The Feast...

We are headed down to Puyallup this Thanksgiving Day to celebrate with my husband's family.   I have volunteered myself to make the mashed potatoes (no problem, I'm a pro), Lemon Pie (strange but the hubby loves it and can't stand merengue), a carrot cake (my idea, I am craving carrot cake) and dinner rolls.  I did my shopping yesterday... which would be the Saturday before Thanksgiving.... and decided that instead of taking the easy way out and buying a couple packages of bread or even a few frozen bread doughs, that I am going to make dinner rolls from scratch.   Am I being to overambitious?  Most likely.  Do I have a history of making good bread products?  That would be a big fat no. But I'm gonna give it a go.  I also have to take into consideration the fact that I am working Wednesday from 4:30pm to 9:30pm.   Oh the joys of retail.  So I have to figure out how to not only bake a pie, a cake and proof a crap load of dinner rolls... but also how I am going to cart it an hour and a half down to Mama Grace's house without any mishaps in the mini van.  I also should mention I am working at 3:45am on Black friday.... then heading to my mom's house that afternoon for our Thanksgiving - slash- famiy reunion....only to be back at work at 6:30 am on Saturday morning.  Pictures to follow, recipes may come as well.... gripes definetly on the way.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Word.

Ribbon Spool Organizer.

I have what most people would think is a ton of ribbon.  I love ribbon and all the things I can possibly make, enhance or decorate with it.  My problem was always that I couldn't keep my box of ribbon spools organized to save my life.  I had attempted to make a ribbon organzer in the past using wood, saws, drills and other heavy machinery and gave up.  Why was I trying to make things so difficult?  Then one day I was at my local Michael's Craft store and found some photo boxes on sale at 6 for $10.... this is a steal since they are usually like $5 each.  Needless to say I brought a bunch home.  After re-organizing my craft area I had a few left over and still hadn't tackled my ribbon issue.  Then the idea hit me like a ton of ribbon (yuk yuk).... here it is. And again, I apologize that this project was finished before I thought of making a tutorial.  I will do things in the proper order one of these days.

Things you will need:
Photo boxes
Wooden dowels
Exacto knife
Rubber bands

First thing to do is to figure out where to make your holes so that two rows of spools will fit in each box.  I measured and then made a cardboard template so that all my boxes were even.  After you have marked where your holes will go, use an exacto knife to cut a small X on each mark.... you will have 4 X's per box, 2 on each end.  Cut your wooden dowels so that they are about an inch longer than the length of your box.  Press the dowels through one end of the box and out the other.  It will take a little force the first time you do this.  Pull the dowels back out of the second hole and load up your spools.  Reinsert the dowel into the second hole and fasten each end with a rubberband to keep the dowels in place.  Marvel at what you have done and never have to search for that one spool of ribbon ever again.

I love this so much because not only are they organized and stackable, they are portable and I can load them up with the ribbon I am using for certain projects and take my crafting on the road.

Upcycled Book Page Christmas Ornaments.

I am decorating my tree this year using only pages from books turned into new things.  The past few years I have had these very beautiful department store looking trees and wanted to do something a little different this year...without spending any money on buying new decor.  I have a ton of books and while most of them are great stories, I do have a few that were too terrible to even get me past chapter one.  If you don't have any books on hand that you don't mind destroying you can always get pretty cheap ones at the Goodwill or even your local library.  I am also using some of my dollar store plastic bulb ornaments from the last couple years (great for when we had a little one crawling and toddling around - no breakage).    Try to ignore my disgusting manicure.... I've been busy.

Things you will need:
Christmas tree bulb ornaments - glass or plastic
Old books - be sure no one in your house is reading it at the time
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors
Pen
Small circular item to trace around

Tear out about 8-10 pages at a time depending on the thickness of your pages and how many your scissors can cut through cleanly.

Trace around your circular item and try to get as many circles on the page as you can. I used a little condiment dipping cup, use whatever you like.  It should be about 1.5" across.
Cut out all your circles

Using your hot glue gun and starting at the bottom of your bulb ornament glue on 4 circles. Repeat this step moving up the bulb for a total of 7 rows for a 2" bulb.... or as many as you like.

I think these are pretty cute and as an added bonus they look like a flower when turned over which only gives me more ideas!

Leafy Turkey... a FREE crafting project.

Last week my toddler and I were at the park.  All around us were some of the most beautifully colored fall leaves.  I knew I had wanted to do some kind of craft with my little one using leaves, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do yet.  I happened to have an empty bag in my car... among other things, and we got to collecting.  When I got home we placed the leaves in a giant (and I mean GIANT) dictionary and promptly forgot about them for about a week.  Last year we made turkeys by tracing her hand onto multiple layers of foam paper.  This year I wanted to up the ante on the turkey and came up with this cute idea.  Its nothing more than the dried, pressed leaves, some cardstock, a little elmers glue and a sharpie for the eyes, legs and lettering.  Such a fun, free craft that really made us both appreciate the beautiful leaves we both found.

Like a new pair of jeans.... almost.

I have  a little girl who will be turning 3 in December.  Problem is, while she still fits into the 24 month pants waist size, she has almost outgrown the length of 3T.  My solution, while very simple and easy to do, was to add length to the bottom of the jeans by letting out the hem and attaching a pretty ribbon at the bottom.  I happen to have a ton of ribbon in my craft stash so the hardest thing was picking the ribbon that would work with the majority of her outfits.... like that really matters at 3.   Okay, so I finished the project before I ever thought of making a tutorial.  That being said, all I have pictures of is the finished product.  But I can walk you through it.... kind of.

1.  Gather all the jeans that need to be fixed.
2.  Get your seam ripper handy an undo those bottom hems.   Leaving only the first roll of the hem folded.... there are two rolls of the hem.  This just ensures a clean edge.
3.  Iron the bottom of the jeans flat.
4.  Pin your ribbon onto the bottom of each leg leaving about 1/2 inch of overlay where the ends meet. 
5.  Fold the overlay of ribbon in where the ends meet and pin so that you have a clean edge.
6.  Sew around the top most part of the ribbon and then again about an inch down, being sure to secure the bottom roll of denim with the stitching.  
6.  Sew the seam of the two ends of ribbon.

Sorry if any of that sucks it's way into making no sense... next time I will take step by step pictures.... I'm sure you are an intelligent person (or you wouldn't be here) and you can figure out what works best for you.  I just wanted to get the idea out there.