StoryCrafting

Kale is Penelope Approved

2012-02-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

This post is inspired by Penelope, who devours kale with great enthusiasm and gusto. To her kale is as decadent as ice cream, as flavorful as fresh tacos, and as scrumptious as a Hersey's kiss.

Oh Penelope, to have your taste buds.

In my quest to eat healthy I've discovered kale is somewhat of a superfood. According to the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (which compares nutrients in a certain food compared to it's calories), kale scores a 1000 out of 1000! Check out this interesting chart of ANDI scores from Whole Foods. Unfortunately, chocolate does make any list....

Kale is a new vegetable to ThatGuy and me, and we're trying different ways incorporating it into our diet. ThatGuy put kale in his morning green smoothies and we love eating pseudo-potato chips: baked kale chips.

Another way we've had kale is in Kale Potato Soup, taken from Simply in Season.

1 large bunch of kale (steam and set aside)

1 tbs butter

1 large onion (chopped)

1 clove garlic

2 large potatoes (diced)

5 cups broth

salt and pepper

Melt butter in soup pot. Add onion and saute until golden. Add garlic and saute one more minute. Add potatoes and 2 cups broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft. Working in batches, puree the potatoes and kale in a blender and put back into the soup pot. Add remaining liquid (you could do milk instead of broth) and season. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Football Oreo Balls

2012-02-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

This post is a little overdue, considering ThatGuy's birthday party was about a month ago. ThatGuy's birthday is close to the Super Bowl, so we always host a party and invite our families over. ThatGuy's grandma is the cake baker in the family, and I wanted to make something sweet for the meal. After trolling the internet for inspiration, I found these cute football oreo truffles on Bakerella. But please don't click on that link, because you will see her truffles are like 1,000 times better than mine!

First step is to process one bag of oreos (minus the 1 you have to eat).

Add 1 package of cream cheese and pulse to combine.

Scoop out some dough and roll in a ball, then pinch the edges to make a football shape. Freeze on a cookie tray.

Melt chocolate in a bowl. Then drop the footballs in the melted chocolate and place on back on the cookie sheet.

I used white frosting to make the ties on the footballs. Then I stuck them back in the freezer until it was time to eat. Mine did not turn out as cute as Bakerella's, but they sure were delicious!

Update: ThatGuy says the correct term is "laces" and not "ties." Whatevs.

Crafty Party

2012-02-21T20:24:00.000-06:00

Last weekend my friend Mandy (read her guest post) hosted a Craft Party. She had supplies and directions to make some easy crafts, as well as some delicious snacks- like so delicious I stood by myself for 10 minutes eating after everyone started crafting. Guest could make washer necklaces, glass tile necklaces/magnets or glass circle magnets.

Washer necklace- cut pictures from magazines and mode podge onto metal washer. Tie with twine and it's a necklace! I did a thin layer of diamond glaze over the top to seal it and protect the paper. I totally had a crafting nerd moment when I realized Mandy had diamond glaze for us to use- I've been wanting to use it for a couple of months. And now I'm going to take my birthday gift card (thanks Johanna!) to JoAnn's and get me some!!

Here are my 2 magnets! Cut out cute patterns from magazines and attach to glass circles/tiles with mod podge. Then hot glue a magnet to the back of the paper.

This party was soooo fun! And the crafts were perfect- there were some people with "craft anxiety" who were able to successfully make their crafts and feel really good about their projects!

People suggested to Mandy that this be a yearly event. I'm hoping for this to be a monthly event. Mandy, what do you think?

The Joy of Books

2012-02-19T10:09:00.002-06:00

This is the librarian's version of Toy Story. Instead of toys coming to life at night, it's the books!

Valentine Printables

2012-02-13T17:22:00.004-06:00

Guess what tomorrow is? Valentine's Day! I was super surprised to come home today and find roses and a sweet card from ThatGuy a day earlier than I expected! ThisGirl (me) loves sweet surprises, so having my Valentine's present a day earlier than expected just sends my heart all a flutter.

But of course this means I'm not prepared to give ThatGuy anything until tomorrow! Here are some great printables for you last minute peeps.

Hunger Games inspired cards at HungerGamesMovie.org.

Downton Abbey printables from Chad Thomas.

Awesome Harry Potter inspired cards from Yenniper. I love them so much I had to post 3 examples!

2+2= Friends Forever! School cards at One Charming Party.

Coffee cup printable covers from Eat Drink Chic.

Oh Chuck Bass.... find all of the Gossip Girl men on their Facebook page. (Yes, I am friends w/Gossip Girl!!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Heart is Like a Zoo

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

My absolute favorite book for February (i.e. Valentine's Day) is My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall.

What makes this book so great are the pictures- they are simple, bold and ALL MADE FROM HEARTS!!! I've used this book with ages 3-7 and everyone loves it. The kids love guessing the animals and counting the hearts. Some of the younger kids have a hard time seeing the heart if it's upside-down, so I will rotate the book around to see the hearts from different angles.

Our local public library asked school libraries to take a month and decorate their bulletin board. I signed up for February and begged the preschool teachers to let me do a craft with their kids (typically I just do a storytime with books and songs). Being the great teachers that they are, we made a craft based on Michael Hall's books. I had each of the classes make a different animals: frogs, seals and lions.

Frogs! (apparently a red-eyed tree frog?)

Seals!

Lions!

Then I took all 60+ animals to the local public library and decorated their HUGE bulletin board with all the frogs, seals and lions. It looks pretty cheery and colorful!

Guest Post: Satin Flowers

2012-02-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'd like to welcome my beautiful friend Mandy to the Storycrafting for a guest post! Mandy is a fellow teacher at my school. She's a great teacher who loves her students dearly. Not only is she talented at teaching 5th graders, she's also an extremely crafty girl!

Today this teacher is going to school us on how to make these cute flowers!

Materials Needed:

- satin, tulle, any fabric that edges can burn andcurl

- scissors

- candle

- matches

- buttons, beads, equines ect.

- Hot glue gun OR needle & thread

Choose your fabric; I used a purple satin.

Cut out 5-9 “circles” starting small and getting a little bigger with each one. You do not need to make sure the circles are straight/perfect.

Stack your circles so the biggest one is on the bottom and smallest on the top. Light your candle and have your glue gun ready

You carefully are going to MELT the edges of each circle by holding it to the candle. Make sure you MELT them not burn. When you burn the edges they get very black and dark and crack.

5 As you burn the edges you want to sort of rollthe each the circle so they edges curl.

You can either hot glue the next part or you cansew them together. I used hot glue, and hot glued each circle on top of eachother.

If you use a needle and thread you would just stitch it right through the middle of the petals that are stack. I use hot glue because I find that when you use needle and thread the flower is a little too floppy.

Then you can put a button or bead in the middle!

Valentine's Day Shelves

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Time to change out the Christmas decorations to Valentine's Day! (Does anyone actually do New Year's decorations?)

I didn't do too much for this look, but I like how light and springy it looks! Even if we have about a foot of snow on the ground.

Button flowers I posted about last week.

ThatGuy gave me some beautiful flowers! He's so sweet. He said it was for doing such a good job taking care of him after his hernia surgery. I almost feel like I shouldn't post the following picture, but I just have to!

Ah, yes, that is my husband using the bedside remote as a telephone. And that was before the anesthesia set in...

OK, back to the decorations! (Those might be the last flowers I ever receive from him.)

Sweet little pink birds from Hobby Lobby.

I wrapped a pink ribbon around our wedding lanterns.

I hung the grapevine wreath using a pushpin strategically placed in the folds of a ribbon to complete the look. In the words of my niece Emma when she was 3 and could do cool tricks like stand on one foot for a second "Ta da!"

Valentine Button Flowers!

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

These button flowers are so cute!! Seriously, ever time I look at them I smile. AAAAANNNNDDD they were easy to make, which is my favorite kind of craft!

Cut about 12 inches of wire (I used silver floral wire). Thread buttons through the wire. I think it looks best to have the smallest button on the top and larger buttons on the bottom. Use 3, 4 or 5 buttons. Twist the wire together to hold the buttons in place.

So easy, right?

Using hot pink vinyl, I cut out an X O X using my Silhouette and stuck them to some jars I got years ago from Hallmark. Stick the button flowers in the jar and wrap some cute ribbon on the top.

They are so cheerful and bouncy!

ThatGuy thinks they are so good looking he wanted to eat them! But I reminded him they were plastic buttons.

Decorative Knob Hanging

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Several of you have asked how I hung the Heart Art I made ThatGuy. Okay, it was actually just one person... and it was my Dad. But I'm going to tell you about it anyway!

Anytime you hang something heavy on the wall, use an anchor. The anchor I used will hold up to 20 pounds, which has way more strength than I needed for the Heart Art. Make a hole in the wall and screw the anchor in.

Meanwhile I used a 1/16 drill bit to make small holes in the frame. Then I screwed the circle hooks into the frame.

One the hooks were attached, wrap the ribbon through the hooks and tie a pretty bow at the top.

http://0.tqn.com/d/homerepair/1/0/F/4/-/-/nylon_toggle.jpg

Then take your decorative knob (I got mine from Hobby Lobby) and screw it into the anchor. The anchor kind of explodes inside the wall to make practically impossible to ever take out.

Now this is interesting... when I tried to unscrew the knob out of the anchor to take a picture the screw came off of the knob and stuck inside the anchor. This could be really difficult (impossible?) to ever remove from the wall. I hope ThatGuy doesn't read this post!

Hang your frame around the knob. So pretty!!

