DIY

I am really good at coming up with projects to create....I bookmark the directions, buy the supplies, set it all up in my craft room, and then something else excites me and I start all over again.

Lately I have felt a bit scattered- this time of the year is always crazy with things at school and trying to get ready for the holidays.  A lot of the stress is my own fault, I volunteer to do and make things that I really don't have time to do. Oh well, in the end I love making things and get excited by creating new things for my house and classroom. 

Last weekend I finally finished this little DIY runner for the table behind my couch.

I love the burlap but really do not enjoy working with it.  I swear I can never cut a straight line with it.

 I marked with tape the edge of my table so I would know where I needed the ruffles to go...

I ruffled the black fabric, sewed it on and then did the same with the orange print fabric.

 Poncho was overseeing the project.

Apparently I was more amused with taking pictures of the pup than I was to document the next step, oops.

 Here is the finished runner! The last step was to create the folds in the orange burlap and sew both sides down to create the layered look.

 I am the WORST at putting things in picture frames, I love to buy them but then don't know what to put in them. As you can see as 3 out of 5 of them have our dog.

 This was such an easy runner and added a lot to the table!

Can you find the husbands iphone in this picture? I told him to get down lower...

Now I am thinking about how I can make one for every holiday! There I go again...

The next project I had to tackle this weekend was invitations for a Halloween party I am hosting for the teachers at school.  I thought that since I needed to make around 70 it would be cheaper to make them myself rather than having them printed....big mistake. There is something in me that just can't print of a simple invite.  Instead I ended up creating 3 different ones and then starting over because I realized I would be up all night folding paper, I shouldn't speak so soon because they are still not finished...

Here they are....

 I started with cutting out these scalloped squares on my cricut.

 Next I used the fun tool below to make the paper have ridges and a texture.  

You just feed the paper through and it does all the work!

 Then I stamped the spider stamp on orange card stock.

 I stamped three different designs in the center of each.

 I then had to cut around the orange paper. My sweet friend came over last night to help me attach the orange paper to the black and then the black square to the grey paper invite.

  Almost there- I then cute the paper half an inch bigger on each side and attached it to the black card stock.

 This is where it gets messy....

I was so excited to get these Martha Stewart spider punches, not as easy as it looks.

This is it! Ta Da! I realized after reading the directions that the punch words better if you make a standard size invite, who knew?

So my corners are a bit messy.  Oh well.

I am pretty pleased with them.  I will be way more excited once they are finished and my house is clean for the party!!

I also tried some new recipes this week!!

 Cake batter rice crispy treats- so good!

You make them like normal but add in spoonfuls yellow dry cake mix.

 I am convinced that sprinkles make everything better....

 Andy and I are all about veggies lately.  We have been cooking a lot together and we love spaghetti squash.  This week we tried one savory and one sweet. The one of the left had cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.  The one on the right was butter, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.  You put some chicken stock in the bottom of the dish and cover with foil.  They baked for about 50 minutes. Ah-mazing.

Sorry no after picture, I was too hungry to be photographer. Maybe next time...

I must say the best part of my weekend was my trip to GiGi's.

I purposely ran my 10 miles Saturday morning so that I could push aside my guilt when I went and ordered 6 cupcakes for myself.  This place is so good, the flavors change with the season and they are so pretty to look at!

This time I got

*Red velvet

*Andes Mint with a dark chocolate cupcake

*Banana cream pie

*Peanut butter and jelly

*Peanut butter truffle

*Champagne (I get this one every time, my favorite)

I hope everyone had a special weekend!