Valentine's Day Printables!

(above) Living Locurto

It makes no sense to go out and purchase lame valentines when there are some SERIOUSLY cool and FREE printable valentines out there! UGH! The hardest part is narrowing down to my ultimate fav!

Here are a few that I am totally digging this season.

Love Vs Design
Sprik Space

The Rubber Punkin

Daffodil Design

Eighteen25

Smitten Blog Design

Dimple Prints

There are soooooooooooo many! These just skim the top of what's out there.

Much love-

Tracy

Homemade Samoas

Everyone loves a good girl scout cookie, am I right? Whatever your favorite flavor may be...those genius girl scouts have something to offer you. Simoas are my personal fav's, so I am super psyched to bring it to Paper Wings. :)

I have been seeing different pics on Pinterest showing these yuuuuuuuuuuuuummmy bars, and I was feeling like throwing around some flour. I used the recipe from BakingBites.com, and together (me and the recipe) made magic. Pure. Magic.

What you need/
cookie:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

What you do/cookie:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- lightly grease 9x13 baking pan
-Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.
-Slowly add in salt and flour
(dough can be crumbly)
- Transfer dough to baking pan, and press into even layer
-bake for 20-25 minutes (until edges are lightly browned)
-set aside to cool completely

What you need/topping:
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12 oz chewy caramels
1/4 salt
3 tbsp milk
10 0z dark chocolate

What you do/topping:
-preheat oven to 300 degrees
-spread coconut evenly on lightly greased or parchment covered pan
-toast for 20 min., stirring every 5 minutes, until golden
-cool on baking sheet, stir occasionally
-unwrap caramels and place in bowl
-add milk and salt, then microwave on high for 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times during
-When caramel is melted, fold in coconut
- place heaping spoonfuls all over cookie base, then spread topping into an even layer
-let caramel mixture cool completely
-once cooled, cut into bars with a large knife or pizza cutter.(I used a large knife, and cleaned it after each row. This seemed to help keep a cleaner line)
- Melt chocolate in the microwave and be sure to stir every 30 seconds to keep it from burning
-Dip base of cookie bar into chocoalte and place on wax paper to cool
-place remaining chocolate in zip lock, snip the tip, and drizzle on top of bars
-cool completely and store in airtight container


These divine treats make me very happy. I personally like to put them in the fridge, and eat them cold with a glass of milk. :)



Hope you are enjoying the weekend-



Tracy

Craft Space Organization

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was in the mist of organizing my craft space. It HAD to be done. Ok, so I am not quite lucky enough to have an entire ROOM to craft in, but I do have an "area" in the guest room. There wasn't much of a budget for this organization project either, but I am still pretty psyched about how it turned out. It's a start! :)
SO! I have the majority of my supplies stocked under my table. I am planning to add a nice little curtain type cover that will go around the table to hid the underneath, but haven't gotten to that yet.

The bottom green container houses my felt scraps, and the top has smaller pieces of card stock as well as stickers. Right behind the green containers is a HUGE bin that has all my card stock, scrapbooking paper, and stencils divided by color. On the right of the green are two divider containers that hold a lot of little bits, and the pink baskets hold my ribbon. The ribbon is on wooden rods, and I can just pull ribbon out as I need it.

These two large bins contain fabric. The bottom one is filled with my felt stacked by color, and the top bin is full of fabric stacked by color and print.

More containers that hold my different types of scissors, buttons, flowers, and random stuff in the front file box.

I had this old wire shelf, and decided to keep it working. All my yarn is in the striped bag on the left.

I spray painted some cookie sheets with primer, then paint, and hung them up. There are canisters with magnets on the back holding more little bits. I also put up multiple cork boards, so I can pin loads of inspiration on.

It isn't totally awesome yet, but again...it's a start. Of course, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy better than it use to be. Right now, I am mostly concerned with getting it organized rather than spending a lot on making it look straight out of Ikea. (which of course I hope to do one day.)

It's a relief, and now I can finally breath deep again. The clutter is gone which can only leave room for motivation to put it all to use!

Have a great week!-

Tracy

Teacher Appreciation at the Aquarium

(Andre, Cash, and Luc at the Aquarium)

This past Saturday was teacher appreciation day at the Tennessee Aquarium! It was awesome! I got my entire family of 4 into the aquarium for only $6.50. Sweet action!

Wait, double sweet actually because my good friend, Allison, (who is also a teacher) came with us with her two little girls. We had a great time.
Reagan and Charlie

Me and Cash

Cash, Reagan, Luc, and Andre admiring the fish.

The gang!

Thanks to the aquarium! I know a bunch of my teacher friends enjoyed this day!!-

Mrs. Crosby :)

Renewed Lamp

Over the holiday break, I had a goal to get my craft space in order. After Chatty Crafty, my STUFF was -literally- EVERYWHERE. All over. Upstairs....downstairs...kitchen...bedroom... every nook and cranny had soooooooommmmmmething stuck in it.

So! I went to the store and purchased a bunch of bins, and went to it. The organization is now done, now I am on to the "making it pretty" stage. That's where this lamp comes in to play.

I saw a lamp like this on Pinterest, and it was made by The Pleated Poppy. (awesome blog, BTW)

There was an ugly old lamp in my craft space that I was using. It had a flecked gold and cream base, and a plain old shade. It seemed like the perfect way to begin this project. :)

What you need:

Primer

spray paint

lamp shade

bits of material

What you do:

lamp base-

-Spray the base with a couple of coats of primer.

Let primer dry between coats.

-Spray a couple of coats of spray paint.

Again, let paint dry between coats.

shade-

-Cut off the material of the shade revealing the metal skeleton

of the shade.

-Cut material strips about an 1 1/2 in. wide.

-Tie strips to the lamp shade.

There you go. Shabby Chic.

This pretty little lamp sits on my crafting table.

More on my organization annnnnd decor coming!

Bird Treats

During the winter months when we are locked indoors, the boys and I like to pass the time by making those poor cold birds (and let's be honest...the squirrels, too) some yummy treats.

Last year we made these.

This time, we made gelatin treats.

Here's what you need:

Bird Seed

1 box of Knox Plain Gelatin

Wax Paper

Cookie Cutters

ribbon or twine

1 straw

What you do:

*In a large bowl, make plain gelatin following directions on the package. Instead of cold water use ice cubes so it will gel quickly.

*Add bird seed a little at a time to gelatin, mixing together so seed is completely coated and there is a enough gelatin to bind the two together.

*Create shapes by scooping a thick layer of the mixture onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and then cut out using cookie cutter.

*Cut your straw into pieces. Make a hole in the top of each shape using a straw. Once the molds are filled you will use this hole for the string. Make the hole in the center of your shape so there is enough strength to hold the string.

* Put trays into the refrigerator to set (about 3 hours). Once the shapes are set, remove them from their mold and lay back on the wax paper. Leave to dry out for 2 days to harden. String twine or ribbon through the hole, and hang on a tree branch.

Have a great week!

Tracy