Honey Love Bear A Tutorial

 Before you toss out that cute lil' bear honey jar....stop.

Hula girl saw the potential in  honey bear and I did too.
So I cleaned him up, hot water, soap and goo gone did the trick.






 Grab your favorite glitter, some Mod Podge and yep, Mr. honey bear all cleaned out and de-stickered.

Pour a small amount of Mod Podge inside of the bear, not a crazy amount because you will need to let
the excess run out before you glitter.

Roll him around and let the Mod Podge cover all of the inside surface.

Turn him over on a paper towel or I turned mine over in my trash can on some tossed out paper towels and let all the excess Mod Podge run out. Turn him a few times so it does not hide in the arms and face area.  Too much Mod Podge will prevent your glitter from showing from the outside.


Pour a good bit of glitter in, screw the cap back on and shake.
I glittered 3 or 4 times before all the surfaces were covered.  You can best tell this by looking inside
you will still see the white Mod Podge on the outside until it is completely dry.

I had to add a tad more Mod Podge to a few areas with a long brush and a tad more glitter.  I had a couple
of small spots with no glitter.  Be sure when you are applying the  Mod Podge and glitter that you
let it get in the arms, eyes and nose area really good, because that is hard to get to with a brush if you need to re-apply.

Once bear was completely dry ( this took 2 days) I added a pink felt heart to his belly.
For cuteness of course.

Cut a black circle from black card stock and trace the lid on it, cut on the line where you traced the lid creating a do-nut.
This circle will fit over the opening of bear with the lid off, this will be the rim of his top hat.
Save the piece that you cut out it will be a pattern later.

 Like so.

 Cut a length of felt that will wrap around the lid of the bottle this is the cylinder portion of the top hat. Mine was 7 inches by 2 inches, just be sure yours will fit your particular lid.  You will cut the excess off the top later when you put it on.  Lay this piece aside for now.

 Put the lid on.

 The piece that you cut out of the black card stock, cut a black felt circle that size.  Glue this to the top of the lid, the part that opens, this is the very top of the hat.

Now wrap the long black felt piece around the lid and glue it all the way around.
Cut the excess from the top.








































What a cute little gentleman don't ya think ..... and just in time for Valentine's Day.
You could really do lots of things with a cute little honey bear....don't toss those ever again.   Ever.

Pick One

Not since Twilight have I read a good series.
Which series should I read next ??

Instagram Weekly

1. My Grandma's button box, happy that it's mine now.
2. Just another fabulous thrift find.
3. Chloe's new shoes her current fave.
4. Daisy making a vet trip.
5. Homework station.  Happy polka dots.
6. My favorite necklaces and my Florida Gator dish.
7. A reading buddy.
8. Vintage sheets....goodness at it's best.
9. My Heart.

To Bake or Not To Bake

When I pinned this recipe a long time agoon Pinterest I wasn't quite sure how these would be.
I mean if you have had the No Bake Version of this cookie you know they are smacktastic, so I wasn't sure how baking them would work for me.
The recipe comes from HERE.
Or I'll post it here too:

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy, then beat in peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Stir in oats.

Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonful (or cookie scoop) onto lightly greased pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F -- don't over bake or the cookies will start to dry out.

Store in tightly closed container, makes 20-24 cookies.

Now for a vote.

Mr. JaneSays immediately with one bite said no way, these are nothing like the other ones so that was one NO !!

Chloe liked them she said,  The true sign is if she eats more than one.  We still have a few in our house and Chloe is the only one still eating them so I guess she is a YES !!

My mom and step-dad found them to be ok...so we'll call that 2 for YES !!

I found them to be a tad dry but I think that is because I kept comparing them to the ooey gooey goodness that is no baked.  Yum. On the other hand though I ate my fair share and found them to be better each day  that I ate one, so I guess they grew on me.  So I give them a YES !!

The Yeses have it so give them a try

OR  

you could always no bake em'

3/4 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 heaping Tbsp cocoa

1 1/2 cups quick oats

2 heaping Tbsp peanut butter

Add butter, milk cocoa and sugar to pot

Bring this to a full rolling boil for 1 1/2 minutes.

