Project Life

I have started doing Project Life.  I have only done January, but am looking forward to doing each month.

Memory Jars

Last year for Christmas I made probably about 24 Memory Jars. I have had really good feedback from everyone I gave them too and they all seem to love them and are enjoying capturing memories. The idea is taking little slips of paper and writing down a memory and stuffing them in the jar. At the end of the year, you and your loved ones pull them out to celebrate the end of the year and share in those moments were created throughout the year.

I found the idea on Pinterest, but it was just a plain jar with scraps of paper. I wanted it a little more personalized for the people I was giving them too. I looked through all my craft supplies and gathered paper, beads, stickers, tags, charms, ribbon, wire, clips, rubber stamps and anything else I could find for embellishments. I will say a scrapbooking roller adhesive saved me so much time and mess.  Like this one sold at Hobby Lobby.

Before wrapping I took miniature clothes pins and clipped together a bunch of little slips of paper that said things like: enjoying life, memories, celebrating, today..., and then just little clip art of hearts, snowflakes, tropical drinks with umbrellas, sea shells and so on - so that memories could be wrote on them, folded and stuffed in the jar.   I also clipped a little tag to a bundle of those slips that said:

The Memory Jar

A family gathering, an afternoon with a good friend, just a moment in the day that made you smile or feel good... memories that mean a great deal to us, but maybe get lost with the passage of time. The memory jar holds onto those memories for us. Throughout the year, write down just a few words about that special moment in time on a piece of paper and stick it in the jar. Then - this time next year - open the memory jar and pull out your special memories to enjoy with your loved ones.

You can download the slips and the tag that I used in my jars here:  Memory Jar Slips  and  Memory Jar Tags

They are a fun gift to make - easy and inexpensive. You can give them to not only family, but friends, teachers, neighbors, clergy, and so many others.

Dry Skin

Ever since moving to Colorado, my skin has issues with being dry and irritated. I mean I always have had dry and sensitive skin, but it is worse in western Colorado where it is very dry.  Add in that I am getting older and my skin is changing so I am going a little crazy.  I am can't stand spending so much money on lotion when I go through it so fast. Even though Aveeno does make it feel better and lasts longer than any of the lotions I have tried.

But I am thinking of breaking down and trying to make my own...I found a few recipes via pinterest that I might want to try so putting them here to remember...

Source: gardentherapy.ca via Darby on Pinterest

Source: organic-beauty-recipes.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: luckybeans.typepad.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: littlehouseinthesuburbs.com via Darby on Pinterest

Box of Sunshine

A good friend of ours was going through a down time and so we sent her a box of sunshine. I got the idea off of Pinterest. It came from this website: KatherineMarie.com   I like how they did it with the little tags, candy and such, but we weren't wanting to send bunches of candy although I love the idea of taking candy and just pulling out the yellow to give in the box.

So I took that idea and we did a box full of yellow bright sunny cheerful things for our friend.  In the polka dot tin was some gum,  little stickers, and a half circle notepad that had a lemon on the front.  In the little yellow and white cosmetic bag was a little white and yellow brush, goldish-yellow nail files and that bottle of lotion in the photos.  We found a little poem book with a cup of cheer on the front of it in the form of a teacup. The little book was all done in yellows.  It is under the dragonfly journal that is yellow with hot pink dragonflies on it. Also included were notecards and notepad with a bee, yellow duck scrubbie, the Love stone, yellow and white candle that smelled of summer time and sunshine,  little yellow bucket had face and feet masks, and more manicure set. We added yellow tissue, shredded crinkly paper, fabric ribbon, curly ribbon and bows.

It was really fun looking for yellow items. Most things we found in the dollar section at Michael's Arts and Crafts, Target and the Dollar Tree.

The Box of Sunshine did exactly what we intended - cheer up our friend and remind her how much we care about her.

Chalkboard Paint

Just a few things I like that have Chalkboard paint on them so you can write on it...

