Cutesy Crafts

So You Think You're Crafty

2013-05-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Just popping in to tell you that I'm auditioning for So You Think You're Crafty this week! It's a 10 week craft competition with a new theme each week. The winner of each round makes a tutorial, and the loser "goes home." Fun! I can't tell you which project is mine, but I can tell you that it's awesome! :) So go on over, vote for your favorites, and see if you can tell which one is mine. After the results are in, I'll be sharing my project here.

Kitchen Crafts - Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

2013-05-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

A couple nights ago I made this Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake for dinner. I'm adding it to my dinner rotation because it was so good! After much persuasion to "at least try it," the kids even decided they liked it. Score!

It was really easy to make too! I didn't change a thing, so check out the recipe here on Saving Money & Living Life. Got a recipe that you think I will like? I'd love to hear from you!

Garden Signs

2013-05-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

After building our raised garden bed, we had some leftover pieces of fence pickets that we used for the sides. What to do? Make some signs for the garden! For Mother's day, I made my mom one that says "flower garden."

I made a simple one for myself that says "garden" in a lighter grey vinyl.

I wouldn't use fence pickets for anything that you want to have a nice, smooth finish, but it worked great for the rustic look I was going for. I sanded the boards down a bit to avoid splinters, and applied some coats of of primer and paint. I sanded the edges again to make it look weathered. Here's how it looks in my garden. Look, stuff is actually growing! Side note: If you are looking for a way to keep the neighborhood cats out of the garden, chicken wire with holes cut in it for the plants works great.

I cut out the letters for the signs with my Silhouette Cameo of course. It's seriously my favorite crafting tool! (By the way, the Silhouette chipboard promo ends today). It can cut any font that you have installed on your computer. I just discovered the awesomeness of downloading free fonts from dafont.com (I am not affiliated with them in any way). It's not just word fonts that you can download either! They have a lot of "dingbat" fonts with different shapes that you can use to cut on your Silhouette. The flourishes that I used on these signs were from the font Soft Ornaments Three. In case you don't know how to install your downloaded font, I will briefly show you how. Just do a search for your "fonts" folder.

Open the folder, and just click and drag your new font file (the one with the TT on it) and drop it into your "fonts" folder. Now you can use the font on any program on your computer!

One last thing, make sure to varnish your signs with an outdoor clear varnish to protect it. I got mine in a small bottle at the craft store. A couple coats, and you are good to go!

Happy Mother's Day!

2013-05-12T09:48:00.001-07:00

Joe asked me what I wanted for breakfast in bed this mother's day. :)

Almost as bad as the birthday cake he made for me a few years ago.

I think I have a problem! Oh well, happy Mother's Day! Did you get breakfast in bed?

Chipboard Earrings

2013-05-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Silhouette sells chipboard? What is chipboard, you ask? It's a very lightweight cardboard that you can use to make boxes, tags, cards, etc. I decided to think outside of the box (wink wink... get it... because I'm not making a box) and make earrings out of the chipboard!

You read that right, these are made of chipboard! Evan my husband was amazed when he saw what I made them out of.

Silhouette is having a great promotion for their machines bundled with chipboard, dust covers, and download cards! Awesome! Want to be your mom's favorite child? Buy her one of these for mother's day! :) Here are the bundles you can get:

1 Silhouette CAMEO®, 1 pack of chipboard, 1 natural dust cover, 1 $25 download card: $269.99
1 Silhouette Portrait™, 1 pack of chipboard, 1 grey dust cover, 1 $25 download card: $129.99
1 pack of chipboard, 1 $25 download card: $19.99

To get the special prices, click this link here that will take you to the special page for the promotion and use code CUTESY at checkout. Promotion ends May 15th.

Now on to the tutorial! Open up the shapes in Silhouette Studio and size them to 1.5 inches. You can, of course, make them bigger or smaller.

