Crafty Sisters

Cupid's Apples

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:57:00 +0000

Okay so Candace seriously bought close to 5lbs of red hots.

Let's just "say" it was her medication doing the talking......

So what do you do with that many red hots?

We attempted to make candied red apples of course!

There's lots of great recipes on the Internet so we tried 2 of them.

One was so hard we thought our teeth would crack off with one bite.

The other made us think our fillings would be left behind.

Yummy right?

Well they sure look pretty in the picture.

My daughter thought they were straight from the Evil Queen from Snow White.

We thought we'd entice the boys by shooting arrows through them

as if that would be cool to a boy as long as it's not "Cupid's" arrow.

Not cool Mom....

Do you have a successful perfect red candy apple recipe

like the kind at the fair that melts in your mouth?

Please let us know, we're too young for dentures...

Valentine Candy Bouquet

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:42:00 +0000

This is what happens when I am stuck in the house recovering from being sick with limited access to crafting supplies...I get creative with candy! I didn't have the energy to hit the craft stores, so my major shopping trips were to the grocery store. It's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough!

I have a hard time passing by the Valentine bulk candy without stopping to fill a bag. Red and pink gumdrops, jellybeans, red hots....I can't help it! They are just so darn cute. I also found Valentine candy corn. Gross to eat, but they make perfect petals for flowers.

For the base of the candy flowers, I used Styrofoam discs that I painted red with craft paint. I poked the small dowel into the Styrofoam disc and added a bit of hot glue to stabilize the foam.

Each piece of candy was added with a hot glue gun. I made sure to use a low temp gun to avoid some serious burns to the fingers!

I also grabbed a bag of gummy ring candy (Peach O's) at the store that fit perfectly around the large gum drops.

For the heart shapes flowers, I used heart shaped cookie cutters to cut into the foam. The cookie cutters worked surprisingly well on the foam!

I gave it a good crunch with the cookie cutter and then cleaned the rest up with a knife. I think the red hot hearts are my favorite.

Painting the Styrofoam the same color as the candy helps to hide the gaps.

Nicole and I have made candy topiaries a couple of times, like the Jelly Bean and Halloween topiaries.
(I missed Nicole this time...she didn't want to catch what I had!) In those cases, we used Styrofoam balls, which are easier to place candy around. You have to get creative with candy placement on the discs.
I filled the edges of these flowers with red hots to avoid getting too bulky.

I hot glued layers of Styrofoam into the glass vase, making sure there was room for the jellybeans to fit along the side. Next I added the flowers, then filled the vase with pounds of jellybeans. I used heart lollipops to fill in the empty spaces. All of the stems were wrapped with green floral tape and the heart leaves were made from scrap paper.

It's nice to know I can still enjoy Valentine's candy without having to eat it. It's also a lot less tempting to eat when there's gobs of hot glue on each piece! :)

February Wood You Like To Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:08:00 +0000

Today we are showing how we put together this fun Valentine heart hanger

over at Wood You Like To Craft!

Krystal from Sassy Sanctuary started yesterday with her inspiration piece and

in the next couple of days you can see what Wendy from Crafty Goodies

and Melinda from Under My Umbrella do!

Make sure to stop by!

SWAK!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:15:00 +0000

This week I've been busy making some Valentine letters
and I just had to use some of the cute My Mind's Eye paper
that we used on the Valentine banner.
My pictures don't do the paper justice but they were still fun to do!

I'm missing my crafting partner in crime Candace!
She is doing much better thanks to some
great antibiotics for her bronchitis~she is quickly on the mend.
So I thought I'd share some ideas for my daughter's school Valentine party
that I'm scrambling to put together today!

First off Candace shared with me this great resource for sending out
the party invite and volunteer checklist for the school party.
I don't know about you but as the Room Mom I feel like all the notes get lost in transit
from school to home and then everyone simultaneously volunteers to donate
the bag of M&M's so I'm left with a bunch of phone calls begging them to bring
fruit and veggies. Jealous aren't ya!

The site is called BringIt! and it will email out a note to everyone
on your list, with a sign up sheet, first come first serve.
It will then send out email reminders before the party so nobody forgets!
Brilliant isn't it! It's totally free too!

