Soda Can Wrap

You can go to any store and buy a plain

foam koozie to keep your drink cold but Southern Gurls need a fabulous koozie with bling. Isn't that just the cutest thing you have ever seen? The first one I made didn't cover the bottom and there's nothing I hate more than a drink dripping on you so I made my second one so it will absorb the drips. I cut 2 pieces of fabric 10" x 5 3/4" and 1 piece of fun foam 8 1/2" x 3 1/2". I duct taped the fun foam ends together. I sewed the top (10") pieces together using a 1/4" seam allowance, opened it up and sewed the sides (5 3/4") together using a 5/8" seam allowance.

Insert one end of the fabric through the fun foam and pull the other side of the fabric down and over the foam, keeping the foam at the top seam. Now sew a seam just under the foam, this will keep the foam in place. Turn the ends under 1/4" and sew closed, then hand baste the bottom edges together. I placed a can in the koozie and used E6000 to glue the black boa on at the bottom. I was about to use my hot glue gun but I thought the glue would crack and break so I used E6000 because it is a flexible glue. It took me less than 30 minutes to make this koozie and I will be making more, my next one will be zebra stripes with a red boa....fabulous.

Barbie Apron

I saw the cutest Barbie apron at brassyapple.blogspot.com and decided to make one for my grand daughter and niece. I made a full apron just like the one I saw but I know the girls will have trouble putting it on the Barbie by their self so I decided to make half aprons with velcro in the back. Now Barbie and her friends can bake and not get their pretty little dress dirty.

Circus Apron

The June challenge at Tie One On was to make a Circus Apron, so here is my lovely assistant Amy and my circus apron. The bottom red and white stripe is made to look like the circus tent and the top resembles the high wire act costumes the gurls wear. It is machine washable, line dry with sequins at the waist and key hole opening. There is velcro on the back of the halter neck line and a satin red ribbon that runs across the front and ties in the back. I would like to say Thank You to my lovely assistant for posing in the apron for me, Thanks Amy. The contest ends August 1st so wish me Good Luck.

Teenager Hard of Hearing

The FedEx man came to our front door and we heard him knocking so my first thought is, why didn't he ring the door bell? Well, the door bell is broke so I need to add it to our list of things to fix. I just painted the front door and jam and was scratching items off the to do list and now here I am adding to it. I decided to put a note up until we fix it.......

Door Bell Out of Order

Teenager Hard of Hearing

Please Knock Hard

What do you think? I think it says it all.

My Cow-Gurl Hat

When I bought this hat it had a black band around it but that was just to darn plain for me, so I cut the black band off and added my own touches. I wrapped some scrap white nylon fabric around the top and curled the edges by holding it over a flame. It's hard to see in the picture but there is a string of beads peeking out from under the nylon fabric. Then I added two nylon curled flowers and there you have it, my new Cow-Gurl hat. It's so hot down here in Texas I think I'll put on my new hat and head on over to the saloon for one of those Southern Gurl drinks, see y'all.

Clay Horseshoe

I am having so much fun playing with clay and its so easy. I bought a pasta machine for clay, assorted small colors of clay and since you can paint it I bought a big white brick of clay. Knead your clay and make it thin enough to run through the pasta machine. I crumpled up some foil and then opened it back up and pressed it onto my clay, that gives it wrinkles or as I prefer to call it character. Now I took some dark brown acrylic paint and smeared it all over the top with my finger pushing it down into the character lines. Immediately with a wet paper towel wipe off the excess paint. I used E6000 to add the jewels

and cross after I baked it. The second horseshoe I pressed the studs into the clay and pushed a paper clip through the top for a hole before I baked it. I will be adding beads to the second horseshoe as soon as I make the beads. For the beads I will be using some transparent clay, I haven't worked with it yet but I've done some research on it and it sure looks like fun. I think I'll add a touch of glitter to them also for some southern gurl sparkle.

