Embroidery Hoop Art

As of late, my time has been spent outside gardening or in the kitchen experimenting with different items we've beeng growing.  Thus, the coming of spring meant the departing of my urge to craft.

But the urge has returned.

Today I created a little wall decor using an old embroidery hoop, cotton fabric, scrapbook paper, book pages, and jute string.  It's reminiscent of the wreath I made here, because I am loving festive pennants and loving these soft, fresh colors.

Whether it's by gardening or crafting, I love to celebrate spring!

"Oh Happy Day" Wreath

Spring makes me feel like celebrating.

Warm breezes.  Sunny skies.  Outdoor parties.

Oh happy day.

To see where I link up, please click here or click my blog parties tab!  I'm also linking to:

Bottle Cap Magnets

I hate waste.

How about bottle cap magnets instead?



Tiny, "unusable" pieces of scrapbook paper and bottle caps combine for this fun project.

Cut some circles, glue them inside the caps, seal with some clear resin, and super glue a magnet to the back of each.

I love a ten-minute project!

To see what parties I link to, click the Blog Parties tab!
I'm also linking to Tutorial Tuesday and Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Inspiration Friday and:

Home Management Notebook

During this period when I get to be happy homemaker, I'm trying to make the most of my time and start good habits that can last me a lifetime.

At some point (and some place) recently, I read about starting a "home management" notebook.  I love managing things, and I love notebooks, so of course I made one!

This was another one of those projects where I was determined to use ONLY what I already had. That way, I wouldn't go to Michael's and go crazy on the scrapbook aisle.

My husband has tons of notebooks left from grad school.

I just hot glued yellow toile onto it.  I kept wanting to doll up the front, but I reminded myself that this is supposed to be FUNCTIONAL, so too many embellishments would get in the way.

I visited The Graphics Fairy and just went to town!  She has pretty banners that I downloaded and typed my categories into.

I decided to make sections for monthly bills, expenditures, appointments, and garden (I like to keep track of when I plant what!).

I took dividers (I'm so glad we have a well-stocked home office) and scrapbook paper from my stash and set up my pages.

Look at these beautiful graphics I included from The Graphics Fairy.  They fit right in with my sections.

I could easily just grab an accordian file or spiral notebook to keep track of things, but where's the fun in that?

I do love being organized!

I'm linking up to the parties on my Blog Parties tab as well as:

Handpainted Cottage Sign

I can't get enough of the handpainted-sign craze.

The fun thing about these is that you can make them say whatever you want.  For this one, I chose "Cottage."  Who doesn't want to live in a quaint little cottage, right?

I actually found this board at my house. No idea where it came from. I guess that's the kind of life I live.....

I sanded it down nice and smooth and painted it "warm white."  I printed out my letters in a font I liked, cut them out, and traced them on the board with a pencil, like so....

I also cut out some pretty scrapbook and Mod Podged each end of the board.

I used a tiny paint brush to slowly fill in the letters:

I used my finger to smear a little black paint on the edges to give it more character.

Welcome to the cottage!


P.S.  I'm linking up to the parties on my Blog Parties tab as well as these awesome sites: