Heidi @ Honeybear Lane | HoneyBear Lane

Nautical Quilted Pillow Cover

May 3, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 8 Comments

My new color crush is navy blue. Especially that chevron navy blue I did in my Quilted Camera Strap. So I’m slowly transitioning the purple accents in my living room to navy blue.

By the way–I am SO excited to move to my new place. It’s going to be so much bigger and it has a ton of light coming in. (Cue angels singing and Heaven opening.)

So I whipped up some pillow cases this week, one from the Navy Chevron, done in my 10 Minute Pillow Case method–seriously SO fast, I love it! And the other I quilted with navy blue thread.

If I were to do this again, I would have quilted the word “beach” or “coast” or something more ocean-related. And I would have gone slower. But I am an impatient person…you should know that about me by now

The style of free-motion quilting I did was one I kind of invented–Coral, to imitate the coral found in the ocean. Kind of looks like seaweed too. And I threw in some rough “sketches” in there too.

Here’s the rundown:

First, you take the pillow that you want to cover and cut out TWO squares about the same size but with a couple of inches extra. One can be in muslin because it’s just the back of the quilted piece which you won’t see. Then cut two pieces of fabric 2/3rds the length of the square you just cut (but same height.) Those will be for the back.

The next step is basting. This is just like the Quilted Camera Strap–very quick and easy basting. You need to get a basting spray. I have Sullivan’s Original Quilt Basting Spray (the pink can) which has been great. Just spray each layer, put it together like a batting sandwich (yummmm….batting sandwich…) and smooth out all the wrinkles.

Then use your free motion foot or darning foot to quilt it. You can go slowly if you are unsure but I like to go fast–it’s a rush! For the coral pattern you just kind of “draw” it as you go. I started out doing the typical puzzle quilting but then added the coral affect into it. You can also draw in a fish or a word or something. It’s just fun!

After you’ve quilted it, you will assemble the pillowcase. Trim your quilted piece to a square with straight edges.

Then take the two back side pieces and turn one edge under two times at a 1″ thickness. Iron the edges down. Then sew them down.

Place the right sides of the two back pieces against the right side of your quilted piece. Overlap the two finished edges of the back to make the envelope enclosure. Pin the sides.

Sew the perimeter with a 3/8ths seam allowance (that’s lining up the edge of the presser foot with the side). Clip the corners and flip it right side out.

Makes a great cuddler for a cute baby, right?

Linking up to

Home Stories from A to Z

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: home decor, machine quilt with free motion foot, pillow Tagged With: Home Decor, quilting, slider

WIW: Making the Lifestyle Change

May 2, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 15 Comments

Real weight loss is about making lifestyle changes that last forever.

: Click for Source

I think that is ultimately the hardest part of it–the FOREVER part. I long for a day when I can sit around and eat lots of cookies, chocolate cake, and buttery popcorn. And as gross as it sounds, I’d like to do that every night. See, as a mom of three, every evening I am just exhausted. And nothing sounds more appealing that to just RELAX and INDULGE.

The relax and indulge impulse is something I have to fight pretty much every day. There is rarely an evening when I don’t want to eat something sweet and unhealthy. And when I go on a trip–I give myself a free pass to eat whatever I want.

So when I went to SNAP I fully intended to not even try to eat healthy. But then I met my friend Vivienne of The V Spot: a beautiful and health conscious craft blogger. She was always urging me to make the healthy choice–take the stairs, for example. As I hung out with her, I started to notice that she would always make the healthy choice, even being on a trip! I watched her with her lunch, choosing to eat the lunch meat and not the giant white sandwich roll. I saw her always walking and going up and down the stairs. And she would talk about her workouts, going to yoga, etc. I realized something–Viv has made the lifestyle change. She has committed to good health.

I want to make that commitment too. But it’s a very different mind set. I have to stop thinking of myself on a “diet” and just start thinking that eating healthy is just the way I eat. But what do I do when I want a dessert? When is it okay to indulge? And could I really ever just pig out and eat what I want? It’s not like Vivienne never ate junk food–I was with her at Cafe Rio. How do you find the balance between being a health nut and being a generally healthy eater?

