Lack of blogging

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. Sickness has taken over our homes in one form or another. Hope to be back this week!!!

The Junk Mammas

Easy and yummy snack

My mom made Pumpkin Pie Crunch for my son's birthday party this past weekend. It was delicious, I ate it for breakfast the next morning. If I wasn't home with a sick child I'd be running to the store the for the ingredients today. Give it a try I am sure you will love it.


Pumpkin Pie Crunch

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Cinnamon Chex cereal
2 cups Wheat Chex cereal
2 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal
8 oz pecans


Preparation Steps:
In small bowl, mix brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice; set aside. In small microwave-safe dish, microwave butter on High about 30 seconds or until melted. Stir in vanilla. In large microwavable bowl, mix all cereals and pecans. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly distributed. Add sugar and spice mixture and stir until coated.
Microwave uncovered on High 5 minutes or until mixture begins to brown, stirring every minute. Spread on wax paper or a cookie sheet to cool. Store in airtight container.

We are adding this to Kimba's DIY party, head over there for some other yummy recipes and projects.

The Junk Mammas

W.S. Halloween

William Sonoma Halloween.... check it out! They have the most wonderful stuff. I love the wreath with the vintage Halloween images, such a simple idea that is so cute.

The Junk Mammas

They say it's your birthday!

Help me to wish Junk Mamma Jenny a Happy Birthday.

Cranberry Fest

September is fading away fast. We knew it would. But it is also the month of festivals in our area. Applefest, Cranberry Festival, Oktoberfest and so on.

Our annual excursion to CranFest was a little different this year. It has a flea market, farmer's market, and craft booths for miles. It was fun, but just not the same good "junk". You just never know unless you attend, but the food is always good. Like frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate on a stick.

We of course did manage to find a few treasures along the way. And I even remembered to take a few picture this time.

These crates were very reasonably priced too, but they didn't go home with us.

I am not sure what this guy's story was but his car was quite the interesting.


Look, it's a lantern tree.




We both purchased junk girl charms, which we hunted down after seeing some woman wearing a similar one, and managed to find a few other treasures.

The Junk Mammas

4th Annual Barnyard Sale

We headed out this morning to an annual barnyard sale. We had heard about it in the past, but this was the 1st time we have been able to go. There was a lot of stuff, and really great stuff at good prices.

They had vintage items, antiques, shabby chic, GOOD JUNK, pumpkins.... The list goes on and on.

Next year, we would love to be a vendor here.

If you happen to be in our neck of the woods, the sale still has 2 more weekends left. Saturday September 26th and October 3rd open from 9-5. Follow the signs from Coon Valley, they are located on Oakdale Road in Cashton, WI.

The Junk Mammas

DIY coffee table makeover

I bought this table for $20.00 at a yard sale. It wasn't really what I was looking for, but I thought it might be cute painted. I sanded it down very lightly just to ruff it up, since it was in pretty good shape.

Next, I used a spray primer to give it a more even surface color, because the wood was so dark and it had the detail on top. Lastly, I applied cream spray paint, wiped on some brown glaze to age it a bit, and topped it off with 2 coats of polyurethane.

For $20.00 I have a new addition to my living room. Stop over to Kimba's @ Soft Place to Land for some other great DIY projects or link up to the party and show off your own.

The Junk Mammas

Blog Land parties

We often join parties to show off the stuff we have been working on, but also to get some great new ideas for our homes, new recipes, or anything else that might be out there. One of our favorite parties to be part of a is DIY @ A Soft Place to Land each week.


We have joined several times, but last week Kimba choose our post as one of her favorites. We were so excited we wanted to shout out a BIG THANK YOU to Kimba for hosting this fabulous party every week and for including us among many others as your favorite for the week.


If you haven't been there check out Kimba's DIY every Thursday, link up or just enjoy the loads of ideas.


The Junk Mammas

Custom drapes on a budget

We are linking up with Wendy from the Shabby Nest for a Frugal Friday party.

I wanted a custom curtain treatment, but without the custom price. I found some plain tab top curtains @ Target that were the perfect color, but I didn't like the tab top look and they weren't long enough. So I decided to customize them and sent them out to my seamstress. She cut off the tabs and added some fabric and trim on the top. She work really cheap because she my Mom. I really need to learn to sew.

Now with the tabs gone, I used black clip rings to hang my new custom curtains. I dressed each window for around $30.00 total.

The Junk Mammas

Scrabble anyone-Take two

We posted this idea earlier this year, but thought we'd share again for Kimba's DIY party.

Our house has no mud room or coat closet near the back door, one of the pitfuls of an older home. But I do have a back porch that I use kinda like a mud room in the warmer months. If you leave your gear out there this time of year it would be frozen. So I had to have a place for the kids to leave there jackets and backpacks inside. I'd love not to have to look at jackets every time I am in the kitchen but you have to make due with what you have sometimes.

I added some hooks to this little wall, but wanted to add the kids names somehow. One day I thought of my scrabble game that was hidden in the basement under my craft stuff. I pondered a good while how to hang them up then it came to me, poster putty. I just stuck a little on the back of each letter and put them on the molding. Now my kids know where there jackets belong. Do they get hung there, about 90% of the time.

The Junk Mammas

Vintage plastic letters

We recently came into a whole collection of vintage plastic letter and numbers. These are so much fun and the possibilities are endless with these. We are offering a few words for sale in our Etsy shop, but have plenty for custom orders as well.