Heart Art

2012-01-16T08:34:00.000-06:00

For our one-year anniversary I made ThatGuy this present:

I call it "Heart Art" because its a piece of art made using hearts... I'm very creative.

For this project you will need several pictures, a shadow box, cutting tool, ruler, paper and glue.

Since this was an anniversary project I printed out pictures from our first year of marriage. I also converted them to black and white to make a more cohesive look instead of having many different colors from regular pictures.

First, I cut out hearts using my Silhouette. The hearts were 1 inch by 1.5 inches, so I was able to get 6 hearts per pictures. Some of the hearts turned out really cute, while other I just tossed into the garbage. I used 60 hearts total to make this project.


ThatGuy in the bizzard of Feb. '11. We had so much snow!!

Because I am HORRIBLE at measuring things straight and even, I made a paper outline of 1 inch by 1 inch and placed it over a piece of white 12x12 paper. This acted as a guide to insure the hearts would start and stop with the same margins. I also used a ruler to help make sure the lines were straight and the hearts were evenly placed.

Then I creased each heart down the center and used Elmers glue down the back fold. Using a ruler as a guide, I glued a heart at every inch.

In hindsight I would recommend using hot glue. I used Elmers glue, which means I had to wait between rows for the hearts to dry before moving on. In order to make the hearts stand straight up, I slid in pencils and let the hearts rest on them.

Continue gluing hearts, making sure your hearts line up. Again, I used the ruler to help in making straight, evenly spaced lines of hearts.

Segway tour in Chicago!

4th of July fireworks!

When the 12x12 white paper is filled up with rows of hearts, just pop it into the shadow box frame!

I used a cute red ribbon to hang the art up on the wall.

ThatGuy was really touched and impressed with the heart art! Not only is it a unique wall hanging, but it also had a lot of great memories for us!

What's Old is New

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

Our bedroom is finally finished! This post really should be by ThatGuy, who did massive amounts of work while I watched TV and read children's books. Behold, our before and after pictures!!

After w/new furniture!

Before w/old furniture

(see this post about our gallery wall photo display)

ThatGuy learned a lot during the course of this project.

First, he learned how to fill in the holes from the old hardware using wood filler.

Then, he learned how to sand down the surface of the furniture with his electric sander.

Third, he learned this was a pretty big project that would not be finished in a weekend.

We used a faux finish paint from Martha Stewart called lighstrokes in the color "twig." The biggest lesson we learned through this project is that faux finish is meant to have texture. We bought the paint because we liked the color, not because we wanted to do a faux finish texture of swirls or plaid pattern. This created many moments of frustration as ThatGuy carefully applied the paint and there were visible brush strokes.

Now many people would have just bought a new paint with the correct finish to complete this project. But ThatGuy and I are stubborn.... and cheap. We already spend like $40 on this paint and we were going to use it!!

Poor ThatGuy did like 4 to 5 carefully applied coats of paint to diminish the visible brush strokes. In the end, the furniture looks really nice and the brush strokes are only visible to severe critics (i.e. ThatGuy and me) and not nice critics (like our moms).

Another thing we learned is use new hardware that fit inside the holes made by the old hardware. A few of our handles are not completely level or in the center of the drawer.

Overall, this was a HUGE learning project, but we are really happy with the results! We achieved a new look for our old furniture and now our bedroom is a reflection of us!

Desk to Drawers

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

Growing up I used a nice set of bedroom furniture. It's from my Grandmother and it's a little... well, it's a little dated and a lot girly. When ThatGuy moved in he declared we needed new bedroom that was man-friendly. I suppose my pink bedspread didn't help the situation. So after some shopping and seeing the cost of new quality furniture, we decided to redo the furniture we already owned.

Our piece of test furniture is a desk that I mostly used for storage. While some people (named ThatGuy) like to be all organized sitting at a desk, I much prefer doing my lessons plans on the couch wearing sweatpants with my papers strewn about on the floor, thank you very much. Therefore the desk itself wasn't needed, but the drawers were nice to store items in. We asked my dad to cut off the desk part to save just the drawers and he was happy to oblige.

Getting ready to cut the desk in half

A big circular saw! Very scary indeed.

The first cut

Go Dad! Go Dad!

There was a lot of sawdust. And I was happy.

Tada! A mini set of drawers

Just wait until you see what we did with all the furniture!!

I Ate Too Much

2012-01-01T18:45:00.000-06:00

Bet you can guess my resolution for 2012... yes, I will attempt to become more of a healthy eater and lose some weight! But before I do, let me share some of the awesome (and deliciously full-fat) recipes I used over winter break.

For Christmas day, I made Green Beans with Cremini Mushrooms from Food and Wine.

Left side w/out shallots, right side w/shallots!

While this recipe was totally do-able, I did make quite a mess in the kitchen and felt a little like a contestant from Top Chef using fancy ingredients like crème fraîche and frying shallots in vegetable oil. (side note: my local grocery store does not carry crème fraîche, so I put 1 tbs of Greek yogurt in a pint of heavy whipping cream and let it sit out for the night.) ThatGuy definitely enjoyed the beans, but could not tell the difference from this fancy version to the French's Fried Onion casserole. Humph!

At my high school friend Framily Dinner, I was in charge of dessert. I brought along my electric fondue pot (a wedding gift I did not register for, but actually has come in handy) to make a chocolate fondue. I looked at the recipes on the Food Network site and ended up just dumped some bittersweet chocolate chips in my pot along with some heavy whipping cream and let it all melt together. Served with strawberries, orange slices, apple slices, marshmallows and pretzels it was very yummy! I also topped a gluten free angel food cake from Whole Foods (seriously the best angel food cake I've ever tasted) with homemade whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream is so delicious and worth the easy extra effort. In a mixing bowl add 1 tbs. vanilla, 2-3 tbs. sugar and 1 pint of heavy whipping cream. Whip until stiff peaks form. Eat straight out of the bowl. Just kidding- make sure to top it on whatever you're serving it with. Then lick the bowl. And I'm not kidding anymore.... And I don't have a picture of anything because I was too busy eating it.

For New Year's Eve I bought out the electric fondue pot again and made a cheese fondue. Is there anything better in the world than cheese and wine?! Answer: No, there is not. I used this recipe from Nigella Lawson of Food Network with Gruyere and Emmental cheeses. Last year I also attempted cheese fondue and couldn't find the right cheeses so I improvised. Listen to me people- the right cheese makes the difference between a delicious creamy, cheesy sauce and a chunky cheesy blob in the center of your fondue pot.

The right cheese makes alllll the difference!

To go along with the cheese fondue we had grapes, bread, carrots, and delicious sausage-cheddar meatballs we learned about at Framily dinner. Oh, and a pepperoni pizza from Costco. You can thank ThatGuy for that.

While we bid 2011 farewell with full bellies and high cholesterol, we're ready to make some better choices in 2012. Get ready for some healthier recipes!!

Christmas Yarn Wreath

2011-12-23T08:58:00.001-06:00

I made a cute Christmas wreath- and it took less than 30 minutes! Those are my favorite kids of crafts to do.

Gather your supplies:

Yarn
Wreath ring
hot glue
ornament
ribbon

Secure the yarn to the wreath with a dab of hot glue. Wrap the yarn around the ring until it covers the entire wreath ring.

This ornament is from JoAnn's- I just unscrewed the hook at the top. Then hot glue to the ornament to the yarn wreath.

Add a festive ribbon at the top and voila- a Christmas yarn wreath!

Homemade Hot Cocoa Gift Jar- Guest Post from Katie of JustTenBooks

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm very excited to have my very first guest post! Katie from JustTenBooks is one of my childhood friends- we met in way back in 5th grade! Katie is a children's librarian in Boston and has a blog where she features a top ten list of books about a certain topic. Books about Google, books written by rappers, young adult books about mermaids and sirens; pretty much any topic! Katie also accepts topic challenges, like the one I gave her to go along with my football goalposts.

And most importantly, Katie is a new mom to baby Murphy! Seriously, how cute are those cheeks?!

As if she's not busy enough, Katie also had time to make these adorable and tasty hot cocoa jars for some of her neighbors. She is awesome enough to share her recipe with us!

* * * * * * * * * *

Gift Jar: Hot Cocoa

This year my neighbors and friends are lucky. They are getting gifts of Homemade Hot Cocoa mix in a jar! This is an easy gift that you can put together assembly line style. I would have done that, but my little helper is only 5 months old. He just played with his feet instead.

What you need:

1 pint glass jars
Ribbon
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c.unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c. powdered milk
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. mini chocolate chips
1/4 c. mini marshmellows
a whole lotta holiday spirit

Simply layer the ingredients into the jar and tie a ribbon around the lid. The tag should read:

"Mix contents in a large bowl. For each serving, add 1/3 c. cocoa mix to 1 c. boiling water. Enjoy!"

You can double the recipe for quart sized jars.

Voila! You're done! Now you can wow you friends and family with a homemade gift.

* * * * * * * * * *

Delicious! Now if only Katie would move back to the midwest and become my neighbor so I could receive one of these yummy gifts... Make sure to visit her at JustTenBooks soon!

Most Delicious App!

2011-12-14T15:48:00.001-06:00

Every year I host a dinner for my college girlfriends the first Saturday of December. Its a great time to get together, share a meal and see a Christmas concert. I always provide the main meal and others bring food to go along with it. Well, this year one friend in particular amazed us all with this delicious appetizer!!

