Craft Time....

I don't know what it is about this time of year that makes people want to start crafting, but the bug has hit. My friend, Theresa, decided to try her hand at the mesh wreaths that are all the rage. She had never made one before. 

She enjoyed making her fall one so much that she went and bought stuff to make a Christmas one. She has around $12 in each one. 

Another friend of mine, Tammy, bought some of those unfinished wooden frames from AC Moore. She covered them using modge podge, tissue paper and pigeon glue. They turned out beautiful. I would never in a million years think to use tissue paper. I am going to have to try this. 

So that got me in the mood to try my hand at a little crafting. I am going to get a small tree to put in my craft room at Christmas and put nothing but handmade crafts on it. Since I do so much with yarn, I decided to try the little mini yarn balls. I rolled the ball of yarn and inserted a ornament hanger in the top. I put a touch of hot glue to hold it in. Then I glued little beads on the end of toothpicks, making them look like knitting needles. I simply inserted them tightly in the yarn. I already had everything in my craft stash so I didn't have to spend anything to make these. I am loving them. I also have solid green sparkly yarn and red sparkly yarn to make more. These were so fun and so fast. Took about 5 minutes to make.

I had some brown and some red burlap in my surplus of items. I also had a ball of Jute string. I cut out this little birdie. I cut two pieces exactly alike to give it thickness. I laid down the back piece first and then looped my jute and laid the string on top of the back piece and let it hang down. I took a black scrapbook tack and put through the top piece for the eye and hot glued the red wing on. Then I ran a bead of glue around the edges of the bottom piece and laid the top piece on it. I knotted the Jute and cut the excess off to create legs. Easy as pie.

The only thing I noticed after the fact was the wing is backwards. It is supposed to have the big side on the left side, not the right. I will change that when I make some more of them. What have you been crafting?

Weekend Wrap Up

Technically, my weekend isn't over because I am off today for Columbus Day. I have a to do list for today and if I get everything on it done this morning, I am going to reward myself by taking some of my Pyrex trade items over to the Tudor House. She is going to give me store credit or swap me out Pyrex for Pyrex if she has things I want. She has a lot of Pyrex scattered through out, but she has one booth that is nothing but Pyrex and Vintage Christmas. I am so excited about going there today.

I bought a new Christmas decor at 40% at Hobby Lobby this weekend. It is an ornament with a chalk board. I am going to use it to Countdown to Christmas when I decorate after Thanksgiving.

We had so much rain these past two days. I now have a creek in my backyard where I never had a creek before. It is a mess. 

Because of all the gloomy rain, it did motivate me to finish my decorating for fall and Halloween. I got this ghost at Hobby Lobby Saturday. Isn't he just adorable. I couldn't resist him. Loved the black cat on him as well. That reminds me, I have a little tiny black cat around here somewhere that would look cute in this display. I need to find it.

I also love my little monster from Hobby Lobby.

I got my fall tablecloth out. Of all my seasonal tablecloths, this is my favorite. I love farmhouse kitchen style and this just seems to say old farmhouse.

I used my McCoy pitcher that belonged to Mamaw Eden as my table centerpiece. I usually have a basket for my napkins and one for my salt and pepper shakers. But I went outside my comfort zone and put those items in Pyrex. Ooo la la. Loving it. Now I need to find me some vintage S & P shakers for my table.

These baking dishes are perfect for napkins and I have several in different patterns so I can change them with the holidays.

I'm not sure I like this bowl for the S & P, but it was all I had that matched.

I put my smiling Jack-o-lanterns on the coffee table with my no sew runner I made last year.

I have had this little wire Jack-o-lantern forever. I got this candle a month ago at Dollar General. I have never burned it. We just take the lid off and it is perfect for a fall smell without even burning it. It is Autumn Spice.

My witches corner. I made the chalk board and the pinwheels a couple of years ago. I smudged the wording so I need to go find some chalk to fix it. Did you know that our Walmart doesn't sale chalk? I was surprised. 

Some of my favorite pumpkins.

My new little Harvest guy I got at the beach. I will keep him up through Thanksgiving.

One of my faves to put out every year is my witch that I hang on the front door. I have had her about 10-12 years. She is one of the first Halloween things I set out.