The thing about Weight Watchers is that you actually CAN eat some junk food–as long as you stay within your points. But the longer you are on it, the less wiling you are to spend your points on empty calories. You want each thing you put in your mouth to be the least amount of points possible.

My question is–once you go on Weight Watchers, are you on Weight Watchers forever? Do you count points until you reach your goal weight and then what? You stop? The hope is that by the time you reach your goal weight you have made that lifestyle change. And hopefully you’ve started exercising to aid your weight loss and you don’t even crave junk food as much. What do you think?

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: Uncategorized, weight loss Tagged With: Weight Loss

Chicken & Mushrooms

May 1, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 2 Comments

I want to claim that I invented this recipe. So I will! This recipe is a bit involved but impresses guests. And it’s SO good. I want to eat it right now. There are three parts: Pickled Onions, Chicken, and the Sauce.

Part 1: Pickled Onions

1 medium onion, red or yellow

1/3 C. red wine vinegar

2 Tbs butter

3 tsp. soy sauce

Chop 1 medium sweet onion into half moons.

Sautee onions in butter until they are browned.

In the picture there is also minced garlic, which you can add.

However, add the garlic after the onions have sauteed for a few minutes.

Add red wine vinegar and cook on medium low heat for about 10-15 minutes.

Add soy sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.

The onions should be very skinny and dark.

Taste them–they taste awesome. :)

Part 2: the Chicken

Salt and pepper each side of 6-8 chicken tenders. Then sautee in a little olive oil in a large frying pan. When they are cooked through (about 3-4 mins on each side) remove from the pan, set aside.

Part 3: the Sauce

1 cup sliced white mushrooms

1 cup white wine

1 cup chicken broth, reserve 2 tbsp

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp Cornstarch

In the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, pour the wine, broth, lemon juice, and mushrooms in together. Boil for 5-8 minutes, until sauce is reduced in half. For a really good reduction, I reduce it for longer than that. Mix up the reserved chicken broth with the cornstarch. Pour it in your reduction sauce and mix until it’s thickened.

Serve the chicken with the onions and sauce poured over. These are great paired with the Roasted Potatoes.

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: recipe, slider

Quick ‘n’ Easy Roasted Potatoes

May 1, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 1 Comment

We call them ‘tatos’ in my house. This is a staple for an entree side–super super easy. The hardest part about it is remembering to make them in enough time because they roast for 40 mins!

Recipe:

3-6 red potatoes

Kosher salt

Garlic powder

Olive oil

Chop the potatoes into quarters or smaller if they are still pretty big. I don’t like giant potato chunks (the less potato-ey the better for me.) Line a baking tray with tin foil for easy cleanup. Put all your potato chunks on the tray and pour about 1/8th cup of olive oil over them.

Generously sprinkle garlic powder over the potatoes and some dried parsley if you like (really you can put whatever you want on these–I’ve tried basil and paprika and a few other things.) Then use your clean hands to mix it all up, to get all the potatoes covered in Olive Oil and garlic. Then sprinkle the kosher salt all over the potatoes.

Roast in a 415 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: recipe, slider

A Bit About Contracts and Copyright

April 27, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 6 Comments

I sat in on the Legal Matters class at SNAP! taught by Danielle Liss, a lawyer who specializes in social media and contract law. I learned so much great info that I really want to recap that class.

This post might be so incredibly boring for most of you. But to those of you who are bloggers, I think it’s really important information that you should be incorporating into your job. I’ll try to make it super straight forward and as interesting as I can!

Contracts

If you write any posts in payment or possibly product, you should have a contract. That sounds super formal, I know. But so much as an email exchange can be considered as a contract. I do lots of sponsored posts that don’t all have formal signed contracts, but if it REALLY came down to it (which seems highly unlikely) there would at least be a paper trail. That being said, if you ever enter into an agreement by your own initiative, you should include a contract. And vice versa: if a company requests that you sign a contract, be sure to read through it to see that there are no weird things in there.

A contract includes these items:

Consideration: How much the person will be paid (or compensated.)

Term: How long the person will do the work for. Any changes to this must be made in writing.

