Recent Posts

Bird Seed Ornaments (for outdoor use)

Bird Seed Ornaments (for outdoor use)

Our family loves to watch birds – especially in the winter. Invite feathered friends to your home by making these easy bird seed ornaments. It’s also another great activity for the kids. I found this recipe on a cute blog called saltwater-kids. Here’s what you’ll […]

Paper Spheres

Paper Spheres

Rather than throwing out all those Christmas cards, here’s an idea for upcycling them into beautiful paper spheres. I paid $3 at a local thrift shop for this collection of Christmas cards. I was so proud of myself for not buying new and recycling these […]

Favorite On-The-Go Smoothie

Favorite On-The-Go Smoothie

Now that January’s here and we’re all trying to get a little more healthy I thought I’d share my favorite smoothie recipe. I make it for a meal-on-the-go or for “desert” after supper. Its a great way to sneak raw greens into your diet. My […]

How to Make a Chair Cozy

How to Make a Chair Cozy

Chair cozies are a simple sewing project and an affordable way to give your dining room a whole new look.  They can be made to fit any style dining chair, even those with arms. I made them for my dining chairs a few years ago […]

Furniture Befores and Afters

Furniture Befores and Afters

With the Hope Christmas Show and all our own Christmas preparations behind us,  we thought we’d share  some of the furniture pieces we made over for the show. I found this chair at a yard sale this summer. What caught my eye was the concentric […]

Upcycled Christmas balls

Upcycled Christmas balls

I’m always on the lookout for crafts that my grade-school age children and I can do together.  This is a simple, fun activity to upcycle those inexpensive Christmas balls that you probably already have laying around the house.  If not, local thrift stores should have […]

Hope Christmas Craft Market

Hope Christmas Craft Market

Debra and I are so excited to once again be a part of the annual Hope Christmas Craft Market in Hope, NJ. We will be back on the stage in the old Community Center. Besides over 200 crafters, there’s also various antique shops, restaurants, strolling […]

Upcycled Picture Frame Trays

Upcycled Picture Frame Trays

Elizabeth and I are busy, busy, busy  getting ready for the Hope Christmas Craft Market held each year in Hope, NJ, during the first weekend in December. One of my projects has been to upcycle old metal frames into trays and chalkboards.  I  picked several […]

Fall Mantel

Fall Mantel

I’ve been waiting for the bittersweet to bloom along the roadsides to change my mantel from “summer” to “fall”.  I haven’t been in a rush and life has been too full  to bother much with the mantel.  Mantels can be difficult to decorate and mine […]

Homemade Peanut-Free Energy Bars

Homemade Peanut-Free Energy Bars

Due to several severe peanut allergies in the schools, our district has become a “peanut-free zone”.  As a mom of kids who could eat peanut butter and jelly literally every day, this posed a bit of a problem.  But, once we adapted to the idea […]