Messy is as Messy does

I have got the sloppiest cleaner ever!  My scrap room started like this ...

Ugh!  Where was I to work?  Then, I spilled embossing powder ... :(

Then, When I was trying to vacuum it up, I knocked over a ton of little letter pieces ...

I gotta quit before I spill some flowers or wrap myself in tape!!!

If you give a man a treadmill ...

This is the first season we've watched the Biggest Loser reality show and it has got us thinking... we could definitely use a kick in the health pants.  We've started eating more sensibly and being a bit more active but my husband really wanted a treadmill, for a deal.  After looking for months, we found one.  Now where to put it?  We have a room in the basement that was a bedroom, then playroom, then bedroom, then scrap room, bedroom, spare room, etc.  We decided to put it in there.  As the story goes ... if you give a man treadmill, his wife is going to want to move the furniture.  If she moves the furniture, she's going to want to paint it.  

This is my childhood dresser (42ish years old).  I had the typical white furniture every little girl should have (my daughter has the bed and it's still white).  I got a wild hair up my butt to paint it for my scrap room.  There probably could have been an easier way to go about it, I was thinking while painting the 18 spindles, but who needs easy.  

Here's the before, ready for it's new coat in my garage ... love how I used the recycle bin to elevate it?  

I found a small can of latex paint at Walmart for $5, Glossy Khaki.  Sounds nice and neutral!  Here's the result ....

It is a light khaki and works well with the wall color.  Looks better in person.  I'm thinking I might paint the trim in the drawers black and find some neat black knobs ... it's in my scrap room so I'm looking forward to filling it with goodies, I'll share with you later ... going to let it dry a bit just in case.  I'm also very impatient so this was painted Thursday and moved to my room on Friday.  Meanwhile, the treadmill is living happily ever after in my basement.

Metamorphisis Monday

Easter Treats

Teacher, the dog ate my dessert!  WAHHHH!!  One layer of decadent carrot cake out of the way, I left another layer to cool while we went out to eat.  Huh, someone had a little snack while we were away!  I couldn't believe my dog ate half my layer!!!  What's a girl to do but send her husband out into the cold, dark world of the grocery store.  Hey, let's face it, it gave him some time to do a little bunny shopping.  Less than 18 hours to go, I'd say he was ahead of schedule.  

Only up until midnight baking the cake ... I had Ange decorate it .... I had these little wafer bunnies that she put in an egg shape ... took her a long time!

I went on a dig and found these little cages I bought at Christmastime and never used.  I made muffins for breakfast and put them in the cages.

Now to figure out when the Easter bunny will come!!!

My Earth Day Contribution

Have I said I can't cook lately?  Well, I can't ... I try.  Thank goodness for the internet!  What would we do without it?  How would I learn to boil an egg?  
I'm not a big egg fan.  I've always suffered from eczema and when I was younger I got it in my head that it was from eggs (egg-zema).  So I've never really enlightened my palette.  However, what's a traditional Easter dinner without deviled eggs ... enter the internet.  I tried one method after watching a video that instructed you to boil the eggs then remove them from the heat and cover for fifteen minutes, cool, ice, etc.  My finish to the instructions: peel them, watch them run then throw them in the compost bin ... for mother earth to enjoy ...

Wahhhhh!!!  Twelve eggs later ... I tried again.  Watched a different video and they turned out.  Whew!!  I actually made the deviled part and piped it back into the egg.  Yeah!  I didn't take a picture but they kinda looked like this .... we like to sprinkle them with Old Bay seasoning to give them that Bal'more taste!

Thank goodness I have a year to practice my egg boiling before next Easter!

Hoppy Easter

After checking out all the fun blogs on dyeing eggs I thought we'd try the silk tie method!  After watching a quick Martha video, Ange and I headed to Goodwill to pick up some silk ties.  They were .71!!  It was purple day so one was actually half price!  I also found a cool pewter piece that didn't have a price tag on ... I told the guy I'd pay $4 for it and he was thrilled!  It was fun shopping there with Ange tho.  She loves picking!


