Tea Plaque

I don't know about you, but the dollar bins in stores are like crack cocaine for me.  I can't walk by one without sifting through it and I invariably end up buying A LOT more than dollar's worth of stuff.  So, as I was innocently walking through Michael's the other day, I once again heard the siren call coming from the dollar bins.  I really did try to resist, but then I spotted some cute trinket trays and it was all over for me.

But what am I going to do with a trinket tray, one asks?  If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know I'm certainly NOT going to use it for trinkets.  But a crafty project?  Oh yes!

Since the trinket trays are monogrammed, I decided to use them to make a little wooden plaque for my kitchen.  I sifted through the bins to find the letters to spell T-E-A.  (Yes, that was me sitting on the floor, dumping out all the bins.  Sorry Michael's staff!  I promise I put everything back as neatly as possible.)  Then I ran over to pick-up an unpainted wood plaque and some paint and I was ready to go.

Here's tutorial:

Tea Plaque

Supplies:
Monogrammed trinket trays
Unpainted wood plaque, large enough to contain our trinket trays (Walnut Hollow)
Paint (Folkart in Soft Apple)
Glue (Aleene's Original Tacky Glue)

Directions:

1.  Paint the plaque the color of your choice.
2.  When the paint is dry, arrange your trinket trays to spell out your signage.  Make sure the trays are centered and even.  Once you are pleased with your arrangement,glue the trays onto your plaque with glue.
3.  Lay flat and allow glue to dry. 
4.  Hang in your kitchen and marvel at what a creative genius you are. (And thrifty too.  I spent less than $10 to create my sign.)

Valentine's Day Past: Part Two

I'm still deciding on what I'll do for my daughter's school valentines this year.  There are more children in her class than ever (thanks to the state's budget cuts) so I'm going to have to keep it simple.  I thought I would share the past two year's valentines to inspire you.

2009 Paper Lollipop Valentines
These said, " I think you are sweet.", and were even wrapped in cellophane. 

2010 Fortune Cookie Valentines
The fortune inside read, "I'm so fortunate to have you for a friend."

I also sent out Valentines to my family last year.  I cut a silohuette of sweet girl's profile out and put together some pretty sweet mail art.  They were a great way to create a memory of a moment in time.

Okay, my turn to get some inspiration from you.  Are you making cards this year?  What are you doing?

P.S.  The "candy" in the photo at the top of this post is fake!  To learn how I made it (can you say tealights?), go here.  They were featured in Earth Safe Finishes' Newsletter back in 2009-scroll down to see my article.

Valentine's Day Past: Part One

Can you believe the stores have had Valentine decorations out since the day after Christmas? Geesh!  I feel like we rush from one holiday to another, barely giving ourselves enough time to enjoy the present moment. 

Now that we are officially "close" to the holiday though I thought I would share some crafty holiday ideas with you from previous blog posts.  Don't worry!  I'm also crafting away and will have new ideas to share too!  I'm just crazy-busy getting ready for the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show and need to focus my creative energy on that right now.  So here we go...off to Valentine's Day Past....

I posted this project in 2009 on my craft club's blog.  The club doesn't meet anymore, but I do love this project, so I thought I would share it with you.

Crafty Goodness Chocolate Box

This project is really easy and gives an almost porcelain look to a chipboard box.

Heart Shaped Box Tutorial

And finally, who can resist a box of chocolates?  Especially when they are actually mini-cupcakes?

Box of Chocolates Cupcakes

Cream Scones

I went out shopping yesterday to pick-up some props and get some inspiration for my Designer Showcase Table at CHA.  Unfortunately for my budget, I found a bit too much inspiration!  I picked up a darling, ceramic tiered plate at TJ Maxx and a blue & white polka dot measuring cup by Spode.  When I saw them, I instantly wanted them, but I tried to be good and not buy them.  I circled the store a few times and decided that both items would haunt me the rest of my days if I didn't buy them.  Do you do that?  Pick something up, put it in your cart and then spend a half hour cruising the store arguing with yourself about whether or not to purchase it?  Well, this time the little shopping devil on my shoulder won and I brought both items home.

As a gazed lovingly at my new tiered plate, I decided it absolutely needed some scones on it.  I became a woman obsessed and immediately went into the kitchen and whipped some up.  I even got adventurous and decided to tweak a recipe from How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food and make it my own.  Do you have a tiered a plate that needs scones on it?  Here's my recipe for Blueberry Cream Scones with Lemon Icing.

