LET'S crEATe

Craft Tuesday: Simple Stretch Bracelets

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Bracelet making is probably something we all did when we were little. There are so many great bead options to make fun, fashionable bracelets that it really is worth while to make your own bracelets now! I was on the hunt for some fun, purple beaded bracelets. I hit up all the department stores and Target, and everything I found that I liked was going to cost me at least $30 to have a set. I moped, and then thought to myself, "Duh, you are a crafter. You should MAKE your bracelets!"

So I did.

My inspiration was a set of purple bracelets I saw at Dillard's, where one bracelet was $20. They were made out of very similar purple plastic beads that were "crystal cut." I went to JoAnn and bought a large bag of similar plastic beads (Urban Ice) for $5, a spool of 60' of stretch cord for $4, and a pack of 10 silver-plated beads for $5. After I used some 40% off coupons, I spent less than $10 at the store, and I still have beads and LOTS of cording left over.

So maybe this blog entry is less about teaching you HOW (which I do) and more about making you aware of the money-saving possibilities at your fingertips (which I did)!

To start, measure your wrist using a flexible tape measure or string. Mine was 6.5" around. Add on 4 inches (2" onto each side for tying knots). So my cord was cut to 10.5" long.

Next, use a binder clip or paper clip and clip off the end of the string, leaving the 2" excess. This clip will act as a bead stopper.

Place your string to the side and begin arranging your beads. I first laid mine out and separated them into different shapes and colors. My bag had quite a variety so I had lots of little piles. After you do that, it's time to start choosing your beads!

I am not a big fan of simple patterns like purple, pink, purple, pink, etc so this is how I did mine: I picked on bead to repeat, and did so every 3rd or 4th bead. Next to that bead I put a silver one, and then in between those I just filled in with a fun variety, making sure not to have two similar beads too close together. Simple to do and it looks a little less like Claire's jewelry.

If you are making a set (I made 3), then try to vary the sizes of beads you use by bracelet. I made one using the large beads, one using large & medium beads, and one bracelet using only the small beads. When they are stacked on my wrist they look so nice because of all the variety!

Once you have put on beads, carefully wrap the string around your wrist to make sure you have enough beads to wrap around your whole wrist. Now tie off the ends so that the beads wont come off. I suggest documenting the bead pattern you chose, whether it be with a picture or a sketch, because if your beads fall off for some reason you will want to be able to recreate it (sadly, this happened to me and I had not documented). Once you have tied off one end, move the clip to that end and tie the other, then remove the clip and tie a surgeon's knot to tie the bracelet together.

BeadingTimes.com

Clip the extra cord and try to tuck the knots inside a bead. You are finished! Enjoy wearing or gifting your creations! There are so many possibilities for this project, I hope you have fun beading :)

Foodie Friday: Sweet Popcorn Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

These sticky-sweet popcorn popcorn balls are such a crowd-pleaser and are infinitely customizable. You can add anything your heart desires! This is a basic recipe that you can build off of (think chocolate chips, sprinkles, whole marshmallows, etc), so use your imagination, or just eat them as is, which is what we did, and they were sweet and fantastic. These are sure to be a hit at your next movie night!

This recipe makes about 15 tennis-ball size popcorn balls, which is a lot more than it sounds!

You will need:

2 large (2.75 oz) bags of microwave Kettlecorn popcorn (or plain)
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 tsp cold water
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pop popcorn and pour into a large mixing bowl, removing as many kernels as possible
In a saucepan, add corn syrup, butter, sugar, cold water, and marshmallows. Mix together, add cinnamon, and let come to a boil
Allow mixture to cool for 3 minutes. While mixture is sitting, prepare a surface to place formed popcorn balls such as a large piece of wax/freezer paper or a large cutting board
Pour sugar mixture over popcorn and stir with a large spoon or spatula to cover popcorn with sugar mixture
Grease your hands very well with vegetable shortening (I used Crisco), and use your hands to form popcorn balls, packing them tightly
Set completed popcorn balls on your prepared surface ensuring that the popcorn balls are not touching one another
Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving

Foodie Friday: Stuffed Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I looove stuffed mushrooms. They are fantastic. Such a wonderful, like appetizer to so many meals. They are great with pasta especially, and since I eat a lot of pasta I sure do have plenty of excuses for eating stuffed mushrooms!

This recipe was found at Baked Bree and made almost exactly. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

You will need:

12 white mushrooms
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs breadcrumbs (plain or italian)
2 tbs parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/8 cup (2 tbs) white wine
1/8 cup (2 tbs) grated parmesan
1 tbs olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F
Do not was your mushrooms off. If you need to wash them, wipe them with a slightly damp cloth. Excess moisture will make your mushrooms slimy
Remove the stems and slightly hollow out your mushroom, saving the bit you removed in a bowl to the side

Finely chop garlic and mushroom and mix together (if you have a food processor, run it through there)
Saute the mushroom and garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to caramelize
Add white wine and let it cook out
Remove mushrooms from heat and set to the side
In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, parmesan, thyme, and parsley

Add mushroom mixture to cream cheese mixture and mix well, adding salt & pepper if desired

Place mushroom caps on foil-lined pan and add filling. It is easiest to do this by filling an icing bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut and squeezing it in
Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of filling
Bake for 20 minutes, or until leaking water and hot all the way through
Garnish with more parsley and serve

Foodie Friday: Two-Bite Cheescakes

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

These delectable two-bite cheesecakes are sinfully easy (and fast) to make. You can have them from the oven to the table in less than hour. Perfect desserts for parties, or for small portions at home. It's much faster to make 12 two-bite cheesecakes then one large one after all! You can top them off with raspberry sauce (as pictured), chocolate shavings, strawberry slices, or just some whipped cream. Why not do a few of each?

This recipe makes 12 two-bite cheesecakes in a standard size muffin pan.