Shapes used:
Flower Lace Filigree
Round Spanish Lace

Change your cut settings to chipboard. Notice that this will make your machine do a double cut.

I was a little worried that the small details wouldn't come out, but the chipboard cut PERFECTLY! Look at that detail!!!

Put the pieces on a flat, sturdy surface that you don't mind getting dirty. A piece of thick cardboard works great. Coat both sides of your shapes with a couple layers of acrylic paint. Let the paint completely dry on one side before you flip it, and make sure to get all of the edges.

After the paint is dry, the pieces will still be a bit flimsy. Flatten them out the best you can and apply a thin coat of Dimensional Magic. This will stiffen the shapes and give the a shiny, glass-like surface. Try your best not to get it in the cutout parts of the shape.

If you get any of the Dimensional Magic in the cutout parts, take a pin and swirl it around in the middle to clear the area. You can also use the pin to pop any air bubbles. The shapes will start to curl up a bit, but don't touch them. For me, they just flattened out on their own as they dried. After one side is completely dry, turn the shape over and coat the other side with the Dimensional Magic.

Wait for the second side to dry, add a couple jump rings and some earring hooks, and you are done! Use some more chipboard to make an earring holder and maybe a pretty box, and you've got a fun gift for a friend!

Cutesy Crafts is an affiliate of Silhouette America and will recieve a comission if my promo code is used. As part of Silhouette's promotion, I was given a free product to use. All opinions are my own. To read my full disclosures click here.

Kiddie Crafts - "All About Me" Books

2013-05-03T18:09:00.002-07:00

One of the mom's from our preschool group had a great idea for mother's day gifts... "All About Me" books. For the days that we taught preschool, we made things that the kids could put into the books. I don't have Audrey's final book yet, but I wanted to show you the pages that we made on the days that I taught. (Sorry about the bad photography... I was in the middle of teaching preschool... enough said.)

Since it was a Mother's Day gift, I thought I would have them answer some questions about their moms. I found this printable and made my own version. She came from the store???? Not sure what that's about, Audrey. One of the kids said her mom is good at doing somersaults. Hahaha.

I made this page for each of the kids that included all of their family members.

Then I had them cut pictures out of magazines that looked like their family members. This was fun, and also pretty funny. Audrey's was surprisingly accurate.

I traced their hands, and we stamped all of their fingerprints.

Apparently Audrey is 3-4 inches taller than all of the other preschoolers.

I also took photos of their profiles and turned them into silhouette cutouts.

And the funniest answer came from one of the boys. This is a sheet that they did the previous week. Haha.

The books also included painted handprints and footprints, self portraits, and drawings of their families. Everything is going to be put into page protectors and slipped into folders. Something that the mommies can treasure forever!

Dry Erase Treasure Map

2013-05-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

My kids love to go on treasure hunts! Usually our hunts consist of scrap pieces of paper with pictures or maps drawn on them. I thought it would be fun to make something a little more permanent that still had an erasable line to follow. It also needed to roll up like any good treasure map should.

I made the map using white vinyl fabric (found in the home decor section) and clear contact paper. Mine is 16" x 20". No, the dry erase markers do not erase perfectly off of the contact paper, and you will need to use a little bit of soapy water, but I actually kind of prefer that. I don't have to worry as much about the marker rubbing off onto the carpet or furniture when the kids are dragging it around the house. **edit: A reader suggested using "wet erase" or overhead markers. I might just try that!** First thing you do is draw your map (floor plan) onto the shiny side of your vinyl fabric with permanent markers. I only drew in the larger, permanent furniture. The kid's rooms are empty since those will probably be moved around soon. And yes, I suck at drawing cars... and furniture... and pretty much everything on this map looks kinda scary. Oh well, the kids don't care.

I even added a little compass to help the kids learn about directions.

Once your map is drawn, cover it with the clear contact paper and smooth out all of the air bubbles.

To make sure that the contact paper doesn't peel up, I sewed a 1/4" seam around the edge.

