Wednesdays with Wanda

My mom was the first food editor for Home Life Magazine from 1993-96.

Every month, she would submit an article for the magazine. One of her favorite recipes that she submitted was “Easter Story Cookies”.

If you “google” Easter Story Cookies”, there will be several links to other websites that mention Mom’s article as their source for this recipe.

Some people refer to these as Resurrection Cookies. They are a great activity to do with small children to help them understand and remember the true meaning of Easter.

You will need:

Your family Bible
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole pecans
1 zip-lock baggie

1 wooden spoon
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
tape

Preheat oven to 300° F.

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they put a royal purple robe on him. "Hail! King of the Jews!" they mocked, and they hit him with their fists.

John 19:1-3

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross He was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.

Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know we belong to Him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him

Psalm 34:8

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah1:18 and John 3:1-3.

“Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 27:65-66

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20-22.

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

John 16:20-22

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

Matthew 28:1-9

What a fun and delicious way to celebrate the Easter Story!

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As a child, I loved Easter. The night before Easter, Mom would tell us to sit our empty Easter baskets outside on the front porch. While we were sleeping, the Easter bunny would “hop” down our street and fill up our baskets. Imagine our delight when we opened the door on Easter morning to see a basket full of goodies! I treasure those memories.

When I got married and our first son was old enough to enjoy this tradition, I was so excited to tell Jonathan to sit his Easter basket outside! However, my husband looked so confused?! He had no idea why I was putting Jonathan’s Easter basket outside. To my surprise, not every family puts their baskets outside the night before Easter. That was news to me! :0)

But now my husband just smiles when my boys put the Easter baskets outside before bedtime. He knows that it is a childhood memory that they will treasure too.

I also remember going to church on Easter Sunday. Mom always got us new Easter outfits, and sometimes she even got one for herself as well. :) Mom, my sister, and I also would wear Easter lily corsages. I loved wearing those corsages.

I could smell the scents of those fragrant blooms right below my nose all morning long. And as I sang hymns of praise during the worship services, my heart was overflowing with gratitude! My favorite song to sing was, “Up from the grave He arose…”

Oh, the celebration of Easter Morning!

The newness of life that we see all around us through the green grass, colorful flowers, and warm sunshine, are a beautiful reminder of the new life we have in Christ because of Easter morn.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Have a blessed Easter!

Traci

pictures from: www.mommysideabook.com, rhid-baked.blogpot.com, recipezaar.com

Best DIY Projects of March Party!

Welcome to my very first linky party!!!

I am so glad you are here. :) (My sister was afraid no one would show up!)

I’ve been wanting to have a party with you for a while, but didn’t have an idea for one that I liked.

I am too lazy to do a party every week, but once a month…I’m all over that!

And I wanted my party to showcase the BEST DIY Projects out there in blog land! So at the end of every month, let’s get together and show off our favorite projects.

You might have only finished one project during the month of March. If so, share it. Or you might be someone like Sarah, at Thrifty Decor Chick and have completed a gazillion projects during March. If so, you can pick your favorite or the one that your readers liked best. But we all can only share one. :)

And if March was not a good month for you and you have nothing to share, that’s okay too. You can still come to the party and visit other blogger’s great projects. Maybe you will have a great project to share at April’s party.

My best project of March was my brown burlap bed skirt I made for my master bedroom makeover. I will be linking it up to my party in case you missed it.

I like to talk a lot. Don’t you? And it sure is no fun to talk if no one is listening, don’t you agree?

So I want to encourage all of us who link up to “pinky promise” to visit 3 to 5 other blogs and leave encouraging comments. I have been guilty of linking up to parties and not visiting any other blogs at the party. That’s so not cool, I know. So lately, I haven’t been linking up to as many parties unless I have time to visit other blogs and leave comments.

The best thing about blog land is meeting other fabulous bloggers! And I have learned, the more people I visit…the more they visit me! So go out there and leave some comments, okay?! :)

I am using a new linky system. Your link will show a picture of your project. How cool is that?!

Click on the blue button that says, “Enter a link.”

You will want to enter the permalink to your post in the box that says “URL”. (Be sure it is the link to your specific post, not your blog address or I will have to delete it, and I don’t want to do that.)

Where it says, “Name”, enter the name of your project. You can add your blog name if you want, but you don’t have to.

Fill in your email address, click enter, and then it will take you to a screen that shows you all the pictures in your post. Select the picture you want to appear in your link, and you are finished!