Confidentiality: This means no disclosure of trade secrets or confidential information.

Non-Disparagement: Don’t talk badly about the company if things go south. You should ask for mutuality in this, meaning that the company will not talk badly about you.

Non-Compete: This means that if someone works for you and learns your trade, you request that they won’t work in your area of expertise for a certain length of time or certain area where you work.

There are a few other legal aspects of a contract but they are pretty, um…boring to explain. So I will skip them.

Here’s a great example Danielle used where a contract can protect you. Eg: A company contacts her and asks her to let them use a couple of her cat pictures in her typical style (her cat photography style is VERY strange) for $50. So she sent them a picture of her cat. They were not happy with the picture she sent (being an extremely strange picture) and said, “We cannot accept that picture. You will not be paid.” Now they are in breech of their contract. She did exactly what they wanted–a cat picture in her typical style–and they refused to pay because it wasn’t a good enough picture for them. And because she has it all recorded through emails, she could take them to court and she would win.

Copyright

Here are a few things I learned about copyright. Copyright is the rights you have to an original work. If you take a picture, you own the copyright to that picture. And you pretty much should never assign that copyright to someone…unless they offer you a significant sum of money for it. So if you have a picture you love but someone offers you $20,000 for the exclusive copyright–you could probably be okay selling the copyright to them. (Heck even 10,000.) Assigning a copyright to someone or a company releases all of your rights. You can’t do anything more, even if they use your piece in an undesirable way.

Licenses

You can, however, give someone a license to use your work for a limited purpose. Licenses do not release all of your rights. If someone writes you and asks for you to give them the copyright to a picture they’d like to use, they may not actually know the difference between copyright and a license. You should try and find out exactly what they mean because they are more likely looking for a license. Also if you assign a license to someone but they use it beyond the intended purpose, you can contact them and ask them to cease and desist. And if someone requests an exclusive license, that means you cannot upload your picture to any social sharing site because even once deleted, that picture will remain on Google forever.

And one more teensy thing…

Disclosure

If you receive compensation for a post (product review or similar) you need to include a disclosure at the end of the post. This is as simple as stating that the post was sponsored by X and Y but all your opinions are 100% yours.

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: blog, craft blog Tagged With: Blogging

How to Virtually Re-Paint Your Room

April 26, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 4 Comments

Yesterday I tried out this awesome new tool on the web: Color Clix, Olympics “Paint Your Own Room” tool. Seriously cool, guys. Look at this:

Using this tool, I was able to paint that wall green with seriously just a few clicks. I used to try to do this with Photoshop and it took forever. Now it is SUPER easy to test out different wall colors before committing to one. Check this one out…

Pretty sweet! Here’s an old photo of my living room before I made the slipcover. When we first moved in, I actually planned on painting the wall green. Here’s how it would have looked:

I played with this tool for awhile, putting together some pretty hideous combos. But it was fun! It’s so easy to use, seriously.

First you visit the site: Color Clix and create an account. Then you upload some photos you’ve taken of the rooms you’re hoping to paint.

Then you should watch the tutorial. It’s not hard to figure out but the short tutorial helps a lot. After you watch it, you can set your markers and then choose your paint. There are tons of colors to paint from and once you choose one color, you have the option of switching around within the hue range, which is nice.

Finally you can drag and drop the paint colors around to your walls and see the pretty results! So fun. Next time I am gearing up to paint a room, I will definitely be using this tool.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by theMotherhood.com and Olympic Paint. I am receiving compensation for it. However, my opinions remain 100% my own.

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: green home decor, home decor, Paint Tagged With: Home Decor, Painting

WIW: My Green Smoothie Recipe

April 25, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 9 Comments

Okay so SNAP is over and I’m caught up on orders and after Thursday I won’t even have preschool to worry about. Whew! The busy-ness can take a break for a while. And that means that I CAN get back on track with my diet. Starting with eating all the junk food that is in my house (cuz you know, it’s gotta get out the way.)

But starting today, I am going to start fresh. And the best way to start fresh is to have a green smoothie every morning. This recipe is ZERO points, filling, and actually pretty tasty. If you’re weirded out by the color just put it in a mug or something so you can’t see the color. My kids love these and it’s a great way to get them to eat vegs.

