Having an Italian heritage I grew up with Sunday Spaghetti dinners, and learned to make sauce a long time ago. The interesting fact about our family recipe is that although we..mom, dad, aunts, grandma, sister, and brother, have the same basic recipe, we all have our little tweaks and make it our own way, (although we pick up tips and hints from each other) and yet..all of us can make some sauce!

So I thought I’d share some tips and tricks to making some good spaghetti sauce. No, I’m not giving you my recipe (I may get shot if I did) but I think I can show you that your own recipe can be great too!

1.  The first and most important thing is cook your sauce – Duh, you say, but I mean cook it for a long time.  The secret to thick rich tasting sauce is cooking it for a looooong time, on a low heat, like 8 hours. Cook it uncovered, stirring it often. The flavor of the spices and ingredients you add to your recipe really have a chance to blend together when you cook the sauce for that long.  It will thicken as you cook it, which means that even though your sauce is thin and runny when you begin, you should have a nice thick sauce when it’s done.

2. Add some meat to your sauce while it’s cooking. - It adds flavor.  Meatballs, Italian sausage, beef or pork, etc. , even ground beef will help (although I don’t really like the ground beef option). Yes I said pork or beef, a good readily available meat, is country style ribs (with the bone), you will have to remove the bone once all the meat falls off  of it. Do not cook the meat first let it cook in your sauce. (make sure that the temperature of your sauce is high enough to cook your meat fully)

3.  Season your sauce.  – Don’t be afraid to add some seasoning, they will add depth and flavor to the sauce. BUT….remember that when you cook your sauce for that long the seasoning really comes alive. So be careful you may not need as much seasoning as you are used to.  When you only cook your sauce for an hour or two you need more seasoning to make it taste good.  When you cook the sauce all day the flavors of the tomatoes and the seasoning is richer.

4.  Make some good meatballs - Not to be mean…but I’ve tasted some nasty meatballs.  When you cook meatballs in your sauce it ads flavor, but when you eat those meatballs, you want them to be tasty, right?  Yes…I’m going to tell you how I make meatballs, but beware…I don’t use traditional measurements so I’m guessing about how much here… you will have to be brave and give it a try.

Ingredients – 1 pound ground beef, 2 eggs, parmesan cheese, and Italian style breadcrumbs, milk, salt, pepper and garlic.

Place the ground beef in a bowl with the 2 eggs, about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, about 1 cup of bread crumbs, 3/4 tsp. salt,1 tsp. pepper and 1 tsp. garlic powder (powder, not salt) I don’t measure this, I just dump it in until I think it looks right so these measurements are just guesses, which means that your guess is good too! Slowly add about a 1/2 cup of milk and mix it together until it is moist enough to stick together but not soggy. If you need to, add more milk just make sure that it’s not soggy. (if they are soggy…they will fall apart so do your best) Roll into meatballs. depending on the size this should make about 20-25 meatballs.

Cook your meatballs in your sauce. You can brown the meatballs and place them in the sauce or just place them in the sauce as is.  When you brown them it tends to hold them together a little better.

Now, a tip for your meatballs.  Use ground beef with a little higher fat content for moister meatballs. I use 20% but only for meatballs.  Secondly, when you cook them in your sauce they will not only flavor the sauce but the sauce will flavor your meatballs.  Good trade off!  BUT, since you will be stirring the sauce often, they can break up easily so….stir slowly!

Now, take your everyday spaghetti recipe and go make it great!

Enjoy!

I’ve linked up over at

Usually Sometimes that’s how things go around here…. but this day, I was unorganized and I needed this picture for my friend.  So on the way to work I grabbed my hard drive with thousands of pictures on it.  My lovely daughter was coming to work with me for the day and I thought she could spend some of the time in the office scanning for the needed pictures.  Because we were just scanning the pictures on my work computer, not using the program (it is on my home computer) the pictures were in no logical order.  So that meant that scanning most if not all of the pictures was necessary.

I found that while she scanned, she ended up opening many of the pictures old and new to view the larger file.  She called me over to view some of them and we had some fun laughs reminiscing about times that had been captured on digital files. The pictures brought back some fond memories and reminded me of some wonderful family times, even how much I loved and missed some of the people in the photos. I was reminded of the powerful effect that pictures have on our lives.

