Fore Your Birthday

 

I made this fun little card and matching envelope for Chad's birthday. The tie closure envelope was made with a sheet of cardstock, twine, and buttons. I think it turned out pretty cool and makes a neat presentation for a hand delivered card. Next time I will wait to seal the bottom of the envelope before stitching the buttons into place. I love the way it turned out and know he'll love it!

The sentiment came from a stamp set called On The Links by Papertrey Ink. The plaid paper came from Pink Paislee, Old School I believe was the collection name. I found the vintage golfer stamp on Ebay from Flonzcraft. They are based in New Zealand so it takes a little while to get stamps from them in the mail. I've bought several other golfer images as well as custom made stamps from them. And have been very pleased with all my purchases.  

Happy Heart Day!

Goodness Valentine's Day will be here before we know it!

I thought I'd start to come up with some treat bags for Parker's classmates. I found these fun red and white chevron treat bags and wanted to add a little something to them. I decided I wanted to pair them with a pop of turquoise. I love the color combo. That cute little tag Happy Heart Day is part of a set called Tags 4 You by Stampin' Up! After I finished the treat bag I decided to use another one to make a coordinating card. On both the card and treat bag I used some red and turquoise twine. I also used a couple of dies from Papertrey Ink, Mat Stack 4 and Layerz Mat Stack 4 . I found the lovely cherub image from a set called Romance Sentiments by MSE! The with love sentiment also came from them a long time ago. Now to make 22 more bags for the kids. :) 

Enjoy your retirement

 

Chad and I have a friend that is retiring from the Army so I wanted to make him a card. Since I will be hand delivering his card, I decided to make a tie enclosure envelope to match. I think it makes it feel even more special, important if you will. I'm sure he will appreciate it.



I just can't seen to get enough wood grain paper, stamps, and embossing folders. I love it all! I found this herringbone paper at Hobby Lobby. I used a couple of tree stamps, the one in the middle came from Gina K Designs and the other from Stampin' Up! The sentiment came from a set called On The Links by Papertrey Ink.



Through Stormy Seas

 

I was flipping through all my stamps looking for some inspiration to make a card when I came across this one. I bought it from Close To My Heart a long time ago. It was about time I inked it up. The fun red, white, and blue twine is called Air Mail Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics.  

I'll be giving this to Chad for our anniversary in June. It will be our 19 year anniversary. Crazy! It's hard to believe we've been together for so long. I don't feel like I'm old enough to even say that!

Amazing Goodwill Store Find

 

Yesterday I found this turned wood lamp at Goodwill for only $3.99.

 

I thought about painting it, but the wood was in such beautiful condition. I decided to simply remove the old lamp component and top it with a pillar candle. I can only imagine how much the lamp had originally cost. It stands at 22" tall. If I found this at somewhere like Pier One or Pottery Barn it would have easily cost $100. I think it's a pretty amazing Goodwill Store find!

Now if I can be so luck again! lol

Kitchen Organization

 

How do you organize your pots and pans?

 

I asked Chad to get me something to organize my kitchen. I couldn't stand having to lift up, and pull out all my pans to get to the one on the bottom. It seems like I always want to pull out my big 12" pan that is on the very bottom. What a hassle having them stacked on top of each other.

 



 

We bought two different styles of Rev-A-Shelf 2-tier pull out cabinet baskets. One side neatly organizes all my pans and lids. The other side stores pots and colanders.

 

The new system pulls out smoothly and everything is easy to access. I am thrilled this project is completed. It only took about an hour from start to finish. Including pulling everything out of the cabinet, cutting out the existing shelf, assembling the new storage system, and putting everything in it's new home. It was under $150 and worth every penny!

The Hardwood Steps Are Finished

 

My Christmas present is finished and I could not be any happier!

I love the hard wood steps and iron rails!

 

Chad did such an amazing job finishing the stairs. He's fantastic at detail work!

This has made the house feel so much cleaner, modern.

 

 

The house immediately felt cleaner after all the carpet was gone.

 

 

I don't seem to have a good before picture of the stairs. This does show the carpet we removed, and gives a glimpse of the white balusters. Definitely a shock seeing just how dirty the carpet really was. We could have shampooed the carpet another 100 times and it still would have been filthy. 

It's hard to believe that the stairs looked like this when we first bought the house. All chewed, covered in dog urine and hair.

 

 

And I'm not kidding about dog urine and hair.

Can you imagine living like that???

Yucky! Look at the baluster.

