September 2025

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are enjoying your weekend with family and friends. The holiday season is truly upon us and we have a lot of great crafts, gift ideas and recipes coming your way!
I love to peruse the thrift store for items that truly need a makeover. A few months ago I found this gigantic clothespin. I had no idea how I was going to use, but I had to buy it!

When I was looking for Handmade ornament ideas on Pinterest I saw a cute clothespin snowman. I knew right away that my gigantic clothespin finally had a purpose!

First I spray painted it white. Then I wanted him to look snowy, so I brushed on some Mod Podge and rolled it in Epsom Salt! It looks so awesome! Now he just needed the details. I used a pipe cleaner and some puff balls for the ear muffs, beads for his eyes and mouth, scrapbook paper for his nose, ribbon for his scarf, and some scrapbook stickers for his buttons! 

He’s darling!

Apparently you can buy huge clothespins at the craft stores, so quick go make one for your decorations this year!!

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You’ve probably noticed a theme in my posts by now. I am cheap frugal. When you are a crafter, it can be a serious addiction! Having a wreath for every season, a decoration for every holiday and times in between can be expensive. So I do my best to stay in control and make amazing things inexpensively. 
I am definitely in lack of Easter decor so I took a trip to my local thrift store, which totally rocks, and perused through their Easter section, digging and looking for something I could turn into a great decoration. Boy did I find some awesome stuff! 
First was this wreath for $3. It was a great starting point with an awful ribbon which was EASY to fix!





Then I found this wooden bunny with fabric ears. Since the ears came out easily I felt like I could redo this and make it even cuter. I also found a tree and a new box to stick it in to hide the fading pastel basket.


So a brief explanation of what I decided to do with these elements. I removed the bunny’s ears, sanded and painted it a dark grey. Then I searched through my stash of fabrics to find something easter-y, but a bit more modern for new ears. I settled on two complimenting fabrics and…. wait for it…. attempted to sew. You guys, I am NOT a sewer. I made my pillow in 6th grade and that was it. I knew when I bought this bunny that sewing was going to have to happen. I dusted off my old Singer that I got at a garage sale, managed to fix the bobbin, and replicated the ears that already came with my bunny. I did that by tracing the old ears on to my two fabrics, and cut about a 1/4 inch around my lines to leave room for error. You can see I didn’t cut them evenly. I placed right sides together and sewed around the ear, leaving a hole so i could reach in and turn it inside out. Thankfully nothing snagged or got stuck, so it was success on the first try. I turned it inside out and fed it through the hole in my bunny’s head, creating two ears. I didn’t even sew up the hole since it’s mashed up inside his head, lol!  I’m SO proud of myself!
The last touch was to cover up the old basket that holds the wire tree. I stuck it inside the green box and shredded some grey cardstock in my paper shredder to create new grass. Then I threw a few dollar store eggs on my tree and it was done! I love how it came out!





My grand total for all of this (including the wreath) was $7. Seven dollars! You can’t beat that.  Now head to your thrift store and see what you can create!

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Now that my youngest is 4, it’s a lot easier to help at class parties for my older kids.  I like to go and help them make their little crafts, or decorate cookies and whatnot.  It’s really fun- unless your room mom is a bit of a control freak. 
 
Last year, we had a spring festival where each class had a booth.  Ours was a cake-walk, and we were supposed to bring cupcakes representing different countries (!)  I took the easy way out and did USA, with red, white, and blue cupcake wrappers, with white frosting and sprinkles.  I didn’t make any fancy decorations because they were sent in the day before with my 2nd grader (meaning it had almost no chance of arriving in good shape!)


So, when I got to the booth to help out, I noticed the homeroom mom was not impressed with my cupcakes, and had added little flags to each of them to “spruce them up a bit”.  


Aaandd, that’s the last time I’ll be donating cupcakes for that homeroom mom (who is our room mom again this year!)


Oh, craftiness.  I adore all the adorable homemade Valentine’s that are all over the web each year. I admire the creativity of the bloggers, and I enviously think “Why didn’t I think of that?”


Still, I’ve got to admit, since I tend towards the lazy crafting, most of those Valentine’s don’t have a chance in h-e- you know what of actually being made at this house.  That’s because they are either take too much time, too much ink, or you have to find just the right little toy or candy to attach to them.


So, I designed my own super simple class Valentine’s this year. My kids are CRAZY over silly straws and cool pencils.  I know, I know, that is so not original.  Hang in there a minute. 
 
I’m going to pick up a pack of silly straws and a pack of cool pencils, and I’m going to print out a bunch of these Simple Valentine’s Day Flags, make my kids cut them out and address them, then glue them around the straws and pencils.  What could be easier than that?



I made you a free printable for the straws.  Download it here.



“Ex-STRAW” awesome.  Heh heh.  We’re just that clever here.
I also made you one for the pencils.  Download it here.



All the sentiment, (more than) half the ink and paper.  Plus, it’s candy-free, if that’s important to you.  
Now you have more time to decorate insanely intricate cupcakes for your children’s class parties.  Right?



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It’s Mouth-Watering Wednesday, and let me tell you….this one is NOT healthy, will go straight to your hips, and will make you an addict.   But I promise- it’s worth it!

