Patriotic table setting

Anneliese's blog, Aesthetic Nest, is full of very cool

ideas for themed parties with awesome table settings

and tutorials to help you entertain in her style.

These napkins look so fresh and festive . . . and so

simple!  Click here for a tutorial for these napkins

and other elements for a beautiful and patriotic

table setting.

Check out the rest of her awesome entertaining

ideas and festive table settings.

Happy Memorial Day . . . remember the reason for

the holiday.  I am so grateful for our military and

their families who have sacrificed so much.

Bath towel slippers

All it takes is a pair of flip flops and a bath towel to make these

comfy looking bath slippers!  Click here for the tutorial.

Love these type of slippers :)

Get organized with cigar boxes

Now I know what to do with the stacks of festive

 cigar boxes I have been saving for a special project!

I also have boxes and boxes of jewelry findings that

desperately need organizing.  Here is my solution!

Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made came up

with this cute idea to use cigar boxes for storage. 

Click here for the complete article and tutorial.

Paint Chip Art

Wouldn't I love to have this on my wall!!!?!!!

This gorgeous example of mosaic art comes from 

Ballard Designs catalog . . . 

it also comes with a pricey price tag.

Never fear . . . I have found a couple of tutorials

 that were inspired by this piece of art.

The first tutorial comes from Hope Studios . . .

The second tutorial comes from

Jennifer at Live, Crafts and Whatever 

Of course I have some ideas of my own! 

One idea would be to experiment with some metallic or pearlized 

paint together with foil specks to give it more of a shimmery finish 

after using the stain.

Like I always say with crafts . . . the possibilities are endless!

Laundry tips

Feather pillows are my favorite, 

but are a little tricky to wash, 

but not impossible.

First of all, make sure that there are no slits or tears in the covers.  What I have done with some of my older feather pillows that I didn't want to toss out . . . placed them in a pillow case that has no holes or tears and securely sewed the sides, giving the pillows a new cover.

Load two pillows at the same time for balance.  Set the washing machine on the delicate cycle, using a small amount of detergent.  Make sure to put them through a second rinse cycle.

For drying, I use the low setting, throwing in some tennis balls to help them fluff up and dryer sheets to promote a fresh and clean smell.  The pillows will take much longer to dry than a normal load.  Take them out and fluff them up by hand periodically . . . this will break up any clumps.

Yes, it is a tedious process, but well worth it!  You will love the results :)

Note of warning:  Make sure the washing machine is set to the delicate cycle . . . I ended up with a machine full of feathers when I used the regular cycle . . . what a mess!

Recycling Shower Curtain Liners

This is an item I usually throw away in the trash, however, I have become more aware of what I throw away and try to recycle as much as I can.  


By the way, they can be washed in the washer with detergent and bleach.




Here are some recycling uses for those old shower curtain liners . . .


In the garden . . . use in place of landscape fabric or in conjunction with newspapers in preparing new raised beds or an area being prepared for paving to prevent weeds from coming up (my favorite use!).


Use in place of drop cloths when painting for easy clean up.


Use as a table cover when working on your crafts.


Make an outdoor table cloth.


Put in the back of the truck, van or trunk of car when hauling stuff around for easy clean up.

Flip Flop Fun

Flip flops are one of my favorite things!

Since I live in Florida, if I'm not running around barefooted, 

I'm wearing flip flops or some type of sandals.  It is part of

my lifestyle that is simple and easy.

I've bought the fancy embellished flip flops and have thought it would

be fun to experiment and refashion some of my old flip flops.  

I was so happy to find the following tutorial that gave me

 some basic construction ideas . . . can't wait to pull out 

some of the  old flip flops and give them a new life!

Click here for the tutorial

Another idea for those cool fabric flowers

 I'm seeing all over the place!

What an awesome idea!  I'm imagining some denim flip flops

embellished with those zipper flowers that are made from

 recycled jeans . . . using a combination of both tutorials.

Click here to go to the tutorial for these flowered flip flops.

I really need to get my crafts room

organized and  ready to use again!

My hands are itching to be creative :)

Faux Patio Tile (painting technique)

Learn how to transform your concrete floor into something fabulous!

We have been working on our carport, turning it into an outdoor living space and was already planning to paint the concrete floor, but now I am super excited about starting this project after seeing this patio.

Click here for the painting technique.

