BFF Open House Link Party #111

  

Hi all and welcome to the party. I'm traveling for work  this week so there won't be any features. I'll catch up on those after the Fourth of July holiday next week. 

We'll get right to the party! 

W E L C O M E

1. Mason Jar Pleated Collar Tutorial	2. Book Page Medallion Wreath	3. Prize-Winning Chicken and Mushroom Pie
4. July 4th Toddler Crafts	5. Pizz'alad on the Grill	6. Patriotic Rag Wreath
7. Strawberries and Cream Stuffed French Toast	8. Kitchen Renovation Progress	9. Monk Strap Booties
10. Get your photos on Craftgawker	11. Ann	12. Strawberry Cream Pie
13. All American Oreos	14. Raspberry No Bake Trifles +Giveaway	15. 4th of July Cake Pops
16. Sprinkles will Fly + Giveaway	17. Classic Raspberry Muffins	18. Summery Watermelon Salad
19. Honeycomb Table Tutorial	20. Simple Mason Jar Centerpiece	21. Framed Fourth of July top hat wreath
22. Beautiful	23. DIY Patriotic Garden Flag & Wreath Update!	24. Mocha Brownies
25. ugly shorts to cute dress refashion with tutorial	26. low fat creamy chicken curry	27. thrift store finds!
28. Oven Baked Herbed Vegetables	29. Carrie's Chicken Pasta Salad	30. Mascarpone Custard Style Ice Cream
31. Pet Care Tips for Summer, Travel, Walks, etc.	32. 4th of July No-Sew Banner	33. Easiest Healthy Granola Bars ~ (gluten free & vegan
34. Paper Medallions, template and how to	35. Steel Cut Oats Breakfast~ Gluten Free & Vegan	36. Canned Zesty Pickled Asparagus
37. Star Garland	38. Summer Stovetop Potpourri	39. How to Give Your Bedroom a Mini-Makeover
40. Dying Rice for July 4th!	41. How To Frame A Bathroom Mirror	42. Chocolate Banana Bread
43. An Altered Vintage Dustpan	44. classic silver ring with garnet	45. turkey breast salad with corn
46. my new bags	47. Mini-Blind Flag	48. blueberry mojito Popsicles
49. sweet potato gnocchi	50. Blue Bench Makeover	51. Seashell Driftwood Wreath
52. Reuse and Recycle Containers	53. Mod Podge Melts with Kids	54. Suitcase Table
55. Red Burlap & Blue Flag	56. Southwestern Chopped Salad & Cilantro Dressing	57. 16 Road Trip Boredom Buster Games
58. Irresistible Scotcheroos	59. 10 amazing sewing tutorials for women	60. Crockpot BBQ Chicken and Twice Baked Potatoes
61. NO BUTTER choc. chip cookies w/ coconut oil!	62. Orange Cranberry Sugar Cookies	63. US Flag Hanging
64. 6 Sensational 4th of July Recipes	65. Vintage Ephemera Patriotic Cameo Wreath	66. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
67. DIY Patriotic Fabric Wreath	68. Style N Season: On SIngleness, Marriage N Childre	69. Painted Poem Wall Decor
70. 4th July Classic Cherry Pie	71. Firecracker Chicken	72. Fess Up Friday
73. Superhero Soda Gift	74. Celebratory Oreo Fluff Dip	75. Fourth of July Word Search Printable
76. A Rose is a Symphony	77. Pinwheel Summers	78. 4th of July Chocolate Firecrackers
79. Introduction to My Recipe Magic from Six Sisters	80. CopyCat Red Robin Bonzai Burger Recipe	81. Birthday Bliss on a Budget
82. Cofee Drinker's Tea Cozy	83. Sailor Birthday Party

(Linkup closed)

Lazy Person's Chocolate Croissants

I made these last week and now Mr. Chocolate wants me to make them all the time. I call them the lazy person’s croissant because you are not making the pastry from scratch. They are fast, easy, and yummy!