I'm afraid this is the only picture I have because I was too busy stuffing my face with brie to deal with the camera. It's called Brie Cheese Appetizer Recipe, but should be called something with a more cheesy and delectable name. The recipe can be found here. Now seriously stop reading this blog and go make this appetizer!!

More Christmas Decorations

2011-12-08T20:39:00.001-06:00

While wedding planning I really wanted to do a candy buffet, but was having a hard time making the financial investment in glass jars. I ended up finding some affordable ones at Home Goods and I'm so glad I did! They have come in handy for decorating around the house... and as a home for ThatGuy's pet goldfish.

Okay, back to Christmas decorations inside giant glass jars!

This is a knock off of a decoration we saw at Pottery Barn. I'd show the picture I snapped on my iPhone, but their display looks MUCH better than mine.

Fake snow (with some glitter snow!) with evergreen and cranberry floral picks.

Pinecones from my pinecone walk ontop of fake snow.

Vanilla scented candle on top of real cranberries. I wasn't sure how long the cranberries would last, but its been a good 3 weeks and they are doing well!

Yay for our candy buffet!! And yay for reusing things that seem like an outrageous and expensive purchase at the time!

photo credit Katherine Salvatori

Bunny Proofing

2011-12-08T19:16:00.001-06:00

During the Christmas season, one of the first things I do when I get home from work (after I put on comfy pants, of course) is to turn on the Christmas lights. However, last week when I flipped the power strip, only 2/3 of the lights came on! Here's the reason why:

The Culprit

Penelope Pancakes the Rabbit is cute and all, but she has 4 of the sharpest teeth ever! And as close as I watch her, she's a rascally rabbit that had too much fun sitting under the Christmas tree chewing on cords when I was in the laundry room. As a result, we had to bunny-proof the tree.

My bunny-proof tree

I put the rabbit (really a dog) gate up around the tree. In an attempt to make it look less ugly, I wrapped a red ribbon through the grate. Still not the prettiest, but now I can let Penelope run around and not worry about any more cord chewing incidents.

Now she spends about 2 hours a day hopping around the gate seeing if she can get inside. But she can't- because it's bunny proof!!

Fun with Word

2011-12-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

I have no PhotoShop skills... but I can do some neat things in Word! For Murphy's Stache Bash I made these personalized tags to wrap around the chocolate mustache party favors.

Open up a Word document and select "Autoshapes," then "Basic shapes" and then "Oval." Draw an oval on your document and then double click to get its properties.

Under the Size options, you can select the size of your oval- thus making it a circle!

Under "Fill Effects" you can do soooo many things to your circle. For Murphy's tags I used a pattern that looked like an argyle pattern and then selected colors. But you can also add a picture too!

After the circle was the correct size, patten and colors, add a text box. I used my current favorite font, Champagne and Limousines from DaFont.

I carefully cut the circles out (well... I enlisted the help from some friends!) and punched out a wavy circle in green cardstock. Then I glued the circles on, punched a small hole and attached the tag with some ribbon! They turned out pretty cute!

MERRY banner

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

While pulling out the Christmas decoration box, I asked ThatGuy how we should decorate. He said "natural" so that's the theme I took to heart. Now this girl loves glitter and all things shiny, but I suppose in our first Christmas where we decorate together I will give him his way. Next year, however, all bets are off and the house will be an explosion of tinsel and glam!

I forgot to take pictures of the first couple of steps... sorry. Using fusible bonding, attach to one side of the burlap. Cut into triangles and then fuse to the felt. Cut around the burlap with pinking shears. I cut out letters in vinyl using my Silhouette and stuck the outline to the burlap triangle. Then apply your paint.

Peel off the vinyl. I decided to attach some brass eyelets on either side of the triangle to have a more finished look. While I was pounding away at my craft table ThatGuy came in to see what I was doing! I think he was impressed with all the noise my little craft hammer can make.

I threaded some twine through the eyelets and wrapped the ends around a pinecone. Then I just attached the banner to the shutters using Scotch tape- easy!

This natural look does look pretty good! ThatGuy approves and especially likes that I was able to use supplies I already owned.

*Update* My cute banner has been featured at Made in a Day, Happy Hour Projects, SugarBee, JAQS Studio and on SewChatty's Facebook page!

Murphy's Stache Bash

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I co-hosted a Meet the Baby party for this little man.

In case you couldn't tell by the giant paper mustache on a stick in front of Murphy's face, it was a Stache Bash!! I've recently become obsessed with mustaches (see here) and think they are hilarious. And, like any good party planner, I went a little crazy with the theme....

I had a little photo area where people could pose with a mustache on a stick. Pictures were printed out and put inside a special photo album so Murphy could get to know his Midwestern friends.

ThatGuy and Murphy's Dad

Mustaches as bushy eyebrows!


Write a note to baby Murphy! (please note the cards also have a mustache on them)

I also did a Name the Stache game and printed out pictures of famous mustaches. There are a surprising amount of famous mustaches out there! My favorites are Salvator Dali and Mario.

Thinking hard about mustaches

To make the game slightly more challenging, I covered up their eyes with giant mustaches

Luckily the party host's house had a great mantle that the photos could lean on.

Party favors were chocolate mustaches- more on that tomorrow!!

*Murphy's Stache Bash has been featured on Mine for the Making!

Thanksgiving Day Crafts

2011-11-28T17:22:00.001-06:00

Many American families like to watch football on Thanksgiving, but not mine. Instead of indulging in some television, we CRAFT! My mom broke out her crafting supplies, I brought things over and my future sister-in-law, B, packed some in her suitcase. I should have taken a picture of the Thanksgiving-dinner-table-turned-craft-table because we made quite a crafting mess!

Here's our creations:

My felt flower and sweater pin.

B's bluebird ornament

Mom's felt bird ornament

B and my mom are really into embroidering, so they showed me how to do a blanket stitch. Here's a YouTube video demonstrating this easy and versatile stitch.

Update- This post is featured on Between U & Me!

Edible Turkeys

2011-11-26T23:41:00.001-06:00

This year for Thanksgiving, I was in charge of bring the veggie tray. I saw a picture of a veggie tray on Facebook that was my inspiration for my veggie turkey:

I served this with my homemade hummus and some people (who were trying to avoid eating anything healthy on Thanksgiving) said it was too cute to eat. I used lettuce, baby carrots, a red pepper, a green pepper and an orange pepper, along with 2 raisins for the eyes and a little celery for the feet.

My super crafty niece made ThatGuy and me this awesome edible turkey for Thanksgiving. She used a green apple, multi-grain Cheerios, marshmallows and a candy corn. Now this one really is too cute to eat!!

Thankful Turkey Bulletin Board

2011-11-23T09:32:00.001-06:00

Outside the entrance to the library there is a giant bulletin board, which is the perfect backdrop to feature student work. This year I wanted to do a school-wide thankful project. First I put up the brown turkey, but without the feathers. That got the kids really interested and they kept telling me I forgot to put the feathers on! As the classes cycled in over the past 2 weeks, the children helped create the feathers. The students traced their hands and wrote, drew and decorated what they are thankful for on their paper cut outs.

I really love that the whole school was involved in making this bulletin board. And its really interesting to see what the kids are thankful for- most of them are thankful for their mom and dad, which is really sweet to see.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season?

Ikea Sidetable Turned Nightstand

2011-11-16T09:09:00.000-06:00

During out bedroom re-do, we searched for some nightstands and were slightly horrified at the prices. This called for a cheap fix and I remembered 2 end tables I purchased years ago from Ikea for $10 each. In fact, you can still buy them! ThatGuy took this project on himself.

First he sanded down the tables to make the new pain stick. We used a glossy gray spray paint.

Then he painted a flower design in the middle using black craft paint. I bought cute lamps from Hobby Lobby- you can't see it in the picture but the lampshade is gray with sparkles. Also (not pictured) are baskets below the table to hold books, etc. Total cost for the table re-do was around $5.00!!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

2011-11-14T19:26:00.001-06:00

ThatGuy is a chili connoisseur- he eats it at least once a week. He got a tip from a friend about pumpkin chili and now we are obsessed with this recipe. The pumpkin gives the chili a heartier and smoother texture with just a hint of flavor. I've changed this recipe ever so slightly- it's really good, easy and healthy!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1 onion

2 peppers (one red, one green)

1 jalapeno pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil

1 lb ground turkey

1 can pumpkin

1 cup chicken broth

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

2 tbs chili powered

2 tbs cumin

Chop onion, peppers and jalapeno and saute in a pan for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ground turkey and cook until turkey is no longer pink. Add pumpkin, broth, beans and spices. Heat on stove top until boiling and reduce to a simmer for at least 30 minutes.

To counter all the healthy, ThatGuy recommends adding cheese and crackers (or his favorite, Jalapeno Pepper Pretzels).

Pumpkin Books

2011-11-08T19:04:00.000-06:00

I know this is a little late for Halloween, but a good idea to tuck away for next year (or to do now with pumpkins on post-Halloween clearance!).

This year I hosted a "decorate a pumpkin to look like a book character" contest in the library. Since this was the first year, I was a little nervous about the quantity and quality of the pumpkins, but I was really happy with the entries!

There were only a couple of rules:
1. Pumpkin must resemble a book or book character
2. No carving the pumpkin
3. One entry per student

Yes, clearly there was a lot of help from moms and dads, but I sent this home as a fun family project that would also promote literacy (one of my favorite things to do!).

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstein

Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner

Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows (love this one- she did Ivy on one side and Bean on the other!)

Arthur's Vacation by Marc Brown

This one is DW- Arthur's sister. The kids who made these are sisters and they used playdough tops for the ears!