I was also a little sad, I print my photos, put them in photo albums, and write the stories, about the moments that mean something, and even about the day-to-day moments, but in the last couple of years I’ve become a bit behind.  I really need to concentrate on getting caught up.

I also realized that so many people leave those wonderful pictures sitting in digital files on their computers, on social media outlets, and even in boxes. Even though boxes are not the ideal solution, and even kind of primitive, I believe that they are the safest solution of the three I mentioned.  Digital files are extremely fragile, websites go off-line and even change the resolution of your pictures, altering them, making the quality not suitable for printing. We are trusting the storage of some of our most prized possessions.  I’m worried that our children will grow up, or we will grow old, with no photos to pass on our family heritage and legacy, no funny stories to share, and no proud moments to encourage those we love.  I believe this is a tragic.

For years our biggest fear was that a fire could destroy our pictures. The odds of your house burning down are pretty small. It happens to just .08 percent of U.S. citizens.  Today, the likelihood of losing our digital pictures from a computer/phone/website problem or crash is FAR more likely than a fire. If fact it’s not a matter of “if” you will lose your photographs, it’s more likely “when” you will lose them.

If you are in the same boat that I am with your recent photographs, or maybe even all of your photographs, I want you to imagine how you would feel if you lost all of those photos….or even a year’s worth of photos.  If that does not appeal to you, and I bet it doesn’t, consider a safer way to preserve the photos and moments that mean something to you. Print your pictures, the favorites are enough, just don’t leave them unprotected and find a good, SAFE photo album, write down the stories and preserve those special times.  One day you will be glad you did!

This photo from searchquotes.com says it perfectly

My choice for my photos is Creative Memories, there are other options available, but I have chosen CM because of the quality and guarantee of their products.   If you’d like to learn more about the different options Creative Memories has for your photos you can visit my personal website, there is something for everyone from simple slide in albums and digital albums to more extravagant decorative albums.

Pick an album that works for you and get started. I’m encouraging you to begin today,

Ok, so tomorrow will work….:-)

Update****  I forgot to mention that we never found the pictures we were looking for on my hard drive and I resigned myself to going home and searching with my amazing Memory Manager program ….until a couple of hours later my daughter was so into looking at pictures, she found them on my phone….another dangerous place to leave pictures…but there they were,  just waiting for someone, namely me, to do something with them.

Normally I’m not allowed to post cupcake recipes, (according to my daughter) we like to make up our own recipes, sometimes they are very yummy and sometimes they need some work. After thinking about it for a while I came up with an idea and this recipe was a keeper.

Orange Cream Cupcakes

• White Cake Mix
• 1 C Flour
• 1C granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1C Sour Cream
• 1 1/3 C Orange Crush Soda
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons Oil
• 6 Tablespoons Orange Gelatin (Jello)

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Scoop mixture into lined cupcake pans and bake at 325 for 20-22 minutes. Touch top of cake to check doneness, it should slightly bounce back. Let cupcakes cool before filling and frosting.

Once cupcakes are fully cooled, fill cupcakes using a pastry bag with stabilized whipped cream and frost with Orange Cream frosting.

Stablilized Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 T powdered sugar (or to your taste) 1 tsp. unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1 TBSP VERY hot water. Whip cream and sugar until peaks form. Add cooled gelatin to whipped cream and gently stir/whip together (do not whip too long as you don’t want your whipped cream to breakdown)

Orange Cream Frosting

• 1 8 oz package Cream Cheese
• 1/2 C Butter
• 3 TBSP Orange Gelatin
• 3 tsp Orange Crush
• 3-5 Cups of Powdered Sugar ( use your judgment to get the consistency and sweetness that you enjoy)

Use mixer and blend softened butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add it orange gelatin and Crush. Mix  Then slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until your desired consistency is achieved. Frost cupcakes using a pasty bag or by hand.

So there you go…enjoy!

I get so tired of asking “Who’s glass is this? Who left this here? Why are there dishes in the sink?” I feel like a broken record and I’m sure that they are tired of hearing me. But then, I wonder, if they were really sick of hearing this from me, wouldn’t they pick up their things so they didn’t have to hear it?

One would think, right?  I don’t have any young kids in my house they are teenagers and older!  They are all fully capable of this type of logical thinking AND picking up around the house.  So sometimes…my head spins…and I have little rantings, most of the time in my head, and my thinking becomes, well…let’s just say…not sane.

