Jen Caputo

Margarita Birthday Gift

Thomas accompanied us to Mexico for our wedding so we decided he needed Margarita making supplies for his birthday. We started off with a bottle of 100% Agave Blanco Tequila. We still had some of our favorite Mexican triple sec left (Controy) but we'd already opened the bottle and thought it was tacky to gift that, so I dug around in my supply of liquor bottles that I'd saved and found a nice 375mL bottle. I cleaned the label off of it, stamped a new one, and used a funnel to fill it up with the perfect amount of Triple Sec to go with the Tequila.

Added a handful of limes and a matching card and had a fun and easy birthday gift that anyone who loves a good Margarita would love!

 

Our perfect Margarita recipe follows.

Margarita

• 2 oz tequila
• 1 oz triple sec
• 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice (no substitutes!!!)
• 1/4 oz agave syrup (simple syrup may be substituted, add more or less to taste)

Shake all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a glass, half rimmed with salt. If ice is desired in the cocktail, add fresh, not the tired stuff in the shaker. 

 

All stamping supplies by Papertrey Ink.

Aunt Ginny's Sugared Pecans

Last Christmas we were over at my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Jack's and they brought out these delicious Sugared Pecans. We loved them and Aunt Ginny sent me the recipe.  We've been making them ever since. They are such a crowd pleaser. This year, I decided to bag up a few for Christmas Gifts.

The cast of characters includes:

• 1 lb pecans
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinammon,
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 egg white with 1 tbsp. water

Preheat the oven to 250 and melt a stick of butter on a sheet pan.

Beat egg white and water until medium peaks form

Add pecans to egg whites and stir until coated

 

 

Stir in sugar, salt, and cinnamon until evenly coated

Spread on buttered pan, bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

After removing from the oven, stir a few more times so they don't stick together while cooling.

Package 'em up!

(all stamping supplies from Papertrey Ink)

Recipe

Sugared Pecans

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1-1.5 lbs pecans (recipe calls for 1 but with the full stick of butter, I find it's enough for 1.5 - your call)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 250. Melt 1 stick of butter in jelly roll pan in oven
• Beat egg white and water until medium peaks form
• Add pecans to egg whites and stir until coated
• Combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add to pecans and stir thoroughly.
• Spread on buttered pan
• Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  After removing from the oven, stir a few more times so they don't stick together while cooling.

We miss you Aunt Ginny

So I made this necklace...

I made this necklace and I really like it. But Adam says it looks like a little kid made it.  Opinions please?

I stumbled upon this tutorial on Little Miss Momma's blog. But there were quite a few things I didn't have (felt, chain, clasp, or enough of any one fabric...) and I really wanted to make it without running out to the store. So I improvised.  I included my tutorial below but it is pretty much the same as her tutorial except for when you don't have all of those things on hand :P

Here's what I started with.

• A 1.5" circle punch
• Cardboard (like the back of a notepad)
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue
• Scissors
• Fabric and fiber scraps. 

I'd purchased these hand died fabric scraps years ago. They were kind of pricey too (for what they were). But I never used them because it was just a bunch of little bits (largest piece was 8x8) and they were pricey so I was always scared to use them. This seemed like the perfect project for them.

I punched out 5 - 1.5" circles from the cardboard.  Then I used the cardboard as a template to cut a bunch of circles from all of the fabric scraps.

For the last few, I got smart enough to quadruple up the fabric which made cutting go much faster. If I do it again, I may try to use some die cuts with a stack of 4-8 sheets of fabric.

You don't have to be neat about this one bit.  See this circle even looks like it has a bite taken out of it

Time to fire up the glue gun. Fold the circles in half, and then in half again.

Apply glue to the point closest to the camera in the above post.

And find a spot to stick it down on your cardboard circle.  I usually started at the center, went around to the edges, and then just filled in wherever I thought it needed more poof.

When I'm done my flower looks like this from the front

And from the back

And here are all of my flowers.

The cheesecloth fabric didn't work well with the circles so I just kind of scrunched it up and glued it down.

Then I got out a piece of canvas and glued all of my flowers down in the shape I wanted the necklace.

Then I trimmed away the excess fabric

And glued down some dyed fibers that were in the fabric scrap bag.  I didn't take a picture but I put another piece of canvas on top of the fibers to sandwich them.

