Recent Reads

Checked out Big-Ass Book of Crafts by Mark Montano is a fun book! Lots of kitschy crafts. Switch plates, hanging lamps, punk plates, Japanese hand-mirrors, Warhol litho-pillow, ultra-suede covered containers, fabric covered hangers and so many more. It is a big ass book of crafts but lots of fun.





Another I am reading right now is Home Hints and Tips by Rosamund Richardson. It is very interesting but also making me a little batty. It is a guide to living in modern times naturally, safely, leaving less of a foot print on the planet and just over all more healthy. Talks about all the toxins in paints, wax on foods, plastics leaching and so on - so making me a little sick to my stomach when I think about it all. It has great tips and resources though.

I would like to have both on my bookshelf.

Blog Hopping

Newspaper Bunting @ Maya Made - a great way to repurpose newspaper - fun and easy!

Daffodil Napkin Rings @ Good Housekeeping Crafts - fun, easy and cheery for Spring and Easter!

Make Coasters from Paper Napkins and Tiles @ Curbly - I thought of my Mom with this one only because she likes pretty decorative paper napkins. And it is something I am sure I got from her too because my friends could testify that most packages they get from me has paper napkins in it.

And then one non-craft - more decorating that I just think is cute...

Bundt Pans on the Wall @ 2Modern - I have seen pans like that at thrift store. Even make them bright and new again by using magic erasers on them and maybe doing a coat of paint on them since they are just being decoration

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This year I did lots of homemade gifts as we had a big investment in our business recently. My other criteria was I needed simple just like the clothes pins and little notebooks as I didn't have a lot of time this year as we were so busy with work.

So here are a few simple gifts I made...

Two frames - one for each set of parents. The frames I picked up at Dollar Tree. They were really flat plain wooden frames - perfect for embellishing. The ripped up paper is layered and glued on the frame. The paper is from a daily meditation/devotion book - and I used all the love, marriage and companionship type entries.


A frame for Michael's parents with a photo he took of them at their 50th Wedding Anniversary party. I rubbed antiquing tint on it with a sponge and then turquoise blue as it is a favorite color of Michael's Mom. And then they both really enjoy scrabble so I used scrabble type letters to spell out love.


This one was for my parents. The photo is one that Michael took of them when they were here for my birthday in October. On my parents I rubbed with antiquing tint again but then used white over it instead of the blue like Michael's parents frame. I embellished with scrapbooking elements.


And then I made this for my Dad. It is a clipboard that I picked up at again Dollar Tree. It has a little slide hanger on it so it can be hung up. I just basically did a scrapbooking layout on it. I glued down 3 different papers, then 3 photos on top were again from October when my parents visited that I roughed up around the edges. I embellished with tags and other little bits.

Crafts @ Christmas

We get peanuts at Sam's in the BIG tins. I have thought there has to be things I can do with them. And I have used a couple for art supplies. But then I thought for Christmas they might make good treat tins. This is the tin I did for Michael's parents.


I had 2 simple little crafts I did this year that I included I think in everyone's Christmas presents. The first is what I was calling gratitude journals. Just little journals to jot down gratitude as you think of it or need. I then expanded it to wish journals, simple pleasure, everyday moments, ideas, memories and so on. So the next 2 pictures are just a sampling of a few of them.





The other craft that was so so simple. I painted clothes pins and then used rubber stamps on them. On the back of the clothes pins I attached magnets. So little magnet memo clips....