Shadow Frame is Done!

Yay!  Here it is!

Remember this shadow box frame that I bought at the thrift store a while back?
It cost $4.00.  I started to refinish it but lost a bit of my steam.  You can see the first post here.
 I was able to get the frame this far and then couldn't come up with an idea of how to finish it.  So there it sat...waiting to be done, but don't worry, it was in good company with all of my other half-done projects!

Well, the other day the inspiration finally came to me, so I got back to work!
I've always liked the frames with burlap and a stitched quote, so I thought why not try it in this one.  I realize that since it is a shadow box it would have been nice to actually put an object inside, but oh well, it wasn't meant to be for this frame I guess.  I can always add something in later.
This star was my inspiration.  I found it at the dollar store and picked two of them up thinking that I'd find something to do with them for that price.   
So next I needed a phrase.  I've always liked the song that says...'catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away', or something like that.  That was a long quote to stitch, so I went with 'Catch A Falling Star'. 

The font I used is called 'tuesday' I downloaded it for free, here at ScrapVillage.com.  I simply printed it out to the size I needed, taped it to the window, taped the burlap over it, and then traced the phrase onto the burlap.

 I stitched it with 2 strands of  #8 pearl cotton (that's what I had).  My burlap was cut large so I would have a little wiggle room to center it when it was time to put it in the frame. 
I painted the back (some white heavy weight poster board I had) with black spray paint, attached the burlap with adhesive spray, trimmed down the excess burlap, and then stapled it onto the back of the frame with a staple gun.   
The last step was tying the jute to the star and stapling it onto the back. 

This isn't what I thought I would do with the frame when I bought it, but that's what makes crafting fun.  I love the creative process and using what I have to make something nicer.

So here it is.  It cost me around $6 to make (including the paint).  Run your mouse over the picture to see it's transformation.  Ba-bye ducks!  Time to fly South! 

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

...Who Got the Greatest Deal of All!!!
Melissa at 320 Sycamore posted about a huge clearance sale on mirrors at Lowes.  She even took pictures so we could see what was on sale!   You can find the post here.  I am so happy that she did because I made it to Lowe's in time to buy two great mirrors at extremely good prices.   The sale goes through September 6th.   Don't forget Melissa's tip to ask for the display if they don't have any left in stock.    I bought the two mirrors pictured below and was lucky to get the last two on display! 

(Picture from 320 Sycamore)  The top mirror has already found a home in my living room.   I'm still deciding where to hang the other one.

Garage Sale Finds!

I'm pretty excited about the great deals that I just got at a neighborhood garage sale.  Every item that I bought was one that I had already wanted to buy. 

Here are my great finds:

Decorative Iron Wall Decor:  $1.00 EACH! 

 Expandable Curtain Rods with hanging clips:  $5.00 FOR ALL FOUR! 

I'll need to buy the mounting brackets which are $4.00 per pair but it's still a good deal.  The hanging clips alone would have cost around $10-$15.
 
Two LARGE Shelves (45" long, 7" deep):   $5 FOR BOTH OF THEM!
Watch for their upcoming transition to black.  I have an idea of how I want to fancy them up a bit, I can't wait to start!  
Bad picture, great deal!
Two four drawer file cabinets in great condition:  $17.50 EACH! 
Grand Total:  $47 

I estimate that if I bought these items new it would have cost me close to three hundred buck-a-roos!

 I love getting a great deal! 

Jackpot of Blog Design Tutorials

Rainy Day Templates may just have every tutorial here that you'd ever need, to design your blog.  Take a look. 

Featuring: Recipe for Cookie Dough That's Safe to Eat!

Okay, I'm really excited about this find.  I LOVE the taste of cookie dough, but choose not to eat it with raw eggs.  I love it, but not enough to risk getting sick from eating it.  I've made cookie dough before with the intention of eating it raw and left the eggs out, but the texture of the dough was never quite right.  Colette at My Computer is My Canvas has developed a recipe that I can't wait to try.  She didn't stop at making the cookie dough, she went one step further and rolled it in chocolate.  Mmm, yummy!

(Picture is from My Computer is My Canvas)

Click here for the printable recipe and her cookie dough tips.  

 This blog also has A LOT of great tips on digital scrapbooking and blog design.  You might want to check it out. 

While you're there taking a look, click on 'find and install fonts'.  It will link you to an amazing site called ScrapVillage.com.  You will be in awe at all of the cute FREE fonts you'll find!  Here's the direct link if you just want to hurry right on over! 

Edited to add:  We tried the cookie dough, click here for five things we learned.

Featuring: Adjustable Pants For All!