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

It was really fun to see the reactions of the students when they came into the library. They were so excited to see the pumpkins and it definitely encouraged some books to be checked out- which always makes this librarian happy! All of the students voted for their favorites and the winner received gift cards to a local independent bookstore in town.

Fall Wreath Feature

2011-11-02T07:36:00.002-05:00

The fall wreath is at it again! Always being featured... Check it out!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween! Here are our pumpkins!

My pumpkin is eating another pumpkin and ThatGuy's is smoking a cigar. Hopefully, the neighborhood children will not think that we are promoting a lifestyle of cannibalism and smoking....

I was the pigeon for Halloween at school. 99% of the students knew who I was, except for a confused kindergartner who thought I was a blue chicken and the secretary who thought I was a duck. Well, at least they knew I was some sort of bird!

Side view.

Not sure why ThatGuy made me pose like this. Perhaps I am getting ready to fly towards a piece of candy?

Hope your Halloween is full of fun-size Snickers!

Mustached Pumpkins

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

While planning my wedding I visited a lot of blogs and website for ideas. I started seeing a lot of mustaches- mostly on sticks. I first, I thought it was a really strange trend that brides would regret in 2 months. However, much like skinny jeans and slouchy boots, this seemingly strange trend started growing on me and now I'm obsessed with mustaches.

Meet my mustached pumpkins!!

Can you guess which one is sneezing and saying "Waiter, there is too much pepper in my paprikash!" (bonus points if you can name the movie!)

AllRecipes.com- Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins and Roasted Beets N' Sweets

2011-10-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

The last two recipes from our Autumn Veggie Weekend came from AllRecipes. Both Katie and I luuuve this website- tons of great recipes with user evaluations. Katie is an official member and after that weekend, I am too!

Spiced Butternut Squash Muffins

You can find this recipe here.

Joy- These muffins were only ok... not worth the work. And they really stuck to the paper, until the next day when they peeled off pretty easy.

Katie- Not nearly as good as other veggie-based muffins (pumpkin or zucchini).

ThatGuy- he definitely ate them... but they sat around for about 2 days before they disappeared (that's a sign its not an awesome recipe).

Since neither of us really loved this recipe, this does not get the J&K's Stamp of Approval. :(

Roasted Beets N' Sweets

Roasted Beets N' Sweets can be found here.

I was a little nervous because I've never used fresh beets before!

So Katie bravely volunteered to peel them while I sat at the table, drank a glass of water and told jokes.

Joy- I did like this recipe! Roasting veggies always takes a long time, but its worth it in the end. It was an interesting texture between the beets and sweet potatoes.

Katie- I had a strange reaction about this. The beets were fine, not anything special. But the sweet potatoes were delicious and I've made them a couple of times.

ThatGuy- ThatGuy cleaned his plate pretty quickly with this one!

Since we did enjoy this recipe, this does get the J&K Stamp of Approval! :)

Simply in Season- Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard

2011-10-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

As stated in my other post, my friend Katie spend a weekend cooking and evaluating fall recipes in our (aptly named) Autumn Veggie Weekend. Our first 2 recipes come from Simply In Season, a cookbook that encourages its user to shop local and use in-season ingredients. We made Butternut Sage Orzo (pg. 200) and Chard Cheese Bake (pg. 203).

Butternut Sage Orzo

Saute 1 cup chopped onion in 1 Tbs. oil, about 6 minutes. Add 1 minced garlic clove and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Then add 4 cups peeled and seeded butternut squash. Stir to coat. Then add 1/2 cup veggie or chicken stock and 1/2 cup white wine or additional broth. Simmer until squash is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cook 1 cup orzo in 4 cups liquid- either water or broth. Boil until orzo is tender but still firm to bite, about 8 minutes. Drain.

Add squash mixture to orzo. Then add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and 2 Tbs. fresh sage. Salt and pepper to taste.

Joy- This meal was pretty tasty! Peeling and chopping the squash was not fun, which is why I made Katie do it.

Katie- I don't like chopping the squash either. Since our cook day, I've made the orzo twice and added shredded chicken and more sage. Delish!

ThatGuy- This was surprising delicious.

Because we both loved this meal, we give this meal J&K's Stamp of Approval! :)

Chard Cheese Bake!

Using 1 bunch of swiss chard, cut the leaves away from the stem. Chop each into bite sized piece. Boil the stems for 8 minutes and then add leaves for 5 minutes. Drain.

In a large bowl, add 4 beaten eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup Swiss cheese, 1 cup cubed bread, 1/2 cup green onions, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Stir together. Add greens and combine. Pour into a greased 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Joy- Loooved this! It was pretty easy to combine everything and turned out really well. Make sure you add some extra salt and pepper though. I think we also added some extra cheese, which always makes a meal turn out extra good!

Katie- I thought there was too much cheese and not enough flavor. Humph.

ThatGuy- This was also surprisingly delicious.

Because we disagreed, we don't this meal the J&K Stamp of Approval. :(

Autumn Recipes- Farmers Market

2011-10-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I visited my friend Katie in central Illinois. Our goal was to make some fun autumn recipes, which meant a stop to their local farmer's market. The weather was beautiful, the produce colorful, and the prices were very affordable.

Our goal was to cook 4 fall recipes and evaluate them like in my new favorite show Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag. In the show 2 friends try to cook their way through a cookbook and then tell viewers they should buy it or not. It's super fun to watch.

(p.s. while looking for this link and reading some of the comments on the show's page, I am fearful the show is off the Oprah network! NOOOOOO!).

The next two posts will be about our recipes. Hope you enjoy and try some of them!

Pumpkins and Gourds!

A pumpkin plant?!

Fresh veggie!

beet it

rainbow swiss chard

ThatGuy better watch out... I think a fancy camera might be on my Christmas wish list!

ANTM: Bunnies

2011-10-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

While watching America's Next Top Model, Penelope decided to show off her own signature moves.

The Cotton Tail

Over the shoulder glance


Posing with a prop

Showing off her flexibility!

The Head-on Look

This rabbit is FIERCE!

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf

2011-10-16T19:28:00.002-05:00

With the change in weather, the best accessory is a cute scarf! Last year I learned a new way to wear my scarf, bumping my scarf knowledge from 2 ways to 3 ways. HOWEVER, I know know 25 different ways thanks to this girl!

Fall Bunting

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

Made a fall bunting the other day- it turned out pretty cute! And check out the beautiful tree outside my window! We are having the most spectacular fall.

Happy Fall!!

Pumpkin Seeds

2011-10-11T07:18:00.000-05:00

Hello, Gingersnaps readers! Thanks for stopping over- hopefully you will stay for a while! On Gingersnaps, I showed you how to take this cute little pie pumpkin....

And turn it into a festive and delicious fall dinner!

But there's more! While carving out that pumpkin, don't forget to save the seeds! Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious to eat on their own or are great alternatives to croutons on salads.

Here's my recipe for Roasted Rosemary Pumpkin Seeds!

Rinse the seeds carefully, to get ride of any pumpkin. Toss seeds in 1 Tbs. olive oil and sprinkle on salt and 1 tsp. rosemary. Place in a 200 degree oven for about 40 minutes- stir every 15-20 minutes. The seeds will be done when they turn a toasty brown.

So easy and yummy! Enjoy!!

Decorating with Nature

2011-10-10T20:51:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday I woke up with a spring in my step! Usually I wake up by falling out of bed because I can't fully function until after my shower. But I decided to go on a pinecone walk in the morning. What's a pinecone walk, you ask? Well, its a walk around the neighborhood looking for pinecones to use for decorating and crafts. I made myself some coffee to go and grabbed a grocery bag. I didn't even make it to the end of the street before my bag was full!!

Pinecones in a glass apothecary jar. Pretty much any collection in a apothecary jar look sophisticated and pinecones are no exception.

Twigs and leaves wrapped around a candle. Not sure I actually will light this candle, as it seems like a fire hazard. But it certainly is a cute and earthy fire hazard....

We had a people for Dinner in a Pumpkin- I cut leaves out using my Silhouette machine and wrote guests' names. Then I stuck the leaves inside the pinecone. Easy name place cards!

ThatGuy gives these free decorating ideas "two thumbs up."

Gallery Wall

2011-10-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

The gallery wall is finally done! It turned out pretty well, if I do say so!

Here are some tips:
-Lay out your design on the floor first to see how you like it.
-Try to use a mix of media that all have a common theme. Our frames are all black, so that ties everything together.
-I used a combination of framed photos, printed canvases, framed fabrics and a shadow box.
-Make sure your frames are all even and in line with one another. Uneven lines will really stand out!

ThatGuy quickly noticed everything I picked out had to do with the wedding. Well, yeah! We spend all this money on beautiful pictures, so we might as well show them off! Many of these were taken by the talented Katherine Salvatori .

Take a look at my post on how to do vinyl words using the Silhouette machine.

Silhouette Wall Vinyl Tutorial

2011-10-06T19:48:00.003-05:00

The other day I received my vinyl starter kit from Silhouette! ThatGuy and I made a gallery wall in our bedroom (pictures soon!) and left space for a some vinyl words. After much deliberation and a couple of "spirited conversations" we decided on To Have and to Hold from our wedding vows.

The next great debate was over font. We choose Standard Cursive, which we felt was a nice combination of modern and traditional, without being too romantic and swirly. (p.s. looking for font downloads can be addictive! I like dafont.com the best).

To make sure the letters connected and there are no cuts between letters, weld the letters together. This is found under Object - Modify- Weld. Warning: After you weld letters together, I'm not sure there is a way to unweld.