You will need:

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 graham cracker crust, or 12 vanilla wafers

Preheat oven to 350F
Line a muffin pan with paper liners
Place one vanilla wafer in the bottom of each lined cup as the crust, OR using a spoon loosen a pre-made graham cracker crust and repack about 1 1/2 tbs into the bottom of each lined cup (of course you can crush your own graham crackers too, but I happened to have a graham cracker crust sitting around waiting to be used)
In a medium mixing bowl, beat softened cream cheese until fluffy
Add eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla and beat together until smooth (if your cream cheese has been beaten well, then this step shouldn't take too long)
Fill each lined cup about 2/3 full with the cream cheese mixture
Bake cheesecake for 15 minutes, or until it no longer jiggles
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving cheesecakes onto wire cooling rack. After cooling on the rack for 10 minutes, cover loosely and move to the refrigerator
Remove from liner and top with sauce, fruit, or whipped cream immediately before serving

Foodie Friday: Baked Chicken Enchilada Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:37:00 +0000

This recipe was my grandmother's. It's a very simple baked casserole that is perfect to make for dinner tonight, or to make and refrigerate for the next day! You can add whatever you like (cilantro, cayenne, corn, maybe even onions if you're not allergic like I am!) but as is this is a festive and delicious dinner. Serve with a side of taco salad and corn!

This recipe make 6 large servings.

You will need:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups tortilla chips or tortillas1 16oz can diced tomatoes
1 4-oz can chopped green chiles
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup (8 oz) grated cheese
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Boil chicken breasts, reserving 1 cup broth

2. In pot, mix broth, diced tomatoes (drained), spices, and green chiles over low heat

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

4. Cover bottom of casserole dish with small amount of spiced mixture, then half of the chips/tortillas

5. Layer half of the chicken over the chips

6. Pour half the sauce over the chicken

7. Sprinkle 4oz grated cheese on top

8. Repeat steps 4-7 once

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving

Hint: Cover for the first 10 minutes of baking to prevent burnt cheese

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

These flourless, 3 ingredient cookies (4 if you include the Kiss) were the perfect thing for my cookie craving one day when I was running low on all purpose flour (why I had little flour and a whole bag of Hershey's Kisses I may never fully understand). It's incredibly easy to substitute the sugar with Splenda or another sugar replacement for a lower calorie count–about 50 calories less per cookie. Yup. I did the math.

This recipe makes approximately 18 cookies

You will need:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar (or Splenda)
1 egg
18 Hershey's Kisses

Preheat oven to 350F
Beat sugar, peanut butter, and egg until fully incorporated. Here's a helpful tip for measuring peanut butter. Use a 2 cup measuring cup and fill it with one cup of water. Add peanut butter until the water line moves up to 2 cups. Now you can scoop out your peanut butter without having a sticky measuring cup!
Roll your dough into 1" balls and place on ungreased baking sheet
Bake for 10 minutes
While cookies are baking, unwrap one Hershey Kiss per cookie and place to the side
After the cookies are taken out of the oven, promptly and gently press a kiss into each cookie
Let cool completely before eating. The kisses may remain melty and gooey (yum!) for several hours, so if you want cooled candy make sure you make the cookies at least 6 hours in advance.

Enjoy this delicious treat and try not to eat them all in one sitting!

Craft Tuesday: Three DIY Cloth Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:21:00 +0000

We're back this Craft Tuesday with a simple craft, well 3 simple crafts really. These cloth flowers can be used to embellish many things. One of them you will recognize from my cloth bookmarks! You can stick these flowers onto headbands, brooch pins, hair clips, book covers, aprons... the list is as long as your imagination is big!

You will need:

Hot glue gun (or fast-drying fabric glue)
Various fabrics

Two of these flowers can be made with any cloth scraps you have laying around, so we will start with those.

Flower #1: The Rolled Flower
Start by cutting one long strip of fabric (at least 30", the longer the strip, the bigger your flower), about 1/2" to 1" wide. On one end of the fabric strip tie a double knot. This knot will the center of your flower.

Now, with one hand (not your dominant hand) hold the knot and with the other hand begin twisting the fabric (the way you would twirl a lock of hair, so that is curls onto itself). As you twist the fabric, begin wrapping it around the knot with your other. It takes a bit of doing and I had to kind of go back and forth using both hands for each task. As you are wrapping, place glue about every 1/2" or so to make sure the flower stays together. When your flower reaches the desired size, take the end of your fabric strip and glue it (unrolled) onto the bottom of the flower.

Finish the flower with a button of your choice in the center (sewn or glued). If you're placing this on a head band or a pin, glue the flower onto a felt circle a little bit smaller than the flower, and then glue the headband/pin onto the felt.

Flower #2: The Flower with Petals
You will need to cut out 8 circles of the same size. My circles were about 2 1/2" wide. However big you want your flower to be, that's how big you should make your circles. After all of your circles are cut out you can do one of two things: 1) You can leave the circles with smooth edges and your flower will look very uniform and smooth. 2) You can fold your flowers in half or in fourths and trim the edges a little to give them some interest (pictured top left). As you are attaching them later, you can refold them so that the edges do not line up and it gives the illusion of more petals.

Now that your petals are cut out, cut out a circle of felt in a similar color to your fabric (or the background it will be going on), making the circle about 1/2" smaller than your flower. Fold one of your petals twice, so it looks like a slice of pie, and glue it so it stays in that shape, and then glue it onto the felt circle, with the point in the center of the circle. Repeat this 3 times so that you have four petals glued onto the circle (pictured top right). Glue down three more petals in the same fashion on top of the bottom four, covering as many "seams" between the petals as you can (pictured bottom left). Next, take one circle and fold it in half. Pull the two corners in towards each other so that the half circle folds up just a little. Glue this petal down and then attach a button on top (sewn or glued). For this flower, I used an upholstery button so that I could cover it with a corresponding fabric. These buttons can be found in the upholstery section of most craft stores in several different sizes.

Flower #3: The Pleated Flower
This flower uses pleated ribbon that you will find at any fabric/craft store in the ribbon by the yard area. It comes in many different colors, but is typically a stiff cotton, although you can find some cotton-sateen ones once in a blue moon at a regular craft store (at least around me it's a rarity). This is probably the simplest of the flowers. Start with one long piece (about 2') and glue down a thin fold of fabric at one end. Now begin make a circle with the pleated ribbon, gluing every 1/2" or so to ensure the ribbon does not unwind. Continue in this manner until your flower is the size you want it to be. When your flower reaches the desired size, take the end of your ribbon and glue it onto the bottom of the flower.

If you are going to attach it to a headband, pin, etc, glue a circle of felt on the bottom. Finish your flower off with a button. I used an upholstery button covered in one of my fabric scraps. I love using upholstery buttons because they are customizable. These buttons can be found in the upholstery section of most craft stores in several different sizes.

Foodie Friday: Fast Potato Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Potato soup is delicious, warm, and such a great comfort food. This recipe is fast and simple. There is no need to peel and slice potatoes, because it is made with one packet of Idahoan mashed potato mix! To make it even easier you can use the bacon bits you buy to put on salads. May not taste exactly the same, but it's pretty close!

