Gift For Your Realtor

Our realtor has been great at working with and for us and I wanted to give her something to know we appreciate it! So at first it was just going to be a framed letter but I had to do better than that!

I thought she'd like to have this in her office for her other clients to see.

Here's my supplies:

12x12 canvas

Jolees scrapbook stickers

scrapbook paper

sponge brush

brown paint

mod podge

brown trim with chocolate pearls

Directions:

Assemble. Lol

Apply THIN coats of your mod podge on the front and back of your paper to make it stick and hot glue the trim to the sides of the canvas.

Cute but expensive stickers!

But I couldn't do without and can use the other key and lock for scrapping about our first house!

So sweet, Avonlea's little hand print to go along with our signatures.
This was not as easy as I thought it would be!
I painted her hand and tried several different times on a seperate sheet of paper, cut out the one I liked and framed it with coordinating scrapbook paper.


 

Halloween Taco Salad

Who does not love taco salad? It's easy, quick and so good!

I made it for dinner tonight and was actually thinking about making Halloween themed dessert

when I had this idea..

This is great for a Halloween party or just a festive dinner with the fam. If you plan on bringing this to a party, 7 layer dip may be more appropriate.

So if I were taking this to a party, I'd definitely pull out my icing bag & tips so it doesn't look so messy. I didn't feel like putting forth that much effort since it was just for us lol. Instead, I put the sour cream in a ziplock and cut the corner. 

Sorry for the bad lighting. I just wanted to get a shot of the way I layered it. I've never done that with a taco salad before but it's definitely the way to go. From bottom up; lettuce, meat, beans, onions, doritoes, fiesta cheese, cheddar cheese and sour cream with the Catalina on the side.

Okay, doing this made me hungry again! Going to get the leftovers! (:

Christmas votives--$0

So now that I've got all my Halloween stuff up, and LOVING it, I'm ready to take on Christmas!!! I decided this late last night after the stores had closed but my mind was/is swarming with ideas and I really had to do something right that instant! So I took a look at my craft stash trying to see what I could come up with and here it is...

So cute and it didn't cost me anything! This is all left-over stuff from other projects. We use a candy tree in our dining room and these will go great with the theme. I took some baby jars(I save almost all of them!) and at first I tried covering them with sugar...no beuno. They did look neat, just not the effect I wanted. Then I remembered the tub of epsom salt I have from making Mother's Day presents earlier this year, perfect! It looks like sugar ice crystals! Here's what ya do:

Take baby jars, mason jars, jelly jars or any kind of jar and clean it out. The glue from the label is very hard to get off but if there is some leftover residue it won't matter much for this project. If you want the small jar look for votives but have no baby, find one and feed it for a day. They're everywhere! But really, they're only like .60 cents a jar from Walmart. I used Modge Podge to attatch the epsom salt. It worked but I don't recommend it. Spray adhesive would be best for this. Once your jar is covered in whatever sticky stuff you use, roll it in the salt. Let it sit until it dries and then spray it with some kind of sealant.

My 'peppermints' are red bottlecaps that I painted the white swirls on. You could use real peppermints, I would've rather done that but didn't have any. Just make sure you use a sealant on them so they're not sticky, modge podge would work great for that. 

Embellish however you'd like, put in a little votive candle and enjoy! Fast, cheap, easy and way too cute! Perfect for an early Christmas gift and an even better gift for a teacher. It doesn't take up much space and would look great on her desk.

 

P.S. these look much better in person, you'll love them! (:

Halloween inspiration..continued!

Avonlea went to bed early, so might as well finish. Lol

 The hutch in our dining room.

Pumpkins coming soon..lol 

The candy jar on the left I bought at Goodwill for $2 and washed several times! I had the orange trim leftover from a shirt I made Av. For the pumpkin face I cut out some black cardstock..btw I bought my Brachs candycorn from FD for $1. The candy dish on the right was given to us last year, I put my favorite carmel bites and a creepy spider from FD in it to discourage putting my hand in it! (; 

 

 Picture frames I bought for $1 each last year, embellished with things from Hobby Lobby.

The pictures themselves are from our first Halloween, last year. Precious!!

 These guys are my favorite out of all the stuff! I bought some cylinder-shaped glass vases, big one for $3 and little for $2 from Walmart. Check Family Dollar or Goodwill if you want to try this. I cut LONG strips of cheesecloth, about 1 1/2in. wide, then just wrapped it around the vase mummy-like, making room for the googly eyes($1 from FD). Glued everything in place, and stuck some pumpkin votive candles in them(10 for $3 at Michaels).

Other things around the house:



Love the tea stained cheesecloth to make my wall decorations look spooky!

