Inspired by another Blogger!

Sandra with Stone Creek Market made this adorable wood sign.

I absolutely love this sign... so simple and so adorable!

I love the colors and the ribbon is too cute!

This became inspiration for my next Valentine's Day project...

I made this sign... I love it! I think they are both just so cute!!!

This flower was inspired by the flower I used on my throw pillows!!!

Love the polka Dots! I made the flower, the same way as I made them for my pillows.

Go Here for the Tutorial!

Thank you Sandra for the inspiration!!!

Yummy Valentine's Day cookie Bouquet

At one of my former jobs, one of my co-workers always brought in these DELICIOUS Cookies...

They are so yummy! I love them. I have not made them until now! I get some of my best inspiration at night as I am laying my head on the pillow to go to sleep! So, as I was falling asleep this little bitty was born...

My Take on a Cookie Bouquet...

Ingredients:

* Ritz Crackers (I know crazy, but they are so yummy as this cookie, I promise)

* Creamy Peanut Butter

*White Chocolate

*Sprinkles (Optional) I added sprinkles to them to give the cute factor, but they do not need them.

They actually taste better without sprinkles on them.

*Bamboo Sticks

Lay out your Ritz Crackers on wax paper and spread the peanut butter on each cracker. I put the bamboo skewer in the center and added a little extra peanut butter to the center to compensate for the stick.

Mmmm.... Peanut buttery goodness!

*Put your ritz crackers with the peanut butter in the fridge*

This is a very important step. Let them chill for about 20 minutes.

This keeps the peanut butter firm while dipping in the white chocolate

 so you don't have a peanut buttery mess!

*While you are waiting you can work on the tin holder!!*

Melt your white chocolate on a medium heat. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from burner. I use a saucepan with water and a stainless steel bowl that I set on top. This works great! You don't need a special pan to melt the chocolate in.

I just spoon the chocolate onto the cookie. The bamboo skewers are super handy for this step.

 

Now you can sprinkle the sprinkles onto your cookie... I really wanted to use Ritz in the shape of hearts for Valentine's Day, but they do not have them. All I could find was football shaped Ritz. Darnit! So the sprinkles give it that same cutesy Valentine's Day Flair.

I tried using a stencil for the hearts and that just didn't work with the melted chocolate so I just used my fingers and put the sprinkles on in a -V- and it worked! *Sigh*

Oh aren't they just cute??? Don't worry about the big blob of a cookie to the right, while it is still soft just trace around the shape of the cookie with a toothpick and it will not be a ginormous blob when it hardens!

These Cookies really are so yummy! You should try them! You will love them. They are SO Easy!

After you make them, E-mail me at holly-aitken@gmail.com and let me know how they turned out!

Now that the cookies are ready, let's make the container they are going into...

I started with a craft ball... Hard foam

I cut it in thirds with a saw. This way it will fit into the container and I can do this bouquet 3 times!!

Insert your foam in the top of the container.

I made mine flush with the top rim of the vase.

I took squares of tissue paper and folded them around the end of a paint brush.

I put dabs of craft glue in sporatic places and using the same paintbrush end, I put the tissue paper on the glue. I pushed them into the foam with the brush as well to make them really secure.

Add Ribbon (of course) and Voila... you have a cute little Valentine bucket!!!

You are now ready to insert your cookies and go!!!

  

 So Pretty and so EASY!!!

Your kids will love it!

I will be posting in the summer, my idea for a Summer Fruit Bouquet...

Stay tuned!!!

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The DIY Showoff

Mod Podged Coasters

I went shopping on Saturday... a habit that I have been doing more and more lately... Not good! But oh man, I am finding the best deals.

Like these "Christmas coasters..." I got them on sale for 20 Cents... Yes that is right $0.20. Hahaha I love it!

They are tile and they had red and white stripes stickers on them. I removed that and painted them black.

I love the little holder for them. so simple, but so cute!

I Mod Podged patterned paper on each coaster and then put more of

 The Vinyl birds on each coaster.

I then took Sand paper and sanded around the edges of each coaster to give it a more distressed look. I love that old school boho chic look.

I added my Dollar Store stickers to each coaster

On this coaster, I added the extra "leaflet thing-a-mabob" and sanded the edges of it as well to make it pop off the coaster. It gives it more dimension

Mod Podge... You have to Love this STUFF!

Here they are, all stacked and ready to use... I used Mod Podge on the surface to make them more water resistant and user friendly.

These will look great in my Black and White with Red Living room. Now I just need a coffee table to put them on... Anyone got an old one they need to get rid of, just let me know. I would love to refurbish it and use it! Thank you much!

The Perfect Bow!

The other day I was needing a cute bow... What is a girl to do???

Ronda showed me this nifty trick that has probably been around for YEARS and just didn't even know about it!

The two finger bow...

But what about those of us who don't have an extra pair of hands around to assist us in our bow making???

What is a girl to do?

Well I got an idea and went to work...

I took a board, two dowels and a drill and got busy!

I took a ruler and a pencil and marked on the wood board inch intervals where I would be drilling the holes.

I drilled the holes... notice they are not perfectly straight... hahahaha that is so funny. That is definately something I made!! haha

You can leave it like this and it is totally functional this way.

Just insert your dowels at the different sizes of the bow you want and craft away.

* However *

I cannot just have a wood colored board laying around all my beautifully decorated craft supplies... so I put some pizazz on my "Perfect Bow" Maker. I painted it black... Added ribbon...

I added White Vinyl letters so that anyone else would know what it is for.

okay... now how in the world do you use the darn thing??? I will show you!!! No worries!

How to make

"The Perfect Bow"

*Wrap your ribbon around the two dowels and cross in the front.*

*Hold onto the bottom ribbon and pull the top ribbon underneath and through the middle of the two dowels.*

* Bring ribbon to the front *

*Tie the two strands of the ribbon together*

*Ta Da!! you have just made the perfect bow!!!*

I will soon show you my favorite use for little ribbon bows!

Kiss Kiss... You just can't resist!

Okay, so this has become one of my favorite crafties of this year! I love it! I think it turned out sooooo cute! I cannot even believe that I made it.

I started with the KISS letters that I got from Hobby Lobby. They come in two packs for .99 cents a piece. I spray painted them red. I distressed the edges and added my embellishments.

Ribbon. The circles and rectangle words are just puffy stickers I got on a sheet from the Dollar Store a long time ago. Tooo cute!

I took the wire and wrapped it around a sharpie. Drilled holes in the base and just stuck a straight end into the base of the wood...

I love this so much... With the extra set of KISS letters I am going to make another one to sit on the one of the shelfs I have by my FAMILY frames!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am adding this to the...

Party