Source: anthropologie.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: casasugar.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: amymorby.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: jackiefo.blogspot.com via Darby on Pinterest

Valentine's Subway Art

This is subway art I created last year for Valentine's Day.


Click on it this image to get the image to download...

Memory Jars

These are something I created and gave as Christmas gifts this year. I saw the idea on of course Pinterest - even posted about it here. But I took it up a few notches in decorating the jars so they were more personalized.





 I inserted some little scraps of paper to write memories on and clipped them together with mini-plastic clothespins and added a little tag with this message:

The Memory Jar

Date night, a school play, a family gathering, a song on the radio ... memories that mean a great deal to us, but maybe get lost with the passage of time.  The memory jar holds onto those memories for us.  Throughout the year, write down just a few words about that special moment in time on a piece of paper and stick it in the jar.  Then - this time next year - open the memory jar and pull out your special memories to enjoy with your loved ones.

I am sure I will post them again next year at Christmas with pdf's of the note I included and the little papers. But for now just wanted to post a few of them as I loved making them so much. I made quite a few of them - all of them different.

EDIT - I have an updated post with more information on these here.

12 Tags of Christmas

I love Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas!

Source: timholtz.typepad.com via Darby on Pinterest

makes me want to sew

I have a sewing machine but haven't used it in about 10 years. But when I am on Pinterest - I always think about that I should break it out and make some of the wonderful things I see there.

Such as a few of these things...

Source: little-inspirations.blogspot.com via Darby on Pinterest

Source: skiptomylou.org via Darby on Pinterest

Source: thismamamakesstuff.com via Darby on Pinterest

Gratitude and Memories

Source: inchmark.squarespace.com via Darby on Pinterest

I really like this idea...it is to take and write down memories through out the year as they happen and then on New Years Eve read them. This came from a blog for that did it as a family project but I think just even for Michael and I - it would be fun. And something to be thankful for all those moments we had during the year.

I think it would make a good Christmas gift to make up little pieces of paper. I could do a graphic with it about memories with little lines. And then get a mason jar and maybe decorate a lid with some dangling tags off of it.

Valentine's Subway Art

Click on it this image to download a higher resolution printable image...

Popcorn

I made these popcorns as gifts for Christmas the last 2 years. They are always well received and requested.



Zesty Popcorn
1/2 cup unpopped popcorn
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups pretzels - optional
1 cup nuts - optional

Pop the popcorn. Place in a large bowl with pretzels and nuts if you are adding those (or 2 bowls if you don't have anything large enough to to place all the popcorn).

Combine butter, paprika, chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powder - stirring well. Pour over popped corn; stir to coat popcorn as evenly as possible. Turn mixture onto baking sheet. Sprinkle half the cheese on the popcorn. Bake at 250 degrees F for 20 minutes or until crispy; stirring once. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and toss to coat evenly. Let stand on baking sheet, stirring once or twice as mixture cools.

When thoroughly cool, store in airtight ziplock bags or container.

NOTES:
* I used butter but I am sure margarine would work also.
* My second batch of this I used Penzey's BBQ 3000 in place of the paprika and chili powder and it was even better. The first batch, as the recipe is above, was really good but the BBQ 3000 just gave it a little something extra.


Chocolate Popcorn with Nuts
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 1/2 cups nuts (last year I used just peanuts this year I added mixed nuts to it)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons coarse salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Take a rimmed large cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan or 2 smaller rimmed cookie sheets) and line it with tinfoil. Spray it with cooking spray. Pop the popcorn and place in a large bowl. Add the peanuts and set aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, butter, cocoa, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a gentle simmer, about 5 minutes.

Pour sugar mixture over popcorn and nuts; toss to coat. Keeping tossing even if it doesn't look like it is coating well. And even if you are having trouble getting it to coat "well" - it doesn't need to have chocolate on every bit of popcorn. It will be good no matter how the chocolate mixture coated the popcorn. Transfer to baking sheet. Bake until dry. Stirring every 20 minutes and cooking about 1 hour. Cool on sheet on wire racks. And then break apart into pieces. Store in airtight containers or ziplocks.



