Italian Sodas-Yummy!

Have you had an Italian Soda? They are yummy!I have had them in fancy Italian restaurants before but when my Gabby came home from a manners dinner with her young woman's class and was raving  about the Italian Sodas they served she had to find the recipe and of course thanks to pinterest she was successful. Here is the one we found...my only change would be choosing to just use the half and half the recipe calls for instead of the fat free version I purchased. That being said even with the fat free half and half it was still So SO good!! 

Italian Sodas

You will need:

Torani flavors of your choice 

Half and half

club soda

and ice cubes

Add 3 ice cubes to your glass

Then add 1/2 C of club soda

followed by 3 TBS of flavorings and

1 TBS of half and half. 

Top with whipped cream (optional)

Stir and 

ENJOY!!

I think this would be so fun at a party! Make your own style!!

Swimsuit Cover Up-Victoria's shhhh....A knock off tutorial

We do a lot a swimming in the summer.  Enough to necessitate a cover up for sure.  Did you know that Vicky's secret charges 50 bucks for one like this??  It cost me less than $10 and I didn't even need a sewing machine?! 

Here's the easy tutorial:

You will need:

enough knit fabric to go around your body 1.5 times

a needle and thread to match your fabric

scissors

something to make the round of the arm pits 

(I used a dessert plate)

elastic 

(we used hair elastics) 

What to do:

open the fabric and then fold it into quarters

Cut 3 strips off the end that will be braided together for the straps.

 Using the elastics to secure the strips of fabric braid the piece into a nice long braid.

 See,,,just like this...

 Fold the fabric in half (pin together if you need to) and then cut both thicknesses to provide an  armpit hole for each side (the top corners)

Open up a hole in your braid and pull a little bit of the corner of your knit piece into the braid. 

Fold the little pulled through corner over the strands of the braid and stitch down with your needle and matching tread. Cut off excess after it is stitched down securely.

 Measure the length of the braid over the shoulder for size, cut and secure with a knot or the elastic so the braid doesn't come undone and then sew and repeat the steps above on the back side as well. Now repeat for the other side. 

To wear, wrap around the back and slide the "arm holes" across to opposite shoulders. 

PS... Thanks Gabs for "showing me love"!! You are a doll and a half! I love your happy happy face!! and your sweet willingness to help!

PSS... We cut about 4 inches off the bottom of the cover up after the pictures were taken.