Use Vinyl As Your Canvas!

Years ago I went to a thrift store and stocked up on old record. They were like a buck each. I walked away with some great records...like Thriller, some Elton John, the soundtrack to Hair, Todd Rundgren, and Pink Floyd. I also walked away with some records that I had no idea who the heck the artist was and did not have huge attachment to those. So, when you don't have a huge attachment to a particular record...turn it into jewelry! I made a bracelet but there is so much more you can do than just a bracelet. But, I love my record bracelet and wear it all the time. Now, I just need to find some of the colorful records. I remember having green and red records as a kid and would love to make a bracelet out of that! 

So, the birthday of a good friend was coming up. I was sitting on the couch and asked Jeff, "what can we get her...I should make something. What can I make."  We thought about it for a minute and then Jeff insisted that I make a record bracelet. Done!

It is so easy to do.  Supplies you need:

* Record

*Cookie Sheet

*Box cutter (and or heavy duty scissors)

*Ruler

*Something round to use as a mold, such as a Pledge can. :)

-Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

-Put your record on a large cookie sheet (I did not have a large cookie sheet so I made my own cookie sheet out of foil...it worked okay).

-Let the record sit in the oven until it starts to warp.

-Pull the record out...be careful it will be hot!

-Lay it on a nice hard surface. Take your ruler to measure a nice straight line. You can make the bracelet as wide or narrow you want. Use the box cutter to make your line. Some vinyl is very hard and difficult to cut with a box cutter. I find the box cutter does make a good scoring line if you press hard enough. You may need to use heavy duty scissors to cut on the line you scored. Or you can bend the record, at the point where you scored, back and forth until it comes apart.

-Pop the piece back in the oven to re-heat it. Leave it in there until it is pliable again, about 5 minutes or so. Don't leave it in there too long or it will ruin the vinyl. 

-Then, wrap it around something about the size of your wrist. For me, a pledge can works well.

-Ta DA! You have yourself a nifty little bracelet! 

If you want a tight fit, use a small jar. You can also cut off the ends for a more "cuff" look kind of like the one I made years back. 

Happy bracelet making!

Cheers!

Birthday Dinner

After my completely lazy Birthday day, we went to my parents house for happy hour and then to the Cowtown Diner for dinner.  I wanted to go to this place for dinner because it was featured on the Food Network for their 64 ounce chicken fried steak! This thing is 10,000 calories! Yikes! Needless to say, I did not have a 10 pound chicken fried steak from my birthday, rather, a half pound. My hubby had the same. I have a special place in my heart for chicken fried steak and so does he! 

One of the things that fascinated me the most about this place are the bacon wrapped and fried deviled eggs. They featured them on the Food Network too.  I LOVE deviled eggs so I had to give these special ones a try for my birthday! 

They were delish! 

The little one, aka my niece, had sliders. 

My chicken fried steak half eaten! 

My sister had chicken mac which was fantastic! 

After dinner we went back to my parents house for cake and presents! My sister and brother in law made this cake. They are awesome and it was sooo yummy! They made it from scratch too! German Chocolate, one of my favorite cakes.

My mother's cat, Harry, enjoyed helping to open gifts. 

Cheers! 

Happy Birthday To Me

I had a rather nice birthday weekend. First, I celebrated with a little fondue party on Saturday. Our good friends came over and the 4 of us went on a Central Market shopping spree to get ingredients and munchies for the party. Going to Central Market seems to be a tradition for me on my birthday. I don't really know why I gravitate towards there on my birthday but, it just seems right. I got the table all set up an ready to go before our friends arrived.

Then, when they arrived, I opened my gifts. But, there was a bit of a halt in my gift opening. See those candles on the table? Well, this is where I opened my gift. I sat the tissue paper right on top of one of the candles and of course it went in to a blazing inferno. So, I picked the tissue up with everyone yelling at me to go put it in the kitchen sink and turn the water on. I just stood there with a huge fire in my hands slowly thinking to myself how am I going to walk to the kitchen with fire in my hands without making it go up in flames even more and also most importantly, not setting myself a blaze!?! So, with my slow thinking and standing there with fire in my hands, of course they were still yelling at me. "Go to the sink! Go to the sink!" See, about 8 years ago, my sister inadvertently started a fire in our old apartment. It really was not her fault. She sat a brown paper bag on an electric oven burner and then Ficus set it a blaze by turning on the stove. He walked across the top of the stove and pushed one of the buttons to turn it on. Ficus was her cat...may that little mischief maker rest in peace! So, with the hot burner and the paper bag sitting on top of it...it caught the kitchen on fire. But, our friend Jess was there to save the day. This is the same Jess that was sitting on my living room couch yelling at me to go put the burning tissue paper in the sink. I had flashbacks of how he rescued my sister and our apartment from going up in flames. So, really, I was thinking...Jess is going take care of this. But, when I still had the inferno in my hands, I realized that I needed to move before I caught the whole house on fire.

