Craft Room Organizing

Well my hands have been tied when it comes to moving things into my craft room. Unfortunately I don't have the muscles to move in shelves, desks and my work table so I am at the mercy of the work schedules of the strong men in my family. So I did the next best thing, I went shopping.

I found these cute glass jars at the Dollar Tree which I thought would make good storage for crafting supplies. I found some really cute ribbon at the Dollar Tree too.

I picked up these four shaker jars for storing glitter in. Below them is a package of six smaller jars for even more crafting supplies.

I bought these baskets a few weeks ago to go in the craft table my son made for me.

And this little old plain jane lamp is getting a make over. Stay tuned for the transformation.

I am a Snapdragon baby!

Here is a fun little test to take.

I am a snapdragon, what are you.
Click on the flower and take a simple
test to see what kind of of flower you are.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Not Yo Mama's Rice Krispie Bars

Stop by the linky part at Santa's Gift Shoppe.

One of our family's all time favorite treats is Rice Krispie Bars. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Janyce over 35 years ago so you can tell it has stood the test of time. These are a MUST for camping trips and just about any other get together we have. It deserves to be served on a pedestal, no really they are that good.
Here they are in the pan. As you can see they have already been tasted a few times.
Here is the recipe:

1 cup sugar

1 cup light Karo syrup

1 cup creamy peanut butter

7 cups Rice Krispie cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Mix the sugar and Karo syrup in a medium sauce pan. Stir over med-high heat until it starts to boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute then remove from heat and add peanut butter, stirring until melted and smooth. Pour over pre-measured cereal in a large bowl. Stir until cereal is coated.

Press into 9x13 pan that has been buttered.

Melt the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together in a bowl in the microwave for 1 minute at a time stirring until smooth. Pour over cereal mixture and spread with a knife to cover. Let set until chocolate is firm.

(If you can't wait that long then put in refrigerator for about 30 minutes. If you still can't wait that long then put in freezer to hasten the hardening of the chocolate for about 10 minutes.)

Pretty Maids All In A Row

I thought I would share with you some really cute little vases I found at JoAnn's. I am also in love with Gerber Daisies so I thought they would look really cute individually in these vases, and they looked adorable.

THE QUESTION IS: do they look better on the shelf with the birds and birdhouse or... ...in the window sill? I can't decide. Either way they make me smile because of their simplicity.
Where would you put them?

Craftroom Progress

I am linking up with the Metamorphis Monday party at Between Naps On The Porch
There is progress being made on my craft room. Unfortunately it involved painting...can I tell you how much I HATE painting? I think the look on my face says it all. (I am pretty brave for even posting this picture but I wanted to make a point, I REALLY HATE TO PAINT.) This is my wonderful husband slaving away installing the flooring. He was such a trooper and got the whole floor laid in about eight hours yesterday. I can't say enough about what a good sport he has been by getting this room together for me. I am so blessed.

It is starting to take shape here. I love how it looks.


At last, it is complete. I don't know if the pictures do it justice but it is beautiful.

Here is another shot. That is my husband's grandmothers tea cart in the corner, it is really cute, I can't wait to put everything together in here.

Here is a picture of a very happy me. Progress makes me happy.
Now all that is left to do is put the trim back up.
Hopefully I will be able to post the room put together this week. I am also doing a garage sale on Saturday so I'm not sure how much I will get done.

New Friend Friday

I am taking the plunge and joining up with the fun over at The Creative Girl blog. This looks like a fun way to make new friends out in blogland. Head on over to her blog and see what the talk is all about.

Teaser Reveal

I bought two of these shelves a few years ago from a store that was going out of business. They were originally built as displays for Yankee Candles. They have a white wash finish, which I love but I was never really satisfied with the boring back.

I took this photo yesterday as a little teaser...ya wanna see what I did?

I thought that this shelf needed something more to better showcase items displayed.





I only rounded up enough items for two shelves just to see how it would look.

I think I like it, how about you?

Head on over to Just A Girl for the show and share party, there are some awesome ideas being shared.
I'm also joining the fun at Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special party.

Feeling Frustrated

My craft room move isn't going as fast as I would like. I keep finding all kinds of great ideas for projects to make here in blog land and my old craft room is piled with things we moved out of the room we are making into my new craft room.

So herein lies my frustration:

Old craft room is nearly impossible to work in and the new room is nowhere near completed. The flooring is stacked in the garage (and has been for nearly 4 weeks).


We decided to put a wood look laminate on the floor because I wouldn't want to ruin real hardwood with rolling the computer chair around plus my new crafting table also has wheels also.

The flooring can't go in because we removed the old baseboard heater and replaced it with a wall heater which creates a new problem. You got it, patching the drywall. Once the drywall is fixed then we need to paint.

And the ceilings need repainted because the old baseboard heaters left a black film across it.

See the guy with the roller in his hands? He is the amazing hubby who is making this all happen. Is he awesome or what?

Here is a peak at a little project I will be doing this week on a shelf that is going in the new craft room.
There is the shelf. Any guesses on what it might be?


Here is a shot of the room as we were removing the old carpet.

The bedroom that was my craft room is 9'x9'...

The new room measures 14'x15'.

I am so anxious for this to be done, I feel like a kid on December 23...

...I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!

This is really what I am most anxious to start using. It's killing me having it just sit in the garage.

Oh, the plans I have for it.

I need to go and pray for patience.

