Twig Necklace

I have seen several of these cute little branch/twig necklaces. I tried to make my own. Since its near Easter, I used a branch from a dogwood tree. The dogwood is said to be the tree used to build the cross that Jesus was crucified on.

First I will show you the twig necklace that inspired me to make one.

$60.00 from cursive design.com .

 And below are the ones I made and it cost me nothing.

This was my first attempt at this. I think they turned out to pretty good, kinda, and I think the green one will go with my Easter dress the best.

Linked on under-100-linky-party at beyond the picket fence ,simply-link-party at simply designing ,made-by-monday at skiptomylou , lil-luna-link-party-71 , friday-fun-party-features at craftionary

What bugs me

I'm sure I am not alone when it comes to crazy little things that are not a big deal but will just bug the heck out of you. Well, here's mine, to name few.

20 THINGS THAT BUG ME.

• When I'm nice enough to let someone out in traffic and they let 5 other people out in front of them.
• When people baby talk to there dogs.
• When I let someone by me in the store and they stop right in front of me to look at the same thing.
• People that let their kids run around while they eat.
• Undisciplined children
• People that play with or hold their pets at the table.
• Picking at the food on the table. If you touch a food item. Take it! nobody wants it after that.
• When I answer a question that someone asks me and then they come back with their own answer.
• Waitresses carrying a tray to the table on their shoulder and their hair swings in it when they walk.
• When people throw trash out the window.
• Loud annoying laughter over and over.
• People who cuss out loud in public.
• An off-centered or crooked picture or art on the wall or on a car window. (OCD)
• People who smack or slurp their food.
• When someone asks or looks at what I'm eating with a snarl on their face, like ew.
• People that lie about things they really do not have to lie about.
• Socks with flip flops
• People that cheat the government ( I will not go into this)
• When the drive thru person throws ketchup into my bag on top of my open fries.
• Velcro sandals on the beach.

OK. I feel good now that I shared this. Now I'd like to know what some of your pet peeves are. Go ahead, let it out.

Paper eggs and Dogwood

I really love spring and Easter is one of my favorite times.
Me and my daughter used to do an Easter tree in my front yard but I no longer have any trees and I miss doing that. I have seen the indoor Easter trees in the stores but it would cost a small fortune by the time you buy one and decorate it.

I decided to make my own (for free) to place in my bay window of my living room, but first things first. I had to come up with some decorations so I made paper eggs. I started by printing some pattern colors to use. I decided I'd do them in honor of my daughter. I used her school colors and some Kappa Delta prints along with some Lilly Pulitzer prints.

 

For one egg,  I cut 4 or 5 egg shapes, fold them in half longways and glue them together by halves. Don't forget the string or ribbon. I really like the way they turned out.

 

The ornaments can be flattened for mailing or storing if you really want to but they are so easy to make, you can just make new ones next year.

Then I used a cutting off of a dogwood as my tree.

EASTER TREE!

Note: Make sure you add water to the vase. I didn't think it would last but the flowers actually bloomed all the way as it sits in my window. 

Linked on made by you monday at skiptomylou ,
craft-o-maniac monday at craftomaniac ,
make-it-yourself-monday at an original belle ,
How to craft at todays creative blog,
Whatever-goes-wednesday at some day Crafts ,
friday-fun-party-and-features at craftionary

Top 3 Pins

I'm a big fan of Pinterest. I love looking through it every day and I do a lot of pinning. Seeing all the neat ideas that inspire me to make things, cook things, fashion ideas and more.

As I was studying my boards of the things Ive pinned, There were three that busted out with repins and likes.
So I thought I'd share the top three with the most pins since they seem to be so popular on my boards as of today.

One of them was my own. I had found a really affordable nail polish, painted my nails and showed them off to Pinterest world. The color is "Paying with Platinum" by Spoiled (1.99 at CVS).



My nails and polish
101 repins
29 likes



Next was a cute cupcake idea I pinned from Cookies and Cups. I cant wait to make these cupcake pops some day. I think they would be great for a child's birthday party or pack for a picnic.



