Christmas Decor and Bows from the Sunday News.

michele made me: Tutorial: Quick and Pretty Junk Mail Gift Bow

MERRY CHRISTMAS.... Yea I know I haven't been around.... Struggling to find the spirit of Christmas and just Motivation in General..... DID I ever mention I suffer from Depression? Yea and so sometimes I can't seem to get it together ..... Anyway I found this super wonderful way to Use up all that Christmas ad and insert from the sunday paper...... Michele Makes gift bows and package decor..... Yrs back I posted about the bows I made with magazines, but she steps it up here, I really Like these.

Jewel Box from Empty Cassette Boxes

I had all these cassette tape boxes and saw a box like this on instructables Well I didnt have the original inserts, but I did have an abundance of pictures. I took the xtra pictures of my nephew and made this Jewel/ storage box for my sister. You can use it for all kinds of things, like candy on a coffee table, or a trinket/jewel box, someplace to put the keys in the entry hall....

This is my first attempt so it is kinda rough.

I am going to put a false bottom in to cover the spots from the glue

Next time I want to figure a way of HINGING the top. Right now it is removable. ( lays on top unsecured)

CHECK THIS OUT!

I am going to make me one of these with all these mags we got coming in now for Christmas....OY! Paper Overload

Living with lindasy has an EXCELLENT Tut for this.

Book Page Wreath!

It's That Time of Year Again

My girlz can count on me to make jewelry and HBA boxes for Christmas, If nothing else.
I started the HBA boxes when my oldest was a teen and taking ALL my hair products for herself. One year i decided to make a big box with nothing but scrunchies, hair ties, clips, hair mousse, styling gel, deodorant, perfume, etc.....She grew to appreciate that box as she got older....Like a mystery goodie box. As she became an adult and was supporting herself these boxes were a Godsend. Then they stopped. She was married with kids and I figured she didnt need them anymore. A few yrs without them and she begged me to make them for her again. Well her taste in hair products have changed with DEFINITE preferences which means not so many dollar store things.
And now her sister is nearly 15 and at the age of her own boxes....woowoo. Did I mention these boxes have gotten awfully expensive to make? Well between them and the jewelry orders it will be all they get, well maybe a cell phone for the young'un who does NOT have one yet. I absolutely refused. Now I relent!

I spent a small fortune yesterday at Michaels getting swarovski crystals for earrings and a bracelet they want. However when I think about how much it would have cost me to buy them already made I think I saved myself a bundle.

Anyway here is what I have been doing as of late.

First I made a magazine tree with some of them holiday mags we are now being flooded with!

These are called Sweetheart Citrines, and i made them for my young'uns friend who turns 13 today.



I also made her these, which I call Sarah's Crystal Drop Earrings.


Then I made these for MOI! I have been wanting a nice long pair of dangles in my b'stone and I finally got around to making them. ( OK so it is not my exact b'stone but I lurvez these blues :-) ) It is this pair that my daughters want, although my oldest likes the crystal drops too in different colors tho. So I am making them a similar design for Christmas, ( I will Never make an EXACT duplicate, I like my work to be OOAK)

Pocket Full O' posies...

Can you guess what these are from?

From My Water Bottles!

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Did I mention I am bombarded with Pictures? HA! ( Yea I think I did.LOL) Why do we take so many? Have film and digital on 2 PCs! Professional and amateur.

When my grandparents Died I got to inherit everything since I was the packrat I guess they felt it was safe with me? Who Knows. I am glad to have inherited the pics and the genealogy info ( what little of it there was.) Problem was, most of the pics weren't transcribed. I have pics of people that are most likely dead and buried and if there is any family I don't think they know their family members were recorded anyway.

Some of these pictures were taken so far away that it is impossible to clearly see who was there, ( as if they were capturing a memory of the event rather then the people involved). But don't we all do that, that's why we take so many damn Pictures.

Well I hate throwing pictures away, I feel guilty. So I finally set out to tackle the mountain of pictures of people I don't know, HAHA!

