Spring has Sprung....almost...

The sun was peeking in and out so out came the greenhouse and in went the seeds. I forgot how good dirt smells.

My K had some man time chopping firewood...a lot of it being that we just had to get the tallest tree in our yard cut down. We had some bad feelings about taking this huge tree down, goodness knows how old it was, until we saw the middle. It was rotten. A squirrel made his home in there and is now displaced but I promise to "drop" some bird seed on the lawn for him to make up for it.

I haven't blogged in awhile, so here's some things to catch up on.

My very first attempt at making my own veggie sauce.

I've had this fabric for a year and a half in hopes of making this curtain...

And my fav....baby swings with jeggins and legwarmers.

It's T-Shirt Time

I'm impressed with myself on this post. 

1- Because I thought of the idea myself.

2- Because I even got a "that's cool" from my K.  I know I done good when I hear that!

I decided to get off my tuckus yesterday and do something productive.  Productive by my standards anyways...

This is my t-shirt time dance.  (hint: the scarf is the t-shirt)

My K had some old white t-shirts laying around.  You know the kinds...with the not so nice armpits?  Martha says to wash them with aspirin to remove those stains...haven't tried it yet but I'll believe her for now.  Sometimes she makes things look easier then they actually are.

Anyways, got the t-shirts, some RIT die, a bucket and my wooden spoon.

 I was happy to cut these suckers up.

Sewed 'em together to the length and width I wanted.

Then it was rubber band time. This was a nice little break, got to watch my dvr recording of Glee while doing this.



Pardon the squinting, I cant remember the last time my eyes were looking directly at the sun!

Nautical Knots

Just poppin' in for a quick little post today.

So, I have been checking out the jewelry aisle at the craft store lately.  When making my own jewelry , I usually use semi-precious gemstones but I've noticed how fashion jewelry is such a trend now that I wanted to try some out myself.  I liked the way it came out so much that I went back and bought some more so I posted them on my Etsy Shop.

 

Still not to late to use the coupon for TRwoodworks.  Click here for the coupon code.

Silhouette Giveaway Links

I've been trying to win one of these Silhouette Machines for awhile now.  Maybe this time around I will have more luck.  Here's some links to blogs offering the giveaways.  Look around their blogs too, they offer some great projects and coupons too!

The DYI Showoff

My {re}Purposed Life

Vintage Revivals

My Sweet Savannah 

Sugar Pop Ribbons

Happy Money Saver

Lee Lou

The Bragging Mommy

Take a look at the photos below to see what this amazing little machine can make!

And don't forget to read this post for a coupon to TRwoodworks Shelves.

I'm back! With a discount for YOU!

First I would like to apologize for my brief hiatus. Unlike most other bloggers out there, I do the blog work during the weekend while working the 9-5'er during the week. I'm not going to make excuses. One weekend I didn't have my creative fluffies flowing and another weekend I just didn't feel like doing a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. But I'm back, and what better way to be back then to have a post with a discount. Yup, I said it, a discount!

I'll start off by giving you some insight....some insight to our bare walls. My K is always asking for something on the walls. He thinks they're to bare. 

I agree with him, but when I think of putting things up on the wall the first thing that comes to mind is....my Swiffer. Because the more things that go on the wall, the more I have to dust and the more I have to dust, the less time there is for my crafts. But he is right. We've lived in this house for almost two years and sometimes it can look like its ready for an Open House. No personality. So I gave in. Starting small at first.  It's an overwhelming feeling and I have to remind myself that nothing is permanent, I can always change my mind.  Easier said then done hence the empty frame in the second picture!

I had to start somewhere.....

There's an Etsy seller, TRwoodworks, that I've had my eye one for a while now.   They make the most adorable shelves.

I convo'd them (Etsy talk for emailing through the Etsy site) to see if they could make a custom size and as luck would have it, they could.  My shelf was made to order and was here so quickly!  It arrived in a neatly packaged box with the mounting hardware and directions (which I promptly handed over to my K) .

Because I had wanted one of these shelves for such a long time, I wanted it to be perfect.  For the finishing touch I went out and bought some flowers and painted a little sign.  (This will eventually be replaced once I can actually paint a little picture of our house, but I need practice, and lots of it.)

 

Here's a sample of some of their other shelves.  And you get to custom order your color!

Side note- Meg, I can totally see the red shelf in the lower left corner in your kitchen. 