But what do you guys do for treats?
Above is pictured a white chocolate version of Muddy Buddies
recommended by my daughter's teacher. Yum right? Here's the link for the yummy recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker! I'm soooooo making these, party or not~they will be in my belly or more accurately on my fanny, thighs, jowls.....I could go on and on.:)

I know a lot of schools have outlawed sweet treats
and luckily ours just encourages us to be healthy.
I looked on Pinterest which is an evil site for someone on a diet....
and there are so many yummy treats~but are they healthy?
So here's my plea for help~~~Do you have any great ideas to share!
I'm officially desperate and need help!
Leave us a comment and let us know!

Love Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:51:00 +0000

This week I had my Sunday school girls Activity Day

and my teaching partner and I decided to help them put

together some Valentine envelopes so that they could

exchange anonymous admiration notes to each other

for our upcoming Valentine party.

My teaching partner Jill is one of the most creative people I know~

she is seriously amazing and we'll have to show off her crazy talent here soon!

She came up with these cute envelopes that we let the girls,

who are 8-11 years of age then decorate and sew buttons on.

Of course I had to come home and make some up for me!

Candace has a houseful of sick kids this week and is under the weather too

so we have stayed clear except for the quick~Purell soaked hands~exchange

in my driveway for the pinking shears.:) So this week I am missing my sis and her camera

with the great pics she takes!

I love the elongated size of these envelopes and they were the perfect fit

for all those goodies we love to grab in the dollar bin at Target!

I made a couple to take to some of my friends

and even did a smaller version to hold some cute note cards I found too.
Here is the pattern I made up with the measurements~

We used primarily felt but I had to try one with some of the cute Valentine fabric
for the liner that I found at Hobby Lobby.
Some of the fabric was so cute I actually got some to make a dress for my daughter....
we'll see if that ever happens. Probably by the time I get around to it, it'll have
to be a mini-skirt or something.:)

Pretty easy and pretty inexpensive to make

and it's for sure something you and others will love to get!

For The Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:32:00 +0000

This weekend our little family

went to the

Idaho Center For Birds Of Prey.

These are a couple of cool post cards I picked up there,
pictured on them are some of the birds we saw.

My husband had the opportunity to take a Birds of Prey class
the first week of January and was so excited to share
all the cool things he had learned with us.

The center had all sorts of activities for kids and their families
plus ~bonus~ it was free to get in that day!

It was a great excuse to go for sure!

My daughter has been a bit of a bird lover

for several years now, so this definitely was perfect for her.

The thing is, I didn't realize how much I would enjoy it too!

They had several live birds~falcons & eagles, even a pair of California Condors.
There were also plenty of "preserved" birds to look at too.:)
We spent most of the afternoon out bird watching,
we even spotted a great horned owl!
He was refusing to pose for the picture....

Then we came home to mount the bird boxes

we built on my birthday.

You can find several plans on the internet for building these simple boxes.

The Birds of Prey even have a great set of directions!

Click here to get them!
They are all simple straight cuts and each box costs about $10 to make!

We didn't realize that most owls and falcons do not build their own nests

so we are hoping to lure a few into our yard.

Of course only smaller ones that don't eat squirrels!:)

There is also a great app we found that was amazing!
It's called iBird Explorer Pro 5.

It's on sale right now and a must for bird lovers!
It has an amazing library of bird calls and facts.
We learned that most birds begin to migrate
back to Northern America in February
so we're going to have our eyes peeled!

What fun and educational things do you know about
in your neck of the woods?

Valentine Pennant Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:05:00 +0000

There's nothing like a trip to the craft store to get our Valentine creative juices flowing.

We took a stroll through the scrapbook department at Craft Warehouse and fell in love with a line of Valentine paper by My Mind's Eye. It's called "Love Me".

Once we saw the whimsical valentine pennant print, we knew we had to have one in "real life" size.

We really don't need another pennant banner, ah...but the papers are so fun!

To make the banner, we picked up 3 x 2 1/2 inch chipboard pennants and chipboard hearts.

For the other pennant sizes, we used the paper cutter to slice squares, rectangles,

and a couple of larger pennants.

We used Mod Podge to glue the papers to the chipboard.

