Handmade Vintage-y Tea Towels

Wonderful pinterest gave me an idea to hand make some cute tea towels for the recent craft exchange I participated in. These towels are cheap and easy. You could buy some already made towels from Joanns or Hobby Lobby, or make your own like I did. Just cut the fabric to the size you want, and double iron the edges over and sew.Then, out of paper, I made my own stencil to place on the fabric, and apply pretty metallic paint.

Then sew on the pom pom embellishment.

I think they turned out pretty cute, don't you? They are strictly for decoration, I wouldn't really use them.

A few last minute Thanksgiving things...

If you haven’t quite got all of your holiday planned, these cute ideas could be just what you need.

Yum! My mouth is watering just looking at the description for this pumpkin chocolate tart.

These free printables would look so cute on your table, and it seems like they’ve thought of everything. My family is definitely making this Thankful Tree— we have so much to be grateful for! Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Not the sneak peak I wanted, but....

A couple months ago, I purchased a huge, antique buffet table. It has been so fun to paint and finish it, watching the transformation. It took a while to decide on drawer knobs, but it'll be complete in just a few days. The buffet has been sitting in our dining room, knobless, but beautiful just the same. We were hanging out today when I noticed the new creative addition Elsie had added.

Dang! I guess she couldn't find a handy piece of paper. I'll try soap and water, then just repaint if necessary!

11.11.11 Impel Clothing Sale

Remember when I posted my review of Impel Clothing? They are having an awesome special, just today! All camis, tees, and lace tops are only $11. That's such a good deal! Click on the Impel ad on my right sidebar and check it out!

Winter Delights and Shabby Apple Dresses

Hallelujah, I have a computer again! I've been going through some serious withdrawals. Even worst than no computer, we had a big snowstorm and had no power for 36 hours. Dang, was it cold. Little E slept between us, with at least 10 blankets stacked on us.

I have been loving the stay-inside, cold-weather fun E and I have been having. Last night she helped carve her first pumpkin!

With fabulous Pinterest as our inspiration, here are some fun things we've been doing:

** This Jello Playdough was easy to make and the smell.... YUM. We made some cherry that smells just like Poptarts! This creamy Tortellini Soup is a perfect cold-weather food.

These ooey-gooey smores bars were delightful too!

On another note, I've been looking at the brightly colored, fabulous dresses on Shabby Apple. Ahhh... isn't this Fushia Aloha dress beautiful? These dresses are top quality, and I love that they're all so different. If you live near Holiday, UT, they're having a trunk sale next week on the 3rd. Too bad I can't teleport. I'll have to save my pennies and buy it for spring. Get ready for a blogging overload next week!

No-Sew Adorable Owl Costume

My little gal isn't a fan of anything restricting, so I knew her costume this year would have to be simple and adorable. She loves birds, so a whimsical owl is very appropriate. Plus, a glue gun is all you need to piece it together!
I used:
*A hoodie I got on clearance last year. ** Check thrift stores or walmart for a cheap one
* About 1/4 yd each of three coordinating fleece solids to go with the purple hoodie. (Joanns has them on sale all the time)
* A small square of felt in white, black and yellow, for the eyes, stomach, and beak.
* A glue gun with lots of glue 1. Here comes the cutting! Out of the white felt, cut an oval for the belly, as well as two circles, and small half-moon shapes for the eyes. Cut smaller eye circles from the black felt, and a beak from the yellow. (It is not shown in the picture, but I also cut out some feet shapes, with holes just big enough to slip around her ankles)
Make a feather template from paper (my feathers are 5" tip to tip, and 3 1/2" across.) Start cutting out feathers till you have enough. ** I used 20-25 of each color for a toddler-size costume.
I cut the stomach oval in half and glued one to each side, keeping space open for the zipper. Then starting at the bottom, glue one color of feathers in a row, their sides barely overlapping. Make sure to only apply glue to the top half of the feathers, so they can flutter about as your cutie is moving. Continue layering up, in different colors, making sure each new row is placed adjacently, filling in the spaces between the feathers underneath it.

When you are finished with the body, start at the bottom of each arm and work your way up. Then, finish the back the same way. Fill in additional feathers wherever needed.

Lastly, glue on the eyes and beak.

Your little one is sure to be cozy warm and flying in style the Halloween.

