Linky #27 Will Craft for...Free Jewelry

There was another tie last week for most viewed link.  I guess everyone's looking for curtain ideas:

Laughter and Grace made them out of tablecloths she found at Target on clearance:

and the Cerniks linked this awesome no sew Roman shade:

Now on to this week's party.

I'm super excited to introduce this week's sponsor: 

She creates beautiful vintage earrings (most are made from materials from the 1940's and 50's).  Check out these lovelies:

    
In honor of the shop's 3rd Anniversary, she has even marked down everything 15%.  She is generously offering each of you a shot at winning $20 credit to her store and complimentary shipping to the US. Enter in any or all of these ways:
1. Link up a project (1 entry per project)


2. Like Parisienne Girl on FB

3. Pick your favorite item from her shop and leave a comment


4. Follow her on Twitter:  parisiennegirl1 

5. leave a nice comment-(b/c they make my day).
(all the official rules here)


As always, if you'd like to be included in my weekly e-mail reminders, please leave your e-mail, otherwise it's  not necessary.


Good Luck! Link it up!

Winner of the Cute T-shirt

Thanks so much Trendy Toddler for being part of the blog this week. When you need custom shirts for birthdays, holidays, family reunions, etc-check out their store. Seriously cute stuff!

A big Congrats to Randee.  Random.org picked you to win a free t-shirt from the Trendy Toddler

~Randee@Randee's Organized ChaosJan 24, 2012 04:13 PM

I liked FB

Which one are you going to chose?

Homemade Valentine's for Boys

There are lots of amazing homemade Valentine's out there.  I went all out each year w/ my oldest, but she's a girl and I was younger and had more energy.  I decided that this year, I'm going to do something cute for my youngest, so I've been searching for some cute manly Valentine's Cards.  Here's what I've found:

Our Crazy Boys

Family Fun
I actually made these a few years ago.

Brassy Apple (it's a glow stick-genius)

Zakka Life

Randee's Organized Chaos

So anyone have any more ideas for my boys?

I'm linking up here.

Peppermint and Ganache Topped Brownies

Christmas 2010, I found these yummy brownies on Sunset:

 

They were AMAZING, and I bought all the stuff to make them again this year.  Sadly I got too busy.  I'm only eating junk on Saturdays and so I wanted something really, really good (and these qualify).  I thought that by making the peppermints heart shape, they'd be less Christmasy and perfect for Valentine's Day.

I adapted the original recipe b/c I'm lazy.  If you are the type of person that shuns box mixes and actually owns a double-boiler check out the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1 batch of 9x13 brownies baked and cooled.
17 oz bag of peppermint swirl candies (I used the Target brand)
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup whipping cream


Place cream and chocolate chips in large microwave bowl.  Cook, 30 seconds at time, stirring until completely blended. Cool until only slightly warm. Poor on top of brownies.  Refrigerate 1 hour.


Preheat over to 300. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.  Unwrap the candy and place about 1 1/2  inch apart on parchment paper.  Bake 15-25 minutes until the candies melt, but remove before it starts turning yellow.  Immediately remove from oven.  Use a greased cookie cutter to score heart shapes.  If the score lines melt together, score again.  When completely cooled carefully break out the heart shapes.  About 15% of mine broke-so make extras. Cut brownies into squares and place a heart on each.  Refrigerate for 3 hours (to soften candy). Trust me they are worth the wait.


I think the next time I make them, I'm going to make the brownies on a cookie sheet.  Then I will cut them out with the cookie cutter and then put the candy on top.  They will be awesome peppermint-brownie truffles.

Thanks for stopping by, if you're interested in some free clothes-please check out this weeks give-a-way and linky party.

I'm linking up here.

HELP!

My husband and are are talking to teenagers this week about "dating manners".  I'm hoping to compile a top ten list.  What would be your top ten?

#11 Create a Fabulous and Functional Laundry Room

I get to cross #11 off my 40 by 40  list(only 35 more to go) -"Create a Fabulous and Functional Laundry Room". Taking decent pictures of this long skinny room, is not in my photography skill set-sorry. Ready for your tour?

When you walk in, look to the far wall and notice all my stolen artwork (vintage tips and "life is too short to fold fitted sheets") and my curtain for dummies.

Next, look to your left to see my pride and joy-the laundry dresser (you all need one of these-it will change your life)

Now, look above the washer and dryer to notice the cute and functional stuff on my shelves.

I rolled up the rags and old towels/rags and stuck them in a basket with a bow to dress them up.  There is also an antique iron and an old window (this is just hanging out here until I can borrow a ladder and some courage to hang it above my front door).  There are also several cute storage boxes of assorted sizes all over the room that I made  (see how here).  I found this red burlap and thought it would be great to make storage boxes out of. I was wrong-it stretched and ripped and although the end result is fine, I don't recommend it. There's also a rod that I can use to hang up stuff (although I'm lazy and put EVERYTHING in the dryer).

This shelf has an antique washboard and iron, more storage and "my Stache" jar for loose change. I hung my trio of Laundry Symbol Art above.

Finally look down and please admire the floors.  They look like ceramic tile (even in person and even if you get down on your hands and needs to inspect them), but they are peel-&stick vinyl tiles that you can grout to look like real tiles.  I know what you're thinking-peel and stick=super tacky.  That's what I thought, but they are AMAZING. When we moved in, we budgeted $1500 to replace nasty linoleum. All by myself, I did 2 bathrooms and the laundry room for a little over $100 and it looks just like tile. No tile saws required-I used a box-cutter.   Check out the site here for more info. 