When you are ready to cut, pick the Silhouette Vinyl setting. This does not need a carrier sheet so make sure you select the appropriate setting on the machine.

Use the hook to take off the vinyl around the letters.

Make a fun sticky pile of the extra vinyl!

Apply the transfer paper to the vinyl and peel off the back. Then position your vinyl and sticky part of the transfer paper onto the wall (or whatever surface you are putting the vinyl on). Use the plastic scrapper tool and rub hard against the vinyl letters and wall. Then peel off the transfer paper.

Ta da!

Yummus Hummus!

2011-10-02T21:09:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite dips in hummus. This Mediterranean delight is not only delicious, but healthy too! AND it's easy to make, as long as you have a food processor!!

Drain and rinse one can of chick peas. Put in food processor.

This picture would have been cooler if I remembered to carefully pose all of the ingredients... but add 1/4 cup tahini, 2-3 Tbs. lemon juice, 1 tsp. ground garlic, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Tahini is sunflower seed paste.

Pulse in the food processor. If mixture is too thick add 2-3 Tbs. of water. Also do a taste test and see if you would prefer more lemon juice or salt.

You can also add fun mix-ins like olives, sun-dried tomatoes, or paprika. Serve with veggies (carrots, celery, peppers, zucchini) or pita bread.

LIbrary Display Inspiration

2011-09-22T08:47:00.002-05:00

While looking for creative ideas to display library books, I stumbled across this aptly named blog Library Displays. As suggested, this blog features fun and inspirational library displays. I immediately became a follower and emailed Elaine pics of my football display and she posted them!!

Another great thing about the Internet is that Elaine is located all the way in New Zealand!! I am glad to have contact with someone in New Zealand, as all previous exposer has come from Flight of the Conchords, which I'm sure is riddled with (hilarious) inaccuracies.

DIY Fall Subway Art

2011-09-18T19:17:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been obsessed with Subway Art, but haven't found the perfect Fall print for our home. Luckily, I found this awesome tutorial that explains how to make your own using Picasa and Picnik. I'm lame and wasn't able to figure out the Picasa part, but I was able to create it all in Picnik! ThatGuy and I brainstormed words that we associate with Fall and here's our final product:

Did you notice that Football is the largest word?!

The first thing to do it download a high resolution white jpeg, like this one. Then upload it to Picnik (you will also have to make a free log in, if you don't already belong). Pick the Text button under the Edit tab.

Then you will create text boxes for each of your words. Type the word in the box, pick the font and then click "add."

On the right hand side you can pick the color of your word.

Your word will have little circles that will make it smaller or larger. You can use the circle on the top to rotate your word. I think it looks good to have a word or two running vertical!

Underneath the edit tab, you can select Border and there are many options. I think the best is Museum Matte. You can select the thickness and the color. Be careful once you select it- I can't figure out how to delete it!

Finally, you can save the photo to your computer!

I printed my Subway Art at Costco using these directions from the girls at Eighteen25.

Are you Ready for some Football (books)?

2011-09-15T17:33:00.009-05:00

This year I'm attempting to get more into football, since ThatGuy loves the Bears just about as much as he loves me. So for the Bears opening game I made chili, wore my Bears shirt, cried at the 9/11 events, cheered at kick-off... and then left the house.

Watching football is boring and making crafts is fun!!

I was struck with inspiration to make a goal post for a library book display out of PVC pipes.

There are a lot of PVC pipes at Home Depot. Luckily a very friendly employee came over to see if he could offer any help and I issued him a challenge: to make a 3 foot tall goalpost for under $15.

Challenge accepted, he drew ideas on the back of a receipt and got to work. We laid the pieces out and played around with the arrangement.

He cut the pieces down to size and added everything together- it was $8.15! So then I bought some yellow spray paint to make it official.

Hemmed a yard of football fabric to add more to the display and then put my books out. This will definitely get the kids excited to read!

AND you can check out an awesome football book list by Katie at Just Ten Books!

Back to School Picture Books

2011-09-08T20:56:00.011-05:00

With school starting I've been getting back to what I love- sharing books with kids! Here are some of my favorite picture books for the beginning of the school year- they all are about books or school.

Alfred's friends are his books. He slowly collects all of the books in the town until there are none left. After he reads all the books and becomes an old man (the kids love seeing him age throughout the book), he learns that the best books are the ones that are shared.

When the children go back to school, the farm animals are bored. Looking for a good time, they head to the public library to check out books. However, the librarian can't understand the neighs, moos, and baahs from the animals. Just wait until chicken talks to the librarian!

Henry loves books! Well, he loves to EAT books. It started innocently enough with a eating a word, then a sentence, next a page and finally a whole book! As you can guess, Henry learns that its better to read books than eat them, but only after some very interesting experiences.

Rocket the dog becomes the unlikely student of a cute yellow bird who enthusiastically teaches him how to read. This sweet story is great for kids learning how to read and understanding that adding letters builds words.

If you know a 3-4 year old, put on your best shoes and RUN to purchase this book! In this sequel to Pete the Cat: Love My White Shoes, Pete rocks out in his school shoes around school. Be sure to also download the free song- it will get stuck in your head all day, but it is worth it.

Yay for Features!

2011-09-08T20:51:00.003-05:00

This just in! My Fall Wreath is currently being featured over at 2 awesome blogs!

The Kurtz Corner and Gingersnaps! I am very excited and honored to have a featured project!

Every sentence is ending with an exclamation point on this post!

Photobooth Photoalbum

2011-09-03T17:01:00.001-05:00

The other week Shutterfly sent me an awesome coupon- a free 8x8 hardcover book! What a deal!! ThatGuy tried to rain on my parade and said retailers offer coupon to get customers to spend more money than normal just to save a couple of dollars. Yes, I know that. And I will spend $35 to save us $10 because I LOVE a good deal!!

At our wedding my brother (featured below standing next to me wearing a Santa hat) and his supercute girlfriend ran a photobooth for our guest. People had a blast wearing funny hats and mustaches and I got some pretty interesting pictures.

Needless to say I had to use this Shutterfly coupon to make an album to commemerate our fun photobooth. Thanks Shutterfly, for making me feel like I saved money, even if I had to spend a lot to achieve this feeling! And it looks so cute next to our engagement album, which I'm sure I used a coupon on too!

Hummingbird Excitement

2011-08-28T16:40:00.009-05:00

Yesterday ThatGuy noticed something amazing out the window- a hummingbird!

I ran to grab my camera and snapped some fuzzy pictures through the screen door.

This finch was not impressed with the hummingbird, nor me taking pictures. Doesn't she look irritated?

This summer we set up a bird feeder AND we made sure we could see the feeder while we sat on the couch and watched television. Then all summer long we congratulated ourselves on being able to observe nature while sitting inside the air conditioning. Some might say we are lazy, but we prefer the term resourceful.

Fall Wreath

2011-08-28T16:06:00.013-05:00

It's the year for this:

All my friends are turning 30, so ThatGuy and I have been partying it up 1980-81 style all year long! I had so much fun making the purple rosette and burlap wreath, I decided to make a fall themed one for my friend's present. (sidenote: turning 30 means being excited about home decor presents as opposed to receiving Barbies or issues of Seventeen magazines).

Here's the fall wreath!

Its like the Wreath is trying to say something! What's that, Wreath?

Oh! Happy fall to you too! What a friendly Wreath.

Supplies to make Happy Fall Wreath:
foam wreath
burlap strips (about 1/4 yard)
hot glue
orange/brown paper
twine
fusible interfacing
fall fabric

Step 1: Wrap strips of burlap around the foam wreath, securing with hot glue.
Step 2:
Cut out triangles for the banner and letters to spell Happy Fall. I used my awesome Silhouette for this.

Step 3:
Glue letters onto triangles and let dry. Glue to a piece of twine and then wrap twine around the wreath. Hot glue in place.

Step 4:
The wreath still needed something... so I added some mini pinwheels! I made pinwheels using burlap, fall fabric and fusible interfacing. Check out this post to learn how to make pinwheels.

I just used a straight pin to attach the pinwheels to the wreath, I needed to cover up the yellow head. I simply tied a knot of fabric, snipped off the ends and hot glued the knot to the pin.

Step 5:
Using the same technique as in the rosette wreath, add a strip of burlap and fabric to make a decorative holder.
Step 6:
Tada! Feel good that your wreath is welcoming in the best season of the year!

Idea Garden

2011-08-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, ThatGuy and I visited Paris.

Okkkaay, that's not actually the real Eiffel Tower. It's a 23 foot wooden replica at Cantigny, which is pretty darn close to the actual landmark. I'm sure.

ThatGuy wanted his picture next to the tanks. (What is it with boys and army things?)

We realized we are getting old because we were fascinated with the idea garden. The idea garden features way to garden in interesting ideas. Like this Croc plant display:

Or this smiley face, visible from up above.

These upside-down wine bottles make a cute divider between colorful peppers and the walking path.

Missing a boot? Just use the lone boot as a planter!

They have 10 huge flower displays for the Big 10 schools. Each one had flower to match the school colors!

Decorated rain gauge:

The elevated garden is safe from nibbly animals.

Turn big pots into water features!

Lots of fun ideas at the aptly-named Idea Garden!

Cloth Diaper Burb Cloth

2011-08-21T12:00:00.002-05:00

I've seen a lot of pictures of burb clothes made from cloth diapers lately- people who are in the know (young mothers, not me) say this is a superior burb cloth because of the awesome absorbency the cloth diaper provides. That, with a pop of fun color from the fabric, makes for a super cute and easy-to-make burb cloth!

