3 Ways to Use Your French Press

It's no secret to those of you that know me that I have a love affair with my french press. Ok well... coffee in general. But my love of coffee was just the beginning of a long love affair and my transformation into a coffee snob... yes I admit it... when it comes to coffee I'm pretty snobby.

Growing up, my parents made coffee like you make tea. No not the process... it actually looked like tea... you could see through it. GASP! I know, I know. Those coffee snobs out there can pick themselves up off of the floor now. It's a sad past but I've come a long way.

Since those dark days, I now own an espresso machine and can froth with the best of those green apron adorned Starbucks baristas. If you want a challenge let me know :) But when I want a good ole dependable cup of coffee I turn to my French press.

As if I wasn't obsessed enough with coffee and all it's glorious processess, I soon found another fabulous concoction: Cold brew iced coffee.

Oh My! You can just imagine the money I've saved from doing my own espresso and iced coffee from home. I rarely patron the local Starbucks, unless I want that coveted "mommy break" that I talked about here.

So here's my quick list of how you can squeeze all the use out of that French press.

1. Delicious hot brewed coffee. Simple and straight forward and you get a wonderful tasting hot coffee every time. Tutorial here.

2. Cold Brew. After reading the tutorial on smitten kitchen on how to cold brew coffee, I thought - why don't I just let this sit in my french press overnight and I have a built in filter. Filter with a cheese cloth or paper towels? Nope... my french press will do it in no time. Then throw the container you poured the coffee in into the fridge and your good to go for several glasses of iced cold goodness.

3. Loose Leaf Hot Tea. I suppose you could do the bagged tea but loose is cheaper and better in my opinion. Just brew it the same way you do the hot coffee.

Who knew the French Press could be so versatile? Makes me fall in love with it even more. That's where you get me... I love it when something is pretty... but OH if it can be functional and versatile at the same time, I am completely in love! Maybe that's where my love affair with Apple came from too... I digress... Happy Tuesday!

Great Minds Think Alike :)

As I was reading some of my favorite blogs this morning, I came across this new post from Too Much Time On My Hands.

Ha! I was actually just thinking about this as a possibility for expanding upon my paint swatch ornament idea. Why couldn't it be garland etc?

I think I'll take a crack at it and share what I come up with.

Great minds think alike huh? LOL

Paint Swatch Ornaments

So the secret is out. These cute and simple ornaments are made from paint swatches!

I love the weight and sturdiness that it gives and the added bonus is that it makes these pretty cheap to make. I was inspired by a magazine article that used scrapbook paper. You can use scrapbook paper if you want different patterns etc. But I like the simplicity and sturdiness of the paint swatch much better.

So let's get started... this is what you will need:

Use a 2" die cut circle punch to punch out 8 circles (4 of each color) from the swatches. Then fold them all in half with the wrong side out, just like this:

Now use your glue stick to glue the wrong sides together, alternating colors. make sure they are lined up correctly so the back of the swatch does not show at all. Then when you get to your last one, just glue it to the first one. You'll have a beautiful dome shape.

Take some pretty ribbon or string and thread it through. ** The ribbon is a little easier if you put it in the middle before you close the dome together. Tie a knot at the end and on the other side snip the length you want, fold it over and do a slip knot to create the loop you need to hang. You can stop there or go a little bit crazy and add a bow at the top or brush some white glue on the edges and sprinkle it with some glitter. Simple and beautiful. I can't wait to hang these on my tree this year!

So easy! Hope you enjoy making them with me!

Check out where I linked up on my where I like to party page!

Handmade ornaments

Yes it's that time again! ::sigh:: Christmas!

I always feel bad for Thanksgiving every year. It gets the shaft, but you have to prepare for December early right?

I saw an idea for this ornament while perusing the magazine section on a "mommy break." You know what I'm talking about. The time you get to go somewhere by yourself and listen to the beautiful sound of silence as you get to look at whatever you want without the interjections of "Please don't touch that, Stop bothering your brother, stay with mommy please, yes we will get a snack in a minute." And if you are feeling really crazy you'll buy yourself that expensive cup of coffee, not because it's expensive but because you just want to revel in the fact that SOMEONE ELSE served YOU!

Sorry... I'll put my daydreaming aside and get back to reality.

I saw these and I thought it would be a perfect project for the kids to do. So this is the first draft so to speak.