Trim off any excess contact paper.

Now comes the fun part! Draw a line or whatever you want all around the map. I made sure to include lots of fun twists and turns and, of course, an X to mark the spot where the treasure is.

Roll it up and give it to the kids.

Surprisingly, Evan did a pretty good job reading the map and figuring out my horrible drawings.

You must follow the map exactly!

It's always fun to make them go outside!

And the treasure at the end... fruit snacks of course!

So much fun!

Kitchen Crafts - Cornbread Taco Pie

2013-04-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite recipes because it's so fast and easy! You just open up cans and packages and dump things in. My kind of cooking. :) Also, it includes cornbread... yum!

Ingredients:

-1 lb ground beef
-1 can (abt 19oz) black beans w/ liquid
-1 can (abt 14.5 oz) petite-cut tomatoes
-1 pkg (abt 1.25 oz) mild taco seasoning
-1 cornbread mix or recipe for 8 x 8 pan (I use Marie Calendar's)
-1/2 cup shredded cheese

Instructions:

In large skillet brown beef and drain. Stir in beans, tomatoes, and seasoning. Bring to boil over high heat. Cook 1 minute or until heated through.
Pour taco mixture into 9 x 13 pan.
Prepare cornbread mix according to package instructions and lightly pour or spoon over the top of your taco mixture.
Bake 15 minutes at 425°. Sprinkle top with cheese and bake 5 more minutes (until cornbread is done).

Family Tree Art Tutorial

2013-04-24T06:51:00.002-07:00

If I'm not taking care of kids, crafting, or blogging, you will probably find me researching family history. I'm a bit obsessed. I saw these family trees from Brightside Prints a couple years ago and decided to make my own as Christmas gifts (I am not affiliated with that company in any way.) I used a completely free program called Inkscape that you can download here. It's great because similar programs can cost up to $300... no thank you! I now use Inkscape to make all of my patterns, drawings, and even Silhouette cut files. Here is my tree! I love it so much!

I blurred out a bunch of the names to protect the privacy of some family members, but you get the idea.

The bottom is made up of my kid's first and middle names, the trunk is me and my husband, and the branches are all of our parents, grandparents, etc. I used middle names up through my grandparents and just first and last after that. Each leaf shows the state or country where each person is born.

I'm going to do my best to show you step by step how to make your own. It's pretty technical, so I suggest only trying this if you are pretty handy with the computer.

Download the file that I made for my own tree here. (edit: Google Docs can't generate a preview of an svg, but I believe you can still save/download it. Try clicking the arrow on the upper left that says "download the current version" when you hover over it. If that doesn't work, send me an email, and I will send you the file.) Trust me, it will save you tons of time. I changed a bunch of the names, so the sizing is a bit off, but the names of your family will be different anyway so it doesn't matter much. The font I used is Edwardian Script. I think it's a standard font that comes with MS Office, so hopefully you have it! The file DOES NOT contain the background image, so you will have to get your own. Make sure it is high resolution, at least 300 dpi.

Remember while you do this to SAVE SAVE SAVE multiple copies at different steps along the way so you can go back if you mess up.

Notice the "layers" on the bottom. You can switch between those, lock/unlock a layer, etc. Use the + and - on your keyboard to zoom in and out.

Click the text button on the left and double click on some text in the tree to change the names. For this bottom part, you are going to want to make sure everything is nice and evenly spaced between each name.

The lines you see are called "paths". To make them curve a different way or lengthen/shorten them, click the "edit paths" button on the left and click on the line. This gets a little tricky sometimes to click the path instead of the name. If you end up moving the name on accident, you will want to push "undo" at the top of the page to put the text back on the path.

You should then be able to click the small square (or node) to move things around to where you want them.

When you bend the text like this, things get a little messed up. Highlight the letter before the spot you want to fix and make the letter spacing bigger or smaller. Do this for every name. Now is also a good time to spell check!

