Rosemary infused Olive Oil

This was a super quick and easy project. I simply bought some nice looking bottles and some mid level priced olive oil. Then I went into my backyard and cut some rosemary off of one of our bushes. I then shoved said rosemary into the pretty bottle and poured the olive oil over it. To finish it off I just used some twine to wrap around it and added a custom label. Easy peasy and looks great!

I've included my labels for you to print. Have fun!

DIY Coffee T-shirt

This was super quick and easy. I recently saw a t-shirt that said, "But first...Coffee" on it and I thought it would be perfect for my husband. He isn't really a huge t-shirt wearer but I figured it would be good for around the house and on weekends. So, this was also a very low stress project. I just pulled out a black fabric marker and these letter stencils left over from Lilly's birthday party apron craft and filled in the letters to make the phrase. I just eye-balled it and I feel it is pretty successful. It's not perfect but the phrase actually lends itself to imperfection. I will probably pair this shirt with the coffee and brown sugar hand scrub that I made to really give the gift a purpose.

DIY Burlap Placemats

This project is my least favorite so far. It was really messy and I didn't love the results. I mean...they're o.k. but not fantastic.

To do this o.k. project you need:

- a couple yards of burlap
- print outs of the words you want to use
- sharpie

I used a place mat that I already had as a template for cutting. This yielded uneven edges and as a result I had to cut them down so, now they are not quite the right size. After cutting....and cutting....and cutting to get them even I simply taped the the printed out words for tracing onto a piece of foam board (anything hard, white/lightly colored surface would do). Then I laid each piece of burlap onto the board and changed the words out underneath each one. I made 4 Italian ones that said thins like nourish, eat, enjoy etc. and 4 English that said the same thing. I made the Italian ones for my aunt and the others for my husbands aunt. Also, I had to place them underneath something heavy and flat to make the creases from being folded go away. I guess I could iron them but, I guess I just don't care anymore. I really hated this project. Good luck if you want to try it. Maybe it'll work out to be less painful for you.
 

Custom Coffee Mugs

I decided to do this quick and easy project inspired by pinterest. It was super quick and I think the results are great!

You will need:
- 2 mugs (I bought mine at the dollar store)
- sharpie

The only limitation to this project is your imagination. I mimicked something I had seen but you could literally do anything. All you do is preheat your oven to 350 degrees, write on your mug with a sharpie and bake for 30 minutes. It was quick and, if you mess up you can always wipe it away (before baking it of course!) After you are happy with your sharpie marks you just bake it and it is now permanent!

I made these for my sister-in-law who got married recently but you could do so many things and you know...there are many colors of sharpies out there!

Apple Pie Nutella Bites

This week is "Treat Week" in the teacher's lounge. Everyone signs up for one day to bring something and we have food that is normally really bad for you available all day every day for the entire week. I managed to snag Monday which is the best day because you have the weekend to think about it and prepare. I decided to experiment and made these delicious little pastries.

You will need:
- 2-3 apples
- nutella
- 2 packages crescent rolls
- cinnamon
- nutmeg

 

Preheat the oven to the temperature specified on the crescent rolls. Then roll out the dough and smear a little nutella on each piece. Then place an apple slice with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg on top and then roll them up. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until done and enjoy!

Dissolving Aromatherapy Shower Disks

DIY Coffee Hand Scrub

I finished up all of my Christmas gift crafting this weekend and this was one on my list. I have few guy friends who are addicted to coffee but still care about their appearance and hand softness. So, I thought this would be a great gift and, it only took a few minutes to make!

You will need:
 - 1/4 cup olive oil
 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
 - 1/2 cup ground coffee
 - bowl for mixing
 - container for scrub

  All you have to do is mix together your ingredients and then put them in your container! It's that easy. I went ahead and made some fantastic labels for the scrub that you can see below and click to download.

If you like this post you should also check out my DIY coffee themed t-shirt!

DIY Art - A Christmas Gift

My sister-in-law posted a picture of string art similar to this one with the comment that she would like one for our state, Arkansas. So, I thought I would surprise her for Christmas.

