Earring holder!!

Two exclamation points in the title because

 I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE, PEOPLE!

Here is my brand new earring holding hanging on the bathroom wall.  As you can see, it's also a ring and/or bracelet holder (right on the shelves) and a necklace holder on the sides!

Curious how I did it?

See below!

 

Here is how she started...

 It's obviously a wine box and unfortunately not the cool antique looking kind.  Garage sale purchase= 1$ (holy wow, I totally overpaid for that!  If you're interested, the story is below)

I stood it on end and hot glued teeny tiny (1/4") dowel rods in the gaps where the shelves go.

 

  Then I had my hubs attach some small hooks to the outside top... next I primed it...

 

Spray painted it an oil rubbed bronze...

(let dry)... and done!

It's everything I ever hoped for in an earring holder! Hehe!  :)  But really, I do love it lots.  And for only needing a few small supplies to fix up my dollar wine box... it's perfect!  And hey, if you love wine like I do, then start looking for some wine in a case and make your own.

The story:

I'd been thinking and thinking and thinking about a place to hang my 'fish hook' earrings.  They were previously in a pile next to my jewelry box... and that's no place for a earrings to be.  

Back up two months and I'm at some garage sales with my friend and my mom. 

It was the end of a long couple hours and at the very last house I spotted this wine box.  And it's nothing special... particle board... Robert Mondavi (oh, but I do like Robert Mondavi).  Anywho, I asked the lady how much?  She told me 1$, and what did I do???  I paid her a dollar! (what the who??? It was the heat! It was getting to me!) Argh!  I was so mad at myself the instant I pulled out a dollar and handed it to her... come on, I always negotiate prices!  Literally!  But, I was hot and tired and ready to go and I just handed her a dollar. Still trying to get over that one.

So, I had no idea what to do with this thing, but I figured it could sit on something and hold another something, somewhere (right?). 

 Let me sum up (Princess Bride anyone?)

 ...and then my lovely earring holder was born.  

I only wish it had more color.  But here is the problem, our bathroom (and bedroom for that matter) are still white.  No color there.  And we do plan on painting them someday and I just don't know what color, so I decided to leave it pretty neutral so I don't have to paint over it someday.

So, can any of you creative minds think of what I could do to add a little something (I'm not crazy about adding a busy design to the back, behind the earrings, because I love how the earrings just pop out against the dark color) to make it more pretty?

I think I have what, 2 maybe 3 readers now?  So, I expect a comment from each of you!  Hehe.

Thanks in advance! 

Poundcake = Buttertastic

Q-  When you need a pound cake recipe, what should be your automatic first thought?

A- Paula Deen. 

 So that's where I went for a 'Happy Birthday' pound cake for my sista.   And, why yes, her pound cake is the most buttertastic and delicious I have ever had!

 And the best part is, it's easy like Sunday morning.

Mama's Pound Cake

Ingredients

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Perfect as written!

And it certainly wouldn't be pound cake in the summer if we didn't have fresh blueberries and strawberries and oh yea, homemade whipped cream.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

Bibs, Burps and Boppys (oh my!)!

Lately, I've been making all of the above for some various kiddos... shown below are for a precious baby due September 12th this year.

Here is the beautiful mommy-to-be, my oldest friend in the world (literally, we've been friends since I was 2 and she was 1!) holding up a dog print bib (for age 5-6 months and up) and burp rag.  See, we don't know whether this little one is a boy or a girl, but we do know that he or she will love dogs because this baby already has a big dog/brother named Bean. 

And this is the proud daddy-to-be, who is in an awesome band called The Steel Wheels.  He plays the mandolin and sings and is sooooo talented!  Check them out! Here, he is holding up a music print bib and burp rag combo.

And here we have a Boppy cover.  My first one! (*sniff*)  I really loved making this and even loved it more because I had all of this fabric on hand- all I had to buy was the zipper (some where around $1.50) and do you know what these covers usually cost???  Up to $25 each!

Wowza! 

