Happy 2013!

Hello, blog readers!  We haven't dropped off the planet; we've just been busy with families, holidays, traveling, and working.  We hope to be back to our regular posting schedule soon, but in the meantime, here's a great how-to post about New Year's resolutions, straight from our archives!!

It's about that time of year that we start to make new resolutions for the new year!I found this while reading a magazine & immediately tore the page out so I could keep it. I've held on to it for four years now and use it whenever I want to set new goals, make new resolutions, set priorities or just figure out what the heck I want!

You Need: A pencil, a paper, a watch/timer and your personal calendar.
You are only allowed three minutes per answer because you don't want to overthink your answers. Write down whatever pops into your mind first. You are looking for bullets, not paragraphs
You should go through this process often. Today's answers might not be next months.
Again, there are no limits or boundaries. Write down whatever comes to your mind, personal or professional as large or small as you imagine.

1. Spend three minutes listing items to answer this question: " By the end of my life, what do I want to have done?"
2. Spend three minutes listing items to answer this question: "By one year from today, what do I want to have done?"
3. Spend three minutes listing items to answer this question: " I just found out I have 30 days to live. What do I want to have experienced in this last month of my life?"
4. Circle the three most important items to you from each of the first three steps. Combine repeated item answers into a single goal.
5. List your top three goals for Steps 1, 2 & 3. You may have fewer than nine goals after combining duplicates into one goal. Now, look at your schedule for the coming week. For each goal you listed, make time on next week's calendar to take a specific action toward accomplishing that coal. Write down the action you will take and specific day & time when you will spend at least an hour working on it.
Goal: ___________________
Action: ___________________
Day/Time: _____________________
6. Be realistic. If you can't easily think of an action to take or don't want to spend an hour to move forward on it, then cross that goal off your list.
7. Now you have your final list of your most important goals, an action to propel you toward each goal and a specific time to take that action. If you crossed a goal off the final list, don't be concerned. It probably wasn't that important to you. (or isn't the biggest priority for right now)
Take a look at the list of all the goals still left. Study it. Search for broader themes about what you want to do next. What do these goals say about who you really are and what you want? Take a wide view of your goals so you can complete the following sentence:
What I want next is........

Sadly I don't have the author's name to this process, but it's taken from the book What I Want Next: 30 Minutes to Reveal Your Future (whatiwantnext.com).
Update, January 2013: The author is Cathy Bonner.

Like Christmas In a Cup

 

Steamers! Hot Chocolate's overlooked cousin. I love steamers. Also called "Hot Cows", a steamer is a hot drink of steamed milk with a flavoring of your choosing. Last winter the local coffee hut made bank on me and my adoration for this creamy, warm, seasonal drink. I thought that making my own steamer was impossible without an espresso machine and it's steaming wand. After a few google searches and articles on foam for cappuccino....the possibility of making steamers at home without an expensive Italian machine was made possible. Enjoy!

 

Put a cup of milk in a jar that has a lid, like a mason jar. You want the milk cold and you don't want to fill the jar up to the top. You need room in there to shake it.

 

Shake the jar for 30-45 seconds to get some nice foamy bubbles. Look at the picture, do you see the foam layer & the milk layer....that is what you want! Take off the lid & microwave the milk for 2 minutes or less {if you don't like it as hot as I do}

 

Pour the milk into the mug holding back the foam with a spoon {I like foam so I just pour it all in}.

 Dispense the flavored syrup of your choice. I really like Toranio syrups. They come in a gazillion flavors. They can be a bit spendy. I would suggest Cash & Carry and World Market for a good selection at a good price.

You don't want to over do the syrup. A little goes a long way. I would put in a teaspoon at first and add a little more to taste. If you have one of those blue toppers {what is the technical term for that anyways?} "draw" two circles in your cup.

 

I added a bit of pumpkin pie spice to the top or cinnamon would be yummy too. I was going for a pumpkin pie cupcake flavor - delish!!

Enjoy!!!

 

 

Hint: Wash out the milk jar immediately. It's alot easier to clean!!!

"Get It Done Already" Party!

