Flower Tutorial

 Here's the "how to" on the tissue paper flowers.  I tried a lot of different variations and for me this was the winner.

Start with a Square piece of tissue paper. I used 3x3 inches.

Fold it diagonally in half.

Then fold it in half two more times.

Easy right?

Now cut where I've put the red dotted lines. Make sure the side with all the loose ends is the side you are cutting.

If you are only using one color of tissue paper and want to incorporate a pop of another color this is the point that you want to outline the same edges you've just cut with a marker color of your choice.

At this point I layer two cut outs and make sure none of the edges are overlapping. Then pinch the flat bottom and  and roll.it around one of the branches. I just used white twist ties to secure it when I had it arranged to look the way I wanted.

Okay, now for these little buds I started with a 2x2 in piece of crepe paper (tissue for the tutorial). 

You want to fold it in half.

Then fold it in half again. 

Then I cut the lose edge side of the square into scalloped edges. (I didn't draw on them, that's just so you can figure out these crappy directions!)

After you cut out the scallop/petal shape you should have something like this.

You want to form into a cone shape around the end of the twig. I used a dab glue for this one.

I hope you like it as much as I did. Especially for Zero Bucks!

Sneak peak of the shower!

Thanks all you peeps for having these awesome parties- and maybe, just maybe someone will read this blog!!


Linked up all over the place at At Home with K, Tip Junkie,  Reason to Skip the Housework,  Decor to Adore, Simply Designing, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, French Country Cottage, Stuff and Nonsense, Simply Sweet Home, Inspiring Creations , Creation Corner, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Creating Really Awesome Free Things,  Petite Hermine and Fingerprints on the Fridge!

Spring Centerpiece

Looking down on my handy work.

I've been looking for a spring centerpiece and I've been looking for a baby shower table centerpiece. I think I've found just the thing. It's an easy peasy project that cost me NOTHING! 

Don't you just love that?

All I did was go outside and cut some of the beautiful branches beginning to bud. I actually had to determine whether or not this was a good idea and finally decided that one of the reasons trees are here are to provide beauty for us to enjoy. Soooo, I cut some branches and arranged them in one of my favorite vases. 

Then I made some crepe paper buds. I looked online for ideas but all I could find was tissue paper flowers- like carnation sized. I just want little buds.

I drew flower shape onto the tissue paper in various sizes and then cut them out.

I pinched them in the middle, then twisted the center where I was pinching the tissue paper.

I used a little dab of glue to hold them in place.

Then I wanted some large flowers that looked like cherry blossoms or something of that scale.

I played around with tissue paper cutting and folding and layering until I got the look just right.

I used a pink marker to outline the edges of one of the layer for just a little pop of pink.

For the larger "flowers" I used some white twisty ties and wrapped each one around the end of a branch.

I actually removed the blue when the shower was over and replaced them with smaller versions of the white ones.

Sorry about the yellow tint- took photos at night.

I'll post more tomorrow on the "how-to" for the faux flowers.


Linked up at Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, Simply Designing,  Nifty Thrifty Things,  Craft Envy, I Heart Nap Time, Tip Junkie and Reasons to Skip the Housework.

Special Touches

I've been working on some special little details for the baby shower I'm throwing, more about that here and  here. I've mentioned that I'm a HUGE believer in planning before undertaking a project. I hate to waste time and (especially) resources on changing your mind or and "whoopsies" that happen. Not a great pet peeve for us DIY undertakers but great planning has helped tremendously.

In my prior posts you can see the some of my inspirations.

I've worked with simple tools to put together my own cupcake flags and prize bags.

These bags were ridiculously easy to put together and they cost me ZERO extra dollars!

They are white paper bags, which I already owned, silver wrapping ribbon, card stock I'd already purchased for the shower and the inspiration stickers I've mentioned.  The turquoise square is 3"x3", the light blue is 2"x2" and the white is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".

Easy, cute, and extra budget friendly!

This is an example of the cupcake toppers I've made. They were even easier than the gift bags. I used some thicker and longer than usual square toothpicks I already owned and and made smaller versions of the decal I put on the gift bag. The turquoise is 2"x2"in and light blue is 1 1/2"x1 1/2". The sticks are just taped on the back, so easy it's ridiculous!

Linked up at Chic on a Shoestring , Simply Designing, Stuff and Nonsense,  Tip Junkie,  Tatertots and Jello and Reason to Skip the Housework!