Butterscotch Popcorn
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups peanuts/mixed nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large cookie sheet (or 2) with tinfoil. Spray with cooking spray.

Pop the popcorn. Put nuts and popcorn in a very large bowl.

Bring brown sugar, corn syrup and butter to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butterscotch chips, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt until blended and smooth. It will foam up when you put in the baking soda - that is normal.

Working quickly and using two spoons, pour syrup over popcorn and nuts, stirring to coat thoroughly.

Pour mixture into pan; bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool mixture in pan about 15 minutes. Turn mixture out of pan onto foil to cool completely. Break popcorn into smaller pieces; store in airtight containers in cool dry place up to 2 weeks.

Print Friendly

Holiday Wreath 2010

Remember the garland wreath I posted back in November that I said I wanted to create. Well I did.

Okay so the main reason I wanted to create this wreath was because I can't have a wreath with any kind of glue on it - as anything hanging on my front door has the sun hit it and the sun melts it. Well...having a momentary brain lapse...I didn't quite think through that this wreath would have problems also. Any guesses what happened? Well I really don't need guesses as I am going to tell you. It melted. The mylar (assuming that is what garland is made out of) melted in the sun. It just kind of rolled up tight into itself. So this photo is thankfully a before photo. Although I should have probably taken an after photo too.

So backing up on how I made it....

I took a big embroidery hoop and wrapped garland around it. And then I took a smaller one and wrapped with the same garland. Looped some ribbon around each and then hung them so the little one was sitting in/on the larger one.

This photo is from the inside of my front door as the sun was so bright I couldn't get a good photo from outside without blinding myself - which should have given me a clue it was going to MELT! DUH!

Otherwise...I really liked this wreath. It was fun and festive. Very easy to create. And I still might make another for next year to hang in the dining room.

Overboard

Okay I am going to make a confession....that I wonder if other people do also....

I will get hooked on a little craft/art project and then end up buying a ton of supplies to make more of it but often don't. I have done this with the marble magnets, clothes pin magnets, note cards and gratitude notebooks. I have a ton of supplies for all those project yet it never fails I want to do something new. Or at least it takes me many years to come back to it as I will search through my stuff and go "oh yeah that was fun to make lets do that!"



* images of marble magnets I made several years ago

2 Holiday Wreaths

I like this DIY 5 minute garland wreath tutorial that Creature Comforts posted.

Our front door has southern exposure. And we even have sun(burn) spots on our door. It desperately needs to be repainted because of it. I have hung wreathes on it that I used a glue gun and the sun melts the glue and things fall off. I am not kidding. You will open the door and all the little ornaments...anything I glued will on the ground. It is highly annoying. So this wreath I could do without glue and I have all the materials on hand so I wouldn't have to buy anything. I think I will try to make a red flower on it though. I just still wonder how it will hold up under the sun's heat. But it is worth a shot so at least I can have something on the front door that looks festive for Christmas.

If I make it, I will post photos of how it turns out.

I also have another wreath I want to make to hang on the dividing wall between the kitchen and living room.



This is the Refurbished Christmas Ornament Wreath from The Little Apartment. And again I think I would have most materials on hand for it. I think it is just so pretty.

Outside just as Lovely as the Inside

I love the idea of packaging gifts in unique pretty ways. My problem is often I am rushed and don't get time to package things exactly how I wish. I try often though. And all these beautiful examples give me inspiration to try more often.



1. From Martha Stewart - using black and white images as gift toppers I think is such a great idea.

2. From Nice Package Blog - which is one of my favorite blogs! They used to be a shop when they first started the blog but sadly aren't anymore. But they do showcase and have several tutorials on gift wrapping ideas to make the package very pretty. The flower in the image is one of their tutorials. It is made from wax paper.

