We often get requests from readers for tutorials of specific projects. But recently we received pictures of a new project we hadn't tried yet. Instead of taking the time to try the project myself, I asked this reader if we could post her tutorial for our other readers. Then we got to thinking, why not make this a regular feature?

Each month we'd like to feature one reader's tutorial. Even if you're not a blogger yourself, we know you're still out there trying new craft projects all the time, just like us. So send them to us! Just a short write up and some accompanying pictures will do. We'll pick one reader each month to publish. And if you are a blogger, include a link to your blog and we'll make sure all our readers check it out!

Our first reader tutorial is by Bonnie Rains--a local friend in Seattle! I've seen these cool recycled crayons before (my preschooler got a heart-shaped one for Valentine's from a classmate--thanks Maddie!), but I'd never made them myself. Bonnie makes it sound even easier than I imagined! So without further ado, here's Bonnie!

Recycled Crayons Tutorial

Who doesn’t have broken crayons at their house? Instead of throwing them away, recycle them into fun new crayons! This is a great project for kids to help with.

First, find all your broken crayon pieces and remove the paper from each. Then break them into smaller pieces (about one third to one quarter of the regular size crayon). Then have your trusty assistant help you sort them by color into your favorite silicon mold (or you can use regular cupcake pans with foil liners). I chose to use a star design because I thought each point on the star would make a nice new pointy crayon.


Place your silicon mold with crayon pieces on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 200 degrees. Heat your crayons so the wax melts completely. I thought this would take 15-20 minutes, but actually took closer to 30-40 minutes. When the wax is melted remove the pan and let your crayon’s cool. Once they are cool you can easily pop them out and admire all the pretty color combinations you created in your brand new crayons!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

46 Comments

Okay all you local readers--don't let me down. I'm teaching a paper flower demo at Lasting Memories this Saturday, March 6th from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Come see me! I know from our meet & greet that there are plenty of you in the Lynnwood/Seattle area. So stop by and make this super cute fan-fold flower for just $1! If you can't come this week, I'll be doing flower demos almost every Saturday for the next two months. Each week will be a different flower Make 'n Take made from common scrapbooking supplies like paper, ribbon, buttons, punches, etc., and each kit will only be $1 or $2! Here's my tutorial for last week's puff ball flowers. I {heart} flowers. They make my heart happy. Hope to see some of my favorite new friends soon!

This fan-fold flower is cute as a card or scrapbooking embellishment, or on a stick in a vase. Come learn how to make it on Saturday, March 6th between 11am and 1pm.

love,
mandy

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

17 Comments

Got one, two or ten chocolate recipes you've been dying to try out? We definitely recommend throwing your own chocolate dinner party.

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

18 Comments

What do you get when you take 40 local crafters, a table full of yummy treats, and a fun craft project? Well a Little Birdie Secrets blog party, of course! We had SO much fun at our party last week. Thank you to all those who joined us! It was great to meet so many of our readers and get crafty with them in person. If you missed it, don't worry! We will definitely be doing this again soon.



Amanda and her friends joined us all the way from Ventura, CA!


What a fun girls night out!


Our friend Kayleen manned the sign-in table. What a sweetie!


And then there was the food. . .


Stacy made these cupcakes and frosted them with a non-dairy frosting mix. It was light and airy, so you could still enjoy the cupcake. So yummy!


Sometimes we cheat. These cream puffs are from Costco. But they're delicious and look so pretty with a few strawberries.


I got the idea for these brownie bites from Betty Crocker. Make a pan (or two) of brownies (fudge style, not cake-like), let them cool, and cut them out with a heart cookie cutter. Then melt a scoop of chocolate frosting in the microwave for about 10 seconds (or less--don't let it boil). Spoon it over the hearts. I had mine laid out on wax paper to help with clean-up. Before the frosting sets, add sprinkles. For the pink drizzle, I mixed some red food coloring into some vanilla frosting and warmed it like the chocolate frosting, then drizzled it over with a spoon. Easy-peasy!


