Thanksgiving Inspiration Rocks

 Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I have pinned quite a few rocks with quotes and today I decided to make some myself. 

I painted the smoothest rocks I could find (from my favorite beach) with off-white household acrylic paint. I started hand writing on one of the rocks and discovered that I am terrible at it. Read on to find out how I got nice printing on the rocks.

I made a few quotes with fonts and clip art I liked:

After printing the quotes on scrap paper, this is what I did to transfer the printing on the rocks:

Then I added a little bit of color with Sharpies.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tip Junkie

Pool Noodle Fall Wreath

Hello! Welcome to my blog! 

I bought a pool noodle over the summer and I finally made a wreath with it. I hot glued a cork into the end holes of the noodle and hot glued the cork and the ends of the noodle to adhere it into a circle (and I had to hold it for a few minutes until the glue cooled). Then I wrapped the noodle with some awesome orange jute that I found at Value Village for a lovely deal.  This craft is so easy and I recommend trying it out. This is a genius idea - thank you to whoever came up with it.

I made a banner for the wreath. The banner is made out of burlap and I printed the lettering off my computer. Check out my printing on burlap post by CLICKING HERE.

Here is a jpeg file if you would like to print out the banner. 

Right click, copy image, paste into your favorite program, resize to desired size, print. 

Why don't you try it yourself?

Thanks for stopping by!

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Under the Table and Dreaming

Cinnamon Roll Bouquet

I like to give little gifts to my neighbors once in a while - and Thanksgiving is always a good time to show my appreciation. I saw the most adorable cinnamon rolls on a stick made into a bouquet. I saw this on Tasty Kitchen. The cinnamon rolls were made from Pillsbury Crescent dough. The picture for these is adorable - they were put in a mug with tissue paper and raffia was tied on the bags. The secret I think to making these mini buns is cooking them in mini muffin tins.

  CLICK HERE to go to the post. 

I was making a batch of cinnamon rolls from scratch and decided I would try this. I use Pioneer Woman's recipe - it really is very simple to make from scratch - and homemade tastes so good. The tutorial on her site is very helpful. CLICK HERE to go to it. One thing I tried different this time, and I personally liked it better, I waited for the cinnamon rolls to cool completely before I poured the icing on. 

Other things I do different:  I do not follow the instructions to not skimp on the icing. I love my icing - but I like tasting the cinnamon roll too. I do not put coffee in the icing - I pour more of the maple flavoring in. I cut the recipe in half. This makes a huge pan (15 large buns) and then I made 24 mini rolls. Of course the large recipe would work for a large group or a lot of give aways. 

After the cinnamon rolls were made and wrapped - I dressed up a can using my THANKSGIVING TYPOGRAPHY. I copy and pasted the image to my favorite graphics program, and resized it to fit six on the page. I printed it out on kraft wrapping paper (taping it to cardstock so the printer would not eat it) and then I cut it in half to fit on two cans. I used a piece of styrofoam to stick the rolls on the stick into, and used some paper grass to cover it. 

I made a "welcome to the neighborhood" tag and can too, as I had some new neighbors to greet. The inspiration for this tag came from Sankari Wegman. Please go to her post to see this tag - as mine does not do the original justice. CLICK HERE.

So there you have it - a yummy treat that makes a sweet gift.

Thanks for stopping by!

T-Shirt Market Bag

If you are on Pinterest - I am sure you have seen these fabulous market bags. This is a project I made on the beach this summer - after doing the sewing prep. This project was fun to do. This is made out of a t-shirt, with slits cut alternately through the fabric. The tutorial is found on the blog called Delia Creates.

Click here to go to the tutorial for this really cool project.

Without anything in the bag - it looks funny - but with stuff in it, it looks great! I was making a harvest gift bag for my boss and this market bag was perfect. 

I made a tag to put on the bag - inspired by a wood sign that I made last year. Right click on the image

and save to your computer if you would like to use it.

Click here to go to the post on how I made these blocks.

I am going to have to always have a t-shirt market bag on hand. I suggest you give it a try as it is fun and very frugal!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tatertots and Jello

Printing on Burlap Trial

Well, I have gone and done it. I mustered up all my courage and put burlap through my printer. I don't know how other people feel - but I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I try something that is a little out of my comfort zone - and then it turns out amazing. Here is what I made....

I found a tutorial for printing on burlap via Pinterest. CLICK HERE to go to the tutorial found on the wonderful blog called "Domestically Speaking. It has great step by step pics. Basically, you need to find Reynolds Freezer Paper. You iron the freezer paper (shiny side down) on to ironed burlap and cut it to the dimensions to fit your printer. The freezer paper gives the burlap the stiffness it needs to feed through the printer. I live in Canada - and the blog comment chatter I had heard was that it was hard to find freezer paper here. I went searching high and low with no luck. I was beginning to think a 6 hour journey to shop in the States was going to be my only hope for finding this beloved paper - but I found it where I shop all the time - SAFEWAY! I have seen a tutorial for printing on burlap using contact paper too - but I am thinking one could even use the technique for printing on regular fabric - using adhesive spray and adhering the burlap to paper. Anyhoo - I found the freezer paper - I tried it - and it works. Of course I had my finger over the CANCEL button the whole time, and I ALMOST hit cancel as there was this terrible paper jam sounding noise. It turned out it was the freezer paper just making crinkling noises as it was going through the printer - so beware of the crinkling noise. All went well and I am so excited with how easy it was. One thing I do suggest is vacuum the printer after - as burlap seems to shed worse than my daughters dog.