**Although she didn't mean to do it, the bulk of this costume made little E hold her arms out, just like a soaring birdie! Oh how I love her!

Leopard Skinnies

You better believe that if I could find them in my size, E and I would have matching leopard skinny jeans! Is there anything cuter?!

So many fabrics, so little time

I apologize for not being very present. Our hard drive crashed and we've been trying to get by with using the computer at the library. I am so thankful for new followers and nice comments. Look for a giveaway next week!
Beautiful fabric is my weakness, my favorite eye-candy, my obsession. Here are a few patterns (all found at Fat Quarter Shop online) I'm drooling over right now:




Sweetwater Hometown
Supposedly you can find basically any town's name in the fabric. Can you find yours? I love the vintage-y feel this gives. If it wasn't so dang expensive, I'd make a new body pillow cover out of it to go with the new grey theme of our bedroom.



Farm Fresh by Riley Blake
Wouldn't this collection be darling for a baby boy or girl's room. I especially love the animal prints! I think I'll use it for our next baby if we don't find out the gender. ** It comes with a green background (Grassland,) or a blue background (Prairie.)

Organic Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler
I'm always a fan of Amy Butler's funky prints. A couple choices from this collection would go great with the Kelly Green Anthro bedspread I'm making.
**More on the Anthro bedspread is coming soon. It has taken longer than expected to put everything together. Guess you know what I'm doing this weekend!

Soup Anyone?

While Princess E’s computer is on the blink, her Grammy B has been given permission to put up a few posts. Here goes…

Fall is just around the corner and that means: Soup Time! I found this soup recipe in the LDS Living magazine today and with my overflowing basket of zucchini decided to give it a try. And…it is a yummy appetizer. I tweaked the recipe a bit:

Easy Cream Cheese Zucchini Soup

4 cups sliced zucchini

4 cups water, 1 cup ice cubes

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese

1 envelope onion soup mix or vegetable soup mix

Cook zucchini and soup mix in 4 cups water until very tender. Take off stove and add 1 cup ice to cool. Pour into blender. Add cream cheese. Blend until smooth. (My blender was too small to do this all at once, so I did it in two bunches.) Return to pot and heat through. Slurp.

Serves 6

I'm guest posting today!

I'm just thrilled to be guest posting over at Lolly Jane Boutique today. These twin sisters have an awesome vinyl shop, share tons of great tutorials, and have weekly link parties. Here's the cute and unique cuckoo clock with one of their vinyl designs that I'm looking forward to making soon. It'll be adorable in my kitchen. Head on over and check me out!

Easiest Ruffle Dress Tutorial

**** Originally posted on Lolly Jane****

My Princess E. is already all girl. She loves putting on mommy's jewelry and filling her purse with "treasures." I'm always on the lookout for new "pretties" to make her. Today I want to share a super simple tutorial for a boutique-looking baby/ girl's dress. This dress will look so fancy on your little sweetie, and it will take 1 hour at the most to make. I found this already ruffled, beautiful fabric at Hobby Lobby for $7.00 a yard, and knew it would be perfect! Just look at those yummy ruffles!
1. For the dress width, I measured E around the chest, (19"), then added 2" for seam allowance and a little room (21".) Since I cut a front and back panel, I divided 21" in half and made each panel 10 1/2" wide. I decided how long I wanted the dress, and added 1" to be able to hem the top and bottom when finished. For the straps, I cut two pieces 9" long by 5" wide. (They'll be sewn into tubes)
2. Lay both dress pieces right sides together, making sure ruffles are facing the right way. To ensure that, after each pin, pull up the dress vertical and shake it to help them fall the right way. Fold the strap pieces in half, with the right side of the fabric on the inside. Sew the straps to form two tubes, and turn right side out. Sew both sides of the dress together, making sure to start at the top, to make sure the ruffles are sewn down correctly.

Keeping the dress inside-out, fold out the top and bottom openings 1/2" for hems, iron, and pin.

Then pin the straps to the front and back of the dress, 1" from side seam lines. Make sure you can see the seams on the outside, so they'll be hidden when the dress is right side out.

Sew the bottom and top seams, making sure not to catch any ruffles in the stitching. (Mine didn't turn out quite perfect, but it's really hard to see on this fabric!) Turn right side out, trim threads, and iron if needed.

