Binder Clip Picture Holder

I saw this great idea at our local Fall festival last year. The very sweet lady that made them sold them at the festival with all proceeds going to a local animal shelter...gotta love that! I loved them so much that I bought a few and she gave me the specifics on how to make my own. They make great gifts and are so simple to make.

You will need a large binder clip, card stock or scrapbook paper cut to size (about 2 x 3 1/2 in), tacky glue (I used Gorilla glue...as usual) and embellishments such as stickers and paper cut outs.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to colors and embellishments you could use, these would also be great for place-card holders during the holidays. Or, how about an encouraging message on a co-worker's desk....see, I told you the possibilities are endless!

(That's my niece, isn't she a cutie pie?)

I would love to see how your's turn out! Comment or send an e-mail!

Linked to WhipperBerry



Rainy Day Fun

It's a very rainy day here in Tennessee so I decided on a little indoor fun. What kid (or mom) doesn't love a fresh container of Play-Doh....I'm a sucker for the smell when you open a new one. Our Play-Doh always seems to harden too quickly, but I have found that homemade play dough lasts much longer! It's fun to let the kids mix and stir and make their own colors too!

Play dough
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring (add after cooking)

Mix all ingredients (add food coloring last). Stir over medium heat until combined and thick. (It will look like mashed potatoes). Remove from pan, let cool slightly, and knead until blended and smooth, at this point you can separate the dough into 2 or 3 parts to knead in your food coloring. Store in a plastic bag or airtight container when cooled.

Have fun!

What's for dessert? Derby Pie!

When I was in high school, I was very blessed to be able to share in the lives of my best friend and her family. This included getting to have lots of family dinners with them. My favorite part of those family dinners were when someone asked, "what's for dessert?". Being a lover of all things sweet, I would sit and wait for the magic answer.....MomII (this is how she signed her cards to me) would commonly reply, "imagination". But sometimes.....she would say......"Derby Pie"

Fast forward 11 years and Derby Pie is now one of our family favorites too. My sweet husband makes it for us on a regular basis (he's so good to me) and it is the BEST! (sometimes, I have dreams about this pie) It really is that good.....

Derby Pie

1 c. sugar                                 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. margarine, melted           1 c. pecans, coarsely chopped

2 eggs, beaten                          6 oz pkg. chocolate chips {semi-sweet}

1 tsp. vanilla                             9 inch unbaked pie shell

Stir sugar into melted and cooled margarine. Add eggs, vanilla, and flour; blend well. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 for 1 hour until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes clean

Thanks so much for taking a look!

Spring Mantel

I was feeling very inspired by the Spring sunshine today.....this is what happened......

Oh, I love Spring!

Here's another view

Here are a few of the details....I painted this little frame with Americana acrylic paint, "lemonade". I then used a nail file to sand the edges, because I was too lazy to go outside and find sand paper,  because I am very resourceful. I took the picture of the fresh eggs a few weekends ago at a farm.

The rocks in the votive holder were hand painted in shades of Spring by my #1 helper, my soon to be 4 year old. He is quite the DIYer. I love the way they turned out! The "moss covered rocks" in the tall vase seem to be very popular according to the Pottery Barn catalog....they became very popular with me the second I found them at the Dollar Tree today ;)

Overall, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Our mantel usually doesn't see this much action until Christmas.

Thanks so much for stopping by! While you are here, I would love if you would follow me!
(leave me a comment and I will share the "following" love)

Linked to:
Someday Crafts

and

The Stories of A to Z

Shelf project...

It all started with this shelf.....

Pretty boring, huh? But for $2.00 at a local thrift store it looked pretty perfect to me. I wanted to add a little more to it, so my dad helped me add a few pieces of wood (left over from other projects) to bulk it up a bit. We tend to save everything, the drawer pulls were saved from another project. We used Gorilla glue to add the extra wood.This is what it looked like with the added pieces....

I found a gallon of Valspar paint in the clearance section of Lowe's for only $5.00! This is always the first place you should look if you are on a budget, you really never know what you will find.

I gave the shelf a coat of paint, allowed it to dry, then went back and sanded it a bit on the edges to give it an older appearance. (If it looked too new, it wouldn't fit in around here)

Finished product : a very sweet little shelf that can find a home in any room in my house.

Total for entire project: $7.00, with lots of paint left for more projects!

Linked to:

Sister's of the Wild West

Little Miss Momma: T-Shirt Flower Headband TUTORIAL

Little Miss Momma: T-Shirt Flower Headband TUTORIAL

I simply love this site....Little Miss Momma has so many fun and easy project to do. The same day I found her site, I made these cute and super easy T-shirt Flower ponytail holders. The step by step instructions are great and made the project so much easier for me.

My daughter loves them....and continued to find "old" T-shirts to make more.....

No, the shirt you are wearing today is not old, we can't cut it up to make hair bows.

Can't blame a kid for trying.

This is what my finished product looked like

I'm Linking up.......

I am so very,very new to this blogging world. Well, this side of the blogging world that is.....until today I was simply a follower of some pretty amazing blogs, now, I am a blogger and I am going to link a project.....Oh, and it worked! I am now linked to Whipperberry chicks
 I heart this site....lots of amazing women doing a amazing things in the world.....like putting my link on their page...amazing I tell ya, amazing.

Starting Out

Finally...I have decided to start a blog to allow friends, new and old, to follow me in my creative adventures. I am looking forward to sharing fun ideas I have for turning trash into treasure and using my paint brushes as a creative outlet.

I have just finished one of my first thrift store trash to treasure projects. I found this idea in the Ready Made magazine and I couldn't wait to get started.

I found the plate, saucers and silver candle sticks at Goodwill. Total for all was only $2.00! We always have Gorilla glue on hand and for this project I thought it would work great.

I turned the candle sticks upside down and applied a very thin layer of Gorilla glue. I worked on just the two small saucers first, gluing the bottom of the candle sticks to the bottom of each saucer and allowed them to dry over night. After I was sure that they were going to hold, I added a thin layer of the glue to the top of one candle stick and placed it onto the larger plate. I had to let this dry over night as well, and then finally I could glue the next candle stick to the middle saucer.

I gave the entire piece a good hand washing and the glue held great! I can't wait to use this for a fruit and cheese tray!