Once my shelf was up and all cutie pie'd up, I convo'd them again asking if they wouldn't mind being featured on my blog.  They were more then willing & grateful and even offered a discount code to be used. But before we get there, I wanted to provide some background on this cute couple making these cute shelves:

Aaron and Julie Callison are a husband and wife team that own and operate TRwoodworks. Aaron has been wood-working since high-school, where he met Julie! They've been together ever since. Over the years they've lived everywhere from Hawaii and North Carolina, to Montana, where they currently reside. Aaron served in the US Army, and they even drove 18-wheelers together. But he loves woodworking. He spent the last 4 years working two jobs to build his shop and pay for his tools, and now finally works for himself full-time. Julie handles the business side of things, and really enjoys it. In her spare time, you'll most likely find her on the back of a horse! The other member of team TRwoodworks is small, but very important. The mini-schnauzer mascot Jonesy. You can bet if you're in the shop, he's there too! 

I like looking at my shelf knowing there is a story behind it, about the people who made it.  That is what handmade is all about. :) 

So click your way over to 

TRwoodworks

and if you are interested in purchasing something, use CODE : 1SS10 at checkout to receive 10% off your purchase!

Aaron, Julie, and Jonesy, thanks so much for letting me feature you on my blog! Happy Sales!

Scrap Fabric Necklace

I've mentioned before I'm a self proclaimed craft hoarder, right? Well, one of the supplies I seem to have in abundance is fabric, but not fabric by the yard...bits and pieces in strange shapes.  I cant even remember what I must have made to leave these shapes behind.  Either way, I found something to do with them and decided to share.

 Start by getting all your supplies together. An important thing to remember when picking the beads out is to make sure that the holes will be wide enough to allow the fabric to pass through.  At Michael's they sell these heavy duty wire needles from Beadalon (in the jewelry section )with a large eye that I bought to make it easier to bring the fabric through the bead.

 

Make strips of fabric approximately 1" wide.  I was lucky as most of my scraps were on the longer side, but there were a few that I needed to piece together to make longer. Do this by facing the two wrong sides together and stitching a single line down the width of the fabric.  No need to back stitch as you will be sewing over them later on.   Use your judgment as to how long you would like the necklace to be.  Mine were all various lengths as I wanted to wear a few at a time with a layered look. 

Once you have all your fabric cut into strips, fold in half lengthwise with the two right sides facing each other.  Stitch down the long end of your fabric strip.

 

When you reach the end of the  fabric strip, lift up the foot and turn to stitch to the end.

You dont need to complete this step as you will cut it off later on, but it does make it easier to turn them inside out.

After your finished sewing, turn the strips inside out.  I just used a pen for this, nothing fancy needed!

After your finished, all your strips should look like this:

 

Attach one of the wire needles to the end of the fabric strip.  Do this by taking the point of the needled and inserting it through both sides of the strip.  Once you do that, pass it back through the eye.  Don't pull it too tight as it might snap off (as I learned!)

 

Once the needle is on, start adding your beads.  I chose to knot on each side of a bead but this isnt necessary unless the hole of your beads is so wide that they could move around. 

 

Place the beads where ever you want and add as many as you want.  I placed them in random spots all along the fabric strip.  

If you have a fabric strip that was sewn together to get your desired length, you may find it hard to get the bead over the seam.  In these instances, this is where I cut off the top of the fabric strip that I sewed across (the seam you made to make the pen easier to turn the strip inside out).  I inserted another needle on this side and added beads.

Once you are finished adding the beads, take the ends and place one edge on top of the other and sew them together.

 

And your finished!

I was happy the way these came out.  Even tried to take some self portraits with them on.  Think I need to work on the self portrait things. 

 

And the Winner is......

Comment #3! Congrats to Mandy who wrote: 

I've been checking too, excited to see what you would come up with next! Love the wreath!

 A little shout out to Mandy who happens to be my oldest friend ever.  No funny business going on here, I took a picture of the Random.org selector who chose her comment number at random.

I added a little something new to the blog, look to the right?  Do you see it?  It automatically streams my Etsy Jewelry Shop.

Go me, Go me! 

A happy Saturday to all! I am off to run some errands and have tons of ideas for tomorrows post so stay tuned and keep warm!

DIY Felted Floral Wreath with a Free Giveaway!

I've been trying to put this post up for what seems like weeks! Maybe it has been weeks....how knows.  Around here it is one snowy day into another.
 Winter's still hanging around.  I'm waiting for it to leave.  I have two hands on each side of the door with my foot up waiting to boot it on its bottom.

It's been a while since my last post (sorry 'bout that) and I was thinking that I wanted to make something to give me a little cheer.  So off to the craft store I went on Friday's lunch break in preparation.  I had big plans of locking myself in the house and just make stuff all weekend, but it never works out that way....

However, there was one successful creation!  So I decided to share it and for those who dont have the time to make one of these pretty 'lil things, I'm giving one away to a lucky commenter.  (see below for more details)
Break out the glue guns! Or, Charlie, as I refer to mine.  Yup, my glue gun has a name.

