April 2014 - Page 3 of 6 - Yearning to Create

Beautifying a Wooden Crate

I found this wooden crate at a thrift store quite a few months ago, and it’s been sitting in my bathtub waiting for me to do something with it. (Yes, the bathtub! You know, the jetted tub that you want to use but don’t have time for. And since I don’t have any closets or shelves anywhere yet, the bathtub seems like a pretty good storage spot!)

First step was painting it inside and out. I was lucky enough to have leftover paint from my laundry room (Grey Evening by Behr).

Now my plan for this crate was to sit in the living room and look pretty, while serving the very important duty of holding our scriptures. So when we all gather in the morning for family scripture study, our books are right there! Brilliant!!!

Since it was going to always be in plain sight, I wanted to put a special message on the side of the crate. I chose our family motto which comes from Mosiah 4:15 “Love one another and serve one another.”

I used the carbon paper method to get the letters on the crate. Print the words you want, put a piece of carbon paper between the crate and your paper and then trace the letters. Then comes the fun part of hand painting the letters. Use a fine tip brush and have a steady hand! Oh, and I lightly sanded first before tracing the letters.

I wanted my message to be visible, but not overpowering, which is why I used a light paint colour. Using a sanding sponge I sanded the rest of the crate, being sure to let wood show through on the edges. Then I went and hid out in the mechanical room and stained the whole thing (garage was too cold and I didn’t want to stink up the house with the delightful smell of stain). I used Minwax Dark Walnut because that’s what I had on hand. I would stain one side and then rub it off – didn’t want it getting too dark.

Recently I did something I’d never done before . . . bought coffee filters! Apparently they’re a pretty handy crafting material. My seven year old thought they were large muffin wrappers! So I played around making flowers today in home school while doing math with her.

And this is what I ended up with . . .

Close up of burlap bow, coffee filter flowers and babies breath.

I glued a strip of burlap all around the crate. I used a glue gun to quickly hold the burlap in place and then craft glue to secure it all over. This burlap has a wide weave so it frays easily and it has too many holes to deal with hot wax! (I know what you’re wondering, and yes, I burned my fingers!)

I made the dark shadows (or antiquing) by rubbing Burnt Umber oil paint in strategic places. It’s one of my favourite ways to distress things.

Lacie’s pretty impressed! (the dog)

This is the backside – with just a cute little strip of burlap all the way around.

This is where it goes, and there’s four of my girls in the background playing “Sorry” (no my two-year can’t actually play “Sorry”, which makes me wonder how she managed to win!).

Just think what the world would be like it everyone lived by this creed. I can’t teach the world, but I can teach my family!

There it sits, doing its job holding our scriptures and quietly sending out a marvellous message. Sure loving my crate!

How to Decorate with Food Storage

A few weeks ago I had to give a little talk about Family Home Storage (because I’m such an expert!). My information mostly came from the March 2009 Ensign – you can read that by clicking here.

In a nutshell, we are counselled to:

1) Have a three month food supply (and that would include all consumables like toilet paper, shampoo and deodorant – anything you wouldn’t want to be without!).
2) Store drinking water.
3) Establish a financial reserve.
When the first three objectives have been met, then we are counselled to:
4) Gather a supply of long term basic food items that would sustain life (grains, legumes, milk, honey, salt, etc.)

Anyway . . . here are some other uses I’ve found for long term food storage items!

A large vase looks lovely filled with split green peas – nice and springy!

A mason jar looks lovely filled with beans!

Pinto beans to be exact!

Wheat and rice work great for decorating too. I’ve often had fancy jars filled with wheat sitting on a shelf. Have you ever just chewed on grains of wheat? It’s what the pioneers used as gum! And I must say that freshly sprouted wheat is simply delicious and so full of vitamins.

So rather than simply storing your stuff away in a cold dark spot, try decorating with it!

Bev’s Chicken Casserole

Well, I’m not sure who Bev is, but we sure love her Chicken Casserole!

First step is to find a little cutie who is working on a YW Personal Progress goal who is willing to help you in the kitchen!

She’s chopping the tomatoes, onions and green onions. (I was going to do the onion but she insisted she wanted to – because she wanted to cry! She claimed she’s never cried cutting an onion before and wanted another chance to experience it. Well, she experienced it!!! I think I’ll be cutting the onion next time!)