Meet the sock.

It was the sock that sent me over the edge into insanity.  Last week it suddenly appeared on the stairway landing. I’m sure that someone dropped it by accident and figured they would surely pick it up once it was noticed. And so I controlled myself and didn’t ask “who’s sock is this?” Wrong! No one picked up the sock.

And that’s where the “not so sane” thinking comes in…I decided to see just how long the sock would be there before someone would pick it up.  As the days (yep, I said days) went by, I had to remember not to get angry and just conduct this as an experiment.  On day 3 the sock moved down a couple of stairs, but again, no one picked it up. Now keep in mind we ALL go up and down those stairs at least 4 or 5 times a day. You have to step right over it on the way

After about Day 5, my thoughts became even more obsessed with the sock.  I decided that I was going to ask my daughters to gather all of the white clothes and start a load of laundry.  I wondered, Would they gather everything else and disregard the sock. I pondered about this plan for a day wondering who was crazier…me for obsessing over this sock or them for leaving it there. And then it happened on Day 6 the sock was gone!

I was shocked….and after a bit I had to ask!  You know what I wanted to know right?  Who picked up the sock.  I started with the youngest because she is usually the most aware and helpful about things that need to be done. Posey, did you pick up the sock?  Her answer…”what sock?”  SERIOUSLY???  WHAT SOCK?  I laughed,” the sock hat has been on the stairs for 6 days that’s what sock”.  I would have bet my last dollar that it was her who picked it up!   As we were talking the hubby walked by and inquired “what are you talking about?” I asked if he picked up the sock. With a little attitude in his voice he said. “Yes, it was sitting on the stairs for 3 days I thought someone better pick it up”.  So…3 days huh? He saw it laying there, and stepped over it, for 3 days before he “thought someone better pick it up.” I guess that’s pretty good.

Since I conducted this test as an experiment, I needed to take a look at what I learned.

• My family is blind.  Lol!  Not really, they just don’t see things that I see.
• My hubby is a little slow. Nah!, he’s just taller than me so it’s harder for him to see things on the ground. But, he will pick things up if he needs to.  ps…he doesn’t leave his things laying around! Seriously.
• I thought that once the toys were gone my kids wouldn’t leave stuff laying around. I was wrong.
• My children obviously didn’t learn the Clean up song with Barney…no matter how many times we sang it.
• I will make myself crazy trying to figure them out ….or trying to get them to figure something out.

This is not the first experiment that I have conducted with my family and it probably wont be the last but each time I will learn something…something about them but more importantly something about myself.

Maybe it’s because I have 3 daughter’s and a granddaughter that this story hits home for me, or that waaay back when, when I was a teenager, I remember struggling with my self image and worth, barely surviving that time emotionally, but the fact that Victoria’s Secret has decided their profit line is more important than sexualizing our middle school girls, just ticks me off!

One father said it eloquently in his open letter to Victoria’s Secret and has caused a viral discussion regarding this subject.  In the letter  he states “I want my daughter (and every girl) to be faced with tough decisions in her formative years of adolescence.  Decisions like should I be a doctor or a lawyer?  Should I take calculus as a junior or a senior?  Do I want to go to Texas A&M or University of Texas or some Ivy League School?  Should I raise awareness for slave trafficking or lack of water in developing nations?  There are many, many more questions that all young women should be asking themselves… not will a boy (or girl) like me if I wear a “call me” thong?”

I say AMEN! I wish I saw more of this type of “standing up for the respect and morals of  our children” vs the “it’s no big deal” attitude from parents.  It’s a big deal people!

VS initially introduced the line stating,  ”When somebody’s 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be? They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that’s part of the magic of what we do at Pink.” but now, after the parental backlash they are changing their tune a bit and stating that the line is for college students…..Seriously?  Does that mean that it’s appropriate for a college student to wear underwear that states “call me” on the crotch? Again, I doubt it!

And while we’re on the subject of boys….how in the world can we expect them to treat our girls (college or younger) with adoration and respect if they also are infused with this message. Do we really want them thinking that it’s ok to view girls as sex objects? Don’t we want them to grow up to value their morals and respect women?

