Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts

Monday, December 12, 2011

You Should Love It Too

 I have a lot going on right now and thought I would do a photo post of what is keeping my interest.

Florence and The Machine

I cannot get enough of this song right now. Please play and browse through the rest of my post. You will not be disappointed.



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Rose Tattoos

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School Christmas Party/Room Parent Crafts

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DIY Doggy Sweaters

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Wearing Dresses with Jeans







Dress, Jeans






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These are things I love right now. You should love them too! If you don't, then tell me something you are loving right now!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Tid Bits and Side Notes

Things are beginning to wind down a bit in the Hauser household. Well, school wise that is. B finished his first year of preschool! We had a parents play date where they had different stations for the kids and parents to play with. We then had ice cream on a blanket.

*Side Note:  We shared our blanket with a friend of B's and his grandma while eating our snack. As we are sitting there in silence, B decides to, not once but twice, rip the longest and loudest fart I have ever heard and did not say excuse me either time. In turn, his friend blamed it on me.

Our family has joined the YMCA and I LOVE it. It has been almost a month since when have joined, but with B not going to school I will have a lot more time to go to the Y and work out. I only really do the elliptical and weights right now.

*Another Side Note: I love the treadmills, but a year or so ago I was working out at Cardinal Fitness and did an embarrassing trip on the treadmill and almost fell, so I tend to steer clear of those now!

I am also going to go to some Yoga classes and get the kids signed up for swim lessons soon. They know how to swim, but I want them to be stronger swimmers and they just think my husband and I are trying to drown them when we are really trying to teach them to swim on their own. I feel an outside person would be way more helpful in this situation.

I have slowly been getting things in place for a space at an antique shop to display my vintage wears. The ball is rolling on my tax information and I also made a dream purchase this weekend at a garage sale. I got a mannequin! Yep, a true fledged mannequin. It is a woman mannequin, still working on a name, but she came fully dressed with a wig and all! My kids are DEATHLY AFRAID of her (which I feel mean laughing about, but it is funny) and I honestly got a little freaked when I forgot she was in the garage and turned around to see her staring at me! She was $25 and the woman selling it to me told me she has two other ones that she is keeping. Her son in law was more than happy that I was taking it off of their hands because he said the thing creeped him out because his mother in law would have it wear a wedding dress in a guest room and in his words "at night when the moon hit it just right, it really would scare the crap out of me!".

I have also found a place in Valparaiso that I can sell my crafts at! I am pretty excited to get the ball rolling on that too. I enjoy making things for friends and family, but I have never really sold anything. I am going to try and see how it goes. Here are some magnets that I have been working on:






It feels nice to have a little extra time with B and to do thing that I have been putting off. Here are some things I need to put (and cross off) on my to-do list:

-Repot house plants (if you know of any cute plant stands or planters on the cheap let me know)*they are still living!!*
-Plant garden
-Plant flowers outside, either in pots or in the ground
-Do more craft items
-Make more banners and totes
-Make a craft for for my craft partner in the UK for the Craft Swap I joined
-Get sun tan started ;)
-Buy this swimsuit *returning it, it was UGLY! in person!*
-Work out more so I can fit into that swimsuit
-Make dinner (from my favorite cookbook) with black beans that have been patiently waiting for me to use them in the pantry
-Get things going on my next tattoo
-Figure out what to get husband for 7 year anniversary (any ideas?)


Hope this warm weather is getting your butt in gear too!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Redo That Key Holder With Decoupage!



I saw this great post on Prudent Baby (this is becoming one of my favorite blogs) on a DIY Decoupage Key Holder.


I didn't have an extra plaque laying around but I did have a boring key holder, scrap fabric, mod podge like glue, and some extra time!

Boring key holder/shelf-like wood piece.

I started off by sanding the three shelve-like pieces of wood with a light sandpaper. I just did this to get any sort of coating or anything off of it so the fabric would stay better.



I have like a hundred scraps of fabric so it is nice to use them for something! I picked these three out because they went together well.



I measured the shelves and then I cut the fabric to match. It ended up being 5 in. x 5 in. which was pretty easy!




I didn't have Mod Podge, but I did have Collage pauge (which is made by a very inspirational crafter, Tracie Bautista). *I figured if it didn't work I could just be done with the key holder anyways.* 
It ended up working great!
*I don't have pictures from this part, but I figured you could figure it out by my awesome directions*

I used a paper plate (you can use any scrap cardboard or something sturdy you won't mind throwing away when you are done) and squirted a fare amount of the collage pauge onto it. I then used a small foam brush to spread a fair amount of the pauge over the area that I wanted the  fabric to stick to (work quickly it will dry fast). Then put the fabric over the glue and put more pauge over the fabric. I used the best tools to an artist (my fingers) and smoothed out any lumps or wrinkles. I continued on all of the shelves like this and let it dry over night.

