Fun & Fancy Composition Books

Here's a creative and easy way to make those boring black and white composition books pretty and fun! I use them for my morning Scripture journals or travel journals, but you could use them for anything...

First, pick out some coordinating papers for the front and back covers. I also pick some to go under the Bible verses or quotes I put on the front.

1. Lay the cover open on top of the corner edge of the back side of your cover paper and mark the bottom edge with a pencil and the side edge halfway through the black tape seam.

2. Cut it out with scissors or paper cutter. Round edge corners and glue onto cover.

3. You can add mini brads to corners and washi tape to the seam to help it stay anchored.

Add any embellishments you want to the front.

If you want to add a ribbon bookmark, cut a length of coordinating ribbon. Staple and tape to the back cover.

I put some tape over the staple inside

Then repeat steps 1-3 with the back cover.

There are so many ways you can make these unique to your personality or purpose.

Seed Album

I found an idea for organizing seed packets in a mini album on One Hundred Dollars a Month.  It was such a fantastic idea that I ran up to the store and bought one right away!

But I really didn’t like the blue glitter. I took out the front and back panels and made new ones out of totally adorable farm scrapbook paper. Much better!

I added my garden plans to the first page…

Then I added general when/where of planting sections…

It’s pretty fat with all of the seeds still in the packets, but it will thin out once everything is planted…

I will still have all of my planting/thinning/harvesting directions. But best of all, I will be able to remember what I planted this year for next year and can slip in notes about what I thought/learned about each one. I always think I’ll remember but never do…

Egg Carton Art

After we got chickens, my super talented sister painted me this egg carton…

It was too cute to use! But after all this time of just admiring it I realized it was just too cute not to use!

I turned to my handy-dandy scanner/printer. What would I do without that thing??? I scanned a copy of it. Put in into a Word doc, made it 3” tall and 10.25” across. Copied a second one and saved it.

Then I printed it onto 8 1/2 X 11” label paper. You can buy it on Ebay HERE.

All I had to do was cut them out and stick them on top of new blank egg cartons I bought at the feed store for 40 cents each.

The hardest part was getting the back off the sticker without ruining it! ;o)

I simply love the way they turned out! Now I have two for my fridge and two for my sweet friend who buys my eggs every month!

What I Gave For Christmas

This year I made a few gifts.  Some turned out great, others… well. Some were very simple and some were not. But I love giving handmade gifts! It’s so rewarding to know you made something that the recipient will love!

 Cocoa snowmen hostess gifts

glitter animal ornaments

Ladybug tea wreath

clip-on earring frame

spiced cider (mulling spices, handmade cider and tea infuser)

bacon popcorn cans (directions HERE)

our Hawaii quilt for my hubby

But my favorite handmade gift I gave this year was the fox stole I made for my sister! Now I want one!!!

This pattern I found on Pinterest from Prudent Baby.

Did you give or receive any handmade gifts this Christmas???

Fancy Boots Makeover

When I found these boots at The Bins (aka Goodwill Outlet) almost 2 years ago, I was so excited! They were just was this farmer needed to feel pretty while out working in the garden or mucking out chicken poop!

But after nearly 2 years of real work, they don’t look nearly so snazzy. In fact they look kinda sad, tired and worn out.

So I decided it was time for a  makeover. I found a pair of boots that someone covered with duct tape and looked so cute and fun, I decided to give it a try. Honestly, I probably could have bought a new pair of cute used boots for the price of all that fancy tape. But it wouldn’t have been nearly as crafty and I wouldn’t have gotten to finish them all in one sitting if I hadn’t been watching “27 Dresses” completely uninterrupted (yes, it did take that long to completely cover both boots with little strips of tape). Teenage boys leave you alone when they know you’re watching a chick flick in the other room. ;o)

We’ll see how they hold up to the test of real farm work, but they do look super cute on my feet and sitting by our back door!

Drinking Jar

I LOVE my new drinking jar! It’s practical, unique and oh-so-country-cute!

All you need for this project is a wide-mouth canning jar and a grommet punch. Oh, and a drill with some really BIG bits! (I used a 1/2” bit for my grommet hole)

I drilled two holes in my jar lid, one small and one large. But I think it would still work with just the larger hole for the straw.

I would have taken pics of the drilling process but it wasn’t pretty and I’m sure any one of you could come up with something a little more efficient.

Then you just use your grommet punch set to attach the grommets in the lid.

My 1 1/2 pint-sized jars are my favorite for this but  any wide-mouth jar would work. You could even do a half-gallon Super Big Gulp jar, but you’d have to acquire MUCH longer straws! :o)

I love the way it looks with fresh strawberry lemonade in it! (I was enjoying it too much to take a picture of it! Maybe I’ll take one next time…)

Kitchen Curtain

I bought this adorable fabric a while back when we were vacationing at Cannon Beach.

I finally decided they would make charming curtains for the kitchen.

  I was right! It gives the kitchen window a warmer look. I also love the cheery and encouraging phrases… “Greet the day with a song!”  “Hey good lookin’ what you got cookin’?” and my favorite “If we were meant to pop out of bed, we’d all sleep in toasters.” :o)

  Now I have to decide what to do with the fabric I have left???

Dish Crafts

Somehow despite my aversion to washing dishes by hand, I seem to have gotten myself in a pickle. My new pots and my new favorite dishes are BOTH hand wash only! I now find myself with dishpan hands (no, I don’t use Palmolive…), and a perpetual stack of drying dishes on my counter. Hence, I also have a perpetual puddle of water on my counter.

I could use a dish rack but they are so bulky and unattractive and take up a bunch of space in a cupboard or on the counter. So I had to come up with a solution that was both practical and cute…

I had just the thing in my stash! A set of very fun vintage prints from my friend Becky (yes, the one who made my new kitchen quilt). And with a couple of bathroom hand towels that I never use, I soon had exactly what I needed! (and some bonus items, too)

Two dish drying towels and two coordinating appliquéd tea towels.

 

I love the binding with the ric rac accent!

I also took the remaining fabric and made a matching apron! I am so trying to get into the habit of wearing an apron while working in the kitchen. It’s both stylish and practical…

You can’t see them in the picture, but there are two little pleats in the center of the apron.

I’ve been using the towels to dry dishes on for a few days now and they work great! All I do is hang them to dry after I put the dishes away and they are all ready for the next load…

I’m saving the cute one for when we have company! :o)