Tissue Paper Flowers or Bows

I've been cruising around Pinterest lately and I have found some cute little DIY projects! I saw several tutorials for tissue paper flowers and this is my favorite because it most like the way my grandma taught me! They are easy to make, inexpensive and so cute! I was short on bows and I usually stock up on all colors of tissue paper at garage sales or when its on sale. So instead of a bow, I used my flower as a bow for my granddaughter's birthday present. She loved it! The website I pinned was michaelannmade.com, they lots of other great ideas there too!

Instructions:

1. Use 2 regular size sheets of tissue paper, put them together as one sheet, and fold it lengthwise in half, then keep folding it in half until you are at the end. I ended up with a long strip about 4-1/2 inches wide. (second picture)
2. Then I did the same thing except I folded it half the opposite way until I ended up with a not perfect square about 5 inches by 4-1/2 inches. (third picture)
3. I drew a picture of a flower (basically 5 petals) but you can draw any shape you want.
4. Cut all layers of tissue paper at one time using the shape of the flower as your pattern.
5. Dampen your finger tips slightly and start to turn the flower layers one by one until all the layers are separated. 
6. Staple in the center of the flower.
7. Start with the bottom layer of tissue paper and fold it upwards, it's ok to crinkle it up a little. Continue to do this with each layer until you are done. 
8. Use a piece of tape on the back to attach it to your gift, wall, hair clip, or whatever you choose to decorate.

 

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Decorating with Ladders

If you have been following our blog you probably have realized that Tammi and I like decorating with heirlooms, antiques and distressed furniture.  Usually we use what we have but sometimes when you're looking for just the right look but don't want to spend much, you can buy something close to what you want and then mess with it until it looks old and worn out.  I found this ladder at a yard sale for $1.00, so I did my usual painting and sandpapering until it looked like I found it in a barn.   I found these old dish towels at an antiques fair for $2.00.  Even if distressed isn't the look for you, ladders can be functional as well as decorative.  You can use them to hang and display  magazines, in a bathroom for towels, hang it from the ceiling in a kitchen for pots and pans or hang it on the wall to display photos.
Share your ideas with us, we'd love to hear your decorating and project stories!


~Simply Angie

Homemade Goulash

Last weekend I made meals for the freezer. It takes a few hours but this will save you time during the week (in case you have nights like I do when you don't feel like cooking) and your family will love it! I adapted this recipe from Paula Deen (it's called Bobby's Goulash). I used organic ingredients but use the products of your choice. I would have liked to use fresh tomatoes from the garden but my tomatoes weren't quite ready. You can also make it gluten-free by using gluten-free elbow macaroni. It's so tasty - my family loved it!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound lean ground beef
1 -2 small onions, diced ( I used red onions)
1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
3 cups water
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T Italian seasoning
3 bay leaves
3 T soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1 T seasoning salt
course ground pepper to taste
2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)
Putting it together:
Brown meat and onions in a large pan, I used my cast iron Dutch oven, it's the perfect pan! After the meat is brown, spoon off any excess grease. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, water, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy or worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, and pepper. Stir to mix everything together and put the lid on your pan and cook for 25 minutes. Add macaroni and simmer for another 20-25 minutes over low heat. Let it sit about 30 minutes with the heat off. Remove bay leaves before serving. Be prepared to eat it with a spoon so you get all of the sauce! Enjoy!
Makes about 8-10 servings. Freeze in airtight containers.

 

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Organizing- The Bedroom Closet

When we built our house a few years ago, at the top of my short list of requests was my very own closet, I didn't want to share a bedroom closet with my husband. Our house plan showed a walk-in closet but I knew that would never work! I wanted my own space for my clothes and so did my husband. For some reason I can remain organized in all rooms of our house except for my closet. I have no idea what the problem is, but if you ask my mom, she would tell you I've always been that way. Well mom, I have finally conquered my messy closet syndrome! It's been 5 days - all is clean and tidy in the closet area!
For the past 4 years, I have wasted my money on purchased several organizing bins, space bags, shelves, totes, baskets, hanging bins, shoe organizers, etc., and still nothing worked, nothing was organized the way I envisioned it in my head. But over the weekend I had a revelation and decided that maybe I had too much stuff! So I revisited my Peter Walsh organizing book and started with 3 piles - keep, give away, and throw. And then the 3 important questions for each item, 1. does it fit me? 2. does it look good on me? 3. do I love it?  And you know how this goes, the answer has to be "yes" to  all 3 questions, then you can keep the item.
At the end of this I could lie and say 3 grueling 5 hour process I had 2 huge, somewhat overflowing, garbage bags of shoes and clothes for donating, 1 small bag for the trash, and I kept only the items (shoes, clothes, and jewelry) that I currently wear, hopefully look good on me, and that I love.
I removed 2 entire shelves from my closet, a hanging shoe bin, and 40 clothes hangers! And guess what? It felt great! I attached a hook behind the door for my robe, (yes I did say 1 robe no longer 3 robes). I kept my fabric bins and labeled them with recipe cards attached with a plastic clothes pin - thanks for that idea Angie, this is so I can switch the labels without ruining the fabric on the bins. Now I don't have to keep dragging out a stool to take the bins off the top shelf to see what's in them. They are still on the top shelf because they are seasonal items or things I don't use on a regular basis. I decided to limit my number of shoes to 1 basket, this was not easy because I love love love shoes! I chose my favorite shoes to place in the basket first and decided that any shoes left over were off to the donate pile. I tucked my huge glass change jar (fun money) in the corner so it's out of the way and moved my standing mirror to the other corner (rather than in our bedroom). As I stood in the doorway of my "new" closet I took a deep breath and finally felt free from all of that "stuff".

 

Happy organizing!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi