Bowdabra Dinner easy recipe

Each week Bowdabra blog brings you recipes from around the blogosphere that are quick and easy and of course delicious!  The name "dinner easy" says it all!  So if your looking for a great recipe you can make any day of the week look no more.

This week Bowdabra brings you a great restaurant copycat recipe from blogger mommalew.

Check out this Outback restaurant copycat coconut shrimp recipe today.  I just love restaurant copycat recipes and this recipe is magic, because they will disappear as fast as you make them! 

Have a great weekend!

April showers coloring page

April showers coloring page

Have you joined the coloring craze yet?  Today Make it easy crafts and Bowdabra blog is offering  another free printable coloring page I call April showers.  You can color it anyway you like and relieve stress while doing so.  Experts are hailing the benefits of coloring as a way to relieve the stress of everyday life.

It's spring and there are robins and daffodils popping up everywhere.  In fact this little guy was watching me as I typed this post!  Soon the April showers may arrive as well.

I’m not a big fan of a rainy day. The other day while it was raining I found myself humming an old, old song that my mother used to sing to me when I complained about the rain.   Then she would give me a colorful umbrella and tell me to splash in the puddles.  I have to say it helped my rainy day blues.

So, I’m leaving you all with the words to that old song – April showers

Though April showers may come your way,

They bring the flowers that bloom in May.

So if it's raining, have no regrets,

Because it isn't raining rain, you know, (It's raining violets,)

And where you see clouds upon the hills,

You soon will see crowds of daffodils,

So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,

Whenever April showers come along.

I hope you enjoy this original hand drawn April showers coloring page and brighten up those umbrellas!

Monogram burlap rose wreath

With all the cool burlap ribbon in the stores these days and monogram letters of all kinds, I thought it would awesome to create a monogram rose burlap wreath for my front door. 

Since I put my wreath on a glass storm door with a suction hook, it was hard to photograph without a reflection so I took the photograph on an indoor wall so you can better see how gorgeous it turned out.  When you attach it to a glass door it’s even more beautiful!

Supplies:       

Flat wreath form 12” diameter

2 ½” wide wired natural color burlap ribbon

Green burlap ribbon

Monogram wooden letter of choice ½” thick

Self stick cork sheet

Eye screw

18 ml wire

7 Daisy artificial flowers in choice of color

Drill with small drill bit

Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

Lighter

Pencil

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions:

1.     On the self-stick cork sheet, trace around your letter, cut out. Remove the backing attach to the letter.  Do this on the front of the letter and then turn over and repeat on the back of the letter.

2.     Using a drill and small drill bit, drill a hole in the top center of the letter. Attach an eye screw in the hole you drilled.

3.     Wrap the green burlap all around the wreath form and attach with some hot glue.  Make sure you mark an area on the wreath from where there is a hole (There are holes all around this flat wreath form) Thread a piece of wire through the hole in the burlap covered wreath from, form a loop at the top and twist to secure. (This will be the top hanger of your wreath)

4.     Attach another piece of wire through the eyehook on the top of your letter; thread the ends through the same hole you used for the hanger and twist to secure.

5.     Make your burlap roses.  Cut a piece of 2 ½” natural colored burlap ribbon 24 inches long.  Begin by burning both ends with a lighter to stop any fraying.  Next, twist the ends around for the center of your rose and put a dab of hot glue to secure.  Continue twisting and turning, and occasionally adding a dab of glue. Always twist and turn in the same direction. Continue until you reach the end.  Secure with a dab of glue.  Make 6 more so you have seven burlap roses. 

6.     Starting at the top, attach a burlap rose with an ample amount of hot glue to the front of the wreath.  Add a daisy next and continue around alternating, rose and daisy till you reach the end. 

Easter Faberge Egg Coloring Page

Download and print this free Easter Faberge Egg coloring page and relieve your stress as you color. Walk into any bookstore these days and you will find hundreds of coloring books for adults. There is every genre available from television shows, wild animals, mandalas and more. In addition many experts are touting the benefits of coloring as a way to unwind from a stressful day.

You can use colored pencils, fine line markers to decorate this coloring page however you would like.

You won’t find this hand drawn Easter Faberge Egg Coloring page anywhere except on Bowdabra blog and Make it easy Crafts. We hope you enjoy your coloring fun and relieve your stress in the process.  Click on the link to download the coloring page.

