How to Clean and Preserve Conch Shells

A couple of weeks ago we were down at the beach and dug up 2 beautiful large conch shells. I wanted these conch shells but knew it would be a chore cleaning them. Today, I am going to share with all of you how I cleaned my Conch Shells that I found at the Jersey Shore.

The first thing we did was run fresh water over them...I am talking about water from your kitchen sink tap. We did this for 5 minutes to remove sand and debris. We were not sure if the animal inside was still alive or not (he was definitely still in there) so we got a big kettle out and filled it with hot water. We brought the water to a boil and placed both Conch Shells into the water. We boiled them for 15 to 20 minutes and then turned it off. We left them sit for another 20 minutes in the hot water and then removed them with tongs.

Warning: Your house will smell fishy as you are cooking them.
Hubby then took a fork and jabbed the animal and with a little pressure they did come out all in one solid piece. (definitely deceased by this point). We then rinsed the shells under cool running water for about 5 minutes until they were clean. I did have to use an old soft bristled scrub brush to clean up the shells even more. I then aired them dry and packed them up for the trip home.
Once home I got out an empty spray bottle and filled it 3/4 of the way full with tap water and 1/4 of the way full with household bleach. I took the 2 Conch Shells outside and laid them onto newspaper and sprayed them with the water/bleach mixture. I like doing this part on a hot and sunny day as the heat/sun helps them to dry quicker and it also will help to lighten your shells. I repeated this about 5 times throughout the afternoon. Once done, I brought them back inside and ran them under cool water for a few minutes to help remove the bleach smell.

Now they are all pretty and I am going to use them in my coastal themed garden as accents. yeah! Do you collect Conch Shells and if so, how do you go about cleaning yours? I would love to hear about other methods when it comes to cleaning conch shells.

Updating our New Home with Stylish Furniture and Accessories

Two years ago my husband and I purchased an older home and then decided to rent it out. Well, our renter moved out early last month and we have decided to move into the home that we own. This is a 65 year old home and it needs a lot of work!

For the past 6 weeks we have been gutting the home and remodeling it. We are getting to the point now where I am ready to purchase us some new home accessories and furniture. I am pretty crafty and will make some things for our new home but other things I will need to purchase.

Right now we are working on our new family room which is pretty large. I want to buy some Floor Cushions and sprinkle them in the room for extra seating for the kids. I had thought about making them but once I added up all the supplies & materials I would need, I realized that it would be cheaper to just buy them.

We put one of our older sofas into the new family room but it needs updated with some new Cushion Covers and I finally found a set of covers that I really like. I think they will fit into our decor style really nicely.

I found some nice Indian Curtains which will really add some nice flavor to our family room decor and I think I will purchase 3 sets of those next. I really like the vibrant colors and the patterns that these type of high-quality curtains come in.

Once we get those things done I will be heading out to purchase a new flat panel, big-screen TV for the family room and purchase some wall furnishings for our one wall. Right now that wall is looking pretty bare and needs some sprucing up.

After this room has been completed we will be moving on to our dining room which really needs a lot of work, including a new hardwood floor.

Scrapbooking | Broadway Show in New York City Scrapbook Layout

Back in January of 2012, my husband and I took a mini vacation up to New York City. We stayed 2 nights and 3 days in the city and enjoyed several activities. One of the things we got to enjoy was a Broadway Show called "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" starring Darren Criss. (NOTE: You can click on the photo above to enlarge it).

I made this layout in the 12x12" format and wanted to stick with a yellow and black color scheme so that the Playbill Program fit nicely into the layout. My background is a sheet of 12x12 yellow print scrapbooking paper. (it has tone-on-tone yellow swirls). I removed just the cover from the PLAYBILL and matted that onto solid black cardstock and trimmed it to leave a 3/16" border. I placed it onto the layout using several glue dots to hold it into place. Underneath the PLAYBILL is our 2 ticket stubs which I offset/tilted onto the layout.

I had 2 photos...one of the E AL HIRSCHFELD THEATRE sign and one that my hubby took of the play going on inside the building. I cropped the bottom photo down to measure 3x4" in size and then matted it onto yellow and black cardstock leaving an 1/8" edge on the yellow mat and 3/16" edge on the black mat. (bottom left on the layout). I then slightly cropped down the other photo to measure 3 3/4" by 5 3/4" in size. Matted it onto yellow and black cardstock to match the other photo.

Above the top photo I used sticker letters to spell out "THE SHOW". Between the 2 photos I placed a 3-dimensional embellishment sticker that I had depicting Broadway and a Show. I am glad it was pinkish in color as it balanced out the pink from the ticket stubs nicely.

Other than that, I choose to leave the layout pretty plain as I wanted the PLAYBILL to be the main focus on the page.

New Martha Stewart CraftStudio Free APP

We are Happy™— a new interactive lifestyle brand and studio dedicated to creating digital tools that unleash creativity, foster personal growth, build community, inspire others, and promote...you guessed it...happiness.

Check out Martha Stewart CraftStudio, our first product designed and built in partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. It's a ground-breaking creativity application for Apple's iPad now available in the App Store at no cost until July 8th. Download it here!
Unlike any other lifestyle app, CraftStudio brings the physical paper-crafting world of scrapbooking, memory-keeping and photo embellishment to life on the iPad and allows crafters and non-crafters of all ages and skill levels to create and customize digital cards, invitations, thank-you notes, scrapbook pages, keepsakes, and more. Oh, and there's glitter.

CraftStudio connects back to the physical world by enabling high quality prints to a home printer using AirPrint technology and professional quality prints via Snapfish.

To watch the promotional video for CraftStudio, click here.

Sincerely,

The Happy Team

Fabric Selection for Your Handmade Quilt

By Nancy S Ball

Fabric selection is an important factor when you embark on a new handmade quilting project. Since any handmade quilt will require many hours of labor, albeit a labor of love, you want to ensure that the finished quilt will be a project you will be proud to display, to use in your home or to give as a gift. You want it to look beautiful, and you also want it to be durable for the purpose for which it was created.

It is especially important that the same type and weight of fabric be used for the entire quilt. Each type of fabric has its own particular washing requirements. Just as colors can clash with one another, fabric types can clash and distract from the beauty of the handmade quilt. The first thing you want to consider is how the quilt will be used.

Quilts made for decoration and display:

For quilts that don't get a great deal of wear or require frequent laundering, delicate fabrics, such as silk, make gorgeous quilts.

The author is the proud owner of a handmade quilt made by a special aunt in the "bowtie" pattern using necktie fabric. It looks beautiful folded at the foot of a bed in a spare room where it does not get heavy use.

You can create a special souvenir from a trip by purchasing fabric while on your trip. A family member of mine went to Hawaii and purchased a variety of colorful Hawaiian fabrics. When finished, the quilt was colorful and beautiful and a lasting memory of her trip.

Another family member created a lovely and unique handmade quilt using cloth decorative calendars. It is important to note that the fabrics decorative calendars are made of may not launder well, so will require delicate care.

Quilts made for gifts:

Men's neckties that are out of style or no longer worn, can be used to make a gift for a special man in your life. The bowtie pattern is an excellent choice, and most men would be happy to have a handmade quilt made from their old neckties.

If you sew and make clothes for yourself and your children, a special quilt can be created for yourself or your child using these left over fabrics.

If you are making a baby gift, flannel or chenille are excellent choices. These fabrics are soft, warm and durable. Keep in mind baby quilts get lots of hard use and need to be laundered often.

Quilts made to use as cover for cold winter nights:

Cotton and similar weight fabrics have long been used for quilts to use on your bed to keep you warm throughout the night. Quilters can be creative and select fabrics such as flannel and woolen weights for extra warmth.

For the true quilt lover who owns a number of beautiful handmade quilts, it is fun to use a variety of fabrics. Whatever the purpose of your handmade quilt, taking time to consider exactly the right fabrics to use before starting your project will assure a beautiful handmade quilt will result from your efforts.

The author has had many years of experience in creating handmade quilts, including pattern selection, fabric selection, piecing quilt tops, as well as hand and machine quilting. A feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment awaits anyone who enters the creative world of quilting. Find quilting tips and information and the best quilting frames and supplies at http://www.bestquiltingsupplies.com.

The Home Remodeling Continues

Two years ago my husband and I decided to purchase a 65 year old lovely home out in the suburbs. The only problem with this home is that the previous elderly owners never upgraded it nor modernized it the 65 years that they owned it.

About 3 months ago we started the process of gutting it and remodeling it. We are taking it one room at a time and hopefully we can be done with it by September so that we can move into it.

Right now we are working on the kitchen which is a really big undertaking. It's a country style kitchen with a lot of dark woodwork. We are ripping everything out of the kitchen and replacing everything from the appliances to the woodwork.

One thing we are currently looking for is some easy installation LED lights. We would like to use them to light up the kitchen cabinets that my husbands is going to install. They have clear glass fronts and I will be putting some of my very nice china inside them, so I would love some LED cabinet lighting.

A friend of my husband's was telling him that there are do it yourself LED lights out there in the retail marketplace and hopefully we can pick up a few of those for our remodeling projects.

The kitchen has really poor lighting and only has one medium sized window. I am thinking about getting some of those hanging pendant lighting fixtures and hanging them in 4 different areas of the kitchen to enhance the lighting. I saw a similar look in one of my home decorating magazines and I think it would look very nice in our kitchen once we are done.

After the kitchen has been completed we are going to move on to our family room which is a combination family room/adult game room. We don't have small children living in our home so hubby is going to add a bar area to one area of the room. Once he gets the bar in we will need to purchase some LED bar lights as the lighting in that room is pretty poor too.

At this point in time, we still have 5 more rooms to remodel before we can move into the house. In a few weeks I will make another blog post and show you some before and after photos of what we have completed so far.

Have any of you used LED lighting in your homes? If so, do you have any tips, ideas or suggestions for us? Please feel free to leave me some comments below in my blog's comment form. Thanks!

Scrapbooking | New York City Road Trip Scrapbook Layout

Back in January of 2012 I was sent up to New York City by the great folks over at Pretzel Crisps as their New York City Brand Ambassador. For this trip I was allowed to take my hubby along with me and we had a great time. I have a lot of photos to scrapbook of our New York City trip so additional posts will be published over the next couple of weeks featuring several of the scrapbook layouts I made of our New York City trip. This is the first page in the scrapbook and you can CLICK ON THE PHOTO above to enlarge it to see the details!!!

The layout was done in the 12x12 format and features 2 photos that were taken in front of my house. The company had a driver and car come to pick us up so the top photo is of our driver Andy and the bottom photo is of me getting ready to get into the car. I cropped the top photo down to 3 1/2" by 5 1/2" in size and used a muted green sticker frame around it and then matted it onto black cardstock, trimmed it so that only an 1/8" remained around the frame. I cropped the photo of me to measure 2 3/4" by 3 3/4" in size and used a beige sticker frame around it. Again, matted it onto black cardstock, trimmed it and left an 1/8" black border around it.

My background is a sheet of 12x12 scrapbooking paper done in a medium shade of beige. I then trimmed down a printed sheet of scrapbooking paper to measure 8" by 8" square. I glued it onto my layout with it being just an inch up from my bottom edge and 3" from the top edge. I then glued a border strip along the bottom of the layout that measures 1" by 12" and it has a print of blank postcards on it. I decided to do some journaling on each postcard in my own handwriting with a fine point dark brown marker. I then placed my 2 framed & matted photos onto the layout as shown in the photo above.

I had some old world traveler cardstock stickers which I framed up with black cardstock, trimmed and left an 1/8" border around them. You can see one in the top left corner of the layout and one in the bottom right corner of the layout. There was a matching journaling tag which I framed up with the black cardstock too and I placed that in between the photo of myself and the Road Trip cardstock sticker on the bottom. I then did a little more journaling on that tag.

To finish up the layout I had two 3-dimensional travel theme'd embellishments that I used. One has a little metal pocket watch face on it and some travel related wording and I placed that under the photo of myself. I selected that as the metal pocket watch reminds me of TIME square (get it, TIME and Time Square LOL). The second one says WORLD TRAVELER and I placed that 3-dimensional embellishment above the photo of our driver Andy because on our 2 1/2 hour car ride he was telling hubby and I about all of the wonderful places he has traveled to. I also rubbed on 3 phrases using a pack of travel theme'd rub-ons. I put the ROAD TRIP one under the top left embellishment, the SUBURBAN SAFARI under the photo of Andy the driver and finally, the ARE WE THERE YET? is in the bottom right corner.

I really like how clean this layout looks but yet...it does have quite a bit of embellishments on it. I also like the neutral tones of beige, brown, black and a little bit of brick red mixed together. Enjoy!

How to Preserve Sand Dollars for your Craft Projects

Hubby and I love the beach and every time we go we like to collect sea shells when we find them. I always bring them home to clean them up, preserve them and then find a way to use them in my crafting projects since a lot of my home is decorated in coastal home decor.

Last week we vacationed down at the Jersey Shore and we found 3 beautiful little Sand Dollars washing up on the beach. Each one was about the size of a half dollar so we grabbed them. One of them got broken before we got home and one of them got chipped on the ride back. One of them survived in perfect condition.

When you find sand dollars on the beach you want to immediately rinse them under fresh running water. I do not submerge mine at all, but I do rinse it until all the sand is off and until my water is running clear. I then lay mine on a soft cotton towel and let them air dry. I didn't have any crafting supplies with me on vacation so once they were dry I wrapped them gently up with wash cloths and packed them into a plastic container.

When we were finally home I got them out and got busy preserving them. I mixed 2 tablespoons of white craft glue (Alene's Tacky Glue) with 1 tablespoon of water, until it was well combined. You don't want it too runny nor too thick. I then placed waxed paper down onto my countertop and used a foam sponge brush to apply the mixture to the back of each sand dollar. I left them air dry for 15 minutes under a ceiling fan to help them to dry quicker. I then gave them a second coat and left them dry again. Once dry, I repeated the process on the front sides, coating them twice.

They are now preserved and stronger! They can still break if you bump them around too much but this does help to protect them.

Scrapbooking | Fall Fun Toddler Girl Scrapbook Layout Idea

I know it's the beginning of Summer but I am just now finding the time to do some of my scrapbook layouts from Fall 2011. Today's layout was done in the 12x12 format and features 2 photos of my grand-wee-one playing outdoors in the fall leaves. (NOTE: You can click on the photo above to enlarge it to see the details).

For my background I used 3 sheets of scrapbooking paper. The first layer is a plaid print in fall colors. I then cut a border strip from a coordinating sheet that has leaves and pine cones on it and ran it down the left side of my page. It measures 3" by 12" in length. I then ripped the corner off a piece of beige colored scrapbooking paper that had a light pine cone print. I did ink around all edges of all 3 pieces of paper as I wanted it to blend and look a little aged.

I had 2 photos, one which I cropped down into a square shape and one I left at it's original 4x6" size. I made my own frames from medium olive green scrapbooking paper to frame them under. You can see the photo for placement onto the page. I made my own journaling tag by tracing around a real leaf and cutting it out. I inked around the edges of the leave with brown ink and then used brown chalk all over the inside of the leaf to add texture and to mute down the green color. I did the journaling in my own handwriting with a brown marker.

My grand-wee-one loves feeding nuts to the squirrels so I found a sticker of a squirrel and placed that in the bottom right corner of the page. I used my Cricut to cut out letters to spell FALL FUN (from green and brown cardstock, layered together) and placed them onto the page with a glue pen. The top edge looked a little bare to me so I ended up cutting a strip from the beige pine cone paper and gluing it across the top. I then did a little more journaling on that strip. Enjoy!

Scrapbooking :: I'm Just A Toddler Girl's Scrapbook Layout Idea

Last week I have some time to spend scrapbooking and one of the layouts I wanted to tackle was this one particular photo of my 2 1/2 year old grand-daughter which shows how messy of an eater she is! She is now finally using utensils for but over a year, she would ONLY feed herself using her hands. I was able to get a snapshot of this a few months ago and finally...scrapbooked a page about it. (you can click on the photo in this post and it will enlarge it for you).

This layout is pretty simple and a basic scrapbooking layout. I used a solid yellow sheet of cardstock for my background and then made my own left-side border strip using a print and solid scrapbooking papers. I had only one photo which was 4x6" in size and used a ready-made frame around it. I then matted that onto black cardstock and trimmed it so that only an 1/8" of border remained. That photo is my focal point of the layout and shows her messy hands while sitting in the highchair eating.

The title of the layout is "I'm Just A Toddler" and I used a chipboard 3-D embellishment for that under the left bottom of the photo. I used a piece of vellum that says "Who Needs A Fork?" as an additional semi-title and matted that onto yellow, light blue and black cardstock to frame it out. I then placed a sticker of a jar full of spoons (no forks) to the left of that title block.

My journaling block is one I made myself and I journaled in my own handwriting on it. I did frame it up with some black cardstock (1/8" border) so that it went along with my other page items. To finish off the layout I used some stickers of kitchen items and various cookies (her favorite's of course) and sprinkled them down the right side of the photo of her and across the bottom of the page.

I am pretty pleased with the layout as I don't often work in yellow or black. I like clean and uncluttered layouts and I think I accomplished that with this 12x12 scrapbook layout. Plain to most scrapbookers but it is the look I love!