Scissors and Hot Glue

Creating a Fall Burlap Wreath

2012-09-29T15:13:00.000-05:00

I bow my head in shame! It has been so very long since I blogged. Have no fear....after many months I am back in my craft room and hopefully will have more projects to come! Today I have a Fall Burlap Wreath to show you.

Supplies Needed:

- 1 foam or straw wreath

- 1 yard of burlap

- Hot glue gun
-Glue sticks

- Scissors

- Various pieces of fabric

- Felt or cardboard

- Wooden letter

- Acrylic paint

- Paintbrush

- Ribbon

The very first thing you need to do is to paint your wooden letter with acrylic paint. I chose to paint mine chocolate brown. I painted mine the night before to allow plenty of time to dry since it always takes several coats to get the wood completely covered.

Let's start getting our wreath together. I took the plastic off of my wreath since I figured that the hot glue would probably just melt through it and cause me some problems. I next cut some of the burlap into 2 inch strips. I would cut a couple at a time as I went along wrapping the wreath. Don't cut your entire piece of burlap at once! Glue the start of a strip to your wreath and then wrap it around the wreath until you have the entire wreath covered in burlap. Secure the end of your last piece so that it will be on the back of your wreath. Now take a moment and use your scissors to clean up the little burlap threads that are sticking up all over your wreath.

Now that we have burlap wreath base, it's now time to add that letter you painted to it. Decide the best position for your particular letter before you put any glue on it. The correct positioning will be different for each letter. Just remember that the more parts of the letter that are glued to the wreath, the more secure it will be.

Now that you have your wreath base all done, put it aside for a while. It's now time to make all those fabric rosettes. I know that they look intimidating, but they are really easy to make. Take your fabric and cut it into 1 1/2 to 2 inch strips. Don't worry about making perfect cuts. You can even cut it in strips as you go....I should have taken that advice myself. ha ha! Each rosette will need a "base" to glue it to. I found some black felt in my stash that worked perfect. You could also use thin cardboard or something similar. Cut out a 3 inch square of felt. Take your strip of fabric and fold the strip in half and then fold that half in half. I glued all that together at the end just to keep it all together and make starting it easier. You will now glue that gathered end to the center of your felt.

The next part is when it can get tricky. You will constantly be twisting the fabric and wrapping it around and around in a circle and gluing it down to the felt as you go. When the rosette is the right size is your decision. I made a couple of different sized ones. When you get to the size you want and when you have about a half inch of fabric left, stop and trim your felt backing so that it is no longer seen. Take the fabric tail and fold it over to the back and secure it with glue.

You now have a cute little collection of fabric and burlap rosettes.

The next step is to glue all of those rosettes to your wreath. You may be wondering just how many rosettes that you need to make. I can't really answer that. As I went along making them, I would stop occasionally and lay the ones I had made on my wreath to see how many more I needed and what sizes. I had to make a couple more even after I had the rest glued on the wreath to fill in some holes. How many rosettes you will need is your personal preference.

To hang my wreath, I simply wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around the top and then attached it to my hook on my front door with a bow.

There you have it....a fun Fall Burlap Wreath to add to your front door and I made it for about $15!

Thanks for reading!

Alicia

From Blah to Fun!

2012-09-24T18:50:00.001-05:00

Last week, I picked up a filing cabinet at a business that was closing down. All of the other cabinets the same size were $75, but the one I chose was only $25. The lock is missing, a drawer slides came unwelded, there was some rust, but it just screamed “PROJECT” to me, so I grabbed it and ran.

This is the sad filing cabinet, before it got some style:

Add some fabric, Mod Podge, knobs, etc and this is the result:

I may add some ribbon details, but I haven’t decided quite yet. I did learn one important thing when taking on a project like this one – SAND OR SEAL ANY RUST! Don’t ask how I know this, but it might play into why I may or may not add ribbon trim. ;)

Until next time!

Leah

From Window Panes to Wall Art

2012-09-16T21:35:00.001-05:00

Hubby and I took on a rather fun project today that made a huge difference in our hallway and perked our living room up a bit, as well.

Hubby was perusing Craigslist (as always) and ran across an add for free snap-together window panes. Now, we do not need faux snap-together window panes, but we are always up for project materials, so off to Nashville we went to pick up the goodies.

(Actual photo from the Craigslist ad)

Normally, I am the crafty one in the house, but today, Hubby really showed me up! He used the window panes and came up with some fantastic wall art to really dress up our boring hallway.

