Are You A No Reply Blogger?

I love comments. Seriously, there’s something about someone taking the time to respond to one of my posts that makes me feel special. I try to reply to all the comments I get. I'm guilty of not always replying in a timely manner, but I like to acknowledge what they've said. It seems like the proper thing to do.

When I first started blogging, someone told me I was a noreplycomment@blogger.com. I wasn’t sure what it meant so I Googled it, changed my settings, and moved on… until recently.  I’m not sure why but I’ve had a lot of commenters lately who are no-reply bloggers. What that means is when I click reply to respond in an email to their comment, they don’t have an email connected to their account. When that’s the case, I don’t get to respond to their comment.

My plan was to do a nice tutorial with screen shots and everything to show you how to check if you’re a no-reply blogger and how to change it if you are. Instead, I’m going to send you to Robin at Fluster Buster. Why reinvent the wheel, right? Robin has really clear step-by-step instructions on how to change your settings so people (like me) can respond to your comments.

Shared at: A Creative Princess, Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Diana Rambles, Natasha in Oz

Co-Hosting Fluster's Creative Muster Week #20

Exciting things are happening today. As part of my reward for being featured by Robin at Fluster Buster, I get to co-host her party. This is my first time co-hosting a link party so I’m thrilled! Link on up and don’t forget to stop by Fluster Buster and read some of Robin's posts. In a fun coincidence, I have a post scheduled for tomorrow that directed you to Fluster Buster for, in my opinion, a very helpful tutorial. You'll have to check back and see what it is.

Allison from Polka Dots and Paisley is this weeks co-host and featured blogger. Last week she linked up a wonderful post about about cleaning and organizing. Her New Year's resolution was to concentrate on one room a month. April Space:The Kitchen is the room she is tackling this month. Allison would be thrilled if you came by and checked out her organization plan and said hello. Congratulations Allison and thank you for being this weeks co-host.

 Fluster's Creative Muster

Week #20

(begins Tuesday @ 6pm and ends Sunday at 11:59pm)

By linking to this party, you are giving Fluster Buster permission to use your photos in featured links.

Host

Fluster Buster

Co-Host

Polka Dots and Paisley

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.flusterbuster.com" title="Fluster Buster"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FeiUVwAVKPE/UP7W9wYz1KI/AAAAAAAAGuo/ucejgOPJcWo/s1600/Fluster+Muster+1.jpg" alt="Fluster Buster" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Mother's Day and Something New... Mom, Don't Read This!

Happy Mother’s Day Mama!!! I love you! Now please stop reading this post.

Mama and I when she was visiting last summer.

Seriously mom, stop reading…

Ok, so my gifts for my mother and mother-in-law are going to be a little late this year. I tried making a beautiful ceramic plate to hold their jewelry and they were a HUGE FAILURE! Looking back, I should have shared them with you as a cautionary tale but I was so angry that I threw them out. I am going to try again so I’ll have to force myself to show you them, no matter the results.

Anyway, to replace the awful plates I bought a small present and decided to make some jewelry to make it more personal. I made two of these necklaces; first I made one for myself as a trial and then I made one for my mother. I plan on making a third for my mother-in-law but need to get some more chain.

I skipped taking pictures at some of the steps but hopefully you can figure it out. I didn’t use any instructions but winged it, based on a necklace worn by one of the characters on Pretty Little Liars. Yes, it’s embarrassing to admit but I love that show.

Step 1: Cut two lengths of chain, one slightly shorter than the other.

Step 2: On the shorter piece, attach a bead using a headpin and jump ring.

Step 3: About two fingers above the bead, attach a larger jump ring. Be sure it goes through the chain.

Step 4: On the longer piece, attach two beads using a headpin and jump ring.

Step 5: Thread the longer chain through the large jump ring on the shorter chain.

Step 6: Attach a clasp to both sides, again using jump rings.

Like I said, I made one for myself first to figure out how to do it. I went with black because most of my clothes are black. I’m thinking it’s going to become a wardrobe staple.For my mom, I went with brown. She wears a lot of browns and beiges so I figured it would give her lots to wear it with. I'm not sure what colour I'll make for my mother-in-law... maybe blue. 

So to all you moms, moms to be, and acting moms (like me), happy mother's day!

Shared at: Lines Across, Kathe With an E, Sugar Bee Crafts, Fluster Buster, Clean & Scentsible, Hickory Trail, Ginger Snap Crafts, A Creative Princess, Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Diana Rambles

Painted Vases and Paper Lollies

It’s Education Week and to celebrate we had a drop-in tea at school for family, friends, and community members. I was given the task of coming up with centerpieces (on a very small budget) so I decided to make some painted vases with paper lollies.

The first thing I did was collect my vases. I had quite a few at home and bought a couple more at the dollar store and Michaels. I also used a couple old salt and pepper shakers I had lying around. The plan was to group them so I chose colours that blended well.

Next, I painted my vases. I poured acrylic paint in and slowly swirled it around, working my way to the top. 

I then rigged up some styrofoam cups to hold my vases upside down to drain out the excess paint and dry. Once they had stopped dripping I moved them onto tinfoil spread out on a cookie sheet and left them overnight. The next day I turned them right-side up and left them to dry for another day.

I love how they turned out and would have been happy leaving them as they were. However, I wanted something the students had helped make. Monday and Tuesday some of the students spent some time making paper lollies. We used the instructions from The Happy Scraps. Sorry but I didn’t take any photos of the process.

Once the lollies were done we glued them onto skewers and placed them in the vases. I put some floral foam in the bottom of the wide vases to make the skewers stand up and then covered it with some shredded paper.

I'm wasn't able to get any pictures of the centrepieces at the tea but picture them grouped on six different tables, with pale yellow tablecloths. They looked great! 

Shared at: Diana Rambles, Natasha In Oz, Lines Across, Kathe with an E, Sugar Bee Crafts, Fluster Buster, Clean and Scentsible, Hickory Trail, Ginger Snap Crafts, A Creative Princess, Artsy Fartsy Mama

Threaded Washer Pendant

It has been quite a while since I’ve made some jewelry and, in attempting to finish up my half-done projects, I made some new pendant-type-things. The idea for these came from the Colour Block Hex Nut and Thread Necklace at Renewed Upon a Dream.

Required supplies:

Washers

Thread

Scissors

Glue

 

The supplies, minus the glue.

Step 1: Tie thread on washer.

Step 2: Wrap, wrap, wrap, and wrap some more. Continue wrapping all the way around and then go over it a second time.

Step 3: Tie the end in a knot, cut off the excess thread, and add a dab of glue to set the end.

I made three and wore them all together but you could easily make and wear more or less, depending on your style.

Shared at: Clean & Scentsible, Fluster Buster, Hickory Trail, Ginger Snap Crafts, A Creative Princess,Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Diana Rambles, Natasha In Oz, Lines Across, Kathe With An E, Sugar Bee Crafts