Your Little Birdie: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Heirloom Party

Another blogger is hosting a blog party and I invited myself! This one is an Heirloom party where bloggers can share family items they have received that have been passed down. I have 3 items that I love....

These are my husband's grandmother's Bibles. The top one must have been her everyday Bible until she passed away because it has writings inside, church bulletins, prayer lists and lots of little notes. The cover is cross stitched by her as well.

The rifle hanging in the middle of the pictures belonged to my grandfather. He was a man's man who did a little hunting and a lot of fishing.

The final piece was my great grandmother's sewing machine. The machine stopped working and the wooden top was warped, so I refinished it a few years ago. It is by far my favorite piece of furniture in my home. My grandmother had the biggest and longest ivy in the world, so it houses an ivy for her.

Thanks for partying with me. You can see more heirlooms here.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Homemade Notepads

I made personalized notepads this morning with my digital scrapbooking software and sent them to Vista Print to have them printed on a notepad. It was lots of fun and MUCH cheaper than the notepads I had looked at online.

I really wanted one with my daughter's name so that I could put notes on it for school or church and not have to sign her name or sign it Abby Lu's Mom. This will work perfectly.

I also made a set with my family's name. The notepads are approximately 4" x 6" tall. A pad on Vistaprint is $12.98 plus shipping. Love it!

If you are interested in a notepad for yourself or your family, email me. I'll be happy to play and make something fun for you!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Birthday Garland

I found cute birthday garland on Etsy.com after seeing some displayed on another blog. I thought I could make it cheaper. It turned out it cost me about the same as it was being sold for, but I did get to personalize it. Here are the directions to make your own....

These are the supplies you need- chipboard (found at any scrapbook store), decorative paper to cover the chipboard, sponge of ink (I used color box brand), solid paper, ribbon, a hole punch, scissors and glue. I bought all of these at Archiver's scrapbook store for just under $30.

The chipboard came in a 6x6 size and already had 2 holes punched in it. It's original purpose is a scrapbook refill packet. You could find chipboard in any shape and would need 1 piece for each of your letters. I took the sponged pink ink and ran it along the chipboard edges. This ensures that your trim is pink and not the grey brown color.

The next step is to glue your decorative paper onto one side of each of the 13 chipboard squares.

Next, turn the board upside down and hole punch the paper to match the holes in the chipboard.

Next, you want to make your letters. I went into Microsoft Word and picked a bunch of different fonts. I then blew them up and changed the font to a shadow to save ink. Print out the letters and cut them out.

You then want to cut the letters out on your colored paper. I am a sloppy tracer, so I turned the white paper backward and then traced it onto the turquoise paper. That means that any pencil marks will be on the backside of the letter and not seen on the finished product.

Glue the colored letters onto the chipboard squares. Make them straight or crooked! Now you need to string them onto your ribbon. I used 5 yards of ribbon for my 13 6x6 squares.

I tied knots on the backside of each hole as I strung them to ensure the letters stay put and then you are done!

Voila! You have fun and personal garland for your next party or home decor project.

A couple of things to note:

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas have the same number of letters.... you could make one garland and make it 2 sided.
This could easily display a child's name and hang year round in their room or be used as "Congratulations" or "Welcome" as party decor.
You could save money by using 12x12 paper and cutting it to size or cutting cardboard from old boxes instead of chipboard from the scrapbook store.

Have fun creating your garland!

August 2009 Desktop

Each month your little birdie will be posting calendar desktops. These are perfect to have on your computer as your main "start screen" background. Just click on the image to enlarge it. Right click and select "set as desktop background". You'll always have a calendar handy!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mrs. Beach's Apple Pie

The smell of apple pie is lingering in my house for the first time ever....

I'll admit making pie scares me. I've always avoided it sticking to cakes, cookies and bars. My friend Meg blogged recently about making her mother in law's easy apple pie, so I gave it a try tonight and it really was easy. Here is the recipe in case pie scares you too!