For these "fauxsants au chocolat" you will need:

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• Chocolate Chips
• Powdered Sugar

I just used store brand puff pastry. You can find it in the frozen aisle at the grocery store. The longest part of making these is thawing the pasty dough out which takes about 40 minutes.

Roll out your thawed pastry. It’ll come folded in thirds.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface then cut into strips.

Roll out each of your strips a little more and sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips onto each strip.

Fold the pastry over the chocolate chips and then again.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

BFF Open House Link Party #110

Happy Friday Eve all. Hope everyone had a very happy Father's Day and all the dads in your lives were wowed by your creativity. First time that College Boy wasn't here for Father's Day so I spoiled Mr. Chocolate appropriately. 

Let's take a peek at some ideas shared at last week's party and then we'll jump into this week's. 

These polka dot planters by Fonda over at Southern Scraps are just the thing to brighten up your porch or patio. 

Christine from I Dig Pinterest share her tutorial for this festive Fourth candy jar. Wouldn't a mantel full of these be fun? 

Rhonda from Messy Roost made this portable craft caddy that she can take anywhere inside or outside. Perfect for Summer crafting. 

And unless I missed it , I don't think I had ANY chocolate recipes linked up ! However, this delicious Strawberry Pizza shared by Leigh Anne at Your Home Based Mom could easily have some chocolate drizzled on it don'tcha think? Not that it isn't perfect just the way it is. 

Now on to this week's party. If it's your first time linking up, following's not required but I do love to meet new bloggers so at least leave a comment and say hi. 

W E L C O M E 

1. Spicy Honey Cickenh	2. Red, White and Blue Giant Marshmallows	3. Monsters Inc Cake Pop Tutorial
4. Super Easy Biscuit Donuts	5. Veggie Garden Quietbook Template	6. Neapolitan Pudding Popsicles
7. Peanut Butter Cookie Bites	8. Honey Kool-Aid Taffy	9. Cherry Garcia Ice Cream + Giveaway
10. 4th of July Fan	11. Metal Stamping Tips	12. Milk Jug Garland
13. DIY Batman Coasters	14. Patriotic Pinwheel Flag!	15. USA Faux Punched Cans
16. Strawberry Wonton Cups	17. July 4th Family Fun Ideas - Part 2	18. Bathroom Makeover Reveal!
19. The Best Taco Casserole	20. July 4th Favorite Foods	21. Asian Rice Salad
22. Creamy Cole Slaw	23. Red, White & Blue Cookie Bark	24. 3 in gredient peanut butter cookies
25. Birthday Dress	26. How I Created My Sacred Space	27. White Chocolate Chip Berry Muffins
28. Love Blocks	29. Slow Cooker Freezer Meals	30. Easy Pizza
31. Summertime Crafts	32. cherry and coconut icecream	33. lemon lavender and honey cake
34. plum frangipane tart	35. diy fabric whale chart	36. Crochet Apple Girl
37. July 4th Starfish Wreath	38. Patchwork Pillow	39. Burlap Sign
40. Easy fancy framed chalkboard	41. Peach Cheesecake Parfait	42. DIY Bulletin Board
43. antique heater garden art	44. My Boys' Summer Reading Charts/ Plan	45. 8 Free Kindle Books:Prepping, Canning
46. courgette fritter	47. Blueberry Crostini	48. Silver Scorpion Ring with Garnet
49. Tropical Summer Fruit Salad	50. How to Select & Store Watermelon	51. Monster Truck Birthday
52. DIY Chalkboard Baking Labels	53. Bacon-Wrapped Chicken & Pineapple Kabobs	54. 15 Patriotic Party Foods
55. Strawberry Cream Cheese spread	56. White Chocolate No Bake cookies	57. Perfect Summer Breakfast
58. Enchilada Stuffed Shells	59. Children's Book Series	60. Mango Rum Mojitos
61. Roller Hockey Rink Reveal	62. simple earrings tutorial	63. Crystal Light cuff bracelets
64. Berry Butter	65. Bee Scissors Keeper	66. Decorative Pinwheels!
67. New Potato & Feta Salad	68. No-Bake Granola Bars	69. 3 Tricks To Creating The Illusion Of Height
70. DIY Elastic Hair Ties Anthro and Emi-Jay Knockoff	71. Black Bean and Barbecue Rice Burritos	72. How to get the best out of your indoor growing favourites
73. All about Bloglovin' as a way to read blogs	74. Heart of Clay Tutorial	75. Giant Pencil Shaped Pencil Case Tutorial
76. Almost NO SEW Simple Deck Cushion Shams	77. Vegetable Shrimp Stir-Fry	78. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
79. DIY Utensil Bouquet	80. Potato Salad Done My Way	81. {simple} Cleaning Tip
82. The BEST Grilled Chicken Tacos	83. The Power of Eyebrow Makeup	84. Blog Advice fro Beginners from a Beginner #2
85. Faux Watercolor	86. For the Love of Charley	87. Salted Nut Roll Peanut Bars
88. 25 Fun Cupcake Ideas	89. Grandmas Goulash	90. Homemade Laundry Detergent
91. Monster Juice!

