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Chocolate Peanut Butter Nests

by Johnnie Collier

Today’s project is yummy and springy- adorable, brought to you by Debbie at Refresh Restyle…

Ingredients:

1 C Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Morsels

1 1/2 C Chow Mein Noodles

Jelly Bean Eggs

Double boiler

Muffin Tin

Non Stick Cooking Spray

In a double boiler melt the morsels.

Add chow mein noodles, mix until coated.

Spray a nonstick cooking spray in to the muffin tin.

Place about 2 T of mixture in muffin tin, one at a time. Shaping to the form of a nest.

This should make 6 nests (double recipe if needed).

Place in refrigerator until the coating hardens.

Remove and add jelly bean eggs.

Pretty and tasty perfect for spring!

I hope you will give them a try and visit me anytime at

Thanks for having me Johnnie!

{Guest Post} Dollar Tree Spring Decor Project

by Johnnie Collier

TODAY LAUNCHES A WEEK OF GUEST POSTS HERE AT SBLC!

I am so excited to introduce

to you Debbie from Debbiedoos’s. Check out her great projects, her Monday Newbie Party,

blogging tutorials and more. Today she is sharing a dollar store spring decor project.

Take it away Debbie!

Happy Spring! I know not officially here yet, but it is in my house.

Thought I would share a Spring craft, that I whipped up in a few minutes.

All from dollar tree items,and of course a can of spray paint.

I used my new favorite color Blue ocean breeze.

I spray painted my white canvas.

What you will need:

Easter grass

Spring Easter Foam cut outs {dollar tree}

Foam eggs {dollar tree}

Faux Spring flower {dollar tree}

First I glued my grass on the board, both with craft glue, and my handy dandy glue gun.

I added my foam eggs with a dab of hot glue.

Then I glued my foam chickie..

Topped it off with my fun faux orange flower..

How C A Y U T E!

{ I say that often don’t I?}

I am all about budget friendly cute crafts.

If you are looking for Candace Olson designs…oops sorry you made a wrong turn.

HOWEVER, if HGTV would like to give me my own show, and a pocket full of money…

I will give Candace a run!

My cutsie did not stop there. I filled the apothocary jar up with some grass, another faux flower and some foam eggs…

Tied the top with some dollar tree ribbon!

Say it again with me… C A Y U T E!

I also bought the pretty fun paper napkins for the bathroom at the dollar tree. They are not really for the bathroom, but hey why not?

For the record my painted Giani counter top is holding up great! You may see that project here, if you missed it.

Today I am guest posting over at Johnnie, from Saved by love creations.

I thank you Johnnie for this opportunity to share with your wonderful friends and readers.

SAVED BY LOVE FEATURED AT THE SITCOM

by Johnnie Collier

Head on over to Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom

for SBLC’s up close and personal interview.

Join the international creative hop while

you are there, and look around at

Suzy’s amazing creations.

TIP: Improve Your Photos With Photoshop Filter

by Johnnie Collier

While taking in your favorite projects from your fellow craft bloggers, do you sometimes feel like the photos you see are above and beyond what you are capable of with your current camera and lens? I have felt that way for awhile. With the massive amount of photos I see daily as pins, I decided it was time to take action. But what kind?

I am not a photographer. I know very little. I bought a DSLR when I got serious about blogging, and have never manually adjusted anything. For close ups, I turn the dial to the macro flower icon, for portraits, the face silhouette. That was all I needed for awhile. Now my blog is my baby, and I want to make it beautiful. The standard lens set that comes with my particular DSLR takes great shots, but I notice blur when I zoom in using Photoshop for a close ups of my jewelry and other projects. From my research, I deduced I needed to buy a macro lens… not cheap. I decided to stop in my local camera shop and ask someone more knowledgeable what they recommend. That is when I learned this about the Photoshop high pass filter.

Digital camera sensors and lenses blur the photo. They just do. The effect is negligible to many, but when you want that perfect shot with pristine detail to grab your reader’s eye, it is significant. You can easily resharpen using the high pass filter if you have Photoshop.

Here is an image I shot on my DLSR’s macro setting in my lightbox, before and after correcting the blur with the high pass filter.
Pretty big difference for a few simple editing steps. According to the camera guy, this fix can be more profound than a high end lens.