We had lots of requests for the punch recipe, so here you go. This is great for parties or showers, but you can also half it for a smaller get together. There are several variations on this recipe, but this is my fave.

Wonderful Punch

1-12 oz. can frozen orange juice
1-12 oz. can frozen lemonade
3 c. sugar
4 c. water
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. almond extract
2-2 liter bottles of lemon-lime soda

Mix all ingredients except soda in a large punch bowl. Stir until frozen juices are melted and sugar is dissolved. Slowly add soda (it will fizz). Serve cold.



Thank you to Lasting Memories for hosting our fun night. Jennifer was so generous to let us take over the store, and Kim and Annette worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. And thank you again to all of you who joined us--we love our new friends!

Love, Jessica, Mandy, & Stacy

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

20 Comments

We're so excited to announce the details of our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets blog party in Western Washington!

Who: Everyone within driving distance of Lynnwood, WA--we want to meet as many of our readers as we can!

When: Thursday, February 4th, 6:00-8:00pm

Where: Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood (20 min. North of Seattle)

What: The evening's activities will include craft and blog talk with Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, a fun Valentine's garland project, sweet treats, plus lots of giveaways from the Birdies and our sponsors!

Love Garland craft project - $5 (just to cover our costs!)

The party will go from from 6-8, so drop in whenever you can! We'll start the craft project at 6:30, but you can always finish it at home if you get there later or have to leave early. The garland kit is $5 (payable in advance only via the PayPal button on our sidebar) and includes all the pieces to complete your garland. We'll provide the tutorial LIVE and in person!

Everyone who promises to blog about the event when they get home will get a special thank-you gift that night, so don't forget your camera!

We would like to know how many people to plan for, so please RSVP by Tuesday, February 2nd to littlebirdieclasses@gmail.com. Include your name, city, and whether or not you want to get crafty with us. If you would like to participate in Love garland craft project, please also submit your payment of $5 to PayPal via our "Buy Now" button on the sidebar by February 2nd. You are welcome to purchase multiple kits, but we will not be able to ship them, so you must come to the party to pick them up (how's that for a bribe)!

For all our lovely readers who can't make it to our little soiree, we'll provide a tutorial after the party for the Love garland. We're may also decide to sell kits for the garland on Etsy if there is any interest, so leave us a comment if you can't come to the party but would be interested in buying a kit.

We love how blogging creates a virtual community amongst crafters, and we're looking forward to extending that sense of community to our real life neighbors! Hope to see you there!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

17 Comments

The Pacific Northwest is a hot-spot for crafting. What else are we going to do when we're stuck inside 9 months out of the year? We sew, quilt, make cards, scrapbook, make jewelry and home decor. . .you get the idea. We know we have a lot of local Western Washington readers who love to craft, so we thought it was time that local crafters unite!

Save the date, because we're hosting our first-ever Little Birdie Secrets Blog Party on Thursday, February 4th! Join us, Stacy, Mandy, and Jessica, at Lasting Memories Scrapbooks in Lynnwood, WA for yummy treats, a fun craft project, blogging advice, prizes, and more!

More info will be coming soon, so watch the blog and tell your friends! Can't wait to meet you all!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

24 Comments

We recently told you that Stacy was contacted by Microsoft to be featured in one of their "Real Life Stories" commercials for their Office 2010 campaign. Hello, of course she said yes! So one day in November an 8-person camera crew took over her house and spent 12 hours following her around and filming her. Being the sweet friend that she is, she invited Jess and I over to be a part of the filming, and we all made the final cut! In fact, the entire commercial is about this very blog! It was such a fun experience, and we were so pleased with the result. It really captures our adventures in blogging, and Stacy did such a great job explaining just why we do what we do. So without further ado, here it is. And don't worry--we'll remember all our readers when we become BIG stars. ;)


