Thoughts on Thursday...

I put some green beans in the microwave for what I "thought" was 3 minutes and 30 seconds...3:30.

I some how pushed an extra zero...33:00.

Cooking other things I wasn't paying attention, but thankfully I caught them after 7 minutes before they burst into flames. Lol !!

There were some that were splattered all over and some that were so dried up I could have used them for some kind of craft project...like beads for jewelry making. Microwave was a mess.

What's your kitchen disaster?

Happy Thursday,
~Karen~

Pinterest Help...Editing Your Boards

Here's more Pinterest help that you've been asking for. This will help editing your pin boards. You can edit...

• the board...like title etc
• a pin that was placed on the wrong board
• rearrange the order of your boards
• edit your profile too

Start by logging into your Pinterest account. Click under your picture in the upper right corner. A drop down menu will appear. Click BOARDS (circled in red in picture below)

All your boards will appear.

There is a big EDIT word at the bottom of each board.

There you can change board TITLE and the category you want that board to show up in.

To edit the pins on each board, click on a picture on that board.

All the pins will show up from that particular board. If you roll your mouse over a picture, you can pick REPIN, EDIT or COMMENT. See that quilt picture below? I placed that in the wrong board.

When you pick EDIT, you can then go to the drop down menu of all your boards and place it in the correct one.

I'll place it in QUILTS.

Make sure you click SAVE.

You can also rearrange the order of your boards too. Go to the upper right corner and click REARRANGE

It's a drag and rearrange set up.

Drag where you want the board and click SAVE!

Have fun pinning. You can see my Pinterest account by clicking the "P" on my right side bar.

Have a great day,
~Karen~

Tool Time Tuesday...Placemat Easter Basket

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I know I'm a little early with an Easter project, but this is an easy one. You can make them ahead and have them ready to go for gift baskets, Easter egg hunts or just as a present in itself. You'll be making tons of these.

Aren't they cute?

All you need is a placemat. You know I love placemat projects because most all of the sewing and finshed edges are already done for you. Makes a project super fast. CLICK HERE for other placemat projects I've done (there are several pages of projects on that link).

This was a great price...look for them on sale too.

First step is to fold it in half. The short sides of the placemat will now be the open top of the bag.

Sew both sides of the bag. This placemat had a decorative stitch on the edges, so I just sewed right over it.

Turn the bag wrong side out and have the side seams facing you.

Push down on the side seam to form a point like in the picture below.

I sewed across the point, about an inch from the point. See the white thread stitching? Sorry, I should have used a darker thread.

Turn right side out. That point you just sewed forms a bottom on the bag.

This is the inside. You can make a covered card board piece for the bottom if you'd like for more support.

Now take two ribbons any length you'd like.

Pin the four ends on the top of the bag.

I pinned mine about 3 inches in from the outside edge. Sew across the ribbon to secure.

You're all done. Fast, easy and so cute.

Great for Easter egg hunts! Make them in many different colors to match the color of the plastic eggs...that way each child hunts for the color egg that matches their bag. CLICK HERE for another color coded egg hunt idea.

The bag holds more eggs than you think!! CLICK HERE for this bunny project too.

These bags would be great for...

• egg hunts
• filled with Easter chocolate and candies
• filled with baked goods...Easter breads or cookies
• make one for that little girl in your life for a purse all her own
• make them as gift bags for any holiday, not just Easter

Have fun making these,
~Karen~

Upcoming Things on Sew Many Ways...

My mind has been ticking lately and that can be dangerous!! I have some posts that I've wanted to do, but wanted to ask a few questions first...just to get your opinion!

Topic 1...Yard Sale Saturday on S.M.W.

I've been cleaning out some things in my sewing room and around the house that I haven't used in a while or no longer need. I would rather sell these things on my blog, because I "know" most of you. (you know what I mean by "know most of you"...through blogging Lol)

Having a yard sale at my own home might bring a few people who would want what I'm selling, but posting a few things each Saturday would bring the things to people who would really want it...a broader audience.

The bonus for you would be to go to a yard sale in your pajamas!!

I've seen other people sell things on their blogs and wonder how it works out for them.

Here are my questions and thoughts on it.

• do you think this would be a good feature on my blog?
• would you buy things in this way?
• I would require Paypal for payment 
• I would ship on Wednesday and Friday
• I would only charge you the actual shipping charge...no extra
• the item would have a set price...no bidding
• first come, first serve basis through the comments section.
• you must have an email in the comment for contact reasons
• I would post the items at 10:00 am eastern standard time in the US on Saturdays. That would make it fair for most time zones. (except maybe Hawaii and Australia...sorry Hawaii and Australia)

Would do you think?

I was going to talk about other topics, but I'll do that on another post. Too much info on one post is an overload! Lol

Thanks for you opinion,
~Karen~

Sew Darn Crafty Party...Week 54

Hi everyone!! I hope you had a great time looking through all the fabulous links last week!!

Coming up in March and April, we have St Patrick's day, Springtime and Easter. If you have any posts to share for projects we can make ahead of time, feel free to link up to the party. If you don't, that's fine too...we love all things that you've done, so let's see what you've done this week.

If you're NEW to Sew Darn Crafty, then grab a cup of something tasty, sit back and join in on the fun (starts Sunday and lasts all week long here at Sew Many Ways).

If you want to add the button to your blog's side bar or your list of parties that you're in each week...Click HERE for a tutorial for adding a button

WHAT IS A LINKING PARTY...

I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.

Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking

• you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or
• you can share what you've been up to (linking)

If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger who was willing to share her thoughts and ideas.