3. From BHG.com - This is a package of bread wrapped in saran but then set in coffee filters and wrapped with a ribbon. How easy!

4. From Martha Stewart - I like the linen with the frayed edges.

5. From Sweet Paul Magazine - Gifts wrapped in craft paper and then the toppers are buttons on wire, yarn pom-pom and vintage hat ornament glued on the package

6. From Nice Package Blog - paper pom poms tutorial

Book Review: Christmas in Minutes

Christmas in Minutes: Festive Crafts in Less Than an Hour by Carol Cox


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Product description from Amazon:

Who isn't busy during the holidays? Clear, concise instructions teamed with brilliant yet simple ideas make this new book a must-have for holiday crafters with little free time on their hands. Taking only five to fifty-five minutes to complete, each project can be fitted into a busy schedule. The 30 projects are arranged in sections according to the time required to complete them. For example, gift tags decorated with bay leaves and rosemary sprigs can be made in under 15 minutes. It takes only 30 minutes to make a calla lily centerpiece. Forty-five minutes is plenty of time to make door wreaths, a glimmering silver twig tree, or an elegant eucalyptus garland. Designs use simple and available materials (natural or artificial) such as pine cones, fruits, ribbons, cinnamon sticks and grapevine wreaths to give your home that handcrafted feel without a lot of work.

If you are intimidated by flower arranging or using flowers in your decorating, this book might be a good start. It has some simple projects to do in 15 to 45 minutes that look elegant and just perfect for the holidays. I am not going to say it is great book. It does have some good arrangements but some of them are also a little busy - to me. But for a start - I think it would be a good to even just read to get ideas.

Some of the projects...
Cally Lily Tree (on the cover)
Dried Apple Ring
Berry Heart Chairback
Festive Pinecone
Clove studded and carved limes
Leaf Wrapped Candles

Also how-to instructions on how to make a triple bow, dry fruit, make lime roses, moss rope and so on.

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Making the Perfect Christmas

Christmas: Making the Perfect Celebration by Carolyn BELL


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you want a complete guide that gives you ideas for food, entertaining, decorations, gift giving and crafts for the holiday season - this is the book for you. The book begins with a countdown to Christmas, with helpful tips on what to buy when, and which preparations should be done first. It includes a week-by-week countdown to help you plan and organize your Christmas shopping and cooking, plus a timetable for preparing food on Christmas Day and suggested holiday menus. I found the recipes and projects to range from simple to complex. There are projects on how to create a festive table setting, how to decorate your home with projects to make wreaths, garland and candles, how to make homemade ornaments to decorate your Christmas tree and how to create your own holiday cards and gift-wrap. It has a whole section of crafts to make with kids too. Their are menus and recipes for holiday dinners, vegetarian meals, party foods and buffet dishes. The recipes include several different stuffing recipes, sauces and preserves, desserts and treats, drinks and cocktails and edible gifts. There were some recipes that sounded delicious to me and others that I didn't sound appetizing to me at all. I really enjoyed the vegetarian meal selections. The book also included techniques on how to test cakes to see if they are done, how to make almond past and royal icing, how to stuff and roast a turkey, how to make a glaze and so on.

As I said it is a complete guide to Christmas...with over 200 recipes, 50 projects and 1400 color photographs.

Although I think the book was very well done and has so much to offer I didn't make notes while I had this checked out and I didn't create any of the crafts. I am not sure if that though was because I checked it out in the summer and wasn't yet really in the holiday planning stage. I do think it would be worth another look. I remember really enjoying the edible gifts recipes and many of the crafts.

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: The Art of Giving

The Art of Giving: Gift Ideas to Delight the Senses by Liezel Norval-Kruger


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is from description from publishers:

Gift giving is a universal custom, but in today's harried world many of us have moved away from the more considered and creative aspects of what should be a very personal act. It should be a gesture of love, friendship, celebration, acknowledgment, and thanks. The Art of Giving is filled with inspirational ideas and practical information for the discerning gift giver on how to achieve beautiful, artful, and thoughtful gifts.