I also forgot to take a picture of the clasp I made... I basically tied a large button on one end of the fibers and on the other side I tied 2 knots about an inch apart that the button could slide through.

So... am I crazy for liking it?

Salted Caramel Jars & Money Cards

I was watching Kelsey's Essentials on Cooking Channel this morning and she was crafting Holiday food gifts. One of the items she made was a salted caramel sauce and I decided to give it a try this morning before Adam woke up.

You can find her recipe for the caramel right here. It says the caramel only stays good for 2 weeks in the fridge so I decided to package it in these small 4oz jars (or maybe they're 3 oz) so people wouldn't have to figure out what to do with all that caramel. But I had to pretty them up first!

I started by die-cutting canvas with the largest scalloped Nestabilities die and stamping a snowflake on each with Palette Hybrid ink.

Then added a little Homemade stamp on top of it.

 

I added the date the Caramel would be good until in the date box as opposed to the date I made it. With the lid already on the jar, I placed the canvas over the top and centered it.

Then I screwed the band on 

 

I used the Papertrey Ink coordinating dies to die cut a bunch of snowflakes in 2 different sizes.

I decided to die-cut the whole sheet since I thought it might make a cool background for another project (look for that at the end of this post).

Then I stamped the coordinating snowflakes on the dies and punched a hole in each one.

 

Tied some jute around the jar bands.

And then tied the snowflakes with a button onto the ends of the jute.

 

 

 

 

I also needed a nice card to use to hold a monetary gift and I wanted to see what I could do with the leftover die-cut paper.  I started with an entire sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock and scored it at the 4" and 8" marks.

Then I cut about an inch off the 3" flap and rounded the corner. This will hold the money.

I added a contrasting piece of paper on the middle section of the inside and then adhered the left hand side only.

And then I used the leftover piece of die-cut paper that I mentioned above as the base of the card.

DIY Wall Hanging & New Sketch

I did a little DIY project for Adam's aunt Karen's Christmas gift. 

I started with a $10 frame from Homegoods.  Then I stamped on some pieced of canvas, sewed on a bunch of buttons, and called it good!

Here's some upclose shots of each panel.

The K's & M's are for her initials.

Sewing these stems sucked.  But they look cute right?

The buttons are from the Vintage button collections at Papertrey Ink. 

 

I also got my template together for a 2009 Year in Review layout.

And Rebecca W (aka Denali) created this layout with it:

She was quite the crafty girl last year wasn't she?  You can pick up the new template, right here.  I've got it marked down just over 20% right now!

2 Quick Home Decor Art Projects

I made two super quick home decor projects this weekend (about 20 minutes tops for each) and I thought I'd share :)

For this one I:

1. Spray painted a frame with glossy white
2. cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the frame
3. used a scallop punch on some white cardstock
4. wrapped ribbon around a chipboard M (to stand for Murphy, my future last name)
5. stuck it all together and framed it
6. tada!

Next, I was flipping through the latest Real Simple and was totally inspired by one of their Thanksgiving tablescape ideas. And it had a tutorial!

You need:

• A bottle or vase or anything else you want to cover - dig through your recycling bin for a bottle you were going to throw out!
• Twine or string
• super sticky tape (I used a roll of red-liner tape I had around, Carpet tape from the home improvement store would work great too)

My  bottle is from Koval Distillery (local in Chicago!) which used to house "my crack" (as Adam calls it), their Organic Ginger Liqueur. It is heaven on earth. I've been saving the bottles because I really like their shape.  For a while I was taking the labels off but they do not come off easy. As you can tell I got half done with this one and gave up.  Which made it a perfect candidate for this project!

1. Wrap your bottle in super sticky tape
2. Peel of the section you will work on first
3. Wind the twine around the bottle
4. and wind
5. and wind
6. and wind
7. I secured the ends with a drop of super glue

And in just a few minutes, you have a pretty new vase recycled from your favorite liqueur!

Well, we're having a party tonight so it's about time for me to jump in the shower and clean up my art projects!

And while I'm here - here's one more way I've recycled a Koval bottle:

To hold dish soap. I just added a liquor bottle spout.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 13

No big changes today... they took the old fridge downstairs, painted all the trim, finished painting the ceiling, and prepped the walls to be painted on Monday.

The windows don't get delivered until Wednesday so I think we're in thumb-twiddling mode until then.