Pom Poms

I know these are all over the Internet since Martha Stewart had a online tutorial, so obviously these are no secret. But darn aren't they cute! I am planning a baby shower for a gal who is still a student. So when I planned the decoration for the shower I tried to incorporate projects she could keep in the nursery as part of the decor, like this. Shoot, I wish I had a kiddo just so I could put them up in their room.
So deciding on this project was a piece of cake! 

Here's what I started the project with:

tissue paper-6 packs of 8 sheets each to do 6 pom pom balls
twist ties
scissors
fishing line (not pictured)

 Now, accordion fold 1 1/2 in sections of tissue paper starting with the shorter side or the width of the paper.
Note! You do not need to have very tight compressed folds. The ones that I did lightly folded were MUCH easier!



Once folded it will look like the picture to the right. Secure the the middle and then attach your fishing line.

Now round out the the ends of the paper to your desired asthetic. I tried every pair of scissors in my house. Seriously, the sharper the better for this part.

Lay your "fan" flat and start separating the tissue paper. Be careful to separate each layer. You want the top layer to end up sticking straight up in the air (at 90 degree angle to table).

Don't meticulously separate the paper into neat layers for this project. I did the first one very slowly  making sure each layer was pulled straight our and still folded like an accordion etc. It doesn't look that good- less full and fluffy.

 

Instead, just wiggle your fingers to the center and start lifting the paper up. Make sure you separate the layers all the way to the center, that's how the ball becomes full.

Whatever you do, do not do this project at 1 am and then forget to cut one side of the pom pom into the curved shape and then start to separate it and then realize it and try to fix it layer by layer.

It WILL look like crap. 

Not that I did that. ; )

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Penchant for Pennants

I am making a pennant banner as a part of the decorations for the baby shower I throwing. When I was scouring the craft stores for a month looking for the best deals possible I found a cute book of scrapbooking paper for half off. It was already a pretty good deal at $10 but at half off I couldn't say no. It isn't specifically baby themed but that works for me. I wanted to make something with his name on it so that it could be hung in his nursery as a part of the decor.

Baby's name will be Gerret- so six letters. I chose four different patterns of paper. Two plain in shades of blue and two patterned for the top layer. The scrapbook paper is 12x12 and this allows me to do three triangles per sheet at 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. I'm using a regular old paper cutter to cut it cleanly. The top triangle I'm making 1 1/2 smaller in width and 2 inches shorter in length. I used scissors similar to pinking shears for a more decorative top triangle.

To do the letters I had to improvise. All of you super crafty people will turn to your cricket machines or whatever method you have for cutting out letters that look awesome. You could also do chipboard letters. 

For a couple of reasons I went old school on this, I mean super old school. I used a stencil and painted on the name.



I would have preferred to have the name cut out- but I though painting it would look cleaner than tracing the stencils and then cutting the letters out by hand.

 It was actually hard to find a paint that would cover those bold polka dots. In the end an oil paint worked the best. Thankfully I had a bunch of different options already so it was no trouble to try tons of options.

I expectantly ended up with little triangles scraps when I cut out the large ones. They measure about 2x6in.

I was able to use them to make a small pennant that I think I will use for the front of the table.

What a fun little bonus decoration for basically no extra work or effort. Love when that happens!

I was featured on 
 Simply Sweet Home!

I'm linked to Tater Tots and Jello, Stuff and Nonsense, I heart Nap Time, Craft Envy, Funky Junk Interiors, Tip Junkie and Creation Corner!

Food Storage for Dinner

Almost every week I make a pot of soup. Usually something with minimal meat, a lot of beans, and a ton of veggies. This is one of the best ideas I've had. Seriously. It lasts my husband and I a week at least, sometimes I freeze half and pull it out a few weeks later. We eat it for lunch or dinner depending on the day and whether or not I'm making something else for dinner.

This is a great meal idea for eating through some of your FOOD STORAGE (the church I belong to suggests each member have a year's supply of food for each member of the family). Whether we're talking about short or long term food storage you need to rotate through it.This dish is great for either- but in this post I used short term as a matter of convenience. Our short term food storage is comprised of a lot of canned vegetables, since we live in a condo and only grow very few potted veggies in summer.
Rotating through tons of canned veggies or beans isn't always the first priority when you wanna cook food you like, so this dish has been a life saver for getting through all the stuff we store.

This week I'm making a variation of chili, which is one of our favorites.

I make vegetarian recipes because they put in so many vegetables, but then I also put in lean ground beef (93 or 97% fat) 

We love the chili option because you can eat it with chips and cheese or maybe just sour cream on top. I am always using different variation on the vegetables and this keeps it from getting old.