We had done nothing to the hallway since moving in a year ago, except toss down a couple of throw rugs. This is a photo of our über-boring hallway, before we moved in:

A few hours later, a bit of paint on a few of the pieces, and we have some unique art work that really fits our style. The paintings were picked up on clearance at Old Time Pottery several years ago and had been hanging in other parts of the house until this weekend.

The moral of the story is if you see a box of materials, think OUTSIDE the box! There is no rule that says they can only exist as one specific thing in their lifetime! ;)

Until next time!

Leah

Flowers & Food Coloring

2012-05-24T20:18:00.003-05:00

Even though my husband wouldn't admit it, he has a soft side to his manly man demeanor. He sometimes surprises me with his sweetness.Today he shared an idea with with me from his childhood. We passed by some Queen Anne's Lace flowers on the side of the road and he said, "We need to pick some of these flowers and put them in a vase with water and food coloring". He and his family used to do this when he was younger, and over several days, the flowers would change colors. I told him I would really enjoy this so he pulls over and picks the Queen Anne's Lace flowers for me. I picked two vases for this project and filled one with red and yellow coloring (to make orange), and the other with blue and red coloring (to make purple). I will post the progression of the color changes over the next few days.

Step 1: Fill your vases with water and insert flowers.

Step 2: Add food coloring of your choice. I used 4-5 drops of each color for an even balance. I will have to experiment with how to adjust the colors in the future for different shades.

Step 3: Wait for it...

Word Art

2012-04-18T18:44:00.002-05:00

A couple of months ago, I was browsing through some of my favorite blogs when I came across this post at Antsi-Pants. I love the color red and the little sign she did for Valentine's Day caught my eye. I really LOVE the praise & worship song that has these words in it and what a blessing to see this reminder of just how much God loves us every single day! I knew that I wanted to make my own version of it for my entryway wall.....just a little bigger. Here is how I did it....

First of all, I bought an 18x24 inch canvas (it was 30% off already and I was also able to use a 50% off coupon), and then painted it bright red with acrylic paint. I ended up having to put 3 coats of paint on it to get it covered, but that is to be expected with the color red.

Next, with my Silhouette I cut out the words I wanted to use in white vinyl. I then applied the letters to the painted canvas. Unfortunately, this was NOT easy. ha ha! The vinyl did not want to stick to the canvas very well at all....no matter how much I tried to make it. That led me to my next step...

Thank goodness for Mod Podge! I applied 2 coats of Mod Podge over the entire surface (allowing each coat to try thoroughly before applying the next).

Here is the finished product! I actually really like how the Mod Podge finished it up. It really makes the red pop and most importantly, the vinyl won't fall off now. ha ha!

I can't wait to get this hung in my entryway. Wordart like this is such a fun way to display a favorite quote, saying, etc.... without costing a fortune!

$6.75 Wreath

2012-04-12T20:28:00.001-05:00

Each season, I try to change out whatever is hanging on my front door, but this year, it’s been bare since December. B-O-R-I-N-G. I was lacking inspiration, but then I walked into my local “everything’s $1” store…

I brought home some simple treasures….

…but after ten minutes, I had come up with a wreath that I love!!

The base of the wreath is a pool noodle. I just put the ends together and taped the bejeezus out of it to make sure it holds for a good while. I picked a green wreath so if it peeked through the flowers, it would not be blaringly obvious.

The flowers are just flower leis. They come in packs of 3 for $1. I used 9 leis total, but I might end up adding another 3, just to fill it in a bit more.

To wrap the leis, I first attached one to the noodle with a straight pin, just to keep it in place, then began wrapping. when I got to the end of a lei, I use tiny safety pins to attach it to the next lei and kept wrapping. When I got to the end of the last lei, I removed the straight pin holding the first lei, pinned the first and last together, then moved the flowers around the noodle until I liked the way they were laying. I did not glue the leis for two reasons – so I can reuse the leis and so I can reuse the noodle.

The whirlygig came on a stick but I did not want that ugly black stick hanging down. So, I did the next best thing – I cut the stick off so there was a post sticking straight back out of the whirlygig. I picked the perfect spot on the wreath and stuck it straight into the foam. If I have problems with it staying in, I’ll put a bit of glue in the hold.

I decided the center needed some flair, so I added a simple metal piece I’d picked up at another local discount store for $1.75.

The noodle is a bit larger around than my wreath hanger is deep, so to keep it from falling off, I cut a slit in the underside of the foam, and pushed the bottom of the hanger into the hole.

Keep crafting!