My super-sewer mom and I whipped these up on Saturday morning to match the nursing covers we made earlier in the summer.

We used the left-over material from the nursing covers to make a matching burb cloth!

Each burb cloth has a carefully ironed cute fabric (by me!)....

And expertly zig-zag sewed on panel (by my mom!).

How cute is this Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar set I made for a recent new mommy?!

Be sure to visit our Etsy store!

Ugly Conference Bag Turned Pretty

2011-08-20T16:35:00.015-05:00

The other week I saw this awesome tutorial by Less Cake, More Frosting on the Tatertots and Jello blog. This genius woman transformed an ugly conference bag into a super cute camera bag! Immediately I thought of this bag hidden in the depths of my closet.

It was from the Illinois Computing Educators Conference (yes, I'm a dork) about 2 years ago. It's a well constructed bag so I never had the heart to throw it out. I never used it before, but I will now! Meet my new back to school bag!

Well, here's how I did it (and I'm no expert, as shown in the following directions). First of all, rip the bag apart.

Then cut your cute fabric to fit the conference bag pieces.

To make sure the cute fabric adheres to the conference bag, I used spray adhesive. The reason I did this was to make sure the bag would be sturdy. My fabric, although cute, is pretty flimsy and could never hold books, binders and laptops by itself.

Then I wrapped the fabric to the other side and did a quick stitch to really combine the conference bag and cute fabric together.

I do not have any pictures of the following step because it exceeded my skill level as a sewer! I had to bring the bag over to my mom's house and she sewed the pieces back together. Mom to the rescue!

Say good-bye to ugly conference bags and hello to a cute back to school work bag!

Free to a Loving Home

2011-08-18T13:41:00.006-05:00

One bad rabbit. Afraid of helium balloons, but not of vacuum cleaners or of ThatGuy's colorful threats as he cleans up after her.

The AMAZING Craft Armoire!

2011-08-14T09:40:00.005-05:00

Meet my new craft armoire:

I know this looks like an entertainment unit. And it is. Or rather, was an entertainment unit.

But one wood-working father and one crafting daughter later, it's a beautiful, amazing craft armoire!

I bought this beauty at Jubilee Furniture, my favorite used furniture store. With all the flat screen televisions, many old entertainment units end up at Jubilee, just waiting to be re-purposed into something else. Enter: me and my need to craft.

As previously posted, ThatGuy is really clean and I am... well, let's just say I'm not really clean. Having a craft armoire is a perfect place for me to make a mess and then close the doors! A happy marriage this craft armoire makes.

My dad did just most of the work on this project. He replaced the back with pegboard so I can organize my tools. Then he built two pull out drawers for the large cabinet in the center and a pull out desk. He built, I painted, he installed. It was a team effort (but mostly my dad).

And to finish it off- the cute chair! Another find from Jubilee, this is the perfect height. I had grand plans to repaint it, but it actually looks pretty good next to the armoire.

And a special shout out goes to ThatGuy and his brother, who bravely moved this heavy piece of furniture up the stairs! Due to the extreme weight of the armoire, I am not allowed to ever request it be moved... it may even have to stay with the house after we move!

Yay Blogger!

2011-08-13T19:26:00.004-05:00

I took the plunge and moved my blog from Wordpress to Blogger! I'm very excited!!

On another note, ThatGuy just saw a commercial for this product and said in all sincerity that he really likes it and wants to buy us each one. Whaaa?

Burlap Rosette Wreath

2011-08-07T14:47:00.001-05:00

In my quest to leave no space undecorated, meet this new door wreath:

I know I'm biased towards my homemade creations, but I do think this wreath is a total cutie! While a little time consuming, it is a totally doable project. Ready to begin?

Items Needed:
foam wreath
burlap (about 1/4 yard)
fabric (about 1/4 yard)
glue gun (yes, I bought one! And it was only $2.99. Not sure why I was holding off on this purchase....)
Fusible interfacing
Sewing Machine

Step 1:
Cut burlap into long strips, about 2 inches width. Using your glue gun, attach one end of the burlap strip to the foam wreath. Tightly wrap the burlap strip around the foam wreath and use the glue gun to attach the end.

Step 2:
Keep adding burlap strips to the wreath until the wreath is covered.

Step 3:
Make fabric rosettes. I discovered a product called Fat Eights, which is pre-cut quilting pieces that all coordinate with each other.

There are many tutorials online, including one I used in this post. Here is a tutorial within a tutorial!

a. Cut your fabric into a long strip, about 1.5 inch width.

b. Fold strip in half and then in half again. Roll fabric around itself, twisting as you go.
c. Add glue dots to hold fabric in place. You have to be pretty dexterous for this!

The width and length of the fabric strip will determine the size of the fabric rosette.

Step 4:
After making your fabric rosettes, slap a lot of hot glue on the back, press and hold onto the burlap wreath.

Step 5:
Continue to add fabric rosettes in a fun pattern!

Step 6:
To make the wreath holder, I cut out a strip of purple fabric and used fusible interfacing to attach it to a wider strip of burlap. Using a 3 inch strip of fabric, twist to make a small loop. Then run a quick stitch across the stop of the ends of the burlap and fabric to attach together and create a loop (make sure the wreath is inside the loop when you sew it!)

Step 7:
Hang up your wreath and admire! People will feel so welcomed when they stand at your door!!

I made this as a gift for a dear friend, but I may need to make one for myself too!

Check the parties I'm linking up to on my Linky Parties page!

Fabric Rosettes

2011-08-01T14:45:00.000-05:00

I finally made fabric rosettes! After I finally made a fabric banner using bias tape, I delved into make fabric rosettes. I used this tutorial and used fabric glue, as I do not own a hot glue gun (can you believe it?!).

Now that I've finally done these two crafts that are so popular on the internet, I feel like a true crafting blogger.

Fabric Name Banner

2011-08-01T14:40:00.001-05:00

If your name is Emma, stop reading this post and just wait by the mailbox!

Everyone else, you may continue reading. My niece's birthday is coming up (actually, tomorrow. And yes, her banner will be arriving late) and I wanted to make something light and flat I could send in a card envelope. Enter the fabric banner, which is by no means new to the blogging world, but certainly is very cute.

Supplies Needed:

fabric

fusible interfacing

iron

bias tape

triangle template

sewing machine w/thread

scissors

Step 1-

Iron fabric to interfacing. I did this so the triangles would be a little stiffer since my fabric was light and thin. I suppose if you used a heavier fabric you could skip this.

Step 2-

Cut out triangles. I used 2 different fabric patterns and needed 4 triangles for the name Emma. I also cut out a triangle template from my Silhouette, but you could easy get a template from Word autoshapes.

Step 3-

Stick triangles into a flap on the bias tape. Pin the triangle to hold it in place.

Step 4-

Using your sewing machine, do a stitch across the length of the bias tape. I used a zig-zag stitch.

Step 5-

You can stop here, OR keep going by adding letters to spell out a name, word or phrase. Iron on more fabric to the interfacing- this will be for your letters. Using letters as a template (I cut out letters on my Silhouette), trace them backwards on the interfacing. Cut out with scissors and then iron onto your triangles.

Step 6-

Hang up and admire! Love your project so much that you keep putting off mailing it until the day before you want it to arrive. I'm sure the US postal service can get it from Chicago to Seattle in less than a day...

Happy Birthday Emma!

Secret banana message

2011-07-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

While blog surfing, I discovered this fun idea. So easy- just drag a toothpick across a banana and wait an hour!

Needless to say, I had to try it immediately.

ThatGuy was all like did you craft on the bananas? I was all like yeah I did. Pretty sure he is majorly impressed with all my crafting energy this summer and counting the days until school starts.

Baby Burb Cloth and Washcloth

2011-07-25T08:26:00.000-05:00

In my quest to be as crafty as possible this summer, I'm tackling the sewing machine. I've had some mild successes before. There was the time in middle school we learned how to sew locker caddies and a gym bag. And then when I took Fashion Workshop in high school (I'd do anything to get out of gym class!) we made garters for prom and pajama pants for our boyfriends. Then I impressed ThatGuy with my sewing skills and made a fleece blanket that can be folded into a pillow for our first Christmas together. (I'm pretty sure that blanket now lives at ThatGuy's brother's apartment. Humpf!) All of these projects were completed under the watchful eye of school teachers and.... MY MOM!

My mom is AWESOME and can do all these cool things on the sewing machine I can only dream of. This summer I've been under her guidance and today I felt brave enough to sew on my own. Surprisingly, I'm quite pleased with the results!

Ta da!

Here's how to make a burb cloth. This one goes out to all the babies who like to spit up.

1. Pick out a cute fabric and a backer (I recommend terry cloth). You can also use fleece or minky. Prewash to shrink and clean. Cut out a rectangle 16 by 11 inches.

2. Pin the RIGHT sides TOGETHER.

3. Sew around the edges, leaving about 1/2 inch seam. Also, leave about a 3 inch opening to ride-side out your burb cloth.

4. After you righte-side out your burb cloth, iron down the sides to get a nice crease.

5. Carefully top stitch around the fabric, especially over the opening.

6. Another quick iron and snip off the extra threads.

7. Admire your new burb cloth! Tie them up with a ribbon to make them look even cuter! These are almost too cute for any babies to burb on. Almost.

8. Repeat to make more burb cloths. If you want to do wash clothes, cut 5x5 squares and do steps 2-7.

I'm so pleased with my creation I put it up on my Etsy store!!