Meanwhile, I was home alone this weekend so I tackled a few projects for the new spaces. First off, since we have the stainless steel fridge that isn't magnetic I wanted something to be able to stick notes on that wasn't glaringly tacky. I decided that some cute cork boards hanging inside the cabinets with Command hooks was just the thing!

Supplies
Cork Tiles (4 come in a pack, they're 12x12, about $6 at Lowes)
Ribbon (mine is from Papertrey Ink)
Buttons (mine are from Papertrey Ink)
Thumbtacks
Nailheads
Super glue
Scotch Command hooks
Vodka Soda (w/limes to go with the color scheme of everything else on the table)

The cork comes with adhesive squares you are supposed to use to stick them on the wall, instead I used them to stick to tiles together to get the thickness I wanted. I added some super glue too since I heard those sticky tabs that come with the cork really aren't that good.

My cork sandwich

 

Then I went around with ribbon, more superglue, and nailheads, and trimmed out the edges to hide my sandwich.

Then I just tied a bow to use as a hanger on the inside of my cabinet.

Next I needed some cute push pins!

I stuck all the plain thumbtacks into the cork, dropped a dab of superglue on each one, then added a button.

I had more cork leftover and wanted to do something different so I went shopping in my basement until I came across this frame on the bottom of a closet that I had previously painted and stuck pictures from a calendar in.

I gave it a coat of white paint, removed the pictures and glass, stuck the cork in, and attached a ribbon hanger with super glue and nail heads.

Here are my lovely creations in their new home:

 

Gotta love the use of cabinet space here and how it keeps all your notes easily accessible yet tucked away. Plus, because I used those Command hooks, they can come down whenever I get tired of them!

My second project was to do something with the shelves from the old pantry/new storage closet.

They used to look like this:

I cleaned them and primed them

And then painted them all a Robin's Nest blue.

By the way - see that roller in the picture. I am in LOVE with it and it was super cheap at Lowes. Best roller I've ever used by far! I had both sides of the shelves painted in no time. (by the way, these are the refills I bought - they come in foam or terry cloth, the foam are awesome!)

The closet isn't totally done yet but I think the pops of blue will look so fun in the all white closet! I'll be sure to show the finished closet. Best part of this project: besides the new paint roller, it was totally free as we already had the paint and primer left over from when our bedroom was painted!

Herb Box

Who doesn't love the $1 aisle at Target?  A few weeks ago I found these tins and seed packets w/pots there and couldn't wait to set up a little window herb garden!

I used PTI's Life set in various shades of green which made them look very herb-like in my opinion!

The ribbon was attached by punching holes through the tin with a crop-a-dile. 

I made labels for each pot with a toothpick, some nestabilities, and a few more PTI stamp sets.

All in all, this project cost me less than $5 to make 0 wouldn't it make a great gift?  The herbs have been growing for about 10 days now. It'll probably still be another 2 months before the edible but in the mean time, they sure are cute!

Supplies
Stamps: Life, Borders & Corners: Circle, Simple Alphabet
Ink: New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss
Paper: Stampers Select White, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss
Ribbon: Ripe Avocado Grosgrain
Other: Brads, Scallop Scissors, Circle Nestabilities, Paper Crimper

St. Patrick's Day Backyard Fun

As I haven't been shy in telling you all before, I love my backyard. And I love parties.  And since it got up to 74 degrees in Chicago yesterday, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to have a backyard St. Patty's Day gathering.

I cooked 3 Corned Beef Briskets and there wasn't a single piece left over!

Remember a while back I was asking about those light-bulb light strings?  Well quite a few of you mentioned that you saw them at Target so I went to Target and they didn't have any.  But then I went back a few weeks later and there they were!  For just $15 a strand too! (The industrial ones I was looking at were going to wind up costing about $250 for the length I wanted).  Now I know these $15 strands aren't going to last forever but I can replace them 10 times before the investment in the industrial ones pays off :)

We only had time to hang up one of the strands but the eventual plan is to hang the other strand from the tree to the garage to light up the campfire area a  little more.

 

I really dig 'em though and can't wait to hang up the second strand!

While I'm here, I'll share a green project with you!

This is a monogrammed card set I made for my Grandma for her birthday.  I also entered it into PTI's Guest Star Stamper contest in February and earned an Honorable Mention!