Some Halloween poms I made with scrap tulle and my $1 lantern from Target, hanging on a coat hanger that y'all cant see yet! (; It will be on a post at the end of October with all of the other stuff I've made for our dining room! (:

Happy October!! Email/FB/text if you want more details!

Halloween Post #2

I loved making all of this stuff..Halloween is one of my favorites!

This is How I made our dining room into a witch lair, all for around 40 bucks..

Sorry for the bad pictures..I didn't want to wait for the sun to get in the right spot for them!

I found this weird looking thing at Goodwill(the best craft store EVER) for $2 back in July.

 I'm thinking it may have been a twisted looking candle holder, but it didn't come with any candles or glass to put a votive in. At the time I had NO idea what I was going to do with but decided that for $2 I'd find something!

I stuffed some spanish moss(Family Dollar $1/bag) in the cup things and put in the mini glitter skulls I got from JoAnns for $2. Added spider web and topped with a Family Dollar crow!

Love the way this turned out..creepy looking!

So yeah..I'm a little crazy and yes I have too much time on my hands but I LOVE IT!

I came up with this little rhyme back in August:

Poison #31310 (my wedding anniversary hehe!)

Find a toad or two or three,

give him this and you will see,

the Prince Charming you never knew,

kiss the frog to see it through!

I made the Ingredients list to match the potion bottles I had already made:

-Pickled arachnids

-Poison

-Bone Dust

-Zombie-n-a-bottle

-centipede

-graveyard fog

Book of Spells:

 I had this crazy idea while checking out the Goodwill. I picked up this book with a plain black cover for $1.08!!!! I stained some regular computer paper with a soaked tea bag to make it look all old, then put them in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 3 mins at 300 degrees. I then drew on the border, potion and ingredients with a fat tip and a fine tip Sharpie. I attatched the pages to the book with glue at the seem. I also stained the cheesecloth with tea and just sat it out to dry, I really loved this! It's so neat and easy. 

Bleeding Candlesticks:

I picked up these white candlesticks at Family Dollar for .50 cents each! To get the bleeding effect I lit the candles and let them melt a little, then carefully tilted them to make the wax drip down the side, and painted the wax with red after it had hardened. I had seen bleeding candles before and it didn't take very long to figure out how to do it! Luckily I had red paint on hand. I got the clear glass candle holders from Family Dollar as well for $1 each. I shot them with some black spray paint.

Black Ivy:

Another Family Dollar find, I bought an orange maple leaf garland for $1 and spray painted them black.

 The 'graveyard fog' is just some scrap yellow tulle in a mason jar with a spray painted lid and a label I happened to have in my scrapbooking stuff. The 'zombie-n-a-bottle' is brown sugar with some doodads I got last year from Hobby Lobby..I had originally planned on just making it 'graveyard dirt' until I came across the doodads in my stuff. The 'bone dust' is salt in a stage 1 baby jar with a spray painted lid. The green goo is aloe vera from this past summer. And the real potion bottle in the back I got from JoAnns for $2. It had a sticker on it that I scrubbed off and stuffed it with a centipede I got in $1 bag of creepy crawlers. The cheesecloth is tea stained.

When I bought this skull for $1 at FD he was UGLY and now he's sparkly! I spray painted him black and bedazzled with jewels I already had. The stand I bought from Goodwill for $1 and it was all scratched to heck, I also shot it with spray paint.

And that and that and that's all folks! For now! I have a lot more but this is too big of post! I will put the rest up tomorrow..or maybe later. (:


**forgot to mention the plate easel I bought at JoAnns for $3 with a coupon to use to hold the book open
& a piece of black burlap underneath for $5

Happy Fall Y'all!

Today was the autumn equinox, which means it's officially my favorite time of year.

I HAD to craft!

So I made this cute wreath to welcome in the fall...

I love it!

Precious I know! I just about fell over with excitement when I saw these guys.

Ahh the season of family, football, counting your blessings, hot chocolate and the BEST crafts!

Time to round up all of the fall decorations...

I've decided to accent our fall decorations with turquoise and paisley patterns, 

two of my signature motifs. (; 

  

Happy decorating!!

My Kinda Chili

Yesterday's high was 58 degrees! It was raining, foggy and the Sun didn't come out one time!! It was the perfect day for some chili. I've only made chili once before and I didn't like the way it turned out..I followed the easiest recipe that I could find on the internet. So this time, I did what every one else does and made it my own. My Hubs and I both agree it was the BEST chili we've ever had!
I used:
-1 large chopped green pepper(throwing all the seeds in the pot too)
-1 chopped yellow onion
-4-6 slices of crumbled bacon
-Hillshire Farm smoked sausage
-1 lb of browned ground beef
-3 cans of diced tomatoes
-1 can of kidney beans, drained
-1 can of black beans, drained
-1 can of chili beans in chili sauce
-1 packet of Lawrys chili seasoning
-oregano, basil, garlic salt, black pepper & cilantro to taste

The most important part was letting all of this simmer for about 4 hours and 30 mins.

