"Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum"

They say everyone marches to the beat of their own drum. If that is indeed the case, ^this is my kind of drum! It's a drum, it's a lamp, it's a coffee table! It can't decide on just one thing to be, so it's all three. Sounds like a perfect metaphor for my personality. lol 

We had this old bass drum for the kids to play with when I taught preschool at Honeytree. When we decided it was time to close our doors, of course the drum had to come home with me. I knew that someday I would be inspired to do something really cool with it. So for almost five years, it has collected dust and spiders in my garage. When I pulled it out, it looked like this:

I don't know when or where it lost its other head, but I only needed one to make our table. I cut a circle from a piece of plywood and secured it inside the top edge with a few screws.

I used some scrap 2x2's to mount four wood fence post toppers inside the bottom. I'm skipping over that part because it was kind of complicated and I don't have pics to help with the explanation. If you reeeeally want to know how I did it, leave a comment asking about it and I'll get back to you. I attached a light socket to the 2x2's and painted everything black. Once the paint dried I put the head back on and plugged it in. 

In Aurora, band doesn't begin until sixth grade, but my son Michael has been a percussionist at heart since he started going to early morning practice and spending time around marching band kids with me when he was three years old. He now shares a townhouse with two classmates who were in the drumline with him. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect home for this!  

I have a whole TOWER of drums in my garage now,

just waiting to be made into something cool. I see 

another coffee table, an end table, and maybe even 

a couple of hanging lights! Of course I'll let you know 

how they turn out.

One more band-related item....

It's time for the Aurora Bands' annual Halloween Carnival and Chili Supper. The bands have hosted these festivities since the 1920's! Mom and I have cooked the chili and some scrumptious beef barley soup for the past 7 or 8 years, but this year I passed the ladle on to those who still have children in band. Since I didn't have to do all that shopping, chopping, and stirring, I painted a sign! One of the boys brought me a four foot by eight foot sheet of plywood. That's a BIG sign!

Now I'm ready for my chili!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time....

I Actually Have a Written Recipe!

Today is my grandmother's birthday! I knew exactly what to do for her. She and Grandpa love the glazed pecans I make each fall, so I prettied up an empty Starbuck's bottle, filled it up, and delivered it this afternoon. Of course, I didn't want to cause problems -- those two are very protective of their sweets -- so I gave Grandpa his own bottle! (But his isn't as pretty!)

I'll start with the recipe first, so you'll have something yummy to snack on while you "cutify" your bottles. I don't normally use recipes. I throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and most of the time it's edible. But I did start with a recipe for the glazed pecans. Of course I tweaked it a little (I tweak just about everything I touch!) and this is what I ended up with....  

How cool is THAT ^ ?! That is a photo of the pecans I glazed, and my handwriting in a computer font!

This recipe is SO easy! It's good with almonds and walnuts, too, but pecans are my favorite. The original recipe calls for only three cups of pecans, but there is plenty of sugar on them even if I use more than four cups. 

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Now on to the cute packaging.... 

I started with a strip of white cardstock 5.5 inches wide and punched one edge using the EK Flower Burst Large Edger

Then I flipped over the strip and punched the other edge, creating three full flowers and part of a fourth.

Next I inked the edges a bit and ran the strip thru my Xyron to thoroughly cover the back with adhesive.

I ran a kraft paper scallop circle and a single punched flower through, also. The flowers on the strip didn't match up when I wrapped them around the bottle, so I came up with a plan. (AKA embellishment!)

I adhered the stip of flowers to the bottle. Since there were only three, the ends didn't meet. That's what the circle and the extra flower are for!

I layered first the scalloped circle, then the flower over the gap, covering the ends of the flower strip, and topped it all off with a bit of twine and a big blue button in the center of the flower. The fact that the twine will help hold down any edges that might pop loose is a bonus.

Here is another look at the finished bottle: 

The "Happy Birthday" is from Perfectly Penned by Stampin' Up! and I used the Apothecary Accents Framelits to cut the tag. (I trimmed off one end.) I also punched a scalloped circle from white cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug in a swirly embossing folder before adhering it to the lid. 

So...what does Grandpa's bottle look like? I camouflaged it so he could hide it from Grandma!

However, you'll be glad to know, they were sharing very nicely when I left!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

As for the rest of you, thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow is my last day of early morning band and Saturday is the last competition of the season, so I hope to be around a little more frequently again! See you next week!

Introducing the New Baby!

I admit it. I am neglectful. It has been over two weeks since my last post. I'm sorry my dear little blog. I've been so busy trying to take care of your new sibling that I haven't spent the time with you that you truly deserve. 

Don't worry folks! I'm almost 48 years old with two boys, 23 and 20, and there are no living breathing siblings on the horizon. However, I DO have a "new baby" here in www land. I opened an Etsy shop! 

I know.... One would think that working with the marching band, serving on the school board, keeping up with the booth at Uncle Doc's, and tending to this blog, along with all the extra odds and ends I find myself doing would be enough. *big eye roll* I have known for a while that an Ebay or Etsy store would be the best way for me to sell some of the things I love to make, but I just never took the leap. 

A couple of weeks ago I sent a Manilla Envelope Mini Album and a Wedding Mini Album to my sister in law, Amy, who lives in Los Angeles. She called to tell me that several people saw the albums and wanted to know how they could order from me! Eeek! So I hurriedly studied the pros and cons of Ebay and Etsy and decided that Etsy sounded like a better fit for me. Now, not only can I take orders, I can take payment with a credit card! (Insert "oohs" and "aahs" here!) 

There's a lot to absorb and it's a bit overwhelming, but I am officially an online seller! As of this moment, I only have two items in my store, but I have pictures ready to post for several others. I will have mini albums, wedding invitations, hand-crafted cards and stationery, and maybe eventually some pre-made scrapbook pages. If you would like to pop over and check it out, my address is etsy.com/shop/personallycreated. I still need to set up some areas of my shop, like the "policies" and "about" pages, but I figure that can wait until marching season ends next Saturday.

I tried something else new last night. I joined a Linky Party! Sounds fun, right? I've seen them before and never played along, but this one was on a blog that I really like called Heartwarming Vintage. I posted a picture of a card I made using some of their stamps. Now when someone looks at my card they will be directed to my blog. I'm linked to that blog. Clever, huh?

Ok. Time for me to get back to other things. I'm going to put some more items in my shop and make something cool to share with you. Hopefully I'll be back VERY soon! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!