Archives for March 2010

Wednesday’s Wowzers: Are You Ready for Spring or What?!

March 31, 2010 4 Comments

Spring is on its way, baby! At least that's what today felt like in Colorado. Never mind that the foot of snow we got last week is still melting and we'll probably get more. Today, I want to relish in my 77 degrees of sunshine!!

Now, on to the wowzers of the week. On your marks, get set... Here's a bit of Easter and a bit of everything else!

If you haven't already checked out this adorable Peeps banner by Dana at Made, go now! I am totally in love. So fuzzy and cute. And yes, I have been craving Peeps ever since I saw this banner! This could be one of my last-minute Easter projects!

I was truly in awe when I saw all of the darling denim ideas at Lucky Star Lane. This picture doesn't show all of them, so you'll have to check it out! I kind of wish I had an old pair of stone-washed jeans from the 80's... I think I will start wishing my jeans will wear out sooner. I have a plethora of ideas now!

If you don't have Easter baskets yet, then head over to Bird Crafts. You can find a downloadable pattern for this foam "basket in a flash." What a cute idea! And it doesn't take a sewing machine. 🙂 Wouldn't these be fun to make with your kids before an Easter egg hunt?! Kind of like decorating a Valentines box!

This Colors book has been everywhere in blogging land! And I keep thinking about it! I want to do a "Numbers" version or even "ABC" version. I definitely need to start stocking up on my rickrack!! Go to Everyday Celebration to find out more.

I have seen A LOT of Easter egg projects, but this epsom egg from Domestically Speaking is so unique. It looks exquisite.

I saw these cute fabric bags at Minutes to Spare. I really want to make one! I love the coordinating fabrics. There is also a link to the pattern so you can download it and make your own. Darling!

Last but not least, I have been searching for a new wreath for my door, and I may have to make my own version of this yarn wreath at The Scrap Shoppe. Don't you just love the flowers?!

Happy Easter!

Filed Under: wowzers

Happy Birthday Banner ~ Manly Version

March 30, 2010 4 Comments

I just had to share this little birthday banner I made last week. My Dad is a busy stake president and had several meetings on his birthday night. So my Mom and sister and I snuck over and decorated his office door and left him several of his favorite treats before he got there. He was very surprised!

I did everything on the cricut using the Storybook cartridge for the shape and Doodletype for the letters. I wanted it to be simple and not too cutsie... don't you love how the ribbon ties it all together?

I know, I know... I am banner obsessed. I am currently trying to decide on what kind of spring banner to make for my mantel. So many options... so little time. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by... Happy Tuesday!

Filed Under: banner, birthday

I {Heart} Craigslist!

March 30, 2010 3 Comments

I love Craigslist.

And we seem to have a particularly good selection where we live. So we definitely take advantage of it! We purchased every part of my son's bedroom from Craigslist. And we also made some friends along the way...

We became friends with some Craigslist sellers, and they just happen to have a son about a year older than mine. Now, instead of listing their ADORABLE baby items for sale... they just call us up. They know we'll want their name-brand clothes and designer furniture, and we save them a lot of hassles. I have not had to buy a single item of clothes for my son in over a year. I almost feel guilty. But she enjoys the spending, and I enjoy the saving, and we both enjoy the same items! (Sometimes I wish she would sell her clothes too--I would take them!)

Anyway, our friends called us up and told us they were getting rid of this amazing bed, so we traded out our old, standard honey maple crib and changing table for this beauty. I should have done before and after pictures so you could see the complete transformation. But the old shabby crib is taking up space in my garage!

I am in love with this new bed! Why?

* I can ditch the changing table because this one has a changing table built in.

* I love the drawers and hidden shelves in the back corner for storage.

* I adore the cherry finish. And it goes so well with his bedding!

* I love that it can convert to a toddler bed, day bed, or the headboard for a standard bed. This is multi-purposing at its best.

The only problem--if you can call it that--is that now I need new bedroom furniture to match this gorgeous cherry finish! So I guess I just found a reason to redecorate!! 🙂 As you can see, my little monkey is lovin his new bed, too. No matter how hard he tries, he can't jump out of it.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

100% Scrappy Bunny Applique

March 29, 2010 22 Comments

I am proud to say that this very boyish bunny applique is 100% scrappy. I threw this together last week when I realized, with surprise, how quickly Easter is coming up! I knew my son needed something cute to wear! And this is how it turned out:

Like it? Want to know how I made it?? Well, here's a little tutorial for ya!

Using my scraps, I cut the shapes I needed for the bunny face. The scraps I had leftover from last week's hooded bear towel were actually a gold mine!! I used them for the ears, nose, and eyes. They really added a lot of texture. If you're wondering why the odd half-circle shape for the ears, let me show you:

I know this is a terrible pic, but I planned to fold each side of the shape to form an ear like so.

This is how I envisioned the whole face would look. Now I just needed to cut wonder-under to adhere each piece to my fabric and sew it on!

