Blog - TaylorMade

Southwest Chicken Salad & Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

September 8, 2014 By Taylor 1 Comment

Y’all, something happened… I found the world’s best salad dressing. I don’t even need to call it a dressing, it can be a dip or you could put it on meat or I might just drink it with a straw. I present: Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette, it’s not my recipe I found it HERE. If you love cilantro half as much as I do then you will love this dressing (seriously cilantro is my favorite food!)

Anyway I found it a few weeks ago and I have made it every week since. To go along with it we made a Southwest Chicken Salad the other night. You know, cause eating dressing with a spoon might be weird so it needed a vehicle.

For the Southwest Chicken Salad:

-marinated grilled chicken

-green leaf lettuce (my personal favorite lettuce)

-celery

-carrots

-green onion

-black beans

-english cucumber

-bell pepper

-avocado

-corn

-cojita cheese

Toss all the ingredients in a bowl and top with the best dressing ever :) Speaking of a bowl, how cute is this one? The nice people at Red Envelope sent it to us because we make a ton of salads at our house! I love the feel of it, its really thick and feels “hearty”… perfect for a chicken salad. I also just love looking at it. Now I need open cabinets because it’s too cute to be behind closed doors. I’m like the mouse from “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”!

You can find the bowl HERE.

Let me know if you make this dressing and if you like it as much as I do. I wont judge you on how much you consume, after all it’s healthy :)

Peach Punch Popsicles

August 25, 2014 By Taylor 1 Comment

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Del Monte, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #DelMonteBTS http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

It’s the end of August so you know what that means… Back to School time! I’m having some serious mixed emotions about it this year. My boys are still in a pre-school program that I love and they do to. Last year they went 2 and 3 days but this year they will both be in school 4 days a week. Don’t get me wrong, they need it and I do too, they are starting to get a little stir crazy and we are ready for the routine. But, I have loved this summer and I will never forget the summer baby sister was born and we spent time learning all about our new baby… we are going to miss our crazy boys around the house, it might get too quiet.

I know that one thing will stay the same… the need for an after school snack. My boys always come home so starving! They wear them out at school :) It will be warm here in Texas for a few more months so we love to make homemade popsicles as an after school snack. My secret ingredient? DelMonte fruit squeezers! My kids LOVE them and ask for “squeezers” daily (and because they can’t read yet they don’t know they have hidden vegetables hehe).

These popsicles are so easy that my 3 and 5 year old boys can pretty much make them! Peach happens to be our favorite flavor around here so I picked up the peach mango DelMonte Squeezers from WalMart and a box of the strawberry too. For these Peach Punch Popsicles I used:

a whole peach mango squeezer

about 3/4c 100% real fruit punch

a little fresh squeezed orange juice

And we froze them to perfection :) My oldest son has declared these his new favorite flavor…. they are so, so good!

Fruit squeezers are also an easy and healthy favorite inside their lunches so we stocked up this past weekend! Right now select Walmart Superstores are running a back-to-school photo special. You can bring in or upload any photo and receive a free 5×7 photo. When you pick up your photo you will receive a coupon for $1 off the purchase of (2) Del Monte 4-pack Fruit Cups or (2)Fruit Burst Squeezers. The offer is available from 8/1 to 9/13 while supplies last.

Is anyone else feeling bittersweet about this school year? I know that in no time we will have the hang of it and it will be the new normal but sometimes this growing up thing is hard… especially for moms ;)

Living Room Tour

August 4, 2014 By Taylor 13 Comments

Hi Guys! I don’t really have a lot to say about these photos other than here is our living room, where we spend all of our time :) I picked up (a little) last week so I thought I would take so pictures to have it documented.

It’s pretty small compared to the rest of our house but it’s so cozy!

Here are the answers to the most common questions we get on Instagram and in real life…

1. Our paint color is Colonnade Grey by Sherwin Williams

2. Our couch is from Ashley Furniture – It’s called the Loric Smoke Sectional

I love our Built-Ins… there were here when we moved in. We have a basket of shoes on the fireplace because the boy’s room is far from the garage and the wicker basket on the mantel is full wipes and diapers. I want to do something about the red brick fireplace but I haven’t figured out what yet. Any ideas?

The built-ins house our project life book, old baby books, yearbook and photo albums. Those colored books are my grandmothers LIFE books from the 60’s-70’s.

There you have it. Short and sweet, and well loved. I have a million ideas in my head but this room works for now. It’s hard when you have really little kids to put anything super nice in your house haha. Let me know if you have any questions about anything in here!

