THRIFTY IDEAS FROM PINTEREST

On my Pinterest homepage I have a board (category) titled Nifty and Thrifty.  Today I thought I would show you some Thrifty ideas I have pinned.

Please Note:  I have not tried all of these yet but hope to soon.

 1. This is a good idea.  Make your own dishwasher detergent and scouring powder. 

2.  So how many of us have baking sheets that look like the right side of this pan?  You know you do and so do I but this looks like a great solution to this dilemma.  Check here for the "miracle"  products that change this uck, yucky looking pan to a cleaned up finish.

3.  How about a homemade recipe for Mod Podge?  Head on over the the DIY Diva's blog for the recipe.  This is a great savings as Mod Podge can be a little on the expensive side.  I actually did make some of this and it worked great.

4.  Do you love Febreze?  I spray it quite often as we have a neighborhood roaming cat that likes to leave his scent on our front porch. (Go here and see the post about me wanting to kill it.  I actually got a pellet shot off at him but I missed him.)  Here is the link.  I can't wait to try this.

5.  Do you have microfiber fabric furniture?  It is great and wears well but it can get to looking a little dingy and trying to clean it with a water based cleaner can leave spots when it dries.  Here is a great tip for cleaning your furniture without leaving spots.

6.  Here is a great tip for cleaning mattresses. 

 I need to go and get started on some deep cleaning (except for the homemade Mod Podge which makes me want to go decoupage something) now that I have some inspiration from Pinterest.

Happy Cleaning

and crafting~!

A PROJECT INSPIRED BY PINTEREST

I must admit that I have never been into quilting.  I think the perfectness of  cutting the fabric is what intimidates me along with the whole matching up the seams.  However,  my friend Christine has a web sight that sells fabric packs where the fabric is already matched up and cut.  Now that is very appealing to me.  No trying to choose fabrics and colors and all the cutting is done for you.  I bought what is called a Jelly Roll which is 40 strips of fabric cut to 2 1/2" by 40".  I then came across this rag quilt on Pinterest and thought it might be something I might be able to make.

 Click HERE for a great tutorial on how to make this quilt.

Here is the particular Jelly Roll I used, it is called Origins by Basic Grey.  I also bought 2 1/2 yards of a yellow fabric and cut 40 strips for the backing of each of the Jelly Roll strips.

 I gathered together my sewing supplies and set about to make my quilt.

Here are some of the strips that I have put together with the batting in between.

And here is a shot of the first eight strips sewn together.  The seams will be clipped and frayed when the whole quilt is finished.

WHO SAYS PEOPLE ONLY PIN THINGS ON PINTEREST?

MY GOAL IS TO ACTUALLY MAKE SOME THINGS TOO.

Hopefully I will be able to show the finished project by the end of the week.

What have you made with your Pinterest inspirations?  I would love to hear about them.

DID SOMEONE SAY SNOW?

JUST LAST WEEK I WAS ABOUT TO DO A POST COMPLAINING ABOUT NOT HAVING ANY SNOW AND IT WAS THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY.

Little did I know that we would be hit with snow for four days straight.  This morning we woke up to about 7 more inches of snow and it was still coming down.  Luckily it stopped and has warmed up and the snow is starting to melt.  I live in what is called the lowlands, that is lower than 200 ft. above sea level.  Those living in the surrounding areas that go up to about 1200 feet got it way worse than we did.  One friend that lives at about 1000 ft. got 28 inches.  That is crazy for this part of the country.  North of us, in the Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle areas are supposed to get more snow today and into tomorrow.

It is really beautiful, especially if I don't have to go anywhere.

THIS WEEKS PINTEREST PICKS

My favorite picks for pinterest this week beginning at top left and going clockwise:

1.  Cute heart hair clips from Sugar Bee Crafts
2.  Love this ruffled bag from RubyJu  (I actually never did find this bag on their blog but boy do they have lots of eye candy and really cool stuff to look at.  It would be worth your time to pop in and browse around).
3.  Wonderful idea for the laundry room.  Check it out here at TrophyW.
4.  Love the simplicity of this muslin pillow that you will find at Just Another Hangup.
5.  Unique photo frames were found at Dittle Dattle.

FLOWERS MADE FROM PAPER GROCERY BAGS

It's been snowing and church was cancelled for today which gave me some free time to do some crafting.

I went to YOUTUBE looking for tutorials on making paper flowers and came across one where she uses brown paper grocery bags.

 I will need to warn you about two things.  First there are lots of pictures and some of the pictures are not the best quality but hopefully you will get the idea on how to make these.

Here are two finished flowers.  They would be cute attached to a hairband  or maybe glue a pin attachment to the back and wear it on a sweater.  I also thought they would look cute on a heart shaped wreath for Valentine's Day.  (I will need to make a bazillion more if I make a wreath, we'll see!)

1. Start off by cutting a grocery sack open and laying it flat.

2. Find three different round items to use as templates.

I used lids from some of my storage containers

3. The measurements I used were (below)...

4. Next I used some decorative scissors I had to cut out the circles so that the edges would be kind of ruffly.

Here is how it looks cut out.

5.  I cut out a bunch but you will need 2 large circles, 2 medium circles and 1 small circle for each flower.

6.  Next you want to wad up the circles and squish them to make them all wrinkly.

You want them to look like the one on the left.