This recipe makes 2-4 servings. Jason and I split one batch and had lunch. If you are serving it as a side with a sandwich or as an appetizer then this recipe will easily serve 4.

You will need:

1 packet Idahoan Buttery mashed potatoes (or regular, and you can add butter)
2 strips of bacon
1 1/2 cups milk
1 + 1/2 cup water
1/2 chicken bullion cube
1/2 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt & pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese

Combine 1 cup water and 1/2 bullion cube in a medium saucepan over medium heat. If you don't have any bullion cubes, feel free to skip this step or use chicken broth, though the flavor won't be exactly the same
While chicken stock is cooking, begin making bacon in frying pan
Once the stock is complete, add milk
Next add parsley, sage, and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste
Chop cooked bacon strips into small pieces and add half to the milk mixture
Stir well until milk and seasonings are well mixed
Bring just to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent scalding
Add one packet of mashed potato mix and stir in
Add warm water until desired consistency is reached (a little less than 1/2 cup)
Whisk until most of the potato clumps are gone
Serve immediately and garnish with cheddar cheese, parsley, and the remainder of the chopped bacon

Serve with some warm bread for dipping! Enjoy!

Foodie Friday: Simple Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes & Praline Icing

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Jason and I were sitting around sewing one night. We had eaten an early dinner, so I wanted to make a cake. I had a Betty Crocker Classic Yellow cake mix, but that just didn't sound great. We wanted more than just yellow cake. So, I improvised and came up with this DELICIOUS, and super easy, apple cinnamon cake. It was perfect for our cozy night in, but I am pretty sure I am going to make it as loaves for gifts next fall.

This recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes, or 1 dozen cupcakes and two small loaves, or 2 large loaves (I think).

You will need:

1 Classic Yellow Cake mix, and the ingredients for which it calls (minus the oil)
Applesauce (same amount of oil for which the cake recipe calls, probably 1/2 cup)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 peeled & diced apple (Gala)

Preheat oven as directed on your cake mix box (most likely 350)
Pour your cake mix and water/milk and eggs into large bowl
Add applesauce, cinnamon, and nutmeg to cake mix and beat together
Peel and dice apple and add to cake mix. Beat until incorporated
Pour your batter into your greased container(s) and bake as directed on box. Let cool completely before icing

Fresh out of the oven!

For the icing, you will need:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
3 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, bring brown sugar, butter, and milk to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly
Allow to boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly, and then remove from heat
Whisk in vanilla
Whisk in powdered sugar in 3-4 parts. In order for sugar to fully incorporate, you may have to put your icing back over the lowest heat setting
Place cooled cake on serving plate and pour warm icing over. If you are icing multiple loaves, place loaves on wax paper before pouring icing. Serve immediately

Craft Tuesday: Felt Fortune Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I found this ADORABLE idea on the Martha Stewart website and just had to try it. It is such a unique idea for Valentine's day, and it takes no time at all! This is perfect to make a bunch for that one special person, or one for a bunch of special people! You can stuff these with handwritten or printed "fortunes" or candies (Hershey's kisses fit perfectly).

You will need:

Felt (one pre-cut sheet makes 2 cookies)
Floral wire
Scissors
4 1/2" circle to trace (or an adjustable circle cutter)
Hot glue gun
Stuffers (candy, fortunes, etc)

Start by cutting one 4 1/2" circle of felt for every cookie you want to make. Then, cut strips of felt that are about 4" long and 1/3" wide. Also cut floral wire in pieces that are a little smaller than your felt strips (so about 3.75").

Place the floral wire in the center of your circle, on the line where the fold will be. Place a line of hot glue over it, going a little over each end. Place your felt strip on top of the floral wire and allow glue to cool.

Next, fold your felt in half so that the felt strip covering the floral wire is on the inside and hidden. Now bend the two corners away from the curved side of the half circle, pinching them together to create the fortune cookie shape.

Fold up one of the cookie flaps and stuff your fortune cookie with fortunes, candy, etc. Fold your cookie back over and adjust. Now repeat until you have made all of your cookies!

See, that was pretty simple huh?

Happy early Valentine's Day!

Foodie Friday: Squash & Zucchini Parmesan

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Every week I have a couple of friends over to watch a few of our favorite TV shows. I usually cook dinner as well, which can be a challenge because my best friend is a vegetarian, and everyone else sure loves their meat (we are from Texas, after all). This recipe was something I whipped up that everyone seemed to really enjoy. Even though not everyone liked squash or zucchini, they all seemed to love it served up as the classic Italian Parmesan dish. Best part is that it is pretty simple, especially if you use the pre-sliced, frozen veggies.

This recipe will make 4-6 servings.

You will need:

1 small yellow squash
1 small zucchini
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs (I always prefer Panko)
1 1/2 cups + 1 of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan
Pasta of your choice (spaghetti or vermicelli are my favorites)

Before baked

Preheat oven to 350 F
Wash and slice your squash and zucchini into 1/4" slices. Or, thaw your presliced squash and zucchini
Beat egg in a small bowl, and pour flour into a shallow bowl and breadcrumbs onto a small plate
Coat the bottom of a greased 9x13 or similar baking dish with a thin layer of sauce (about 1/2 cup)
Dip one piece of squash/zucchini into the flour and coat fully, then dip into the egg, and lastly coat with breadcrumbs
In a frying pan, heat up a little bit of oil and brown your squash piece on both sides (about 1 minute on each side)
Place this piece into the baking dish, and repeat until all of your squash and zucchini are breaded or your pan is full

After baked
Coat the squash and zucchini with the remaining pasta sauce (about 1 cup), and then sprinkle grated parmesan on top
Baking uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbling
While baking, boil your pasta and heat up the remaining sauce (feel free to make more or less than the recommended 1 cup)
Serve the baked squash over a bed of pasta and sauce

Craft Tuesday: Danish Heart Baskets

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

These beautiful heart baskets are simple to make and, even though they are a Danish Christmas tradition, they are now used for many different things. This year, I am making some to give as Valentine's Day presents! They are perfect to stuff with candy, cookies, or small presents. The baskets are so simple to make, it would be a great thing to make with children to give to their friends!

I made my baskets out of felt, but you can use paper too. Don't limit yourself to solid colors either! If you are doing paper, try different patterns of paper, or even something fun like an old map or sheet music.

You will need:

Felt or paper
Scissors
Ruler

The first thing you need to do is cut your material. You will need two 9" x 3" strips for each heart.

After you cut your strips, fold each one in half and round the corners. Then, make three cuts from the folded end, up towards the open end. Leave about a 1.5" gap between the end of the felt and your cut. It's easiest to start with the middle cut, and then doing the outer two.

Once your pieces are cut, you can weave them together. It's simple! Take your first strip from one piece of your heart weave it in the strips of the other piece. Go around, then through, around then through. Weave each strip in this manner, alternating how you start. For example, for strips 1 and 3 you would start weaving buy going around, and for 2 and 4 you would start by going through. Hopefully that makes sense!

Now that you have finished weaving them, adjust them and make the pretty! Stuff them and give them as a gift, or hang them on a garland.

Happy crafting!

Foodie Friday: Nutella Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I love Nutella, and the idea of Nutella cookies seems just delightful to me. I looked around for a recipe and just decided to try a really simple one I found on Pinterest. The modifications I did are totally optional, and I just did them to make the cookies stay soft, and not harden by the next day. So hopefully you like chocolate, because to me these cookies taste chocolatey and then have a bit of a hazelnut/Nutella after taste. Delicious!

This recipe makes 24 small cookies, or about 15 regular cookies.

You will need:

1 cup of Nutella (I used a whole 13oz tub)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar (or 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp corn starch (opt, keeps your cookie soft)
Chopped hazelnuts (opt, not pictured)
Milk chocolate chips (opt, not pictured)

Preheat oven to 350
Mix all dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl
Beat in egg and Nutella, and any hazelnuts or chocolate chips
The mixture will be dry and crumbly. Dig in with your hands and create 1" balls of cookie dough. You can add 1 tbsp of water to make the dough easier to handle, but I didn't and mine turned out very well
Flatten the balls of cookie dough a little, making them thicker for softer cookies and thinner for crisper cookies
Bake 6-8 minutes, depending on your cookie size, on a greased pan
When you remove them they will still be a little gooey. Let set and cool for 5 minutes before moving from pan to cooling rack or plate
Serve (or eat them all yourself)

Craft Tuesday: T-Shirt Scarves

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I have some old t-shirts that are super soft and wonderful colors, and I have had a very difficult time with the idea of parting with them. I was so excited to do this craft because it meant I could keep, and even wear, these wonderful t-shirts! No more trash bin for them. Hooray for repurposing!

This craft is super simple, and not too time consuming either. It cost me absolutely nothing because all you need in a pair of scissors and some old t-shirts. This is such a great no-sew scarf. Even kids can do this project, and if you use an adult size shirt for a kid's scarf you will be able to wrap it several times! If you want a big one for yourself, use an extra-large men's shirt. Heck, you could even buy a cheap shirt to make this with if you really wanted to. I love this craft!

You will need:

2 old shirts (colors that go well together preferably)
Scissors

Start by laying your shirt out straight and cutting off the bottom hem.

Next, begin cutting your shirt in strips about half an inch thick. I got about 12 strips from each shirt and stopped, but I could have kept going for a fuller scarf. Once you have all your strips (which are really loops because you will not cut the seams on the edge) hold a side in each hand and stretch the loops out so that the fabric pulls and curls up on itself (see below).

I decided that I would mix the two different colors together in each scarf piece. Of course, you can also keep them separate and have one piece is that is all one color and one that is another. Whichever suits you best, but the rest of the direction are specific to how I did mine. They're easy to alter if you are doing a single color.

Next, remove two loops from each color and place to the side. I did two because my shirts had a seam on each side. If you shirt has one or no seams you only need one loop. Next, divide each color in half and mix it up with a half of the opposite color. Group any seams together because you will be covering them up next.

Now, take those 4 loops (or 2) you put to the side and cut one end so it becomes one long piece of fabric. Place the center of this strip of fabric at the base of the grouping of seams and wrap one end around it, then the other, until the seams are covered. Use one color of fabric for the knotting on one scarf, and the other color for the other scarf.

Knot these two ends back together, trim off all about about 1/2" of excess and tuck that into the wrapped cloth.

Now, repeat for all the seams, and wrap it around your neck however you like. I doubled both of mine and just pulled and fiddled with them until I got them just right. You can also try simply knotting them together and making one loose scarf. Lovely! So simple. I hope you enjoy making and wearing this scarf!

Foodie Friday: Everything Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Pizza is delicious. It's wonderful. It's so covered in grease when you order it, and it's always not quite the same from frozen. So why not make it all yourself? It's not as daunting of a task as it may sound, making pizza crust and sauce. Here is a delightful recipe that I can suggest knowing that you will love it, because I have made it several, several times, and every slice was fantastic.

I bought some chicken & mozzarella with Italian seasoning sausage and sliced that up with a tomato topping. Below you find the recipe for the pizza I made, minus the sausage. It makes 6 large or 8 small slices. Enjoy!

Pizza Crust

You will need:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water (about 100F)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp butter

Mix flour, sugar, and yeast in large mixing bowl
Add seasoning and warm water (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit)
Mix fully until dough becomes smooth
Cover with plastic wrap and place in microwave or another warm spot in kitchen (try your microwave, but don't turn it on) for 30 minutes and allow it to rise to about twice its original size
While crust dough is rising, prepare the sauce (below)
Prepare a clean, floured surface such as a large cutting board or countertop on which to work the dough
Preheat oven to 400F
Place the risen dough on the clean countertop and knead about 10 times
Begin to shape the dough with your hands
Flatten the dough with a rolling pin until it is about ½” thick
Transfer dough to a pizza pan (greased) or stone to top pizza
Top with pizza sauce (recipe below), cheese, and desired toppings
Melt butter and brush onto exposed crust
Bake pizza for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbling

Pizza Sauce & Tomato Topping
You will need:

15oz (1 can) diced tomatoes
6 oz (1 can) tomato paste
2 medium/large cloves garlic
½ tbsp oregano
½ tbsp thyme
½ tbsp basil
½ tbsp parsley(substitute spices for 2 tbsp Italian seasoning if desired)
+ ¼ tbsp Italian seasoning (for tomato topping)

Put tomato paste into medium mixing bowl
Strain tomato juice from diced tomatoes into mixing bowl
Save ¼ cup tomato chunks in small mixing bowl for tomato topping
Finely chop or blend rest of tomato chunks and add to mixing bowl
Peel and press garlic and add to mixing bowl
Stir in spices until well mixed
Do not cook on stove
Place directly on prepared pizza crust
Now for the tomato topping! Take 1/4 cup tomato chunks set aside and add 1/4 tbsp Italian seasoning
Add 1 tbsp olive oil
Add 1 tsp garlic powder
Do no cook on stove
Place on top of pizza after cheese and other toppings have been added

Some other ideas:

Make the edge of the dough thinner and place cheese sticks on it. Roll the dough around it, using a little bit of water to mesh the crust together. Now you have stuffed crust pizza!
You can leave out the spices in the crust, use a Bar-be-que sauce with some monterrey jack cheese. Delicious!
Skip the sauce altogether and just do a butter garlic mixture and sprinkle some cheese over it. Now you have cheesy garlic bread.

