Arachnophobics BeWaRe !

When I found a couple of small lampshades at the thrift store last week I knew they would be great for some kind of Halloween decoration. They already had an aged look and wispy edging that reminded me of webs. I knew just what to do with them. Scary spider shades!

Such a quick and easy decoration for Halloween. You’ll need lamp shades of any size. I used small ones that fit my chandelier. But I think this would look just as great with a large shade as well. Check your local resale shop. There always seems to be plenty of these available & very cheap! Also needed…glue gun, permanent marker, spider rings, & web template. I down loaded mine from a craft site, but you could also free hand it as well.

Place template under the shade. With marker trace the web design. The best part of this is it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Then cut the ring part off the spider ring. Glue bottom & stick on web. Take another spider ring & just cut the middle of the ring band. Slip over edge of shade. It should hold itself without the glue. But if you want to make sure it won’t fall off, add some glue. I know I wouldn’t want to find one on the floor. I would most likely FREAK OUT!

You can add your own wispy web or ribbon to get a more creepy look.

Now place on the lamp. Your done! When the lights are on it looks even more realistic.

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely HATE spiders. I don’t care how good they are for pest control!

With our neighborhood surrounded by fields & this summer being so warm I’ve seen such a variety & of them this year. They are the biggest I’ve ever seen. 3 inches wide has been the average! With most even larger. I freak out on a daily basis! They’ve stayed in the bushes and fence corners so far. So I’ve let them be.


But yesterday on the way to play on the play set we found “someone” already there ! And he wasn’t the only one! AHHHH! So I’ll leave you with this…..

It’s a little blurry because I was truly shaking. I thought for sure he was going to jump out at me! This is a smaller one. Maybe about 2 1/2 inches wide. No slide for us. We’ll stick with playing tag for now!

Playdough....NOT JUST FOR KIDS!

**PLEASE NOTE THE PLAYDOUGH RULE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST**


So now that the school year is off and running it seems there’s so many little things to do, attend, volunteer for, make, fundraisers, and this is only the first month!
Although most of it is fun & enjoyable I can’t believe how quickly the calendar fills up!
Well on that note …I volunteered to make playdough for my daughters kindergarten class. Now while I’ve made this before from a recipe I found in a kids craft book, I’ve never tried the cooked playdough recipe. This one is pretty great! And let me just say , playdough is NOT JUST FOR KIDS! I still have fun with this stuff! So if you don’t have any kids or yours believe their too old for it….go ahead & make some! I promise I won’t tell!

This make a huge batch.

5 ½ cups flour
2 cups salt
8 tbsp Cream of tartar
¾ cup of oil
1 ½ ounces of your choice of food color
4 cups of water
Mix all ingredients together . Cook & stir over medium heat until lumps disappear. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth. Then store in air tight container. This will last over 6 months!

On a last note…. I once was at a playgroup when the girls were both very small. We had them all playing with playdough. They all were having a great time “creating” their people & etc. When suddenly one mother gasped “OOOHHHH! Don’t mix the colors!! We’ll never be able to separate them!!”


I about fell over! WHAT? Why would you not let them mix? What fun is it to play with one blob of color? All this horror of mixing the colors was seriously disturbing this mother. While another mom exclaimed she won’t even allow playdough at her house…”Just too messy. I don’t need to deal with that.”

Who are these people? I felt so sorry for their kids. They’re only little once & why not just enjoy it? So before we left the playdough table my girls and I made sure we made the most COLORFUL PLAYDOUGH DISPLAY EVER! And that was the last time we played with that group!
**Please do me a favor. If you decide to make this playdough ….PLEASE MIX THE COLORS!! Life’s too short not to!

mmmmmm......Banana Bread

Now that its fall I just want to bake! Bake! Bake!

This is a NO-FAIL banana bread recipe! Each and every time it comes out moist & delicious.

                                                                       You’ll need…..

2/3 cups of white sugar

¼ cup soften margarine (which I melt in the micro)

2 eggs

¼ cup water or milk

1 cup mashed ripe banana(2 bananas)

1 and 2/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Cinnamon & nutmeg to your taste

Mix butter and sugar together until creamy. In a separate bowl, mash 2 ripe bananas. Add your cinnamon & nutmeg to your mashed bananas. Now add banana mix to the butter sugar mix.