We hope you've been inspired by our Get It Done Already! series.  We've both enjoyed crossing a few more things off of crafting to-do lists.  In case you've forgotten...

Nancy used autumn leaves to create some festive throw pillows, place mats, and a garland.

Michelle repurposed a cabinet door to make some sweet nursery wall art and also created this fabulous wall organizer.

And now it's YOUR turn to show off your own "Get It Done Already!" projects!

Originally, we wanted to do a linky party to share your projects, but we've had some technical difficulties setting it up.  So if you want to show off your "Get It Done Already" accomplishments, leave a link to your blog post in the comments or shoot us an email (with pictures, please!) at shesaidblog@yahoo.com.  All submitted projects (except for spam, of course) will be featured in a blog post after Thanksgiving.

We can't wait to see what you've been up to!

Wall Organizer {Get it Done Already!}

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. Between being out of town & Halloween this week has just flown by! I wanted to share with you a project that I worked on.

 

How many of you have counters like this? Yeah that's totally mine. Papers, mail, boxes...."organized piles" I like to call it. I know where everything is it just so happens to share one space with everything else. Mr S was sick of the clutter and I was too. Something had to be done & that is where my wall organizer idea was born. I really liked the ones at Pottery Barn, but it was just too spendy. So I put on my repurposing hat and used things around the house.

 

I started out with a curtain rod & collected my organizing items. There were quite a few ideas I saw on pinterest of wall organizers. I settled on my magnet board, calendar frame & mail bins {I'll tell you what I used in a minute}

 

I used screw eyes & shower curtain loops to attach my organizing items to the rod

For my mail bins I spray painted some old bread pans that I had. They were rusty & couldn't be used for bread making anymore. I nice shiny black spray paint job made them shiny & new. I wanted them "stacked" on top of each other. Drilling two holes on the handles of the pans I ran I had Mr. S string galvanized wire through, leaving loops at the top.

 

Then I pulled out the Silhouette & cut some numbers for the bins. You can easily use the number stickers/vinyl that is at your scrapbook store.

Strung my organizers onto the rod and there you go! My very own, custom, wall organizer.

I would caution you on the weight you put on the curtain rod, it can only hold so much.

 



 

So glad that it's done already!!

 

We hope that you have enjoyed our Get It Done series & hope that it has inspired you to get it done already.

Got some things done?

 Next week {November 11th} Nan will kick off our Get It Done Already Linky Party Get those pictures & posts ready to show off  YOUR Get It Done Already crafts!

Fall Leaf Decor (Get It Done Already!)

We hope you've been enjoying our Get It Done Already! series.  It is so nice to finish a project that has been waiting for a looooong time. :)

I finished up two projects this week, both of them autumn-related.  The first one is this leaf garland:

I bought a package of artificial fall leaves from the Dollar Store....oh....about four years ago (yikes!).  I used some of the leaves right away, but the majority of the leaves remained in the package, stored away for "someday".  After seeing this beautiful leaf garland from Running With Scissors, I decided how to use those artificial leaves!  (She used real leaves and has instructions for preserving them on her blog post, if you're interested.) The garland is really easy and fast to make.  All you do is sew your leaves together in one long strip, overlapping them slightly as you sew.  I didn't try to plan out a pattern with the colors or anything, I just sewed them in the order I picked them up.  It took me about fifteen minutes to make; it would have taken much less time, but my bobbin ran out of thread and then my main spool of thread ran out, too!  I love how cheery it looks on my fireplace — a big impact for a little effort!

My next project uses the same fabric I used for my fall pillow covers:

These autumn leaf place mats were a cinch to make! I used two pieces of fabric plus some thin batting for each place mat.  I traced around an existing place mat for my template, adding 1/2 inch seam allowances on all sides.  After I pinned my fabric right sides together and put the batting on top, I stitched around the outside, leaving about 4 inches for turning.  I clipped the corners, turned the place mats right-side out, and pressed them.  The final step was to add two rows of top-stitching around the perimeter of the place mats (one inside the other, like a frame), and in the process I sewed closed the opening I'd left for turning.  Now that fabric is completely used up, and our kitchen table looks much more festive!

What projects have you been getting done recently?

Nursery Wall Art {Get it Done Already}

 

I'm hoping that Nan has inspired you all to Get it Done Already with those cute throw pillows. I was actually at a Walmart over the weekend and spied some similar fabric that she used for those pillows and then had to remind myself that I already have a looooong list of things I need to get done!

Top of my list: Nursery Wall Art

 

I've had a sign similar to this one pinned on my "Must Craft Soon" board for a long time now. This last summer I made strides by getting my hands on a uber cheap cabinet door and thought, "this is what I will use for my sign." Then the door sat. And sat. I got a cute shade of teal paint. And it sat. And sat.

 

Then the gal I borrowed the paint from needed it back {I'd had it since December} So I painted it really quick and as it sat drying I realized I needed some more supplies to finish the project and so it sat....and sat.

 

A few months {yep months} later I got the supplies that wanted and moved foreword with the lettering. I used the trusty Silhouette to cut out my letters. Goodness I love that thing! I'm one of those crafters that needs to get it done right the first time or I don't do it at all. Be sure to measure your board to figure out height & spacing of the letters. I also like to use scrap pieces of paper to get a little closer to those measurements and lay it out before I move forward with cutting.

 

After cutting out my letters {keep the stencil part of the paper!!!!} I created the layout like I wanted it.

 

Then I stenciled {see you are going to use that paper} the letters on with a pencil....can you see it or is it too faint?

 

 

Then ....and this the BIG secret to perfect hand lettering. Get a paint pen and retrace the stencil. The paint pen creates a great outline. Be sure to test it out on a piece of paper before writing on the actual sign. After it's dry take your paint & a small brush and fill in the letters.

After I did this the sign was well...technically finished, but I was contemplating ageing it to make it look vintage and then I thought maybe I should create some kind of a knot to place through those two holes on the bottom {where the handle used to be} the sign then....yep you guessed it....sat for a few more months while I tried to decide what to do.

I guess this post could be re-labeled as "Get it Hung Up Already" because after weighing my options to age or not to age {which if you are going to age a sign you need to have that in mind before you even paint - if you want it done right} and realizing that I could be making a perfectly cute sign ugly {you can't go back after you age a piece.} I decided to leave it be and hang it up.

 

So there you go. After months and months it's done and up and I love it!

Do you have a craft that needs to get done? Get it Done Already and join us at the end of the series for a linky party where you can show it off!!

Get It Done Already!

Before we get started, we need to announce the winner of our giveaway!  The lucky winner of a pair of ear pins is Anne!  Congratulations, Annie!!

I don't know about you, but autumn always makes me want to craft.  Visions of Halloween decor, Thanksgiving centerpieces, and handmade Christmas gifts dance in my head.  I collect coupons for Joann's, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby, dreaming of all the wonderful things I can make.  Except....

I have about a zillion unfinished projects at home.

I have yarn for crochet projects that I haven't started.  I have fabric that hasn't been cut.  And I have a half dozen other projects that were started but haven't yet been finished.  Raise your hand if you can relate.

In an effort to finish up some of these orphaned works in progress, we are launching a series entitled

Get It Done Already!

We'll each take some turns finishing up some of these projects and them sharing them with you, our readers. Please feel free to play along!  At the end of the series, we'll do a linky party so that you can share what you've been able to finish.  So let's wrap up some of these crafts and free up our homes and time for the holiday projects we want!!

First up, these fall pillows:

TWO YEARS ago, I found this great tablecloth on clearance at Walmart for $5.  I thought it would be perfect for some fall-themed throw pillows for our couches.  I bought it, brought it home, and did nothing with it.  That's right.  The next fall, I packed it up and moved it to Texas.  And then did nothing with it.  I pulled it out again last week and decided enough was enough!  I used my existing pillows and just made simple envelope covers for them.  I didn't write a tutorial, but Six Sisters' Stuff has great directions.

A couple of hours later I had these cute pillows.

I can't tell you how good it feels to have these completed!  They cheer up our couches and my craft guilt has been lessened considerably.

Now, go forth and

Get It Done Already!