Pom Pom Necklace. . and new boots!

 Last night I needed something to keep me busy while Hubs worked on his sermon that he's going to be preaching tonight. I just have to be doing SOMETHING. . I hate when I have idle hands. I could sit for hours looking at inspirational things online, but I hate doing that! (I love it, but I hate it .. make sense?) I just like to be busy making or doing something to make good use of my time. So I decided I would make me a pom pom necklace, just like Little Miss Momma's.

What I used to make my necklace:

Felt

Fabric

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Necklace chain

small wire cutters

First I cut 5 little 1 inch  or so circles out of the felt

Then I cut out same size circles out of the fabric

Okay, this is pretty much where I forgot to continue on taking photos of the process. . 

BUT you just scrunch up a fabric circle from the center, apply some hot glue to the point and glue the point right down to the middle of a felt circle. Continue that until you have a nice little pom pom as full as you'd like. 

Then after all 5 of the pom poms are made up, arrange your pom poms on a sheet of felt in the arrangement you want them to be for the necklace. Glue the pom poms down right to that piece of felt, except for the top two. This is where I got my necklace chain and cut it in half with my wire cutters. Glue one end of the necklace chain to the bottom of one pom pom, and then add some more hot glue and glue that pom pom down to the felt in its spot. Repeat with the other top pom pom. Now you're ready to cut the felt around your pom pom necklace (not around each individual pom of course!). 

(see LMM's tutorial for more photos of the process)

I actually glued some extra strips of felt to the backing just to make it sturdier, because it was a little flimsy and wibble wobbly with just that one layer of felt.

I love it! 

I wore it to church today :) 

New boots! Got them at Ardene in my mall for like $13. They really aren't going to be super great for winter and snow and wetness, but I like them anyways.

Wearing a clearance dress I got from Walmart, thrifted cardigan (had it forever), boots from Ardene, $3 clearance walmart scarf (my new favorite), pom pom necklace by me!

It's a pretty day today. . very fallish like.

.. and you know how I feel about Fall!

Dollar Store Birdie Makeover

Yippee!! I finally have a project to share!

Yesterday I was at the dollar store picking up a few random things for my sister's baby shower I'm throwing next month. I spotted these sad little creatures . .

. . and decided to take them home and give them some love.

First I sanded them a tiny bit to rough them up, but it didn't really do much good. They look and feel like wood, but .. I don't know what they are. Then I painted them with acrylic craft paint. It took quite a few coats before it really starting sticking well. After I painted them I did a coat of a clear polyurethane, to make them smooth and slicker. 

  

Prettier already! 

. . but I wanted to try out the antiquing look. So I took my plain ole black acrylic paint . . 

. . and brushed on a little at a time . . 

. . then I wiped it away with a wet rag (old under shirt that was on its way to the trash), leaving the black in the cracks and crevices. I've read on some other major DIY blogs that regular paint won't work as an antiquing glaze, because it doesn't wipe away as nicely like glaze does. But I actually have to say this worked perfect! . . see for yourself

I found that after brushing on some black in a spot, then first rubbing it in with a DRY part of the rag before wiping away with the wet part helped to keep some of the black stuck on and not just completely wipe away. Gave it a smudgy and dirtied look. I'm super pleased with how well the acrylic paint worked as an antiquing glaze.

I love these little birdies! They're so cute and sweet now!
 ( I originally got the idea from here )

Love Birds . . that's us!

Aren't makeovers fun?!

Beef Stew and Dumplings

OoOooHhh... this was a GREAT dinner tonight! .. seriously, I'm wanting to eat leftovers for a midnight snack! I thawed my meet cubes in the fridge over night and got it all started in the crockpot at 9 this morning. 

Here's the recipe I found online, but I'll just share here what I did for mine tonight cause it's just a tad different.. not by much though.

1 carton of beef broth

1/4 - 1/2 cup of Italian dressing

1/4 - 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1 lb. of 1-1/4 inch stewing beef cubes

1 lb. potatoes cut up in chunks

4 large carrots cut in chunks

onion chopped up (I never use a whole one for the two of us!)

little bit of chopped fresh garlic (I added that) 

I put the broth, Italian dressing, BBQ sauce, and oregano together in the pot first. Then I browned the beef cubes for barely a minute in a pan on the stove and added them to the pot, along with onions and garlic. Turned the crockpot to "low." The potatoes and carrots actually didn't go in until an hour later, cause I had to run to the store to pick up some carrots. So I just decided I'd wait to put the potatoes in when I got back. The recipe said it should cook for about 8 hours on low. Mine was done probably around 6 hours, but I kept it going till Hubby got home for break. (The meat was perfect and tender!)

