Its ALMOST diet time. . .

Well, the diet starts Monday.

Literally.

Diet time.

So, naturally I decided to make one more yummy treat before then.

☺

Banana chocolate chip muffins! 

 They taste even better than they look.

Now I know that you may already have a trusty banana bread recipe, but if not you can use mine.

½ C butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs
3 crushed bananas
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
½ -1 pkg chocolate chips

Melt butter and mix together with  sugar, eggs, bananas, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and bake in a well greased and floured pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour. 

Or if you decide to make cute mini muffins like I did, bake at 325 for 20 minutes. 

Makes one loaf or 36-48 mini muffins.

 

Then enjoy!

 

Maybe I should be really bad and eat it  with butter???

 

Well, enjoy the upcoming weekend and whatever Friday blog fun you may take part in. . .

We're spending the weekend in AZ. . . I'm prayin for cool weather!

Birthday Topiary!

What do you do to celebrate the birthdays of those you love?

I love birthdays and I like to celebrate and make a big deal. . . I think everyone deserves to be celebrated! 

Here is a little decoration I made recently before my hubby's b-day.

I wanted something festive that I could just keep on the table as a daily celebratory reminder!

What do you think??  

Do you think its as cute as I do??

Here is what you'll need if you want to make one;

a big styrofoam ball

a bunch of balloons - I used 300 tiny (water) balloons.  

glue gun

a long dowel

a pot of your choosing

floral foam

floral moss

 

First, prepare for a few hot glue burns. . . next just start gluing your balloons!

I had some long balloons and I used them on the bottom as kind of a base covering.  

 Then I just glued on all the other balloons, no rhyme or reason to the way I did it, just balloons, balloons everywhere! 

 Just make sure that you spread out all the colors and make sure all the styrofoam is covered. 

 Once your ball is covered decide where you want your dowel and just stick it on it.  

Now stick your {almost} topiary in your pot with the floral foam.  This will keep it nice and steady.  

Last step, add some finishing touches.  

I added a little floral moss to cover the foam and I thought it needed a little somethin else so I added the cute little Happy Birthday printout.

And there you have it, a way cute Happy Birthday topiary!

What a super cute party decoration this would make!

Not much of a party animal?? 

Just let it sit out and remind the birthday boy or girl how special they are!

Happy Birthday to my Handsome Stud!

Blog Swapping with Night Owl Crafting

I am super excited to have Leslie from Night Owl Crafting here today!  

If you're not already familiar with her blog, it is fab!  

And I absolutly love the name of her blog!  Aren't we all Night Owl Crafters sometimes? :) 

Hello Ready Set Create followers! I am so excited that Aleesha is letting me take over her fabulous blog today!  I love following her blog and checking out all her cute creations!

Let me introduce myself! My name is Leslie and I am the creator of

Night Owl Crafting.

I started blogging back in 2008 and decided that my personal blog was being over taken by my crafts. So I started my craft blog to share my creations and inspirations that I receive from fellow bloggers and crafters. I host 2 link parties each week. The first one is on Tuesdays and it is called

Hoo are you Tuesdays! 

This party is where you answer a few questions I ask each week and then link up your post! This is a party to get to know each other outside the craft world! 

The other one is held every Wednesday and it is called  

Hoo's got Talent?

This link party is where you can come and show off whatever you have been making!

I hope you will come and link up to both parties!


I am in love with SUBWAY ART right now!
Here is my fall subway art I created.

I enjoy sewing!

I recently made this reversible apron for a friend!

Here is a little handbag/ scripture tote.

I made a changing pad and it even has a tutorial!



I like to make decorations for my home!

I had so much fun making these adorable fabric pinwheels!



I am loving Washi Tape! What is it you ask? It is Japanese tape that you can decorate with! I have decorated my vases with it and covered clothespins as well!



I also LOVE vinyl!


I make these cute family name frames!

I think it turned out darling! I just set up my Etsy account and have these available in black or brown and with or without ribbon.

Today I would love to show you my latest projects!

In the spring I made lady bugs out of pavers and I knew that come fall I would love to make pumpkins.
So here is the tutorial for my pumpkin payvers.

Supplies

payvers
orange and brown paint
wire, ribbon, fabric, or raffia
paint brush

Step 1~ paint your paver orange. I spray painted mine.

