Fiesta Flags

Over the weekend, we celebrated my brother's graduation with some family and his friends. Remember a few weeks back when we made these tissue paper flowers for decor? This week, continuing the party prep, we made Mexican party flags to accompany our flowers. 

My mom held the vision for these flags, which we planned to hang along the backyard fence, and she cut out all of the squares from plastic tablecloths. We used green, orange, yellow and blue tablecloths to match our fiesta theme. 

Folding the top inch of the flag over string, we used staples to secure the flags.

We measured our backyard fence posts, all six feet apart, and then made seven strings of flags between 8-10 feet long. We stapled the flags about 4 inches apart from each other on the string. 

Once our flags were finished, we hung them on the fence by tying knots and using zip ties. The flags weren't heavy or weighing down the string, but it was a pretty windy day so the zip ties were a lifesaver! I wish the lighting was better in this picture, but here's a view of the flags hanging on the fence. 

I have to give a big shout out to my Girls Team partner for her creativity with these flags. I wasn't really sold on how they'd turn out at first, but she believed in her vision, and once we were stapling the flags to the string, I did too. :) Once on the fence, the flags looked really festive. A few of our party guests thought we bought them! 

The rest of our decor came together really well. Our homemade fiesta decorations complimented the delicious taco bar, and everyone had a really great time celebrating my brother and his major accomplishment! 

Oh and, Lola got in on the fun too with her own flower accessory! 

Project Linus Blankets - Ready to Donate!

Back in February my mom and I started crocheting blankets for Project Linus, a nonprofit organization that provides homemade blankets for children in need. As it was my first time learning to crochet, it took me a few weeks longer than my mom to finish my blanket, but now we're all done! If you missed our first two posts about this project, check out Crocheting for a Cause and Project Linus Blankets - Update to catch up! 

My mom has more experience crocheting so she made floral pattern squares, and then sewed them together to make her blanket. How cute is this?!

Because I was learning basic crochet stitches, I double crocheted my blanket until it was large enough for a teenage girl. I simultaneously crocheted white, pink, and teal yarn together. Using three strands of yarn made my blanket soft and thick so I hope the recipient is very warm and cozy!

When my mom was first teaching me to crochet, I was getting frustrated because it wasn't as "easy" as knitting. But now that I've finished my first blanket, crocheting is SO much easier! Once I got the double crochet stitch down, my blanket grew quickly. We both have quite a bit of leftover yarn and are anxious to start another crocheting project. I'm happy I learned to crochet because now I have time to make Christmas gifts, maybe a few blankets or one of those crocheted headbands that are all over Pinterest. :)

I'm proud to have learned a new skill, but I'm more excited that we used MIHM to support a very worthy cause. Now we'll be donating our blankets by dropping them off at the nearest Project Linus drop off location. To learn more about Project Linus, visit the local chapter's website.

Tissue Paper Flowers

Hello MIHM readers! Is it just the Girls Team or is May a crazy month?! Between graduations, weddings, and work, it feels like the month is flying by. Speaking of graduations - my awesome, super cool and genius little brother just graduated from college this past Saturday. Big applause for Pook, as he is affectionately known in the family, for getting his B.S. in Business! :) I am so proud of him, both as his older sister and a fellow SSU Alum! We had a great time celebrating with him on Saturday and will also be hosting a small gathering for his friends and some family at my parents house later this month. And, what's a Girls Team party if there isn't craft décor involved?!

Last week, we made Tissue Paper Flowers to decorate the party tables with. Because the blog we found directions on was so thorough and easy to follow, I'll just leave you all with this link for detailed directions. Here's a photo journey through our evening project!

Tissue paper, green pipe cleaners, colorful vases.

Cutting tissue paper to size.

Folding as instructed.

 

Rounding the corners.

Pipe cleaner stem.

Opening the folded layers.

 

Opened and fluffed petal layers.

Pretty in pink!

Stems tied together for bouquets.

 

All together, we made 8 vases.

Side shot!

 

Fun and fabulous!

 

While the tissue paper flowers were "easy" to make in the sense that the directions were simple, they were quite time consuming. It took us about three hours to make 32 flowers - 8 vases with 4 flowers of each color. But, once we got the hang of a few, it was a pretty mindless craft. We found that the more tissue paper you use, the more full and fluffy the flower looks. The hardest part of this project was being careful enough not to rip the tissue paper while fluffing out the petals.

 

The Girls Team is so happy with how our decorative center pieces turned out. They are colorful, fun, and won't die in the heat outside at what is sure to be a fun celebration for my brother!

 

P.S. I apologize to our regular readers in the delay of posting last week's project until now. We're busy having fun in real life this week, and I finally had a moment to blog today!

Lasagna with Turkey Sausage

Lasagna has always been one of my favorite dishes. Carbs, cheese, and pasta sauce – you can’t go wrong with that! Homemade lasagna is something that I’ve always wanted to make, but never attempted, because I rarely cook for more than two people at one time. This week my mom and I invited Nelson and my dad to help us eat one very cheesy homemade lasagna.

We used this recipe for Lasagna with Turkey Sausage from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Overall, it was easy to follow. Here's the ingredient list, but if you're interested in making this recipe at home, I'll let Ina give you detailed instructions since she is the true professional so click the link above!

 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound lasagna noodles
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

We cut our cooking time in half by splitting the tasks. I handled the pasta and cheese filling while my mom worked on the sauce. It's nice to manage a more intensive recipe this way, and keeps me from getting overwhelmed by all of the steps.

Turkey sausage, parsley, onion, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, basil.

 

Ricotta, goat cheese, parmesan, parsley, egg, salt and pepper.

 

While we were working on the sauce and cheese filling, the pasta was "cooking" in a large bowl filled with boiling hot water. This is a technique that neither of us had tried before. Instead of boiling the noodles, they sit in hot water for 20 minutes until they are soft. We checked on them a few times to make sure they weren't sticking together.

 

Nine lasagna noodles.

 

Once the sauce, cheese filling and pasta are ready, it's simple laying. One layer of sauce, then noodles, then mozzarella, then the cheese filling. Repeat this layering once more.

 

Cheese heaven!!!

 

Parmesan cheese as the final touch, ready to bake!

 

The lasagna should bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Because the pasta is already half cooked, it doesn't need to bake for an hour like most lasagna recipes.

 

Hot and bubbling.

 

The lasagna looked and smelled amazing when it came out of the oven. It was a little difficult to cut and serve, but who cares what it looked like because it was delicious! :)

 

Lasagna blob.

Plated with fresh salad.

 

We all really enjoyed this lasagna dish. I personally loved the massive amounts of cheese, but the sauce was also very tasty. Because of the way the pasta was cooked, it had a slightly chewy texture which we all thought was interesting...and not in a bad way! I always think making lasagna is going to be very time consuming and difficult, but that wasn't the case with this recipe. The Girls Team will definitely be making this again!

 

Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa for another delicious meal. We love her on MIHM!