Monkey See, Monkey Do-It-Yourself

Conversation Heart Jewelry

2012-02-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

It's Valentine's time and everyone needs a little bling. If you can't afford diamonds and rubies but want to show your love for this LOVE-ly holiday, why not do-it-yourself with a confectionary take on a traditional Valentine's Day gift? You don't even have to give it as a gift, but keep it for yourself! Actually, you'll probably have enough for you and several friends with this easy to make Valentine's Day craft idea!

Making conversation heart jewelry proved to be a fun, inexpensive, and cute do-it-yourself craft with little preliminary set up work. It was easy to find the supplies, and left had plenty of left over supplies for future craft ideas, or gives you enough to do many sets. So far I have no breaks or mishaps to have to fix later.

We made conversation heart necklaces, bracelets, and two kinds of earrings!

I never liked the taste of conversation hearts, but love the way they look. I was, however, a fan of the candy necklaces and bracelets I used to get when I was a kid. Nothing beat getting a candy necklace and getting on swing set chewin' on your necklace and not having to use any hands! You could swing hard and hands-free while enjoying some candy!! Awesome. Plus the cool pastel colors looked pretty.

Well, you won't want to eat these candies because they're sprayed with a varnish. Hey, you don't want them to melt on your neck do you?

This is a fun craft that requires little preparation before the fun stuff......well that is if you have your friend's husband nice enough to drill the holes in the conversation hearts for you and spray them with Mod Podge so all you have to do is thread things and put them together! Thanks, Robbie!!!!

It's so easy, all you need is:

A bag or two of conversation hearts (we used Brach's and they stayed together well while drilling, about $3)
Can of Mod Podge (found at Wal Mart in the craft aisle, about $5.97)

Various jewelry making supplies, (also at Wal Mart in the craft aisle, around $2 each)
-stretchy clear cord (in a spool)
-silver beading wire thread (also on a spool)
-earring hoops
-fish hook earring wire
-crimp beads clamps

This was entirely a group effort with my friend Beth who knew about jewelry making and helped me choose the supplies I needed. Trinidy had lots of great ideas, such as figuring out that we should drill the holes in the conversation hearts BEFORE spraying them with Mod Podge so that the seal on the inside too. Well, actually it was HER idea to spray them anyway! So when you get caught in the rain and maybe your jewelry doesn't melt, you can thank her! And of course Trin's husband Rob for doing the drilling and spraying.

What did I do you might ask? Well......I had fun! And I came up with the conversation heart jewelry and apologize in advance if it doesn't work out too well. I have only had mine for a day and haven't worn them yet......but since you're not going to wear them year-round I'm hoping it will last enough to enjoy them for Valentine's Day!

First, Rob used a 1/16 drill bit and drilled holes in our hearts.....awwwwwww, Rob. He put holes in our hearts! You'll want to do them through the side for necklaces and bracelets, and through the middle for the hoop earrings, and top through the bottom for the dangly earrings.

Spray them with Mod Podge and let them dry. Luckily for the impatient such as me, it doesn't take long to dry.

Now you can begin the fun part! Measure out your length with the stretchy cord for the necklace and bracelets. This is great that you can just measure and cut so you can customize them according to your desired length and fit. Then, you guessed it, begin threading the stretchy wire through the hearts. I alternated colors myself but I guess you could stick to a particular them if you want. Simply fill the cord to your desired coverage. I chose to go collar to collar basically but you can go all the way around if you'd like. Or you can just choose to do a few in front.

When we tied the knots we had to put a drop of hot glue from the glue gun to secure it because it kept wanting to slide out. This sort of melted the stretchy wire so it didn't slide. Then we put the crimp beads clamps on and clamped them down with pliers. It felt secure after that.

We did two different typed of earrings. The loops were the easiest. Use the conversation hearts with the holes drilled through the middle for the hoops. We decided to use one of each of the same color. It doesn't have to match if you want some variety, why not? And if you want to give the as a gift, why not include one set of each color so the recipient can interchange them? How fun is THAT??!!

For the dangly earrings, use the conversation hearts with the holes drilled through the top. We decided to use two on each, but use however many you'd like. Use the metallic wire to twine through the loop on the base. Use the crimp beads clamps to secure the loop through the earring base. Slide the conversation hearts onto the wire, then secure the bottom by folding the wire inward and again securing with the crimp bead clamps.