Cupcake Push up Pops
96 repins
12 likes

Coming in third, are these delicious homemade doughnuts from littlebitfunky . I was inspired to actually make some of these and they turned out ok. But just look how great these look!

Can biscuit doughnuts
43 repins

8 likes

 

One thing Ive learned from Pinterest is there is a whole lot of crafty, imaginative people out there with ideas I would have never even guessed would work and recipes I didn't think you could mix together and still tastes good.

Declutter

Yes, I said it. I'm in the process of decluttering my home. I started out the other night with my closets. I still have two more to go and then I'll move on to drawers and then cabinets. With that said, I hope to be finished by Christmas.
I thought I'd share a little Idea I did with my garden flag collection.
While cleaning, I found of my garden flags wadded up in a bag and I found some in other places too, but surprisingly not in the refrigerator where I find a lot of other things I misplace. Yea, really. My husband has to stay behind me.
Anyway, by doing this, I created more space in my junk closet and it doesn't look half bad either.

Here is what I did.

First I dug up enough hangers to accommodate my flags.

I used plastic hangers, but I assume you can use any kind in a different way.

Then I used a knife to saw and weaken an area that I could easily break with my hands. I'm sure there are better and neater ways to do this but I was to busy and impatient at the time.

I gently slid the flags onto the hangers and the places that I broke seemed to fall back into there spot.

Just be careful because were the hanger is broken, it will tend to be jagged and sharp so I would advise anyone wanting to try this to sand it a little with an Emory board to prevent any injuries to your hands or the flags. I just left mine as is.

After I did this little project. I realized all I had to do was hang them on those clippy pant/skirt hangers that I have SO MANY OF!

Linked on home-decor-organizing-link-party at organize your stuff now

Soft Butter Mints

I remember when I was young, my mom would make homemade butter mints for special occasions. I would want to eat them as fast as she would make them. That's been a long time. The other day I got to thinking about them and wanted to make some so I called her up for the recipe.

You can find the Recipe Here.

The are made with a little butter and a whole lot of powdered sugar. I may have over did it because they would stick and so I had to sprinkle powder sugar on the surface.

They were easy to make but I had a lot of trouble getting them to roll out so I could cut them. Very time consuming so this will probably the the last time I make these. Ill just leave it up to mom for now on. Hers just seemed better any way.
I don't think anyone can do better than the Hickory Farms mint melt-a-ways, but hers comes close.

Now, where did I put my diet?

Linked on whatever goes wednesday at somedaycrafts

Greetings from Myrtle Beach

Hope everyone had a fun and fabulous St. Patricks Day. I sure did. Me and my husband decided to spend ours at the beach. We go several times during the year since we have a camper. We wish our daughter could have came with us but she was away in school.

We started the weekend off at Hamburger Joe's. This is one of our favorite places to eat at the beach. The prices are reasonable and the food is great!

We always have the gold wings with blue cheese dressing as an appetizer. They are hot with just the right amount of sweetness.

During one of our long walks down the coast, I found a piece of sea glass.

Sea glass is basically just glass that has tossed and tumble around in the sand and sea enough to make it smooth and frosted looking. Its like finding a little gem in the sand. Green and yellow are the most common and Blue and reds are the rarest. Some parts of the world it is a hobby to collect sea glass for jewelry. You can read more about sea glass HERE .

The weather was wonderful. It was in the Low 80s. We relaxed on the sand but the water was cold and the jellyfish were everywhere. However, I still had to get in knee deep. We also saw some of our friends from our home town. They camp where we do and its always fun to run into them when we come.

Here is an idea I thought I'd share of how to hold your beach towel on your chair.

We bought some of these spring clips from a local hardware store. They come several in a pack. They work great and a lot cheaper than the fancy clips from the surf shops.

Now we are heading back on our four hour trip home. Cant' wait til next time.

Corned Beef Brisket/Cabbage

We have made it a tradition around or on St. Patricks Day to make corn beef & cabbage. We have done it different ways in the past using canned corn beef and cabbage leaves. But, no more!

I found a more delicious way. I now cook a corn beef brisket with a horseradish dipping sauce. Its AWESOME and Its really easy. Here is how you do it:

•  cut a sweet onion in half and lay it in the bottom of the crock pot.
•  rinse a 3 to 3 1/2 lbs brisket and place it in the crock pot on top of the onion.
•  add 1 can of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
•  add the seasoning pack that comes with the brisket if you like but not necessary.
•  cook on low for about 8 hours.

It will turn out so tender that it will practically fall apart.

As a side, I cut fresh cabbage into wedges and steamed them in my Tupperware steamer.

I like to pull mine in shreds with my fingers, one bite at a time and dip it in the dipping sauce which consist of a mixture of sour cream, horseradish sauce and fresh parsley.



♣"May your blessings out number the shamrocks that grow"♣

Linked on full-plate-thursday at mizhelenscountrycottage

Recycled water bottle

This is just a short post to show a really neat idea for all you bakers out there.

Do you have some open packs of nuts, mints, candies, etc?

Well here is a nifty little idea that will help them stay fresh.

Cut the top off of a clean empty water bottle.

 Pull the open end through the mouth of the bottle..

Fold over the top and screw on the lid.

THERE YOU HAVE IT.

I keep my baking goodies such as these in the freezer after opening and they are always fresh and ready for use anytime without even thawing.

Ive shared thsi at:
under $100 linky party at beyondthepicketfence
2crochethooks-first-craft-challenge

Bird Feeder Idea

One thing I like to do is watch birds. I find them to be so cute and funny. We have a big dogwood tree in the back yard that has been taken over by Ivy but will still bloom in the spring and continues to keep getting bigger. The tree is beautiful and full of all types of feathered friends all summer and winter long.
I have a hanging feeder near my kitchen window and I enjoy seeing them eat from it in the mornings while I eat my breakfast. However, Ive noticed that a lot of the intimidated birds enjoy eating the seeds from the ground that fall from the feeder as the larger birds take over. So I decided to come up with a  little idea from an old sea shell I found.

I placed it on an old wooded stool under the tree and so far its worked great.
Now I hope the squirrels don't find it!

Linked on nifty-thrifty-tuesday on coastalcharm

Standing Broom

If you noticed, the big craze on facebook this past weekend was "standing brooms". Everyone claims it has something to do with the alignment of the planets and the pull of the moon and on this one particular day you can make a broom stand.

I hate to break it to ya but its all a hoax. I mean really, think about it, gravity pulls "toward" the earth. If the moon had enough force to make a broom stand alone, it would also be able to make it float.

Even at the time of "Equinox" that occurs twice a year when Earth tilts neither toward the sun nor away from the sun, its just a craze. So, you will see this phenomenal trick spread again on March 20th on the actual Equinox. But again, gravity has nothing to do with it.

Its simply a balancing act.

See! My daughter got our broom to stand on March 5th. Just a regular day.

This can be done ANY day of the year. Just try it. It may take a few tries but it will work.

Now if I can just get the broom to sweep all by itself...

Recipe Fail

My husband walks into the kitchen and sees my net book on the counter and says "Oh No!" I say "Oh yes!" I had it logged into Pinterest again and prepared to make some no bake granola bars I had found on there the other day.

You can find the recipe here.

It looked pretty simple and I had all the ingredients except chocolate chips. But I did have white chips so that was not a problem really. So I got to work on these sweat little healthy snacks. I mean, oatmeal and honey is healthy, right?

They were looking good. WERE! 

My granola bars turned into a mess when I tried to cut them into squares. Now I have a bowl of granola mess. Pass me the milk please!!!!!!!!!!
 After all the damage was made, I noticed the note at the end of the recipe I failed to read!

Recipe Notes: If your granola bars don’t seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have made them too thin or you didn’t pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together. {Be sure not to keep them in there too long or else they’ll become super hard!} The next time you make them, try reducing the butter to 3 tablespoons and really packing them down.

                                 "If all else fails, read the instructions" ~ husband~