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Saturday, November 22, 2008

Glitter is soo IN

I've jumped on the glitter band wagon. I love this stuff! I was really feeling the need for a craft so I called my crafting mentor, Krista. (I use the term "called" loosely, we have a unique method of communicating.)



Step 1: Cover styrofoam shape with mod podge. (Original instructions said to use a spray adhesive, which works well on smooth surfaces but Krista suggested mod podge, and I think it works better for rough surfaces.)

Step 2: Cover with *SPARKLES!*

To really get the full effect you need to see Krista's.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Project

I love completing a project. This one has left me a little unsettled because I need to put a knob on the drawer and because there is no sense putting in back in our room because it will just have to be removed at carpet-laying time. But anyway.


Before:


It required primer. I did it the lazy-girl way, with spray paint primer. It's so easy to do when you have a few minutes here and there during the day.

A fresh coat of paint can make a garage sale bargain feel new and personalized.




When my house gets put back together I'll post a picture of the table in its proper place. I am thinking cute old-fashioned clock and lamp on top?

Tater Turkey

One last preschool craft. After four weeks of toddler-mania I am off the hook! (For a few months anyway.)

It's a pretty lousy picture, but for me that is normal. He has pepper feathers, craisin eyes, and a pisachio beak. He was supposed to have onion wings but we didn't make it that far. He is standing up with the help of a tripod of toothpicks.

Here is where I got the idea.

www.familyfun.go.com is a great resource.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Apple Chips

Here is a yummy and easy fall treat. I did these with the preschool kids and they loved it. Cameron didn't actually like the end product, but I did!



  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees

  • Line cookie sheets with Parchment paper.
(Brilliant side note: I didn't have parchment paper so I consulted the internet and found this idea. Cut part of a paper sack and spray it down with cooking spray. Let it sit for a few minutes and it works great. Don't try to do this without some kind of paper, I made that mistake for you.)

In a bowl mix 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. You can add nutmeg and ground cloves if you have them. (I didn't.)


  • I used my handy vegetable/fruit slicer to slice the apples very thin. If you don't have one, cut the apples in half and slice them in half-moon shapes. (The thinner the better.)

  • Dip them in the sugar/cinnamon bowl and lay them on the cookie sheets.

  • Cook for 1 1/2 hours and then turn and cook for another 1 1/2 hours. If they aren't crispy enough, turn off the oven and leave them inside overnight or for a few more hours.

  • To prevent them from sticking to the paper, loosen them with a spatula as soon as they are done baking.

These are my modified instructions from this recipe.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Last Halloween Craft

A Halloween idea the day before Halloween. Really helpful. I did these today with Cameron's preschool. They are empty Crystal Light canisters, wrapped in gauze, with little paper eyes.

No wiggly eyes, we all know why.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Creative Wall Art

I am not an artist. I don't say that to be modest. Even Cameron gets confused trying to figure out why my "elephant" looks more like an airplane. But I can paint geometric shapes on a canvas. (With the help of stencil.)

I did these awhile ago but this blog was hurting for some more posts. You can see that I got my inspiration from the shower curtain. Not fancy, but hey- it's just a bathroom.

Then I did a clock to match. It's pretty basic, but my aim here is to provide ideas. Those who are blessed enough to paint without stencils could really show me up. (They were just blank canvases from a craft store. ) Any questions? More ideas at Michael's.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Cheesecloth Ghost

The other day in exchange for watching her little girl a friend bought me the stuff to make a cheesecloth ghost. So thoughtful. It took me a few days to get around to it but here it is.

The cheesecloth cut into strips.
My "form". TIP: These arms were WAY too long. I cut them halfway through, and I still think they were too long.
The instructions said to cover it with plastic wrap. Since I am currently out of plastic wrap, I had to improvise. Yay for saving winco produce bags.
Then I put the strips into a ziploc with all the fabric stiffener and mixed it all up.
Draped the strips over the form...

And almost 24 hours later it is almost dry! One more tip: take the time to make the form just the right shape. I wasn't totally thrilled with mine. He doesn't really have a neck, but as I type this I am realizing that most ghosts don't have necks... so I guess he is just fine. Thank you Laura, I think I got this idea from you.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Easy Peasy

This idea was not my own. (They never are.) I got it from a new favorite blog called The Inspired Room.
But it was the easiest thing I have done all day. (Busy day!)
The Happy Halloween sign isn't my creation. It was done by Nikki for our card swap that I mentioned last month.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Then & Now for Groceries

When I was a new bride grocery shopping was challenging. Not in the way that it is now, with two children running and reaching, but in an amateurish way. I never knew what to buy, my cooking repetoir was limited; I just didn’t have it down yet. Shopping for a man was a whole new ballgame compared to shopping as a single college female. I could not impress my new husband with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner. So to aid me in my grocery shopping advancement I saved my receipts. I would pull them out each time I made a new list to help me remember what I bought last time. Was it good, did it work, was it eaten and enjoyed?

Flash forward five years. On Friday night I came home from the grocery store completely disheartened. I was sure that on this trip to WinCo I was going to spend less money than usual because I was anticipating Richard’s being out of town, and planning on eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner again. Richard traveling should amount to fewer groceries, especially in the meat department. But alas, at checkout the cashier shattered my hopes when he announced the total. It was exactly the same total (well within a dollar or two) as my last trip to WinCo and the trip before that. In fact, on my way home I even entertained the idea of a conspiracy… “charge the regulars the same amount each time, they buy the same stuff, they’ll never catch on.”