Now what's a plain old black dress without a pop of fab color? I rolled a few fabric rosettes and made a matching necklace and hair clip set with them.

Isn't she such a dolly? It's easy to make things when you've got someone cute to wear them!

Super Saturday Centerpieces

Once a year, the women at church gather for an all-out crafting bonanza called Super Saturday. I had the opportunity to plan several aspects of the day, including decorations for lunch tables. With no money, I had to use already accrued items. Since I love glass jars, I thought it would be great to fill them with collections of cute craft items. Here are a couple examples. Didn't they turn out cute?

Making a Terrarium

One of the biggest reasons I dislike winter is because of the lack of lively green. I get so much energy from being outside with the sunshine and plants. While I can't change the whole winter lack-of-sun situation, I can brighten up our house with some green.

I've wanted to try making a terrarium for a while now, and I finally found a good glass container and some cute little plants on clearance at Lowes. Hurry quick while they still have some plants!

I chose two varieties: the one on the right is a Creeping Fig Ficus, and the one on the left is Irish Moss. I was told that slow-growing mosses, ferns, and some other plants are the best for terrariums. I think the Ficus might grow tall to fast, and I'll just have to trim it. (Little E loved running her hand over the fuzzy moss!)I found this egg-shaped glass container at the thrift store for a dollar. A container with a lid works best so the moisture can be sealed in. First, layer the bottom with rocks so the water will have a place to drain. Then, add a layer of potting soil. Add the plants and enjoy your little beauty! Mine lives on the windowsill because these plants love sun!

Upcycled Wood Quote Art

Our poor master bedroom has been so neglected, and I'm starting to put together some fun things for it. I haven't quite decided on the color scheme, but I know I want turquoise in it, so that's the color this project ended up being. The ReStore by my house always has tons of cheap wood pieces, perfect for creating cute, inexpensive art. I bought a thin board, and decided to put one of my favorite quotes on it.
** Spray paint the board white and let it dry.
** Print out the words you want in the desired font style and size. Then, put in a good movie, and cut out all the letters. (Be prepared for about an hour of cutting.)
** Using spray adhesive, attach the paper letters to the board. (One line at a time, I put the letters face-down on the ground, and sprayed a light coat of adhesive. Then I waited for about 30 seconds before positioning on the board.)
The great thing is that this light stick will allow you to reposition if you need to.
** Once you have all paper letters in place, spray with desired color, making sure to spray board straight on, to avoid getting paint under letters.
** Let paint dry, and peel off letters.
** Sand as desired. I love this sweet quote by Marjorie Hinckley. It will be a great reminder for hubby and I to help support each others dreams. And isn't the little piggy with wings so cute?!

Fabulous Oatmeal Nutella Cookie Sandwiches

So I diverted from my norm of eating spoonfuls of wonderful Nutella straight from the jar, and decided to try these little babies out. The recipe is from THIS blog, which is full of mouth-watering, gotta-try foods. Oatmeal cookies + Nutella are the perfect combo. The cookies are crispy, buttery, and a bit nutty, and the Nutella is rich, creamy, and just plain heavenly. (Let's just overlook the fact that 2 tablespoons of the stuff pack 200 calories.) Try em-- You'll love em!

Design Seeds: Color palette inspiration

A few months ago, I read that when designing a room, you should focus more on the feeling your choices evoke, than just the actual colors and patterns. Sounds easy enough, right? Well... while I love color, and have so many ideas of what to do with "this color" or "that color," it's a struggle to put them together without creating a rainbow mess. Luckily, here comes the answer to my problems!

At Design Seeds, you can find countless color match-ups and palettes, so there's certainly one to fit what you're looking for.

I love the warmth and vibrance in this scheme- perfect for little E's room. ** Remember the aqua nightstand I redid? Now it's time to sew a bedspread!

I also bought some great grey sheets with a small geometric pattern on them, hoping to re-do our bedroom. I'm looking for something soothing, but still friendly and livable. I like all of these palettes for different reasons: The red, yellow, and blue is very classic, and is a good balance of warm and cool. The collection of neutrals is so soothing and clean, and could be spa-like. The warm orange, lavender, and pink is my favorite, but is it too girly for the hubs? It does have navy as well. Any thoughts? Please share suggestions, and head on over to design seeds. Have fun!