New Curtains

New curtains. That's what I've been working on, once I got my sewing machine running again. I really needed new curtains. The ones I had was just something I quickly put up after we moved into our house (five years ago) and didn't think much about them, (for 5 years!). Then I went to my friends house. She has a great blog, Kreyv. It makes me want to redecorate every room in my house, adding even more to my decorating ADD as well as giving me decorating multiple personalities. So many good ideas! Check it out, it's awesome. She had just made some curtains that I loved, or should I say craved! It was just a week ago that I saw them, and I've already made them, that's how much I craved them!

Here is what I did...I don't have many pictures because remember how I hate that! And they are all taken after I was done, because once I got started, I didn't want to stop to take pictures! I'm impatient like that. Anyway, I bought some twin flat sheets for 5 dollars at Walmart, 2 brown and 1 cream. I used the top of the sheet for the slot for the rod to go though. You know how there is that folded over part in sheets? I just cut a slit in the back section of the fold like this...

Then I cut them into 15 inch sections, that would make the length of my curtains 87 inches long, allowing for a 1/4 inch seam. I needed 6 sections for each curtain, so I cut the top off of the 2 brown sheets, then cut 4 additional brown sections. For the cream sections I started from the bottom and cut 6 sections from that one. The width of the curtain is just the width of the twin sheets. This is when I discovered that not all sheets are created equal. The cream sheets were about 1/2 inch smaller in width than the brown ones. So I just made sure that one of the sides all lined up, then once I had sewn the 6 sections together I went back on the mismatched side and hemmed the brown sections to make then match the cream.

Lined upside...

Hemmed side...

I used the bottom of the sheet for the bottom of one curtain, so that one didn't need to be hemmed. The other one got a 1/4 inch hem so that one is 1/4 inch shorter, but you can't tell once they are up, esp. since on is hidden behind an end table. At least I can't tell. Don't tell me if you can. :)

I love them! I love looking at something and thinking, "That looks really good!" Especially when I am the one that made them! Plus, they were pretty cheap, 15 bucks for 2 panels, plus I have enough fabric left to make some brown and blue curtains for my baby's nursery, plus I think I am going to make some throw pillows for my couch with them. All that for 15 bucks, not bad. Plus they look awesome.

She's back!!

Well, I called my Mom to complain about my sewing machine breaking. She is the one that gave me the machine (when she got a new fancy one) She got the green machine from her mom, who got it from her sister. That girl has been around the block! I'm talking about my sewing machine, not my Mom. :) ANYWAY, my Mom had some tricks for me to try and they worked! I got the green machine working again, which means I will be able to get my project done much sooner! It would have been done today, but on top of all the technical difficulties I've had today (did I mention that I also dropped my cell phone in water?) my sweet baby decided not to take very long naps today. I think he knew I was trying to get something done. :) But I still managed to get half way done, so hopefully I can show what I've been working on soon!

RIP

I need a moment of silence. My sewing machine died. Right at nap time. Right when I was starting a new project. I am very sad about it. Look how cool and vintage-y she is...

I'll never find a sewing machine as cool as she was. But she led a good, long life...for a sewing machine.

Rest in peace green machine.

Dollar Tree Plates

I love my Silhouette. I've had it for over 2 years now, so I think I jumped on the Silhouette band wagon before everyone else. Cuz I'm cool like that. :) But it is completely awesome and I use it for probably 75% of all my projects. And the cool thing about Silhouette is that even though mine is 2 years old, I can still get the latest program, since it is available to download. The only function I don't have that the new ones do is the ability to save things onto an SD card, which isn't a big deal for me. But I love it. Seriously love it. Can you tell? :)

Anyway, here is one reason why I love it. I can take plates from the Dollar Tree, add some vinyl shapes cut from my Silhouette and make them look like this...

Way cute, way easy, and way cheap.

And don't birds just make you feel all Spring-like?

Baby Boy's Nursery...it's a little *wild*

I am finally done with my baby boy's (who is 5 1/2 months old) nursery. Well, done for me. I have decorating ADD, so things get changed a lot at my house. It is way easier to get the nursery done before the baby gets here though, that's for sure! But with adoption you don't get the usual 9 months of preparation time. We were first contacted by Andrew's amazing birth mother on Sept. 10th. We got a call on Sept. 23rd and found out her water had broken (6 weeks early) and then five days later, he first showed his cute face. So 18 days from first contact to birth. Doesn't leave much time for decorating! :)

So, slowly I have been adding to it and am ready to call it done (for awhile at least). It doesn't look like it's straight from a catalog or anything, but I love it.