I was so excite at the beach when I found Casper on DVD for just $5.00. I have it on VHS but my VCR tore up. Tonight is The Voice. Tuesday night is The Voice, but Wednesday night is KFC for supper then popcorn and Hershey kisses while hubby and I watch Casper. My favorite Halloween movie. I don't do scary. 

Well, I am going to finish cleaning house...just two rooms left today. Then make another batch of peanut butter Reese cup cookies like I made last Friday. Then I am going to run to exchange my Pyrex and pop over to Joann's real quick for some pearls. Then back home to craft all day and watch The Voice tonight. Love having an extra day off. 

Thoughts for today...

I love holiday displays....

 I have been trying to decorate for fall all week. First time I had time to do it, I pulled everything from storage and was sorting through it. I got the coffee table decorated and then I got sick at my stomach and real dizzy so I had to quit and lay down. Second time I was going to try our refrigerator went out and we had to get that all taken care of. Before I went to work one morning, I did get my Pyrex fall rearranged and displayed along with a couple of Halloween pieces. 

I am in love with the display and can't quit stopping by it just to look. I'm going to go to a few shops sometime this weekend to see if I can find a few pieces for my Christmas Pyrex. My wine rack display changes with the holidays. At Christmas last year, here is what it was.

Then I did something stupid. I traded my snowflake Pyrex for some other Pyrex I wanted. Now I only have the one piece on the very top. So I am heading out sometime this weekend to go look for some more snowflake Pyrex. Anything along from this pattern would make me happy.

Tried a new recipe....

Nothing like waking up at 5:00 in the morning and deciding to try a new recipe. I had bought the ingredients several days ago, but just now got around to making them. It is Peanut Butter Mini-Muffins. They are so simple. You make them with Peanut Butter Cookie mix. First, I gathered the ingredients and my favorite Pyrex mixing bowl.

I mixed everything with my wooden spoon and formed a nice mound of dough.

I sprayed my mini muffin pans with cooking spray. 

I pinched off portions of the dough and dropped them into each muffin cup. 

Baked them at 350 degrees. The original recipe calls for 6-8 minutes but mine took about 10 or 11 minutes. You just need to cook them until they are golden brown.

While they are cooking, pour some mini Reese cups into a bowl to have them ready.

When you remove the muffin tins from the oven, gently push one Reese cup into each peanut butter cookie. 

Gently run a small spoon around the edges and lift the cookie out and place it on a rack to cool.

Eat and enjoy. Believe me they are delicious. 

Keeping it among friends and family....

So I went to a yard sale over Labor Day with my friend, Stevie. I picked up these two vintage spice jars....just because. Had no idea where to display them or what to do with them.

A few weeks later and I decided to put them up for trade. Yesterday, I met with Jess, Stevie's aunt who wanted to trade. I traded her for a Pyrex 471 Butterprint. Then things started snowballing. It happened so fast that I'm not sure if I traded for a white or a blue Butterprint. But whatever it was didn't stay with me for long.



About 25 minutes after I traded with Jess, Stevie saw what i traded. This happens to be her main pattern she collects and she didn't have this one. So she asked me if I would like to swap. Well, we went to her "spare Pyrex" closet and she had the 401 in my Shenandoah pattern. So I agreed to swap for that.



The problem was, she had the 402 and 403 to go with it. I wanted them really bad as well. She also love black and white Pyrex so I thought it over and asked if she would like my barbed wire for the two remaining Shenandoah bowls.

That just tells you how bad I wanted that set of Shenandoah, because it took me forever to find the barbed wire. But I see it everywhere now so I can replace it some day if I decide to. She said yes to the trade so now I am the proud owner of this set of lovelies.

So now I went from a couple of spice jars to a set of one of my favorite patterns of mixing bowls. The funny part is that my initial investment was $2.00 and I ended up with three mixing bowls. Happy dance.

A blast from the past....

'60s rocker Paul Revere dies at 76

I read this online the other day and it brought back so many memories. I was a HUGE fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders. I loved their music. They were on every Saturday afternoon and I spent many a lazy afternoons watching every moment of their show.

Their lead singer was Mark Lindsay.

He was one of the heart throbs in my 16 teen magazine and I cut out all the pictures of the Raiders I could find for my scrapbook. 

My favorite song by them was Indian Reservation. 

Rest in peace, Paul Revere.