Craft Tuesday: Cloth Bookmark

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

This cloth bookmark is sweet, simple, and a great package topper. This would be a wonderful present for friends and family for Valentine's Day. It's a great project to do with fun fabric from the remnants bin at the craft store or with scraps you have at home! I made a couple and gave them to my sister and my best friend and they loved them! I have already decided to make more for some other wonderful people.

I originally stumbled upon this when I was looking for some kind of cute way to embellish a cloth bookmark on Pinterest. I found Little Birdie Secrets' how-to suggesting them as a teacher gift. What a great idea!

These do require sewing, but it is really very little, very simple sewing. Cutting out, sewing, and assembling each bookmark probably took me about 45 minutes. A big chunk of the time was spent making the cloth flower though.

You will need:

2 coordinating pieces of cloth
Featherweight fusible interfacing
One button
Thread
Scissors
Hot glue gun

Start by choosing the fabric you would like to make your bookmark and which you would like to be the flower. Cut a 4.5x8" piece of the bookmark pattern. Cut the same size of fusible interfacing and follow the directions that came with your interfacing to attach the two together. Trim any excess fabric or interfacing from the edges. It's okay if you have to trim a bit off, I have made the fabric size a little larger with this in mind.

Fold your fabric in half, interfacing side out and fabric in. Now, using any color thread, sew the bookmark together using standard 3/8" seam size. Sew the bookmark up, leaving one short end open and the edge perpendicular to it should be sewn until about 1/4" to the open end. After you sew the bookmark (don't forget to backstitch!), clip the corner and turn the bookmark right side out through the short end you left unstitched.

Now it's time to press your bookmark and prepare to do a topstitch, which will close up the end you left open. When you press your bookmark, turn in the fabric on the open end about 1/4". Pressing the fabric down will mean that you don't need to pin in, which would be difficult with such a small piece. Plus, it will make the edge much cleaner! After pressing your bookmark, put a topstitch on it. If you want to use a decorative stitch, feel free too. This topstitch is mostly decorative except for the small part where it seals the end.

Hooray! You made the bookmark. Now time for the flower to go on top. Plug in your hot glue gun to heat up! Next, take a piece of fabric, folded in half (like it is right off the bolt, with the two rough ends together) and cut a strip about 1/2" wide right off the end, from the fold down to the rough edge. Unfold. At one end, tie a knot, and place a dab of glue on it. Begin twisting the fabric and wrapping the twisted fabric around the knot. I wrapped mine very tightly, doing a dab of glue every 1/2" or so. Experiment with how tight or loose you want to make the fabric for the flower. Once the flower is the size you would like, or when you only have about 1" of fabric left, take the spare fabric and hot glue it on to the bottom of the flower. Doing this will keep your flower from unraveling or losing its shape, so don't be afraid to put a fair amount of glue (as long as it doesn't seep out of the sides).

Next, you have the option of hot gluing your button down to the center of the flower, or hand-sewing it through the center. On the bookmark with the brown flower, I sewed the button on (you can see the thread). On the bookmark with the blue flower, I glued it on (no thread). Other then the visible thread there was no big difference, other than that the sewn on button is less likely to fall off. After you attached your button, hot glue your flower to your bookmark with a circle of glue and you are finished.

Whether you are making this for yourself or a loved one, I hope you have fun!

Foodie Friday: Cream Cheese Danish

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Cream cheese danishes are delicious. I had never thought of making my own, and when I stumbled upon this recipe I decided to give it a go. It was delicious and so simple because the crust is made out of crescent rolls!

This recipe makes 8 servings. I baked it in my 9x13" pan and it was the perfect size to cut into 8 pieces. You could cut the recipe in half, do it in an 8x8" pan and have 4 large or 6 small servings. Make sure you refrigerate it if you aren't serving it within an hour or two of baking it. I think the danish is delicious cold, but Jason said he liked it warm!

You will need:

Danish:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese softened
2 8-count packages of crescent rolls (I used butter flake)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk (or less)

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease 9x13 pan and place 8 crescent rolls (1 package) on bottom, un-separated
In a large bowl, beat together the rest of the danish ingredients and spread over crescent rolls
Open second can of crescent rolls and break off 4 rolls individually. I usually let the dough stretch out a little and then place it over the cream cheese mixture however you see fit/pretty
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling isn't completely jiggly and the crescent rolls are golden brown
While cooling, make the glaze by melting your butter and then whisk the rest of the glaze ingredients together
Drizzle over the danish and serve once it's cooled

Have some fun with it! Try using the crescent roll dough and reshaping it, maybe cutting it with a cookie cutter, to decorate the top of your danish!

Craft Tuesday: Tackling Crayon Art

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

This project was fun. Awesome, super fun. Almost therapeutic because of the simplicity of it all, and all the colors are just so crazy and cool.

Alright, so I have seen this crayon art ALL over Pinterest. It is awesome and everyone wants to do it. There are two methods to do doing it that I know of: 1)Hot glue the peeled crayons and use a blow dryer to melt them. 2)Run crayons through your hot glue gun.

My friend Brittnee and I decide to tackle this project together, in a two-part adventure. This is part-one. We opted to try the hot glue gun method first because we figured it would give us more control over the colors and where we place them. Plus, at the end we wouldn't have crayon chunks hot glued onto our canvases.

Well, it didn't go as smoothly as we thought and I definitely have some suggestions for you if you are going to try the hot glue method. First of all, use a new glue gun (or a glue gun with no glue in it) that you are using ONLY for crayons, because this WILL get messy and you will probably never be able to use your glue gun for regular gluing again (unless you really, really clean it well). I bought a new hot glue gun the day after I did this project. I will probably be able to salvage my other one, but I use mine for LOTS of stuff, and I need nice, clean one for all the other projects I do. Second, you really have to test out the waters to see what heat setting you want to use and how your glue gun will be most effective when it comes to pushing these crayons through.