Start by getting a foam wreath form, one roll of yarn and enough sheets of felt for as many flowers you want. For the wreaths shown, I used a 12" form.  Thinking about it now, I wish I would have gotten a 14" just so it would be a little bigger and I was able to add a few more flowers.

 Decide how you want the colors to be laid out and cut your circles appropriately.  The bigger you cut your circle, the larger the flower will be.  I was able to get four small flowers from one sheet.  For the larger flowers, one whole sheet was cut into a circle.(I cut extra as I was making two wreaths at once)

 Start by placing a line of glue to hold the beginning.  Give it a few minutes to take hold then start wrapping!  I found that by holding the wreath form in between my knees and passing the yarn through went fastest.  I was able to wrap the first on while watching an episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  Killed two birds with one stone.

Once the wreath is wrapped completely, start cutting again. Cut the outer edges of the circles to make soft waves, then begin cutting the circles into coils.  (See photos below)

Once the felted coils are cut, start to make the flower by rolling up the the coil from the outside making sure that the smooth edges are even.  (The wavy sides will be your petals.)

Squirt the glue gun on the botton of the flower and use the middle of the coil to lay on top of the glue.  Let it dry a little while then glue it onto your wreath.

 I also added some little leaves to mine with good 'ol Charlie.

So now time for the giveaway.  Same as last time, leave a comment and a lucky commenter who will be picked at random will receive the wreath shown below!  The giveaway will be open for one week.  Good luck!  And remember, you must be a follower of my blog!

Sundays, Not Always Fundays

This is what a snowy winter weekend is all about.

We had a small snowfall Friday.  One that was anticipated for all day.  When it started, I grabbed that as an excuse to get out of my cubicle and head for the closest door.  Snowflakes the size of fists came down in the most calming way and knew just where to stick themselves.   And when I woke on Saturday morning, they were all still right where they landed. 

I have issues with Sundays.  Can't live with 'em, cant live without 'em issues.  Early morning is usually spent running errands, trying to give myself the time limit of "Ok, lets get this, this and this done before noon".  I do this because I get home and there are millions of other things to do.  This morning it was Lowes, Target, and Grocery Shopping.  I could think of better things to do and better places to go but we need to get prepped for the week.

Lowe's was our first stop this morning.  Blah! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good trip to Lowe's every so often, but thats in the spring when you walk in the doors and are instantly hit with the smell of plants and dirt.  Yes, I like the way dirt smells.  To me, it's the epitome of Spring being around the corner just like the way burning boat fuel lets me know that summer has begun (I'm really jones-ing for that smell right about now).  And today there was none of that.  In fact there were empty shelves and empty aisles.  

So as I pushed the cart and followed my K around while he was looking at small plastic parts for something, I have no idea what, I was thinking about how I hadn't posted on my blog for a few days.  Then I looked down at our cart and realized that I had a tip to share!  I had ran into a friend one day at Target and she looked at my cart and said "What a good idea, I've never thought of doing that"  It's become such a habit to me, that I don't think twice when I do it, it just happens. 

Buckle your goods in!

I do this for many reasons:

#1- I dont want to carry it around.

#2- My hands are usually full of other things, coupons, lists, pens, my phone.

#3- and this is my biggest reason- If someone ever tries to snatch it, it's "Sorry Sucker", they aren't getting away with it!

Back to my case of the Sundays, not always fun days.

Given the snowy and chilly weekend and a possibility of snow during the week I wanted to make a big pot of chilly.  One that would suffice for dinner at least two nights and maybe a lunch or two with a frozen batch in the freezer for a Chili for dinner on a whim at a later date. 

I spent the afternoon cooking 4lbs of meat, not my favorite thing to unwrap, cut, cook, look at....but I do it.  And although I hate the process, the outcome is delish.  I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I can make a darn good Chili.

 If you are ever looking for a good chili recipe, this is what I start with and use as a foundation: 

I use this False Alarm Kit and the 2 Alarm Chili Kit.  I combine the two and there is a kick but I'm not running for a glass of milk.  It gives you all the seasoning you could think of putting in there.  Each box is made for 2lbs of meat and all it calls for is tomato sauce and water. This is a great foundation chili because there are so many other ingredients you can add to it.  

I start by cooking 2 pieces of bacon per pound of meat while sauteing onions, red onions, green/yellow/and orange peppers, a chili pepper and garlic.  I mix it all together, saute it a little more then mix it all together and at the end throw in some kidney beans. Yummy! And I'm not even too big of a meat eater but all the flavors really come together and it's irresistibly good.