Step 2~ Paint the stem brown. I used paint and a paint brush to do this, because it got dark before I could cover the bottom part and spray paint the stem.

Step 3~ Grab some wire, ribbon, fabric, raffia, or what ever you like to
tie between the stem and the pumpkin.

I used green wire and curled the ends.

Now you have a cute little  pumpkin. It is really that easy.

I have so many more cute projects that you should come and check out over at Night Owl Crafting and please come join my link parties! I love meeting new HOOTS!



Thanks Aleesha so much for swapping with me today. I had a FABULOUS time!

Fun Festive Fabric Pumpkins!

Well, I admit it, Fall is upon us.  

While I'm not thrilled about the impending snow storms and the inevitable snowed-in days, I do love fall!
The cool weather, the colors, the leaves changing and falling off the trees, and the fun Fall decor!

Here is my first craft of the season.
Cute, festive, stuffed pumpkins!

Cute right?!  I whipped up two of these babies during an episode of What Not To Wear.

Want to make some of your own?  Here we go!

Start with whatever fabric you're going to use.  Make the width twice as long as as the height.

I made mine 11 inches by 22 inches. 

Next we're gonna ruffle the top and the bottom (the two long sides.)

On the sewing machine use the longest stitches and the highest tension.  Start sewing without pulling the fabric tight and the machine should do the ruffling  for you.  

(if it doesn't then just pull on one of the strings when you're done sewing to make it ruffle up.)

What we're going to do next is sew the two shorter sides together (11 inch sides) right sides together.

Now you'll have a tube with a ruffly top and bottom.  

Gather the bottom together and hand stitch it closed.

Next fill it full of stuffing. . .

Then gather the top and stitch it closed.

This is what it looks like at this point. . . a big round lumpy {almost} pumpkin.

The next step is whats gonna give it that pumpkiny look.

I just used some regular thread and a long needle. . . start at the bottom, and bring your needle up through the middle and then down around to the bottom and up through the middle again as many times as you want - I did it 5 times.
(does that all make sense???)

Now for the stem.  Super easy.
Cut two stem shaped pieces.  They don't have to be perfect. . . what stem is perfect???

Sew them right sides together, flip right sides out and stuff.  Now sew the bottom closed.  It doesn't matter what it looks like, the bottom wont show.

Last step, pull out the hot glue gun and glue on the stem and if you want to a couple fake leaves.
And Voila!  There you have your cute stuffed pumpkin!

Now all you have to decide where to put them!
On the kitchen table. . .

Maybe on the entryway table?

No matter where you put them they will look fab and make a great fall decoration!

Thanks for stopping by. . . Enjoy this beautiful season and happy creating!

Home Decor on a Dime part 2 *Flowery Wall Art*

Here is a project for you if you want something inexpensive and something quick and easy.  

Start out with some frames (as many as you'd like) patterned paper, flowers, and your glue gun.

Start out by framing your paper.

 I actually used wrapping paper that I got from Target for $1 and is way to pretty to just use for wrapping!

Next I just glued my flowers right on top of the glass.

Last step, Hang!

I love these with the flower glued to the top. . . They have both pattern and texture.
These are the perfect pieces for tying my craft room decor together, some black and white, some Gerber daisies, now these have a little bit of both!  

I'll always have bright, blooming flowers around. . . I love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

A new life for an old curtain!

 I did a little decorating with an old curtain we had sitting in the closet . . .

Yes, a little decorating done with a shower curtain!

The Hubs and I got this shower curtain 3 1/2 years ago when we first got married. 

Pretty, neutral, but kinda plain . . .  It was time for it to get a new life!

Its perfect fabric for doing some recovering! 

First I made some "art" if you will for the wall.

 I love these on the wall!  They are big, yet simple and I love the way they turned out!

I started with some squares of wood, some batting and my staple gun!

Its as easy as cover, wrap and staple.

Next I covered the cushion on our cedar chest.  It used to be a flowery blue. . . that didn't match with anything.  With the leftover I made a little throw pillow.  

Its great to be able to re-purpose something that was just sitting on the shelf, and even better to have some great {free} fabric for my projects!

What do you have sitting around that you can give a new life to???