely day!

Prost to the Host Giveaway!

I’m thrilled  to be back with a special giveaway- one that I’m so jelaous of! Have you heard of Prost to the Host?

Maybe you’ve seen her works at  Anthropologie’s wedding shop, BHLDN, Powell’s Bookstores, Crafty Wonderland Pop-Up Shop or a boutique near you. Let me show you what she’s all about.

My Version of Mac N’ Cheese

This has become a weeknight favorite with the family, so I thought I’d share this easy pasta dish. I just use whatever veggies I have on hand from our CSA, so you can vary this with whatever you may have around.

We start with Gluten free pasta. (For any of you that are gluten free, pasta can be a tricky one. I have found that if you do a baked dish, you can’t even tell the difference.) My favorite gluten free pasta is this one. I boil it a few minutes under the recommended time, along with a bunch of broccoli. After it’s cooled, place it in your baking dish. I also added some homemade ricotta cheese at this point. (It’s WAY easier than even buying your own!)

Next cut up some onions and leeks.

Then I fry up a little meat, whatever I have on hand. It can be any kind of sausage, ham, turkey, chicken, whatever. Today, I just so happened to have bacon.

Lucky, lucky me.

After that’s done, take it out of the pan and put your leeks and onions in. Sweat them for a couple minutes.

Next comes some dark leafy greens. Tonight, we had swiss chard.

Slice it up and throw it in with the onions and leeks. Sauté it until tender.

Now for MORE flavor. Here’s my cast of cheese tonight. This is a garlic jack which is full of flavor as well as the parmesan. I add a triangle of the Laughing Cow to make it creamy.  I’ve had lots of luck with fontina and gorgonzola, too. Feta is also wonderful in this.

How much? I don’t know, not much. Maybe a cup total. Throw it in with all the pasta, chopped bacon and veggies and stir it around.

Then add some milk. Add just enough to where you see it coming up the sides a little.

Bake at 375 covered in foil for about 35 minutes, or until the milk is absorbed. Then take the foil off , add a little extra cheese to the top and bake for 10 more minutes.

Then you have a delicious, very flavorful and veggie packed dinner!

Have a great day!

White Stripes Pillow Tutorial

I needed a little change on our bed so I decided to make a pillow from some leftover scraps I had. It’s no surprise, I adore white and all shades of it. I love the changes in texture of this pillow. Here’s what I did. I cut a euro sham sized pieces (26×26 completed, so add a little extra) of fabric. I got lots of different strips of fabric and pinned them to the pillow, overlapping them slightly.

Continue all along the pillowcase.

Sew the strips down, about 1/2 an inch in.

Next what I did was sew the opposit way, like a grid. I alternated the direction I was going to it would create even more texture. It created little folds of the edge of the fabric.

For the back, cut out two pieces, one slightly longer than the other. After topstitching the edges, place them, on top of the cover of your sham, right side down. Make sure one lays over the other about two inches. Then stitch the pillow all the way around.

Here’s the finished pillow.

I love all the texture in it and how it brings in all the different shades of white that were already on  my bed.

You could do this with so many different colors and it’s a great way to use extra fabric!

Have a beautiful weekend!