I was cleaning today and ran across three envelopes that carried me back twenty-five years or so. This is my daughter Lisa's envelope with some of the coupons that were tucked inside.    When my kids were young, they clipped coupons to earn money. For each coupon I used, they received the money that was deducted…

It has become a tradition… to go to the autumn craft festival, which is held at the Brainerd (Minnesota) Senior High School in October (and again in November for Christmas items), to stock up on handmade knit dishcloths. Today was the day.      I choose to purchase dishcloths from the same woman, whose booth is set up in…

When they were young, each of my three daughters played for hours creating handmade products that they displayed and "sold" to each other in their elaborate stores set up in our basement. My youngest daughter, Jessie, has recreated an adult version of her childhood "store". She has a real-life venue to sell her products in her fort and field etsy shop and fort and field…

   Oh, I do so love it when things click so effortlessly. My neighbor had a baby and I wanted to bring a gift over, but I didn't have an overabundance of time to shop… or even to ponder too long. My daughter Heather illustrates children's books, so that was a start… a book is always nice… and a book with…

  If you have been a frequent visitor to my site, you may have had the same reaction that my youngest daughter Jess had when she recently stopped by for a read. "I almost jumped back from the screen because I was surprised to see flowers. So big and bright and pretty!"  For the past couple…

Gather together your empty ink cartridges (any brand) and head over to your neighborhood Staples for a heckova deal, but don't tarry. The offer ends the day after tomorrow on Saturday, December 19, 2009.  Staples, on a regular basis, offers $3.00 in store credit for each empty ink cartridge with an allowable maximum of ten per…

The big unveiling has finally arrived. The kitchen cupboard painting project is complete. This is the Martha Stewart "Hollyhock Red" paint that covered the original dark walnut stain. I liked the red color, but I have just one small window over the kitchen sink that looks out onto my screened backporch and it was way too…

Old metal measuring cups in 1/4, 1/3, 1/2. and 1 cup sizes attached to drawers of graduated depths make perfect kitchen cabinet drawer pulls.  As do wooden knobs… so old fashioned. … and cookie cutters.  

When I decided to do a kitchen cabinet makeover, I wanted the door and drawer hardware to have a fun twist. Silverware hooks seemed to fit the criteria.  First I scoured thrift stores, yard sales, and antique stores for old silverware. Spoons and forks were readily available but butter knives… not so much, although I…

This old hutch in my dining room was the inspiration for my kitchen cabinets redo. I wanted a farmhouse kitchen cupboard white color, so I took a drawer into Sherwin Williams Paints for a computerized match.  In addition, I wanted to reproduce the look of the hutch's drawers, so I found some wooden knobs at Menards that came two in…