FEELIN’ CRAFTY!

Happy Hippie Wednesday to you my sweets! Hope you are doing well this rainy yucky day. Despite the nasty weather outside, it’s sunshine happiness in my house today. I wanted to apologize for the shorty short blog yesterday… but have you ever had so much energy that you just couldn’t sit still? That’s how I was and I couldn’t get myself to sit and write for some reason! Top that with ADHD and you have one very hyper weirdo! LMAO… I was feeling very crafty yesterday once I actually sat down and started. I got a lot accomplished. Check out this stuff I did…



Here’s the large centerpiece I made to use at my DD’s Sweet 16 party. I used a foam block covered in music note fabric, cardboard cutout stars covered in music note scrapbook paper and with blue cardstock as a back color. We found the foil cascade at Party City as with the large music note cutout on the top. I stuck silk white and blue roses on the sides to “fill it up”. This centerpiece cost me $2.77 to make plus the stuff I already had… not bad I think!



This is the balloon weight I made to use at the Sweet 16 party. I got a small wooden “bag” at Michael’s Arts & Craft store and I covered it with music note fabric. I curled tons of metallic blue curling ribbon, tied it with floral wire. I filled the bottom of the bag with pebbles and then shoved a piece of floral foam inside. Push the curly ribbons into the foam to fill the “bag”. Her name is across the handle with chipboard glitter stickers that I hot glued on.



This is the towel pillow I made for Madison’s room. I bought extra band towels (they have to have them to sit on so they don’t snag their uniforms) at the beginning of the year. The back is the music note fabric. Its stuffed and sewn closed. I made two of these.



Remember those pretty covered oatmeal containers we made during recycling weekend? Here is the one that I covered with the paper money. I added the lettering today that says “Penny Pincher Potato Soup”. I will put my homemade dry potato soup mix in it, attach a note card with directions, and give it as a gift for those I know enjoy potato soup. I saw the idea on a website (which I can’t find now UGH!) and I thought it was absolutely adorable!



How do you like my music note visor? Cool huh? Cost me 99c to make! I bought one of those foam visors with the plastic curly stretch cord. I covered it with music note fabric and put black bias tape around the edges, laced the cord back through the holes and voila! It will come in handy during summer practice, football games, and competitions LOL! I betcha all the band kids who hang out here are gonna want one… Oh geez I just thought about that LOL! That’s a lot of visors!! I think I'm gonna make some more for things like Breast Cancer Awareness, Autism, etc! Cool huh? They can be customed to any pattern or event!



Like my puzzle piece/Autism picture plaques? I found those wooden puzzle pieces at JoAnn’s, so I picked up a pack (gonna go back and get more). I spray painted these today and then glued a picture of Alex on the front. With a paint marker, I put his name and the year. Then I varnished/clear coated the whole thing and let it dry. I also hot glued a saw tooth hanger on the back so that I can hag them up on the wall.



The final thing I got done today was a “Sweet Box”. I had a new plastic craft organizer box that I covered with a “candy” fabric. I hot glued a ribbon around the box part and used a piece of the same ribbon to make a bow for the top. I used glitter chipboard letters to spell out “sweets” for the top. Inside each compartment, you can put either individually wrapped candies or things like M&M’s, Jordan Almonds, Skittles, etc. This could also make a cute handmade Valentine’s Day gift. (And yes it took a while to cut and paste the pictures so you could see all the different views LOL!)

Pretty spiffy, huh? I think it all turned out really groovy! I’m not as hyper today and I still have the craft bug, so maybe today I can turn out some more really cool stuff. All the crafting makes me very, very hungry though LOL so I have to think of something easy and filling. I think a huge pot of chicken pasta with some garlic toast sounds good. So we chop up some chicken breasts and cook them in the skillet. I’ll be boiling some Farfalle pasta, tossing the chicken into it, and tossing all this with some Alfredo sauce and topping with parsley. Simple, filling, and totally delish! I think the rain also calls for some homemade soups. Some homemade chicken noodle soup, broccoli cheese, and beans… yea beans! OK, so here is another recipe I want to share with you though that I think you will enjoy (you know me and my slow cookers LOL!).



Spicy Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 pound dry black beans, soaked overnight
4 teaspoons diced jalapeno peppers
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Directions

Drain black beans, and rinse. Boil beans for about 20 minutes. Drain again.

Combine beans, jalapenos, and chicken broth in a slow cooker. Season with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, pepper, and hot pepper sauce.

Cook on High for 4 hours. Reduce heat to Low, and continue cooking for 2 hours, or until you are ready to eat. Run 1/2 the soup through a blender or food processor and return to pan. This gives the soup more of an “authentic” texture. Served it topped with chopped green onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese or homemade guacamole.

**If you are pressed for time, you can just used canned black beans.**

Ok, so tomorrow I am gonna divulge some new information about something really significant in my life that I want you all to be a part of. I hope you have a good memory and if not… copy and paste and hang a note on your PC cause this one is gonna be a long time running! As for today, I’m gonna go grab me a bite to eat and then get crafting! Until tomorrow… Peace, Love, and lots of HUGS!