First step: Sort and cut -out and trim.

Come Back Tomorrow to see how this goes....

PART 2

New Prototype -Plastic Bottle Butterfly

I saw this on a website. I had to try it.


The Original Site no longer has the pic or instructions for this. So I had to wing it. ( no pun intended) Basically I used transparent paint, and glitter over a taped image of a butterfly template. This is my first attempt. I kinda Like it, and am thinking about other critters or flowers.

This one I used sharpies.



Here is the Original

Recycle FAIL

I am all for recycling, and reusing but this is wrong. But if you want to see how it was done go to Crooked Brains website. The have a tutorial.

Pictures....Overkill....Repurposing?

Why do we take pictures? I found myself thinking that the other night.

I have been wanting to gain some control of my clutter, one thing I have been putting off is organizing my photos.
Some are already in boxes with index cards, somewhat organized, but the boxes are old and falling apart.

I really wanted to do scrapbooking but cannot get myself in the MODE....UGH very detailed and would definetly put me in the zen mode if I would just allow myself to go there....Life was so much easier before I got a PC. It seems the PC has sped up my brain processors somewhat, not to mention years of anti-depressants ( which left me with a form of Adult add! Damnit)...Anyhoo I am digressing....

Back to the pictures.

I figure we are trying to capture a moment in time, that is so fleeting and slipping away so quickly. Preserve a memory forever, as it were.

As for me I learned early on to take 2 or 3 shots to ensure a good photo..That was before digital, where we can just hit Delete. (SHHHHH don't tell anyone but I got TONS of digital pics too, They are on 2 different PCS)

NOW I am being overrun with photos.






I decided that I needed to pair down. I have tons of pictures where the subject in question is..well... Questionable....

"HMMMMM... What exactly was I trying to capture here?"

Not to mention blurred photos and tons of duplicates. When my daughter was young I took tons of photos. The labs used to run specials on duplicates and since we always share our pics, especially with gramma well.... We always ticked the box for dupes for a penny or half price, or whatever....

Now that my mom has passed I inherited her photos, which means i have dupes, and trips of everything. UGH!

DOES anyone know how to repurpose photos?

Not only that but I also Inherited the pics from my grandparents when they passed...I have a tote of black and whites of PPL I CANNOT IDENTIFY! HELPPPPPP!

So I am surfing the net and the green sites and there is very Little in way of crafting or repurposing old photos. (NO I dont want to digitize my 2,000 pictures! I still LIKE Tangible things.)

I am open to suggestions People....Anyone???? ( Cue Crickets)

Ok so I got this idea when looking at some of the pics to make coasters or postcards. Does anyone even use Postcards? Not to mention snail mail.

Placemats with the old black and whites would be super I think. Most of the ppl I am sure are all passed away since the pics were from the 40's - 60's mostly. ( we are talking adults in the middle age range) Alot are my family and their friends and some are just people who got in the shot of a lake or beach or pool. So I don't think there would be an issue with image usage and royalties and such, and alot of ppl like nostalgic things.

I tried the coasters already. Here are some Prototypes. I made 6. 2 with a deckled edge, 2 with a pinked edge and 2 with a straight edge.




Ok. I guess the real test comes when I use them. I used clear contact paper. I glued the picture to a piece of cardboard from a cerealbox.



I'm just wondering if I should have used laminating plastic instead since it is thicker and offers a better seal. I will see how these hold up.

Meanwhile If anyone has any ideas on repurposing pics pleaseeee Let me know....I have tons.

Evil Bunny is Back.........

.........And he is after the corn!



I figure this lil bunny is climbing the fence and stalks to nibble....I found one stalk on its side and the others were nibbled.....





Now I am trying a new plan of attack.....

I have these can tops and bottoms left from my soda cans ( after cutting) and was trying to reuse them. I made some redneck windchimes (lol) and was working on making morraccas for kids when i ran into a problem. I abandoned that idea until I could find another solution, in the meantime I have all these tops and bottoms.....

