bag redo

I bought several of these tote bags from the dollar store.  They are well made and cute, they are also white.  The first time I used  it it had dirt on it just from being in my car.  Out came the markers and in a short time I had a new bag.

Be sure to use permanent markers, mine are by Bic.  I just did circles using lids as a pattern and free form squiggles, lines and stars.  Whatever makes you happy.  Unfortunately since i first wrote this I can no longer find these bags at Dollar Tree.  Why do companies put out a product, see it sell out and not stock more?  You can find similar bags at other stores or on line.  Just get light colors so the markers show up.

Clipped wings

Last week while driving to town, my vision began to blur, I was seeing double, dizzy and sick to my stomach.  I kept driving with one eye closed the rest of the way into town.  I was out in the middle of nowhere and debating with myself if I should stop and call an ambulance or keep going to my Drs office.  You know you don't have a lot of rational thought when you think you might be having a heart attack or stroke.  Bless the office staff, they got me laid down and had an ambulance there in a few minutes.  Off we went to the hospital.  Hours of tests, waiting and freaked out family later they couldn't tell me what was wrong.  What was right is I had not had a heart attack, stroke, seizure, brain tumor or anything else they could find.  After a long and mostly sleepless night (If they have you hooked up to all kinds of monitors why do they have to keep checking your vitals every hour)  I saw an eye doctor who diagnosed that I had a micro mini stroke in my right eye.  He fitted my glasses with a prism to help the double vision, told me to take it easy and sent me on my way.  The nerves should regenerate in a few weeks but could take up to a year.  In the meantime I have double vision, bluring,balance problems and severe headaches.  On top of that it is difficult to read, work on the computer and no driving.  I will continue this blog as I can but not being able to see well puts a crimp on being able to craft, cook, sew or run around.
I'm not really gripping(well maybe a little), I am so grateful to all the hospital staff and my family for taking such good care of me.  Mostlly I'm grateful to God for this not being something much more awful.  Who knows why things happen?  Maybe I need to take better care of myself, maybe this was a wakeup call for someone else.  Count your blessings every day, a split second could change your life forever. 

loaded brownies

Sometimes you just have to indulge.
Using a good quailty brownie mix made according to the box directions.  Add in pecan or walnuts and 1C chocolate chips.  Bake according to directions on the box, let cool and use Nutella as frosting.  YUM!  When they are starting to get stale stick them in the freezer and them crumble the brownies into ice cream, what ever flavor yoiou like.

liquid soap

This may need to be under VCB because that's why I first started working on it.  We had several people ask for liquid soap, so I decided to make something natural and with out all the sulfates, chemicals and parabens.  By far this has been the most difficult product  have tried to develop.  It seems simple enough, a bar of solid castile coconut soap, water, glycerin, salt, scent and color.  I have made batch after batch, I have the cleanest bunch of neighbors and friends(guinea pigs), and still couldn't get it right.  Finally success.  Every different essential oil changes the thickness of the base soap.  What is great liquid soap without any scent, turns almost solid when you add pink grapefruit or green tea.
 I think God was just playing with my patience and perseverance.  Everything can't come easy and it's worth working harder to ahve what your looking for.
After I finally had a silky wonderful soap I decided to mix it with the lemon sugar scrub for bathing bliss.

necklace redo

While on vacation I came across a dollar store that was not a chain.  They bought out businesses and factory overruns.  They had a bunch of designer jewelry all for $1.00.  I bought this set of chains and decided to nuts and blots thy had attached were just not me.  I dug out some charms I had, and attached them with jump rings.  Now each charm on the  necklace has meaning to me and suits me better.

Don't be afraid to make something more you.  It doesn't have to stay just the way the manufacturer made it, make it you.

