The Easiest Cookies Ever. PS-This is Not a Recipe

So let me tell you about the easiest cookies I've ever made.  It started with a cookbook (and technically a husband that's been unintentionally deprived of baked goods for a few months.)  This particular cookbook has my favorite lemon meringue pie recipe, and it was sitting on the kitchen counter for a few days.  I've been meaning to make the pie (for our annual homage to Pie Day), but it's an all day process and has to wait until the weekend. I asked my husband to look up the crust recipe to see if we had all the ingredients.  He then proceeded to flip through the cookie section, and after a few minutes started to rummage through the cabinets. "We have all the ingredients for this one."

Within an hour, we had freshly baked oatmeal cookies. 

They were delicious.


So, to recap, a deprived-of-baked-goods husband might bake you some cookies if you can "trick" them into looking through a cookbook. It never hurts to try, right?

Felted Ball Garland Tutorial

Last year, I shared this DIY on Heather's blog. It's been a while, so I thought I'd give it another round here on my blog. Enjoy!

You'll need:
Wool roving or batts
Felting Needle(s)
Foam
Large sewing needle
Embroidery Floss
Scissors

I'm a sucker for rainbows, and I'm longing for some Spring-y colors, so I chose lots of bright wool for my garland.

Decide how big you want to make the balls.  Keep in mind that you they can't be any wider than your sewing needle, otherwise you'll lose your needle in the ball as you thread them up. :)  Compact the wool in your hand to determine how much of the roving you'll need for the size balls you want. 

 You can go ahead and divide all of your wool into this amount if you want.  It certainly does not have to be exact.

Time to felt! Grab your felting needle and foam.

Keep your ball compacted, and carefully begin to shape it with your felting needle.  (If you've never needle felted before, here are some tips:  Always felt on top of some kind of foam. The needle will go through your wool, poking into the foam as you felt. Never look away and always be mindful of where your fingers are. These needles are sharp and barbed, folks. It hurts when you miss...)

 As you poke, the barbs are compacting the wool fibers.  So, turn the ball as you poke, making sure to cover the entire surface.  The more you felt, the smoother and less lumpy your balls will be. 

Voilà! Just a *few* more to go.



After you've felted to your heart's content, now decide what order you want to string up your balls.  To go with my rainbow wool, I thought it would be only fitting to use some rainbow embroidery floss.

The wool provides enough friction on the embroidery floss, so you shouldn't have to secure each ball in place. 

To finish off your garland, you can tie small loops at each end or leave the floss a little longer to wrap it around a nail, depending on where you will it. 

Hang it up and enjoy your wooly decor!

Let me know if you try this--I'd love to see pictures! You can share them on my facebook page. :)

A great weekend DIY for new jewelry!

You know how sometimes you see a DIY or get an idea for a project and you can't focus on anything else until the diy or project is done? Well, after I finished my felted pizza, I had another project already lined up.  My friend Holly, who blogs here, posted a super cute and easy diy for faceted stone stud earrings last week. I already had some Sculpey clay for another project that never happened, and I had some gold leaf, so this seemed like a no-brainer. I also saw a necklace on Etsy that I really liked last week that had faceted beads like these. So, I killed two birds with one stone.

Following her instructions, I made my faceted beads, and covered a few of them with gold leaf.  This was my first time working with oven-baked clay AND gold leaf, so I learned a few things.  For instance, don't laugh too hard with gold leaf flakes sitting in front of you, because, you know, they might become sparkling confetti.  The necklace that I liked had deep blue beads, so I used some acrylic paint to cover three beads.  I used mod podge to coat the gold leafed and the painted beads.  So far so good.  Hopefully they the mod podge will be durable enough.

Aren't they pretty!

Be sure to check out more of Holly's blog --she's got some great projects and recipes!!

52 Weeks of Felt Paintings - Week 5

I'm stretching the definition of a felt painting this week. They don't always have to have four sides like weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4, right? In the pile of felted canvases that my husband made, I found a triangle piece that looked very much like the shape and size of a slice of pizza.  Ha! The decision was made that very instant--felt pizza comin' right up!

I have to admit that I was ridiculously excited to make this pizza.  And I'm thrilled with the way it came out.

We usually eat our pizzas either loaded with veggies or with pineapple and hot pepper.  So, naturally, this one has veggies, too!  What's your favorite kind of pizza??