recipe: perfect crispy potatoes

Okay, here's the deal. If you want amazing potatoes, you've got to do a little more than just throwing them in the oven. Don't get me wrong, while in a time crunch, the latter will do just fine and taste great. But if you want perfect crispy buttery amazing goodness, you've just got to take it a little further. Now this recipe has very few ingredients because we want the potatoes to taste like potatoes. After you master this recipe, it's fun add different herbs and seasoning. But this is the basic recipe and these potatoes will go with ANYTHING. ANY time of day. 

Perfect Crispy Potatoes

Ingredients:

- 8 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

- 1/4 cup melted butter

- 1/4 cup canola oil

- Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Put your potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Add a little salt.

3. Bring pot to a boil then reduce heat to medium for about 15 minutes.

4. Drain potatoes.

5. Put the potatoes back in the pot and swish/toss them around a bit. This will make the edges more rounded and soft. This is necessary for extra crispy-ness.

6. Mix the oil and butter and toss into the potatoes.

7. Lay the potatoes out on a baking dish in one layer.

8. Sprinkle salt on top and bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Turn the potatoes a couple times in between.

9. Serve!

xo, Savannah

Recipe adapted from here.

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diy: personalized stamp

I know you hear me saying this ALL the time BUT, we have had the supplies for this project for a while and just got around to actually using the supplies. We had bought two different types of carve-able stamps and had no idea what we were going to use them for. We just knew we wanted to make stamps. Then the need came up for an "Oh So Pretty" tag for some merchandise. So we took that opportunity to use these supplies! It's super easy, it just requires a little patience.

You will need a stamp, this is a Speedball Speedy Carve, a carving tool, a brayer and some block printing ink. You will also need a pencil and a thing permanent marker.

Sketch the design to want on paper with a pencil. Just draw it the normal way you would, no need to make it backwards.

Put the design face down and rub the back of the paper. Make sure cover the whole area, you're trying to get the pencil to rub off on the stamp.

Should look something like this! And note that it is now backwards on the stamp, as it should be.

Go over the pencil with a permanent marker.

Start carving all the space the isn't written on. This is the more tedious part.

Be patient and soon you'll make it!

I just used an xacto knife to cut the stamp down to size.

Then you just use the stamp as you would. You could put it on an ink pad but we used printing ink a brayer to apply the ink. I'm thinking about mounting the stamp on some wood to keep it more sturdy. And I have another idea for this stamp so stay tuned!

xo, Savannah

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299 no-sew ways to alter a t-shirt

I know, this may seem a little crazy... Who would sit around and think of 299 ways to alter a t-shirt? It actually wasn't like that. It was more like, I want to do a post about all the ways you can alter a t-shirt and then I got overwhelmed because I kept thinking of so many different things you can do. So I decided to make a little graphic showing all the ways I though of. I'm sure I've forgotten something but this is specifically about not having to sew. All you have to do is cut and in some cases, tie. If you add sewing in, that is a whole new ball game and that's just too much for one post. There are 5 categories: neck, sleeves, bottom, back and side. Just pick one way in each category and get to cutting! I must also note that in the category of "side" there is also an option to do nothing, making it 3 choices instead of the 2 in the picture. You can also play around with using baggy shirts or fitted shirts. Oh, and if you are wondering "Why 299 and not 300?" The last one would be choosing "original" in each category and you'd end up with the exact shirt you started with... un-altered. So, there's that. Now, I'm going to show you two ways I've recently altered a shirt.

You will need:

- t-shirt(s)

- scissors

To make a crop tank, make these cuts. Cut the sleeves off right next to seam. Start cutting the neck by the seam and then go into a more deep scoop-like shape. Stretch out the edges where you just cut by grabbing either side and pulling. This makes the edges look less choppy!

And then you have a nice little crop tank!

This shirt is a bigger shirt so I'm doing muscle sleeves and a fringe bottom. The bottom of the sleeve is low enough so I started cutting there and then cut diagonally to where my shoulder would be. I also cut off the trim at the bottom so there wouldn't be any weird edges on my fringe.

Start cutting fringe. I wanted smaller fringe, which takes FOREVER.

After you've cut your fringe, pull each piece to stretch it out and make it look less like you just cut it.

I LOVE this design. Got this guy at Goodwill, it was brand new AAAANNNDDD it's glow in the dark.....what?!? That could be weird or awesome, we will see! If you don't have any old t-shirts, just buy some and you can put your own designs on it. Anyway... hope this is helpful! And may you never have a plain boring t-shirt again!

xo, Savannah

**This post contains affiliate links.

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before and after: goodwill dress to a flirty romper

So a couple weeks ago I posted a picture on Instagram of this romper I made out of a dress I got at Goodwill. Everyone seemed to really like it (and I really liked it) so I decided to do a post about it. Now this isn't a full post about how to turn any Goodwill piece into something awesome, this is just what I did this one time. I don't know if I could exactly recreate this again.