OH WOW

AH, several friends and I had the opportunity this last weekend to go to St Louis to the Fox theatre to see The Lion King.  Oh, Wow seem to come out of my mouth and pop into my brain over and over.  Now I love plays especially musicals so I go to see school and local theater productions pretty regularly.  The arts are so important in opening our minds and imaginations, so it's important to support local arts..  But distance and costs limit  the times I can see big scale, Broadway caliber shows.  
We took the tour of the Fox theatre in the morning.  If you get the chance to go, do it.  The tour told the history of this 1929 former movie palace and vaudeville home.  It was nearly torn down to make room for a parking lot in the late 70's and has been completely restored to what it was in it's heyday.
The tour was interesting but the show was just unbelievable.  This was a professional troupe and it was amazing    I could never imagine humans looking, acting and moving like animals.  The cast was so talented and the music by Elton John was great.  How someone can take a cartoon and turn it into this show really boggles the mind.  So of course my brain keeps coming up with OH WOW.  No pictures allowed but use your imagination to see the wild animals

New supplies

School will be starting soon.  As a kid I remember loving the new paper, crayons and pencils.  I'm almost as bad now.  I stock up on notebooks, pens and new markers.  I made this new journal to keep in my book bag.  I always keep a journal with me to write down new ideas, recipes, web sites and things I want to check out on the Internet when I get home  This started out as a composition book and I just added scrapbook papers and extra bling to make it more me.  I don't ever worry about loosing it.  Everyone, teachers and students alike are use to seeing me with my journal at hand.



front cover




back cover




inside cover



stale cake triffle

Leftover angel food cake, sugar free chocolate pudding, sugar free Cool Whip equals a yummy triffle.  If you don't tell, nobody will know it's stale cake you're trying to use up.  Just layer everything in a pretty bowl and chill a few hours.  Top with mini chocolate chips if you're feeling bad.

cheap softener

In my ongoing quest to lower our spending and use less comercial cleaning supplies I came up with this.  It looks like an old rag that needs to be tossed(AH and my mother have both tried)  It's just an old strip torn from a towel. You could use a wash cloth or dish towel the same way.  I poured about 1T of fabric softener on it several time and threw it in the dryer.  Now I pour about 1T more softener on it every6-8 times I use it.  I have the same jug of softener for at least 6 months and it's still half full.

new toy

I've seen so many crafts with wine bottles lately, I wanted to try a few out.  A friends nephew works for a local winery and she brought me 5 cases of empty bottles.  Bless her heart she even cleaned them and removed the labels.  I bought a bottle cutter at Hobby Lobby for $14 with a 40% coupon and got to cutting.
It's a little more complicated than it looks at first but I got the hang of it and made these bottle  cloches.  I can see them along a table at our next outdoor party with tea lights.  I even can use the leftover bottoms for candle holders.

I added jadeite saucers for a pop of color.

For a first time I thought these turned out pretty good.  I only ruined 4 bottles getting these 5 cloches.

vcb

Kathy and I are gearing up for several craft shows and exhibits starting the end of this month and going almost until Christmas.  We are both trying to develope new ideas and products.  One thing we've been working on is a liquid soap.  Did you know that 80% of housholds use liquid vs bar soap?  We're close to having a product to birng to market. 
Try this idea for a luxury shower:  mix liquid soap and sugar scrub in equal amounts.  Rub all over your skin, rinse and pat dry.  You will be soft, exfoliated and smell heavenly.  Especially if you use our scrub. 
I love citrus scents in the summer, they smell so clean and fresh.

