Before I get to today’s post, I want to give you a heads up about next week. My friend, Ronnie, had an ingenious idea for a new feature. On March 31st, she challenged me to help her create a dish with what she had on hand in her pantry and refrigerator. She gave me a list of four items and asked for a menu idea. She said, “… just use your experience and wealth of knowledge to come up with a plan.” She’s right, with all of us doing our best to STAY HOME, shop less and use what we have, this is the perfect time for such a challenge.

So yeah, challenge accepted!

On Monday I will share what Ronnie’s items were, what I suggested she make with them, and exactly how she could go about doing that. I’ll also share the photos of her process and her finished dish and exactly how she did go about doing it.

Between now and then, if you would like to send me a Pantry/Refrigerator Challenge – PLEASE DO!

Please shoot me an email at [email protected] with a list of what you have on hand and I will come up with a plan for using those items to make a dish/meal. Then you make the dish/meal and send me photos of the process and the finished dish to share here. This will be FUN!

NOTE: Please type Pantry/Refrigerator Challenge or something similar in the subject line so that if it goes into my spam folder, it will catch my eye and prevent me from tossing it in the trash.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

Ann asked me to show the colored and filled eggs from yesterday’s post. Ann, my pleasure!

There will only be three of us for this unusual and unprecedented Easter Sunday, so only three of the eggs were filled with egg salad.

The remaining six hold mini spring bouquets sitting in my collection of pretty egg cups.

Yesterday, I received an email from eagle-eyed reader, Jennifer, after she spotted something unusual in one of the photos from my New & Improved Zucchini Bread post.

Can you see what it is that she spotted and had a question about?

After weeks of watching a few people in grocery stores with masks on and thinking to myself, “Come now people, settle down,” we are now being told to wear cloth face masks while in public. Who feels stupid now? Yeah, this girl! Imagine me rolling my eyes while shaking my head slowing back and forth. I know that “those in charge” didn’t want to create a run on masks like the run on toilet paper, but they could have told us to use homemade cloth masks from the get-go. So much I could say here but I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself.

I did find two 3-packs of N95 masks in my big 3-day garage cleanout that I unknowingly have had there for more than a year. When I bought a table saw for Harmony Boards, I guess I purchased the masks too. Although I never opened the packages. That is pretty much how I operate; buy something on a recommendation and then fail to use it. It paid off this time, I was able to drop them off at my local fire station, giving them to the people on the front lines who actually need them. I had no idea that the masks sold at the hardware store were N95’s.

Back to the cloth masks. For decades, we had an annual 4th of July Pool BBQ Party. I knew that in the stash of RWB decor I owned at least 50 stars and stripes bandannas. You can see a small stack of them in the top right corner of the photo above. And I knew that they were buried in my second holiday shed. Yes, I have two holiday sheds. (Please don’t judge, I’m feeling more fragile than usual.) The large shed holds Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and the smaller shed houses St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July and miscellaneous large scale entertaining items, such as chafing dishes, extra-large baskets and galvanized buckets along with seasonal outdoor pillows, etc.

Saturday, I cleaned out that shed and found the bandannas. Victory is Mine! (Fragility is swiftly errased, so judge as you please.)

I ran them through the washing machine and started making homemade cloth masks for family and friends.

I ran out of hair ties but I was able to assemble 20 masks while I wait for my Amazon hair tie delivery. (Update: I checked on the Amazon order after writing this post and the new ship date was 4/29. Canceled that order and went to Target and found ties there. So I’m back in business.)

Here is one way to make a homemade cloth mask (there are many out there, especially if you know how to sew – I do not!):

For each mask you’ll need:

• 1 bandanna (A bandanna or piece of breathable cloth that is around 21-inches-square works best.)
• 2 hair ties

• First, wash bandanna(s) and then be sure to wash each time you return home after using.
• Wash those hands. “Happy Birthday to you…”
• Lay the fabric on a clean disinfected surface.

What should I share first? The good or the bad? I think we’ll start with the bad/ugly, that way we’ll end on a good/pretty note.

Even the bad craft starts out pretty…

I spotted these adorable folded book art pieces in the San Francisco Nordstrom’s Wedding Suite, while dress shopping with Marissa and Kaley, back in November.

I knew that I wanted to make one for Marissa, so when the theme was set for the shower, this was a no-brainer.

I went online to find out how but since I could not find any step-by-step instructions, I had to wing it.

I found a cool vintage hardback book and decided to go with the easiest design, a heart.

As I folded back the pages, it quickly became evident that this is harder than it looks. Plus, the book I chose was too vintage, the pages were delicate and would tear as I folded.

Stupidly, I kept at it far too long. It was very clear that this was not working, long before I threw in the towel.

I grabbed another, not-so-vintage thicker book, and started over.

Then, for obvious reasons, I gave up! My gut feeling is that there must be math involved in this project. No wonder it was too difficult for me … I do not “do” math!

I still wanted Marissa to have a book like this, even if not in time for the shower. So, I have purchased one from a professional folded-book artist HERE.  I am not going to share which book, since I haven’t given it to her yet, but rest assured, it is pretty!

I had much better results with this next project:

My favorite craft/decor item for Marissa’s bridal shower was these succulent book planters! Of course, I found the idea on Pinterest!

