Sunday, December 5, 2010

Holiday Blocks

I have been inspired! I LOVE blog surfing and seeing what other fellow crafters think up! Everyone is soo creative. Awhile ago I cam across THIS
post over at brown paper packages and LOVED it!
I immediately began making some of these for a couple friends. I did neutral colors and put their monogram on them.
Now for Christmas time I am doing Holiday blocks! I am getting great feedback! These are great and super easy to make! After making them I decided to pull off the chenille sticks. They weren't giving the blocks the look I wanted.






These are just a few! I have made a bunch of others. :)
Thanks for looking!
♥Mindy

Monday, August 9, 2010

Twisted CopyCat is now...

Rustic Splendor
I decided to change my name. I wasn't really diggin Twisted CopyCat.
I hope you all will continue to follow me and Rustic Splendor on whatever comes our way. :)
Thank you for your support and encouragement!

♥Mindy

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

My first necklace!

My awesome friend Veronica has this super cute necklace that she wears. I love it.
I decided I wanted to sort of recreate something similar for Collin's teacher. I had a hard time finding beads but ended up with something I really liked.
Veronica's necklace...

The one I made...

I made this organza/tulle clip that can be removed and worn in your hair.

Collin's teacher realy likes sea stones and similar colors, so I thought this little gem was perfect.

Please tell me what you think. I'd love some imput. I was thinking about making some more similar ones.

Linking to...
It's Sew Stinkin Cute
Hookin' Up with HOH
Feature Yourself Friday
♥Mindy

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

365 Project

Hello blog friends.
While blog hunting today I saw a post over at Today's Housewife called 365 project.
After reading all about it, I decided I am definately interested in doing it!! Its right up my alley. So for the next 365 days I will be taking pictures everyday and selecting one that embraces something we did that day or whatever. I'm really excited.
I'm actually gonna say I started it yesterday cuz Collin(my 5 year old)lost his 2nd tooth and it was a pretty neat day.
If you feel you are up for the challenge, jump on board!!
♥Mindy

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Brownies and Chocolate dipped Strawberries

I've been away from bloggy land WAY TOO LONG! I'm trying to organize my house and its taking forever!! I'm surrounded by messes and half organized rooms, but I WILL get it done!! Anyway...
Around these parts I'm known for my chocolate dipped strawberries! :)
They are so yummy!
Ryan asked for some for his birthday, in April, piled onto brownies! They were super delicious.
This past week we celebrated Collin's birthday at school(even though its not til July) and for his snack, he asked for brownies with dipped strawberries on top!
So, I made em again! Instead of dipping though, *I drizzled the chocolate. Was easier and you cant really dip wet strawberry pieces too well.
Here is what they looked like! YUM

I boxed them up nicely and brought them to school!

The kids LOVED them! Each one was given a nice top of whipped cream!

He dug right in like a champ!

♥Mindy

Monday, May 17, 2010

Awards!!

MUCH to my suprise and delight I have been given 2 awards recently!
How exciting! And I am VERY appreciative!
First off from my fabulous friend BECKIE over at These Creative Juices , she gave me...
MarketingMondays

award!!
LOVE IT!
To receive this award you have to promise to share this with 10 other BLOGS that you think are Trendy too! Easy peasy.
Just post about your award in your blog
List your Top 10 Trendy Blogs
Share with them
Leave a link to the Trendy Blog Button
Tell them they need to give this award out to 10 as well.
My Ten Picks(in random order) are...
Curbside Creations
Its Sew Stinkin Cute
U create
Sutton Grace
thirty handmade days
Poppies at Play
Cluck Cluck Sew
I ♥ Naptime
Oops, I Craft My Pants
Making the World Cuter

I also received

From Julie over at Its Sew Stinkin Cute
How sweet is THAT! :)
Rules for this one are....
Rules:
(1) Thank the person who gave me the award
(2) Share 7 things about myself
(3) Pass the award on to 15 bloggers who I have recently discovered and I think are fantastic!(in no particular order).
(4) Contact the bloggers I have picked and let them know about their award!

Anne, again... thank you so much for the award, it was so sweet and I REALLY appreciate it!