Coloring pag

Easter Egg from Space

I never think inside that box.  My slightly loopy mind always looks to shake things up so I came up with an Easter egg from space.  Ancient mariners were surprised to discover that the world was not flat. So I started thinking of shapes the earth could be…in different solar systems of course. My eyes spied some undecorated Easter eggs and I thought that it might be fun to make my egg look like my dear mother earth…from space!  I know it sounds weird but wouldn’t it be a really cool conversation starter?  

If you want to make some Easter egg from space worlds yourself, it’s easy peasy.

You will need:

A wooden egg 

Decoupage glue (Mod Podge gloss is my favorite)

Computer and printer

Scissors

Small paintbrush

1.     Search on your computer clip art program for pictures of earth from space and print two or three versions.  

2.     Cut out the motifs and then cut in smaller pieces.  This earth is definitely not flat so you need to just layer and add small pieces to the egg.  The only rule is to make sure that you put the predominately white pieces on the top and bottom of the egg (North and south poles)

3.     Spread some decoupage glue on small sections of the egg, add a piece of clip art and smooth with your fingers (its gets messy but it all washes off!)  Smoothing with your fingers helps remove some of the wrinkles.  It doesn’t matter if there still are some wrinkles as it give the piece added dimension.  Once the piece is stuck add more glue on the top.

4.     Continue working around the egg until the entire egg is covered.  Let dry.  When it is dry you may brush another coat of decoupage glue on the top for added shine.

If you have time why not create a whole solar system display, Venus, Jupiter, and more?

Revisiting Coffee Filter carnation pens

The flowers are starting to bloom around these parts and these cute coffee filter carnation pens will brighten up your desk or office space.  Today I am revisiting and older and very popular project that is super inexpensive and fun to make.  Spring is in the air and these carnations are so real all that is missing is the flowery aroma!  These pens are a great group and Girl scout swap craft!

If you work in an office or a business where people are using pens sometime the pens just seem to walk away, and you never have a pen when you need one.  So it’s fun to have decorative pens in a flowerpot filled with beans or rice.  It brightens up the space and they stick around a bit longer.  This project cost practically nothing.  I bought both the coffee filters and a pack of pens for a around a dollar each!  Add some floral tape and acrylic paint and you can make a whole bouquet of cute carnation pens.

You will need:

Stick pen for each carnation

Coffee filters

Roll of green floral tape

Transparent tape

Paper plates

Acrylic paint in desired color (I used red and burgundy)

Small paintbrush

Scissors

1.     Fold the coffee filter in half and cut along the pleat lines towards the center just to the fold line that marks the edge of the pleats.  Repeat this all around.  Repeat this step with two more coffee filters for a total of three

2.     Using the scissors round out the tips of each petal on all three coffee filters.

3.     Open the filters up and mark the center and cut out a small opening in the center of each prepared filter. (This will be where you insert the pen top)

4.     Layer all three filters together and insert the pen top into the holes you made.  Using your fingers, gather together on the pen top.  Use some transparent tape to attach the base to the pen making sure you attach some tape to the pen itself.  It is ok if you add a generous amount of tape here since carnations have a thickness at the base.

5.     Cut a piece of green floral tape and begin wrapping around starting from the top and working down the pen.  Stop just before the pointed tip.  Floral tape sticks to itself and it helps if you press on the tape with your fingers.

6.     Color the carnation.  Add a tiny bit of water to a paper plate. In another section of the paper plate add your main color and thin some of it with the water.  Use the brush to add the thinned color to the flower.  You do not need much since the filter draws in the liquid.  After the color has dried a bit tap the tips only with the un-diluted acrylic paint.  Let dry.

St. Patrick's Day free coloring page

Today Make it easy Crafts and Bowdabra blog are offering a St. Patrick’s Day free printable coloring page.  In this crazy world stress is a part of life.  Lately many adults are using coloring to alleviate their stress.  This St. Patrick’s Day coloring page is great for this use and kids and adults alike will love to color.  Be creative and use the many green shades of the emerald isle when you color!  Hope you enjoy this free printable St. Patrick’s Day coloring page and come back often for more coloring fun and free printable.

Simply click on the link and download the image to print on your home printer.

St Patrick's Day coloring page

Happy St. Patrick's day!