Strawberry Paletas and Hand-Painted Fabric

Strawberry paleta, anyone?

Growing up in Los Angeles, I vividly remember hot summer nights with no air conditioning in our house and the hum of the oscillator fan buzzing at high speed in our living room.  Every now and then an ice cream truck would roll by, with its melodic tunes sending my brother and I into a frenzy, searching for coins and running down the street to catch it.  "Wait, wait, Ice Cream Truck!" we'd scream, as we barreled out of the house.

But, occasionally we'd hear the faint sounds of a bell ringing on a small pushcart, cruising down our block and we'd know it was the "Paleta Man" coming by, a paletero selling delicious popsicles from his cart.

Without fail, I would always get the lime paleta -- cool, refreshing and right on point for summer.

But my brother -- he would get the 'fresa con crema' -- a creamy strawberry creation with strawberries and cream.  Absolute deliciousness.

As a child, I didn't like the chunks of strawberries hidden within.  What was I thinking?!

Recently, my little lovebug and I tried to recreate that strawberry paleta magic by blending strawberries and greek yogurt in my mom's nutri-bullet blender.  

Um.  It just wasn't quite the same.  I missed the fatty goodness from the cream.  Having nothing to compare it to, Little Mama loved it. I suppose it's probably for the better.  But let the search for a delicious Paleta de Fresas con Crema recipe begin!

Summer Camp at Grams-- Painting our Own Fabric

With strawberries on the brain, we set out to make our own simple fabric.

Essential tools - fabric, paint and brushes

We picked up white cotton fabric from Jo-Ann's, a tube of Tulip fabric paint and we were set!  All in all, about $10.

Instead of paintbrushes, we opted for red thumbprints all over our fabric.  Simple, easy and effective.  Good thing we put plastic underneath the fabric otherwise it would have painted the table too. Yikes!

Lovebug, Grams and myself painted away.  Whoa, lots of thumbprints.  Truth be told, as we let it dry overnight, I had serious doubts about this endeavor.

The next day we renewed our efforts and added white seeds and green stems using permanent markers.

Little mama LOVED this activity!

But of course -- she had to add her own flare.  See below.  

Overall, I was happy with how the fabric turned out!

There are three generations of thumbprints on this fabric.  I'd call this a keepsake!

Check our our final product--an empire-waist dress with a red, peter pan collar.  

Note the customized strawberry faces right in front. 

All smiles, over here!

She knows this was made with lots of love!

Hooray for summer and strawberry season! 

Here are some other strawberry designs from our shop.  

I can't decide which print I like best....

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Aren't summer fruits the best? Now time to find some fresh strawberries!  Cheers!