Groupon deal 1/16/2012

Hey everyone!  Today's Columbus area Groupon is great.  You get $20 worth of Kingy's Pub food for $10!  I snatched mine up... follow this link and get yours!

Groupon

My very first crochet project... COMPLETE!

So, as I had shown in an earlier post that I have recently learned how to knit.  However, although I love knitting (especially dish cloth's because they are the best!), I have also wanted to learn how to crochet.  So, my 10 year old taught me how to single and double crochet over the weekend and within 1 day I finished a small scarf for my 4 year old Isabelle.

My beautiful little model!

Even though I did not add any tassel's or anything fancy like that I think it's still a cute simple scarf.  As I finish more projects I will post pictures and even where I have found the patterns.  This particular scarf I did not have a pattern for and I just made it as wide as I thought a toddler scarf would be!  FUN STUFF!  

P.S. I have also been diligently working on my up-cycled braided rug made from old bed sheets... I will post pictures and the site for directions when I complete that project as well!

Christmas cards!

So, as part of the season, everyone either buys or makes Christmas cards to send to family and loved ones.  Unfortunately, I was not one of them this year.  Don't ask why... but it just didn't happen.  However, I did make some cards to put gift cards in and to prep for next years Christmas card giveaways!

This year, I found some great ideas online and thought I would share some of the ones that I tried using my trusty Cricut!

This card has flocking instead of glitter.  It gives a nice fuzzy effect.

These cards I made using the card feature on my Winter Woodland cartridge.  If you have that cartridge it has a lot of great cards that you can easily make.  And I then added the glitter and flocking with packing tape on the reverse side of the cards!

This tag I created a Archiver's during one of their make and take weekends (which are tons of fun by the way!).  You can find the directions on how to make the tag here.  I added green and pearl gel pens on the candy's instead of red.  I thought it added a nice touch!

This is also another card I created using my Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge.  This cartridge is great because it has pre-holed banner triangles and several cards that you can make including some really cute birthday die-cuts!

Homemade Scrubs

As it is Christmas, and a Season for giving, I have decided to put together some really easy and affordable gifts that you can give to some of the special people in your children's lives.  This year was my daughter Isabelle's first year of school, which meant I needed to find a gift for her teacher.  I chose to try out my ability to make a homemade scrub.  I tried several but the one I liked the best was a Peppermint Sugar Scrub that I named "Candy Cane Scrub" in spirit of the season.  This project was inexpensive, but had a really great turnout and was so simple anyone can do.  I chose a jar that had a latch closure as I thought this would keep the scrub the freshest and intact within the jar.

These are the supplies that I used to create all of the scrubs that I attempted (minus the Starbucks... that one was for me)

Here is the recipe that I used for the Candy Cane Scrub:

4 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of Granulated Sugar

2 teaspoons of Olive Oil

1 teaspoon of Flax Oil

3-5 drops of Peppermint Oil

Now, I used all Olive Oil and did not use the Flax Oil, but you can add any mixture of oils that you would like in addition to the Olive Oil.  

Here is my finished product!

I used my trusty Cricut to make a cute label for my jar and a ribbon and you have a cute affordable gift for anyone!  This particular jar of scrub cost me about $2.80 and $1.99 of that was the cost of my jar!  Thanks Tip Junkie!

Christmas Crafts!

Today is "Black Friday" and yes, I did participate in the madness.  However, I participated at 6am instead of Midnight like the rest of the crazies!  That being said I was able to squeeze in a couple of projects that I needed to complete as part of my holiday decorating.

First I completed decorating my $5 fresh balsam fir wreath that I purchased at Home Depot today.  A while ago at a craft show I bought an adorable large wooden candy cane that I thought would be perfect on a wreath.  And I also added some old bows that I have had literally forever, some LED lights and **POOF** I have an adorable wreath for all to enjoy!

Secondly I made a fabric shower curtain from some material I bought at 60% off at Jo-Ann's and some $1 ribbon.  It adds a really nice touch to my drab bathroom (which is in desperate need of an over-haul).

This shower curtain was super easy, with 4 yards of material and 1 spool of grosgrain ribbon.  All seams are measured at 1" and depending on how wide your shower is that would be the measurements for your ribbon placement.  Happy Holiday's everyone!

What old is new...

So, I know I haven't posted in FOREVER!  And I do apologize, but I have been busy with school, dance, and getting ready for the holidays!  But I did squeeze in a little time yesterday to finish a little project with my 10 yr. old.  Having three girls I am always interested in doing things a little different and since I was recently handed down a dresser from my Aunt I thought it would be a great opprotunity to give it a face-lift.  And since I was giving that dresser a face-lift I thought, why not give the other dresser a face-lift as well!  Here is what the two dresser's looked like before...

This was the hand-me-down dresser from my Aunt.  Still in good condition but desperately needed paint and new knobs.



This is an old dresser that was mine when I was a kid, and was in desperate need of a face-lift.

So yesterday on our trek to Home Depot, we picked up some Turquoise (Disney), Metallic Silver, and Silver glitter paint (both from Martha Stewart).  After a lot of hard work, new knobs, and several coats of paint, they girls both had brand new dressers!  The glitter paint had a really cool effect, but was hard to capture on camera.

This is the "new" hand me down dresser!  I think it turned out great!

I tried to get a close up to capture the glitter paint, but the picture does not do it justice.

Homemade Turkey & Noodles

So, last week I made my very first attempt at cooking a turkey.  It actually turned out great, and seeing as I bought the turkey around Christmas last year for less than $5 it has made a great meat for lunches!  Talking to my husband last night, he proclaimed he is tired of eating turkey sandwiches and asked if I would make turkey and noodles for dinner tonight.  Keeping in mind that I have NEVER made homemade noodles and really don't have any luck cooking them, this should be interesting!  Looking online I found a great Chicken and Noodles recipe at The Pioneer Woman.  She has a great website with full tutorials and recipes on how to make things and has really great ideas on home interior and general everyday life!

Here is the pictures of my final noodles, I probably should have cooked them a little longer but I thought they were delicious!