Wrapping Up Round 3

 Hello Inspiration Cafe readers... Its time to wrap up round 3!

You will notice some big changes coming up very soon. We are very excited and we hope you will be joining us for more!

We have 4 fun projects to share with you in case you missed them the first time:

1 Easy Wrap Bracelet by Natalie from NorthShore Days

2. Baked Apple Tortilla Rolls by Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird

3. House Haunts by Heather from The Beating Heart

4. Four for Fall by Danni from Silo Hill Farm

Now, the 4 of us are taking a week or two off to implement our changes and get a whole new Inspiration Cafe makeover....

So this coming Monday we have a very special guest, sharing an awesome craft. You do not want to miss Mel from Mellywood's Mansion.

Please pop on over and visit her this weekend and give her some Inspiration Cafe love.

And finally - check out our fab Facebook badge - our Mary designed it! And while you're checking it out, don't forget to "like" us too

 

 Have a great weekend and we will see you all on Monday with Mel

Take care

xxx

4 for Fall

Welcome Inspiration Cafe Patrons!  It's Danni from Silo Hill Farm today.  Fall is upon us here in the Midwest and with the change in the season comes some changes here at the cafe.  We are considering adding an occasional guest poster to our menu, so if you think you might like to give that a try, just contact any one of our wonderful Inspiration Cafe contributors and let them know! 

Today, I have two fun and easy projects for you, plus a few quick ways to spruce up some of your old fall decor.  Let's start with this:

Last year I had this half pumpkin and although I thought it was really cool in the store....when I brought it home and hung it on my wall....

Blah!!

It just had zero pizazz and I was not lovin it.  This year I decided to cute it up a little and give it some presence.

I found these little leaves in the dollar bin at Michael's and thought they just might do the trick.

Now you don't have to have a half pumpkin to do this, it would be lovely on a regular foam pumpkin or, if you're ambitious and trust yourself with sharp instruments, you can cut a foam pumpkin in half.  Either way, just lay out your leaves the way you think they might look best.

I set my pumpkin in a colander to keep it stable while I worked.  Using white glue, adhere your leaves to the foam pumpkin and add whatever trimmings you like.  I used  some small bittersweet berries.  Easy as pumpkin pie!  Much better don't you think?

Now, because I was happy with this little makeover, I looked around and found a few other things that I thought I could spruce up a bit.

I had an oil candle that just had a ribbon tied around it.  Boring.  I added a few faux leaves from an old garland and a sparkly gem and voila....

Suddenly it has come to life with no money spent.  My favorite kind of project for sure!

Now I'm just looking for more easy, "use what I have" projects.  I'm not a huge fan of raffia, and I've had some for years that I've never used.  Cutting raffia can be a mess and it seems to go everywhere when I use it.  I just looped a bunch of it together and tied it together in the middle with some wire.

 Then I cut open each end of the loop on both sides and trimmed it down to a smaller size.  I wired a piece of bittersweet to hang down from the center and added a little ribbon bow to the center to hide the wire. 

It reminds me of mistletoe.  Autumn Mistletoe...not a bad idea!

If you are a regular follower, you might remember earlier this week I was lucky enough to receive some beautiful buckeyes from Mary at Sweet Little Bluebird.  I have been scattering them all over my fall decor because they are just so much fun!  I had a little mini-vase and I put some of the buckeyes in it and added small pieces of bittersweet.

 This is just a tiny little vase, sitting on an old ceramic insulator that I wrapped in a piece of garden twine.  I can think of several places in my home that have room for something tiny and fall-ish.  Sometimes when something is so simple and beautiful, it doesn't need to make a big statement. 

Pretty much the only money I spent on these four little makeovers was the leaves I got in the dollar bin at Michael's.  Not bad, huh?

The moral of this post is shop local....real local...like your own home!  Sometimes a "fresh coat of paint on the old barn door" looks pretty cute!

House Haunts

Welcome to the Inspiration Cafe. It's Heather this week, and I am so excited to get you inspired to do something....sewing.   Yeah.

Halloween is almost here. I know,  don't blink or anything. That is why I am taking the time today, in September, to help you get some Halloween decor ready before Halloween...because that's how I typically make decorations for holidays.  Once they are over I get things done and then can't use them until the following year.  So, we're getting started early.

I felt my house needed some haunts.  Kinda like Halloween groupies.  They hang around giving my house some ambiance, make us feel a little spooky...make my kids need to have the hall light on all night while they sleep...you know, things like that.  I also wanted to give you two options.  One you can make with a sewing machine and one to make by hand with a needle and thread.  Both are easy and cute....and they take very little time. Which for me, counts for a lot when it comes to make decorations.  I love to get inspired and be able to make something in an hour flat.

So, to make some House Haunts of your own...

Please click here for more

xxx

Baked Apple Pie Tortilla Rolls

Welcome to Inspiration Cafe!  

It's me, Mary, once again, 
from Sweet Little Bluebird!

I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend!

Today I'm sharing a fun fall recipe that 

was a major hit in our house ~

Baked Apple Pie Tortilla Rolls

Tortillas make a great replacement for those who are not

fans of traditional pie crust... like my girls.