Yes, this will take a long time! Ahhh! Much better!

Put all of your leaves where you want them. When you are COMPLETELY done moving all of the text and leaves around, you want to make your path lines disappear. Double click the word "stroke" on the bottom left and a window will pop up on your right. Click the X to change to no paint. Do this for each line.

See, the line is gone.

After everything is done, add your background image to a new layer. Check and double check all of your spacing, spelling, etc. Now it's time to save. You want it to be high quality with those small fonts. To be on the safe side, I exported as a 600 dpi .png image.

Now you can send the file off somewhere to get printed as a 24" x 24" piece of art. I've found that a lot of places do not take file sizes this large, so you may need to search around a bit to find the printer that is right for you. (Maybe if you save it as a smaller dpi, you will have better luck, but I don't know what that will do to the quality.) I REALLY wanted mine printed on canvas. It was a bit pricey, but worth it for a nice quality piece of art for a family history nerd like me.

I found CanvasPop when I printed these as gifts, and used the company again to print my own. They have a satisfaction guarantee, and they take great care in creating a quality canvas. Since I was going to be telling you about them anyway, I decided to become an affiliate, so if you click a link or button and buy, I get a commission. As always, I am giving you my honest opinion. You will notice that you cannot upload a file this large directly to their site. All you have to do is call or email them, and they will give you instructions to send your file to their dropbox. I love that you get to deal with REAL people!

Let me know if you find a better or cheaper way to get it printed. I'd really like to know. So glad to have this space on my wall filled with something that I love to look at!

Anyone else into family history?

An Oldie but a Goodie Final

2013-04-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. A little announcement to make... Nancy and I have decided not to continue the Oldie but a Goodie link party. These things are a lot of work to get started, and we both felt that we just didn't have that kind of time to put into it.

I'd still like to show off my favorites from the party last week:

Pocket Purses from Family Home and Life

Pottery Barn Knock off Painted Clock from Posh Pink Giraffe

Facecloth Toothbrush Wrap from Buttons and Paint

The most viewed link was:

Mason Jar Lights from Family Home and Life

I've really enjoyed working with Nancy and meeting some new bloggy friends! Thanks everyone for linking up each week. I've had such a great time "meeting" you and seeing all of your wonderful projects. See you around! :)

Vinyl Garden Markers

2013-04-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier this week that we have been hard at work on our new vegetable garden. Huge thank you to my step-dad for helping us build the raised bed! It's my first time growing a garden, and I'm really excited.

Part of the fun of having a garden is making it cute right? I have seen a few examples of garden markers painted on rocks, and I thought they would look really good done in vinyl. Here is what I came up with.

We had some April showers this week, and they still look great! I might still put some kind of clear coat on them to make sure they last.

For each rock, I used my CAMEO to cut the shapes and names of the vegetables in vinyl. You want your rocks to be as flat and smooth as possible so the vinyl will go on nicely. I made my own cut files of the vegetable silhouettes that you can get free here for personal use. I also made them available in svg and pdf formats. You will need to size them according to the rocks that you have.

And... have you seen the rain gutter garden ideas going around? My friend gave me some leftover gutter, so we hung it on the fence to try and grow herbs and strawberries in. Maybe we will add a few more rows next year. The gutter got some cute little vinyl labels in a pretty turquoise.

Silhouette's premium indoor/outdoor vinyl is perfect for this project! They are running a promotion from now until April 26th with some great deals on their machines bundled with it. Not only that, but they are also offering 25% off ALL of their 9" vinyl! Silhouette actually just lowered the prices on all of their vinyl from $14.99 to $9.99, so combine that with the discount, and the savings are HUGE! Now is the time to stock up on vinyl!!!

To get the special pricing you must click here to go to Silhouette's promotion page and enter code CUTESY at checkout.

Now just crossing my fingers that I don't kill everything! Grow garden grow!