Leah

Refilling Wet Mop Bottles

2012-03-16T10:51:00.000-05:00

I promised you guys a tutorial for refilling Wet Mop spray bottles and here it is - finally. I'm a little late. ;)

The concept of the cleaner in a bottle is great, but it's not so great for the wallet. I also like the idea of being able to mix my own cleaners, should I choose to do so. That led me to search the internet for a way to pop off that *mumble* stupid *swear* bottle with the cap that just wouldn't *grr* budge.

Sorry about the lack of pics!

The first step is to loosen the plastic cap so you can easily pop it off of the bottle. To do this, put a small pot of water on the stove and heat to boiling. Once the water is boiling, hold the bottle upside down in the pan so that just the cap is submerged. After about 90 seconds, lift the bottle out of the water, grab onto the lid with a towel, and twist the cap. It should pop right off.

The second step is to make the cap permanently removable. If you flip it over and look inside, there are little teeth all the way around the rim. Get rid of them. Clip them off using nail clippers, small scissors, a Dremel, whatever you have handy, but please be careful to not cut yourself if you get too creative!

Now you're ready to refill the bottle. I personally like to use Pine Sol in my bottle but you can certainly use any cleaner. Just be sure to rinse your bottle out completely if you change from one chemical to the next so you do not create a science experiment!

Happy mopping!

Leah

Inexpensive Baby Gift Idea

2012-02-01T20:03:00.000-06:00

Here lately, it seems that lots of my friends and family are having babies and I am always looking for an inexpensive and personalized baby gift. Subway art is very popular right now and this goes right along those lines. I love the impact that words can make visually and this project showcases that.

I designed my birth stats print below in Photoshop Elements, but you could easily do this in Word, Publisher, or some other similar program. I have sized it to fit an 8x10 inch frame and I had it printed on photo paper with a matte finish. All the colors match the bedding used in the babies nursery.

My next step was to get an inexpensive frame. I bought a dark stained wood one to go with the cowboy themed nursery. I took out the backing and glass so that I could just work the frame itself. I wanted to make it look more cowboyish.

Please excuse my mess in this picture below, but my craft room pretty much always looks that way when I have a project going on. Like my lava lamp? ha ha!

I next took some jute twine (this can be found at Walmart and is just a few dollars for a large roll) and hot glued it around the frame. I went around it twice to make a bigger impact.

Here is the finished frame with the birth stat print in it. The jute added to the frame gives it just a little extra something to tie into the nurseries rustic cowboy theme. The overall price of this project was less than $10 and I think it's worth so much more than that since it is so personalized.

I also like to make cards (I rarely ever buy a greeting card). Below is the card that I included with the framed birth stats print and the Mod Podged letters (yep, the ones from my last post). This card was very distressed in order to keep with the rustic theme. Lots of layers, lots of distressing ink, and lots of paper scraping (that's how you get the edges to look so rough). Just like the birth stats prints, I love to personalize a card when I can and new baby cards are perfect for that. I like to include the new baby's picture because then the card ends up being a keepsake.

I hope that you design your own birth stats print for your children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren. Try making your own cards too. Keep it simple or as complicated as you want...whoever you send it to will just love that you took the time to handmake it!

Wallet-friendly Wet Mop Pads

2012-01-29T21:50:00.001-06:00

I love love love my Wet Mop (made by a very popular company), but I hate hate hate the cost of pads and fluid. So I found a cheaper option for both. For now, I’ll show you how I get around buying the expensive pads. I’ll show you how the fluid workaround in a later post.

Aside from the price, I hate how the pads made by the company do not pick up animal hair very well. With four animals in the house, this is a big deal. I checked Etsy for washable pads I could purchase, and realized I could make them myself!

I found a five pack of microfiber towels at Dollar General for $4 and realized the fabric would be perfect! Microfiber is super absorbent and I knew it would pick up the animal hair.

I folded each towel into thirds, making each section as close to the same size as possible.

Using a regular straight stitch, I stitched around each side, then made three stitches down the length of the pad. If you are a perfectionist, LET GO OF IT for this project. Microfiber gets a little wonky and doesn’t always allow you to sew perfectly straight, flat projects!

That’s it. Because the pads are made of microfiber, they stick to the bottom of the Wet Mop without having to attach velcro. You will have to push a little harder to move them across the floor, but when you see how much they pickup, you will not mind that extra bit of work. When you’re finished, throw them in the wash!

Note: If you do not use dryer sheets or fabric softener, the pads will keep their maximum absorbency for a longer period of time.