I can't wait to wear my confectionary conversational bling!! But don't chew on them on the swing set or anywhere else since they're coated in varnish, eww!

OH! And one more really cool thing Trinidy though of was to use the plastic cover off the spools for a cuff bracelet! How cute was this?! She simply glued some conversation hearts around the edge and....BINGO! Or, BAZINGA in her words....she's a big "Big Bang Theory" fan. :)

Go Trin!!

It's always more fun when you can do-it-yourself!!

I love all of my friends and family and they all wear my heart on a string. ;)

Happy DIY'ing everyone!
-Amy the DIY Monkey

Super Easy Beef Stroganoff Recipe

2012-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

Here's another super easy comfort food recipe. I mean, this couldn't BE any easier. This recipe is nothing more that just dumping three ingredients into a pot and boiling a bag of egg noodles.

This recipe is perfect for weeknights when you don't feel like cooking but don't feel like going out either. It takes no more than how long it takes to boil the noodles.

For no more than what it takes to make it, it's really good! No, it's not going to be as if you cooked a roast all day in the crock pot, chopped up fresh mushrooms, used fresh cream, etc. But it's a satisfying and comforting quick and easy meal.

What you'll need:
1 bag of egg noodles
1 can of roast beef and gravy (usually in the canned meats aisle near the tuna and canned chili, etc.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small container of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Boil egg noodles in a pot
In a separate pot empty can of canned roast beef and gravy, turn on medium heat

Break up pieces to shredded consistency

Add can of cream of mushroom soup, stir to heat together

Heat to almost boiling

Add a few "dollops" of sour cream to taste (about 3), you know what a dollop is, a large heaping spoonful...
--Luckily this is not an exact science and that is the beauty of this recipe! It really just depends on how creamy you want it to be.

Stir and heat together to almost boiling
Add salt and pepper to taste

When noodles are done, drain water

You can either stir the noodles and the sauce together or top the sauce onto the noodles. We normally top the noodles but this time stirred them together. It was tiny bit dry when we did this and reheating was somewhat dry. So if you like to mix your pastas with sauces, you might add one more can of the cream of mushroom soup or a few more "dollops" of sour cream.

I served mine with carrots, corn, applesauce, and salad. It as a nice quick wintertime meal.

Oh, and I totally made this recipe up myself so don't expect Paula Deen or Martha Stewart quality fancy stuff. No kidding, this is just a quick and easy, get something on the table kind of meal. My husband and I think it's pretty good. Hope you like it too!

P.S. After reading this aloud to my husband, he says "I think it's more than just pretty good, I really like it!". Just FYI.

Happy DIY'ing everyone!
-Amy the DIY Monkey

Delicious Potato Soup Recipe

2012-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

In my continuing coverage of winter time "comfort foods", I'd like to offer you one of my favorite dishes for a cold night. My dad taught me how to make his wonderful potato soup years ago and recently shared with me that you can add sausage to it, similar to that of my all-time favorite Zuppa Toscana at the Olive Garden.

If you're vegetarian, you can certainly omit the sausage and just boil the veggies together then drain and add the butter and milk, but if you are including the sausage, I recommend sauteing your sausage, onions, and potatoes together first, then adding to the other boiling veggies.

I also have begun to omit peeling the potatoes and leaving on the skins. You get more vitamins that way and it's more hearty! Also, it takes a lot less time if you don't have to peel all of those 'taters!

It's a pretty basic recipe, you'll need:
3-4 large russet potatoes (the regular brown kind)
about 5 fresh celery stalks
about 4-5 fresh carrot sticks
1 small yellow or white onion
1 pack of sausage (either the breakfast kind or Italian, but not maple or brown sugar flavored)
about 3/4 gallon of vitamin D (whole) milk (you can use 2% if you want to cut back a few calories, but it's much better with whole milk)
1 stick of butter (you can use margarine, but again it's tastier with real butter, so do Paula Deen proud and go on and use a whole stick of butter)

Brown and crumble sausage in a large skillet, while boiling pot of water
Chop potatoes and onion and add to half-cooked sausage to simmer in grease, stirring frequently to saute

Chop celery and carrots into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces, add to boiling water