Here's our selection of ties.  We were running short on time so we probably could have wrapped them a bit better.  Martha also suggested wrapping the silk wrapped tie eggs with a piece of white fabric to absorb some of the die.  We ran out of white fabric and it did make a difference.  Way to go Martha!  And Ange!!!

Spring Cleaning

As much as I want to spring clean my house, minus the spring part (who knows when that will get here) ... I decided to start in my scrap room. This is the before! No wonder I can't get anything done!  Mamma ain't happy unless she can make something fun!  I have a plan in my head ... let's see if it will actually work out!!!  Stay tuned!!

Quickutz/LifeStyle Crafts are back!

Sorry I haven't been very bloggy lately!  My mom was in the hospital for a short time but is home now and recovering nicely!  Nothing major, just a little preventative op.  I finally caught my spring cleaning bug and starting with my scrap room.  Have a vision in my head but who knows what it will look like when I'm done!  I'll keep you posted!

Remember Quickutz?  I sold a TON of them in my store years ago and they were hot, hot, hot!  Then the big machines came out and they were referred to as Quick-whats?   I couldn't part with mine during my many clean out yard sales and kept my favorite dies too.  I do use it from time to time but when I saw Tatertots and Jello was giving away the newest version from Lifestyle Crafts along with some great accessories, I had to share with you!  They definitely have some great items that are really competitive with some other products out in the market.  Here's what she's giving away ... Isn't it awesome!!!

Hop over to her blog and see some of the great things you can do with this multipurpose machine!!!

Speaking of hopping, I have some great Easter cards to share with you this week!!

  

I Am a Water Bender

Ever see Avatar, not the movie with the blue people but the kid's cartoon turned movie?  If you haven't, the story is about kids who can control earth elements.  Today, although I can't control it, I am definitely fighting my arch enemy Dr. Leak.  There is a dark cloud over my home (literally) and all is not peaceful.  I discovered a leak in my new kitchen cabinets that is coming from the upstairs bathroom.  Part of the cabinet is coming down tomorrow to see what can be done about that.   I try to catch up on my chores and Whap! Whammo!  Another leak under my dryer.  I am trying to use all my powers to send the water back to where it came but I am fighting a losing battle so I decided to drown my troubles in my scrap room for now ...

This card is comprised of a couple of challenges, other than the ones I face on a daily basis!

Paper - KaiserCrafts new Bubblegum Hills collection

Stamp - Studio G (a michael's 99center)

Ribbon - Making Memories

I used the following challenges as my inspiration:

On to conquer more drippy demons!

Scrappin' Saturday/Sunday


Wouldn't you just love to get punished and sent to your room when it's full of scrap goodies?  I wish I could punish myself some days.  I'd get grounded for not completing a layout or be forced to clean my 'closet'.  I tried to banish myself but alas, I have no control of my own schedule.  Ange had a play date at 1 - the plan was to scrap while she was away.  Didn't happen.  This poor layout got put together over the course of two days.  It's done tho so that counts!  I do find 'peace' in that!
I love this picture of her in the outfit and I knew I had the peace sign laser cut paper somewhere.  That took forty minutes to find it then another and forty to figure out if it was a sticker or not.  I'm guessing not, I tried to peel it at every angle.  Now, this has been in the 'stash' for quite a while. As well as the peace sign pattern paper.  As I was putting it together I thought it was looking okay then I realized that the peace signs were upside down.  Aw man!!!  Still looks okay, right?  Artistic license?  Then, I was looking at the call outs thinking, I should do another one that says "pile of shoes", "toys not put away", "outdated accessories", "peeking dog" but the page is all about her ... Let me know if you've found a little peace in your world!

Sloppy Chef - No Mystery!