A Mod Podging Lesson

2012-01-15T17:21:00.003-06:00

If there is any one craft that I love the most, it would definitely be Mod Podging. I have been doing it for at least 10 plus years. In college, I used to Mod Podge picture frames with words and pictures for all my pictures of friends and family. That's how it all got started. Now, I mostly alter wooden letters for myself or for others. This past week, I Mod Podged a set of letters for a friend who is having a baby boy named Tanner very soon. I decided to document the process this time and post it on Scissors and Hot Glue. Mod Podging is not a quick process...just a warning. It can take several days because everything does have to dry thoroughly. So, don't expect Mod Podging to be a quick project. Ok, here we go...

Materials List:

Wooden Letters (smooth front)

Mod Podge

Cardstock

Pencil

Scissors

Paintbrush or Spongebrush

Acrylic paint

Sandpaper (optional)

First you need to cover your work surface (newspaper is not a good idea since the paint will stick to it as well as the Mod Podge). I used some freezer paper that I had...shiny side up and it was perfect. So, lay out your letters on your work surface and let's get started.

Step one is to trace the FRONT side of each of your letters. To make sure that you keep everything in order, it's a good idea to mark the back sides of all your wooden letters and the cardstock that you have just traced and then cut out. That should help you know which side is which.

Now that all our cardstock is traced and cut out, we can now get the backs and sides of the letters painted. This step is optional is you want to keep the natural color or if your letters come painted. I wanted to go with a tan color for my letters though since the front will be done in chocolate brown. You may be fine with just one coat of paint or you may end up having to do 3 coats like I did.

Now that the paint on the back and sides have dried overnight, it's time to do some Mod Podging. Now you may notice in the picture below that I do have paint around the edges of the front. It's not totally required, but I bring the paint around to the front just so that if there is a place where the letter shows through, it will blend with the rest of it. Just my personal preference. Ok, back to the actual Mod Podging. Take a clean paintbrush and brush a thin coat of Mod Podge onto the entire front of your letter. Then once you have it all covered, place your cardstock cutout letter onto the wooden letter and smooth it down until it's all stuck down. Let all of the letters dry for an hour or two.

Next, is where the real Mod Podging starts. You will brush the Mod Podge all over the surface. I try to keep all my brush marks going in the same direction, but that could just be my perfectionism...ha ha! I typically put about 3 coats of Mod Podge on everything I do. You will need to allow drying time between each coat. Like I said, this is not a fast process. I typically just let each coat dry overnight before I attempt another one.

As you are applying the Mod Podge, there will be drips down the sides. Take q-tips to clean that up. I buy the cheap ones for crafting purposes.

Here are the finished letters!

I put together a little collage of different things I have Mod Podged over the past several years. Some were gifts, some were requested, and some are hanging in my own house.

Thanks for sticking with this one. I know it was pretty picture heavy, but I know that I can better understand something if I can see it too. I hope that you all go out and get all your supplies for your first Mod Podge project. I am sure that you'll get hooked too!

Alicia

Winner!

2012-01-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

We have a winner!! I plugged the number of comments in Random.org, waved my magic wand, pressed the button and our winner is . . .

Maria!

Contact me at scissorsandhotglue <at> gmail.com or on Facebook for the details on claiming your prize!

Digital Scrapbooking - and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

2012-01-04T21:34:00.003-06:00

I posted a small blog post about it recently, but one of my newest hobbies is digital scrapbooking. I love scrapbooking, but HATE the space that is required for all of the stuff ... and the money that can be involved.

I happened to enter (and win!) a giveaway on another blog a few months ago and the prize was a copy of the My Memory Suite (MMS) software. This software is FANTASTIC!! Is it extremely easy to use and the new Version 3 contains some fantastic new features, including an easy way to create a calendar on your scrapbooked page, and a way to group elements together and resize all of the grouped elements at one time. Digital scrapbooking couldn't be easier! Here are a few of the pages I've made:

The banner of this blog was also made using the software.

**Giveaway!!**

MyMemories.com is giving one lucky reader a chance to win the very same software I used to create the pages above. To enter, visit the MyMemories.com website and view the digital scrapbooking kits. Post a comment here, telling which kit you would most like to use to create a page. I will select one winner on Monday 01/09.

Welcome to our Pinterest friends!

2012-01-04T21:11:00.002-06:00

Shawna, Alicia, and I would like to welcome everyone who has found us by way of Pinterest. We are excited to share our ideas with you and hope you will add us to your RSS reader and visit us often!

We are a new blog and still establishing ourselves, so please do not get discouraged by the lack of material. IT.WILL.GROW!

Read us, comment on our posts, share us with your friends... and we promise we'll stick around.

Leah

Detangling a mess

2012-01-01T20:04:00.000-06:00

I have a huge collection of beaded necklaces. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I adore the colors, the chunkiness, everything about them.... but there's a problem. How do you store beaded necklaces when you have 50+?