Here's how to make this yummy fall treat:

Ingredients 

8 Flour Tortillas (I use Large Size Tortillas)

6 Medium Size Tart Apples, Peeled and Sliced/Diced (I use Granny Smith)

1 1/2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon 

Dash of Nutmeg (about 1/8 teaspoon - optional)

1/4 teaspoon Salt

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

*Cinnamon Sugar Recipe

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Stir sugar and cinnamon together until well blended.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Butter (grease) a 9X13 baking dish.  Next, combined all of the ingredients above with the sliced/diced apples, making sure the apples are coated well. Place a 1/2 cup of the apple mixture and spread in the center of a tortilla.  Roll the tortilla and place in pan, seam down.  Repeat 7 more times.  Note, You may only be able to fit 7 rolls in your pan.  Once rolls are in pan, lightly brush with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, making sure to sprinkle in between each roll on their sides. Cover with foil and bake on middle rack of oven for 40-50 minutes. Bake until apples reach desired texture. Once done, remove and enjoy hot or cold! This treat is great served warm with vanilla ice cream!  

*For an easier version, you can use canned apple pie filling {I use Duncan Hines®}.  Simply decrease baking time to 15- 20 minutes, following the same directions above.
 

Thanks so much for stopping by Inspiration Cafe!

We hope to see you again next Monday!

Cheers ~ Mary

Easy Wrap Bracelet Tutorial

 

Hey Everyone,

Hope you all had great weekends. Its time for Inspiration Cafe again - yay, so lets get started.

Today  I'm going to show you how to make a Wrap Bracelet

There are so many of these wrap bracelets around blog world with loads of great tutorials. I have to admit that when I first saw these bracelets popping up on Pinterest I thought they would be too difficult to make. That was until I saw a tutorial from Happy Hour Projects. So simple and so easy.

Here's what you need:

Cord, cotton for sewing, a needle, beads (uniform in size) and a button. 

I also used a clipboard to secure the cord so that I could work neatly. 

I roughly measured my wrist and allowed for a bit extra. Double the length and cut the cord. At the bend in the cord (halfway mark) knot the loop for the closure, make sure that your button will fit snugly through the loop.

Here's how to sew it:

Thread the needle with a double thread and secure to the cord.

I worked from left to right in a figure 8.

Thread the first bead onto the cotton and pass under the right cord.

Loop over the right cord and thread back through the bead.

Pass under the left cord and loop over - thread the next bead on.

Again pass under the right cord. Over.

Thread back through the bead.

Under the left cord and over. Thread the next bead on.

 

Continue until you are happy with the length, then secure the end of the cotton onto the cord and cut off. Thread the button onto the cord ends and secure. I liked the end pieces sticking out but you can cut them off for a neater look.

 

  

Pretty easy right?

I love it - its by far my favourite bracelet to wear. And I get loads of compliments and "where did you buy its" when I wear it.

 I haven't had time to make more yet, but I definitely will, and I think next time I will make it longer so I can wrap it twice around my wrist.

 

I hope you enjoyed Inspiration Cafe today.  Be back next week to see what Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird has in store for us

Take care

xxx

Round 2 Wrap Up

Hey Everyone,

Its time to wrap up round 2 of Inspiration Cafe already!

We sure hope you are still enjoying your visits to the Cafe and meeting new friends along the way.

  So in case you missed any of round 2's posts, here are the links for you to check out...

Week 1  Ocean Shell Ring by Natalie from NorthShore Days

Week 2  Strawberry Rhubarb Pie by Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird

Week 3  Quilted Wall Hanging by Heather from The Beating Hearth

Week 4  White Board to Chalk Board by Danni from Silo Hill Farm

We would love to hear from you, let us know how you are enjoying (or not enjoying) our posts by sending some feedback our way.

Also don't forget we are on Facebook and you can click our handy link button to pop over and visit us there.

We also want to say a huge thank you all for your support and for reading every week, you guys rock.

Have great weekends 

xxx

From Whiteboard to Chalkboard

Hey Everyone,

Today its Danni's turn, yay!

Welcome to the

For those of you that follow my blog, you know that most of my projects are pretty quick, fairly versatile and very inexpensive. 

With summer winding down, and a busy fall season just around the corner, I decided to make a small white board I could put on my fridge to remind me of some upcoming events that I'm looking forward to, like.....

 

 I started out thinking I was going to cute up this little whiteboard that I got from our bank when they had a grand opening for their new building.

Unfortunately, the pen was not a whiteboard marker.  Don't know what that was about, but anyway, I needed a change of plan.  I had a chalk marker and a piece of adhesive chalkboard vinyl that a friend gave me, so I figured it was time for my first chalkboard project.

Now I love Freedom Bank, but their logo just doesn't match my decor, so I got out my scissors, cut off the logo, trimmed down the chalkboard vinyl to fit, removed the pen holder, then got out my washi tape and trimmed the edges out.

Now it's looking a little cuter and I haven't spent a dime on this project.  I used a strip of magnetic tape that I cut in half and fastened on the marker to make it stick to my fridge so it will always be handy.

You can see that I have some fun things coming up on my schedule.  I've decided to use it for only the fun things.  That way when I'm feeling overwhelmed, all I have to do is look at it and I'll be cheered up!  

Thanks for stopping by the Inspiration Cafe today and don't forget to come by again next Monday to see what Sherry from Pondered Primed Perfected {P3} has been doing.  You can bet it will be something special.