A voice whispered what to do. You know that small still voice? Sometimes we call it GOD or intuition, or good sense , sanity, and even Insanity....LMAO....Well I seen the solution as it was whispered to me....



I posted my mini shepards hooks that I use around the front garden with chimes and put them near the plants with the can chimes. I hope the shiny deflectors scare the critter away.

I hope this works. I didnt know bunnies could climb!

Meanwhile......





CUCKES ANYONE? They are taking over the garden ... Holy Crap and I don't even eat them.( I grew them for the other family members)

How about?

ZUCCHINI?

My neighbor shared zucchini with me after i shared lettuce with him and now spinach and green beans for more zucchini...YUM! I never liked it before, but even my youngun ate it.

I found a great fritter ( pancake) recipe, changed it slightly and now...MMMMMM I got a new summer favorite.

3cups zucchini ( shredded)
2-3 eggs *( if using jumbos use 2 eggs, medium use 3)
1 cup all purpose flour ( can add a lil more if it seems too wet)
1 tsp. dill
1tsp. baking soda
salt and pepper ( I used sea salt)
1 cup grated romano ( can use parmesan)
2 medium onions ( Shredded)
oil for frying ( I use olive oil EVOO a lil at a time)
Sour cream

***After shredding zucchini salt it ( I eyeballed it) and leave in bowl for 15 minutes or longer to remove bitterness.

Use cheese cloth or strainer to remove the liquid from the zucchini and add to onions ( DO NOT strain onions...Leave onion juice in)

Mix in eggs and flour, dill, salt and pepper, and cheese.

Drop spoonfuls ( I used a large serving spoon, the ones slightly larger then a tablespoon with slots to drain liquid) into pan. Not to big or they will be hard to turn and will fall apart. ( about 2-3 inches big should be fine)

add oil as needed.

Fry, Flip and drain on paper towel.

serve with sour cream.

MMMMMMM.....To die for.

Frugal Tips, Repurposing, and They came from the Sky

I ran into some blogs this morning and found some useful frugal tips...These 2 were posted by MJ @ Making do with the not so new

Make Your Own Baking Powder

Why buy baking powder when you have the 2 ingredients that make it up in your cupboards? Also, making it yourself will keep aluminum out of your ingredients. (Store bought baking powder contains aluminum.)

Baking Powder is
1 part baking soda
2 parts cream of tartar

So if you need 1 T baking powder (1 T is equal to 3 tsp) use 2 tsp cream of tartar and 1 tsp baking soda.

Don't make a huge mix of homemade baking powder ahead of time, make it as you need it for the homemade kind doesn't having shelf stability.

Homemade Deodorant

I was really tired of buying $2+ stick of deodorant that often didn't work. Plus, I am sure we have all heard the not-so-sure-deodorant-is-a-good-thing cancer and Alzheimer-wise, so I have fiddled with many things taking others suggestions offline, from family, etc. and have finally come up with something that works. It's my own "recipe."

I bought a little pump sprayer which I fill with rubbing alcohol. Then I have an ....( read the rest here)


Kristy @ Craftastica Posted about a tshirt bag she made.

I won't repost it b/c it is long but go check it out. I think i will make one of them. I recently spent time cutting and balling old remnamts to workable crochet thread.

Laughing Purple Goldfish has a post about her bags from Plarn and other fabrics she plyed into yarn.


Now the strangest thing just happened...I noticed as I was leaving the bathroom in my backyard Birds just appeared to fall from the sky...I thought GOD himself was coming down...I mean a massive amount of birds just all atonce landed in my yard...Robins but mostly sparrows Holy Crap. I ran for my camera and snapped a couple of quick pics before the flew down ward a feet towards my neighbors yard and then did it again.. a few more feet, etc...WHAT was that all about?

The only time I see birds all land in one area is on the farms when the turn the soil usually in summer and autumn, and those birds are the crows.
I wonder if there is some supernatural meaning to all this?

This is only a small portion of the birds that landed I had to snap quick as they were flying downward.