A jewelry box is not a feasible solution because you end up with a tangled heap of beads. I had resorted to hanging them on a hanger in the closet, which also didn't work well because everything still became tangled. After a trip to the local Dollar Tree, I had my solution . . .

The hook sets are surprisingly sturdy and came with the hardware to attach them to the wall. The strips of wood were leftover from recent projects. I trimmed the wood down to the size I needed and attached the hook sets, then convinced the hubby to use his brilliant stud-finding skills to help me mount them to the wall.

Add the necklaces and my new necklace storage area is complete!! I can see exactly what I have and nothing is tangled. The entire display costed only $3 and looks great on the wall. Perfection!

Glass Etching

2011-12-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

Glass etching is something that I have seen all over the blog world here lately. Especially since the Silhouette came out to make it so much easier. I found out just how easy it is when I did my first glass etching recently. My mother had come to me and originally asked if I could put vinyl on some glass candy containers for her to give to 3 of her neighbors. I then told her about the glass etching I had been reading about online and that this would be a great time to try it out. That's how all this got started. Here is how I did it (my pictures jump around a bit since there were 3 different jars with 2 etchings on each)....

The first step was to get my design together in the Silhouette software. I chose to put the family name on one side and a snowflake on the opposite side.

Next, I cut the design out of vinyl using my Silhouette.

This is the glass jar that I would be etching. I made sure that it was clean on the sides that I would be etching.

After the vinyl is all cut out, then remove all the vinyl pieces that make up the letters and a stencil is created. The white part you see will be the stencil. I then put a piece of transfer paper on the top of each stencil. This is to keep all of the little "island' pieces in place when the stencil is applied to the glass.

Peel the backing paper off of the vinyl and then apply it to the glass container. Give it a good rub to make sure it's all stuck down.

Carefully remove the transfer paper. Be careful that all the small pieces are staying stuck to the glass.

I then applied painters tape (masking tape will work too) around the entire stencil to just give the unetched glass a little bit more protection. I want the etching creme to go only where I want it to be.

Then take the etching creme and apply it on top of your stencil to all the exposed parts. I applied it pretty heavily so that I couldn't see through the stencil at all.

After the entire stencil is covered in the etching creme (I used the Armor brand by the way), set a timer for 5 minutes. Yep...only takes 5 minutes to etch glass!

I didn't get pictures of the next few steps, but once your timer goes off, scoop up all the etching creme that is piled up on top of your stencil and put it back in the container to use again. The little bottle is $20, so it's nice to know that you can reuse it! Once you have all the excess off of the stencil, take your glass container to your kitchen sink and rinse the rest off. Peel your stencil off the glass carefully and then wash the etched surface with soap and water. You can then clean it with glass cleaner too if you want.

Here is a closeup of one of the finished jars!

Here is all 3 of the jars!

This was a fun and really easy project. If you don't have a Silhouette, you can also use clear contact paper and cut out your own stencil with your Xacto knife. I can totally see myself making lots of wedding, birthday, and Christmas gifts that involve etching glass What a special personalized wedding gift it would be for a couple and so inexpensive! Or you could add a name to a casserole dish, so that you will always find your dish when you go to a potluck dinner.

Merry Christmas!

Alicia

Christmas Candlestick Makeover!

2011-12-12T17:40:00.014-06:00

Of all the holidays, I have to say that Christmas is my favorite. I love the warm fuzzy feeling of the lights on the tree, the time spent with family, and of course all the yummy food the holiday brings.

As a kid I loved to help my Mom decorate our house, and that hasn't changed til this day. I saw a neat idea for decorating with candlesticks in a Better Homes & Gardens magazine not too long ago, and liked it so much I set out on an adventure to make my own version.

First, I took a trip to the Goodwill store to find candlesticks the sizes that I wanted. I was looking for varying heights and similar shapes. With 15 minutes left before the store closed, I managed to pick out three perfect candlesticks for my project for only six bucks!

Two of these babies are brass, and the other is some sort of resin material. Color didn't matter to me since they are getting a coat of spray paint in a nice soft white color. First, I had to prime them so the paint would cover nicely. I used a white primer since I picked a nice soft white for my candlestick color. Always chose a primer close to the color you are painting the object. It will save you additional work in the end.

Hobby Lobby had Krylon paint on sale for 30% off. I was very pleased with how this particular primer covered these candlesticks. Very smooth and even.

I used two coats of primer, and two coats of Krylon Dover White in gloss for the finishing color. After letting the paint dry an hour after each coat the candlesticks were ready for decoration. Did I mention that I love Krylon? That paint sticks to anything!

