Happy Halloween!

"Bewitching" Halloween Card

Here's a fun little Halloween card that I made...I freehand-cut the witches hat, and then decorated it with some mesh, ribbons, and a button. I found the cute little broom in the minature section of Hobby Lobby, and knew it would be a great Halloween accent on a card! The pumpkin is just a sticker by Mrs. Grossman's, but I think it finished of the card nicely...

Inside the card I incorporated a cute little sentiment:

I ended up making two of these cute cards and popped them in the mail...one to my friend Cristi, and the other to my friend Linda H. Hopefully they will receive them in their mailboxes before they read this post - ha! ha!

Wishing you a terrific day!

Halloween Matchbook Treat Tutorial

Hello and happy Monday! I've been a bit under the weather for the past few days...stayed home from work on Friday with a pounding headache and queasy stomach - blah! By Saturday evening I was beginning to feel a little better - yeah! - but I didn't get much done this weekend.

A little project that I was able to make on Sunday afternoon were these cute Halloween matchbook treats - check it out...

The outside is decorated with a cute Halloween stamp and some decorative paper and ribbon:

Open up the little matchbook and inside you'll find a pair of spooky Lifesaver eyes staring back at you:

.

These are really, really simple to make! I whipped up a few to take to our student library aides and to share with my friends at work. Here's how I made them...

Begin by gathering your supplies - here's what you'll need:

• Scraps of black cardstock, patterned paper and ribbon
• Paper cutter
• Scoring tool
• Individually wrapped Pep-O-Mint Lifesavers
• Colored reinforcement labels
• Peel-n-stick googly eyes
• Adhesive
• Glue Dots
• Stapler

Begin by sticking two of the reinforcement labels on the Lifesaver packages - lining up the hole of the Lifesavers with the holes of the labels:

Peel and stick two of the google eyes onto the centers of the reinforcement labels:

Set the "eyes" aside and cut cardstock 6" long x 2 3/4" wide to make the matchbook. Score cardstock at 2 1/4"; 2 1/2" and 5 1/4".

Stamp desired image onto the front flap of the matchbook. I used one of the stamps from the CTMH "BEWARE" stamp set and CTMH White Daisy ink:

Attach a scrap of decorative paper to the small scored flap of the matchbook:

When you fold up your matchbook, it should look like this:

Place the Lifesaver eyes inside the matchbook...line up the bottom of the wrappers so that they will be under the matchbook flap:

Staple the flap, making sure to catch both of the Lifesaver wrappers with the staple:

Close the top flap, tucking it under the the little flap with the decorative paper. If you want, you can cover the staple with a little piece of knotted ribbon:

And that's it, folks! A fun and inexpensive little Halloween treat that is sure to put a smile on the recipient's face!

Have a GREAT day!

Quote Sunday

Silly Saturday

Hee! Hee! Have a great weekend!

Recipe of the Week: Baked Pasta Carbonara

Need a quick and filling pasta dinner for a potluck or to feed your family on a week night? Well, here's the perfect dish for you...Baked Pasta Carbonara!

Ingredients:

• Pasta, cooked and drained
• 6 slices bacon
• 1/2 of an onion, diced
• 8 oz. lite sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup parmesan
• 1 sm. can mushrooms, drained
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. butter

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish and set aside. In a large mixing bowl whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, parmesan, paprika, parsley, salt and pepper. In a skillet add butter, bacon, onion and mushrooms; cooking until onion is translucent. Carefully stir bacon mixture into egg mixture; and then add cooked pasta. Pour into prepared baking dish, and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with a salad and garlic bread, if desired.

Have a great day!

A Happy Hunter...

SO HAPPY for my son, Justin!! He sent me this photo late last night...he bagged his first elk yesterday! I just LOVE that big 'ole grin on his face - priceless!!

Thanks for letting me share this Kodak moment with you!! Have a blessed day!

Happy Monday!

Good morning! I promise that I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth...I was on fall break last week and just kicked back and relaxed, which was so nice. I enjoyed not having any particular place to be, and not having any major tasks to tackle.

On a fun note...my TERRIFIC son, Justin, celebrated his 23rd birthday on Saturday. He is currently camped out on a mountain in Colorado elk hunting, and having the time of his life! Here is a great photo of him that he sent to me yesterday:

I love this photo of him - so handsome!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he harvests a nice elk...he has worked so hard to be able to take this trip and I am so proud of him.

Stay tuned for the recipe that I'll be sharing with you in a couple of days for Baked Pasta Carbonara - yummy!

Have a SUPER week!

Quote Sunday

"We need men who can dream of things that never were."

~ John F. Kennedy ~

Silly Saturday

Happy Saturday, friends!! Have a SUPER weekend!!

Quote Sunday

Silly Saturday

Button Bracelet Tutorial

Good morning! As promised, here is the tutorial on how I made the button bracelet shown above. I chose brown/neutral buttons for this particular bracelet, but I think making one using pastel colored buttons would be really pretty. Let's get started, shall we?

You will need the following materials:

• Buttons of your choice
• Jute thread
• Clear drying liquid adhesive
• Scissors
• Measuring tape & ruler

Begin by measuring your wrist. Once you've gotten the diameter of your wrist, select/arrange the buttons that you want to use to create your bracelet. I laid my buttons along the edge of a ruler, so that I would know how many I needed to get the right length. I used 12 buttons total...11 for the bracelet and 1 for the clasp. My bracelet needed to be 7 1/2" long, so here's how I laid out the buttons:

Cut a piece of jute thread about 30" in length. Fold the thread in half and select the button that you will use as the clasp for the bracelet. Form a loop that will fit around the button, and make a knot:

Set the clasp button aside and begin stringing your buttons on the thread using a cross-stitch:

As you continue to string your buttons, the backside of your bracelet will begin to look something like this:

Once you've threaded all of the buttons onto your bracelet, (except for the clasp button), tie a knot at the end like this:

Now it's time to thread your clasp button on the end. String the button onto the thread like this:

Carefully feed the thread back through the holes to secure the button in place. The ends of the thread should now be on the backside of the clasp button:

Tie a knot as close as possible to the back of the clasp button and cut the ends close to the knot. Add a couple of dots of clear liquid glue to the ends of the knot, and allow to dry:

Here's another look at the finished bracelet...SO CUTE!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I'd love to see your button bracelet creations, so please feel free to share your photos with me. Don't forget - the button challenge is still going on over at Scrap-It-Girl, so be sure to enter a button project or two for a chance to win the awesome prize package shown at the top of my blog sidebar.

Have a GREAT day!!

Recipe of the Week: Fried Corn

Happy Monday, Friends! The temps finally cooled off here in OK this weekend, which has been so nice! It feels like fall at last! We even set a record low yesterday morning at 32 degrees...ahhhh!... sweater weather - my fave!!

The recipe I'm sharing with you this week is one that I learned from my sweet mom-in-law. She would fry frozen corn, rather than steam it, and it is sooooo gooood!! Here's how it's done:

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of frozen corn
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Pour frozen corn into a large skillet, turn heat on medium and top with butter. Drizzle oil over corn and stir. Add remaining ingredients and continue to stir until heated through. Enjoy!

Be sure to check my blog in a couple of days, as I'll be posting a tutorial on how I made this cute button bracelet...the color combinations are endless, and they are super quick to make! (Note: These make a TERRIFIC project for a girls birthday party, a ladies group, or Girl Scout troop to make!)

Wishing you a blessed week!