Warning: Gratuitous Bunny Photos

2011-07-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

Went to Costco today for a BIG shop- that means lots of empty boxes! Bunny was in heaven hopping, sniffing, nose bumping and generally being cute.

We love to spray paint!

2011-07-21T12:15:00.001-05:00

I recently bought this frame at Hobby Lobby for $2.00.

ThatGuy accused me of buying this monstrosity of a frame only because it was on sale, which is partly true. But I also like the dramatic look of the frame! Because we like to spray paint everything, this black frame soon became dark gray.

Now we are in a great debate about what picture to put inside. I like this one from the 4th of July:

(Yes, I made him wear red to coordinate with my blue and white. We are a very festive couple.)

ThatGuy would like this one from a recent wedding photobooth:

Awesome photo by Yes!Photo.

Dear Reader, which one should go in our frame?? The lovely, festive couple grateful for our country's freedom or a raucous wedding party-goer giving the The Most Interesting Man in the World a noogie?

Let Them Eat Pie!

2011-07-20T12:13:00.001-05:00

The college roommates got together to celebrate an important birthday... one month late. So I suppose it was a 30 and 1 month party! I made this delicious pie:

Look at that beautiful new mommy! Can you believe I didn't take any pictures of the cute baby on my camera?!

I have the ultimate pie crust recipe, passed down from my mom (who got it from dear old Betty).

Sift 2 cups flour and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Add 1/2 cup veggie oil and 4-5 tbs of COLD water. Stir with a fork until combined.

Then because I'm lazy, I used 5 cups of frozen fruit. You can use any berries- I did a mixture. Combine fruit with 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, zest of one small lemon and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Roll dough out and lay into pie and add fruit mixture.

You need to create a vent on your pie to let the steam out. I used a paring knife to cut out the letters to spell the birthday girl's name. This will really impress your friends and they will think it took you many long and tedious minutes instead of mere seconds.

Wrap crust in foil. Put in a preheated oven 375 degrees. For frozen fruit bake 50 minutes, then remove foil and bake additional 25-30 minutes. For thawed/fresh fruit bake 25 minutes and then remove foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

And I couldn't forget ThatGuy! Made him a mini-pie with extra fruit and crust. Then, because we are newlyweds and are mushy in love, I smooshed the O into a heart and stretched the J out to a C.

Front Porch Re-Do

2011-07-15T10:02:00.000-05:00

Late in the spring my mother-in-law told me she she spied something in her neighbor's trash that made her think of me. She was so inspired this trash that she put it in her car and brought it home for me. While that could be taken many ways, I'm going to take it as a compliment. It seems someone had abandoned their DIY project- or had no use for it. Well, one DIYers trash is another DIYer's treasure!

The "trash" is a grill top with 3 metal cylinders attached to act as little feet. When the top is turned upside-down, it's a perfect plant holder! Being the expert spray painter, ThatGuy applied a coat of shiny red paint.

Then we tried an experiment. ThatGuy had brought home a variety of seeds from a recent job, so we planted 2 plants in the center and spread the seeds around. The plan was for the seeds to sprout into beautiful, colorful flowers. Here's what it looks like 6 weeks later.

Clearly, this isn't what we envisioned happening. Perhaps we accidentally planted grass seeds? Or maybe even weeds?

Feeling like we had given these seeds enough time, sun and water to grow, it was time to change them out. ThatGuy and I picked out sunflowers and mums. I know all you gardeners out there are probably shaking your heads at our poor choices that will never thrive in a grill top, but they are brightly colored. And on sale.

Ta da!

I did save a couple of sprouts that looked cute on the side of the grill top.

And I moved some of the flowers from the orginal display to their own pot and put them in the shade. Hopefully they will do better.

Our finished front porch:

Knuffle Whaaa?

2011-07-14T06:27:00.000-05:00

In summer library we "knuffle-ized" our pictures. What exactly is a knuffle, you ask?

It's a bunny! Mo Willems, my all-time favorite author for preschool through second grade, wrote a picture book based on his daughter's favorite stuffed animal. In this first book young Trixie is unable to verbalize that her favorite stuffed animal, Knuffle Bunny, is trapped in the washing machine in the laundry mat. She is horribly upset and utters many words like "aggle flaggle klabble" which I'm sure means "Daddy, how can you be so obtuse and place my beloved stuffed bunny in the washing machine?" When Mommy finally helps Daddy realizes his mistake, they have to run back to the laundry mat on the other side of New York City to rescue Trixie's beloved bunny.

This story is universal- what child hasn't lost a lovey? But what makes this book so unique is its artwork. Mo Willems has taken beautiful shots of his New York street and other landmarks and then placed his artwork on top, creating a tactile pallet that intrigues young viewers. I wish he would do one for Chicago!

So in order to "knuffle-ize" our pictures, children used pictures of their elementary school, a local park, or a downtown street as the background to their hand-drawn creations. Even little brothers and sisters were able to complete this project and have fun doing it! Here is a picture of my Knuffle Bunny visiting the Bean.

I think my Knuffle Bunny looks pretty good, despite what 5 year old Brendan K. told me!

Summer Lovin'- Having a Blast?

2011-07-12T09:36:00.001-05:00

We are not having a blast today... The 20 minute storm yesterday morning has knocked out our power! And ComEd said it will be DAYS until our power is back. Me and ThatGuy are bouncing from air-conditioned coffee shop to air-conditioned book store, trying to stay sane. We are the type of people (like many) who like routine and our personal comforts. Do you even know how often we use power? Lights, TV, washing machine, radio, microwave, garage door, garbage disposal- the list goes on and on. No problem with water and plumbing (which is a good thing) and a little bit of a mystery to me.

We keep reminding ourselves about the people in Joplin, MO and all the other recent tornado and fire areas where people have lost their entire homes, which helps us keep this current inconvenience in perspective. And we are lucky to have parents close by, who are happy to store food in their refrigerator and let us sleep in their guest room.

OK, enough philosophizing and onto today's project! I've been playing around with my Silhouette machine and decided to make a paint chip banner. ThatGuy and I rode our bikes over to Home Depot, where you can take paint chips for FREE. I decided to use yellows and oranges, which are summer colors and compliment the reds in the living room.

Then I used Britannic Bold font and used the carrier grid to kind of eyeball the size using the carrier sheet. I'm sure there is a more technical and better way to do this, but hey, I'm learning. After much fiddling around, I ended up using the Heavy Cardstock setting and did a double cut.

Watching the Silhouette cut paper is like the coolest thing ever. And it makes awesome spaceship sounds, which really enhances the experience. If you don't have a Silhouette the same banner could be made by using a dye-cut machine (I've seen these at craft stores you can pay to use) or stopping by your local elementary school and sweet talking the secretary. You could also print out the letters using Word and then cut them out to use as a template on your paint chips.

After cutting out the letters, I laid them under a heavy book for a day to make sure they were flat and just used Scotch tape to attach them to twine. And I apologize for these crappy photos. I wanted to take these pictures and escape from our hot and humid home and into the sweet air-conditioning at Borders.

Bunny is super hot too. I gave her some water in a dish which she drank a little, promptly spilled and then laid in. This must be a bunny version of a pool.

Silhouette!

2011-07-09T06:20:00.000-05:00

The other day I received a picture text from ThatGuy. Here's what it was:

My Silhouette machine arrived! I may have let out a little scream of excitement in the middle of the outlet mall... Now I can reach my full crafting potential!! I immediately unpacked and made a mess (one of the things I do the best).

This machine is AWESOME. You can design or download an image and the Silhouette will cut it out for you. I played around with it for a little bit and cut out some letters, but I need to start a serious project. Stay tuned to see what me and my Silhouette will create!

Wedding Bookmark Album

2011-07-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

While wedding planning, I came across the Wish Tree concept. Basically, guests write a wish for the bride and groom and hang it on a tree. Since our wedding was in December, we did a little spin on the wish tree and turned it into a Christmas tree!

Guests found a bookmark (to go along with the book theme) at their place with a poem asking them to write words of marital wisdom that have served them well. We placed jars of colored pencils at each table so guest could decorate or draw around their writing. Then the bookmarks were hung on the Christmas trees. I was a little nervous that no one would do it, but everyone did!

Fast forward 6 months later... I finally got to making the memory book! I printed out pictures of the guests and found their corresponding bookmark. Reading everyone's sweet messages brought back some fun memories of our wedding day. This is a great way to remember who was there and celebrate our day.

First step- Organize photos and bookmarks.

Second Step- Make sure bunnies are locked safely away, no matter how cute they are! They just want to mess up the piles and chew on things.

Third Step- Arrange bookmarks and pictures on cute wedding-themed paper.

Fourth Step- Slip pages into photo album. Admire your work and make your new husband admire it too!

Professional pictures by Katherine Salvatori. Other pictures by me.

4th of July Pinwheel Wreath

2011-07-01T17:53:00.001-05:00

Clean or craft? I often face this question and cleaning doesn't usually win...

Seeing all those cute wreaths on the blogs (especially this one at The Cellar Door Stories) inspired me to make my own! And I have a lot of fabric left over from my bunting, so I have to use it somehow.

I bought a white floral wreath from JoAnn's and spray painted it red. Probably didn't need to do that, but I had some extra red laying around and it only took an hour to dry. Then I stuck a pin into the end of the yarn and started wrapping. It actually only took about 20 minutes, but in the beginning I wasn't sure if I would even finish! When I got to the beginning again, I stuck a new pin into the yarn and snipped off the extra.