(Cue dramatic award music here) We want to especially thank our Microsoft production liaison Kris (we told you about his band last month--he's awesome!) and the entire production crew who were so patient and professional, Stacy's mom Barbara for keeping all the kids quiet with nothing more than french fries in a tiny bathroom during filming, Marta from Creative Yarn whose crochet pictures are featured from one of our past posts, Tamara from Lasting Memories who created the recipe tin featured, and our dear friends Melynie and Kayleen, who really did all the work on the bulk chocolate order. We couldn't have done it without you!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

55 Comments

In case you haven't noticed, the three birdies love fresh seafood. What do you expect? We live in the Pacific Northwest! This week the fall salmon run is in full swing, so my husband went out to catch us some dinner. He fished the river for some pink salmon, which only come every other year. He got one, and it became my job to figure out how we wanted to cook it up.




We had two large fillets, so I decided to put a different spin on each one. For the first fillet I used Tom Douglas' Salmon Rub. You might have heard us mention this famous chef in our crab cakes post. This rub is amazing and after coating the fillet with it, we grilled it up on a cedar plank until flaky. Perfection!



For the second fillet, I used a recipe that we got from a wonderful friend of ours, Debbie Kimball. The recipe is so simple and the salmon tasted amazing with this finger-lickin' sauce.

Grilled Salmon with Secret Sauce
1/2 cup butter
3 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/4 cup ketchup

Melt butter over low heat. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place salmon fillets skin-side down. Brush generously with sauce. Close grill. Grill hot with smoke chips for 12-18 minutes or until fish begins to flake.

Note: This makes enough for about 1 1/2 pounds of salmon. If you like it a little sweeter you can add a little brown sugar.

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

9 Comments

We've posted about these yummy treats before, but we love them so much we can't help but talk about them again. It's summer in Seattle and crabbing season is open. We went out on the Sound to catch us a feast. We threw the crab pots in and baited the poles. In the meantime we took in the gorgeous sites--which included gray whales splashing and blowing. Amazing!


Then it was home to whip up our favorite crab cakes. We are fans of Tom Douglas (another great Pacific Northwesterner), so it is only fitting that we go straight to his cookbook I Love Crab Cakes! when we need a good recipe. We used 4 large Dungeness crabs to make these. We cooked the crabs in a pot and then removed all the crab meat. We then added chives, dill, lemon zest, mayo, and Japanese Panko. We patted them into little patties and them rolled them in more panko. We tweaked the recipe a bit and just browned them in a skillet using butter. Definitely our favorite recipe. Of course, we think the Coconut Crusted Crab Cakes is our favorite recipe, too. That and the Herbs de Provence one...there are so many "favorite" recipes, we suggest you try them all!

Crab Cakes before we browned them in a hot skillet full of butter.


Can't you just smell their crabby goodness?


Going, going.....


GONE!!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

7 Comments

We’ve mentioned before how much we love living in the Pacific Northwest. One of the major perks is being so close to the Puget Sound and all the yummy seafood. Shrimp season is here and we were able to go out as a family and catch some of the tastiest spot shrimp. This will tide us over until crab season opens.

Another major perk for me is not only do I live in such a pretty place that has amazing seafood; I also get to be close to Megan, my cousin. This girl knows how to cook. I mean the “no cookbook, throw everything in a pot and it all turns out gourmet” type of cook. She turned my fresh shrimp into a delicious shrimp pasta. Of course this is just something she whipped up quickly in her head and I tried to capture it all. Now, we are sharing this recipe with you. Enjoy!

Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:

1 package of shrimp (precooked) or 20 fresh shrimp cooked and shelled

7-10 Fresh Basil Leaves

3-4 Roma Tomatoes

1 cup Feta Cheese

French Green Beans (we use Trader Joe’s frozen version and love it)

1 Cup Heavy Cream

3/4 Cup grated Parmesan—Try to get a really good quality cheese. Not Kraft.