I can’t wait to see all of your great projects! I will get around to as many of your blogs as I can. :)

Please be sure to go back and edit your post and add a link to my party, I would definitely appreciate it.

Armoire Re-do

First of all, I want to remind you of my very first linky party….

(Click on the button to see my original post about my party.)

I am sooooo excited. I hope you can come. :)

I can’t wait to see the “best” DIY projects in blogland during the month of March. All you have to do is pick your best DIY project related to home decor or home improvement and link it to my party.

Then after you link up your post to my party, be sure to visit 3 to 5 other blogs and check out their best DIY projects. (And don’t forget to leave an encouraging comment.) :) Let’s spread the love!

I will be using a new linky system called “inlinkz”. You will be able to pick a picture of your project from your post and add it to your link. It will look something like this….(I just added a bunch of links from my blog to give you an example.)

I think it is so much fun to see a “snapshot” of each link! :)

Please pray that it will work out. I am hoping to have the link up and running by Monday night at 9:00 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

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Now to my latest project!

I have been working fast and furiously on my master bedroom re-do. I have gotten a lot done but still have more to do.

I wanted to share with you the entertainment armoire that I found for our bedroom.

As I told you before, I wanted to be able to hide the tv in our bedroom. To do this, I decided to try and find an entertainment armoire to re-do.

I searched at some antique malls and on Craig’s list, but had no luck. The ones on Craig’s list were all $200 to $300, and I didn’t want to pay that much. (Remember, I am doing my master bedroom re-do on a $700.00 budget.)

One day I ran into a Habitat store and saw this armoire…

I walked over to check the price and expected it to be way more than what I would have wanted to pay.

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was only $40.00!!! I was so excited!

To be honest, it wasn’t exactly the style I was looking for, but for 40 bucks, I could learn to love it!

When I opened the doors, I quickly realized why it was only 40 dollars…

The back was gone!!

But that didn’t bother me or Eli one bit! That was an easy fix! (My 8 year old help me take these pictures.) :)

I called my honey and said, “Honey, I found an armoire for 40 bucks!”

He said, “Great!”

I said, “The back is gone.”

He said, “Oh.”

“Can you put a back on it for me?”

“Yup.”

So I paid my forty dollars and took that baby home! :)

Here it is from behind…

My hubby applied wood glue to the edges…

And then used his staple gun to nail the new back on…

( 4 x 8 sheet of birch plywood - $18.00 at Lowe’s)

I also need some more storage space inside the armoire for baskets, so my hubby built some extra shelving. He used a 4 x 8 sheet of MDF board for the shelves since we were going to paint them. It cost approximately $ 15.00 at Lowe’s, but we only used a little of it. My husband used the leftover wood to make a work table for his garage.

Here are the products I used…

First I applied a liquid deglosser over the entire piece to prepare the surface for painting.

Then I primed the fronts of the armoire with KILZ. Technically, I should have primed the entire armoire for the paint to adhere properly. However, I knew that I wanted to sand down the edges of the armoire after I painted it. If I had primed the edges, the white primer would have shown through, and I didn’t want that.

So I didn’t prime any of the parts that I was planning on sanding. Again, this is my way, not necessarily the right way. :)

I did prime the insides of the armoire because I knew I would be painting them black.

I used my favorite Valspar paint in black satin to paint it.

Then I used a medium grit sanding sponge to sand the edges like this…

I love the way the cherry wood shows through.

Here it is in my room…

(I am sorry these pictures are not the best, but I think I had my camera on the wrong setting. Now it is nighttime and too late to take any good pictures.)

I love the way it turned out!

I just threw some things on top to take these pictures. :)

And I haven’t bought any handles yet. I am still trying to decide what type I want.

Here is the inside of the armoire…

I got the baskets at Gordman’s. They were 10 dollars a piece. We are using them to store socks and such.

I love the way the doors slide back into the armoire. And the tv is up good and high so we can see it perfectly from our bed! :)

We are using the bottom of the armoire to hold some of my husband’s clothing.

Here are the total costs:

Armoire - $40

Wood for back and shelves – approx. $25.00

Paint - $9.00

Baskets - $20.00

So the whole project cost me less than $100.00! Not bad.

I found this armoire at an antique mall a few weeks ago and almost bought it…

They were asking $375.00 for it. I think my armoire turned out just as nice, and I saved $275.00 by being a little creative!