The saying I printed out is my all time favorite Thanksgiving saying -

Here are the images if you want to try making this saying using the three wood block idea. Right click on each image, copy, and paste to your favorite printing program and resize as needed.

I am definitely going to be printing on burlap more. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Whipperberry

Easy to Make Pumpkin Bars

You can whip up this batter in 5 minutes or less. I love how easy these are to make - and how yummy they are to eat. These are a perfect autumn treat.

4 eggs
1 cup veg. or canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pumpkin or a 14 oz. can
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine all ingredients together in order. Stir until just mixed. Bake in 11x17 inch pan at 350 for 15-10 minutes.

Icing

3 oz. soft cream cheese (1/2 a package)
1/2 cup margarine
1tsp vanilla
2- 3 tbsp. milk
4 cups icing sugar

I use half this recipe and I still have icing left over.

I got this recipe from a friend. Whenever I share these bars - I am asked for the recipe. This is definitely a keeper.

Thanks for stopping by!

Harvest Blessings Burlap Sign

I have been busy decorating for the Canadian Thanksgiving that is going to be a week from now, October 10. I love using burlap for fall decorating. I made a stencil using Cricut cartridges. The word "harvest" was cut out from the Country Life cartridge, and "blessings" was cut from the "Beyond Birthdays" cartridge. I used the same stamp method that I used to paint my wood planters. For the tutorial CLICK HERE.

I used a plate frame to put the sign in. I cut the burlap to fit - a layer of quilting batting - and a piece of heavy cardboard for the back. I snipped off a sunflower and leaves to dress up the bottom and I had a nice fall decor done in about 30 minutes - including drying time.  

I have more fall decor posts on there way so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!
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Thanksgiving Typography

I made this Thanksgiving typography for a project I am working on and I wanted to share it with you. Right click and copy image or download for your personal use.  

 Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up to...

Tatertots and Jello

Gratitude Quote Tag

I made this tag a while back for a harvest gift bag and basket.

Here is the PDF file to print some of your own.

Gratitude Make Us Joyful

"Count Your Blessings" Thanksgiving Decor

I love making frugal decor. One of my passions is painting scraps of wood - because it is extremely frugal and easy. Of course it is only extremely frugal if you get the wood for free, but I have had to buy wood for a specific project in the past and it was still pretty cheap. Here is what I recently made for Thanksgiving....

There are a couple of houses under construction on my street. I saw a big scrap pile at one of them and asked if they were throwing it out, and if they were, if I take some. I came home with a lot of pieces. I didn't feel like cutting the wood so I worked around what sizes I had. These are 2x6's. I sanded each block on all sides. It is super fast with my husbands power sander. I painted one a golden yellow, one a pear green, and the other I mixed some orange and red together. Then I made stencils with my cuttlebug using three different fonts. I then taped the stencils to the blocks with masking tape and sponge painted the letters with antique white. All paints were acrylic. So easy. I was going to sand each board again lightly and then stain it, but I didn't, and they still look good. When I didn't have the cuttlebug, I would print letters off my computer and cut them out. I would tape the edges back together that I had to cut through, like the letter "o". It is more time consuming but it still works.
Here is a project I did last year when I didn't have a cuttlebug, and I made the stencil by printing out the letters and cutting them by hand. This was also the board I had to buy. I think the whole 1x6 was less than $10. I got Home Depot to cut it twice (which they do for free) to the size I needed. This board cost less than $5, and I have two other pieces to make something with. I love what one can do with a little bit of wood, a little bit of time, and a little bit of paint.

Harvest Gift Basket

I had a basket I wanted to recycle - so why not make a harvest gift basket to give away? I used the same tag I put on the harvest gift bag.

I wanted to put a fabric yo-yo on the basket. These are so easy to make. I found a skirt that I didn't want to wear anymore, but the fabric would make fabulous embellishments - like a fabric yo-yo.

Here is a great tutorial on how to make a fabric yo-yo. 

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/photos/how_to_make_a_yoyo/index.html

The tutorial used a 4" circle. I used the bottom of an ice cream bucket for my fabric yo-yo, and I could have gone even bigger for this basket embellishment. I decided to safety pin the fabric yo-yo to some jute that I tied onto the basket so the recipient could use it again. She has a little girl so she could put it in her hair, sew it on a skirt, attach it to a gift. There are so many possibilities.

Harvest Gift Bag

I wanted to make a harvest gift bag to give to a friend. I grew tomatoes and carrots in my garden this year and thought it would be a good idea to share some. I bought a set of fall colored tea towels at the $ store.
I laid some carrots and tomatoes in the middle. I folded the towel, almost like how you would wrap a baby in a receiving blanket. I tied the towel with jute, making sure the carrot tops stuck out the top, and attached a home made tag.

I love this saying that I found. It is one of my favorites to use at Thanksgiving. I needed to find something to put it on this year, and I thought it be perfect for a gift tag.

"It is not joy that makes us grateful -

It is gratitude that makes us joyful."