A little Off-Topic, How to Fold a Fitted Sheet!

I found this video by accident, and I am so glad! (Link to video is in this title.) I always fold my sheets and place them inside the pillow case which makes it easy to grab a set and quickly make a bed. However, I must admit... the fitted sheet is quite bulky and causes problems! This is a great way to smooth things out~

The video comes from the site LivingOnADime.com. I haven't had a chance to thoroughly look at the site ~Their categories are: Frugal Living; Recipes; Housekeeping; Freebies; Chit Chat and Coupons.

UPDATE: Here is another video -I actually like the details he provides. He goes a little slower too! :) I do not know his name, but the comments say that everyone is in love with him. He is wearing a wedding ring, and the speculation is that his wife is one lucky woman! Link: Fitted Sheet Folding video by "He"

Remaining on the subject of sheets... To keep organized, I always place sheet sets in their pillow case. Queen size has the top & bottom sheet, plus 1 pillow case INSIDE the 2nd pillow case. Twin size keeps the top & bottom sheet inside the matching pillow case. And of course there are strays... which I keep together by size. :)

Altered Christmas Card -Quick Changes to Personalize Your Cards

Do not have enough time to make your own Christmas cards? How about adding some personal touches to store-bought cards. Here’s a quick easy way to make a few changes and fancy things up! Start out with this plain card.....

**[Disclaimer! I know it is already late into December..., but this post is very appropiate for me because I am still writing our Christmas cards. There must be someone out there on my schedule? :) Wish the pictures were a little better too. :)





You will need:
Simple store-bought cards
corner rounder
embossing folder –border type (polka dots) {Oops, not pictured}
white Enamel Accents, dimensional faux enamel

I chose the border embossing folder because I wanted to be able to write on both sides inside the card. After embossing the card, I added accent dots with the white Enamel Accents and rounded the top corners only, with the ½ inch size.
Quick and easy!




Close-up of the bottom front, embossed with the polka dots and white accents.


To jazz up the envelope, I ran it through a different style border embossing folder. Sorry, not a great pic. (Wondering what the circle is? Just covering up our address!)






And now you have a completed Work of Art! That's what it feels like, anyway. :)

Linking to:
Naturally Me Creations: Who Made What?
It's a Hodge Podge Life

Painted Glass Ornaments and Faux Mercury Glass

A quick and fun way to spruce up your ornament collection! Above are small ornaments only. I made a few of the larger ornaments as well, individual pics follow. You get to be as creative and daring as you want! All you need for adding your color is water and spray paint. Just spray the paint directly into the bulb by holding the nozzle almost touching, and then hold a finger over the hole and shake it around a bit. I found the clear glass ornaments at Joann's Fabrics at 60% off, and used spray paint that I already had. Well, I fib..... I did buy 2 new colors. :)

Inspiration for this project came from Birgit Kerr at Scrapalicious Bytes. She uses Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint to create her Mercury Glass. Her post shares 3 different awesome tutorials full of pictures, ideas, details and humor. Thank you, Birgit!


An example of the Mercury Glass look~



Same ornament, different angle~



You start out by adding water to the inside of the bulb, and pouring most of the water out. (Trial and error here as to the look you want.) For this red and gold one I experimented with acrylic paint too. If you use too much of the acrylic, it can take over -I know, this happened to me! Not to worry, add a bit more water and "rinse" out the extra. Below are 3 examples of what a first layer may look like.



First layer of green...



First layer of black...




First layer of blue...



A layer of blue, then I let the paint dry for awhile. Added a dash of water and sprayed in some white.




These bulbs are in "Stage I" of my drying system!



Stage II~ After they are dry, you can decide if you want to add more color, or a different color. Most of mine are only 2 colors.



This bulb is the exception ~3 colors (blue, white & gold) give it that "globe" look. :) I sprayed in quite a bit of the gold and swirled it all around so that it would show through enough.



Another Mercury style~



This is one of my favorites! Black first, then gold~




An nothing is complete until you get some help from a furry friend! Tigger is happy to oblige~

Linking to:
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Savvy Southern Style
A Glimpse Inside
Poppies At Play

UPDATE: I came across another method of creating Mercury Glass using silver leaf, adhesive and umber glaze. Bethany at Remodel This House shares with you her trial and error and has even posted a video. She has great results!

Holiday Gift Tag, Twinkling H2o's and Ribbon!

This is a simple gift tag where I got to do 2 of my favorite things -color/paint and add ribbon! The corners are rounded on the bottom layer and the image size I used is 1 3/4" x 4 1/2 " -I think I printed about 4 per page. The edges on both layers are distressed by using a dab of water on your finger, and running it along the edges until you get the desired effect. And the ribbon is wrapped around both layers and adhered at the back along the edges with a tiny bit of sticky tape.


For both layers of the tag, I used an Ivory cardstock. (Wausau paper, 67 lb., acid free.) I ran this image from The Graphics Fairy through my inkjet printer directly onto the paper.



I cut the background out from an 8 1/2 x 11 page of Ivory that I had randomly painted, using LuminArte Twinkling H2O's. Colors: Mustard Green, Sunburst & Garnet. (I did not paint the image.)


A little bit of glue to hold them together...



An eyelet, some dazzling ribbon and a string harvested from some burlap... (Don't worry if you do not have an eyelet handy.)




And you have yourself a gift tag!

Linking to:
The Graphics Fairy -Brag Monday :)

On-line Magazine Perusal and Inspiration!

Yes, I know, it is still November.  I realize this.  Yet, as I put away the Halloween décor, toning it down for November, I need to be thinking about December! Fortunately, Karen at The Graphics Fairy mentioned an awesome magazine today...   What better way to get started than by checking out Amy’s on-line magazine?  Viewing this magazine is very User Friendly, with a clear table of contents.  The tutorials are well written with easy links to downloads and to authors’ blogs you may want to visit.   You are able to zoom in to see every detail!  You will not even need your reading glasses.  Ha, ha!