This dinner is AWESOME for several reasons:

*It will feed each of us 5-7 times, making 10-14 meals. That makes the cost approximately .78 to $1.10 a meal. I buy the canned foods at Costco in bulk, I use whatever vegetables are on sale, and buy my meat in bulk.

*Although there is very little meat in the chili, my husband is always happy with it and feels like he's getting a regular hearty meal. He is a HUGE meat eater and wants it every single day and he feels  there's enough to satiate him- although it's more likely the beans are what's filling him up.

*It takes very little time considering how many times it saves you from cooking.

*It is so healthy! I always leave out the noodles in the soups so we're filling up on healthy veggies, beans, and lean meat.

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 medium onion, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons dried oregano 1 tablespoon salt 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 green bell peppers, chopped 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained 2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles 3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed 1/4 cup chili powder 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn Directions Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving. Nutritional Information Amount Per Serving  Calories: 342 | Total Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Linked up with Laugh Love and Craft, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors Beyond the Picket Fence,  Some What Simple and Tip Junkie.

Condo + Food Stoarge = Creativity

As I look through all these awesome, creative bogs I am so surprised at the lack of apartment dweller bloggers. In fact, I think only one of the more popular blogs I follow is done from an apartment. I know apartments are not for everyone and if you're a house person, and I am, they can kind of suck.

We moved to Utah from Colorado when we sold our home as the housing market was just beginning its decline. It was not a good time to buy a home and we figured we would rent somewhere temporarily until things started to pick and and then we'd buy.

Well, we are still in that "temporary" two bedroom condo and I would like to introduce you to my secret food storage stash. We have food storage bursting at the seems in this place.

It is under our bed, under the twin bed in the office/"guest room for only one person", in the closets, above the kitchen shelves, in the outside closet and on top of the weird nook in the the living room. I spent countless hours organizing our stash and almost cannot believe I am going to show you how we are actually bursting at the seems beneath this organized exterior.

 This is our closet in the guest room/ office. Obviously anyone staying in our house will not be able to hang up any clothes. I've just put some hooks on the back of the door to supplement. More importantly though, we have all our short term food storage in this closet, as well as animal supplies, out of season clothes, and to the right of this armoire repeat food storage is stacked. Stuff that we have like 50 boxes of like wheat.

Under the guest bed we've put long term storage items that we actually use and try to rotate through. This can be a little inconvenient to get to, but I can actually lift up the bed myself to get it out

Under the mater bed we've put the things we've bought to supplement the items from the cannery. Items the cannery doesn't sell and that we only have a few of. The bed is too low to stand them up, but this has worked pretty well so far. We've also opened a few boxes from the cannery and rolled them under here to make them more accessible. Like sugar, flour, and apple slices.

In the master closet we've utilized the corners and built up stacks or our repeated food storage items. This is actually completely out of our way so it works well for us- but the closet does NOT look like it came out of a magazine.

On top of the kitchen cabinets we've put some Ikea storage boxes. Inside we actually have random items like our emergency candles, propane, and the wheat grinder.

I doubt anyone would look twice when they see them but for us they provide extra storage to hide our emergency essentials.

I hope that showing all our little secrets can help others living in apartments. We can still be prepared and provide for ourselves, it's just a matter of prioritizing and creativity!

Thanks for coming by!

- Becca -

Linked up with Tater Tots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Shabby Nest, Simply Designing, Caft Envy,  I Heart Nap Time, Chic on a Shoestring, L Bratina, Some What Simple, Shabby Chic Cottage and Tip Junkie!

Not Real Wall Paper- Wall Paper

 I was browsing through a blog called k.d.f designs. It's a blog by the cutest gal who makes her living by painting. She's done a lot of jobs with this stencil and has a tutorial on how she makes this pattern standout.

I would jump at the opportunity to do this in my home- like it would be done by now. However, I live in a rental blah, blah, blah.

So depressed but not beaten I put the image in my folder of inspiration ideas and kept on truckin'.

Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. Everyone is doing vinyl. Like it has been DONE TO DEATH. Am I right? Well, that doesn't mean it can't rock the house. 

I figured if I could find some vinyl at the right price point it would be worth to invest a little bit of money into my bedroom happiness until we leave this place.

Here are some of the top contenders. 

They come in packs of between 8 and 10 pieces depending and all would be under 50 dollars. I'm thinking it would be worth it. I like the top two choices the most- but then I start to second guess it and think maybe I want something that doesn't look like a giant (13 in) round ball?

Oh yeah- and I am thinking about getting it them in silver.

Which one should I get? Help a girl out!