Homemade Coffee Syrup Pumpkin & Caramel

I love, love, love coffee. I am a fu-fu type of girl..i love it sweet, flavorful and milky.
I REALLY miss the Pumpkin Spice Latte and the Creme Brule at Starbucks. So sad that I will have to wait until next fall/winter to enjoy them again. I searched the net for recipes and then came up with a mixture of several to fit my cravings. Here is what i like best..
Add to a saucepan:
3 C Water
2C Turbano Sugar (sugar in the raw)
Bring to a boil until sugar is completely dissolved.
Add in:
4 Cinnamon Sticks
1-2 T Whole Cloves
1 Small Piece of Peeled Ginger Root or 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1 T Ground Nutmeg
Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat pour mixture over a metal screen strainer (or strainer with extra small holes)  Let cool. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.
Hints..if you boil it for too long it will become a little bitter.
If you want Pumpkin flavor add in 2-4T Canned Pumpkin
(or for extra sweetness Pumpkin Pie Filling)
The Pumpkin will make the mixture slightly thicker with a tiny bit of texture. If you want a totally smooth mixture blend the mixture in the blender for a few seconds.
I also LOVE caramel. I make this recipe and store it in the fridge. I scoop a big helping when I want some in my coffee or put a bit in the microwave to melt it and drizzle on top of my whip cream.
Add to microwave safe bowl:
1/2 C Butter
1 C Sugar
1C Brown Sugar
1 C Karo Syrup
1 C Sweetened Condensed Milk
Microwave for 3 minutes. Stir. Microwave for 3 more minutes.
Pour into an airtight container. Let cool, store in refrigerator.
Enjoy!

Childrens Art Display Idea

 

My boys are always doing "art" projects that I love to display. I loved the idea of putting them in frames and displaying them on the wall, but found it was sort of a hassle to change out the projects since they do new ones so often (practically every week). I LOVE vintage anything, and i am always on the look out for vintage games. I especially love children's games like scrabble. (If you weren't into vintage, you could use any game like newer Life, or Scrabble) I started out by making sure the board didn't fold on itself. I did this by hot gluing a piece of sturdy cardboard (or you could use anything thin and sturdy) to the back fold.  I let that dry and turned it over to the front and hot glued the clips. I used wooden clothes pins, but you could use any clips you want. Make sure you place the clips the right space a part in order to hold your child's work. Mine do as small as 81/2 X 11, so I put them close together. I used the game pieces to spell out each child's name at the top. You could add holes to each top corner for a hanging string/ribbon. I didn't do that because I use the 3M wall Velcro for my plaster walls.

 

 



Homemade Valentine Treat Holders



An old co-worker of mine used to eat a lot of Tic Tacs, and for some reason (good for me) he saved all the empty containers.  He gave them all to me, so I thought they were perfect for little Valentine treat boxes. I put mini M&M's in them..they were really a hit with my child's teachers. Of course you could use any small candy. I also took large dollies that I got from the Dollar Store and folded them into envelopes (fold like a burrito-- bottom up to middle, then sides to middle and finally the top towards middle). For the first envelpoe I misted a coffee filter pink and scrunched it up in the middle to make a smaller circle, then added a felt heart in the middle.  I stuck candy inside and tied with bakers twine. I love valentines day..I think because it's a chance to use pink frilly craft stuff!

 

                                            

 

    

Vintage Baby Book



I took a class that was called "Junk Journal" back when I went to spark..but it really should have been called "amazing ways to transform an old book". Basically you brought an old book with you to the class and transformed the pages into pockets, outlines of butterfly's and picture frames. I have never looked at old books the same since..This particular book I purchased in an Ephemera lot off of EBay. Little did I know it was from 1910! I shouldn't have used such an old book, as now it is a little more fragile than I would like. But, I finally finished it and it makes an adorable baby book (mine). I also did a spin off of sorts with a vintage kids jungle book. Instead of cutting out shapes, and doing frames I put the pages right over the words of the book. I left most of the color pictures alone because they were so vibrant and beautiful. They sure don't print books the way they used to. My favorite though is a golden book (smaller children's book) alphabet story I did in vintage school theme. It turned out sooo cute! My first craft show ever was last Sat and I actually sold it there! I made it the night before, and only shot a couple pics with my phone as I was setting up my table at the craft show! I plan to do a few more, they are just sooo fun to work with, and of course vintage school (or anything) is my favorite!!