Since this one, they have gotten more intricate with bows and glitter and other little touches I came up with. But there is one more shocking secret to this cutie that I'll share with you next time. :) I love surprises. Next post I'll show you how to make these yourself for almost NOTHING :)

This year's goal is for almost all of our ornaments to be handmade. The kids love crafting so I can't wait to get them in on it! Happy Friday Everybody!

Anthropologie Necklace

I've been experimenting with lots of different crafts lately. I'm trying to get a feel of what I really love to create. What really inspires me.

I've realized that working with my hands in general is an inspiring thing. I was especially surprised at how exhilarating it was to saw wood by hand. Maybe the men are on to something? I felt so accomplished after sawing my wood down into squares for my wall tiles for the kid's room. I took great care to sand them and get them ready for a coat of paint and sealer. When you take great care in doing something, you know your heart is really in it. You're not careless, you take the time to notice every detail.

Well I'm not going to share the wall tiles with you quite yet. I'm going to save the big reveal for when they are up on the wall with my new gutter shelves. I can't wait!

So in the meantime I'll share with you a little piece I made myself recently based on an anthropologie necklace. I found the tutorial over at Flamingo Toes.

I had all the materials but I wanted to give it a little bit of my own twist too.

Here is the original necklace from Anthropologie:


I thought it was a little too much ruffle for me so I decided to just do the ruffles on one side. And since I had some fabric left over from that grey sheet I thought I would just use that. Since grey is so in this season! Woohoo!

The length was perfect! Just cut a 2 inch wide strip down the length of the sheet and sew the two sides together to make a tube. ** Note to self and the rest of the world out there. Please sew a ribbon or string to one end on the inside so it will be easier to turn inside out. Not that I am speaking from experience or anything. An hour later.... (during which I was not struggling to turn it inside out ::ahem::) Pull some round beads out of your stash or pick some up at your local Michael's/Hobby Lobby/Joanne's. Depending on how long your want your necklace to be depends on the amount of beads you use. I had varying sizes that I put into my tube and then tied a knot in between each one. When I got to the length I liked, I stopped there.

You should have something that looks like this (please excuse the bad lighting, I do my crafting at night when the munchkins are asleep!):


Now for some flair! Instead of using the same material, I wanted to do a contrasting color. So I looked through my fabric stash and found a shirt that never quite fit me right. But it was a gorgeous purple, and purple and grey are perfect together. So I cut it up into little two inch circles. I'd cut 20 or so. But that really depends on how ruffle-y you want it. Don't worry about your circles being perfect... you won't be able to tell... trust me ;).

Fold the circles in half and then half again. Then take your needle and thread and sew it to a knot on the side of your necklace. Then go at it and make it as ruffle-y as you want.

Don't forget about your necklace ends! just turn them inside and sew them closed and your are ready to go. Go show off that fabulousness that you made with your own two hands.

Projects in the making

Next up I'll share my experiences with the gutter book shelves, making large scrabble tiles as a cute kids room decoration and some hand-made ornaments for the holidays.

I may even throw in a giveaway :) Stick around, it's going to get interesting. Or crazy. Whichever comes first.

Mod Ruffle Wreath

I just love the look of the wreath by Jones Design Co.

And she made it look so easy so I had to try one of my own. Hers turned out a lot more cozy and wintery because she used wool but I used what I had on hand.

So I layed out a tired sheet that had been in our closet forever. It was a pretty grey, so I thought why not? I went to town cutting it into 2" strips. Silly me didn't remember to take photos until much later. I'll do better next time I promise.

I went to Lowe's earlier that day and picked up some pipe insulation for 1.20 cut it in half and ducked taped it into a circle.

Instant wreath base for only .60 :)

Whip out your hot glue gun and cover the entire wreath base by wrapping a fabric strip around it and hot glueing as you go.

Then go crazy twisting and looping to make ripples and ruffles and hot glueing them in place. I did two lines around the circumference but I kind of wish I would have done three. Use your discretion until you get the look you like. Next, cut a small strip to make a hanging loop and hot glue it to the back.

I really love grey and yellow together so I made a fabric rosette out of an old yellow t-shirt to add a little pizzaz.

but it wasn't quite finished. It just needed something... you artsy people out there know what I mean... that gut feeling that it needs a finishing touch.

Yes this wreath deserved a little something extra...

BAM. Ahhh there it is! An even BIGGER flower!

This sweet wreath is now proudly hanging on my front door. I just love the romantic look of it.