A Walk In The Woods

Me and Crazy Dog (her name is Oakley) took a walk in the woods today. At the end of our street is a mini grave yard. It has a pretty black iron fence around it and is not very scary. The first Sherriff of Guilford County and his family are buried there. It is a small family plot and the land that is our neighborhood used to be his family’s farm land.

Are you coming?

Behind it is a trail that takes you through the woods and this time of year it is beautiful and the dog loves it.

Last week when we were walking I saw all kinds of unusual mushrooms so today I grabbed my camera as we headed out the door. Did I see any mushrooms in the woods today? No…not a single one. But I did find this beauty in the my neighbors lawn. Does that count?

There were lots of Revolutionary War Battles fought near here. One of the most famous is the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and General Greene and Cornwallis fought near here. We’ve been told that soldiers are buried in these woods. Some of their graves are marked with stones.

Does anyone know what this plant and these berries are?

It is a fun place to walk the dog and the leaves are only just now starting to change. I am still looking for the mushrooms.

I have linked this post up to Outdoor Wednesday over at A Southern Day Dreamer. Stop by to see some other Outdoor Scenes from around the country.

I am sorry but I think this is funny!

Okay, so I might have a twisted sense of humor BUT I think this is funny!! Come on. It made you smile just a little bit now didn’t it?

Happy Halloween!

Help! I can’t stop!

I can’t stop making coasters! I made some new ones. You will have to let me know which ones you like best. I added a set with the navigation compass and I made a crown in honor of my friend FGT (First Grade Teacher) who loves all things girly. :)

But I have to say that my favorite of the three has to be the “CHEERS” coasters! I made two sets of them and will start production on more.

This weekend is the BIG HALLOWEEN Party. This party is given by our good friends and neighbors who really know how to throw a party. They have a band that plays outside in the garage and a bartender in the house mixing up mysterious Halloween concoctions and lots of great food. And the costumes are HILLARIOUS!! I can’t tell you what we are going to be yet because it is a big secret and I can’t take any chances with it getting out. But I will fill you in later this weekend. All I can tell you is that there has been a lot of gluing going on in our house this week and I hope there is a prize this year!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

The only word to describe today is RAW! It is cold and raining and I broke down and turned on the furnace this afternoon when I got home from work. I decided to make the boys in my house very happy and made a batch of Peanut Butter Cookies. The house smells good. Give these a try if you haven’t had a good peanut butter cookie in a while. I can’t remember the last time I made these. It has been awhile….I don’t bake much in the summertime. The recipe says to chill for 3 hours after you make the dough (who wants to wait 3 hours???) but I skipped this step and they turned out fine. Anyway, here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups of all –purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat butter and peanut butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugars and beat well. Add eggs and beat well.

Combine flour soda, and salt in a medium bowl, add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in vanilla. Cover and chill 3 hours

Shape into 1 1/4 inch balls; place 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten cookies with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 6 dozen cookies.

And here they are on my dessert stand. This gives me a chance to show you the little table I picked up yesterday at TJ Maxx. I still have the tag on it because I am still deciding if I am going to keep it. I do really like it and it and it is the perfect size for that small piece of wall. What do you think? I think I am going to keep it. And I have 30 days to think about it! :)

The Car Pool or Somebody Get Me a Gas Mask!

It seems I have found myself in a very un-organized car pool....thanks to my son. As anyone with teenagers can tell you the bus is very un-cool. They tolerate it their Freshman year because they are thinking....."I am riding the High School bus! I'm in High School! This is so cool!" But by the time their Sophomore year comes around the the bus has lost it's luster. This is where you find me. The 10th Grade Son doesn't want to ride the bus ever again. I started driving him each morning when the school year started a couple of months ago and it was really kind of nice. Just him and me and the dog driving to school. Me sipping on my coffee, the dog so excited to be riding in the car at such an early hour that she can barely stand it, and my son who is not a "morning person" answering my questions with as few words as possible.

