The weather has been quite sticky recently, which made us think of stickers! (Why wouldn’t it?) This week, we share some creative uses for stickers as well as our garden update, which includes a chicken recipe using patio-grown produce. And what have the bears have been up to this week?
STICKER USES
We really enjoy doing creative projects and have found that among the most useful materials for these crafts are stickers. They are versatile, easy to use and fun! Don’t forget the kids – they love stickers!!! Here are a few of the ways we use stickers.
Personalized Cards:
Use stickers to make ordinary cards special. In the example above, we made a card for Jo, who loves flowers and butterflies. We took a nice boxed birthday card (left) and added her name, butterflies and flower stickers to make it suit her style. For children, you can add their ages; for anniversary or wedding cards, add their names, dates, years married and more. Think outside the box(ed) card!
Frames: You can use stickers to personalize a frame for a gift or to create decorative pieces for your home. Here are 2 examples of items we featured on previous blog posts.
The personalized frame (left) which we made for a friend’s granddaughter was featured in the post, “June is Bustin’ Out”, which we published on 06/13/15.
Our framed art with heart stickers was in the “Love is in the Air” St. Valentine’s Day post, (02/08/15).
Banners: We have featured several handcrafted banners on this blog and for a two of them, we used stickers. They are a great way to create a professional-looking banner with crisp lettering, while expressing your own creativity.
Here are the banners we made using letter stickers:
This banner is from the Academy Awards post, “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!” (02/21/15).
We shared this one in our post, “Happy New Year” (12/31/14).
Go to “search” at the top right of this page to find these blogs.
Gifts: If a gift is too big to wrap (or you are low on gift wrap), one fun solution is to put stickers on the box. Here is a hostess gift we gave at a cookout last week. Rather than use a whole roll of wrapping paper, we emblazoned the box with a festive summer message and some inexpensive curling ribbon. Great for a casual gift presentation!
Money saving tip! We like to use quality stickers, but they can be a bit pricey. Before you head to the craft stores, always check their websites for coupons. You can get stickers almost anywhere – check discount stores for inexpensive supplies.
Sticker Box
More often than not, the sticker packages contain more stickers than you will need for your project, leaving leftovers. It’s helpful to keep your collection in one location. Why not create a place for them? That way, they will be easily at hand when inspiration strikes. We re-purposed an old cologne box to hold our stickers, but any good-sized container will do. This way, they are always ready to use!
GARDEN UPDATE
The garden is doing great, and continues to provide enjoyment and nourishment. This week, our miniature marigolds have gotten taller, and peppers and tomatoes are in abundance. We were even able to give a few veggies to the hosts at the same cookout mentioned earlier. Tomatoes and peppers from our garden are included in the tasty chicken dish featured below. Oh, and in our ongoing veggie art series, here is this week’s masterpiece.
Chicken, Peppers and Rice
We came up with this quick and easy recipe this week!
You will need: 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 x 1.5 inch pieces; 1 medium onion chopped; 1 cup sliced mushrooms; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 2 tablespoon olive oil; 1 cup chicken broth; 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes; 5 shishito peppers (or 1 green bell pepper) chopped; red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.
How to prepare: Saute onion and mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until tender and set aside. Toss chicken breast pieces with chili powder and brown in remaining olive oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan with chicken, adding broth, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 15 minutes and serve over cooked brown rice.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Be like a postage stamp. Stick(er) to one thing until you get there.” – Josh Billings (source:Thinkexist.com)
THE BEARS
Oh, my! Looks like the bears got into the stickers again!
(Great job with your signs, fellas!)
Enjoy!
Roy & Kevin
Funclesarts 