Merging Blog - Follow Me At Rustic Crafts And Chic Decor

Since the majority of my home decor projects are now fitting into the category of shabby chic, I have decided to only maintain my site at Rustic Crafts & Chic Decor (rustic-crafts.com).  If you don't already, I would love for you to follow me there!  I will miss you if you don't.  I think you will enjoy all of the craft tutorials and shabby chic decor ideas

  I am keeping this blog's arhives open, rather than moving them over, since there are a lot of my "chirpings" ...you know the extra fluffy personal stuff...that I didn't need to move over.

To make it easier for you to navigate through to my most popular posts, I am making a nice little list of links right here:

Bedroom Decorating Ideas Using Vintage Accessories
A Cheap Window Treatment For The Laundry Room
My Wonderful Funky Junk Finds
My New Shabby Chic Trunk Table
My $15 Chair Made Over
Wine Glass Holder From A Rake
Vintage Hunting This Weekend At Garage And Yard Sales
Shabby Chic Bookcase Design
Choosing A Fabric To Recover A Sofa
A Salvaged Craft Project Fail
Dumpster Diving To A New Table Treasure
Words Of Encouragement

For more topics check the labels down below.

A Salvaged Craft Project Fail

A couple of week's ago, I had an idea for a Christmas ornament craft.  I was going to decoupage a vintage song sheet to a Styrofoam ball.  What some of you may have already seen at my website, Rustic Crafts, is the second attempt at the project:

The second attempt had worked perfectly because I had learned a few things from the first go around.  When you decoupage to a circle, it is best to use small pieces! 

With my first attempt, I had started out trying to cut perfect pieces to fit together on the ball.  First I cut two circles for the top and bottom and then some narrow rectangular strips for the sides.  My plan was to have the strips going all the way around with the tops and bottoms meeting at the two circles.

The only picture that I had taken of the ornament most finished was this one where it was drying.  You can't really see how the seams match up.  For trying to make a pattern, it definitely wasn't uniform and I wasn't happy with the wrinkles.  At this point, I was ready to throw it away but I hate to do that so I just tossed it aside until I could figure something out.

A fix did eventually come to me.  It would be a great camouflage!  I am a big fan of burlap and I just happened to have some burlap garland staring me in the face.  It was very loosely woven so I figured I could decoupage that over the song sheet and still get some of the sheet music to show through.

Well, I went a little crazy with the burlap and applied it quite heavy.  However, I do think that I can now use it on our rustic Christmas tree this year.  We decorate two trees every year.  Our main floor tree is a bit more elegant and our downstairs family room holds a very rustic tree.

This is what I ended up with:

I think it will probably blend nicely with the rest of my rustic ornaments.  If not, it will become a cat toy for my little buddy, Kirby!

Recipe Ideas For A Fall Meal

When the weather gets cooler, especially when I can here the wind blowing through the trees outside, I get the yearning to start cooking some of those warm comfort foods again. I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen in the summer since we do a lot of grilling. So, when Fall hits I need to get a little inspired again. The first thing that always comes to my mind is my favorite white chili. It is so easy to make and I love having the leftovers the next day. But, I was interested in finding a few new things so I did a little searching and came up with a few that I am definitely going to try.

I make regular lasagna all of the time, so this recipe for seafood lasagna would be a nice change of pace.  Plus, I LOVE seafood!

Seafood Lasagna

My mom used to always make a great enchilada casserole but neither of us have that recipe anymore.  I went on a search for a good looking enchilada casserole recipe and am anxious to give this one a try.  That cheesy topping looks delightful!

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole



And I like this idea for chicken pot pie in a 9x13 pan.  It definitely looks like it could feed more or provide some leftovers, which I like!

Chicken Pot Pie

In case you are interested in my white chili recipe, I'll end with that.  It is super easy it's almost embarrassing. 

White Chili:

Ingredients:
1 pound cooked and cut up chicken breasts
1 16 oz. bottle salsa, I use mild but make it as hot as you want
1 8 oz. bag shredded pepper jack cheese - it comes in a bag now so you don't even have to shred it yourself!
1 48 oz. jar Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
**you can add 2 T cumin but I don't bother.....too much effort

Mix everything together, throw in a crock pot, and simmer all day...Wa La!

Expanding My Etsy Store

I started an Etsy store several months ago called The Rustic Attic.  It was a little half hearted I will admit.  After all, I wasn't banging out truck loads of merchandise to sell.  A lot of the crafts that I make I end up keeping for myself.  However, then I began to make a few duplicates and decided to put them up for sale. 

I was so excited when I made my first sale that it spurred me on to make a couple of more things and then... Summer happened.  Everything came to a screeching halt.  But now I am getting the bug again and have been slowly expanding my inventory.

My plan is to get real busy with some Christmas decor and gift items.  So... I will be locked in my craft room whenever I can.

If you would like to check out my store, it won't take long to get through the inventory :).  You can also find my inventory listings on my sidebar at Rustic Crafts.