They are made of a thicker plastic, so that makes them perfect for outside or inside use.




Check out these and the other fun stuff we have been adding to our Etsy shop.



The Junk Mammas

DIY Thursday

I was pregnant with my first baby and found inspiration for her room in a magazine. That was six year ago, and I still have that magazine. I have issues, really I have issues. I loved the scalloped border painted on the walls. I managed to find a plastic two foot stencil from the local craft store, but I couldn't make it work. So after a couple ideas, I finally came up with using contact paper as a stencil.

I choose two shades of yellow, because I didn't know the sex of the baby at the time. I painted the top yellow down about six inches lower then I wanted to start the scalloped border. My thinking was that it was easier to cover over a lighter color with a darker color then vice verse


Then the fun began. I traced the scallop stencil on to the contact paper and cut it out. The contact paper stencil went around the whole room, so I could just paint without having to move a stencil. The hardest part was leveling the contact paper. Our old house is just not level, so we did just eye balled some parts. One of those laser levels may of helped, but they weren't around then. I painted the second color with a small foam roller and removed the contact paper. I didn't have any residue left from the contact paper and very little paint seeped under the contact paper. I didn't leave the contact paper but overnight, just time to paint enought two coats.




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These waves would be cute to do as well. Visit DIY @ SPTL for more do it yourself ideas.

The Junk Mammas

Pottery Barn Fall

These remind me of my favorite time of year- Fall. The weather is cooler, my favorite festivals start. Kids go back to school......

Junk Mammas

Wall treatment

We live in an old house. As many of you old housers know the walls in some rooms can get pretty ugly!

The plaster cracks and chips and once you patch them it is almost impossible to get a nice paintable surface again, short of replacing the plaster with Sheetrock.

Before



Afters

Here is a solution that is cheap, easy and fun to do!

We took a bucket of joint compound(bought at our local hardware store for around $10.00). First, thin the compound out with water to the consistency of pudding. Next, roll it on your walls like paint(you will want to patch any holes or cracks you have first, but they don't need to be perfect). You can pick different napes on the rollers to get the desired texture you are looking for. It's really that simple, and once it dries you can then cover it with your favorite color of paint.

We have done this in several of our rooms and love the way it looks! This treatment would be great in new houses too, giving those flat walls a little more pizazz!

Stop over to Kimba's DYI party and check out some other great ideas!

The Junk Mammas

Hannah Montana Explosion

We survived the 2nd birthday party in a row, Hannah Montana style. My daughter has been obsessed with her since last year. My husband walked into the house and said we must of had a Hannah Montana explosion in here. He thinks the party themes are getting a little more ridiculous each year, but I love that part.

I think the farther a head you can plan for these parties the more you can get for your money. I bought the goodie buckets last year on clearance after Halloween for $.75 each, and have picking up things here and there to fill them with.

The kids decorated poster board guitars, that I printed off of Nick Jr. com. I used HM ribbon for the straps that I bought at Michael's for $1.00 a spool. Most of the art supplies were stuff we already had in our stash at home.

The poster was from a calander we had in my daughers room, the microphones were made from toliet paper rolls, with balls covered in tin foil on top. I bought the fabric for a few dollars at Walmart and the cupcake gutair cake was purchased there as well.

The party was a hit and not so bad on the budget either!

The Junk Mammas

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

My daughter's 6th birthday party was this past Saturday. After many discussions she decided on a Hello Kitty roller skating party. This was the first time we haven't had it at the house. It is way easier, but there is just something I really enjoy about planning the food, games, and decorations. I missed making some decorations, but that doesn't mean we didn't bring some with us.

We used some of the typical party supplies a Hello Kitty table cloth, napkins and plates. But we added a unique floral centerpiece, which I think turned out pretty cute if I say so myself. I borrowed roller skates from a friend and placed a mason jar in the skate then laced up the skate. I added the water to the jar and a simple grocery store bouquet of flowers. Tucked a extra party invite taped to a skewer into the bouquet. I would of picked up some cute laces for the skate but of course didn't think of that until I was putting it all together.

And of course the favor. My favorite part and can add to the budget quickly. So I try to pick up things on clearance here and there during the year.

Each guest received a Hello Kitty bag with candy, stickers, tattoos, lip gloss, back pack clip, and dipped pretzel rods (birthday must at our house) tied with a note thanking each guest for coming to the party. I found the pink bags at Micheal's, 3 for a buck. Ironed on fusible web onto white felt and cut out the Hello Kitty head shapes and ironed the kitty head to bag. I did melt a couple bags because my iron was too hot and I also placed a tea towel between the iron and the bag to make sure I didn't melt the bag to my iron. Cut out eyes and nose out of black and yellow felt and glued them on because they were so small. Added a purchased flowers, I found a Walmart for a "bow". Sewed her whiskers with black embroidery floss. The bags were complete in one afternoon nap time.

Our daughters birthdays are only a day apart, so watch for the next party.

The Junk Mammas

Zucchini Bread

I love to grow a garden each year. And like most years, we end up with way to much zucchini.

One of my favorite things to do with it besides grilling it, is making bread.

Here is a quick and easy recipe that I use to make it.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2-3 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup vegtable oil
3 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups shredded zucchini

Bake 1 hour @ 325 degrees

Recipe makes 2 loaves

*Stir in options that are great with this recipe

walnuts
chocolate chips
pecans

The Junk Mammas