4th of July No-Sew Bunting

Ta da!!

This is very exciting!  I did my very first fabric bunting, and I didn’t use the sewing machine!  Good thing, because it wouldn’t have turned out as cute.

Items needed:

3 different fabrics, about 1/2 yard each

1 yard fusible interfacing

1/2 yard interfacing

yarn

3 plates (mine were about 1 inch different between the sizes, the largest was around 10 inches in diameter)

Step 1: Trace the largest plate onto the interfacing 3 times.  Trace the medium and small plate on the fusible interfacing 3 times each.  You should have a total of 9 circles.

Step 2: Iron on the 3 large circles to your fabrics- you should do 1 large circle on each of your fabrics.  Repeat with the medium and small plates.  Each of your fabrics should have a small, medium and large interfacing circle ironed on.

Step 3: Cut out the circles.

Step 4: Line up one medium circle onto your large circle.  Make sure it is even (I used a ruler to measure).  Iron to fuse together.  Then place the small circle and iron to fuse together.  Repeat so now you have 3 large circles.  Make sure you mix and match your fabric patterns.

Step 5: Cut your circles in the middle to create 6 half circles.

Step 6: Fold the edge of the half circle over and cut to create a slit. Then weave your yarn into the holes and tie in a bow.

Step 7: Hang your bunting and admire your handiwork!  ThatGuy put some nails up for this bunting (and hopefully future ones!) after he cleaned off the window sill.

Happy 4th of July!!

Book Book Shelves

No, not a typo- a book shelf made from a book!

The other week at Hobby Lobby ThatGuy found the perfect table for our entryway!

It looks like a library card catalog!  That makes this librarian very happy.   The saver in me is also happy, as there are many empty drawers that are waiting for me to fill them.  I already have a drawer totally dedicated to Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons!  I decided that the decorations on and around the card catalog need to be reading-inspired, which why I was so excited to see this example on the Real Simple website.

ThatGuy did not follow RealSimple’s directions, but rather made his own version.  He simply got an L-bracket from HomeDepot, drilled it into the wall.  Then he got industrial strength Velcro and attached the back cover to the last page of the book.  The weight of the book, combined with the velcro, keeps the book attached to the wall.  And the best part- it cost $5.13!!

Okay, I know I said the totally cheap price of $5.13 was the best part, but really it was the message ThatGuy wrote for me on the shelves!

Coming soon, reading-inspired decorations for the book book shelves…

Something Old is New

Near our house is a used furniture store, Jubilee.  I love Jubilee for many reasons.  First of all, it has great used furniture that is perfect for crafting. Secondly, the prices are totally reasonable so you can decorate your house without breaking the bank.  And third (and best of all), it supports charity!

ThatGuy and I will ride our bikes over and take a look at their furniture fairly often- they are always receiving new donations.  ThatGuy had his eye on this particular bookshelf and thought it had real potential.

He thought about it for the week and went back to see if it was still there. (Note- things can move quickly at Jubilee!  If you find something you love, buy it immediately!)  He purchased it and then went to work cleaning and filling in the scratches with a handy-dandy furniture pen.  Next we took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought some great baskets on clearance and a couple of doorknobs to update the look.

Ta da!   Looks great!  And the baskets are a great way to hide stuff so we can maintain the illusion that we are clean people!  Correction, that I can maintain the illusion of being clean… ThatGuy actually is clean.

Susan, the manager at Jubilee, runs a blog. It showcasing furniture people bought from Jubilee and also the week’s the latest donations.  Check it out here!

Taco Pizza

What do you do when you have half the ingredients to make tacos and the other half to make pizza?  Make Taco Pizza!!  I googled some recipes, but then got lazy and made up my own.

Taco Pizza

1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey)

1 taco seasoning package

1 can black beans

1/2 can tomato sauce

1/2 onion (I used purple)

1 ready-made pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat dough)

1 tsp. salsa seasoning or other spicy spice (optional)

Cheese!

Roll out dough and bake for 6 minutes.  Meanwhile chop and saute onion.  Add ground meat and brown.  Drain and add rinsed black beans, taco seasoning package and 1/2 can of tomato sauce.  Stir to combine and then put on the half-baked pizza.  Top with cheese and bake for an additional 6 minutes or until cheese is melted. EAT!!

The reason I half-baked my dough is otherwise I have a problem with my toppings burning while the center of my dough remains doughy.  Not sure what I’m doing wrong, but the half-baking things seems to work for me.

After eating it, I asked ThatGuy what he would change for next time.  He replied, “add olives.”  (see Pasta Salad)  YUCK!

Copycat Shutters

Close your shutters or I will steal your design ideas!   One of my favorite blogs is Crap I’ve Made, written by Char.  In addition to being a crafting goddess, Char has such a great dry sense of humor that makes her blog not only inspiring to read, but humorous too.  She recently had a post all about her shutter obsession, which got me obsessed with her shutters.

Being a girl on a budget, I joined FreeCycle, an email listserve where people offer and request free household objects.  I joined and put out an email asking for old wooden shutters.  My request was quickly answered and I found myself driving to the next town to take shutters from someone’s front porch while they were at work. The whole experience was rather bizarre, but I got free shutters so I was okay with it.

My husband, who will be known as ThatGuy, graciously spray painted the shutters and moved them onto my shelves where I rearranged items until I got what I wanted.  And I think it looks pretty good!  What do you think?

Oh La 30!

My friend Jen is turning 30 (never mind the fact I did that 5 months ag0).  As is the trend these days, instead of quietly turning 30 and feeling old my friends are CELEBRATING.  In typical Jen style, she is going all out and has an evening in Paris planned at a chic wine bar.  She graciously has asked me to help her with invitations. This is more of a favor to me, because I have a thing for invitations.

Paper invitations are one of my favorite things in this great big, whole, entire world.  I loooove them.  They are luxurious.  They are creative.  They are beautiful.  They take up a whole drawer in my desk because I save them, after proudly displaying them on my refrigerator for well past the party’s date (I still have the most beautiful wedding invitation on my fridge from almost 2 year ago).

First thing, we scoured Etsy looking for inspiration and we found it at CreativeVision.  Jen really liked her Paris Tag, and Marianne was so accommodating and worked hard to get Jen what she wanted.  After a couple of trips to Paper-Source, we were ready to assembly the invites! I trimmed the lavender paper down and Jen punched all the corners to round them.  Then using foam, we mounted them on the brown envelope to add some height.

They needed something and luckily Marianne sent us some lavender ribbon!  We cut it into strips and glued it behind the Paris tag.

So cute!  Up next, the inside information….

Pasta Salad: Let the Summer BBQ’s Begin

It’s the first official week of summer (according to the school schedule), which means its Barbecue Time!!    Every good cook needs a stand out recipe for potlucks and I always use this one called JoJo’s Pasta Salad.  JoJo is the sister of a lady my friend used to babysit for while we were in college…. so obviously, we’re really close.

This recipe is really easy, but does involve a lot of chopping.

Cook 1 lb. of pasta (I like using the tri-colored variety)

Then chop, dice and add:

1/4 lb. hard salami

1/4 lb. provolone cheese

2-3 tomatoes

1 small red onion

2 small zucchinis

1 red pepper

1 small can sliced black olives

1/4 cup minced parsley

Time for the dressing! In a bowl, wisk together:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 minced garlic clove

1 1/2 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp salt

Then, the best part. MORE CHEESE! Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.    Let the flavors marry one another in the refrigerator and then serve.  Delish!

And let me prove my love to my husband.  I hate olives and he LOVES olives.  Feeling nice today so I put the olives in!  This is true love.

Last step is EAT and ENJOY!