Then we used a small hole punch to make holes for the string.

It takes some muscle to punch through chipboard and a layer of paper!

It's so easy to make!

We might have to head back to the store to stock up on this cute paper before it's gone!

Valentine Picture Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:43:00 +0000

We can't go into Target without heading straight for the dollar bins,

especially when it's filled with Valentine's stuff.

They had the cutest little Valentine trees,

so two quickly went into our carts.

They had a lot of potential!

Here's a picture of the original tree....

Very cute...and very red.

Nothing that a little spray paint can't change.

We ended up painting the trees with Krylon Brushed Nickel spray paint.

For the ornaments, we had so much fun playing around with

a box of epoxy resin that Nicole bought three years ago.

At Hobby Lobby we found some embellishments and

metal bottle caps in the jewelery section to make our resin filled ornaments.

First we printed off thumbnail prints of our family members we love..

that includes Nicole's cats and squirrels.

Yep, if any of you are new... Nicole is a squirrel whisperer

that has rescued several dying baby squirrels.

We decided to make our own picture ornaments instead of hanging Valentine ornaments.
It was the perfect opportunity to use that box of epoxy resin.
It only took us three years to figure out what to do with it and these were perfect!.
We had tons of fun playing around with it and are already thinking of other ways to use it.
We used a product called EnviroTex Lite Pour-On in high gloss finish.

It was our first time playing around with it and we of course learned a lot.

A little goes a looooonnnnnggggg way.

First, make sure your two part mix is correct with equal parts.

We marked with a sharpie equal spots down each bottle to help us measure accurately.

Second, glue your pictures down.

A glue stick might be a good idea so it won't ruin your picture.

Third, there are tons of bubbles, so use popsicle sticks to continually press

the poured mixture to clear the air bubbles as the resin sets up.

Resin will be completely cured/dry in 72 hours.

Nicole wrapped her base with cream burlap while I gave mine

a pleated look with silver tissue paper.

We used the prettiest light pink pearls to dangle

from each ornament and matching ribbons for the bows.

Of course we had to add a little "frosting" of glitter too on the top of the pot and heart.

Two different but similar takes

and two very happy results!

I think these guys are staying up all year round,

they just make us happy!

A New Year's....

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

I make at least one goal each year

and I usually don't do very well with it.

The last couple of years I didn't even bother.

Sound familiar?

This year I do have one goal I'm gonna totally follow through with.

I'm going to get healthy, no, not just lose some weight,

which would of course would be the added bonus,

but I want to feel good~most of the time.:)

Plus I have the dreaded high school reunion this summer.....

Enough said.
Right now we are obsessed with Smoothies!

Right before Thanksgiving I found out I have an ulcer.

Imagine that, after my crazy life during boutique season. Shocking.

Doc said I needed to go on a 2 week no fat, no sugar, no white carb diet.

I thought I was going to die, not just from the ulcer but from

the lack of sugar, and I had to quit Dr. Pepper.

Surprisingly it wasn't that bad and I actually have felt

the best I have felt in a really long time.

I usually get really sick the first part of December

when my body finally crashes.

I haven't gotten sick yet this year.

I was surprised when I did eat sugar again how sick I felt, immediately.

Of course for most of us it's totally ridiculous to be that strict but

we wanted to tell you guys about 2 sites that are inspiring us to get healthy.

The Green Smoothie Girl

Our sister-in-law from Texas has our whole family hooked.

Even our Mom who struggles with diabetes is doing amazing with it!

Mary Ann's Cupboards

This lady is a local and my Mom and I have gone

to several of her classes, she is simply brilliant!

Her class on sprouts was amazing and we rushed right down and

got all of our sprouting necessities.

My daughter loves sprouts, begs me to grow them

and she gobbles them up!

Mary Ann also has classes on just about everything,

organizing your house to cooking from your car and food storage.

She is seriously hero-worthy!

To help us on our adventure with shakes
Candace picked up this cool gadget which was
on special today down at Costco.

It's the Magic Bullet!

It comes with 8 little easy to snap on cups that are single serving size.

They snap right into the base, and it's easy enough for little hands to do.