Finished results! Boring no more!!




This was SO easy to do, I will be doing more decoupage crafts in the future!


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Come On! Get Down With The Sickness

I hate when my kid has a cold and is totally miserable! B has been coughing for the past 3 days and nothing really helps. He mostly coughs at night and I have to be there for all of the necessities of coughing and hacking up yuck stuff all night. Poor guy! *insert sad face*

 I try really hard to not give him cough medicine. I tried to give him a teaspoon of honey because that is all the rage on the homeopathic front. He was psyched about it because he thought he was getting a teaspoon of candy. He put the whole spoon full in his mouth and immediately started gagging and spit it out in the garbage saying it was "yucky". I had to basically force him to do honey half teaspoon with a water chaser afterwards. *I did have thoughts that maybe I am foreshadowing with some bad vodka-chase-with-sprite stuff for later in life. But I will deal with that if it ever comes.* The honey didn't work anyways. Still coughing.

I do swear by the Vick's vapor rub on the feet with socks over it and Vick's on the chest. But who knows if that really even works either. I even did the strong, at least for kids, cough medicine and that doesn't work either. There really is no point to this rambling, I am just calculating my madness due to the sickness-whatever it may be.

For now we are winging it and I am not feeling too on the ball in the creativity department. I did, however, try to get back on track and make some cute pincushions from an old teacup and an old jar. Well, it wasn't really disastrous, but they didn't turn out quite as I had planned. They are still cute but one isn't stuffed enough (the tea cup) because I couldn't get the diameter of the circle right. After like 5 times of measuring and cutting I gave up and used the last one I made. Also on both, the hot glue gun that I used to attach everything was just drying too fast for me to stick the fabric too. I ended up putting on a lot more than I really wanted to. I guess in error we learn....deja vu? Here's how they turned out.

Not enough fluff, but useable.

Cute, but could be improved.



I have had some time to peruse the internet since I am quartined with B and I have to say that I have caught the antique bug! I am in love with looking on Etsy.com via the vintage search. I have a few items I am looking for, but haven't found the perfect one at the perfect price:

-Vintage sugar bowl with lid and spoon  Found!
-Pyrex cassrole dishes (want them all to match just need to decide which colors I want to look for)
-A big lamp with a bright, yellow base, or any funky, tall lamps
-A circular table, or cool shaped end table to put between B and L's beds Found!
-High back chairs with armrests, preferrably funky fabric or wooden with sturdy cushions
-A cake stand with a lid
-Planters in white or bright colors, with drains
-Table, cabinet, or shelf to put in my back room so I can put DVD's, CD's or games in it plus somewhere to put my plants

It get's hard though! It is very overwhelming to go in there and there is so much stuff I forget what I was looking for in the first place! I am going to need to make a list and keep it with me at all times so I know what I am looking exactly for! This also makes me long for garage sale season..sigh...soon enough.

I will say while being at home, I made this bomb ass Tuna Noodle Casserole! I don't have any pics, but we all know what it looks like! I followed a normal tuna casserole recipe, but instead of putting bread crumbs and parmesan cheese on top at the end, I mashed up BBQ chips and mixed that with butter and also sprinkled some extra crunchy peices on top ( I can't take credit for this because my hubby was the one who suggested it). It was DEELISH! Also, for the shredded cheese I used velveeta instead of regular cheddar cheese. Hey, I didn't say it was a no-fat casserole...I said it was bomb ass!

Tuna Noodle Casserole


K’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

(The pink italics is what I substituted)

6 oz. egg noodles (wide or extra wide), cooked (I used riggatoni noodles)1 small can of tuna, drained and flaked with a fork
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas, cooked
(I used a can of peas, drained)1/2 cup (or more) grated sharp cheddar cheese (Or Velveeta)1 cup fresh bread crumbs cooked in 1 T. butter until slightly crisp
   fresh grated parmesan cheese (Or 1 cup BBQ chips, any kind you like, smashed while still in bag so less mess and mixed with 1 T. butter)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, stir together first six ingredients until well combined.
*3. Spread into a small greased casserole dish then sprinkle bread crumbs and parmesan cheese (Or chips) evenly over the top.
4. Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and serve warm.


yield: four servings

*To save time at dinner rush, I made everything and mixed it together a couple of hours ahead of time and put it in the fridge until ready to bake.


