Stencil Painting on Sheers

The following statement may sound slightly petty... given all that us military spouses do, flex, bend, adjust to... but one of the more smaller scale frustrating  aspects of being a military spouse is the continual change of curtains.  Curtains that matched one room, are too short, too long for the next house, etc... 1500 miles away.  I found some cheap sheer curtains ($3 for two panels) off of a "classifieds" trading group where we are currently based.  I wanted something for our downstairs bathroom and didn't want to spend $60 on curtains just so that I can enjoy them for the next 14 months.  I decided to use a doily to stencil Grecian looking circles on it.  A similar pattern caught my eye during a recent trip to World Market.  I got the idea of using a doily as a stencil from a child craft blog post where you use heart shaped doilies to stencil on shirts for Valentine's Day.

--- so here it is .... on with the instructions...

Woodland Baby Shower

Here are some pics from the Woodland Baby Shower.  It was a "girl color scheme" woodland theme baby shower with a served brunch.

I used the sewing crepe paper rolls together method to make ruffled crepe paper.  It was a lot of fun and turned out well.  The "baby" banner got lost behind the gifts...

Portabella Fajitas

portabella - portobello - tomato - to-ma-ta .... it all equals YUM!

Baseball Wreath Another Version

One of my good friends recreated my baseball wreath <--- you can find the tutorial here.

Funny thing is that she saw it on Pinterest.  Funny how Pinterest works that way... I was glad to have inspired her along with so many others!

Her version of the wreath has 14 brand new baseball-practice balls.  She said the drilling was super easy.  She purchased a pack from Play It Again Sports ($20) and just rotated the various logos to the back.  She also threaded the baseballs in a pattern.  I thought it turned out great!  She has plans for some blue/orange ribbon to support our Tigers!

Baby Banners

One of the greatest joys in life is when you are expecting --  probably the second greatest shared joy is witnessing and being a part of the anticipation in others as they wait out their own days for pending motherhood.  I am so fortunate to have a cousin and a good friend that are "in waiting" and have both decided to decorate their nurseries in "Woodland" themes.  One is expecting a boy and one a girl.  I created the banners for their respective baby showers.

Paper Topiaries

I really like the look of topiaries.  They add a nice touch of elegance and whimsy to any table/party decor.  They can be a simple centerpiece for a wedding and make a nice statement depending on how crazy you get with the glitter, the base that is used would make it appear more formal.  I created the topiaries in this tutorial for a Woodland themed baby shower.    

Matching Dresses

Birds, Ducks... Chickens

I made these little guys based on the blog over at  Myrtle and Eunice

As soon as I saw these, I knew I needed to make them but as birds for a Woodlands baby shower.  They are going to look "sew" cute sitting and hanging out underneath my tree topiaries.

Myrtle and Eunice created an awesome easy to follow tutorial!

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

Note: this quiche is cooked in a deep pie dish

Woodlands Baby Shower Invite

Opening Day!

Happy Opening Day!  It is a holiday at our home!

Stuffed Red Peppers

Upcycled Jean Rag Quilt

Potato and Pea Enchiladas

Opening Day Wreath

"We're all behind our baseball team... Go Get em' Detroit Tigers... Go get em' Tigers!"

I bet the women of 1968 wished they had this baseball wreath to hang up on their door! 

Pizza Bagels

So yum and not the frozen kind in the box

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce or your favorite pizza sauce
• 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
• 5 bagels
• toppings of choice

Re-purposed Jean Quilt

So this isn't finished yet but I feel like I need to post something with an update.  This week has been pretty hectic.  Keith and I are celebrating our 10th Anniversary tomorrow and we are going to London to celebrate.  I have been trying to get things squared away at work, the house clean for Grammy so that she won't suffocate in dog hair when she gets here.  I finished the girls laundry to hopefully eliminate any wardrobe related tantrums during our week away.  The list of "to-dos" gets longer by the moment, locate passport, rain boots, buy an umbrella and so on...

Veggie Calzone

What is better than veggie pizza???  a veggie Calzone... or maybe not better but equally yummy on the taste buds.

Zip tie your chandelier

Hosting a party is always fun and sometimes you need to move the table to allow room for more guests but that pesky chandelier .... gah.... that hurts when you bang your head and sometimes creates an awkward space.  You know you want it higher  but goodness are you really going to break out the pliers and crank open the chain links?  Give it a zip with a zip tie.  Don't have a zip tie?  You could also use a garbage bag twist-tie.

St. Patty Day Inspired Wreath

I wanted to make a St. Patty's day wreath but wanted something that could possibly go into spring.  I love the natural look of the "haystack" wreath and I thought it would look great with the shredded fabric flowers that I saw on this tutorial at BCheniful 's Blog.

Click on the READ MORE>>> to see how I made the fabric flowers and  put this together

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