IT'S BLOOMIN' SPRING AROUND HERE

Touches of Spring and Summer

Having a bad cold and taking care of a two-year old cannot keep me from doing a little craft. I have been looking at one of my shelves and thinking that it needed something Springy on it...so out to the garage to cut some wood blocks I went. (Grandpa was being a good sport and occupying little guy while I took a breather.) After sanding, painting, cutting paper, gluing down the paper and adding the lettering I was pretty happy with how they turned out.
And that's not all... I flipped those blocks around and added "Summer" to the back so now all I have to do is switch them out when summer arrives.

I thought I would throw in a picture of the two-year old tornado. He is a busy little guy, and ever so curious about everything. He is also picking up more words all the time, enough to question everything. He really is a happy little soul, so full of energy and sunshine.

Out of commission

Taking care of 2 yr. old grandson for 5 days...

I caught the worst cold in years...

Exhausted...

Hope to be back to normal sometime next week...

Here's to hoping...

...And if I hear "GAMMAAAAAAAA, CHOCUT MIWK" ONE MORE TIME!!!!

well that is OK 'cause he is so dang cute.

Pinkilicious Lampshade

You must check out this lampshade makeover that Sherry, over at Creations From My Heart did. I am not necessarily a 'pink' person but I fell in love with this. She includes a very detailed tutorial on how she did this.

Who Doesn't Love a Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie?

My version of one of the most loved treats

Things I have learned about making a really good chocolate chip cookie:

1. Using 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter makes the cookie hold it's shape better. Using only butter makes a more flat and crispy cookie.

2. Real vanilla makes a better overall taste.

3. Using more brown sugar (or all brown sugar) gives the cookies a richer in flavor.

4. Using only 1 1/2 eggs (thus just the egg white of the second egg) makes it so the cookies aren't too doughy.

5. Using 50/50 on the flour gives the cookies a better texture.

6. Baking the cookies only 9 minutes instead of the usual 10 minutes helps keep the cookies chewy in the center and just the right crispness around the edge.

7. Last but not least, adding chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) makes the ultimate great chocolate chip cookie but because NOBODY else in my family likes nuts in things I usually omit them. For me, the more chunky the nuts the better.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup softened butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup butter flavor shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. real vanilla (not imitation)
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
2 1/4 cups flour ( I use 50% white and 50% whole wheat mixed)
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

1-2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, buttersctotch, or white chocolate chips, it's your choice)

1 cup chopped nuts (if desired)

Mix first 5 ingredients until well blended. Sift flour, soda and salt together then add to wet mixture. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.

Lately I have been making a double batch, scooping the dough into cookies and freezing them on a cookie sheet. After they are solid I put the frozen cookie dobs in a zip lock bag and stick them in the freezer. Then I just make one cookie sheet at a time so that I don't go overboard and eat too many. There are just enough for everyone to enjoy a cookie or two. (And who doesn't like a warm chocolate chip cookie?)
One last thing. I use a small ice cream scoop (one I got from Pampered Chef) to keep the cookies in a uniform shape. The scoop makes just the right size.

Coincidence or Miracle?

{Photo courtesy of www.thesun.co.uk}

This morning my daughter Tasha and I left to go to Costco. While she was backing out of the driveway I noticed my neighbor across the street had left just ahead of us. Not too far from my home is the freeway we were going to take. As we started down the entrance to the freeway there were signs indicating that the right lane ahead was closed due to construction. Shortly after entering the freeway we needed to merge to the center lane, the traffic was somewhat heavy with cars and three semi-trucks trying to fit in. Suddenly brake lights began to come on as trucks were changing lanes rather quickly. My daughter noticed a car careening through the traffic, across all three lanes of traffic and landed on the left hand shoulder facing sideways. My neighbor, who had left just shortly before us was the one in the car on the shoulder. Now things happen quite fast when traffic is going 70+ miles an hour. How she managed to avoid three semi-trucks and numerous cars going that fast without rolling her car was nothing short of a miracle to me.
We immediatly pulled off onto the opposite shoulder to make sure she was OK. She waved to us that all was well and when there was a break in the traffic she got right back on the road. If that had been me I would have had to go back home, change my pants, and have a total breakdown.

How many times do we witness miracles in our lives and just pass them off as luck or coincidence or even skill? There had to be divine intervention in this instance, no doubt about it.

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

One bite at a time.

That is how I have to think about the crafts I make for my craft show in November. Hopefully this year it won't get so crazy for me come September and October.

Here are three more projects completed.

Is it too early to make Christmas items? Nah, I must get a jump on things now even though the flowers are coming up and spring is finally here.

Oops, I Did It Again

I am hooking up with The Shabby Nest for her frugal Friday party.

I can't get away from my black and white 'fascination' (Momza calls her addictions "fascinations" because it doesn't take on such a negative connotation, {i like this too}). I posted earlier {here} about my love of black and white.



I thought I would just stop in at a little thrift store in my VERY small town just to see what I might find and wouldn't you know...Lookie Here, a black and white pitcher. As I walked by I thought I heard a SCREAM. I stopped and sure enough it said "Take me home, I'm worth so much more than just sitting amongst this other unwanted mish mash! PLEASE!!!!" Without so much as a nano-second I had this beauty in my hands.



And then.............................


...this cute door knocker began shouting, "take me, take me", to which I obliged. Well, you just gotta know that the black and white rooster towel sitting next to it wasn't about to stay on the shelf either.

And so the black and white 'FASCINATION' continues.