Oregon Strawberries + Lemons + Vanilla Beans

I had high hopes for my new summer cookbook, and the first recipe has delivered! 

This jam is rich, sweet, tangy with lemons and has a strong vanilla flavor. It made my toast sing this morning! I added a tablespoon to my strawberry/banana smoothie and it made me very happy.

DIY Sparkly Hair Clips

Penelope And Pip has a great idea for making your own sparkle hair clips using Mod Podge and fine glitter dust.

Makes me wonder what else needs sparklin' around here!

Cute, Cheap Dresses at Modcloth

Read the size descriptions as some of these run short. They would make cute tunics for the summer too.

If you haven't shopped at Modcloth yet, you can get an extra $10 off any purchase of $50 or more if you use this link: 

Sipping on Saturday Dress
now $33.99

My Cherie Amber Dress
now $29.99

Com-pleat Harmony Dress
now $23.99

New Look Summer Dress

I'm not usually successful with fitted dresses, but this one was pretty easy. I would've thought that princess seams would be fussy and complicated, but really I like them much more than trying to place darts correctly.

I used this pattern, and in a surprising non-lazy moment, I did make a muslin. Since the bodice was a little big on the muslin, I just turned it inside out and pinned the seams to fit - worked like a charm!

The thrifted calico in my stash made a nice casual dress, but I can see making this again in some dressier fabric.

Happy Socks

These make me happy!

If you haven't paid proper attention to your sock wardrobe, Happy Socks is having a great pre-sale right now. Get 50% your entire order of at least 10 items. Code: HAPPYPRESALE.