Here’s what to do:

– put your chicken pieces in a casserole dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

– Mix together one can of Tomato soup and one can of Cream of Mushroom soup

– then you add in your chopped veggies (tomato, onion and green onion)

– stir that all together and spoon over your chicken.

– Cover and bake at 350 degrees for two hours or until tender.Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

You will be amazed at how easy and delicious it is!

How to Give Old Frames a New Use

I got these picture frames at a garage sale. I really liked the teal colour, but the gold wasn’t working for me. I didn’t know how I could keep the teal and hide the gold, so I decided it was all going to change via spraypaint.

We’ll come back to the frames in a minute – let me show you one of my pet peeves . . .

. . . crumbs from the toaster all over the counter!!!

When I was designing my new kitchen, I planned a nice little cupboard on the counter to house messy things like toasters. Imagine my dismay when the electrician said that he can’t put an electrical outlet in the cupboard – it’s against code to have an outlet in a closed space. And I can appreciate that – I’d rather have my house not burn down. But it means the ugly toaster and crumbs still get to dominate my countertop.

(I love to look at these beautiful kitchens on display in blogworld, but where do they keep things like toasters? Do they hide them away and bring them out when needed? We use our toaster way too much to not keep it on the counter! Oh, wait! Maybe those spectacular kitchens are just set up for photo shoots and don’t usually look that way! Now I feel better!)

So . . . I decided to fix my crumb problem!

I spray painted my frames Oil Rubbed Bronze. And then I chose fabric to go under the glass. I also glued a little square of felt in each corner on the bottom of the frame so it wouldn’t scratch the surface I put it on.

And there we have it . . .

. . . a crumb catcher for the toaster!!!

Once in a while, a stray crumb dares to escape outside it’s boundary, but that’s easy enough to wipe up. I love how it’s kept my counters crumb free in that area.

(Someday my kitchen will be finished – there will be subway tile covering all these primed walls, and the switch plates will be on, and crown molding, etc. And then I will post a picture of my finished kitchen – and it will have toasters and knives and cutting boards on the counter, because . . . we live in this kitchen!)

And this is how I decorate cookies for my kids . . .

. . . I take them to Storyhour and let them do it themselves! They love to create too! (I did the one with the green eyes on the top plate!)

So, what did I do with the other frame?

It got a piece of burlap under the glass and sits on an end table in the living room. It makes a nice anchor for table displays.

As I snapped the photo, my two-year-old popped into it, pointing at the picture and excitedly saying . . .

“It’s you, Mommy! It’s you!”

And as she pointed to the youngest girl in the picture saying “It’s me!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she wasn’t actually in the picture – she hadn’t blessed our family with her arrival yet.

Love it!!!

(And the candlesticks came from the same garage sale! When are you having another one Mary?)

Edited much later to add:

Look!!! The kitchen did eventually get finished! And the toaster looks great still sitting there with its crumb catcher under it!

All-Season Frame

Having a craft hanging around that works for all seasons is a great plan!

I made this one at Shauna’s craft class and my daughter made the blue one. I stenciled some words onto mine, inspired by something similar I’d seen in a Country Sampler magazine a few years back.

You can get these wooden frames and insert pieces from Micheals.

Anyway, to make an all-season frame, I decided to attach my snowflake with velcro.

Then I chose a few other shapes to use for the rest of the year. The flower covers spring and summer. Simply attach a piece of velcro to each backside. I suggest doing the snowflake first as it’s the most awkward shape to fit.

I especially love it when it’s time to take out the snowflake and insert the flower! Oh happy day, the long winter is over!

Isn’t that just so “happy”?

After painting these inserts, I sanded them and etched them with a blade before staining them.

And Autumn is pretty cute too – this one always seems to be on display for the shortest amount of time.

The biggest problem with this craft is remembering where I stored the out-of-season pieces. If I was smart, I’d velcro them to the back of the frame!

Beef and Corn Bake

This is probably our very favourite casserole – think I’ve made this one more in our 22+ years of marriage than anything else. I love it because

1) it’s really delicious and

2) it’s really simple to assemble (which means more time for crafting!).