At around the last hour of cooking, I added a mixture of 3 Tbsp. of flour and 1/4 cup of water to the stew.. The recipe said to remove the meat, potatoes and carrots before putting those two ingredients in, and then serving it with pouring the thickened up juice over the top. But I just left everything in. It didn't really thicken up too much anyway. 

I also made dumplings! Hubby's grandma made a yummy stew with stew dumplings one Sunday afternoon and I LOVED it! So I found a recipe for those too, since I'd never made them before ..(I hadn't even eaten them before till I had them at his grandma's!) These are super easy to make! 

Dumplings for Stew: 

1 cup of flour

2 tsp. of baking powder

2 Tbsp. of dried parsley

1/2 tsp. of salt

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup of milk

2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil

First combine the dry ingredients, and then beat together the milk, egg, and oil in separate bowl. Stir that into the flour mixture. It will be really sticky and gooey. 

Just plop the dough into the crockpot by the spoonfuls, right on top of the stew. 

Twenty minutes should be enough time for the dumplings, so the recipe says. Mine actually cooked for about an hour. Hubby was supposed to be home at 4, so I put the dumplings in at 3:30.. but he wasn't able to get home till around 4:30! They were still perfect and yummy! 

Oh baby, it was the best meal I've had in a while! I know I just followed a simple crockpot recipe, but I'm still proud of myself for tonight's dinner. .. I'm not so great at cooking dinners.. most of the time I just don't like to.. That probably sounds terrible, but ... oh well, it's the truth :) I didn't say I "don't" make dinners. It's just not my favorite thing to do is all. Anyway, dinner was YUMMY over here! .. and I'm kind of craving some more right now! . . .

I Finally Caved In!

Well, I did it folks. I finally created myself a Pinterest account. I really hadn't wanted to because I thought it would just be another thing to keep me sitting around on the computer for more hours in a day!! But I think it's such a great way to store all your ideas and be able to go right back to the source you found it. So much more convenient then saving photos in a file on the computer.. yes, that's what I was doing before.. I know. Lame. Cause I bet for more than half of the files I've saved over the past couple of years I wouldn't be able to find the source again.. even though I tried renaming the photos with the name of the blog I found it from! Anyway, enough of that, so I created a Pinterest account. Not just for the convenience of course, it's also such an inspiring place to be! Love it! But I have to admit, I sit around getting inspired from the internet way too much and not actually putting all that inspiration to work. Am I the only one?? 

Come find me on Pinterest and see my taste! 

My Pinterest Account

I also added the "follow me" button to my right side bar --->

I love you still ...

Last Monday, October 24th, was our two year anniversary. I can't believe how fast time flies! In a way it feels like our wedding day was just weeks ago, but then it also feels as if we have been together for as long as we can remember.

We both had to work on our sweet day, so we decided we'd go away on the weekend since we had Saturday off. So this past weekend we went to Saint John, just a couple hours drive away. We stayed in a nice big hotel and just relaxed :) We watched our wedding video.. always sweet memories when seeing it again. 

It started to SNOW in the morning.. it was a wet yucky snowy rain. So there really wasn't much for us to go around the town and do like walking through some of the pretty parks. But we had to leave our hotel room in the afternoon, so we checked our GPS and spent a few hours just driving around seeing what was open. 

Before we left for home we found out there was a Taco Bell in that city! I hadn't eaten Taco Bell since I've been home in California- that's TWO YEARS! So we definitely stopped there for lunch! YUM. 

Our anniversary went by MUCH too quickly.. but I'm glad I have my husband every day. God has blessed me more than words can tell and I am so thankful for my husband. He's a good man, he's so good to me. We have grown alot in just these two years. We've had rough times that have only made us stronger and care for each other more. We realize that our marriage can never reach what it should be if are doing this without God. He is our guide as we continue on this journey. 

It may only be just our two year mark, but sadly, many couples can't say even "two years" for their own marriage.. 

I love you Joel! 

Est. October 24th 2009

Versatile Blogger Award!

Guess what!? Today I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award! 

That's pretty exciting to me! It's nice to know that people find some enjoyment through my blog and what I like to do and share. 

Thanks so much to Brandy over at With a Shot of Brandy for choosing to award me!

THANK YOU SO MUCH BRANDY! .. for awarding me, and for taking the time to read my blog. 

Here are the rules for this reward: 

* Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

* Share 7 things about yourself

* Send the award to 10 other bloggers and let them know you have awarded them!

7 Things About Me

1. I'm a lover of many things crafty and creative :) 

2. Originally from California, I met my Canadian hubby in Wisconsin during grad school.

3. Currently a waitress at a small restaurant

4. Home schooled from K-12th grade -- thank you mom! 

5. Brought up in a Christian home, saved at age 5, and have a desire for the Lord and His work in my life! 

6. I spend way too much time online

7. My weakness is ice cream and I can never say NO :) 

And now my 10 awards go to . . . 

