Freezer Paper Stencil (My First Time!)

I've heard tell of a paper so magnificent that one can dare use it as a stencil for painting on fabric! They call this paper Freezer Paper!! Though I was brave, I wondered if I was brave enough to test fate and try my hand at using this fantastic tool. Yes! Yes I was brave enough! So I gathered my supplies and began . . .

First, I printed out my image. I used spray glue to adhere it to the freezer paper (the regular paper side, not the waxy side!) and cut out my stencil, in this case it was a clothespin.

Then you place the stencil on your fabric and iron it down.

Before you apply the paint, make sure you have cardboard or something underneath your fabric. The paint may bleed through to the other side. I forgot this part and got paint on my ironing board cover :op

Now, using a sponge tip applicator, start painting in your image. It may take a few coats, but that's no problem.

Once you're done painting, just peel off your stencil.

My stencil had little bridges to keep the stencil whole, so I just came back with a small paint bush and filled in the gaps. Ta da! All done!

This is going to be art in my laundry room. Isn't it cute! Using freezer paper as a stencil was so easy! If you haven't tried it already, you should! It would be great for painting t-shirts, tea towels, even pillows! The possibilities are endless!

Have fun painting! :o)

Holiday with Matthew Mead: A Giveaway

OK boys and girls, I don't normally pass along giveaway information, but this one is too good to resist! A free mention of your blog (or Etsy shop) in the upcoming publication Holiday With Matthew Mead! Who doesn't love free publicity? I know I do! :o) Can you imagine how many new readers you can reach?!

Haven't heard of Matthew Mead? You've probably still seen his decorating and craft ideas somewhere. Matthew is an author-stylist who has written multiple design books including Entertaining Simple and Matthew Mead’s Halloween and is co-editor of the decorating magazine Flea Market Style.

 He's also been published in multiple magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Real Simple, Do it Yourself, and Country Living. 

His new publication, Holiday with Matthew Mead is a  "book-azine" celebrating and offering inspiration for the Christmas holiday season. To be released in October 2010, Holiday will not only feature Matthew's wonderful crafts and decorating ideas, but he'll also feature some awesome fellow bloggers, the likes of The Nester (from Nesting Place), Layla (from The Lettered Cottage), Nie Nie (from the Nie Nie Dialogues) and  Kim (from Today's Creatice Blog) just to name a few!

Holiday will only be available to order online - in limited quantities - so if you want to see all the 144 pages of loveliness that Matthew comes up with to make our holidays bright, you can click here and reserve your copy.

Interested in winning a spot in this fabulous publication?? I know I am! Head on over to Holiday with Matthew Mead to find out how you can win the opportunity to have your blog or online shop mentioned in the magazine.

Good luck folks! :o)

Help! I'm being invaded by DVDs!

I'm facing a design dilemma that I just can't figure out on my own. So I'm reaching out to all of you here in blogland to try and help me find a solution to the problem that's been plaguing me. My living room is being over run by DVDs (and video games).

That is to say, that the cases for every DVD and video game FH and I own is out on display for all the world to see. There just isn't anywhere else to put them!

Here's what my living room looks like:

Notice the packed shelves. Full up with movie and game cases. What to do? What to do?

So what I'm looking for is a creative way to hide or camouflage the DVDs and video games. Boxes are one option, but I don't want shelves packed full of just boxes either.

Help! Does anyone have any ideas?

Free Printable Save-the-Date

Don't you just love the internet? It's a cornucopia of great ideas, tutorials, and free stuff. And it just allowed me to use "cornucopia" in a sentence (and we all know that doesn't happen everyday)! :o)

I was catching up on a few of the blogs I follow when I stumbled upon a great freebie! I found this fantastic free printable save-the-date postcard over at The Inspired Bride

Isn't it fantastic!! I had already decided that I was going to do a save-the-date postcard anyway. I had seen some cute designs and I was just going to purchase them . . . then I found this. It's even in my wedding colors (aqua and white)!!

So I bought a couple packs of blank postcard card stock at JoAnn's and printed them out myself!

Perfect! However, I didn't want my not-so-perfect handwriting to mar the beautifulness of these cards, so I whipped up the wording on the computer and printed it on the postcards.

That's waaaaayyyyyyyy better than I could have written. It took a lot of playing with different fonts to get the combo that I liked, but once I did, I was in love with the results.

The free fonts I used were:

• Abbeyline from 1001 Free Fonts 
• Ecuyer DAX from Urban Fonts 
• Albemarle Swash from Fonts 101 
• Birds of a Feather from Font River (for the little bird image below FH's name)

Of course, this is the date we're shooting for, but it's not for sure until we book a location. But I had to print it out to show you all! :o)

This printable is also available in pink and brown. To get in on having this adorable postcard for your wedding, all you have to do is click here.

Enjoy!

2010 Race for the Cure

Everyone has something, a cause that they're passionate about. Something that causes them to want to do all they can to help change that situation, help those people, save the world. For me, that cause is breast cancer research.

While I don't know anyone close to me who has been affected by this disease, it's something I've felt very strongly about for many years. We need to save lives. We need to find a cure.

