Christmas is Almost Here!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm very excited about the upcoming year. We'll be moving into a home that I am eagerly waiting to decorate. I'm so excited to put those personal touches on the place. I've been creating some really nice gifts for Christmas that I would love to share, but I will have to wait until after the holiday so that the recipients don't see them. We want people to be surprised don't we?
Don't worry, these are gift ideas for just about any holiday, so it won't hurt to find out later.
Even though we all love to decorate we always need to remember that what's most important in life cannot be bought. During the holidays and everyday we must be thankful for what really matters in life and I believe that is God, family, friends and love. Well, actually there are many more things to be thankful for that aren't "things," but these are just a few very important ones! I hope everyone has a great holiday season, and I'll return after the new year! Gift yourself the gift of love!

Decoupaged Wall Letter

I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. I just finished a fun project for my eight year old niece. It'll be one of her Christmas presents. I bought a pink wooden letter "B" which is the first letter of her name. I then went onto Google images and saved to my PC pictures of some of her favorite TV programs, along with some of her favorite music artists and bands. I then used my Lexmark printer program to size them to a passport size. Then I printed them out on heavy white printer paper. You could use any program you have for resizing your pictures, and depending on the size of your letter you may need to make them larger or smaller.
I also printed out the letters of her name and a picture of her, as well. Then I used decoupage and placed them on the letter. I had to do some trimming here and there to get the placement where I wanted. I think it turned out pretty cute! My husband had a great idea that we could do another letter of her name next year with the things she is interested in then. The only thing is you may want to save those and hang them when you have finished all the letters or it might look odd. Here is a picture:

Great Gift Idea

Go to www.pixable.com/pocketpix. You can make a great photo gift for you or a loved one. It looks like a deck of cards with some of your most treasured photos. You can put it on your key chain and carry it around with you to show them off. I have made one and can't wait to get it in the mail! If you make one let me know how it turns out. You can also share your pocketpix on Facebook. The hardest part is narrowing down which pictures to use!

Place mat Pillow

Today's project is really exciting to me because it is inexpensive, easy and turns out beautiful! It is a throw pillow made out of a place mat.

Supplies:
 A doubled cloth kitchen place mat of your choice.
Needle and thread that matches stitching around the place mat.
Seam ripper
Filling to stuff place mat.
Scissors
These are the before pictures:

Instructions: On a bottom corner of the place mat, take your seam ripper and carefully pull apart the stitching far enough across to have room to fill with poly filling. Stuff pillow with filling and spread out inside until it is full and smooth. Then simply stitch the material back with the same color thread that was used originally. Here is the finished project. I made a Christmas pillow for probably a quarter of the price of a finished one! I hope you can make many of these for your furniture!

Pumpkin Roll

I have been told I make a great pumpkin roll so I thought I would share the recipe. There is a real trick to making a pumpkin roll turn out, and I am going to share mine!

3 Eggs                                                      1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sugar                                               1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup mashed pumpkin                         3/4 cup flour
 1 tsp. lemon juice                                  1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (divided)
1 tsp. nutmeg                                          1 8 oz cream cheese block softened                                  
2 tsp. cinnamon                                        1/4 cup melted butter (no margarine)
1 tsp. ginger                                              1 tsp. vanilla                                          
  saran wrap                                              wax paper              

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Here is the key to a "held together" pumpkin roll. Spray jelly roll pan GENEROUSLY with cooking spray. Then dust pan ALL OVER with powdered sugar. In large mixing bowl beat eggs high speed for 5 minutes(important so it will be light and fluffy and easier to turn out of pan). Gradually add in sugar beating well. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. In another bowl mix together nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt and flour. Add dry mixture to pumpkin mixture and beat until blended. Pour batter onto prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. While baking take large sheet of wax paper and sprinkle with 1/4 cup powdered sugar( you can use more if needed to cover). When roll is baked, remove from oven. Gently take knife and run all around the edged to loosen. While holding your breath ha ha, quickly flip over onto wax paper. Immediately roll up and place in refrigerator until COMPLETELY cool. When ready to fill roll,  mix together with mixer 1 cup powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Unroll cake and spread filling evenly over it. Roll up again and slice, or you can place roll on powder sugar coated saran wrap, roll up and refrigerate until ready to eat and then slice it. It actually slices better when refrigerated after filling. Now just eat and enjoy!!!!

