Alphabet blocks bookmark

Hey everyone out there in bloggy land! I've had a very creative week, so I thought I'd share another project with you.
You know I love 'em easy peasy, so here goes! We're making bookmarks out of old wooden alphabet blocks.
You'll need some old wood alphabet children's blocks, copped from a thrift store or yard sale. (or maybe your baby!)
Look for old books that have small illustrations you can cut out, to fit on the sides of the blocks. I used an old Little Golden book I found at the thrift store.

I layed the block on the pictures I thought would fit, then cut them out. You'll need 4 pictures.

I then used an antique colored decoupage glue, and glued them onto the 4 smooth sides of the block. The antique colored matches the color of the wood, making it look more original and old.

Make sure you coat them on the outside as well, once they're glued on to the block

.I trimmed as needed, and overlapped edges as I went, so there was no bare wood showing. The glue will help you seal it all up nice. My blocks were from the 80's, but looked brand new and too shiny, so I took my Mouse hand sander, and just made it look a little worn on the painted parts, and a little on the glued edges, to wear it.

Then I took a small eye and hook attachment, but first drilled into the bottom of the block with a very small drill bit, to get it started. Screw it up into the block, until tight. I got these at Home Depot, in the hardware dept.

See how the edges overlap?

I used fat ribbon, trimmed as long as I needed, and strung through the eye hook, then knotted and finished. I did one hook on the bottom, and one on the top.
How cute is that?

Hope this sparks your imagination to create one of these little beauties. I'd love to see them, let me know if you do!

Antique silverware project

Finally! Here is my silverware project I promised so long ago!

This is very simple, but first I must give credit for the idea to Rechelle at Walnuthaven Cottage for this fabulous idea. Go check out her version of framed silverware, and then hop on over to cherrysjubilee. She did domething similar, but with old child's school scissors. Love them both!

I rounded up my old antique silverware pieces, then went on the hunt at Goodwill for 2 matching frames. Here's what they looked like before:

Yikes! I know!
Pick a favorite scrapbook paper, preferrably with a smaller print, so it won't compete with the patterns in the silverware. Attach to the back of the frame, and reinsert into frame, securing with staples.
Play with the positioning of the silverware, until it looks right, then hot glue your pieces to your scrapbook backing. Hot glue will not ruin your pieces, and will come off when you want to repurpose them.
That's it! Here's my version, below.






Sorry for the yellow cast, I think that's my flash

A very simple redo, and the frames were 1.99 a piece, and I already had the silverware. If you don't have any, search at thrift stores and yard sales, or see if an antique store has odd mismatched pieces they'll sell for cheap.

Happy hunting!

Paper banner tutorial

Good morning, all!

Today I thought I'd show you a simple little craft you can do, with a computer, some ribbon, and some printed scrapbook paper.

I saw this on someone else's blog, and was going to give her credit and link back, but her blog disappeared, so what's a girl to do but take full credit for the idea?

I'm sure alot of you have done different versions of this, but here's mine.
This is a paper banner, in which I made my daughter's name to hang in her room.

First, I downloaded some fonts from dafont, and 1001 free fonts. You'll need a chunkier font for this to work.. I chose Callistroke. Edit: I forgot to add that you need to format the font to be outline only, so it prints correctly.
Then print out the letters you want, doing a test on plain computer paper first, to make sure they're all matching in size.




Note: I didn't know how to make my font really large, to fit a 8 1/2 x 11 size, so I found out and here's how: highlight your letter, then in your toolbar, choose format> fonts> then adjust the font size in the box, playing with it until you reach the desired size you want.

When everything looks good, print your letters out on your printed cardstock.

Mount on heavier cardstock, to make your letters sturdier, then cut out.


Punch holes in the top of each letter in a spot where the letters will hang balanced.


String through with ribbon, jute, string, or whatever makes yours unique!

As you can see in the close ups, the font I chose has lines inside the font. I think it gives it a little more of a 3d look, not so flat.

This would be a cute project to do with any word, like HOME, or FAITH, or your family name. Be creative, and have fun!