I added three ornaments from our ornament stash to the top of each candlestick and a ribbon on the tallest one for that added touch, along with a poinsettia flower I had on hand. I set them up on a small table in the living room and was very pleased with how they turned out. What are you decorating with this Christmas? Drop us a note, we'd love to hear from you!

Scrapbooking on a budget

2011-11-20T14:39:00.001-06:00

I've recently started digital scrapbooking and now I wonder why I did not start years ago!!

While I still love regular scrapbooking, I love the flexibility and low cost of the digital scrapbooking. I also love being able to share my work through email or Facebook. I've made a few pages and even the banner to this website using the software.

The largest expense for digital scrapbooking is the actual cost of the software itself. Once you have the software, you can find loads of free or cheap papers and elements to add to your collection. I have thousands of items and have spent less than $10 of my own money.

Stay tuned in the next few days as I share more details on my new hobby, and give all of you a chance to win a copy of the digital scrapbooking software I use!

The pages below are from a recent visit to the Jack Daniels Distillery by our very own Shawna (poster of the fall bouquet and fall cupcakes last week) and me. Enjoy!

Pretty Pretty Fall Cupcakes!

2011-11-11T18:37:00.009-06:00

Fall has arrived, with its gorgeous colors and crisp cool air, this is the perfect time for a bonfire. The hubby has soup cooking in the Crockpot, and I set about to baking. I wanted to make these from scratch but time did not permit that, so I used some good old Duncan Hines cake mix with some Betty Crocker frosting. Sometimes you just can’t go wrong with convenience.

Here’s what I used:

I had two cupcake pans handy too so that saved me some baking time, seeing as how a box of mix makes 24 cupcakes. I used the Betty Crocker whipped cream cheese icing which was FABULOUS as far as spreading over the cupcakes when they were cooled.

To begin, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Gather your pans, mixes, and ingredients as listed on the box of cake mix. I used my vintage Tupperware mixing bowl with the little spout so I can pour the mix into the papers. I have used this since I was a little girl. (Thanks Mom, this little guy is still going strong!)

Mix the ingredients together as directed then place the cupcake papers in the pan.

Now you can start pouring the batter!

After all the batter is poured, stick these babies in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I wanted to make my cupcakes to be slightly customized, so I emptied the frosting into a bowl and used food coloring (yellow and red) to color the frosting orange. This frosting was excellent to work with.

I was very pleased at the color of orange the colors made, you can’t really tell in the picture below, but it’s really pretty. Promise.

In addition to colored frosting, I used cute little papers with toothpick leaves and pumpkins to top them. (That way it LOOKS like they could have been made from scratch…he he hee!!)

By the time you finish mixing the colors to the desired shade, the cupcakes will be ready to come out of the oven. Oohhh look!

Let them cool for another 15-20 minutes, then apply the frosting. Top off with a cutie patootie toothpick, arrange on a cute plate, and Ta daaa! Pretty Pretty Fall Cupcakes!!

You cleaned it with what?!?!

2011-11-09T18:51:00.001-06:00

We moved in August and the master bathroom has a shower stall with a glass (I'm sure it's really plexiglass) surround. Now, I love the natural lighting and openness but I HATE the soap scum.

I've tried spray after spray after spray and nothing seemed to make a difference. Then one day, I saw a tip online that said to use dryer sheets.

I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.
.
.
.
Yes, I really said dryer sheets.

Stop smirking! I did that too, ya know. I thought, "Ha! Whatever! Dryer sheets will not do anything to soap scum." Boy, was I wrong!

I grabbed a dryer sheet today, ran it under cold water to dampen it and started rubbing. I could immediately feel the grittiness on the door breaking down and disappearing. After wiping down the entire door and rinsing it with water, I was left with a door I could SEE through, when I had not been able to see through it a few minutes before.

I think after a few more dryer sheet treatments, I might just have the shower stall looking like new again!

Fall Floral Arrangement

2011-11-08T19:10:00.008-06:00

Welcome to our Blog! I'm Shawna, and I finally made something this week. Woo hoo!

I am a collector of stuffs. I prefer vintage stuffs and try to re-purpose or use it for its original intent whenever possible. I find great joy in reviving items of old in today’s modern times. Luckily my friends and family feed that fire and take me to cool places that sell old stuff. This particular item caught my fancy at The Old Feed Store in Woodbury, TN where my Mamaw and I were shopping. (I get my love of collecting from Mamaw. I heart her!). This pitcher is a Jewel Homemakers brand tea pitcher with a missing lid. Oh darn, no lid. Guess who doesn’t drink tea? Yeah so I don’t care about the lid, plus that made it cheaper to purchase (under $20). I do however love to fill vases, pitchers and random whatnots with flowers.