Beat in 2 eggs.

Add ¼ cup water (or milk). In separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, & baking powder then add to the wet mix. Mix until just moist.

Grease loaf pan & cover with flour. Pour in the mix & bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

This is sooooo yummy and never lasts long at our house! Also makes great muffins. We like to add crushed almonds. When making muffins only bake for 15 to 20 mins. Great for grab & go breakfast. Enjoy!



Reuse that BOOK!

Ever find a book hoping its going to turn out to be one you just can’t put down? But it turns out to be boring and not worth your time? I’m always for donating unwanted items, but why not save the rest of us from wasting our time on it too …..turn it into a WREATH !

This is a cheap and easy project.I found a book for 25 cents.Older books will give you a vintage look. You’ll need a book or 2 if you’d like a larger wreath, glue gun & lots of glue sticks,ribbon,and a foam or wood wreath. I used a wood one from the dollar store.

Tear out the pages of the book. Roll up a page. Using the glue gun, glue the bottom of the page roll to make sure it stays rolled up. Then add more glue to the roll to secure it to the wreath. Do this around the entire wreath. This will be the back of wreath.

Flip over & do the same. But now you will be adding it up the sides of the wreath. Glue the roll to secure. Then add a slight fold to the bottom of the roll. Apply glue to the back of fold & press onto the side of wreath. Continue all the way around. Do this until the wreath is full.

For the inside circle of wreath you will need to cut the pages slightly shorter so it will match up with the rest. You will not need to fold the edge. Once you secure your roll, glue directly on inside edge.

Now step back and look at it. See if it needs more “fluff” & add page rolls in the places that look more sparse.

Last, add a loop of ribbon to the back with the glue gun. Leave it as is or add your choice of ribbon & hang!

I hung mine over a frame for now. Once the holidays come I will be making another & spray painting a light glitter to appear as “frost”. It’s a little time consuming but so worth it in the end. Give it a try!

TAILS Humane Society

                      Yesterday the girls and I went to our local animal shelter TAILS
 ( www.tailshumanesociety.org ). We dropped off a donation from the recent sales of my sewn items sold at the craft shows.
We love going there! Since we adopted our Molly & Annie from there it’s even that much more important to us. They have grown up (2years old now) to be the best cats in the world! They are the most loving & personable cats ever. I’m not even a cat person like the rest of my family & those kitties have changed my thoughts on cats completely.

And lets not forget our little dog Lucy. She loves those cats too! They actually play together at times. I even caught them napping together!

I’ll be adding more items in my shop this week that will also benefit the shelter. I’m hoping with the holiday craft shows & sales at my etsy shop we will be able to bring donations in on a regular basis. It just feels so great doing it!
Of course the best part for the girls is getting to play with all the animals. Its so hard to get them out of there! I’m always worried I won’t be able to leave with out bringing a new “baby” home!

But I can’t guarantee that I won’t bring home a puppy one of these times. I’ve been saying for the last couple of years we need a new puppy! Now that my babies are both in school all day I might need to adopt my new “baby”. We’ll see!

Reuse your glass jars

Thinking Halloween yet? I have a fun little project that’s great for adding atmosphere to your table top, porch steps or use this as a cute “catch all”. The best part….you get to reuse those sauce jars!

You’ll need….several jars ( save those jars!!) , chalkboard paint, paint tape, small foam paint brush & chalk .

Wash & dry jars well. Tape off section of jar you would like to paint. I decided to do a rectangle shape. If you want all jars to match, uses a tape measure to be sure you get the same size rectangle for each.


Paint your first coat of chalkboard paint ( available at home improvement stores). Once dry, apply 2 to 3 more coats. You want a solid black chalkboard & it may take several coats to achieve this. Allow each coat to dry before applying the next one.

Once completely dry, carefully remove paint tape. Follow directions for cure time. My paint required a 24 hour wait until I could chalk a message. The fun part is all the possibilities you could write! I decided to make my jars into a Halloween theme by adding a small wood spider tied to the middle jar.
 