Growth Chart

When I was young my parents marked our growth on the back of a sliding door and I loved going back and looking at those marks. Well they sold the house and the marks now belong to someone else, so I make growth charts for the kids in the family so the charts can follow the family's from house to house. Each child gets their own at 1 year old and I personalize each one. My sister works for a printing company so I get the chart free...thanks Terri, then I add my own touches. For Emily I sewed a green ribbon down the front as a vine, I added flowers and jewels and then more jewels. I glue the flowers on with E6000 because I was hot gluing them on and they would start to fall off after a while and we can't have that. I stick to flowers and butterflies for the girls but for the boys I might go with a sports theme or train and train tracks. All you need is a black permanent marker and your ready to go, I mean grow!

Quote Cube

What do you do with leftover pieces of a

4x4? Make Quote Cubes of course silly! My hubby cut the 4x4 into squares, the wood starts out as a 4x4 and then is sent through a planer so you need to measure it because it isn't exactly 4x4. I put some brown acrylic paint in a bowl and added a smidge of water so it was more like a paint wash and then I sponged it on. After it was dry I spread some Modge Podge on the top and added the quote I printed onto scrapbook paper. Spread some Modge Podge on top of the paper and then down the sides about half ways and let dry. Flip the cube over and Modge Podge the bottom and up the sides and

let dry. Now you can add jewels, buttons or just about anything with hot glue. Did you say you only have a 2x4? That's OK, just cut it down and use it, maybe cut different sizes and put sticker letters on them to spell out your name.

Fairy Mushroom

I'm trying to catch a glimpse of the fairies

that play in my garden in the back yard but I

haven't had seen one yet. I thought if I make some mushrooms maybe they will come out to play, so here is my first one. It could also be table decor for a Alice in Wonderland Tea Party....what a fabulous idea! I used baking clay and just molded the base by hand, I ran the top through a pasta machine, cut a circle, pressed dots of white clay on top, molded it onto the base and bake. Note to self, wash your hands after working with red, the base has a tint of red to it. I sanded some of the red tint off and added a coat of clear. I'm off to see if the fairies approve, tootles.

Camp Fire Stories

When I was young our family had a huge

tent that we camped in and this is where my love of camping started. We had a Coleman stove, camp fires and we would explore all day long, if you got hot you just jumped in the lake. At night you would think it was so hot you couldn't sleep but after a whole day of exploring we slept like rocks. When my kids were young I bought a tent and we would go camping every weekend we could get away. I'm a little older now and we have a travel trailer but that doesn't mean we

sit in the trailer all day, I just sleep better. My nephew and I took a hike this past weekend and as soon as we got down the road we got a brief shower of rain. Really, it felt pretty good because there isn't much of a breeze in the woods. Now I had to sneak this hike in because that boy is a fishing nut. He even missed the camp fire at night so he could fish. He came back, had a snack and straight to bed so he can get up early and fish. I know its 90 degrees outside but I want to relax next to a campfire, how else do you burn marshmallows?

Days of The Creation

Our Vacation Bible school theme is The Creation. On the second day God created the sky (a blue felt board) and divided the waters (I found a bouncy ball that looks like a globe of water). On the third day God gathered the water into one place and created land (I will put green stickers on the ball), and plants and trees. On the forth day God gave us the sun and moon to separate the night and day. On the sixth day God created beasts of the earth and mankind in his own image. I like the idea of a felt board creation so the kids can have a hands on experience and it can be used for Sunday School also.

Recycled Popcorn Tin

Have you ever received one of those popcorn tins for Christmas, the ones with cheesy, buttery, caramel popcorn? Makes you hungry doesn't it? Well enough about the popcorn, what do you do with the cute tin it comes in? I've had one of these tins for a few years, moving it to keep it out of my way but trying to figure out what to do with it. I have also been recycling soda cans and throwing them in an old bucket I sat next to the counter in the kitchen (not shabby chic). So I took the tin, spray painted it and let it dry. I then decoupaged the whole tin with ribbon on the top and bottom. There you go, a recycled tin for recycled cans (tres chic).