1-2 Cloves of garlic crushed

Salt and Pepper

Lemon Pepper

Olive Oil

1. Boil Fettuccine in a large post with water and a pinch of salt. Set aside

2. Sauté the shrimp and green beans with olive oil in a pan. Salt and Pepper to taste. Sprinkle Lemon Pepper to taste. Do not do this for too long, only until shrimp and beans are warm. Set aside.

3. Chop the tomatoes and basil.

4. In a saucepan combine heavy cream, garlic and parmesan. Bring to a boil while continuously whisking for about 4 minutes or until it is thick. Remove from heat.

5. Place fettuccine, shrimp, beans, tomatoes, basil, and feta in a large bowl. Add cream sauce and toss. Make sure the noodles and shrimp are evenly coated.

6. Sprinkle any additional feta, tomatoes and basil on top for presentation.

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

7 Comments

It's time for another round of Little Birdie Secrets classes in the Seattle area! Join us at Tot Spot Cafe in Woodinville for some fun and creative craft projects, taught by Stacy and Mandy of Little Birdie Secrets. Have little ones at home? Bring 'em! Tot Spot offers a supervised kids play area, and it's included in the cost of the class. How great is that?

Here's the run down on our upcoming classes for April and May:

Dress-Up Time: Tutus and Superhero Capes April 17, 10:30am

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s….every boys dream to be a superhero! Now you can make your little boy's dream come true. Come make a cape for your little superhero. The cape is made of lovely wool felt and will be personalized with your little one’s initial. Don't have a little superhero who needs a cape? How about a twirling ballerina? For the little girls we'll make a gorgeous pink or purple tutu, complete with ribbons, flowers, and sparkles. Class fee will cover all materials and cape pattern. No sewing skills required. Please specify cape or tutu when registering.

Diaper Cakes: The Sweetest Baby Shower Gift April 24, 10:30am

You’ve seen them at baby showers and online and now Little Birdie Secrets is going to show you how you can make your own stunning diaper cakes. These three tiered cakes make wonderful gifts to any expectant mom and are sure to “wow” all your friends. This class will teach you the tricks to building and decorating your own diaper cake creation with a hidden surprise inside. Class participants can choose to make either a Posh Petal Cake or a Baby Animal Cake. Practical never looked so good! The class fee will cover instruction, foundation pieces and all embellishing/decorating pieces. Participants will need to bring their own diapers. Please specify Posh Petal or Baby Animals when registering.

Bottlecap and Scrabble Tile Art: Unique Jewelry and Gifts May 1, 10:30am

It is the coolest way to create magnets and pendants, and class attendees will create both! You'll make up to ten magnets and two hip pendants using pretty papers, atlas and music sheets, or your own photographs--perfect for Mother's Day gifts, or a gift for yourself! Class fee covers all materials, but bring your own photographs for personalized gifts.

It's Your Birthday: Birthday Crowns and T-Shirts May 15, 10:30am

It’s My Birthday!!! Little ones spend all year waiting for their very own special day. Help make that day even more special by creating a personalized birthday shirt and birthday crown. Your little one will definitely feel like a prince or princess in these handmade items. They also make a wonderful keepsake that you can save and/or reuse year after year. Class fee will cover the cost of one shirt and one crown. Sewing skills are not required. Please specify boy or girl when registering.

Class Registration Information

Class fee is $32 per person. All classes include childcare during the class for up to three children. Classes must be paid for by PayPal 24 hours before the class. Classes with less than four registrants will be canceled, so register a friend!

To register, please send an e-mail to http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22mailto:littlebirdiesecrets@gmail.com%22%3ETEXT%3C/a%3E, specifying which class and which option you'd like (if applicable). You will be sent a PayPal invoice that must be paid 24 hours before class time.

Feel free to e-mail http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22mailto:littlebirdiesecrets@gmail.com%22%3ETEXT%3C/a%3E with questions. Hope to see you there!

share this on »

{Facebook}

{Twitter}

{Pinterest}

8 Comments