..and of course topped with chopped green onions, shredded cheddar and sour cream. I also garnished it with a sprig of cilantro, I love that stuff! I drained my beans because I don't like soupy chili. I think next time I might try substituting a can of diced tomatoes for some of my favorite hot sauce. I love spicy food, my husband doesn't. : / I will still try it!
I've never heard of anyone putting cilantro in their chili, I just love it and I REALLY like the flavor it gave.

I made corn casserole to go with it. The best and most easy side dish there is!

For those that don't know; 1 can of whole corn, 1 can of creamstyle corn, 1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix and 1 stick of melted butter all mixed up and put in an 8x8 brownie pan baked for 45 mins at 350°. The last 5 mins of bake time, top with shredded cheddar.

Let us not be fancy, it tastes so much better all mixed up!

This was soo good! I can't wait to eat this again on another cold day.

Boys Scarecrow Bowtie

I've been crafting but not posting and probably wont post all of my recent goodies until later this week. I made this sweet little bowtie to take newborn pictures of my friends baby boy in late October. Just thought I'd share and keep up the fall moral! Sure feels like a Ft. Worth October here in the panhandle..loving every minute. We've had the fall candles lit every day of this 5 day weekend of ours while decorating. Y'all will see all of the halloween goodness very soon!!

I Literally Couldn't Wait Until Fall...

Fall is my absolute FAVORITE time of year and with this record breaking Texas heat, I'm ready for it!

It's such a majestic season on it's own but the decorations are what makes it so fun.

This is an image from Pottery Barn Magazine. 

I noticed our fragrance diffuser bottle from Bed Bath & Beyond($5.99) just sitting there in our bathroom, all dried up, begging me to use it for my crafty fix.

You could go buy it now, enjoy the coconut aroma and by the time October actually comes, you'll have your veddy own magical potion bottle for Halloween! Genius! Two-in-one usage means each would only cost $3!

I took the bottle, cleaned it up and put our leftover Aloe Vera gel from this summer in it. This alone was enough to make me 'muahaha' but then I thought it was too boring.

So I added some halloween ribbon...still too boring. 

So I got my doodad container and found these little spiders from Hobby Lobby's scrapbooking section. I've had them since last year and I think they were 2 bucks at most for a pack of 10.

At last! BEHOLD; my poison!! This really made me muahahahahaha until Avonlea and Burt were both crying. 

I couldn't just stop with that. It was too easy and didn't take long enough to make me regret starting it so I had to craft something else.

I found this black picture frame in a box not being used. I got it last Black Friday at Walmart in a pack of 10 for $10. So basically it cost $1.

 I grabbed the most ghoulish looking scrapbook paper I had and traced this BOO! by blowing up the font called Shlop on Picnik. I cut the letters out and used Modge Podge(my BFF) to secure them to the black polka dot paper and framed it.

Even though I like the clean look of the picture frame without the bow, I had to add my touch to it. Plus, I really don't like this orange scrapbook paper and the bow takes some of the attention off of it. I think I will make it on a clip for Avonlea.

I will probably replace the Boo! before October. If I don't it's liable to just ruin the entire month.

ANDD I love lanterns. I got this one from Target this summer for just $1!!

Even though I already had all of this stuff, all together it only cost about $8!

This is not how they'll stay arranged, just the very beginning of my own Halloween decorations and I'm sure I'll have plenty more posts when pumpkins are actually available in store. Oh, and Burt is my husband. His real name is Trey but I call him Burt mostly to annoy him and now it's just a habbit.

Might sound crazy, but for me this is...

Avonlea's First Birthday Pictures- DAY ONE!

So, I've been getting into photography and figured I'd give it an amateur go when taking Sweet Pea's 1st Bday pictures. THAT I DID! Very amateur...pretty much everything went wrong! The balloons that took two days, two stores, three Amarillo crazies and one broken Ft. Worth bank card to get, flew away into the sky before I could even use them in a picture. Avonlea wanted to eat dirt instead of her cupcake. The great Amarillo wind kept blowing all of our stuff all over the place, including Avonlea's bow & birthday hat that I made. All in all it was a mess, but I managed to get a few. We will be going back to the only suitable location in Amarillo to take the rest of the pictures sometime this week. And by suitable I mean it has grass and trees!

Click on the pictures to view the larger image.

                                                                Can I eat it yet?!

Precious icing face!

Not too bad, eh??

The red spray-painted dot on the trees thoroughly annoys me.

I didn't notice it until I uploaded the pictures.

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Pea!

And this is...