Making Buckeyes for Christmas and Chocolate Candy Spoons

 

I found these cute little gingerbread tins at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 each regular price. Oh my goodness, do they ever have a ton of cute gingerbread themed items this year! I had so much fun shopping. The tins are the perfect size to fill with treats for Christmas gift giving. I made Buckeyes for Chad to take to some of his co-workers. To make the gift tags I used some red and green glitter wrapping paper. The stamp sentiment came from Stampin Up! The Holiday Twine twine came from Divine Twine. I just love the green and red twist in it!

 

Now onto the recipe...

 

 

Buckeyes Recipe

 

2 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 1/4 cups melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 pound (32 ounce) package powdered sugar

 

2 packages chocolate candy melts

2 teaspoons shortening

 

In a large bowl mix peanut butter, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Next add powdered sugar and work dough until completely blended. Line a metal tray with wax paper. Make sure it will lay flat in your freezer. You'll thank me later :) I like to use a melon baller to form the balls for the buckeyes. This helps keep the balls a consistent size, I can make about 12 dozen buckeyes with this recipe. After all the balls are formed place them in the freezer and take a break. That was a ton of work!

 

 

As soon as the balls are frozen, and you are ready to resume the process, it will be time to dip in chocolate. Line another metal cookie sheet with wax paper. Clear a shelf in your refrigerator for the metal tray.  I like to start with one bag of candy melts at a time. Place a small bowl on a potholder, add bag of candy melts and a teaspoon of shortening. Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power. Stir, then continue to microwave at 50% power for 30 second intervals until smooth. Placing the pot holder under the bowl will make it easier to take in and out of the microwave with out burning your hands. You'll thank me for this tip later too :)  Stick a toothpick into a peanut butter ball and dip it in the chocolate, place on cookie sheet. Continue the process until all the balls are dipped.  Since the balls were frozen when dipped in the melted chocolate, the chocolate will harden pretty quickly. Place them in the refrigerator until ready to package, or just begin to enjoy!

 

 

One last tip today, If you use a plastic spoon to stir the chocolate you will be able to use it later to make chocolate dipped spoons. It's a great way to use up any left over chocolate. Plus that means less to clean up.

Fill a coffee mug with candies or homemade cocoa and mini marshmallows and you have a sweet little gift for friends or neighbors. Yummy!

I'm sharing this with Cuttin and Stampin, Fan-Tastic Tuesday, and Papertake Weekly.

Glittered Cinnamon Gingerbread Ornaments Recipe

 

Last year I made some Cinnamon Gingerbread ornaments, and loved the way they smelled. When I unwrapped them this year I could hardly believe just how good they still smelled. So I decided to make more this year to give as gifts. 

 

The glitter looks so pretty on the ornaments. I love the way it sparkles when the light hits them. I bought the fun Holiday Twine from Divine Twine that's used on my gingy ornaments.

 

Cinnamon Ornament Recipe

1 cup of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of ground nutmeg
1 cup of applesauce (I like to use cinnamon applesauce)
2 tablespoons of white glue

Mix ingredients until they come together to form a dough. I like to roll the dough out in-between 2 sheets of wax paper to make cleanup easier and quicker. This will make about 2 dozen ornaments depending on the size of the cookie cutters you use. I use a small straw from a kids drink (like juice boxes or Capri Sun) to make the hole to hang the ornaments. You can air dry your ornaments few days, turning at least a couple of times a day. If you prefer, you can bake in a 200 degree oven for about 2 hours. I found the air drying keeps the cinnamon ornaments a lighter color as opposed to baking them.
Once the ornaments are dried they just need ribbon or twine to hang on your tree. It's also fun to decorate them. This year I decided to glitter mine up. After using Mod Podge to add glitter to your ornaments, you will want them to air dry for another day. That way the glue smell will dissipate and the cinnamon fragrance will come through again. Be sure to clear the holes of any glue and glitter before allowing to dry, otherwise it will become difficult to string with ribbon later.

You Rock!

I ordered a new die from Die-Versions called You Rock! I just love it! I can't even begin to guess how many times a day I say fabulous, cool, and You Rock! I was thinking about making a card, but when I started going through all my patterned papers I found this one. I knew it was perfect to make a scrapbook page. It was nice being able to sit down and look through old photos to use for this page. Lot's of great memories! I feel so blessed to have such a good man as my husband and father to our son Parker. Chad is such a good daddy!

Time certainly has flown by since Parker was a baby. It's still hard to believe he's seven. He is so tall! I'm only one foot taller than him! I'm sure Parker will end up being six foot tall. In the picture in the upper right corner, you might notice the 4 picture frames. I inked up Parker's hands and feet when he was a couple of weeks old. Those will be treasured forever!