Domestic Fashionista

Little Miss Momma

Lemon Tree Creations

A Law Student's Journey

Along for the Ride

Five Days... 5 Ways

All Things Thrifty

Two Girls Being Crafty

Amandita Designs

Christina's Adventures

 All of these bloggers are my favorites and I enjoy reading each of their blogs!

Congrats!! :) 

Cheap Earring Displey Holder: Craft Room

Hello, it's me! ... I feel like a stranger on my own blog! Oh how I've missed blogging about crafts and projects and such.. I just don't have much to share these days. There are a few larger projects that I'm in the middle of procrastinating working on for our master bedroom though, and I can't wait to finish those up! So until I have those projects complete I think I all stick to some smaller projects that I can finish right away without sweat, tears and involving laziness! 

This week I made myself an earring holder for some of my shop earrings.

I  just bought a grease strainer thingy at the dollar store . . .

(I saw this done before online somewhere but don't remember where)

 . . . and painted it with my pretty new Krylon Watermelon paint that Hubby got me for my birthday. 

(I'm using it sparingly and saving most of it for something good because it's special).

Then I hot glued twine around the handle and glued on a little loop for hanging.

Filled it up with earrings and there you go! 

Told you it was one of those quick projects :)

For now I like it.. until I'm inspired with a better idea for displaying my shop earrings! :) 

The color looks nice and pretty next to my bright blue cork board! Oops, sorry for not photographing that though.. my camera was dying on me. But I am working on putting a few more things on my craft room wall and then I'll get some nicer pictures to show. Promise.

Crock Pot Apple Crisp

I. Love. Fall. 

.. I know, I've said it before.. many times, but I just really do love it! When the days start turning into fall I get this feeling in me.. The smells of fall, .. in the outdoors, in the kitchen, candles.. The chilliness, coziness, pulling out some light scarves, comfy sweaters... Yes, I'm getting to my point of this post, I'm just building it up! 

Fall makes me want to bake things! Lately I'm wanting to bake all sorts of yummy sweets. I haven't jumped at every urge to bake something though, thank goodness! But I was recently inspired by one of the blogs I follow {A Law Student's Journey} to make apple crisp in the crock pot! Mmmmm. So I tried it! And boy was it gooooood. I looked online for some recipes, and I kind of followed a few different recipes. 

How to make Apple Crisp in your crock pot

I peeled and sliced about 8 to 10 apples (6 cups sliced apples). 

Mine were actually small apples, so you may want less apples if yours are larger. I just bought a bag of apples. 

After peeling and slicing, I threw the apples into the crock pot. 

Then in a small mixing bowl I added these ingredients: 

1/3 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mixed that up then dumped it into the pot with apples and stirred it up. 

Then I added 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and stirred that up.

{The smells were already getting to me!} 

Next for the topping.. 

Mixed these ingredients in a bowl: 

1/2 cup of flour

2/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

 {one of the recipes I was following didn't include oats, so I added oats from another recipe, and cut out half the flour. Not sure if cutting the flour is necessary.. but that's what I did}

Then I cut 1/2 cup of butter into little pieces, added that to the flour, sugar and spice mixture and squished it all up with my hands into a crumbly mixture- great fun :)

Mmmmm I love crumble toppings! 

The topping mixture just goes right on top of the apples. Y.U.M.

On goes the lid, temperature set to LOW. Leave it for about 3 hours then take the lid off for about an hour so the crust topping can .. do what it's supposed to.

I couldn't wait to find out how this would turn out! I've never made an apple crisp  in my life! I've actually never done these kinds of baked goods before. Apple pies, apple crisps, other fruit pies.. 

Here's a look at it all done and ready to be eaten up

And it was definitely eaten up! We had Hub's parents over that night to enjoy some of it with us. They loved it and said it was super yummy! I'm not really crazy about apple desserts, but this was great! 

Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M 

This is me beaming with pride for making my first apple crisp 

And this is Hub's saying to himself, "My wife is AWESOME!" :) 

{Yes, I have attained the gift of reading my husband's mind.}

Enjoy, and have yourself a yummy fall treat!

Sweet Blossom Earrings Giveaway at Domestic Fashionista!

Hi Friends! I feel that I've been neglecting the blogging stuff these days... I feel like there is so much I need to do and plan and plus there's the job I have now. I need to get myself more organized and disciplined! .. yeah right

Well I do have something exciting for you today! 

Remember my Sweet Blossom Earrings??? 

Ashley from Domestic Fashionista is having a giveaway on her blog RIGHT NOW, and someone's going to win a pair of my earrings!!!

So what are you waiting for?? 

Get over there and enter the giveaway!!