i should be mopping the floor: March 2011
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Fabric Wreath Tutorial

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I can't take any credit for the brains behind this one. Celeste over at My Greenbrae Cottage posted a tutorial for her fabric Valentine's wreath....and I was hooked! I didn't see her tutorial until a week before Valentine's, so I decided to do something a bit more neutral that could take my front door well into spring time.

Supplies:
- 2.5 yards of fabric
- a really good pair of pinking shears
- 15" styrofoam wreath
- hot glue gun & glue sticks
- knitting needle (get ready to laugh at me....I'm not a knitter, so I used my old meat thermometer that quit working a while back. Don't worry, I have a new one that I use for the meat!)

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You'll start with five coordinating (or not...I won't judge you) fabrics in a half a yard each. I cut every bit of my fabric into 4"x 4" squares. I'm not a fast project person...this took me a couple of evenings while catching up on my DVR to get them all cut out. You can make a template with an index card and wrap fabric around it to cut a bunch of squares all at once....this really sped up the process.


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Use the point of your knitting needle (or meat thermometer, thankyouverymuch) and wrap your square around the sharp pointy end (I'm super technical, I know). Don't poke through the fabric. Stick a dab of hot glue on the fabric point and stab it into the styrofoam...go about 1/4 inch deep.


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Start working your way around the wreath. It fills in pretty fast, actually. Don't forget to cover the inside & outside, too. I did leave the back fabric-free so it would lay flat on my door (I always keep my wreaths between my door & storm door to make them last a tiny bit longer). Texas gets windy and I don't want any decor blowing down the street!


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Once you're finished, loop your favorite ribbon through the wreath to hang it by. I used brown tulle because I'm on a brown tulle kick. I think some 3" satin ribbon would be really lovely, too! I can't wait to make one of these for Christmas time...I have my eye on some red & white polka dot fabric and kelly-green damask. This is just such a personalized project that will look different for everyone depending on your fabrics. I think it would be darling in a nursery using coordinating bedding fabric. The possibilities are endless!

Happy Wreath-Making!
Linking up to the parties in my sidebar.










Best. Sandwich. Ever.

Oh YAY!! Amanda from Serenity Now featured this post on my favorite sandwich! My first feature...so exciting!

Featured At Serenity Now

Also featured at Kristin's AWESOME blog:

Back in west Texas, we called these Ham Biscuit Delights. My friend from Dallas swears they are only known as Bunco Buns. And around these parts, they're Dinner Roll Sandwiches. No matter what you call them, they're unbelievable. They would be perfect on an Easter brunch buffet.

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Ingredients (this is an easily doubled recipe for a crowd):
- 1 lb. thinly sliced ham (shaved ham is fine, too)
- 1 pkg. King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (be sure to get sweet)
- 1 pkg. swiss cheese slices
- 1 stick butter
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried onions
- poppyseeds

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Slice rolls in half while they are still in one large piece...this is a major time-saver. Didn't learn this trick until my girls here in central Texas showed me. Can you believe I sliced each roll in half individually before that? I digress.


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Stick the bottom half of the rolls in a greased casserole dish.


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Melt that buttah, friend. Throw in the Dijon, Worcestershire & onions. Turn down to low while you prepare the sandwiches.


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Layer all the ham over the rolls. Top with the cheese slices.


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Give your sauce a final whisk.


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Pour 1/3 of the sauce over the cheese. Place top half of the rolls on top of the sauce.


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Pour remaining sauce over the tops of the rolls. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes. Watch closely...they scorch easily.


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Whoa, mama. The butter soaks on through and makes these out of this world. Steer clear of these puppies if you're dieting. They're kind of a special occasion sandwich at our house.

So there ya have it. Ham Biscuit Delights. Bunco Buns. Dinner Roll Sandwiches.
I just call them the best. sandwich. evah.








Easy Easter Egg Garland & Subway Art


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Talk about being more than a one-trick pony. There are so many ways to decorate with the good old-fashioned plastic Easter egg. My kind of fun.

This craft requires a bag (or two...depending on how long you want your garland) of plastic Easter eggs. I believe mine were $1.96 at Walmart. IMPORTANT: make sure to look at the eggs before purchasing to make sure they have they holes in the ends...you don't want to have to make those yourself. You'll also need fishing line (monofilament)...although to photograph this easier, I also used really thin ribbon for the below tutorial. Also grab gross grain ribbon in a variety of colors (the 1 inch works great)...you can also use fabric cut into strips. It would be pretty darling if you pre-washed it all to fray up those edges. But, I was wanting to do it pretty fast, so I just used ribbon. That's about it...and scissors. Of course.

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See the holes? It's like these eggs were designed for this.


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Pull your ribbon or monofilament through the holes in each end of the egg. Tie a knot on one side. You may have to tie several knots on top of one another to get it large enough to not slip back through your holes.

Keep on stringing the eggs on, one after another.

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After you string up all your eggs, tie another knot (or ten...ha!) in the other end.
Try to leave a bit of space at the end (a few inches) so you'll have room for expansion as you add your ribbons. I learned this the hard way and had to remove a couple of eggs the first go round.
Measure your ribbon pieces at about 6 1/2 inches or so. I used a variety of colors.

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Just simply knot your ribbon in between each egg.

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And there you have it. The possibilities are endless with this...especially with all the egg styles these days. I was thinking of doing camo eggs for my boys' rooms with camo strips in between. Or you could even do the pretty gold or silver eggs for a less playful look.

I'm linking this up to Tatertots & Jello and a few other Linky Parties!
This is my first linky-party go-round! Woohoo!

I'd love for you to follow me. As a special THANK YOU for becoming a follower, I'd love to give you my latest Easter Subway Art creation I just designed for my business.
 For the instant download, click here.

For other Easter downloads, click here.
















Goodwill Lamp-ReVamp

One of my awesome college roomies, Erin, has embarked on a VERY cool new adventure. I present to you: Erin Shanks Interiors. I was reading through her site recently and realized how blah my entry was. I mean, it wasn't awful. Just needed a little sumpin'-sumtin'. Annnnnd, Erin mentioned these two lamps she had found at Goodwill. I thought, hmmmm, wonder if our Goodwill has any good lamps like that right now? Well, what do you know...

Here's the before...
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The table was my parents' old sofa table from their old house in Austin...I think it's almost as old as I am. I painted it black when we moved here.


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The Goodwill lamps! Hello, 1990! Erin and I had a few email convos and decided red glossy paint would be perfect. Another awesome idea Erin had...drum lamp shades!


Almost done.....

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I placed harlequin black & cream scrapbook paper under the glass of the table.


The End Result:
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I know it's not absolutely perfect...I probably go overboard with chachkies and plant things (and this photo was taken back at Thanksgiving...hence the fall decor). And I need to do something with the basket of the tree.
But, I am so, so happy with the change!! Thank you so much, Erin! You are so awesome! These lamps were less than $5 each and I already had the spray paint in the garage. I did splurge a bit on the drum shades, but I feel like I saved sooo much on the lamps that I sort of justified it that way. ; )