Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ah, Lovely Necklaces!

My love of necklaces continues!
Why buy them when you can make them so much cheaper!
This one was so simple to make, and it is my new fav!

Here is an Express inspired necklace.
I like this one, I like the way it turned out.
How many necklaces can one girl make before it becomes a problem?!?

Have you made any cute necklaces lately?



Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Strawberry Freezer Jam!

When I was a kid my aunt gave us some strawberry freezer jam. . .
I totally ♥'d it!

I decided to try it myself, and its as yummy as I remember!

I started with;
Strawberries
(about 2 containers worth)
Sugar
Splenda
Dry Pectin

Clean the strawberries and stick 'em in the food processor. Puree them til they are crushed up as well as you like.

Mix the dry pectin with a small amount of water in a pan and bring to a boil.
(I didn't use as much water as the pectin called for 'cause I didn't want my jam to be watery)

Bring it to a boil then add 2 cups of your pureed berries.
Next add your sugar. I added 1 1/4 C. Sugar and 1 1/4 C. Splenda.
Other recipes called for more sugar but that would've been way too much for me.
Now bring it all up to a boil.
Boil for about a minute, then pour into freezer safe containers. I found these handy little plastic containers with screw on lids in the canning isle at the grocery store, that are perfect!
Store in the fridge for a few hours to let them all cool down then throw them in the freezer. Make sure you keep one in the fridge so you can have a PB and Strawberry Freezer Jam sandwich later!


Monday, July 19, 2010

Blog Swapping with Meridian Road

Hi! My name is Suzanne; I live on Meridian Road.
I mostly do home decor, but I throw in a few surprises, too.


I'm new to blogging, and Aleesha has been nice enough to let me come play on her blog with all of you today. Let's get started!


Did you notice, in the last issue of Country Living(if you read Country Living), all the rope decor?






There was this chair, which I really kind of like. It reminds me of macrame. Remember macrame? The spool table is kind of neat, and the light fixture is fabulous!


If you wanted a smaller accent, these drawer pulls are cute.




Too small?


Try this light fixture.




I'm just waiting for someone in blog land to take this on.


It wouldn't be that hard. If any of you DIYer's decide to do it, I want to see how it turns out!




This bench, too. Although, I don't know how they did the top. If you look really closely, the top seems to be almost mitered.




I really like this mirror, too. It could go western or nautical, depending on the room you put it in.


But what really caught my eye were these.










Today, we're going to replicate these cute key chain fob.
I tried and tried to take pictures while I did it, but I ended up needing both hands just to tie the knot. It's called a monkey's fist knot, and it's used in sailing.
So, since I don't have three hands or anyone patient enough to take pictures for me~
here is this AWESOME tutorial on youtube.
I would recommend watching it a few times, then tying the knot while watching it.
These are all the supplies you need.
(I know~how lame is a tutorial that sends you to youtube? But it really is easier to watch this guy.)




Some kind of cording.


I got mine back in the fabric department in Walmart.(You could also used jute twine. You don't want anything with a lot of stretch to it.)
A marble, a key ring and some scissors.
If you want to put a little charm on it, I just used one that's made for scrap booking.
I couldn't find a big one like the picture, and I thought the little ones I found looked better on the charm and not the key ring.
This is how they turned out.






That green one is the last (and best) one I did.
(It's like anything else~the more you make the better they start to look.) You can make more than three loops when you're tying the knot~just play around and see what fits best on the marble.


I used a fairly small marble, but you can use bigger rope or cording and a ball bearing; they make pretty good self defense devices.


I think I'm ready to tackle a bigger one, like this.


It's a door stop. But I want to go BIGGER and use a bowling ball for the center.


Thanks for reading, and Thank you, Aleesha, for letting me visit!

___________________________________

Thanks for being my guest today Suzanne!
Hop on over to her blog and take a look at all the fun things she has to offer!





Friday, July 16, 2010

Merry Christmas in July!

Who doesn't love getting presents?!

Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous hosted a Christmas in July party.
Everyone who signed up made a present for someone else.

Wanna see what I got? I got this super cute necklace that fits in perfect with my love of all things black and yellow!!
It was so nice to know that Amy had spent the time to get to know what I'd like and make me such a pretty and thoughtful gift!

Speaking of my love of black and yellow. . . See what I made for my gift-ee. . .

This cute bill holder for her kitchen (much like the one I have in my kitchen)
and its black and yellow!

Thanks Linda for setting up all this fun gift giving! I cant wait to do it again in the future!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Ideas are running low. . .

I must admit that I am currently running low on ideas.
And time.
Vacation, Family, Parties, yada, yada, yada.
Few ideas + little time = not enough fun posts for my fantastic readers.
The solution???

Anybody interested in guest posting or blog swapping?

If you are send me an email!

readysetcreate{at}hotmail{dot}com


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Crayons aren't just for coloring. . .

Here is a simple but oh-so-cute craft.
I've seen these as a decoration for a kids room, but I made this one for my sis-in-law for her birthday cuz she works in a school and I thought it would be cute on her desk.
I started with a piece of paper with a big P printed as light as I could make it, with Mrs. Page underneath.
Next I got a box of crayons, layed them on the paper and cut them to size.
Then I hot glued them in place, put them in my shadow box, and there you have it!
Cute huh?
I wish I had a reason to make one of these for myself! :)