Candle Shade Knock-off

While I still may buy these candle shades from Chiasso since they are so pretty, I nevertheless decided to give it a go and make some for myself.  They turned out pretty well and I think I may spend more time with better paper next time.

Anyhow, my proof-of-concept worked pretty well though you can see I did not take enough time to make sure I was cutting straight.  :-/  Also, if I were making these for a dinner party or something in particular, I would have taken my time and chosen different paper.

I was thinking that those edge punches would make for a pretty border on the top and bottom of these shades..

First, I started with the biggest bowl I could find to make a nice circle.  That bowl turned out to be a pasta serving bowl in case you'd like to use yours.  Then I used some fancy folding (er, I just folded it in half to find the middle) and then found another circle shaped object, a cup, to trace in the center.  Once I was done tracing, I cut out my pattern.  Then I trimmed it down until I found a shape that would work for my wide wine glasses and fit 12x12 scrapbook paper.

With my pattern, I cut out two shades at once.  This paper is not my first choice for decorating, but it was sufficient for my test.

Finally, I rolled it into a shade-shape and glued it.  Voila!  It was and easy project.

For safety sake, I would warn anyone trying this to use LED tea lights and not real ones.  I tried to do a nice picture with real tea lights (I do not have the battery-operated ones on hand) and I think I'd be worried about the paper catching fire.

Let me know what you think and certainly post pictures if you try this project.

Happy Met Monday!

Play Mailbox

For months I've been asking (ahem... yes, that would be nagging) my sweet husband to build our son a mailbox.  Our son outgrew his awesome Little Tikes Garden with the little mailbox that he loved so much and I knew he'd love a bigger one.

Well this one is probably more than I meant, but it was easy and inexpensive to do.  It's just a regular, plastic mailbox on a post with a base nailed on and then painted white.

Our son LOVES it.  He's already stuffed his favorite bear and cars in it and, of course, played mailman.

Now I intend to make him a mail carrier bag and maybe a mailbox (drop box) and he can really get in to his pretending.  Sometimes it's a lot of fun being a parent!

Please drop me a quick comment and let me know what you think!

Cabin Fever

Like so many others, it's this time of year that gets me restless.  I start looking for travel deals, especially ones to Walt Disney World.  While we could do it very cheaply by staying off-site or at a value resort, I end up always want to stay at my favorite moderate resort, Port Orleans Riverside.  I love the feel of the place and that we can take a boat ride to Downtown Disney.  I don't want to wait until this fall to take a trip.  I want to take one in May.

But then the cost prevents me from making any plans ... and then I'm back to my winter blues.  Oh, but I can look at pictures from our last trip and smile.  How can you not when my boy is so darned cute?  We had such a nice time, but it's never long enough.  I could happily spend two weeks or more there.  I envy those who do!

Well, I guess I can't complain too much given that I live in the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes region.  Typically our winters are full of snow and we have a contest with neighboring cities (Buffalo & Syracuse).  However, we don't have as much as those of you south of us.  I'd go play out in the snow with my son, but the temp is only 17 degrees.  Brrrr!  Not much fun for snow frolicking.  Guess I'll go shopping instead.
:-)

Curtains!

Okay... Okay..  I know it's a mundane thing to post for Metamorphosis Monday, but I just have to!

You see, it has only taken me nearly 5 years to accomplish the oh so small feat of selecting curtains. And what a difference it makes to the room -- it transforms the feeling of it entirely and makes it much more cozy.  I wish I could have found curtains I didn't hate years ago.  Or I wish I could bravely mistreat my windows like the Nester.

And I got to tell you something.  I hate ironing.  The room has 4 windows and that meant 8 panels to iron.  Bleah.

So what do you think?  Any ideas for an affordable area rug for me that will allow me to play with whatever color I want in the room (hint:  see that photo on the wall)? And what the heck were the house designers thinking in 1968?  Who puts a heating vent under a window where it could potentially be behind curtains?!

Happy Monday Everyone!

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

I must have been hiding under a rock or something, because I just finally stumbled on to this awesome Muppets version of Bohemian Rhapsody.  I grew up watching the Muppet Show and love seeing them when we visit Disney World.  I'm so glad Disney is doing more with them like with their "Give a Day. Get a Day." promotion.  And this video rocks!

Yummy & Easy Pumpkin Muffins

How much easier can a two ingredient recipe be?!

My 3-year-old son absolutely LOVES these and asks for seconds. Even my husband asks me to make them.  And -- get this -- this is a Weight Watchers friendly recipe.  Can you believe that one muffin is 3 points?

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together:

• spice cake mix
• 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree

I find that the results are nicer if you sift the cake mix, otherwise you probably will want to spend a little time mixing out the small lumps of cake mix.

OR, use your mixer to work out the lumps.  I tried this new beater blade attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer and it's pretty cool (thank you Santa).  It did a great job getting rid of the cake batter lumps and the muffin comes out really smooth.

Anyhow, the resulting mix will be thick, but that's okay!

Spoon equal amounts into cupcake pan (use cupcake liners for best results).  Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cooled.  Makes 12 cupcakes.

If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear about it!

I'm participating in DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land -- so fun!

My curtain challenge.

Curtains for my living room (or is it a family room?) have been a huge challenge for me.  I don't really have a specific color scheme nailed down which is certainly part of the problem.  I've also been searching for an area rug that I like, but haven't found one.  Yes, I know I'm probably doing everything in the wrong order, but that's just how I seem to do things sometimes.

So my family room is huge -- it runs the whole side of my house and has 4 very tall windows.  Therefore buying curtains you don't like (or do like!) is not cheap.  Sadly I don't have the Nester's knack for tasteful mistreatment of windows, but I greatly admire it.  And honestly, I would still have the similar challenge of finding that much fabric to even attempt her lessons on mistreatment.

To date, I have tried 3 different curtains.  First, a very vivid red duck cloth type from JC Penny.  I chose it because my husband really wants to have color in the room.  We differ on what that might mean, but we both agreed that the red was too much for the room.  Next we tried a neutral/beige, stripped curtain, again from JC Penny.  I made the mistake of not noticing the width was larger so the curtain looked ridiculous as there was too much fabric -- though the color wasn't bad.  Then I admit I gave up and decided to put up some very cheap curtains from Target for my third try.  Who knew that the rod pockets wouldn't be large enough?!  Groan.

The holidays then arrived and I abandoned all efforts to put up curtains.  Bleah.

After Christmas, JC Penny had another sale to lure me back in again.  My husband and I liked the style of the first curtains we tried, but not the color so I went back and stared at the color selection for a while.  I finally settled on a toffee color and nervously awaited for them to be ordered in.

Results?  I am pleasantly pleased with them!

And now I am off to find an area rug that will work in the room.  It has to allow for red, green, and toffee.  It should also allow light yellow and blue to be in the room.  What do you think?  I'm nuts, right?  Hah!!  But what's life without a little challenge?

Seriously, if you have any tips or suggestions, I'll take them.  I will also amend this post with a few pictures of the room when I get them taken.