Jewel Tea Pitcher

So, I ran to the good old Dollar Tree and found some neat fall foliage to stuff in my awesome tea pitcher.

It just so happens that the Dollar Tree also has floral foam too, so I grabbed some random shapes since I wasn’t sure what size would be best. You could measure your pitcher before buying floral foam, but where’s the fun in knowing exactly what you need for a project?

So, with foam in hand, I determine which shape to use. I had my heart set on the square. *sigh* So I used the smaller shape that actually fits perfectly in the pitcher. I ended up using two of these guys since the pitcher was quite tall. I could have shaved the corners off the square one and used it, but it was easier to just stack two small ones on top of each other.

Too short....

Now the fun starts, determine how you want your arrangement to look. I had an idea in mind from surfing the Michael’s website and viewing all the fall do-it-yourself arrangements. (Oh, and don’t forget you’ll need some floral cutters or heavy duty cutting pliers). Since I am not a professional, I Googled flower arrangements for help, and placed my focal flowers first, along with some sprays of grass. I placed the secondary flowers to fill in the voids. Then, I got so wrapped up in placing the flowers in the pitcher that I totally forgot to take progression photos….soooo….here’s the finished product!

I was pretty proud of this considering it’s my first floral arrangement ever. I did learn that it would probably look better with higher quality flowers, so the next floral sale at Hobby Lobby will be my next stop for the Christmas arrangement I will do. So with that in mind, go find a neat item from a yard sale, flea market, etc. and grab some flowers of your choice to fill it with!

Spicy!

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

For most of 2008 and 2009, I was unemployed. That left me lots of time to do some cheap crafting. Now, cheap crafting is great, but sometimes....great ideas end up not turning out so great afterall. This is one of those times.

When I got married in 2005, I was given a rotating spike rack. I use it almost daily and do love it, but I have never used a lot of the spices that came in it. It became apparent that a makeover was in order. I threw out all the spices I had never used and probably never would use. I then replaced them with the spices from the cabinet that could now be put in the rotating rack. All my Penzey's Spices needed a home in my spice rack too! This project was before I had my Silhouette....before I ever dreamed of having one. My grand idea was to print out the spice names onto regular white sticky labels. This was good in theory, but they started falling off pretty quickly. Not sure if it was the surface or probably the heat coming from the stove/oven. In fact, one of the jars in the picture has fallen victim.

Once, I did have my Silhouette, this was one of my first big projects to test it out. I was sick and tired of always having to glue the labels back on all the time and they were getting dirty since they were just paper labels. So, after I had gotten some nice red vinyl, I got on my Silhouette computer software and designed myself some new labels.

After cutting everything out and then cutting each individual label out, I was ready to apply them to the jars. I don't have a picture of the process, but it took FOREVER. ha ha! After peeling the transfer paper off each label (leaving all the letters still intact), I applied each label to the lids. I then took my craft tweezers and craft needle and carefully peeled up all of the letters (one itty bitty letter at a time) so that it revealed the black of the lids.

Here is the finished spice rack. I LOVE how it turned out since it really "pops" in my kitchen now.

I am also a paper cardmaker and a digital invitation & announcement designer. I hope to be posting some of those creations every soon! Thanks for visiting!

Silhouette fun!

2011-11-06T12:00:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I'm Alicia and this is my very first post on our brand new blog! I'm excited about having a place to post all of my projects. This first project I am sharing is one that I completed a couple of months ago, but never did anything with the pictures that I took. I have a pretty neglected personal family blog. ha ha! Anyways, I got a Silhouette earlier this year and I have been trying to find ways to put it to use and do that inexpensively. I attending a painting event at my church earlier in the Summer and I was given a leftover blank canvas from it. I am a Pinterest junkie and had seen this project on there and I knew that I could duplicate it. I think the original probably came from one of those expensive catalogs. Here we go...

The first step is to paint the entire canvas with a good couple of coats of acrylic paint. I also painted the sides of my canvas, but didn't take a picture of it at that state.

The 2nd step was to get in my Silhouette computer software and design the wording that I needed to cut out of vinyl.

Next, I chose a piece of vinyl and cut out the first word I was going to be using as a stencil.

Your eyes are not deceiving you....the vinyl color did change. I screwed up the first one when I was removing the backing paper and had to cut it out again. Once I had my vinyl stencil cut out and had removed all the letters and all I had left was my word stencil, I removed the backing paper and positioned it where I wanted it on my completely dry canvas.