So, in other words, if you see a Boppy cover on a baby registry,

contact me to make one for you! ;)  

Oh, and did I mention how well my fabrics were lined up?  No? Oh, well, take a look!

 (as it turns out, I'm pretty proud of this bad boy, just sayin')

Here is another bib/ burp cloth combo!

Close up of the music set!

And, finally a close up of the dog print.

(These are the most cheesy cell phone pics ever!)

Cupcakes FORE my husband!

I know, I'm a nerd.  I ran across these on-line somewhere (sorry, I have NO idea where!)... and had to make them for my golf obsessed hubby's birthday.  His degree is Professional Golf Management (and business, whew!), so you can see why I made them.

Tee-hee. He liked them!

A little pointer for your future reference:  try to avoid using expired food coloring.  When I realized it was expired (too late), I went ahead and used it and it was kinda weird, it turned the buttercream icing into a few shades of green.  But thankfully the green sprinkles covered that right up!

Craft Apron Love

As promised, here are some pictures of the craft (or in my case, garage sale) apron I made last week. 

Yup, that's me in the backyard with a little too much sunshine for a good picture. 

Wait, did I just say 'too much sunshine'?

I TAKE IT BACK! 

Moving on...

I put a snap on the center pocket (that is where I kept my cash- don't tell anyone!) so when I was moving around or bending over nothing would fall out.

It was so comfortable to wear two days in a row and held all my things rather nicely.  I made this up without a template or tutorial- just took a stab at it and loved it!  I like the look of the tie hanging down, so I cut my bias tape very long so I could tie it around front.

Happy Friday, all!

Feeling NEEDY.

The need to create something that is. 

All last week was consumed with the garage sale we had last weekend (oh, that's right, I DID create something last week!  Yea, part of being 'consumed' with the garage sale entailed making a 'craft/garage sale apron' to use to carry my money and things during the sale so I wouldn't be tied to a cash box- which turned out SO cute and exactly what I needed, I might add! I will post some pictures of said apron as soon as I take some!) so ALL day today I have been catching up on everything that I've let slide, including cleaning out Mr. Jack's closet.  (Holy never ending job that is! Not only would I like for him to take a break from growing for just a minute so that he can be my baby forever *sniff*, but how about a break from the multitude of clothes he can't possibly squeeze into, the one's that would fit if it were the right season, the pile that worked ONE MONTH ago, the pajama's that my wonderful husband hangs in the closet (?) and all the clothes that DO work! Ah!) 

Anywho, I have approximately one million projects swimming around in my mind that I am chomping at the bit to get at, but that darn garage sale took up so much time!  Not that I'm complaining... let me clarify, not only did people actually pay us for our junk stuff we didn't need anymore, but they actually hauled it away too {insert evil laughter here}!  Still, I probably won't do it again for many many years.  We don't accumulate much 'stuff', so I can't imagine having enough 'stuff' to have another sale for quite some time.

So, in a nutshell, I'd rather be crafting than cleaning!

Anyone else have this dilemma???

Oh, and here is a picture of my favorite tiny guy a month ago (and now those jeans are too short- see what I mean?). This is one of his one year pictures. He is wearing my Grandpa Jack's cowboy hat.  My Grandpa wore this hat all the time, I can hardly picture him without it.  Baby Jack likes it too. 

*sniff*

Must. Applique. Now.

Applique is like an addiction for me.  Or is an addiction. 

Same thing I think. 

 Here is a shirt I made for my little nephew again... He LOOOOOVES trains.

He might want to marry one someday... we'll see, he's only two. 

The first thing I did was draw a picture of a train.  Well, actually I had to draw approximately ONE HUNDRED pictures of a train before my husband said it looked close enough to a real train.  Seriously, every picture I showed him there was something wrong with it.  I guess he really wanted it to be perfect for little Will!

  Well anyway, when I finally got it right, I had to cut out all the little pieces for templates and then I started cutting the fabric.  The gray smoke and black wheels are felt and the rest is scraps I already had. 

And there you have it!  A train shirt for an adorable little fella.

See???