Cutesy Crafts is an affiliate of Silhouette America. As part of Silhouette's promotion, I was given a free product to use. All opinions are my own. To read my full disclosures click here.

An Oldie but a Goodie #14

2013-04-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA this past week. We've been hard at work in our new GARDEN! I'm so excited that we finally got it done. More to come on that later this week, but now it's time for our weekly link party. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's old and new projects.

Here are my favorites from last week:

Upcycled T-shirt Dress from Rambling Reed

Caprese Salad from Relove

Upcycled Serving Tray from Southern Scraps

The most clicked on link was:

Ikea Curtains Hack from Suburbs Mama

~~Click here for a special button for those of you who were featured!~~ And here's a button to spread the word about the party:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cutesycrafts.com/" title="Cutesy Crafts" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zDy7F_8Kw/UTpAwu5TQJI/AAAAAAAAByg/lw1kOBQQID8/s1600/oldiebutton.gif" alt="Cutesy Crafts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now on to the party! As always, just a few requests:

Link up any original project, OLD, NEW, WHATEVER! Just make sure that it is new to the oldies party.
Please link back to this party somewhere on your blog with either our button or a text link.
I'd love for you to follow me here and also check out my co-host, Nancy, at Do Small Things with Love.
Please visit other people's links and leave some comments. Even old projects deserve some comment love and affection, right?

An Oldie but a Goodie #13

2013-04-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a great weekend! Time for our weekly link party. Here are a few of my favorites last week:

Felt Arrow Bookmark from A Tossed Salad Life

Plastic Egg Tea Cups from The Moody Fashionista

Beatrix Potter Decoupage Bunny from Domestically Speaking

The most clicked on link was:

Peep Fruit Snacks from Rambling Reed

~~Click here for a special button for those of you who were featured!~~ And here's a button to spread the word about the party:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cutesycrafts.com/" title="Cutesy Crafts" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zDy7F_8Kw/UTpAwu5TQJI/AAAAAAAAByg/lw1kOBQQID8/s1600/oldiebutton.gif" alt="Cutesy Crafts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now on to the party! As always, just a few requests:

Link up any original project, OLD, NEW, WHATEVER! Just make sure that it is new to the oldies party.
Please link back to this party somewhere on your blog with either our button or a text link.
I'd love for you to follow me here and also check out my co-host, Nancy, at Do Small Things with Love.
Please visit other people's links and leave some comments. Even old projects deserve some comment love and affection, right?

Kiddie Crafts - Shrinky Dink Butterfly Suncatchers

2013-04-04T22:01:00.001-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks, and our nasty little caterpillars have turned into beautiful butterflies! The kids had so much fun watching them grow, and I even learned some new things about them. Did you know the caterpillar actually sheds the outside of it's body to make the chrysalis? SICK! Go watch a youtube video... you will be amazed and disgusted all at the same time! We released the butterflies a couple days ago. So neat to watch them fly away free.

If you want to try it out, the butterfly gardens are still on sale on Amazon right now.

To go along with our butterfly theme, we made butterfly suncatchers out of Shrinky Dinks.

I just used a pack of clear shrink film that I picked up in the kid's section of the craft store. It's pretty cool stuff! Apparently they make an inkjet printable kind now too. I might just need to try that out! I traced a few three-inch wide butterflies onto the shrink film and let the kids color them with permanent markers (yes I am crazy, you can use something else).

After they were done coloring, I cut them out and punched holes in them in different places. Seven was a lot for one kid to color. I'd suggest only doing four or five.

I also cut strips of the film and punched holes in it for hanging.

Follow the instructions for shrinking and then hang them with fishing line. They looked so pretty in the sunny window!

Eventually I moved them outside to a bare tree. Gave it some nice color.

Have a great weekend!

Cutesy Crafts is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Googly Eye Earrings

2013-04-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

I love googly eyes! I secretly want to carry googly eyes around with me so that when the opportunity presents itself, I can eyebomb things. This is one of my favorites from eyebombing.com. Hahaha! Can you imagine walking down the diaper aisle to see this?!