Add some fresh fruit, orange juice, ice and

you've got a smoothie that your kids will love!

Another recipe we love is to add vanilla Greek yogurt,

cottage cheese, some frozen berries, banana and a little milk and ice cubes.

It's so creamy and good you won't want to share!

So far I've lost 20 lbs.

Nope I'm not doing a nasty before and after photo

although my daughter has done up a lovely one of me on the fat booth app....

So what are some of your New Year Goals?

How are you going to accomplish them!

Tell us, we need all the inspiration we can get!:)

Now....back to crafting!

Day 6 ~ Avocado Salad & Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:42:00 +0000

Avocado Salsa

Sauce:

1/3 c. light olive oil

1/2 c. lime juice

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

Diced Vegetables:

1 (15 0z.) can corn niblets, drained

1 small can chopped olives, don't drain

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1/3-1/2 bunch green onion, chopped fine

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

3 diced tomatoes

3 lg. avocados, chopped (add last)

Make sauce in a small bowl and set aside. Mix diced vegetables in a large bowl.

Pour sauce over vegetables and enjoy.

Nicole and I made this the other day and it was pretty tasty!

It's a great alternative to regular salsa. Serve with chips and even the little ones will eat this up.

The recipe comes from my friend Trina, she is an excellent cook and a mom to six boys! (my hero)

I will have to share her carrot chowder recipe sometime...it is so good!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you a fun filled night of friends, family, and tasty treats!

Day 5~ Stuffed Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

In high school I had a date with a boy I was trying

so hard to impress.

Imagine my surprise when we went to Pizza Hut

and he being all manly had to order the pizza with ham and mushrooms.

I seriously froze in my chair,

I might as well have been on Fear Factor eating creepy crawly things~

yes, that's what I thought of mushrooms.

Well the only thing that date was good for is that it made me love mushrooms!

So here's my version of a couple of recipes I put together

that as my hubby puts it~are the most perfect stuffed mushrooms ever!

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Olive oil or Pam vegetable spray

1 slice of white sandwich bread

2 T. butter

1 garlic clove

1/2 of one small onion finely diced

sprinkle of garlic powder

4 oz soft goat cheese

2 T. dried parsley

1/4 tsp. red-pepper flakes

coarse salt

approximately 16 golf ball size white button mushrooms

1. Preheat your over to 400 degrees and lightly oil your baking sheet.

2. Toast your white bread and crumble it into fine pieces~

can use a food processor to make it really fine.

Add a light sprinkle of garlic powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Remove mushroom stems and dice finely.

4. In a medium saute pan cook butter, onions, mushroom stems and garlic.

Cook until tender. Add in the parsley flakes, red pepper flakes and season with salt to desired taste.

5. Add onion, garlic and mushroom stem mixture to goat cheese.

6. Spoon filling into each mushroom and press the top of the mushroom with cheese mixture into the breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet and bake until mushrooms are tender and lightly browned approximately 15-20 minutes.

They are so yummy and cheesy with a kick from the red pepper flakes!

Too good to pass up!

Enjoy!

Day 4~ Cranberry Salsa

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Okay so this one sounds weird but it is seriously delicious!

My wonderful friend Carrie is one of the best cooks I've ever met.

She brought this over for us as a sweet Christmas treat
and I admit I was skeptical and then I devoured most of it.....

Yup, "Lay off, man, I'm STARVING! [ pause ] Diet starts Monday!"

Sorry couldn't resist a bit of Chris Farley!

CRANBERRY SALSA

3 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed, drained (pick out any bruised or mushy ones)

1/4 cup green onions

2 small jalapeno peppers (seeds & ribs removed...

if you like it hot leave in some seeds, I probably leave in 1/8 tsp seeds.)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 T. very finely grated fresh ginger (can substitute 1/4 tsp. ground ginger)

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

2 8 oz. cubes Cream Cheese

Ritz Crackers

Place all the ingredients except the lemon juice and cream cheese

into a food processor and mix until well chopped.

Stir the lemon juice into the salsa.

Refrigerate for a few hours before serving to marry the flavors.

There is enough salsa for 2 cubes of cream cheese.

Serve by placing one of the softened cream cheese cubes on a

serving plate then pour 1/2 the salsa over the top.