[Read more →]

Sloane and I got together on Sunday afternoons for several weeks before Marissa’s bridal shower to make crafts.  It was a fun reason to get together for sister-bonding time.

We wrapped wine bottles with pages from a large Currier and Ives picture book that I found at Sweet Salvage a couple of years ago. A heart punch was used on the book pages that were used for the inside of small canning jars.

The same punches were used to make book-page heart confetti.

The bottles were topped off with large burlap bows.

While the jars were trimmed with twine.  The wine bottles held miniature pink and white roses and the jars were lit up with battery-operated votives. They were then scattered around the buffet, lunch table, bar, and dessert credenza.

We rolled and wrapped white cloth napkins with torn book pages, tied with baker’s twine and embellished with tiny “congratulations” flags.

One of the few details that slipped through the cracks that busy morning was making sure that Marissa’s place-setting received the napkin that said “A King and His Queen.”  It makes me wonder if the guest who had that napkin noticed and thought anything about it.

A few weeks after Valentine’s Day, I was in Micheal’s (I spend a lot of time at Micheal’s and Hobby Lobby!) and found these simple berry baskets on clearance. I scooped them up without an idea in mind about what I would do with them. Once Sloane and I decided on the “Milk & Cookies” dessert idea … they found their purpose. We lined the inside with book pages and decorated the outside with our heart confetti.

We used stencils, book pages, and a couple of burlap flag banners from Hobby Lobby to make these.

It took some time to come up with just how to fit “The Future Mrs. Sandell” on a banner with only twelve flags!

[Read more →]

As I mentioned yesterday, I used the invites to set the theme for Marissa’s Literary Bridal Shower.

I found them HERE on Etsy. The creator of the invites, Kendra, was an absolute joy to work with.

When I told Kendra that I wanted book-page lined envelopes, she said, ‘No problem.”

After she sent me the proof of the layout, I asked if she could you a date-stamp instead of the typewriter for the two dates on the invite. She did not hesitate.

Once they arrived and I began addressing and stuffing them, I discovered that she accidentally sent five less than I ordered. I let her know and she cranked them out and I had them in my hands a couple of days later.

Did I mention that each invite was handmade, one at a time, on a 1970s typewriter? So cool! I love Etsy!

[Read more →]

After a long hiatus, as promised, the next week will be filled with photos, crafts, recipes, and details from my daughter’s beautiful bridal shower. But before I begin, I want to let you know that I’ve missed creating and sharing recipes. I’ve really missed blogging. I’ve missed posting. I’ve missed you! It feels good to be back, even if only for a week.

Today will be mostly a pictorial, giving an overview of the party. Tomorrow, the details will begin.

As any good invitation should do, this one set the theme.

Marissa is a voracious reader. She loves books. Her degree in Journalism with a Creative Writing minor, so a literary theme fit her to a tee.

Immediately upon entering, guests were greeted by a table filled with library bookplates with their names on them. The bridal party’s bookplates had a little bling tied to theirs.

A chalkboard sign instructed them what to do with their bookplate. Marissa’s maid-of-honor, Kaley, used her perfect penmanship and artistic flair to create all the chalkboard signs for the shower. Thank you, Kaley!

When guests walked into Barbara Fenzl’s beautiful backyard, this is the table where they had their choice of seats.

[Read more →]

Instead of my usual Silk Transfer Easter Eggs, I went another route this year. On Pinterest, I found Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs.

I hard-boiled 9 eggs and used the technique explained HERE for the first eight eggs. Then on a whim, I tried another technique and ended up with the egg above. I love the end results and will show you how to do both.

Plus I’m putting up links to all of my Easter recipes as listed on the Complete Recipe Index – over there on the left if you are still trying to figure out what to make.

Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs

8 to 12 white hard-boiled eggs, cold
Printed paper cocktail or lunch napkins
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Open the napkins and separate the printed top layer from the plain second layer if the napkin has two layers. Discard any plain sheets.

Cut each napkin into four squares, along the folds.

Dip a small pastry brush into the beaten egg white and use to adhere and apply a square onto the front center of an egg.

[Read more →]

As usual, I found all the craft ideas for the 2013 Christmas Craft Party on Pinterest. This is a craft I really wanted to do but wasn’t able to finalize until 2 days before the party.

The problem was finding reasonably priced frames. Even with 50% off at Hobby Lobby and Micheal’s, the best I could find was around $19, and that was just for the frame. I’d still need to add in the cost for the bells, ribbon, and twine.

I was about to give up when I decided to give Micheal’s one more look-see. I found the clearance aisle and lo and behold, I found 10 perfect frames!  They were exactly what I had in mind and they were marked down to only $8.00. I bought all the red, white, and black ones off the shelves.

Then, I went to get the bells and found that they were on sale for 50% off.

Now that’s what I call a successful shopping excursion!

Find the easy instructions below and then be sure to read to the end and hear (and see) my pitiful and sad bow story – that has a happy ending.

[Read more →]

I said I was going to shellac the lovely chalkboard cookies I received as a gift … and I did!

I didn’t end up using shellac. Instead, I preserved and sealed the cookies with an acrylic clear matte coating and then I put them in a shadowbox.

I first tried to use Glue Dots to attach the cookies to the burlap backing … that did not work … but Velcro fasteners did the trick.

[Read more →]