We have a little collection of vintage patterns so I found this pattern for shorts. I picked the simplest short pattern. Duh.

This is the dress I started with. I had bought it because I loved the pattern and I had the intentions of altering it into a more flattering dress. The dress sat in the house for a while before I actually did anything to it. Classic Oh So Pretty...

I cut the shorts out of the very bottom of the dress. Then I followed the instructions but I didn't finish the top of the shorts since I'd be adding a top to it. After I did this, I got inspired by this romper. I had been searching the internet for rompers that I liked and could easily recreate with this dress. This romper was super cute and would be the best use of what fabric I had left. I did have to sew a few pieces of fabric together to create the ruffle and I used almost every piece of the original dress. There were hardly any scraps left. We also have a lot of this vintage trim so I used that around the romper instead of making my own trim, Mostly because I didn't have the fabric for that and this adds a more unique detail!

Anyway, this is the finished romper. It's super cute! I love it so.

We like to do alterations and sewing projects like this every now and then so if you enjoy posts like this, comment and let us know! We do it, we just want to know if we should take pictures and share them with you!

xo, Savannah

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diy: nail varnish agate pendant

I’ve recently been playing around with using enamels to create interesting effects such as faux agate and marbled pendants. I love the way you can manipulate the substance to create pattern and crazy images but it is pretty tricky to use, especially in small doses. The enamel and hardener need to be mixed in exact amounts and who has time for that?! So I started thinking a little more about a substance similar to enamel that we all have and that is ready to go. You guessed it, nail varnish!

You may also like:

- The 5 Minute Pillow

- The Fastest Friendship Bracelet Ever

- The Easiest Bath Bomb Recipe

Cheap nail varnish is perfect for a huge variety of DIY projects so it’s definitely worth purchasing a few colors next time you see a bargain. Once you have you colors of choice why not give this faux agate tutorial a go?

Materials:

Nail Varnish

Cabochon Setting

Jump Rings

Chain

Necklace

Instructions:

1. Paint your first color around the edge of the cabochon.

2. Drop little blobs of the second color on the inside of this.

3. Continue to drip little droplets of alternate colors into the middle of the cabochon. Use contrasting colors next to each other to create an agate effect.

4. Once you’re happy with your design leave it to dry. The varnish will sink a little as it dries. You can add more layers or leave it as it is.

5. Cover the cabochon with clear nail varnish to create a clear seal.

6. Leave to dry.

7. Use jump rings to attach the pendant to your necklace chain. You can see how to do that here.

Contributor Post by: Fran

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diy: brandy melville inspired top with freezer paper stencil

It's always fun to try to recreate things. I'm forever having that moment in the store where I'm like, "I can make that!" Sometimes it just seems easier to buy things already made but sometimes I get a wild hair and want to try to make it. This Brandy Melville inspired top was just so easy to make, I'm glad I gave it a try! You can watch the video below to see how I did it and if you like it, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel! Oh and you can purchase the Brandy Melville shirt that this is inspired by here.

xo, Savannah

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diy: flannel napkins

We love love love using cloth napkins. We also love collecting them. And while we love purchasing a variety of mis-matched cloth napkins, we love to have some that have our own spin on them. Earlier this year, I potato stamped some white napkins with neon paint. Now, I'm feeling like we need some more winter-geared napkins. And since we want flannel everything, I bring you- flannel napkins. They are easy enough to make yet, still pretty impressive. And it must be noted that these can be made with a variety of fabrics, not just flannel. Here's what you do.

You will need:

- Flannel (or fabric of choice)

- Matching Thread

- Sewing Machine

- Scissors

- Tape Measure or Yard Stick
- Iron

First you will need to cut your flannel into squares. Mine started as 16" squares. You can make them whatever size you would like!

Next you will snip off the edge of each corner. Just a little bit!

Then you will fold that edge over and iron it down, then fold the long edges over and iron down.

Fold the side edges over one more time, iron and then sew along all the edges.

I stitched around the napkin twice. The first time was right in the middle to hold everything down and then one more time right along the edge to make it look more finished.

Once you have made a few of these napkins you can roll them up and wrap them in some twine! These would be perfect as a gift to someone.

And they will look so festive the next time you are entertaining your friends!

xo, Savannah

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