Wax melting out the side means burnt fingers :(

Our biggest problem was that my glue gun wouldn't "grab" onto the crayons to push them through, so we had to push them through with another crayon. Then the wax ended up melting out the side AND through the glue gun hole, so it was a little...leaky. This got messy and frustrating. Perhaps if you use a glue gun that uses the small glue sticks this problem would be solved. If you are buying a cheap little glue gun specifically for this project (which is not a bad idea at all) then I would recommend you try that kind.

Okay, now that I have told you all the ways that ours was difficult let me show you how awesome, and INCREDIBLY FUN this project was. Seriously. Most fun I have had doing a craft in a while. Of course, it could be because I had company this time!

You will need:

Crayons. Lots of crayons
Hot glue gun (that you are willing to part ways with)
Canvas(es)
Heavy drop cloth you don't mind getting melted wax on
Patience

We had two 7x14" canvases. The first canvas we used as an experiment canvas. We tested the different ways the wax melted and got used to "waxing." Of course, you could use a heavy piece of cardstock or cardboard to practice on, but our canvas came in a two-pack, so we figured, why not?

By laying the canvas flat and holding the gun perpendicular we were able to achieve a very cool splatter look. It was fun and stress relieving to just have at it. Then of course, we messed up our awesome painting by experimenting with the dripping effect, which is what we all see and love all over the internet (especially Pinterest).

While holding the canvas at various angles (we laid the end of the canvas on top of our upright crayon box) and pushing the crayon wax out at the top end of the canvas, we got that sought-after drip look. Hooray!

Now that we knew our way around this project, it was time to start the second canvas. Our goal was to create a tree - a weeping willow to be exact.

First, we used a light blue crayon to quickly mark of which areas we wanted to be background, tree trunk, and branches. We used several shades of blue in the splatter technique to create the background, a sky actually. While that wax was still hot we used a blue crayon and spread it out and mixed it up. Ended up pretty neat I think.

Next we began the tree trunk. Using about 8 crayons in various shades of brown we ran the crayon through the gun, moving it from side to side of the designated trunk space. When we had finished with all of the crayons, I used the hot tip of the hot glue gun to "carve" a heart in my tree trunk. Using the tip of the gun to remelt the wax is a great trick. If you have a big clump somewhere and you want to break it up, that's a great way to go about it.

Next, we flipped the canvas over so that the other end of the canvas was now propped up. We began dripping the greens out next so that the wax dripped towards the tree trunk. It took me about 2 crayons of green to flush all the brown out and then on top of that I used about 4 more. In other words, every single green and brown crayon went into this piece, and several of the blues too. Of course, we could have chosen to do reds & oranges and made the tree an autumn tree. (Hmm. Maybe I'll do that for my next one!) I tried to fill in as much of the white space as possible, but wasn't able to.

All in all, we were very pleased with how this crayon art (or "waxing") turned out. Though I burned my finger on hot wax, I think it was well worth it!

If you do attempt this, please be careful not to burn yourself and make sure you have something to protect the surface you are working on. Wax does come up, but this wax is HOT and could do heat damage.

Foodie Friday: Baked Garlic Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Baked, breaded, garlic chicken. Those are 2 things I love, and one thing that is a perk. Baked, not fried, chicken. How delightful that this dish is so delicious and a fairly healthy meal! Jason and I made this for my parents and our friends on 2 separate occasions, and each time it was inhaled.

This is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe which sounded quite good, and I always like putting my own little spin on things. We topped it with a white wine sauce (we used Julia Child's herbal white wine sauce or "Sauce Chivry", but that was very ambitious of us), but simply squeezing some lemon juice on top would be fantastic too. As sides, we served mashed potatoes and fresh steamed broccoli, both of which tasted wonderful with the herbal white wine sauce. This recipe makes 4 servings.

You will need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic
15 saltine crackers
1 tbsp parsley
4 tbsp butter
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 475F
We'll start by preparing the breading. If you have a food processor, combine all your crackers, garlic, parsley, butter, and pepper (to taste) and run until you have a fine mixture
If you do not have a food processor (guilty), then put your crackers, parlsey, and pepper in a large freezer bag. Crush using your hand or the bottom of a cup. Next, press your garlic into the bag. Use a fork to mash your butter and add to bag. Shake up the bag and use your hands and the cup to mix the breading ingredients together. Set bag to the side when finished
Make three shallow, diagonal cuts in each side of each chicken breast. Place on a covered surface (freezer paper or a cutting board) and cover them with freezer paper or plastic wrap and beat them until they have flattened out some
In a small bowl, beat your egg. On 2 separate plates, pour your flour and your breading mixture
Prepare a flat baking sheet (using non-stick spray or foil) for your chicken
Begin breading your chicken by first coating one chicken breast in flour. Next, dip your chicken in the egg, and then turn it over into the plate of breadcrumbs to fully coat it. Place on baking sheet
Repeat breading process for each chicken breast
Bake chicken for 12-15 minutes
Serve as a whole breast with a lemon slice, or slice up and drizzle white wine sauce on top

Enjoy!

Craft Tuesday: Wrapping Paper Collage

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Every year for Christmas I spend money on beautiful wrapping paper only to see it used and thrown away without ever capturing how pretty it was under our tree. Not anymore! Here is a wonderful way for you to remember the excitement of Christmas morning- a wrapping paper collage!

By Mod Podging squares of the wrapping paper you use each year onto a hefty sheet of paper or cardboard, and then placing a picture from Christmas morning on top, you can create a great piece of wall art for the holidays (or a scrapbook page).

Left: Blue reindeer, lightweight "cheap" paper wrinkled
Right: Brown and silver, heavier paper did not wrinkle

After doing this one myself, I found that the heavier the paper the better, because it won't wrinkle up when the Mod Podge is applied. From a distance though, the wrinkles are not noticeable. On the same note, my square hole punch wouldn't punch through the foiled paper, and I had to cut it by hand. Also, I would suggest tracing out the bottom line of each row of wrapping paper, otherwise your lines may tilt a little, like mine. Of course, that's all in the charm of a hand made craft!