This little shelf is very sentimental to me. The book is a beautiful book about adoption, the elephant was a gift from Andrew's birth mother, and the sign really just sums up what adoption is all about.

I made all my signs and blocks using my Silhouette. (LOVE!)

My favorite thing on this shelf is the picture of his little foot. So cute!

This is my favorite part of the room...

I love this book, the pictures are so cool! I've always wanted to use them to decorate a room with. I can see this growing into his toddler room with some silly pictures of all the cute things toddlers do...don't all two year old become wild things anyway? Might as well have a room to reflect that! :)

I want to do something different than just framing the pictures. I got a 12 inch wide pine board from Home Depot and had them cut it into 10 inch long boards. I originally was just going to paint the boards and mod podge the pictures on. But then I remember that I had a TON of burlap left over from when I was going to make burlap pillows. On a side note, I did make one burlap pillow but nixed the idea when I discovered that burlap left lots of little hairs on my couch and my kids complained it was too scratchy to lay on! :) So that's why I have so much burlap left. Anyway, I ended up wrapping the boards with burlap and stapling it to the back. Then I just stapled the picture right on top. I used picture hanging wire (from WalMart) on the back so I could hang them.

L.o.v.e it!

Linked to Finger Prints On the Fridge

The BEST Sugar Cookies EVER, St. Patrick's Day style

Yesterday my family went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis. It is a HUGE deal here. When I was growing up, St. Patrick's Day wasn't a big deal. I mean it was a fun little holiday, you wear green, you pinch people, a sneaky leprechaun might visit your classroom, but that was about it.

We have had fun celebrating this holiday more since moving to St. Louis. We always have so much fun at the parade, my kids love all the free candy and green beads they get.

On Friday I made some on my Grandma's "famous" (at least in my family) sugar cookies, shaped like shamrocks to take to the parade. I was watching my friends' boys that day, so I gave them each a ball of dough and their own cookie cutters and let them go to town! Here is what their cookies looked like...

(one really likes dogs, one really likes cow boys, and one really likes football)

And here are my Shamrock cookies...

I think I will eat these ones and let the kids eat the other ones... :)

Anyway, here is the recipe for the sugar cookies. They are honestly the yummiest sugar cookie EVER! They are so soft and thick. In my opinion they are even better than those pink frosted Granny B's cookies. Make some. You'll be glad you did.

Best EVER Sugar Cookies

3/4 cup margarine

3/4 cup Butter Crisco

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp. cream of tarter

2 1/4 tsp. vanilla

5 1/4 cups flour

Cream together margarine, shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add baking soda, cream of tarter, and vanilla. Gradually add in flour. Chill dough for one hour. Roll dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters, place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 4-5 minutes. Makes about 4-5 dozen, depending on size of cookies. Cool and frost.

And in my opinion, the only kind of frosting to use on these is homemade powdered sugar frosting. (Store bought frosting makes me gag!)

I usually half this recipe and still have tons for frosting left. (To put on graham crackers...another favorite treat around here)

Powdered Sugar Frosting

3/4 cup margarine, softened.

9 cups powdered sugar (about 2 pounds)

1/4 cup milk

2 tsp. vanilla

milk

food coloring

Beat butter until smooth. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in 1/4 cup milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar, adding additional milk if needed to reach spreading consistency. Add desired food coloring.

These are so good that I make them for as many holiday's as I can...and usually give some away because they are so good, I could eat them all, which my hips would definitely NOT appreciate! :)

Revival

So after many, many months, actually almost a year, I've decided to revive my craft blog. But here's the thing, there was a few things about blogging that I didn't like. Like the amount of time I was spending on it. Like writing tutorials. Like feeling like I had to take pictures of every. little. step. (hated that!) Like "linking up" to other blogs. Like the way I was comparing myself to other blogs and feeling badly if I didn't have as many followers or my blog wasn't as "cool." I didn't have the time, or the desire to make the time, to spend adding features to my blog or do all those other things that "real bloggers" do. So I just stopped. :)

That sounds like a lot of things that I don't like huh? But there are parts I liked too. :) Like having a way to show what I make to people who appreciate it more than my hubby,--not that he doesn't appreciate it, just not in the same way. :) Like reading the sweet comments from other people. Like the way my creativity is sparked by it.