For the last 7 years or so, my mom and I have been participating in the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. This year is no different.

While I will go about my usual methods to help raise funds for the cause, this year I have a new tool. My blog.

So I'm asking the help of all of you out there in blogland. Please support me as I participate in this event. If you can, donations would be greatly appreciated. If a donation is not possible, please support me with your positive thoughts and pray that we can find a cure soon.

Too many women have to face the loss of one or both of their breasts, if not their lives. One in eight women will be diagnosed in her lifetime! We need to end this! Please help any way you can.

To donate, click here.

Thank you!!

Inspire Me! (Bringing Nature Indoors)

I'm sure you all have heard someone somewhere talk about bringing nature indoors (in terms of decorating). Usually this means some potted plants, bamboo flooring, a water feature, maybe even a rattan rug.

Then I saw this in an issue of Good Housekeeping:

Using a branch as a curtain rod! How simple, yet beautiful! I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Yeah, right! No one would ever do that in real life!" But that's not true! A) I would if I had the right house/decor to go with it B) Someone already has!

Layla from The Lettered Cottage used a branch she found outside her house (for her curtains made from vintage napkins!) in her reading room.

How lovely! ::dreamy sigh::

Anywhoo! Seeing this unique spin on decorating with nature got me thinking . . . How else could you bring nature into your home?

We've all seen hemp and grass decorative balls. But what about balls from cattails?

You could make your own moss terrarium like Molly . . .

I, personally, love the idea of pebble tile in a bathroom!

I even found a cute, eco-friendly party idea at Hostess with the Mostess

What great ideas!!

How would you bring nature indoors?

My First (Pseudo) Award!

I received this award at the beginning of February, but I've been so wrapped up in all this baby shower stuff, that it's taken me a while to post this. But now I'm ready, so here it is!

The lovely Jackie Fo is the sweetheart who gave me the Honest Scrap Award! Thanks honey!! I'm honored! :o)

There are "rules" that come with this award, and here they are:

• Thank the person who "nominated" you and link back to that blog post.
• Tell 10 honest things about yourself -- and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
• Pass the award on to 10 bloggers, who you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap, and whose blogs you find brilliant in design and/or content.

So I guess that means I'm gonna have to let you all take a peek inside my crazy head! Here goes:

1. I've been afraid of the dark my whole life and had to sleep with a lamp on until I was 20 (which was when I realized no one would want to marry a girl who needed a night light).
2. Other than at work, I live in flip-flops. Seriously. Live.Yet, despite only wearing flip-flops, I still own 18 pairs of non-flip-flop shoes.
3. Don't ask me why, but I cannot stand Ina Garten (a.k.a the Barefoot Contessa). If her show comes on TV, I have to change the channel. Even if I'm in a completely different room, I'll walk into the living room just to turn her off. I really don't know why I hate her so much. I just do.
4. I can't kill hard-shelled bugs (i.e. beetles) because the crunching sound that's made when you step on them freaks me out! I'm getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it!
5. I once OD-ed on Jelly Belly jelly beans, and now I can't even stand the smell of them!
6. When my sister and I were little, my mom told us this certain skyscraper (well . . . tall building) in Tucson was a peanut factory, and I believed her for years. Except in my imagination it was more like a peanut silo . . .
7. I hate, hate, HATE being called Jennifer! It takes me back to being in trouble as a little kid and I still get a pang of anxiety when someone calls me that.
8. I have a very distinctive laugh. I've had many-a-co-worker tell me that they knew I was working before they saw me because they could hear me laughing. My parents once even knew I was at the mall at the same time as them, because while they were in the store, I walked past and laughed, and they recognized me by it.
9. My favorite food is my grandma's mashed potatoes and creamed peas. Don't scoff! It's delicious! I know the recipe, but no one can make it like she could.
10. In second grade, I wrote in my school journal that I wanted to marry Mel Gibson. While I understand the impossibility of that now, he still remains my favorite actor of all time! (And I'm on a mission to own every movie he's been in/directed/lent his voice to)

Now to pass on this award to 10 fantastic bloggers (how's a girl supposed to choose??)

1. Crap I've Made 
2. The Lettered Cottage 
3. Hostess with the Mostess 
4. The Crafters File Box 
5. A Soft Place to Land 
6. Blue Cricket Design 
7. Checkout Girl 
8. 'I Do'-It-Yourself 
9. Reinvented 
10. Nesting Place 

You all should check out these lovely ladies and their blogs! They're the kind of bloggers I aspire to be!

Yeehaw! A Cowboy Baby Shower!! (Party Time!)

Yesterday was the long awaited cowboy-themed baby shower, and I'm happy to report that it was a success!! :oD

I was kind of a stress case the first half of yesterday (large part due to a minor cupcake disaster), but all the hard work and preparation paid off.

Here are pictures of the set-up:

When guests first walked in the door, they were greeted with the diaper raffle/gift table, complete with my DIY diaper cake.

Just past the gift table was the game table. The party was very laid back and casual, so guests could mosey on over and guess the baby food/melted chocolate if and when they wanted to. Winners were announced at the end of the night.