You will need:

1 12x12 piece of card stock or cardboard
1 square hole punch (I used a 3" diagonal square hole punch)
1 photograph
Black cardstock/scrapbooking paper
Stickers of your choice
Glossy Mod Podge
Wrapping paper scraps
Sponge brush

Begin by gathering up some wrapping paper scraps. You will need to punch several squares out of each sheet. I used a total of 25 squares (5 squares by 5 squares, each square measuring a little over 2"), and punched about 28 squares to choose from.

Once you have all of your squares punched, play with them and arrange them in a way that you like! This took me a few minutes and a lot of moving around, right until I had almost every square back at their starting point, until I was pleased with the arrangement!

Then make a stack for each row to keep them in order as you proceed to glue them down. Doing one row at a time, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge and then lay your wrapping paper squares down. Your Mod Podge may dry before you get to lay down the last square or two, so reapply the Mod Podge before you lay those squares down.

After you have Mod Podged all of your squares, glue down any loose corners and let dry completely. This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, max. Now, apply one or two thick coats of Mod Podge on top to seal the squares down and give your collage a nice finished look.

While this top coat dries, glue your picture to the black sheet of paper, leaving a quarter inch border around the edge. On another piece of black paper, use stickers to write the year or your family name. Trim to size. Once the Mod Podge is dry, trim off any excess paper and glue down the black papers with craft glue, or a little bit more Mod Podge. Do not Mod Podge over this layer.

Now you can frame your wrapping paper collage, put it in your scrapbook, or keep it somewhere special for you to look back on whenever you like.

Foodie Friday: Chocolate Coconut Bars, AKA "Pig Pens"

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

My friend Alyssa made these for our sorority alum meeting one night and I had her send me the recipe that night. These yummy chocolate treats are so delicious, and so SO simple to make! It takes about 5 minutes to prepare before baking. Delicious. There is no way you can mess these up, and everyone is sure to love them! If you are looking for a dessert to bring to a holiday party this year, this is a great dish to bring! You do need to let these cool for at least 2 or 3 hours before cutting, so if you are making them for an evening event make them first thing in the morning or even the night before. The longer these have to sit to yummier they are!

Make this recipe in a large pan (9x13), and it will make 25-30 small bars. I usually cut it in half and bake it in my 8x8 pan, yielding about 12-15 bars.

You will need:

2 cups whole oats
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 bag coconut flakes
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 tablespoons of butter (3/4 stick)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F
Melt butter in microwave and spread into bottom of pan
Sprinkle whole oats evenly in bottom of buttered pan
Spread chocolate chips to evenly coat oats
Sprinkle coconut evenly over chocolate chips
Mixed sliced almonds and chopped walnuts
Sprinkle nut mixture over top of coconut. You may not have to use it all. I do not like a lot of nuts on mine and I always end up picking some off while eating them
Drizzle ENTIRE can of condensed milk on top
Bake for 25-30 minutes
Place baking dish on wire rack to cool. Allow bars to cool to room temperature before cutting and serving. This could take 2+ hours

Craft Tuesday: Canvas Christmas Gift Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Every year we buy gift bags that end up getting wrinkled up, torn, and thrown away after a few years of use. How about this year we make something that is personal, and reusable for many, many, many years to come? Using the same technique of creating a freezer paper stencil, ironing it on, and painting that I used when I created the Halloween canvas bag, you can make adorable gift bags that people will cherish as much as the gift it contains (if not more!).

I painted four 5x6" bags to give people small gifts (candy, gift cards, ornaments, etc) because when a gift is so small, I try to make it as special as possible!

In case you don't remember how to do the stenciling, this DIY contains a brief refresher!

You will need:

Canvas/cloth bag(s)
Fabric paint (Soft paint if my preference)
Freezer paper
Iron
Sponge brush
Pencil
Scissors

Start by cutting pieces of freezer paper to the size of your bags. Once you decide what you want your design to be, you can draw it and cut it out. Here are the designs I did and how I did them. Feel free to copy my ideas, or discard them completely!

Design #1: Snowflake

Draw a circle, or use a large circle cutter, and cut out a large circle from the piece of freezer paper you already cut to size. Fold this circle in half, then in half again, so you have a piece that resembles a slice of pie. Now cut it up just the way you did when you make coffee filter snow flakes in elementary school! I unfolded mine once or twice in the middle of cutting to see what I was doing, and how to improve it. I am not a very experienced snowflake maker, so I had to.

When you are all done, iron your stencil on, paint over your stencil. Your snowflake will be the color of your bag and the bag will be whatever color your choose. Then remove the stencil and let it dry. If you are doing a large bag, cut several (3 or 5) different size circles and make multiple snowflakes to use as stencils. Let dry according to the directions on the paint bottle before using as gift bag.

Design #2: Christmas Tree

Fold your cut freezer paper piece in half and then unfold it. Against the fold, draw half of a Christmas tree. Refold it and cut it out. Unfold and you have a perfectly symmetrical, perfectly centered tree! Hooray!

Iron stencil on, paint in the tree-shaped hole, and remove stencil. Let dry for about 30 minutes and then decorate your tree. I used a pencil eraser dipped in paint (and dabbed on a napkin to remove excess paint) to create the ornaments and "star" on top of the tree. Simple. Let dry according to the directions on the paint bottle before using as gift bag.

Design #3: Snowman

Draw a circle, or use a circle cutter, and cut out a large circle from the piece of freezer paper you already cut to size. This will be the shape of your snowman's head. Just like with the snowflake, you will be painting around the stencil, painting the background, leaving the snowman's head the color of the bag. Of course, if you are using a colored bag and want to paint the snowman's head white, then still cut out the circle, just iron on the piece of freezer paper with the hole in it. Iron on stencil, paint, peel off, and move on to the snowman's face. I used the non-cap end of a Crayola marker as my stamp for the snowman's eyes and mouth. Dip it in the paint and dab off the excess paint on a napkin before stamping it on. Use the tip of your foam brush to create the nose (you might want to practice before doing it on the bag itself). Let dry according to the directions on the paint bottle before using as gift bag.

Design #4: Ornament

Using the same piece of paper I used for the snowman stencil, I created the ornament. While I used the circle that I removed for the snowman head, I used the paper that the circle was removed from for the ornament shape. Iron on the sheet of freezer paper with a big hole in it, paint, remove the stencil, and let dry for 30 minutes before decorating your ornament. I used a small circle (marker cap) to create a ring of circles on the ornament and then free handed the ornament top. Let dry according to the directions on the paint bottle before using as gift bag.