 

You can fill these jars with candy or add candles. After Halloween why not put it on your desk to hold all your odds & ends? Or fill them with treats & leave it in the kitchen! So many ways to use this all year long!


Don’t feel like making your own but want one? Check out my etsy shop http://www.roundabout1.etsy.com/  & pick one up!

CAKE PLATE GIVE AWAY!!!

At the top of the blog you’ll see that I’m having a CAKE PLATE GIVE AWAY!!

That’s right….as soon as I have 25 followers I will have a raffle & one of you will win this Cake Plate! So keep checking back. You might be a winner!!

I love making Cake plates / stands. Remember they can be used for holding more then just cake! Fruit, cup cakes, appetizers …you name it!

I love really love this stand. Its such a warm color & will look great on the table for all the fall & winter gatherings coming up.

Thanks again to all my new followers & good luck!

Repurposed T-shirt Tote

So I was checking out what was new on http://the-big-red-barn-blog.blogspot.com/  yesterday & saw a post about using old t-shirts for shopping totes. I just fell in love with this idea!! I was going to wait until Monday to try this for myself, but I couldn’t help it. I had to try it tonight! While the kids were running around with Daddy outside, I got to work.

I started with an old brown shirt I had, turned it inside out & then cut the sleeves off. Next I pinned the hem around each sleeve area to give it a more finished look. Then pinned the bottom of the shirt which will be the bottom of the tote.

Using my sewing machine I then sewed both sleeve areas & bottom. I actually sewed the bottom of the shirt a few times over just to give it more strength since it will be carrying item daily.

And finally, I couldn’t help crocheting a little flower to add to the bottom to give it some character!

I’m going to surprise my sister tomorrow with her new tote! Her & her husband love to hit the farmers markets on the weekends & this will be just perfect to carry all the yummy finds. Plus, its so nice to just be able to toss this tote in the wash when its time for a good cleaning.
I can’t wait to make more!! I have so many ideas to give these totes some fun looks!

Repurposed Mini Wood Shutter

What do you do with old shutters? You make an everyday organizer of course! Well, I wasn’t even sure that’s what I was going to do with them when I found them at my local resale charity shop. I just knew they had the potential for something great ! I have been using this shutter organizer since the day I made it.

1.you’ll need a wood shutter.( I suggest you find one at a resale shop. Its much more fun & one less thing ends up in the garbage!) These are small shutters, but larger ones would be great too. More room to clip more notes!
2. Wood laundry clips
3. Small screws
4. Chip board letters- or you could paint them instead!
5. Drill
6.glue gun (I love my glue gun!!)

Decide where you would like to put the clips on your board. Mark the spots with a little pencil mark for a reminder. Then carefully drill a pilot hole in to the back side of each wood clip. Now place clips in marked spots & screw in to wood shutter.

Now add your letters. I used chip board letters I bought at the craft store. Use your glue gun to add the letters to the top. I made several of these. I picked a few fun names like “STUFF”“SAVE” & “DO” . I ended up keeping the “DO” one for my desk area. The others will be sold at my etsy shop.

Your done! Now you can keep all those little notes , invites , reminders etc. all in one cute & repurposed piece!

Craft shows - here we come!

We did it! Our first Roundabout craft show! Its been a while since I’ve done a craft show. The last time I did one was when I was selling jewelry & was just 20!

 Since starting Roundabout this summer, I knew I was going to start doing them again. Its great selling my items on www.roundabout1.etsy.com & its a lot easier too! But its fun getting out there and being able to “see” peoples reactions to my items & see a happy face when they take their items home! So nice to talk with them & meet other crafters as well!

                                                                           


We also sold “puppy & kitty cuddles” made from repurposed clothing. 40 % of the price went to Tails Humane Society ( www.tailshumanesociety.org ). Thank you so much to those who bought them!! My girls & I will be delivering the $ to them tomorrow .

                                                                                                                                                             

      I will be making more of these fun stuffed critters & some smaller ones with “squeakers” for all you dog lovers out there that want to give your own “best friend” something special & help the shelter too! As soon as I get a chance I will also be adding them to my etsy shop as well                                    

I’m sure we’ll be doing many more shows this holiday season & can’t wait to meet more people! ( Although some of us will probably sit the next one out! )