I also wanted to share small project with vinyl lettering I did for Macie's room.

I ordered the vinyl lettering through Uppercase Living, but almost everyone knows someone who has their own vinyl cutter nowadays. (Is that a word?)

I ordered the lettering mirrored, which means they cut the vinyl with the sticky side on the front.

I removed the back from the frame, then stuck the lettering on the glass from the back, then added the flower last.

You'll need to hot glue the glass back to the inside edge of the frame to secure it. Embellish with ribbon to hang. Super simple!

This week will bring my long awaited silverware project, and maybe a couple of other surprises and home decor ideas from Jo Packhams book I talked about last week. It's supposed to be a really warm week here, so I'll be able to do more of my projects.

Have a beautiful day, my bloggy friends.

Some snow, some sugar, and a crockpot

Yes, once again, snow has hit us! We've had literally no snow all winter, and once spring came, so did the snow. Here is a view out my front door. So I thought...

Why not make some Monkey bread? Yummy!

How can you resist all that brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon?

I've seen this recipe floating around for years, but never paid much attention until last Christmas, I was getting bored with quick store bought cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I made these, and boy were they good. Good and fast, with that Islavedoverthisandtheyare definatelyhomemadetaste!

I took this recipe, and tweeked it to make it my own. Will I share? Of course!

Homemade Monkey bread

1/2 Cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans Grands Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 stick of butter, no substitutes

Heat oven to 350F, lightly spray a fluted bunt pan with cooking oil.

In a large ziplock bag, mix white sugar and the cinnamon. Open biscuits, and cut each one into 4 pieces, then a few at a time, shake in sugar mixture, until all are coated.

Mix melted butter and brown sugar together.

Place half of the coated biscuit pieces in the bunt pan, and pour half of the brown sugar mix over the pieces, then repeat with the second layer of biscuits, pouring the second half of the brown sugar mix to finish the top. If you want the walnuts and raisins in there, just sprinkle them among the two layers evenly.

Bake 30 minutes, uncovered, then pull out to see if the layers are cooked all the way through. I always have to cover it with foil, then bake it an additional 10-12 minutes, to finish it off.

Pull from the oven and eat while still hot. Yumm-o!

My daughter loves the snow, so we bundled her up, to go out and help Dad shovel. That lasted about 10 minutes, then she was off to the backyard to play by herself!

Then, she came in and was treated to some hot chocolate, her favorite.


After that, I assembled everything to put in the crockpot for some hot split pea soup for dinner tonight. If I'm feeling really energetic (which I doubt), I may make some homemade biscuits.

I have to tell you about my crockpot. Last night for dinner, I decided to do some BBQ chicken in the crockpot. I put the stuff in, and turned it on, and forgot about it, like you're supposed to do. I was so busy sewing the poodle skirt, and doing other things, I didn't really notice there was no yummy smells filling the house.

At 5:30, I go up to check dinner, and the crockpot had apparently decided to give up the ghost, AKA die!

I fiddled with the knobs, plugged and unplugged it, and nothing! Stupid thing!

I can say that, because I've always hated my newer crockpot.

About 3 years ago, I bought a bigger, fancy stainless steel looking one, to replace my smaller, totally 90's looking one.

The only thing I liked about it was that it was bigger, so you could cook more food. But it really was weird, because even on low, it vigorously boiled everything to death! The lid rattled to no end the whole time, and you couldn't leave it for the day to cook stuff, or it was burned to a crisp when you came home!

I'm glad it died, because now I can go buy a new one, how cool is that?

Here's my old trusty one, below, that is happy to come out of the cupboard, and tirelessly serve our family, once again.
.

I actually think the pattern on it is rather cute!

The soup is a really easy recipe, which I'll also share with you. I used leftover ham from Easter dinner last week.

"No Hassle" Split pea soup

1 lb. dry green split peas (soak overnight)

4 C. water

3/4 lb. ham, cubed

1/4 tsp. pepper

3 Tb chicken bouillion

1/2 C. celery, chopped

1 C. carrots, sliced

1/4 C. onions

1 bay leaf

Drain peas after soaking overnight, and add all ingredients to your crockpot. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours, or high 4-5 hours.