Blueberry Cream Scones with Lemon Icing

Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour, plus more as necessary
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. cold butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup blueberries

For the icing:
Juice of one lemon
Confectioner's sugar (approx. 1 cup)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  Cut the cold butter into small chunks, add to food processor and pulse until the butter is incorporated and the mixture looks like sand.  Be careful not to over mix. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the cream.  Add them to the dry ingredients and fold in with a wooden spoon.  Again, do not overwork the dough.  Just mix it in enough to combine the ingredients.  Add the blueberries.
4. Turn the dough onto a board.  If it is too sticky to handle, gently knead in more flour.  Add the flour in small increments and remember that the dough should be slightly sticky.
5. Shape the dough into a 3/4 rectangle and it into approx. 8-10 squares (depending on the size of scone you want.)  You can also use a round cookie cutter to cut-out the scones.
6. Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes, until the scones are golden brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack.
7. While the scones are cooling, make the lemon icing by adding confectioner's sugar to the lemon juice.  Add the sugar slowly and whip after each addition.  Keep adding sugar until the icing is thick but still drips slowly from your whip.
8. Drizzle the icing over the cooled scones.  The icing will harden up a bit, giving the tops of your scones a delicious, sweet topping.

Get the printable recipe here.

By the way, if you put these scones on your new purchase, I've found that husbands are much more likely to be happy with your impulse purchase than when you show them an empty plate.  I'm just sayin....

Gluttony is Good

It's that time year.  When we all go into deprivation mode.  Our new year's resolutions mean cutting back on the foods we eat, and our current economy has forced many people to cut back on their spending, allowing for less luxuries.

That's what I was reflecting on when my daughter and I were at the library yesterday.  Our arms were loaded with books and magazines.  Anything that caught our eye was fair game and could be clutched to our chests or shoved into our library totes, with the knowledge that it could be ours.  Ours for at least three weeks anyway. Which is plenty of time.  How many books do you buy that you actually use for more than three weeks?  By the time three weeks pass, most of my books are read and sitting on a shelf collecting dust. My magazines have been recycled.

It was a wonderful feeling yesterday.  Standing in the stacks, knowing I could take what I wanted and enjoy it.  It's a feeling I've never had in the library before. I've always loved going to the library, and I've always attributed that love to my infatuation with books, but this feeling was different. Maybe it's because I have been trying to be more frugal and more environmentally aware.  I've curbed my spending.  I've stopped my rampant consumerism.  But I realized yesterday that I just need to find the right venues to get the rush that shopping used to give me.  I realized that my library is one of the best places to get it.  It's mine, all mine!

I looked down at my daughter, sitting on the floor, amongst her pile of books, smiling with pure joy.  How often, when you are little one, can you walk into a place, touch everything and take whatever you want home with you?  I said a little prayer.  Whispered a spell.  "May she always remember this place of refuge.  May she always know that are always ways to get what you want.  May she always find joy.  May she always remember these days in the library, with her mama, both of us clutching books and laughing as the books tumble from our overfilled arms and fall to the floor." 

Tween Party

My niece turned 10 this weekend.  Double digits!  Remember when that was a big deal?  (I didn't tell her it's all double digits from now on, baby, and it's not always fun to get older!)

I helped my sister by coming up with some fun, crafty ideas for the party.  I have to say it was a difficult task.  I'm used to doing super cute, little girl, frilly things for my five year old and I can throw a mean cocktail party for adults.  But this tween stage is tough.  They don't want to play games anymore, but you have keep them busy.  So of course, typical me, I turned to crafts!

We decided to have the girls make headbands. I brought plain headbands, paper flowers stickers, and cut-out shapes.  I found a fantastic Recollections Boutique Fleur Line at Michaels-using a one complete line really makes it easy to put this craft together for the girls because everything matches.  

The beauty of this activity is that you can then send them home with the headband as the party favor.  (Although there was one super sweet girl who left hers as a gift for the birthday girl.) 

Oh, and the headbands matched the paper & chicken wire crown I made for my niece to wear on her special day.

While the headbands' glue dried we had pizaa and then moved onto cupcake decorating! 

I brought some pink frosted cupcakes with me and loads of Wilton's cake decorating goodies and let the girls go crazy.  I think we have some future Cake Bosses in the room...

I think everyone had fun.  It really was a challenge to work with this age group.  Any advice for future events?

Second Hand Rose

My daughter is the second girl cousin in our family, so she gets loads of hand-me-downs from her older cousin.  Being the oldest child of four, I'm not really familiar with hand-me-downs.  I always received the new item first and then passed it along to my sisters.  I did occassionally get dresses from a distant cousin and, unlike many children, I loved them.  It was new to me and that's all that mattered.  I think my daughter lives by the same philosophy.  In fact, she idolizes her older cousin so much, that I think she's ecstatic to get something that once belonged to her.

