Ok, so...

 

I am a Disneyana collector and for Christmas my friend Terry gave me this beautiful circa 1950's vintage compact.

I wanted to display it creatively for Valentine's Day, SO ...

I pulled the powder puff out and put a candle in and got instant Valentine romance!

xoxo Donna, The Family Matriarch

Make It Personal

Don't have time to make a gift but still want to give something personal for Valentine's Day?  Check out these customizable beauties...

 

1. Metal Heart Stamp by TheUrbanBeader  2. My Love print by Lori411
3. Personalized Bottle Opener Key Chain by FleurDesignsJewelry
4. Electric Valentine Paper Robot by crankbunny


1. A metal heart stamp for the crafty person. I know that you can't customize this gift but the person you're giving it to can customize all kinds of cool things with this heart.

2. This print is perfect.  There is enough space in the bottom half of the print to write a little message or paste a picture of you and your love.  Frame it, hang it! 

3. For Tim's (my fiance') birthday I bought him a BBQ apron that had a bottle opener attached to it, and he LOVED it! Adding a personalized bottle opener to any apron is even better! 

4. This Electric Valentine Paper Robot is so clever!  You can choose different images and messages.  A special "key"  (included) makes his eyes blink.

~ xoxo J.M.Riley 

In a land far, far away

Alex and I are huge Netflix fans and we tend to watch full television series all at once. We’ve gone through:

• Lost - loved it but hated the ending
• Sons of Anarchy – bad boys on bikes? And strong women? What’s not to like?
• Psych - goofy as all get out but fun – Gus is my favorite character
• The Walking Dead - soooo good but hoo-wee, not something you want to watch all at once – all the despair will bring you down
• And, can't forget BBC's Sherlock, Luther, and Dowtown Abbey
• Now we’re watching Once Upon a Time and we are loving it

Just because we watch a lot of TV though doesn’t mean we still aren’t creating. I usually have a least a couple of projects going to keep my hands busy while watching the tube – knitting or embroidery.
 

Jessie was kind enough to gift me some embroidery patterns for Christmas and the “Matryoshka Nesting Doll Woodland Friends Bear Bunny Fox pattern” from Sewjenaissance was the perfect accompaniment to watching the entire goings on in Storybrooke!

Here's my work in progress:

 

My “Once Upon a Time” Favorites:

Favorite characters: Ruby, Jefferson

Favorite villain: Rumplestilskin

Second favorite villain: Cora

Favorite hair: Regina when she’s in fairy tale land – in the episode we watched last night, her hair was reaching the sky! (Queen of Hearts episode) 

Favorite costumes: Snow White’s white pearl coat; Red’s hood; Frankenstein’s coat
Scariest costumes: Evil queen’s henchmen helmets – super scary!

Favorite jewelry: Aurora’s crown – when they left her at the jail cell, I kept thinking, take her crown!

Favorite room: Regina’s mayor’s office is pretty cool. I love how they’ve woven woods, trees, forest-y wallpaper into almost every room

Favorite place you’d want to get lost in: Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop, of course! The treasures never end in there now do they???

Stay crafty my friends - JCoy

SuperBowl Menu Planning

Hey all! I just wanted to drop some wisdom on planning your menu for the Superbowl. This is not the occasion to try to show off your prowess in the kitchen. The real star of the party is the game itself. You don’t want to miss that big play or worse, miss that one awesome commercial that they only show once during the game.  As with any party the focus should be on spending time with your guests so plan ahead and keep it simple. Also we’re talking football and beer so don’t get fancy. Design your menu so that everything can be precooked and then reheated in the oven easily.

Chili is fantastic for the big game and it’s extremely versatile. Solo, on top of nachos or hotdogs, if you’ve got a killer chili recipe you’ve got gold. And it can hold all day in a crock pot or soup warmer. If you barbeque and have some brisket left over it makes a great base for chili.

Everyone loves pizza. If you have to make them from scratch, do them a day ahead and wrap them in foil so you can toss them in the oven to reheat. Fried chicken is just fine when it’s cold.

Dips can be done ahead of time and you can cut any veggie platter hours before your guests start to arrive. You can even build your nacho tray ahead of time and pop it in the oven when it’s time to melt that cheese. Remember to have fun with it and plan ahead so you can enjoy the big game!

 Here’s my recipe for a quick hummus you make in your food processor.

In the food processor puree together:

2 cans garbanzo beans- reserve the liquid

Juice of 2-3 lemons (Fresh squeezed! Just do it!)

4 Tablespoons tahini

3 cloves garlic

Salt to taste

Process until smooth, adding as much of the garbanzo liquid as necessary until it’s soft and creamy.

Pour into a serving bowl. You can garnish with parsley, cilantro or olive oil. Feel free to add whatever you want to the puree. Roasted red pepper is awesome in this hummus!

From the chalkboard!

 

~XOXO~ J.M.Riley

Happy Friday Fireball Whiskey!

     1 cup of hot apple cider + 1 shot of Fireball whiskey + 1/8 of a lemon =
                         Warm Tasty Goodness

Valentine Pocket Banner by ThimbleGirls

 

This is a new design from ThimbleGirls!  It is called a Pocket Banner.

 

Open the heart pocket at the bottom and...

 

 

...fill with treats, notes, or goodies for your kids or sweetie to find! 

