we can dance if we want to

I do NOT have a green thumb. I've never really been able to keep plants alive in my apartment. So I thought I would try out a terrarium. Plus, I love the idea of an apothecary jar as a sweet little plant habitat.

Plants

Soil

A couple of pieces of beach glass (not visible just to hold down the mesh)

Mesh*

Activated Charcoal

*You could use a layer or rocks here. Basically you need something to keep the charcoal from floating up through the soil like perlite does in a potted plant. I could not find small dark river rocks.

FYI- These two plants are not friends.... one thrived. The other suffered a sad, beautiful death. No really, it was beautiful. The poor plant turned the most gorgeous shade of midnight black. I finally had to pull him out when I gave in to the fact he was dead not just going for "elegant". I think it might have been root rot, don't really know. :)

christmas morning tradition

Every year I look forward to these little treats my grandmother {Nono} makes for Christmas morning. She always makes these cheese balls as well as sausage balls, the good ol' Bisquick recipe. I mastered the Bisquick sausage balls a couple of years ago. The key is the hottest sausage and sharpest cheddar you can find. I made the sausage balls for Easter a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure they are responsible for my boyfriend falling in love with me. I now call them boyfriend catchers!

I love both of these recipes. They are super simple and both are terrible for you, I am certain. However, they taste delicious, everyone in my family loves them, and they have very fond memories for me. Isn't that what a good recipe is all about?

Nono received this recipe at her bridal shower. I made her repeat it to me for the 100th time this year, but this time as soon as I got back to Chicago I made up a batch. I changed a couple of things to make them wheat/gluten free and GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?! You couldn't tell!!!! I wanted to cry tears of joy, but instead I stuffed the entire cookie sheet of cheesy goodness into my mouth. I wanted to share, really I did- I PROMISE, but as soon as Boyfriend and Mr. Miles witnessed my frenzy I think they both ran from the kitchen in fear! I took this picture from the second batch.

Nono's Christmas Morning Cheese Balls

2 (5 oz each) Jars of Kraft Old English Cheese

1 1/4 c. Brown Rice Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Flour)*

1 stick of butter (at room temperature)

1 egg (you do not need the egg if you use regular wheat flour)

Rattlesnake Dust or Cayenne to taste

Cream the room temperature butter, cheese and egg together. Add the flour and spice. Roll into quarter sized balls, dust with a little more spice if you like (I do!) and chill dough overnight. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. For optimal flavor enjoy on Christmas morning while opening presents!

*If you are using traditional wheat flour you probably need 1 1/3 c of flour and you do not need to add the egg.

the christmas season begins!

A couple of cards I made this weekend. I have another really cute idea too. Hopefully I will be able to finish it up and post it by Friday. Let's just say thread and the heat embossing tool I have do NOT get along!

After seeing the pumpkins I made for Fall several friends brought these trees to my attention. The tutorial can be found here. My original plan was to paint the trees gold, however I am currently obsessing over reused paper and rainbow so for now they are going to be left as is.... well with the addition of LOTS of glitter of course!

drink your whisky like a man!

I think glass etching is my new favorite craft! I made these rocks glasses for our Thanksgiving celebration. Personally, I can not take even a single sip of scotch with out wrinkling up my nose. Which I am pretty sure led to me offending a guy helping us at Binny's the other day. What can I say I'm more of a white wine girl! But I still think these rocks glasses are great fun. Scroll down to see my lovely models demonstrating the proper way to drink scotch.

I created the images using Illustrator, Sure Cuts A Lot software, and a die-cutting machine. A helpful tip: place the "inside" of the stencil on whatever you are etching first. This gives you a good idea of scale and placement. You will be able to determine if you need to re-cut the stencil before actually etching the glass. In the picture below you will see how I used this technique before I placed the stencil on the other side of the rocks glass.

Your stencil will probably have a couple of wrinkles to accommodate the curve of the glass. Just make sure to burnish any edges the etching creme will contact.

The finished product

My models demonstrating how to drink scotch like man! ;)

joy

I used the technique described in this video- NOT as easy as it seems! I have had a lot of trouble getting the bottles to break cleanly, but it is getting better. This was the very first bottle that I was able to cut perfectly. I decided to use the green bottles for a Christmas decoration. After cutting the glass I used an etching cream with vinyl stencils I cut on a die-cutting machine.

YAY for Christmas decorations! I can't wait for the day after Thanksgiving- an ENTIRE day of decorating and hot chocolate! :)

before & after: bookshelf

I was inspired by a friend of mine. She always has her books organized by color. It creates a really fun rainbow effect. I felt I needed a little pop of color today. Plus my bookshelf was in need of a serious dusting- as pointed out by an anonymous artist (picture below). HOW does my house get SO dusty???

To the person who illustrated

this little bit of love for me,

thanks for not adding a date! :)

This is the bookshelf before:

After:

I really just rearranged the books I already had. Borrowing a few, less than ten, from other places in the house. Who would have guess from the before I had so many colorful books? A fun little project when you need something cheerful.

fall pumpkins

I absolutely L-O-V-E to decorate for holidays. I made these pumpkins this weekend.

I found this tutorial at Craftberry Bush, she has very detailed instruction.

I did make one change. My first attempt I took the cover all the way off, pulling most of the paper off of the spine of the book. When I hot glued the book around the stick for the stem it melted the book binding glue and all of the pages fell apart....sad! So I just cut off the cover with a craft knife leaving the paper on the spine. I hope the picture above helps to illustrate what I am attempting to explain.

I did not have any book I wanted to sacrifice for this project. I picked these up at a thrift store- 5 books for $1. I felt a little bad about cutting up a book, but they are SO cute now!

Little Pumpkin Family

I had to take a picture with the cemetery in the background SPOOKY!