I know many moms who purchase VS underwear, or logo items for their tween girl and some of those purchases make me shake my head in wonder. In the long run, I know that as a parent I have the last word, and that word happen’ to be “NO” much of the time in my household.  It will be NO regarding spending my money on underwear from Victoria’s Secret and I just may have to go to Bath and Body Works or Scentsy for my body and hand lotion now

So….get on your soap box and tell Victoria’s Secret NO, when they come for your middle schooler!

What’s the rule, you ask?  Well, he is not allowed to purchase any kitchen appliances as birthday or Christmas gifts for me unless I specifically ask for it.

Now, usually “rules” don’t go over too well when it comes to him, but over the years this one has kind of sunk in and he is very good about following it. So good, that when my cousin suggested he purchase a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for me for Christmas he said…”oh no, that’s against the rules!”  She ended up convincing him that THIS present would be ok, even if I hadn’t specifically requested it.   She was right!  I love it and I’m completely surprised how much I use it too!

I had no idea how handy this tool is in the kitchen!  We use it for many things, pizza dough, mashed potatoes, cakes and breads, fresh whipped cream in just a few short minutes, even shredding chicken!  I have the basic attachments that came with the mixer but there are additional attachments that are available, some of which sound interesting..like the pasta maker or the food grinder.

Mostly, we use the mixer for cakes and cupcakes; one of the best features is the fact that while it is working (mixing) you are available to measure and clean up your mess without starting and stopping, both hands are free!  It’s very efficient and man does it have some power! I keep mine sitting out on my countertop and I’m glad, it’s a heavy bugger, Normally I like the appliances tucked away in a cabinet somewhere but I am very glad I don’t have to lift this out every time I want to use it!

I would have never asked for a mixer like this, for Christmas or any other gift, since it does come with a bit of a hefty price tag and the price of those extra attachments…yep some of them are almost as much as the mixer itself. I probably wouldn’t have ever purchased it for myself either but now that I have one I understand why someone would. I think everyone should have one of these in their kitchen!

For this one time (and only this time honey)…I’m so glad that the hubby broke the rules and listened to that great advice. So… when I saw that The Hopeless Housewife was giving away a red Kitchen Aid stand mixer on I Heart Naptime, a blog that I read periodically, I just had to share it with my friends here.

Enter To Win A Kitchen Aid Mixer

Have I told you that now that I have one of these mixers, I think everyone should?  (he he) and wouldn’t it be great to get it for FREE!

You only have a 3 days left to enter so don’t wait!

I’ve entered, and if I win… I plan on gifting the mixer to someone special, so even if you are one of the lucky ones and already have a Kitchen Aid of your own…enter to win and gift it!  You will make someone’s day!

Blessings to you!

Not long ago I was “pondering” about how decisions you make during your life can have a profound effect on your circumstances for years to come, some good and some bad. I’ve realized that when I was younger I made decisions much differently than I do today, probably because I know that even the smallest of decisions can have big implications.  I would bet many of “us older people” would have some words of wisdom for the younger generation.  When you think about choices that you’ve made are there any that you wish you wouldn’t have made?  There are definitely some of those in my life.  Even the good decisions, the ones that I wouldn’t change, the life time decisions, like getting married, buying a home, moving to a different city, or having children; I have at one time or another, thought…WHAT WAS I THINKING? Honestly, not that I would change any of those things if I had to do it all over again, but the “what was I thinking” thought was definitely there at one time or another.

However there is one decision that I have NEVER felt that way about. I’ve thought it through, for many months now, trying to remember a time.  I’ve been thinking back to so many times during my life and I cannot think of one time that I’ve ever had the “what was I thinking” thought about inviting Jesus into my life.  No regrets, not once ever, can I think of a time that I was disappointed or disillusioned with that decision. Jesus never promised that life would be easy and there are many of those “difficult” times, but I wouldn’t want to go through them without Him. The gospel (good news)of Jesus was for everlasting life, not easy life.

With Palm Sunday the beginning of Holy week, commemorating Jesus’ glorious entrance into Jerusalem, then, less than a week later, seeing how quickly the tide turned for Him and the disciples, into something awful that be described as God’s will, I’ve decided to celebrate Jesus’ glorious entrance into my life almost 20 years ago and be thankful that after all those years I’ve never looked back to wonder “what was I thinking?” but instead, I have been more and more humbled by the fact that He loved me enough to die for me.