Don't skimp on that boiling time.

Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla, peanut butter and oats.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper and JUST try to wait.

I ALWAYS end up scraping them off the paper and eating them before they have hardened.

Enjoy !!

Dirty Lil' iPhone

Let me preface all this by saying I know this is not rocket science, I am just sharing cause this just tickled me.

Does your iPhone get nasty?
If you said no, you are lying.
iPhones get plain gross.
When I got my iPhone it came with a fresh new pet peeve....I can't have a dirty screen.

I don't recall if the iPhone came with a cleaning rag or not if it did mine is long dirty and long gone.
I have been using the rag that came with my laptop for some time now and well it's losing it's
cleaning gusto too, it just smears.

Once again The Dollar  Tree to the rescue.
$1 Eyeglass cleaning cloth. YES
Microfiber YES






























It was great too that the cloth was huge (for an iPhone)
So I cut it into sixths.
These should last me for a bit and just in case they don't you do know I purchased extra.
After being cut they are just about the size of the iPhone so I keep one in the pocket of my bag
with the phone and it's nice and handy.

I LOVE a clean iPhone.

You're Sweet and A-Maze-ing

I make Chloe's valentine's for a couple of reasons.
I don't really like store bought valentines, although the generic Target brand ones are VERY cute.
I love to create.
Chloe likes to give handmade valentines, but she likes to receive store bought ones funny I know, but true.

 A few days ago when I walked past a pack of tiny heart mazes at The Dollar Tree I turned to Chloe and said Valentines ??  You  know A-Maze-ing ???
She said yes, with one add-on.
"I want to give them candy too she said"

 Well thanks to Target for their appropriately colored candy corns Chloe gets her wish and her valentines can be sweet and a-maze-ing.

I created this Valentine in Photoshop and since I have oodles of 4x6 photo paper (you know the
kind that comes FREE with every printer) I printed them all out on 4x6 photo paper.









































And since they are Chloe's valentines, she gets to do some of the work.
She staples the candy on and sticks the heart mazes on by way glue dots ( the best way to attach those
short of gluing which you do not want to do).

I'd be happy to share Chloe's valentine image with you and I"ll even change the name on the bottom, just drop me a message

Instagram Weekly

 

...

1. McDonald's your new kid's meal french fry is so stinkin' cute.
2. Daisy caught napping with Chloe.  Daisy likes Chloe way more when she (Chloe) is sleeping.
3. Thrift find and no you may not have it.
4. Waiting on a Strep Test, it came back negative.
5. I have never noticed that my tea bags have cute little phrases on the tags.
6. Chloe HAD to have a squeegee at The Dollar Tree.  She insisted on calling him Mr. Squeegee so I made him a true Mister.
7. Chloe's  new chore ... folding towels.  She did a lovely job.  I am guilty of giving my child a chore I hate.
8. The sun is beautiful yet blinding on my morning drive.
9. Mini Boden.....LOVE.

Amusing

Do you like Disney ?
Do you like fashion ?
Do you like looking at fashion boards like the one above, they are all over Pinterest ?

If you answered Yes to all of the questions above then check out this tumblr page. 
It's described as the place were Disney Nerds and Fashion Geeks collide.

The board above is of course Jessie from the beloved Toy Story movies.  Cute huh ?

It's fun.
I get on it and find myself lost.

Felt Heart Garland Tutorial

With not a lot of free time to blog this week I thought it would be seasonally appropriate to do a re-post of the felt valentine garland tutorial.
It's easy it's fun and it's so pretty.
Enjoy !!!

I say this is MY felt heart garland because.....well they are everywhere.
After making my own I can see why.
It was easy....fun and it's so cute when it's done. This will last way past Valentine's Day for me.
I adore it....I do.

Early one morning I gathered my goodies and

my right hand lady Ms. Chloe and a garland making we go.

Cut loads and loads of felt hearts, it's helpful if you have some sort of die-cutter

and even more helpful if you have a right hand lady to operate it.

I love crafting trash...so pretty....even if the photo is grainy.