Apple Pie

5-6 granny smith apples

3/4 c. white sugar

2 T. cinnamon

2 refrigerated pie crusts

butter

Preheat oven to 425. Peel and thinly slice apples. Place in large bowl. Add sugar and cinnamon to apples and mix by hand. Spray pie crust with Pam. Roll out crust and lay inside pie pan. Press to remove any air pockets. Add apple mixture. Place a couple of pats of butter on apple mixture. Add second crust on top and press to close edges of pie. Slice top crust a couple of times, add a few more pats of butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Remove from oven and cover edges of pie with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 375. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Friday, July 17, 2009

I Heart Etsy

A friend recently commented on facebook that she had discovered etsy and my husband sent his condolences on the loss of his money to her husband. Ha! I could search and buy on this site all day long. Sometimes, I don't buy things, but get great ideas. Here are two recent ones:

I totally plan to make one of these very soon! How cute is this "Happy Birthday" banner! It is simply scrpabook paper attached to chipboard with letters cut out and attached. It is fully assembled via ribbon and then can be hung. I just love it! Look for pictures of one soon!

Since I don't sew, I bought this one instead of trying to make it. It is a fun take on the old school plastic rings on a rod toy we all had growing up. I love anything cupcake related so it is just perfect for me and my daughter.

In case you haven't shopped etsy before, it is much like ebay but is new handmade items or vintage items. It has wonderful gifts, handmade baby things and lots of jewlery. Check it out- support a crafty gal or get creative!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Make your Workspace Fun!

Oh how I love Hobby Lobby! Last night I spent a little time in this new found aisle of goodness. I have a confession to make- I am an office supply junkie. The large catalog of binder clips, colored pens, and fun file folders at my office is my own personal monthly shopping spree. I am sure the office supply budget was raised when I was hired.

So I found this cute and inexpensive line at Hobby Lobby of trendy themed office supplies and I wanted to buy everything they had. I refrained.... a little. Just look at this stuff!

This is just the aqua and lime stuff. They also have a blue and brown section, pink and orange and even some red, black and cream. I love love it all!

I don't remember a single item being over $10! I spend more awake time in my office at work than any other room and I have no problem spending money to make it a room I enjoy being in. I encourage you to do the same!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Rug Switch-a-Roo

This is my daughter's nursery. We have a large red rug on the floor in her room. I have used this rug in the living room of our old house and in the loft in that house as well. It was a steal of a deal at IKEA more than 5 years ago.

It is too big for the room and was consistently bunching up and posing a tripping hazard. So, I recently bought a smaller pink rug at Pottery Barn Kids.

Here is the new rug. It is amazing to me what a difference a new rug can make. The room looks bigger and lighter.

We moved the red rug to my bedroom and it changed that room completely.

So, play with the rugs in your home. See what free changes you can make to the rooms in your house.

Monday, July 6, 2009

I am "A" and he is "M"

I bought these inexpensive letters at Kohls and hung them above our respective nightstands. I think they make a great touch. I seem to always lean toward letters, quotes, and saying around the house as wall decor. It drives my husband mad!

Check out another way to decorate about your nightstand with letters here.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

Welcome Kelly's Korner readers! Your Little Birdie is excited to have you visit. The birdie's nest has lots of recipes, simple inexpensive crafts, and throws a party every now and then! Check out the links on the right to find out more!

The breakfast link includes more favorite- baby shower brunch ideas, homemade granola, peach blueberry muffins, and my favorite "meaty" breakfast casserole.

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If you have had brunch at my house or attended this cute baby shower, you've had my favorite Cinnamon French Toast Bake. This recipe won money in a Pillsbury Bake Off contest a few years ago. It is to die for!

The crux of the recipe is canned cinnamon rolls cut into 8 pieces.... 2 cans of cinnamon rolls!

This is the "bake" before it goes into the oven. How can you resist cinnamon rolls, pecans, butter, whipping cream, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon?

Here is the finished product.... yummy!

To make your own Cinnamon French Toast Bake, click here.
If you find a way to make it low fat, please let me know!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Shopping the Square in Georgetown

I took the opportunity today to walk around The Square in Georgetown. I have had a couple of friends tell me about cute things they have bought in stores around this area and wanted an excuse to go north and get a McAlister's Sweet Tea.

Along with cute shops on the square, there were 3 fabulous shops on Austin just before the courthouse. I found this awesome necklace at Wonderful Things. It is elastic and made of soft balls of clay. Perfect for my daughter to chew on, pull, and play with!

The store really was filled with wonderful things- dips, fancy serving pieces, Vera Bradley, Tyler candles and unique jewelry. Next door was a cute kids store that monograms everything on site! The third store was antiques with some of the cutest displays I've ever seen. They had an entire collection of old stopwatches and used Scrabble tiles to display the word "tick". Really fun stuff!

Next time you are in a small town, check out the stores along the town's square. You are likely to find a treasure!

Your Little Birdie

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