Continue to boil until carrots and celery can be cut into easily with a knife, use spoon to remove a piece and test, should be almost cooked but left a little snappy, about 15-20 minutes

Add fully cooked sausage with simmering potatoes to boiling carrots and celery to continue cooking potatoes, do not drain grease, most will have absorbed into potatoes or will drain out with water later

Boil about 15 more minutes, test veggies with spoon and knife, when knife easily cuts into each piece, this is a matter of preference also, we like ours with just a little bit of "snap" left in the veggies but you might like yours completely "mushy", drain water (this will remove any of the excessive grease)
Return pot to stove and add one stick of butter, stir until melted

Fill the rest of the pot with milk
Add salt and pepper to taste, heat to boiling stirring frequently

Use mostly medium heat for everything, adjusting as necessary

I serve mine with canned croissants.

This soup stores and reheats very well. In fact it is another one of those "next dayers". I'm getting ready to heat some up for lunch right now!

Oh, and by the way. I'm getting used to cooking with a camera beside me! I'm going to have to start keeping it in my utensil drawer.

If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think. If you have some other potato soup ideas, please share them with me!

Happy DIY'ing everyone!
-Amy the DIY Monkey

Mexican Meatloaf, Ole!

2012-01-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I tried my first meatloaf experiment last night. I used my friend Angie's suggestion to put a pack of taco seasoning and black olives in the meatloaf to make a taco meatloaf. Only, I added a few of my own variations...

Instead of crackers (or bread crumbs, or oatmeal, etc.) I used crushed up tortilla chips! It worked out great! And, it was really really really fun to crush them up. All you need to do is take a bag of tortilla chips and poke some holes in it to let the air out, lay the bag flat on the counter, and roll it over and over with a rolling pin as if you were rolling out dough! It was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again. And the bag kept it all contained!

I added in some extras like jalapeno peppers, salsa, and cheese. I think the texture came out really well. It was not really dry and crispy edged like I usually like with my regular meatloaf, but it was solid and not to soggy.

Here's all you need:

So without further ado, here's the recipe so you can try it too! (OH! I'm a poet again!!!)

1 lb. ground beef
1 regular sized bag tortilla chips
1 jar salsa
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup jarred jalapeno pepper slices
1/2 can black olives
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 305 degrees.

Mix ground beef, crushed tortilla chips, half jar of salsa, half bag of cheese, jalapenos, black olives, pack of taco seasoning, and eggs into a bowl.....yep you guessed it....mash it all up with your hand (don't forget to wash first!).

Morph it all into a ball or loaf, bake for 45 minutes. Take out and top with remaining salsa and cheese, bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Make sure the meat is cooked all the way through by cutting and looking in the thickest part.

For some reason this version of meatloaf seems a little more dense so you will want to ensure it's done all the way through. But it doesn't seem to take as long to bake.

Served topped with sour cream, more jalapenos or black olives, more salsa, cheese, whatever you wish!

I served mine with Chi Chi's Sweet Corn Cake Mix and salad. It was YUMMY!!

I was somewhat proud of my new creation. My husband liked it too. And one of the best parts is that it reheats well and leftovers do great for lunch. It's one of those things that seems to taste even better the next day.

Happy DIY'ing!
-Amy the DIY Monkey

Meatloaf.....the final frontier

2012-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

After requesting tasty and delicious meatloaf recipe variations last night, I received a couple of ideas that I'd like to share with you.

How could I forget the addition of green peppers and onions? Well, mostly because I don't like onions at all and don't like green peppers in meatloaf that's how. But I must acknowledge that most people do it this way. In fact, my meatloaf recipe came from my mother's and she ALWAYS put peppers and onions in hers.

The good thing about morphing the loaves is that you can ball up and customize your meatloaf for everyone in your family. Sometimes I've made my husband his own special loaf with peppers and onions. It's not hard to do. Just separate your mixture and add your variations and custom ingredients then just ball each one up separately.

One idea that someone shared with me that I think I'll try is a taco meatloaf. My friend Angie told me on Facebook that she makes the taco meatloaf with a pack of taco seasoning and some black olives mixed in the mixture. Interesting! Sounds tasty! I'll bet you can put some salsa and cheese all up in there too! Maybe crushed up tortilla chips instead of crackers??

