I've been a crafting maniac getting ready for the holidays. I have a few little craft shows that I'm doing plus the gifts I want to make. I'll post pics of the things as I complete them.

 Snowmen from old socks and baby socks.

BOOGIE MONSTERS!!! 

Once people see that they are for holding tissues, they always exclaim 

"Oh I get it , so funny!"

Paper Clip Cuties

The Nursery

I spent most of August getting my grandson's nursery ready. We went with the nautical theme that I had used for the baby shower. I picked the paint colors and his terrific daddy did the painting and didn't grumble too much when I asked for stripes!! I had fun finding or making the little things to decorate the room. My hubby bought me a sewing machine last Christmas and I have had such fun learning how to make things. I made the valence for the nursery, my first REAL sewing project.

IT FIT!!!

 I scoured Craigslist and found REAL wood furniture for very little money. I sanded and painted the bookshelf and put a chevron fabric on the backboard.

 This changing table was that lovely old blond wood color. The white paint made such a difference.

 This was the best deal $15 and its solid wood. Just sanded and painted and its the perfect size.

 Made his name plaque and decided to hang it on a curtain rod instead of trying to make 

sure the nails were hammered in a straight line.

 I made the bumpers and a good friend crocheted the beautiful afghan.

 Some of my fun little chachkes.

Baby Shower for the BEAN!!

I'm a grandma!!! I love every second and I spent most of August getting his room ready. My daughter and hubby moved into a new apartment and I got the chance to create his nursery. Before that I hosted her baby shower. I had so much fun making all the food and decorating. I also made the invitations. It is so nice to have my summers off so I can be super creative. We went with a nautical theme for the shower and the nursery. Here's a few photos of the shower and then the nursery.

Here are the invitations. I had tons of fun making them.

THE FOOD!!!!

My First attempt at cutout cookies and royal icing. They turned out pretty well, a bit of trial and error to get the whole 'flooding' thing down. Mad mini cupcakes with a jelly bean on top since we called him "the Bean"

 When I was deciding what to do with the sand buckets, I thought, turn them upside down and tah-dah, they made perfect pedestals for the food!

 Treat bags for the guests to take home.

Halloween Treats

Wanted to make some fun treats for Halloween. I created Frankenstein and Mummy chocolate pretzels. So much fun to make and they turned out great. They were a big hit at the yard sale!

Easter Fun!

Had so much fun making the centerpieces for the table. Peeps and jelly beans. Makes such a colorful display. Glass in the center for the flowers!

Carrot Cutlery!! Found the cutest green fuzzy wire ribbon!

Did some Eastery Magic and turned Strawberries into CARROTS!!

First make sure you pick strawberries that have a carrot-y shape!

Dip them in orange colored white chocolate. Then I took the last bit of melted chocolate and made those carrot like stripes for some dimension.

 TAHHH DAHHH!! Easy and adorable!

And what's a carrot without a bunny!!

Everything is better with Bailey's

So I was looking on Pintrest to find an easy cookie to make for our St. Patty's Party on Saturday. Found a wonderfully simple chocolate cookie (made with Devils Food cake mix). I also experimented with self made shamrocks from green chocolate. They were simple to make, 3 dots and a stem. I looked at Bailey's icing recipes and came up with my own combo.  I'm happy with how the turned out and my taste testers say "YUMMY! "  

Devil's Food Cookies

1 box cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

spoon on cookie sheet 

bake 350 for 6-8 minutes

My Bailey's Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter room temp

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tbls. Bailey's

       Frost when cool and top with the chocolate shamrocks (they peel off the wax paper very easily)

Shamrock Pretzels

Saw these cute pretzel treats on Pintrest. I changed it up and used a white Chocolate disc and then outlined in green chocolate. The green M&Ms alone just looked messy to me. I find lots of things look EASY when you see the photos on Pintrest, but actually carrying it out can be a bit of an experience. The more I worked with them the better they looked. As with all things "practice makes perfect!"