1 Cup Raw baby spinach

1 Cup Water

1-2 Cups Frozen Fruit

1 Banana

1 T. Truvia

Start by making a spinach “juice” base. Put 1 cup of raw baby spinach in your blender and about 1 cup of water and blend until it’s liquid. The you can add a banana and 1-2 cups of frozen fruit depending on how thick you want it. And I add one tablespoon of Truvia to sweeten it up a bit.

Challenge: Drink 8 oz of this every morning for a week (along with low-calorie diet) and you should see some improvements!

Whipperberry
504 Main
Flamingo Toes
I Heart Naptime

Pin It

Share and Enjoy

Filed Under: recipes, weight loss Tagged With: recipe, slider, Weight Loss

SNAP Conference: The Recap

April 24, 2012 By Heidi @ Honeybear Lane 32 Comments

I went to SNAP! Conference this last week. It was awesome!! The classes were so great and I was so inspired and invigorated. I left each class with a new resolve to try harder, work smarter, and to be proactive. I hope you see some big things from me this year!

I was lucky enough to spend most of the conference with y lovely and hilarious friends including: Amy from Mod Podge Rocks, Jen from Always in Wonder, Bev from Flamingo Toes, Viv from The V Spot, Michele from The Scrap Shoppe, Alexa from Swell Designer, and Christina from Pearl Gateway. Somehow there are no pictures of all of us though.

Left to Right: Me (and Ellie in the stroller!), Amy, Christina, Jen, Bev, Michelle

The first day we had a long break and decided to walk around Thanksgiving Point garden since it was the Tulip festival. So gorgeous! This is me and Bev’s engagement photo

I want to give the funniest woman award to this lady on the right–Alexa Westerfield. She’s got this awesome Texas accent and says the funniest stuff. (That’s Jen on the left.)

I had my bebe with me a lot of the time, although I was able to pawn her off on my mom and bff for a couple of days which made things easier. The adorbz next to her (Miss E is on the left) is Sumo’s baby H. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pics with Summer–she’s awesome and we are in similar stages of life: 3 kids, new baby. I can’t wait to move to Utah and play with her!

Left to right: Kristy from Diary of Dave’s Wife, me, Kelli from Lolly Jane, and Kristyn from Lil’ Luna. My AZ buddies! Totally missed Kristy (Kelli’s twin) but she is currently HAVING A BABY. Good luck Kris!

And the Golden Girls! Left to Right: Karen from Graphics Fairy, Heather from The Sewing Loft, Jen, Sara from Mom Endeavors, Amy, Viv, Me, Katie from Sweet Rose Studio, and Alexa (Bev is taking the picture!)

I was kinda lazy about taking pictures this year. I didn’t feel like bugging people to take pictures of me and whoever and I looked like a whale in most of the pics. But it was so much fun to hang out with all these amazing and talented ladies who share so much in common with me. There’s nothing like it!

Tauni and her team did such a great job executing this conference. There was a HUGE bag of swag (that I had to leave in Utah at my in-laws b/c it wouldn’t fit in my bag) and yummy food. Everything really was just amazing. The Queen Bee Market was also part of it and oh my sheesh it was awesome. There were TONS of booths of handmade goodness and despite waiting in checkout line for an hour (fortunately with my BFF who came with) I got some super cute stuff.

I just have to mention one little caveat: I don’t want anyone to think that these blog conferences are nothing but rainbows and lollipops the whole time. There have been times when I’ve felt like a loner because it seemed like everyone had friends to hang out with but me. And I know I’m not alone in feeling that way. Some bloggers can be a little exclusive in their groups and I’m sure that some even viewed my little group that way. But I wasn’t with my friends in the classes on Saturday and I spent most of that day pretty much alone. It’s not like I have to be with people at all times but it’s hard to not feel lonely when you are surrounded by people gabbing it up. But I wanted to go to the classes I wanted to go to and I wasn’t going to worry about maybe being alone during that time.

That being said, I still feel like it is 100% worth it to go and I so miss my beautiful lovely friends already.