Where am I going with this? In my hopeless state I dug out an old receipt from our newlywed days. The date on the receipt I will refer to was November 3, 2003. For fun I chose a few items that I shopped for then and still shop for now. The necessities that have been on our grocery list since the beginning of lists. Here is the comparison with Friday night’s receipt.

Then/Now

Milk $1.98/ 2.72
Applesauce 1.28/ 1.37
Cream of Chicken Soup 0.66/1.25
Tortillas 1.75/2.67
Cheese 3.98/5.98
String Cheese 1.50/2.98
Dozen eggs 1.09/1.36
Tortilla Chips 2.42/2.98
5lb Potatoes 1.38/ 1.98

Total 16.04/23.29

Granted, some of the brands have changed and there are other factors. But it was a fun little game for me to ease the guilt of the costs of eating. So I let a little self-pity wash over me and whined about the tough economy and the price of gas.

But lest I sound ungrateful I don't really have anything to complain about. I'm lucky to eat what I do and to have the money to do so.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Card Swap

This month for our card club we decided to try something different for Halloween. There were a lot of really cute projects but I think I better get permission before I post them on here. This one was mine, it was a pretty simple, one sheet of paper folded into a bag. You can see where I copied it from right here.

Perfect for a few Reese's peanut butter cups! I didn't put any candy in yet since Halloween is still a month or so away.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Grocery List

In my list of 101 things about myself on my other blog I mentioned my categorized grocery list. I had a few requests for it so I put it on google docs. It is loosely based on the layout of WinCo in Meridian, but they occasionally change locations of products and I haven't been very good about adapting my list because I practically have it memorized by now anyway. But here it is if you're interested. Much thanks to Laura who gave me something to start from. (Can you tell how I'm totally into the hyperlink thing?)

And I hope this works because I have never used google docs before. Give me some feedback so I know if it's connecting for ya.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Craft Time

Some friends came over for an afternoon craft. It was quite the effort, but maybe we'll be faster next time! Step one: cut 2x4 into blocks. Step 2: Paint the blocks

Steps 3-?: Cut out paper, mod-podge to blocks, cut out letters (Thanks to Kim's cricut!), modpodge letters, tie ribbon... Ta-da! (Cameron's new favorite phrase.) I am not good at tutorials am I? Photographs courtesy of Krista.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Grommets!

My sister Adri is quite the home decorator. She made some curtains for her kitchen and she told me it was very simple so when she was in town I had her and my Mom help me, and it was very simple. I just measured and cut the fabric to the size I wanted. Which turned out to be too small but the fabric was on clearance and I only had enough to make decorative curtains. Meaning they don't cover the spanse of window when pulled closed. But they are sheer anyway, so no matter.

I just sewed a hem around three sides and the doubled the fabric over a few times on top, for strength. It just has to be wide enough for the grommets. If I had done this project after I had this blog I would have taken step-by-step pictures.

The grommets are really easy to attach. You just measure and mark where you want them, cut a hole and they just snap together. Ta-da!
They aren't great. Second rate at best.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Never throw anything away!

Okay well maybe that is a little unrealistic. But those of you who have seen my boys in swimsuits know they could stand to put on a few pounds so my pediatrician told me to put this in their milk each morning for some extra calories. We collect these cans at quite a pace and so today I was determined to make use of them.
This is the first one I made. I don't really love it, but it was a first try. I figured I could put cookies/treats in it for a birthday gift.

This one turned out a little cuter. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. The lids to the cans are blue and not the right blue for this paper so this can will have to serve a lid-less purpose.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

the Transitional magazine holder

I love lists. One of my lists is a list of things I want to buy when there is money available. On that list are these cute magazine holders. (IKEA) But before I started cutting magazine pages out and putting them in my Idea Book I saved all the magazines. I used empty cereal boxes and covered them with contact paper. As you can see the contact paper is a little dated now. I made all these when we were poor college students.





Friday, August 29, 2008

More zucchini!

Brit got me the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld for Christmas. And although I have my doubts about Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry) actually cooking there are a lot of good ideas in the book. She suggests making vegetable purees to use in recipes and so I took a couple of my zucchini squash and chopped, steamed and pureed.



The next step in measuring it into little bags and freezing it. I'll be sure and share when I use the puree in a recipe.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Stuffed Zucchini


I'm not sure I undersad the spelling of this vegetable...but anyway. These are actually zucchini squash, but it works for regular zucchini too.
Ingredients:
4-6 zucchini
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 finely chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan (another food with an odd spelling)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cut each zucchini in half and add to pot. Cook until tender, 5-10 minutes. Drain the pot and scoop out the "flesh" of the zucchini, making a boat.
- Combine zucchini flesh, bread crumbs, cheddar cheese, onion, salt, and half of the parmesan cheese.
- Sprinkle remaining parmesan on top and bake for 20 minutes.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A Garage Sale Transformation

I bought this trunk for $8 at a garage sale. I used rust remover on all the metal hardware, you can see in the picture below a before (bottom of handle) and after (top of leather handle).
Here is the final product.

A few Cards






The Bissel gets the Gold

I first borrowed a carpet cleaner like this from my in-laws, then from a friend. It worked well both times so my mom and I went in together and bought this one. It's my new favorite domestic appliance. It hadn't been too long since I last cleaned the carpets but this is what the water looked like when I finished just half of my bedroom.
It was both very satisfying and very disgusting. (And also a little embarrassing now that I'm sharing this...) I love clean carpets. It makes the whole house smell nice. There really is something gratifying about having the house a little cleaner in some way.