I HAVE to be the sloppiest chef around!  This Friday is Ange's school is having a talent show with a cake decorating contest.  Ange wants to enter the contest and I thought I would make some cake pops in the shape of   paws (they are the panther cubs).  Don't worry Bakerella, no fear of me stepping on your apron strings any time soon!  After checking out her website, books and blogs, those darn pops looked so easy.  Mine turned out to be cake flops or even cake poops!!  
I am 'famous' for improvising recipes so why should this be any different?  Here's a list of my mistakes in order of disasters:
1.  Use a box cake mix -  me? Oh no!  Made it from scratch using the recipe on the cocoa container with boiling water
2.  Put the mix in two 8" round pans - I had just finished using an 8 and a 6 for Ange's cake so why bother running downstairs to get the other 8" pan!!   which leads to ...
3.  The mix in the smaller pan overflowed in the oven, burned to a crisp (in my fresh cleaned oven) and filled the house with a wonderful smell
4.  I used to much frosting and the combo resembled frosting with a little caked added instead of the other way around ... I continued with the recipe as if it was going to turn out so ...
I used mini marshmallows for the paws, tried to dip it in the chocolate and wahlah:  cake poop on a stick!


BUMMER!!!  Plan B:  cupcakes.

Top Left:  The cake crumbles, they looked okay

Top Right:  after mixing the frosting .. too mushy but continued

Bottom Left:  Okay, after I threw dirty dishes in the sink, I did a double take and a saw a face on the rack, see it?  I'm thinking ebay ...

Bottom Right:  The finished cake flop - rejected!!

Okay, the cupcakes, they'll do ....

The top layer of Ange's cake.  I'm so proud!  She did the fondant cut outs all herself ... I got the premade stuff at Michaels and used the spray color ... I did cut out the HES with the Cricut ... the best thing I did all day!

  

I Need Me Mojo ...


I'm trying to get back into my 'room' more often so I searching all my favorite challenge blogs to get some inspiration.  This week I'm using the sketch from Mojo Monday and the stying of Etsy Inspired, 


Here's the Mojo sketch ...

Here's my inspiration from Etsy Inspired:

So ... drumroll.... here's my combo ...

I used the houndstooth pattern from the new Couture paper pack from DCWV.  The flower and tag is from an old Making Memories set.  I used my Scor Pal to crease the flowers for texture.  Fun! Fun! Fun! 

Feels so good to spend a little time in my 'room'!!  

Feelin' some love!!


My new blog buddy Karen over at Reflections of a Paper Addict honored me with a blogger award! 

The Liebster Award is designed to bring new blogs to light. It is a great way to share blogs that might not otherwise be seen or ones you may want to share with others.

As a recipient you must share the love and pay it forward by:

-Creating a post where you blog about the Liebster award & reveal your 3-5 blog picks
-Let them know you chose them
-Copy & paste the blog award on your blog
-Have faith that your followers will rally & show their crafty love back out to those you awarded


Thanks so much Karen!  Definitely want to pay it forward!  Check them out!


1.  Tatiana @ http://createdbytatiana.blogspot.com/
2. Migdalliam @ http://creativescrapscorner.blogspot.com/
3. Eileen @ http://eileenscraftyzone.blogspot.com/
4.  Jade @ http://www.thescrapyardrose.com/
5. Karla @ http://kreativekarla.blogspot.com/

thanks tons Karen! We need to do a blog hop for just Karens!

Enjoy!

I fell in love with the color combo at Embellish Magazine blog this week.  The colors were so subtle but so spring!  I didn't have to dig too deep in my stash to find the colors to match ... I also got my Mojo on too!









How'd I do?

I used Bazzill Cardstock and K & Co pattern paper.  The image is from Crafty Secrets.  Love it!  I used ribbon from May Arts with a metal charm from Maya, an oldie but a goody! I've been into crinkling my paper lately so I just kinda pleated the paper and it turned out great!  I popped it on the bottom for 'effect'!!  I used a Martha punch on the bottom too!!!  Hope you like it!