Have plenty of Ritz crackers on hand for dipping!

I actually put everything in the food processor and

I added the salt which can be omitted.

The salt really helps bring out the flavors though.

You want the consistency to be really fine~

It's so good so enjoy!

Candace and I were busy in the kitchen this afternoon making a few more

recipes to share, so stay tuned to see what's next!

Day 3 ~ Brazilian Limeade & Cucumber Crackers

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:21:00 +0000

It's day # 3 trying out appetizer recipes for New Year's Eve.

I found this recipe in our Church cookbook, but it actually comes from my very talented neighbor, Heather.

She has great taste in everything from food to decor. There are several of Heather's appetizers in the book, so I couldn't help sharing another one of her recipes, Cucumber Crackers.

Here's what you will need for the Brazilian Limeade:

Sugar, sweetened condensed milk, limes, water, and ice.

Brazilian Limeade

2 limes

1/2 c. sugar

3 T. sweetened condensed milk

3 c. water

Ice

Directions

Wash limes, cut off ends and slice into eight wedges. Place limes in a blender with sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water, and ice. Blend in an electric blender, pulsing 5 times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove rinds. Serve over ice.

This drink was so yummy. My kids loved it! The sweetened condensed milk added an interesting taste.

Be sure to use a fine strainer, or you will be choking on chunks of lime.

Heather's cucumber crackers were delicious too.

I like that it's light to eat along with some of the rich appetizers.

The Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese also has a kick to it.

Cucumber Crackers

Ritz Crackers

Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese

Cucumber, sliced

Mrs. Dash original

Directions:

Spread cream cheese onto cracker.

Top with a cucumber slice and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash.

How EASY is that? Simple and delicious!

She has a couple more in the cookbook, I just might have to share.

Thanks Heather!

Nicole has another great appetizer to share tomorrow!

Day 2: Cheesy Corn Dip

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:22:00 +0000

This yummy recipe comes from

my sister-in-law Autumn.

Now that they are on the west coast

her and her little family have made the trek up to Idaho

for New Year's for the last couple of years.

My poor hubby has the misfortune of a December 31st birthday

so it has always made his day to have someone actually want

to come celebrate it with him

and cook him some good food!

Autumn comes ready to go

with almost a dozen tasty things to make up

that not only suffice for New Year's Eve

but for many days to follow.

This recipe is by far one of my favorites

and I've made it A LOT throughout the year

plus my picky eater daughter will gobble it up!

Cheesy Corn Dip

(No we are not sponsored by Walmart,

I simply went there today to check out the after Christmas clearance

and got my cooking supplies.):)

1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 can hominy, drained

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

A handful of finely chopped fresh cilantro

Salt/pepper to taste

1 8 oz package cream cheese

2 cups shredded Mexican style cheese

Mix all together, place in dish and bake until bubbly and hot in a 375 degree oven.

Serve with chips and salsa for extra kick!.

If you can't find Rotel tomatoes, any can of stewed tomatoes with chilies will work.

I admit I was a little nervous of the hominy too!

I had never tasted it before but it adds such a fun texture to the dip

I know you'll fall in love like I did!

Wet Your Appetite ~ Caramel Dip

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Now that Christmas is over we are looking forward to celebrating New Years!

Every day this week we'll be sharing recipes of our favorite appetizers

that we love to do up for New Year's Eve and Day!

We promise that each one is super easy and absolutely delish!

First up is a yummy and super easy caramel dip made from sweetened condensed milk.

Our sister-in-law from Texas just delighted us last week with this scrumptious treat.

Just take a can of sweetened condensed milk

and heat it in a pot of water over medium low heat for about 2 hours.

If you're up north it will take 2 hours but down in Texas it

takes about an hour. :)

Make sure to turn the can over every ten minutes so it cooks evenly.
(please excuse the gross BBQ'd tongs:))

Let it cool before you open it and then serve with sliced apples

or over ice cream, or anything else your heart desires!

Yummy and easy!
**We came across warnings that the can could possibly explode using the boiling in the can method. If you are worried...please use the double boiler method. Open can, pour milk into glass dish, set dish over pan of boiling water, stir until thickened.**

Stay tuned tomorrow to see what's next!

