How to Sharpen Scissors

It is the last week of school and I have spent the last 2 nights working on a little end-of-year project my class and I cooked up. They made their own photo yearbooks out of all the pictures I took of them throughout the year. They were so excited about this venture that I decided to laminate and bind the books for them.

Cutting out 300 pages of laminating is a real pain the butt! During the last week of school! What was I thinking?!?

I was cutting away the other night and cursing the whole time about the kitchen shears I had to cut with so Tom googled "scissor sharpening" and came up with a couple of options. The first one he tried was to "cut" a glass bottle. It looked so funny- he was holding the scissors open against the side of a glass jar and making the cut motion repeatedly. That didn't work. They weren't any sharper than they were before and the were still tearing my laminating a little as I cut.

The second method did work. It was to cut sandpaper. It really worked and I had sharp scissors and lived happily ever after!

No, but seriously, cutting sandpaper works. The only problem is that you have to cut a piece of perfectly good, unused sandpaper into a million little bits.

Wedding Wednesday- The Guestbook

Seeing as we had a photo booth at the wedding I knew I would like some way in which to use all those fun photos of the guests afterwards. I had the idea that I would make my own guestbook and have people sign their names beside a space for a photo to be added later. I started brainstorming all the ways of how I could put this together and couldn't come up with a way to bind it on my own without it looking like a plain old photo album.

Alas, Etsy came to my rescue again!

I searched Etsy for guestbooks and the very thing I was trying to make myself popped up right away. Amy from Modern Shabby creates beautiful guestbooks and she covers them in any colour of fabric and ribbon your would like. She added the exact number of pages that I wanted which had lines for people to leave a message on and a space for their photo. She also added a tag with our names and wedding date on the front. It was perfect!

We placed the guestbook at the entrance to the reception and my Aunt- Auntie Tweedle- stood over it and made sure people signed as they walked by. We had signatures from almost everyone... she only missed a few! 

I finally just finished putting the book all together with the photos and everything and I was really pleased with how it turned out. It's a lot of fun to look at and a great keepsake. 

Roasted Garlic Chive Butter

Trust me.

You want to make this.

We spent the weekend at our friend's cabin and enjoyed some great meals. Among many delicious things, we whipped up a bit o' garlic butter to slather on, oh, everything.

Tom and I were in charge of the Saturday night supper and we made steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob- a pretty standard summer meal. But we kicked it up a notch with this garlic butter.

Here's how we made it:

1. Take 2 bulbs of garlic and peel and separate every clove. (This is where you are going to roast the garlic. If you want to do it the "real" way, you can leave the bulbs of garlic whole, wrap them in tin foil and pop them in a hot oven. Eventually, after a really long time and after checking them over and over and over and over again and having to put them BACK in the oven repeatedly, they will be done. However, I have a better way....)

2. Throw all the peeled cloves in a small frying pan with a little drop of olive oil and let them sit over medium to low heat for about 10 mins. They will become fragrant, soft and squishy.

3. Let them cool a little so they don't melt the butter- you want the butter to be spreading consistency- soft but not melted at all.

4. Meanwhile, put one pound of softened butter in a small bowl and add a bunch of chopped chives (about 3-4 tbsp), salt, pepper and red chili flakes.

5. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, pop it in the bowl with the butter and use a potato masher to mash and mix everything together. The garlic will combine with the butter and spices to create something magical.

We intended this butter to be for the corn.

But I put it on EVERYTHING- the potatoes, the corn and the steak! (Have you ever had butter on steak???... don't do it, you'll never go back!)

Warning: You may eat this by the spoonful and polish off a pound of butter in one sitting.

I'm sorry there are no photos of this. It didn't stay on the table long enough for me to take any. Oh, and my hands were too covered in butter to handle a camera at the time.

Tweedle Tip: If you have butter leftovers, whether flavoured or not, dollop them on a piece of saran wrap and twist at both ends to seal it into a log shape. Pop in your freezer and voila!- a log of butter for your next dinner party! Roll it out onto a butter dish and it's ready to serve!

Funky Cut Paper Animals- ROY G. BIV

Even though school is almost out, the art projects are still pumping out of Miss Tweedle's class!

Our school has a number of displays that teachers have done and hung permanently through the hallways. I decided to add to the collection with this funky and colourful art project. The kids were allowed to do turtles, bugs, birds or mice- those were all easy choices- and the only criteria is that they had to use ROY G. BIV on their piece. They had fun learning about what ROY G. BIV was.