To make the string art you need:
 - one board (I bought mine at Wal-Mart in the craft section unpainted for about $4.)
- paint color of your choice
- nails (I went with an oxidized looking nail. I thought they looked more retro and interesting than silver ones.)
- string (I used all purpose white thread. It's a little thicker than regular thread. I also just used red thread for the heart.)
- a printed out image of your state or whatever you would like to make string art with

First, I painted my board. I chose lime green because my sister is kind of fun and I think it will match her home. Then I laid my map print out on the board and taped it down. Then I began to place my nails around the edge of the state lines. I then made a heart around the city that she lives in.

When I placed the nails for the heart I found that the board bent because there was nothing to stabilize it while hammering so I found a piece of styrofoam and placed it under the area I was nailing to make it easier.

Once I had placed the nails it was time to string it! I tied the beginning of my string to the first nail at the top left corner and then began to wind back and forth between the nails forming the heart and the nails forming the state shape. I had to use each nail making up the heart multiple times. I didn't really count or anything I just did it until it looked like I should move on to the next nail. When I finished I tied the end of the string to the final nail which ended up being the same as my starting nail.

After doing the white part I decided that I would fill in the heart with red thread to emphasize that it was a heart. I followed the same method as I did with the white except that I stayed within the boundaries of the heart shape.

There you have it! A heartfelt piece of art that will hopefully make a great gift. My only problem with this project was that the nails I bought were a little difficult to use. Aesthetically they were very pleasing but they were not uniform and some were rather dull ended. This made it much more difficult to nail them to the board than if I had chosen uniform, sharp nails. But, It all worked out. Oh, as a note I actually did put some hot glue on the nail tips on the underside of the board to make sure they stayed in place while I was stringing them. I did this because my nails were not cooperating and kept popping out. I would imagine that if you used more uniform nails that weren't so wide then you wouldn't need to do this.

A Big Hit!

 My husbands work party was last night and I finally got to wear the ugly sweater party dress that I made a few weeks ago.

Let's just say that I was very popular. We arrived at the party and everyone thought it was awesome but the best part of the night was going to the parade. First of all, it was Lillian's first time at a parade and she thought it was awesome. (I'm sure the two little girls that were 8 and 4 holding her hands didn't hurt. Lilly loves attention from older girls!) But the other awesome part was that I was a bit of a celebrity.

Almost every float that went by had women shouting that they loved my dress. Even the local news lady made a point to scream at me! Needless to say, I had a great time and the dress was totally worth the hour or so I spent making it. If you decide to get crafty and try to make a dress like mine post a pic so I can see how awesome you are!

Parking Tickets for Inconsiderate People and Poor Parkers

I have been planning on making these for a really long time and have never gotten around to it but, I recently saw a photo that someone posted of a "ticket" they received and it spurred me into action. I plan on giving my "parking tickets" as little booklets and placing them in stockings for my friends and family to use. I hope they are helpful to you.

Parking Ticket Printables

Quick, Easy, Cheap and Impressive Gifts

I've seen several posts about doing this type of thing. But, I'm going to post my take on it.



I went to the dollar store and bought 6 wine glasses and 3 "silver" trays. I already had some chalkboard paint from a previous project. Then I just painted the center of each tray with the paint and the base of each wine glass as well. I didn't even tape off the plates but I did wrap a piece of tape around the glass where I wanted the paint to stop. I did about 3 coats on each thing but other than the waiting for paint to dry this only took about 30 minutes total "working" time. I plan on giving the wine glasses with a bottle of my infused alcohol and a little note describing how to care for the glasses along with some chalk wrapped in a bow. I don't have a specific person in mind for the trays but I figured I was using the paint anyway so I might as well go ahead and make the trays too. You know you always need a gift at the last minute. I will also include some ribbon wrapped chalk with them and directions for their care. I have included an image of  my chalkboard dishware care instructions below and you can download them here.

A Felt Christmas Tree

I'm sure you have seen the felt Christmas tree project on Pinterest. However, I am kind of lazy sometimes and I made mine even easier. It didn't take a very long time and she really enjoyed it. All you need is a piece of poster board, a hot glue gun, some green felt and some sparkly ornament looking gift tags. I found mine at the dollar store.

 

First you roll up the poster board to make a cone. I had to cut off a portion of the poster board to make the size and shape I wanted. Then you wrap the poster board cone with the green felt and hot glue it. Finally, you take your blingy, ornament gift tags and hot glue little strips of the same green felt (in my case the scraps) to the back of each tag. I also hot glued two star gift tags together to make the star tree topper. Voila! Done! It took me maybe 15 minutes and was well worth the time.

Soap Bubble Chandelier

I'm sure you've seen the glass ornament chandeliers on pinterest. I know I have. That is where this idea got it's inspiration. However, mine has a few alterations to the one's you might have seen and also a different look. While buying deco mesh for my Christmas decorating this year I saw clear glass ornaments that were on sale and remembered this project so I bought them. However, I knew I would be hanging mine over my bathtub so I bought ornaments with a slight iridescent quality. They look like soap bubbles. I decided that I would use the base ring of a lampshade for my frame and lucked out at Goodwill when I found a pale blue shade with crystals hanging from it's base for only $2. After the ornaments and lamp shade you will just need clear thread/fishing line, 4 wooden skewers, a hot glue gun and 3 small ceiling hooks.



Once I had my supplies in order I cut the base of the lamp shade off. Then I cut the skewers to fit inside the lamp shade dividing it into eight sections  and secured them with hot glue.

Then I used some cereal storage containers and clothes pins to keep the base stead while I attached the ornaments. I just eyeballed it and hung them at different levels using the fishing line and tying it into knots around the ornament hook and the skewers.

When it was done I screwed the three hooks into the appropriate locations around the light in my bathroom and then used some thread to make loops for hooking the the lamp shade to the hooks. I could have used the fishing line but I didn't want the knots to slip (which sometimes happens with the clear stuff.  The pictures don't really do it justice but it looks really pretty. My daughter actually said "Look! Bubbles!" when she was in the bath and noticed it.

Quick, Easy & Awesome Pillow Tutorial

A while back I saw a post where you take a place mat and turn it into a pillow. After seeing that post I excitedly went in search of suitable pillow place mats but could not find any that I liked and that met the requirements. But, while at Target the other day I found these flocked faux bois place mats that I felt would definitely work and met the project requirements of being two pieces of fabric sewn together and not just one piece with no seams and at only $3.99 I figured it was worth a shot. I also grabbed two bags of  poly fill for stuffing for $2.99 each. So the pillows ended up costing a little less than $7 because I didn't use all of the stuffing.



So, how do you do it? You take your place mat and rip open one of the seams from one of the short sides. You don't have to rip the whole seam. Then you stuff it with your poly fill. And then you sew the seam shut again. I just hand stitched it. This project literally took me less than 30 minutes and I love the pillows! I am actually going to go back and get a couple more place mats in a different pattern that will look great with these. It's actually really sad how excited $7 but look like $40 pillows make me.

Christmas Decorating

Every year I patiently wait to put up my Christmas decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving. I feel like I'm being rude to Thanksgiving if I decorate earlier. So, I put my my decorations up on Black Friday after staying out until 4am shopping with my sister-in-law. I did a few things differently this year. I got a new/old tree for my living room. It was my mom's but she doesn't really go all out anymore so I asked if I could have it. I think it is around 12-15 ft. tall and really takes our living room up a notch.

 

Because I was going to have this new, big tree I decided to change all of my ribbons. I switched to deco mesh. This way I hopefully won't still be finding glitter from Christmas in the middle of the summer. I wanted to keep it traditional with a twist so I chose some fun green, red and white plaid deco mesh for the big tree but stuck with red for everywhere else.



We still had our original living room tree so we put it in the den/library room and I placed all of our fun ornaments on it. On a side note, I don't know if your parents did this but my mom let us pick out a new ornament each year so that when we were old enough to have our own tree and not live with her anymore we could take them to place on our own tree. So, the den tree has all of mine and my husband's childhood ornaments as well as Lillian's two ornaments. This year she was able to help pick it out. She chose a cupcake after what seemed like hours of indecision.

 

I also put a tree on my stairs that is white and my husband has one in his office upstairs. I'll post those pictures later. I forgot to take them.