My favorite article (so far) is “Sweet Baskets” by Jone Hallmark. (p. 46-47)  Jone uses the “cup” of an egg carton, newspaper/patterned paper and creates gorgeous mini baskets. 

Enjoy!                                                                                         
Shelly

Note: To view Inspired Ideas mag, click on this post title, then click on the magazine cover when you get there.

Winner of Thursday's Give-Away!!

Congratulations to Danielle, winner of the Martha Stewart Glitter Kit! And thanks to Poppies at Play for the fun week!

Give-Away at Poppies at Play!

Andy is celebrating her 1000th Follow, can you imagine? Whoo Hoo! Pop on over and wish her congratulations and enter daily to win prizes! Vinyl, a blog make-over, and a hand-made baby onesie are a few of her prizes. She is also giving a special 10% off code for any purchases at Overstock.com.

On THURSDAY, I am participating with a Martha Stewart Glitter Kit! Look around at Poppies at Play and stay awhile! Andy has so many great posts to choose from. Her Before & Afters are fabulous inspiration.

Halloween Decor, DIY Vinyl and Cbsession with Crows~

I've been really thinking about stenciling, lately -checking out my blank wall space, wondering... Then I began thinking about vinyl, maybe some branches, and birds -crows in particular. Then I wandered over to Kimberly's interesting post using contact paper, and the rest is history!

I found an inspirational picture from the newspaper, of all places. (I have some ideas for a moon, but haven't gotten to that yet.)



You will need some standard black contact paper, pencil, permanent marker, repositional glue (I used Scotch 3M repositional glue stick), tape, scissors and any desired silhouette shape. I Googled "crow silhouette" to find the shape I used.

Print out your shape on standard printer paper, and glue it to the colored/non-sticky side and cut around it. Of course for the image to face the opposite way, just place on the backing side. :) If you are going to use your silhouette a lot, maybe use cardstock instead.

Since I wasn't sure how close I could come drawing out the tree I had in mind, I started off with pencil and traced over that with the marker.


I taped the tree to the wall and kept moving the branches around until it was "just right" then peeled the backing off a bit at a time. Because the color is solid black, I had no problems adding to the length of some of the branches and the too narrow parts of the trunk. I even made the trunk longer -sorry not pics of these developmental fixes!

A few leaves for the finishing touches, and that's it. My tree is so inviting, but I guess not tall enough to entice my crow over to it!


I let the light fade too much and had to lighten the first photo a bit, then added leaves to the tree and tried the flash.
And here he is around the corner, sitting on another picture.


Have you tried this before? Let me know what you come up with! I'm off to write to Magic Cover (contact paper company) and ask them to make more solid colors to choose from...

UPDATE:
I couldn't leave well-enough alone, and had to try some more silhouettes! All of the shapes or patterns I found were via Google. If you have any problems, I would be happy to help you out. I added a Skull, a pair of Witch's Boots (stockings included), and a Witch Flying Past the Moon. ~




For the Witch, I drew a circle on clear contact paper and colored it with a sponge and alcohol inks. I cut it out at set it aside. I added the Witch directly onto the moon. If you look closely, you can see that I added the broom handle separately. I should have just extended it from her body instead of setting her over it -she has a line-bump! Oh well.





I am linking to:
The Thrifty Home
Someday Crafts
Frou Frou Decor

Halloween Pumpkins, Stairs and Mice

Our stairs are all dressed up and ready for October!

After~

Here is my stand-in "Before" -sort of! These are actually our steps to the downstairs -same number of stairs, same style. Sorry! (I really do not know what happened to my before picture!)



I picked up some orange craft pumpkins from Michaels, and gave them about 2 or 3 coats of Creamy Ivory, and painted the stems black. I used pencil to draw the letters on and "painted" them with a standard "fine" point permanent black Sharpie marker. Holding the marker on it's side allowed for the best flow of ink. The pencil was so forgiving -any mistakes, and they erased right off of the paint! Lucky me, I think it took me about 5 trys before I got my "O's" how I wanted them. Because I was marking over paint, I did manage to wear out my older marker. I found that the new marker seemed to be going that way too, so I just gave it a few good swipes over a paper towel, and it came back.






Since our risers are also wood, I starched some muslin fabric on to create more of a contrast. After the Fall, I will be starching on a new fabric! (Sorry, no pictures of this step, "somehow" I missed it. ) You can just peel the fabric right off and throw it in the wash when you need a change! I discovered this idea at Sew Can Do.

The mice silhouettes are a Martha Stewart product that I found at Toys-R-Us. Each package includes 12 pieces. The mice are made from a thick cardstock and are adheared with double sided sticky dots, which came in the package. I am sure you can easily make your own too. Aren't they cute?


If I were more ambitious, I could also paint the back of my pumpkins to spell out "E-e-k-!" Then we could change them around depending on our mood! And just where did this great idea come from? Kellie, at This Blessed Nest. She has a more detailed tutorial, and a lovely loooooooong staircase where she spells out H-a-l-l-o-w-e-e-n, alternately with T-h-a-n-k-s-g-i-v-i-n-g -so creative! Thanks, Kellie!

And of course my trustee supervisor, Staxie, was helping me all the way~


Check out these links, there is so much to discover~

I am linking to:
Between Naps on the Porch_Metamorphosis Monday
Cottage Instincts-Make It 4 Monday
C.R.A.F.T-Making Monday Marvelous
Sew Can Do
All Thingz Related
Thrifty Decor Chick


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This post has been tagged! Thanks All Things!