Click here for the blog post featuring this patio.  I've gotten so much inspiration, including an idea for outdoor curtains . . . I want this patio!!

Make awesome slippers out of jeans!

In all my years of crafting with jeans, I have never seen a project

like these awesome slippers!  They would make a very nice gift.

Actually, you could use any type of material to make these slippers

 . . . like these . . . I'm thinking of the endless possibilities!

Click here to go to Nancy Minsky's tutorial for denim slippers.

Click here to go to Nancy's website, 21st Century Dressmakers.  

This website is one of the best I've run across in a very long time!

It is visually artistic, creative and oh so inventive.

She's the jeans queen!

  What a treat for  sewing crafters :) I love it!

Here is one of the most awesome denim slippers I have seen yet!  I found the photo on Pinterest, which leads to a dead link, but it is great inspiration!

Jewel tone glass painting technique

Gorgeous painting technique for glass!

Regular readers of my blog know that I have a thing about

recycling glass jars.  My favorite project is making candles in

glass jars.  This painting technique would be the perfect

glass finish for those jars!

Click here for the tutorial from Deco Art.

If you love crafting with glass like I do, click here 

for other crafty glass projects I've posted on my blog.

Cool stuff to make!

Jeans Bags are timeless, inexpensive and so easy

to make . . . they also make awesome gifts.

Click here to go to the tutorial from Fave Crafts.

What a cool way to repurpose an old window frame.

This jewelry organizer holds lots of jewelry!

I love it :)

Click here for the tutorial from Jane at The Borrowed Abode.

Clever crafty ideas

Would you believe these are faux milk glass?

They look like the real thing.  All you need is some paint!

Faux milk glass tutorial

At first glance . . . do you know what these are?

These cuties are cleverly disguised cleaning wipes containers.

Now you can color coordinate them to match your decor!

This project comes from Heather at Decor-ganize.

Click here for the tutorial.

Have you ever used photos transferred
to fabric in your projects?

Back in the day, I used a medium specifically for this purpose, but the results
 were awful, even though it did transfer the photo image to fabric.

  Fast forward a decade or so . . . you can now use your printer to transfer
 photos to fabric.  Sound good?  It is easier than you probably think it is!

Click here to go to an awesome tutorial from
Linda Matthews at A Creative Journey.

Crafty notebook covers

Take some inspiration from these crafty notebook covers and recycle those fabric scraps you were saving for a special project using the instructions from the following projects.  Not only are these a great idea for notebooks, but can also be designed for your favorite book or scrapbook . . . how about a beautiful cover for your bible?  

They would make very thoughtful, inexpensive gifts!

Check out this awesome journal cover from Bloom!

Becky at Patchwork Posse has designed some fun vinyl notebook covers.  

Check out the different design ideas and a tutorial on how to make them . . . click here.

This button embellished notebook cover designed by Diane Gilleland is too cute!

Click here for the blog post with more photos and a tutorial.

Petal Pillow Tutorial

I'm seeing fabric flowers everywhere!

My favorite was on a cute little clutch bag . . . the flower, made of the same material as the bag, was slightly bigger than the bag.  I plan on making one, but I didn't have a tutorial for the type of flower that was on that bag . . . the flower on this pillow comes close.  It seems easy enough to scale it down . . . we'll see!

I'm also loving these Petal Pillows . . . click here for the tutorial.

Funky Recycled Necklace

This necklace is so cool!

I will definitely try to make this as well as a bracelet and earrings to match when I get my jewelry making area set up again.

This project comes from Aubree of  Yellow Blackbird Blog who was inspired by a tutorial from Aunt Peaches.  Very cool concept using recycled plastic cups!

Here is a photo of Aunt Peaches' project:

Same concept with two distinctively different looks.

I must try this technique!

New Home Page

My home page is back!  Now you can keep up with all of my blogs, websites and places on the web in one place.  Click here to go to the blog, where you can follow via Blogger, Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, my new Facebook Fan Page or through RSS feed via your favorite reader or email.  You can also follow me on Twitter where all my blog posts are automatically tweeted.

For my Adgitize and Entrecard blogging friends . . . within the next couple of days, I will be setting up Adgitize and Entrecard . . . so you will have one more place to click!

My apologies for not being around as much . . . there are not enough hours in the day for everything I have been working on, but I should be back to "normal" soon.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!