Our first big event is Ladies Night at EIU, August 21.  It's an opportunity for women to come and learn a little about football and see some great products for themselves or their EIU students.  Hope to see you there.

fancy clips

If you read yesterdays post you may have noticed my fancied up paper clips.  I thought you might want to know how to make them.
Here's what you need;
Large paper clips
Card stock
Vintage buttons
Hot glue or E6000
Cut out circles of card stock about 1/2", glue to the top of the paper clips
Add buttons on top of the circles
That's it, you're done.  Who says office supplies have to be boring and all look the same?

book organizer

When I repurpose something I want it to look great but also be useful, I think this organizer fits the bill.  Here's what you need:
1 hard bound bookwith at least 300 pages.  Fold each of the pages in half toward the center, this something mindless you can do while watching TV  When you are finished folding the pages bend the spine of the book until it lays flat and the pages form a half circle..
I then lined the inside front and back cover with scrapbook paper.  If your book has beautiful  end papers you won't need to do this.
Embelish however you like.  I added buttom paper clips and couple of mini clothes pins to hold notes and a few of my favorite quotes.  I'll use it on my desk to hold tickets, notes, important papers, business cards and important numbers. 
Happy folding!

kitchen sink pasta

I always freeze leftover cooked pasta.  When I need a quick meal I can grab whatever vegies and leftovers Ihave and a easy fast meal.  Feel free to adapt this to whatever you have hanging around in your kitchen
2-3C cooked pasta
1 onion chopped
1 red pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
olive oil
Fresh tomaotes chopped
Grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat a pan of water to boiling
While the water is heating throw peppers, garlic and onions in a skilet and saute
Throw the pasta into water and bring back to a boil for 2 minutes, drain.  Add the tomatoes into the onion mixture at the same time.  Throw in pasta and grated cheese and mix

peanut clusters

I could have called these the nectar of the gods and once you tasted them you would believe.  Thanks to my sis Paula for the recipe.
Make your favorite butter cream recipe or follow the one below
Put quarter size blobs of the butter cream on wax paper
Melt 1# milk chocolate, 1# semi sweet chocolate together Do Not Skip on the quality of chocolate, you will regret it
Mix 2# of cocktail peanuts( pecans or cashews would be good too) into the melted chocolate, form into mounds over the butter cream blobs.
Let cool until firm  These freeze great if there are any left, I wouldn't know this personally.

Basic butter cream
1 stick butter do not substitute at room temperature
1# powder sugar
1tsp vanilla or for maple creams substitute maple flavoring
dash of salt
3T milk
Cream the butter and sugar until blended and the rest of the ingredients, adding the milk a little at a time until it is spreadable.
Beat it until it is light a fluffy about 10 minutes
These nut clusters make a great gift if you can bear to share them.

party favors

I wanted to take my family samples of some of our products so I came up with these little sample packs.  Each bag contained a delux sample of scrub, lip balm, solid lotion and soap.  Retail cost per package $10.  They were quick and simple.  We can do many type of party favors for your next get together.  We can match colors, themes and work with your ideas.

family time

All the kids and grandkids came to spend time with Great Grandma and Granpa this week.  We ate, went for a walk, ate, drank gallons of tea and juice, ate, swam, played games, ate, and took pictures.  A good time was had by all.  Much as I love having them here, they really wear me out.  I think a nap is in order.

salted carmel cup cakes

This recipe came from the site http://www.joyshope.com/
1 box German chocolate cake mix
Coarse salt
4-4 Heath bars crushed or bits in package
Carmel ice cream topping
Butter cream frosting recipe below
Make the cup cakes according to package directions
Just before the cakes come out of the oven melt the carmel topping with 1/2tsp of salt Pour into a squirt bottle or use a turkey baster
When the cakes come out  of the oven poke a hole in the center of each cup cake and squirt in some of the carmel  I found it helpful to put the cakes on a cooling rack and put the rack over paper towels, before doing this step  Let the cakes cool completly
In the meatime make your favorite butter cream recipe or use this one:
1 stick butter at room temp
1# powder sugar
11/2tsp vanilla
3T milk
pinch of salt
Cream the butter and sugar, add milk, vanilla and salt.  Beat until thick and creamy
Frost cakes and top with Heath bits  Don't use can frosting, YUCK
Warning:  This is  a messy cake, serve on a plate with a fork if your in polite company or just stuff it into your mouth over the sink if not.