Tag Archives: crafts

Black Friday Freebie

Happy day after Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.  My celebration this year was on the smaller side.  We have had to cut it down the last couple of years because my dogs don’t behave well with so many people in the house.  We were a total of 12 this year and it seemed to work out fine.  We visited, ate well, and watched the New York Jets get their butts kicked by the NE Patriots!

The food was great.  My most recent Cravebox was full of things for Thanksgiving and believe me I used them yesterday. Every year I like to try something new as a side dish.  My dish this year was mashed cauliflower.  I was surprised – it wasn’t bad.  I am told I should substitute this for mashed potatoes to save on carbs, I might have to start doing that.

Black Friday officially started yesterday at 8 pm.  I find that Christmas is creeping up the calendar every year.  While I love Christmas and the holiday season as much as the next person, I don’t like having it shoved in my face the day after Halloween.  For that and other reasons, I never do Black Friday – especially when it now starts on Thanksgiving.  What used to be a holiday where you celebrated family and were thankful for what you had – you are now gobbling down your meal so you can be in line when the stores open at 8.  The whole idea of that just bothers me.  Christmas isn’t Christmas anymore.

OK – I will get down of the soapbox.  I may protest Black Friday, but that doesn’t mean I am going to give up on Christmas…  Instead of shopping, I decided to create.  I made a FB cover to celebrate Christmas – I liked it enough to turn it into a FB quick page.  There are two in the file one with “From My Family to Yours” and one without!  I hope you like it – enjoy the rest of your weekend! Download file here

Organizing Life & Other Ideas…

One of my resolutions for 2012 was to try to be my organized.  I am sorry to admit that I am not very organized at all.  I try to be, but I usually fail miserably.  I think that Pinterest is going to help me with that.

Organizing ideas - using a pegboard

I have found so many great ideas on how to organize everything.  This weekend, I put a couple of those ideas to work.  Below I bought a pegboard from a nearby chain hardware store.  The whole piece cost $15.  What you see here is about 1/3 of it.  The rest will find a use in another room, or possibly the garage.  I was able to remove a lot of clutter from my desk.  This has made it easier to find things when I need them.  Yeah.  I also feel more productive when I can find the desktop.  Previously I (accidentally – still learning this blog stuff) posted a picture of my new folder organizer – a dish drainer.  It is such a great idea and I had one that I had bought, but was too small to hold the amount of dishes it needed to hold.  Yes I keep everything, just visit my basement sometime…

Another idea for re-purposing items, is to make a purse out of a place mat.  I got the idea from my sister in law.  You really do not need to have much sewing knowledge to to this.  It is so easy a beginner can do this without a problem.

Place mat Purses

Here is a picture of 2 that I made.  All you need is one place mat for each – I bought mine a Target and they were maybe $1/each.  Some coordinating ribbon and handles –  I bought mine at Joanne’s Fabrics but any craft store probably carries these.  Stitch on the ribbon, or fuse it, your choice.  Sew up the sides, add the handles and you have a purse.  You of course can get more fancy and add things, pockets, etc.  But for a beginner, this is an easy project as is…

Enjoy! – Michelle