So this opens up a whole way of thinking about meatloaf variations. I'm kind of thinking....I wonder what a pack of onion soup mix would taste like in the mix??? Or...what about a pack of ranch flavoring??? Has anyone out there ever tried this?

One of my friends suggested an Italian meatloaf with cheese baked on the INSIDE of the loaf. Hoo doggies! A cheese-filled loaf?? Awesome!!!

What about a stroganoff variation with mushrooms and sour cream? Hmmmmm............

The possibilities are endless.

Send me your ideas or suggestions! Especially if you've tried any of these brainstorming ideas I'm having.

The beauty is you dump it in a bowl, mash it up, morph it, and bake it. So it's a quick and easy dinner....or maybe more? Breakfast meatloaf? OK maybe I'm going too far here.

Anyway, forward your ideas if you can!

Oh! And I forgot one of the best things about meatloaf! The leftovers..... My husband is always thrilled to have a meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day. And I'm getting ready to go heat up some leftovers for dinner now! No cooking tonight! I'll just be loafin' around.

And so will Sticky...

Happy DIY'ing!
Amy, the DIY Monkey

Loafin' Around

2012-01-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

Well........I hate to break it to you, but winter is here. It's here with e vengeance too, at least in central Indiana. Even now I can hear the wind howling outside.

It's cold, it stays dark early in the AM, it stays dark early in the PM, Christmas is over, New Year's is behind us.....blah!

So I'm thinking of of ways to BEAT THE WINTER BLAHS!!! What better way to warm up on a cold winter evening than with comfort food? What better comfort food than MEATLOAF!?

Meatloaf, the poor man's prime rib. The "disgusting looking brown blob in the refrigerator" according to Becky's friend in Roseanne. We all joke about it's mundane and cheap qualities. Meatloaf is the subject of many a joke and jeer, however deep down inside (unless your a vegetarian that is...) you know you love it!

Now, there are many variations on "the loaf of meat". Everyone seems to make theirs differently. The past few days I've spent some time asking around, "how do you make YOUR meatloaf?". And I've received many different responses.

Of course, each one does include, well, meat! But then of course you must incorporate some manner of bread, the loaf part. Here's where your creativity and family tradition comes in.

For the "loaf" part, I've heard of using the following:
Saltine crackers (that's what I use)
Ritz crackers
Oatmeal
Corn flakes
Dried bread crumbs
Seasoned bread crumbs

And of course, no meatloaf would be complete without some sort of provocative "glaze" or "sauce" poured on top. Usually you'd do this close to the end of the cooking cycle so that it caramelizes and creates the glaze like consistency on top. With this I've heard of using:
Ketchup (my favorite)
Tomato sauce
Tomato soup
Tomato soup with Brown sugar mixed in
Brown gravy

You can bake it in the oven, or even cook it in the crock pot. I've never tried the latter.

Really what it boils (or bakes) down to is a matter of preference and taste. I happen to like a dryer meatloaf with kind of a crispier outer texture. Some people prefer a softer texture.

You may want to use a couple of eggs to help act as a loafing agent, for lack of a better term. It kind of helps to hold things together. Of course there will be some delicious grease in the ground beef that helps with the morphing as well, but eggs seem to just assist with the overall texture.

So without further ado, I'd like to share my meatloaf recipe with you! (I'm a poet!)

Now, don't get all excited, it's pretty much THE most basic form of meatloaf.

You'll need:

1 lb. ground beef
2 packs saltine crackers
2 eggs
about 1/2 cup ketchup
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. And here's the really complicated part, dump it all in a bowl and squish it all up! But first, you get to mash the daylights out of the saltine crackers with a rolling pin! It's really fun, trust me! Just think of the person tailgating you all the way home on the ice this evening! It's cathartic.

Before....

During....

After

So now all the ingredients are just all dumped into a bowl, how are you going to mix it all up? You guessed it! Wash those hands off really well because you're goin' in! Trust me, it's just too hard to do it with a spoon. You have to sort of squish up the saltines with your fingers as your squishing all around. Yes, it is gross.

Then you morph it into a "loaf" shape and stick it in a baking dish. I use glass, but you can even put it on a cookie sheet for that matter. You can wrap it up or cover it with aluminum foil if you prefer, but again we like ours crispy so I bake it uncovered for about 45 minutes.