Merry Christmas and Barn Wood Hunting!

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Last week we went on our first barn wood hunting trip.

We were looking for the perfect wood to re-create another manger for Christmas gifts.

There's nothing like crafting with old weathered wood.

My father in- law was nice enough to let us scoop up some spare boards off his farm.

We had to carefully avoid the spooky cobwebs, mildew, old paint, and large rusty nails while hunting.

Good thing our tetanus shots are up to date (he,he) and we wore a hardy pair of work gloves!

Here is my mother in- law's original manger along with some of her quilted poinsettias? Aren't the poinsettias neat? She is an incredible quilter!

We love this simple manger because it's the perfect size to perch up on our fireplace, and it helps remind us of what the Christmas season is all about.

Here's a peek of the five finished mangers ready to go as gifts for family members!

Have you ever collected or made anything with barn wood?

Nicole and I would like to wish all of you a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

filled with peace, happiness, family, and friends!!!

WYLTC?-Wood Manger

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:31:00 +0000

We are over at

Wood You Like To Craft?

today!

Come on over and see how we made an easy to build manger.

Seriously...easy...takes 30 minutes!

They come in handy for all the nativity plays!

Three Wreaths

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:13:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

I thought I would share what I put on my front door this year for Christmas.

I decided to try out three wreaths with red ribbon. I have to change it up every year!

The only way I could get the wreaths to stay in place was to add three small Command hooks.
We just had our front door painted and they were the perfect solution for keeping the paint job.
I ran the main ribbon down the door and poked holes for the hooks, then hung the wreaths. Pretty simple! I made my own bows with the same ribbon. All the "bow maker" training from when I worked at Michaels long, long, ago came in handy! I remember rolling my eyes...like who really does this!?

We also want to let you know that Wood You Like To Craft? is going on this week.
Melinda from Under My Umbrella made the coolest barn door Christmas tree stand.

Head on over there and take a peek!

Christmas Lollipop Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:54:00 +0000

We had to make another lollipop tree for Christmas!

We made the Christmas tree the same way we made the

Halloween tree with witch shoes,

except in honor of Christmas, Nicole created and cut out some fabulous ELF shoes.

What do you think? I'm thinking we need to find some more ways to use those cute shoes!

Any ideas?

Today I am decorating the tree for the second time!

We made it 5 days, and this morning my 2 year old knocked the tree over.

It happens every year! :)

Fixed Roman Shades

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:05:00 +0000

After several mistakes, and a couple hours of unpicking....the fixed roman shades are done!

Autumn designed fixed roman shades with mitered square trim for my master bedroom. She had a clever idea to cut up a pair of beige IKEA Merete curtains, to make faux roman shades. They match the merete curtains with trim that I have hanging behind the bed. I never would have thought to cut up a good pair...or two pairs of curtains in this case, to create roman shades. This reminds me again of our mother's words, "measure twice...cut once." It looks like my son's room with smaller windows will soon be getting new roman shades!

I used Google search to find my fixed roman shade inspiration. I came across this great fixed flat roman shade tutorial by Darby: Fly Through My Window, via Centsational Girl's fixed flat roman shade tutorial. Be sure to check out both of the roman shades made by these talented ladies. There's minimal sewing involved, a bonus!

I found another great tutorial for functioning roman shades at Make Roman Shades.com. I followed some of their directions for measuring and adding my lining. I made the mistake of using weak drapery lining, and had a difficult time sewing the large amounts of fabric. The window I am covering is about 100 inches wide, with a little curtain overlap on each side. So, each shade is about 54 inches wide. They are really large and I had a hard time getting the curtains to tack up straight. I resolved the problem by adding thin wood moulding with staples, and later drilling holes with curtain string to pull and pleat. I had to make a trip into the JC Penney window treatment department to grasp the entire roman shade concept!

To add the mitered square trim, I found on Pinterest this GREAT mitered square tutorial by Grosgrain.

After using her pattern, it was much easier to figure out how to space the squares on the curtains.

Fabri-Tac is such a great product, it makes my life so much easier.

Can you imagine sewing all the trim on? The glue grabs and bonds quickly too.