 

xoxo ThimbleGirls

Hearts on the Line

On my way down to Jess's house a bit after new years, I hit Target in the hopes of scoring some cheap Christmas decorations. Imagine my delight at finding everything 90% off! Awesome!
I found some fun stuff that I'll share with you next Christmas but, I found these primitive wooden hearts that I knew I could repurpose as Valetine's decorations. And the best part? They were 10 cents each! Score x90% off!

Here's the before:

Here's the after:

I used all the materials I already had: pink metallic craft paint, red glitter paint, sliver and black sharpie paint pens and of course, glitter!!

I hand wrote "Love is all you need" about the hearts and then strung them up with pink polka dot ribbon on a retractable curtain rod. I hung the rod between our living room and family room/art space to add a bit of love.

Love is really all you need! Well, and hearts at 10cents a piece!

Stay crafty my friends - JCoy

Double Sided Heart Banner

This project takes me back to elementary school, when we would make paper doll chains.  This is a modified version of that elementary school project; same charm, more durability!

You will need:
Sharp fabric scissors
Iron and ironing board
2 pieces of 3 1/2" x 15" fabric
2 feet of string (twine, yarn, or whatever you like)
1 piece of 3 1/2" x 15" Heat Bond






Things to think about before you start:
What size of heart do I want to use? 
I tested three different sized heart cutouts with paper before settling on a 2 1/2" x 2 3/4" sized heart. 
What fabric should I use?
I used hand dyed pink cotton for one side because Valentine's Day is coming up.  For back side I used a springy/flower cotton fabric.  When Valentine's Day is done I flip my banner over and voila', spring decoration!
Where can I buy Heat Bond?
I purchased mine at JoAnn Fabrics.  Most likely you can purchase it at a craft/fabric store near you (there are many different types of bonding materials like this to choose from, I have always used the Heat Bond brand).  If you have no luck at your local store click here, this will take you directly to the Heat Bond in JoAnn Fabrics online store.

Let's get started!

Using 1 piece of 3 1/2" x 15" fabric, follow heat bond instructions and fuse heat bond to the wrong side (back) of fabric.

Fold your fabric accordian style to a little less than your cut out heart size, the top edge of your heart should overlap (this is where the hearts connect to form the chain).  Keep in mind that each fold will represent a heart.  I recommend doing 6 folds at the most (I did 5 for mine).  Any more than that will make it difficult to cut the fabric accurately.




Trace your heart with a pen directly onto the fabric.  Do this on the Heat Bond side of the fabric.  Any penmarks left showing will be covered up once you bond this to your second fabric.

Cut along the lines.

Unfold your hearts. 
They should look like this.









Lay second fabric down, wrong side up.  Follow heat bond instructions, fuse your second piece of 3 1/2" x 15" fabric to the first piece.










Trim excess fabric.

 

If you want, you can add smaller hearts to the center of your larger hearts by using heat bond.










Using sharp fabric scissors (embroidery scissors work best), cut a small hole on either end of heart banner (the heat bond will prevent fraying).  Thread your string through the hole and tie in a knot to hang.  I use longer string, this makes adjusting my banner length easier.



Voila'!  You're done!  I have my heart banner hanging over one of my favorite prints from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy called Someday Cottage.  The right side pic is the "Spring" side of my banner.

~xoxo J.M.Riley



Valentine's Day Heart in a Bottle

I believe that you should celebrate Valetine's Day every day!  After the lull of January, who can resist red and pink, and hearts and chocolate filling the stores? After all pink, hearts, and chocolate are three of my favorite things!

I decided to combine those three with glitter to share with you. Here is an easy project to add to your Valentine decor!



Supplies needed:
 - empty clean bottle
 - skein of funky yarn
 - glitter
 - craft paint
 - skewer
 - plastic lid from a disposable coffee cup
 - cardboard from the recycling bin
 - glue
 - foam brush
 - scissors

Directions

Starting at the bottom, use the foam brush to brush glue on your bottle an inch or so at a time. With glue still wet, start wrapping your bottle with the yarn. Keep gluing and wrapping until you get to the top. Set aside to dry.

Paint your skewer with your favorite pink paint (I am using metallic pink craft paint). Set aside to dry.

Clean the lid from your coffee cup and cut a heart from it. Cover one side with glue and sprinkle liberally with your favorite glitter (I am using the Martha Stewart line from Joann Fabric). Set aside to dry.  Cut a heart from your recycled cardboard. Glue and glitter this heart as well.

After everything is dry, glue the plastic lid heart to the front of the bottle (I had to use my glue gun for this part). Glue the cardboard heart to the skewer.

 

Fill your new heart bottle with candy and stick the skewer in (the candy will hold the skewer upright).  Give to your love and enjoy together!

Stay crafty my friends - JCoy



Welcome to The Creative Suspects

Welcome to our blog!
We love to cook, garden, quilt, craft, create, use our hands and inspiration to make our spaces better. We hope to share our passions with you! Join us!

Our Creative Family:
Featured contributors:
Alex: Amateur raconteur, part-time music nerd, full time bacon enthusiast

Jeneen: Who am I? I can be anyone….Crafter, wife, sister, daughter, full time thinker who sometimes tinkers… Jessie: Sports fan, avid reader, heat-bond lite luh-vah Special Guest Donna: Creative matriarch. Never throws anything away - you never know when it's coming back in style.