Ok, well maybe not silence, since I can hear the hum of certain electronics in my home and the dog barking once in a while, but definitely quiet compared to normal. I know that old saying “silence is golden” is actually referring to not saying things that you shouldn’t, but tonight, silence is golden (a good thing) because I’m enjoying every minute.

A couple of years ago I started to try to “meditate” silence my head for a short time every morning.  Have you ever tried that?  I dare you, give it a shot!  I started with trying to keep my mind quiet for 1 minute, yep you read that right, 1 minute.  It was so hard.  I never realized just how much my mind can spin and it was completely obvious to me that other than when I’m sleeping, it’s always going, never silent. But I kept at it, and it helped me to keep perspective, and to learn that if I’m always thinking, thinking, thinking, then how am I ever going to hear the still small voice of God.  When God spoke to Elijah he did not come to him in the earthquake or the fire or even in the powerful wind. He spoke to him in a whisper.  That’s right a whisper. (1Kings 19:11-13). I’m still not good at it but I’m improving!

I’ve heard of these retreats where you refrain from speaking for days, no reading, writing, speaking or even eye contact…I seriously can’t imagine being able to do that.  You even have to refrain from killing something…LOL,  I bet! They actually mean like a mosquito or fly, but seriously that may be a possibility. In all seriousness, I would bet that you would walk away from something like that a different person than when you arrived. (I just had the funniest thought about my daughter Posey trying to go without speaking for 10 days….she’s probably die!)

I really enjoy nights like this when I get to spend time with no distractions but I would miss all the fun if it was like this too often.

The blinds in my family room are workable, meaning they raise and lower so that makes them a little more complicated than the faux blinds that I’ve made in the last couple of months.  I really like this type of window treatment because its simple and has clean straight lines. I’m going to try to explain how to make a faux Roman shade because it really is simple, and for those DIY divas out there I want to say…Go For It You Can Do It!

I made these for my daughter’s room from her old pair of paneled curtains.  We are freshening up her room and keeping some of the Zebra accents but we were done with the long curtain panels hanging to the floor.

These were for my grand daughter’s room using a decorative damask fabric.

I love them both especially the zebra, probably because of the difference it made in the room.

So anyway….Here goes.  The hardest part of creating the blind is figuring out the measurements, it’s kind of like math!

1.  Measure the width of your window. If you want your blind to be the width of your window exactly you can work with this measurement, however, if your like me and you want the blind to be a little wider than your window figure out that width and use that measurement.  Your fabric will need to be 3 inches wider than your width measurement to accommodate finishing the edges (side hem). For example, if your window is 36 inches and you want your blind to be an inch one each side longer (38″), your fabric will need to be 41 inches.

• note:  most fabric comes in widths of 43/44 inches wide.  Some come in 58/60 wide, and home decorator fabric is usually 54 inches wide.  If your fabric is not wide enough and there is a definite pattern to it so you cannot “turn it sideways” don’t fret.. I will tell you how to work with this. But keep this in mind when choosing your fabric.  If you are trying to decide on a fabric and one is wider, and will accommodate your window better…that could be the deciding factor  **See below for the directions if this should happen to you.

2.  Figure out how long you want your faux blind to be on your window, and measure from where you will mount your blind on the wall, to that spot in your window.  You can mount your blind in any spot from the ceiling height to right above your window.  I don’t think that any one way is correct or better, it’s a matter of personal preference.  But I will tell you that your window will look taller/longer if you mount it close to the ceiling.  (and if you do this you can fool people into thinking that you have a larger window by only having the blind come into the window for a few inches)  For our example window lets say our length is 24 inches.   

3  The next step….decide on your “pleat size”, the average is about 1.5 – 2 inches each pleat (the part that folds upward and makes the loop in your shade) but I have seen larger….again, personal preference, no right or wrong.  I like 2 inches so I’ll use that number.  You will also need to figure how many “pleats or loops” you want in your window. Usually there is anywhere between 4-10 inches between pleats/loops.  Figure out what looks best, and how many, for your window, keeping in mind that the longer the window…the longer the pleat, and that the bottom and top of your faux blind do not have to be the same as the other pleats.   Based on the 24 inches I’ll use 6″ loop/fold with 2″ pleats.  Here comes the math…

• So I will have 1 first fold of 6 inches, 2 additional folds of 6″, and 1 bottom of the blind of 6″. (6+6+6+6 =24inches total length) Here’s how to figure your fabric length.  I will need 4″ to wrap around my mounting board, 2″ for each pleat because I chose that size above. (2″x 3 pleats=6″), and 2 inches for the hem at the bottom.  (24″ length + 4″ board + 6″ pleats + 2″ hem = 36 inches)  Yay!  We did it and I promise…just take it slow and think it through, and you can do it too! That really is the hard part.   