I just found another great tutorial on altering pants so they are adjustable.  Karly at Jelly Bean Junkyard shares how to get rid of the gap in the back on a guest post at Sugar Bee here.  This is very easy to do and seems like it would work well.   (Picture is from Jelly Bean Junkyard)

How to Rollover a Picture and Before and After Clock

Have you been on a site where they have the picture set up so you can move your mouse over it and it changes to another picture?  I just assumed that it was high tech and above my newbie blogger abilities.  Well it turns out that it's really not that hard to do.  Beth at The Stories of A2Z shows how to do it as well as The Pioneer Woman. 

You first start out with a simple code: 

You can copy and past the code at The Stories of A2Z.   One thing I learned was that it was necessary to size the picture in Photobucket first before I copied the direct link into the code.  Just paste the edited code directly into your blog post. It's actually that easy!  Go ahead, move your mouse over the picture. 

Now on to the clock:

Do you have any wedding gifts that you have held onto for 10, 15, or maybe even 20 years or more?  This clock was a wedding gift and I actually had it on the wall in my daughters room for awhile and then it got packed away in a box and was forgotten.  I came accross it the other day and decided to give it a new look.  If it turned out really awful I wasn't out anything so why not try.

Here's how I did it:

1. Removed the clock hands.

2.  Painted the clock frame. (This one is laminate.  I didn't sand or prime it and the paint held.  I was lucky.)

3.  Cut the new picture to fit the shape of the frame.  (Because the original picture was glued onto the frame, I pressed tissue paper down inside the frame to make a pattern.

4.  Cut out the new picture and inserted it into the clock frame.  (Because I may want to change the picture later, I only tacked it on with a glue stick.  The edges of the picture slide under the frame some to hold it in place.

5.  Sprayed over the picture and frame with a clear gloss finish spray. (2 or 3 coats on the picture)

6.  Added numbers to the clock.  (I traced the numbers, from the old picture, onto the tissue paper I used as my pattern and then used it as a guide to transfer the number placement over to the new picture.  It worked really well.)  These numbers are actually stickers used for scrapbooking.

7.  Replaced the clock hands.

The best part about this clock is it was FREE, it cost me absolutely nothing to change. I already had everything I needed!  Do you have something lurking around your house you'd like to update? 

Do You Snip?

Are you familiar with the snipper tool?  If not, you should check out.  I first heard of it here at  http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/.  Do you ever want to copy or print just one part of what you see on the screen?  With the snipper tool you can highlight just the area you want and print it, e-mail, save it, or send it to Microsoft Word, etc.   This is a section I took from my blog.  (You can even change the border color.) 

    

Here's how it's done:  1. Click on the Windows start-up button (bottom of screen).2. Click on 'all programs'.3.  Find the accessories folder and click on it. 4.  Scroll down and click on the snipping tool.  The cursor will change, allowing you to highlight the area you want to copy.  When you've highlighted it, let go of the button. 5.  Wait and a snipping tool box will come up and give you options of what you can choose to do next.6.  Click on copy, open your Windows program, and then paste it.  You can also right click on it and then click on 'save as' to save it as a jpeg.   It's really quite easy to use and handy too!  

Playroom in Polka-dot Perfection

I happened on this blog last night and want to check it out more.  Mandy at Sugar Bee Craft Edition (very cute name) has created this fun playroom for her kids.  I especially like how she painted the tree on the wall and then used fabric for some of the 'leaves'.  How cute is this?
I love the bright colors too!

Bikini Bread!

What's Bikini Bread you ask?  Why it's this...

 
Okay so it's really Zucchini Bread, but one of my kids accidentally called it bikini bread last year and it sorta stuck!

It's that time of year again when the zucchini is abundant and we are looking for ways to use it.  Our very favorite zucchini recipe is zucchini bread.  I have two recipes that I use, one that calls for 2 cups of grated zucchini and another that calls for three.  My zucchini grated into 3 cups this time, so this is the recipe that I used:

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
1 C oil (I use 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup sour cream)
3 C zucchini, grated
3 C flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 C nuts (opt.)  I like to use 1 C of raisins instead.

In a bowl, beat oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  Add zucchini.  In separate bowl, sift dry ingredients.  Blend together the wet and dry ingredients.  Grease pans.  Makes 2 loaves.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.

This makes a nice moist bread.  Enjoy!

Featuring: Bacon Cups

Now here's something that I never would have thought of... (picture is from www.merrimentdesign.com)
...Bacon Cups.

You can learn how to make them at Merriment Design.  She has a clever way of cooking them in the microwave.  I think this would be a fun way to serve a nice thick cheesy potato soup.  I have a recipe in mind that I'd like to try, but not in August!  I'm thinking it might taste better if I wait and make it in a few months. A bacon cup filled with hashbrowns and eggs and topped with melted cheese might taste pretty good too.