Tweedle Tip: If you can cut paper, you can create art! The proof is in the pudding! Try it out sometime :)

Thrifting find of the week!

Friends of ours just moved into a new house and are trying to furnish it on a budget. It's quite the change living somewhere with SPACE when you have always had tiny rentals. They're slowly, but surely collecting enough art and furniture to make it look more homey. Check out what we spotted while hittin' the garage sales last weekend! 

I thought it would be fun for a mud room or a bathroom. It's not big, but would do nicely on a long vertical sliver of wall somewhere. 

These friends of ours are both avid skiiers and have been known to sport a little tight and bright every now and then, so this piece suits them perfectly! What a find!

Wedding Wednesday- The Table Numbers

For our table numbers we decided to have a photo of both Tom and I at the corresponding age to the number of table. I saw this idea on The Knot early on in my planning and knew right away it was something I might like to do. We were incorporating lots of photos into our overall design and so it fit right in. It was a huge job to go through all of our family photo albums and find all of the pictures. There were some years in the early teens that didn't have very many pictures, but we managed to find them. I had to scan every picture and get copies made and then return them to the right spot in the albums- what a job!

After getting all the pics, I had to think of a way to display them. I found the little photo clip holders at Crate and Barrel for 2$ each but when I bought them, I didn't take into account that they wouldn't hold up much weight. I thought I would mount the photos on card stock with some embellishments, but after doing the first one, realized it was too heavy for my holder. I ended up just gluing the photos back-to-back and adding some more of the snowflake cut outs that I used on the table number chart. We had to balance the photos in them and position the clip at just the right angle, but in the end they were great. 

Our guests enjoyed going around to all the tables and looking at the pictures of us through the ages. 

Mama Tweedle Frames Fabric

My mother Mama Tweedle loves to frame things, and, like me, she also loves fabric. It's a winning combination. This is an easy project to spruce up or fill an old frame for a room that needs a little pizazz! 

 

1. Recently Mama Tweedle bought a few thrift store frames and decided to fill them with fabric. You could do this with or without a mat. Some of the frames had mats and some didn't. 

 

2. Take them apart and clean the glass on the inside, since you won't have another chance after you put them together. Also, thrifted frames tend to be a little greasy and dirty. Making sure the glass is clean will give the artwork that extra pop it might need. 

 

3. Choose a piece of pretty fabric and cut out the piece that you like. Arrange the frame in different places over the fabric before you cut it. That way you will be sure to choose the area of fabric that will look the best with the size of the frame. Cut the fabric to size and iron the piece. Make sure there are no wrinkles against the glass before you tack it all together. There is no need to tape it in or glue it down. With the frame tight enough, it should stay in place just fine. 

4. With a pattern like these shells, you can display the picture horizontally or vertically. Mama Tweedle plans to hang this one in her bathroom.

5. This cowgirl fabric has several different girls - pick the prettiest one, or frame several together for an interesting display.

 

7. Isn't she adorable . . . for a family room or a girl's bedroom!

Tweedle Tip: Try thinking about using fabric in ways other than for sewing. There are so many beautiful fabrics out there that catch my eye wherever I go. Start building a collection of small pieces when they strike you and save them for rainy day crafts like this one. People often think that fabric stores are only for avid seamstresses, but they aren't!

Wise beyond their years...

On Friday, I was giving a spelling test in my class and the word was "dishes". I used it in a sentence and said: "There is a pile of dishes sitting on my counter at home because I did not get around to doing them last night."

One of the girls in my class thought for a moment and then said- "Couldn't Tom do them?"

I laughed and said, "YEAH! Good point!"

I told the kids I was working on whipping Tom into shape with the housework.

I'm taking a lesson from them. This week, there will be less of THIS: 

And more of THIS:

Tweedle Tip: Create a schedule or a deal with your spouse in terms of housework and chores. That way you won't get stuck feeling like you are doing everything all the time if you are both mentally prepared to help out on "your days". Also, husbands seem to work best when they know in advance which chores they will have to do. Tom always resists when I spring chores and jobs on him at the last minute. 


For example, Tom and I have a deal going where the person who cooks, doesn't do the dishes. It works pretty well and usually Tom is good at keeping up his end of the deal. However, he's been slipping a little lately :) With a great suggestion from my class, I'm working on getting that fixed ASAP. 

