Blue Coffee Filter Wreath

I've never been a "have a wreath year-round" kind of girl. I've only hung wreaths in fall and at Christmas. But I've been coming across so many beautiful wreaths for all different occasions or no occasion at all, that I'm starting to rethink this year-round idea. I came across this great tutorial on I'll Get You My Pretties. Kristy is like me, loving the coffee filter craft trend but dang that stuff looks time consuming.  She made this beautiful folded filter wreath....awesomeness in half the time. Be sure to hop on over to her blog for the full tutorial. Now, I loved her idea, but had to put my own spin on it. This is what I came up with....

Before folding the filters I soaked them in bowls of water with blue food coloring. After about an hour I took them out and let them dry on the dish rack in my sink. Now I know what you're thinking, isn't this supposed to be a fast craft?  Well, I did the filters in the morning, you know, when I made coffee. Put them in the sink and went on about my business for the day.  Later that afternoon when I actually had time to craft they were dry and ready to go. Easy peasy, with a great color effect.

In addition to dying them blue, I inked the edges with Distress Ink, and misted with some Glimmer Mist. I had some glitter feathers and peacock feathers so I glued those on.  I also happen to be obsessed with crepe paper flowers.  Since I've been making them like crazy, I just popped one on the front.

I am in love with this wreath! I may even be inspired to make more wreaths before the fall/winter season!

Pinterest Fail: Tie Dye Roses

I love Pinterest! I find so much inspiration there. I came across this pin about tie dye roses and thought I would try it for myself!

Source: funguerilla.com via Tabatha on Pinterest

I did a little googling first and found that this whole concept of splitting the rose stem and putting each piece in a different glass of colored water was a pretty popular method. If it works, I'll end up with some awesome roses! So I stopped off at the store and picked up an inexpensive bouquet of white roses.

Using a box cutter I very carefully split the stems and placed in colored water.

Some instructions said to leave for 24 hours in the glasses.  Here is the progress about 6 hours later....

You can see they are starting to take some of the color in! How exciting! I was very optimistic.

However, 24 hours later this is all the color they had absorbed, and most of them were starting to wilt.  A few hardly absorbed any color at all!

Unfortunately I have to categorize this project as a Pinterest Fail. So why share it? Why not! Now you know, these are the kinds of results you may end up with.  Save yourself the trouble and keep your roses white and hopefully in better condition.  I had to throw mine out because they weren't even worth salvaging.

Has anyone else tried this project?  Were you successful?

Sorta Samoa Mini Donuts

I had some left over coconut pecan icing in my fridge. I've been eating it with a spoon when no one is looking. Its delicious. I've also been craving donuts lately. I started thinking combining the two would be a great idea. Thus the Sorta Samoa Mini Donuts! 

 I used my Babycakes Donut Maker to bake their Buttermilk Spice Donuts. Then I dipped them in melted dark chocolate. Once that was set I topped the other side with the coconut pecan icing, drizzled caramel over that and then more melted chocolate. This donut recipe is pretty firm so it was almost like a donut cookie!

I'm going to go wait by the phone. I'm sure the Girl Scouts will be calling me to market these donuts any second now!

Easter Tablescape

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter holiday!  This is my small, modest Easter tablescape for this year.

I made these daffodils from crepe paper. Flower making is my latest endeavor. Expect to see lots more of these!

Happy Easter!

Suspended Mason Jar Herb Planters

I love cooking with fresh herbs, especially basil. I use a lot of basil. I love how it makes my kitchen smell, I love the flavor, and I love the bright green color. Since I live in Minnesota and its not exactly warm year round, I wanted to find a way to bring fresh basil into my kitchen.  However, I also have a really small kitchen. I don't have the space for a counter top herb garden. So I came up with this idea instead!

I filled mason jars first with some gravel and sand, then potting soil and I split a fresh basil plant in two. The jars are suspended by hose clamps. The hose clamps are connected to the cabinets by a metal plate and screws. 

Now I can have fresh basil whenever I'd like! I may even add a couple more jars with different herbs too.

Farewell Fiesta

It seems there has been a lot of changes at my full time job lately. I had to say goodbye to another long time coworker, John.  John retired from my company so we threw him a going away party. John wanted to have a taco feed and his favorite cake, German Chocolate with traditional Coconut Pecan Frosting. We threw "Taco John" a Farewell Fiesta! I brought the cupcakes of course! It was my first time making the coconut pecan frosting from scratch.  Wow, I could stick my face in the whole bowl and eat it up! It was delicious! The cupcakes turned out pretty fun too, John loved them!

 

 Its been a pleasure working with you John.  Happy Retirement!

Makeup Organization Ideas

Spring has finally arrived! That also means its time for spring cleaning. One of the many organization projects I have on my list is to get my makeup under control. I do not wear much makeup.  Mostly eye makeup and lipstick/gloss. Somehow my "minimal" approach to makeup still dominated my bathroom. I decided it was time to purge.  I got rid of a lot of shadows and liners that are old and I'll probably never wear again. I sorted my makeup into categories of everyday wear and special occasion wear. The special occasion (a.k.a. makeup in crazy colors that I can only pull off at night, on the town with the girls) was neatly put away in a case in the closet. Then I was left with my everyday wear.  It was not enough to make it worthwhile to put in a big bulk case, but not small enough to just leave out.  I decided to try magnets!

I glued magnets to the backs of all of my shadows and....

Viola! Now all my everyday shadows are on the inside of my medicine cabinet!  Off the counter, out of the way.  I love it and so does my boyfriend who is cursed to a life of sharing a bathroom with a girl.

Now there was of course the pesky question of what to do with my brushes, liners and mascara. So I headed over to Michael's with my handy 40% off coupon and picked up a square vase.  Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a 99 cent bag of split peas....

Taaaa Daaa!! Organized brushes and liners! Now everything is in plain view...no more digging around in my bottomless pit of a makeup bag. 

It all looks so nice and neat that even my boyfriend thought makeup organization was cool.

What spring cleaning projects are you working on?