This fit in my smaller crockpot fine, and was plenty with leftovers. Double and put into the bigger size if you have a large family.

Enjoy!

With the cold temperatures, I will not be able to do my silverware project, due to spray painting in a cold garage gives me the shivers, so stay tuned. Instead I'll be working on something indoors.

Buttons and a poodle skirt?

Yesterday I was looking at the thrift store, for important purposes, of course. My daughter's school is having a fun 50's dance next week, so I was trying to find a couple of things for our costumes.

I've decided to dress up as a 50's beautician, complete with ugly white smock top, bouffant hair, and cat eye glasses. My husband will be a greaser, and my daughter of course, had to have a poodle skirt. (More on that later).

I cruised the store, and in the back craft area, I found the most amazing buttons.

I bought 2 bags that had old buttons still on the cards, and a whole bag of loose buttons. There are some really old ones in here!

I may put some in my soon to be Etsy shop, so let me know if you're interested

I know! There's more!

The rhinestone pin in the middle of the picture was mixed in with the loose buttons. What a nice surprise!
I also found the missing pieces that I need to start my silverware project I promised was coming! Yay!
I will be working on that tomorrow, and hopefully posting on it soon. It's snowing here in Colorado, and our garage my workshop is freezing, so no spray painting unless I get brave.

So for the 50's dance, I decided I could make a poodle skirt myself, although technically I don't really sew! I do have a great old Singer sewing machine from the 1970's, given to me by my MIL. It was her husband's mom's, and is really a great machine. I've done small things here and there, nothing big.

Here she is, in all her 70's glory. I've actually been told to hold on to this old machine, because they were built so much better than the new ones! I think it's true, what do you think?

My friend came over and helped me get it going again, and explained a few fundamentals of sewing. So today I got out the pattern, and put it together pretty easily. The only part I got stuck on was the waist piece. I only pinned and unpinned it about 16 times, trying to interpret the pattern to get it right! Then I had to go back and shorten the length, which was waaay to long for a 6 year old! What do they think 6 year old are supposed to be, Amazons?

My daughter decided upon looking at the pattern that she wanted a kitty skirt, like the pink one in the picture (did I mention she'd CRAZY about kitty cats?) No poodles for this little miss!

So here it is!

The kitty turned out so cute, and reminds me of a stuffed cat my Aunt gave me when I was young. I think I'm more excited for her to wear it, than she is! I can't wait to get her all dressed up, and show her what the 50's was all about. (Of course, I wasn't there, but you know!)

Ugg, my husband just informed me we have a leak somewhere, 'cause there's water coming down from the ceiling where our window seat is situated. Off to see what's up!
Have a super weekend!

It's finally Spring and vintage bottle ideas

Yes, my Grape Hyacinths are finally up, and my Alyssum is in full bloom! One of my clients gave me several starts off of what she had in her garden, and the Alyssum was one of them. If you have a spot where you want low growing flowers that will spread like crazy, then this is the plant for you! I've had to dig quite a bit of it up this year and last, because it will spread through your beds, creating a messy look.
Can you see the honey bee on the last flower on the right, at the bottom? He seems quite happy!

I'm also digging up a very stubborn Russian Sage, because I have new plans for the area it's in now. I gave up after awhile, saving the last bit of digging for my husband when he gets home. (He doesn't know it, yet!)

Here's my little helper in her Home Depot apron.

I can't wait to really get digging inn my beds when I have more time.

I also have some pictures to inspire you on ways to dress up a vintage bottle. I scored a couple of old bottles last year, at the antique market, and one at a yard sale. You also remember the large green glass bottle I bought at the thrift store last week. Well, here are the little darlings all gussied up!


I took a beaded bracelet, and threaded the antique brass butterfly pendant through it, then hung an old gold locket from it's chain, to add some length. Then I clipped on a square earring onto the bracelet, and finished off the top with a gold button.

A close up of the gold locket.