ANYWAY... when my friend's daughter showed up to Kindergarten wearing the cutest googly eye earrings, I knew I had to make some. I don't even know who I am going to give them to since Audrey refuses to get her ears pierced. So cute with the eyelashes!

I made Audrey some clip-ons, but the clip is too big for the eye. Maybe stick-ons would be a better idea.

Are they SO me? Don't worry, I won't be wearing them, but I needed someone to model the regular ones. Best part is the little "googly" sound they make when you move your head.

To make them, you just need some blank earrings, some googly eyes, and glue. They are making googly eyes in lots of fun colors and styles now! They come with the lashes and color already on them.

I'll let you know if I ever get brave enough to eyebomb anything. :)

One more thing, since Google Friend Connect will be going away soon, I've transferred all of the blogs I follow to Bloglovin. It's pretty cool because I can follow all of the blogs that I love in one place. To follow me back click here: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

An Oldie but a Goodie #12

2013-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a great Easter, and now it's time for another Oldie but a Goodie party! Just an fyi for those reading through email, you have to click over to my actual blog to see the link party at the end. Here are some of my favorites from last week:

Amish Egg Bake from Grandparents Plus

Nail Polish Holder from Etcetorize

Old Storage Trunk Redo from The Junk Nest

The most clicked on link:

DIY Batman Wear from The Thriftiness Miss

~~Click here for a special button for those of you who were featured!~~ And here's a button to spread the word about the party:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cutesycrafts.com/" title="Cutesy Crafts" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zDy7F_8Kw/UTpAwu5TQJI/AAAAAAAAByg/lw1kOBQQID8/s1600/oldiebutton.gif" alt="Cutesy Crafts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now on to the party! As always, just a few requests:

Link up any original project, OLD, NEW, WHATEVER! Just make sure that it is new to the oldies party.
Please link back to this party somewhere on your blog with either our button or a text link.
I'd love for you to follow me here and also check out my co-host, Nancy, at Do Small Things with Love.
Please visit other people's links and leave some comments. Even old projects deserve some comment love and affection, right?

Simply Wrappers Giveaway Winner!

2013-03-29T16:39:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Stephanie T! You have won the Simply Wrappers Giveaway for a dozen cupcake wrappers or a dozen cupcake toppers! I will be emailing you shortly to get your information.

Thanks for entering everyone! You can still get 15% off your entire purchase at Simply Wrappers when you use code CUPCAKE15 at checkout .

Hope everyone has a great Easter!!!

Settee Makeover

2013-03-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make... this beast has been sitting in my entryway for almost a year now. "Hello, welcome to ~~my house~~ the 80s!"

You think that's bad? Surprise! And I thought it couldn't get more 80s in here!

I had every intention of giving her a makeover right away, but after the dining table makeover, the thought of picking the paintbrush up again made me cringe. Furniture makeovers are a lot of work! Well, the weather is getting warmer, and I'm finally in the mood to start painting things again. This was first on my list. What do you think?

It will, of course, look much better after I get some throw pillows made.

I used the same primer and paint that I had leftover from my table makeover and lightly distressed the edges.

I made my own double welt cording by following this tutorial from Centsational Girl. If you do stripes, it's best to use a solid of the lighter color since the fabric has to be cut on the bias.

My entryway is already looking better!

Although, this is what I really see when I look at this picture.

Ah... if only I had unlimited time and money. :) Well, thanks for stopping by my house today, and don't forget to enter the cupcake wrappers giveaway! It ends tomorrow.

Kitchen Crafts - Carrot Cake Cookies

2013-03-26T14:28:00.004-07:00

What's a girl to do with a box of carrot cake mix and only ONE egg? Make carrot cake cookies of course!