Anyway, I've decided to start back up again. I am not going to do much of the things I didn't like and just focus on what I did like. So, if anyone out there besides my mom and sister still want to read this, awesome! If only my mom and sister want to read this, awesome still.

So you probably won't find many tutorials here, I'll still take pictures, but not of every little step, and I am not going to worry about whether or not I am as "cool" as the other bloggers are. I don't want this to feel like a job. I already have a job that I love. And that job got a little bigger a few months ago when we were so blessed to be able to adopt this beautiful baby boy...

Seriously, is he not the cutest thing EVER!! Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks! He has brought so much joy to our family and most of the time I would rather sit and cuddle him than sit behind a computer. :)

Speaking of babies, I have a baby related project to share with you today. I found this high chair at a garage sale for $20.

I really hate those huge plastic high chairs, they are such a pain to clean with all their nooks and crannies. So I loved the simplicity of this old fashioned high chair (and the price!) But I didn't love the crackle paint job and the stenciling.

So some sanding and 2 cans of spray paint later, and this is what it looks like now...

Much better. And then I added the vinyl, because everything looks better with vinyl! ;)

I've actually had this since kid #2 was a baby, but never got around to painting it then. That's part of the reason why I am so thrilled with it. I've waited 4 years for this baby to get here. I am so glad he is here and I can do baby related projects now!

Faux Cupboard Picture "frames"

When I saw these cupboard picture frames on the Creative Crate a few weeks ago, they instantly were added to my ever growing list of projects to do. Unfortunately, I had no idea where to get cupboard doors in my area. So that meant that I either needed to come up with another way of doing it, or resort to taking the doors off my cupboards, because this was one of those projects that I just HAD to do! Well, I need my cupboard doors, plus they weren't really the right side, so this is what I came up with.

I think they look like pretty convincing cupboard doors, don't you? Here is how I did it.

I got 8x10 frames from Michael's that have a really chunky frame. They are $4.99, but I used a 50% off coupon. If I had a router (someday I will!) I would have probably just cut some wood to the size I wanted then routed the edges. But this works too.

I also got some $3 frames from Walmart. I painted the edges of both frames black to that when I lightly sanded the edges the black would show through.

The next part I don't have pictures of, but the frames from Michael's had MDF boards behind the glass that I drilled holes in for the ribbon. Then I removed the glass, painted everything white and sanded the edges. When it was completely dry, I added the ribbons. Then I took the MDV board and put it in the Walmart frames, and glued the Walmart frames onto the Michael's frames using E6000. For the clips, I had some already, but they were all pastel colors, so I spray pained them with Oil Rubbed Bronze paint.

And there you have it! I love them!

I obviously need more pictures for them still, but even empty they look cute.

And I need a project for the 8 pieces of glass I have leftover from them. Any ideas?

Linked to:

Thank you!

Thanks to Maryanne over at Scrappy Gifts for featuring my A Very Cute Boy layout!

And stay tuned later today for some faux cupboard frames that I came up with, inspired by these at The Creative Crate.

Creating Keepsakes Convention

So I am FINALLY finding time to blog about an actual craft, instead of just excuses of why I haven't been able to blog!

I mentioned awhile ago that I went to a Creating Keepsakes Convention with my mother-in-law a week or two ago. It was so fun! The classes were great and gave me tons of new ideas for my scrapbooks and motivation to get caught up on them! I came home with tons of layouts that just need pictures added to them. It was kind of weird for me to make a layout with a specific picture in mind, but most of the layouts I did would work for pictures I have waiting to be scrapbooked. They also move SUPER fast in each class, since they are trying to pack so much in that most of the layouts I had to finish at home. So here are a few that I have gotten done.

I love the colors of this layout and I learned a cool ripping technique. Here is a close up of it...

Notice how the edges are ripped. To do this you need a piece of double-sided patterned paper and then cut it down to a 10x10 square. Then just randomly rip pieces off the edges, rough the torn areas up with your finger nail and roll the rips down. Then take the 2 inch scraps from when you cut your original patterned paper down to 10 inches and cut little strips just big enough to adhere to the back of the paper, so the opposite pattern is showing in the front, behind the rip. I hope that makes sense! I couldn't take pictures since we did this in class and were moving at a break-neck pace! I think it looks so cool though! I also love the pocket we made. For that one, all you do is cut a rectangle out of patterned paper, rip a v shape into it, punch holes along each side of the rip and then sew it back up with a ribbon.