HOW AND WHAT TO LINK TO THE PARTY...

Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration

Easy steps to join in on the fun...

• link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post. Copy and paste the address that's at the top of your computer into the linky steps.
• link as many projects as you'd like...old or new
• anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...
• visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!
• linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in
• just click the blue "click here to enter" button below and follow the easy steps

Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week
~Karen~

Spring To Winter In One Day...

It was 60 degrees here yesterday, but I had to work. Today my husband and I both have the day off together, so I was lying in bed early this morning thinking...maybe a nice walk on the beach since it was so nice yesterday.

This is what we woke up to earlier this morning.

In yesterday's post, I talked about flowers trying to come up, how it's been such a mild winter and today we're shoveling. Hope those poor little flower buds went back underground.

That's New England for you.

I hope it's warmer where you are.

Have a great day,
~Karen~

Thoughts on Thursday...

It's been such a mild winter here in New England...pretty much all over the states. Some flowers are so confused, they are starting to come up in the yard. I'm hoping Spring isn't too far away.

I love flowers and tulips are my absolute favorite.

What's your favorite flower?

source

Have a wonderful Thursday,

~Karen~

Pinterest Help...Great Idea When Pinning

I did a Pinterest post last week and there was a comment from Nancy with an awesome pinning tip. When you are on the page that you are pinning the picture from, find the words or title of the picture that goes with it. Left click, drag and high light the words that you want. When you "pin it" the high lighted words end up in the description box of your pinned picture.

Aaahhh...come on ladies, sing like an angel. That is genius!!

Thanks Nancy for sharing such a time saving tip.

You can visit Nancy at her blog Polly-Wolly Doodle, but you can also find her at http://www.nancybabb-classes.blogspot.com/

She gives a great tutorial for turning corners when sewing. You can find that here...

http://nancybabb-classes.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-sharp-corners-on-pillows.html 

Thanks for stopping by. You can visit my Pinterest account by clicking the "P" above or in the circle on my side bar.

Have a great day,

~Karen~

Tool Time Tuesday...My Bucket List

Not "that" bucket list...a Tool Time Bucket List. Although I should put together a life bucket list, just to see what I would come up with.

Well, let's get back to today's list. BUCKETS and what you can do with them...more than just carrying dirt and fireplace ashes.

They come in so many shapes, sizes, colors, materials etc!

Here are just a few ideas for buckets around my house. Some are new ideas and some are older ones that I have given the link back to that earlier post.

Buckets for real plants...they don't leak when watering.

Great for artificial plants too.

This is a bucket of artificial tulips I keep by the side of our bathroom sink...

Cute and serves a big purpose for me. I like to keep my hair dryer handy and always plugged in

Bunch of flowers kept together with wire or an elastic. Easy to take out each time I need the dryer.

Don't have a real Ice Bucket? Use a real bucket. lol

Different sizes will hold more than a real ice bucket...another picture of this idea at the end too.

I had to share this idea again. CLICK HERE for the original post when I used the french drain for my sewing room. Perfect for wine too.

Bucket of sewing trimmings right by my cutting table

Buckets of magazines.

Gift buckets. This is a baking themed bucket. You could do anything in a bucket.

Fill it with newspapers to keep gifts "up" at the top.

Cover with gift grass. That's what I call it. I save this stuff every time it comes with a gift I receive.

Gather your gift items

Taller gifts towards the back...

Fill in with the rest and add a little more grass to fill in the spaces. Add a bow and you're good to go.

Hang a bucket on the work bench for items that don't have holes for hanging.

Buckets from the hardware store come in colors too. I bought this teal 5 gallon bucket for Kelsie's dorm room. I wanted to cover the cover with a circle of wood, foam and fabric for a storage bench idea. Yeah...add that to the "to do" list.

This is a 5 gallon bucket that I did a post on for quilting supplies. You can buy that canvas organizer in any hardware store. They also have insert trays too. Great to carry this bucket to a quilt class or retreat. CLICK HERE for that post

How about a bucket for scrap projects. Handy for carrying to your comfy chair to work on. CLICK HERE to go to that post

or this paint bucket for sewing too. CLICK HERE for that post.

Did you know they sell NEW paint buckets. These are great for time capsules, theme gift buckets, games for the kids etc. Easy to decorate with fabric or scrapbook paper.

Perfect to put together a "Paint Your Face" gift together. Buy all make-up and what nots for the girls in your life.

Nice and roomy inside for lots of goodies.

Don't forget Easter buckets...for decorating your home or an egg hunt.

Little buckets filled with sand or cat litter to hold candles. Great for summer picnics too.

How about a little bucket for all the little ones at the party. Tough for them to carry all their picnic stuff...why not use a bucket.  Add their drink box, napkin, silverware, and little treats or favors for the party

A big black bucket, right?

I see a snowman's hat. Just add a ribbon.

CLICK HERE to go to an older post on how to build a snowman kit.

Than there is the Santa Bucket. Either pant one red or use a red bucket. Just add a black belt! CLICK HERE for that post.

I used an assortment of buckets for a drink buffet for a Christmas party 2 years ago. CLICK HERE for more.

From the same post as above. I used a bucket for a Christmas Tree holder.

and this past year's Christmas I used a plastic bucket for the holder. CLICK HERE for more on that!

There are buckets and buckets of ideas for this post! lol. Maybe you can share some of your ideas in the comments.

I'm wishing you buckets of blogging love for always stopping by.

Nothing better than a bucket of love! Well, a bucket of chicken is good too!!

~Karen~