The Apple Street Cottage

Just a quick post because I had a little surgery on my eye this week and I really wanted to introduce Rosie! I found her over the weekend and she REALLY wanted to dress up for Halloween.....so, I improvised with the things I had around the house.  She will have a much more formal introduction in the coming weeks, but, how could I say no to her???? Happy Halloween! To read more about Rosie - her story, her antics, her sassiness, please visit her Page.  Click   HERE .

I can't wait to show you this project since this pallet has such beautiful wood.  The colors and textures were amazing and there was no way I was going to hide it. The first thing I did was pick out four boards that were relatively straight, created a pattern to fit, and drew the pumpkins on the boards.  Here's a close-up: My jigsaw made short work of this and in no time I had three pumpkins cut out. All they needed was a little sanding, mostly to get rid of the blue Sharpie lines and it was time to put them together.   I used some strips of wood that I found at a yard sale and drilled a hole through it and into each piece of pallet wood. A screw was attached to each piece and the pumpkin was put together. Each pumpkin was sprayed with a clear coat of Krylon and a jute bow was tied around the stem. You may notice the wood is different in this pumpkin.  I did another set with more of the boards I had laying around. In order to dress ...

Halloween is almost here and I wanted to make something new, but didn't want to spend a lot of money.  While walking through the dollar store, I spied this witch's hat frame and knew I'd found my project!   I still had fabric left over from my pumpkin project that would be perfect for this one, too!  If you missed the wire pumpkin, click HERE .  A few more items were added and I was ready to create. Here's what I used:  witch's hat wire frame, witch's 'legs', purple boa, black roses - all from the dollar store.  To that, I added the lace spider fabric and some bias tape. The first step was to attach the lace fabric to the frame.  I used the same method used for the wire pumpkin - 'sewing'the thread through the fabric and around the wire.  I did this all the way around the frame. Next, I sewed the legs at the bottom of the hat. There was no need to be neat since the stitching would be covered by the feather boa. ...

UPDATE:  This project has been featured on HomeBNC.  See it HERE . And once again, HERE . The Dollar Tree has really stepped it up lately when it comes to crafting and today I want to show you one way to use those wire pumpkin wreaths. I was in the dollar store and spied this wire pumpkin.  I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I'd think of something.   It all came together for me when I was looking through the sale bin at Joann's and saw this spider lace fabric for about $2 a yard.  I grabbed a yard and a half. I cut the fabric into four pieces and placed the wire frame over one of them.  I sat there for awhile and pondered how to attach the fabric to the wire frame.  My first thought was hot glue, but thought it would look sloppy, so, out came the needle and thread.  I started across the top by 'sewing' the thread through the fabric and around the wire.   Then I grabbed the two ends of the thread...

It's apple season around here.  The orchards are packed on weekends, the trees are full of beautiful, red apples, and cider is on the stand for sale.  Apples are my favorite and after searching many different recipes, I came up with this easy muffin recipe that's perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Ingredients: 2 cups of sugar 2 eggs 1 cup of applesauce* 1 Tbsp of vanilla 3 cups of flour 1 tsp of baking soda 1 tsp of salt 1-2 tsp of cinnamon - you decide 4 medium apples peeled, cored, and diced brown sugar for sprinkling on top 1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 2.  Line muffin tins with 16 paper liners. 3.  With a mixer, combine sugar, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.  4.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.   5.  Add the flour mixture to the sugar/egg mixture in thirds, mixing each addition well.   6.  Add the diced apples and mix well by hand. It will be ...