This one below is a blue bottle, rather heavy, and I dressed it with a vintage paper luggage advertisement, a snippet from a french manual, an old button, and then hung an inspirational verse on an old card, strung with an old pearl button. I topped it off with some french ribbon in a yummy purple.

Tag with button


This last one was a small bottle I got for $1 at the antique market. I decoupaged on a torn page from a french book, then stuck on an old Victorian label, then tied on a vintage metal button with red ribbon. Beautiful!

A close up of the cool button

Hope this inspires you to create! Stay tuned for more fun projects in the works, including a custom name banner you can make for your kids room!

Have a Happy Spring!

Happy Easter to all!

Happy Easter to all! God bless your day and all that you do!

Shelf project idea and laundry area 95% complete!

Happy Easter weekend, ya'll! It is rainy and very windy here today in Colorado, but that persistant ol' sun that we enjoy so much is trying hard to peek through the clouds! I really wanted to go out and work in the garden this morning, but it'll have to wait for another day!

We are going to my niece's house this afternoon to have an Easter egg hunt and enjoy some good food and good company.

Here is the shelf makeover I promised you. Remember the before from my last post? I bought it at a thrift store, and didn't look on the back until last night, when I went to spray paint it. It's marked Longaberger! What a cool find! I almost was afraid to paint it, and then thought, well, I hate it the way it is, so here we go!

Here's another pic of the before:

First, removed the pegs. To do this without losing your mind, take a kitchen towel, and wrap over each peg to protect the wood. Take your hammer, tapping firmly on the end of each peg, to loosen from the hole. Wahlah! Pegs are out!

Then I spay painted it black. Note to self: DO NOT buy the cheapest spray paint, thinking you're saving money cause well, spray paint is spray paint, right? WRONG! I had to do about 1,000 coats to get it to cover, and I just about threw the shelf across the room. (Just kidding, but close!)

2nd note to self: DO NOT think that matte spray paint, and flat spray paint are the same; they ARE NOT. Flat is awful, so I had to finish the shelf off with a satin finish spray paint. Then all was well in Chickadee's land.

After everything is painted to satisfaction, measure your shelf, and pick a coordinating scrapbook paper to accent your shelf with. I settled on paper #3, after trying assorted prints that would go with my family room downstairs.

I then decoupaged the paper onto the flat front under the shelves edge. Feel with your fingers for the original peg holes, and push gently to open the hole back up. Then take your pegs, and pound them back in with a hammer, making sure again to protect your wood by covering the peg top while pounding.

Here is the finished shelf. I love the vintage look of the pattern on this paper. It is old letters and postcards

A close up

Here it is on the wall, complete with all it will hold. Underneath is two metal bins I got at a thrift store a few weeks ago, that are marked PotteryBarn (I'm all about the name brand!). They are perfect to hold all of Macie's shoes.

This area I created with the shelf and the bins sits just as you walk in from the garage into the family room. It's the perfect spot for her to hang coats, her backpack, and drop her shoes.

I feel so organized, what can I say?

My laundry room makeover is also almost complete. Read about it here. The only thing we haven't yet done is to move out the W/D and use our stick on tiles to complete the floor. We did finally get the cabinets hung, and I put my knobs on the doors last night.

I don't have a pic of the before, but trust me, it was bad.

The walls had so many nail and screw marks, and it had never been painted since before we moved in. There were open shelves, so you could see all the junk we were storing on them, all jumbled and messy.

I painted it with a color called Navajo White, took the shelves down, and replaced it with my Craigs list cabinets. Added knobs, put a clip on shade over the bare hanging bulb, and added a nice pull chain.

I pulled all the metal together, color-wise, by using my oil-rubbed bronze I talked about previous.. Like I said in my other post, really underwhelming for most people looking at the pics, but HUGE for me, with how bad it was before!

My lovely new pull chain!


New knobs with new finish

My clip on lamp shade with spray painted finial

Now I just need to add a cute little sign, or some rub one vinyl lettering, to spruce it up a bit more. Thanks for tuning in, and let me know what you think!

Have a safe and fun Easter, everyone! God bless you all!