(Linkup closed)

Father's Day Cards in Cream and Blue

Now that Father’s Day has passed, I can share some of the cards I made to celebrate. The first card is a combination birthday and Father’s Day card for my FIL.  For this one I used papers by Basic Grey and Cut Cardstock.com and  vintage truck and sentiment stamps by Tim Holtz.

Made a 5x7 card from cream cardstock, ran some light blue cardstock through my Cuttlebug using a Tim Holtz embossing folder, stamped the truck with blue pigment ink and the sentiment with black. I kinda goofed on the first stamp of the sentiment, so went back over it and was actually pleased with the shadow effect. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it anyway.

For these cards, I used some pre-made cards  and embellisments from the David Tutera cardmaking collection along with another sheet from a Basic Grey pack.  The clocks are rub-ons I had in my stash but you could get the same effect with a clear sticker or stamp. I only had one of the “take some time” sentiment rub-ons but liked the sentiment so generated the second one using my label maker and then spruced it up with some embellishments.

The turquoise strip is a pre-cut David Tutera overlay that I trimmed to size. Finished with some coordinating washi tape.

Hope all the dads in your lives had a great Father’s Day!

Graduation Gift: Silver Softball Themed Necklace and Bracelet

Sharing a graduation gift I made for the daughter of one of my besties. We have been friends forever (7th grade) and now her baby has now graduated from college!

My “niece” is a lifelong softball player and earned a scholarship to play softball in college. I knew I wanted to incorporate softball into her necklace but now that she’s a college graduate, also wanted something grown up that she could wear. I found this enameled softball charm that was neutral in color and designed things around it.

I used a combination of silver chains and a rhinestone chain I picked up at Michaels and deconstructed.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures while I was making it but basically just laid out the chain the way I wanted it, added a couple of the rhinestone links along the way, and then used one as the base for a pendant, attaching the softball charm, another silver charm, and a silver pearl attached using a head pin.

The bracelet (this pic came out a bit blurry) is a mix of silver crystal beads, silver pieces, and another link from the rhinestone chain.

Graduation was yesterday and I am really honored that she chose to wear these for her graduation. Wishing you all the best Ro!

Jewelry Makeover: Clearance Earrings Into An Easy Necklace

I’ve shared before that since I don’t have pierced ears I often buy pierced earrings and convert them to clips. This time, I found some on sale that I couldn’t see myself wearing as clips, but the parts intrigued me and the price ($4.99) was too good to pass up.

This is the before pic. Aren’t they ginormous? Each earring was made from 16 metal teardrop pieces.

The teardrop metal pieces were attached with jump rings so I disassembled each earring and ended up with a pile of parts:

I had some dark pewter metal chain in my stash, measured out 18 inches and then attached a clasp.

Then I attached three of the metal pieces ( saved the jump rings I’d removed) to a 7 links of the chain.

