Heads Up

I love headbands. I really, really do. They're just so...wholesome.
I recently made a little flower/ribbon headband that was just perfect for some engagement pictures Kim Brock was taking for us. I'll show you guys a decent picture of it:

Isn't she fabulous?! I love it. And it gives you a pretty good look at the ol' head band too.
This is the only decent picture you're going to see. The rest of these were taken with my cell phone. Sorry guys. Mama needs a new camera.
I don't know who originally discovered that when you burn fabric it curls up at the edges. I really don't. I've been seeing these things everywhere, and this is how I do it. I can't take credit for the idea, only this particular instance of doing it. M'kay?

Step 1: Cut circles of various sizes out of fabric. Seven was a bit much for one flower. Three was a good amount. Learn from my mistakes. Every fabric I tried curled up perfectly with the burning, so I'm not sure what the limits are on fabric you can use for this. Brown suede and shimmery silk are a go for sure. I don't know the science behind the whole fire/fabric reaction.


Step 2: Place your fabric circle's edges close to your heat source. It should just melt right up within seconds. My heat source happened to be "Sweet Pea" from Yankee Candle. It worked for this and smelled delicious.




Step 3: Nestle your various sizes of crispy edged circles together and put a few strong stitches through the middle to keep 'em that way.



Step 4: Embellish with a cute button, gem, misc. bead, and attach to a cardigan, headband, magnet, or whatever else you desire.


I attached these beauties to all of the above. The headband in the picture was made with a brown suede flower, silky ribbon and an elastic ponytail band. Super quick and easy!


I'm linking up to Frugalicious Friday.

Cake decorating

To get you excited about my upcoming post on cake decorating, here are a few pictures of cakes I've done in the past.


Marshmallow fondant, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on top tier, peanut butter rice crispies on bottom

Spice cake with cream cheese frosting, marshmallow fondant decoration
Vanilla cake with Jam and buttercream filling, royal frosting and buttercream decorations
Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge pudding filling, chocolate cream cheese icing and royal icing flowers.
Chocolate cake with buttercream icing, marshmellow fondant decorations

Super tasty spinach bowtie salad

I get to make this salad for a bridal shower brunch. It is super tasty and healthy to boot! I couldn't find my usual recipe, so I googled it and found this variation which I edited to make my own. I haven't tried the craisins yet, but I am going to add them this Saturday. I also am making a not-so-healthy cake, and I'll post about that later to describe some basic cake decorating techniques. This salad is great for a quick, well-rounded dinner too!

Spinach Bowtie Salad

16 oz. Bowtie pasta, cooked and cooled (I use whole wheat)
1 bag of fresh baby Spinach
2 small cans Mandarin Oranges
1 cup Craisins
1 bunch Green Onions, chopped
1 cup Honey Roasted Peanuts or Cashews
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds, toasted (optional)
2 cups torn cooked Chicken (optional) (I personally like shrimp in this salad better)

Dressing:
1 cup Vegetable Oil
2/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
2/3 C. Teriyaki Sauce
5 Tbs. Sugar

Cook bowtie pasta according to directions, drain and cool while whisking the dressing together in a large bowl. Marinate cooked bowtie pasta in the dressing for 1 hour or longer in the fridge. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl and pour the teriyaki sauce and pasta over the salad, toss together and serve. If it's just a few of you, make individual salad servings; keeping the salad and bowtie sauce separate for the rest of the week (no one likes a soggy salad).

5.4.3.2.1- ACTION- Crafty Cards Take 1

These are a cute, fun and adorable gift for anyone. Cards coordinate with each other for a custom stationery set. SO easy to make, just need a little cardstock, decorative patterned paper coordinating with each other and some self-adhesive ribbon.

Spice it up

First order of business: I told a few very special people that I would post the recipe for delicious, fresh, and all together amazing homemade fresh Salsa. I learned to make this from my roommate Kristen, who learned it from her previous room mate, who is rumored to have learned it from mouth of Martha Stewart herself. I later saw a recipe note card for the almost same exact stuff in Becca's super de duper cute recipe cards, so I'll post that for you and note the variations I made.

(Isn't that the cutest little card you've ever seen?? And she has dozens of them! Dozens! Check out The Renfroe Scoop for more of her amazing recipes, stories, and opinions. If you want. I don't wannna be pushy.)

Now, I don't have a cute card prepared for ya'll, but the recipe I actually use goes more like this:

5 fresh and firm red tomatoes, diced and drained (Two cans of Rotel work in a pinch)

2 cans black beans, drained

1 can corn, drained (or 2 cups frozen corn is super delish)

1 bunch of cilantro (chop off the stems and remember: you can never have enough of this)

2 fresh limes or lemons

1/2 cup chopped onion

2-3 avocados, diced

2-3 gloves of garlic, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

To make: Drain all juicy ingredients--and mix together. Add avocado last, and mix gently. Squeeze lemon/lime juice over the whole thing, and enjoy! My roommates and I have found that a giant size plastic ice cream container works excellently for storage. If you don't happen to buy ice cream by the giant plastic caseful...well, congratulations. But I don't know what you're going to store this dip in.

I'm partying with:

Fine Art

Our landlord gave us permission to paint in our newest house! This is a decision she may live to regret. We each picked out special colors for our rooms, but after the painting was done, we had a LOT of leftover paint. Then Micheal's had a sale on canvas, and everything snowballed from there. We've solved the age-old problem of finding wall art that matches the room--using the leftover paint insures is a perfect match, every time. :)

I mixed the navy blue paint with some white to lighten it, and pieced this flower together for one of the roomies:

This space definitely needed some action. It really does the trick, don't you think?

I'm partying with:




Show and Tell Wednesdays

Dream Big

Sometimes, when I've been hitting the crafty blogs a little too hard, I get ideas. Sometimes these ideas are small projects--painting, beading, rearranging furniture--these don't cause problems. Sometimes I completely lack the skills needed to complete a task, and my knowledge of the required skills is so lacking that I'm blissfully ignorant of what I'm getting myself into. Reupholstering a small couch is such a project.

Salvaged from the old high school library, this little bench had seen better days. The fabric was some kind of itchy wool-tweed (yes, thats the technical term), and the arms were scratched up and fugly.

"How hard can it be?", I asked myself as I headed down to Jo-Ann's, armed with my carefully printed 40% off coupon. I picked out 2 yards of suede...it couldn't take more than that, right?

The arms got a coat of Heirloom White first, and at this point I was feeling shanty-fabulous. While those dried, I discussed the best approach to re-upholstery with my very sweet-and-helpful, but-even-less-experienced-than-I-am boyfriend. We decided to leave the suede all in one piece so as to keep it uncomplicated. Lets call that "Mistake #1." After learning how to use the staple gun, we were off. The front went well, but when we got to the back we found we didn't have quite enough fabric to reach all the way around. Whoops. Eventually we added a strip of burlap to the back with fabric glue to hid that little mistake. It took FOREVER, but I learned a lot.

See the cute little burlap on the side, wrapping around the back? Yea...

What I learned:

1) Measure

2) I'm more of a 30 minute crafter--after that, you lose me.

3) Measure
Party Hard with: