Howdy y’all!  I hope you had a fine weekend.  Ours was spent organizing and planning, planning and organizing, but mostly tinkering around the house, cleaning up the remnants of Christmas and tucking it away in bins for next year.  Lots of neat things happened in the peace and quiet, we made plans to take a vacation this year and to make more changes to the house, it was both productive and relaxing.

Another project I worked in the midst of all that was these stamped tea towels. I’m a huge fan of block print fabric so I decided to mimic the look by using some old stamps in my collection and applying the pattern to tea towels to brighten up the kitchen.

To make your own, you’ll need the following:  tea towels, non porous flat surface, paint for fabric, fabric medium, sponge roller, rubber stamps, iron.

I used the Martha Stewart paints since they’re inexpensive, readily available (found mine at Michaels), designed for use on fabric, and they come in such nice colors. Be sure to buy the fabric medium, that’s what keeps your paint thin, soft, and washable.

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My sister’s birthday is coming up this month so I wanted to make her something nice that I know she’d appreciate. I also like a hot bath at the end of the day especially since I’m exercising and eating raw foods and my body is rebelling (“Where’s the cheese? You’ve always fed me cheese! Where’s the d*#$ cheese lady?”) and as a result I’m a hint cranky. 

Plus there’s the whole kids home from school this week and climbing the walls and they’ve already played with their toys 3½ times and watched those two movies I bought, and they’re all “Get out of my room, stop touching me, Mom we’re boooored”.  So bottom line: momma needs a little aromatherapy. 

I go to Whole Foods maybe five times a year, and I stay away mostly because their prices are kinda obscene. My friend Staci calls Whole Foods ‘Whole Paycheck’ and that girl is right on. But the only place I could think of in town to buy the trifecta of ingredients for this latest concoction (essential oil, sea salt, and body oil) was Whole Foods, and since I’m a one stop shopper with kids in tow, I made the trip. 

I took some pretty pictures (with the lens I mentioned here) of the process and officially apologize for the next sentence which sounds like a commercial. A gentle rub with sea salt will exfoliate the skin and the essential oils possess beneficial moisturizing qualities and antioxidants!

To make your own, first equip yourself with some decent containers. Canning jars, old jelly jars, even plastic containers with lids will do.  I chose these 12 oz. glass jars with plain lids from The Container Store since I wanted to give two away as gifts.

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Greetings all, I hope you’re enjoying your time off with friends and family.  We’re coming down to the last few days of the year, and that means it’s roundup time!  Looking back, I narrowed it down to a list of fifteen of my favorite DIY projects from 2011.  Here they are in chronological order, follow the links for the full story.

#1:  Budget Bathroom Cabinet Makeover

#2  New Tile Backsplash (Installation)

#3  No Sew Cloth Napkin Pillow Covers

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Oh hello. I was just browsing the links at the Holiday Craft Party from last week, and all I can say is Wow.  I mean seriously. There are some very creative, talented, and crafty people out there, who all happened to link up their creations last week.  And would you be shocked to hear there are 785 of them. Yeah. How crazy cool is that?  So I just couldn’t help but highlight a few. This post is kinda like a BOTB, but holiday crafty style, and here are twenty five creations you’ve just gotta see!      

Cake circles and red striped fabric come together to form these charming and inexpensive peppermint striped placemats by Heather at Commonplace Beauty.

Glittery string snowballs made by Kelly hang from elegant branches in a rattan vase over at View Along The Way. 

These mini yarn wreaths by Smile Like You Mean It had me at hello, and would you guess they’re made of shower curtain rings?  For realz.  And totally genius.

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