I know I just did a Kitchen Crafts post, but I wanted to get this one out there before Easter. I improvised a little (ok a lot) on these, but I think they turned out pretty good. Only thing I would change is probably lighten up a little on the frosting. They were pretty sweet.

Ingredients:

- 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist carrot cake mix (you could probably use others, this is just what I had)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (oatmeal)

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in 350° for 10-12 minutes until they start to set.
Allow to cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting.

So cute for Easter! Oh, and don't forget to enter the cupcake wrappers giveaway!

An Oldie but a Goodie #11

2013-03-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

What a great party we had last week! These were my favorite links:

Easter Napkin Rings from Simply Creating Home

Enchanted Bubble Blowing Wands from Jewelry Making Journal

Lego Cake from Creative Raisins

And the most clicked on link was...

Copy Cat Chik-Fil-A Sandwhich from The Pin Junkie

~~Click here for a special button for those of you who were featured!~~ And here's a button to spread the word about the party:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cutesycrafts.com/" title="Cutesy Crafts" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zDy7F_8Kw/UTpAwu5TQJI/AAAAAAAAByg/lw1kOBQQID8/s1600/oldiebutton.gif" alt="Cutesy Crafts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now on to the party! As always, just a few requests:

Link up any original project, OLD, NEW, WHATEVER! Just make sure that it is new to the oldies party.
Please link back to this party somewhere on your blog with either our button or a text link.
I'd love for you to follow me here and also check out my co-host, Nancy, at Do Small Things with Love.
Please visit other people's links and leave some comments. Even old projects deserve some comment love and affection, right?

Kitchen Crafts - Peach Crisp

2013-03-22T07:52:00.002-07:00

Last week I started posting with Kiddie Crafts. This week I'll be starting up what I'll call Kitchen Crafts. Can you tell I'm feeling guilty? Trying to spend more time with my kids and cooking for my family. :) Anyway, I believe that there are two kinds of people in this world... cookers and bakers. I am a baker, so don't expect much from my dinner recipes. Haha! For those, I will mostly be trying other people's recipes and telling you how it went. Today though, lets start with what I know. This is my absolute FAVORITE dessert recipe...Peach Crisp. Normally I am not a big fan of fruit dessert, but this stuff is AMAZING and super easy to make!

This is my mom's recipe. Not sure where she got it from, but here it is:

Ingredients:
- 2 15 oz cans of peaches in syrup
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups of Bisquick
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tbsp margarine or butter

Instructions:

Drain peaches, saving 1/2 cup syrup and place fruit in buttered 9" x 13" baking dish. Stir in peach syrup and sprinkle on 2 tbsp of the sugar.
Beat eggs and combine with Bisquick, remaining sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to a crumbly consistency. Sprinkle over fruit and dot with margarine or butter.
Bake in 400° oven for 25-30 minutes (until butter is completely melted and top is browned)

For the visual learners:

1. Drain peaches, saving 1/2 cup syrup. Make sure to get peaches in syrup. The last couple times I made it with peaches in juice. Didn't taste nearly as good.

Place fruit in buttered 9" x 13" baking dish. Stir in peach syrup and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of the sugar.

2. Beat eggs and combine with Bisquick, remaining sugar, and cinnamon. We always have some of this on hand to make pancakes.

Stir to a crumbly consistency. Should look like this.

Sprinkle over fruit and dot with margarine or butter. (Just put little pieces of butter all over the top.) It's dessert... gotta have some butter!

3. Bake in 400° oven for 25-30 minutes (until butter is completely melted and top is browned)

Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream or a tall glass of milk! Sometimes I even eat the leftovers for breakfast the next day. I figure it's about as healthy as pancakes, but maybe that just means we shouldn't be eating pancakes. :)

P.S. - Recognize the cup? :)

P.P.S. - Don't forget to enter the Simply Wrappers giveaway!

Simply Wrappers Giveaway

2013-03-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I love a good giveaway! Today you have a chance to win some fabulous items to dress up your cupcakes from Simply Wrappers!

The winner will receive their choice of a dozen cupcake wrappers...

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You get to choose from any of their beautiful designs!

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To enter the giveaway, just use the Rafflecopter widget below, and a winner will be chosen in one week. Good luck!

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An Oldie but a Goodie #10

2013-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Oldie but Goodie party with Cutesy Crafts and Nancy at Do Small Things with Love. So dust off an old project or link up something new.

Thanks everyone for welcoming me to the party and linking up last week! So many great projects, it was hard to pick my favorites!

Rockin' Peeps from Crafy Journal

Organize Your Glove Box from Family Home and Life

Peep S'mores from Cupcake Diaries

The most clicked on link...

Painted Eggs from ArtClubBlog

~~Click here for a special button for those of you who were featured!~~

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cutesycrafts.com/" title="Cutesy Crafts" target="_blank"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w4zDy7F_8Kw/UTpAwu5TQJI/AAAAAAAAByg/lw1kOBQQID8/s1600/oldiebutton.gif" alt="Cutesy Crafts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now, lets party! As always, just a few requests:

Link up any original project, OLD, NEW, WHATEVER! Just make sure that it is new to the oldies party.
Please link back to this party somewhere on your blog with either our button or a text link.
We'd love it if you'd follow along!
Please visit other people's links and leave some comments. Even old projects deserve some comment love and affection, right?

Link Code:

Kiddie Crafts - Caterpillar into Butterfly

2013-03-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of crafting FOR my kids. In an effort to spend more time crafting WITH my kids, I'm starting a little segment that I'll call Kiddie Crafts. Today we're gonna get started with a butterfly craft. When I saw that this Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore was on sale on Amazon a couple weeks ago, I couldn't pass it up! We did the ladybug one last year, and the kids LOVED it!!! So much fun.

These little critters showed up in the mail yesterday... so gross... but oh so cool! Once they form their chrysalises, you move them to the netted cage and wait for them to emerge. The kids are so excited!

To teach the kids a little more about how these gross little caterpillars will turn into beautiful butterflies, I made up a little paper craft. You can find free printables/instructions here. The caterpillar gets tucked into a secret pocket inside the chrysalis, you open it up, and it's a butterfly. The kids thought it was magic when I first showed it to them.

They had a lot of fun playing with their butterflies/caterpillars, and I think it really helped them understand what is going to happen with their little bugs.

Seriously... this is what my kids do when I try to take a picture!

I have one more pretty cool butterfly craft in mind. We'll save that for when these guys decide to change.

Cutesy Crafts is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Magnetic Makeup Board

2013-03-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

I am not big on makeup or fashion, but my little sister has a ton of makeup and not a lot of space. She saw this tutorial from Laura Thoughts for a magnetic makeup board and asked if I would make her one. What do you think?

This is how she used to look. Got her for just five bucks at the thrift store! Big improvement right?!

I was tempted to keep her as a photo prop (my husband tried to stop me from posting this ~~dorky~~ awesome photo... maybe I should listen... meh...) CHEESE!

I've never used spray paint... ever... crazy right?! I did one coat of Zinsser primer and a few coats of Krylon gloss gray spray paint that I bought at Wal-Mart for a couple dollars. Since the frame has lots of cool carving detail on it, I thought it might be neat to try glazing it. I just used the Martha Stuart faux finishing glaze and tinted it with a sample of black paint. I recommend checking out these videos here to learn more about glazing.

The piece of metal that I bought was too big, so I had my husband to use his man hands to cut it to the right size with some tin snips. It actually cut pretty easily.

For the full tutorial on how to put everything together, go check out Laura Thoughts. The only thing I did differently was use a kiddie cup from a restaurant instead of a medicine bottle. I also mod podged some fabric to the outside of the cup since the paint job I did on it was pretty bad.

Hope my sister likes it!