So, I started walking at a brisk pace and much to my fear, the fire got worse. I think we all learned in elementary school how when you move with fire you create oxygen to fuel the fire. Yeah, then stop drop and roll came into mind because the tissue started to break off and fell onto my new (and very cute) shoes. So I started screaming "Jeff, I am on fire. Jeff, I am on fire!!" Have you ever looked down to see bright orange and yellow flames surrounding your feet? Well, I never had, not until Saturday. So, I immediately threw the burning tissue in the sink...and forgot to turn the water on so it continued to burn, but hey..I had a lot going on with being on fire and everything. I kicked my cute and flaming shoes off and was about to stop drop and roll. Then, Jeff running behind me, turned on the water in the kitchen sink and somehow after that the darn fire went out on my shoes and jeans. Fortunately not the shoes, jeans, or myself were injured! After I collected myself, we all started to roll on the floor laughing. Yes, It was a rather hilarious event when I look back on it. I only have a few burn marks to prove it! Too bad we did not get shots to post on the blog!

So anyhoo, back to the gift opening. After we regrouped. I opened my gift and it was a 5 piece turquoise fiestaware set to add to my collection!

Jeff was so sweet to me, as usual. He thoughtfully went to a local wine specialty shop and got me this fantastic wine aerator. I love it. It makes the wine have a more pure taste and it makes me feel fancy! He also got me a nice bottle of Pinot Nior and an insulated wine carrier from that has a bottle opener attached to it. We are going to take it with us on our honeymoon!

After all the fire excitement settled down we fon-do'ed it up. It was delicious!

Well, speaking of honeymoon, have I mentioned where we are going to honeymoon? We are going to Victoria, BC and I can't wait! It was Jeff's idea and I am pleasantly surprised. He found the greatest little B&B, Birds of A Feather. It is the neatest B&B I think I have ever seen. It is on a lagoon with a view of the Olympic Mountains. We have access to their canoes, bikes, and paddle boats and we have our own balcony! We are staying in the honeymoon suite. Eek, I can't wait! They have wireless Internet so I will be able to blog everyday. Jeff will love that, ha!

Cheers to the BIG 31!

Back In Business!!

Over the past week and a half I have come to appreciate a little something that I have regularly been taking for granted...the Internet. After several visits by service people from our lovely local cable company and a new modem...it seams that I once again have the ever beloved Internet connection. Yes, all the green dots on the modem are flashing which is such a wonderful feeling. For the past year we have battled a horrible Internet connection. However, you know how it goes...the minute you pick up the phone to call and complain and demand better service, "lows and behold" as my grandma would say...it starts working again. It is like the annoying fax machine at work...it malfunctions, you call the tech guy, he gets there and the machine works perfectly fine. Oh, and just like that pesky computer that freezes over and over again and you once again call the tech guy to come fix it and sure enough...it works just fine for him. I think you see my point. Machines have a mind of their own and will take every opportunity possible to make you look like a fool. Or, at least that has been my experience anyway. But this time I beat the machine and we got our Internet speed upgraded for free. :-) Oh how I have missed reading all my favorite blogs! I have so much catching up to do.

So, during this time of not having Internet I have been pretty busy! First of all on Wednesday Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's day because I was going to be out of town visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for the annual February birthdays. Jeff and I went out and had a nice dinner and then we went to see Coraline!It was great and I want to see it again! Stop motion is absolutely amazing.

After our Valentines date we came home and I started packing (for my 5:30 am roll out on Thursday) and finishing up last minute birthday and Valentine's day gifts. I FINALLY made marshmallows! For years I have wanted to do this but just never got around to it. So, for Valentine's day I decided that marshmallows would be the perfect gift. For my first try, they turned out pretty well and they are fantastic dipped in chocolate fondue...more on that later.

Oh, as for the p.j's I have been working on...did I ever mention that I sewed the button holes on the back side of the pants? Ugh. Lesson learned...never ever sew after a long day at work. EVERYTHING ends up wonky. I think that they are salvageable though, whew!

I also made soaps for my sister and mother for Valentine's day. I ordered a ton of fancy glycerin from From Nature With Love and also a dark chocolate fragrance oil. The order I placed arrived on Tuesday in just enough time to whip out some soap! The soap smells yummy. I thought chocolate and marshmallows would make a lovely Valentine's day gift. :-) I added cocoa powder to the soap for the speckled look.

For my mother and sister's birthday, I made them mason jar pin cushions. Every sewer needs a mason jar pin cushion. They are so happy and cute! I have some of the cutest dress form and thread print fabric. I have been looking for the perfect excuse to use it and I think this little project was it. I found this fabric with my sister in Batesville, Arkansas at the ol' Marshall Dry Goods last year.

For my mom, I needle felted a scarf which was project inspired by this book. There are so many great projects in this book!






















For my sister I took the same design concept and applied it to a different project in the book.

I was able to wrap up the "great felt food project" for Violet just in time to leave for the trip. I really love the way it turned out and it was so much fun to make. It is very time consuming but there is something very satisfying about it too. So, here are ALL the pictures, hang with me here for a sec. Ok, you saw the posting of the bread. Here is the rest of it:

Organic Turkey and American Cheese:


Swiss Cheese and Lettuce:


Pickles and Tomatoes:


Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayo and The Finished Product:

Oh and I made P.B.&J. too!

So, that is it for now. Stay tuned tomorrow for the blog on my vacation!

Cheers!