Taste, smell, and touch are the pivotal chapters. They draw on our capacity to indulge ourselves and those we love through each particular sense. Each chapter is filled with ideas and tantalizing images, as well as practical information on how to create and present wonderful gifts. Another chapter, on wrapping, will show you how to achieve expert finishing touches and inspired solutions to the most awkward of gift shapes. From handcrafted soaps and homemade potpourri to beautifully wrapped candies and an entire picnic for two, the endless variety of ideas in this book offer something for everyone. Turn to the back of the book for recipes, templates, diagrams, labels, and other do-it-yourself essentials to tell you how to do it all. For anyone who wants to create and give gifts that are more expressive, meaningful, and heartfelt than something grabbed off the shelf or ordered over the phone, The Art of Giving offers a wealth of inspiration and practical advice.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the photos and the style of the gifts and ideas. The Art of Giving is filled with quite a lot of DIY gift ideas that are inexpensive, attractive and simple to make. Also this is a great book to find ideas for those on your gift list that are impossible to shop for people. The book I previously reviewed about green giving...was good but this book has better ideas that could be implemented with green options. Such as it has tubes covered with paper, photos or postcards. Or gifts wrapped in newspaper and then tied pretty ribbon that don't look cheap but look like it was wrapped professionally because the folds are so crisp and the ribbon perfect for it. Or gifts wrapped with felt and embroidery thread to do simple stitches to close it. All their examples were lovely and I can't wait to try some of them out this year for holiday giving.

The book includes recipes, craft and label templates and instructions in the back of the book also.

Some crafts and recipes I want to try and give....
Milk & Honey Bread
Infused Brandy
Fresh Feet Bath
Shoe Bags
Sewing Kits (that would be good for men or women)
Beaded Coasters
Hot Chocolate Cream

Plus MANY MANY more ideas. It is an inspirational book and one I would love to have on in my home to refer to often.

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Simply Green Giving

Simply Green Giving: Create Beautiful and Organic Wrappings, Tags, and Gifts from Everyday Materials by Danny Seo


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book better then the party book. Again I really enjoyed the photos/styling of this book. He really hits the concept to reduce, recycle and reuse over and over. Some nice ideas about reusing household items or getting items at thrift stores to repurpose to wrap your gifts, make handmade gifts and gift tags.

I enjoyed seeing him make bows from the scented perfume cards in magazines. He tore them out very carefully. And then opened up the scented edge. He cut 1/2-inch strips across the sheet, starting at the scented edge and stopping an inch from the end. Then you fold it up accordion style - neatly stacking the strips on top of each other. With a pair of sharp scissors take each strip and curl by pulling it over the blade. The quicker you pull it over the blade the curlier it will get. And then attach to gift. The colors and images on the bow turn into a bouquet of colorful ribbon.

He also used the same concept of curling ribbon by pulling VHS tape out of the plastic tape cassette. And he wrapped a wine bottle in newspaper leaving 5 inches extra on top and cut that into strips and curled also.

Some things I didn't feel looked great. He took an old string of christmas lights to tie around a package but I just didn't think it looked good. I believe it probably could have but I just don't feel it was styled right in the book. Something else I wasn't sure about was that he used the inside of silver foil part of potato chip bags to wrap gifts. He washed them of course and then wrapped so the silver was showing out. But I just wonder how someone would feel opening a gift wrapped in a potato chip bag? I guess if they knew you were going green maybe they would accept it but would they think you were weird? Does it matter to save the environment? I don't know. But I thought it was odd. It looked pretty in the book - just wasn't sure how someone would feel opening a gift wrapped in it.

Overall the book did give me ideas for wrapping and decorating gifts in more green ways. I think often people forget repurposing is a green option.

View all my reviews >>