I also took a class on using over sized mats that was cool. It is an easy way to bring your page together. I like the ribbon embellishment on this one. All you do it fold 3 inch pieces of ribbon and adhere it to a circle.

Here is another layout using 2 over sized mats.

This class was one of my favorites. It was called misting and masking. And as you guess from the title we used masks on paper, them sprayed them with mist inks, removed the masks and got this...

This is another layout that I did in the same class as the ripping layout...

I love the group of pockets that you can see on the far right of the layout. I will show how I did that for another project I will be posting soon.

But I will show you how I made this little heart.

First take two strips of paper like this...

Adhere them together at the bottom. Then cut off the excess edges to make your point at the bottom, like this...

Then use a corner rounder at the top to finish your heart.

And you're done! I added a few fake stitches with a pen over the line where the papers overlap and inked the edges.

I still have about 20 more layouts to get done from the convention. Maybe that will get me caught up...

Linked to

Concussion

So the past day have been pretty eventful for me. Not with crafts, scrapbooking, or decorating unfortunately, but with an ER visit. My youngest son fell of a bar stool yesterday, knocked himself out and suffered a concussion. So once again, this is a very unproductive week for my blog, but the most important thing is that my baby is okay!

OOPS!

Okay my winners of the Sunshine Award. I almost let you off easy. There are some rules to the award. Here they are...

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Link back to the person from whom you received this award.

Slacker, I mean Sunshine Award

First of all thanks so much to Allison at Oopsey Daisy for awarding me with the Sunshine Award. Although I think right now I deserve the Slacker award! Luckily I haven't been slacking in all aspects of my life, just the blogging one! We have had some absolutely gorgeous weather and I feel it is practically a sin to stay inside when it is so nice outside because I know that soon enough it is going to be too hot and humid to do anything outside unless you are swimming. So we have been going to the park practically everyday, riding bikes, flying kites, blowing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk. I even have the beginnings of a tan line from my flip flops! Then this past weekend I attended a Creating Keepsakes convention with my mother-in-law. It was awesome! I have tons of layouts that I will post as well as lots of cool techniques that I learned! But that also means that part of my week was spent getting my house "mother-in-law" ready! :) Which took longer than usual since I have neglected my house in favor of playing outside.

That was probably more info that you wanted, but there you go, a reason for my slacking!

So, on to the Sunshine Award!

I now get to spread the sunshine to 12 other awesome bloggers!

So here they are in no particular order...

1. Better Life Bags: She makes awesome bags and even better, it's for a good cause!

2. Honey Bear Lane: She has one of the cutest quilts I have ever seen and way cute appliqués.

3. Lechateaudesfleurs: She has an absolutely stunning house and does the cutest things with her kids.

4. Babblings from Brooke: She has so many great recipes! My mouth always waters when I read her blog!

5. Remodelaholic: Cassity is getting this award for several reasons. First, she is a friend from high school. Second, she was kind enough to link our adoption profile on her awesome blog. And third, her blog is awesome and she has the greatest ideas that I wish I were talented enough to make!

6. Red Head Craft More Fun: I honestly love everything she does! Way cute stuff!

7. The Thrifty BA: She has lots of cool thrifty ideas and is so good at commenting...something I need to be better at!

8. Brown Paper Packages: Keirste and Angela have cute ideas, my favorites is their wooden step stool with foot prints...go check it out!

9. Organize and Decorate Everything: Combining two of my favorite things, organizing and decorating! Doesn't get better than that!

10. Drab to Fab: These ladies are the ones responsible for my new hobby of frequenting thrift stores to find something to make fab!

11 Twiddle Thumbs: These ladies have the CUTEST wood projects! I need to get me more power tools so I can make stuff too!

12. Studio Calico: I don't know if this is cheating or not, since Studio Calico is a company run blog, but I took one of their classes at CKC and LOVED it! So, they are now one of my favorite blogs. Great inspiration for scrapbookers!

So, thanks again Alison for the Sunshine award! Hope everyone has a great sunshine-y day! I'm enjoying one right now!