Then take it out and pour more ketchup on top to "glaze". Bake for another 10-15 minutes. You just want to be really sure it gets cooked all through because sometimes if it's somewhat a thicker loaf, and if you have tall sides on your baking dish, it just takes a little longer to cook all the way through.

So there you have it! Meatloaf is a dish best served with mashed potatoes and green beans I think....and maybe a little leftover broccoli from last night.

I like the "butt" pieces...

So how do YOU make your meatloaf? Share it with me! Email me at chocodarlin@aol.com and let me try your manner of loaf.

Enjoy! I hope you get to "see paradise by the oven light!"....sorry had to make a Meatloaf joke....

-Amy the DIY Monkey

Potpour-wreath!!

2011-12-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve Eve everyone!! Are you looking for a quick and easy last minute Christmas craft? How about a do-it-yourself "potpour-wreath"? It's decorative AND scented!

This idea came to me the other day when I received a bag of potpourri in a gift exchange. I liked how "chunky" it looked and enjoyed the different shapes within the bag. It wasn't just made of hardened petals.

I found a grapevine wreath at Wal-Mart for $3.50. Originally I had envisioned using an evergreen style wreath but could only find the grape vine style. But now that I've completed the potpour-wreath, I'm glad I used the grape vine style wreath because of the rustic style of potpourri in general. I think the potpourri went better with the grapevine overall than it wold have the evergreen style wreath.

I found a nice big red velvet like bow to go on top. It was only $.97 at Wal-Mart! Since the potpourri was a gift, I'm not sure what the cost was. But you can find potpourri just about anywhere for next to nothing. Just make sure you get a bag with interesting pieces and some good "big chunks".

This bag had nice big flowers, little flowers (perfect for filling in spots and getting the "trickle over" effect to spread things out), spiral shaped thingies, and fruit shaped pieces!

I had a silver cord "embellishment" --I love that word--left over from my craft night where I made the chalkboard cookie sheets, see last blog. I found these for $1 at The Dollar Tree. This made a nice wrap around. A ribbon would have also been nice. I really liked how the silver cord looked, however. Again I think it was the overall rustic and chunky look of the wreath that contributes to this. To me a ribbon seems more suited to traditional styles and flowers. I wanted something different.

I trimmed off some of the wild jutting out vines that grabbed everything that passed it and tempted the cats too much. I didn't want to put any one's eye out either! I could just see someone bending in to smell the potpour-wreath and POKE! OUCH! Safety first!

I then separated the big chunks from the little chunks in the potpourri. I was a little disappointed the the potpourri wasn't Christmas scented. I guess I just assumed that it was since it was red. If that's important to you and your wreath, you might remember to check the fragrance first!

With my trusty glue gun in hand, I set about affixing the bow first, then twined the silver decorative cord around the wreath. This part was somewhat difficult due tot he fact that the viney things kept wanting to grab at the cord and any time I had to unwind it and re-adjust it there were some snags. It was easy to cover them up with glued on potpourri though.

Then came the fun part! Selecting and gluing on the potpourri pieces to the wreath was the most fun. It was almost cathartic standing there, arranging, deciding what looked good where....the way a good craft should be! I started out with the biggest chunks and main pieces, then worked in the smaller pieces to fill in and blend.

I went for an asymmetrical design, with the main cluster to the right hand side of the wreath, below the bow. I like an off-centered looking wreath myself. Again, maybe this looked best to me due to the intentionally imperfect nature of the materials.

I even used some of the better-looking dried petal pieces. This particular bag was good about having larger ones and a nice twirly shape to them.

Overall, I enjoyed creating my potpour-wreath very much! I will enjoy giving it to my aunt for Christmas day after tomorrow.

Merry Christmas and enjoy!!! Happy DIYing!!!!!
--Amy the DIY Monkey

Hummus for the holidays!

2011-12-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

Last night I made my famous homemade hummus for our Christmas party. It has now become a given that I make my hummus when there's any kind of a pitch-in or a get-together of any sort.

I really don't remember where I originally found the recipe, but I've thrown in some variations from time to time. Hummus is a very easy and very delicious chick pea based dip. It's great with pita bread and pita chips, tortilla chips (soft or crunchy), or veggies.