I ended up using 21 of the 32 tear drops so I have some left over to play with. In deconstructing the earrings, I also ended up with another pile o parts that sparked some more ideas. Stay tuned!

Sharing At:

BFF Open House Link Party #109

Happy Friday Eve all. It's been a crazy week so apologies...no features today. We'll just jump right into the party OK? 

W E L C O M E 

1. the difference between chalk paint and chalkboard	2. my cheap chalk paint recipe	3. sand dollar necklace
4. master closet built in reveal	5. Creamy Cauliflower Pasta	6. DIY Rope Side Table
7. Patriotic Postage Stamp Magnets	8. Waterfall Earrings	9. Patriotic Busy Bag
10. Spicy Jerk Chicken	11. DIY Polka dot planters	12. The Renters Chevron Wall
13. Donut Cake!	14. Party Planning Tips!	15. Make Your Own Tutu
16. Family Fun Ideas for July 4th - Part 1	17. Mex Tex Egg Rolls	18. Grandma's Pancakes: Scout approved!
19. Vintage Sewing Case Makeover	20. Strawberry Pizza	21. Berry Crisp
22. grow your own potatoes in a garbage can	23. 7outfits from 7 pieces!	24. fathers day recipe round up
25. Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub	26. Reclaimed Wood Wall Art Ideas	27. DIY Scrapbook Wall Art for Dad
28. Komebukuro - Japanese drawstring bag tutorial	29. DIY Paris Skyline Lamp	30. Style N Season: Praying For Your Loved Ones
31. Flip Flop Necklaces	32. Father's Day Clipboard	33. Glitter pillows tutorial
34. Boy's belt tutorial	35. Lace peplum top DIY	36. Versatile & Sophisticated Updo Tutorial
37. Hair Tips for a Big Event	38. Tips for Bride & Bridesmaids	39. Father’s Day Honey Bear Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Honey Frosting
40. Dr. Seuss Birthday Party Ideas	41. 5 Ways to Add More Vegetables to Your Meal Plan	42. how to make old towels soft again
43. Father's Day recipe roundup!	44. Lemon Drop Candy Cookies	45. Patriotic Candy Jar
46. creating a	47. Free 4th of July Printables!	48. Patriotic Mantel/DIY Crafts
49. Free Father's Day Printable Card	50. #1 Dad Banner	51. We Love Daddy Hand Print Photo Board
52. How To Revamp a Side Table	53. Homemade Limeade	54. Simple Striped Painting
55. Sweet Treats at Disney World	56. Anniversary Table In Red	57. Birthday Vignette
58. Fabric Rag Wreath	59. Painted Rocks	60. Race Car Room
61. Modpodge Alphabet Magnets	62. 1 Bread Batch - 3 Delicious Foods	63. Travel Themed Burp Cloths
64. Lemon Pudding Poke Cake	65. Slow-Cooker Refried Beans	66. Blogging Advice for Beginners from a Beginner
67. How to Cut a Whole Chicken	68. Summer Outfit Idea	69. Lunch Bag
70. Baker's Rack Upscaled with Burlap	71. Old Fashions	72. china cabinet turned wine cabinet
73. homemade puff pastry apple tart	74. rye bread recipe	75. blueberry jam filled Doughnuts
76. Fougasse bread recipe	77. Balance Holistic Wellness	78. Berry Rhubarb Parfait
79. Tropical Fruit Sorbet	80. Strawberry Cream Cheese Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches	81. iPhone Case Makeover
82. Shabby Chic Coffee Table	83. Honey Sticky Buns	84. Last Minute Fathers Day Idea
85. Citrus Ice	86. Arabic rice poultry salad	87. ring with rough stones
88. The Basics Finale	89. I Love You This Much Hand Print Card	90. Turkey Stuffed Peppers
91. 30 Cheap Summer Staycation Ideas	92. No Bake Lemon Ice Box Cake	93. Guacamole Salsa
94. Craft Caddy

(Linkup closed)