Hope all is well on your end and hope you are not down with the sickness!


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Valentine's Day Inspiration


Some websites that have some cute, fun, and delicious ideas for heart day!











This website has TONS of really fun and cute Valentine's day ideas, too many to post. I picked a few I liked.


Clap Happy



Sweet Heart Pops





 This website has the cutest Vintage Valentine's Day cards and images to use however you want!






I love the idea of having a full day of Valentine fun. This means making Valentine's Day inspired meals. 
Breakfast
I make these using a circle cookie cutter (we call them egg in the wall) instead of a heart cookie cutter, but it is a nice twist for Valentine's Day.
 Heart-in-the-Hole Eggs & Toast
This recipe calls for a pastry bag filled with pancake batter to shape the hearts, but you could also use a metal heart shaped cookie cutter.
Heart Pancakes




Lunch
These could also be used with whole wheat tortillas.
Lunch Bunch: Yogurt Parfaits & Cream Cheese Sushi
I don't have a panini maker, but could just as easily use a griddle.
Raspberry Nutella Panini 300x201 The Strawberry Nutella Bleeding Heart Panini
Dinner
If you are lucky you will be able to find these at your local grocery or specialty store. If not, you can order them in time for Valentine's Day and make an array of pasta dishes.


There are so many ways to make homemade pizza. You can make your own dough or you can buy a premade crust or dry pizza ingredients. Either way, just shape the dough into a heart and add the ingredients you like.



Hope you have a great Valentine's Day! Let me know if you try any of these out or your favorite things to do and make on heart day!

 





Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Creative Color Challenge



ColorChallenge

Yay! I got the e-mail from Louise Gale about my partner for The Creative Color Challenge! I loved doing The Creative Color Challenge Ornament Swap this past December. You can check out all of the swaps at Louise's Flickr account.

This color challenge is going to be Blooming Complementary.

"Create something in just 2 complementary colors with the theme of "Bloom".  You can use any medium: acrylic, colored pencils, fabric, sculpture, paper etc. BUT whatever you create must have flowers, leaves and blooms in it as the primary subject."

Louise gave us these pictures for inspiration.




I have some ideas brewing! They need to be in by Monday February 21st. I will keep you updated!

 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Valentine's Fun and Thrifting Thursdays

I know I do not have a theme to my posts, but I want to make Thrifting Thursdays a definite keeper. I LOVE thrifting, which I have mentioned before. I just went recently and actually didn't buy any clothes for myself-which is rare! My friend Annie and I are really close to getting our Etsy vintage shop in gear, so I didn't want to overload myself with new things to put on the website. But it will be up soon!

I snagged this lamp with a little help from my youngest, B.



It is quite large, but in such good shape! B totally saw it from a mile away and said we had to get this one. It was $4.50 at Salvation Army.




After putting all my Christmas stuff away, I realized that I really do not have any Valentine's Day decorations. So I thought it was high time to make some of our own! My friend Karen and her daughter came over to do some easy and fun crafts with my boys and I. Well, it ended up being that the moms were the ones chatting it up and doing crafts while the kids played. But it was well worth it, we had a lot of fun and got some cute stuff made.
We really only used construction paper, tape, glue stick, hot glue gun, string, pencils, markers, crayons, and popsicle sticks-things most of us have around our house. Here is how they turned out!



X's and O's on a string


I had the boys trace X and O cookie cutters and decorate them how they want. They decided to put funny faces on them. I then cut them out and taped them to a long string and hung them on the window.




 Heart Guys



These are Heart Guys (or so L and B call them)! I drew a heart on a piece of construction paper and had the boys draw faces on them. Then I cut them out and taped string to them for legs and arms and hung them from the window.
The ones below I added some bouncy arms and stringy legs.






Valentine's On A Stick


 These are the same as my Christmas post. This time we used Valentine's coloring pages from the library and added them to cardboard and card stock paper and hot glued them to the sticks.



Heart Hands



These turned out so cute! I saw them in a magazine from the library. You fold a piece of construction paper in half and put one of the child's hands so the thumb is on the fold. Then trace their hand and let them, or you, cut the hands out a decorate. Then cut a heart out and glue into the center.


I really was blank on ideas for Valentine's Day crafts until I went to the library. Most of the books they had on crafts for v-day were really old and geared more toward older kids. Around holidays or a time of year when I need some new recipe ideas, I like to go thru the past few years of periodicals and snag the month I am looking for. That is where I got most of these ideas. It is way better than buying a magazine and never using it again or having it sit around until next year.

Let me know if you guys make any of these crafts. And I love comments so leave me some, even if it is just a hello!