So I used the money I saved to buy a little “bling” for my room!

Here’s a sneak peak...

Ooh-la-la…I love it!

Stay tuned for more of my master bedroom makeover!

I am linking this project up to…

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Traci

Great Gift Ideas!

I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year I am always looking for great gift ideas. 

Wedding gifts…

Graduation gifts…

Teacher gifts…

and of course there are always birthday gifts!

So I wanted to show you some wonderful gift ideas from my awesome sponsors.

First off is Just Simply Southern.

Kristi is the creator of these beautiful frames.  She makes each one by hand, and she even does custom orders!

There is a little magnetic button which can hold your favorite picture.  This makes it super easy to change out your pictures.

You  might be able to guess why I like this one….

:)

And I can never have enough of black and white!…

I’ve been trying to add a little blue to my decor lately, and I think this picture holder is beautiful!…

She has many more styles at her Etsy store which you need to check out.  And remember, she can do custom orders!  :)

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Another great gift idea is a beautiful piece of jewelry from Queen Bee Designs.

This is a gift that you know they will love. 

This is one of my favorite pieces.  The little bird is just too cute, and the message is priceless!…

Mother’s Day is coming up soon, and I can’t think of a mom who wouldn’t appreciate this gift…

And don’t forget Grandma!  How precious are these flowers?!…

Amanda also has gift certificates available!  Everyone loves gift certificates!  (Hint to my hubby if he is reading this.)  :)

Be sure to stop by Amanda’s blog and check out all of her beautiful designs.  Just click HERE.

As a side note…

I can’t wait to show you my new armoire for my master bedroom re-do on Monday!!

Here’s a sneak peek..

And don’t forget about my party!!!  I sure do hope you come!

Click on the button for details…

 

Have a blessed weekend!

Traci

The 5 Giveaway Winners are…

Ladies,

Thank you so much for participating in my fun giveaway!

I want to thank My Design Guide for sponsoring it.  It was fun to read about what the “Style Finder” said about each of you.  For the most part, I think they got it right!  :)

I made sure I counted every single one of your entries, and I used a Random Number Generator to get my winners.  There were 277 entries!

Now for the winners of the $50.00 gift certificates to My Design Guide….

Heather  (Heather’s Hodge Podge)

 Frugal Home Designs

Sylvia (Five on French Hill)

Kristin @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Suki

Congratulations to all the winners!  I will be contacting you this weekend.

Just wanted to remind you about my party I am having next week!

I hope you can come.  Click on the button for details…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings,

Traci

Wednesday with Wanda

I have shared with you before how Mom always liked to write in her Bibles.

Sometimes she wrote her own thoughts, sometimes notes from a sermon, and sometimes sayings or poems that she liked.

Nevertheless, I am so glad she did.

I have two of Mom’s bibles that I treasure. One is older, and I keep it at home to use during my quiet time. Dad gave Mom this Bible on her birthday in 1993. As you can tell, the cover is tattered and torn.

Inside the cover of her bible is written,

“If my Bible is torn apart…my life is not.”

The other Bible I have is not quite as old. It was also given to her by Dad for her birthday in 2003. Dad knew how much Mom loved God’s word! I take it to church with me each Sunday. She has written throughout that Bible as well. I love to be reading a scripture in Sunday School or the worship service and see Mom’s handwritten notes explaining the verses. I can almost hear her voice reading them to me.

Mom knew the importance of reading and studying God’s word. And I have no doubt that it was the years that she spent in His word that gave her the peace she so obviously displayed the last days of her life.

I found some of Mom’s writings in her Bible that I wanted to share with you.

She had written all the way down the side of the page, and I think it may be notes from a sermon. The notes are about this verse:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Psalms 1:2,3

Here are her notes:

The moments that sustain us are those moments invested in true devotion and fellowship with the Lord. Meditation on His word is the passport to wisdom, innumerable blessings, and unspeakable peace. Yet at its foundation, it is a practical exercise:

Setting aside time- It doesn’t matter the time of day. More important is your frame of mind.

Stillness- Being still before God means turning off the tv, radio, and phone. (And I will add, computer.) Pray for God to quiet your Spirit.

Silence- Meditation involves active listening. As you pray and read God’s Word, listen for His still, small voice.

Seclusion- It is important that you meditate alone, developing a personal relationship with your Father.

Meditation quiets your Spirit, purifies your heart, produces a hunger for God and His Word, and increases your view of God.

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I cannot tell you how much Mom still inspires me! As I read the words she has written down in her bible, I am reminded again of where my priorities should be.

And I will be honest with you, I struggle with this. I confess that I struggle to find time in the day to spend in God’s word, and yet I never miss spending time on my blog. I always have time for that!

But no matter how much I love this blog and all the ways God has blessed me through it, my blog will never give me the peace that I saw in my mom’s life as she faced death. She had a peace that passed all understanding. A peace that could have only come from a life grounded in God’s word.

I want my boys to have more memories of their Mom with her Bible in her lap, than her computer. I’m not doing very good at this right now. Please pray that I will do better.

Thank you, Mom, for showing me the importance of reading God’s word. And for showing me throughout your illness the strength that can only be found in Him.

From beneath my heart,

Traci

Fun, New Giveaways! ($250 total value)

I have a new sponsor that has a great giveaway for you!!!

Actually 5 of you!!!

You heard me right.  My new sponsor, is giving away FIVE $50 gift certificates to their online design site, My Design Guide.

Here is what Champe Granger, one of the owners, wrote to me in an email…

“Our company provides affordable custom interior design services (by real, accredited designers) with prices from $29 to $339.

Our philosophy is that you don't have to buy everything from scratch, but we give you a complete 3D design, product selection, and shopping list for creating a beautiful new room.  We can even incorporate your existing furnishings.

Please visit our Design Gallery to see our work.”

I DID visit their Design Gallery and enjoyed looking at their work.  They offer a lot of great solutions to everyday decorating dilemmas.

I even tried out their “Style Finder”…

I filled out a quick questionnaire by clicking on the decorating photos that I liked, and it told me what my design style was.  The Style Finder said I was…  Coastal, Country, Romantic, and Rustic.  (Sounds like “cottage-style” to me!)  :)

Now I have a “Home Registry” page where I can store all of my information about my home.  I can save paint colors, room sizes, and print shopping lists.

I can also create a “Quick Fix” room.  I can send 3 pictures of a decorating dilemma in my home and they will solve it for FREE.

Love that!

Here’s the good news…

My Design Guide is giving away FIVE $50.00 gift certificates to use toward their online shop.

There are several options in their shop that are $50.00 or less, or you can use your $50.00 toward an upgrade.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

1)  Leave a comment telling me which room needs a “Quick Design Fix” in your home and receive one entry.

2)  For fun, visit My Design Guide, and fill out the Style Finder questionnaire to find out what your design style is!  Come back and tell me what it is and receive 5 more entries!!! 

3)  Tell about this giveaway on your blog through a post or in your sidebar, and receive 5 more entries!  Be sure to tell me in a separate comment.

This giveaway will run through Thursday, March 25th at midnight (e.s.t.).

I will announce the winners on Friday, the 26th!

Goodluck!

Traci

Winner of Giveaway!!!

 I am finally ready to announce the winner of the $50 gift certificate to Leen the Graphics Queen online store!

There were 158 comments left on the giveaway post, which added up to 348 entries.

Thank you for checking out Leen’s online store, posting about it on your blogs, and even doing some “tweeting”.

I used a random number generator to get the winner, and the number it gave me was….

#49!

Congratulations to Crafty in Paradise!!!

I will be contacting you about your prize!

Thanks to everyone who participated.  You guys rock!

Stay tuned for another fabulous giveaway tomorrow…

Blessings,

Traci

 

Velcro Burlap Bed skirt

I am continuing to work on my master bedroom makeover.

I found an entertainment armoire to hide our tv in for $40.oo! It needs a little work and a fresh coat of paint, but I think it will look great when I am finished. :)

A little progress has been made on my bedding. This part can be stressful. I am trying to come up with the colors that I want in my bedroom. I was leaning toward my favorite colors…tan, black, white, and red. But lately, I’ve been wanting to add a little bit of light blue instead of red to my palette.

I went to some fabric stores and found a fabric that I loved. It had some blues and browns in it, and I might make some pillows with it. Not sure.

But I did decide what material to use for my bed skirt.

Brown burlap.

Ya’ll know that I love burlap. And when I was looking at my inspiration fabric, I could picture it with a brown bed skirt. I remembered that Hobby Lobby had some brown burlap on sale for $1.99 a yard. How can you beat that?