Father's Day Breakfast

Tom and I had these for supper last night- a lazy Friday night supper. They are one of my go-to weekend lunches or Saturday breakfasts and I guess now we can add Friday suppers to the list too. After I made them I thought they would be an easy Father's Day breakfast too. Kids can help make them and older kids could probably do them by themselves. They aren't for the faint of heart either- men like 'em just as much as the daintiest of women like me! HA!

Father's Day Eggers

1. Crack 1 egg into a hot frying pan with a little bit of butter for flavour and so the egg doesn't stick. Fry it until the yolk is starting to turn opaque and then flip over so it crisps up the other side too. Be careful you don't break the yolk when you flip it. As soon as you flip, turn the heat off, but leave the pan on the hot burner. This will ensure the yolk doesn't over cook and stays a bit soft and runny- that's the best way!

2. In the meantime, slice 2 slices of cheddar cheese thinly and pop an english muffin in the toaster.

3. When the toast pops, stick the cheese on it and top it off with the egg. The hot egg will melt the cheese.

4. Place a few pickled jalepenos on top of the egg and add some ham if you have it in the fridge. We happened to have some this time, but without ham is just as good!

5. Squish it all together so the yolk breaks and starts to run all over the insides of the sandwich. Chow down and enjoy!

Tweedle Tip: Pickled jalepenos add kick and flavour to any type of sandwich. I often replace mustard and mayo with jalepenos and it cuts back on the calories while adding great flavour. Even if you are not a fan of spicy foods, the pickled kind is not as hot. Try it! You'll love it!

An Apartment Tour

I realized that since the big kitchen reno, I hadn't actually shown off the finished product in all its glory! Here are a few recent glimpses of our tiny basement suite:

Here is our new island, dishes and tile! It's now a modern chef's haven- as far as basement suite kitchens are concerned. 

If you were looking at the kitchen from the other angle, you'd see our "coffee station". I bought Tom a fancy espresso maker as a wedding gift and there was no room on our counter for it. We created a spot for it and added a pop of colour by displaying some of our serving dishes and pots there too. Also, you may remember those family photos that we have framed- there they are! 

Beyond the kitchen is the living room. Here's a shot of my colour scheme in the living room. Also the pillow that I modelled my quilt after, which I am hoping will be a cozy couch quilt and blend in with the rest of the decor. The painting was painted and given to me by a friend of mine. 

This is the bedroom. As you can see, I am kind of into the grey-wall thing. The bedroom is painted in a slightly lighter grey colour than the rest of the apartment. The bed frame, dresser and night stands are white and the pillows help add a little something. If I was to put any more work into this place, it would be the bedroom. 

Last, but not least, here's the bathroom! Remember the one that used to be neon pink and make me look really tanned??! 

Pros of having a small place:
- There isn't much to clean. It takes me all of 45 minutes to dust and vacuum the whole place and clean the bathroom including scrub the shower and tub.
- There isn't much to fix. We don't have to worry about cleaning vents, fixing the roof or dealing with plumbing leaks. These things just don't arise often.
- Tom and I can talk to each other no matter which room either of us is in. I can be in the bedroom and he in the living room watching TV and I can ask nicely for a cup of tea and he will bring it to me, because he will hear me, even when the hockey game is on!! How about that for a "pro"?!

Cons of having a small place:
- There is not a lot of wall space for artwork- which I love and cannot expand my collection currently.
- There is not a lot of storage. We have things thrown hastily and teetering in piles in our small "storage room" which is meant to be a laundry room. Thankfully we use the laundry upstairs, or there really would be NO storage.
- Tom and I can hear each other no matter which room either of us is in. I can be relaxing in the bedroom enjoying some peace and quiet and I will hear Tom ask me nicely to bake him cookies and I will get up and bake them for him because I can't very well pretend I didn't hear ;)

What do you think about your place? Too big? Too small? Just right?

Wedding Wednesday- The Seating Arrangement

The seating arrangement for the reception was the last thing I did, because my guest list changed so many times in the weeks leading up to the wedding. We had many family and friends change their minds about coming or not coming and some that had circumstances beyond their control arise and so we really didn't know how many guests we would have until a few days before the wedding.

I had the idea that I would make a bulletin board type seating chart like this one:

Find the source for this photo on my Wedding Stuff Pinterest board HERE

But when I started laying it all out, it just didn't jive with the simple elegance I was going for and so I kept the same format, but didn't add pictures or clippings.