There you go! Fixed- flat roman shades, a major hurdle down in the master bedroom!

More to come!

Wood Christmas Tree with Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:49:00 +0000

We finally tackled a Christmas craft to share with you! We are behind this year thanks to a yucky two week stomach bug that passed through most of my kids. This Thanksgiving, I was very thankful for my washing machine, disinfectant, and a carpet cleaner! :)

We have been eyeing all of the Christmas trees made with words and white chipboard crafts on Pinterest, and thought they would be cute on wood. Melinda from Under My Umbrella made the best 2x4 Christmas trees last year, so we borrowed her idea and added a few "Thickers" to create the words. .

Thickers are basically sticky chipboard letters. We ran out of the letter E, so we cut a B, to create an E. We didn't want to buy a second package just for 2 letters. Good thing it's a whimsical font!

We added a dab of glue, to keep the letters permanently on.

We used a really thick piece of mdf from my garage, found from our construction site hunting days.

My husband will be so happy to have one less piece of scrap wood hanging around in the garage!

A 2x4, 2x2, or a 1x2 would also work.

We cut each block of wood to fit the word. The bottom is around 9 inches and the top, 4 inches. We cut the wood dove and star out on the scroll saw, and added a small block for the trunk. We used chipboard from the back of a paper pack to cut the heart. With a bit of sanding, it looks just as good?

Then we spray painted the entire tree white. What a super easy wood craft!

The hardest part was putting the stickers on straight!

We will be back soon!

Happy Crafting!

Sassy Sanctuary Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Krystal over at Sassy Sanctuary

is doing the funnest giveaway today

and you don't want to miss out!

Krystal is one of our Wood You Like To Craft buddies

plus she did a phenomenal blog make over for us!

She is featuring my little wood craft business

and one, yes I said one of the 10 items being given away

is one of our fun Family letter picture blocks!

We always love visiting Krystal's blog

and especially seeing all the fun home projects she's doing.

Don't miss out on your chance to win some sweet stuff!

And The Winner Is!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:44:00 +0000

So the lucky winner

of this fabulous Scentsy giveaway

courtesy of Dawn Simpson

our favorite Scentsy gal is.....

comment #32
annemarie

Congratulations!!!!

Thanks to everyone who joined in!

We loved hearing about the scents you love

and consequently our list of what we want is getting longer!

Thanks Dawn for your generosity!

Don't forget to go visit her site for all your Scentsy needs!

Scentsy Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole@CraftySisters-nc) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:29:00 +0000

We thought this giveaway would be

PERFECT

for this week as everyone is getting ready for

the Holidays and all the company the season brings.

We have become seriously addicted to Scentsy products

and it doesn't hurt that they are made right here

in the town we live!
Just ask our family what they got for Christmas last year!:)

Our good friend Dawn is not only the kindest and sweetest gal

and mom to 3 adorable kids with another on the way

but she also just started up as a Scentsy Consultant

and was kind enough to offer this wonderful

giveaway for one of our lucky followers!

Dawn is offering this November's warmer of the month

PLUM GARLAND

and a bar of the scent of the month too!

MIDNIGHT FIG!

The Giveaway is going to run until Saturday night when we'll pick our winner!

So here's your options to enter!

1. Leave us a comment with your name and an email

to contact you back if you win!

2. Tell us what your favorite scent is!

3.Follow us on Crafty Sisters!

4. Follow us on Facebook!

That's 4 chances to enter!

Make sure to check out Dawn's Scentsy web page

where you can easily order your Scentsy

and have it shipped directly to you!
If you have any questions or would like to
host a party and smell all those fun scents
Dawn is your gal!

We are excited to see what scents you guys like!

Some of our favorites are:

Camu Camu

Hazelnut Latte

Blueberry Cheesecake

& Pumpkin Roll

Happy Sweet Smelling Holidays to you

and make sure you enter to win!!!

Family Picture Block-WYLTC?

noreply@blogger.com (Crafty Sisters) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:08:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

We are over at Wood You Like To Craft? today!

This month's theme is FAMILY.

Come see our family letter picture holder we made.

Are you looking for homemade family inspired gifts for the Holidays?

Here are some ideas that you won't want to miss!