I found the only shirt my son has without some kind of graphics. It may not be perfect, but it works. Totally boyish, and that's what I was going for. I know I have mentioned this before, but I feel the need to dress my son ULTRA boyish because people still ask if he is a girl.

Anyway, I sewed around the whole face. I secured pieces of ribbon UNDER the nose for the whiskers. I burned the edges of the ribbon so they wouldn't fray. I thought about sewing the whiskers down, but decided not to in the end. I liked that it adds a big of dimension to the shirt.

This was the tricky part for me! I sewed along the folds of my ears. For some reason, I had issues with this part because my machine kept getting stuck. This would probably look totally cute with ribbon around the edges, too.

Then I sewed those ears on, and Operation Bunny Shirt was complete! I love the lopsided ears. Of course I had to try it on my son right then and there, but he would not hold still. Trying to photograph him was like trying to hit a moving target!

Oh well! I love how it turned out. He'll be sporting this all weekend long. 🙂

Linking up to these fabulous linking parties:

DIY Show-off and the DIY Show-off Blog

Just Something I Whipped up Monday at The Girl Creative

Make It For Monday at Cottage Instincts

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple

Easter Link Party at Custom Piy Designs

Made By You Mondays at Skip to My Lou

Market Yourself Mondays at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Making the World Cuter Monday At Making the World Cuter

It's So Very Creative at It's So Very Cheri

Tot Tuesday at Delicious Ambiguity

Toot Your Horn Tuesday at A Silly Little Sparrow

Sew Cute Tuesday at The Creative Itch

Lucky Star Linky At Lucky Star Lane

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia

Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Plant a Punkin Seed Blog Party at Punkin Seed Productions

Get Inspired at Sew Dang Cute

Filed Under: applique, Easter, holidays, sewing

A Bit About Me

March 26, 2010 5 Comments

Today I am participating in:

So welcome, new friends and old friends!! I thought this might be a good time for you to get to know me a little bit better...

This is me and my little buddy:

Kind of a random pic. {We were on the carousel at Disneyland.} But we are 2 peas in a pod. I craft while he sleeps. When he's awake, we play. It's a pretty sweet deal.

This is me and hubs. We have been married for 2 1/2 years. He travels A TON so we miss him a lot.

I went to school here:

I taught first grade for 4 years in Utah. It was a blast, and I miss it so much!! But it trained me for my most important job ever--being a mom!

Now we live here:

And this just happens to be home for me. This is where I grew up, so I am a happy camper to be back.

The weirdest thing about me is....

I have no sense of smell. Don't know why that is. But it hasn't affected me too drastically other than I have a paranoia about going into public and worrying that my son has a poopy diaper and people will judge me as an unfit mother!

On a crafty note:

What I do... Make things for my son. Make and do anything festive... I love a good celebration! Bake. Sew. Plan family activities. Make things pretty. Anything that helps me get and stay organized. Photoshop and learning more about photography. Designing documents digitally (have you checked out my downloads?). My cricut is my new best friend. And yes, I've joined the burlap fan club.

What I don't do... Make cards and scrapbook. I know, I know. I should not even call myself a crafter on that basis. But all of the cutting and gluing and little details is tedious for me. I live in a small apartment and could be moving at any time, so decorating is not really an option for me right now. I have always known this was temporary and we could get shipped out soon, so I don't spend too much time decorating or buying furniture. At least for now. Someday that will change!! And it will be an exciting day. 🙂

So do you feel like you know me a bit better now??

Thanks for following Oopsey Daisy!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Winner, Winner!

March 25, 2010 8 Comments

Thank you for entering my Happy Hundred Give-away!!

I have a winner... I used Random Integer Generator, and #24 was the winning comment!

Who is #24?! Celeste. I couldn't help but chuckle at that. Yes, those of you who know me... this is my sister!! But she won this fair and square. My 2 sisters and several personal friends entered this drawing... but there was no bias here. I swear! Complete luck of the draw.

Congratulations, sis! You'll be winning 1 of these cute little guys:

My next give-away will be at the 200-follower mark.. or earlier... just because. We shall see! Thanks all of you for entering. I especially appreciated the feedback on what you enjoy about Oopsey Daisy. That was very helpful for me. So keep it coming!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

March 25, 2010 4 Comments

I have a real problem with sharp objects. Today I was simply peeling potatoes with a brand new peeler, and I took off a part of my finger! I know I need stitches, but for now, I am typing this with 3 band-aids typed around my very sore left index finger... so forgive me for any typos!!

But I am so excited to share one of my all-time favorite recipes with you!! Whenever I ask my husband what he'd like to eat during the week, he always says chicken caesar salad. You have got to try this one out. You will not be disappointed! Is your mouth watering yet??