I’ll share the exact recipe, but I never measure anymore!

Beef Corn Bake

2 lbs Ground Beef

1 medium chopped Onion

1/4 cup cooking oil (I’ve never used the oil)

– Cook all together in fry pan until meat is brown. Put in large casserole dish. Add:

12 ounce can Kernel Corn (drained)

2 – 10 ounce cans Tomato Soup

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

1 Tbsp Ketchup (I use more – like 1/4 cup!)

2 cups cooked Noodles (I’ve used Egg Noodles and Chow Mein Noodles)

Mix it all up together and then sprinkle grated Cheddar Cheese on top.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and cook some more until the cheese is done the way you like it.

We like our cheese crusty!

This is a wonderful casserole for transporting too – it’s solid and won’t spill in your car, unless you’re a really crazy driver!!!

My two-year old even loves it! I kept trying to snap a picture of her eating it, but every time I missed the actual food-entering-mouth moment. And she just kept glaring at me for flashing lights in her face over and over and over!

Finally, I got excited because I got a picture of food entering her mouth. But alas, when I did an actual preview of the shot,

it was . . .

. . . a large slice of cucumber that was going in, and not the casserole!

But you can see that her plate is getting emptier.

Here’s a good tip I’ve learned over the years: when your young’un decides they’re too old for bibs and keeps ripping them off, dress them in clothes that co-ordinate with the colour of your meals. Camouflage those spills – it makes laundry so much easier!!!

So . . . back to the Beef Corn Bake – I know your meals are already planned for this week, but make it next week! Your family will thank you!!!

Love/Home/Joy Blocks

I made these LOVE blocks a few years ago, but I only unpacked them last week – just in time for Valentine’s Day! They’d been boxed up for almost two years as we lived in transition while building our new home. I was serving in Relief Society at the time and we actually ended up making these at our RS Super Saturday.

They’re very easy – the hardest part was choosing the paper (it always is!). My blocks are 3 1/2″ squares, but you can make them any size you want. Once you have your blocks, paint or stain them if you desire. Then it’s simply mod podging the paper on, and then the letters and words, and adding any embellishments. I don’t have any fancy machines to cut out letters for me, so I simply printed letters from the computer and cut them out – yup, by hand, with an exacto knife!

“Where love is, there God is also.”

Because they’re blocks, they stack nicely lots of different ways, depending on what works best in your space.

On the other side of my LOVE blocks are . . .

. . . my HOME blocks.
It’s so nice to be able to easily reverse something when it’s time for a new look!

“Where they love you most.”

Okay – I look at these now and cringe! I’ve gotten so much better at mod podging now – I never get bumps and bulges like that any more. Just might need to redo these (although they look worse here than in real life – must be the flash!). I used way too much mod podge for thin paper, and probably didn’t wait for it to dry completely between layers. And now I love the finished look you get when you press a piece of fabric over your top layer of wet mod podge and immediately pull if off again. Makes it look rather like canvas!

I also made a set of JOY blocks.

“Find Joy in the journey.”

I have Joy decorations for Christmas, but I wanted something that could be out year round to remind me about JOY. I painted these blocks black before adding the paper – matches the letters nicely.

The paper was fancy enough that I didn’t think it needed any other embellishments.

And I know you’re wondering about that fabulous background – it’s the black paper and wire mesh that will someday be hidden inside our beautiful stone fireplace!

Valentine Decorating

I love to decorate for the seasons and holidays, but I don’t do too much (compared to some people!) simply because I don’t have a quonset in my back yard to store it all in when it’s not on display.

LOVE is the TIE that {BINDS} this FAMILY TOGETHER

is my newest Valentine decor item – and I love it!!! I got it from Lazy Daizy Vinyl Lettering.

It’s still the middle of winter so I like to keep those little bits of evergreen, pine cones and berries around for filler. The pine cones came from the forests in my backyard where I grew up so they’re extra dear to me. They have sparkly silver edges because we painted the edges for my sisters wedding. I put the pine cones in her bouquet – check it out here.

On the after Christmas clearance racks I got this evergreen wreath for $0.94.

I haven’t done anything with it yet – it just hangs around looking wintery, but I made it a little more Valentinesyish by adding one of my kids hearts – they made these a few years back at Shauna’s kids craft class.

Ahh! There is my new wicker vase – you can read about it here.

Those LOVE blocks are pretty cool because on the back of the L is an H, and on the back of the V is an M. So if you get tired of LOVE, you can make it say . . . (did ya figure it out?). That was another one of Shauna’s creations from a few years ago.

These message blocks are new this year too. You can read about them here.

And I know I have a few more things too, but they’re still in boxes – not out in a quonset, but in my unfinished family room, waiting to someday have a home!!!

I think a holiday to remember the people we love is such a great idea!

World Peace

Every year, at least a month before Christmas, we start our Wish List. It’s one piece of paper divided into sections – one section for each person. There they write what they wish for (one piece of paper makes it easy for me to grab and take shopping).

Back in 2006, I wrote “World Peace” in my section of my wish list. I must have just watched Miss Congeniality or something! And truthfully, I really wasn’t expecting to get “World Peace” for Christmas! So, imagine my surprise when I actually got “World Peace” from my imaginative oldest daughter for Christmas!!!

This is what she wrote on the back . . .

And now . . . are you ready to see what “World Peace” looks like?

Ahhh!!! We now have “World Peace”.

The world thanks you Elle!

Thoughts at Easter Time

The stores would have us believe that Easter is all about the Easter Bunny and gifts and chocolate. But it really isn’t. It’s all about the atonement, crucifiction and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Which is why I like to include a picture of my Savior in my little corner of Easter decorating.

This teal frame is the other side of my Framed Shamrock. The picture is ancient but it matched the frame nicely and was the perfect size. It actually came from one of my grandma’s old Family Home Evening manuals from 1976, when Spencer W. Kimball was the prophet (do you remember when a new FHE manual would come out every year or am I really dating myself here?). My parents were downsizing to move into an apartment and gave me some of her old manuals and that’s how I found my perfect picture for this year.

I love the little Willow Tree angel gazing up at the picture.

All I did to decorate this year was add a few pastel flowers. It’s so refreshing to have some springy colours around, after all the dullness of winter.

Oh, we must not forget the chocolate!!! We love Easter treats too – they just don’t come from an Easter Bunny. Luckily my baby hasn’t noticed the treats in the cupboard yet!

Okay, these are my stair railings on my plywood stairs – strangely resembling little Easter Egg trees, paint buckets and pop bottles! Anything to keep small people away from the edges.

Those are the spindles there on the right – somehow they just have to get into formation in the grooves of the banister!

So Kat spent awhile evenly spacing the eggs and spreading out the colours. But as soon as Mac woke up and found egg trees, Kat’s work was destroyed. Now they’re in different arrangements all the time. Who knew stair railings could be so much fun!

(I haven’t posted any house progress pictures lately because no progress is being made! The less than flattering picture above is to remind you that we are still living in a construction zone. But even amidst construction, or lack of, I can still have my corners of prettiness – for my sanity!)

Here’s another Easter corner in the house – I just love this picture of the Salt Lake City Temple!

This magnificent building holds an especially dear place in my heart because I was married here! This is where I was married, and sealed eternally to my sweet guy. It is not a “til death do you part” kind of marriage, but an eternal one – meaning that we truly will be together forever. And our children are sealed to us forever too. Of course they’ll leave us someday and cleave unto their own spouses, but we’re still bound together into the eternities. Isn’t that a glorious plan of our loving Heavenly Father? Families really can be together forever! I find such joy and comfort in knowing this.

In this egg is a carving of our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He was betrayed, arrested and crucified. This is where he truly suffered the most as he atoned for all our sins.

I love the words to the hymn “Reverently and Meekly Now” because it’s written in the first person – as if the Savior is talking to us. Verses one and four are my favourites:

Rev’rently and meekly now, let thy head most humbly bow.

Think of me, thou ransomed one; think what I for thee have done.

With my blood that dripped like rain, sweat in agony of pain,

With my body on the tree I have ransomed even thee.

At the throne I intercede; for thee ever do I plead.

I have loved thee as a thy friend, with a love that cannot end.

Be obedient, I implore, prayerful, watchful, evermore,

And be constant unto me, that thy Savior I may be.

And that is what Easter is all about!