Gleeful Summer Baby Dress

July 27, 2014 By Taylor 1 Comment

Welcome to the Taylor Made stop on the Gleeful Fabric Blog Hop :)

A few months ago my friend Caroline made me insanely jealous and designed her own fabric line! Kidding… I’m so happy for her, and her new line, Gleeful is just that. So happy, bright and fun… perfect for summer. I asked for a fat quarter bundle because there is no way I could just choose one of these fabrics!

Caroline sent the fabric a few months ago and I knew I wanted to make a baby dress. I thought the Summer Baby Dress by Kate and Gleeful were a match made in heaven. Also a perfect match… these buttons!!!

I actually didn’t have enough of any one fabric for the skirt part of the dress so I just used two different fabrics which I thought looked really cute for this pattern.

I LOVE the fabric on the straps. I also love this pattern from Kate! So easy and so cute. I did add the buttons but other than that I stuck to the pattern.

I even pulled out my double needle for the hem, so you know I meant business :)

I really wanted to have pictures of her in the dress but she is still too tiny… I’m thinking another month or so, thankfully (or not thankfully) it will be hot here for a while so she will get some good use out if it!

Thanks for having me Caroline! You can check out the full Gleeful line HERE

a Happy Birthday Quilt Block

July 24, 2014 By Taylor 3 Comments

Recently I have come to realize that as far a sewing goes, I think quilting is my favorite. It’s long and can be time consuming at times but in the end its magic!

Some of my favorite quilting products are made by Olfa… how could I quilt without my rotary cutter and self healing mat!? They are celebrating their 35th Anniversary so when they contacted me about reviewing a few Olfa Products, I was in!

I was sent a fresh, new rotary cutter, a frosted acrylic ruler and a rotating self-healing mat, which I have been eying for months. They also asked if I wanted to make a quilt block to celebrate the big 35! The only rules were that it had to be 6.5″ x 6.5″ and there had to be some yellow in it. I started by pulling my yellow scraps.

I searched online for a block that looked like a birthday cake and I came across this tutorial so I pretty much followed it and used the dimensions she gave, I didn’t make mine wonky though, I went with a straight cake :) I LOVE my new rotary cutter! My other one is a lot bigger so this one is perfect for small projects. I also love the smaller acrylic ruler for the same reason. It also works better on darker fabrics because of the frosted background.

Let me just say how much I needed the rotatable self-healing mat in my life. I am very lucky and have a huge work table in my craft room but it can present a problem with trying to walk around it for cutting.

This was a quick block to sew! Its nice to have a quick project that I can finish in no time :)

I used my rotating cutting mat, acrylic block and rotary cutter to trim it up to size.

Lastly I used a stamp and permanent ink (which I heat set) for the number 35 on the cake.

They are collecting the blocks to make a big quilt to display at the Houston Quilt Market this fall… how fun! Happy Birthday Olfa! Thanks for inviting me to the party :)

Onesie Refashion Part II

July 10, 2014 By Taylor 24 Comments

Happy Thursday… My girl is here and she is two weeks old today! I have shared pictures via Instagram (taylormadeblog for your dose of baby cuteness).

I posted about my Onesie Refashion a few years ago when my friend had a baby. Just a few weeks ago I made some for my girl so I thought I would share. You can head to THIS POST for more pictures and info but these are super simple!

All I did was iron some Wonder Under to the back side of fabric and cut it out into a shape I like. Then I peeled the backside of the Wonder Under off, and ironed the shape to the onesie. Then I sewed around the perimeter of the shape. I like the messy look and as you washed it it will get even more frayed which I like.

If you do a bib style shape then make sure the curve of the neck matches the curve of the onesie. Don’t forget to sew around that too.

These would make a super cute gift set.. but I’m keeping these :) Actually the light pink one is what we brought her home in!

Happy Sewing!

Colorful Eclectic Nursery

June 24, 2014 By Taylor 12 Comments

The great nursery reveal is finally here! I’ve been finished for months but I just now got around to the pictures. Welcome to this girl’s Colorful Eclectic Nursery. With some bright, modern and floral moments too… basically all of my favorite things. My overall theme was “whatever I like and I don’t care if it matches”. We (my husband) put down the wood floor before we started anything and I posted all about her DOT WALL HERE.

Before I was pregnant, I stumbled across this crib sheet from Candy Kirby Designs on Instagram and knew I needed it for my hypothetical next child. It was kind of a splurge for me for a crib sheet but it’s way too perfect. Not only that but I know what it’s like to make handmade goods! As soon as I went to that first doctor appt, I bought “the sheet” and that was where the whole color palette started. I was going to make it more boy or more girl depending on what I was having.

Next up I made the crib skirt with a yard of fabric for each ruffle and I used an old sheet under the mattress. I didn’t do a tutorial because I kind of just tried things out as I went. It isn’t perfect at all but I figure I will be moving her mattress down in no time anyway.

Here is the post about her quilt. I love it in here.