The first time I made it, I opened up my cans of chick peas (AKA garbanzo beans) and poured them in a bowl. I thought I'd use the hand mixer to mash them up. BIG mistake! I was finding chick peas all over my kitchen for days!! They're really bouncy and buoyant little suckers!!

So, first off you need either a blender or a food processor. I just use a blender, because I do not have a food processor.

Here are the basic ingredients:

2 cans of chick peas or garbanzo beans (about 15 oz. cans each)
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2-3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
3-4 fresh garlic cloves

You can find the chick peas anywhere. I've found them at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Meijer. They're in the canned vegetables/beans section.

The olive oil is in any grocery store too. It's usually in the baking aisle with the other cooking oils.

The tahini is the most mysterious of ingredients. So far I've only found it at Meijer in the "specialty foods/international foods" section. It's a tall, narrow glass jar. It looks like a light brown/beige kind of color.

Of course, garlic is always in the produce. It's usually next to the onions.

Everything is pretty inexpensive. The chick peas are around $1 per can. The olive oil is around $3. The tahini is the most expensive part, usually around $5, but it lasts the longest. If you keep it refrigerated it lasts months, see the expiration dates on the packaging but you should be able to get at least 4 or 5 batches out of it, if not more.

Directions:

Drain 1 can of the chick peas and not the other can, you'll need the "juice" for consistency (of course this is according to your own taste and you can adjust it)

Place chick peas and the allotted juice in a blender

Add the tahini and olive oil

Add the garlic cloves, I use a mincer, it looks like a nutcracker where you place the peeled garlic clove in a well and push it through a screen (be ready to smell it in your house for a while though)

Place the lid on the blender (trust me the beans bounce) and blend until desired consistency is achieved. I like mine medium smooth, no chunks, but not too liquidy, again it's according to taste

I often times will add a little salt and pepper to taste as well. Other things you can do include:

Red pepper flakes (like you put on pizza) about 1-2 tablespoons
Parmesan cheese (again, like on pizza) about 1-2 tablespoons

There are many variations you can create with hummus. I've read about spinach being added too. I think I'll give that a try sometime.

I plan to play around more with my hummus and will advise you on how it turned out (or didn't turn out). If you have any good hummus variations, please send them my way!

The good thing about hummus.....it's relatively healthy! The most high calorie or high fat item involved is the olive oil or tahini and there's very little of each.

Enjoy!

There's no place like home for the holidays.

2011-12-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog posting ever! I had a great weekend full of crafts and parties and can't wait to share some of the great things I've learned.

My husband and I are enjoying our first Christmas in our newly-built home. Being a crafty-girl and a party-girl, I couldn't wait to make our first Christmas memories with some great friends, fun crafts, delicious recipes, and a fun party! I think I was able to accomplish them all!

Friday night was "craft night" with some friends. Until we have children, one of our spare bedrooms is going to be my "craft room". However, we decided to do our crafts downstairs so that we could enjoy a little traditional Christmas movies while making our creations. Luckily, my kitchen, nook, and family room are all open to each other so it was perfect! I also really appreciated the electric kitchen island, perfect for glue guns!

I decided to create cookie sheet chalkboards that can be hung on refrigerators and can hold magnets. I think these might make some cute Christmas gifts. I've seen these a few places and like that you can decorate them many ways and that they are a practical decoration as well. You can write on them with chalk and use magnets on them. This can take the boring out of "we need milk" when you get to write it on your own super fun decorative chalkboard!

I decided that one one of the chalkboards, I'd paint a snowman then I could make magnets for the hat, gloves, buttons, etc. This way you can "decorate" the snowman with the magnets.

On one of the other chalkboards, I thought it might be cute to paint on a Christmas tree where the ornaments are the magnets. This would allow you to "decorate" the Christmas tree too!

I made the magnets from some Christmas erasers I found at The Dollar Tree. They're Santa heads and reindeer heads, and I think some snowflakes in there too. So my chalkboards have lots of little Santa heads floating around on them, but it did turn out cute.

I also bought some art foam at Wal-Mart to cut out different things. I used this to make the snowman top hat and gloves, etc

One of the other ones ended up being a "cookie sheet" with the magnets being the "cookies". One of my friends brought a big 'ole tray of "cookie" ornaments that you roll out and bake and cut out just like regular cookies! But you don't want to eat them, she was nice enough to stop me before making that mistake. I'll post that recipe for you later because you can use that for all holidays should you have the cookie cutter or talent to free-hand some cupids or bunnies...anyway I digress.... She shared a few cookie ornaments with me which I painted and made into magnets. These became my "cookies" on the cookie sheet!

