Monday, August 29, 2011

I just couldn't wait any longer! Halloween Bedspring Wreath

Yes I know it is still August, but Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is by far my favorite holiday.  The BF said I could not put up any fall decorations before labor day, but I think we may have to negotiate for September 1st b/c I just can't wait :).

The decorations for this wreath are phone book flowers dyed orange and a mini boo banner created by stamping letters on punches from a coca-cola box and attaching them to music note pinwheels.  It is so cute!




I'm gearing up for my next show September 10th from 12 - 5 at the Massena Harvest Festival.  The show takes place on main st in Downtown Massena.  I will have a bunch of new Halloween and fall decorations for sale so stop by and see me!


Friday, August 26, 2011

Happy Weekend: An Outdoorsy Post

Just wanted to update everyone on my projects that are kind of outside what I normally do.  This past week the BF found me 3 monarch butterfly caterpillars in the milk weed out back.  I had never seen them change before and he said they use to do this all the time when they were kids.  So I put them in a big bowl on my counter, covered it with plastic wrap and a rubber band to secure.  Then I poked holes in it for air.   They also need a few sticks and some milk weed to snack on.  It was only about 1 day before 2 of them had attached to the saran wrap on top of the bowl (not the stick like they were suppose to).  In the pics they are really hard to see just little yellow and black striped specs.  The white spot on the saran wrap is where they attached themselves.



I will take pictures as they continue to change and update their progress!

Next I just had to take a picture of this morning glory that has taken over our deck yet again this year and the funny part is I haven't planted a morning glory since our first summer in the house, which was 3 years ago!  Crazy!  It just keeps coming back on its own, but I love it anyways!


Lastly, my poor soaked tomato plants from all the rain we've had lately.  They are hanging on though and have a ton of tomatoes on them, even one that turning red :)


Happy Weekend Everyone!  Do what makes you happy, I know I will!

Next week I should have some great halloween decorations including bedspring wreath decorations and also a new soda can flower, the Dahlia!


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Recycled Candle Jar with Lace Pattern

Inspired by this month's Martha Stewart Living, I created this gorgeous candle holder from a jar that originally held a candle.  I actually contact Yankee Candle a while back to see if there was a way you could send the jars back to them so they could re-use them instead of throwing them out (of course I don't throw them out, but you know what I mean).  Martha Stewart had a tutorial about creating lace coasters.  Basically using a piece of ceramic tile.  Tightly wrap a scrap of lace around it and then spray paint.  Well I translated this to an old jar.  I wrapped the lace around it and held it in place with a little glue and then sprayed it with a layer of gold spray paint.  Very quick and easy!



I plan to try this out with some of my recycled bertolli jars as well as tea light holders to go with my bedspring candle holders!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wedding Wednesdays: Recycled Phonebook Hydrangea Centerpieces

Last week I showed a tutorial on how to create flowers out of pages from the phonebook.  This week I have taken it a step further, by dying the pages first and then cutting the edges to give them a more ragged appearance and the look of hydrangea.

Of course, I had to create them in my favorite color scheme of red and light blue.  I think they look so realistic.


To dye them just fold them up accordion style, and soak them in a mixture of hot water and food coloring. I soaked the entire sheet in the food coloring mixture but you could do it half in one color and half in another. I then patted them dry with paper towels and let them dry a bit before peeling them apart and letting the individual sheets dry then follow the tutorial instructions but don't put a center on them!


Enjoy!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Flea Market Finds: Krups Ice Cream Maker & Cake Batter Ice Cream Recipe

Recently at the Best Friends Thrift Store (all proceeds benefit the Potsdam Humane Society) I found a Krups Ice Cream Maker for $20.  I have always wanted an ice cream maker but they can be rather pricey.  Of course this one works wonderfully and is incredibly easy to use.

I love Cake Batter Ice Cream from Cold Stone Creamery so of course my first trial run of my ice cream maker would be to make that.  I found a recipe on Pinterest from the blog Baked Perfection and it is delicious!


Photo courtesy of Baked Perfection
Give it a try!