Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 74

Piña colada panna cotta with coconut milk - dairy free, Paleo, real food

I love panna cotta. So simple, so light and tasty, so special-feeling!, and I make it with coconut milk and natural sweeteners so it's not even unhealthy. (You can see myberry lemon panna cotta hereandbasic panna cotta with candied ginger here.) So when our friends had us over for a Mexican-themed grill night and asked me to bring dessert, my mind went to panna cotta and I wanted to give it a special, tropical spin!

This recipe works so perfectly with coconut milk because of the piña colad...

Host an afternoon of sewing with friends!

This weekend I joined two friends in a sewing afternoon! It's something I've done a few times before but it's been a while - I'm so glad I got to do it again!

Click through to read the rest...

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Buffalo check everything! Like this black and white sundress

Possibly my new favorite dress!

Checker print is around quite a lot this spring/early summer and I love it in blue/white, pale pink/white, and like this dress!, the always-interesting contrasty black/white! I've seen a couple black/white check print dresses and tops this season, as well as lots of ruffles, and I made up this combo using a super simple sundress pattern which I also heavily modified.

Read about it after the jump!

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DIY leather ottoman makeover & tutorial

I've done a few leather projects before, but I'm sometimes a little intimidated and it feels like a big commitment to do a project with a big piece of leather! I've been really loving medium tan slightly distressed leather lately, though, particularly for smaller accent pieces like ottomans.Leather Hide Storehas tons and tons of leather pieces and colors and sent me some gorgeous tan leather for this project!


The color I got has a very slightly weathered, vintage-ey look which was...

Habit strategies for happiness, lower stress, and health

About a year ago I read a book that's changed my life. Well, actually, that's happened a few times. But one of the most important ones for me was Better Than Before , the newest book by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (another book that changed my life). Gretchen realized that happiness is so influenced by what we do every day - our habits. How we form good habits is a huge area of research and there are tips out there everywhere, but what really spoke to me about Better T...

Minty linen peplum top from a dress pattern!

Oh, Oregon spring... 80 degrees one day, pouringrain for 20 minutes one crazy morning a few days later, sunny again, 36 degrees as I drove to work the other day, then forecasted for 90 this weekend... I'm making the best of it, though, and have already pulled out my summer clothes and started making some new ones! Last summer I made this lovely lightweight denim ruffle/peplum topfrom a fave

Raspberry mango lime salsa - from fresh or frozen berries!

I got really creative with this recipe and - spoiler - it totally paid off!! This recipe is fun and exciting and summery, which was just what I needed on the grey afternoon I made this partial vision into reality! Summer is not here yet, despite the nice days we've had, and while I can't wait for Oregon berry-picking season, in the meantime I'm trying new things to do with frozen berries. The

Praise from three important moms and a book giveaway!

Mother's Day is coming up on May 8th and it's got me feeling grateful for the support I have from my mom and other important moms in my life! I owe my crafty nature and most of my sewing skills to my mom. She taught me to sew when I was very young and continues to provide guidance, support, interest, and sometimes bulk sewing supplies (she has the hook-ups!) to this day. She learned to sew

Bay Area travels - Union Square, Villa Florence, grassfed burgers, Mount Tamalpais State Park, and more!

Wow oh wow, what a great trip we just did!! We just got back from a trip to San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and some state and regional parks in the Bay Area. It was the first "real vacation" we've had in ages and boy, was it awesome! My husband is from the Berkeley area and has family down there, but the original reason for our trip was a concert he wanted to go to that timed perfectly with

My very own off-the-shoulder top

I don't know about you, but I've been inspired lately! Off-the-shoulder tops are popping up everywhere this spring and I've never owned one, but now I want to join the party! I tore this page from a magazine I read while getting an oil change. Something about that glamorous afternoon made me want to get back to the sewing room. ;) Something about seeing all these tops in one place, all a