Button Wastebasket

My family and I will be moving in a few months to a larger home, and we will have a spare room for company. I already know the color scheme I want to use for the room so I decided to decorate a wastebasket for it. Here are the before pictures:

I purchased an unfinished wastebasket from my local craft store, along with some wood posts for legs. You could pick any kind you like. I then picked out two colors of paint I wanted to match the decor I plan to use in the spare room.  I painted the wastebasket the cream color and the legs the teal. I then glued the legs to the bottom of the wastebasket. I did this just to dress up the wastebasket and give it some color. I have a huge box of buttons from my grandmother that passed away recently, so it's important to me to use them on projects. I decided to put our last initial on the front of it with the buttons. All I had to do was glue them on. I could've dressed this up more, but I figured it's a wastebasket, so I don't want to make it too busy. I want to be able to add a lot more color to the room in other ways. I still think it turned out pretty cute! Here is the finished product:

Yummy Goose Feathers

You might be saying, "Goose feathers, how and why would you eat those?" Actually it is a guilty pleasure breakfast or dessert! My cousin fixed this for me several years ago when I was over for coffee. I had forgot all about the recipe until I made my recipe binder and came across it. We made it recently and I wonder how I could have ever forgot about it! This recipe is easy. It is great to fix on a weekend morning when it is hot out of the oven. You can save the leftovers to eat cool as a dessert. I actually like it best cold.

Goose Feathers
2 rolls of crescent rolls
1 8oz block of cream cheese
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 1/4 cup sugar divided
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay out one roll of the crescent rolls in a 13x9 dish (preferably glass). In a mixing bowl beat together 1 cup sugar, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Spread over the crescent rolls. Gently lay another layer of crescent rolls on top. Pour melted butter all over the top of the rolls. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in small bowl with the cinnamon. Sprinkle that over the top of the dish. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until light to medium brown on top. The cream cheese mixture will still be runny. This is OK. It will set up as it cools. Now you just need to eat and enjoy!

Photo Books

Since I am still "chair" bound, I decided to share something I had made. They are photo books of our vacation to Hawaii and St. Louis. I did get to be a little creative with these projects because I determined the entire layout of the photos and what I wanted written in them. The company I used for the Hawaii book is www.picaboo.com. I had gotten a special deal from a coupon site, so I gave it a try. I thought it turned out great! The St. Louis book I did in 2009 through Kodak. It is completely different, but I love the look of it too. I'm eager to do this for all of our future vacations! Here are some photos.

Recipe Binder

I have a pretty simple project today. While I have been recuperating from my surgery, I decided to organize my recipes. They have been hidden away and all mixed up. I have written out recipes, magazine cutouts, whole magazines and ripped out pages. Basically my recipes are a total mess and it is about impossible for me to find the one I want. I decided I wanted them all in one place, but I didn't want to have to take the time to write out every recipe in a book, so I chose to make a recipe binder.

Supply List:
Cheap three ring binder with a plastic cover on the front that has an opening at the top (I bought mine at Walmart)
Plastic clear photo sheets (Hobby or craft store either in the scrapbook section, and or baseball card collectible section)
File Folder tab pages (To label categories)
Scrapbook supplies such as paper and stickers
A cutter to cut the scrapbook paper even
And of course the recipes!

To make the binder I cut two black sheets of scrapbook paper to fit down inside the plastic sleeve of the front and back of the binder. I then gathered stickers that had to do with cooking and recipes. I decorated the front sheet with the sticker. I then simply slid it into the front of the binder. I left the sheet for the back of the binder blank, but you could always decorate it as well. Then I organized my recipes by categories such as breakfast items, appetizers, desserts, etc. I put them into the plastic photo sheets and then put the sheets into the binder. Then just label your tabs and put those in as well. Now if I cut out a recipe and I don't want to write it out, I can simply put it into one of the photo sheet pockets. I can even tear out a whole magazine page and put it in one of the sheets. These also make great gifts! Here are some pictures.

Celebrate Life

I had hip surgery two weeks ago. I'm unable right now to do very much physically, so I decided to share a project close to my heart. My son passed away from suicide. He was a wonderful child. I want to remember all the special things about him, and some of his possessions remind me of those things.
Here is a project you can do to celebrate the life of someone you lost or even of someone who lives. First I bought a jar at a craft shop. It was clear with a nice, silver lid. I then gathered some of my son's most precious belongings and arranged them inside. I included his iPod case, his wallet, the I.D. from where he volunteered at the YMCA, and his ball cap. He wore one every single day. I knew it would be too big to include in most shadow boxes, so that's why I chose the jar. Here is the end result, and of course a picture of my son, Ryan.

Button Tie-Backs

Button Tie-Backs

This is a simple project I did when I moved into our home. First I picked out buttons and ribbon that matched the decor in my living room. Also, I purchased two drawer knobs that matched. Then I cut the ribbon to the length I would want to tie back my curtains. I simply spaced the buttons apart and hot glued them to the ribbon, along with hot gluing the ends of the ribbon together. Then I attached the drawer knobs to the wall, ran the ribbon up through the bottom of the curtain and attached the ribbon to the knob.

Introduction

Hi, this is Scarlet. I'm hoping by starting this blog I can help spark my creativity and yours! I love to create things. I especially love to take an item and find another use for it, or turn it into something completely different. Let's take this journey together. I want to hear your ideas, and I'm hoping I can give you great ideas, as well. Let's make our homes unique and beautiful. I think it's empowering to look at something finished and say "I did that." I'll also be sharing recipes, organizing tips, personal experiences and maybe some other topics along the way, so let's get started!
P.S. I'm also an author, writing romance novels. You can find that info at www.scarletwolfe.com.