7.  Lay down a piece of wax paper as you will be stamping the circles with ink pads and then misting them with water.

8.  I used a Chestnut brown ink pad.

9.  You can see the inked circles on the left of the paint pan.  I then took yellow and red craft paint and applied it randomly over the inked circles.

Here is what it looked like after applying the yellow paint.

And here is the red applied along with the yellow paintl

10.  Next you will want to mist the paper circles with water and then squish and wrinkle the circles again.  Let them sit for about 10-15 minutes so they start to dry out.  Unwrinkle (spellcheck says that unwrinkle isn't a word but I think it works just fine for my description) them and start to shape them so they are kind of  a shallow bowl shape.  

 11.  Starting with the largest circles begin stacking them together while adding a small amount of glue in between the layers.  Work the petals to make them stand up.

12. Glue in the center a rhinestone, sequin or a fancy button to finish it off.

(This photo is a little blurry, go back to the beginning of the post to see it better)

I REALLY AM AN ANIMAL LOVER

Short of running over a squirrel or hitting a bird accidently I have never killed an animal.  I grew up in a family that hunted and married a man who hunts also so I know and understand that there are those who don't mind killing animals for sport or for food.  For me personally I don't think I could shoot a deer or a duck...

...BUT IF THE MALE CAT THAT HAS BEEN SPRAYING MY FRONT PORCH TO MARK HIS TERRITORY DOESN'T WANT TO DIE THEN HE BETTER FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO COURT HIS FELINE FRIENDS!  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Why oh why do people have cats and not get them fixed?  Does anyone know of a solution to this problem? 
The spraying that is, not the ignorant people who have never heard of spaying or neutering.

I NEED SOME HELP

It has been brought to my attention that my page loads really slow.  Does anyone else have that problem when viewing my blog?  Now this is where the help comes in.  How do I fix that problem.  Some things are just beyond my ability to comprehend on my own, in other words, I am computer challenged. 

Thanks to all who take the time to read my blog.  It thrills me when someone actually takes the time to comment, especially if you are patient enough to read my post if it is loading slowly.

Valentine Projects

My sister-in-law Melanie put together the supplies to make this cute Valentine craft.  It's really hard to see in the photo but there is tons of glitter on each letter.  They are hooked together with small hinges and embellished with some ribbon and some bling.

Below is a collage of a few Valentine crafts I made last year and the year before..

I haven't put the Valentine decorations out yet but that hasn't stopped me from starting to think about making a few cute things, thanks to Pinterest.

GIDDY FOR GLITTER AND OTHER CRAFTY STUFF!

I don't know if anyone else gets excited about craft supplies but after shopping today, and finding some REALLY great sales, I am feeling slightly giddy.

First off, I didn't actually buy this glitter today but I did get it last week for 50% off at Michael's.  YIPPEE!!!

Just look at the names;

Pesto

Pumpkin

Taffy

This is the kind of stuff that makes this crafter so happy.  With colors like Sunflower, Ocean, Paradise and Bling think of the possibilities.  Squeeeeeeeeel!

 I also got a great deal on most of these stamps.  My sister-in-law (aka, Craft Goddess) was cleaning out and getting rid of tons of craft supplies and I got almost all of these (I had a few of my own) for a very sweet price.

Below is a Black Friday purchase.  I went to JoAnn's to buy it for 50% off but they were sold out.  I went home, got on their web site and ordered it for the same price, Sweet!  Now I must confess that I am NOT an organized person but this paper holder was just what I needed to organize all my scrapbook paper.  I added the color names with vinyl lettering I cut with my Silhouette.

Oh ya, see that blue thing on top?  That is a tracing projector, every crafter needs on of these.  I needed to make a poster for a church activity so I downloaded a coloring book page from the Internet, used the projector to trace it onto a poster board and colored it in.  It looks like I have some serious drawing skills.   But I will never tell, shhhhhh!  (It is the next photo down)

Lastly, I found this great turning table top organizer at Michael's for 50% off today.  Oh my goodness, why didn't I get one of these sooner?

Now I must do some serious cleaning and reorganizing of my craft room.

That is a good January project, don't you think?

True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?

I found this via facebook and thought how appropriate for my personal challenge this year to stop and think before speaking, doing, judging, reading or watching anything.

This is proving to be an exercise in restraint...but in a good way.

What do you THINK?

I have been inspired by a few blogging friends that have chosen a "word or phrase" of the year. 

There have been some good ones shared and it got me pondering about what a good word for myself might be. 

I am all too happy to leave 2011 behind, not because anything bad happened but because I now have a new year and a fresh start.  I thought and thought and pondered and thought some more on what word would inspire me to be a better person and I think I have come up with a good one for me.  

It is THINK.

I chose THINK as a good reminder word for me to stop and think about the things I say, the comments I make, the judgements and criticisms I jump to. 

Then I got to thinking about other areas in my life that I could apply this technique to, such as thinking more deeply about Sunday School lessons, thinking about things through out the day that I need to give thanks for at the end of the day, thinking about trials that others might be going through and have more compassion for them.

Another area I need to stop and think about is how best to use my time and talents. 

How to share those talents with others.

I also need to stop and think before making unnecessary purchases, I need to ask if it is a want or a need.

I need to think more positive thoughts throughout the day.

So for me, stopping to think more often about the things I do rather than just jumping in with both feet first,  then maybe I can learn to do better in all areas of my life.  It certainly couldn't hurt.

I THINK I like my new word!