Sorry for my absence...

I've been enjoying 80 degree weather and Spring Break!

But I'll see you next week!

P.S. I am attending a Creating Keepsakes Convention and vendor fair next week with my mother-in-law! I can't wait! I'll show you all the cool stuff I learn in my classes!

Easter Dinner

Well, there's not much crafting going on in my house this week. So I thought I would branch out in my posts and post some recipes. Here are two of my favorite things to make for Easter dinner aside from the traditional ham and "funeral potatoes".

First, my Grandma's YUMMY rolls. They are sooo good and sooo easy. They are kind of a cross between a roll and a biscuit, leaning more toward the roll side though. Every time I make them, I am amazed at how well they turn out. They make me feel like an amazing baker (which I am not!)

Anyway, I don't have any pictures of them, since I haven't made Easter dinner yet and I am not in the habit of taking pictures of my food! But, really TRY THEM! You won't be sorry!!

Jiffy Rolls

2 cups warm water

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp. yeast

Combine and let rest 15 minutes.

2 tsp. salt--add to 2 beaten eggs

4 1/2 cup white flour

1 cup wheat flour

Combine and let rest 20 minutes.

Roll out on floured surface to about 3/4 inch thick. Cut using a round cookie cutter (I've also used the top of a cup.) Place on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise 10 minutes.

Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

My other favorite is an orange Jell-o salad. It is also so yummy and just tastes very "spring-y."

Orange Jell-o Salad

(I usually double the recipe)

1 small package orange Jell-o

1 small package vanilla pudding (NOT instant)

1 small package tapioca pudding (NOT instant)

1 can mandarin oranges

Cool Whip

Pour the Jell-o and puddings into a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let set overnight. Fold in mandarin oranges WITH juice and 1/2 of 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip.

Easy and yummy! What are some of your Easter dinner favorites?

We have a winner!

So here is the winner!

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Comment number 10 was

Larsons said...

I just became a follower! I'm so glad i found your blog!!! such a cute sign...

MARCH 23, 2010 9:38 AM

Email me at becauseicancrafts@gmail.com so I will know where to send it!

Congrats and thanks for following!

Easy Nests

LAST DAY to enter my giveaway! You can to it here!

Well, I haven't been home all day, my house is a mess, and I still have errands to run. But it is a GORGEOUS day today and all my kids want to do is play outside. So I am going to forget my mess and my errands for now and let them play while I blog!

Since we are enjoying some nice Spring weather today, here is a cute way to decorate for spring. It doesn't get anymore Spring than a bird's nest!

An easy way to make a nest is to stuff a bunch of Spanish moss in a candlestick holder. I got these from Goodwill for 2 bucks!

Then I took a plastic egg, tore up some scrapbook paper into little pieces and Mod Podged it on! Sorry no pics of the process, but it is pretty simple. I really need to get better at taking pictures, but I just get so excited to get done and see the final result!

And I think the final result is pretty cute!

New Friend Friday

Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE!

Make some new friends at The Girl Creative.

Laced up candles

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You can enter HERE!

Candles with paper wrapped around them are nothing new, but I think this is a fun way to dress them up.

All you do is cut your paper to the size you need for your candle, cutting it smaller than the circumference of the candle. Then you punch the holes. I overlapped the ends, making sure the paper was lined up, so the holes would be lined up too. I used my Crop-A-Dile to do this part. I also set in some eyelets to reinforce the paper, also using my Crop-A-Dile. Then you just lace your ribbon in like you do a shoe!

Very cute and easy! I got the candles at the dollar store, and used scraps of paper and leftover ribbon from other projects. So it's cheap too!

98, 99, 100! That means a giveaway!

Well, like many new bloggers, I have been watching my followers grow and have been planning on doing a giveaway as soon as I got to 100. Well, this weekend I hit that magic number! 101 actually! And to thank you all for following my little blog, here is a giveaway for you!

Here is what you could win...

This delightfully cute welcome sign, because I am, as the sign says DELIGHTED you are here!

There are 2 ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of Because I Can and leave a comment, or leave a comment that you already follow.

2. Blog about this giveaway and link back here. Leave another comment that you did.

The giveaway will close on Friday at midnight and I will announce the winner on Saturday.

Here is one more look cuz I think it is just so cute!

Good Luck and thanks again for following me!