It is easy as pie. Just duplicate your background layer in Photoshop, then follow the steps below.

This works best if you shoot in RAW vs. shooting in jpg, as there is more information in the RAW file, so more detail to work with when sharpening. Most DSLRs have the option to shoot in RAW or jpg. Shooting RAW with take up more space on your card, and requires software capable of handling the file type (which Photoshop is). From what I have read, even if you don’t shoot RAW, you can still see improvement with this filter.
I am impressed with the difference and no longer feel the need to invest in a new lens. Yay! Thank you camera guy.

What are your favorite photo editing tricks?

If you want to learn more about this filter, and other sharpening methods, check out this informative guide to image sharpening at Cambridge in Colour.

Clipix; A New Way To Organize Your Search Findings

by Johnnie Collier

Clipix

Have you heard of Clipix yet? I recently discovered it, and I am impressed. It is a free service that allows the user to clip their favorite internet finds to clipboards for later reference. You can clip anything from your favorite hairstyles to Valentine’s Day ideas, and anything else you can conjure up. That way you don’t have to search again later, when you are ready to want to find what you love!

This site is very user friendly. I signed up using my facebook account with the click of a button. Then, I drug a “clip” button to my toolbar. You just click it while on the page you want to come back to later. It looks like this…

You can easily create boards of any topic, then grab clips and choose which board they should go in, like the picture above.

You can also place the Clip button after your blog posts so that users can easily clip your content. Here is what mine looks like…

I like the feature of being able to keep your clipboards private, share with friends, or with everyone. I am also looking forward to trying out the iPhone app. You can even group clipboards together in multiboards for better organization. So far, I have a Valentine’s Day board (shown at beginning of post) and a printables board, but this multiboard feature will be handy as I continue to clip. I often feature top 50 lists on my blog, so to have a “Craft” multiboard with clipboards on the various top 50 topics will come in handy.

Yet another feature I haven’t gotten to take advantage of yet is Syncboards, which can have multiple contributors. What a great way to keep up with your friends and colleagues in real time.

This is going to be another addiction, I can tell already. Insomnia, I have a feeling we will be getting together soon.

Watch the YouTube informational video , and join me on clipix!

Promoted Post

Glue Free, Drill Free Way to Hang Pendants

by Johnnie Collier

Making a wire wrap bail is a decorative, inexpensive way to attach pendants that eliminates the need for messy glue-on bails and hole drilling. The look is intricate and ornate, and can be achieved quite simply with a few basic jewelry supplies. This is a perfect way to bail glass tile and domino pendants.

TUTORIAL

The wire isn’t shaped to the edges very well in the above demonstration. Make sure to keep it snug against the piece, like it is holding the pendant together.

Use pliers to tuck in the cut ends. Sometimes I file them when they aren’t flush.

It is as simple as that. Now add a jumpring and your pendant is ready to hang, with fancy pants wire work to boot…

Here is what it looks like on the back…

Here, I used the wire wrap method on pre-drilled dominoes with horizontal holes. It is the same process, but you take the wire to the back through the hole so the wire only frames the top and runs horizontally through the middle.

Some 1 inch glass tiles wrapped…

Now you are ready to practice your mad wire wrapping skills. If you try this, share pictures. I love seeing what you have done!

Making Jewelry With Rub-on Transfers

by Johnnie Collier

It was a jewelry making weekend for this crafter, glass tile pendants and altered dominoes stealing the show. Normally, I design images for my pendants and just adhere them as they are. That all changed when I thought to incorporate the rub on transfers I picked up at Hobby Lobby recently. I have used these things before, but in papercrafting, never jewelry. The inspiration hit me because these particular images packs (by Prima) are irresistibly gorgeous , and just the right size for pendants.

Adding them to my pendant images was super easy. Since the sheet they come on is transparent, I was able to move scroll over my printed pendant images to see what the transfer would look like before committing. Once I decided what transfer I wanted where, I just cut it out and burnished it on as instructed. I love the effect it gave my pieces. Super easy, and 1.99 (originally 3.99) a pack at Hobby Lobby right now.

This piece is a domino pendant that I did in layers, with the rub-on green butterfly as the top layer just under the resin. I started by painting the domino with a coat of gesso. Once dried, I mixed acrylic paints to get the soft blue/green background color and painted it on using a soft brush. When that layer dried, I stamped with clear embossing ink using an handwriting script stamp. I embossed the script using white embossing powder, rubbed on the butterfly transfer and coated with resin to finish.

I think the layer effect pops more with these rub-on transfers then when I layer in photoshop, and I get images I wouldn’t have come up with on my own digitally.

Here is another domino I did with vibrant pink leaves and a bird in a cage rub-on transfers.

This bezel pendant uses the same background image (fearless) with a flower and butterfly transfer.

Here is a side by side comparison: a pendant with the image I designed, printed and adhered, and another pendant with the same printed image, embellished with a red butterfly transfer. I love how it refreshes my designs and how fun it is to layer with these. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for jewelry sized rub-ons!

Walgreens Helps Ease Burden on Patients After Failed Negotiations With Express Scripts

by Johnnie Collier

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Over the past year, Walgreens has tried to negotiate with Express Scripts to remain part of its pharmacy provider network, without success. To view the press release, click Walgreens and Express Scripts. This means that as of Jan. 1, 2012, Express Scripts (ES) members who have used Walgreens for their prescription needs will have to switch to another pharmacy to get their in network benefits. Patients will see no benefit from the exclusion of Walgreens, only the hassle of finding a new pharmacy that likely has a less convenient location and hours. Patients are understandably left confused and frustrated.

In response to this, Walgreens is offering a special discount on annual membership for its Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens. For just $10 a year, a family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets. Individuals may join for $5. Joining gives you savings on over 8,000 brand name and generic scripts, discounted flu shots and medical supplies (including nebulizers and diabetic supplies), and more. Bonuses for purchasing Walgreens brand products and photo services are another benefit of the prescription savings club.

Walgreens tried everything they could to prevent disruption in pharmacy services for patients with ES, but were unable to negotiate a way to remain a on the Express Scripts pharmacy network provider list. Now they have stepped up to offer substantial savings to those affected by this situation. I plan to show my support for Walgreens and stay updated on this by following Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook . I hope you do the same!

50+ Paper Inspirations From Around the Web

by Johnnie Collier

We have crawled the internet to bring you our favorite paper crafts out there. There are five categories of inspiration; Jewelry, Flowers, Hearts, Lights and More Decor. Some are DIYs with tutorials, others aren’t. All are there to inspire you to bust into your paper stash and start creating!

PAPER JEWELRY

PAPER FLOWERS

PAPER HEARTS

PAPER ILLUMINATED

MORE PAPER DECOR

Defense Against Holiday Weight Gain

by Johnnie Collier

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Slim-Fast for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Slim-Fast Chocolate Shake

Slim-Fast has launched an all new delicious shake line, served up in easy grab and go bottles. They sent me the milk chocolate flavor to try out, and I am hooked. I just threw the bottle in my gym bag and drank the shake after my run. I love love love the taste! I expected it not to be very flavorful, but it was like rich chocolate milk. It was also surprisingly satiating. I had some carrots and almonds a couple of hours after the shake and then a regular dinner, never feeling hungry. I could do this long term, no problem. Now I can’t wait to finish my workout so I can get to my chocolate shake!

The milk chocolate was so good and I am excited to try the French Vanilla and Strawberries N Cream. They also have Cappuccino Delight and Rich Chocolate Royale. As part of the 3-2-1 plan, these shakes can help protect against unwanted holiday weight gain. The plan includes 3 snacks (such as Slim-Fast 100-calorie snack bars, fruit, nuts or veggies), 2 Slim-Fast Shakes or Meal Bars per day and 1 balanced meal per day. This actually sounds do-able to me. Less like a diet, and more like a lifestyle that happens to include 2 yummy shakes per day. I know having a meal plan during this time of year is a sure fire way to avoid the overindulgence that goes along with the season’s festivities.

Stock up on your Slim-Fast meal bars, shakes and 100 calorie snacks at your local grocery in the pharmacy section, at Amazon.com and on the Slim-Fast Facebook Store. Don’t forget to like Slim-Fast on Facebook!