Girlie Craft Day

Whew. It has been a busy, crazy, can't-find-a-minute-to-sit-and-blog kind of week.

We had cousins in town for the weekend. Every minute was spent doing something.

A good something.

The guys took the little girlies to the park to play and then they all laid down on the grass and watched the planes go over. That's great fun for a two year old.

The big girlies, aka me, Sissy and cousin T., had a craft day. We each brought a craft (or two or three) and the supplies to share and made fun stuff.
We made serving trays and coasters courtesy of cousin T. These were the easiest crafts EVER. And they look very cute.

She brought wooden trays, tiles, acrylic paints, Mod Podge, and scrapbook paper. We painted our trays and let them dry in the sun.

They dried very quickly, like as soon as we applied the paint. That was okay for the paint but not for the Mod Podge. We had to put the paper on very quickly and place it just so. There wasn't but a second or two to shift the paper if you put it on crooked.

Which I did. Ooops.

Well, that's why my tray looks like a handmade item. And the hands that made it, weren't so quick.

I love it anyway.

But next time, I'm not doing this craft in the hot, hot sun on a hot, hot day. Nope. This is an indoor or cool, cloudy day craft.

We put more Mod Podge over the paper, sprayed it with a coat of sealant and il est fait.

C'est bon.
The coasters were made the same way, except without the paint.

Mod Podge over the surface of the tile, apply a 4" square piece of scrapbook paper, more Mod Podge, spray some sealant, sticky foam buttons for the bottom and you're good to go.

These would make excellent hostess gifts, me thinks.
The last craft of the day were dishtowels, ala Anthropologie-style. Sissy found a great tutorial on how to make these here.

We had lots of ideas for the embroidery section. I really loved the bird in the birdcage so I did that one. Sissy embroidered a pink daisy with a long, whimsical stem and cousin T. used some of the flowers from the fabric.
These are SO UNBELIEVABLY CUTE. I need to shout this from the rooftops.

The cuteness factor will drive me to make these over and over and over again. The possibilities are endless. I'm going to have French tea towels with little Eiffel Towers on them, and daisy tea towels with honeybees on them, and more birds, this time sitting on branches - really, the list is endless.

And I won't have to spend $24 at Anthropologie for a tea towel. That's a good thing.
After that, we ran out time. We had to stop and get ready for our backyard barbecue with the guys.

So we didn't get to do my crafts. Pooh. I had good ones, too.

Next time, since we're already planning another one.
We all had brunch together on Sunday morning and waved off the cousins as they drove out.

*Sigh of contentment. What a nice weekend visit.

Here's a yummy breakfast casserole recipe for you:

Blueberry French Toast Casserole

Small loaf of french bread, cut into 1/2" slices
3 eggs
3 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs vanilla
2 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
6 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Grease a 9"x13" pan, put french bread slices in pan. In a bowl, add egg, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in milk and pour over bread to coat. Refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, heat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and cut in butter. Put blueberries on french toast and then the crumble topping. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

I got this recipe from some people at church. We have it on Easter morning after sunrise service. Can you say d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s?

Because it is. Enjoy.