In case you were wondering, here is the before and after decoration. A little bit really does go a long way!

Phew. That was fun! I can't wait to give them away filled with fun goodies!
Merry Christmas and happy crafting!

Inspiration Sunday: Let it Snowmen

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 06:17:00 +0000

I love decorating with snowmen. My mom loves them, and so do I. They are just such a friendly, seasonal thing. They embody the pure fun you have when playing in the snow. Honestly, who doesn't love a good snowman? Well, here are ten fun snowman themed crafts I found that you can do at home, no snow at all! This way you can admire snowmen whether it's 50 degrees, or 5!

Snowman made out of stacked circles. A great new perspective from
Life Is What You Make It.

A "melted snowman" ornament made from Elmer's glue.
From Holiday Kids Crafts.

Make a snow man from undecorated wreaths!

This adorable primitive snowman is make from
wooden blocks and can be found on Etsy.com.

Talk about an easy snowman! Using a variety
of nuts and a single washer, you can make this adorable
snowman ornament.


A twine-ball snowman. Great for the craft room. From Better Homes & Gardens. Also, see my yarn snowman here DIY.

A popsicle snowman. Delightful!
From Kid's Activities.

Snowman from two stacked pots. Simple!
From All Kids.


Powdered doughnut snowmen. A yummy Christmas morning treat? From Creative Gift & Party Ideas.

Ice cream snowman! How fun!

Foodie Friday: Butterbeer

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

In case you haven't caught on yet, I am a pretty big nerd. And one of the things I LOVE is Harry Potter. Over the past few years I have tried a couple of different Butterbeer recipes in attempts to make myself feel a little more like a Hogwarts student, and I thought I would share my favorite one with you!

Butterbeer is a delicious, sweet, warm drink. Did I mention it's really sweet? I like sweet things, and I feel like while this drink is sweet, it's not overly sweet like some desserts. This Butterbeer has a good balance to it and it is simply delightful to drink on a cold night, snuggled up on the couch. Or make a big batch and serve it at a holiday party!

This recipe makes 4 servings and is from The Pastry Affair. They adapted the recipe from Huffington Post. Like I said, there are lots of Butterbeer recipes floating out there on the internet.

You will need:

4 12-ounce bottles cream soda, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Steps 1 & 2

In a small saucepan, bring brown sugar and 2 tbsp water to a gentle boil. Let boil for one minute and then turn heat off. If you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should be 240F
Add butter, salt, vinegar, and 1/4 cup heavy cream and stir until fully incorporated
Allow to cool (the original recipe calls to be cooled to room temperature but I wanted to serve mine warm and not cold so I just let it cool for a few minutes so it wasn't scalding hot)
Beat remaining heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar to make whipped cream topping (if you opt to use premade whipped cream, it won't have the same flavor or texture, but will still taste delicious)
In 4 separate glasses, pour in 1/4 cup brown sugar mixture and 1/4 cup cream soda and stir together
Fill the glasses the rest of the way with cream soda
Top with whipped cream and serve immediately

Craft Tuesday: Christmas Card Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Do you have old Christmas cards that you can't seem to part with, but you really have no idea WHY you are keeping them? I know lots of people that do and THIS is the perfect craft for all of us. Ornaments for your tree (or for a friends) that are so simple to make! Instead of old cards, I used some of the Christmas card fronts that National Geographic sends to lure you into buying their beautiful cards. It worked so well! Completely free, and I was using something I would have normally thrown away.

This idea I found originally on Martha Stewart's website, so I can't claim too much credit for "discovering" this craft, but I can take credit for doing it, successfully, and slightly modifying it. Hooray!

You will need:

Christmas cards (or just their fronts)
Hot glue gun (or other quick drying adhesive)
Yarn/thread
Small circle to trace
Scissors
Ruler
Pen

Before beginning, let me tell you that the way I did this varies from Martha Stewart's "Holiday Card Ornments." I designed mine so that you can use 10 circles (1 card front) and not 20 circles. I did this just by cutting out the middle row of 10 circles. So if you want to make yours bigger, take a look at how she does it!

Pick your cards well. If you look at my selection of cards you'll see that I had some I did not end up using. They were fairly monochromatic- black and white, with a splash of red. Those pictures cut up wouldn't have looked as festive, so I skipped those and used the more colorful, detailed images.

Trace your stencil to create rows of circles on your card. I would suggest drawing the circles on the back of the picture so that you don't get pen marks on the pretty side. On each card I was able to fit 12 circles (3 rows of 4) and then choose my favorite 10 to use. Keep in mind what your picture looks like and if there is one particular part of the picture you want to keep in tact. I made my circles about 2" big. If you have a circle cutter/punch then you can use that. Mine was not staying locked at 2" so I had to do it by hand with some good ol' Fiskars and it worked just as well, even though the edges weren't perfect.

After you cut out your circles, draw an equilateral triangle that fits inside your circles. Mine was about 1 1/2" on each side. It's easiest to make a triangle template out of paper or cardstock and then trace it onto each circle. These triangle lines will be the lines that you will fold on. If you have a scoring blade, score on these lines before folding them for a neater fold. Guess who doesn't have a scoring blade? Me! Still turned out fine, so don't worry about that. Once all of the triangles have been drawn/traced, fold towards the side of the card that you want to show (see picture above).

Now it's time to glue them together! I used my hot glue gun on a low heat setting and put a small dab on one flap of one circle, then stuck it to another circle, with 2 top points touching (think of the way pie or pizza slices meet in the middle). Create a rounded ring of 5 folded circles using this method then repeat. Once you have two pieces like this, use the hot glue to attach the available flaps to one another. Now your ornament in constructed! To really make your ornament polished looking, shellac it before moving on to the next step.

Next, use a small hole punch (like an eyelet hole punch) or a large needle to create a hole to thread pretty yarn or thick ribbon through. Tie it up and your ornament is complete.

Hang it on a tree, top a package, or give it to a friend! Hopefully you were as successful as I was, if not more so! I would love to see your completed ornaments or other Christmas card projects. Submit then for Let's Brag Thursdays and maybe you'll see them posted soon! :D Happy crafting!

Some other ideas:

Every year when you send out a Christmas card, turn on of those cards into an ornament. On the string, attach a small piece of paper the says the year. This way you will have a collection of all your your Christmas cards too!
Use these ornaments as jar/vase fillers, instead of the traditional glass ball ornaments.