I next applied a couple of coats of bright white acrylic paint and allowed it to set up.....didn't let it totally dry.

I carefully peeled back the stencil while the paint was just set up enough to not really be wet. I then applied the other two stencils and painted them. I could have just applied them all at the same time, but for some reason I didn't.....I make odd decisions when I craft. ha ha!

Peel off your remaining stencils and call it done. Now, it's a little bit crooked, but the perfectionist in me is trying really hard not to notice it. ha ha!

I really hope that you'll see some great projects on here from us gals that will inspire you to look at the resourses around you and figure out how you can get your crafty on too!

Once upon a time . . .

2011-11-04T18:32:00.002-05:00

My mother-in-law means well. She really does. She just doesn't know our taste. And our taste does not include Cinderella and cute kitties.

The last time we went for a visit, we were given a clock.

A clock featuring Cinderella.

Cinderella with a pumpkin coach. And fairy godmothers. And it plays music on the hour.

This is probably a good time to mention the youngest person in our household is 18. *shakes head* I tried to sell the clock on Craigslist, but no one from there wanted it either. So I had no choice. I had to make it into something that suited our style.

First step - disassembly.

Second step - creating a new background out of foam core.

Third step - create something new. Mod podge, scrapbooking paper, and a little bit of time, and I came up with a new design that is more along the lines of what we might purchase for ourselves.

The finished product isn't perfect (cutting ovals from foamcore in an exact size is quite difficult without the right tools), but I like it. Now, I can get rid of the plain, plastic $5 clock that is hanging in our living room and replace it with this!!

Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, we have too many leftover Halloween treats to eat!

2011-11-03T17:50:00.002-05:00

2011 – A.K.A the great Halloween candy giveaway that never was.

This summer, we moved to a town two hours south of where we had been living, into a neighborhood FULL of kids. I was so excited! Halloween is my favorite holiday and we’d not had trick-or-treaters in several years because of where we lived. I dug through blogs and found the perfect treat – marshmallow pops, dipped in melted candy to look like candy corn. Wouldn’t you know, after making 112 treats, which I was so proud of, we had fewer than 15 trick-or-treaters? I’ll remember this for next year and knowing my luck, we’ll end up with hundreds! :) *sigh* Oh well.

The marshmallow pops are simple to make and oh, so yummy!! I’m envisioning red candy with peppermint flavoring for Christmas or Easter Egg colors in the spring!

The recipe is below and I am apologizing for the lack and quality of the pictures. I had great photos on my phone that showed the entire process…… and I deleted them. Oops!!

Some of the completed treats, in the goodie basket, ready to be handed out.

Candy Corn Marshmallow Pops

large marshmallows
lollipop sticks
Wilton Candy Melts in orange
Wilton Candy Melts in yellow
shortening
treat bags
floral blocks (from Dollar Tree – for drying)

Melt the orange candy melts following the instructions on the back of the bag and use the amount of shortening suggested.

Dip a lollipop stick into the melted candy and immediately press it into a marshmallow. Insert sticks into all of the marshmallows, standing them on plates or sticking them in florist blocks to dry.

Once the candy holding the sticks has hardened (about ten minutes), dip 2/3 of each marshmallow into the orange candy and gently shake off the excess.

Place each marshmallow into the florist block to dry, making sure it does not touch any of its neighbors.

Allow the orange candy to dry for 30-60 minutes, then melt the yellow candy using the same method.

Dip the bottom 1/3 of each marshmallow into the yellow candy, and place it in the florist block to dry.

Once the candy has completely dried and hardened, put each marshmallow pop into a treat bag and tie with a twist tie. I added stickers to each bag that said “Happy Halloween from the Wright Family” and had our home address, in case any parents had questions about the homemade treats.

Notes:

I started with 1/2 bag and added more candy and shortening as needed.
Trust me, use the double boiler method to melt the candy. Using the microwave was a disaster. Did you know yellow candy melts turn brown and smell like caramel when they are overheated?
I found dipping straight down caused a bit of suction action, so I perfected my “twirl against the side of the bowl” method.
I scooped the leftover melted candy into a sandwich bag while it was still warm so it can be used again.

Drying, after receiving the second color.

Welcome!

2011-11-02T21:28:00.002-05:00

You have found your way to our brand new blog and we are glad you are here!

This blog was created by three gals in Tennessee who know how to be creative on a limited budget. We hope to share a lot of goodies with you, including things we make, cook, or find at a discounted price.

Keep coming back because you never know what we'll post next!