To the right of her crib I hung up her heirloom quilt. This has the best story! My great grandmother (and her great-great) was part of a wedding quilting bee. This quilt is all hand done and in perfect condition!! It says it was started in 1921 and presented in 1932. My mom brought it over as soon as we found out I was having a girl, I didn’t want it sitting on a shelf so I am displaying it, if I start to see that isn’t a good idea I will have to box it back up but right now I love that it’s out.

This amazing art print was given to me by Minted. It’s called the “Peony Bottle” and I love it! They have smaller prints for a gallery wall but I especially how big they will do them! They even come framed if you want. I got the dresser at Overstock.com and the owl lamp I found at Homegoods.

I also love her little bow tree for her amazing bow collection. If you follow me on Instagram you know I might have gone a little crazy (taylormadeblog). My mom potted that little cactus in the mug and my Mother in Law found the Bee Print on the wall.

On the other side I have the changing table, gallery wall and the pink chair that I couldn’t refuse :)

I am using this console from Ikea for her changing table and I found the perfect baskets for toys from Target. I also got another Raskog Ikea cart in grey (I have the aqua one in my craft room) for all of her “baby needs”.

I’m going to fill the top basket with diapers and I already have her wipes and cream etc. on top. Next shelf I have burp cloths and on the bottom, some swaddling blankets.

Moving on to the gallery wall… I didn’t have to get much for this- I had a lot of it. I bought the raindrop print and the Katie Daisy print. And I got the dream catcher from MavenMercantile on instagram. Everything else I had and re-purposed. Do you see the ostrich print that matches her crib animal!?

The PINK CHAIR! I love it!! I got it at World Market and I want to sit in it all day long. Which is good since that might be happening soon :) The pouf is from Target.

The curtains are just 6 yards of Amy Butler Fabric that I cut in half and hemmed.

The rug is from RugsUSA.com, they have big sales often and we scored on this one! Fun story about the bird mobile- my friend sent me a link to a project she saw on Homemade by Jill in 2008! I was pregnant with my first baby and I had never even heard of a craft blog?! I had been crafting my whole life but now there are others who share projects… what? So I looked it up and made this bird mobile for his room. I felt so cool after I finished it and I still adore it. Thanks Jill :)

The closet side… she already has plenty of options for clothing!

I think that’s about it! If you have any questions about where I got something or how I did it, leave it in the comments and Ill answer back! I leave you with the rest of my photo dump :) PS 1 WEEK TO GO!!!!

DIY Baby Leggings

June 11, 2014 By Taylor 4 Comments

It’s feeling very “nesty” around here- on the blog and in real life. I don’t have a ton of energy left so all of my more recent crafty projects have been baby related, I promise I do other things besides obsess over my baby (not a lot of other things but some). In fact we have been swimming a ton, we went to the beach last week and we are getting tile installed in our master bath next week, yay!

Anyway, I wanted some more leggings to go with Baby Bee’s newborn onesies. All of the cute online legging shops have inspired me, but not enough to pay over $30 for something she won’t be able to wear long. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about supporting small craft businesses and paying a little more for something handmade. I will just wait until shes a little older so she can wear it for longer than a few weeks :)

I found this pattern online but the crotch to waist length seemed a little short. Then after I finished my first pair, I found this tutorial (which is funny because Ashley had the exact same picture that I had already taken, great minds) So, I kind of made my own pattern based on another pair of leggings just like she says and I used her tutorial. Its a great tutorial by the way, super easy to follow and very fast!

I even broke out my twin needle.

I found the black & white fabric and the red & white polka dot fabric at Girl Charlee. The colorful stripes on grey is an old skirt Ive had for 10+ years. I didn’t have enough of it to match the pattern so I hope my girl isn’t a stickler for details ;)

After trying this first batch I will definitely be making more but I will see how these fit first. Now if my model would just come out so she can try them on.

Briar Rose Strip Quilt

May 26, 2014 By Taylor 18 Comments

9 times out of 10 I don’t buy fabric with a project in mind. I see fabric I really like, I buy it and I take it home. Then months later when I want to make something I “shop” in my own craft room and find the perfect fabric for the job. This quilt was no exception. Last year when I spotted the Heather Ross Briar Rose line I knew I had to have it, and I had to have all of it :) I bought the fat quarter pack and there it sat on my shelf for almost a year. Then in February I found out I was having a girl (yay) and I started putting her room together knowing she would have a mama-made quilt.

At first I had these same strips in mind but I was thinking solid colors… black, white and coral. Then it seemed too matchy-matchy with the room and I wanted a pattern. Here is a baby name secret… we have been calling her Baby Bee for months because her name starts with a “B” so I really wanted to add some bees somewhere. Then I remembered this Briar Rose fat quarter pack!! Bright colors, fun patterns, and bees… too good to be true right? That’s why I buy fabric I like right when I see it :)

I didn’t follow a pattern I just googled the standard size for a baby quilt and did the math. I started by cutting 2-3 strips of each pattern that were 4″ by the width of the fat quarter.

