I Made This-The $20.00 Reading Nook

There was a sad little corner of our basement just waiting to be changed into something beautiful.

Inspired by an image from Domino Magazine from 2005, and one I saw in Molly Makes I gathered some things in my house and got busy. The goal was to use what I have spend as little as possible. We were also snowed in I had to get creative. No running out for supplies!

Price Breakdown:

1 large embroidery hoop     -$1.00 Goodwill Outlet
1 Round Mirror                 - $1.00 Garage Sale
2 white sheers                   -$2.00  Garage Sale
1 quilt                                -$3.00  Garage Sale
1 granny square
        crochet blanket         -$3.00  Garage Sale
2 Large Round Mirrors     $10.00 Michaels


Couch                                  Free from relative, from the "single girl in Dogtown days"
READ Letters                     Gift from friend for daughters room. The word she gave me was
                                             DREAM.
Wire to hang
curtains from ceiling            Bread bag ties

Flower heads                       Saved from gift packaging.

                                                                         The result!

 

This is the first thing of the year that I have ACTUALLY FINISHED. My goals this year are less Facebook, less Pinning and more FINISHING STUFF! So far so good!

 How are your New Years resolutions coming along?

L

Getting Ready For the New Year!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

I am so excited about the new year and creating new opportunities for myself. Read this and this today and have made several goals for myself.

1) Commit to this blog and post as much as I can
2) Create things and sell them to people.
3) Become more technically savvy and don't be scurd to try new things.
4) Be fearless!

I plan on doing some small craft shows in the area and blog about the journey of being a small business person.

Here is a SMALL idea vignette I created for myself. What can I say? I work visually. Lists don't always do it for me.

 

What IS all of that?

Check back and see!

What are your new years goals?

St. Louis Small Business-Elenore Kurtz-Scarlett and Maria

Today on the blog I am featuring small business owner Elanore Kurtz, owner of  Scarlett and Maria.

What do you make?

 

 I make folded fabric flower accessories called Kanzashi. Kanzashi is a traditional Japanese art similar to origami used to make the flower headdresses of the geishas. I have developed my own technique inspired by the tradition, modern fashion, and vintage color palettes. They are 75% upcycled fabrics and finished with vintage buttons.

 

 

 

 

This is my full time job. I sell on Etsy and attend every show I can. I did 31 craft shows last year. I am a work at home mom, so I'm working on my flowers every chance I get.

 

 

Why I do it is hard to explain. It's almost a compulsive need to create. I get very depressed working for someone else when it leaves me too worn out to create my art. It may even be considered an addiction since my work desk is the only place I ever want to be.

 

 

Also, it gives me an outlet for my button hoarding =) My true preferred method of expression is the performance art of the runway show. I hope that selling accessories will be a stepping stone towards putting on more shows like the two I put on for RAW: natural born artists. I also have my eye on creating more fine art (ie creating canvases that incorporate my flowers).

 

Contact information:  Eleanor Kurtz, missekurtz@gmail.com, http://www.scarlettandmaria.com, http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarlettandmaria, http://www.facebook.com/scarlettandmaria

Cheesy Chicken Crock Pot Quesadillas

More SNOW!

Who is ready for spring? *raise hand* I should be prepping my yard for spring. Yeah. Not happening anytime soon.

So, I am getting hyped up on expensive coffee brought to me by my neighbor Amy who has a french press (FANCY), power cleaning my house like a meth addict and making crock pot cheesy chicken enchiladas. I had a meeting at a Mexican restaurant this week and my friend Jenny gave me a taste of her chicken enchiladas. BEST I've ever had. I decided I could figure this recipe out. I found this recipe and modified it. Here is my version:

Cheesy Chicken Crock Pot Quesadillas

4 frozen chicken breasts

1 cup sour cream

1 16 oz. jar of salsa

1 Tablespoon taco seasoning

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup of water

Place ingredients in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 2-4 hours. I plan on making tortilla soup with the leftovers, later in the week.

Perfect for a snowy day, don't you think? What is your favorite crock pot recipe?

I MADE VALENTINES!

One day when I was pinning, I saw these ADORABLE Valentines and decided to do my own version.

Here are mine:

I ended up making these for The Boy, as The Girl wanted the stupid Walgreen's ones. Um, okay, but these are awesome. She did not care. *sigh*.

I also managed, even though I was getting over a little Flu thing that I would not wish on my worst enemy, (no I was not "sick and contagious" sick and cooking-gross ,just recovering, weak, felt like I had run over by a train) some chocolate covered strawberries.

 Next year I may try to pimp them out a little more, mixing up the chocolate, with white chocolate and/or nuts. They were easier to make than I thought, you just buy the melting chocolate, warm it up and dip the strawberries.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for reading!

L

Chocolate Bundles

Puff pastry is the best thing ever invented. You could wrap a dog turd in puff pastry and it would seem elegant and refined. You can wrap meat in puff pastry, cheese, veggies (but why ruin it?); you get the picture.

Today I'm going to wrap up some food of the angels, our old friend chocolate.

 I have had this recipe saved for 10 years and decided to finally try it. Here is the original recipe from Pepperidge Farm. It calls for chocolate chips and walnuts. Um, no thanks.

Here is my recipe:

Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
Candy bar of your choice (Oh, loook, I overbought, guess I'll be eating that extra one later)
Powdered Sugar and/or Chocolate Sauce.

Pan
Parchment Paper



Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Let the puff pastry thaw out for 40 minutes at room temperature.

Then wrap like this:

Bake for 20 minutes. COVER with chocolate sauce and/or powdered sugar.
It's a buttery, chocolaty pocket of love.

...and there ya go.. YUM. I decided to lose the chocolate sauce and/or powdered sugar and just cut the sweetness a little with some ice cream. WHOOP!
 This one is mine. Now you go make your own! ;)
(Leave a comment)

Friday I'll be showing off the Valentines I made for my Boy.
L

Down With The Sickness

So Influenza B (I can't even be Type A when I'm sick! Go figure) showed up at my house last Wednesday. Kids had a late start day, and The Boy was feeling bad, ate his breakfast, went back to bed. What kid does that? Decided to keep him home and had him on my lap, he coughed a few times in my face....And it was on.

By 4:00 The Boy was back in bed, I was on the couch three layers of clothes, two blankets (one electric), shivering like I was gonna die. Body aches so bad it hurt to walk across the room and fetch ice water for myself or take care of my little patient. This mess (for the both of us) continued up until Sunday. SUNDAY. And I still don't feel awesome.

... And no I didn't get a flu shot. Every time I get a flu shot I get sick. I'll be getting one next year.

THE GOOD NEWS IS....I lost five pounds.  Silver Lining, people. Gotta stay positive.

Didn't get much blogging done but managed to day to try something I was thinking about while down with my disabling disorder.

Little ice cream pin cushions, made with mini flower pots, Styrofoam balls (inside) and fleece wrapped around, secured with hot glue. I love these! I hop you do to.

Wednesday I'm making a 3 ingredient (easy and chocolaty) dessert for Valentine's Day. See you then!

L