Yarn Snowman. Caveat: results in yarn burn...

Everyone needs a snowman in their life ....sitting on their door...welcoming visitors and warding off evil. The snowman represents so much more than just a jolly triad of frozen water. His temporary existence represents the overwhelming joy the holidays bring and although our holiday cheer unfortunately melts away after the holidays, it returns the following year. Either that or it’s just a story about death, magic, and global warming…. but I’ll go with my rendition.  So in honor of Frosty and his overwhelming desire to dance and mess with cops, I’ve created this delight. Enjoy.

What you’ll need:

3 wooden plaques (from Hobby Lobby). Any size you want. The bigger the plaque the bigger the snowman
White yarn
1 foot of heavy duty yarn
Black gauge wire
Small wood circles- I found in the wood aisle at Hobby Lobby
Burlap
Hot glue gun

Scissors

Take the wooden plaques and glue a piece of heavy duty yarn to the back. Make sure to separate them out so he wiggles a bit. After all, he was a dancer.

Once the glue dries, start winding the yarn around each plaque, one at a time. I added more yarn to the bottom plaque and his torso so it looks more like a snow man. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture).

Paint the wooden circles with black paint and glue them to the middle and bottom plaques.

Cut about a foot of wire for the arms. With the rest, wrap the wire to look like a top hat.  Leave a little bit of wire on the bottom so that you can attach it to the head. I put some hot glue on the tip of the wire and shoved it between the yarn and the plaque.
With remaining wire, make the arms. I folded the wire in half and twisted it down so there are no sharp edges.  Attach the arms using the same technique as the hat.

Take a piece of burlap and drape over the snowman’s shoulders. I put a dollop of glue to keep it in place. 

There you have it. Enjoy

Turning 30!

I know I don't look 30 but more like 20. Although I do appreciate the "you look so young" comments, can someone please tell the bartender that it's not a fake ID! I was excited to turn 30 and look forward to the next 30. I have embraced my new age bracket with humor, love, confidence…and this list… (read more)

Dream Sequence

Those of you that know me know that I have a vivid imagination that, more often than not, interjects its tricky ways into my dreams.  I dream almost every night and it is with these strange and peculiar dreams that make me believe that I could sell my ideas to movie producers....



Creative Commons License: Coffee Club by anthony_p_c on Flickr

So, to start off your Thursday morning, I'd like to share the dream I had last night. Let me preface by saying I never go to McDonald:

I walk into a busy McDonald's to grab a cup of coffee before heading to work. As I order just a large hot coffee, I notice the strange, shifting eyes of the McDonald's employees.  Thinking it's just a combination of teenage awkwardness and struggles to get an order right; I move down to the "pick up counter" and wait on my brew.  The atmosphere starts to change and an eerie feeling overwhelms me.  An employee hands me a cup of coffee, but in a glass mug. I asked for a "to go" cup. Besides, since when does McDonald's serve coffee in a glass mug?  With a worried expression, he looks at another employee and takes my coffee back. As I wait, I look behind the counter and notice something strange happening in the ice chest.  I notice employees holding the lid closed and the freezer bouncing around.  I hear an employee say "It's hungry, we should let it out".  I'm startled.... I head for the door and turn around just in time to see an employee grab a hose and start spraying the customers. He says... "It likes its food clean!" I grab the handle of the door, soaking wet, the door is locked....  I wake up.

I am impressed that not only does my conscious mind hate McDonalds, but my subconscious mind does as well. That is my only interpretation because it couldn’t possibly refer to the dangers of coffee!  I welcome other interpretations!

I hope this puts a smile on your face! I'll be posting crafting stuff soon...so stay tuned.

Cookbooking Done Right

 For my Mom's Birthday I wanted to give her something that combines her love for Pinterest and tangible items.  Seriously, my Mom loves to touch things. When shopping with her, she constantly has her hands on something. She walks down the aisle, one arm extended, lightly touching everything that comes in her way.  Now that I’ve made my mother sounds like a pervert, let’s move on.  I decided to combine what she pins most on Pinterest, which is recipes and put them into what I like to call a “Pin it cookbook”.  

I simply found a picture album, some corkboard material, and cute scrapbooking supplies to decorate. This is where measuring comes in handy. You want to cut the cork to match the dimensions of the photo album. Don't get lazy on this part, or your project will look like a 5 year old did it...unless that is what you are going for.

For the polka dot flower, I took an old silk shirt my sister gave me and hacked it up (because it didn't fit, of course!).

The inside has a picture and the recipe on the other side. I forgot to take a picture of that. Sorry. This blogging this is pretty new to me. I'll get there. 

She loved it! Score!

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits!

Okay, what’s the worst thing in the world besides running out of toilet paper? Running out of dog biscuits! Nothing sucks more than having an angry dog on your hands after not rewarding her for doing her “business” in the yard.  So, with an evil glare from my four-legged “angel” I decided to whip up a quick batch of dog-friendly peanut butter dog cookies. The only challenge was making her wait patiently until they cooled down.