Slowly that routine started to change when as we would be walking out the door 10th Grade Son's cell phone would start buzzing from his friends looking for a ride. Now, the question of who is driving doesn't get answered until about 5 minutes before it is time to go. That is because it is in the hands of 3 sometimes 4 teen age boys. None of the Moms have communicated with each other on this haphazard car pool. We are all taking our marching orders from our fifteen year old sons. So now each morning I dress and I am ready for anything. Some days I drive, some days I don't. Some days the dog gets to come and some days she doesn't. Today I drove. The dog stayed home.

So there I was with 3 teenage boys in my minivan with the air vents purposely aimed at my face and blasting air just so I can breathe. Whoever invented "Axe" Body Spray for "boys" (come on we all know this product was never intended for "Men").........should be forced to carpool with 3 teenage boys wearing their product. That is all I am going to say. Do you have any Advil? I still have a headache.

I Went A Little Coaster Crazy

One of my last projects from a couple of weeks ago was a set of two pictures for my wall made out of stenciled burlap. I had some burlap left over and after seeing some of the ideas posted at The DIY Show Off on what to do with Burlap, Hemp, and Jute……I decided to make some coasters similar to the Stenciled Coasters I saw made by Hirondelle Rustique . Mine are only a little bit different and so here is my “tutorial” on how to make my Stamped Coasters.

First thing I did was cut 5 X 5 inch squares out of the Burlap. To speed things up fold your Burlap over so that you are cutting them out 2 at a time. Cut out 3 of the sides and then cut down the fold line. I made a set of 6 so you will need 12 squares. (Also, FYI, Burlap is messy! It sheds fibers almost as bad as my dog sheds her hair. So be prepared for a bit of a mess….but so worth it!)

Augh!!! I know many of you did not want to see this but……sewing these little babies is not difficult! DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE SEWING MACHINE! Four straight seems and you are done! Take two of your cut out 5 X 5 inch squares, place them on top of each other and sew them together on all 4 sides about 1/2 inch in.

After you have your squares sewn together, it is time for the fun part…adding your design. You can stencil on a design, hand paint if you are really artistic or if you are like me… STAMP IT! I had some stamps on is the scroll design you see and I also thought I would try a Fleur de Lis.

I used black acrylic craft paint and I carefully painted the black paint on to my stamp. I have heard that those little white wedge make up sponges are also good for adding paint to a stamp…..foam brushes work well too.

After I completely covered my stamp with black craft paint I carefully eyed the center of my coaster and pressed the stamp down on the Burlap. I carefully added pressure to make sure the paint transferred. Then very carefully, peel off your stamp. (If you have any spots where the paint isn’t dark or covers as mush as you wish you can touch up with a very fine brush with more black paint.)

Another fun part is “fringing” the coaster. Simply start pulling out threads along the edges to create a fringe. If you squares seem uneven after you fringe the edges you can take a pair of scissors and evenly trim the edges.

And VOILA! Here are six of my coasters. I actually got a little carried away and made two sets of four. Will give a set away as a gift. And then I also made a sample with a Fleur de Lis on it which I also really liked. I am going to make a set of them next.

Lots to choose from. Not sure which ones I like best.

And Here they are in action. Quick, cheap, and easy!! Love these!

A Whole “Lotta” Burlap

A week or so ago I posted on my blog a project called “A Little Bit Of Burlap”. Well today, my “Little Bit of Burlap” post was featured on Roeshell’s The DIY Show Off blog and she posted a great compilation of projects with burlap and Jute! I love that she has so many projects all in one place. This is the place you want to go for ideas on what to do with Burlap, Hemp, and Jute. And she is going to update her blog post with more projects ideas throughout the weekend!

Remember these? You can click on the “A Little Bit of Burlap” link highlighted above in blue to see exactly how I did it.

My ”Little Bit of Burlap” Post was also mentioned on one of my favorite blogs by Leigh at Tales From Blogaritaville. Leigh was sent a gift of all kinds of bulap and burlap bags that were pre printed with names of coffee, rice, etc…What to do with all these bags??? My quick and easy wall art project was mentioned along with a few others at this site as well.

Here is just two of the projects at the DIY Show Off. How cute are these coasters?

Hirondelle Rustique

is the creator of these quick sew coasters.

This pillow is cute too…… See La *T* Da. for details on this pillow.

So hurry and check out the The DIY Show Off because there are lots more really cute and clever projects for you to look at there! Hurry! Go!