The last one I just decided a "Santa's List" would be cute. Then one could use it as a festive grocery list or phone number list....list of things to do..whatever! It just popped into my head when I was standing there staring at the last blank cookie sheet at 2 in the morning, and was determined to decorate them all!

I ffinalized a few of them with some silver and gold cords, pine cone thingies, and just some various little things I found at The Dollar Tree that I thought might look good glued to a cookie sheet! This is the part I enjoy because you can just eyeball what you find that's within your budget and think of ways to use it.

Where did I get my supplies?

I went to two places to gather supplies, The Dollar Tree (this is one of those "everything is $1 stores, if you don't have a Dollar Tree in your area, you probably have some sort of $1 store). There I gathered whatever "dimensional embellishments" I could at $1 each.

I also found some acrylic paint and brushes here. I would recommend getting something larger than this little row of paint wells, however. I ended up using some of my friend's paint. But again, that's what's so great about crafting together, other than the fun, is getting to share each other's stuff!

I also found cookie sheets at The Dollar Tree, but they were pretty small. The next time I make these, I may spring for larger sheets.

The I went to Wal-Mart for the chalkboard paint, magnets, and for the "decoration" accessory magnets.

Supplies and cost:

Cookie Sheet, $1 each at The Dollar Tree

Chalkboard Paint, $3.97 at Wal-Mart

Chalk, $.96 at Wal-Mart

Magnets, $1.97 for 18 adhesive backed discs, and $1.97 for adhesive backed strips, at Wal-Mart

Paint, $1 at The Dollar Tree

Various seasonal and decorative "embellishments, $1 each at The Dollar Tree

More Dollar Tree embellishments.....

Paint brushes, $1 at the Dollar Tree also, but you'll need a wider brush for the chalkboard paint, I already had that on-hand

Art Foam, $3.47 at Wal-Mart, and I still have tons left for other projects

Christmas erasers, $1 at The Dollar Tree, made the "floating head" magnets! They were the perfect size for the pre-cut magnet disks too

Any troubleshooting?

When I get together with my friends to make crafts, I want something that is easy and doesn't require a lot of materials. Who wants to spend a lot of time running around getting what they need to make what they're going to make? And who wants to take time out from your girl-time to stop and go get supplies? It's best to have it all on hand and ready to go so you can just enjoy the fun and the company.

Having said this, I learned a lesson with this one that I think is important to share. Get your cookie sheets and paint them with the chalkboard paint a couple of days BEFORE you plan to decorate them. They take a while to dry and if you are like me, you're impatient and want to jump to the fun stuff when you're with your friends.

The chalkboard paint, found in the craft aisle at Wal-Mart, not in the hardware paint section, recommends 2 coats. They recommend an hour of drying time in between the two coats, AND 24 hours of curing time after the second coat!

I couldn't wait to begin the fun part and began to place magnets on the paint because it felt dry to the touch. Well, now I have to go back and repair the chips that occurred when I removed the magnets only to find the paint stuck to the magnet back and hole in the paint where silver cookie sheet is peeking through!

Another pitfall to avoid is to make sure you secure the backs of the cookies sheets with an ample amount of Domagnets if you plan to hang them on the refrigerator this way. Do not rely on the adhesive backing to secure the back of the cookie sheet to the refigerator. You must glue them on with a glue gun. The added decorations will add much weight to the sheet and if not properly secured...BAM! They fall to the floor and there you are repairing again. Yes....I was again impatient and overlooked this vital step. I'll be spending some time today repairing.... :(

Needless to say, I'm more about thinking of the ideas and making variations on them. I'm not so much a very good engineer of the mechanics of it all. So assuming there's someone out there that's like me, these are some things for you to consider.

This was lots of fun and I'm left with enough paint for at least one more cookie sheet. I am left with quite a bit of other supplies and embellishments such as magnets and foam. Perhaps my refrigerator will need some cupids and hearts soon then?????

Happy DIY'ing everyone!!! And Merry Christmas!!! Happy holidays!!!!