Here is what I used:

½ cup peanut butter. I used the creamy variety

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons veggy oil

1 cup water

Mix all ingredients together and roll out. The only cookie cutter I had in the house was a gingerbread man.

Check out that amazing rolling pin!

350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until they are hard to the touch. 

After careful examination, she ate the cookie and was satisfied yet again. Phew...I dodged a bullet...

Taste Bud-Tantalizing Lasagna Soup

After days of frozen meats, vegetables and instant mashed potatoes, I decided to cook myself a decent homemade meal that require more steps than hitting "start" on the microwave. 

Time to use this oldie but a goodie:

My vintage stove has grown on me. We started off in a love-hate relationship after several failed attempts at making banana bread.  FYI- banana bread looks like an inverted mess when the oven decides to cut off midway through baking and you don't realize until the timer dings! Did I eat the "inverted mess" you ask? You bet your sweet ass I did!  But my love affair grows as she becomes more and more reliable.

After searching, you guessed it,  Pinterest ...I found this mouth-watering recipe:
                                  Bobby's Lighter Tastes Like Lasagna Soup

Source:
http://thedeenbros.com/index.php/recipes/recipe_detail/bobbys_lighter_tastes_like_lasagna_soup/

It has all the delicious contents of a lasagna without the ricotta cheese, which is fine with me.  So I gathered my cooking "friends" and got started.

It never seems right to have your vegetables touching raw meat... is that what she said?

 

                                                           Nailed it!

I realized two things during this recipe adventure. (1) I need more friends, and (2) if you want to sound lame, you mention your love affair with your stove.

Online Dating

I must digress away from crafting to make a comment about online dating.  Since being single, I have gone on numerous dates via Match.com or OkCupid.com. I've been lucky enough not to have horrible experiences, but I wanted to point out what I have to work with here! It's like wanting to paint a magnificent piece of artwork when all you have is crayons...

Dating website serves a multitude of purposes, but I use them for one purpose...to find a great man. Beside..."1 in 5 relationships start online". However, it appears that others are using these websites as a platform to demonstrate their comedic talents, their extreme dorky-ness, or their douchbaggery. 

For instance, let's take a look at Subject A.

At first, I thought this was funny...but after seeing his second and last picture...I decided to move on.

Besides, his profile has comments like "I'm really good at feeling and comprehension with women and hoopta hooping" and "the one thing people usually notice about me is the cm birthmark on my butt" (what no picture?).  He also mentioned his favorite thing to do on Friday nights is "pretending".  I wish this man luck in his quest to find someone of equal ridiculousness...

Let's look at Subject B shall we?!

I am appalled. I mean, can you even find jeans in that color anymore?  I don't know if I can get over the fact this man has posted a picture of the best monkey knuckles I've ever seen, or the fabulous way he described fried okra.  Needless to say, I hit "skip".

Now for Subject C. Gurd your loins people...you're in for a treat.

If after reading the first few lines doesn't make you want to hire a Urologist and drive over to this guy’s house to perform a forced vasectomy (the non-reversible kind), keep reading...

I've lost my appetite. Seriously, if by some random act of God  I accidently went on a date with this douchbag...no, that would imply cleanliness...this scum-sucking pig (kudos to you if you got that reference), I would have ended up in jail. 

Ok, done ranting... now back to crafting. 

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Thanks to Pinterest, my love of collecting recipes can now be stored on one giant website.  As my collection grows, so does my hunger. So I decided to give this tasty number a try. Check out the orginial recipe at:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/04/crock-pot-buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps.html#more

 Nailed it!

It was delicious and cheap to make. I had leftovers for days!

Father's Day Gift

So Pinterest is my new favorite idea generator! My newest project for Father's Day is below. These lovely labels can be found on http://www.marthastewart.com/272480/retro-fathers-day-clip-art-labels.

So I decided to make my own pickled items with this idea in mind. My Dad will love this! I decided to make garlic dill pickles, Slap Ya Mama pickles, and pickled onions. An experience I have never attempted.  I mean, it can't be that hard to pickle things....right?  Below is the finished product.  I am very proud of myself...now here is hoping they taste good.   

I packaged them and shipped them on their way...only realizing today that I forgot to add salt to my garlic pickles! Oops...

Wall Covered in Pictures

 Who doesn't want a plethora of pictures on their wall? If anything, it's a great conversational piece! I saw the picture below and had to make it happen. I had plenty of old pictues laying around and decided to hang them up.  I ended up buying a few pieces off of Etsy (shh...my other obsession) and only spent $9 for the entire project.  That's my kind of savings!

The inspiration

The Process

I laid out all the pictures on the floor in front of the wall so I could see how it would look in this position.  I ended up using a bunch of old pictures and making one with stencil and purple paint.



                                                                   Nailed It!



Preso! There you have it. It was so easy!