Birdcage Pillow Tutorial {Inkjet printing directly to fabric}

I wanted to make a small pillow for my bed...........And I found an image of a birdcage at The Graphics Fairy that I really liked....
            ...this one...

I printed it out on regular paper..........................I washed and ironed a piece of muslin cut to the size of the paper..........

I then cut a piece of freezer paper the size of the computer printer paper as well......

I ironed the waxy side of the freezer paper to the muslin and loaded it into the paper tray of the printer...... I took my image and colored the birds blue and the lady's clothes and I also stenciled some swirls onto the image......so image now looks like this..........

I scanned this 'new' image and printed it directly onto the muslin/freezer paper sheet that was loaded into my printer paper tray. You will need to use the mirror image feature on your printer for this process. Also make sure your muslin/freezer paper sheet is loaded upside down so it will print on the muslin and not on the freezer paper side....

Next, I printed the image......and removed the piece from the printer........

I then ironed the muslin to set the ink and peeled off the freezer paper backing.  You can now use your printed fabric for whatever you want.  I made mine into a pillow.......added trim, buttons, scalloped edge and green linen.  Here is how it turned out..............      

              

I like it and it looks cute on our bed or on our couch.......

So, what do you think? .......... thank you to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for the awesome images!

Have a wonderful day! 

    Annabell

Recycled Bedboard Shelf

 Well, we got a new tv and got rid of our old entertainment stand........

        ...... we had a bare spot above our television because our tv stand is smaller than our last one so.......... a picture ?   .......a shelf ?
    .......   I went to Home Depot and Lowe's and Walmart..... and I looked all over online for a shelf.....       I couldn't find one that I liked....    They just didn't have enough character. 

        So I started looking around the barn.... and garage....... and my husband's stack of old boards, even old pallets that he has out there........ 

                    And....... way under a stack of boards next to our old shed and under the snow, I saw it!!! .................

             It used to be part of our old waterbed. It was of course all wet and icky looking ...... yet I thought,     ........it had potential   ....character   .....possibly even charm...

       
     So,   I brought it in.... cut off the bad wood....washed 
it and let it dry.   I went back to Home Depot and bought 
some white brackets......and hung it.    I decorated it for Christmas.........................

And this is how it looks right now.....

 I really like it!!
                              blessings,   Annabell  :)

Here in Northern Michigan.........

Still in winter's icy grip!! 

      It is -20 degrees here today with wind gusts up to almost 30mph!! At least the sun is out and it is pretty.  I was on Pinterest for  a while this morning and the hot soups all looked so good. I think I will make one for dinner. 

Here is a picture outside my front door:

It is SSOOO icy cold out with that wind. I see another branch came down too.  I hope spring is on it's way. I think this has been the coldest winter I can ever remember.

Hope you all have a great day!  

                                            blessings,     Annabell         

Black Bean Salad

I make this about once a month and it is delicious!  So fresh and crunchy.  We use those scoop tortilla chips to eat it.  It is so fast and easy to make.  I keep black beans on hand in case we get company, I can make this in a hurry, I usually have the other things on hand.

BLACK BEAN SALAD~~~

2-3 cans black beans rinsed and drained (depending on how much you want to make)
1 vidalia (or other sweet) onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red or yellow or orange pepper, diced
2 ears fresh raw corn, cut from cob  OR 1 cup frozen small kernel yellow or white corn
2 fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped or pickled jalapeno, chopped
2-3 Tbsp. any salsa, jarred or canned or pico de gallo
Optional:  You can add any other beans, kidney, red, pinto, chopped olives, hot banana peppers, chopped celery, etc.  The fresher the vegetables, the fresher the salad will taste. You can add more of one thing (i.e. if you like more peppers, add more), these aren't exact measurements.

For the dressing:

Whisk together 4 Tbsp. canola oil,  2 Tbsp. lime juice (or lemon), 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black  pepper, 2 cloves garlic minced,  1/4 c. cilantro chopped fine.  Pour over salad and mix lightly. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.  Refrigerate for at least an hour.  Mix again just before serving.

                    Would you like a bite?  ?  ?  Or two ?  ?


           I am going to the family room to watch a movie......

         How about with a chip?  Mmmm. Delicious!  And healthy. And so fresh!!

        Now, we just need some iced tea to go with it.........   or lemonade...

          I could eat this entire bowl myself. ...  I really could...........haha...

                     But I will share it.... with my family....

         I hope you had a wonderful day!!            
                                                                             ~~Blessings to you,  Annabell  :)

Grand Opening......(door redo)

Hi everyone!  

How have you been?  Me?  I am on vacation from work and my daughter and I have been travelling all over our gorgeous state.  We have been to the Cherry Festival in Traverse City, fireworks everywhere, the lake, dining all over the place, shopping, visiting quilt shops and junk shops and have been having a wonderful time.  
Mr. Maple and our son, J. have been sailing the North Channel of Lake Huron , all over Manitoulin Island and Canada for two weeks.  They have been going since J. was 3 years old.  He's 22 now. They have been through 3 different sailboats, each one getting bigger over the years.  It's something they do together, so us girls stay on dry land.  We used to go as a family when the kids were all younger but our big sailboat became such a burden to keep, we downsized and just the guys go.

We have been working on a few things around the house too.  I have these horrible UUUGGLYYY brown doors everywhere.  I have been wanting to do something to them like get out the ax,   light a match
 trim them out and paint them and we finally did it.  Wanna see!!!!???   Look at this lovely....

  

  

And here is the BEFORE......  ( I still need to paint the trim this creamy white!)

 I also have a tray that I found awhile ago that was in bad shape so I painted it and added the number.
(I chose 9 because I have 9 grandkids, :)  )

I just think it looks SSOOoo  much better, don't you?  :)

And I had a wire wreath form that I got for 50c at a thrift store so I made a burlap wreath.

I put in some crocheted trim and a linen bow that i also had found on clearance.   :)

That's all for now.

                  Blessings to you  ~~Annabell

This is what I see out of my kitchen window..

My backyard view…

 Just thought I would show you a picture of our view from our back yard.

I love living in the country!!  It is so peaceful out here.  I have lived here for longer than in the city and I hope we never have to go back. There is so much room for the children to play when they come over. That fence used to keep our horses. We also had chickens. I loved having the animals here but we don't have enough time right now.  I would love to have them again one day. I can always go to my daughters farm to visit.  She has horses, chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, goats and mini pigs. Not to mention a few dogs.

Everywhere we look out here is beautiful !! 

                  ~~Annabell