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI Borders & Corners: Circle, PTI Trajan Monogram Ed. Alpha
Cardstock: PTI Spring Moss, Stampers Select White, True Black
Patterned Paper: PTI Black & White Basics
Dies/Punches: Nestabilities Circles, Martha Stewart Border Punch

I created the clear box top from some of that nasty clamshell packaging that is impossible to open. I had a big enough sheet that I could trim it to a piece suitable for the top. I had to score it slightly with a craft knife to make it hold it's shape.

A few more gift packages

I got a few more gift packages to give to neighbors or party hostesses done this afternoon so I thought I'd share.

This one holds some gourmet hot chocolate along with some peppermint stick stirrers dipped in chocolate. Yum!

Close up of the tag,

I made the patterned paper for these by using the Warm Winter Wishes tag from PTI's 2008 Holiday Tag Collection set.  I created a mask so that I could just stamp the steaming mug and then stamped around them with circles from the Borders & Corners set.

Credits
Stamps: PTI 2008 Holiday Tag Collection, PTI Borders & Corner - Circle
Paper: PTI Spring Rain, PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Vintage Cream
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Vintage Cream Other: Fiskars Border Punch, EK Success whale of a punch (circle), Nestabilities, PTI Berry Sorbet Satin Ribbon

And this one just holds lots of yummy candy

Credits
Stamps: PTI Snowfall, PTI 2008 Holiday Tag Collection
Paper: White, PTI Spring Moss, PTI Berry Sorbet
Ink: PTI Spring Moss, PTI Aqua Mist, PTI Berry Sorbet
Other: PTI Berry Sorbet Satin Ribbon, Acetate, Nestabilities, Cellophane Bag

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So the other day I went and took a bunch of pictures of my studio to show you everything I'd done lately but before I got a chance to post them, I went and changed a bunch of stuff... (I got this awesome new piece for the top of my desk too - can't wait to share!!!)

Anyway, here are a few pictures I took the other day so I'll share them but it's different now so I'll have to update in a few days.

So here was the view when you walked in

Some of you may have seen this before but I don't think I ever showed it completely together.  The two pieces on the back wall are the 4x4 Ikea Expedit's. 

The island is made from the Crop-In-Style cubes, I made my own top by cutting a piece of wood to size, painting it white, and ordering a custom self-healing mat for the top.

Here is the wall that the door is on.  The shelving unit on the left is the Making Memories Embellishment Center, the one on the right is actually an over the toilet thing from Target.  The embellishment center stores glitter in the top row, small colored embellishments (brads, photo turns, pins, etc.) in the second row, buttons in the 3rd. The 4th is empty, haven't figured out what goes there yet.  And then of course the bottom two are holding PTI ribbon. The green canvas is an art project that may one day get done for my living room.

Here's a view of the top of one of the expedits.  The ink holder is just one of those wooden napa valley cassette holders (you can only find them on ebay these days). The bottom middle two baskets hold loose ribbon on foam core. In the upper right corner is this guy:

It was such a brilliant idea I thought... I took one of these Ikea boxes and punched a bunch of holes in it.  Except, I couldn't punch them because the material was some insane astronaut technology stuff, so I had to drill them... which resulted in shredded box everywhere.... Then I had to go buy the grommets and the guy at the hardware store had no idea what a grommet was... or he did, but he didn't think I did so he kept trying to show me something else. I finally wound up with these but they only had them in brass so I had to spray paint them silver.  A day later, I finally had the front of the box assembled then I had to figure out how to attach the dowels to the inside of the box.  After trying lots of ideas, I finally decided to make some supports out of polymer clay and super glue them to the inside. 

I do not recommend trying one of these yourself :)

This is the die-cut station, it's sitting on another Ikea Expedit, this is the 2x4 one.  I still have the old original sizzix machine but it works with all of the nestabilities and cuttlebug embossing folders so I see no reason to upgrade.  On the far right is my wishblade.  The basket in the middle stores all of my nestabilities and cuttle bug folders and stuff.

Speaking of nestabilities, this is how I store mine:

These are CD holders meant to hold 3 cds. Find them here (did not order mine here, cannot vouch, I happened to have these since college).  I took all of the extra pieces out of the case, added some magnetic strips and I was good to go.  For the inside piece I glued down a piece of chipboard to give me a flat surface to put the magnetic tape on.

Ok that's it for now, I'll have to do a more detailed post at a later time but let me know if you have any questions!