We were expecting lots of people, so we made sure to have LOTS of food! There was a giant Eegee's sub (Eegee's is a local sub chain), 3 lbs of mostacolli, italian sausage, cheeseburger dip (with chips) and my chicken ring. I've mention before that the chicken ring recipe is a huge hit at parties, and this one was no exception! At least 4 different people asked for the recipe. If you all would like to know how to make this "famous" recipe (and Cheeseburger Dip), click here.

I even made little signs labeling each food. I found the stickers at a local scrapbook store. I thought they kinda went with the western/country theme.

And what baby shower (or any party really) would be complete without a dessert table?

We had fruit with a yummy fruit dip (I found the recipe here), danishes (is that even proper English?), cookies, brownies, a cute cake made by Aly . . .

. . . and Cowboy Cupcakes made by moi (with the help of Aly, Autuym, Amber, and my Hello, Cupcake! book).

The only thing we forgot? To take a picture of the mom-to-be!! We were all so wrapped up in planning, prepping, and just enjoying the party that my partner and I completely forgot to snap a picture of her (or ourselves in our cute cowgirl get-up)!

Oh well! At least she had fun. And the daddy-to-be mentioned multiple times that it was a great party (which says a lot considering he's a man . . . at a baby shower).

As fun as it was, I'm glad the stress and planning is over. Now it's time to focus on something else, like . . . I don't know . . . MY WEDDING!!! :oD

My Almost Famous Chicken Ring (and some Cheeseburger Dip)

I made this recipe for my sister's bridal shower to rave reviews and again for Kristen's baby shower. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like this recipe. It's not really my recipe. It's more my adaptation of a Pampered Chef recipe, and it is yummy!

So today I'm going to share with you how to make this delicious (and easy) crowd pleaser!

Chicken Ring

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 (10 oz) can chunk-white chicken (recipe can also be made with tuna!)
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or mexican/three-cheese blend work well)
• 2 (8 count) cans of refrigerated crescent rolls 
• 4 slices crisp-fried bacon, chopped (or 1/4 cup pre-cooked bacon crumbles)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine mayo and mustard; mix well. Combine mix with chicken, bacon, and cheese in a large bowl. Unroll crescent dough. Separate dough into 16 triangles. Arrange in a circle with wide ends overlapping, in the center of a 14-inch pizza pan. Leave approximately a 5-inch diameter opening at the center of the pan. At this point, it's gonna look kinda like a sun.

Image borrowed from What to Make

Spoon chicken mix into the widest end of triangle. Bring the outside points up over the filling and tuck under the wide edges (in the center). The filling won't be completely covered, but that's OK.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Then you just slice it at the "seams" into little triangle size pieces and serve!

So yummy!! :o)

Another hit at the baby shower was this Cheeseburger Dip. My friend, Elisa, makes this whenever she has a get-together at her house and I love it. As soon as I agreed to co-host this shower, I was begging her for the recipe. I don't know where she got it, and I don't care. It's fabulous!!

Elisa's Cheeseburger Dip

Ingredients

• 1 lb (16 oz) Velveeta, cut into cubes
• 1 (10 oz) can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies, undrained
• 1 cup shredded, low-moisture, part skim mozzarella
• 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked and drained

Directions

She makes this in a crock-pot (easier to keep warm that way), but I'm sure you can probably make this in the microwave.

Add both cheeses to crock-pot and heat until they start to melt. Then add Rotel and ground beef. Stir every 5-10 minutes until completely melted. Serve with tortilla chips.

My mouth is watering just thinking about this recipe. I must have people over so I have an excuse to make it!

I hope you all try out my recipes at your next shindig. They're sure to be a hit!

Upcoming: Laundry Room Makeover!

I've been itching. Itching to decorate. But what's a girl to do when all the rooms in her house are already decorated? Or are they? . . .
They don't call it a laundry room for nothing, do they? It technically is a room (however small that may be) and it deserves some attention to!

Just look at some of the lovely things that can be done with a laundry space!

Alicia from Thrifty and Chic said she "knew [she] wanted the laundry room to be something special." And special it is!

Over at the House of Smith's Shelley and her husband, Cason, revamped their laundry room and the end result was this masterpiece:

I even found this image in an issue of Secrets of Getting Organized magazine:

And I'm totally making myself one of these (a la Char from Crap I've Made):

Most of my friend's think I'm nuts and I haven't even broken the news to FH yet. But the way I see it, I have to walk through that room at least twice a day everyday (coming and going from the house), so why not like what I see?

This is what my laundry room currently looks like:

Sad . . . Just sad.

This decorating project's gonna take a bit of time, but I know what I want, and I've already started working on some art.

I can't wait to share everything with you all! :o)

And on a completely unrelated side-note, the long-awaited baby shower is in two days! YAY! I can't wait to see Kristen's reaction! . . . And to have my house back! We're not even having it here, but this is what my dining room looks like right now:

It's driving me nuts! I can't wait til it's all neat and pretty again :o)

Wish me luck!

I'll tell you all about the shower on Monday! Have a great weekend everyone! :o)