4.  Now that you have your measurements you will know how much fabric you will need.  For our example window I will need a piece of fabric 43″ x 38 ” or 1 yard of 44/45 inch fabric.

5. You will also need a piece of liner fabric.  This can be a plain inexpensive cotton fabric or a special fabric made just for this purpose that ranges from inexpensive cotton to a thicker light blocking fabric, so you wont see the sunlight through it. (you may want to consider something like this if a large portion of your of your blind will be covering wall and the balance covering the window so you don’t see the light difference) Your liner fabric will be the same width as your fabric, minus the 3″ for the side hem and the length minus the 2″ hem. (our example – liner fabric is 40″wide x 34″ long)

5.  Begin by laying your fabric out and ironing the sides at 1.5 inches each for the side hem and 2″ at the bottom for the bottom hem.

6.  Then lay your liner material on the wrong side of your fabric matching the tops and centering.  Fold your hems over the liner and stitch together on both sides and bottom.  Tucking the cut edges of your fabric under so that once sewn you will have a finished edge. For those of you who don’t sew much tuck under approx. 1/2 inch of your 1.5 inches and sew so there are no cut edges showing.

7.  Iron again so your fabric is straight.

8.  Lay your fabric out and begin marking your pleat lines from the bottom. For our example.. Mark the first line at 6 inches. Then another 2″ above that and 6 above that, (this will form your pleat), Repeat the marking of 2″ above and 6″ above.  And lastly an additional 2 and 6″ above that.  You will leaving the top to wrap around your board and that last line will be where you mount the board when we come to that.(no pleat there).

9.  Once you have your pleats marked.  Iron the fabric to create the folds for your pleats and to keep it straight. Sew your pleats by hand along the outside edges of your fabric and also along the horizontal fold on the back of the blind.  This will keep your pleats in place and the double layer of  fabric will have some body to it along the pleat area.

• note: if you are a little more experienced seamstress you may want to have your liner only cover the back of the blind. In this case you will mark the liner at every 6 inches and sew your fabric to the liner horizontally at this mark on the liner, and the 8″ line on the fabric.  The extra two inches of your fabric will fold over to make your pleat/loop.  Also, in this case you will need to sew your side and bottom hems after sewing in the pleat lines. If you do this you’re pleats will not be doubled but you will use less fabric liner fabric and it will be less bulky.  If you read this and do not understand it then you should stick with the original directions. 

10.  Next you will take your mounting board cut to the same width as your blind. (I used an inexpensive 1×2 piece of lumber) Make sure you measure twice before cutting your board to the correct size you don’t want to have to buy a new one.

11.  Now cover each end with a small square piece of fabric using a staple gun.  You should have leftovers from cutting your fabric but you will want to make sure you have 2 small squares. Fold it like when you wrap a package and staple it down securing the loose edges.  It doesn’t need to be pretty you will only see the end of the stick.  Some people do not do this but then you will see the bare wood when you look at the blind from the side so I like to finish off the wood.  If you are hanging your blind with an inside mount or against a wall so you cannot see it from the side this step is not necessary.

12.  Lay your board on your blind at your last marked line and hold it up, both the board and your blind, to check that all is correct.

13.  Once your comfortable that everything is as you want it, drill holes in your board where you want it to mount to the wall.  It’s a good idea to drill your holes so that they will coordinate with some studs in your wall or you’ll want to use wall supports.

14.  Wrap your blind top around the board and staple it to the board on the back (the part that will be against the wall) making sure that the front of the board lines up with the line on your blind.

15.  Now you’re ready to mount the blind.  Have someone help you and hold the blind up out of the way. Using drywall screws, mount the board to the wall and then let the blind drop back down into place.

VOILA’, You’re done!  You have a beautiful blind, custom made by you, at a fraction of the cost of custom made or ready made blind!