Thanks for stopping by, if you're interested in some free clothes-please check out this weeks give-a-way and linky party.

I'm linking up here.

I'm an Art Thief

I hate Laundry!  I thought maybe if made my laundry room pretty, I would hate it less.  I needed some pretty stuff for the walls, so I stole them:
First I stole these vintage laundry tip prints from BHG( click here to download a set of your own). Then I stuck spray painted some frames from the dollar store.

Then I stole this cute saying from Artsy VaVa.  I stole a piece of scrap wood from my Dad's stash, stained it, painted it, stenciled it and sanded it again.  I tied on some pretty ribbon, because I am a girl and that's what we do.

Here they are hanging on the wall. (this was really hard to take a picture of-it's a long skinny room).

Come back tomorrow for the big laundry room reveal.
(I still hate laundry-but the room makes me happy)

Linking up here.

What I read-December and Best Book of the Year

(I Started this post several weeks ago, but I'm finally getting around to finishing it)

December Books
I didn't read as much this month.  Football is finally over and I was busy with Christmas.  I also love cheesy Christmas movies and so I'd watch those instead of reading. 

source

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
I've lived half my childhood in Germany and so might have loved this more than most.  The main character has a British mother and a German father and so speaks a hybrid of English and German that was just fun for me. For those of you that don't love Germany as much as I do, it is still a good mystery.  It's pretty clean, but if you're having your kid or mother read it, tell them to skip the part where she visits her cousin in England-they have potty mouths. It begins: "My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded."     Doesn't that make you want to read it? 4 1/2 stars 

source

      

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
This is the story of a 4 year-old British girl that shows up on dock in Australia. She is adopted by a loving family.  However, when she learns she's adopted, she is so upset about being abandon as a child that she all but disowns her adoptive family.  It takes 3 generations of women to discover the mystery of her origins.  I'm not sure what I think about this book or how many stars to give it.  It's not a happy book, which is a problem for me.  I think mostly I was just bothered how destroyed she was to find out she was adopted.  I have to adopted sisters, 2 adopted nieces, 3 adopted cousins, and strongly believe that adoption rocks. That being said-everyone else I know who read it loved it.

source

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand-The true story of a man that ran in the Olympics, spent weeks adrift at sea, and survived a Japanese POW camp.  His story is downright amazing.  He faces some really horrible situations, but the book isn't heavy or depressing. I loved it so much, that I gave this to my dad for Christmas. Five stars!

source

The Fox Inheritance by Mary Pearson
This is the sequel to the Adoration of Jenna Fox (my thoughts). Three friends were in a horrible car accident, destroying their bodies.  Their minds were saved for centuries until science could create new bodies for them.  I really liked it, but I like thought-provoking sci-fi stuff. 4 stars

source

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood
This is a children's series that my friend Kammy suggested (read her review here).  I've only read the first two, but really enjoyed them.  They tell the story of an orphan girl who becomes the nanny to children that were literally raised by wolves.  It's charming an quirky, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure.  4 1/2 stars


I read or listened to about 100 books last year. My friend Stephanie suggested I do a top books I read during 2011 list-so Stephanie this post is for you:

Drumroll please....My favorite book of 20011: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Honorable mention:
The Girl in the Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold
A fictional account of the marriage of Charles Dickens.  I don't know if it was the most well- written book, but I found the story fascinating.

Best Guilty Pleasure:
The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa
Teenage romance set in the world of Midsummer's Night Dream.
(I'm not sure if it was all that good or I just read it while my husband was deployed and I missed him).


So what have you read lately?

Will Craft for...Cute t-shirts

  Trendy Toddler is generously giving away 1 cute shirt from her shop. Shirts come in any size from 0-3 months to adult sizes.  She customizes each shirt to make it extra special. Here are some of my favorites:

St Patty's Day Shirt

Valentine's Day Shirt

Something for all your nieces and nephews.

She sells big brother/ sister shirts, but I love this one. The middle child finally gets some respect.  You can even customize it w/ up to five siblings.

She can customize this with any number.  I'm thinking I may need this for my big 4-0.

You can enter in any or all of 3 ways (ends midnight 1-30):
1. Link up a project (link as many as you like)
 2. Like Trendy Toddler on FB and leave a comment that you did
3. Visit The Trendy Toddler and leave a comment telling us what your favorite shirt it.
(Prizes can only be shipped inside the US)


There was a tie for most viewed links last week:

Craftionary's mother-load of Valentine printables and
Days of Chalk and Chocolate's Love Note Pillows.

Now it's your turn...ready, set, link! (as always please leave your e-mail if you'd like to be added to my reminder list)

Thread Storage

I've seen several people use old spice racks to store spools of thread.  I headed off to Goodwill to find one and I found this:

 I couldn't tell if the words were etched in, or they were just paint, but I figured, if they wouldn't come off, then I'd consider it a $4.99 donation to a good cause (and I could keep the cute little bottles).  

 I was in luck!  They all came off quickly with a razor.  I roughed it up w/ my electric sander.  Then gave it 2 coats of cherry red paint.  When it was dry, I roughed up the edges a bit with my sander.

TADAA!

Now, I'm basically done with my little craft room.  All I need to do is get a functional desk. Clearly a computer, sewing machine and a serger are a little much for this old computer desk.  My dad said he'd help me build one over spring break. Stay tuned.

Linking up here.