While the paint was drying, I made some pinwheels. I used the fusible interfacing and ironed squares together. Then I followed Just Sew Sassy's instruction to make the pinwheels. Easy cheesy!

Then I stuck the pinwheels onto the wreath with pins and hung it on the door. Because the pins are so easy to take out, I can change out the pinwheels for another decoration for different holidays (hello Valentine's Day!)

4th of July Shirt

2011-07-01T17:21:00.001-05:00

My niece is sleeping over tonight which means... making crafts! My niece is way into crafts- she has 2 desks completely dedicated to her supplies at her house. When I confessed the house was a little messy because I was too busy crafting today instead of cleaning, she said that happens to her every day.

Her mom sent her with a red t-shirt, which is crying out for some festive decorations. Inspired by this Tatertots and Jello project, we did our own version (no sew, of course!).

We first measured out a flag design, doing a 4x6 inch template on a piece of paper. Each strip is 1 inch wide and either 4 or 6 inches long. The blue square is 2x2 inches. We decided we liked the size of the flag pieces and cut the same sizes out in fusible interfacing.

We laid the interfacing pieces on the backside of the fabric and ironed them on. Then she cut out the pieces.

We laid the pieces out right side up on the tee shirt, being careful to measure to make sure the flag is even.

We ironed each piece down and Lexi decided it needed "something." She cut out some fun fireworks and I ironed them down for her.

This shirt is ready for the 4th! To make it last for next year, we might stop at Grammy's house and have her sew around the flag pieces to make sure they stand up to multiple washings.

4th of July No-Sew Bunting

2011-06-29T20:58:00.001-05:00

Ta da!!

This is very exciting! I did my very first fabric bunting, and I didn't use the sewing machine! Good thing, because it wouldn't have turned out as cute.

Items needed:

3 different fabrics, about 1/2 yard each

1 yard fusible interfacing

1/2 yard interfacing

yarn

3 plates (mine were about 1 inch different between the sizes, the largest was around 10 inches in diameter)

Step 1: Trace the largest plate onto the interfacing 3 times. Trace the medium and small plate on the fusible interfacing 3 times each. You should have a total of 9 circles.

Step 2: Iron on the 3 large circles to your fabrics- you should do 1 large circle on each of your fabrics. Repeat with the medium and small plates. Each of your fabrics should have a small, medium and large interfacing circle ironed on.

Step 3: Cut out the circles.

Step 4: Line up one medium circle onto your large circle. Make sure it is even (I used a ruler to measure). Iron to fuse together. Then place the small circle and iron to fuse together. Repeat so now you have 3 large circles. Make sure you mix and match your fabric patterns.

Step 5: Cut your circles in the middle to create 6 half circles.

Step 6: Fold the edge of the half circle over and cut to create a slit. Then weave your yarn into the holes and tie in a bow.

Step 7: Hang your bunting and admire your handiwork! ThatGuy put some nails up for this bunting (and hopefully future ones!) after he cleaned off the window sill. :)

Happy 4th of July!!

Book Book Shelves

2011-06-28T20:17:00.001-05:00

No, not a typo- a book shelf made from a book!

The other week at Hobby Lobby ThatGuy found the perfect table for our entryway!

It looks like a library card catalog! That makes this librarian very happy. :) The saver in me is also happy, as there are many empty drawers that are waiting for me to fill them. I already have a drawer totally dedicated to Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons! I decided that the decorations on and around the card catalog need to be reading-inspired, which why I was so excited to see this example on the Real Simple website.

ThatGuy did not follow RealSimple's directions, but rather made his own version. He simply got an L-bracket from HomeDepot, drilled it into the wall. Then he got industrial strength Velcro and attached the back cover to the last page of the book. The weight of the book, combined with the velcro, keeps the book attached to the wall. And the best part- it cost $5.13!!

Okay, I know I said the totally cheap price of $5.13 was the best part, but really it was the message ThatGuy wrote for me on the shelves!

Coming soon, reading-inspired decorations for the book book shelves...

Something Old is New

2011-06-27T12:26:00.002-05:00

Near our house is a used furniture store, Jubilee. I love Jubilee for many reasons. First of all, it has great used furniture that is perfect for crafting. Secondly, the prices are totally reasonable so you can decorate your house without breaking the bank. And third (and best of all), it supports charity!

ThatGuy and I will ride our bikes over and take a look at their furniture fairly often- they are always receiving new donations. ThatGuy had his eye on this particular bookshelf and thought it had real potential.

He thought about it for the week and went back to see if it was still there. (Note- things can move quickly at Jubilee! If you find something you love, buy it immediately!) He purchased it and then went to work cleaning and filling in the scratches with a handy-dandy furniture pen. Next we took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought some great baskets on clearance and a couple of doorknobs to update the look.

Ta da! Looks great! And the baskets are a great way to hide stuff so we can maintain the illusion that we are clean people! Correction, that I can maintain the illusion of being clean... ThatGuy actually is clean.

Susan, the manager at Jubilee, runs a blog. It showcasing furniture people bought from Jubilee and also the week's the latest donations. Check it out here!

Taco Pizza

2011-06-17T20:57:00.001-05:00

What do you do when you have half the ingredients to make tacos and the other half to make pizza? Make Taco Pizza!! I googled some recipes, but then got lazy and made up my own.

Taco Pizza

1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey)

1 taco seasoning package

1 can black beans

1/2 can tomato sauce

1/2 onion (I used purple)

1 ready-made pizza dough (I used Trader Joe's whole wheat dough)

1 tsp. salsa seasoning or other spicy spice (optional)

Cheese!

Roll out dough and bake for 6 minutes. Meanwhile chop and saute onion. Add ground meat and brown. Drain and add rinsed black beans, taco seasoning package and 1/2 can of tomato sauce. Stir to combine and then put on the half-baked pizza. Top with cheese and bake for an additional 6 minutes or until cheese is melted. EAT!!

The reason I half-baked my dough is otherwise I have a problem with my toppings burning while the center of my dough remains doughy. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the half-baking things seems to work for me.

After eating it, I asked ThatGuy what he would change for next time. He replied, "add olives." (see Pasta Salad) YUCK!

Copycat Shutters

2011-06-17T20:44:00.001-05:00

Close your shutters or I will steal your design ideas! One of my favorite blogs is Crap I've Made, written by Char. In addition to being a crafting goddess, Char has such a great dry sense of humor that makes her blog not only inspiring to read, but humorous too. She recently had a post all about her shutter obsession, which got me obsessed with her shutters.

Being a girl on a budget, I joined FreeCycle, an email listserve where people offer and request free household objects. I joined and put out an email asking for old wooden shutters. My request was quickly answered and I found myself driving to the next town to take shutters from someone's front porch while they were at work. The whole experience was rather bizarre, but I got free shutters so I was okay with it.

My husband, who will be known as ThatGuy, graciously spray painted the shutters and moved them onto my shelves where I rearranged items until I got what I wanted. And I think it looks pretty good! What do you think?

Oh La 30!

2011-06-12T14:07:00.000-05:00

My friend Jen is turning 30 (never mind the fact I did that 5 months ag0). As is the trend these days, instead of quietly turning 30 and feeling old my friends are CELEBRATING. In typical Jen style, she is going all out and has an evening in Paris planned at a chic wine bar. She graciously has asked me to help her with invitations. This is more of a favor to me, because I have a thing for invitations.

Paper invitations are one of my favorite things in this great big, whole, entire world. I loooove them. They are luxurious. They are creative. They are beautiful. They take up a whole drawer in my desk because I save them, after proudly displaying them on my refrigerator for well past the party's date (I still have the most beautiful wedding invitation on my fridge from almost 2 year ago).

First thing, we scoured Etsy looking for inspiration and we found it at CreativeVision. Jen really liked her Paris Tag, and Marianne was so accommodating and worked hard to get Jen what she wanted. After a couple of trips to Paper-Source, we were ready to assembly the invites! I trimmed the lavender paper down and Jen punched all the corners to round them. Then using foam, we mounted them on the brown envelope to add some height.

They needed something and luckily Marianne sent us some lavender ribbon! We cut it into strips and glued it behind the Paris tag.

So cute! Up next, the inside information....

Pasta Salad: Let the Summer BBQ's Begin

2011-06-12T13:42:00.000-05:00

It's the first official week of summer (according to the school schedule), which means its Barbecue Time!! Every good cook needs a stand out recipe for potlucks and I always use this one called JoJo's Pasta Salad. JoJo is the sister of a lady my friend used to babysit for while we were in college.... so obviously, we're really close.

This recipe is really easy, but does involve a lot of chopping.

Cook 1 lb. of pasta (I like using the tri-colored variety)

Then chop, dice and add:

1/4 lb. hard salami

1/4 lb. provolone cheese

2-3 tomatoes

1 small red onion

2 small zucchinis

1 red pepper

1 small can sliced black olives

1/4 cup minced parsley

Time for the dressing! In a bowl, wisk together:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 minced garlic clove

1 1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp salt

Then, the best part. MORE CHEESE! Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Let the flavors marry one another in the refrigerator and then serve. Delish!

And let me prove my love to my husband. I hate olives and he LOVES olives. Feeling nice today so I put the olives in! This is true love.

Last step is EAT and ENJOY!

Hello world!

2011-05-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

Hello World!

For months I've been reading blogs and thinking "I should do this!" Well, I'm finally starting! I have a sneaking suspicion that only my mom will read my posts, but I'm determined to try it anyway.

As my blog name suggests, I love stories (telling them, hearing them, reading them) and I love crafts (making them, buying them, reading about them).

Crafting my way though the Story of my Life.