Vintage Whimsy Paper Book

I had a very busy day today and was hardly at home.  On my way home tonight, after being gone for nine hours, all I could think of doing was taking a relaxing bath and staying in bed the rest of the night with my book.  Lately I've been having these crazy crafting dreams at night (must be the pregnancy creative dreams kicking in...) and usually wake up with a great crafting idea.  Well, tonight it happened while I was in the bath and, as exhausted as I was, I just had to go and make my dream a reality...Ha! 

I began by using my kids' watercolor paints to paint a piece of cream-colored card stock.  I used red and orange.

Then I cut the paper down to the size I wanted (10x7 to make a 5x7 book) and antiqued the edges using a blade and chocolate-colored ink.

I used a pile of my kids' scrap paper for filling.

I used a couple of plain sheets for the first pages of the book and cut them just a tiny bit larger so they'd show past the scrap paper.  I antiqued the edges of those too.

Then I tied it up with raffia, added some glitter, and secured a dried rose to finish it off.  I'm not too sure how I feel about the glitter on the book itself, but I like it on the rose and overall, I think this is a pretty cute little project!

Now that I'm super, duper exhausted, I've got to go to bed!  Goodnight!

Easel Card Tutorial and Lemon Muffin Recipe

For the last five weeks, I've been teaching a class at our local homeschool co-op called Paper Crafts.  I must admit I've been hard pressed to come up with creative ideas that are challenging enough to take up the hour-long class period but are also simple enough that they can do the project with little help.  This Friday we'll be making Easel Cards.  I put one together tonight and think it will be just perfect for the kids this week!

Start by cutting a 12x12 piece of cardstock into thirds so you have 3 pieces that are 4x12.  You will only be using one strip for the card so one piece of 12x12 will make 3 cards!  Score the paper at 4", 6" and 8".  I use the track of my cutter as a guide and use this multi-tool from Martha Stewart to score my lines.

Fold the paper at the score lines and adhere one 2" piece to it's nearest 4" piece on the inside.

Stand up the glued piece to look like an easel.

Decorate the face of the card in your own creative way.

You can use anything you'd like to act as a "stopper" for the standing piece.  Buttons and foam-backed embellishments work great.  I used this cute egg embellishment and was reminded of the Cadbury commercial where the bunny lays the Creme Egg!  I loved that commercial as a kid...I wonder if it's still on?  (We haven't had cable our entire marriage so I really have no idea!)

When you've finished your card, why not send it to a friend and invite her over for tea and Lemon Muffins?  (Recipe below)

Lemon Muffins  (makes 12-18)

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt 

2 large eggs
5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Mix the dry ingredients together and then make a well for the remaining ingredients.  Mix until combined and spoon into muffin pans.  Bake at 375°F for 15-20 min. or until the muffins are light brown on top and done inside.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes or so and then turn out onto a wire rack.  Yum!

Stool Makeover: The Next Generation!

Join us at Coloradolady's blog for Vintage Thingie Thursday!!

I'd like to introduce you to a dear family heirloom: this is The Stool.



In the early 1950s, in Burns, Oregon, my grandpa George Bradley made this stool for his new bride, Betty Kiggins Bradley. The top was plain wood colored and the legs were painted a bright red and then a rust red color. When my mom left home (Gresham, Oregon---I think) in the early 1970s, Grandma Betty gave her this stool as she had no furniture!


Mom kept this with her when she married my dad. She painted it chocolate brown and did a little repair work:


It has served all kinds of purposes since! I can remember it as a plant stand in the living room and a night table in pretty much every family member's bedroom! When my husband and I were married in Baker City, Oregon in 1998, guess what I inherited!!


The stool! Don't get me wrong, this really is one of the most special things I own. How awesome to have such a portable little heirloom! Throughout the years that I've owned it, I've had plans on fixing it up, repainting it, just adding my own flavor to it.


The past couple of years, I've really been wanting to "get crafty" so I've bought up lots and lots of supplies. But...haven't taken the time to use any of them! Lately, I've had the time to do the crafty stuff so I've been trying to come up with projects to do that don't require me to go buy anything else! So...last night, I decided to grab The Stool out of the shed and see what I could do to get it looking presentable.

I brought it in and set it on the kitchen floor, telling Selah that I was planning to fix it up cute. She put her baby blanket on it and said she thought that was pretty cute.


It was...but not quite what I had in mind! I wanted to try and take the paint off but, since I was only using the things I had around the house, I had to improvise. I used my Pampered Chef spatula to begin scraping off the top.



That lasted about 5 minutes and I was sick of it so I decided just to paint over the 3 other layers of paint and hope that it would crackle neat!



It did!! By the way, I tried and tried to pry that nail out of there but it wouldn't budge. I kinda like leaving it there though as my mom put it there and it's kind of been a little joke over the years! I needed to find some way to cover it though!

After a couple coats of paint, I decided to stop for the night and consider options for the next step.

This morning, I remembered that I had several yards of some pretty fabric that my friend JoAnn gave me at church last month. I decided to make a cute cushion for the top. Using my 8-year-old Michael's school ruler, I measured out a circle that I hoped would fit!


I've never made a cushion before so I wasn't really sure what to do---when suddenly, I remembered a Christmas craft project that we did in the 5th grade! Mrs. Neyman taught us how to make mini-pillows and string them together for wreath ornaments.


I stitched all the way around the circle...Avalon helped, of course!

Then I filled it loosely with pillow filling.


Once I set the cushion on the stool, I realized that The Nail was still very obvious. So, I hot glued eyelet trim all around the top and then glued the pillow on.


Not bad for a 21st century makeover! So, Mom, you want it back now??

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