7 Things About Myself
(1) I have two adorable boys named Ryan(9) and Collin(5).
(2) I just celebrated my 30th birthday in April.
(3) Along with crafting, I grew up learning to play the flute(9 years) and piano.
(4) I am married to a wonderul man who is the best dad ever!
(5) I use to make and sell childrens clothing on Ebay under the id of precious*denim. LONG LONG AGO!
(6) I would LOVE to take a vacation with my family to any sunny, sandy, lovely location!!
(7) I live in a house that was built in 1895 and after living here for almost 5 years I am finaly realizing how much I LOVE its unique structures and potential!

I'm passing this award onto
These Creative Juices
A girl and a glue gun
barefoot in the kitchen
THAT'S SO CUEGLY
Nannygoat
Thrifty Decor Chick
The Homemaking Cottage
365 Crockpotting
Sisters Stuff
Life Frosting
Little Birdie Secrets
Keeping it Simple
Mod Podge Rocks
Sew Much Ado
Craft Rookie

If you haven't heard from me yet, congratulations!! You are all an inspiration to me!!
♥Mindy

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

More Teacher Gifts!

Here are more of the teacher gifts I promised.
You can find the first couple here .
We've been lucky to have some wonderful teachers so far! One of my favorite gifts to give is our handprint pillow! It used to be my signature end of the year gift for our preschool teachers. They loved them!
The pillow is about 8" x 8". Not very big and I attach a ribbon so they can hang it!
This is the front with an adorable poem I found...

Poem reads...
I chose this special present
because I wanted you to know,
That I'm grateful for your hard work
in helping me to grow.
For your constant understanding
and for always being there,
To tell me I can do it and
to show me that you care!
And this is the back! I traced my childs hand and applique it on and satin stitch the edges. :) So cute! Then they sign it with permanent ink!

Another gift is Stationary with little clips.

These clips are super easy to make. Small pieces of scrapbook paper and modpodge! Simple and very cute. I found this idea over at Make It and Love It She used fabric for her clips, which works great too.


My favorite gift of all time was given last year to Ryan's 2nd grade teacher. She looped with her first grade class and that was so awesome! The kids spent 2 years with her and she was amazing. For her end of year present, I sent home a paper with every child asking for a $5 donation, if they could give, and for their children to answer 5 questions. They then returned them to me and I(along with my WONDERFUL friend Robyn) put them together.

It was adorable and our teacher REALLY appreciated it. In fact she read the entire thing to the class and cried the entire time. It was GREAT!!
I found the idea here .


Along with the questions the kids answered about their teacher, was 100 one dollar bills. I also added a picture of the class and quotes about teachers throughout the stack! I love it.
I hope if you appreciate your teacher, you will thank her/him with a thoughtful gift. :) They really do so much for our children. :)

Mindy

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Recipes I've tried

I have come across some yummy recipes from some very talented bloggers and thought I'd share my attempt at them!
First off, my friend Beckie from These Creative Juices ! Check her out!! She's awesome!
She recommended THESE yummy looking pretzels awhile back and I knew I'd have to try them!! Boy was I glad I did!! They were GOBBLED up in no time! My kids and hubby loved them!! Thanks Beck. :)


She also recommended a delicious looking BBQ Chicken Pizza . Since i just happen to have all of the ingredients to make it, I gave it a try. Hers looks SOO much yummier, but I think its because I was limited to my toppings. Hubby doesnt like onions and he could do without the cilantro so unfortunately, we omitted those.
Here is mine. Its was still super yummy, but someday I will make it again with all the ingredients!! :)

If you are wondering where the other quarter of the pizza is, that portion got spaghetti sauce and cheese. ;) Ryan is just as picky as his dad. :)

Yesterday I made a yummy dessert I came across Saturday from Brown Paper Packages .
They are called Caramel Shortbread Bars
SOO yummy. It was very easy to make and i will for sure be making some again!! I gave some to my mother and my mother-in-law! They both loved it!!!
Look at how yummy!!! Here is the shortbread before the caramel drizzle!!

And after...YUM!

Thank you ladies for your awesome recipe ideas!!
♥Mindy

Monday, May 10, 2010

Teacher Gifts

Happy Monday morning. :) Although I am freezing, the sun is shining!
This past week was Teacher Appreciation week! I love my boys teachers!! They are wonderful. Along with the mini clip boards I posted last week, we gave the teachers these beautiful Flowers in pencil vases.


While Blog surfing last year I came across THIS
neat idea! I have used it a few times with great success!!! Super easy and very cute. Also very affordable!
The glass tumblers are from the Dollar Tree and pencils are really cheap. Perhaps you have a bunch lying around!
For Collin's teachers I made this adorable poster to hang on their door!!

They loved it! One teacher even cried!! :) Success!

I saw this idea here , but cant find the original post anywhere. If anyone knows, I'd love to give them credit.

For one of the teacher's birthdays, we painted a big terra-cotta pot blue and thumb printed every kid in the class!! I turned those prints into bee's!! We added a beautiful plant and she loved it. I wasnt able to get a finished project picture, but this is the pot! Soo easy and very cheap!!

Any of these ideas would also work for an end of the year teacher gift! Love your teachers! They care for your most precious sweeties!

Linking to...
You're So Crafty Monday @ Miss Crafy Pants
These Creative Juices
♥Mindy

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Adorable Mini Clip Boards

Are these adorable or what!!!

I needed a quick idea for teacher appreciation week and I remembered seeing this adorable clip board a LONG time ago and thought it was perfect!!
The ones I have done are actually mini clip boards. :) Soo cute and perfect for a small gift of appreciation! I obviously modified the original version to fit the scale I was working on, so monogram was just the thing it needed!!!
I went by the color likes and style of each teacher!! I am loving how they turned out!
Before...just look how cute and tiny they are...

After...

I love them!




Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking to...
These Creative Juices
Get Your Craft On Tuesday @ Today's Creative Blog
Make It Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
Making The World Cuter
Hoo's got Talent @ Night Owl Crafting
Hooking up w/ HOH @ House of Hepworths
If I get enough interest in these, I will add them to my Etsy store!
♥Mindy

Monday, April 19, 2010

Tag Blankie

Hello readers!! I'm hoping you have been missing me. April is my family's busiest month but most of the chaos is over. Yay!
Anyway, ya know how some people have their "signature" baby shower gift? Like, the blanket, or the scrapbook, or booties. I have a Tag Blankie. :) In fact it is asked for. I am sure you have seen them before, a little blankie with ribbon poking out all over. I love them and I love how cute they are and how easy they are to make!!
Here is my latest one. Done for my dear friend Amy who just brought home a beautiful baby girl!! Her nursery colors are pink and green!! This is what I came up with!!

I picked 3 fabrics that I loved and bought a quater of a yard of each!! Then I found some adorable coordinating ribbon and bought a half yard of each(those were eventually cut into 4 pieces)
I love it and think it came out fabulous!! This one measures about 9 inches (without ribbon).
Here is the back. Sorry the picture quality is lacking. I was in a hurry.

And this one I made for my friend Whitney...Her colors were pink and brown!! ♥


I am linking to..
Ta-Da (check me out) Tuesday @ Projects Pinching Pennies and Pluggin Along
Made By You Monday @ Skip To My Lou
Making The World Cuter Mondays @ Making The World Cuter
DIY Day @ A Soft Place To Land
Anything Related Tuesdays @ All Thingz Related
Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
By the way.... I bought this lovely today....

I know its not the newest cricut, but it was in my budget and I've wanted one for soo long!! I love it and have already started using it!!! Someday I'll buy the Cricut Cake and all the other loveleys!!! YAY!!
♥Mindy

Monday, April 5, 2010

Letta D!

I'm loving my new Monogram D!
I cant remember where I first saw it, but someone had prettied up their Monogram and hung it from a picture frame. I LOVED it!
I am working on putting some black and white into my living room and thought this would be a swell place to start!
Started with my $1.77 chip board "D" that I found at H♥bby L♥bby, added some beautiful papers with modpodge and called it fabulous!!
Here are all of the materials....

here it is all painted nicely...

This is before sanding. You can kinda see how the paper is hanging off the sides. Just take some sandpaper to the outside to scrape off the excess for a nice finish!!

Then modpodge the whole thing and admire the beauty! Hang that sassy piece of fabulousness(its a word!) in your favorite frame for the world(or atleast your guests) to see!! I love it. Or add it to your favorite nook in the house!


Now go out and make yerself one!! Cheap and fun!
(sorry about the lighting in these pics-missed the sun)



I'm linking to...
Made By You Monday @ Skip to my Lou
Making The World Cuter
Just Something I whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Make Your Monday @ The Twice Remembered Cottage
Make it for Monday @ Cottage Instincts
Before and After Party @ Thrify Decor Chick
Anything Related @ All Thingz Related
♥Mindy