I bought four yards of it and brought it home. I tucked it under my mattress to get an idea of what it would look like and I loved it!

So here is what I did to make it.

The burlap comes in a 45 inch width, so I unfolded the material and cut it in half. I will be able to make skirts for two sides of my bed with this.

Using one half of the material, I decided to make my hem on the outer un-cut edge by first ironing the edge over about a half inch.

Then I folded it over again about an inch and pressed it again

Next I sewed a straight stitch down the hem.

Now I have to explain this great idea I had for making a bed skirt.

I wanted to make a skirt that I could just velcro onto my box springs. I have made bed skirts before that are like the kind you buy in the store. The ones that have the material all the way across the box springs that the skirt is attached to.

It was always really hard for me to get the bed skirt to fit “just right”. One side was usually too long, and I would have to use safety pins to keep the skirt in place. Even bed skirts you purchase in stores can drive you nuts. They are always moving around when you put your fitted sheet on, or they will end up sliding over and drooping on one side. I can’t stand that.

So to keep my bed skirt in place, I decided to velcro it to my box springs. I didn’t come up with this idea on my own. My mom was a professional seamstress, and she had told me about this idea. She hadn’t tried it herself, but she said she had seen other professionals do it.

I have always wanted to try it, and my bedroom makeover was the perfect place.

So I bought some industrial strength velcro from Walmart for twenty dollars. I didn’t like paying that much, but it was a lot cheaper than the velcro I almost bought at JoAnn’s Fabrics. It would have been over 40 dollars there!

I got it because it was two inches wide, and I thought that it would make the bed skirt more durable. (You may be able to find it somewhere else for less.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t notice that it had a “sticky” back to it. (I know…it says it right on the box! Duh.) The stickiness actually became a huge pain when I was sewing the material to it.

Now you might think I am crazy, but I hot glued the velcro to my box springs. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. :)

The velcro strip looked something like this when I was done. (I have pushed my mattress back to take this picture.)

The edge of the velcro was 17 inches from the ground so I decided to make the skirt 18 inches long.

The next steps are not easy to describe in a post, but I will try.

The total length of my material from top to bottom was about 22 inches long (after I had already hemmed the bottom). I wanted the skirt to be a finished length of 20 inches…18 inches for the part of the skirt you would see, and 2 inches to sew onto the velcro strip and tuck under the mattress.

I also created a one inch hem on each side of the skirt.

The next part made me almost lose my sanity!!!

I was going to show you an easy way to pin the material to the velcro strip, but there was no EASY to it! The material kept sticking to the strip when I didn’t want it to. (I’m not going to go into detail of how I literally wrestled that strip of sticky velcro…it’s just too painful to re-live.)

I finally decided to use the “stinky” to my advantage.

I just folded the material over every couple of inches and pressed it to the “sticky”.

It still wasn’t holding together very well, so I ran to my sewing machine and began sewing.

I sewed a straight stitch on the top and bottom of the two inch velcro strip and attached it to the box springs.

Though I wasn’t sure it was all going to come together…

it turned out exactly as I had hoped.

(I still need to iron it in a few spots.)

I ADORE the look of burlap.

I only have pictures of the left side of my bed because I haven’t done the other sides yet. :)

I used a little less than four yards for this side of the bed. I had to cut off about 6 inches of one end because there was a bad place in the burlap. Sometimes that happens.

The other half of this material will be used for the skirt at the end of the bed. I will need to get 4 more yards to do the right side of the bed and will have material left over for pillows if I need it. ;) I will have 8 total yards in the whole bed skirt which will cost me $16.00. So the whole skirt ended up costing me $36.00. I think that’s pretty good! (I already had the other supplies like thread and glue sticks.)

I am hoping to finish the skirt tomorrow, and start painting the armoire.

If you have any questions about my bed skirt, please feel free to ask. It’s usually best to email me at

beneathmyheart4(at)gmail(dot)com

And don’t forget about my first linky party! You ALL are invited!

You can read about the details by clicking on the button.

If you would like to help me spread the word about my party, you can add my button to your sidebar or in a post. (You’ll be my BFF in you do!) :)

<center><a href="http://www.beneathmyheart.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx30/TraciH/marchbuttonfinal.jpg" /></a></center>

I am linking this post to a few parties this week:

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Show and Share at Just a Girl

Blessings!

Traci

I will be announcing the winner of the $50 dollar gift certificate to Leen the Graphic Queen Monday afternoon!