But the items are second-hand nonetheless and I like to spiff them up for my daughter.  I try to give them a little something extra that makes the item uniquely hers.  (I think a lot of crafters who shop the flea markets have the same idea, hence all the wonderful, altered projects out there!)  A few months ago, I showed you how I fixed up a doll carriage, and today I wanted to show you how I changed out my daughter's new-to-her, "big girl bike".  It is wild and purple. The bike had mylar-like covered pads on the handle bar. By the time we got it, the covers were torn and fraying and fading.  They were covering some stiff foam and were attached with velcro, so I just pulled the covers off the bike, had my daughter pick her favorite fabric from my stash, and then used the old covers as a pattern to create really cute new ones.  I also used velcro, so we can take them off and wash them when necessary.  It changed the whole look of the bike.  The whole project used less than a fat quarter of fabric.  In fact, I have enough fabric leftover to make a small fabric basket for the bike.  (We'll see about that one-I'm a bit challenged when it comes to three dimensional sewing!)

How did you feel about getting second stuff when you were young?  How do you feel about it now?

Dressing-Up Jam Jars

I'm pleased to tell you that I have a project published in the Winter Issue of Somerset Life. It's on newsstands now or you can order it online.  I submitted a nostalgic way to dress-up a glass jar and one of my submissions got a full page photo!  The stylist and photographer at the publishers did a great job with the photos for the article and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Since we are talking glass jars or jam jars, I thought I would share some photos of one of the project ideas I submitted, but didn't make the cut.  (Of course, I understand limited space!) But if anyone is visiting because of the article, I thought they might enjoy another idea for dressing up a jam jar. 

I call these my Sweet Cuffs.  They are made from fabric scraps and embellishments.  The cuffs are meant to be wrapped around a homemade jar of jam to dress it up. 

Or you can even buy some jam and give it a homemade touch with these cuffs. 

I designed the cuffs to either be tied or attached with a hook and loop closure so your gift recipient can use them on their brunch table with other jars or even....are you ready for this?...as a fabric cuff bracelet!  A bit of a crazy idea, but I kind of like it.

And speaking of jam....here's a helpful hint.  I know the idea of canning food can be a bit scary for some of us.  Botulism is not a gift I want to give my friends and family.  But that doesn't mean you can't make fresh, homemade jam!  Just cook up your favorite recipe, but only make enough to last for a few days.  Once it's done cooking, pour the jam into a clean glass container with a lid, and put in the fridge.  It should last you about a week. (At my house, it never lasts that long-as soon as my husband finds out there's fresh jam in there, it's all over.)  I can't tell you how much better tasting fresh jams are.  We're short on in-season berries during the winter, but you can always do a marmalade if you have the urge right now.  Oh!  I just might have to do that now.  Do you have any favorite winter fruit jam recipes to share with me?  Pretty please?  With a Sweet Cuff on top?





MP3 Player Fabric Sling

Happy New Year!  One of my resolutions is to exercise more.  Of course, this has been a resolution for about the last 25 years of my life, but I really think it's going to stick this year. 

So, I hopped on the treadmill.  (Okay, I didn't hop.  First I had to have my husband clear off all the boxes and junk off of it since it was buried in the garage somewhere, and then I got on it.) The only way I think working out is even mildly fun is to have music.  Unfortunately, my treadmill is an older model and the only place to put my iPod is in the drink holder.  Which means I have to put my water bottle elsewhere and get off the treadmill every time I want I drink.  I know I could wear one of those strappy things on my arm to hold my iPod, but the thought of elastic around one of my chubby arms, with fat squeezing out around it, doesn't exactly turn me on either.

So, there I am, on the treadmill, swinging my arms and listening to my music, when my arm hit the line connecting my earphones and my iPod and I watched in horror as my iPod flys out of the cup holder, unplugs from the earphones, and crashes to the floor.  Luckily, it still works!  But I decided then and there that if this exercise thing was going to work, I needed to find a better way to have my music with me. And thus the Fabric MP3 Sling was born!

Materials:
Fabric
Hook and Eye tape
Sewing machine
Thread

Instructions:

1. Measure around deck of your treadmill (or any exercise machine for that matter).  Add about two inches to your measurement to allow for overlap and seam allowances.
2. Cut two pieces of fabric the length of your measurement by a 4" width.
3. Cut one piece of fabric for the pocket, measuring 4" x 4".
4. Lay your two long pieces of fabric, right sides facing and sew around three sides, leaving one of the short sides open.
5. Turn out pieces and iron flat.  Fold the open end in 1/4" and press.
6. Top stitch around the entire strip.
7. Press all four edges of your pocket square a 1/4" under.  Sew around it to create a finished edge.
8. Place pocket onto middle of long fabric strip and sew the pocket on.  Be sure to leave one of the short edges open at the top for the pocket.
9. Attach hook and tape to the ends of the long strip.
10. Attach sling to treadmill, place MP3 player into it.  Exercise away.

Both my husband and I have used the sling and it really does work.  Your arms can still get a bit tangled in your earphone cord but the sling should keep your MP3 player from flying out.  Of course, if you are a really enthusiastic arm flayer, I can't make any guarantees!  Since the sling is removable, you can throw it in the wash when sweat drips on it (because we all know you are working out REALLY hard) or if you need to take the gym with you.