In order to make this chart I found an old picture frame and spray painted it sliver. I bought a piece of foam board and cut it to fit the back of the frame perfectly. I wrapped the foam board in blue velvet which I bought at Fabricland and then wedged the fabric-wrapped foam board into the frame and taped the back with masking tape so it stayed. This was all very technical!

In order to print the names, I was sure that I would do it on the computer and use a scrolling handwritten font of some kind, but my home computer would only print in black and after printing out EVERY darn table and cutting them out and arranging them, I didn't like the way the black went with the blue and silver. I had bought greyish-silver cardstock from a local scrapbooking store and decided to just write them out myself.

I copied the names in list form with grey sharpie, being careful to make all the names and letters the same size and to write straight. Then I used a blueish-silver gel pen to embellish some of the letters to dress it up a bit. I had also seen some snowflake cut outs at the scrapbook store and had them cut a few in different sizes for me. I used them as extra decoration.

In order to fasten it all to the fabric and foam board, all I used was white glue! I just dabbed a bit on the back of the cardstock and set it in place and let it dry overnight and voila!- an elegant seating chart which we displayed on an easel in the entrance to the reception.

Tweedle Tip: When creating the actual arrangement and choosing guests' seats, I found this idea really helpful. Martha Stewart came to my rescue, of course! Write or print out all your guests' names on small sticky notes. Then draw out the floor plan of your reception on a poster board. You can easily move guests from table to table until you find the perfect arrangement. It worked really well for us because we could both be looking at the whole picture at the same time. When it came time to make the seating chart display, it was easy to look at the table and see who would be seated there!

A Garden Tour

I am a very naive gardener. I always underestimate the amount of work it is to have a garden- the planning, the planting, the buying of bedding plants, seeds and started veggies, the weeding, the watering and the constant worry about whether things will grow or not.

I have the world's worst green thumb that ever was. It is hard for me to keep plants alive both inside and out, but I love having fresh home-grown local veggies to eat right from our own backyard, so I try. Tom does a lot of the work in our garden and knows a lot more about different types of plants and how to plan where we should put things, etc.

In our town we also have problem with pests. Deer, to be exact. They live in our neighbourhood and eat EVERYTHING. So we have been building one heck of a deer fence so that our precious darling lettuce is still there when we go to pick it for a salad.

Here is a little glimpse of our garden progress: 

Here is Tom working on Day 1 of gardening- about a month ago. We got those darker brown piles of dirt from Tom's parents compost pile. We filled 2 big garbage cans with dirt and they weighed a TON. We though FOR SURE it would be enough to fill a good portion of our garden with some top soil. Wrong! Those little piles of fertile soil look PATHETIC. 

While Tom worked on THE BIGGEST DEER FENCE of all time, I weeded this area. It really needed some tender loving care. 

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

I found some sunflowers that had seeded themselves from our sunflower patch last year! YAHOO! If you look really closely, you might be able to spot them. 

Here's the beginning of our deer fence. The levelling of the gate caused us Tom a little grief, but it turned out OK in the end. 

I made that garden path all by myself!!! Do you like it??!

This is a little area at the back of our yard. Previously, it was a place to dump grass clippings and weeds. I used to do that before I knew ANYTHING about plants whatsoever. Apparently I decided it would be good for the tress?? When Tom came along he saw a rotting pile of weeds which were seriously hindering the growth of the lilac bushes above. Oopsie!!! Anyway, now it looks much better. 

We transplanted two Peony plants from elsewhere in the yard as well as a Bleeding Heart bush. I really hope they all survive. So far, the Peonies' outlook is looking pretty grim and the Bleeding Heart has been deer dessert. 

Here are some things we actually have growing THRIVING!!!!....

Kale!

Tomatoes! (5 plants!!!!)

Basil!

Dill!

Parsley!

Thyme! (I am going to add Cilantro to that pot too)...

Tweedle Tip: Fresh herbs are a great way to spruce up any salad, meat marinade, or pasta dish. They are quite pricey when you buy them from the grocery store and you never have enough in one little bundle. Why not grow your own herb garden!? All you need are a few pots, some soil and pre-started herbs. All of these things are available at your local hardware store. You can grow them easily on a balcony, deck, front step, planter, window box or garden. When it gets cold out in the fall, you can even move the pots inside and grow them all year long in a sunny window. You'll have an endless supply of herbs for cooking the whole year through! 

What is your best gardening tip????