Happy New Year! It is time to put together a list of weekly photo challenges for this year. I enjoyed the challenge so much last year that I am really excited to start all over again. This time around I made a list that I can go through in order. I assigned a specific topic for each week, weeks 1 through 52.  My hope is that it will be easier to start taking pictures each week since the decision of what to focus on will already be made. (Last year I had a group of 52 topics and each week I would choose which one to do. It was easy to…

Who doesn’t love a pretty accent pillow? Currently, I have a variety of patterned pillows in my living room. Some of them I created by hand, a few were gifts, and others were purchased. My eclectic mix of pillows are colorful and really brighten the room.  I use similar colors to pull the room together, like cream and shades of blue, but I also include a few that have many bright colors just for fun.     It feels like a whole room makeover when all I do is just change the pillows and add in a different textured throw blanket.   A few of my pillows have zippers that make changing…

Here are a few ideas for custom phone and mp3 covers. My favorite one is a neoprene cover with a sleeve made out of plastic coated fabric. The sleeve slides off so that I can make other covers and reuse the neoprene part. Make your own custom phone cover To make your own custom cover start by measuring your device. Cut out your fabric 1 inch wider than your phone or mp3 player that way you will have a 1/2″ seam allowance on each side. For the length you need, figure out how much you need to add to the top to turn under for a nice finished edge. Also…

  A cooking challenge is a fun idea that can inspire you to learn new recipes and discover foods and flavors that you have not tried before. Besides eating yummy food you get to improve your cooking skills, increase your knowledge of all things kitchen related, and perhaps experience important parts of other cultures. Monthly Cooking Challenge Depending on your time commitment, you can ease your way into learning new things by going with a monthly cooking challenge. Find a new recipe to try one night every month. Maybe throw in some new cooking techniques that look interesting. Have you ever tried cooking bacon in the oven? Pizza on the grill?…

There are a few tricks to getting your muffins to really pop-up and look like the ones you see at the bakery or let’s face it…. on Pinterest. Tip #1: Oven temp! Start with a hot oven (425 degrees F) for the first 5 minutes and then turn down the heat for the remaining time (375 degrees F). Tip #2: Fill the cups to the top. Pour the batter into your muffin tin and make sure that you fill the cups all the way to the top. This works for jumbo muffins as well as the standard size muffin tin. Tip #3: Use baking powder. It works like magic. Big beautiful…