I was first introduced to Cereal Treat at my mother-in-law’s house, and the recipe was provided to me by my husband’s aunt.  You may have made a version of this yourself- but this is how we like it.  (I hope I’m not sharing any family secrets!)

I usually make it for New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl, and other times where people will be hanging around, snacking, all day or night.   

Here’s what you need:

1 large Box of Rice Chex cereal

I large Box of Golden Grahams

1 16 oz bag Slivered Almonds (optional)

2 Cups Coconut (optional)

2 Cups Sugar

2 Cups Karo Syrup

2 Cups Butter or Margarine

Mix cereals, coconut, and almonds in a large bowl.  Set aside. (I’m allergic to coconut so you won’t see that in my pictures.)  You’ll also notice I’m not a slave to brand names.  I don’t think it matters when your cereal is covered in buttery deliciousness.

In a saucepan, melt butter/margarine, then add sugar and Karo syrup. 

Mix together and simmer for 25 minutes.  In case you don’t know, simmering means to cook at a temperature just hot enough for tiny, rapid bubbles to escape. 

Mixture should turn a light caramel color.  

Pour over mixture in bowl and toss until cereal mix is well covered.

Lay out on cookie sheets to dry.

Place it in your favorite bowl to serve, and watch as your guests return over and over for “just one more bite”.  Delicious!

I’m linking this up to some parties this week- hope you’ll check them out too!

What’s your favorite Game Day snack?  Savory or sweet?

These coordinating scrapbook paper and washi tape envelopes are the perfect way to give photos or prints as a special gift!
Recently, I directed a musical at my church called Esther and the King.  I had a ton of special people who worked on the production that I wanted to thank.   So, I ordered this print for each of them.

I didn’t have the budget to frame each one, but I didn’t want to just hand them a print.  So, I came up with this cute and affordable solution– I made my own large envelopes using scrapbook paper and washi tape.

Come see the full tutorial to make your own over on Kenarry: Ideas for the Home where I am a monthly contributor.

What’s your favorite thing to use washi tape for?

Welcome to our Fun in the Summertime Series!  You can find the rest of the posts here: I’m Caroline and I blog at Do It All Working mom. http://doitallworkingmom.blogspot.ca. I’m so happy to have the chance to guest post on such a great blog. Here is a little bit about me. I’m a busy working mom to a 6 year old daughter and a 5 year old son. Life as a working mom, a food and wine lover, organization and cleaning freak, gardener and a fashion lover can sometimes be crazy but that’s how I like it! Today I am sharing a great slow cooker summer recipe: Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Coleslaw. I made this several times and everyone in my family loves it! It’s easy and really tasty. Took the inspiration from my favourite cookbook “Ricardo” but slightly modified the original recipe.

 Ingredients for the Pulled Pork

1 pork shoulder roast of about 4 pounds

1 cup of ketchup

1/2 cup of cider vinegar

1/2 cup of apple jelly

2 tablespoons of dijon mustard

2 tablespoons of molasses

2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons of chili powder

2 teaspoons of onion powder

1 teaspoon of Tabasco

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

Salt & pepper

1- In the slow cooker, mix all the ingredients for the sauce (everything except the pork roast and the salt & pepper).
2- Add the pork roast to the slow cooker and cover with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
3- Cover and cook for 8 hours at low temperature.
4- Remove the meat from the slow cooker. Shred the meat with a fork and place the meat in a bowl. Cover the meat with some sauce and keep warm.
5- Grill 8 big hamburger buns.
6- Cover the bottom bun with the shredded meat, then coleslaw (recipe to follow). Close with the top bun and serve immediately.

Super Easy Coleslaw 1 bag of coleslaw (see pictuure)

About 1/2 cup of mayonnaise 

1 teaspoon of dried dill

3 tablespoons of pickle vinegar (yes, yes the vinegar from a jar of pickles, trust me it’s great!)

salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Hope you and your family enjoy this great recipe. A big thanks to Valerie from Occasionally Crafty for this great opportunity to guest post on her blog. You can follow me here: FACEBOOK   TWITTER   PINTEREST   INSTAGRAM   G+

Thanks so much Caroline!  Don’t forget to enter our giveaway, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for a fun post from Create Bake Celebrate!

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I know there is a plethora of ruffle shirts in craft-blog-land, but I’m not sure I’ve seen this one.  I know I saw a shirt like this in a store for 24.99, but can’t remember the store. I  bought two t-shirts from Old Navy, on clearance for about $5, and cut one up for ruffles.  I needed a lot of length to sew the diagonal ruffles, so I cut the shirt up one sideseam, through the sleeve, and up to the neckline.  This left me a nice long length.  I then cut five 1 1/2 inch strips. I used a basting stitch on my machine, then pulled the bobbin thread to make the ruffles.  I then pinned the strips in place where I wanted them.

Sorry for the poor quality.  I really need a new camera.

Anyway, then I just sewed the ruffles on, trying to follow the line originally made by my basting stitch.

The bottom ruffle turned out a little goofy, but all in all, I like how it turned out.

Linking to some of these parties!

Check them out!

I know I’ve been talking about making cornices for my windows for awhile now, but I finally finished it! I pretty much followed this tutorial from Brooke at All Things Thrifty, except she used paintable wall paper and I used batting and fabric. I also picked a lighter wood than MDF. 

I had my wood cut at Home Depot. The gentleman was very helpful and I felt so grown up going in and knowing what I needed and coming out with everything to get this project going.

This is what my wood looked like. It didn’t need to be super smooth or fancy since it was getting covered. It just needed to but sturdy yet light. One of my windows is quite large so I joined two pieces together with these brackets. I could not have done this project without my dear friend Jana. She loves working with wood and doing house projects like this. She helped me put it all together and do all the measuring. We had to make sure the cornices went into studs, and the brackets had to go on the walls first, so very precise measuring is necessary.

Here’s the inside of one of the cornices. L Brackets hold two pieces together, and a simple pole pocket set holds a wooden dowel to act as a curtain rod.

Here’s what it looked like before going up on the wall. 

And here’s a good look of how all the hardware looks once it’s assembled. 

I also recovered my piano bench. It had a country floral fabric on it which no longer did the room any favors. Here’s a before and during shot.

Now here it is ALL DONE! It makes the room look so much better!

Here’s a close up of the fabric. It’s perfect! We also took the opportunity during the redecoration phase (and a free quart of paint from ACE hardware), to paint our accent wall and bring the kitchen and living room together. Before… After! What do you think of the results? We are just in love with this room even more and can’t wait to have lots of guests here to see it in the next few weeks!

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I get asked a lot if I sell the things I make here on the blog.  I was even contacted by a HUGE Christian TV show to provide several thousand of my Keep Christ in Christmas plates.  Wow!  


Honestly, I’ve been tempted, but right now I really don’t have time (nor do I have the resources to mass produce something!)  


But, I know that many of you DO sell your products.  Maybe you have an Etsy shop, or you sell at local craft fairs.  If you have had even a modicum of success, it’s time to really make your shop your own.   This is where CraftLaunch comes in.


CraftLaunch offers you a branded, customized website that can show your latest Etsy listings, integrates with Facebook and Twitter, and even does the hosting for you so you can focus on creating!


CraftLaunch offers professionally designed themes, so when you direct your customers and/or readers to your site, you instantly stand out from the rest.  Your site can be customized to fit your personality and your brand.  Here are some examples of actual CraftLaunch sites:

http://www.samwishstore.com/

http://www.eleven-trees.com/

http://www.madewithmagicshop.com/

This is an opportunity for you Etsy shop owners to really connect with your customers, and to maximize sales by building your brand, increasing referrals, and encouraging repeat business.  Samantha Wishlinkski, owner of SamWish (pictured above) had this to say about CraftLaunch:
“Oh man, I love CraftLaunch so much. I love that I can have my own URL and that I can customize my layout. It gives me the opportunity of being able to make the website my own instead of just being one in a million on Etsy. It gives me the chance to add some extra personality to it and stand out from the crowd so to speak.”

And Rachel Kluesner, owner of Dyeabolical Yarns, had this to say:
“I love that I can update my Etsy site and CraftLaunch updates automatically. I stay with Etsy because they have a large, dedicated group of customers who prefer to shop directly from Etsy.

I stay with CraftLaunch because I have a core group of customers who are not Etsy shoppers. This way I am hitting two demographics without the hassle of trying to keep inventory straight in 2 different online shops.”

You can get more information, including pricing and what’s included, at www.craftlaunch.com
You can meet the team behind CraftLaunch here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/9765/craftlaunch
You can also find them on Facebook and on Twitter.

CraftLaunch is generously giving away a FULL CUSTOM SITE to one lucky reader! (A $200 value!)  

To enter, just sign up for a free 15-day trial (no credit card required) by going to http://www.craftlaunch.com/occasionallycrafty.

In addition to giving one of our readers a free custom website, CraftLaunch is also offering ONE MONTH FREE if you decide to sign up after your trial is over. Just enter coupon code OCCASIONALLYCRAFTY during checkout to get your first month free!


Again, I am not an Etsy seller, but I have heard over and over again how difficult it is to stand out on Etsy amongst the thousands of other sellers.  This may be your opportunity to break away from the mold!  I hope you’ll go over and check it out.  And please, spread the word to other sellers you know!
The giveaway will end in one week- on December 11th.  Good luck!

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I love Pride and Prejudice.  I love Mr. Darcy (well, the later, humbled by love Mr. Darcy).  I DIE for the BBC adaptation and all its glory.  (Keira Knightly?  Not so much.  Not bad, but in comparison…..)

So when I saw this Pottery Barn Knock-off, I had to make one for myself.
I kept mine more true to the original, found here, but since I never saw the original until I found Lisa’s blog, Grey Luster Girl, I am sending a huge thank you her way.  This might be my new favorite decoration.

BTW- I made this on a dollar store plate, and cut the vinyl with my Silhouette (on hand).  I used a full size plate for impact.  I think PB’s was a small one, used to hold jewelry or keys.

I think it’s time for a Pride and Prejudice rewatch.