  

 

Halloween Paper Rosettes

 



I  really love the look of the paper rosettes..they remind me of those first place ribbons..not the little ones that are around now, but the grander ones given out at horse races in the old days. You can really make them any size and color you want..to fit your project. I made these simpler ones to put on my son's class Halloween treat bags. At first I tried using gluedots. But overnight the rosettes came apart. Then I tried using an all purpose craft glue..but then quickly realized that the wet craft glue didn't dry fast enough. So, I moved on to my trusty hot glue gun. Wham! The assembly went super quick and it was a ton easier because the glue dried so fast! Here's the gist of how to put them together (see photos) and here are a few notes...(step 1)I used a one inch strip because I wanted my rosettes to be on the smaller side. (step 2) A scoring board works like a dream, but if you don't have one just initially fold one end,  then flip the strip back and forth after each fold to get the accordion fold. (step 5) getting the accordion strip to lay flat takes a little shaping..I sort of pushed down the center while the edges fanned out wide. It took me a few tries, but after the 20th one it was a cinch. (step 6) The rosette always wants to flip back up so I held it down steady with my fingers until I could hot glue gun the center. Even after I placed the punched scalloped piece in the center I held it in place for a few seconds. These are so easy and look great on any project!

 

 

Butterfly Mobile

Here's a long overdue project for my dear sweet friend Victoria. Her Mom asked if I would make Victoria something to decorate her newly painted bedroom, and of course I said yes! She loves butterflies and wanted something to hang above her bed. I took a regular cross stitch hoop and painted it white. Then I cut out 3 different sizes of butterflies on my Silhouette. I tied white string to 4 equal points on the hoop. I then tied a loop on the point where the 4 points came together at the top of the hoop. I then tightly wrapped the hoop in white satin ribbon. I tied clear thread every 4 inches around the hoop. I hung the hoop so that the clear thread hung straight down. I attached the butterflies to the thread using a button. First, I put a gluedot on the button and then lined up the thread with the center of each button. I then lined up the button with the center of each butterflies body and pressed firmly to adhere the button to the butterfly. For the final touch I tied white satin ribbon in a bow just below the top loop. I also made her a picture with her name on it. I wanted to make her a framed monogram with butterflies. I scouted around and the cheapest I could fine a frame was $5.00 for a cheapie 8x10. I didn't want it to look like a diploma frame, so I kept looking and my patience paid off!  I was at Target and came upon a set of eight pictures on clearance for only $9.98! I knew one of them would be perfect for my project for Victoria. I started out by taking the original butterfly picture out of the frame and tracing it on a piece of cute butterfly scrapbook paper. I then cut her name out using my Silhouette. I glued her name to the scrapbook paper and set it aside. The frame had some gold edging I didn't really like so I took painters tape and masked the brown part of the frame. Using white craft paint I painted over the gold. I also smudged a little bit of the white paint around the brown frame. I let it dry completely and removed the painters tape. I then glued vintage pink lace to the white edging. I returned the scrapbook paper with her name on it to the frame. I then glued 3 vintage white buttons in the corner and the same butterfly I used in the mobile. For the body of the butterfly I glued on 3 little pearls. It was a fun project and she really like it.

Flower Power

I was making two Halloween mini-albums for my friend Lori (my first paying customer!) and I was looking for some black flowers to put on the covers. I adore the beautiful prima flowers, but they are a bit out of my price range. So I looked on utube and man, loads of videos on how to make your own flowers! I love all the ideas that were out there, but fabric and lace cost a bit now a days. I thought about fake flowers too, but they are bulky. On a trip to the Dollar Store I saw a bunch of black roses with leaves and spiders..hmmmm...lets see if I can make them work... I needed to make them flat and prettier. The first step was taking the pedals and leaves off the stem. I tossed the plastic pieces, and trimmed up 3 of the pedals to be smaller.

 

I used stickles to fancy up the edges..

 

 

I went to a couple of craft stores looking for rhinestones to put in the center of the flowers, they had  plain gems in a big pack for a reasonable price, but I wanted something a little more "jewelry" like. I found ones I really liked at Walmart in their jewelry making  section, but they were $1.50 each, so I decided to head to the fashion jewelry dept in hopes of finding a bracelet or necklace I could take apart. I was so excited when I spotted a big bracelet with huge princess square rhinestones..and it was on clearance for 5 bucks! I used my wire cutters to cut the bracelet and slide the rhinestones off. I used my glue gun and glued the petals together with some black  tulle from my stash. Finished it off with the rhinestone in the middle. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the two books I made!? But I thought the flower came  out pretty good for costing almost nothing to make!