I have been working on this wreath for a long time now. It was in an almost finished stage for too long to admit to, but no more! It is finally finished & ready for me to shoot some great pics of it & list it in my Etsy shop The Paper Snail.
 It is made from scraps of an old romance novel & vintage comic books. Each scrap is dipped in glue than inserted in the straw wreath form over & over & over. It is an idea I adapted from a fabric wreath I saw online. I plan on starting another soon & I will post the project in steps. Blessings!

Today I was feeling a bit homesick for my hometown,Yakima (it happens) & I decided to drive across town to our Albertson's store. This weird out of date grocery store, for too many reasons to explain, reminds me of YAK & my folks, my youth & my Grandparents. We stepped inside the store & the smell of fried chicken, baked goods & burnt coffee blended perfectly with the golden oldies being played throughout the store. The boy & I looked at every hula hoop, bottle of bubbles & huge bouncy ball they had. It worked...♥


(Yakima is known for it's delicious Cherries. This sweet vintage cherries image is graciously free to use from thegraphicsfairy.blogspot.com)

  I adore old text and paper. I combined my love of paper and Victorian images in these prints. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do making them♥

 "What's for dinner tonight?"  The eternal question, eh? I try to plan our family's meals around what's on sale, local healthy & of course what we enjoy eating. My husband is a vegetarian (no meat at all even fish, but he will eat eggs) so after 10 plus years of marriage I have become a whiz at meals that are vegetarian for him yet have some meat for our son & I.
 By default, most of our meals are meatless, but I feel this is a healthier, less expensive & a ecologically sounder way to eat. Vegetarian spaghetti, chili, nachos, fajitas & veggies on the grill, are favorites around here but there are nights when the kid and I want something meaty like turkey meatloaf or grilled chicken breast.
 For night such as these, I will make a main meat dish, a starch (potato, rice etc) and a veg (salad, steamed broccoli, green beans etc). Then for my veggie hubs I make an alternative to the meat protein. Tofu cutlets, grilled tempeh, frozen chicken"less" nuggets & the like). The starch & veggie part of the meal is great for him and for us meat eaters. 
 So..what's for dinner tognight???


 From Rachel Ray ( made by: ME above!)

Ingredients

TipUse zucchini instead of eggplant.

• 1 large eggplant (about 1 3/4 pounds), cut lengthwise into 8 slices
• Salt and pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup store-bought pesto
• 2 1/2 cups bread crumbs
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
• 1 cup store-bought marinara sauce

Directions

1. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. In a wide, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and 4 tablespoons pesto. Pour the bread crumbs onto a large plate. Dip each eggplant slice into the egg mixture, then coat with the bread crumbs.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees ;. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook the eggplant until golden, 2 minutes on each side, using the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. Transfer the eggplant to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet.
3. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta and 3 tablespoons pecorino-romano; season with salt and pepper. Spread 1 tablespoon of the remaining pesto on each eggplant slice and top with about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture. Roll up each slice. Bake until the eggplant is tender when pierced with a toothpick, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the marinara sauce to a simmer. Serve the roll-ups with the sauce and remaining pecorino.

    


  Every year about this time, I start dreaming of the Beach & summer Vacations. I am wanting to bring some of that feel & capture a bit of the fleeting Season. Creamy color combinations, natural textures, nautical prints & images all play a part in this look. here's to creating the perfect Summer Beach decor!

Gearing up for Summer (on a budget, of course!)

 We are quickly approaching Summer and time for all things outdoors. For our little Family this means, cook outs, camping, even longer evening walks, festivals, fairs and vacations. We really try to get as much enjoyment as we can from the Season.
  More than ever, all of the things we love to do will be on a tight budget. This means hitting up every free outdoor concert and family activity.

 In our area, the Parks and Recreation Dept. is the go-to source for all things free & family orientated. The public library is another great source for fun with Summer reading programs for both kids and adults, Family activities and oh yeah...FREE books, movies and music.


 We love having B.B.Q's with our friends and extended family and the cheapest, easiest and by far tastiest way to do this is to have potlucks. We always have the best mix of dishes, desserts and drinks. This is by far easier than the host doing all the work. Because WHO wants to spend the entire dinner party in the kitchen?!?
 I can never say enough good things about walking as a Family activity. It's FREE, you bond with your loved ones and you get to really see and experience your neighborhood or town.
 Vacation and camping are the bulk of where our "Summer" budget is spent. But you better believe we do it as frugally as possible! We research, plan and scheme during the dark, Winter months about our get-aways. Then book campsites, yurts, cabins, plane tickets etc. sometimes a year in advance in order to get the best rates.
 I realize this is more future planning than a lot of folks can manage but we have found that if make it a priority at the beginning of each year to sit down with the new years calender and our income tax return- that the extra bit of planning goes a long way to stretching our reserves.

 Here's to hoping you are dreaming  up all the ways you can to make your Summer fun and frugal.
Have fun...you know we will!

 I have a new obsession with crepe paper. I have seen it used in some really fab looking paper projects & finally decided to give it a go. First I have to say that I have only ever used crepe paper for party decorating & had forgotten how inexpensive it is. I paid less than a dollar for a big roll at my favorite local craft store (The Paper Zone). There were many colors to chose from and I picked black and a deep red.
 I wanted to make a banner from oval shapes cut from paper and embellish the oval shapes with pleated crepe paper. As usual, I had a "vision" of what I wanted this fancy banner  to look like.I nearly made the mark on this one, which is not always the case.
  I then created an image from three of the literally thousands of free images from The Graphics Fairy. I chose a French frame and with my computers software stretched to an oval shape then added a bee then a royal crown for a "queen Bee" effect. I printed it out onto stiff paper and cut it out. Then came the really fun part, I flipped the image over and started pleating the black crepe paper and gluing it to the queen bee image as I worked around.  Since this was my first time with this craft, the last one I made looked much better than the first as I got the hang of the pleating process.
 When I was done working with the crepe paper, I flipped the piece over right side and glued it to a "flower" made from hearts cut from an old chemistry text book. I am planning on punching holes at the tops of the "flowers" then threading them onto white hemp twine to create the banner.
   I found working with crepe paper to be a bit tricky but I am learning and above all enjoying this new medium.