When I had enough I scrambled them up to “randomize”. Then I sewed them into one big continuous strip.

After I pressed all my seams down, I cut the big strip into smaller strips that were all the same width and started laying them out. I’m so thankful to have this big work table with my pregnant belly:)

I worked really hard at making sure none of the same patterns or colors were touching… see the two pink strawberry fabrics touching, I don’t like that haha #fabricgirlprobs.

After I got it how I liked it, I went row by row… pinning then sewing. I used a 1/2′ seam allowance for everything.

Here I am pressing my seams like a good tailor.

I added a border that was also 4″ wide all the way around but then when I opened my batting it was shorter than what was listed on the package. So, I had to shorten the top and bottom of the border. I found this grey floral fabric at Joann’s. I obviously like to do my basting late at night when the lighting is bad :) Then, I quilted above and below the seam of each strip.

I made some binding out of this cute green Christmas striped fabric I found. Quilting confession, I am a cheater when it comes to binding… I have never tried it by hand, machine binding works for me! I still use clover clips however.

For the back I used a black polka dot print and the little black dots are flocked… so cute!

I love how it turned out! I hope Baby Bee loves it too!

Speaking of that girl…. 35 days to go!!!

How to do a Patterned Dot Wall

April 22, 2014 By Taylor 99 Comments

When I found out I was pregnant last year I was of course thrilled for a new little bundle to join our family. Soon after it sunk in, I got super excited to do another nursery! We didn’t find out the gender with either of our boys and they were so close in age that I just used the same nursery for both of them. It was gender neutral and of the “pre-pinterest era” so I have had years to collect ideas and get inspired :) I already knew what I wanted long before I even knew the gender so when I found out this girl was a girl… I knew a dot wall was happening.

I know I’m a little late to the gold-vinyl-dot-wall-party but I still love it, so I thought it would be perfect for the wall behind the crib. I have seen the gold dots randomly placed on walls and while I do love random I wanted a pattern this time. I searched and searched for a tutorial on how to get THIS LOOK in my inspiration photo but I wasn’t able to find much. I called for backup, my mom and sister. I’m sure there are many ways to achieve this look but this is what we did.

I bought gold sticky vinyl online and used my cameo to cut 1.5″ dots. I have the silhouette file saved, if anyone wants it let me know.

Other than my dots, I used these supplies: a ruler, tape measure, piece of cardstock, scissors, some very sticky double sided foam tape and a pencil. The other must have tool is a laser level. I found this one at Home Depot for around $8.

After measuring my wall, my mom (the math star of the team) figured out how far apart my dots could be based on how many dots we had. I bought 8 feet of vinyl (8’x12″) and the dots were 1.5″ in diameter so she figured each dot needed to be 6.5″ apart. The very first two rows are the hardest because you have to get everything set from those, so we started at the top of the wall. Thank goodness for my mom and sister! My sister climbed the ladder for all of the tall dots, I didn’t take over until we were about halfway done. (grainy iphone pic)

The whole trick to getting the pattern to look like a pattern is getting straight lines on your wall, enter the laser level. I’m sure you could also use other methods like an overhead projector, use a regular level with a tape measure and pencil, pop a chalk line, etc. But I really liked this little tool. We used the double sided foam tape on the back which needed to be changed every few rows. Once you get it taped it up it rotates 360 degrees so you can get it lined up correctly after mounting it to the wall.

There is a level on the back but it wasn’t super accurate because of you move it just a hair the line at the end of the wall moves inches up or down! For the first row we started measuring from the ceiling and made a pencil line 6.5″ down on both sides of the wall. For the other rows we measured from the previous dot line. Then we just played with the laser until the line was touching both pencil marks on both sides of the wall.

This is a very hard picture to see but the laser line on the left is below the pencil marks so you have to play with the laser until the the line is perfectly on the marks like the picture on the right.

As far as the spacing on each row we also spaced the dots 6.5″ apart. Instead of holding a ruler or tape measure between every dot we measured a piece of cardstock and used that as the ruler. We measured 6.5″ from outer edge of each dot and made sure the top of the dots lined up with the red laser line.

After you get your first two rows up, its pretty easy. A few other tips… every other dot on our left side had to be cut in half. And I did have one dot that I had to put under the power outlet plate.

I really love how it turned out and I can’t thank my mom and sister enough! We worked one night from about 2-3 hours then I finished it up the next afternoon so it was a pretty quick project. The most time consuming part is getting the level lined up but I love the patterned look so it was worth it!