**If your window is wider than your fabric here is how you handle that.  You will need to sew a couple of seams vertically.  I know, you’re thinking…WHAT?  Really, it will look fine if you do it correctly.  And…these seams will change the measurement of your fabric (you already figured that above); you will need to add an additional 2 inches.  So using our measurement above for the 36 inch window, instead of 41 inches you will now need 43 inches.

• I’m going to continue using the window width of 36″ as we are already working with that, even though you will most likely have a number somewhat bigger.
• Divide your window measurement by 3.  36″ window divided by 3 is 12″. You will cut 1 piece of your fabric 13 inches (12″ plus 1″ for your seam allowances) the balance of your fabric (using our example 23 inches) should be cut in half.  This will leave you with 2 pieces of fabric 11.5″ wide, and your 1piece of 13 inches. Sew  your fabric together with the 13 inch piece of fabric in the middle of the two 16 1/2 inches, using a seam allowance of 1/2 inch.
•  Again…the hardest part is the figuring…once you get past that you are quickly on the way to a fresh new window treatment.
• Once your fabric is sewn together, go back up to number 2 and continue from there.

I know this is a looong post but I wanted to make sure to cover even the littlest of basics so that hopefully you are not too confused.

Good luck, I know you can do it. I will be making at least one more for my home….when I get a free moment!

Sharing at:

Nifty Thrifty Things, Whatever Goes Wednesday

I gotta tell you, I was excited about this idea, maybe because I love crafty things, but for whatever reason, I enjoyed myself and even thought….”who could I make more of these for?” However, I did realize that not everyone may find this fun, or even know how to tackle a task like this. So I decided to share my letter and the “how to” for both inspiration and help.

I chose my letter and some coordinating scrapbook paper.  The colors for birthday girls room were pink, green, grey and black.  The first step was to paint the edges of my letter.  I chose black but in hindsight I think a softer color might have been better, but in the end it worked.

Next, I traced the letter on the backside of my paper and cut it out.

Once it was cut out I used a chalk and “colored” the edges of my letter. (you can also use an ink pad made specially for this) This technique finishes off the edges and gives it a softer look. Take a look at this photo and note the difference between the edges on the “t”.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to chalking, it’s just a personal preference as whether you want to chalk or not chalk.

Once the paint was dry I used my Creative Memories tape runner adhesive to attach the paper to the letter.  Initially I was going to stick it down with Modge Podge but my daughter shared that since her letter had a slick  finish to begin with, the Modge Podge didn’t hold real well.  Personally I found that strange, I love Modge Podge, but I decided against using it…mostly out of fear that it wouldn’t work and I’d have to start over.

Once the paper was attached to the letter, I used a small piece of sand paper and quickly sanded the edges (on a downward angle), this cleaned up the small overhang of paper and smoothed the edges of both the letter and paper.

When the base paper was down I added the coordinating some paper and ribbon as I liked.  I used one of my Creative Memories punches to make my butterflies.

Please forgive this cell phone picture

I cut out the butterflies in coordinating colors and used Modge Podge to stick them together. I made the body by cutting the wings off of a coordinating butterfly and also placed it with Modge Podgs.  I then painted the whole butterfly with Modge Podge to “stiffen” the wings in place before I glued them down. It also gives the scrapbook paper a little bit of a glossy look.

The large flower is made with freehand petals stuck together with CM adhesive and turned up on the edges, then again “stiffened” with Modge Podge before attaching to the letter. The small is another paper punch from CM.  I accented the letter with clear rhinestones too.

You don’t have to make your accents by hand you can purchase just about any type of accent at a craft store like Hobby Lobby (be careful you don’t get lost in there) whether it be stickers ribbon, rhinestones or flowers, you name it, it will work on your letter.  Have fun. Get creative!

You can see I added some tulle and that cute little scalloped piece of paper was of course cut another CM tool the Border Maker. Check it out here

Even the gift tag coordinated with the letter, it was made using coordinated scrapbook paper and yet another Creative Memories punch, the tag maker It’s a great way to make a quick, inexpensive and cute card for any gift.

Can you tell I use my Creative Memories Tools for things other than scrapbooking??

If you have made something like this, post a link, so I can check them out, I love getting ideas from others.

I’m sharing this at these linky parties: