Wine Cork Garden Markers

I like wine and I have a problem throwing away wine corks.  I'm not sure why, but I just can't seem to pitch them in the trash can after opening a bottle.  In my dining room I have three large vases, one with red wine corks, one with white, and one with champagne corks.  My jars have gotten full so now I have a large bag full of them up in my craft room.  I keep finding all these cool cork projects on Pinterest and since I have a plethora of corks I decided to try a few of them out.  Today, I made some markers for my garden using a few!

Super simple, and they didn't take more than a few minutes.  I used wooden skewers that I have been collecting out of my kids' Earth Fare meals for the last few weeks (Kids eat free every Thursday, up to SIX kids meals with a $5 adult purchase.  Love.) and the old corks that I have, (free, and free) and wrote the names of everything that I am growing this year and in less than five minutes had some really cute markers for my veggies!

 I can almost taste the zucchini bread now...

 I love these little onion sprouts, can't wait to use them in a stir fry or salad!

 LOVE my garden, and love that I can grow organic veggies so easily.  There's something great about heading out into my backyard to pick dinner!  I would have chickens if I could, but our HOA frowns on them...

In a couple of months this lettuce will make a great salad for dinner!  Yum!

Yay Free!!!

A couple of days ago, our neighbors (who are sadly moving, but happily not far away) offered me some cube storage that they weren't taking with them.  I happily accepted and am in the process of reorganizing my craft room!  I'm hoping to have a few photos up in a couple of days to show you.  I have the BEST neighbors!

A Crayon Container

I love it when a normally throw away type of thing inspires me!  A while ago I made this juice and realized that the container that was left would be perfect for something, I just wasn't sure what.  So I tossed it in my "figure out a use for it" basket and let it sit for a little while.  A few days ago I realized exactly what I was going to use it for...a travel crayon container!  Not only would it keep the crayons from getting crunched in a bag, but it also fits conveniently in a car seat cup holder.  Since we do a lot of traveling in the summer, I knew that it would definitely come in handy!

I started off measuring the size of the container and cutting a piece of scrapbook paper that I had in my stash to fit.  Then I mod podged it in place.  I also added some cutouts from a coordinating piece of paper and a circle for the lid.  Modpodge over the whole thing and we had a crayon container!

 Voila!  One finished container.  And again, the best part was that it was totally free!  I had all the supplies on hand already and the juice was even free.  I bought it with a coupon!

 Super simple and free.  Doesn't get much better!

Something Out of Nothing

A while ago I got a magnet with some razor blades that I bought.  It was a nice magnet in terms of durability, magnetic hold, and size, but it wasn't exactly a magnet that I really wanted to display.  So, I got out my paper crafting supplies and got busy, and in less than 10 minutes had transformed it into a cute little magnet that I'm happy to have on my fridge!

I started with some simple supplies that I had on hand.  Since my kitchen has a lot of red and brown I picked these papers and card stocks.  I also pulled a couple of punches, a stamp, and a little clip embellishment.

 I started off by using mod podge to put the paper on and cut it down to fit the magnet after I had glued it on.  Then I sanded the edges and distressed with a little brown ink.

 

 Next I used my 'happiness' stamp and the punches and made this little oval tag.  I used the brown ink to distress the edges.

 Then I mod podged both pieces and let them dry.

 Finally I added some little dimensional foam stickies to the back of the oval to make it pop off the magnet a bit, clipped on the little clip, and had myself a little magnet!  And the best part is that it was FREE!!!  I love making things for the house, but the 'free' part makes it that much better!

A Little Gift for a Little One

About two months ago, a friend of mine had a new baby girl.  Admittedly I am running behind on my gifts, but this weekend it rained a lot and I was able to catch up on a lot.  This little gift consists of a hooded bath towel, a receiving blanket, and a personalized burp cloth.  I wrapped and layered them all together and tied them up in white tulle, adding a matching purple bow.  Hope she likes it!

A Little Gift

As promised, I got back to the craft room this week!

Mistress has been invited to a birthday party this weekend for one of her friends, and even though the invitation said "no gifts please," I couldn't not take anything!  I decided that "no gifts" actually meant "don't spend any money" and raided my stash to make a quick little gift for a special girl.  I used one of my favorite patterns, the Jean doll from Bit of Whimsy Dolls and added an apron to her and in about an hour and a half had this girl all finished and ready to go to her new owner this weekend.

So, one project done, 873 left in the wings...

I'm Still Here...

Believe it or not, I haven't moved to another country.  The last 6 weeks have been nothing short of a whirlwind, since DH and I got the first chance in almost 12 years to go on a vacation just the two of us!  He had a conference for work on the island of Maui and I got the chance to tag along.  So, we got 10 whole days of rest, relaxation, and quality time together on the islands of Oahu and Maui.  A huge thank you to my parents who came down to watch the monsters for all that time, it was not a simple job with their schedules!  Anyway, between getting ready for that trip, the trip itself, and the recovery period, I am just now getting to the point where I feel caught up enough to start blogging again.  Fingers crossed that I'll get something new up in the next few days, (I really do have projects all laid out!) until then you can enjoy a shot from the beach chair I held down every single morning for a week.  Beautiful Hawaii, I miss you already...