Now just feed those hearts under the presser foot and sew they hearts together.

It is really so therapeutic....the string of pretty hearts getting longer and longer the sewing machine making the job so easy...it just grabs each little heart and connects it to the next.

I can NEVER keep her out of felt or fabric scraps....she is after my own heart....really she it.

Eat your heart out.

Make you one....do it.

It is just so simple and such a lovely addition to your mantle Valentine's Day or not.

Make it with your kids....the time spent far succeeds the garland as lovely as it is.

Donuts and Pepsi

It's been one of those weeks

When kids get sick, man do they get sick.

We've had a roommate all week.

She would rather sleep on our floor than in her comfy bed

and truth be know I would rather her sleep on my floor too.

At what age do you stop feeling their forehead while they are sleeping, checking

for that evil fever.

She's laid around.

A lot.

A sure sign that my child does not feel good, because my child does NOT lie around.

She has watched a dozen movies.

I love Up and Where the Wild Things Are.

 She has ate whatever she wanted.

As long as she eats I don't care, even if it's donuts and a

Pepsi or three.

Advil Tylenol Advil Tylenol.

Wet, cool rags.

Feeling the forehead.

Adjusting the quilt 100 times.

Wiping the nose.

Listening to the deep LOUD cough.

Changing to short sleeves because she's hot and back

to long because she's cold.

Picking up meds.

Trips to the Dr.

It's gets exhausting.

Ready for this yucky to go away.

And she missed school all week too ....... nice.

Don't Miss This Post -- Valentine's Day Is Coming !!!

Banana Muffins - The Recipe

Some of you asked for the Banana Muffin Recipe.
This recipe is from Cookie Mondays.

I made this all pretty for you, you can print this page and put it right into your recipe book.
First save it to your computer then it should automatically print 8.5 x 11. You can resize it if need be.
Enjoy !

see ya'll

Cold Eggs and Butter

I have been waiting on these 4 lil' bananas on my counter to ripen all weekend.

Today was finally the day I could make the world's best banana muffins.

I was confronted with a small dilemma when I got out the recipe....it never occurred to  me

before but it says 2 eggs at room temp

and one stick (Wooo Hoooo) of butter at room temp.

I needed at room temp. eggs and butter ????

What do you do when you need to bake NOW and your eggs and butter are not at room temp ?

Why do they even need to be at room temp ?

Surely I can just do my baking with not quite room temp ingredients....can't I?

Turns out no, not really, well you shouldn't.

Not using room temp. eggs and butter can cause problems.

Who knew?

It gets really scientific...HERE is a great explanation.

Now I know it really shouldn't seem like rocket science as to how to quickly

get eggs and butter to near room temp.

But, I didn't think them not being at such a temp was a problem either so I decided that I better

do some research as to the BEST way to achieve room temp. in a hurry.

It would appear that it is best to plan your baking and set these goodies out in ample time.

I will say however I used cold eggs and pretty cold butter and my muffins are smacktastic as always.

So...I dont knnoooooowww (sing song voice)

see ya'll

Inside the ReFrEsHeD Studio

I promised you a few peeks at the studio after it's recent face lift.
Here goes........

Do you just love my little owl string and scissors holder ?
Me too, my mom found that cutie for  me.

Some of my Vintage goodies.
See the deer bookends.
Those came from my step-father's aunt's estate.
One of them had a broken tail, and it bothered my step-dad so.
One night while at our house, he took it home and said he wanted to try to fix it.
Well as you can see, he did.   And I bet you can't tell which one has been repaired.

Granny Square garland. This is pure candy.  Sweet as can be.

Can you guess what my  photos and other goodies are pinned to ?

The desk.



 Crystal see anything sweet in this photo (above) ?

Holy Vintage Sheets Batman.
These are just some I can't get rid of.

 Color makes me so happy.

More linens I can't part with and Chloe's box of goodies.
She used to have a much larger area in my studio and then my ... ahem.....stuff multiplied, so now she only has this tiny box.
She's ok with it.

It is so much more fun to create in a "new" studio.

see ya'll