Chicken Caesar Salad

5-6 chicken breasts

1 head of lettuce (I prefer Romaine)

1 loaf of fresh French bread or sour dough bread

1 bottle, Ken's Light Caesar dressing
1 bottle, Cardini's Caesar regular dressing
Fresh parmesan cheese
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Italian seasoning ~ to taste

Marinate chicken in Ken's Light Caesar dressing for at least 2 hours. Cook on Foreman grill. (I have tried broiling it, but I highly recommend using a grill. It turns out much more juicy!) Slice when cool.

Make croutons by cutting French bread or sour dough bread into 1-1.5 inch cubes. Make a puddle of olive oil on tray and then toss bread cubes into the oil. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and Italian seasoning. Bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes. Turn halfway through with a pancake turner. (You don't want to overcook these beauties! You just want to lightly toast them.)

Make the dressing by mixing 3 parts of Cardini's Caesar regular dressing with 1 part of Ken's Caesar light dressing. **You really have to use these specific brands... it makes the yummiest Caesar dressing!**

Build the salad like this:

1. Chopped lettuce

2. Sliced chicken

3. Freshly grated parmesan cheese.

4. Croutons.

5. Dressing.

Enjoy!

I am not even a huge salad fan, but this recipe is DELISH!! The croutons are my favorite part for sure. I could eat a whole tray full for dinner. If you try this out, let me know!!

Filed Under: recipes

Vinyl is Back!

March 24, 2010 2 Comments

LAST CHANCE: Enter my Happy Hundred Give-away by midnight tonight! Winner will be announced tomorrow.

It's been a while since I've done a vinyl project, so I decided to make this scripture tile for my Dad's birthday tomorrow. (Hope you're not reading this, Dad!) My Dad is a stake president, and this is his favorite scripture. I thought it might be a nice addition to his office.

However... I had a couple of problems:

1. I do not have any cricut tools, and I'm beginning to wish I did. Peeling off the tiny little pieces of vinyl is a pain! Those dots on the i... oh man! I need one of those scraping tools, and bad. I kept tearing and having to re-cut pieces. Do any of you with the scraping tool thingy find this to be essential?

2. I cut my vinyl on too low of a pressure setting, or maybe the needle is just getting dull. Either way, it was NOT peeling easily. All in all, this innocent-looking tile took me about 3 hours to finish!! Thank goodness my son took a long nap. What a sweetheart. He probably realized his Mom needed extra craft time!!

Not too shabby, right? I tried to keep it simple and clean cut for my Dad. Nothing too fancy. And now for convincing the hubs that I need some cricut tools!!

Filed Under: Cricut, vinyl

Wednesday’s Wowzers: Searching New Blogs

March 24, 2010 8 Comments

So this week, I really tried to search for ideas in new places. I searched the linky parties... I really wanted to find new blogs and support the new bloggers (like myself!). Because WOW, there is some serious talent out there.

Kelsey from Tattered & Inked is one of my new favorite bloggin' friends!! She created this Welcome sign out of an old cabinet. Can you believe it?! You definitely need to check out her blog. She has a seriously cute birds nest tutorial, also.

I am partial to The Tidy Nest for introducing me to the burlap flower. She made her own ribbon flower flip flops. I am lovin' these girly flip flops!! I can't wait to make over some of my old ones and have an excuse to buy new ones!!

Sometimes my favorite projects are the ones I can make with regular old stuff. You know what I mean? Dilly, Dally, and Flitter (love the name!) upcycled a notebook into something seriously cool. Check it out!!

Sew 4 Home is another new blog to me, as of this week. I will have to sharpen up my sewing skills for some of her cool projects. I can't get over this car floor mat! It makes playing with cars a lot more comfty!

Home Sweet Home used chalkboard paint in a different way... she created this handy-dandy weekly menu. This is something I would definitely use! You also need to check out her "bunny houses" that she made using sugar cookies. Perfect!

I am speechless at this next wowzer. I'm truly wowed. You won't believe what TOTEally Posh used to make this trendy wreath. I am in awe.

Last but not least... I stumbled across this Easter s'mores idea over at Recipe Zaar. I am already a huge sucker for s'mores, and now I can be festive with it, too. Score!

So there you have it.... more snippets of talent out there... thanks for stopping by!

P.S. My bloggin' friend Jen at Because I Can is having a give-away for reaching her 100-follower mark. Yay, Jen! Check it out here!

Filed Under: wowzers

Cute as a button! (Finally)

March 24, 2010 3 Comments

**I just realized that for many of the layouts, my original button was too large, so I have changed to a smaller size that should work better! Thanks for bearing with my LACK OF computer skills!**

Check out my sidebar! I finally have a button! I followed the amazing tutorial by Little Miss Crafty Pants. It took me all weekend to stumble through HTML codes and realize I was missing a quote mark and that's why it wouldn't work. I was pulling my hair out! I am definitely not a computer programmer. Ah well, it's done now. Check it out...

Feel free to grab one! Have a fabulous day!

Filed Under: blogging